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Taking the opportunity, Maria asked the chef about the "crisis" they were facing here, which she hadn’t noticed anywhere nearby.
"BBZZTTT..."
"Hmm, let try this."
Maria gently touched the Gemtrian, sensing its soul. As it spoke, she could now clearly understand its consciousness and intent.
"It’s happening in the neighboring lands... Rich in Magic Stones... and Soul Stones... Olympus... mining nonstop! Their God... Blacksmith God, wants all... cannot stop them... too strong."
"I see... that’s really bad. We’re going to take care of them for you, okay?"
"Truly? I doubt you can... but thanks... for trying... don’t get hurt... please."
"Aw, you’re so nice. Don’t worry."
Maria patted the Gemtrian’s head. The large crystal creature flushed a deeper red, as if embarrassed. Then they set off toward the neighboring region, known as the Soul Stone Gardens.
These people seed peaceful and kind, always inclined to flee from conflict. Rather than fight the invaders, they simply escaped from one area to another.
Unlike the Toykin, who were warriors but simply not strong enough, the Gemtrians never even sought help. They knew Olympus’s position in the tower all too well—no sane group of Players would ever challenge them.
After a al, Maria and her family headed to the Soul Stone Gardens, a breathtaking expanse said to resemble an endless garden of Soul Stone Flowers.
This was the sacred place where Gemtrians buried their deceased kin, who transford into these flowers, imbued with their lingering soul essence.
But now...
"This is awful..." Alma muttered, voice heavy with sorrow.
The entire area had been torn apart. Massive floating magic-powered machines dug relentlessly, extracting hundreds of tons of crystals every hour. The machines ascended into the skies and fed into a larger floating processing plant.
Rainbow-colored smoke poured constantly from the plant as the crystals were ground into dust, perhaps to be refined into cores.
"This is the work of the Blacksmith God of Olympus?" Maria asked quietly. "What was his na?"
"Hephaestus, right?" Arthur replied.
"Yeah, that one," Maria confird.
"There are a lot of those floating puppets guarding the place," Lucifer observed, scanning the surroundings.
"Ah, those bronze soldiers with blazing cores!" Maria nodded. "So this is where they make those cores? Damn."
"Shall we begin?" Jonathan asked. "If it’s this much, we can finish quickly and move on."
"It’s not that simple," Arthur warned. "Several divine presences are inside the processing plant. Olympian Gods might be protecting it."
"Olympian Gods? So they descend here to extract stones, but they don’t bother with Murim?" Partner asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Murim was more valuable to Vampires because of the Blood of the Heavenly Demon and the easy offerings they could harvest there," Maria explained. "I guess everyone has their preferences, and it always cos at the cost of other people’s hos and lives. I cannot allow it."
"Well said," Jonathan agreed with a nod. "Shall we go?"
"Let’s go," Maria said firmly. "Kids, go crazy too."
"Okay!" Nyx exclaid.
"Sure! Hehe," Arachne giggled.
"I’ll drown it all!" Celes declared.
RUMBLE!
The children struck first. Nyx transford into her black dragon form and tore into one of the flying ships with her claws, then obliterated it with a deafening explosion from her breath attack.
Arachne shifted into a titanic spider, crushing another ship beneath her imnse weight and slamming it into the ground in a violent eruption.
Celes unleashed his water and ice, swiftly freezing a third ship until its levitation engines failed and it plumted from the sky.
Maria stepped forward. Her phantasmal fists manifested from her Aura and hamred into cargo ship after cargo ship, shattering them and sending the stolen soul stones tumbling back to where they belonged.
The chaos instantly drew the attention of nearby soldiers. They descended in force. Titans and Trojan horses erged—giant golems with fiery cores.
"Pathetic trash."
Lucifer soared past them, swinging his fists once. Dozens of devastating punches struck simultaneously, reducing soldiers and creatures to exploding fragnts.
"Hmph!"
Eraldine unleashed a barrage of her strongest explosive arrows, each one taking down dozens of enemies.
"It’s boring that they don’t have any blood!"
Partner crushed them with her skeleton claws, piercing tallic bodies, sotis ripping out cores and shattering them in her grip.
The group pressed higher, confronting the massive floating processing plant.
"Who...! Who dares interfere with Olympus affairs?! Judging by your strength, you are no ordinary Players. So why would you ever go against one of the Upper Floors’ strongest Worlds?"
A voice thundered from the plant. A large, muscular man stepped forward. He appeared young, with a short beard, long black hair, and glowing fiery red-and-orange eyes.
He gripped a huge blazing hamr and glared down at them with contempt and seething anger.
"I am Cercyon, Son of Hephaestus! And if you can’t tell already, I am a God! I can kill you all without even trying! But you do have potential... How about you prostrate yourselves before and swear loyalty? You could beco my bodyguards."
"If you’re so strong, then why do you need bodyguards? Also, we know you’ve got two more gods hiding!" Partner shot back.
"Hmph!" Cercyon’s face twisted with rage as two other Gods appeared at his sides, flas roaring around them. "You’re right, but I still need them to help and to take out the trash once in a while! So you’re declining my benevolent offer?!"
"Yes, I’m afraid I cannot accept your generous offer, Cercyon," Maria replied coolly. "I doubt you could ever be a good boss anyway. You look like the type who would exploit workers to death."
"Heh... fine, have it your way, woman!" he laughed coldly. "Kill them!"
The two gods charged downward, wreathed in flas, wielding swords and axes forged from their divine power.
Maria assessed their strength. They were indeed Gods—SSS Rank at minimum, only slightly weaker than Baldr.
"Heh, alright. Alma, Celes, these should be easy for you two!" Maria said.
"Okay!" Alma nodded.
"Leave it to us!" Celes surged forward.
Both clashed against the blazing gods. Explosions of red flas and blue water erupted everywhere. Ice shards flew in all directions while giant blazing weapons cleaved through the air.
The enemy gods summoned powerful blazing domains to empower themselves and trap their foes. Domains embodied a person’s Aura—the next step after mastery—created to strengthen the user and weaken enemies within.
Dominions were even greater: a Domain evolved into a complete dinsion of its own, distorting reality and exerting absolute power over everything around the user.
This was what Celes and Alma achieved by fusing their elental powers.
"{Dual Spiritual Dream Dominion: Endless Oceans And Frozen Glaciers}!"
SPLAAASH!
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