[Amazing! With just five people, you have defeated one of the enemies threatening the world! The Lava King’s soul has been completely annihilated by Agni’s flames. As a result, all flame type monsters invading Earth will have all abilities decreased by 10%! This is a monumental achievement!]

[You have obtained the title, ‘Guardian.’ The dungeon is extremely satisfied by this result, and has decided to increase its support for Earth’s Guardians. When fighting on Earth, your abilities will increase by 10%!, and you will receive even better rewards for completing Event Raids and Grand Raids!]

[You have obtained 30 stat points and 10 skill points as rewards for completing a Grand Raid.]

[Rewards will be distributed in order of contribution.]

[Kang Shin-nim’s contribution is the highest. Choose your reward.]

[1. Lava King’s Egg (Legend)

2. Flame Dragon Evil Eyes (Legend)

3. Immortal Fire Dragon Whip (Legend)

4. Fire Dragon Arl (Legend)[1. Translation subject to change. Will note if it does.]

5. Guard Ring (Legend).]

My body went limp the moment I heard the notification fanfare. I didn’t want to move a single finger, and in truth, I barely had the strength to do so. Then, as Lotte put me down on the ground, Hwaya flew towards me.

“Shin!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okafdsah!?” Before I could finish my sentence, she smushed her lips against mine.

Lotte shrieked, [Uwak, Witch! What are you doing!?]

Attacking me when I didn’t have any strength to resist! Even if I wanted to say something, I couldn’t because her lips were completely blocking mine. I only resisted meekly as I made barely audible moaning sounds. Because of the pain and damage from Sacrifice and the fatigue that swept over after knowing that the battle ended, I couldn’t move even though Hwaya wasn’t restraining me strongly.

Hwaya only let go of me once thirty seconds had passed. After barely mustering enough strength to take a step back, I pointed at my lips. Because of the huge shock, my legs were shaking.

I shouted nonsense, “%!#$*$ (What were you doing)!?”

She smiled coyly. “I was too happy… Sorry, but I’m happy with that.”

“M-My tongue was twisted,” I whined.

I staggered back with my face entirely bright red. I then bumped into someone. I turned around and saw Duca.

“Dear, how about you do it again with me?” she suggested impishly.

“Kyaaaaak!”

I leapt backwards. Duca was smacking her lips and approaching me, but was then punished by Hecate’s whip. Both Daisy and her master were too reliable.

“Don’t try to steal another girl’s man!” Hecate scolded.

Duca grumbled, “Can’t I have some fun? Ow!”

“Mm, as I thought, I can be great friends with Daisy. Even the… god called by her Deific Manifestation is so helpful!”

Hwaya had acquired a spot next to me and was nodding as she watched in satisfaction. I hoped she’d realize that she was just as scary as Duca.

Then, without me having to say anything, Lotte quickly flew next to me and protected me. She was the only one who understood me! Of course, I wanted to believe that she just wanted to protect her master and had no ulterior motives.

“By the way, how did you kill him? No, how was he even alive?” I asked.

Hwaya explained, “It seems like it was a special magic, one that separated his body and soul. If I wasn’t using Agni’s power, I would have been done too.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Ah, so he took out his soul before his body was heavily damaged.”

She nodded. “Yep, and once he restored his body with lava, he could return his soul. Before he could do that, I incinerated his soul with Agni’s power.”

That damned guy, doing all that when he was on the verge of death… He was even worse than me! Wait, was I spitting on my own face?

I smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks Hwaya, you saved us.”

She winked. “I got my reward so it’s fine… If you think it’s not enough, can I get it again? The remaining 4.8 points. This time, from you.”

I hastily backed away and said, “No… Sorry.”

It went by 2.1 points! Wahhhh, straightforward women were too scary. If I let my guard down even for a second, I felt like I would just fall. Her all-knowing expression was even more worrisome.

Her grin widened when she saw me acting all flustered.

“Shin, do you…”

“Let’s make an undead now.”

It seemed like Hwaya was about to say something important, but Daisy, or rather Hecate, had interrupted her. Hwaya glared at Hecate.

“Weren’t you going to cooperate!?” she shrieked.

Hecate/Daisy shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, child. That child isn’t your man, and I can’t let my poor Daisy be alone forever. You’re still young, so you should give up and find another wonderful man.”

Hwaya’s eyes flashed. “You!”

After ruining the mood, Hecate danced towards the volcanic crater as she whistled. It was then that Ina ran into my arms.

“Daddy!”

“My Ina, was it scary?”

“Mhm.”

Ina’s eyes were full of tears. It seemed she thought I would die. When I looked away from Hwaya to console Ina, Hwaya drooped. She had undoubtedly given up saying what she was about to say.

Hwaya sighed. “Argh, I’ll endure it…”

Ina piped up, “Mommy, thanks for saving Daddy.”

Hwaya replied, “If I don’t save my man, who would? You should stop crying too.”

“Ok. Next time, I’ll get stronger and protect Daddy and Mommy,” Ina vowed cutely.

I interjected, “Daddy will get stronger to protect Ina too.”

“Ok!”

Hugging Ina helped my racing heart return to its normal pace again. I could finally relax as I slowly tried to forget what Hwaya and Duca had done. I patted Ina’s head and pondered.

Romantic feelings made my heart pound, but they also made me distracted and unfocused. On the other hand, when I was with Yua or Ina, I felt relaxed and was empowered by feelings of wanting to protect them. To me, family was more important than romance right now.

…Though something felt off, I decided not to pay attention to it.

“Wow, even with his soul gone, he still has such a powerful regenerative ability,” Hecate praised the dead boss. When I approached the Lava King’s corpse that had fallen into the lava, I saw that his severed head had been mostly regenerated. Even without a soul, his body possessed terrifying strength. Even though so much mana had been shaved off and stolen, the mana remaining in his body was absurdly high. It was even absorbing the mana inside the lava pit.

Hecate commented, “If we don’t handle it soon, it will revive as an undead we can’t possibly control. Huhu, it’s great that Daisy called me.”

“Is it impossible with Daisy’s power?” I asked curiously.

She shook her head. “No, child. It’s just that there isn’t enough time.”

Duca interrupted, “That’s the same thing. Hecate, hurry up. Then, we can go play somewhere! It’s been such a long time!”

Hecate rolled her eyes. “What, you want to enjoy women since you can’t get a guy? Behave yourself. Return your body to its owner and go back!”

“Chet.”

Duca smacked her lips and gave up on tempting Hecate. I felt like I had caught a glimpse of the depth of the gods’ world, but I tried to ignore it and watched as Hecate turned the Lava King into an undead.

Hecate remarked, “Whoa, this guy is really overwhelming. With him out, none of the other undeads can be used.”

A brilliant light shone from her hands. Once all the undead monsters went back into her inventory, she started the process of turning the Lava King into an undead.

All of her mana was sucked into the Lava King as it lifted the Lava King’s sleeping body from the volcanic crater. His body slowly became blackish red, a sign that it was evolving into an undead.

In case something happened, I prepared myself to call Peruta. However, once I became confident that she could finish her work without any mishap, I looked at the other target that was itching for attention. It was, of course, the reward list.

I remarked, “Hwaya finished him off, but I’m the 1st, huh.”

Hwaya pointed out, “Without you, we couldn’t have won.”

“We wouldn’t have won if any one of us was missing. especially you, Hwaya…” I replied.

She shrugged. “Yeah, but you were the one who damaged him the most and drove him to the verge of death. All I did was finish him off. Now, hurry up and choose your reward.”

I smiled. “Whew.”

In truth, there was only one thing for me to choose. The Lava King’s Egg! I wanted to give it to Yua, so I was a bit worried that it would become tied to me. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. After putting the egg into my inventory, I sighed in relief.

I stretched lazily. “With this, I’ve completed my original goal.”

Hwaya asked, “Shouldn’t you tame it yourself? I know you care about Yua, but…”

After seeing that I had chosen an egg, she had raised an understandable question. I shook my head before explaining, “I can’t tame a fourth monster yet. If I put skill points into it, I might regret it later. More importantly, I don’t have any Taming-related skills, so rather than raising a monster from an egg, it’s more appropriate for me to tame an already strong adult monster. On the other hand, Yua’s main class is Tamer, so she can tame many more monsters and have skills that help her tamed monsters get stronger. If Yua raises a powerful monster from its infancy, it’ll grow by leaps and bounds.”

She shrugged. “If that’s what you say… Oh, this must be an orb!”

As expected, Hwaya was the second to choose a reward. She ended up choosing the Lava King’s Eyes, which even I was tempted to get. She leapt in joy, saying that she had found something to replace the orb she had lost. In the next instant, she screamed, “Kyaaaak!”

“Hwaya! Are you okay!?” I asked worriedly.

Hwaya suddenly knelt and covered her face. I hurriedly squatted down and asked to be sure, “Was it not an orb, but Evil Eyes instead!?”

“Ughhh, yeah… My eyes… What if it looks like I have reptile eyes now!?” she wailed.

I comforted her, “Raise your head. It’ll be fine.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s going to look weird. What should I do…”

“Don’t worry,” I soothed her.

“Will you take responsibility?” she asked plaintively.

I promised, “Yeah, yeah, hurry up! We might be able to turn it back to normal if we take action now!”

“You promised,” she whispered.

I took Hwaya’s hands off her face and gazed at her eyes. Her eyes were glowing with a deeper red than before. Similar to the Evil Eyes I possessed, countless particles of light were gathering in her eyes and forming a strange symbol.

Beautiful enchanting pupils. They were like Loretta’s but only a different color.

While I blanked out, Hwaya quickly stole my lips again and grinned. “No takesies-backsies.”

I reflexively put my hand to my lips. “You… I’m taking it back!”

She wrinkled her nose at me. “Really, I made it easy for you too. Still, you can’t take it back.”

“You knew it, didn’t you!? That nothing would happen!” I yelled out indignantly.

She giggled slyly. “Well… Your Evil Eyes came from the Basilisk.”

“Ah…!”

You fool! The Basilisk is a reptile too! I shook my head, realizing my own stupidity.

“We both have Evil Eyes now. Isn’t it fateful? Not that I believe in fate or anything,” Hwaya said smugly.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t like that word either… but anyways, congratulations.”

“Hmph, in that case, Child belongs to my Daisy. She already had Evil Eyes.”

Hecate walked towards us. Behind her, the reborn Lava King was flying slowly. Although he didn’t give off as much pressure as he did when he was alive, the pressure was still massive. I wasn’t confident in beating it one on one without Overlord.

“Call it Laki.”

I paused and gave her a strange look. “…You didn’t just shorten Lava King, right?”

“…”

I sighed. “Daisy’s naming sense…”

Hecate avoided looking at me. I gave up on interrogating her further and looked at Laki, who was flapping his wings in the air. His awe-inspiring majesty reminded me of the time we fought.

Perhaps because I had nearly died several times, the whole fight felt like something that happened years ago. Not even ten minutes had passed, but I was now looking eye to eye with Laki, who had become our ally.

I grinned and looked away.

The clear full moon radiated a chilling blue light over us. With all the burns we were suffering, it couldn’t feel more satisfying. I spread my arms out feeling like the moon was blessing us. It’s so refreshing…!

Duca suddenly remarked, “By the way, Dear, do you know your armor’s full of holes? Are you seducing me? I’ll fall for it gladly!”

“Ah, shit…!” I shrieked.

So that’s why it felt chilly!