Ch.1165So It’s a Challenge to Gather Again Once We’re Out in Society.

When I asked Astraea how to escape from Vanirgand’s nightmare, she asserted that the fundamental cause of the problem was that I was weaker than him.

…Certainly, compared to an evil god, I’m still lacking in many ways.

I did defeat Invidius, but that wasn’t accomplished solely with my own power, and things got complicated so I couldn’t even steal his divinity.

While skills naturally improve through experience, and I must have improved somewhat from fighting such a formidable opponent, divinity is different—it’s a power that must be taken by killing.

Since I couldn’t completely finish him off myself, the only divinity I could obtain were the tiny fragments that flowed out when I destroyed his halo.

I originally thought I hadn’t gained anything, but when I checked later, my power had increased very slightly. Not enough to say I’d become significantly stronger, of course.

For that reason, my power still hadn’t surpassed the demigod level.

My burst damage itself was among the highest even among demigods, with few who could compare, but each technique consumed too much power, making it difficult to properly utilize that firepower.

As a result, my overall combat ability was still around average for a demigod.

If I could land Leviathan or Sky Slash, victory would be certain, but if I missed or was blocked, I’d immediately be at a disadvantage—a mediocre level of skill.

That was precisely why I was suffering from Vanirgand’s machinations.

Therefore, Astraea advised me that if I wanted to escape the nightmare, I should build my strength.

She told me to descend into the deep and vast caverns beneath the earth, hunting the things lurking there one by one to grow my divinity.

And since that place would now be a battlefield for demigods and their forces, I shouldn’t go down alone as usual, but with trustworthy companions.

Of course, I was already thinking along those lines.

Not just because of Astraea’s advice, but because to overcome the coming crises, they too needed to become much stronger than they were now.

They should at least reach the level of the old Great’s Twelve Knights. It would be even better if they could obtain divinity and develop their own divine nature.

‘…So, who should I take?’

The remaining question was exactly who I should bring.

Obviously, I couldn’t take all my companions on an underground expedition with no guaranteed end date.

Once we descended, proper communication with the surface would be difficult, and if our main base were ambushed in the meantime, there would be no way to respond.

So, as a precaution, I needed to leave enough forces on the surface to counter attacks from dragons or powerful magical beasts.

After much deliberation on this issue, I selected a total of five members for the underground exploration.

Nigel, who could fly through the air, albeit in a limited way, by controlling weapons suspended in the air using his Tale of Heros.

Ophelia, who could wage a war of numbers on her own by summoning large numbers of homunculi implanted with spiritual energy—a method that might earn her the label of heretic.

Jahan, who could immediately regenerate and rise again even after suffering fatal wounds, as long as he didn’t die instantly or run out of strength.

Leonore, whose growth had been delayed due to limited opportunities for major battles, but who I believed would be a great help in group combat once she completely overcame her barriers.

And finally, Lena, to quickly heal injured allies. That made five in total.

It seemed too few, especially after saying I needed to strengthen my companions, but no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t increase the number beyond that.

First, Demian, being the second most skilled after me, had to remain in our territory to fill my absence.

Besides, he was currently holed up in the training ground all day, claiming to have gained some kind of enlightenment, so it felt awkward to even call him out.

With Demian staying behind, Millia naturally remained in our territory as well, which I thought was a fairly good selection.

Millia’s main tactic was to fire giant arrows compressed with her Tale of Heros from a distance beyond the enemy’s reach, blasting them away along with the terrain.

As a result, she was most effective fighting from elevated positions in the rear—especially from atop castle walls or fortresses—places that provided both a wide field of vision and facilities that could protect her.

In other words, she was perfect for capital defense.

Just by standing on the capital’s walls and firing giant arrows, she could shatter most enemies into scattered pieces of flesh before they could even approach.

So I chose Demian and Millia as the core forces for capital defense, and additionally left behind Joshua, Heinrich, and Adamante.

Unless Demian and Millia could use cloning techniques, those two alone couldn’t possibly handle all the problems across the entire nation.

– “Truly regrettable… but I find it difficult to join that endeavor at present.”

– “Underground… expedition…? If I… go… will my ancestor… handle my backlog of work…?”

– “I apologize. I must protect His Majesty and the Empire…”

– “As you can see, I’m ashamed to say we don’t have that capacity.”

Lacy, Floheta, and Percival were in positions to protect the Empire, and Agnes was too busy exterminating undead monsters that had crossed over from Panam to join us.

They were key figures in their respective countries. Their priority had to be protecting those they were responsible for, rather than participating in an underground expedition with no guaranteed return date.

For similar reasons, Persiella also remained on the surface.

– “A battlefield of demigods… truly fascinating. This lady cannot possibly miss such a grand battle.”

– “Um… I can’t take you with us.”

– “What…?! No, what blasphemous words are these…!”

In truth, she herself wanted to descend underground with us, but circumstances wouldn’t allow it.

– “The Dragon King has been begging me to send you back. When a king, your family, is calling for you, what can an outsider like me do?”

Dragon King Cylude had sent me a personal letter requesting her return. The situation in the Dragon Kingdom was dire, so he pleaded with me to send his immature sister back.

– “Kuh…! Of all people, my brother…!”

Even Persiella, who normally cared little for others’ circumstances, couldn’t ignore the Dragon King’s desperate plea, and chose to return despite her grumbling.

She said she could fly through the sky at high speed, so she would return to the Dragon Kingdom, resolve their issues, and come back again.

I wondered if my country had some honey smeared on it that made her so eager to return, but either way, it wasn’t to my disadvantage, so I let it slide.

She wouldn’t cause trouble while I was gone, and if she wanted to serve as a defense force for free, I could only be grateful.

—-

Anyway, I entered the great underground cavern with the five companions I had selected after considering various circumstances.

The day we entered, nothing special happened.

Perhaps because we chose a quiet, remote location as our entrance, instead of the demigods or their subordinates we expected, we were greeted by bizarrely shaped beasts.

Deer with horns growing from their lower jaws instead of their heads and hands instead of front legs, dogs with human faces that mimicked human speech, and duck-like creatures with eight spider-like legs.

“We won’t have to worry about food for a while.”

Jahan and I caught them, skinned them, removed their innards, and prepared them for eating. Well, actually, I just did the hunting, and Jahan did all the cleanup.

“Are we sure we can eat these? Just looking at them, anyone can tell they’re magical beasts.”

As we were preparing the meal, Leonore made no effort to hide her disgust.

Her face clearly said she questioned our sanity for considering these strange creatures as food.

“At least I don’t sense any Dark Mana. As long as they’re not poisonous, they should be fine… What do you think, Lady Sigmillus?”

In contrast, Nigel seemed to think the appearance of the ingredients wasn’t particularly important, showing an attitude that any edible meat would do.

The role of making this judgment fell to Ophelia, the only mage in our group, who had excellent knowledge of medicines and poisons, whether due to her profession or hobby.

“I think they’re fine. Looking at them, they’re not without poison, but it’s weak enough to be destroyed by cooking.”

After checking the safety by sticking needles into the raw meat and applying various reagents, Ophelia’s conclusion was that there would be no problem as long as we cooked them thoroughly.

“Then there’s no issue. See that building over there that looks somewhat intact? Let’s carry these over there and roast them.”

With that answer, I pointed to a half-collapsed building in the distance and suggested we use it as our base for the night.

It seemed to have been a fortress originally, and although damaged in places, it still had walls and several barracks-like buildings with intact roofs.

It was the perfect place to spend the night, sheltered from the damp humidity, flying insects, and occasional drizzle.

And so the night passed.

======[ Great Underground Cavern ]======

“A new divinity has descended.”

“Descended? Were there still demigods remaining on the surface?”

Those who detected the presence of an unknown divinity in the subtle disturbance of the long-stagnant atmosphere grew restless.

“How did it evade the eyes of heaven? That shouldn’t be possible.”

“Perhaps… it was their scout from the beginning…?”

“…Shall we check?”

They expressed confusion and interest at the fact that a divinity they had never encountered before had been walking the surface despite the constraints of Heaven’s Wall.

“If that is true, then…”

“Then.”

And they decided.

“Revenge.”

“Retribution.”

If the owner of that divinity was related to those who had confined them to this underground, they would surely make them pay the appropriate price.