Momonga stared down at the tumultuous, cloudy abyss below. He sighed, ahh why had he joined them?! He looked towards the group, Peroroncino, Bukubukuchagama, Touch-Me, Yamaiko, and Tabula Smaragdina.
The home of the Greek pantheon. It was unusually formatted compared to a regular dungeon. While the standard dungeon may have had many nameless mobs in dozens of small rooms before fighting the ruler of the dungeon, Mount Olympus was a portal realm. A multitude of gates lavished with symbolic items and plants leading to the boss in question.
They stood in front of one decorated with peacocks, the feathers of cuckoos, and cows. This is the gate to the Queen of Olympus and Goddess of Marriage, Hera. Momonga rapped on the gate and they opened up.
The unnecessarily large arena was made of marble, pillars upheld the massive dome above while the floor was glossy and nearly reflective. Upon a silk bed was the goddess herself. The 3d modeling team must've been given a very large budget.
"Sis, you think I got a chance?"
The NPC had a very slender figure, her face was meticulously made by the delicate hands of a professional. Generous assets that were certainly made to appease someone like Peroroncino. Luscious brown hair flowed down her shoulders. The most incriminating thing of all was her dress nearly falling off! Of course the actual item was glued onto her but still!
"You damn perverted brat! She's the goddess of marriage and an NPC. Of course not!" Bukubukuchagama's deep voice came out again. It was jarring to hear the youthful, cutesy voice turn much more mature in a fraction of a second. He had almost thought a different person had somehow hacked into Bukubukuchagama's system the first time. He had grown more accustomed to it as he spent more time with the two siblings, as Peroroncino angered his sister often.
"How do they keep getting away with this?!" Touch Me, an image of chastity cried out.
"I'm not complaining though." Peroroncino leapt away, trying to find a safe place to deal damage from.
"Well actually in ancient times, Gree-" A laser beam shot past Yamaiko, chipping off a piece of the marble arena. "Why does everyone keep interrupting me?! Get over here, you rascal!"
Yamaiko used her oversized, extending, pink gauntlets to punch the rude goddess right in her pretty face. Only for the attack to be halted by a blast. And then another laser beam smacked her right in her sternum.
Luckily, Bukubukuchagama rushed to shield the only other female member of Nine's Own Goal.
"That's the muscle head teacher we know and love!" Peroroncino nocked a gold, flaming arrow into his divine bow and let loose. A man with many eyes littered all over his body appeared from thin air and used his own body to shield the attack. "I think I remember that guy, Paris, right? Such a shame he died before he woo'd Helen."
Momonga thought it hardly mattered now that the man had become a red, steaming pool across the stainless marble and Tabula Smaragdina suppressed the urge to yell at Peroroncino for misidentifying Argos, the overseer of Io.
Tabula Smaragdina stood beside Momonga as a beam flew to them. "Greater Teleportation!" The two of them vanished and in the place where they once were was a small, steaming crater.
"I thought I was supposed to be the scholar…" Tabula Smaragdina, frowned at his mild competition with the teacher and racked his brains trying to figure out what Hera could possibly have. Hera did not have any myths where she had fought leading to a dead end. "Only one way to find out. Chains of Prometheus!"
Gory manacles appeared on the goddess' tan arms and feet. She struggled against them whilst Touch Me and Peroroncino whaled on her, trying to do as much damage as possible within the five second window. Ichor splattered on the floor. "Kin-"
"No. We are NOT dealing with this today, am I clear, little brother? Let us have a break from your perverted nonsense for once!" Bukubukuchagama glared at her perverted brother. Peroroncino put his hands up in surrender, his sister was such a killjoy.
"Fine, but can't you loosen up sometimes? So uptight…"
Hera screeched wildly, having entered her second phase. Indeed, the reason for the fight being so easy beforehand was that Hera was primarily a commander. Heracles appeared beside her alongside Jason.
Heracles dashed towards Touch Me with his exceptionally dense and glowing wooden club and bashed against the paladin's shield. "Hmph, and I thought you'd be much much stronger. For a mythic god, you're pretty weak. For your transgressions against your teacher, you will fall before justice! Dimensional Gap!"
Heracles' arm was torn off from its socket. No, it was more like it had never existed in the first place. The demigod bled, the celestial blood staining his club.
"Arghhhhhhh!" The bestial roar did not make Touch Me even slightly falter in fear due to being immune and countless hours of police training. Touch Me brought up his shield again, seeing the berserker wind up for a devastating blow.
"Wall of Jericho!" The maddened berserker swung like a beast, cracking the marble floor and chipping off minuscule bits of Touch Me's armor. The glistening droplets of sweat and spit scattered, turning the once pristine floor into a sight of manly uncleanliness.
Fortunately, Touch Me was a paragon of both offense and defense due to long hours meticulously building his character and finding then abusing exploits. The brutish, overwhelming swings were parried quite easily. Touch Me was pushed by an inch for every strike but for every breath the giant of a man took, Touch Me took a step forward.
"Infinity Wall, Greater Luck, Freedom, Draconic Power. Touch-san, I'll try and stun him for you!" Momonga flew into the air and stretched out his hand. An ethereal heart appeared in his hand, he crushed it. "Lay like a dog and accept my mercy of dying peacefully, this I demand as the Final Supreme Being!"
The demigod hunched over in ungodly pain. Touch Me grinned, in spite of his criticism of Ulbert and occasionally Touch Me, he too found the thrill of roleplaying. "Die evil doer! World Break!"
While ordinarily, Heracles was an overwhelming barrier to defeat considering both his close and long range prowess and the truly gamebreaking amount of strength he possessed, he could do nothing as where he was, space ceased to exist. A complete and utter nothingness erased the ascended demi-god. The distance between his knees and skull shortened to null as aurelian blood poured out. The god of strength was killed in minutes due to Touch Me's game-breaking ability.
"That's such an op skill…" Though Momonga had something similar in the form of Reality Slash, if he were to compare the two it'd be like a sledgehammer versus a scalpel.
Momonga turned back, taking his eyes off the disintegrating body. In the distance, a small, shining bronze danced like a firefly.
Momonga and Touch Me watched Jason evade spells, arrows, and fists alike. He jumped around like a hare, evading attacks by the width of a hair and Tabula Smaragdina carefully watched his path. "Widen Magic: Icy Path, Field of Unclean, Thorn Entrapment, Slow." A flurry of chained spells impeded the young man. "Peroroncino, shoot him in the knees!"
"You know how hard that is?! Just kidding, I'm the best archer in this entire realm, watch this! Hawk Eye." An ordinary arrow tipped with status affecting substances shot forth, though Jason was almost a kilometer away, the arrow managed to shot through his knee and lodged itself in the other. "Praise me! The number one ranger in the entirety of Yggdrasil!"
"Save your gloating for when we're done, little brother. And stop the ogling while you're at it!"
The Eldritch caster took hold of the situation, hoping for a quick end."While, I'd frankly love to hear the end of your banter, we're in the middle of a boss fight right now! Vermillion Nova, Hellfire, Phoenix's Flame, Dragon Breath." Flames of all colors washed over the classical hero. The prismatic fire even lit the floor ablaze and began to melt the polished stone.
The hero's flesh was roasted to a crisp. The flames caught onto his outfit as he desperately searched for an item within his inventory. Tabula Smaragdina's eyes widened as a glimmer of a sheep's fleece came out. "Peroroncino, quickly!"
"Oh jeez, what now. Guess you guys are nothing without me! Wind Tunnel Arrow." A passageway of coalesced winds opened for the arrow made of pure wind energy to shoot through like a rail gun.
"Blessing of the Olympus!" Shining gold light from every corner shone onto the chosen of Hera. The Golden Fleece was worn proudly upon his back as a dagger and shark teeths were clenched tightly within his hands.
"Well, duck." Peroroncino sighed and hopped away from the rouge, closer to his party, knowing that he'd probably get attacked soon.
Bukubukuchagama jumped forward Yamaiko in hopes of protecting their most vulnerable player, however, Jason vanished from his place with a gust of wind. Hera smiled cruelly, no longer even providing ranged support.
"Sixth sense!" Touch Me spurted towards Momonga and pushed him aside. The holy, blessed dagger grazed off the silver armor as Touch me prepared a counter attack, only for the hero to vanish with extreme speed.
"Tabula-san, duck!" Tabula Smaragdina crouched down with complete trust in his friends but was caught as the shiv stabbed into his tender flesh.
"Heal!" The freshly opened wound was mended in an instant though and Tabula Smaragdina's hp bar filled to full within a second.
Jason clenched the sharpened teeth against he palm, drawing blood as a visual effect. He planted the teeth into the ground, uncaring whether it was soil or marble, turned into a legion of undead. Bones of long forgotten warriors arose from below.
"Widen Magic: Undead Domination!"
A quarter of the legion turned against their brethren, their previously blank sockets litting with red pinpricks. Momonga stood above them all, floating on thin air. "Join me or cease your undying existence!"
Though Momonga knew the undead below could not form any coherent thought due to being controlled by artificial intelligence, it still made him feel like an overpowering, evil overlord.
"I'm going to plug out my ears next time…" Bukubukuchagama slammed her twin shields into a death knight. "Protection of Pridwen!"
A gold dome encased and sealed off the members of Nine's Own Goal from the shambling husks. "You really are a killjoy. You can't even let Momonga-san have fun."
"I just hate being reminded!"
"Reminded of what?" Momonga commanded the horde to protect and follow himself, for there was no option to station them.
"No-nothing!"
Yamaiko punched undead after undead as Touch Me smites dozens. Momonga felt as if he had forgotten something scratched his head. "Oh, right. Protection from Energy Negative!"
Deep purple wisps rushed into the players, protecting them from the decaying, corrupting power.
"Sis, can you protect me really quick? Momonga and Tabula, buff me with everything you got. I think I can clear everything out and kill that goddess."
Prismatic mores danced within the dome as cracks began to show. The orbs of unfiltered, overwhelming strength rushed into Peroroncino.
"I can sense my burst damage rising already… Alright, let's do this! Touch Me, can you drop the ceiling?" The paladin nodded, Peroroncino's ultimate skill would surely clear everything out.
"Dimensional Overlay!" Blurry copies of Touch Me ran towards the pillars and effortlessly annihilated the supports.
"This is going to be so cool!" Peroroncino rose into the air, dragging along Bukubukuchagama who was used as a living shield, though given her ridiculously high health and defense combined with immunity to arrows made the crowd below more like a nuisance.
"Hmm, what'd be a cool pose?" He tried out many, from manly poses from one of his favorite old manga about spirit ghost fighters to a few of the magical girl shows his sister loved.
"Everyone in this clan is a chunni… Tragic." Peroroncino let go of his sister, partly due to her comment.
"Hmph, you don't get to talk. Momonga-san, Tabula-san! Hold everyone still for a moment!"
"Mass Hold Species! Widen Magic: Dominate Undead!"
"Boost Magic: Chains of Prometheus!"
Peroroncino looked down and nodded, smiling at his friends' competency and subconsciously comparing it to the few groups he had adventures with in the past. "I can't believe it took that long to find a good clan that accepted heteromorphs. Well then, let us start! Jinwu!"
The arrow turned into a gold crow of unparalleled brilliance. It had three legs and shined with the light and heat of the sun. Hera tried to bat it away with but an arm. She caught aflame in a second as the red and gold flames burned her body to a pile of ash.
The flames jumped about, searching for something else to turn to cinders. A sea of blaze spurred forth, turning everything to charcoal which was blown off Mount Olympus by a sacred wind coming from the private bedchamber of Zeus, King of Olympus.
"Have you guys ever noticed how many ultimate attacks our clan has that are fire based?" Touch Me contemplated.
"Nope." Tabula Smaragdina watched the bulky, gilded, and heavenly treasure chest descend with wings made of snow white dove feathers.
Yamaiko rushed forward, opening the lock, a sea of items, gold, and materials rushed forth. A few objects were encased and protected in unbreakable glass orbs, they were of the highest tier, divine. One flew towards Bukubukuchagama.
She tapped it, shattered the sphere into magic shards that vanished. What was inside was a golden band decorated with intricate etches. It glowed majestically, emitting gold and pale light matching the now ruined arena.
Bukubukuchagama held the gold band with one of her tendrils, inspecting the description of the item.
{Band of Hera}
Has to be given to a recipient, that player will be inscribed on the backstory of the giver.
Gives fifty stat points in the recipient's strongest stat. Can not exceed the maximum value for a stat.
Unable to be dropped or traded.
Bukubukuchagama mulled over who to give it to. Her brother, Touch Me, and Yamaiko had maxed out stats already. Tabula Smaragdina was nearly maxed out, leaving just Momonga.
"Oi, Momonga-san you want this?" Instead he was oddly frozen as soon as he had spotted the item. Bukubukuchagama shrugged and sank down to place it on his ring finger.
"What's going on, sis? Why's Momonga frozen st-" Peroroncino had been petrified and gazed at the band with a thousand yard stare once he saw it.
"Yamaiko-san, what's going on?" Yamaiko saw the item and slapped her friend in the back in good cheer.
"Congrats on getting married!"
"Huh? Huh?!"
Momonga shook his head, trying to shake away all the odd thoughts that had just flooded his head. On one hand, it was a rather odd gift for a 'junior coworker' to give to her 'senior', assuming Nine's Own Goal was like a company, but he wasn't about to refuse a gift. On the other hand, the little six year part of himself, untainted by the reality of the twenty second century, daydreamed a fantasy wedding within a fraction of a second.
The overwhelming and imposing skeletal character, made to look even more intimidating by his equipment bolstering his stature, being held in a princess carry by a much shorter blob of pink gel. The loud and annoying sobbing of a birdman echoed through the crowd, Momonga was unsure if it was out of joy or sadness.
A burning blush felt like they were melting his cheeks. Pinpricks pierced his neck and he could smell the wonderful scent of the many hundreds of fantasy flowers Yggdrasil provided.
Wait, smell? I don't remember Yggdrasil having smell before… It must've just been in the previous patch notes, right?
However, more importantly, who was Kaze-chin? As soon as the ring had been placed on him, he knew, no, more like remembered, that name.
Momonga shrugged, deciding it wasn't important, thinking it had just been a case of his imagination running wild again.
Momonga had never met anyone with the name Kaze-chin.
But a tiny fraction of his mind disagreed. After all, Kaze-chin was right in front of him.