However, the moment [War God] Takemikazuchi raised his knife, it was as if an invisible pressure enveloped the entire space.
Takemikazuchi's voice was deep and powerful, as if piercing through everyone's heart:
Takemikazuchi swung his kitchen knife and began to cut the fish, or rather, to cleave it.
The god's movements were coherent and natural, like a peculiar dance. The two kitchen knives in his hands seemed not to be cold tools, but extensions of his soul.
The cold light of the blade drew dazzling arcs in the air, captivating the audience, their eyes following the flow of the blade.
In that instant, they seemed to hallucinate that what Takemikazuchi was cutting was no longer fish, but spiders and demons, yakshas and rakshasas, tigers and giant snakes, the vengeful god of Kumano, and ancient battlefields long past.
Just then, someone suddenly shouted, "Three times! I'm willing to pay three times the price!"
"Ten times! Just to taste this piece of fish that was just cut!"
Wei Gong: "I saw a sword, a sword called [Futsunomitama]."
198
Chapter 198: A Deeper Adventure.
"This sword is called [Izumo]. It's a weapon I forged not long ago. Although its performance isn't particularly outstanding, it has reached the standard of a first-class armament."
If priced formally, without considering the premium brought by Wei Gong's signature, the price of [Izumo] would be around ninety million valis, less than one hundred million.
Goddess Hephaestus added, "Of course, considering your level, it's still too early to use this sword."
The value of a first-class armament is very high. If it were placed directly in the Takemikazuchi Familia, I'm afraid it would tempt many people to take risks.
Therefore, the goddess suggested that it would be best to pay a not-too-large storage fee to have it kept by the Guild to ensure its safety.
Wei Gong looked at her, his voice calm: "This is not a gift, but an equal exchange. In fact, I'm actually gaining more here."
The Sword of Pacification, the Spiritual Sword of Conquest - [Futsunomitama]
Rather than a replica of the original, it is more like his understanding and construction. This situation is somewhat similar to his [Kanshou and Bakuya].
And for Wei Gong, this kind of construction is much better than half-heartedly analyzing the divine weapon [Futsunomitama] and barely projecting its outer shell.
That's why Wei Gong decided to use a first-class armament as a return.
"These are [Flying Snow] and [Cold Rain], weapons forged by Tsubaki."
Goddess Hephaestus said, placing two exquisite katanas in front of Yamato Mikoto.
Tsubaki has the blood of the Far East, so she prefers to use katanas. Her main weapon [Red Shigure] is a katana.
Takemikazuchi said gently, "Mikoto, take them."
Yamato Mikoto looked down at the two katanas in front of her: "I feel like I owe you more and more."
Yamato Mikoto raised her head, looked firmly at Takemikazuchi, then at Wei Gong and Goddess Hephaestus, and then nodded solemnly: "Yes!"
"This time, our goal is the twenty-fourth floor."
Wei Gong said.
The twenty-fourth floor is the deepest part of the middle levels, and from the twenty-fifth floor onwards, it officially enters the dangerous lower levels.
[Amphisbaena] and [Goliath] are different. The latter spends most of its time in the huge room at the deepest part of the seventeenth floor, occasionally rushing into other rooms or the eighteenth floor.
In fact, according to the team's configuration, they already have the ability to directly challenge [Amphisbaena].
However, dungeon battles are never just about the strength on paper, but a comprehensive test of teamwork, individual reaction, and experience accumulation.
This is only their second adventure, and there are new members joining. They need more running-in and understanding of each other.
Lefiya: "In that case, I feel a lot safer in the dungeon. Yamato-san's skills are amazing!"
Wei Gong continued: "The Labyrinth King of the seventeenth floor has not yet revived. We will try not to stay too long before reaching the eighteenth floor."
Wei Gong nodded and turned his gaze to Yamato Mikoto: "Yamato-san, can you be the main force in the battles before the twelfth floor?"
Before reaching the eighteenth floor, they will advance along the main road, and the encounters with monsters are not expected to be many. Letting Mikoto be the main force is mainly to give everyone an accurate understanding of her strength.
Lunova said.
In the depths of the twenty-fourth floor, a masked figure stood. She had just knocked down a tree dragon with a potential reaching with her bare hands. The huge monster crashed to the ground, causing a tremor.
The masked figure slowly walked to the fallen tree dragon. She crouched down and stuffed the strong dragon magic stone in her hand into the mouth of this rare dragon-type monster - the tree dragon.
Two War Shadows pounced on her fiercely, their sharp claws tearing through the air. Above her, a purple moth fluttered its wings, scattering poisonous powder, trying to disrupt her vision.
The blade flashed, and the two War Shadows were instantly and neatly cut down. Then, she nimbly flipped over, avoiding the area covered by the purple moth's poisonous powder.
A cold light flashed, and a sharp kunai accurately hit the purple moth in the air. The purple moth let out a short hiss, and then fell weakly to the ground.
Although not as good as Wei Gong of the same level, Mikoto's combat power is definitely beyond the standard for adventurers, making people marvel that she is indeed a child raised by the War God.
Even with level suppression, Lefiya didn't think she could successfully chant magic if Mikoto got close to her. And with Mikoto's combat skills, she probably wouldn't even be able to put up a decent resistance and would be easily cut in the throat.
With Wei Gong's current magic power, the consumption of projecting ordinary magic swords is negligible for him, so at least the magic swords can be fully guaranteed.
The girl gripped the hilt of the sword tightly with both hands, trying to concentrate her mind and release small fireballs from the blade one after another.
"Firebird?"
Wei Gong frowned and asked.
They had just arrived at the safe area on the eighteenth floor and were preparing to rest when Morse, the leader of Rivira, came to them.
The Firebird is a not-so-common bird-type monster that specializes in using fire for long-range attacks.
However, Firebirds are also easily countered by adventurers with long-range abilities. For example, adventurers who are good at archery or throwing can relatively easily shoot them down.
Wei Gong asked directly.
Morse lowered his head, looking even more uneasy, his voice trembling slightly: "I, I took people to subjugate the Firebirds... As a result, among those damn monsters, there was a super large purple-black Flamebird!"
Wei Gong was thoughtful: "Another strengthened species?"
According to the information obtained from Eina, there have been frequent reports of strengthened species recently.
The customers couldn't help but hold their breath, fearing to disturb that sharp, cold light.
"Today's sword dance is to thank a benefactor."
"Although it may seem presumptuous to say so, I ask all adventurers to watch and remember this sword dance as much as possible."
The blade flowed over the flesh, like water flowing through a valley.
Slices of fish were perfectly cut and neatly stacked together. The fish was as thin as cicada wings, with a shimmering luster, as if you could see it trembling slightly under the light.
When Takemikazuchi finished the last cut and placed the last perfect piece of sashimi on the counter, the entire store remained silent. Everyone seemed to be still immersed in that wonderful sword dance.
After a moment, as if waking from a dream, a burst of excited applause and exclamations erupted from the crowd.
Immediately afterward, more people began to bid:
"Five times! I offer five times the price!"
"Shirou, what did you see?"
Goddess Hephaestus asked.
"Did you remember its appearance?"
The goddess inquired.
Shirou nodded. He thought for a moment, then raised his hand: "I offer a first-class armed sword."
As Shirou spoke, he handed the sword to Yamato Mikoto.
Yamato Mikoto was completely stunned as she looked at the sword in Shirou's hand.
Shirou hadn't put all his effort into forging this sword, but even so, it was still enough to be rated as a first-class armament.
However, this weapon was not a commodity, but a return gift from Shirou for Takemikazuchi's help, so it did not involve monetary transactions, nor did it charge any fees.
"You can store it in Babel's storage first. When you reach and your ability values accumulate to the top, you can almost equip this sword."
Yamato Mikoto waved her hand nervously: "No, no, wait, this, it's too precious…"
After watching Takemikazuchi's sword dance and eating the most tender piece of sashimi he cut, a sword was added to Shirou's [Unlimited Blade Works].
To be precise, what Shirou obtained was not the real divine weapon [Futsunomitama], but a sword materialized based on Takemikazuchi's slash and sword dance, supplemented by imagination.
In fact, the sword dance that Takemikazuchi showed today was specially presented for Shirou.
Among the adventurers present, Shirou was the only one who could truly capture the divine intent of that "Martial God's Sword".
Coincidentally, Shirou also had a prototype of the katana [Izumo] from when he upgraded the black and red twin swords for Ryu before.
"Although it's only a third-class armament, its power and feel are pretty good."
"These two weapons will be lent to you for the time being, accept them. Their price is actually only a fraction of [Izumo]'s. Takemikazuchi helped Shirou a lot this time, so don't be polite."
Takemikazuchi smiled and patted her on the shoulder: "Then make up for it with your performance in the dungeon."
A few days later, after a round of rest and preparation, Shirou and his team once again entered the dungeon.
This time, the equipment configuration of the team members has changed slightly. Lefiya's huge backpack was replaced with a small leather bag, and the original giant backpack is now carried by the supporter Yamato Mikoto.
Moreover, on the twenty-fifth floor, it is already possible to encounter the lone king of the labyrinth—the Twin-Headed Dragon Amphibian.
And the [Amphibian]'s range of movement is more extensive, covering the twenty-fifth to twenty-seventh floors. It can quickly move by using the large waterfalls and waterways that run through these floors.
For the [Amphibian]'s most troublesome water combat ability, Shirou can use the Ice Magic Sword and [Ice Scathach] to restrict it. Moreover, the lightning magic sword can exert even greater power in a humid environment.
Shirou handed several badges to the team members. Through these props, Yamato Mikoto can use her skill [Yatagarasu] to sense the location of her teammates.
Mikoto's face flushed slightly, seemingly a little embarrassed: "I will do my best to use my abilities to help everyone."
"The goal is to reach the safe zone on the eighteenth floor before night as much as possible, and continue forward after resting for one night."
The girls responded: "Understood!"
Yamato Mikoto was slightly startled, then bowed: "Shirou-sama, please just call me by my name… Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to train!"
In addition, it also allows Yamato Mikoto, who carries the backpack, to gradually adapt to the combat style as a supporter by dealing with some weak monsters.
"Hopefully, we'll have good luck this time and encounter a rare species of Tree Dragon."
She held a huge magic stone in her hand. The magic stone emitted a bright purple light, which was particularly dazzling.
If Ais were here, she might recognize that this magic stone came from a powerful monster she had once defeated—the top monster on the fifty-first floor, the Strong Dragon Cadmus.
199
Chapter 199: Another Enhanced Species.
In the dark passage of the seventh floor of the dungeon, Yamato Mikoto is facing several attacking monsters alone.
Mikoto's eyes were very focused. She quickly dodged the claw attack of the War Shadow, and the [Snowflake] and [Cold Rain] in her hands waved alternately like a gust of wind, accurately slashing at the War Shadow's fragile joints.
Immediately afterward, the girl elegantly rotated in the air, and quickly took out a kunai from her arms while landing, and threw it into the air.
"Yamato-san, you are too amazing!"
Lefiya looked at Mikoto with amazement, her tone full of sincere admiration.
So much so that Lefiya suspected that when she was , she might not be able to defeat Mikoto, who had just obtained God's grace at .
For Mikoto, what she lacks is still higher ability values and a high-power attack method that can end the battle—so far, Mikoto has not mastered magic.
However, in this team, this problem is easily solved—just carry more magic swords.
In the center of the team, Haruhime is also actively participating in training. She carries a backpack that is not too big, exercising her endurance, while constantly using [Fox Fire]
Although most of the fireballs deviated from the target and hardly hit any monsters, it can at least exercise her magic control and mental strength.
Mores stood in front of Shirou, looking a little nervous: "Yes, yes, a large number of Firebirds are gathered on the nineteenth floor."
Although their physical abilities are not strong, their troublesome flying ability and long-range attack methods make the difficulty level considered to reach the upper level of .
"If it's just Firebirds, it's easy to solve by issuing a request to the adventurers, right?"
He gasped slightly and continued, "Our subjugation team encountered that purple Firebird, and several people were sacrificed before barely returning alive."
"I see, so the atmosphere in Rivira is so heavy."
Including the Red Mantis they personally killed, there have been four pieces of information about enhanced species.
They are the Red Mantis they killed, and the Twin-Headed Hellhound that [Phantom Trio] completed the subjugation of.
