A Crossover Journey Begins in DanMachi: Chapter 48

Before Ryu could react, Noah suddenly picked up speed and shot straight toward the surface.

The speed forced Ryu to crouch low against Noah's back. She couldn't even lift her head.

But what she was thinking about wasn't what was happening on the surface. It was—

My confession!!

The confession I'd gathered the courage for only after burning through what might've been more than a decade's worth of bravery!

Even the gods probably couldn't say when I'd next be able to gather enough courage to confess!

Regret and pain turned into resentment. Ryu couldn't help raising her head to look toward the surface, her glare seeming to pierce hundreds of meters of rock as she stared at a certain figure.

Whoever interrupted my confession is going to pay!

You're all going to die!!

Leveling Up, New Skills, and a New World

As soon as Noah reached the surface, he saw Chang—no, Ais—beating the tar out of a white-haired man.

The scene looked a lot like the first time he'd fought Valetta.

When he saw Ais get sent flying by a slash and Oliwas throw out several items that were obviously explosives, Noah's heart leaped into his throat.

Only after Clear Breeze turned into an invisible fortress and shielded the girl did Noah breathe a sigh of relief.

He swept his gaze around and spotted Oliwas hiding in a corner at the edge of the plaza.

Originally, Noah had planned to let Oliwas discover him as he turned around, so he'd make a more impressive entrance.

But after watching the guy rant and curse for ages, Noah lost patience. He walked up and slung an arm around Oliwas's shoulder, like he was chatting with a close friend.

"I don't think you need to wait until later. You can do it right now."

Oliwas turned and saw Noah. In an instant, he experienced the feeling of his heart... stopping.

"You—you?! You're not dead? What happened to Valetta?"

"Valetta? Of course she turned into my dear Valetta charcoal and went on ahead to check out the road for you!"

Understanding the meaning behind Noah's laughter, Oliwas's already ghastly pale face grew even more awful.

"No! Impossible! Valetta was Level 5!"

Watching Oliwas fall apart, Noah thought of Valetta, who'd been left barely recognizable, and couldn't help feeling sympathy.

What a great teammate. Seeing his comrade die had nearly driven him to despair.

So even beasts had feelings after all.

Or maybe they'd once been childhood friends who'd promised to destroy Orario and then get married back in the countryside?

After letting his imagination run wild, Noah realized he couldn't stand a sad story like that.

So he decided to send Oliwas off to reunite with Valetta.

Once he drew his sword, Noah saw Oliwas twist his face into a smile more painful to look at than a sob after reaching the depths of despair. Noah felt reassured.

Look at that. He was crying tears of joy.

Sigh, I really am a good person.

Amid the thunderclaps and screams that rang across most of Orario, the Dark Faction's attack on the city came to an end.

The Dark Faction's operation couldn't exactly be called a great victory. It was more like total annihilation and a complete loss.

The force that had tried to lure the adventurer army away from the plaza had done no damage, but it hadn't suffered any major losses either.

But not only had the two elite forces targeting the festival plaza and ambushing the Dungeon been wiped out, every one of their executives had fallen as well.

Once the gods and the Guild confirmed the news that a new member of the Loki Familia had slain Valetta, the "Killing Emperor," and Oliwas, the "White-Haired Demon," it caused another sensation.

But when Noah's name appeared in the report, most people felt it all made sense. Oh, it was him. Then there was no problem.

Defeating the Dark Faction's attack was certainly cause for celebration. Many adventurers drank through the night in taverns, but the city's leaders had no time to relax.

With even their commander, the Killing Emperor, dead, the Dark Faction was sure to suspend its activities and lie low for a long while. All kinds of plans that had been on hold quickly got underway.

The Loki Familia was no different. The expedition wasn't canceled. In fact, it set out the very next day.

The expedition lasted half a month. With Noah leading the way, the Loki Familia advanced faster than ever, and the main force reached the thirty-seventh floor in just four days.

But while passing through the thirty-seventh floor, the Loki Familia came under attack from the Dungeon.

The first monsters to appear were Obsidian Soldiers.

Although these monsters were weak fighters, they had powerful magic resistance, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the elven team's magical bombardment.

Their numbers were enormous, too, forcing Noah to leave the formation and launch a charge.

The Dungeon seemed to have been waiting for that moment. It sent out its trump card: a Dragon Kind with dark green skin, a back covered in spikes, and the shape of a lizard.

The three Peludas not only fired a rain of poisonous needles that shattered the Familia's formation in an instant, but also burned a large amount of supplies in a single breath.

If Noah hadn't rushed back in time, the Familia would likely have suffered casualties.

Even so, the Loki Familia had lost so many supplies that they had no choice but to stop advancing and return to the surface after harvesting what they could on the thirty-seventh floor.

If not for what seemed to be Noah's Luck, which caused the Loki Familia to obtain more than three times the usual number of drops, the expedition would almost certainly have ended in disaster.

On the night they returned from the expedition, Noah finished bathing and went to Loki's Divine Chamber.

Two minutes later—

"Noah leveled up!!"

Loki's ear-splitting shout echoed through the Twilight Manor, creating a commotion throughout the estate like a storm sweeping through the city.

Noah Cipher

Lv1

Strength: SS1320 → SSS1999

Endurance: SS1241 → SSS1999

Dexterity: SS1354 → SSS1999

Agility: SSS1496 → SSS1999

Magic: SSS1551 → SSS1999

"Hmm, looks like everything's reached the limit, and you've got enough excelia. Ready to level up? Ready?!"

Feeling as if the person behind him wasn't his patron goddess but a monkey hopping around on a red-hot pan, Noah couldn't help rolling his eyes.

"Level me up."

After that expedition, Noah felt he'd more or less reached the limits of his abilities. Breaking through to the next limit would probably be a little difficult.

He'd joined the Familia only a month ago and entered the Dungeon just two weeks ago. There was no doubt this was the fastest level-up in the history of the Lower World!

Loki stared at his utterly outrageous stats. Every attribute except endurance had reached twice the limit, and she could barely breathe.

This was the capital she needed to throw her weight around Orario and enjoy herself to her heart's content!

And Ais was waiting outside to level up, too!

Double the fun!

Her hand trembling, she reached out and ran a finger over the glowing "Status," which kept emitting ripples.

As divine blood flowed into it, the values on the Divine Grace spun up and down like a counter.

After his level, a [2] rose up from below and replaced the [1], symbolizing Noah's official promotion to a high-class adventurer.

At the same time, Loki nervously scanned the updated Divine Grace. A flood of text appeared.

"Whoa!! Abnormal Resistance, Mage, Mystery, Hunter, Magic Breaker, Light Annihilation, Luck, Dark Radiance—eight new Developmental Abilities! And there are four of them I've never even seen before! Which one are you going to pick?"

"...Mystery."

That answer took Loki by surprise. "Really? I thought you'd pick one of the unique Developmental Abilities."

"Is there a problem?"

"From the Familia's point of view, there's definitely no problem. If anything, we'd welcome it. You could make some fun little things and sell them, and then we wouldn't have to scrape by anymore. We have to tighten our belts after every expedition, sob, sob—"

The Loki Familia couldn't possibly be so poor that you had to scrape by, could it?

What a useless goddess, buying expensive divine wine every day despite knowing her Familia was broke!

But Loki wasn't wrong about one thing. Noah did have a reason for choosing Mystery.

This expedition had made Noah feel even more keenly that supplies were the main difficulty in exploring the Dungeon.

Just traveling from the first floor to the thirty-seventh took at least two days, even if Noah ran at full speed without stopping.

Even if the monster hordes couldn't threaten him, the cost of dealing with them was unavoidable.

Unless Noah reached the point where he didn't need to eat, drink, or sleep, he'd have to carry supplies to restore his strength.

The deeper the target floor, the more supplies they needed to bring.

The more supplies they brought, the larger the team needed to transport them.

The larger the team, the faster they consumed their supplies.

The faster they used up their supplies, the shallower they could go, creating a vicious cycle.

Throughout the expedition, the lower-level members could still fight in the middle and upper levels. But once they reached the deep levels, their main purpose seemed to be carrying supplies for the others.

Riveria had told Noah that it wasn't uncommon for the combat members to still have strength to spare during an expedition, yet have to retreat early because they'd run out of supplies or a lower-level member had been injured.

There was only one way to solve this problem: they had to become strong enough to deal with the upper-level monsters more quickly, allowing more supplies to reach the deep levels intact and support further exploration.

But Noah wanted to try another possibility: developing tools that would let the supporters carry more supplies.

"If you're willing, then I won't hold back. Heh heh heh. Feifei, give up your title as the wealthiest Familia in the city—"

After Noah selected the Developmental Ability, Loki saw that the Divine Grace screen where the ability had appeared hadn't changed. Her face stiffened as a suspicion occurred to her.

"Noah... it looks like you can choose one more!"

"Hmm, is that so? Then I might as well pick Mage. If I can make a grimoire, I'll reward you with two so you can drink your fill."

Hearing Noah's unruffled voice, Loki narrowed her eyes, revealing a trace of murderous intent as her teeth ground together.

What?!

Was having a rare skill that let him choose two Developmental Abilities really that impressive?

And what did he mean, "reward"?!

Show some respect, kid!

I'm a bona fide goddess. You think a couple of grimoires, just a few hundred million Valis, would make me—

"Then thank you! My dearest Noah!"

A goddess couldn't give up money just to preserve her dignity, could she?

That was hundreds of millions of Valis! If she was careful, it'd be enough to buy divine wine for years!

But just when Loki thought it was over, she caught sight of something new from the corner of her eye.

"Whoa, another new skill just appeared!"

Noah Cipher

Lv. 2