Danmachi – Infinite Mana System

[Chapter Size: 2317 Words.]
Lucius POV
Twenty-Third Floor, Dungeon.

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"Long time no see, Lucius-Kun...Nyah," a woman among the group of 10 said, and I knew her very well, not just her, but all these 10 people.

This woman's name was Carina, and she was the second most powerful member of the family. She had always been arrogant, a Demi-Human with cat features—yellow ears matching her hair. However, it wasn't in the cute category like Anya from Hostess of Fertility. Even though she said that pun, Nyah, there was always contempt in her gaze.

Seeing all of them, memories began to surface in my mind with these members of my last family. Now I'm wondering why the hell I ran into them precisely now.

'It's not that simple; they were waiting for me in hiding. Did these damn people want to ambush me? Have they become a bunch of cowards now?!' I told myself while staring at all 10 of them.

"I didn't know my former colleagues fell to the point of ambushing level 2s in groups in the deep parts of the dungeon. What a shame..." I said sarcastically, knowing the pride of this family. I knew that these words would hit them, and as I guessed, they proved that I wasn't wrong.

Everyone expressed anger after hearing those words.

"Hey, you loser, how dare you talk to us like that!" said one among the level 2 adventurers.

"Oh? And what were you doing hidden behind that rock, by any chance, scratching your butt, right?" I asked with a smile.

He just growled but didn't say anything more, just like the others.

"Tell me, Carina, why are you here? Didn't Heimdall-Sama expel me from your family? What do you want with me? I'm not in the mood to waste my time with you," I said in a serious tone. I didn't show fear even though I was at a numerical disadvantage. It was one against many members here; there were 2 level threes and 8 level twos.

"Did you hear that, Hug? I wonder where our Lucius went and when he became so bold and confident?" she said playfully while looking at the small man beside her.

"He's not the Lucius we knew anymore. Somehow, that trash became level 2 in just a little over a month from our investigation. Besides, he can detect us from a distance; I wonder how? I don't know, but he has some interesting abilities now," said Hug, the level 3 dwarf.

"It's true..." She said thoughtfully, then turned to me again. "You know, Lucius-Kun, Heimdall-Sama is quite upset... I finally reached level four three weeks ago." This information surprised me a bit; so, she's now level 4? That complicates things here. Moreover, the Heimdall family now has two level 4s, making it a family not to be taken lightly.

"And just as Heimdall was finally gaining the spotlight that his family was growing, however, the newest Goddess of Orario, Hestia, is suddenly becoming very famous. First, she made Heimdall lose his popularity suddenly and made us fade into obscurity about our recent rise to an adventurer who broke the level 1 to 2 record several times faster than the former record holder," she said and continued.

"After that, to worsen his mood, the member he expelled from our family, who was considered a pariah, joined the goddess Hestia's family shortly after and began to become very famous with rumors of strange feats..."
"...first, he tames a goblin and turns it into a support, then comes the news that some members reported he fought a Goliath alone, using various spells without going into mindzero, and defeated it while still at level one, this was observed by members of our own family..."
"...later, a rumor of the same adventurer fighting a Goliath variant alone and defeating it after bringing down the crystals from the ceiling on the Rivira floor." She said, licking her lips as she used to do in my memories when she saw something that interested her.
"Now, a few days ago, news came out that he recently reached level 2, which was quite shocking for us. You were in our family for 2 years, and after just a little over a month out, you level up in another family? Do you know what rumors are circulating among the gods? Lucius-kun..."
"Some gods are saying that Hestia is doing something with her children, as both are breaking records. You may have been an adventurer for 2 years, but we are sure that your stats were at rank I when you were expelled..." She finished with a sadistic smile, and anger was beginning to explode in me the more I heard her words.
"Enough talk, Carina, I don't think you're here to gossip about me in YOUR FAMILY, don't beat around the bush and tell me what you want with me!" I growled; I was already losing patience with them. If they want a fight by provoking me, then they'll get one!
"Heee..." Riekling muttered while shrinking beside me after hearing my mood.
"Well, you've really changed, Lucius-kun. You no longer have patience and don't mind being questioned by a level four adventurer? I like you more like this, to be honest..." She asked, enjoying my mood and continued speaking.
"You disappeared from the city for two weeks, so our god, Heimdall-Sama, asked us to form a team to search for you with a small group and escort you back to our family headquarters." She said calmly.
"As far as I know, I no longer belong to your family and don't follow the orders of the god Heimdall anymore," I said in a cold tone.
"Well, Heimdall-Sama gave us the order that if you refused, we can take you by force..." She threatened me.
"You talk as if you could leave the dungeon with a hostage without the guild noticing. I doubt Heimdall can break Orario's laws like that." I scoffed.
"Not as a hostage, but maybe if you think better about your new family or goddess, as soon, it will be destroyed-nyah..." She finished her sentence with the same sadistic smile; I knew at that moment she was threatening and referring to Apollo's attack and the war game that will happen.

My conclusion from this is that Heimdall wants to take me out of the war game to make it easier for Apollo to get Bell. So he would be escorting me to reconsider my choices and "GIVE ME A CHANCE" to return to the old family. Which I found to be a great nonsense.

Even considering all of this, when I heard the words "...she will be destroyed-nyah..." Rage took over me. Threatening my current family was not something I would take lightly at all. Mana began to almost explode from my body with the lesser mana aura spell, while my eyes, unnoticed by them, were glowing.

"Despicable as always. I was really deluded into believing in you once, but Heimdall and Apollo are two peas in a pod, aren't they? I don't blame him for expelling me, honestly, but coming to threaten me and my Goddess?" I said without caring about discussing Apollo, even though he hadn't been mentioned yet, not to mention that I wasn't treating any of these gods with proper formality.

About being expelled, to be honest, I didn't care as much as it seemed. I really didn't blame Heimdall for expelling me or hold a grudge against him. I think of it like a business owner: if an employee doesn't give you results, why allocate resources to that person? That's how the world works. You will naturally be rejected if you don't show results. This unconditional friendship thing is somewhat rare to happen, even in a world that was considered fictional to me before I died; I always thought that way.

I had no quarrels with this family now that I am with Hestia. I never thought of having any relationship with them, whether it be friendship or enmity. I just wanted to live my life peacefully while strengthening myself under the wings of the Hestia family. But they came to the floors like these just to threaten me, which changed my intention with this group a lot.

"Hmmm, Lucius-Kun is so bold-nyah..." She said regretfully, but her voice was in a cold tone now, and all the other members drew weapons, bows and arrows, and raised their magic staffs to prepare to attack me.

"So be it, you bitch!" I said with a sadistic smile, but I was very angry at this moment, which surprised the group a bit with my expression in the face of so many enemies.

Without any warning, my body started to glow in various colors, and I took out the last sword that remained of the 16 I had bought for the past few days, which were in Riekling's backpack. After that, I looked closely at all 10 faces in front of me.

Finally, a few seconds passed in silence. They were curious about the various colors appearing around me, not knowing what kind of buff I was creating without saying any chants.

So, in the midst of the silence, a mana explosion, raising the energy 15 meters high, burst out of my body in a vortex of wind. Right behind me, my goblin companion, caught off guard by the sudden outburst, flew backward, surprised by the explosion near me.

"HEEEEE!" He shouted indignantly as he flew, taken aback by the sudden aura explosion to the opposite side.

"Damn, I'll have to apologize to him later for this..." I grumbled, watching my partner fly because of me, which was not intentional. I just released this aura due to my anger.

I turned my face to the members who were still looking at me, stunned by the force and my mana visibly glowing even more with a blue color, reaching them as well, even at a distance of 50 meters.

Without wasting any more time, consumed by anger, I kicked the ground with my speed matching that of a newly leveled 3. However, despite Carina recently reaching level 4, she is an experienced level 3, so my speed wouldn't be a challenge for her.

But it wasn't my agility that I was counting on to fight them. As I ran, I began to disappear and reappear a few meters ahead while heading to confront them, gaining momentum and reaching the group much faster than just running with my physical stats.

Carina, who had already entered a stunned state again, seeing me do something like this effortlessly while running, was caught off guard. By the time she focused on the battle again, I was already close to her with a wicked smile.

"WHAT...HMMMM" Before she could exclaim, I placed my left hand on her face before she could speak and said with a smile.

"Take this, you bitch." My hand glowed in friction with her skin, and point-blank fire shot directly into Carina's face.

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