"Fueh!?" Hestia was startled at his immediate response, "Y-you have a way?"
"I don't have the exact method right now since I still have to see this Antares, but I'm already very clear with Artemis-sama's situation and I only need to adjust some of my plans, depending on the situation. Besides, if Artemis-sama were to disappear, the spear would disappear too, right? Heck no! That's my compensation! I won't allow them to run away without paying me for my efforts!" Kisuke clenched his fist as he declared.
Hestia stared at him for a moment before resuming her cries, "Uwaah!!! Thank goodness!!!"
Kisuke caught Hestia as she dived in his arms and started patting her head, "I'll do my best to help Artemis-sama. You don't have to worry about her disappearing before you. I'll make sure that you'll still be able to have fun with her for the next century or more."
Those words of comfort were the things that she wanted to hear the most. And because of that, her cries became even worse, but instead of the sorrowful cry that she showed to Hermes, Hestia was now crying tears of relief.
A few minutes of crying later, Hestia fell asleep in his arms. It was then that Yoruichi came out from her hiding spot and Kisuke said, "Please sleep with her for tonight."
Yoruichi got the sleeping Hestia from Kisuke and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Inspect the spear in greater detail. I want to make sure our chances are as high as possible."
"I see. Please rest after you're done." Yoruichi then left Kisuke alone.
.
.
.
A few hours before sunrise, everyone was gearing up to attack the Ruins of Elsus. In the middle of it all was Artemis who'd be leading the attack, "As you already know, this ruin became a den of monsters. Antares is still concentrating its power, waiting for us."
"There's no doubt that we'll face great difficulties before we achieve our goal. But never surrender! Never fear! Defeat is not an option!" As she finished her words, everyone was already ready and lined up in front of her.
Nodding to everyone, Artemis continued, "Here is how this'll go. The Hermes Familia will act as a decoy. Since your group will be large in number, the enemy monsters will concentrate on you. Just lure them out and avoid any danger."
"Understood!", answered everyone simultaneously.
Artemis then looked towards one of the members of the Hermes Familia, "Falgar."
"Yes."
"You lead the cohort."
"Understood."
Artemis nodded at him and turned her attention towards Kisuke, Yoruichi, Ryuu and Asfi, "We'll enter the ruins while the enemy's attention is drawn to the feint attack. That's when we'll defeat Antares."
"We?" Asfi asked.
"The gate cannot be opened without my Divine power. So I'll be going too." Artemis explained.
"If you're going, then I'm going too." From another tent, Hestia appeared and approached Artemis, "I can't let you go alone."
Then Hermes also appeared from the other side, "Then, I should join too!"
"W-wait! Hermes-sama! You can't just do that!", complained Asfi immediately.
In response, Hermes just laughed it off and patted her head, "Ahahaha! You already knew this was bound to happen."
With a crying face, Asfi muttered, "...Not again..."
Everyone from the Hermes Familia then started laughing at the familiar scene which made them being more at ease.
Kisuke then suddenly clapped his hands and gathered everyone's attention, "Alright~! Enough of that. We've got to change some of those plans."
Artemis looked at him with confusion and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, we're already surrounded~!" Kisuke revealed as if it had nothing to do with him at all.
"What!?", exclaimed Asfi and checked the surroundings. And indeed, after looking around, she saw some of the scorpion monsters approaching them in the distance, "Since when?"
"That's not important. What is important is that we have to adjust our timing. Well, nothing will really change. We just gotta finish a little earlier." Kisuke took out his blade and started walking in the direction of the ruin.
"That's what he said~." Yoruichi also took out her daggers and went beside Hestia.
Everyone from the Hermes Familia started intercepting the incoming monsters. Although a little bit earlier than planned, as Kisuke said, nothing really changed. "Asfi! We'll take care of things here! Go do what you must do!", shouted Falgar as he cleaved one of the monsters in front of him.
Asfi nodded at him and said, "Alright. Be careful!" She then started running towards the direction where Kisuke had gone, "Let's go!"
Everyone who'd be attacking Antares followed her suit.
But as the group went after Kisuke, Asfi, Ryuu, Artemis, and Hermes couldn't help but be startled. Not even half a minute went by after Kisuke went ahead, but instead of catching up to him, all they could see in his path were magic stones, and it wasn't a small amount either.
"So fast..." Ryuu muttered.
"We really can't underestimate him.", added Asfi.
After traveling for about two hundred meters and crossing a bridge, they got out of the forest and reached the Ruin of Elsus. There they finally saw Kisuke, who was walking around the entrance as if he was some kind of tourist.
"Ah, you're late~!" Kisuke waved at them with a smile.
"You're too fast!", retorted Asfi, "How were you not slowed down by those monsters!?"
"Well, you just gotta swing your sword while running. Save's a bunch of time, I guarantee it~."
'No way that it was that simple!' Asfi gritted her teeth and chose not to say anything. She then sighed and calmed down, knowing that she couldn't actually do anything against him, and thinking out his methods would only hurt her head. So she spared herself from suffering and just examined the ruin along with him.
The group entered the tunnel leading to the ruin. In between the bricks, which made up the tunnel, was an illuminating substance. "Magic power?", asked Yoruichi.
"It's the light of the seal.", explained Artemis to them, "Activated by my kindred spirits. You can even say that they're my oldest children."
"I see. So the one who gave blessing to the great spirits who sealed Antares was you.", added Kisuke after seeing the theme on the engravings around the ruin which revolved around the Goddess of Bow and Moon.
"...Yes."
"So that's why we needed your Divine power to enter the deepest place.", said Yoruichi.
Thanks to her words, Ryuu and Asfi finally realized why they needed Artemis to open the sealed gate. However, they didn't say anything and just continued to walk, while watching their surroundings for potential enemy attacks.
A few minutes later, the group reached the sealed gate. In the middle of this gate was an insignia that signified an arrow and the moon as a bow.
Artemis silently stepped forward and touched the insignia, before pouring her Divine power in it. The sealed gate started to creak as it opened and revealed the other side which startled everyone.
Beyond the gate was not the expected stone wall and ceiling, but walls and ceiling made out of what seemed to be flesh. Hanging from it were something like eggs, and they expected that monsters would be coming out from them.
"What the hell happened here?", asked Asfi in confusion.
Gritting her teeth, Artemis answered her, "Antares is infesting the temple."
Hermes touched his hat and his expression became grave, "It's worse than what we expected."
But as they looked around, the fleshy wall and floor suddenly extended behind them and sealed their path, "The exit is...!?"
And before they could react to what was happening, the eggs started opening up, dropping scorpion monsters that were bigger and stronger than those which were outside.
Kisuke pulled out his blade and gave them instructions, "Andromeda-san, please focus on protecting Hermes-sama. Lion-san, please assist Artemis-sama." He didn't need to give instructions to Yoruichi since she already knew what she had to do.
"What about you?", asked Ryuu.
"I'm going to go ahead and clear the path. Don't fall behind." Since they were far from the Dungeon and because he already planned to show a bit of his strength, Kisuke didn't need to hold back that much anymore.
Ryuu was about to cite her concern about his safety and intended to take his role, when Kisuke suddenly disappeared from his spot and reappeared a few tens of meters away. Everyone was shocked at his speed. But the most shocking was, that all of the monsters between his former spot and the place where he was standing right now were bisected. They didn't know what just happened and wanted some answers.
But instead of answering their confusion, Kisuke's voice rang out again, "I won't be repeating myself, don't fall behind." He then moved by another tens of meters and bisected another hoard of monsters.
Of course, the first one to move out was Yoruichi who was already carrying Hestia on her back. As she passed the others, she reminded them, "Get going!"
Hermes hurriedly got on Asfi's back and commanded, "Asfi! It's not the time to daydream! Let's go!"
"Y-yes!" Asfi then started running after Yoruichi.
Ryuu faced Artemis and said, "Artemis-sama, the path is cleared of monsters. Please get on my back, so that we can catch up to them."
Artemis had already recovered her bearings and nodded at Ryuu before jumping on her back, "Let's not fall behind."
Since there were no monsters to stop them, the group immediately reached the deepest part of the ruin. And what they thought would be a great challenge, became a breeze thanks to Kisuke.
However, not everything went okay because as they approached where the Antares was supposed to be sealed, Artemis kept getting weaker and weaker, to the point that it was already hard for her to walk at a normal pace.
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Editors:
28th00: So, the gods just mounted their adventurer mounts? Well, that's a thing. The fact that this is no longer a stealth mission with limiters to prevent… a possible dungeon induced second apocalypse, they don't have to worry about collateral damage summoning god-slaying dungeon mobs endlessly.
Alexander: I know that I'm a douche for thinking this, but I just imagined a 'riding competition' between the gods. Made me remember the memorable race chapter of Shinka no mi.
28th00: That series is pretty much a parody of Isekai at this point, ain't it? I won't lie, I'd love an animated version of that series for iconic events like that race. The whole series is like a meme at this point.