NOVEL WEB Chapter 26: Chapter 26-Cheating!
Chapter 26
INUMAKI HERAKLES
"That is cheating!" Hestia-sama screamed from beside him as the people in the arena became quiet as a minotaur appeared in the arena.
"How can a monster be here?" she asked, and yet if the smile on a certain Goddess's face was any indication, this was all according to plan.
"Ganeshaa!" she called out the God who was the overseer of this whole event, and she was not the only one. In the elevated chambers, each and every God was looking at the said God who smiled.
"According to the reports, Zanis Lustrai has registered himself as a beast tamer, and that monster is his tamed monster," and Ganesha's claim was made with derision.
"That is a lie. Zanis Lustria is not a beast tamer. This is a clear violation of the rules..." and as his Goddess was complaining.
"There is no need to worry," he added, making her stop as she turned to face him, along with the rest of the Gods, as he turned his eyes towards the arena once again where Bell stood face to face with the Minotaur.
"Zanis can bring two more if he wishes, and it would not make a difference," he scoffed. He smiled when he saw Bell reach down and pick up Zanis's long sword.
"Such confidence," the comment came from Ishtar, the Goddess of beauty who sat there smoking her pipe dressed in two piece that barely left anything to imagination.
"I wonder what drives you to believe that a Level 1 rookie can beat a minotaur," she taunted, and Inumaki raised a brow.
"Well, you see," he began as Bell began racing towards the monster before he threw forward his arm and shouted for them all to hear.
"FIRE BOLT!" and the magical ball of fire rushed towards the Minotaur who brought up its arm to defend itself as Bell threw the massive sword straight at its face, as he himself slid down under it slashing away at his legs, cutting off the tendons, as the monster screamed in agony as the bashed away Zanis's blade.
"My little junior is no longer a Level 1 adventurer," and with that, the Minotaur turned and swung its arm wildly at Bell, trying to crush him, yet it had forgotten about its cut tendons and fell down to its knees as a cloud of dust erupted where Bell was.
The Gods and Goddesses in the stand gasped at his words as Bell emerged from the shadow as the Minotaur's arm fell down, and the monster screamed in agony as Bell grabbed its face with both of his fits and screamed once more at the top of his lungs.
"FIRE BOLT!"
"FIRE BOLT!"
"FIRE BOLTTTTTT!"
BOOOOM!
And the strength of his magic was such that the Monster's head was blown straight off, as Bell himself got coated in its blood as Minotaur's body dissolved into thin smoke as its magical crystal fell down, leaving a blood-soaked Bell there for all to see.
"YEAH!" the people cheered as Bell stood there before he finally realized that he was covered in blood and began trying to wipe it away as the other Goddess of beauty chuckled and stood up with her grace and elegance, making all heads turn towards her.
"It seems you have run off on him, Inumaki-kun," she said, eyeing him as she turned towards her companion.
"It seems to me that we are done. Let us go, Ottar," and with that, she turned around and began to walk out of the area as the vice-captain of Soma familia turned towards Ganesha.
"This is a lie. How can a month-old rookie manage to rank up? This is cheating!" he screamed, and Inumaki raised a brow.
"Exactly how a swordsman of three years can become a tamer in but a month," he retaliated, and the man shut his mouth as he was caught in the lie.
"Bell Cranel's rank up was reported to the guild this morning. There is no foul play here," Ganesha announced as Bell walked towards a quivering Zanis who was trying to back away. Bell raised his hand and was about to finish the match.
"FIRE...."
"I yield!" the blue-haired man screamed.
"I yield!" he repeated as Inumaki smiled and Hestia-sama cheered, as the gathered Gods and Goddesses watched in awe as Bell stood there smiling nervously as he waved to the crowd, and he heard Ishtar click her tongue as she stood up.
"This has been quite a discovery," and with that, she walked away as all the Gods and Goddesses turned towards Hestia-sama and began to congratulate her. At the same time, Inumaki found himself looking at a certain Goddess.
Demeter, the Goddess of Harvest and Farming.
She was the one, the one whose name had come up the few times he had tried to look into the existence of Enyo, and yet he could not believe it.
Not her.
And so he decided to test it, as he rose from his seat and walked upto the said Goddess clad in a simple pastel dress, and as he approached her, she smiled at him.
"It is good to see you again, Herakles," she called him by his second name, one which only a few knew.
"Congratulations on your victory," she said, and Inumaki nodded before his eyes shifted, and the said Goddess stilled for a second as he asked away the question.
"Thank you, but I was hoping that you could answer a question of mine," he began with a smile and saw the Goddess shrink back.
"I was hoping that you could tell me if you knew anything about the name..." he began softly as he stood infront of her.
"...Enyo?" he saw her still for a second as she looked away and replied.
"I don't know what you are talking about..." and she was lying.
And as soon as that thought registered to him, he stilled but before he could call her out on it, he was interrupted by someone.
"Congratulations on your victory, Inumaki-san," and he turned to the side and watched another god, Dionysus, walking towards him, making him frown.
"I was hoping I could get a moment of your time to apologize to you...."
0000
LOKI FAMILIA
The little wargame had riled up the temp, and as she looked at the gathered children she could tell that her children were all riled up as well.
After all, nothing riled up the adventurers more than a young rising star, and Hestia's little rabbit was proving himself to be as big of a menace as that grey-haired bastard.
She had scheduled the expedition after the war game just because of this, so the members of the expedition may get a morale boost from the spectacle and it seemed to her that it had worked.
"So, are you all ready?" she asked, and was answered with a cheer and several determined nods as she smiled watching all the children.
"Then let the expedition begin," she announced and with a cheer the Loki familia members began to leave the mansion as she prayed for their safety. They would be meeting up with the other members and familia in the guild building before diving down dungeon floors.
"It seems your little bet with the war game paid off," Finn added as he stood beside her, he had been one of the few who had known of her little ploy.
"Yeah, I was expecting it to go well. But even I was blown away by that little rookie of Hestia," and she cursed that busty idiot for her luck, on how she had gotten her hands on two irregulars so easily.
But that was not all. For several days now, Loki had been feeling anxious, as if something was about to go wrong. At one point, she had even considered ending the expedition, and yet the thing was far too into the works to be pulled down.
And yet, the feeling of unease had only been heightened ever since the wargame.
"Finn," she called out after her captain, who turned to look at her.
"Be careful out there," she repeated solemnly as his eyes narrowed, for Finn knew the truth that most of her children did not.
In this world, there was nothing more dangerous than God's intuition.
"I have been feeling rather queasy," she added as Finn nodded.
"I will keep that in mind," and with that, the mansion was emptied except for a few of her children, and soon enough, Loki would retire to her own chambers out of boredom, and hours would pass. Hours.
And yet sleep would continue to evade her, and eventually, she would force herself out of the sheets and would stumble towards the cabinet, and pour herself a glass of wine before walking to the window and staring out into the vast city infront.
"Just what plot is brewing in this darkness," she whispered as she sipped the wine.
"I have not been this uneasy since that night seven years ago," she whispered, recalling the Erbeus plot and the betrayal of Zald and Alfia and how the city was brought down to its knees.
And yet she would see nothing, and just as she would turn her gaze away from the city, her ears would be assaulted with the sound of an explosion.
BOOOOM
And she would turn back, her fears were proven right as she would watch smoke take to take skies from one particular corner of the city.
0000
INUMAKI HERAKLES-THE SILENT
"You are not going to join me?" he questioned Ryuu the blonde elf shook her head at his question.
"I am afraid I cannot. Syr has fallen ill and is taking a leave for a few days, and there is no one who can cover my shifts at Mama's," she said before her eyes turned towards her ex-familia mates.
"Plus, I would like to spend more time with Alise and the rest," she whispered as the red-haired girl smiled wildly.
"That is nice of you Ryuu. It will be just like old times," the ex-captain added as Inumaki just shrugged.
"Then so be it. I will be leaving now," he said as he stood up and reached for his spear as Hestia-sama spoke up in drunken voice from the side.
"Leaving so early Inumaki-kun. Why can't you just stay behind?" the said Goddess had drowned herself in several bottles of wine and had lost her reason hours ago, thankfully not before updating his status.
His training had paid off, and Inumaki was now eligible for a rank-up. However, he had pushed it off for some time, just so he could improve his status further.
"I am afraid I can wait no more," he said as he pushed her away and looked at the four gathered girls infront of him.
"I am sorry to ask this of you, but please look after her while I am away," he requested and his request was answered with earnest nods from them all, as Kaguya-san stepped forth.
"Your wish is my command, Inumaki-sama," she said, making him blush, as he nodded and walked out of the abandoned mansion.
.
.
.
.
And as he reached the Guild Building he was greeted by a hoard of people, adveturers and managers from various familia's checking on equipment forming groups, and as soon as he entered the building he felt a hush take over the crows as he saw people's eyes widen at his appearance, at armor he was wearing.
Black Orichalum, with golden linings to hold it all together, it was full armor that covered his whole body and yet it was as light as a feather, and as he walked towards the head of the gathering he found exactly who he was looking for.
"You are finally here, Inei-kun," he was greeted by the captain of the Loki familia, as he joined them in the vanguard.
"I am," and with greetings out of the way the expedition began as they all entered the dungeons, however to his surprise he found the pace to be rather slow, as he walked beside the captain of the Loki familia.
"You are being overtly cautious, why? He asked, Finn, the pallum looked towards him.
"I have been warned to be careful from a person with a rather frightening intuition," he answered as he walked beside him.
"Speaking of that, I have a favor to ask of you Inei-kun," he said making him nod.
"Your power," he began as he pushed himself closer to him.
"The one that allows you to ush past your limits, I want you to be rather cautious around its use," he said and Inei was surprised by those words and yet he nonetheless nodded at the proposal.
"As you wish," for he understood the experienced pallum's point, and if the warning had indeed come from the Goddess Loki as he suspected, then it was indeed a troubling sign.
And so, they moved on, in two groups as they cut through monsters and finally reached the 18th floor in half a day.
"Ok, we are going to rest here for a few hours and then we will be moving forward once more," and given that he was alone Inumaki found himself resting alone until he was joined by two very familiar faces.
"Yu have come alone," came the question from Ais, who was part of the second group, and was joined on the side by the young Leyfia Verdis.
"Yes, Ryuu-san could not come because of work," he replied as he saw Ais and Leyfia eyeing his armor.
"You finally got it repaired Ais," whispered as she sat down beside him.
"I had to, the lower floors are dangerous and going there without an armor would be suicide," he answered as he turned towards the young elf.
"How about you Leyfia-chan, how goes your training?" he asked, finding himself rather intrigued given he had helped her quite a bit much like Bell.
"It's going well, Inumaki-sama," she said as her cheeks turned rosy.
"I was able to get started on simultaneous casting because of you," though in his he had done little, it was all her and so they engaged in small talk for some time until it was time to leave once again.
And as they were about to leave Riveria, he found himself stopping and looking back towards the entrance, a feeling of unease bubbling in him, and only the pallum Finn noticed him stopping.
"What is happening, Inumaki-kun?" he asked, as he frowned trying to assess the situation.
"Noth..." but his words were cut short as he narrowed his gaze and saw a silhouette rushing through the entrance.
"What is she doing here?" he gasped as he pushed his magic into his legs, and jumped from his position demolishing the ground underneath his feet, as a massive scream filled Riveria.
"INUMAKI-SAN!" and he blurred through the city, his heart thumping as he saw a bashed and battered form of Ryuu Leon stumbling into the safe heaven of Riveria, and in but a few seconds he was infront of her, and could barely believed the sight infront of him, the wounds and all.
Ryuu Leon was a Level 4 adventurer, and there she was bruised and battered, and the wounds seemed cursed to him.
"What happened?" he asked, as he saw relief fill those eyes.
"The Ishtar familia..." and that was all he needed to hear as he clicked his tongue and looked straight ahead, as he rocketed in the opposite direction of the expedition, with only a single message.
"Go on ahead without me..."
"...I will be back."
0000
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