Puppeteer of the DanMachi World — Chapter 25

"Not good."

She cried out.

The sudden attack made her pupils constrict.

That direction was... Ming Ge?

Or a monster?

She did not dare gamble, but at her current speed, she simply could not reach him in time.

"An arrow?"

Sensing an arrow rapidly hurtling toward him through his detection wave, Ming Ge instinctively unleashed a Shockwave toward it.

The arrow carried far more power than he had imagined. The small-scale Shockwave merely knocked it off course.

No—the reason it came hurtling toward Ming Ge was precisely because it had been knocked off course.

"Shockwave Barrier."

The combat instincts he had honed through play kicked in. Ming Ge calmly unleashed his most powerful defensive magic.

A defensive Shockwave with a diameter of one meter spread outward, and a booming explosion echoed through the air.

The violent eruption of the Shockwave swept the arrow rushing at Ming Ge into the sky, rendering it harmless.

This was a Shockwave that spread outward in all directions within a fixed range.

A Shockwave Barrier that maximized the force of the Shockwave in that instant, achieving the best possible defensive effect.

"That kind of power... an upper-class adventurer?"

Chapter Nineteen: Riveria Ljos Alf

The moment the Shockwave failed to shatter the arrow, Ming Ge realized how powerful his opponent was and used the largest possible defensive barrier.

Who was trying to assassinate me?

Realizing that his own Shockwave had caused the arrow to fly toward him, Ming Ge could roughly guess that this had been an accidental misunderstanding.

He had no time to think further. No matter how clumsy the Half-Orc's body was, it still had time to raise its weapon.

The enormous club came crashing down at Ming Ge. In that instant, he deployed his defensive barrier once more.

Another booming blast rang out. The weapon in the Half-Orc's hand was repelled, forcing it to stagger back three steps.

While the Half-Orc was unsteady on its feet, Ming Ge stepped in front of it, pressed his palm against its abdomen, and murmured, "Shockwave: Point-Blank Destruction."

Using Shockwave at point-blank range, pressed directly against its body—there was only a boom before a massive bloody hole appeared in the Half-Orc's chest.

Blood sprayed from its back. A second later, blood slowly flowed from the hollow in its torso and dripped to the ground, while Ming Ge himself remained spotless.

Turning his head, Ming Ge saw an elf approaching from afar, along with a catgirl supporter carrying a backpack.

"I'm sorry."

The elf with long green hair that shimmered with nature's radiance said apologetically, "I made the wrong judgment just now. I thought you were in danger, so I prepared to kill the Half-Orc."

"I didn't expect your magic to alter the arrow's trajectory instead and nearly hurt you."

If Ming Ge had not been so cautious, or if his reaction had been any slower, perhaps nothing would have happened.

If Ming Ge had reacted a little more slowly and failed to deploy the barrier in time to deflect it, he likely would have been injured by the arrow.

In a sense, this misunderstanding truly was no small matter.

"You are...?"

Ming Ge looked at the familiar figure before him and asked.

"I am Riveria Ljos Alf, a member of the Loki Familia."

Riveria gave a slight bow. "This is Anakitty Autumn, a newcomer to the Loki Familia. She is temporarily serving as my supporter."

"I'm truly sorry about what happened."

She wore a green gown draped with a red cloak. It was woven from fire-element spirit cloth, clearly meant to guard against the flames of Hellhounds.

A shortsword hung at her waist. She held a staff in one hand and a longbow in the other, with a quiver slung across her back.

Her staff appeared to have been made from a branch of the Great Sage Tree, with a magic stone embedded at its tip. It was a staff reserved for the elven royal family.

Clearly, she had not yet obtained Magna Aves, one of the legendary Five Supreme Staffs.

Judging by her life force, Riveria was only around Level 3. Clearly, she was still just a rookie at this point.

Yet even fifteen years later, Riveria would still look exactly like this, unchanged in the slightest.

And when Ming Ge remembered that she had already been seventy-one years old when she left her hometown, he was no longer surprised.

Adventurers already had relatively long lifespans, not to mention elves, a long-lived race.

"I'm sorry."

Behind Riveria stood a catgirl carrying a huge pack. She bowed as well.

"Since it was a misunderstanding, there's nothing to be done about it."

Ming Ge smiled. "If anything, I should be thanking you. Even if it was just a misunderstanding, you tried to save me out of goodwill."

Every group had its bad apples. Many vile adventurers deliberately preyed on other adventurers for profit, so the Dungeon had many unwritten rules.

And when members of other Familias encountered trouble, they would most likely turn and flee to avoid being implicated.

Adventurers like her were instead the minority. Besides, Ming Ge did know this member of the main cast from the side story.

"Thank you for understanding."

Riveria let out a sigh of relief before asking, "May I ask how I should address you?"

"My name is Ming Ge. I suppose I'm..."

Ming Ge introduced himself, then hesitated slightly. "Well, I suppose I'm without a Familia?"

"Without a Familia?"