As Gin took in the figure lying in front of his eyes, his heart filled with a dark sense of glee.
"Kukukuku… Kuhahahaha!"
His quiet chuckle slowly turned into full-blown villain laughter.
He totally hadn't practiced this before.
(He had, and Hel definitely knew it.)
"My triumph! My victory! I dedicate this accolade to my goddess, Hel! May her night spread across the world eternal! May her darkness seep into the roots of Yggdrasil! Praise Hel!"
His shout echoed through the cavern, declaring the triumph of Hel's beloved champion.
But as the echoes died down and silence reigned once more, he felt his dark joy fade away, replaced with something far more human.
Strange.
e didn't know it could rain in the dungeon.
"I'll live your life for you." Gin stood up and turned away from the Jack Bird, walking deeper into the dungeon.
"Farewell, my rival."
His whisper disappeared without reaching anyone's ear.
"…"
A moment later, he turned back, finally remembering to actually grab the drop item.
-------
Gin couldn't stop himself from grinning as he exited the Babel Tower. He could feel the weight of the golden egg sitting securely inside his jacket pocket.
Briskly heading toward the Guild, he couldn't wait to exchange it for some well-deserved cash.
One million Valis.
It was an astronomical amount for someone like him. He thought back to his former life as a hunter.
He couldn't even imagine how many pelts and furs he'd need to sell to gain that amount.
Three days. In a mere three days, he'd earned a solid thirty years' worth of his previous job's salary.
He saw now why there were so many adventurers running around despite the high mortality rate.
The potential gain massively outweighed the risk.
Gold and glory.
The two main reasons for adventuring. Some were in it for the money. Some wanted to be renowned as heroes and warriors.
'People can live their lives just fine without those. Why would someone risk their life for such things?'
He might have thought like that before, but the Gin right now was no better than them.
He had no right to judge, because his reason for entering the dungeon was…
He just wanted to live up to Hel's expectations.
She considered him her champion for a reason. While he had full confidence that she greatly overestimated him, he felt a responsibility to answer her trust in kind.
If that meant walking every day into that dingy place to hunt monsters, then that's what he would do.
Some might argue his motivation was worse than plain old gold and glory.
Well, he couldn't care less. It was enough to keep him going into that accursed place, so it was sufficient.
Dismissing the idle thoughts, Gin continued his walk and took a left turn.
'The buildings here sure are weird, huh? They feel like they were mashed together rather than built with actual planning. How many alleys have I walked through?'
No… wait, what? Gin felt a shudder run through his body.
The Guild was located right on the main street.
He didn't need to pass through any alleys to reach it from Babel. He surveyed his surroundings immediately, looking left and right to get an idea of his current position.
It didn't take him long.
The location name was neatly engraved on a nearby building.
Daedalus.
"Huh?"
Wait a minute, why the hell would he walk here? Daedalus Street was in the eastern sector.
The Guild was in a completely different direction!
Gin unstrapped his bow and quickly nocked an arrow.
There was no way he would get lost this badly naturally. It didn't take a genius to notice foul play was involved.
"Oya, oya? You snapped out of it too soon, bro. You should've continued walking until you were deep inside the district, yeah?"
Gin's attention snapped toward the voice coming from an alley behind him.
He aimed his arrow at the source.
There stood an adventurer, and a high-leveled one by the looks of it.
The first thing Gin noticed was the goggles he wore, and the second was the creepy spear he casually tapped against his shoulder.
He watched Gin leisurely, not even bothering to raise his guard despite the arrow aimed at his face.
"Phobetor Daedalus ain't a curse you can snap out of on your own, man. You got a skill or something? Yikes, never considered a newbie like you would have one."
He was talking about Niflheim.
It did have minor resistance to mental attacks.
"I should've done things better. Maybe driven you mad as soon as you exited Babel? If you started attacking people out of nowhere, we could just kill you out in the open and loot the golden egg, yeah? Instead, I had to wait and let you walk around like an idiot until you arrived somewhere deserted," the goggled man said, stepping closer.
"The goons should have been the ones to fuck you up, yeah? I don't mind getting my hands dirty, but going against my plan is seriously killing my mojo here."
Gin stepped back on reflex.
This guy was out of his league. He instinctively knew it.
"Well, can't be helped. I can't just let a duck carrying a leek like you walk away. Oh, or is it better to say a duck with a golden egg? Whatever. Point is, you're dead, yeah?"
This guy was bad news.
Gin didn't need time to decide what to do. He glared at the man, projecting his fighting spirit as best as he could.
Then he turned tail and sprinted away as fast as his legs could carry him, diving into the nearest alley in case the psycho decided to kebab him with a spear throw.
He willed his feet to move faster, but he'd just finished chasing down a goddamn Jack Bird across the dungeon.
His legs might as well be running on thoughts and prayers right now.
Not to mention…
"Hahaha! That's a fast response, man! You might be a newbie, but you sure are top-notch at running away!"
Gin could hear him chasing close behind. He didn't sound winded at all. This might as well be a warm-up exercise for him.
Gin swore between gasps. The guy was clearly a high-level adventurer. His speed was no joke. He might be Level 3 or 4.
Gin was just a Level 1.
There was no way in hell he was going to outrun him.
He couldn't escape. He couldn't fight.
There was only one choice left.
"HEEELPPP MEEE! SOMEONE!! THIS BASTARD WANTS TO PIERCE MY ASSS!!!"
"The fuck, bro!"
'Oh shit, that just angered him more.'
He was definitely going to kill Gin now. He had just made it personal!
'Well, screw him.'
The guy wasn't going to stop even if Gin politely rephrased his yelling anyway. Might as well try to give him a stroke from sheer anger.
"Your mother was a hamster! And your father made love to that hamster! You're also a hamster!" Gin yelled the first insult that came to mind.
"The fuck is that supposed to mean!?"
Gin wasn't sure either, but it made him mad and that was good enough.
He continued to run, screaming any insult that surfaced in his head, but it seemed he'd reached the end of the line.
There was an actual dead end ahead of him.
He was fucked.
No. If he was going to fall here, he needed to at least drag the bastard down with him. There would be no more victims.
"He has a mind-raping power, everyone! This goggled date rapist is a walking roofie!!!"
Okay, he'd got his appearance and M.O. down in a few sentences.
He'd done well.
Gin turned toward his fuming would-be murderer. The man glared at him with visible fury in his eyes.
"I am gonna enjoy stabbing your dumb ass."
"MY ASS BELONGS TO HEL-SAMA!"
"Fucking shut up!" The man kicked him in the gut.
Gin crumpled in pain, heaving on the floor. Judging by the fact that he wasn't seeing his own innards splattered across the pavement, the bastard was actually holding back.
He tried to think of a reason for that, but the answer came in the shape of a boot stepping on his head, grinding his face into the dirt.
'Oh great, the guy is a sadist.'
"…I… I don't consent to rough play like this…"
"I said fucking shut up!" Another stomp, this time on his leg. Gin heard a crack and felt a shooting pain a moment later.
He gritted his teeth and stifled his cry of pain. The guy would enjoy it.
Gin could tell.
That was why he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
Instead, he forced a bloody smile.
"Rough guys… like you aren't my type at all… I'm a vanilla kind of guy… yeah?"
"You're dead. You're fucking dead meat, you little shit!"
'Ah, so this is the end…' Gin watched as the man raised his spear high, making his objective to stab his head and turn him into the past tense very obvious.
"…I am sorry, Hel."
But the finishing blow never came. Gin glanced up, expecting the guy to just be pausing to troll him before stabbing him dead.
But the rapist-murderer wasn't the one standing in front of him. Instead, a group of people stood there.
All of them female.
All of them adventurers, and by the feel of it, all higher level than him.
The one standing directly in front of him was a… blonde-haired elf.
Her long golden hair and green cape fluttered in the wind heroically.
If he wasn't currently suffering in a fetal position, he might have asked how in the world the wind could blow between the buildings like that, and also noted what a nice back she had.
But right now, the only thing he could mutter was, "…He has weird mind-control powers, be careful, miss."
"We know," the elf responded. "We have prepared curse breakers. He will not escape justice today."
These people were well prepared.
'Nice.' Gin breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, rest easy, bro. Your ass is safe with us," a pallum chirped from the side.
That could be interpreted in different ways.
Gin stealthily covered his ass, just in case.
The rapist dude clicked his tongue. "Astrea Familia, huh? You targeting me from the start? I am a good, honest adventurer, yeah? What made you lot stalk me? Did some goons spill the beans or something?"
"Nah, this bro is to be thanked for that." The pallum girl pointed at Gin with her thumb. "We were just lucky enough to hear him yelling in the dungeon and see him pocketing a Jack Bird drop. Figured some assholes might get wind of it the same way we did and try to off him somehow. The one that got caught red-handed just happens to be you."
'Wait, they treated me as bait?' …To be fair, he had to admit that yelling at the top of his lungs about winning a super rare drop was a stupid move. Eh, fair was fair.
"…You know what? I'm too tired to get annoyed at this point," Gin shrugged from the floor. "Just loot his stuff, give it to me, burn him to ash, flush the ashes down the toilet, and we're cool."
"Aye aye, cap." The pallum mock-saluted him.
"Consider it done," said the blonde elf.
"Dix Perdix. Level 3. You are a member of the Idunn Familia if I am not mistaken. Is she another evil god? Or are you simply a bad apple growing in her garden?" a black-haired woman mused.
"Pfft, that goddess? An evil one!? She can't even slap a fly that lands on the table!" Dix laughed.
"She's good enough as a Falna source, though, I'll give you that. Don't have to stand in a queue for long to get a status update."
"The latter one, then," a red-haired girl said. "You are at least honorable enough not to drag your goddess through the mud."
"Nah, no use bothering with someone that will get sent back to heaven in a while. I can't have her holding my status hostage now, can I?"
'Did he just plan to harm his own goddess!? The fuck!?' Gin's sentiment was seemingly shared by the rest of the Astrea Familia.
"You scum." The blonde elf launched herself at him, the rest of her familia following behind.
"Become lost in an endless nightmare," Dix chanted fearlessly, disregarding the fact that the Astrea Familia had prepared an anti-curse.
'Wait, he's not aiming at them!' His finger was pointing at the nearby buildings! He was targeting the residents!
"Phobetor Daedalus!"
All hell broke loose as a jet-black ray shot from his hand into the buildings.
One moment the Astrea Familia was charging toward him; the next, they were scrambling to catch residents throwing themselves out of windows and off balconies.
"Nice, keep saving lives, yeah? Ladies of Astrea Familia." He turned and ran away with zero hesitation. "And you, annoying shit! Watch yourself! You better grow a pair of eyes in the back of your head if you don't want to get stabbed from behind!"
Amid the chaos of falling people and rushing adventurers, Gin shouted back at him.
"That's kinda gay, bro!"
Oh wow, he actually turned back, murder in his eyes.
Could this be Gin's chance to get a hit in?
"In brightest day, in blackest night—"
Oh no, he just continued running. Well, wow, that was just rude. Before Gin could even power up with Niflheim, Dix was already long gone.
"He's getting away!" "After him!" "No! We need to prioritize the residents first!" the red-haired girl yelled to her familia.
Yep, even with Dix gone, the residents were still struggling like people possessed.
"Calm down ladies, just knock them out. Be gentle, though." Under the pallum's instructions, the familia began disabling the affected residents one by one, until finally, peace returned to the alley.
"Will these people be okay?" the red-haired girl asked her companion. Gin could see she was genuinely worried about these strangers.
"Geez, Alise, relax. Dix should be getting some sort of penalty while the curse is active. There's no way he'll keep it up for long just to mess with random people. The curse will lift sooner or later," the pallum responded lightly.
"I hope you're right, Lyra."
So the redhead was Alise and the pallum was Lyra. One seemed decent, while the other somehow reminded him of Loki. He bet that using him as bait was completely Lyra's scheme.
"Are you alright? Can you stand?" The blonde elf interrupted his thoughts.
"Sorry. I might need a potion first. That freak kicked me pretty hard."
"Of course. Here." She handed him a potion.
"Thanks." Gin reached out for the vial and accidentally made slight contact with her hand. Wait, she wasn't letting go of the potion.
She looked back at him with a puzzled expression. Both of their hands were somehow holding the potion—and each other's hands—in a weird, half-hand-grasping position.
"Uhh, miss? You mind handing over the potion for real?"
"Oh my, you're actually holding hands with a man. How lewd," the black-haired woman giggled.
'How the hell is touching hands lewd?' Gin turned back to look at the elf.
Her blushing red face was the last thing he saw before she socked him right in the jaw.
"Ryuu! What was that for!?" he heard Alise's voice yell as his consciousness flew away.
That was the first meeting between Gin Hvergel and Ryuu Lion, the Gale.