"Kali Familia."
Ais, who had been lowering her gaze the entire time, raised her head.
"It was those two amazonesses from Telskyura."
When they had separated from Tiona and Tione, Ais had seen it clearly—the two amazonesses from Telskyura had withdrawn into the same passage taken by Tiona and Tione.
In other words, the two pairs of amazoness sisters had eventually run into each other again, and it was highly likely that another fight had broken out. If Tiona and Tione had been taken away against their will—and even taken out of Orario—then the most likely ones responsible were those two amazonesses.
Under normal circumstances, Orario allowed entry but not exit, at least for adventurers. In order to prevent Orario’s combat power from draining away, the Guild imposed strict restrictions on the movement of high-rank adventurers and the gods of major familias, and it also carefully investigated anyone entering the city.
Considering that the Kali Familia was one of the powers outside Orario, if they had entered Orario, there was a ninety percent chance the Guild would have investigated them thoroughly, and the major familias within the city would have immediately known of their arrival, so such a thing could not be concealed.
Yet this time, the Kali Familia had entered Orario without making a sound and had reached the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos beneath Daedalus Street.
What did that imply?
It meant that inside the Man-Made Dungeon—or in the hands of the remnants of Evilus—there existed one or even several secret passages that led outside Orario, and that the Kali Familia had entered the Man-Made Dungeon through those passages and arrived beneath Orario.
Now that Tiona and Tione had disappeared without a trace, it was highly likely that they had left Orario, moving beyond the range of Riezel’s magic detection.
If one thought about it carefully, it seemed that only the Kali Familia could have accomplished something like this, since they had both the strength and the means, which was why Tiona and Tione had disappeared.
"So that means those two dumbasses lost to their old rivals back in their homeland, huh?" Bete said harshly. "Hmph, that’s embarrassing."
"You should watch your words, Bete."
Riveria reacted, her brows immediately knitting tighter.
"Telskyura is a country. Unlike the various forces outside Orario that generally have lower Levels, their country possesses individuals whose strength and Level are no less than First-Class Adventurers."
"The two amazonesses from Telskyura who fought Tiona and Tione should be figures like that."
"If there were no surprises, those two should be Argana Kalif and Bache Kalif, the two strongest amazonesses of Telskyura, who reached Level 6 two years ago. Compared with Tiona and Tione, who have only just reached Level 6, their strength would only be greater, not weaker."
In other words, if Tiona and Tione had lost to them, it would have been perfectly reasonable.
Of course, whether the two had actually lost was still open to debate.
At the very least, Riezel did not believe that, under the enhancement of his Raumure and Veil Breath, Tiona and Tione would lose to those two.
In the original story, Tiona and Tione had also held a ritual fight with Argana and Bache, and the result had been one win and one loss.
Tiona had defeated Bache, though she had paid a considerable price.
Tione had not been able to defeat Argana and was ultimately rescued by Finn, but she had still severely injured Argana.
Even though they had reached Level 6 two years later than Argana and Bache, and their basic abilities certainly could not compare with those of the two who had trained for two years already, the outcome of a battle was not determined by basic abilities alone, since development abilities, magic, and skills also mattered.
In terms of development abilities, there was essentially no difference between the two sides, as none of them possessed a combat-type development ability capable of decisively influencing the battle.
As for magic, Argana and Bache held the advantage, as both of them possessed magic. In contrast, Tiona had no magic at all, while Tione only had a binding-type magic and was not skilled at using magic herself, so she rarely used it.
However, when it came to skills, Tiona and Tione held a significant advantage.
Tiona possessed two skills—Berserk and Intense Heat.
Berserk was a skill that increased her attack power according to the severity of her injuries.
Intense Heat was a skill that raised all her basic abilities when she was on the verge of death.
Tione also possessed two skills—Berserk and Backdraft.
Berserk, unlike Tiona’s Berserk, was a skill that not only increased her attack power according to the severity of her injuries, but also grew stronger the angrier she became.
Backdraft was a skill that increased STR when she was on the verge of death.
Needless to say, the existence of these skills gave the two sisters the ability to launch a desperate counterattack when trapped in dire situations or on the brink of defeat.
Even when facing enemies stronger than themselves, they might fall into a disadvantage at the beginning, but as the battle continued, once they began to suffer injuries or approached the brink of death, their strength would increase dramatically, eventually surpassing their opponents and allowing them to strike back.
It could be said that their skills existed precisely to allow them to kill their enemies while at a disadvantage. If Argana and Bache believed they had those two completely under control, the outcome would certainly be miserable.
However...
’Could it be that, because of Raumure and Veil Breath protecting them, Tiona and Tione avoided getting hurt or being pushed near death too much, but that also ended up causing them to lose to Argana and Bache instead?’
Riezel suddenly thought of this possibility.
Most of Tiona and Tione’s skills were the type that only activated after they had fallen into a disadvantage and suffered severe injuries, so if they were not injured and did not approach death, then they would lose the chance to counterkill their enemies.
Although the strong enhancement to AGI from Raumure also gave them astonishing speed, it was clear from Tiona and Tione’s ability tendencies that agility was not the area they specialized in.
In addition, their hand-to-hand combat had originally been taught by Argana and Bache, making their combat techniques clearly inferior to those of their teachers. If they lost the ability to counterkill their enemies, it was indeed possible that their opponents could seize an opportunity to defeat them, causing them to lose to Argana and Bache.
’...If that’s really the case, then that means I was the one who hurt them.’
A bitter smile appeared on Riezel’s face.
’Luckily, at least for now, those two are safe, so that’s a relief.’
Apparently, Finn had the same thought as Riezel.
"Telskyura’s rituals are extremely cruel. Normally, only one person survives. Yet Tiona and Tione did not die and were taken away instead, which proves the enemy has a reason to keep them alive," Finn concluded. "Most likely, they realized that their goddess had fallen into our hands, which is why they took Tiona and Tione."
The ones who reacted to this statement were Raul and Anakitty.
"So that means the enemy’s objective is..."
"A hostage exchange?"
Raul and Anakitty voiced these thoughts one after the other.
"Exactly," Finn said with certainty. "Their goal is to rescue their goddess. For that purpose, they abducted Tiona and Tione."
"If that’s the case, then we gotta get Loki to bring Goddess Kali back from the Guild," Gareth said bluntly. "That goddess doesn’t really matter, but those two young’uns? We gotta bring ’em back."
"I’ll have someone notify Loki immediately," Riveria decided without hesitation. "If the Guild deals with Goddess Kali first, the situation will become troublesome."
"Heh, the Guild dealing with her?" Bete let out a cold laugh. "You’d better worry about whether Loki might deal with that goddess herself before she even gets here."
Everyone immediately fell silent.
When they recalled the way Loki had looked at Kali with clenched teeth, quite a few people began to break into a cold sweat.
Now that Bete had said it, that was not impossible.
If that trashy goddess truly became ruthless, it was entirely possible that Kali would end up being deported. When Loki had still been in Heaven, she had, after all, been an evil goddess who had incited various gods to slaughter one another and had brought about Ragnarök.
If she had not come to the Lower World, met those cute children, and experienced the wonder of the ’unknown,’ which had mellowed her personality somewhat, it would not have been surprising if she had founded Evilus herself.
Slaying gods was a taboo in the Lower World, and even for the other good gods, it was not something that could be done casually, but to Loki, it would hardly be a big deal.
Although in Riezel’s opinion, that trashy goddess was no longer an evil goddess, but more of a comedic goddess.
"For now, we’ll handle Tiona and Tione’s matter like this. Send someone to inform Loki and have her bring Goddess Kali back. After that, we’ll find a way to contact the Kali Familia and negotiate with them."
Finn quickly made the decision.
"Next, we’ll discuss the matter of the Man-Made Dungeon."
As he spoke, Finn turned toward Riezel.
Understanding the cue, Riezel took an item out of the storage space within his Dimensional Magic Cube.
*BOOM!*
Accompanied by a tremor and a heavy thud against the ground, a mural was taken out by Riezel and slammed onto the floor, displayed before everyone.
"What!"
Such a sudden scene not only startled Raul, making him cry out, and made Anakitty’s tail shoot up, but also shocked the others, who were completely unprepared for such a sudden development.
However, their attention was soon drawn to the contents of the mural.
"What... is this?"
"A dragon and... women?"
Everyone looked at one another.
Ais also turned her gaze to the mural, and as she looked at the six girls surrounding a gigantic dragon, a strange emotion rose within her—or more precisely, the ’blood’ in her body told her that those six women were very likely beings similar to her own mother.
Needless to say, this was precisely the mural that Riezel had last seen in the temple-like hall within the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos.
He had brought it back for a simple reason.
What was about to happen next to Orario had a great connection with what was depicted in this mural.
"Firstly, the dragon in the mural is called Nidhogg. It was an ancient calamity that escaped from the Dungeon before the targets of the Three Great Quests ever appeared."
Riezel looked around at everyone as he began to explain.
"Like the current Behemoth, Leviathan, and the One-Eyed Black Dragon, it possessed the power to bring destruction to the Lower World and was known as a King of Monsters."
"If it had been left alone, the Lower World might have fallen into its hands even before the Three Great Quests appeared."
"It was a dragon comparable to the only remaining King of Monsters today—the One-Eyed Black Dragon. According to legend, it was destroyed in ancient times through the combined efforts of the six great spirits."
Hearing this, everyone exchanged glances.
"Six great spirits..."
Ais stared intently at the six women depicted in the mural.
""Nidhogg?""
Bete, Gareth, Riveria, and the others all frowned.
"Su-Such a terrifying monster once existed?"
"Why have we never heard of it?"
Raul and Anakitty voiced their confusion in turn.
In response, Riezel gave a brief explanation.
"Because it existed in an era far too ancient. At that time, even heroes had yet to appear, and humanity had almost no ability to resist monsters, becoming nothing more than prey. As a result, very few records have survived into the modern age."
Heroic epics like ’Dungeon Oratoria’ were both stories and historical records, yet the ancient era in which Nidhogg had existed was so distant that even heroes had not yet been born, leaving almost no stories or documents behind.
In that heroless age, Nidhogg had undoubtedly been a symbol of terror, possessing overwhelming power capable of casting the world into an abyss of despair—so great that ancient humanity could never oppose it.
Consequently, the spirits who carried the will of the gods appeared and stood forth to defeat Nidhogg.
"As for the six women in the mural, they were the first six great spirits to appear upon the earth."
"They accepted the will of the gods and together established a great ceremony. Using their own lives as the price, they wove a ceremony that consisted of placing themselves around a gigantic magic circle capable of slaughtering the evil dragon."
"In the end, when the great ceremony was activated, the gigantic magic circle invoked the power of Heaven, creating a pillar of massive destruction whose power approached that of Arcanum as it destroyed Nidhogg."
Riezel’s gaze swept across everyone’s faces one by one as he spoke each word clearly.
"It’s the great ceremony of the spirits—Gate of Heaven."
Back in the temple-like hall of Knossos, when Riezel had first seen the mural, he had immediately spoken the name of this great ceremony.
In modern times, almost no one knew of this great ceremony’s existence anymore, and only various gods retained any memory of it. For this reason, Thanatos had been so shocked when Riezel spoke the name Gate of Heaven, because in his view, no one in the Lower World should have known about the Gate of Heaven anymore.
Unfortunately for him, Riezel was an exception.
Since Riezel knew the original work, he naturally knew the Gate of Heaven existed.
He even knew why the mural of the Gate of Heaven had appeared there.
"First, I need to tell everyone that, during the search for Tiona and Tione, I entered the 10th Floor of the Man-Made Dungeon."
"There was not only green flesh there, but also magical energy circuits covering the entire floor, forming a gigantic circle and extending toward six different directions."
Hearing Riezel’s calm explanation, everyone seemed to realize something, their eyes widening.
"I heard the Corrupted Spirit has scattered six Jewel Fetuses, and with the help of Evilus, Enyo, and the Creatures, they have fully matured into six Demi Spirits."
"Now, those Demi Spirits have constructed a gigantic magic circle and have begun chanting."
"From what I can see, the Corrupted Spirit is currently planning to recreate that great ceremony, invoking the power of Heaven to destroy Orario."