The fruit Wei Gong and the others collected was a special one—it looked like a persimmon and tasted like one, but its sweetness resembled that of high-end grapes.
“Ooh~ How wonderful, this fruit is really delicious, meow.”
Anya said ecstatically, “No wonder so many adventurers like to explore the Great Tree Labyrinth. The forest here really is a treasure trove, meow. In comparison, monster lairs are just too barren, meow.”
211
Chapter 211: A Step Forward in Their Relationship.
Wei Gong thought seriously for a moment and replied with particular candor, “Actually, there isn’t much of a difference from before.”
In fact, this trend had already existed. Wei Gong wasn’t completely oblivious to emotions, and he had always clearly understood the elf girl's feelings.
On the other hand, Wei Gong also realized that his bonds with others were not limited to Ryu alone, which made him feel somewhat confused.
However, his daily interactions with Ryu didn't change much. It was just that after that day, Ryu blushed much more often, and her expression when facing Wei Gong became more bashful.
“Ah~”
Hearing Lunova’s description, Lefiya’s face instantly turned red. She covered her face, revealing an expression of both shyness and excitement.
Regarding Lefiya’s dilemma, Wei Gong’s expression remained unchanged: “I will take responsibility.”
“Scumbag…”
The girls thought silently in their hearts.
Among them, the one who could accept it most calmly was Haruhime, who had always aspired to become an “outside wife.”
Looking at the little fox giggling foolishly, although they didn’t know what she was thinking, it was definitely something inappropriate. The girls sighed helplessly, “That lewd fox is hopeless.”
Although this was some rather private adventurer information, Mikoto immediately replied seriously, “Yes, thanks to everyone’s help recently, my ability scores have been improving quickly, especially Dexterity. Under the guidance of Wei Gong-sama and Takemikazuchi-sama, it has finally reached B-rank!”
The main reason she was able to make such progress was due to the previous adventure and the sparring sessions she had with Lunova and the others at Level 4 afterward.
Lunova: “What an amazing growth rate. If things continue to develop at this pace, Mikoto might even surpass Sword Princess's record.”
Lunova looked at Mikoto: “Mikoto, if you adventure with us in this area a few more times and participate in more battles, you’ll probably accumulate enough feats soon.”
Especially since Mikoto had mastered some unique skills, such as throwing swords from her hand, which allowed her to play an important role even in high-level battles.
Endurance and Dexterity are the easiest to improve when fighting against high-level adventurers.
Wei Gong: “You’re welcome, Mikoto. We are a team, and it’s only natural to help each other. Your skills have helped us a lot too.”
Wei Gong then looked at everyone and said, “Alright, everyone, after you finish eating, drink some water, rest for a moment, and then we’ll set off immediately. We’ll try to return to the eighteenth floor before the end of today.”
Hearing this, Wei Gong immediately turned to Kloe: “Kloe, I’m counting on you.”
Soon after, she brought back the exact location of the Bloody Hive.
The Bloody Hive is a rare trap-type monster that coexists with Deadly Hornets. It is seven meters long, its body is shaped like a pine cone, and its color is blackish-purple.
The Guild calls it one of the most troublesome monsters in the area, and some even compare it to a floor boss.
However, the Bloody Hive has a clear weakness: its danger lies mainly in hidden surprise attacks, so it is extremely afraid of detection magic and skills.
In game terms, fire affinity completely counters poison insects.
The Violet Flame Bird, whose strength reaches the upper level of Level 4, even approaching Level 5 in terms of enhanced species, uses feathers dropped from it to create the Violet Iris, which is entwined with purple flames, its fiery light glittering, as if a real bird is being reborn in the flames.
Deadly Hornets are naturally weak to fire, while Bloody Hives have some fire resistance.
The flames spread rapidly within the hive. The purple flames seemed to have a life of their own, leaping and burning wildly with the wind, turning the entire cave into a scorching furnace.
The hive itself was also quickly ignited in the raging fire, and those blackish-purple surfaces were scorched by the high temperature and began to collapse inward.
Lunova sighed softly, “Hey, you idiot cat, do you still remember how the Guild’s encyclopedia describes the Bloody Hive monster?”
Lunova: “Seeing it get taken care of so easily, I feel a bit disillusioned.”
Most of the time, the most important thing when dealing with monsters is not just pure ability scores, but information, affinity, and thorough preparation.
“So, Shirou’s ability is too broken. The more you understand him, the more terrifying he seems.”
Lunova exclaimed.
On the other side, Wei Gong turned to look at Lefiya: “This Violet Iris is a type of equipment similar in nature to the Wind Guardian Band, but it is a first-tier weapon, and the price is not high—probably only 180 million valis.”
Meanwhile, in Rivira's safe zone, as Wei Gong and the others were preparing to find an inn to rest, they unexpectedly encountered acquaintances.
“Filvis-senpai, and Aura-senpai!”
They were two elven women, one of whom was a black-haired, red-eyed magic swordsman with a cold expression.
Aura’s appearance was more delicate than Filvis's, with snow-white hair draped behind her and deep purple pupils that shone with a mysterious light in the sunlight.
Many adventurers were watching, but no one dared to approach them.
Tears kept streaming from Aura’s eyes.
Faced with such accusations, Filvis remained silent. No emotional fluctuations could be seen in her eyes, like a deep lake, only slightly rippling.
Wei Gong stood aside watching all of this, sighed softly, and then chased after them.
1
Chapter 1: The Blessing of the Bountiful Goddesses.
Wei Gong had to admit that he had become somewhat “degenerate.”
Behind him was Haruhime, also wearing a swimsuit, carefully massaging his back, her hands gently pressing on his shoulders and back, her movements gentle and skillful.
In his previous life, Wei Gong could never have imagined himself in such a situation—receiving such intimate and considerate “service” from others, it was simply an unbelievable luxury.
It could only be said that the bottom line was retreating step by step, from initially accepting Haruhime’s help with housework, to experiencing her massage, and now, even wearing swimsuits and soaking in the hot springs together was acceptable…
Originally, only simple shower facilities were equipped here, but after Haruhime joined, in order to accommodate her habits, Wei Gong simply paid out of his own pocket to remodel a separate building and build a huge hot spring pool in the basement.
Haruhime’s technique was gentle and professional. As she massaged Wei Gong’s shoulders, she said, “Wei Gong-sama, thank you for your hard work during the previous adventure.”
Haruhime’s cheeks flushed slightly, and a touch of pink appeared on the tips of her ears. She lowered her head and smiled shyly.
She saw the busy Haruhime at a glance and immediately revealed a slightly awkward expression: “Ah, Haruhime, you’re here too.”
However, when she first tried to rub Wei Gong’s back, she couldn’t control her strength well.
The end result was that Wei Gong’s endurance ability score increased quite a bit.
“Ryu-sama, please let me rub your back later.”
On the surface, this fruit was an extremely expensive luxury.
He divided the fruit among everyone. Anya excitedly took it, bit into it, and the sweet juice immediately filled her mouth. Her eyes instantly narrowed into slits.
"Speaking of which, Shirou,"
Lunova said casually while eating bread and smoked meat, "How are things progressing between you and that good-for-nothing elf lately?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes immediately focused on Shirou, especially Haruhime, who was sitting next to him, her tail almost wrapping around the boy's wrist.
After that day, the relationship between Shirou and Ryu had progressed slightly.
On the one hand, he was still young. Although his height had exceeded meters with the blessing of God's Grace, he was still not fifteen years old.
And now, with the help of the goddess Hephaestus, he had completely "awakened."
Lunova quietly approached Lefiya and whispered, "Now, when Ryu sees Shirou leaving early in the morning, she secretly gives him a farewell kiss, then immediately runs back to her room with a red face, burying herself in the blanket, shy and flustered."
However, after a moment, Lefiya's expression became a little complicated. She whispered, "That, Mr. Shirou, what about Alicia...?"
It could only be said that it was fortunate that Shirou was their creditor, preventing the girls from directly complaining.
She tilted her head, her tail gently tapping the ground, and then muttered in a low voice, "If it's two mistresses, wouldn't that be...double the happiness? Ugh..."
Shirou asked the only newcomer in the team besides Haruhime, "Mikoto, how is your condition? What are your abilities like?"
Mikoto became an adventurer at almost the same time as Shirou, but she received God's Grace earlier, about eight or nine months ago. Now her abilities are: Strength D, Endurance C, Dexterity B, Agility D, Magic I0.
These experiences allowed Mikoto's abilities to grow rapidly, with each ability increasing by dozens of points in a week.
Shirou jumped from to in just six months, but his situation was very special.
In comparison, although Mikoto's growth rate was not as amazing as Shirou's, it was far beyond the vast majority of adventurers, making her a peerless genius.
Even if she wasn't a main force, Mikoto, as a , participated in adventures of at least level, so it was only a matter of time before she achieved a great feat.
Shirou nodded: "When you reach the standard for a great feat, I can help you with special training, at least raising your Endurance and Dexterity to A-rank."
Hearing this, Mikoto gratefully clasped her hands together and bowed respectfully: "Really, thank you so much, Lord Shirou! I will definitely do my best."
Mikoto immediately felt that letting her join Shirou's team was definitely the most correct decision the Takemikazuchi Familia had made.
At this moment, Mikoto suddenly reminded, "There are monsters approaching nearby. They are flying monsters, possibly 'Killer Hornets'!"
"Understood, I'll follow it until I find the hive."
Kuroe deftly flipped out of the tree hole. As a former assassin, her movements were fast and quiet, and she disappeared from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.
They usually inhabit caves that Killer Hornets can freely enter and exit, but when adventurers pass by, these monsters will suddenly jump out from the walls, using their red and yellow liquid to immobilize enemies, and then release a large number of Killer Hornets to attack the enemy at an extremely fast speed.
Moreover, both Bloody Hives and Killer Hornets have an irresistible natural enemy—the Firebird.
Shirou held [Shien], the sword made from the drops of the Violet Flame Firebird he had defeated not long ago.
Lefiya also stood beside Shirou, activating her weapon magic [Wind Protection]. The power of wind surged in the air, pouring the power of fire into the hive.
Under normal circumstances, Killer Hornets can rely on hiding in the hive to resist the attack of fire, but now, facing the violet flames blessed by the Firebird's feathers, these protections were meaningless.
The Killer Hornets let out a violent buzzing sound, trying to fly out of the hive to escape this disaster, but they were swallowed by the scorching flames as soon as they flew up, their bodies twisting into coke in the flames.
Kuroe: "Of course I remember, meow. Although they are not high-level, they are super troublesome monsters... Hey, I'm not a stupid cat."
The dungeon is not an electronic game. There is no rule that a monster is necessarily more difficult to deal with than a monster.
Like the Firebird, even a first-level warrior would have a headache just looking at the Firebird flying high in the sky, but only a archer can deal a fatal blow to it.
He asked, "Do you want me to save some for you?"
Lefiya widened her eyes, opened her mouth, but ultimately failed to say anything.
The girl seemed to have already foreseen her future as an "equipment slave."
After collecting the magic stones and drops from the Killer Hornets, as well as the most important honey from the Bloody Hive, Shirou and the others set off to return to the eighteenth floor.
Lefiya exclaimed in surprise.
The captain of the Dionysus Familia, [White Witch] Filvis Challia.
And standing opposite her was the vice-captain of the Dionysus Familia, [Silver Goblet] Aura Molier.
Lefiya originally wanted to greet the two seniors of the same race, but when she approached, she realized that they were arguing.
"I really, really don't understand why Lord God would choose to trust you. Clearly, they are all because of you..."
Aura bit her lip, and finally couldn't bear it anymore, turned and ran away.
Filvis stretched out her hand, wanting to hold Aura back, but hesitated halfway and slowly lowered it, watching Aura's departing back, a trace of loneliness flashing in her eyes.
He was currently wearing swimming trunks, lying leisurely in a warm bath, his eyes slightly closed, a faint relaxed expression on his face.
After some training, the fox-girl could finally avoid blushing and fainting just from seeing Shirou's collarbone.
Moreover, what was even more surprising was that all of this had become natural.
From the initial discomfort, simply because Haruhime forced him to relax and try this experience, to now, he was gradually beginning to feel that all of this was justified and even faintly enjoying this rare tenderness.
This bath was specially renovated by the tavern.
And to be honest, the existence of this bath was also a great comfort to Shirou himself.
Soaking in the warm hot water, the fatigue of his whole body seemed to be evaporated and dissipated little by little, and his tense nerves finally found release.
Shirou nodded slightly: "Thank you, Haruhime, thanks to you, it's really much easier."
"Shirou, I'm coming in..."
Ryu's voice came from outside the bathroom, and then, wearing a swimsuit, she opened the door and walked in.
After experiencing the hot springs at [Sprinter], she had gradually fallen in love with this relaxing activity, feeling that this warm moment was not only able to eliminate physical fatigue, but also a good opportunity to get closer to Shirou.
After that experience, Ryu decided to hand over this task to the more suitable Haruhime.
Haruhime saw Ryu coming in and said respectfully with a smile.
