1075. Shirou's Current Condition / 1076. The Light Awakened Within Shirou

This blow was far too cruel for a kind-hearted girl.

A sense of helplessness crept across her face, and she lowered her eyes. She gently reached out and took the girl's hand, but the girl remained like a broken doll.

As first-class adventurers, Riviera and the others made a calm assessment. Lefia Verides was 'unable to pull herself together,' but this expedition could not end just like that.

With Shirou's sacrifice as the employer, no one knows how this request will end, and people's hearts are beginning to waver.

But more crucially, there was that fire giant, practically one with the molten lava, possessing an overwhelming and devastating power.

Ais left Leifya's tent and went to the command post in the center of the military camp, where she lifted the curtain.

Inside, a large group of frontline adventurers were holding a meeting with somber expressions.

Riviera waved to the blonde girl.

The blonde girl nodded and walked over to the Loki Familia to sit down.

"Then let's continue the meeting. While Surtr is still hiding in the lava and hasn't made a move, we should make a decision immediately! Does anyone have anything to say?" Riviera said.

"How about... going back to ask for help?" One of the dog-men from another clan had barely uttered the words when he was glared at by everyone in the conference room.

Chapter 1075 Shirou's Current Situation

The dog-man man hesitated for a moment under the glare, but then slammed his hand on the table and shouted:

"I wasn't wrong, was I? Everyone else thinks the same thing, right? That monster covered in lava! It's hard to even get close to it, even a LV.7 would find it troublesome!"

"I can't handle that monster by myself," Ota said in a deep voice. He wasn't the type to be eloquent or to lie.

"See!" said the dog-man.

"We can't retreat!" the blonde girl said, standing up.

"Ais..."

"The monster is right there. If we let him stay here, countless people will die. We can't just stand by and do nothing. Besides, I have to avenge Shirou," Ais said coldly.

"Sword Princess, many of us here are far less powerful than you. If we retreat now, things might get complicated later. But if we go to fight head-on, many of us will definitely die," the dog-man said calmly.

"Then I'll stay here alone," Ais said.

"Ais! Sit down first." Riviera pulled the blonde girl down.

The people at the meeting fell silent. They hurried into the maze, and although there were no casualties thanks to the experienced and strong guide, they were all quite tired from focusing on the fight.

In addition, the fierce battles with the suddenly appearing Minotaur and Gorgon resulted in injuries to some of them.

Now they have to face an even more terrifying fire giant, not to mention that even the client Shirou, is dead. Is there any point in continuing the mission? People are having doubts, and their hearts are wavering.

"The situation here is indeed dangerous, but we can't delay in Surtr; it's up to us to handle it," Ota said.

"But! That monster Ota! We can't even get close to him!" the dog-man said.

Riviera then spoke up:

"Alright then, since there's no point in keeping the lower-level combatants here, let's have two level 5s lead the others and evacuate with the support troops, except for healers and ranged classes."

"No, send two more people! Have them return to Orario as quickly as possible and report the situation to their superiors immediately. Also, send a few fast level 6s with enough potions to provide support as soon as possible."

"In that case, I can accept it! I'm LV.5, I'll stay! But my clan's brats are useless, so let them go back first!" The dog-man who had initially stood up to object said as he sat down.

"Okay! Allen, you can go back now!" Ota said, looking at the vice-captain of his clan.

"What! Me? Ota! You want me to go back?! Don't be ridiculous! I failed to protect that bastard and let down the goddess's expectations. You don't want me to stay here and avenge myself through battle? Do you want me to commit suicide in front of the goddess?" Allen asked angrily.

"It is precisely because we need to save Shirou that we need your strength," Ota said calmly.

Allen, the vice-captain of the Freya Familia, is known as the Goddess's Chariot. His speed is arguably the fastest in all of Orario, even surpassing that of level 7 Ota.

"What do you mean?" Allen asked, puzzled.

The lost girls of the Loki Familia also stared wide-eyed at Ota.

'Didn't Mr. Shirou die? He fell into the lava.'

"There's something I haven't told you all yet: Shirou is actually a god! A god who still retains some of his Divine Power. He's not so easy to kill," Ota said.

"Our chief god also had some doubts about this at the time," Riviera said.

"What! That Demon Sword Forger?"

"You're kidding! Don't gods seal their powers when they descend to the mortal realm?"

"To be precise, he should be considered a demigod in his current state. He is different from the gods we know, and he came to our world from another place."

"I don't know what accident happened that caused his original Divine Power to fall into the labyrinth and be obtained by Surtr, which is why the monsters in the labyrinth began to mutate frequently. He slowly regained his original Divine Power by killing those monsters. If he were killed by Surtr, then all his original Divine Power would be absorbed by Surtr," Ota said.

"If that happens..." the dog-man swallowed hard, asking nervously.

"At that time, Orario will be facing monsters on par with gods. Surtr is said to have killed multiple gods in his prime, and with Shirou's Divine Power added to the mix, he could become even stronger," Ota said.

"What!"

"Stronger than the Goddess?" the crowd exclaimed in astonishment.

Although all sorts of gods exist in Orario, including some truly monstrous beings that are hardly worthy of respect, even the most wicked humans dare not openly blaspheme against the gods, because everyone is aware of the gods' true power.

In the human realm, they are subject to restrictions, but if they are truly angered, they can unleash their powers, summoning thunder, causing the seas to churn, splitting the earth, and easily destroying the entire world.

Legend has it that the dungeon's labyrinth was created by a god with a single strike.

If Surtr were to gain control of Shirou's power, the consequences would be terrifying.

Beneath the molten lava, a large amount of lava formed a humanoid shape.

Half of his body was a glowing red, while the other half was the pure white of a white god. The two energies were connected yet conflicted, constantly pushing and pulling each other, with the boundary sometimes turning red and sometimes white.

The fire giant, with his enormous hands outstretched.

Inside was a white sphere of light, enveloping the sleeping Shirou and isolating him from the molten lava, ensuring he remained unharmed even within the world of molten lava.

Shirou closed his eyes, as if he had fallen into hibernation, sleeping very deeply.

"Hmph! Shirou! You've finally come to me! It's time to settle things! Wake up! Fight me!"

Surtr tried to crush the sphere of light protecting Shirou with his bare hands, but when he touched it, the white light around him intensified, and the white at the boundary line seemed to be divinely aided, quickly engulfing the red, and the giant's body turned mostly white.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Surtr quickly released his grip, and with the help of the heat from the molten lava, he slowly dispelled the white light, restoring the balance to a point where red and white each accounted for half.

"In that case, I'll go find you in the world of dreams!"

The fire giant Surtr closed his eyes and sank deeper and deeper into the molten lava.

This seemed to be a different space from the underground city; no matter how far the giant's body descended, it seemed as if it would never touch the bottom.

Chapter 1076 Shirou's Awakening Light

After a night's rest, and with the decision made by the expeditionary force, Ota finally convinced everyone. The members who were then sent back to Orario were then...

Allen, the fastest runner, rushed back to Orario to deliver the message and request reinforcements.

Led by a level 5 player, along with level 4 melee fighters and support personnel, they will follow Allen's route and return to Orario as quickly as possible.

"Hmph! Just you wait, I'll run back and forth as fast as I can!" Allen snorted.

The vice-captain of the Freya Familia, whose title is "The Goddess's Chariot," raised his spear and activated his skill. As if to prove his title, long blades of light appeared around him, spreading out in all directions, like a five-meter-wide chariot.

Allen's feet touched the ground, and like an arrow released from a bow, he instantly rushed towards the upper door and disappeared from people's sight.

"Roar!" After a night, the monsters on the forty-ninth floor had recovered considerably, but Allen charged straight at the monster horde.

He was like a high-speed tank, crushing and turning any monsters in his path into mangled flesh.

This is the Goddess's Chariot, one of the top powerhouses at level 6.

"So strong! So fast!" everyone exclaimed.

Since Allen had dealt with most of the monsters, the people returning home could quickly evacuate.

"Then let's go, meow," said Catwoman Ans.

"Leifya, please join us in our efforts to rescue Mr. Shirou!" The Loki Familia level 4 female adventurers pleaded with the girl.

"Yes!" The elf girl Leifya gripped her staff tightly and nodded vigorously. She had heard that Shirou might still be alive, and she vowed that she would not miss this chance to save him.

"But how are we supposed to get down there to find Shirou?" Tiona asked, troubled.

Riviera opened her palms, and red dots of light gathered around her.

"The fire elemental spirit will tell me what's going on down there," Riviera said.

The fire elemental spirit floated around, telling Riviera about the situation below the lava.

Riviera said, "Shirou has fallen into a deep sleep. Surtr is holding him in his hands, and he's been submerged fifty meters below the surface. We must find a way to wake Shirou up."

"Fifty meters? Can our attack reach that distance?" Tione said, scratching his head.

Ais also looked troubled.

"Use this!" Ota pointed to the red bodysuit he was wearing.

Deep within the lava pool.

Surtr used his power to invade Shirou's dream.

Since the body cannot be destroyed, then let's destroy the spirit!

In the realm of the mind, Shirou was also asleep. The red giant reached out to grab Shirou, intending to destroy Shirou mental world and kill his consciousness.

Right at this moment!

A beam of light pierced through the lava pool, with a spherical Black Shadow at its tip crashing down into the depths.

It was an iron ball formed from the fire-resistant armor forged by Shirou, which sank to the bottom of the molten lava pool and smashed into Surtr's arm.

Fire elementals were dancing there.

"Shirou! Wake up!!!"

'Ais?'

"Mr. Shirou, please don't die!"

'Leifya...'

"If you die, the goddess will weep, so live on!"

'Ota...'

'Tione, Tiona...'

'Everyone...'

The sounds of people kept coming from above. In his dream, Shirou crashed into the charging fire giant and opened his eyes!

"How hateful! How hateful! How hateful!!!" The fire giant opened its eyes and roared.

The lava pool churned, and then the fire giant created thousands of clones, one side white and the other red, which surged out of the pool. He intended to kill the humans above.

At that moment, a giant human arm emerged from the face and swatted away the thousands of clones as if they were flies.

This was Shirou's hand, and his body continued to grow larger, becoming even taller than Surtr. He summoned a white lightsaber in his hand, piercing through the fire giant. The energy at the boundary between red and white was instantly unbalanced, detonating Surtr's core in an instant.

The fire giant chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I originally intended to absorb this power, but unexpectedly I was suppressed instead, forced to trap myself in the molten lava pool."

Yes, Surtr lost when he obtained the power of the white god.

He thought he could conquer the power of the white god, but unexpectedly, he was conquered by the other party's power.

He originally intended to collude with Kama, the god who wanted to destroy the world, so that Kama would forcibly summon him to the ground to carry out the destruction.

However, when Kama made all the arrangements, he chose to betray him.

Surtr could only remain submerged in the lava pool.

So he tried every means to lure Shirou to his side, created mutated monsters, and even summoned Servant that Shirou knew, then killed Shirou, and once this power became ownerless, he absorbed it.

Even when Shirou came to him and fell into a deep sleep, he was unable to harm Shirou.

The white god's power was too great; his flames of destruction and the light of creation could never be in harmony. They would either destroy each other or be destroyed by each other.

Surtr could also choose to let the white energy replace his flames, but in that case, he would become a giant of light, no longer the giant who would destroy the world, but a special avatar of the white god, influenced by the white god.

Surtr was naturally unwilling, which is why he engaged in a final duel with Shirou. He wanted to exhaust the power of the white god completely, and then use the power of his destructive flames to settle the score with Shirou.

Now everything is clear!

Humanity's crisis is over!