Danma: Danganronpa, but Monster Hunter!

Although the monsters in Danmaku are very much like living beings, they are rebellious at heart. Don't let your guard down before you turn to ash.

My mother's head was burned off but she still wouldn't die. Are you trying to play the game of invincibility with me?

It's outrageous!

Carefully holding the hunting knife, Flame picked up the shield axe that had just slipped from his hand and fallen to the ground. Thanks to the reinforcement of the shield axe's structure by the old man with the materials from the dungeon, the shield axe was not affected at this time.

After re-equipping his shield axe, Flame sensed the remaining energy within his shield, which was shimmering with a red light.

Coincidentally, there was just enough energy left in the shield for a single Super Amped Elemental Discharge.

Energy is available, Red Shield is active, Wirebug is ready, and the enemy is at their lowest point.

Everything seemed as perfect as if it were the inevitable course of fate.

"As expected, the name 'Kong Jie' (空解) is not very auspicious. I didn't expect that in the end we would still have to rely on 'Di Jie' (地解) to solve the problem." Lie Yan took a deep breath, crossed his sword and shield, and then pressed his fingers on the deformed mechanism.

With a resounding clang, the weapon in Flame's hand fell to the ground, the single-edged broadsword and the giant shield now combined into a massive double-edged axe.

"Now, let's say goodbye!"

The axe blade roared and spun!

Goliath struggled to reach out his giant hand toward the direction from which the tremor came, trying to stop the blow from falling. It was an ugly struggle, but the flames roared and exerted more than fifty times the original force, forcefully pressing down on Goliath's hand and causing the spinning giant axe to smash into Goliath's head!

After being bombarded several times, the already damaged giant head finally succumbed to a new round of devastation and vanished without a trace in the explosion of grenades. Goliath's movements also came to a halt.

In what seemed like a frozen moment in time, Goliath's headless remains lay in a fallen position, first his raised arms, then his strong torso, and finally, large chunks of the rest of his body rapidly turned to ash, falling to the ground and piling up into small hills of dust, the dust rising and swirling in the air.

In the center of the dusty hill, a giant magic stone, almost the size of a raging flame, lay buried in the dust, revealing a dreamy blue-purple hue. A thick, grayish-brown outer layer lay diagonally across the magic stone.

It was as if a cloak had been added to the figure reflected in the magic stone, which was like a full-length mirror.

Goliath, the campaign is successful.

Watching his formidable enemy crumble into a small mountain of dust, Lie Yan slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, only then belatedly realizing the intense fatigue coursing through his body.

—There was no pain; all the injuries were directly resolved by the ancient secret medicine. Even his physical strength was as abundant as ever.

But fatigue comes from within. It's like the feeling of being a poor, overworked worker on a weekend off. Even if you get a full rest the day before, you'll still feel genuinely tired when you go back to work on your original day off.

But we can't rest now.

Flame, its body swaying slightly, narrowed its eyes, examining the enormous magic stone in front of it and the pile of items that covered an area almost the size of two or three people, Goliath's Thick Skin.

After finally defeating the opponent, it would be a shame not to collect the dropped items. I wonder how much Goliath's magic stone could sell for. This grayish-brown leather probably isn't as amazing as the black Goliath's, but it's still a rare piece of armor material...

Also, look for the backpack that was left behind, and it would be best to retrieve the cloak as well...

puff-

Lieyan collapsed to the ground, his eyes squinting wearily.

Fell asleep.

Chapter 81: Good News and Bad News

"Wake up——"

A sound came from beside her ear, and Flame, whose body and mind were immersed in slumber, gently shook her head. Then, the sound seemed to increase.

"Hey, Rivera, how could such a gentle call possibly wake a burly man who's fast asleep? Watch out for my methods, hehehe, Flame, if you don't wake up soon, I'll just rub Rivera's boobs right in front of you~~"

"Loki!!"

"Ah, it hurts!"

Some angry voices, then something was waving, followed by Luo Ji's cries of pain as he was beaten for his inappropriate remarks. All these sounds intertwined, like a large net scooping up the spirit that was submerged in the sea and pulling it to the surface.

A bit noisy.

"what……"

Flame opened his eyes, the warm light emanating from the magic stone lamp flooding his pupils. Along with it came Loki, who had been knocked down by a staff, his eyes rolled back as he fell, still stubbornly reaching out his hands towards the elf, a lewd smile on his face like that of a strange old man.

My eyes have been contaminated...

Lieyan remained silent for a moment, then closed his eyes, pretending not to have seen anything.

I'm still asleep. I was just sleepwalking. Don't worry about me.

"Hey! Stop pretending to be asleep! Look at Rivera, I told you this method would work! So as payment, could you let me..."

"No." Rivera coldly refused before Loki could finish speaking.

"Hey~~~ How can you do this! I'm the hero who woke up the flames! How can you not even let the hero finish speaking? I don't remember raising you into this kind of child, Riveria."

"I knew Loki wouldn't have anything nice to say, and besides, I don't remember you ever teaching me anything." Riveria forcefully pushed away Loki's face, which was trying to get close to her.

Having been exposed for pretending to be asleep, Lie Yan had no choice but to open his eyes and say:

"What time is it now?"

He wasn't surprised that he had returned to the Loki Familia. No one knew the Loki Familia's power better than him. He guessed that the search party had already set off when he was fighting Goliath, and Finn would most likely have accompanied them personally.

With a quick glance, Lie Yan spotted a backpack with torn pockets and a tattered, wasteland-style battle-damaged cloak against the wall.

"It was the second day after your battle, and you slept for almost ten hours. Even we were startled. If Tiona and Ais hadn't brought Amid to check on you and confirmed that you were just asleep from exhaustion, we don't know how chaotic things would have become."

Loki put one hand on his hip, sighed, and complained.

"By the way, after we got back we heard you were injured. Aistan felt really guilty. It took us a lot of effort to comfort her. Honestly, even though so many things happened at the Monster Festival, Aistan still can't seem to think about herself."

“Loki.” Riveria frowned slightly. “What happened at the Monster Festival has nothing to do with Flame.”

They've just woken up; you should give them some time to recover.

"Ah, sorry." Loki immediately gave a French military salute, but with a grin on his face, he didn't seem to have learned his lesson at all. He was the epitome of "I was wrong, but I'll do it again next time."

What happened at the Monster Festival...? Hmm—I can't find any relevant memories, but if Ais is there, there shouldn't be any problems. I'll ask her when the time comes.

Flame felt reassured, and at that moment, Rivera looked at him and spoke again:

"Regarding the Goliath you hunted, Flame, I apologize. Finn and I took it upon ourselves to divide the credit between the two of us, on the grounds that we carried out the subjugation operation against Goliath in order to rescue the members of our clan who had accidentally fallen into the Lone King's Cave."

Riveria lowered her eyebrows, her face slightly flushed. Clearly, this kind of expedient action was a bit ahead of its time for the elven royal family, who were fastidious about cleanliness on all levels.

"fine."

Flame didn't care at all, and even felt that Finn had handled the matter well.

He's already drawing attention with his "Niu Niu" (a card game) posts, so if word gets out that he's going to challenge the floor master to a duel... just thinking about it is a hassle.

Lieyan still prefers the feeling of making a fortune quietly.

"But you're really something, Flame. You single-handedly defeated Goliath at LV1 level. Whew, although this kind of feat is completely impossible to tell anyone right now, and no one would believe it anyway, it still feels incredibly satisfying. We didn't misjudge you."

When happy things were mentioned, Loki's face lit up with a smile, but the next second, she became serious.

"Welcome home, Flame."

"Um……"

"Alright, without further ado, Rivera, could you please go out for a moment?"

“Me?” Rivera was slightly taken aback.

Why were you suddenly let me out?

“Because what’s coming next is something innocent children can’t see.” Loki twitched his fingers, clicking his tongue, and without another word, pushed Rivera out the door.

Then, he took out the set of tools that Lieyan had seen many times before from behind his back.

Loki swaggered towards Flame, a roguish grin on his face, and said, "Come on, little Flame, let me see how well you've developed!"

Blazing Flames: ...

Loki, you're a bit disgusting to look at.

However, Blaze really didn't expect that Loki would actually take the initiative to update his ability values ​​today.

At that moment, as if he had seen through Flame's thoughts, Loki casually replied:

"Since we're already here, let's update our stats while we're at it. I'm sure you're also curious about how much you've improved after defeating the floor master all by yourself."

"..."

That's definitely correct.

Lieyan was indeed very curious about how much the floor owner could improve his own abilities.

Thinking about it, Lieyan took off his shirt.

Loki pulled over a chair, skillfully pierced his finger, dripped divine blood, and lightly traced it on Flame's back. Layers of pale blue ripples spread like water, and with the gesture of unlocking, the black Joker emblem appeared on Flame's back.

Loki narrowed his eyes slightly as he carefully examined the words that appeared on Flame's back.

"Blazing Flame, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear?"

"Bad news, what happened?"

“The bad news is that you seem to have to level up now.” Loki sat cross-legged in his chair, staring thoughtfully at the sacred text behind the flames. “Even after you killed Goliath, your advanced experience points didn’t increase much, but your achievements are almost overflowing. If this continues, your training and combat won’t be very effective.”

"...And what's the good news?"

"The good news is, if you choose to upgrade..."

Then you will directly obtain an F-rank hunter.

…………

What? ?

Chapter 82: LV.2!

"...Leaving aside the bad news for now, just consider the fact that you'll directly gain F-level development capabilities after the upgrade...is that really true?"

After a moment of silence, Lieyan spoke slowly.

If he remembered correctly, isn't development ability like ability value? It starts at level I and is essentially blank, right? It should only improve its effect by continuing to adventure.

"Actually, it's not just the hunters; the developmental abilities they've displayed also include G-rank harmonization... We don't know why this is happening, but children from the lower realms are known for surprising the gods, and given your unique circumstances, that's probably why this situation has occurred in you—the so-called possibility of the lower realms."

Not only was Flame bewildered, but Loki was also somewhat confused.