"Do you know, Umi-chan, no matter how guarded a treasure chest is, there will always be a time when it can be opened."
"So if you don't want others to get the treasures inside the chest, just don't put any treasures in it from the start."
Athena suddenly laughed, and for a moment, it seemed like a beam of light shone into the dim chamber. This light was so dazzling, so captivating.
Umi was a princess from the Merfolk clan, and she carried the bloodline of Poseidon, the Sea God.
However, even with such a noble bloodline, Umi still knelt before the goddess Athena, willingly serving as the goddess's wine-pouring maid. If needed, she would even become the goddess's most humble slave.
Not just Umi, each of the twelve zodiac signs was carefully selected by Athena. They had to be of noble status and possess great potential, as if only then could they reflect the goddess's taste.
Yet, this group of the world's top girls all fell for one goddess, becoming captives of her heart.
Athena's smile at this moment was so enchanting!
In Umi's eyes, the goddess's smile alone could make the world fall at her feet.
Her behavior at this moment fully exemplified what it meant to be a fanatic.
Facing her gaze, filled with extreme fervor and worship, Athena felt immense satisfaction.
Only she, the goddess of war and wisdom, the next ruler of Olympus, and the future master of the world was worthy of enjoying these top beauties of the world and controlling all fate!
"To ensure our guests don't leave empty-handed, I kindly placed another gift in the treasure chest as a surprise. They will surely love it."
Athena swirled her wine glass, the liquid inside looking like blood in the dim candlelight, and her smile was as sinister as a viper's...
....
The melee battle continued.
The allied forces gradually gained the upper hand.
Under Atalanta's sniping, Sagittarius had an arm pierced through.
With one arm injured, the archer's combat ability was more than halved.
Atalanta, suppressing her, then freed up her hands to enter her most adept hunting mode.
How terrifying an unrestrained top archer could be was soon painfully evident to Athena's beautiful followers.
Pisces and Virgo, the two highest-level combatants at level 8, were the first to suffer.
They had barely managed to hold off Jeanne with the bizarre nature of spatial magic and the continuous assault of nature magic.
Once Atalanta targeted them, they were soon forced into a defensive position under her relentless sniping. Jeanne then took the opportunity to knock them down, one flag at a time.
If their opponent hadn't been Jeanne, they might already have met a gruesome end.
Having dealt with the two most threatening level 8 adventurers, Atalanta set her sights on Capricorn.
Capricorn knew no other techniques, relying solely on a katana to fight. This single-minded focus elevated her swordsmanship to an extraordinary level.
Her combat prowess surpassed the veteran level 7 Ottar. If Ais hadn't become Ryou's contract Servant and received guidance from Scathach, along with other fortuitous encounters in another world, she might not have been a match for the swordmaster Capricorn.
Even so, Ais could only maintain a stalemate, barely holding her ground.
But when Atalanta's sniping targeted Capricorn, the situation changed dramatically. Lacking other attack methods, Capricorn soon fell to Ais's swift chain thrusts.
Capricorn's right shoulder blade was pierced by Ais, forcing her to retreat while clutching her shoulder.
Under Atalanta's support, Taurus, Libra, and Scorpio all fell.
Only when facing Aries did she encounter a bit of trouble.
This seemingly soft and cute, petite girl was a rare mental magic user, skilled in manipulating minds.
Under her silent mental magic, except for Ryou's contract Servant, the allied adventurers were all affected.
It wasn't long before she manipulated a group of level 4 and level 5 cannon fodder to heavily protect her.
For a moment, the allied forces were indeed hesitant to act rashly.
Seeing the situation, Ryou quickly used telepathy to instruct Atalanta to attack without hesitation.
This order suited Atalanta perfectly. She quickly raised her Bow, carefully aimed for a moment, and then released the bowstring in an instant.
This time, she might have used a different technique. The arrow's speed was astonishing, almost as fast as a heavy sniper rifle, yet it made no sound at all.
The arrow threaded through the gaps in the crowd, hitting a lightly armored young man in front of Aries, piercing his chest without any resistance and causing a large spray of blood.
"Ah!" came a startled cry.
The staff in Aries' hand was struck by the arrow and flew out.
Perhaps due to her emotional upheaval, the adventurers controlled by her mental magic broke free from her influence.
Aries was extremely surprised and instinctively tried to use her mental magic to control the group of cannon fodder again, but it was too late.
Feeling their minds being toyed with, the furious allied adventurers raised their weapons and aimed at the petite and cute loli.
Just as it seemed this loli would meet a tragic end, a silver-white teleportation array appeared beneath her feet, and she instantly turned into a phantom and disappeared. The frontmost adventurers, unable to stop in time, fell to the ground with too much momentum.
The frightened Aries, her face pale, reappeared beside Virgo.
Thud!
The expressionless Virgo couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.
She had already been injured by Jeanne, damaging her internal organs, and now forcibly using teleportation magic exacerbated her injuries.
But Atalanta seemed to have completely forgotten about Ryou, showing no intention of supporting him at all.
While fighting the twin lolis, Ryou had the leisure to reflect inwardly.
This adorable cat is causing mischief for him. It seemed he would have to thoroughly punish her cat ears when they got back!
"Muscle idiot! How annoying!"
The black loli fighting him was furious.
Ryou, fighting her, relied on his thick skin, strong muscles, and fast regeneration, enduring the black loli's sharp claws while swinging his fists powerfully.
The black loli was best at engaging in prolonged battles with the aid of support magic from the white loli.
But encountering a monster like him, the black loli soon felt the wear of gradually being worn down.
Although she could inflict more damage on Ryou, his wounds healed even faster.
In contrast, she was already exhausted, her small face covered in fragrant sweat, completely worn out.
Even with her other half continuously casting various support spells on her, it was to no avail.
"We are really angry now!"
The black loli shouted angrily, puffing her cheeks in frustration.
"Then what do you plan to do? Use your ultimate head-clutching defense technique?"
Ryou chuckled and, without hesitation, hit her with a Brahmastra eyes beam.
The black loli barely dodged the scorching solar beam, but her elaborate, gothic-style black princess dress, adorned with lace, was burned through, leaving a big hole.
"Our dress!!!" the black loli screamed.
"You big jerk! We'll kill you!"
While shouting, the black loli quickly retreated to the white loli's side.
Just as Ryou wondered why she was all talk and no action, the black loli directly ordered the white loli.
"It's time to switch, Shiro! Beat this big jerk to death!"
"Sorry, big brother!" the white loli apologized politely to Ryou, then surprisingly charged at him with her tiny fists.
Ryou's face immediately showed a strange expression.
Is this the legendary "hitting your chest with tiny fists"?
Despite maintaining the basic vigilance of a warrior, the white loli's adorable demeanor was too deceptive.
So it was no surprise that he fell for it.
Bang!
A figure was instantly sent flying.
In mid-air, Ryou's mind was a blur.
Who am I? Where am I? Why am I flying?
Just now, when he was unguarded, the white loli suddenly punched him in the chest. He felt as if he had been hit by a train and was sent flying.
Fortunately, his strong defense and top-notch recovery allowed his internal organs to quickly heal from the massive shock.
At this moment, the white loli immediately charged at him again with her tiny fists.
Meanwhile, the black loli, changing her previous approach, began casting curse spells, drastically lowering his attributes.
Ryou initially thought the twin lolis had just switched roles, but he was wrong.
Unlike the black loli, who relied on high attributes and frantically clawed at her enemies, the white loli's punches were well-coordinated. Coupled with her light, rabbit-like movements and small stature, Ryou couldn't land a hit on her. Even when he did land a punch or two, she cleverly dissipated most of the force.
In contrast, the black loli continuously cast curse spells like an unending tide, occasionally launching a shadow spell that easily disrupted Ryou's attack rhythm. Such precise timing indicated she was a master in black magic.
The twin lolis' professions were opposites. They had been disguising their true abilities until now.
The white loli appeared to be similar to Martha from the FGO game, excelling in auxiliary enhancement skills but best at fighting with her fists.
The black loli, on the other hand, was akin to a vampire, using her strong physique to overpower enemies and casting dark debuff spells.
With their cooperative synergy, they temporarily suppressed Ryou, who wasn't being serious.
By his evaluation, their combined fighting prowess was more than the sum of their individual strength, equating to at least a level 8 fighter.
But it was all in vain.
Ryou hadn't been using his full strength either.
Seeing the resistance within the ruins weaken, he decided to stop playing around and activated the second level of his Reversal War God: Second Gear.
The white loli's punches couldn't break through his defense and instead hurt her from the counterattack. Seizing the opportunity, Ryou launched a fierce attack on the black loli, directly withstanding her attacks and quickly defeating her.
The twin lolis were finally defeated.
Facing the heavily injured Athena Familia, the allied forces advanced step by step, quickly reaching the castle entrance.
Seeing that they could no longer stop the enemy's advance, the Zodiac Twelve seemed to give up and slowly retreated.
Apart from Ryou, many adventurers in the allied forces wore victorious smiles.
In their view, without these strong opponents blocking their way, there was no way the Kingdom of Rakia could stop them.
Just as everyone was about to push open the door, a figure suddenly stopped them.
"Wait a minute!"
Everyone turned to look and found that the speaker was Ryou.
"Don't touch the door. We need to retreat immediately!"
Ryou's words shocked everyone.
"Can you explain why? Asking us to retreat at the last moment without a very important reason is something no one will agree to," Finn quickly voiced the group's thoughts.
"Captain Finn has a point!"
"We're just one step away! Why can't we go in?"
"Exactly!"
Earlier, Ryou had ordered Atalanta to attack regardless of the controlled members of the two Familias, severely injuring one and defeating Aries.
This cold and ruthless behavior, ignoring the lives of comrades, had already put Ryou and his contracted Servants in the spotlight.
Now, Ryou stopping the allied forces from entering instantly sparked everyone's dissatisfaction.
Voices of questioning filled the air.
Facing the noisy crowd, Ryou's face showed impatience and said loudly.
"If you want to die, don't drag me into it. I bet that as soon as you open the door, you'll be blown to bits by the magical traps set by the Athena Familia."
With that, Ryou started calling his companions to retreat.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
Ryou's suspicion was entirely based on Athena's past behavior.
This malicious goddess, even when she had an absolute advantage, would choose to defeat her enemies with schemes and tricks.
As the Goddess of Wisdom and War, wisdom came first. This goddess valued and trusted her intelligence more.
Moreover, she left a flaw.
"Since you say that, do you have any proof?"
Finn asked loudly, gritting his teeth.
"If it were me, I'd do it. And the fact that the entire Zodiac Twelve retreated is the best evidence!"
Indeed, the complete retreat of the Zodiac Twelve was a huge flaw. They had received orders to retreat immediately once the enemy reached the entrance.
A more cautious and ruthless approach would have been to leave a few members of the Zodiac Twelve to defend to the death, ensuring mutual destruction with the allied forces.
That would have been the correct and most ruthless approach.
If Athena had chosen to do that, Ryou might have suspected but wouldn't have been so sure that Athena had set a trap here.
However, it seemed that the goddess still had a faint trace of conscience or was overly confident in her scheme, believing no one could see through it.
Arrogant gods always like to treat others as fools...