135. You've Been Through a Lot.
135. You've Been Through a Lot.
[Main God─Hermes: A wise choice, hero! May your future be filled with blessings!]
First, I offered up the Succubus Queen's essence to Hermes.
I didn't know where it would be used or what I'd get, but would he really give me something weird?
At least from what I'd experienced so far, the main gods were prone to blessing and cursing on a whim, but when it came to items, they were pretty reliable.
So I relaxed a bit and offered up the item,
".......?"
What the hell.
There was no reaction whatsoever.
'Ah, no way....'
...Eat and run? Take the goods and dip?
I lifted my head towards the sky.
No matter if he's the God of Thieves, eat and run, that's not right... is it?
[Main God─Hermes: Haste makes waste, and neither porridge nor rice!]
"Fuck"
It was such a typical line that I was almost convinced.
I got backstabbed. No wonder my luck seemed unusually good today.
Whatever. In the original story, she burned to death from Yuno's Holy Flame without leaving a trace of her existence anyway, so I decided to just think of it as similar to that.
I killed Lilith.
Completely, without leaving a single trace of her existence.
─Uuuuung....!
"...Is it about to collapse?"
The moment the Queen's existence completely vanished, the dungeon's form began to waver.
The boss monster, which could be called the dungeon's core, was dead, so naturally the dungeon couldn't maintain its form.
But there were still succubi remaining, so it felt like it was barely maintaining its shape.
'In the original... come to think of it, did the dungeon itself remain in the original too?'
Back then I thought maybe they left the dungeon for leveling purposes, but looking at it now, that didn't seem to be the case.
After all, breeding itself was something the lower succubi could manage well enough.
"So now I should wrap things up soon..."
The succubi that lost their boss monster would start moving on their own now.
While they were still under the Queen's control, they might have been different, but with nothing left to suppress them, they'd probably get more serious about harvesting essence.
As a result, people bewitched by the succubi would diligently offer up their vitality and then suffer fatal dehydration──
"──Huh?"
This seemed like a bigger disaster than I thought.
I acted rashly in a fit of anger, feeling like an NTR event was imminent, and it seemed like something I couldn't handle had occurred.
If people ended up dying in droves because of my mistake, that'd be a bit troubling....
"M...Monster...!"
"Hiiiik....!"
"Apostle of the Evil God, of the Ancient God...!!"
"...Huh?"
The succubi that had been clinging around the Queen began to tremble violently.
The Queen collapsed on the ground, reduced to ashes. And my presence as the one who created this situation.
"Run awaaaaaaay!!!"
"The Ancient God! The main god's apostle!!!"
"I don't wanna dieeeee!!!!"
The succubi fled without looking back.
No, they went beyond just fleeing, they screamed so loudly their voices echoed throughout the dungeon.
[It's the Ancient God!]
[Sisters! Everyone run!!!!]
The sounds filling the dungeon interior caused it to shake heavily.
Noises like something rushing out in a hurry.
Soon, the sound of windows breaking, walls crumbling, and all sorts of other sounds layered together──
"Wo......wah...."
──A swarm of succubi fleeing out the windows was visible.
...Actually, this made sense, right?
The boss monster was dead, so there was no reason for the underlings to stay out of loyalty.
Had I developed a persecution complex because the original story kept getting twisted and only the worst-case scenarios I never imagined kept exploding?
As I watched the succubi disappearing far off into the distance,
[You have defeated the 'True Queen of the Night─Lilith']
[Obtained 'Title: Conqueror of the Night']
[Conqueror of the Night][Rank: B]
-One who has vanquished the True Queen of the Night.
-The deep night can no longer tempt you.
-Acquire [Mental Resistance] skill──> Duplicate skill already possessed
-[Mental Resistance (Lv. 2)] has increased to [Mental Immunity (Lv. 1)].
-Stamina +100%
-+50% adjustment to affection from the opposite sex
"Eh?"
Status windows popping up relentlessly.
What the hell.
When I defeated Queen Siren, nothing like this came up.
[As 'Cronus's Apostle,' you have raised Cronus's name.]
[Contribution +300]
"Ah....."
When I defeated Queen Siren, I passed all the credit to the Athena Guild.
So obviously something like this couldn't have come up.
Just as I was quietly marveling at this,
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +200]
"......Ffffuck"
Hah....
I should hold my tongue.
It felt like I had quite a lot to say, but none of it felt like proper things to voice.
I didn't look up and just took care of the others.
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +100]
"It's all over, so let's head back now."
"Okay! I love you, Chrono!"
"You lie like you breathe, don't you?"
"It showed? Hehet...."
Merk didn't seem to have suffered any major harm, as she was able to get up on her own.
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +50]
"Yuno, you're...."
"....!.....!!...."
"I'll have to carry you on my back."
"Hieut...?! eut....euueut...!!!"
The moment I hoisted her onto my back, Yuno shuddered.
The warm, damp sensation seeping onto my back was no joke.
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +30]
─Purureureung....
"...Come to think of it, you were here too, weren't you?"
I hadn't thought about it.
I lifted Yuno, who was lying on my back, and placed her onto Mai's back again.
I checked if she'd get ticklish again from touching the fur or mane, but it seemed the complete lack of movement was fine in its own way.
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +20]
"Ah, me too! Merk wants to ride too!"
"You've completely let your guard down now, haven't you?"
Seeing her refer to herself by her own name, Merk, meant she was fully at ease.
However, that was that, and this was this.
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
"No."
"Ah whyyy~~~! There's plenty of room!"
Room?
That plentiful room...
─Pushiiiiik!
"....Huh?"
"Well, there's none now."
Mai had shrunk back to the small horse that Yuno could barely sit on alone.
The buff from [Encore Kiss] must have ended, returning her to her original body.
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
"Alright, let's head back like this."
"What about the other people?"
"If you're so worried, you go rescue them yourself."
"...Merk is delicate, so she'd go to help and might end up getting jumped...?"
"Why should I care?"
"....Chrono is so cold."
Why should I care? Exactly.
The succubi were all gone anyway, and everyone else must have been hit by mental attacks. They'd probably all get up and return to the guild in due time.
With Yuno loaded onto Mai and Merk in tow, I returned to the Ares Guild.
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
"............"
"? Chrono?"
At the main gate of the Ares Guild.
I stopped in place and let out a light sigh.
"You go in first. Yuno... I'll send her back later."
"Huh? Don't tell me you two are going to do 'that kind of thing' alone?"
".............."
"....Really?"
Well, since she was hit with the Carnal Crest, I had to do it whether I liked it or not.
And,
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
['Cronus' has bestowed additional compensation.]
[Contribution +1]
"I get it, so stop it."
[Main God─Cronus:.........]
Only then did the status window stop.
I closed my eyes tight and asked.
"...What exactly is the problem this time?"
[Main God─Cronus: I wish to converse.]
"Then you could just take me there when I'm sleeping."
You always say you take 5 minutes of my time.
You could just talk then, so why are you doing it this way?
[Main God─Cronus: I wish to speak alone, just the two of us, without Hera.]
"That's a bit much."
So I can fall into an eternal hell of suffering?
There's a line to be drawn even when joking, and this was a request that crossed the line way too far──but
[Main God─Cronus: I swear upon the River Styx.]
"............."
I swear upon the River Styx,
[Main God─Cronus: 5 minutes in absolute time, and during that time, I shall absolutely do nothing to your detriment.]
"....Still, it's a bit"
No matter how much you swear on the River Styx and guarantee safety,
Right now, just the act of being face-to-face with you is stressful for me, you know?
Given my less-than-favorable reaction, Cronus proposed again.
[Main God─Cronus: I shall grant you the authority for 'Advent.']
".............."
Advent.
An Awakening Skill that can only be used once the Bond Skill exceeds 10.
Stats double, awakening-specific skills are unlocked, it's an indispensable skill in the later stages.
'...Was that something I could do too?'
No, well, of course it's possible.
Because even the original Protagonist could use 'Advent'.
So if you think of it as a similar principle, it's easy to understand, but
"Still, I'm a little uneasy...."
Just as I was wavering at that slightly ambiguous feeling,
[Main God─Cronus: Right, then would it suffice if I spoke like this]
"Huh....?"
Cronus spoke toward me.
[Main God─Cronus: I ask of you.]
"............"
[Main God─Cronus: I beg of you, just once... please grant me an audience.]
"Wow"
That
Uh
Ah
"...That genuinely gives me the creeps."
For now, I decided to talk.
If she went that far, I had to talk out of sheer curiosity about what she'd say.
As an aside,
"Eu...euuh...?"
"...Yuno?"
Yuno, who had been lying on Mai's back,
barely opened her eyes and looked at me, then
"Ha-eut.....!"
"....Huh?"
Yuno convulsed heavily.
Soon after, she hung her head and began panting....
─Purureureung....!
"Ah....."
A single droplet trickled down from Mai's back.
"...You've been through a lot."
─Pureuhihing....!!
First, I needed to get a room.