The chaos of the battles finally died down, only for a completely new type of chaos to replace it. The children cried, the men exhausted, confused, and hopeless… The women panicked, and just held the crying children… Almost as if they were trying to keep from crying themselves.
The gods gathered in Bable Tower saw the flood of adventurers returning from the front lines, armor in shambles, and they looked weak.
"The battle lines must be fierce…" One red haired goddess said, the words almost causing two of her children to snap out of their confusion. "Listen, Finn, Riveria, I know you just woke up-"
"Lady Loki, update my status." Finn all but demanded.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes."
"Do mine too…"
"Ugh! Fine Mama Riveria."
After two status updates, Loki sighed. "Gareth isn't gonna like this."
"No, the three of us were always closely matched. He's sure to level up-" Finn looked out the window, and ran out of the building all the way down to the bottom floor.
"Hmm, what's gotten under his skin?"
"Hehehe, let's go check it out."
…
Outside, at the base of the tower, the sight was rather impressive. A slightly average looking man, he was human, but had a decent build, he returned to the area carrying a few injured adventurers… With him were the four from Loki familia, Gareth, and the trio of veterans, each of them covered in blood, sweat, and injured adventurers. The one man, also held in one hand, someone's severed head. This was the sight that caught Finn's eye.
"Lady Hathor, Mother of our familia, I have returned, Thanatos familia captain, Valletta the Arachnia has been slain by my hand."
The announcement was heard by the many gods, and mortals alike.
"She is responsible for a great deal of the suffering of our fair city's people. I hope this finds them some peace."
He dropped Valletta's head to the ground. A handful of citizens came over to help with the injured, adventurers did what they could, but right now there was a severe lack of adventurers still left with the strength to fight. Once his burden was lifted, he removed his armor, and shirt. Then knelt down, right in front of Hathor, facing away from her.
"You know your only improvements come from leveling up again, right?"
"Right now, that's what we all need."
"Then, well done my child. You've worked incredibly hard to reach this point." Hathor smiled, and used the wolf to draw a drop of her blood ichor. "Congratulations, you're level 5 now."
"Thank you. My lady."
"How! What are we supposed to do now?!" A weakened adventurer wailed slamming the ground. Their strength was pitiful compared to what they had just before the giant scene they all just witnessed.
"You stand up." The new level 5 stood up, he checked his new power, with a few cycles opening and closing his hands. Hmm, it really is something else… But still nothing compared to Bokhoir… But even less to him. "And you continue fighting back. Evil exists, for one purpose. And that is to be defeated. If you give up now…"
"But my goddess! She's gone!!"
"That bond you shared. If it is truly as strong as you claim, get the blessing from one of the gods we still have. Get off your knees, and avenge her loss. We may have been dealt a heavy blow, but we are not defeated."
"How can you say that?! The Origin Wolf… He's not coming back! How are we supposed to deal with that massive dragon!"
"My lady, Goddess Hathor, has not confirmed his fate." He grit his teeth, and clenched his fists. "Besides that… I know for a fact… ORIGIN WOLF IS NOT DEAD! He isn't that weak. Anyone who has seen him fight knows this… Not as a guess but as fact!"
The silence that followed his words was deafening. And the first one who spoke up after him was one of the gods, this one in particular had seen a glimpse of what this now bare-chested man had written on his back.
"Adventurers who have lost your gods, I'm willing to aid you in standing up once more!"
A bolt fired directly towards them, blocked by the newly promoted level 5. The source of the bolt slain within a mere couple of seconds, by that terrifying level 4 of Hathor familia… The one no one wants to meet in a dark alley, Legi.
"We aren't yet beaten. That evil son of a bitch wants us to suffer. How about we flip the script?"
Finn came forward, and verified the head. "This really is Valletta's head. How did you manage to kill her?"
"Let's just say that, my abilities matched up well with hers."
"Finn! He's lying!" Loki called out the bluff.
"Shut your face Loki! Or should I have your children spill ALL of their secrets too? I'm sure everyone here would love to hear all of it." Hathor retorted in quick, lady-like fashion, then went right back to relaxing.
"I'll say it's just my secrets. You're not allowed to know them."
"Fine then. I'll figure it out some other way."
…
Alise arrived at the medical facility in Bable Tower with Ardee, Ryuu, and Neze arrived alongside them, Neze carrying the remains of, well…
"Lord Miach! Save them!!!!!"
"Huh? What happened here? Isn't that Ardee? And…" Miach swallowed the words, he really didn't want to say what had to be said. "Neze, it's far too late for that one. I'm sorry…" He said, with a tinge in his tone. "I can take a look at Ardee…"
Miach performed an inspection on the absent minded Ardee, she murmured words on occasion like her mind was broken. Her tears just didn't stop, several ladies were put on the watch to keep her physically healthy.
"Can you do anything for her?"
"I've done all I can. I'm not even sure if Arcanum could help her out of the state she's in now. The loss of her baby, it really hit her hard. I'd imagine all the thoughts of having a happy family with him are going through her mind right now." He sighed. "Fortunately I think she can recover… She'll be able to have children in the future too thanks to your timely intervention."
"I… I don't know how I'm going to break the news to Shurry." Alise said.
"If the rumors I've heard about him are true, first he already knows, and second… Evilus is going to experience suffering unlike anything they'd ever felt before."
…
Floor 50 of the dungeon, in a little nook off to the side, and underneath a cliff, Shurry bathed, while the wolves took care of watching the gods, making sure they don't try anything stupid again.
"Ardee, hold on for me. I'll be home soon. And, don't blame yourself for what happened. Now's not the time for it…"