Danma: Danganronpa, but Monster Hunter!

The lingering embers, unwilling to give up, tried to land on him and continue burning, but they seemed to slide off as if landing on an invisible membrane.

Flame's gaze remained unchanged, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

If a fully charged counterattack is successful, all effects following that counterattack will have no effect on the attacker. However, this effect only applies to single-hit attacks. If the attack consists of multiple hits, subsequent attacks will still affect the attacker.

But clearly, the little dog in front of them didn't have that ability.

"bring it on,"

Flame beckoned to the last hellhound with his finger.

In fact, neither the Flame Blade nor the Charge Blade is suitable for proactive attacks.

Because of the strength of the enemy, hunters focused their skill points on defense and counterattack. Ensuring their own survival before considering whether to attack was a mandatory course for every hunter.

Death means nothing; only by living can you contribute.

As expected, the hellhound, provoked by the flames, charged straight toward them. Its hatred for humans was naturally locked away by the dungeon, and driven by instinct, it charged forward even though the other party was slaughtering its own kind right in front of it.

What awaited it was a merciless sword strike from the raging flames.

The single-edged sword cleaved the hellhound in two. The strike seemed to have hit the magic stone in the hellhound's chest. Before the hellhound could fall to the ground, it had already turned into dust and vanished without a trace, leaving only a white tooth on the ground.

Along with the falling items came a piercing sound like shattering glass.

Warning: Sharpness reduction.

Blazing Flame thought for a moment, then sheathed his sword and shield, picked up the fallen items from the ground, drew a hunting knife with a blade about 70 centimeters long, and sliced ​​open the chests of the first two hellhounds he had defeated, taking out the magic stone.

"Mr. Blazing Flame, are we not going to continue exploring?"

Seeing that the battle was over, Raul brought a cloak and a backpack. Flame put the two Hellhound magic stones and the dropped items into a compartment in the backpack. Hearing Raul's question, he nodded.

"Yes, let's end today's exploration here."

"Why? Mr. Flame's stamina is still very good." Raul asked, somewhat puzzled.

"The sharpness of the weapon has decreased. I didn't expect to go straight to the middle level today, so I forgot to bring a whetstone. And we've pretty much achieved our goal." Flame pointed to the sword and shield behind him, his expression remaining calm.

"The sharpness has decreased... Oh right, Mr. Flame's weapon also has a sharpness issue like ours." Raul suddenly realized.

"...What do you think of my weapon? Of course, there are limitations on its sharpness... But actually, the rate at which its sharpness is decreasing today is much slower than before," Flame said after a moment of silence.

"That's probably because the monsters in the upper dungeons don't have as strong flesh as the monsters you hunted, Mr. Flame. But actually, it's not much different in the middle dungeons... The decrease in sharpness is probably because you cut through the magic stone, Mr. Flame."

Breaking the magic stone is the fastest way to defeat a monster, but it also results in the loss of the monster's magic stone, which cannot be recovered, or can only be recovered as small fragments.

Raul explained with a smile, while handing the cloak he was holding to Flame.

"I see."

After removing his helmet and putting it back in his backpack, Flame took the cloak and wrapped it around his equipment again.

Perhaps because other returning teams had already cleared out all the monsters along the way, and no new monsters had yet spawned to replenish the dungeon, the return journey was much smoother than the chaotic experience they had encountered on the way down to the middle level.

It took Raul and Flame a little over half the time it took to get down there before they were back on the ground.

Next, he headed to the guild headquarters to hand over the magic stones. Amidst the envious whispers of other adventurers and the gazes that seemed to want to pierce him a thousand times, Flame pulled out a bag full of coins from the counter.

Sell ​​all Goblin Materia and dropped materials, Total War Shadow Materia and dropped materials, as well as Materia and dropped materials from some other random monsters.

First day's earnings: 67000 Faris.

Chapter Twenty-One: So we really are bullies!

As I emerged from the Pantheon, the sun had already begun to set in the west. One by one, magic stone lamps lit up in front of the shops along Adventurer's Street, dimly dispelling the lingering darkness and creating a sea of ​​shimmering light.

The streets thinned out, and adventurers gathered in the taverns, raising their glasses in celebration of another fruitful day.

Even so, the "Loki Familia, Keep Out of the Way" debuff on Raul and Flame remained unaffected. Wherever they went, even in streets with ample open space, people would avoid them by keeping a safe distance.

Raul politely declined Flame's offer to share half of the Fali he had obtained, and looked at Flame with some curiosity.

"Mr. Flame, you seem to have a very good temper."

"...Why are you suddenly saying something like that?" Flame was slightly taken aback, unexpectedly feeling a bit confused by Raul's topic.

"Because you see, yesterday, you weren't angry when everyone was plying you with alcohol and questioning you. This morning, you even gave away the medicine you were carrying. You didn't care when people talked about you on the road or when you were looked at like that in the Pantheon."

Raul counted on his fingers, like a younger brother confiding his confusion to his older brother.

Indeed, in terms of age, Raul, who was only twenty-one years old at the time, was indeed like a younger brother compared to the twenty-seven-year-old Flame. Furthermore, Raul's personality meant that he would not put on airs as a senior member of the Familia.

After all, this is someone who can properly address eight-year-old Ais as "Lady Ais"...

It has to be said that Finn's decision to send Raul to look after Flame on his new adventure was absolutely the right one.

"Haha, I'm not as magnanimous as you think. I don't care about being forced to drink or being interrogated because neither of those things affects my life. As for the medicine, I just brought too much and shared it with everyone. As for other people's opinions and criticisms, let me ask you, do other people's evaluations change your impression of me?" Lieyan shook his head and smiled, then asked.

"will not."

Do you feel ashamed of how others look at you?

"will not."

"The criticisms from others, saying that I was able to defeat Zhan Ying with your help, will that change the facts?"

"will not."

"That's more like it. Let them be sour if they want. Why bother with them? Are they bored? As a member of the Loki Familia, do you expect everyone to avoid you on the street? Are you going to explain that the Loki Familia isn't the kind of family that bullies other families?"

"Uh, no explanation needed, because we did indeed bully other clans..." Raul scratched his cheek, coughing somewhat sheepishly.

"...Wait a minute, are we really bullying them?" Flame was slightly taken aback, noticing that Raul's words seemed a little off.

What the heck? Is this really bullying?

Although I used to think that Loki's Familia was the dominant force in Orario, that was just talk. Turns out, we really are the dominant force!

“Hmm… but all that so-called bullying was done by Loki for Miss Ais,” Raul nodded, then added:

"Ever since Miss Ais reached LV2 from LV1 in just a year and a half, there have been people openly and secretly plotting against her."

In retaliation for this, Loki led his Familia in launching numerous war games for a period of time. It's safe to say that more than half of the small and medium-sized Familias in Orario clashed with Loki's Familia. Especially those who courted Ais, including adventurers and some male gods—probably over a thousand people in total—were thoroughly tormented by Loki.

Later, for some unknown reason, this incident turned into a rumor that the Loki Familia was bullying smaller Familias because of their size and power.

But nowadays, people don't really care about these things anymore.

"They deserved it for bullying us," Lieyan said decisively.

How dare they lay a hand on Loki's most precious Ais... These idiots and adventurers must have a death wish.

However, given the nature of those gods, it's likely that a significant portion of them simply wanted to provoke Loki, to see her display a twisted, demonic expression, and then to derive pleasure from it...

Before dinner began, Raul and Flame returned to their clan. Upon seeing the two of them, the clan members all gave them friendly looks, and the bolder ones even took the initiative to greet them.

They… forgive me for using the word “she,” but the reason is that there are far more female members than male members in the Loki Familia.

Some of them had received the bounty from the Flame Hand, while others had exchanged for recovery potions within their own clans and received information that the potions came from the Flame Hand. In short, they all rushed forward at once, pushing Raul aside. Their sweet expressions of gratitude created a scene that Loki would surely envy to the point of vomiting blood.

...Yeah, I really vomited blood.

"Hey, Blaze, how far are you going to bewitch our Familia before you stop?!"

In the distance, Loki wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his bloodshot eyes wide, and like a demon, he raised his arm and charged towards the flames. Unfortunately, halfway there, this god, who in no sense possessed any dignity whatsoever, revealed his true intentions.

"Hehehe, let's get together and stick together too—!!"

Loki roared excitedly. Although she favored Ais, Tione, Tiona, and Lefia, who were high-ranking members of her clan, she had also carefully selected the beautiful core members. Gathering them together was a favorite of hers. She could already imagine herself like a tyrant, surrounded by beauties, laughing heartily.

Unfortunately, in the long struggle against Loki, many of the female members of the Familia had already accumulated enough experience. When Loki accelerated, they took the initiative to dodge and scattered like butterflies.

Whether human or orc, dwarf or elf, all achieved perfect unity in this endeavor, a true utopian state.

Unable to stop, Loki could only watch helplessly as he hurtled through the empty passageway, crashing headfirst into the chest of Flame, who stood like an iron tower in the center. Dizzy and disoriented, Flame reached out and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up like a chick.

Flame was still wearing armor when Loki crashed headfirst into the Earth Dragon's breastplate with a thud.

"Damn it!" Loki flared his limbs in a fit of rage. "We want to stick together! We want to stick together! We want to stick together!"

"Stop fooling around." Blazing Flame brandished his hand, delivering a chop to the neck.

Looking at the hand blade that had previously dealt him a heavy blow, now adorned with an equally heavy-looking gauntlet, Loki immediately fell silent, his eyes clearing considerably.

No kidding, if this knife strikes, she might die—correction, she might be returned.

“Very good,” Flame nodded in satisfaction, then tucked Loki under his arm and strode toward the interior of the Familia. “I was just about to go find you, help me update my stats.”

Chapter Twenty-Two: Good News, My Abilities Have Improved!

"Raul, you should be going to report to Mr. Finn later, right? Then I'll ask you to pass on my message to Mr. Finn first. I'll go see the captain after the stats are updated. That should be fine, right?"

Carrying Loki to the entrance, Flame seemed to remember something and turned to Raul behind him, saying:

“No problem,” Raul replied. Flame nodded and entered the Twilight Pavilion.

As mentioned before, the headquarters of the Loki Familia, the long residence called the Twilight Mansion, is composed of many towers.

The lower halves of the towers are connected, while the upper halves extend into a stone-paved corridor connecting the two towers, complementing each other. The arrangement is complex and disorderly, with no discernible pattern.

Loki's personal room was located on the top floor of the central tower surrounded by other towers. After carrying the struggling Loki up the entire spiral staircase of the tower to the front and back of the room, Flame put Loki down and gestured for him to open the door.

"Okay, okay, open the door."

Loki sighed and pushed open the wooden door, his face full of reluctance and resistance, but deep down he found the feeling of being forcibly brought into the room like luggage somewhat novel.

Flame followed Loki into the room without looking to either side.

Although Loki is a goddess, to be honest, her room doesn't seem to have anything to do with women at all. If you had to describe it, it's a typical alcoholic's room, and among alcoholics, it's the kind with rather extreme tastes.

The room was crammed with all sorts of odds and ends.

A small wine cellar was formed by stacks of various wines along with their storage containers. Bottles of all colors and shapes were placed in every corner of the room. On the only table in the room sat half-empty bottles of wine and glasses still containing liquid.

Something that looked very familiar to the flames.

—I drank half a bottle of recovery medicine G.

...It's hard to imagine what reason this bottle of recovery potion G could have had to be here.

It couldn't possibly be some drunkard who smelled honey in it and suddenly wanted to taste it to see what it was like, so...

That can't be... right...?