*CRASH!!*

T-too close... glad I was sent up to the mountain again. If I had landed on flat land, there would be scrambled Rasetsu Orge Lord for breakfast for the local wildlife.

I tried to climb up from the improvised safety net I had made by using the many large boulders here on this mountain, but I couldn't generate any strength. Not after that roller coaster trip without safety belts... or the roller coaster car.

The bird-bots continued to rain down from the sky. They weren't as lucky as I was. Good thing that I was in the eye of that tornado... was still blown up in the... air? 

I stopped my inner monologue due to witnessing something falling from the sky... straight towards me! 

*Crash!*

Al-almost didn't dodge in time...! I waited for the dust to settle while picking off the remains of the safety web. 

Geh, the Deathcaliber!? It came back! What a good lad... not! I almost got killed by this thing! Don't tell me it's a cursed weapon-!?

...Let's get it into the Storage where it can't do any harm...

"Ga~ra~mi! Are you safe?" - Gust

And flying down from the mountain was Gust, who after seeing me shouted, "What are you waiting for!? The water's coming!" 

...Water? I looked over the edge...WHAAAAT?! Tons of water erupted where Glavras was the last time I saw him. Like, Niagara level amount of it! 

The water level's increasing at a breakneck pace. Is it the second coming of the great flood? 

I hurried up to where Gust was and looked down on the land. In the distance, I can see that this place is... used to be a wasteland, no different than the Outback in Australia. Nevertheless, the massive amount of water that came outta Glavras'... corpse, is flowing throughout the entire area so fast that I can't even imagine this place being dry land in the beginning. 

"To think the Velantas region had ended up like this..." - Gust

"Velantas?" - Garami

"Yes, it seems we are in the Velantas region of the Invidia continent. It is better known as 'the Lake Sea region' due to it consisting of a single large lake with different types of islands and Velantas city, which is built on five artificial islands." - Gust

A "Lake Sea" region? And it used to be a wasteland just a few seconds ago!?

...Disasters are scary. Or is it the Dungeon that's scary? Nah, must be Glavras. He had this freaking obsession in his eyes, be it the empty body or the kaiju-god form his. Something I'm not eager to know about. Yeah, we'll call him a crazy snake and be done with this!

Just as I decided to stop worrying about everything related to the Water-Knot (just to be safe), Gust suddenly collapsed to the ground, snoring loudly. Oi, I get that you're exhausted after all that's happened, but don't fall asleep here-!

I turned around and saw something that shouldn't be on a mountain.

A dark, slimy globe was floating in the air. It must have used something to hide all this time, either with a skill, or maybe some item. But there's no sense of hostility, like with the other monsters I've faced. There's nothing strange with its stats or skills, except that the only battle-related one is [Make Sleep]. But it's "Controlled" by someone...

"Ahm, test, test. Calling from Nibiru, here is Ria-chan with the latest message to a hard-working Champion~." - Darkness Globe

.....Correction: It is controlled by something unspeakably... stupid.

"...The goddess?" - Garami

I broke the silence that came due to the stupid introduction of the Darkness Globe. 

"That's right~. Everyone's favorite goddess of darkness, Alvatria, aka, Ria-chan, is here to award her favorite Champion for a good job done~. Oh, and the bird was knocked out so he won't hear our conversation. I'm here incognito and all that." - Alvatria

I was right. Seems like she's using the demonic spirit as some sort of communicator... not that I have any proof, but there are not many that know I'm a Champion.

The other side tried to sound as upbeat as possible, but their voice is lacking in any emotion. A voice machine could produce a voice with more emotions than this. For some reason, I understand that it's not the Darkness Globe that's the culprit. Maybe because I could turn into one before? In any case, this goddess gives me the creeps.

"Good joke, after throwing your 'favorite Champion' into a Dungeon as an infant." - Garami

"Not that I had any other choice. The Grey Demon was supposed to be born in the area with the highest aether density to assure that you would retain all of your intellect. There was no way for even me to know that the place would be the Dungeon that's caused Lusalki so much headache. The other three options would be born in the areas of this region where they are normally born." - Alvatria

Ah, so it was my fault? Whoops.

"But that is not important right now. That last battle brought both great gains and losses to you, but those damn nitpicks still didn't allow me to gratulate you personally." - Alvatria

Hey, hey, goddess. You're more important than some king, of course... gains and losses? Or rather, I forgot about the System Message before I was blown away.

Oooh! There's a lot... not! Where's my God Slayer title!? I demand an awesome, but a little chuuni, God Slayer title!! 

"Guess you saw." - Alvatria

"Lots of rewards are missing." - Garami

"Too bad~. Glavras never turned into a real god. He was only manipulating a Dungeon, an object, that had obtained divinity through his machinations. That, and it would be troublesome if it came out that Glavras can be classified as a god and not a false one. But hey, you got the Dungeon Raider title despite the Anti-World-System that was around the guy, so be happy about that." - Alvatria

How can I be happy for only this after all that work!?

"Also, that just now was an order." - Alvatria

As if I care~.

"Then I'm forced to use the Champion-self-destruct button, it seems~." - Alvatria

"I'm sorry, so don't push that! Why do you even have something like that!?" - Garami

"For fun?" - Alvatria

How's that funny!? My life's on the line here! Wait, haven't this goddess answered my thoughts for a good while now?

"That's because I can read them, silly." - Alvatria

...I see. If even Gust can do that, it's logical that a God also being able to do so. Even better than him as well. You had to allow him to read the thoughts for the skill to work on them.

"Aw, complimenting me will get you somewhere, so keep it going~." - Alvatria

...Isn't it the other way around?

"Self-destruct." - Alvatria

I'm so sorry, lady Alvatria! The most beautiful and wisest of all Ultimate Gods!!

"Good, good, keep it coming~." - Alvatria

Damn, no way I'm getting more outta this one...

"Then, how about I answer some of your questions then?" - Alvatria

Seriously? That's it?

"As expected of my Champion. Not even trying to hide your greed. But how many lifetimes do you think it takes for a God to answer the requests of mortals?" - Alvatria

Oh, so there's not just a single quest... wait! That wasn't my question!!

"You already asked two of them from the beginning, so don't worry about it. Just ask away~. The night's still young." - Alvatria

Well, in that case... what's up with the low amount of Skill Points related to the Disaster title? Stopping something that could destroy the world should give more than just 5 Skill Points... Quest rewards or not.

"Then making the reward, which is given to all participants no matter how much they contribute to the subjection, something so awesome that people, or even races, will go into their extinction to obtain, despite being less than gnats in front of the Disaster?" - Alvatria

...Fair point. Some idiots that never experienced the fear of death might do something like that.

"Even so, I agree that the fight against Glavras was more than we anticipated. That was nothing that Lusalki could think up with. That's why I'm answering your questions now." - Alvatria

...? Just now... Nah, forget it. Then what about not getting any God Slayer title? Even if Glavras wasn't the one turned divine, was the fact that you didn't wanna admit the birth of a new god the only reason why I didn't get the title?

"That, and because of the Anti-World-System effect I mentioned. It canceled the process of the Hunting titles, but we twisted the rules a little to give you the Dungeon Raider title. And if people get to know you can go against the System by using Dungeons, there could be several new Water-Knots popping up left and right." - Alvatria

That would be annoying alright. I can agree with that... and having such a title could spell trouble when I think about it.

"Glad you agree. Then, over to the last question." - Alvatria

We're already finished!?

"I never said I would answer many of them. So, what is the final question?" - Alvatria

...Was it you guys that created the Disasters?

"Oh? Why do you think so?" - Alvatria

You mentioned something about this Lusalki-person not being able to think of something like Glavras. In another view, it means that she should have come up with something that would act like the Disaster of Water.

You also said having the Disasters being connected to gods would be bad, but if you told the mortals that the Disaster was a pagan god or something, that wouldn't be a problem at all. The reason why you don't do so is that there is a connection to the Ultimate Gods and the Ultimate Disasters and that would be revealed if people started to look into it due to there being a connection between Disasters and gods.

Besides, a group of world-ending monsters appearing around the same time, representing an attribute of each basic attribute? That's too much of a coincidence for me to simply accept it.

"......" - Alvatria

.........?

"......Kukuku. Mwa-hahahahaha!!" laughed the goddess, completely without the apathy in her voice from before.

"A-ha-ha-ha. Brilliant! To think that you would see that connection just from that. Is it because you're from another world? Or is it that this Disaster being such a thought-provoker regarding the subject?" - Alvatria

A little of both, but your comments were the real reason.

"Tch, Lux's gonna complain again. But yeah, we Ultimate Gods were the ones who made some of the Disasters, just to round them up. In addition to the Water Disaster, the Water-Knot I mean, I think the real Disasters also included the Order Disaster, the Wind Disaster, and the Light Disaster. Meaning the other 8 was fashioned as trials for humanity by that attribute's respective Ultimate God." - Alvatria

......Then the Darkness attribute Disaster is...

"My creation~♡." - Alvatria

I knew it!! Isn't that worse than any natural variant possible!? I've just met this goddess, but I'm confident in this statement!

"Aw, you're making me blush. But it's time soon, so how about we go over the rewards you've won?" - Alvatria

A snapping sound came from the Darkness Globe and two chests appeared from nowhere. 

"First, we have the Triana Replica and the Ring of John Due for completing the 'Cut the Knot' Emergency Quest, along with the information about the Kur Kigal race I promised. Clear your ears and listen closely, because I won't be saying this more than one time." - Alvatria

Wait a sec! Can't you just write it on some paper?

"Nope. First off, you need the 'Essence of Heresy', I'll add the location of it in this region to your mental map as service, then you need a total of 50 skill levels with Heretic attribute skills, an Advance-tier Scout class as your Main Class, and the Black-Light Technique User title." - Alvatria

Black...Light...what's that?

"That's your homework, so I won't be telling~." - Alvatria

OI!

"And for the reward of clearing Glavras is the Emblem of Water, which is the usual reward for crushing a Disaster, a Dungeon Core, since the Disaster was a Dungeon, and as a special reward... something you're in dire need right now." - Alvatria

Something I'm in dire need of?

"Oh, and before I forget, remember those skills you got in exchange for being my Champion?" - Alvatria

Those? They were... the Aura, various Darkness attribute-related ones, then the Debuff-power up, and... [Identification] and [Language Adaption].

"Those two last ones are fake." - Alvatria

...Eh? But they've worked perfectly... maybe not. I'm unsure about [Language Adaption].

"No, not in that meaning. I was talking about that you got those two from a different source. Remember those grayed-out titles? They are the 'Champion of Alvatria'-, 'Migrant'-, and 'Reincarnator' titles." - Alvatria

I can see the first and the last one, but "Migrant"?

"To say it simply, it's the title all other-worlders get when they arrive on Terra Sol. And the skills that come with that title are [Identification] and [Language Adaption]." - Alvatria

Oh... then why did you say they were part of the Champion deal?

"Champions all get an Element-, Reinforcement-, and Resistance skill related to the attribute of their Ultimate God. Then they get a skill that the other Champions will obtain due to the other Ultimate Gods' Proof-Blessing, which is also a skill unique to the Champions only."- Alvatria

Hmm, then the other Champions may also have [Aura of Darkness]. Hey, what about the Order and Chaos Champions?

"They got Extra Skills to replace the first three and the fifth skill." - Alvatria

Tch, damn cheaters.

"The fifth skill is a support skill to enhance the traits of that attribute. Like [Healing Reinforcement] for the Life Champion. Finally, the sixth skill is something to represent the Champion themselves. But at that time-" - Alvatria

Right... I was technically not born back then.

"Therefore, I decided to wait until you build yourself an actual identity before adding the last skill." - Alvatria

You little... then why didn't you say so at the beginning?

"Why throw away the chance of getting more praise?" - Alvatria

Yeah, as if you would praise someone that throws you into a Dungeon when you're born.

"Lux was damn nasty when he noticed it. And you can just kill this one here for the EXP. You've been denied that pleasure for too long lately." - Alvatria

You don't have to remind me of that!

"Ta-ta~." - Alvatria

Wait, what about... that Black-Light... she's gone... Damn it!

*Slash*

hat's something, at least. But I'm not going to rely on that goddess the first.

And here comes the sunrise! What a beautiful way to start my life outside the Dungeon... hm? Hot? Hot, hot, hot! The sun's too hot! I'm being scorched! Retreat!

"...*Yaaawn*. When did I fall asleep... Garami? Why're you crouching inside the cave?" - Gust

*Sniff*, the sun should just explode! That's it! I'm going to create a place I can call home without the intrusion of that bastard! Just you wait!!!