Such a big commotion from the gods naturally caught Ryou's attention.
But when he executed Ishtar, he was already prepared for it and immediately began his preparations upon returning.
Now, Semiramis, whom he had sent out in advance, had returned.
"I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first, Master?"
Semiramis looked at him with an amused expression.
"Good news," Ryou replied without hesitation.
"Hmm? I thought that with Master's pragmatic nature, you'd choose to hear the bad news first?"
Semiramis showed a surprised expression.
"Since you're still in the mood to joke with me, it means that the bad news is something I can handle. So there's no harm in hearing the good news first."
Ryou propped his hands on the table, striking a classic commanding pose.
"Ara~ What an uninteresting man."
The smile on Semiramis's face slowly faded, and she muttered softly before speaking seriously.
"The good news is, in this world, my Noble Phantasm is more effective than I imagined, while its limitations have decreased..."
As she spoke, Semiramis shared her experimental conclusions with him.
"The bad news is, I don't have enough mana," Semiramis said, her face showing an ambiguous smile as she elegantly walked over to him. She sat on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and whispered into his ear, "So, to complete the ritual, I need you to replenish my mana~."
If Ryou didn't know her true nature, he might have believed her.
"Can you put down the dagger in your hand? After all, the poison from Bašmu is quite deadly to me."
Faced with Semiramis's extreme allure, Ryou showed no sign of being swayed, instead letting out a long sigh.
"Ara~ Master, how could I harm you? This dagger just slipped out of my sleeve, so don't mind it~," she said as she retracted the dagger, coated with purple poison, in front of him, then gracefully slid off his lap.
"Lacking mana, huh..."
Ryoug thought for a moment and made a decision.
With a clatter, over a hundred crystals, glowing with blue mana light, piled up on the table before him like a small hill.
These were the highest quality mana crystals he had exchanged from the system store, highly concentrated mana crystals.
One crystal contained enough mana to replenish a full A-level mana reserve.
Of course, they were not cheap, each costing 10,000 energy points.
Even though he had personally delivered the final blow to Ishtar, over 99% of the damage was dealt by Scathach, and Ishtar's divine essence was absorbed by Ishtar Rin, causing his reward for killing Ishtar to be significantly reduced.
However, with his previous accumulation, Ryou's energy points had broken the million mark.
Unfortunately, they were all used up today.
"Is this enough?"
Ryou asked, his heart aching but his expression unchanged.
"Well~ With these mana crystals, it should be more than enough. Perhaps my Noble Phantasm might even surprise you, Master~," Semiramis said, sweeping all the mana crystals into her collection.
"Additionally, I'll have Ishtar and Medea assist you in completing the ritual. That should speed things up quite a bit."
Semiramis calculated silently and nodded.
"With those two, we should be able to double the speed."
"Good, then hurry and get it done. Those gods who think themselves so high and mighty want to unite against me. I also want to give them a big surprise."
Ryou laughed coldly.
...
Three days passed in a flash.
During these three days, Orario was unexpectedly calm.
However, the undercurrents beneath this calmness were felt even by ordinary people.
Many well-informed merchants had already left the dungeon city overnight.
The once bustling underground labyrinth and the Tower of Babel had become deserted as if all the adventurers had suddenly changed their ways.
Prices for healing potions, weapons, and equipment at item shops and blacksmiths skyrocketed, but still couldn't meet the demand.
Every now and then, a pillar of divine power surged into the sky from the bases of various Familia.
A thin, translucent, rainbow-colored barrier suddenly appeared in the sky, enveloping all of Orario.
The most popular hotel in Orario, the Gudako Hotel, suddenly became deserted. The nearby residents were evacuated and replaced by stern-faced individuals exuding a martial aura.
Their gaze was constantly fixed on the happenings inside the hotel. However, their efforts were destined to be futile.
At some point, the entire hotel was enveloped in a dense purple mist, obscuring everything within.
Some curious onlookers attempted to sneak in, only to scream and cough up blood within seconds of entering the mist. They died shortly thereafter, leaving only bones behind.
The Freya Familia even abandoned their base in the Tower of Babel, relocating directly to the Gudako Hotel.
These signs indicated that a great storm was about to sweep through Orario.
On the morning of the fourth day, three thousand figures in uniform armor surrounded the Gudako Hotel, even bringing several trebuchets.
Not far from them, adventurers in various outfits curiously observed the army.
This army was one of the Guild's hidden trump cards, with an average level exceeding Lv. 3. Numbering over three thousand and equipped with the finest enchanted weapons and armor, they were a disciplined force capable of suppressing adventurers.
Inside the heavily surrounded hotel, the atmosphere was not as tense as one might expect.
Ryou had arranged for those without combat abilities to be protected by a magical barrier, ensuring they wouldn't be harmed unless the hotel was destroyed.
Among them was a certain busty, Big Oppai Loli Goddess, who had tried to rebel but was easily subdued.
This Loli, whose nutrition for developing intelligence seemed to have gone to her chest, had the whimsical idea of going out to persuade the allied gods to reconcile.
Fearing she would recklessly get herself killed, Ryou had no choice but to have Scathach seal her divine power with primordial runes and toss her into the protective magic array.
As for the others, like the adventurers of the Freya Familia and the staff of the Hostess of Fertility led by Mama Mia, they were only supporting characters in this epic battle, relegated to auxiliary roles.
The main force was the Contracted Servants under Ryou's command, with only three truly formidable members: Scathach, Ishtar Rin, and Semiramis, who were secretly conducting a ritual. Even the goddess Freya was only considered half of the main force.
Today, Freya looked particularly different.
She wasn't wearing her iconic, highly revealing evening gown. Instead, she wore a white chiffon skirt for ease of movement and half-body light armor made of an unknown metal in red and black. On her head, she wore the Valkyrie's iconic winged helmet.
The winged helmet was adorned with blue enamel, gold, and jewels, especially the fist-sized green gem in the center of her forehead, making the helmet as magnificent as a crown.
This special winged helmet was a testament to Freya's status as the leader of the Valkyries.
She held a shield in her right hand, a sword hung at her left waist, and she exuded an aura of valor, like a war goddess.
It seemed that changing her attire had brought about a drastic transformation in her inner temperament.
Previously, Freya constantly emanated an aura full of endless allure yet also infinite danger, like a poisonous flower.
But today, Freya was like a holy sword being slowly unsheathed, extremely sharp.
Women, especially goddesses, are born actresses.
Ryou couldn't help but marvel in his heart.
Even he couldn't help but take another look at this completely different Freya.
The goddess, sensitive to the gazes of men, immediately noticed his glance.
She chuckled softly and proudly thrust out her chest, causing her bosom to sway despite the armor.
Tsk~ Truly ferocious!
Ryou couldn't help but take a deep breath.
At this moment, the Guild's army had assembled, and all the trebuchets were aimed at the center of the Gudako Hotel.
A figure dressed in golden armor, looking like a commander, picked up a magical device that amplified sound and stepped forward, shouting toward the hotel.
"Surrender the criminal Nguyen Ryou! The gods will forgive your sins; otherwise, there will be no mercy!!!"
When the shouting was heard outside, Ishtar Rin teased, "Master, perhaps if we hand you over, we wouldn't have to go through the trouble of fighting a battle."
"If you hand me over, there won't be anyone to make desserts," Ryou shrugged.
The relaxed attitude between the two infected everyone else, and they all laughed.
"Ara~ That won't do. For the sake of desserts, let's eliminate these vermin!"
Ishtar Rin's aura suddenly turned sharp.
"Atalanta, answer them."
Ryou said to the once again Atalanta Alter.
With an ice-cold expression, Atalanta immediately drew her bow, and a pitch-black magical arrow shot through the dense purple mist.
With a flash of cold light, the black arrow silently pierced the golden-armored commander's throat.
Whoosh!
Only then did a faint sound resonate through the air.
An arrow that completely exceeded the speed of sound!
Blood splattered, and the Lv. 5 commander fell to the ground dead.
For a moment, silence enveloped the battlefield, over a thousand surrounding the hotel.
The Gudako Hotel gave its response through action.
War!
A deputy, assuming command, drew his sword and pointed it toward the Gudako Hotel.
"Trebuchets, fire"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Immediately, a series of heavy mechanical clicks sounded as five massive stones, each weighing several tons, were hurled into the sky. The air was compressed by the terrifying kinetic energy, emitting a piercing whistle!
Indeed, each stone weighed several tons. In this world of gods and magic, advanced technology like this was not unusual.
Crafted by the god of blacksmiths and enchanted by many magicians, these super-modified trebuchets, powered by high-quality magic stones, could automatically reload, measure distance, and aim semi-automatically.
Each trebuchet cost over a billion valis to construct, making them an expensive toy of war that only the wealthy Guild could afford.
Moreover, the stone projectiles used by the trebuchets were heavily processed. They were not only polished smooth and round, but also specially enchanted with magic to increase their penetration, durability, and gravitational force, making their weight ten times heavier and thus exponentially increasing their destructive power.
Each stone projectile cost over ten million valis, perfectly illustrating the saying, "When the cannons roar, gold flows like water."
It is no exaggeration to say that a single stone projectile could easily bring down the thick walls of Orario.
Now, there were five projectiles aimed at just a cluster of wooden buildings.
Unfortunately for them, the trebuchets faced opponents who were Heroic Spirits, transcending human history and time!
A series of light sounds followed as a rain of black energy arrows shot into the sky to meet the stone projectiles.
Countless arrows struck the projectiles, initially causing only cracks. However, the arrows seemed endless, finally wearing down the projectiles and destroying them mid-air.
It seemed slow, but in reality, the arrows took less than a second to destroy each projectile.
The remaining four projectiles were destroyed on the spot in the same manner.
"Damn it!"
The acting commander was furious. But before he could issue new orders, the rain of arrows continued, not only destroying the costly trebuchets but also killing the acting commander with a single shot.
This continuous attack left no gaps as if the one attacking was not a human but a tireless machine.
Atalanta perfectly demonstrated what it means when infinite stamina allows you to do anything, as long as there is enough magical energy.
"Damn it, hurry and attack from a distance with magic!"
The second acting commander, terrified by the omnipresent sniper fire, shouted orders while hiding behind layers of shields.
However, as soon as he spoke, before the mage units could act, he had already summoned the Grim Reaper.
Black energy arrows arrived as expected, piercing through the enchanted shields and turning the second-acting commander and the shield warriors protecting him into pincushions.
Instantly, no one dared to assume command, throwing the Guild's army into chaos and drastically lowering their morale.
In the rear of the battlefield, the mage units had just begun chanting a large-scale spell when black energy arrows once again struck, picking off all fifty mages that the Guild had painstakingly cultivated at great expense.
A group of mages trying to compete with an archer with the Eagle Eye skill in terms of range is simply a fool's errand.
Even with deep resources, this battle would leave the Guild severely weakened. After all, talent is not a resource that can be replaced quickly, as training takes time.
The gods were originally sitting in the rear, enjoying fine wine and food while watching the live images transmitted by divine power.
But before their forces could even reach the Gudako Hotel, they had already suffered heavy losses.
At last, the gods could no longer remain idle.
A series of heavy, mountainous auras burst forth from the rear, sprouting like bamboo shoots after the rain, revealing over a hundred of them.
Then, a group of beings appeared on the battlefield, all with unique appearances and above-average charm.