In a luxurious room on the top floor of Babel Tower.
Freyja leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window, elegantly swirling a glass of red wine with her slender fingers, gazing at the moon in the sky.
"That is… the power of Arcana, isn't it?"
Her face was expressionless, her voice utterly calm: "It is also the arrow of Artemis… the strongest arrow in the heavens, which only a pure goddess can shoot."
"Of course I know that!"
"But using such powerful divine power in the mortal world is clearly a violation!"
"If Artemis gets caught, she'll definitely be sent back to the heavens!"
Loki was also in the room, pacing back and forth agitatedly, her fiery red hair shaking violently with her movements.
Her relationship with Freyja was actually a little better than outsiders imagined.
Freyja narrowed her eyes through the wine glass: "Artemis… she might have been held back by something, which is why she couldn't return to the heavens."
Just then, the entire Orario suddenly shook violently a few times, and the crystal ornaments on the table clinked.
Loki stumbled, steadying herself by holding onto the wall: "Damn it! The Dungeon must be trembling in fear!"
Freyja's expression became solemn for the first time: "Of course, once that arrow of Artemis is shot…"
She put down her wine glass, her voice weighted: "Not only Orario, but the entire Lower World will probably be completely destroyed."
"Uranus, that old bastard!"
Loki furiously kicked over a chair, her face full of anger: "He must have known this would happen in advance, which is why he wouldn't let us leave Orario!"
With that, she turned and rushed towards the door, "I'm going to find the old man and get an explanation!"
"It's no use."
Freyja's voice remained calm: "Even if all the gods of Orario gathered and used their divine power, they wouldn't be able to completely withstand that arrow from destroying the Lower World."
She turned around, a sharp glint in her purple eyes, "So his intention should be… to have us gods protect Orario first, that's enough."
"As for the outside world, we'll just have to abandon it."
"That damned old man, what a joke!"
Loki angrily spat out a sentence, yanked open the door, and stormed out.
The door slammed shut behind her with a loud bang.
Silence returned to the room.
Freyja slowly walked back to the window, gazing at the increasingly bright moon in the sky, and picked up her wine glass again.
"Having said that, I'm actually not that worried…"
She took a sip of red wine, muttering to herself, "Because the person who can truly solve this problem is, after all, only him from the Hestia Familia."
"I hope he succeeds. The outcome of this matter directly concerns the fate of the entire Lower World."
Freyja's gaze seemed to pierce through the vast distance, seeing Ying Ping and his group fighting in the Great Tree Sea Ruins.
In the deepest, dark and damp part of the ruins, Ying Ping and his group, with irresistible force, finally arrived at the final battlefield.
The space before them suddenly opened up, revealing a huge underground cavern.
And in the center of the cavern, a twisted, writhing black shadow was coiled—
That was Antares, who had devoured Artemis's divine body.
"This… this is…"
Kokkoro covered her mouth, her voice trembling.
"Antares's true form?"
Chisato gasped.
The monster exuded a suffocating sense of oppression.
Its black carapace was covered with blood-red patterns, and its eight compound eyes gleamed with a mad light.
Its form constantly changed, sometimes like a scorpion, sometimes humanoid, as if its very existence was twisting.
[Antares Mutated God-Devouring Body]
[Level: ???]
[Traits: God Assassin, God's Natural Enemy, Divinity Devourer, Existence Distortion, Conceptual Contamination, Monster Mother]
Just as everyone was shocked, a system prompt suddenly sounded in Ying Ping's mind:
[Urgent Quest: Slay Antares Mutated God-Devouring Body]
[Quest Reward: Level +2, Obtain Magic Chains of Heaven]
[Chains of Heaven: Each chain consumes 1 magic point per second, can perfectly simulate the anti-divine Noble Phantasm Chains of Heaven]
[Chains of Heaven possesses the characteristic of Divine Law. The higher the target's divinity, the stronger the Chains of Heaven will become]
[Due to being magically created, even if the target is not a god or has no divinity, the Chains of Heaven will still be very strong chains]
"It actually rewards the magic Chains of Heaven? That's really great…"
A glint flashed in Ying Ping's eyes, and he instantly felt more confident.
With this magic, he could control any god, whether from DanMachi or other worlds!
Once a god was bound, if he then used the Immortal Severance Blade: Unending Karma to activate the ability Dragon's Heritage Devour and completely devoured the god's power… to what extent would he grow then!
Ying Ping suppressed the tremor in his heart, turned to his companions, and instructed: "Kokkoro, Illya, please cast all blessings and acceleration magic on me. I will deal with this monster alone!"
"You're going to deal with it alone? Isn't that too much…"
Hestia immediately became worried.
"It's fine, leave it to me."
Ying Ping showed a confident smile.
"Understood!"
Kokkoro immediately waved her staff-gun and chanted: "Holy Blessing! Song of Courage!"
"Acceleration Magic: Time Sandglass!"
"Magic Amplification, Strength Enhancement!"
Illya also cast spells simultaneously.
Several golden lights fell upon Ying Ping, instantly boosting his various abilities.
And because of the Goddess Guardian development ability, when he fought for the goddess, his various ability values received a super-large increase again!
Ying Ping took a deep breath, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes: "Inherent Time Control: Quadruple Speed!"
"Shadow Step!"
"Crippling Strike!"
"Charged Attack!"
"Killing Intent Lock!"
"Secret Art: Isshin!"
In an instant, his figure vanished from its original spot.
To the others, they only saw a black streak of light flash by, followed by the violent sound of slashes breaking the sound barrier multiple times.
"Boom!!!"
This enormous sound, like a concentrated explosion, was like a missile hitting the ground and exploding!
When everyone covered their ears and came to their senses, they saw Ying Ping already standing behind the monster, black liquid dripping from the Hestia Blade.
And that terrifying God-Devouring Body had actually been cut into at least several hundred pieces!
Ding! You have obtained the title "Scorpion Assassin Terminator"!
Effect: Any damage caused to you by magic and elements will receive a certain reduction.
Current reduction value: 20%.
"Magic and elemental damage reduction? There's such a good reward?"
A thought stirred in Ying Ping's heart. He lightly flicked Hestia's Sword, returning it to its sheath.
"Wh-what?!"
"That move was so fast that even I, Hermes, couldn't see it clearly..."
Hermes's eyes widened, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.
"Is... is it over?"
"In an instant?"
Hestia and Chisato exchanged glances, finding it hard to believe.
This was actually not surprising.
This monster, which had devoured Artemis's divine body, wasn't inherently strong.
Although the system showed its level as invisible, it's worth noting that in the original work, even Bell, who was less than LV3, could fight it back and forth.
With Ying Ping's LV18 combat power, plus several buffs, he achieved an instant kill.
Ying Ping walked to the disappearing remains of the monster and carefully peeled a softly glowing crystal from the shattered part.
"Artemis, I've come to save you..."
He whispered, gently placing the crystal on the ground.
The moment the crystal touched the ground, it burst into dazzling light.
A figure identical to Artemis in appearance, but with a more divine aura, slowly emerged.
Artemis in the crystal had her eyes tightly closed, tears welling at the corners, her pitifully pained expression completely unsettling.
"W-we won?"
"Without using the power of Orion's Spear... just with his own strength..."
Artemis trembled as she stepped forward, looking at Ying Ping and her own divine body before her with disbelief.
Task completed.
Current level has increased: LV18 -> LV20.
Obtained new magic: Chain of Heaven.
"Yes, this monster wasn't as strong as I imagined."
"Against me, going all out, it naturally couldn't be an opponent."
Ying Ping felt the surging power within him after leveling up, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Just then, the eerie moon in the sky began to gradually dissipate, and sunlight once again bathed the Great Tree Sea.
Far away, at the top of Babel Tower in Orario, Freya watched the gradually disappearing moon in the sky, a meaningful smile gracing her lips.
"He won."
"It seems the hero of this era is about to be born. Fate is still on our side this time."