“Senior Alfia, please don’t say that.
We’ve all died once already.
Let bygones be bygones.” The captain of the Astraea Familia, Alise Lovell, revealed a bright and optimistic smile, clearly holding no intention of treating Alfia as an enemy.
“By the way, it’s only been less than two months since our deaths.
If we returned to Orario now, it would definitely give Lady Astraea and Ryuu quite a scare, wouldn’t it?” “That useless elf,” Gojouno Kaguya frowned.
Though she appeared to be a delicate black-haired beauty in a kimono, she was in truth sharp-tongued and blunt in temperament.
“She’s probably still curled up in a corner with teary eyes, isn’t she?” “Haha, I know you and Ryuu are very close, Kaguya.
You even entrusted your weapon to her before you died.
But you can’t keep using that tsundere attitude toward someone you care about.” With her red ponytail swaying, Alise—hailed by the gods as the “Scarlet Harnel”—lightly teased her.
Before Gojouno Kaguya could stubbornly retort, she nimbly turned to Tian’el.
“Lord God, I wonder when we might be granted a few days of leave?
Since we’re alive again, I’d like to clean up the mess I left behind in my previous life.” Not only to greet their former patron goddess Astraea and their surviving companion Ryuu Lion, to tell them they had returned to life.
But also to take up her sword and settle accounts with Evilus, who had laid traps for them in the Dungeon and nearly annihilated their familia.
In response, Tian’el’s answer was straightforward— “Rakia still requires manpower.
After this, Hermes will make a trip and bring over those gods who are willing to join.” “As for Orario, I will go—but not now.
Once the nations of the continent are unified, that place will be the final objective.” After speaking, Tian’el looked toward Hermes.
The god of travelers immediately stepped forward, removed his hat, and performed a courtly bow.
“Naturally.
I shall serve as your most capable envoy, persuading the gods of Orario to bring their familias and pledge allegiance.” This was not a particularly difficult task.
With these revived legendary adventurers standing here alone, gods such as Astraea—who carried lingering regrets—would undoubtedly rush over at the first news.
As for the others, addressing their individual preferences accordingly would resolve matters with ease.
The key lay in the fact that as Sovereign of High Heaven, Tian’el did not desire just anyone.
Selecting suitable candidates would require some effort.
“Unifying the nations of the continent…” Alise murmured uneasily.
“I only hope that once the nations are brought together, everyone will be able to live well.” Truthfully, because of her preconceived impression of Rakia as a warlike nation, the girl was filled with worry about initiating conquest against all countries of the continent.
But the will of the Lord God was not to be challenged— When Tian’el reshaped physical bodies for hundreds of thousands of souls, he naturally did not preserve the divine blessings they once bore.
Their power remained, but the marks of other gods had been cleansed away.
They could still level up in the future through great feats.
However, because the Celestial Emperor regarded that system with little interest—and lacked the leisure to update the blessings of hundreds of thousands daily—it had been altered into an autonomous update model for adventurers.
In simple terms, to Alise and the others, this situation resembled changing one’s affiliation in exchange for the miracle of “resurrection” bestowed by their new patron god, the Celestial Emperor.
From the perspective of a contract, such a gift was exceedingly generous.
After all, for the vast majority of adventurers, a familia was more akin to a company than a family.
After dissolving their contract with the patron god of their homeland, the twin sisters Tiona and Tione of the Loki Familia had even switched familias every year just to earn a living, only settling down upon arriving in Orario.
In this world, patron gods willing to treat their familias as true families were ultimately rare.
If a better destination appeared, negotiating the dissolution of a contract was nothing unusual.
Though more often than not, it was because one’s familia had been defeated by a stronger one, forcing adventurers to change allegiance.
“And you still have the leisure to think about such trivial matters?” Unlike the justice-driven Alise, Alfia had already determined the goal she must accomplish in this new life.
“The End of Days is not far.
If we do not obtain the power to defeat that Black Dragon before it awakens, the entire lower world will be destroyed by the Dungeon’s wrath.” The world longs for the arrival of a hero.
This was the expectation voiced by countless forces upon the earth and by all the gods.
Its ultimate focus was the three formidable monsters that had emerged from the Dungeon to the surface in ancient times.
Ten years ago, when the forces of Zeus and Hera stood at their peak, the strongest familia in history made full preparations and attempted to resolve the three great quests at once.
They succeeded only in defeating the King of Land and the Tyrant of the Sea before being completely annihilated before the One-Eyed Black Dragon.
When the nest is overturned, how can any eggs remain intact?
Thus, subjugating this final monster—symbol of the end—became the long-cherished wish of the entire lower world.
All internal conflicts beyond this were mere minor branches, to be cast aside.
The unification of the continent’s nations, though important, did not surpass this scope— To unite the nations and rule the land would itself be an unimaginable great feat.
If such a figure were to arise among adventurers, the gods would not hesitate to push from behind and gather the entire lower world’s strength to face the approaching end.
But no such person had emerged.
Therefore, from the gods’ own perspective as players of a grand game, they had no intention of pursuing true unification.
After all, the seeds of blessing could only bloom most brilliantly in the soil of conflict.
“The Black Dragon…” Tian’el cast his gaze toward a certain region in the northern part of the continent before calmly withdrawing it.
“That thing does not seem particularly important.
What truly matters is the Dungeon that birthed these monsters.” In this world, the reason the One-Eyed Black Dragon was called the End lay primarily in the Dungeon’s granting of anti-divinity properties to such monsters.
In other words, when gods confronted them, they were as helpless as meat buns thrown to a dog.
Thus, only adventurers rising from among humanity could subjugate them.
And if the Dungeon could specifically nurture god-slaying monsters, its level clearly stood above the gods.
Even if it did not rival Heaven, it likely was not far beneath it.
Viewed in this light, Heaven, the lower world, and the Dungeon together formed, in some sense, an alternative structure of three realms.
But whether that was truly the case would only become clear once he personally went to see it.