From Danmachi to God of Ninja

Chapter 135: Chapter 135

At the very center of the great lake, the Amphisbaena’s mighty, hill-sized body had vanished.

In its place was an enormous whirlpool, tens of millions of tons of lake water spinning ceaselessly around a hollow core—yet as if held back by some invisible hand, the water could never advance so much as an inch toward the middle.

”That kind of power...” Looking at the real Kiriya standing on the shore, Bete licked his dry lips, his voice gone utterly hoarse.

”If it were Riveria, she could probably pull it off too, right?”

”If she went all out, it should be no problem.” Tione nodded, then added, ”But if it were Riveria, she’d probably need a very long chant to do it. Whereas handsome here... managed to get an attack this powerful ready in the span of just a few seconds.”

As she spoke, a dazzled light kept flickering in her eyes.

”So this is... the peak of ninjutsu?” Ais watched it all, dazzled and spellbound.

”Wow—” Tiona’s heart was pounding so hard it nearly leaped out of her chest. ”So amazing! This ninjutsu thing is really, really amazing.”

”Fool!” Bete snapped coldly. ”It’s not the so-called ninjutsu that’s strong—it’s that man. Judge him by magic power alone, and he’s not one bit below Riveria.”

The sight of Kiriya standing there—back not aching, legs not sore, face not flushed, not even out of breath—made Bete want to scream.

’You’re a warrior with more mana than a mage—what’s that supposed to be? Walking the mages’ path and leaving the actual mages with nowhere left to walk?’

”Ha, same difference.” Tiona had already smacked her fists together. ”I’ve made up my mind—from now on, I’m this man woman! Doesn’t matter who tries to stop me.”

”Heh, even if you go throwing yourself at him, he’s still got to be willing to take you.” Bete’s remark, with a curl of his lip, left Tiona thoroughly annoyed.

”Bete, you idiot—who asked you to butt in?! I’m not fighting this alone! Tione, when the time comes, we’ll go at him together.” She might not be fierce enough on her own just yet, but that was fine—as long as her big sister was fierce enough!

And when that time came, they’d have the twin-sisters buff working for them on top of it—no way they wouldn’t be able to win Kiriya over.

Tione, who usually liked to lecture her little sister about staying composed, said nothing this time—because her own heart was rippling with turmoil too.

Handsome, powerful, with a limitless future, and on top of that so warm and gentlemanly—a man this good had even her heart stirring.

Watching the Amazoness sisters’ reactions, something wavered in Ais’s eyes.

A complicated, hard-to-name feeling rose up inside her despite herself.

It was as if something she treasured most were being taken away from her.

’How strange. What’s the matter with me?’

...

Kiriya looked at the center of the lake, thoroughly satisfied with the effect of his last technique.

Hearing Tiona’s squeals of excitement, he couldn’t help feeling a touch smug.

To make a girl squeal like that—whether on the battlefield or in the bedroom—was something any man could take pride in!

”Ah, right.” Tione suddenly remembered something and clapped a hand to her forehead. ”We need to hurry up and open the passage. The captain and the others are probably getting impatient waiting.”

The others suddenly remembered too.

”Oh yeah, there’s that.” Tiona piped up, then rolled up her sleeves and ran toward the collapsed entrance, looking for all the world like she was about to start hauling rocks by hand.

”No need to go to all that trouble.” Kiriya spoke up, then activated the magic of his Forest of All Things.

At once, saplings sprang up from beneath the rocks, and they rapidly grew—thickening, rising taller—heaving the boulders up or shoving them aside.

And in no time they had cleared the passage, revealing Finn and the others waiting on the far side.

”Just as I thought—you’re all fine.” There wasn’t much surprise on Finn’s face.

He knew the strength of Ais and the others, and with the unfathomable Kiriya among them, handling a single Amphisbaena was naturally no trouble at all.

”You’re not hurt, are you?” Riveria came over, her gaze sweeping across Ais and the others, and found they had hardly any injuries at all.

Dirty and a little disheveled at most.

In a battle against a floor boss, that was already a rare thing indeed.

”We’re fine, we’re doing great actually.” Tiona gestured a bit, then bounced over to Riveria’s side and started chattering away about everything that had just happened—laying it on especially thick when it came to Kiriya’s Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

She described the technique’s power as earth-shaking, claiming that even the Black Dragon would be done for if it took a single hit from the jutsu!

Enough to leave Kiriya’s mouth twitching and Riveria’s eyebrows jumping uncontrollably.

”Tiona, would you shut it already.” Tione finally couldn’t take it anymore and stepped forward to lock her up in a cross-armlock, which at last gave Riveria’s ears a bit of peace.

Riveria looked at Kiriya. ”You’re always full of surprises, aren’t you, Kiriya?”

”Haha, what can I say—I’d love to keep a low profile, but my strength won’t allow it.” Kiriya could only shrug helplessly.

His words made everyone roll their eyes in unison—yet looking at the great whirlpool still churning at the center of the lake, they felt their hearts clench all the same.

Tiona might have exaggerated a bit, but that in no way meant the technique’s power was small.

Recalling the violent tremors and roar from before, the group couldn’t help picturing a whole series of epic, mythic battles, and the looks they gave Kiriya grew more awed.

...

With the path cleared, the Loki Familia set out again, sweeping forward unstoppably, and soon reached the thirtieth floor.

And it was just then that the Familia members heard Finn’s voice suddenly rise.

”What? You’re leaving?”

In an instant, every gaze was drawn his way.

”That’s right.” Kiriya nodded. ”The reason I came down with you all in the first place was to get familiar with the routes and the environment. Now that I’ve mostly done that, it’s about time I headed off.”

”Handsome, did somebody say something they shouldn’t have?” Tiona was already cracking her knuckles, ready to teach whoever tactless fool it was a lesson!

”Indeed. You’re the Loki Familia’s most honored guest—whatever the issue, just say the word, and I’ll deal with it fairly, I promise.” Finn stated seriously.

”It’s nothing like that.” Kiriya waved a hand. ”It’s just that I feel like, if I keep going along with you all, it’s a bit... too comfortable.”

”Comfortable?” Finn and the others exchanged looks, utterly unable to imagine that this would be Kiriya’s reason.

”I came to the Dungeon to hone myself, but tagging along with this big group of yours, it’s been as easy as a day out in the countryside—there’s basically no training value in it at all.”

”...”

That remark made quite a few of the members want to punch him in the face.

The whole way down, they’d been on edge, ready at any moment to handle whatever came up, and had fought battle after grueling battle—”exhausting” didn’t even begin to cover it.

And in this guy’s mouth, they’d all somehow been out on a picnic?

As captain, Finn chose to take it as Kiriya’s praise for his Familia’s strength.

At the same time, his estimation of Kiriya rose another notch.

To willingly give up such favorable conditions—to choose to dance in chains, so to speak—that kind of resolve and drive... no wonder he had such strength at such a young age.

”Since your mind is made up, I won’t press you to stay.” As Finn spoke, he drew a small booklet from inside his coat.

”These are some expedition notes I’ve written—the terrain and routes of the thirty-seventh floor and everything below it, along with the kinds of monsters and where they’re found. They should be of help to you.”

”Oh, thank you so much!” Kiriya’s eyes lit up—he hadn’t expected a bonus item like this!

”You’re too polite,” Finn said, shaking his head. ”You’ve helped us a great deal along the way, and Ais still has your guidance to receive on top of that—this is nothing. If you need rest and supplies, you can fall back to the eighteenth floor first. We’ve left some people and provisions there—it should be enough to last you a while.”

”Haha, much appreciated.” Kiriya tucked the little booklet away inside his coat and gave Finn a thumbs-up.

A captain through and through—the man really did think of everything.

Watching this, Ais felt something stir in her heart.

It seemed like... all this time, she’d only ever been receiving Kiriya’s help, without so much as giving anything back.

The realization left her a little dejected—because she couldn’t think of a single thing she had to offer him.

Equipment? Strength? He didn’t seem to be lacking in any of those.

’Looks like I’ll have to go ask Tiona what she thinks. She’s always so full of ideas, after all.’

”Well, handsome, we’ll be off now. We’ll see you up on the surface.” Tiona bounced over and gave Kiriya a big hug.

”I’ll have a surprise for you then,” she said with a smile.

They said every woman among the Amazonesses was a bold heroine.

He wondered just what sort of trick this one had in store.

And just as Kiriya’s imagination was running wild, Tione came over too and gave him a big hug of her own—her ’generous embrace’ giving his spirits quite the lift.

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