Time rewound two hours.
The Loki Familia had their own matters to handle next, so Cid returned to the Astraea Familia alone.
Astraea didn't look surprised to see him back early.
"Cid—was that disturbance in the Dungeon your doing?"
The commotion had been so enormous she'd felt it even from Orario.
If they weren't in a pre-war posture—where gods didn't dare wander around freely—she suspected the deities would've already gathered on their own to debate what had happened.
Cid fidgeted and asked, "I tested that spell, and it cost an Elixir… You didn't front the money for that, did you, Astraea-sama?"
An Elixir cost six digits. Even if Riveria and the others didn't demand payment, as a proper mob character he was obligated to spend at least a little while sweating in fear.
"Elixir? No," Astraea shook her head. "I did pay a million, but that was only so you could buy ordinary potions and keep practicing until you can actually control the spell. The Elixir must've been Riveria's decision."
The Familia truly had no money left.
Even that one million for potions had been borrowed.
If Cid's magic weren't genuinely worth looking forward to, she wouldn't have asked anyone for a loan in the first place.
Using Elixirs just to practice magic was far too extravagant.
"A million…? And 'until I can control it'…?"
Cid froze, staring at Astraea like she'd grown a demon's face.
A normal potion cost three digits.
Even a high-quality one might reach four.
How long, exactly, was Astraea planning to let Riveria drill him for, to set aside that much?!
High EQ: Why does this goddess suddenly look like a ferocious ogre?
Low EQ: Are you a devil?
Astraea merely smiled at his shock.
"Cid, now that you have this spell, you can keep up with everyone. Are you still going to leave?"
"Astraea-sama… didn't I already tell you the real reason I want to go?"
"I know. But that reason won't convince everyone. You'll need to come up with another one. Also—the god I mentioned to you is almost here. These next few days, prepare yourself properly."
"I understand."
After exchanging a few more words with his goddess, Cid returned to his room and immediately pulled out an item.
It was a cursed tool shaped like an eyeball.
Something he'd taken from the Dark Faction last time.
It wasn't really "stealing," either—those people hadn't objected when he picked it up.
And if they didn't object, it wasn't stealing. It was a loan.
"Could this thing be the key?" Cid murmured. "The Dark Faction's main base should be loaded, right?"
All at once he felt incredibly poor—meaning, obviously, kindhearted people ought to provide relief.
Riveria had been cautious and refused to bring a rookie into an unknown space, but if nothing unexpected happened, the Loki Familia would soon march an army in and crush the place.
Cid, however, operated alone. Solo action was far more convenient than gathering a force.
With that thought, he immediately changed into his slime suit.
Why not rest first?
Because the Dark Faction had surely piled all their treasure in there.
"Next… let us play a nocturne."
…
Back to the present.
With Cid suddenly appearing, all three elves couldn't quite make sense of the situation.
"You—be careful. They're—" Filvis started to warn him, then clamped her mouth shut.
Cid had stepped out through a secret passage too.
And the things he'd just said were cryptic and dramatic—almost exactly the sort of nonsense the Dark Faction loved.
Maybe he was with them.
The Dis Sisters quickly answered that question for her.
"Who are you? Are you a gorgeous flower?"
"An unfamiliar face—then you must be a flower!"
"Good. Then we'll pluck your petals off one by one!"
"Dina, sister—one of us on each side!"
But after saying that, the sisters didn't attack Cid at all.
Instead, they sprinted straight for Filvis again.
Compared to a stranger who had just appeared, the elf who had called them fiends was far more hateful.
And the rage triggered by that word—fiend—was the only emotion that ever made them truly lucid.
"How rude," Cid said mildly. "Shouldn't you greet a guest first?"
He flickered—one step, one blur—and appeared between the Dis Sisters.
"What?!"
"Damn it!"
The sisters reacted instantly, attacking at the same time.
Years of living together, rotting together—their coordination was unmatched in Orario.
Even Freya Familia's white and black elven kings couldn't quite compete with them in that regard.
Cid didn't dodge. His slime suit flowed into a barrier, blocking the first wave cleanly.
"Were all these people killed by you?" he asked, tone almost conversational. "I didn't think there were elves like you."
At first, he genuinely couldn't tell which side was "good."
All three elves were covered in blood. Just because Filvis was losing didn't automatically make her innocent.
Honestly, in his eyes, this looked like elf-on-elf violence—possibly even a criminal gang tearing itself apart.
For now, the only thing he could confirm was that the stylish, menacing sisters were Dark Faction.
That didn't necessarily mean the third elf was blameless.
"Yes," the sisters chimed, thrilled. "We're elves—the noblest elves!"
"You've got decent taste," they purred. "Why don't you come with us? We'll love you properly. We'll torment you properly!"
Even as they spoke sweetly, their eyes changed.
The teasing vanished; in the same instant, they snapped into a battle posture so crazed it felt inhuman.
Dina began to chant.
"Black mire, crimson sin—bite, mingle, and grind together… our filthy organs, like sludge…"
The incantation was medium-length, but what she summoned wasn't magic.
"A curse?" Cid said, sounding almost amused. "Lately I really do keep running into those."
He glanced at Filvis. Then—ignoring Veena's guarded stance—he simply waited, watching Dina complete the curse.
Under his gaze, the moment the curse ended—
Dina's Endurance and Magic dropped sharply.
Veena's Strength and Agility dropped sharply.
Two of their stats fell so far it was practically like being demoted a level.
But in exchange—
Dina's Strength and Agility, and Veena's Endurance and Magic, surged upward—approaching Level 6 territory.
It looked as if the sisters had forcibly drawn each other's attributes across, trading them like stolen blood.
A rare curse, indeed.
"Die in our embrace!" Dina shrieked, rushing Cid with dual daggers—Savior Knight's Mercy Blades.
A short blade was dangerous up close; short range meant lethal range.
Under Dina's hands, the twin daggers struck with relentless precision—each move aimed to kill.
She didn't care about "sensitive areas." She didn't care about dirty tricks.
If a position was hard to defend and fatal when hit, her daggers went there without hesitation.
If her opponent lagged behind even for a moment, two bloody holes would appear.
And once she broke through a guard even once, she wouldn't stop until the target was riddled with wounds.
Cid formed his slime into a sword. He swung almost casually—yet every single killing thrust was effortlessly turned aside.
Dual daggers were uncommon, but he understood them well enough.
And Dina's close-quarters technique… wasn't even fully polished.
She was nowhere near the level of a certain martial artist he'd encountered in his previous life—an "Eastern University" weapons master.
That man's heavy longblade looked clumsy and slow, but in motion it became endlessly shifting, endlessly terrifying.
Setting aside himself, that was the strongest weapon user Cid had ever seen.
Dina's eyes widened in shock.
Whether it was raw attributes or skill, she couldn't gain even the slightest advantage.
She was a true Level 5—and her key melee stats, Strength and Agility, had been boosted to the equivalent of Level 6.
And still… nothing.
"My dear," Dina laughed, delighted. "I'm falling more and more in love with you. I want to tear you apart even more!"
Her grin widened. Her attacks grew wilder.
A worthwhile opponent—those were her favorite.
Ripping apart heroes—that was the meaning of her existence.
Veena didn't just watch.
She began chanting at full speed.
"Burn the heretic—paradise of guilty flame. Every mistake and inversion of this world is gathered here. Tens of thousands of blazing tombstones—weep, Sixth Garden! Resound, Ninth Song!"
When her spell locked on, even Cid's expression shifted slightly.
With his instincts, he could tell one thing immediately:
He couldn't dodge it.
"Accept my affection, heretic!" Veena crooned.
Her smile widened—and the temperature around them skyrocketed.
Especially around Cid.
Without touching any flame at all, his body suddenly ignited.
Under Filvis's horrified gaze, a burst of fire swallowed Cid in an instant.
Before Filvis could even scream, the flames were smothered in the next heartbeat—extinguished by surging slime.
It really was the kind of spell you couldn't defend against by dodging.
It was unavoidable.
But once you had a defense strong enough to endure it, its fatal flaw became obvious:
It didn't hit hard enough.
Cid stepped out again—without a single scratch.
His clothes weren't even ruffled.
Even the Dis Sisters—who were used to madness—stared blankly for a beat.
They had just used their killing moves, hadn't they?
Even Freya Familia's twin elven kings would be suppressed under that kind of combined pressure.
"Two Level 5s… I get it now. You're the Dis Sisters."
While casually deflecting everything they threw at him, Cid finally identified them.
Honestly, with that level of power and those obvious features, it would've been stranger not to recognize them.
Then—having tested enough—Cid stopped holding back.
He attacked at twice his previous speed.
Back in his previous life, he'd already dissected combat down to the marrow.
Blend the schools and styles he'd learned, and he could assemble a fighting system that surpassed even first-class adventurers.
But his baseline stats were absurd; most enemies didn't survive long enough to force him to use real technique.
Especially when Cid got serious.
A coordinated pair of Level 5 elf sisters was, at minimum, worth "a little seriousness."
Dina couldn't even dodge in time.
Her twin daggers barely managed to block the slime blade—then Cid slapped her aside with one open palm.
A slap didn't sound like much.
But Dina flew more than ten meters.
A normal person would've had their skull shattered instantly.
"Sister!" Veena screamed, panic wiping her mind blank—she even forgot she was still inside an enemy's striking range.
Only when she saw Dina struggle upright did Veena finally exhale.
As long as her sister was alive, she had the courage to keep living.
"Back with us?" Cid asked politely, as if checking on a fainting guest.
He, Shadow, wouldn't attack an enemy who had lost the will to fight.
So he would wait until they recovered—then strike again.
"Y-You—!"
Only then did Veena remember: she was still close enough for him to kill her.
At this point, she could barely manage a defensive posture.
Then, just like Dina—
Veena was slapped into the air and sent flying.
Both slaps landed squarely on their faces.
....
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