From a distant ridge, half-shrouded in mist and ash, a group of figures stood still—silent, breath caught in their throats—as the forest canopy exploded in a burst of scarlet light. The air trembled. Birds scattered in panic. From the heart of the 18th Floor, the roar of the Black Goliath echoed like a dying god's fury.
Welf Crozzo shielded his eyes with a gloved hand. The blast had been so bright it had momentarily turned night to day. "What the hell was that..." he muttered, his voice thin against the background rumble. Beside him, Mikoto clenched her fists, her gaze locked on the far-off clearing where the battle had erupted. "A beam... magic?"
Ouka, crouched with a hand on his blade, frowned deeply. "That creature just released a magic cannon from its throat. No chant, just raw power." None of them spoke for a moment.
The shockwave had reached even here. Pebbles still rolled down the side of the ridge. Trees groaned under the pressure. Deep below, where Luthar had stood moments ago, there was only fire. Mikoto looked down. "Liliruca was down there... and that man. Luthar."
Welf's mouth tightened. "You think they... survived that?"
"No one should have," Ouka said simply. "That wasn't a blow—it was execution."
A heavy silence fell. Then—a shimmer. From the smoke and debris, something glinted. Metal, suspended mid-air. A silhouette. Welf's eyes widened. "Wait—what is that?"
Luthar descended. He dropped through the air with measured precision. No wings. No magic circle. But he still hovered for the span of a heartbeat—then fell. "He's... alive!?" Mikoto whispered.
Then the monster screamed as his axe struck. The trees below trembled. A wave of displaced energy surged outward in concentric circles. Leaves blew back. Moss was ripped from bark. A heartbeat later, the Black Goliath staggered backward, half its neck cleaved open, smoke pouring from the wound. And Luthar—was gone. Sent flying like a discarded shell, vanishing into the underbrush. No one spoke.
Ouka exhaled slowly. "He's not an ordinary adventurer."
Welf, watching this, realized Luthar's weapons were completely different. One hand His own weapons could only leave scratches on the monster, while Luthar's weapons were cutting him like air.
"I can't imagine how strong he would be if he gets the blessing of gods," Hestia said.
Farther back still, at the edge of the battle, Hermes lowered a silver monocle artifact from his eye, expression unreadable. "If at this time Bell had his skill, he would be able to finish off the monster," he continued. "For the first time, my calculation seems to be a little off." He never thought that instead of quickly joining the battle, Luthar would just walk like it didn't matter if a few people died, which let him appear after the use of Bell's skill.
Beside him, Asfi leaned on a broken column, arms crossed. "You are just causing trouble. Failure of your calculation is predictable, as we do not know anything about Luthar besides that he is selling weapons."
Hermes chuckled, the sound devoid of warmth. "Even the gods miscalculate. Now we have to figure out his personality before deciding on the next action."
"Do you want me to intervene?"
"No," Hermes said firmly. "Let it play out. Let's see how far he goes."
Back near the battle, Liliruca's rifle continued to blaze. Each pulse lanced into the monster's head, crimson energy burning away flesh faster than it could reform. The Black Goliath howled—a sound between rage and agony—as it reeled back from the unrelenting assault. Smoke poured from its eyes. One half of its jaw hung loose.
Ryuu stood next to Luthar. Her gaze remained on Luthar. A thought struck her. Bell had used his special skill to deal a finishing blow. Could Luthar have something like that?
Luthar's mind raced. He needed something powerful enough to end this—something decisive. The Dreadnought came to mind, but it remained untested in the confined conditions of the Dungeon. Too risky.
The battleship was another option… but laughable. It was far too massive, too slow, and worst of all—he had no crew to man it. Even if he could summon it, just starting the plasma engines would take hours. There wasn't time.
A tank, then? He had several stored. But again, without crew support, it wouldn't work.
Then his thoughts locked onto something else.
It was ground-based, artillery-class, and capable of precision strikes. The Carcassonne Pattern Quake Cannon—from the arsenals of the Mechanicus. It was meant to break fortress walls, to level hive spires. Here, it would only need to kill one monster.
The decision was made.
He turned to Ryuu and spoke with crisp authority.
(His Power Axe, its blade still buzzing with force, and he offered it to her.)
"Buy me time. A few minutes."
Ryuu blinked, surprised—but only for a moment. She accepted the weapon silently. She didn't need to buy time after seeing how this weapon split the monster; she was confident enough to kill it.
"You better do it fast, or I'll defeat the monster myself with this thing," she said confidently.
Luthar's focus shifted immediately.
"Liliruca," he voxed, connecting directly through the servo-skull, "turn down the power of your gun and concentrate on sustained fire—support Ryuu. Delay it as long as you can."
"Understood!" Liliruca's voice came back, starting to adjust the power.
Then, Luthar took a breath and began scanning the terrain—not just for tactical advantage, but for a place stable enough to deploy what he needed. Unlike the instant storage magic often mentioned in novels, his system space was fundamentally different.
First, it required time. During this materialization phase, the object was vulnerable to external interference—even a stray projectile or environmental disruption could compromise the integrity of the process.
Second, proper ground stability and line of sight were critical; imagine taking out a tank in a forest and discovering it had become mixed with trees, or perhaps it had materialized inside the ground. So, he had to be cautious when taking things out.