I, Ritsuka, Siscon Grand Hero

As Ritsuka watched in stunned silence, the wall opposite them suddenly cracked open, and a scarlet eye stared directly at Ritsuka through the gap.

A chill crawled up their spine.

It was a killing intent more bizarre than any beast's, utterly devoid of reason, as if it would attack anything that moved. It felt like a monster, something akin to a demonic beast, was emerging from the wall.

While it wasn't a major threat—at least, Ritsuka didn't feel a sense of impending death from this monster's initial appearance—still...

"What's with the numbers?!"

The wall trembled, and Ritsuka leaped from the ground in an instant, a flash of electricity in their hand as they grasped the projected Demonic Blade, Muramasa.

Monsters began to crawl out of the wall one by one. In just the passage Ritsuka was in, there were at least twenty, conservatively estimated. The cave suddenly became crowded.

With a barrage of roars, Ritsuka solemnly changed their attire.

The Heroic Spirit armament constructed by the Holy Shroud should be able to reduce some of the damage, right? It should be able to, shouldn't it?

Looking at the large clubs in the monsters' hands, Ritsuka swallowed hard.

"These things look way more disgusting than those dolls."

Enzō felt offended.

With footsteps like an earthquake, trampling the desolate ground, a horde of Ox-headed Monsters charged towards Ritsuka.

They had two hard, large horns on their heads, their hideous faces resembling elongated donkey faces, and their tough skin was a reddish-bronze color. Their snorts echoed each other as they exhaled, each one looking utterly repulsive.

Their scarlet eyes seethed with anticipation, fixing on their prey. Ritsuka was quite small compared to the Minotaurs.

Their massive bodies, comparable to the Avenger-class Alcides, launched their attacks, thick arms wielding blunt weapons raised high above their heads.

"..."

Ritsuka remained silent, raising the long sword in their hand.

Hundred-Beast Slayer!

Testing the monsters' strength with a Noble Phantasm, Ritsuka gave these ferocious-looking creatures ample respect. Their agile form weaved through the gaps between the monsters, and sharp sword light swept through the cave.

In a flash, Ritsuka unleashed a divine-speed nine-hit combo.

The slashes cut through the monster horde, the sword light slowly dissipated, and the terrifying shrieks abruptly ceased.

The next moment, the monsters exploded, scattering into gray smoke, and countless small items fell within.

"This déjà vu... an RPG adventure game?"

Monsters dropping loot, Ritsuka stared at the piles of crystals and materials on the ground, falling into a brief silence.

At least twenty monsters were wiped out, with only a few scattered in the corners, silent as if their necks had been squeezed, making not a sound.

The air fell silent for a second before Ritsuka, preparing to fight again, was surprised to find that all the Ox-headed Monsters had fled in a panic.

In a flash, only Ritsuka remained in the cave, along with the piles of materials and crystals.

"..."

What a waste of effort.

Sensing the mana consumption within their body, Ritsuka suddenly felt that using a Noble Phantasm might have been a bit excessive, even though Hundred-Beast Slayer didn't consume much.

But they didn't have infinite mana.

The Demonic Blade in their hand shattered and was absorbed into their body as mana. Ritsuka began collecting the items on the ground.

According to typical RPG games, these things could be exchanged for money. After all, they were monster drops, so it wasn't a loss to pick them up. Moreover, among the dozen or so crystals on the ground—

They contained quite abundant energy.

Ritsuka clenched a monster-dropped crystal, stared at its surface patterns for a moment, and then crushed it directly.

"Mana recovered. Interesting."

The amount wasn't large, but these crystals did contain a certain amount of energy.

Quite remarkable.

Feeling unburdened, Ritsuka tapped the Crystal Dice and glanced at Alcides' status panel. As expected, the Immortality that lasted until it was transferred to Prometheus had disappeared.

That slot had turned gray.

The scalp-tingling pain within their body was gone, but Ritsuka's eyes remained somewhat numb.

Because suddenly, they didn't know what to do.

Should they continue hunting Ox-headed Monsters like they were playing a game, or should they search for a human settlement and spend the remaining time peacefully...

Their life had been nothing but school and constantly being with Miyu and Sakura. When suddenly there was nothing around them, a vast emptiness surged and filled Ritsuka's heart completely.

A terrifying numbness had, at some point, begun to erode their soul.

Section 56 Chapter 50 A Strange New World

In a cave located somewhere underground, Ritsuka began searching for a way out. The cave was too winding.

Furthermore, the walls had a sensory-blocking effect. If it was an almost 180° corner, even if there was an Ox-headed Monster on the other side of the wall, Ritsuka wouldn't be able to sense it until they reached the turn.

This cave was far too bizarre.

After wandering around this place for a long time, Ritsuka finally found a staircase leading upwards.

She didn't rush to go up, as she wasn't sure what the situation was above. If she left this floor rashly, she might encounter monsters she couldn't handle.

If it were just a few minotaurs, she could take them down one or two at a time.

"Hey, hey, have you heard?"

Suddenly, just as Ritsuka was about to pick up the crystal on the ground after slicing a minotaur, a voice appeared from behind.

Ritsuka's eyes sharpened, and she immediately pushed off the wall and leaped, hooking onto something above.

She hung in a blind spot of vision...

"What are you muttering about?"

"It's about the Loki Familia. They say they're starting an expedition, and this time their target is deeper levels."

Two men and a woman walked past below, discussing something intensely.

Compared to the more cheerful and outgoing men, the girl carrying a pack noticed the materials dropped by the minotaur Ritsuka had defeated – a hard bull's horn.

Without hesitation, she picked it up and murmured, "This is a Minotaur's horn. Did someone kill the monster and forget to pick it up?"

Since it was a rare material, its value was much higher than the crystal dropped by the minotaur. So, the girl directly took the item for Ritsuka and put it into the large bag behind her, completely unaware that the person who had just chopped up the minotaur was right above her.

"Hey, hey, Reiko, hurry up. This floor is still quite dangerous for you."

"Okay, coming right away."

The trio gradually moved away, and their incessant chatter grew fainter. However, Ritsuka still heard a lot of useful information, all of which she committed to memory.

For example: Loki, Familia, Minotaur, Floor Master Goliath, Level 3, 18th Floor Safe Zone, and so on.

She released her grip and dropped to the ground, landing steadily. Her gaze remained fixed in the direction the three had disappeared, and her sharp mind analyzed a few things.

Fighting monsters to level up. This world was just too interesting.

"God of Trickery and Fire, Familia-like organizations, mythical minotaurs, game boss-like floor masters..."

"But I've killed dozens of minotaurs by now. This thing looks like a decent elite monster, it should provide a lot of experience. But how do I level up? Where is it?" She muttered, feeling a bit bewildered.

This world was increasingly feeling like an RPG. An adventure and leveling-up gameplay. Maybe there would even be some pay-to-win elements. After all, how could one get stronger without spending money?

It would be great if it were an idle game for older people, preferably with some waifu material. That would probably make her more interested in playing.

The only problem was, she didn't know which button to press to level up...

"Below is the safe floor, the 18th Floor." Ritsuka glanced at her feet, then at the ascending staircase at the end of the passage. "Then, undoubtedly, the path above should be the way out."

If the first floor was actually the lowest, she'd take back her words. The game designers were really something else.

Real-life monster fighting and leveling up. Before starting to grind, she definitely needed to understand the game mode, even though Ritsuka currently had no specific goals and didn't even know what she was going to do next.

After all, she had nothing right now.

Except for a strength that was not worth mentioning, she truly had nothing.

"Hoo, I'll take it one step at a time... Because I have nothing, I have everything."

While comforting herself, she punched an ant that had just crawled out back into its hole. The terrifying power left passersby stunned.

Combined with Ritsuka's distinctly different attire from everyone else, she instantly became remarkably conspicuous.

As she moved to higher floors, more and more people appeared in her sight. Their clothing styles gradually shifted from various armors to simpler cloth garments, making the situation quite clear.

The stronger the person, the more outstanding their equipment would be.

As she moved upwards, the average attire of the people appearing in her sight seemed to be getting poorer, clearly indicating she had entered a beginner-level area.

So, the human settlement should be near...

Fifth floor, fourth floor, third floor, second floor, first floor.

Applying a suggestion spell to herself, Ritsuka stepped out of the underground cave she had been in for what felt like half a day. The dark night sky met her eyes.

What followed was a city with lights everywhere, styled in a retro fashion.

The bustling streets were filled with all sorts of bipedal creatures, which, at a glance, could be divided into two categories: humans and humanoids.

Countless people carrying swords, spears, and axes, clad in leather and iron armor, walked past her, looking like adventurers from another world. Many of them also had features different from ordinary humans.

Like beast ears, for example, which were fluffy and somewhat cute.

Walking across the plaza outside the cave, Ritsuka looked around, like a newcomer just entering a city.

Soon, the most striking structure, a tall tower located in the center of the city, came into her view.

"Wow..."

Ritsuka exclaimed in amazement.

Even though she had never seen anything like it before, and had no similar memories, she could still say it was "awesome."

Quite suddenly, Ritsuka felt a naked gaze fall upon her.

The intensity of the stare sent a shiver down her spine. Feeling her skin crawl, Ritsuka cautiously scanned her surroundings but couldn't find the peeping individual.

Her gaze then shifted to the towering structure.

"Not peeking, but openly staring? I'm not exactly blessed with beauty, could it be a male god has taken a liking to me?"

Ritsuka touched her cheek before turning and running into the crowd.

After putting some distance between them, the scorching gaze finally disappeared. Ritsuka, letting out a sigh of relief, walked towards the edge of the city and arrived at a place that looked like a shopping street.

Slipping into a clothing store, Ritsuka, who hadn't prepared any extra clothes in her Crystal Dice, had to shamelessly steal some.

A short black and blue skirt, along with matching shoes and tights. Ritsuka also took a few pairs of safety shorts, those divine artifacts that offer great protection for girls.

As she left, she dropped two Minotaur drops.

She didn't quite understand the specific value of these items, but judging by the reaction of that Level 3 female adventurer, they should be quite valuable.

Enough to buy a couple of outfits.

Leaving the clothing store, Ritsuka found a corner, deactivated her combat attire, and changed into clean clothes.

With the clothing issue resolved, the next thing was to understand the situation of this world.

Turning off the suggestion Magecraft she used to interfere with others' perception, Ritsuka blended into the crowd and headed towards a dilapidated, out-of-the-way library. Such places would likely have many historical records about this world.

However, before that, there were some surface-level questions she could ask the old man in the library.

Using suggestion Magecraft, Ritsuka took out a Minotaur drop and placed it in the old man's hand, then began to inquire about the basic settings of this world.

Chapter 57: Chapter 51 - Perverted Goddess Freya

The towering structure Ritsuka had noticed was called the Tower of Babel.