The tense silence that had gripped Orario shattered in an instant, giving way to a wave of shock and burning curiosity.
Thousands of eyes fixed on the Divine Mirror across every corner of the city, from crowded bars to the central plaza, went wide with disbelief. The collective, breath-held hush exploded into unrestrained noise.
"What the hell was that?! Did she just take them all down without magic?" A adventurer shouted, nearly knocking over his full glass of beer. Golden liquid spilled across the table, but he didn't notice.
"Wait, I know her!" A girl cried, jabbing her finger at Kei's image reflected clearly in the Divine Mirror. "That's the woman who goes into the Dungeon with Solo Leveling!"
"What kind of weapon is that? It looks like a long black spear, but she never stabbed anyone with it. She just pulled a little lever and they were finished in an instant!" A blacksmith narrowed his eyes, trying to analyze the unfamiliar metal construction of the PGM Hécate II. He tried to imagine the internal mechanism, but couldn't.
"Where can we buy something like that? If a Level 1 can drop enemies from that distance, the Hephaestus Familia arms market is in serious trouble!"
The biggest question, however, came when everyone noticed that the writhing members of Apollo Familia on the ground didn't have a single visible wound.
"Why are they screaming like that? No blood, no injuries... but they look like they're dying!"
The atmosphere on the thirtieth floor of Babel Tower was far more chaotic than anything happening on the city streets below.
The gods, ever hungry for entertainment, had crowded together like gossiping commoners. They had risen from their seats and leaned so far toward the Divine Mirror that their faces nearly touched its broadcasting surface.
"Astraea! You've been hiding a gem like that? Tell me, is she really Level 1? You're not lying, are you?!"
"Look at the mechanism on that black thing! It's not a normal magic artifact. There's no Mana overflow, but the effect is instant. Astraea, who crafted that? I want to order ten for my Familia!"
"How much does one unit cost?"
"Is it a curse? Why are Apollo's children carrying on like women in labor?"
"You're incredibly lucky, Astraea! Where did you find a follower like that?"
In the middle of that storm of questions, Astraea sat with perfect composure. The gentle smile that had always defined her remained on her calm face, though deep down she was still quietly astonished by the effectiveness of Charlie's weapon. She hadn't expected the impact to be quite this large.
"Ahem!"
Hestia, seated nearby, had been gaping at the screen, but now she puffed out her chest with pride. Her alliance had a card up its sleeve this deadly, even if she had absolutely no idea how the rifle actually worked.
Astraea raised her hand slowly, signaling for her fellow deities to settle down.
"Kei's information, the origins of her weapon, who trained her... all of that is Astraea Familia's secret. As the Goddess of Justice, I have a duty to protect my children's privacy, don't I?" Her voice was clear and unhurried, but carried an undeniable firmness that silenced their curiosity, at least for the moment.
"..."
That diplomatic answer only made the gods more ravenous with curiosity. In their eyes, Kei's sniper rifle was no mere instrument of war. It was an anomaly that had just torn the world's logic of weaponry wide open.
Across the room, Apollo had gone perfectly still. The satisfied smile had vanished from his face, replaced by an ugly expression as he watched his followers crumple beneath the "black lightning" he couldn't begin to understand.
"Damn it all! What are they doing?!"
Apollo shot to his feet, his face, bright and sunny moments before, now flushed a deep copper with rage. He gripped the armrest of his chair until his knuckles turned white.
"Twenty people! Twenty of my adventurers fell before the enemy even set foot in the courtyard! Absolutely disgraceful! Get up, you useless excuses for fighters!"
Apollo's outburst echoed through Babel Tower's hall, but the adventurers on screen remained curled on the ground, unable to resist the curse's pain that Kei's shots had inflicted. Their screams came through the Divine Mirror's broadcast with perfect clarity.
Apollo then turned to the side and found Hestia seated with her legs crossed, wearing the widest, most triumphant grin he had ever seen.
"Don't get too comfortable, Hestia!" Apollo sneered, his sarcasm a little too forced. "That girl from Astraea Familia is only Level 1. Did you see? She's stopped shooting. Her Mana must have run dry after all those consecutive attacks. The moment my children realize where she is, she'll be an easy target!"
Hestia didn't answer right away. She took a leisurely sip of her drink with exaggerated nonchalance, then looked Apollo up and down with a gaze that could only be described as withering.
"Oh, Apollo... listening to you is like hearing the most off-key music in all of Orario." She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Claiming someone else's child is out of Mana while twenty of your own followers are sobbing on the floor... that really does sound like a classic loser's excuse. Why not just admit that our 'quality' just urinated all over your 'quantity'?"
"What did you just say?!" Apollo's face darkened another shade, the vein at his temple throbbing visibly.
"You heard me. You're panicking because you don't understand what just happened." Hestia said, sticking her tongue out at the Sun God, right to his face.
Their squabble became an amusing sideshow. Gods like Hermes and Loki let out quiet laughs at the little drama, though their attention didn't linger on the argument for long. The Divine Mirror was far more interesting.
They quickly turned their eyes back to the screen. There, amid the panic of Apollo Familia's remaining members, a new figure had begun to move through the trees.
The battle had only just begun, and if Astraea Familia's Level 1 adventurer could cause that much damage on her own, they couldn't wait to see what the "Lewd Elf" and the rest of the alliance would do.
Ryuu Lion walked calmly across the open meadow, her green cloak rippling in the breeze. Moving alone toward the castle that had descended into panic, she glanced briefly toward the high ground where Kei was positioned.
"Astraea-sama found someone extraordinary." She murmured quietly, a flash of pride behind her sharp gaze. "I don't need to worry about Astraea Familia's future anymore."
As the sole survivor of Astraea Familia, watching a newcomer like Kei dominate the battlefield brought her a quiet peace. Though it had been a long time since she'd been in direct contact with her Main God, she knew Astraea Familia was now in good hands.
"Honestly, I'm not fond of using magic swords... but this is for Bell. I have to do it."
For an adventurer, using a magic sword was often considered inelegant, given how disposable and fragile they were. But in a proxy war where every second counted, their destructive power was the key to crushing the enemy's morale.
With the archers on the ramparts swept clean by Kei's precise shots, Ryuu walked forward without obstruction, as if she were strolling through a garden rather than advancing on a battlefield.
The remaining Apollo Familia adventurers inside the castle were still huddled behind concrete barriers, terrified of the unseen long-range attacks, and they didn't notice the Gale until she was already within striking distance.
When she judged the distance to be right, Ryuu stopped. She crossed both magic swords over her chest, the red one in her right hand, the purple in her left.
*SRING!*
She swung the red sword in her right hand in a perfect horizontal arc. Instantly, a massive fireball crackling with heat launched forward, splitting the air with a roar like a furious dragon. Before the fiery explosion could even begin to fade, she brought the purple blade down with her left hand.
*CRAAAKKK!*
Thick bolts of violet lightning writhed and twisted at blinding speed, striking the upper tower of the castle.
*BOOM! BOOM!*
The twin explosions shook the building to its foundations. Massive chunks of stone shattered and were hurled into the air, raining debris down into the inner courtyard.
The outer wall, which Apollo Familia had believed to be an absolute defense, cracked and split wide open beneath the elemental power Ryuu had unleashed. Thick dust billowed outward, swallowing the view.
Black smoke began rising high into the sky, visible through the Divine Mirror across all of Orario, a signal that the Sun God's proud fortress had begun to fall.
Realizing that staying hidden would only bury them alive, Apollo Familia's members began crawling out from behind the rubble. A brief wave of relief washed over them as they noticed that the mysterious long-range fire, Kei's cursed bullets, had gone quiet.
"Now! Shower her with arrows!" A field commander bellowed.
A torrent of arrows poured from the sections of wall still standing. But Ryuu moved like the wind, impossible to catch. With high-level agility, she spun through the hail of arrows, each rotation of her body followed by a deadly swing of the magic swords.
*BOOM! CRAKK!*
Explosions of fire consumed the archers, while bursts of lightning incinerated the Mages before they could finish a single chant.
The sound of crumbling stone was deafening, sending a tremor rippling down to the base of the hill. The castle's structural integrity was gone. The already-battered northern wall began to tilt dramatically inward.
Ryuu didn't stop. She moved east, unleashing a relentless series of elemental strikes that exceeded anything conventional magic could produce. Before long, the eastern wall began to collapse under the unending bombardment.
"Status report! What in the world is happening out there?!"
Panic and terror had completely replaced the casual atmosphere that had once settled over Apollo Familia. In the middle of the chaos, a sharp order rang out from the central hall.
"Orders from Hyakinthos! Take fifty fighters and take that person down, now!"
The adventurers there froze. Sending fifty men meant splitting the castle's defensive strength in half to deal with a single opponent. It was a move of desperation.
"Those magic swords will tear apart any small group we send out!" The messenger shouted again. "They don't even have ten fighters in that alliance! Eliminate that one as fast as possible and get back here immediately!"
Everyone fell silent for a moment. Then a massive explosion rocked the wall again, sending a shockwave that cracked the floor beneath their feet. The tremor was the final push they needed.
"A-Alright! Move out!"
"Tsk... no other choice!"
The side gate was wrenched open. Fifty fully armed adventurers poured out in an encircling formation, charging toward Ryuu, who stood perfectly still in the middle of the now-scorched meadow.
They came with fury and desperation, betting everything on stopping the Gale before their castle was leveled completely to the ground.
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