"REJECT X 1000!"
Cara cried out as she used one of her cheats, the ability to Reject.
It was an ability she believed was based off of or similar in nature to the Dials used on Skypia in One Piece. The Dials in particular were the Impact and Reject Dials, the former of which could absorb the kinetic force used on it to be applied later. The latter however was much more powerful, and more dangerous.
The Reject Dial was capable of the same thing as the Impact Dial, but it also had the added affect of being able to multiply the output by ten. The drawback was that the recoil could severely damage, or even kill a person if they used it too much.
Cara's Reject worked in the same exact way, except that she could multiply the power of the Reject as she desired, based off the amount of force she used to begin with, with the appropriate amount of recoil rebounding on her body. But that was where her second cheat came into play.
"..."
Even as her entire right arm, shoulder, and even half of her chest exploded into gore from the recoil of Reject multiplied by a thousand, Cara barely even flinched.
Instead, her second cheat kicked in as all of her destroyed body parts regenerated instantly. This was her second cheat, the immortality used by the Fox's Sin of Greed from Seven Deadly Sins, Ban.
Unfortunately the ability didn't regenerate clothing, so Cara's right breast was hanging free for everyone to see. Instead of worrying about that though, she turned towards her goddess, Loki, and declared,
"I doubt that killed him, so please update my Falna Loki-Sama!"
Though the goddess appeared confused, she didn't hesitate to move behind Cara to do just that, pricking her finger with the needle she always carried on her to draw the blood needed to modify her status.
Meanwhile Cara's mind was racing as she recalled when she hit the man, Alex. Instead of Reject blasting the force through him like it had any monster she'd used it on in the past, it almost felt as if it had BOUNCED off him, completely ejecting him from the tower itself.
Cara ignored that for the moment though as she turned her attention to the gathered gods and goddesses.
"Everyone, please listen to me! The Dragon Emperor is NOT someone to take likely! He is dangerous, and could singlehandedly destroy EVERYTHING we care about and built!"
Cara knew Alex was probably ok despite her attack, as Saiyans were quite literally built different. She knew that, despite her own cheats, she was probably far from enough to deal with him.
"If we want to survive his arrival then we NEED to work together! I already sent requests to each Familia for reinforcements to battle him, but we need the support of the gods if we are to win!"
The gods themselves couldn't fight, they left all of their power back in Heaven when they descended. But giving the order for their own 'children' to help her fight Alex would go a long way.
"Very well." One God declared.
"Indeed, a mortal who could enslave a goddess is too dangerous."
"Plus he could contend with Ouranos."
"He's too dangerous!"
"He must be eliminated!"
One by one the gods agreed with Cara's declaration, stating that Alex was too dangerous to leave alive.
Loki meanwhile, was completely shocked as she finished updating Cara's Falna. She had finally managed to break through the peak that had existed in Orario for so long. She had reached level nine.
She was so speechless, that Loki almost missed it when Cara stood and approached Hestia.
"Don't worry Hestia-Sama. We'll free you from his control." Cara told her seriously, still completely believing that she was under some kind of control ability.
The Loli goddess looked at her confusedly, before looking off at something Cara couldn't see.
"Ok? Alex is looking forward to the battle you're planning though!" Hestia declared cheerfully, stunning everyone else present aside from Lili and Haruhime.
"Yeah. This sounds really interesting." A new voice suddenly said behind her, making Cara whirl around with her arm to attack.
But the man, Alex, easily caught her attack with freezing cold hands that felt almost unliving, while she watched his hair turn silver, and his eyes turn red.
"What the-" Cara began in disbelief, before Alex suddenly sank a pair of lethal looking fangs into her neck.
Her entire body stiffened as she felt her blood flowing through the wound into Alex's mouth, the wound refusing to close due to his intrusive fangs.
Along with the slight pain in her neck, Cara felt a type of heat spreading through her body with each passing second Alex was feeding on her. Even as the grip from his hands loosened she was unable to fight back at him as his hands then began to crawl along her body.
One cupped her exposed breast before it began to knead it, slowly at first, before building up a steady rhythm that made the heat in her body more intense. The other went her hip, finding her buttocks and squeezing it to make her hips buck involuntarily.
And as they did so, she could feel what was probably the only hot part of Alex's body pressing against her butt. Some large, and hard.
Cara then felt the hand on her hip and butt start drifting to another place, one much more intimate and private.
"Ha!" She gasped, the image of a young boy with white hair and red eyes flashing before her eyes.
"NO!" Cara yelled as she forced her body to move, throwing off Alex's sensual grip on her as he backed away a few steps.
"Sorry, force of habit." He told her with a wry smile, indicating his hands and their intrusiveness.
"Motherfucker!" Cara snarled as righteous fury welled up within her.
"Yeah. I get called that a lot." Alex said with a helpless shrug, angering her even more.
"REJECT X 100!" Cara roared as she rushed towards Alex and hit him with both her fists, which she again felt as if the force 'bounced' off of him even as Alex was ejected from the meeting hall a second time.
Unfortunately she had only used a fraction of the force from earlier. So, even if her injuries weren't as severe as before, Alex was probably only sent out into the city.
Healing instantly, Cara immediately exited the building and left the stunned gods behind, as they would be useless in the coming battle. She got their approval to marshal their forces, and that was enough unless they were somehow able to recover their Arcanum.
Exiting the tower, Cara found every available adventurer in Orario gathered before her.
She had met up with several of her Familia members who were sent to retrieve her after she entered the Dungeon several weeks ago. They had informed her of the situation developing topside, and Cara had sent them ahead to mobilize the rest of the Familias just in case.
And every single one had come. They had all answered the call of the strongest adventurer in Orario, The Amazon.
"EVERYONE! I HAVE CALLED YOU FORTH TO FACE THE GREATEST THREAT OUR WORLD HAS EVER SEEN! GREATER EVEN THAN THE ONE EYED BLACK DRAGON THAT DECIMATED THE ZEUS AND HERA FAMILIAS! THE DRAGON EMPEROR!"
"That's right~!" Said a singsong type voice that made everyone turn towards the source, a muscular man with wild hair and a monkey tail, that was standing casually atop one of the buildings surrounding the Tower of Babel.
"I am here to conquer your world!" He declared with a maniac look, startling everyone present as an overbearing pressure descended upon them.
"I will slaughter your men, and claim your women as my own! And there nothing any of you can do to stop me!"
The declaration boomed throughout the city, alarming adventurers, guards, and all the gods to the malicious intentions of the invader. The tension in the air was so palpable that it could be cut with a butter knife, until Cara noticed a blonde haired blur approaching him like a bullet. One of her dearest comrades, Ais Wallenstein.
Ais was a petite woman with fair features, long golden-blonde hair, and gold eyes. And while her eyes usually had an almost vacant or uninterested look in them, right now they were fierce and focused as she rushed the Dragon Emperor.
Blades of black wind swirled around as she used her two most powerful skills, Ariel and Avenger. The first was Ais' only magic that she had access to, which she used to enhance her offense and defense as needed. The second was a skill she had that drastically increased her attack power against monsters, specifically dragons.
Cara had seen Ais slaughter even the strongest of monsters with this combo, Tempest-Avenger, and she felt a sliver of hope sprout within her breast.
Even though their opponent was one of those bullshit Saiyans, this combo with Ais' sword Desperate HAD to work. It just HAD to.
To everyone else it happened instantly, but with Cara's supreme stats she was able to watch in slow motion as Ais approached Alex, her sword before her as she aimed it at his heart. She watched as he seemingly was unable to react, even as the blade inched closer to killing him.
But then it happened.
Far faster than even Cara could follow, Alex had the tip of Desperate gripped between two fingers. TWO fingers. That was all it had taken him to stop the most powerful attack of one of the most powerful adventurers as the wind storm that had been centered around her abruptly vanished.
Ais' expression was incredulous, while Alex only had a wry smile as he looked down at her from his height.
"Not bad. But your sword's a bit weak." Alex said with humor in his voice, before Desperate completely shattered in his grip.
"Can't be...!" Ais uttered in disbelief, which was shared amongst the rest of the Loki Familia.
Desperate was supposed to be indestructible, as Ais' fighting style meant she destroyed a LOT of swords.
"Don't just stand there. ATTACK!" Some brave soul shouted, as everyone surged forward at once.
"Save the Sword Princess!"
"Don't let him defile her!"
"Maybe now she'll love me!"
Hundreds of adventurers charged the Dragon Emperor at once, all proclaiming their love, lust, and desire for the Sword Princess after Alex's earlier declaration of stealing their women.
"You weaklings stay out of the way! She's MY mate!" Cried out a man with several wolfish features, such as a tail and a pair of ears.
As the wolfman, Bete, approached Alex from the side, Ais also raised her hands as she prepared to fight despite losing Desperate on the other. In response to being attacked by two of the Loki Familia's strongest fighters, aside from Cara of course, Alex only smirked as he moved his hands in a way they left illusionary blue trails in their wake.
"What then...?" Cara uttered, feeling like she recognized his movements from somewhere, before the fight started and her eyes widened in shock.
Even though Bete and Ais were there as well, Alex also had over a hundred horny adventurers competing to gain Ais' affections in the fray. It was a situation where even a Saiyan should've been overwhelmed with their strength and skills in play. But when Alex moved his hands, Cara could only watch as he somehow deflected and returned every single attack that was thrown at him.
Arrows were thrown back at the archers that shot them, swords and axes dug into the dirt, and daggers went flying. And in the center of this chaos was Alex, a casual smirk still plastered on his face as he used a single hand to fend off both both Ais and Bete, while the other was dealing with the hundred or so adventurers as if it were child's play.
And she recognized where the technique he was using came from.
Cara hadn't recognized it at first since it was the technique belonging to a wrinkly old man and the weirdo Garo, and she'd been more preoccupied with with the young and cute looking Child Emperor. But it was definitely that one martial art from the world of One Punch Man!
Even as she grew incredulous over realizing this, Cara also noticed something else as she watched the fight, trying to learn as much as possible.
Though Alex defended himself against Ais, Bete, arrows, swords, axes, and just about every other bladed or spiked weapon one could think of, he completely ignored the blunt ones like clubs, staves or fists. Instead, she watched as they hit his bare skin, only to bounce off of it. As if he were made of some sort of rubb-
"Motherfucker!" Cara exclaimed, shocking those who were also studying their new opponent beside her as she realized something.
Without stopping to think any longer, Cara launched herself into the air above Alex, before using Reject to the kick the air and send her rocketing back down at him. She then twisted so that her heel was aimed at Alex's head while his hands were busy, and cried out,
"Reject X 10!"
Right before Cara's attack landed, she saw Alex look up at her in amusement.
That look of his never changed even as her heel impacted his face with the force of more than ten of her super powered kicks, before it bounced off and she was sent flying away by her own force.
Ignoring the brief pain in her leg from the way it had been jerked by the rebound, Cara recovered herself while glaring at Alex hatefully.
"Saiyan....vampire....rubber..... Anything else fucker?" Even as she glared at him angrily, Cara felt a growing sense of accomplishment as she believed she figured out Alex's cheats. Even if he had acquired one later through leveling, then Cara was willing to bet it was that martial art he was using.
Her glare transitioned into a smirk as she believed she had him figured out.
"Anyone using blunt weapons or fists retreat! They won't work! Anyone using blades try and aim for his limbs! If we can take them off then we might stand a chance!" Cara ordered before turning towards the group behind her.
"Start chanting all of the most powerful magics you can use, but NO lightning based magic since there's a good chance he's immune to it!"
"""Right!""" Exclaimed the mages of Orario, led by none other than the most powerful Mage in the city, the High Elf Riveria Ljos Alf.
Soon the sound of chanting filled the air as dozens of mages prepared to cast their magic, including a timid young elf who kept stuttering and messing up her chanting, leading to her quickly starting all over again.
"Sword!" Cara roared, before a great blade came flying at her that she caught effortlessly.
It was a giant slab of metal forged from adamantite that stood as tall as her without even including the hilt, and it was over a foot wide throughout the entire body.
While Cara preferred to fight bare handed, there were certain opponents that she couldn't do that against in the Dungeon. So, once she reached the hundred level milestone she purchased advanced weapons mastery from the shop, allowing her use just about any weapon she laid hands on effortlessly.
This blade, Rajah, was just one of the many weapons she had at her disposal, all of which were maintained and provided to her as needed by her team of supporters. Five male Pallum that were dedicated to serving her.
With Rajah in hand, Cara rushed at Alex as the others continued trying to pressure him. By this point more of her fellow Familia members had joined the fight directly to aide Ais and Bete. Tione and TIona, her fellow Amazonesses, Gareth the dwarf, and their Captain, Finn.
Finn was another man that Cara would love to get her hands on one day as a powerful Pallum. Even if she wasn't a shoutacon her Amazonian instincts would draw her to him due to his impressive strength, despite the fact that she had surpassed him long ago.
But now THAT Finn, along with the other members of her Familia, were all being held in check by a single man who acted as if he were fighting mere children. And that was on top of all the other adventurers trying to gain some kind of leeway against him.
But that suited Cara just fine. Her superhuman strength, combined with the power of Reject and the bladed edge of Rajah, and she should be able to slice through Alex's flesh now that she knew bladed attacks were his weak point.
All she needed was to land one hit.
The sounds of destruction rang out, several blocks of the city had already been destroyed in the ensuing battle, and Cara destroyed more of it in her bid to attack Alex. Each time one of her feet fell upon a rooftop, she destroyed the entire building to launch herself further and faster at him, cursing herself for all this damage as she did so.
"TAKE THIS!" Cara roared as she swung Rajah wide to build up even more momentum, aiming it right at the back of Alex's exposed neck.
The seconds felt like an eternity as she closed in on him, the great blade approaching Alex's skin in what appeared to be slow motion while everyone else kept his attention forward.
She watched as the blade made contact with a single strand of Alex's hair that fell down towards his neck.
*CRASH!*
The sound of Rajah shattering echoed across the battlefield as Cara's mind stalled in disbelief.
What?
How!?
WHY!?
Numerous questions flared through her mind as she tried to understand what just happened, until Alex looked back at her and said apologetically, "Yeah... Sorry about that. It happens sometimes."
Cara could only gape at him in complete disbelief, as how was that something that 'happened sometimes'?!
Did ANYTHING about this guy make sense!?!
"GET OUT OF THERE!"
One of the adventurers suddenly cried out, alerting Cara that the mages were about to carpet bomb the area.
Everyone quickly cleared out of the way so as not to get caught up in the attack that would be centered around Alex, including Cara since there were some magic attacks that even she could afford to get hit by.
But there was one person who couldn't get away.
"Don't leave just yet." Alex voice sounded behind Cara, making her look back to see he had his hand wrapped around Ais' wrist.
Horror filled Cara along with everyone else as it became too late for the mages to call of their magic, having finished the incredibly long chant as they all fled.
Cara watched in horror as Alex pulled Ais close to him so that their bodies were pressed up against one another, right as the bombardment of magic attacks descended upon them.
"-my name is Alf!" Cried out Riveria as she too finished her spell, Wynn Fimbulvetr. It was an ice type magic that was so cold, it was said to be able to freeze time itself.
Fire, tornadoes, water, and light all engulfed Alex and Ais as the duo were obscured from view, before Riveria's Wynn Fimbulvetr also activated as a massive pillar of ice appeared where they had been standing.
"Ais!" Cried out the female elf that had been stuttering and messing up her chanting earlier, Lefiya, as she raced ahead of everyone to the pillar of ice.
"Lefiya!" Riveria cried out to the other elf, only for Tione and Tiona to also race ahead of her.
They all stopped outside the wall of ice, from where they could see Ais and Alex inside, trapped in what almost looked like a lovers embrace.
"AIS!" Lefiya cried out as she hit the wall of ice before her.
"It's ok Lefiya!" Riveria tried to tell her.
"HOW IS IT OK!?!" Lefiya demanded, her usually meek and timid personality completely gone as she looked to the frozen state of the person she admired the most.
"Wynn Fimbulvetr freezes even time! If we're careful, we can figure out a way to free Ais without freeing the Dragon Emperor." Riveria calmly explained to her, though she wasn't sure herself if it was possible.
*CRACK!*
The sound of something fracturing made everyone slowly look back to the ice, which they saw was beginning to crack.
"That's not possible..." Riveria uttered fearfully.
"EVERYBODY GET BACK!" Cara ordered as they all fled the area, right before the tower of ice shattered to send razor sharp chunks of ice in every direction.
Destruction rained down upon the city as ice of all sizes exploded outward, some as large as houses as they destroyed the very things they were being compared to. Thankfully however, there didn't seem to be very many, if any, casualties from the explosion.
But they were still very far from being relieved as the fog that formed from the sudden shift in temperature cleared, and they saw Alex standing there in the center holding Ais close to him.
"That was fun~. What's next?" Alex said with a voice full of mirth, dumbfounding Cara more than anything else today.
Yes, he was one of THOSE Saiyans.
Yes, Saiyans basically ignored the laws of physics when it suited them.
And yes, Alex also had several other cheats that made him more broken than a normal Saiyan.
But, THERE STILL HAD TO BE A DAMN LIMIT TO HOW BROKEN A CHARACTER HE WAS!
Cara wasn't the only one thinking long those lines, as all of the gathered adventurers were wondering just HOW they were supposed to defeat this guy, when he suddenly spoke up once more.
"Well, if no ones gonna keep the fight going, then I guess I'll just move on to stealing the women. Let's start with miss Ais here~"
Saying that, Alex shifted his hold on Ais so that his hands were on her hips, appearing much more intimate as he moved closer. The Sword Princess however appeared powerless before him as he held her close, and closed what little distance there was between them as he sealed her lips with his own.
"WAHHH! GET AWAY FROM MY HUBBY YOU WALLENWHATZIT! I GET HIM FIRST!" Hestia roared from behind Cara, making her turn to see she had exited Babel along with the rest of the gods.
"AIS-TAN!" Loki similarly shouted as she saw Ais in Alex's embrace, before immediately rounding on Hestia to blame her for Alex's actions.
"Ottar." Another goddess commanded calmly meanwhile, drawing everyone else's attention as the man once known as the King stepped towards his goddess.
"Yes, lady Freya?"
"Take the others and enter the battle. I want to see just what this Dragon Emperor is capable of." Freya commanded, before turning her attention back to Alex himself.
She couldn't care less about his intentions, or the struggles everyone else had in fighting him. All she knew was that Alex possessed the most powerful and brilliant soul she had ever seen.
He was like a brilliant sun that lit up the world compared to even the other gods, who appeared like little more than matchsticks next to him. She wanted him, more than any other man she had wanted in the entire course of her existence.
"Of course lady Freya. It will be done." Ottar stated, before stepping forward as the rest of his Familia members fell into line beside him.
This made the rest of the gathered gods start muttering amongst themselves as, even if Ottar fell from grace after Cara beat him, it wasn't without reason that he was known as the 'King'.
Even Loki looked up from where she had been fighting with Hestia, before turning her attention to Alex as he rose up into the air with the Sword Princess in his arms.
They had all heard his declaration of intention to slaughter their men and steal their women, but Loki couldn't help but to question it. After all, she WAS the goddess of trickery and mischief. And all it took was one glance around the battlefield to see that something was off.
Firstly all of the civilians had disappeared completely, seemingly before the battle even started since there were no bodies or screaming to be heard. And building on that, despite Alex's claims of slaughtering their men, not a single adventure had been killed even though he'd had literally hundreds of chances to do just that.
And then there was Ais herself.
While Loki wasn't surprised Alex had targeted her first, as Ais was the most sought after woman in all of Orario, she did find Alex's current interaction with her strange. From the outside Alex was already violating Ais as he kissed her and openly groped her ass, but to Loki the kiss itself wasn't that bad since she knew what several gods preferred to do when they wanted to 'violate' someone, and they didn't typically start with kisses. And the hand on her ass would easily be described as him simply supporting her as he flew above the rest of them.
No, Loki suspected more was going on than they were aware of. There was trickery afoot, or she wasn't Loki!
***
Alex was enjoying himself quite a bit right now.
Even if the average people of Orario weren't that strong, their numerous numbers and skills more than made up for it, while the real treat was fighting the members of the Loki Familia, and Cara herself.
Alex had been more than a little surprised by Cara when she crashed his introduction during the Denatus, but that only served to make this visit even more exciting. Unlike his upcoming fight against Markus, Alex wasn't worried at all about Cara since he hadn't sensed any maliciousness from her through any of his divinities involving Power, Plots, or Ambition.
And when he drank her blood just to make sure, he confirmed that Cara had simply been living while enjoying her second life in Danmachi with her cheats. Though he was a little worried about her sexual preferences.
Time to work on that later though.
With Cara believing completely that Alex was evil, he decided to play along a bit to enjoy a nice battle after ordering Elaine to evacuate the entire city.
And it had been nice, focusing on using some of his newer abilities instead of just steamrolling everything with strength like usual.
But unfortunately all good things must come to an end.
As he was kissing Ais in an attempt to provoke another round of combat, Alex sensed something rapidly approaching them. Something he was sure felt threatened by his mere presence in this world.
"Hah..." Alex sighed as he broke off the kiss, even as he noticed Freya's Familia finally joining the fray.
"What?" Ais demanded with reddened cheeks, embarrassed from having her first kiss stolen.
Never before had she been in such close proximity with a man aside from her father, but then Alex had to up the ante by stealing her first kiss and grabbing her butt.
Alex was truly only holding her butt to support her, but the habits developed by his body had been deeply ingrained in him as his fingers kneaded her flesh.
"Nothing. It's just that the fight is going to have to end soon." Alex responded before turning his attention to Ottar.
The moment the King mad eye contact with him though, he along with every Beast Human present shuddered.
What happened next stunned those who were watching as they all collectively fell to their knees, and prostrated to the Dragon Emperor in fear and awe.
"Wha- what is this!?!" Freya demanded as she watched her strongest 'child' prostrate before Alex, along with the rest of Beast Humans.
"They are obeying their instincts." Alex stated calmly, his voice echoing throughout the city as every eye turned towards him.
Not only was Alex basically considered the apex predator of all apex predators, he had also obtained divinities over the Wilds, the Hunt, and Lycanthropy. None of them directly pertained to the Beast Human race, but Lycanthropy especially was close enough that none of them could dare raise their heads in his presence if he wished it.
"Screw this!"
"Let's save Ais!" Cried out a pair of twins, Tione and Tiona, as they rushed Alex with murder in their gazes.
However all Alex had to do with them was make eye contact while flexing his power just a little bit, and the duo fell to the ground along with nearly every single Amazon present.
You-! What do you do!?" Cara demanded with flushed cheeks as an intense fire spread throughout her entire body.
"Nothing. I just flexed a little, and all of you Amazons reacted to it. After all, don't you think that to your race, Saiyans would be the ideal mate?" Alex stated, then asked with amusement as hundreds of dark skinned women around him instantly went into heat from his mere presence. Though he decided not to mention that he had a title of 'Amazonian Husband'.
'Elaine, Take them the Myriad Realms of Revelry.' Alex commanded his Angel maid, and every single Amazon barring Cara disappeared from view.
"Wha-where did they go!?" Cara demanded despite the arousal coursing through her.
"Somewhere safe." Alex stated, though Cara only grew angrier as she snarled,
"You-! You were just playing this entire time, weren't you!"
Then, fighting the arousal filling her body, Cara launched herself at Alex with fury and rage fueling her, only caring about landing at least one actual hit on him despite the fact that her fist would only bounce off of him.
Instead of humor in her though, Alex looked down at her with an expression of complete seriousness.
"I think it's time you were sidelined for a bit." He stated, before chopping his hand downwards at her head once she got close enough.
What happened next was a feat of strength and destruction that left even the gods stunned as Alex sent Cara crashing through the ground and into the Dungeon below, where she smashed through dozens of floors before finally stopping on the eightieth floor. And in response to the devastation wrought upon it, the Dungeon spawned thousands upon thousands of monsters that surged upwards towards the surface, as well as the horrifying Juggernauts that surged down where Cara had ended up.
With her immortality Alex wasn't concerned about Cara's safety, but decided he needed to respond to the monsters that were surging towards the surface in an endless tidal wave.
With a wave of his hand, all of Alex's children that had begun training appeared before him suddenly, including Myuu, Videl and Kale.
"Huh? Daddy!" Edith cried as she spied her father, drawing the rest of the children's gazes to him.
"High baby, daddy has a surprise for you all~!" Alex stated to the children before pointing downwards.
"See all those monsters, they all want to 'play' with you!"
While the older children knew what Alex meant by 'playing', the younger children all grew excited as they rushed downwards to 'play' with all the monsters.
Gods and adventurers alike all watched in disbelief as such young children hurried into the Dungeon, and began slaughtering the powerful monsters as if they were nothing. The youngest of which was Nocta, Freydis and Aife, though Lana appeared younger than them due to their divine power accelerating their growth.
With the horde of monsters taken care of, Alex then turned his attention to Ais in his arms.
"What do you want?" Ais asked icily, before Alex surprised her by asking in return,
"How would you like to kill the One Eyed Back Dragon?"