[23] : Between Life and Death, At Last LV2, Mika's Ascendancy

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"It looks like I'm the victor of this battle!"

Standing amidst the corpses of monsters on a blood-stained plain, Mika spoke softly.

After awakening the Transparent World, Mika no longer had any worries.

In his eyes, the monsters' attacks were incredibly slow.

Their intentions were so obvious that from the moment they thought of attacking, Mika already understood everything clearly.

In this situation, no monster could touch Mika.

With this assurance, Mika could fully commit to the slaughter and eliminate all the monsters present.

"Clang!"

As the battle ended, Mika could no longer hold his greatsword and longsword.

Even with continuous stamina recovery potions, the prolonged blood loss had exhausted Mika completely.

"Thud!"

Collapsing heavily to the ground, Mika panted heavily.

In his exhausted state, he had fought solely by relying on the adrenaline rush from battle to maintain his condition.

But as the fight concluded, the overwhelming fatigue hit him, making it impossible for Mika to stand up.

Lying quietly on the blood-soaked grass, Mika gazed at the fog-covered ceiling and couldn't help but reflect, "Although I didn't encounter the Young Dragon, defeating the Monster Feast head-on is quite an achievement, isn't it?"

"With this, I've earned the qualification to advance to LV.2 and officially become an High-Class adventurer."

In Orario, gods distinguish adventurers into High-Class and lower-level based on their rank.

All adventurers who haven't advanced to LV.2 through great achievements are lower-level adventurers.

Those who are LV.2 and above are High-Class adventurers.

Within this, LV.2 adventurers are classified as third-class adventurers.

LV.3 and LV.4 adventurers are called second-class adventurers.

LV.5 and LV.6 are known as first-class adventurers.

To honor the adventurers' achievements, every adventurer who reaches LV.2 is given a title.

In Orario, these titles are like a second name for adventurers.

In the dungeon, unfamiliar adventurers often refer to each other by their titles.

"I wonder what my title will be?"

Shaking his head, Mika cast aside his random thoughts.

After all, the choice of a title has nothing to do with the adventurer or their main god.

The gods of Orario hold a Sacred council periodically to discuss various matters, including assigning titles to newly advanced adventurers.

These mischievous gods often choose extremely embarrassing or overly dramatic titles for adventurers, delighting in the reactions of the main gods.

So Mika had no expectations regarding his title.

"Mika!"

Airmid and Mellie's voices came from the foggy distance. Hearing these familiar voices, Mika smiled and shouted, "I'm here! Airmid, Mellie, I won!"

Mika's triumphant shout echoed through the chamber.

But before Airmid and Mellie could respond, the ground beneath Mika began to shake violently.

"What's this?"

"No way!"

Under Mika's astonished gaze, a Young Dragon emerged from the ground nearby and roared loudly.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

"Hey, hey, hey, are you kidding me? When I was looking for you, you hid no matter what. Now that I don't want to see you, you pop out right next to me. Are you kidding me?"

Attracted by Mika's voice, the Young Dragon turned its gaze toward Mika, who was struggling to prop himself up.

Mika knew this was the dungeon's finishing move.

"Damn you, dungeon!"

Mika cursed loudly.

But then he regained his composure.

"I didn't want to do this, but you forced me!"

Straining to lift his head, Mika shouted loudly, "Airmid!!!"

"I'm coming, Mika!"

From the moment they heard Mika's response, Airmid and Mellie had been running toward his voice.

Now, hearing the Young Dragon's roar and Mika's shout, Airmid immediately stopped and began chanting.

"Drop of healing, tear of light, eternal sanctuary, summon the radiant hymn here. The melody of 365, the chronicle of healing will save all."

"Come forth, dispel evil. Heal wounds, banish sickness, curses sent to the other shore, deliver the holy mechanism of light. In the name of the gods—heal through me."

"Dia Frater!"

In the nick of time, Airmid's magic enveloped Mika.

Feeling strength surge within him, and seeing the Young Dragon's claw rapidly approaching, Mika immediately twisted his body, escaping the attack.

Just as he escaped the dragon's claw strike, Mika quickly regained his stance, firmly gripping the greatsword and longsword he had picked up.

Without pausing, Mika climbed swiftly up the dragon's leg.

Reaching the dragon's shoulder, Mika swung his sword at its neck.

But the sound that returned was like the clash of metal.

Mika's longsword only managed to cut through one layer of scales and couldn't go deeper.

"So hard!"

"Roar!!!"

Feeling the pain from its shoulder, the Young Dragon quickly swung its claws, while its body began to shake violently.

It wanted to throw Mika off.

But that was impossible.

Mika had an astonishing sense of balance.

During his mountain training, to return to the endpoint quickly, no trap could hinder Mika's running.

In this training, Mika had to adjust his balance constantly while dodging traps to maintain his speed.

Compared to those traps, the shaking ground was nothing.

Easily avoiding the dragon's claw, Mika quickly reached the front of the Young Dragon's head and stabbed his longsword into its eye.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!!!"

Blinded in one eye, the Young Dragon's rage peaked.

It howled in fury, swinging its claws even faster. Had it been before the Monster Feast, Mika wouldn't have been able to dodge this.

But now, with the Transparent World, Mika had already seen through the Young Dragon's intentions.

With a leap, Mika jumped to the ground and moved to the dragon's foot.

As everyone knows, Young Dragons have no wings, so their movement relies entirely on their legs.

"Burn, under the flame of my will!"

Fire once again engulfed Mika's sword, but this time, he didn't plan to use it to cut the dragon's leg.

According to the information Mika received, Young Dragons have fire resistance.

So Mika didn't use the flaming sword but a jet flame sword.

With the flame's propulsion, Mika's sword accelerated to an incredible speed in a short time.

Speed is power.

A strike of immense speed severed the Young Dragon's leg.

Lightly jumping back, Mika easily dodged the falling dragon.

As the dragon fell in confusion, Mika quickly approached and retrieved his longsword from its eye.

The greatsword had broken into pieces during the previous jet flame strike.

Standing on the Young Dragon's head, casually swinging his longsword, Mika smiled and said, "When there was a chance of victory, you didn't come out. Now, when it's a dead-end, you appear."

"Is this to make me finish what I started?"

Flames engulfed the sword's blade, burning brightly.

"The victor is me, Young Dragon!"

With a declaration of victory, Mika swung the final blow.

Thus, after three days of searching, Mika finally achieved greatness on the twelfth floor.

-------

"Mika, you did it!"

An excited voice came from behind. As Mika turned around, Airmid had already thrown herself into his arms, hugging his neck.

Seeing this, Mika happily held Airmid under her arms and spun her around in circles!

"Stop, put me down! I'm not a child anymore!"

Surprised by Mika's action, Airmid felt both sweet and embarrassed inside.

"What's wrong with that?"

Although Mika didn't mind, he still put Airmid down.

As soon as she landed, Airmid shyly punched Mika twice.

Seeing Mika and Airmid's playful interaction, Mellie, although slightly envious, stood aside and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Mika. Our Yahweh Familia finally has a high-level adventurer."

Hearing Mellie's voice, Mika turned back and grabbed her hand, pulling her over.

He put his arms around both of their necks, pressing their heads together.

"This is our collective achievement!"

The three of them huddled together, heads touching, looking down at the ground.

Feeling each other's breaths, the hint of envy in Mellie's heart disappeared.

Yes, the three of them were a unit!

"But aren't you forgetting Yahweh-sama?"

Hearing Mellie's teasing, Mika froze. He quickly released them, pretending nothing had happened.

"Quick, while there's no one around, let's clean up the battlefield and head back!"

Seeing Mika's righteous expression, Airmid and Mellie looked at each other and laughed.

"Stop laughing, quickly forget what just happened, I don't want double training!"

"Ew, it's not that easy to forget!"

"I'm begging you guys!"

"Hahaha!"

...

At the Yahweh Familia base on West Street.

The four members of the Yahweh Familia were gathered in the room of their main goddess, Yahweh, waiting anxiously.

Yahweh was currently updating Mika's abilities.

Although they believed Mika's previous experience should meet the criteria for a great feat, they were still nervous without Yahweh's confirmation.

Usually, Airmid and Mellie would avoid being in the room during Mika's updates, but now they were waiting quietly inside.

"Done!"

Yahweh's sudden voice broke the heavy atmosphere in the room.

Feeling the trio's gaze, Yahweh smiled and said, "The great feat required for leveling up has been met, you can level up anytime."

She then took out a sheet of paper, printed Mika's updated abilities on it, and handed it to him, saying, "These are your current stats. Have a look, if you're satisfied, I'll level you up."

Seeing the smile Yahweh couldn't hide, Mika curiously took the paper.

Airmid and Mellie also leaned in curiously.

[Name]: Mika

[Level]: LV.1

[Abilities]: Strength: A899→S923 Endurance: S994→SS1031 Dexterity: S924→S972 Agility: S912→S943 Magic: A874→S901

[Magic]: 'Heavenly Fire: Calamity'

[Skills]: 'Danger Sense'

==========

"All stats at S, and Endurance even broke the limit to reach SS. Are there any SS-level stats in Orario?"

"I've never heard of such a thing!"

"And compared to last time, this increase is too much!"

"As expected of you, Mika!"

Hearing Airmid and Mellie's exclamations beside him, Mika smiled but wasn't as excited as they were.

He had anticipated his rapid improvement in abilities.

After all, to enhance his sensory abilities quickly, Mika had removed all his armor, putting himself on the brink of death.

In that situation, as Mika expected, his sensory abilities improved rapidly.

But that was just the surface improvement.

It was well-known that every time adventurers faced mortal threats, their abilities would significantly increase.

Not to mention Mika, who repeatedly danced on the edge of life and death.

In such circumstances, Mika's body and senses continuously evolved.

One improvement was visible at the time.

The other only became evident during ability updates.

"You seem calm, so you expected this improvement. Tell me more."

Noticing Mika's expression, Yahweh, also curious about his rapid progress, asked with a smile.

Airmid and Mellie also looked over curiously.

After all, while Mika fought, they were blocking monsters in the passage. The thick fog on the twelfth floor made it hard for them to see Mika's actions.

Seeing their curious gazes, Mika smiled and proudly recounted his experiences.

After hearing his story, the three did not praise him but instead scolded him thoroughly.

They couldn't accept Mika's reckless behavior of repeatedly risking his life.

After all, adventuring was adventuring, not seeking death!

"I was wrong, I get it. Let's update the Falna and let me become LV.2."

Seeing the situation turn bad, Mika quickly changed the topic.

Giving Mika an annoyed glare, Yahweh sat behind him again and started the Falna enhancement.

She understood that Mika wouldn't take her words to heart.

That's just who he was.

Mika never lacked the courage to face death.

"It seems he needs not only combat training but also guidance on his mindset!"

"Life coaching!"

Shaking her head, Yahweh discarded her thoughts and focused on enhancing the Falna.

Manipulating Mika's back with her fingers, Yahweh quickly reached a critical point.

"Mika, your Development Ability is out."

"Oh, it's time for the Development Ability update? What do I have?"

Mika asked curiously.

"Let me see, there's Abnormal Resistance, Hunter, Mystery..."

"Stop, just Mystery!"

Mika interrupted Yahweh's words, determined to obtain the 'Mystery' Development Ability.

After all, it was considered the most desirable ability for adventurers.

"Mystery, huh? Indeed, with it, no one would choose any other ability."

"This means our Yahweh Familia has a Mystery holder."

With a smug expression, Yahweh felt extremely pleased.

Having an adventurer with the 'Mystery' ability greatly impacted their Familia.

"Wow, Mika, you have another skill!"

Operating the Falna, Yahweh exclaimed in surprise.

"Another skill?"

"Yes!"

Under Mika's surprised gaze, Yahweh printed his upgraded abilities on paper and handed it to him.

[Name]: Mika

[Level]: LV.2

[Abilities]: Strength: I0 Endurance: I0 Dexterity: I0 Agility: I0 Magic: I0

[Development Ability]: Mystery I

[Magic]: 'Heavenly Fire: Calamity'

[Skills]: 'Danger Sense' 'Death Battle'

==========

"Death Battle, huh?"

Recalling his previous adventures, Mika smiled.

"It suits me well!"

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