A few months pass and Lars was celebrating with Ais and the Loki familia.
After his talk with Zeus, he thought of getting along more with Loki.
And interacting with them will be a great way as well to make them hesitate in fighting them when Monstro gets revealed.
It was inevitable after all. And they do not know how they will react to the xenos at all.
"My Ais has reached level 4 after maxing her stats! Cheers!" Loki raised her mug of beer.
"Isn't that great, Ais? You're level 4 now." Tiona grinned at her.
"Un, I'm getting stronger. But I still can't defeat any of you." Ais looked at the trio.
"Well, we undergo secret training." Tione chuckled and Airmid shrugged.
"Airmid is basically unbeatable as long as she has mana. And her magic is extremely strong..." Ais thought that her wind won't triumph against light.
"You're exaggerating, I can't use it often, it uses up a lot of mind." Airmid was humble.
"Enough about that kind of talks, let's drink!" Lars busted out the juice.
"You say that, but we're only drinking fruit juice..." Airmid deadpanned at him.
"Ey! Shut up! You get drunk in the atmosphere!" Lars denied their doubts.
"That's right! I've never thought I'll say this, but he's correct!" Loki cheered with Lars.
"Now they're in sync..." Riveria smiled wryly and she didn't think that they'll start to get along.
"Ais, congratulations! I'll give you a present. I made this with Hephaestus you know?" Lars took out something from his inventory.
"A magic sword!?" Everybody looked at it with awe. But it suddenly turned into exasperation.
"Why the hell is it pink!? And why does it have a cat's head on the guard!?" Bete retorted.
"Huhun! I'm glad you asked! For this magic blade's name, is Meowmere!" Lars gave it to Ais.
"Meowmere..." Everybody reiterated and Loki started laughing her ass off.
And when Ais took hold of it, she suddenly went wide eyed.
"Lars... Thank you very much for this priceless treasure." Ais stood up and bowed at him seriously.
"Ais? What does it do?" Riveria knew immediately that the thing was special.
It had a thick coating of mana. And Lars took a couple of weeks to make it.
"Let me just show you." Ais raised it and Mia immediately stopped her.
"Oi! No weapons are to be swung here!" Mia huffed and Ais got depressed.
She really wanted to use it. "Come on Mia, there's a harmless mode for it." Lars took it and he swung it.
Rainbows then came out of it and a meow was released.
"Thus, the Meowmere is born." Lars nodded in satisfaction.
"It meowed... Guhahaha!" Loki thought it was useless as hell. Not really knowing that the legendary Meowmere is the very first proper magic blade in centuries.
Because Lars' magic and mana formed it, moulded it. Forging the blade to his will.
Hephaestus almost had a stroke when he showed it to her. As it was definitely going to be a blade of legends.
And it wasn't even in its final form. As he was still a bit lacking in practice and mana to turn it into the real Meowmere.
So he will reforge it in the future. "It can release magical cat attacks that follow your enemies and ricochet." Ais revealed.
"Isn't that overpowered? It has a homing function..." Finn was perplexed.
"How much damage would it do?" Gareth was curious.
"As much as the blade does against you, meaning no difference if you get hit by it directly." Ais revealed and their jaws dropped.
"Though that function will use up a lot of mind." Lars explained and they went quiet.
"Isn't that thing a legendary weapon?" Riveria was flabbergasted.
A legendary sword that can be put in myths is called the meowmere.
"Heh, that's just how awesome I am." Lars puffed his chest in pride.
'Though I lost quite a bit of excelia to steal Hephaestus' techniques.' Lars smiled wryly.
Invidia: Can copy skills, magic, movement, and anything to perfection for the cost of excelia. Coveting what others have, gives birth to a perfect monster.
"Ais! Let's test your new sword at the dungeon!" Tiona pulled her away and the others followed.
"Hmm I guess I'll go raise my stats as well." Lars followed them while Loki whined that Ais left them behind.
__Dungeon__
Ais and the others were killing everything in sight.
"Use your magic sword, Ais!" Tiona wanted her to use Meowmere.
"Here I go." Ais activated the blade with her mana and she swung it around.
A spectral cat's head ricocheted around the place, releasing rainbows in its wake.
Meows were released and the monsters were torn to shreds by the legendary Meowmere.
"That's funny as hell, but terrifying." Tione could see the insane damage it dealt.
In enclosed spaces like in the dungeon, you'd be imprisoned by slashes.
And they followed you too. "This is amazing as expected." Ais didn't mind that it looked ridiculous.
"Hmm?" Airmid strained her ears and she heard a pretty dangerous monster in the upper floors.
"An infant dragon is chasing a party..." Ais used ariel immediately and she located the infant dragon.
She found it and her blade's magic activated. The infant dragon that was chasing a blue haired girl got torn to pieces immediately.
"Are you alright?" Ais asked and the girl nodded slowly.
"Ais, is everything okay?" The others arrived and they looked at the adventurer.
"T-thank you for saving me..." The girl looked at the ground.
'She saw her friends get killed...' They already saw people that had that kind of expression.
"Let's get her back to the surface first." Airmid healed her.
__Lars__
He was currently on the 51st floor after dodging the fomoires.
"I've used up thousands of stockpiled excelia to copy Hephaestus thoroughly. So I will have to gain more from you." Lars grinned.
Eating magic stones didn't give a lot of excelia. And it was much better to use it as funds for Monstro.
They were starting to get a lot of xenos now. And they're losing more magic stones for making them stronger.
So he was going to abuse something again. Fight and train a monster until it grows much stronger.
Feed it magic stones and give it experience against him. Forcing it to evolve and adapt.
And the perfect monster he has on his sights is the Cadmus dragon.
It was out of reach of the range of the Valgang dragons at the dragon's vase.
And it was a mini boss that can be likened to monster rexes.
Focusing on his recovery, he got his arm back and he wanted to fight it mano a mano.
"Come and fight!" He used his powers to imitate a Cadmus dragon's traits and it scowled at him.
The dragon was approximately a high level 6. And due to using Invidia on Hephaestus, his stats went from a fully maxed out level 4 to a newly minted one.
It started the battle with a breath attack and the cave they were in was filled with fire.
Like a flamethrower, it continued breathing out superheated flames.
"Haaa! Ravage; Incinerate!" Lars suddenly appeared above it and a jet of fire appeared above his leg.
He then released an axe kick right at its head. The dragon dodged, but it was a bit too late as its horn got hit instead.
Roaring in pain, it thrashed around and its tail hit him.
Thrown back to a wall, he coughed up some blood due to the internal damage.
"You're tough, let's get this party started." Lars released a breath attack of his own and the cave shook at their violent clash.
After a few hours, the dragon was on its last knees and Lars was burnt all over. His scales peeling.
Barbarian fur around him was burnt to ashes. Obsidian soldier rock, used to block the blazing flames were molten on the ground.
Monsters, one human, and one traditional. Looked at each other. With Lars having a grin on his face.
He has never fought something as vicious as the Cadmus dragon. Alfia is the only one that fought as fiercely.
"You're pretty good, let's continue this another day." Lars drank some elixirs and he tossed a lot of it at the dragon.
Its wounds healed and it watched Lars leave the cave it was in. Where it protected a crystal and a pool of magical water that has long been destroyed.
The dragon burned his image into its mind and its beady eyes observed him.
__A few months pass__
Lars and co. Were having an expedition with the Astraea familia in order to level them up.
They were currently in the 49th floor. And the Astraea familia gulped at the sight.
There's an army of fomoires on the floor. And they were approximately all level 4 or 5.
"A-are you sure we're going to survive this?" Ryuu was nervous as hell.
"L-Lion... Power through, t-that's our motto." Alise gulped and she didn't convince anyone.
"I guess we'll find out." Kaguya shrugged and Lyra glared at her.
"We're definitely going to die against them!" Lyra pointed at the horde of monsters.
It would be fine if they were weak, but they aren't weak at all.
"Calm down, it's not like they are quick and agile." Tione snorted.
"Yeah, they're pretty slow." Tiona nodded at her sister.
"Come on, let's get this over with. Because nobody amongst you have magic, I'll start." Airmid stepped up.
She raised her blade into the sky and she began chanting.
"The world began in darkness. And from that darkness came light." Wisps of light began to form above her.
"From the light, came life. And in their hearts, evil burgeoned. Begetting more darkness.
But the symbol of the world's hope continues to shine! Illuminating everything that is beautiful in this world!" Spears of light formed at the sky.
"Let there be light! Daybreak!" Everything went as bright as the sun.
Spears of light blanketed the sky like a barrage of arrows.
It then fell down, a rain of light that immediately caused chaos on the ranks of the fomoires.
Explosions rocked the fomoires at every impact.
"That'll never get old." Tiona said with a smile as she wore some shades.
"What is that!? What the fuck is that!?" Lyra screamed like a banshee at Airmid's second magic; Daybreak.
"Here, drink some potions." Tione gave her some mana potions as she almost hit mind down.
And when the dust settled, the fomoires were decimated. At least 30% of them are killed. While another 30% is wounded.
"Isn't she like... Super amazing?" Alise looked at Airmid.
"Yeah, can we have her as our captain? She can heal almost anything, and also has such a strong magic." Kaguya agreed with her.
"Hey!" Alise glared at Kaguya and they started quarreling.
"Shouldn't we, I don't know? Start killing them while they're chaotic?" Ryuu asked and the amazons grinned.
"Yeah, let's get this party started." Tiona busted out another one of her weapons and she dual wielded it.
"I'll man the vanguard as usual." Airmid ran towards the front and she raised her kite shield.
"I have to show my juniors that I'm at least capable. Agaris Alvesynth!" Alise followed the amazons.
Lyra also used her magic that created a mine field mūs mine.
They waited for the monsters to charge at them and Airmid directed them.
She looked at Lars, remembering one of his first lessons for her fondly.
That if you were surrounded, pick a corner to fight in.
"Huddle up in a corner!" Airmid ordered everyone and the vanguards created a line on the corner.
Ryuu and Lyra then tossed bombs everywhere.
And when they used up all of Lyra's bombs, they pulled up the guns. It was surreal, seeing an elf snipe monsters with it.
"Umu, I guess they can handle this well. Good thinking as always, Airmid." Lars nodded at them in satisfaction.
He then continued to fight against the Cadmus dragon as he left them behind.
"Hey, ready for another round?" Lars grinned at it. He could already feel that he's gaining a lot of excelia from it.
The dragon with a broken horn stared at him with more intelligence. It was wary of him.
And it made him grin like a loon. "That's what I like." Lars cracked his neck in preparation.
__
Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.