It was night time.
Justus alerted his party to be careful. His party was the one who cleared out the commercial district. Most of the work was done by him and he was considered rather powerful.
Justus's ability was [Sword Art]. It granted him shocking proficiency in the way of the swords that easily allowed him to kill the monsters around.
His party was nothing special but he felt obligated to protect them. He was someone who strongly believed in the saying "With great power comes great responsibility."
Justus was feeling rather conflicted. The strange man had returned. The reason he described the man as "strange" is because of his movements. One second he was here, the next he was in another location. It was practically teleportation with the speed that he could accomplish things. On top of that, the man seemed to always be aware of his location.
The other day, the man looked at him dead in the eyes with those eerie green eyes of his…
That was the reason why he instructed his party to remain stationary. It was not too much of an inconvenience. The world practically came to an end. Humans had amazing adaptability so they were all able to adjust to any conditions.
Justus was not willing to risk making contact with another ability user with unknown intentions. He had seen far too many crimes committed by fellow people in the face of danger. The true nature of humans was not something to be taken lightly.
The night passed by peacefully to Justus's relief.
--
"Where are we going?" Rainmist asked.
"Home," Spring-Autumn said as he led her to the warehouse.
When the storage cell opened, revealing a pristine plane, Rainmist had a puzzled expression.
"My home. Not yours." Spring-Autumn cheekily said.
And just as expected, Rainmist started protesting.
"Do you really want to stay here? The underground base will soon collapse with the way things are going. Monsters are still getting stronger. Food is scarce. It's the survival of the fittest at this point.
If you stay with me, you'll survive. You've seen the extent of my abilities. No one can compare to me." Spring-Autumn said a couple of lines to shut her up. He was not the greatest speaker but he was competent enough.
"But…"
"But what? How will you survive in that environment? They don't value you. Your daughter was lost to ability rejection and what happened next? The Azurite family excommunicated you. That's what happened. What's the harm in coming with me?" Spring-Autumn looked at her deeply in the eyes. "I value you,"
"..." Rainmist had her mouth open, unable to say anything back.
"Besides, do you really want to stay here in the place where all your memories are being destroyed-?"
Spring-Autumn couldn't finish his sentence before Rainmist grabbed him in for a hug. He was left speechless when he came into the embrace of her soft body. Feeling her two soft buns against his chest, he practically melted.
Rainmist was a woman with her femininity almost at full blast. When faced with such passionate words from Spring-Autumn, she couldn't resist feeling all warm inside.
"You don't need to say anymore."
That was the last exchange between them before the engine of the plane roared. With Spring-Autumn's incredible [Perception] at 18 and the assistance of [Chrono Vision], controlling the plane was not a problem.
The plane smoothly flew through the air and pierced through the clouds.
The destination was set- Spring-Autumn's birthplace, The Nations.
And just like that, Spring-Autumn's stay in Listia came to a bitter-sweet ending.
--
After Spring-Autumn departed, the barrier that was holding the dungeon monsters back faded away.
All the peak tier monsters howled in joy. They were all very strong creatures. A particular bat in the crowd let out a loud screech.
The screech reverberated through the entire Hope City. Just from the single sound, all the surrounding fallen buildings suffered a huge crack. The remaining standing buildings immediately fell apart.
A tree monster emerged from the portal. With a blinding green light, the last remaining debris of Hope City began transforming.
All the debris disintegrated into dust and in their place, rich green life grew. The presence of just two monsters from the dungeon destroyed an entire city within minutes.
No one would've expected that the removal of the Attribute Cloak from on top of the dungeon portal would cause such great effects.
At one of the entrances of Hope City, a black figure waddled through like a penguin.
"Human?" The Black Dragon sniffed the air and recognized a familiar smell. Unfortunately, the person was long gone.
The piece of ground the dragon was standing on transformed into grass and several tall plants grew in the distance.
"This human city is transforming into something quite pretty!"
The dragon was quite pleased with the transformation and continued to waddle through the city.
In the distance, Justus's party was running for their life. Monsters beyond any level they've ever seen before were chasing them. It was a pack of [Blood Wolves]. They were all the size of a house and emitted a bloodlust so high that it formed mist around their pack.
The distance between them was closing at a rapid pace. At a certain point, Justus stood his ground. "All of you, run! I'll hold them back."
When one's life was in danger, any care for manners was thrown out the window. His party of survivors did not even express any sort of gratitude and immediately sprinted off at a faster pace for their life.
Justus was not a petty person and did not think much of it. In the face of death, he was calmer than ever. Power comes with great responsibility.
He tightly gripped the long knife in his hand.
[Sword Art]
A sequence of movements ran through his mind and he began to prepare himself. With no hesitation, he faced the pack of wolves head-on.
However, there was a limit to human strength. Against a being the size of a house, there was nothing he could have possibly done.
"Puoh!"
His body flew back like a kite.
At the last moment, before he slammed into the transformed ground, a large black paw gently held him up.
It should be noticed that despite the black dragon having the habit of waddling like a penguin, it was even larger than the wolves.
"I found a human." The black dragon said. "Hey human, I'm looking for someone."
In the eyes of Justus, the black dragon was practically a deity. His shining ray of light. His deity was a dragon. How could a being that could save him, and talk possibly be a monster? It must be a deity.
"Please… save me…" Justus said, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
The black dragon looked at the pack of blood wolves. "These pesky things? Sure."
A black ball started to gather at the tips of the dragon's claws. With a swipe, the pack of wolves the size of a house disintegrated into little bits as if they were never there before. The ground they were previously standing on were also turned into little bits. It was as if a meteorite smashed into the place the wolves were standing on.
Justus had a look of frantic worship in his eyes. "Are you… God?"
The dragon thought for a second. "Me, a God? That's probably a part of a dragon's duty as well. Indeed! I'm a God!"
And just like that, the Dragon Cult that would become a powerhouse organization in the future was started. All because of a dragon that thought it had an identity crisis and a man who couldn't think coherently because he was on the verge of death.