"Hahaha~ what sweet screams and death!"
"Yes—more. Give me more fear and despair!!"
"And my adorable child… your despair will be the most delicious thing I ever savor!"
Hidden in the shadows, Dionysus watched the adventurers' screams and suffering like it was fine wine, his mood soaring higher by the second. Most of his attention was fixed on his own follower—Filvis.
He wanted to see it.
He wanted to see the moment Filvis died—how exquisite her pain and despair would look on that beautiful face.
And this? This was just the appetizer. The real feast was still to come.
"Using gods I've gotten drunk as sacrifices… what kind of surprise will the Dungeon give me?"
Dionysus couldn't stop the grin curling up his lips. He was already impatient to watch Orario sink back into darkness and chaos—an absolute festival of despair.
Right as his eyes glittered with excitement, the two-headed dragon Amphisbaena locked onto Filvis.
She was too visible on the battlefield—shielding people, holding the line, shining like a beacon. That kind of presence attracted predators.
With a savage roar, Amphisbaena surged out of the lake and charged.
Filvis's face drained of color.
The surrounding adventurers panicked and fired immediately—lightning, fireballs, torrents of water—dozens of spells streaking toward the dragon.
Amphisbaena's right head lunged forward.
"ROOOOAR!!!"
A red fog blasted from its jaws.
The moment the spells touched that fog, they vanished—like frost melting under sunlight.
Worse, the fog kept spreading, drifting toward them.
Szzzz—!
Filvis's barrier was erased on contact, dissolving into nothing.
"So this is Amphisbaena's power…"
Filvis went deathly pale, forced to watch the dragon close in.
Then Amphisbaena's left head opened wide—and exhaled blue-green flame.
Fwoooosh—fwoooosh!!
The blaze scorched the air as it fell like heavenly fire.
In that instant, everyone broke.
Even Filvis—knees hitting the ground—could only stare up at the descending azure flame, powerless and despairing.
Watching it all from the shadows, Dionysus was so excited he was practically about to get off.
"Yes—yes, that expression, ah…!"
But just as he was about to laugh himself senseless, a figure dropped from above and landed in front of Filvis.
"Anti-Magic Barrier."
Takumi tapped the air with a finger. An invisible barrier snapped into place.
The surging blue flame rebounded instantly.
Amphisbaena choked on its own breath, coughing black smoke, and dove back into the lake to extinguish the dragonfire.
Dionysus's grin froze mid-curve—stuck on his face like a bad mask.
BOOOOM—!!
Amphisbaena slammed down hard enough to crush a whole swath of monsters.
Smoke pouring off its body, it whipped its heads around and fixed Takumi with a murderous glare.
Every adventurer's eyes followed.
"T-Takumi-san…?!"
Filvis breathed his name, recognizing him at once.
He'd saved her before.
This made it the second time.
"You alright, Filvis?"
Takumi turned toward the most eye-catching figure in the crowd—her.
Hearing him say her name so casually, Filvis's delicate face flushed hot pink. Her heart pounded so hard it nearly drowned out the battlefield.
She opened her mouth… and couldn't find words.
Then she forced them out anyway.
"T-Takumi-san… be careful—Amphisbaena is coming again!"
Right on cue, Amphisbaena surged forward with the monster tide, charging straight at them.
Everyone's hearts leapt into their throats. All eyes locked on Takumi, fear and hope tangled together.
But facing the savage Monster Rex, Takumi looked almost bored.
Honestly, something like this couldn't even scratch his defense. With physical and magic resistance stacked to the ceiling, the only way to hurt him was overwhelming force on a completely different scale—and this thing didn't even qualify to touch him.
"Too much trash is annoying," Takumi muttered. "I'll wipe it all out in one shot."
A clean idea clicked into place.
"First—Star's Rage, giving an object the mass of a neutron star. Then layer gravity magic to match a neutron star's gravitational intensity. After that—Blue, pulling every enemy in the vicinity into it…"
He exhaled, eyes narrowing.
"Three techniques fused… a modded Planetary Devastation."
Takumi pressed his palms together.
A tiny black sphere slipped from his hands and floated up—sticking to the ceiling like it belonged there.
Then—a catastrophic pull erupted from that point.
WHOOOOO—!!
RUMMMMMMBLE—!!
The ground trembled. The lake reversed, water surging upward.
Thousands upon thousands of monsters were yanked into the air like dumplings tossed into boiling water—shooting straight toward that black sphere.
The instant they touched it, they were crushed into powder by absurd gravity.
That sphere wasn't a ball anymore—it was a devouring, grinding black hole, pulverizing everything it pulled in.
"ROOOOAR!!!"
Amphisbaena thrashed like a mad beast, but the suction tore it from the lake anyway.
In full view of everyone, its massive body slammed into the sphere and was instantly compressed into bloody paste, smeared across the growing mass.
In less than thirty seconds, the monster tide that could've slaughtered tens of thousands was simply… gone.
All that remained was a gigantic, bleeding rock ball suspended in the air.
Gulp.
The adventurers swallowed hard, staring at Takumi with equal parts terror and worship.
Still on the ground behind him, Filvis hadn't even stood up yet—her gaze so reverent it was almost faith.
[Ding! Randomly plundered traits: Magic-Erasing Red Mist (Blue), Bone Armor (Green)…]
A whole string of traits rang out in Takumi's mind. He filtered them quickly, keeping only the ones that were actually useful—especially anything that wouldn't make him sprout horns or grow some ugly shell.
Then he glanced at his progress bar.
[World-Crossing Gate Progress: 4530%]
"Perfect."
Satisfied, Takumi closed his hand in midair.
BOOM—!!
The huge sphere exploded, bursting into debris that rained down and neatly filled the craters below. As for the monsters' blood and flesh essence—his invisible cell spores swallowed it all.
His aura surged again, creeping to within a hair of Super Demon King class.
To the adventurers, it felt unreal—like waking from a nightmare into a dream.
Then cheering erupted across the floor.
"Hero of Miracles!!!"
"He saved us!!"
"From now on I don't worship gods—I worship Takumi-senpai!!"
…
Amid the roaring praise, Takumi turned and reached a hand toward Filvis, whose face was still burning red.
"Looks like you're completely spent. You worked hard. I saw it."
"Uh… T-Takumi-san…"
Filvis opened her mouth again and again, but she was so overwhelmed she couldn't form a complete sentence.