Danmachi: Is It Wrong to Be the Main Character in Orario?

No matter how you looked at it, the Loki Familia and Apollo Familia were officially at war now.

While the gods all knew Apollo had virtually no chance of winning—he was, after all, up against the second most powerful force in Orario—he still pushed forward. At the Denatus, Apollo had laid out several conditions, and Loki had agreed to send only two members of her Familia to participate.

But that vague agreement—without specifying who—was the real kicker.

No one knew which members Loki would choose, but it was certain that one of them would be at least a Level 5, if not Level 6.

So no one questioned who would win in the end.

That said, it didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm for the War Game.

Even if the outcome seemed predetermined, the choice of participants could still affect the direction of the battle.

Different adventurers brought different fighting styles to the table.

And what the gods really wanted to see was exactly which two of Loki's children would be sent in to utterly dominate the game.

While some treated the match as a festival, there were others who didn't give it a second thought.

One of those was Bell.

Early that morning, Bell had headed straight into the Dungeon, completely ignoring the divine assembly. What mattered more to him right now was testing how "Robust Health" would help him in actual combat.

So, after mentioning it briefly to Hestia-sama, he went straight to the Dungeon.

"Zzzzt!"

A bolt of lightning streaked through the Dungeon, flashing across the corridors at impossible speed as it surged to the next floor.

Were it not for its concealment, every adventurer in the Dungeon would've noticed.

It wasn't until the tenth floor that the bolt abruptly stopped, revealing Bell's figure.

'The improvement is obvious.'

Lightning Transformation was the earliest combat method Bell had developed from "Lightning Command"—a technique inspired by certain anime.

By turning his body into lightning, he could achieve a state of true "godspeed."

The magic cost of "Lightning Command" was closely tied to range: the closer the magic's effect was to the caster's body, the lower the cost.

But long-range attacks caused magic consumption to spike exponentially.

That was why Lightning Transformation had become Bell's go-to technique.

Still, despite its usefulness, it wasn't without drawbacks.

Using it for too long caused muscle soreness.

Just like lactic acid buildup during exercise, maintaining Lightning Transformation too long led to fatigue.

Bell had run into this issue before, which was why he always kept the strain within manageable limits to make his use of Lightning Transformation more efficient.

The problem stemmed largely from his earlier poor physical condition.

But as Bell's physical strength improved, the fatigue it caused gradually lessened, allowing him to maintain the transformation longer.

Before he had been infused with the concept of "Robust Health," even reaching the tenth floor using Lightning Transformation left his body tired.

But today, after hitting the tenth floor with the same technique, he didn't feel even the slightest exhaustion—his body felt like it had just finished warming up.

'The Robust Health of a true hero really is something else.'

Bell was once again struck by how powerful a Heroic Spirit's concept could be—and how much it had helped him.

'Robust Health has dramatically boosted my endurance... I can feel my body still growing.'

After that burst of movement, his body felt slightly warm, but he could also feel it developing at an accelerated pace.

It was as if "Personal Training" and "Robust Health" worked in perfect harmony, amplifying his physical growth.

'Robust Health really does patch up my biggest weakness.'

Bell had always prioritized raising his "Status." Only by pushing his stats to the limit could he go further in the future.

The Runic Letters were essential for training his magic.

Lightning Transformation was key for agility and dexterity.

And Robust Health now boosted his strength and endurance growth.

With that, Bell had a method to train each of his abilities efficiently.

Of course, basic combat already helped raise strength and endurance.

But after a battle, increases in agility and dexterity always outpaced those in strength and durability.

Over time, this situation started to resemble how things were before Bell reached Level 2—where he had to deliberately train his strength and endurance.

It was clear this had begun to slow his overall growth. Even Bell's fighting style had subtly shifted after his last upgrade.

He had started to move away from pure high-speed combat, shifting toward a more technique-focused style, with speed playing a secondary role.

Sometimes, he even had to intentionally take hits to stimulate the growth of his physical strength and toughness.

'A solid improvement, but the direction I'm heading in has changed. I can't rely solely on speed like I used to.'

While his improved physical capabilities had raised the ceiling of his potential, they hadn't altered his path forward.

High-speed combat remained Bell's ultimate trump card—but in day-to-day battles, he relied more on runes and refined technique.

"~Huff… Hah…"

Bell let out a slow breath. The excitement bubbling within him quickly calmed.

He was on the path of all-rounded development, which meant maintaining a careful balance at all times.

His "Status" had to be improved across the board—not just in one area.

So getting overly excited just because one weakness had been patched up wasn't going to help.

Just as he was about to pull "Kuji Kanesada" out from his four-dimensional storage, Bell paused.

'Wait... didn't I complete the set for Kuji Kanesada?'

During yesterday's gacha pull, he'd only skimmed over it before being completely distracted by the last Heroic Spirit card.

'Now that I think about it... yeah, I did finish it.'

"Enhance Kuji Kanesada."

[Requires 1,000,000 Valis.]

Fresh off a fortunate encounter with the Loki Familia, Bell wasn't hurting for funds, so he confirmed the enhancement without hesitation.

The four "Kuji Kanesada" cards he hadn't yet withdrawn floated up and merged into the sword.

A pale light enveloped the blade. One by one, the cards fused into it, lengthening the sword from its original 70 centimeters to a full meter. Then, distinct kanji glowed faintly along the blade's surface.

[Kuji Kanesada: A blade favored by the Woman of the Void from another world. Imbued by the Root itself, it possesses unique properties.]

[Note: Bestowed with the special traits [Cuts Through All Things] and [Indestructible].]

Bell stared at the annotation in silence for a long moment.

'So... this is really the sword Shiki Ryougi uses?'

He had thought it was just a conceptual weapon—an idea based on the legendary Kuji Kanesada.

But looking at it now, that clearly wasn't the case.

This Kuji Kanesada—it had to be the very blade wielded by Shiki Ryougi herself.