Although there was a saying that lingered in Renjiro's memory—one that had long since become a tired cliché…
But—
"If I answered 'no,' what then?"
There was no doubt about it. Tammuz could be considered a veteran high–status Lv.4 adventurer, but that was all.
With his strength alone, he posed absolutely no threat to the current Renjiro.
Even if—
"This is Ishtar-sama's order. You have no right to refuse."
At that very moment, as the dark-skinned man spoke again, figures began emerging one after another from the surrounding cave passages.
No fewer than twenty Amazon warriors stepped forward, each armed with standard adventurer equipment of various kinds.
Most of them were Lv.3, the same level as Renjiro himself.
A very small number were Lv.2.
And then there was one more…
"gie~gie~gie~"
"I've finally found a man worthy of this lady again."
Holy crap…
My eyes—this is straight-up visual assault.
For the sake of both his eyesight and mental health, Renjiro immediately turned his gaze away.
Phryne Jamil.
The current captain of the Ishtar Familia, the only so-called "First-Class Adventurer" within the familia, with a current Falna level of Lv.5.
Honestly, if she were cast to play an Undead "Abomination" unit from Warcraft, she likely wouldn't even need makeup.
Now, Renjiro didn't entirely agree with that shallow argument of "If your appearance doesn't attract me, why should I care about your inner self?"
But Phryne… she was nauseating inside and out.
People with unattractive appearances but shining inner qualities certainly exist.
For example: Melody from Hunter x Hunter, or Gargoyle from Overlord, and so on.
They might not possess the charm of conventionally beautiful women, but at the very least, they were people worth knowing—friends you could greet warmly if you happened to meet them on the street.
But Phryne…
She was the textbook definition of "ugly and still loves to stir trouble"—rotten down to the bone.
She had zero self-awareness, genuinely believing herself more beautiful than a goddess, and narcissistically concluded that the reason men failed to satisfy her was simply because none of them were worthy of her.
But what kind of "satisfaction" was she even talking about?
It was punishment bordering on private execution—no, outright torture.
Within the Ishtar Familia, there was a secret chamber known to very few, one that Phryne herself had personally converted into an interrogation room.
No one knew how many innocent people had been crippled there over the years.
At this moment—
"I was actually planning to pull a whole scene," Renjiro muttered, "since it's one of my top three 'lines I've always wanted to say'… Tch. My mood's completely ruined."
His expression darkened as he thought, "Calling in the Primordial Gods to deal with trash like Phryne would be indirect harm to them—mental pollution, even."
"Fine then. This is as good a chance as any to test the versatility of 'Primordial Human' magic."
With that decision made—
"Do you know why I'm called the King of Magecrafts?"
Renjiro looked calmly at the Amazon warriors who were slowly closing in around him, showing not the slightest hint of fear.
In the next instant, he casually lifted the rabbit-eared boy at his feet—who had collapsed due to entering a state of mental exhaustion—with one hand, while saying—
"Legend has it that 'King of Magecrafts—Solomon' was the strongest summoner in history."
"And the combat power he could summon was far from limited to just the 'Seventy-Two Demon Gods.'"
As soon as his words fell—
The Amazon warriors saw Renjiro raise his free hand and pluck a single strand of hair from his forehead.
Then, with a light breath, he blew it outward.
The strand of hair disintegrated in midair, splitting into countless fragments.
And then—
"Kaka-ka~"
As massive amounts of magic power were consumed, dense swarms of grotesque, purple worms erupted inside the cavern like a hornet's nest had been kicked open.
This was—
"Poison Vermis?!"
Yes. Monsters born on the Lower Floors, these creatures were practically the nightmare of all adventurers.
Even the Loki Familia—stacked with First-Class Adventurers—even their Lv.6 adventurer would avoid confronting them head-on.
Because once their numbers grew, Poison Vermis became an absolutely lethal, unavoidable threat.
Even Finn and Gareth, if they encountered them, would only dare to order Riveria to burn everything down—never approaching them directly.
At that instant—
"Run!"
It was obvious that within the Ishtar Familia's ranks, there were already a few who had no desire to clash head-on with Renjiro.
Naturally, they were the first to turn tail and flee.
Among them was Aisha, the one bearing the title Antianeira.
She immediately rushed toward the rear of the formation, hoisted a cloaked woman—who was not an Amazon—onto her shoulder, and sprinted away at full speed.
But at that moment—
"Aisha, you bitch! Why are you running?! Hurry up and have Haruhime use 'magic' on me!"
"This is the captain's order."
Phryne started acting up again.
Even among First-Class Adventurers, she was an outlier.
Perhaps because she had been so vicious in the past, obsessively torturing men, she herself did not fear the potent venom of Poison Vermis.
She likely possessed some kind of special skill.
So now—
"Tch…"
Aisha's expression turned ugly, but she had no choice but to obey the captain's command.
"Haruhime, there's no helping it. That stinking toad already said it… start."
"U-uh…"
The cloaked woman seemed utterly terrified by the horrifying scene ahead. Thankfully, she hadn't seen a man's collarbone, or she might've instantly turned into a fainting princess from a pre-marriage shock.
She began chanting softly under her breath.
Not long after—
"Weng~"
A dazzling stream of golden light particles descended directly upon Phryne, wrapping around her entire body.
It looked as if she were cloaked in a layer of battle aura.
And it was precisely these golden particles that allowed Phryne to temporarily maintain her existing Basic Basic Ability while forcibly ascending to Lv.6—
Stepping into the realm of heroes.
At that moment—
"Ohhh~ so this is the legendary 'Uchide no Kozuchi' with the 'Level Boost' effect."
Standing some distance away, Renjiro thought to himself, "Analysis difficulty requires 'Affection Level 7'… Hah. Same tier as 'A Liaris Freese.' I thought it'd at least be Level 8."
As it stood, there were only three abilities he had encountered that were on the same tier as 'A Liaris Freese.'
First was Ais's skill 'Avenger.'
Second was Lefiya's magic 'Elf Ring.'
And third—this 'Uchide no Kozuchi.'
Even Airmid's magic 'Dia Fratel,' for all its power, only had an analysis difficulty of '6,' the same tier as Welf's skill.
As for 'Affection Level 8' and 'Affection Level 9' abilities, there was only one each.
Namely:
Horn's transformation magic 'Vana Seith,' and Cassandra's 'Five Dimension Troia.'
For now, all that could be said was that there remained a clear gap between an ability's practical value and its analysis difficulty.
Centered on Renjiro himself, this disparity was even more obvious.
Take Lefiya's 'Elf Ring'—to Renjiro, it was nothing more than a dispensable gimmick.
But Amid's 'Dia Fratel,' despite only being difficulty '6,' was nothing short of a god-tier skill.
Now—
"Ishtar… tsk, tsk, tsk~"
Renjiro sneered and shook his head.
"I was already planning to kill you. Looks like this time… I won't wait any longer."
"Paimon, your first 'official job' is here."
"Roger!"