Alongside Elsa and the undead, Lioro arrived before the corpse of the One-Eyed Black Dragon.
It was the largest monster he had ever slain, comparable in size to a medium-sized mountain.
With a faint glow in his eyes, Lioro stepped forward and placed his hand on the massive carcass, intending to store it in his inventory.
Frankly, he was skeptical. Could something this big even fit?
But the moment the colossal half of the dragon's body began to disappear into thin air, Lioro could only let out a low whistle of disbelief.
"…This godly inventory really is my biggest cheat."
Just how absurdly large was this storage space?
Elsa and the surrounding undead stared in stunned silence at the scene.
"Lioro… what did you just do?" Elsa asked, her voice filled with astonishment as she looked at the space where a mountain of dragon flesh had vanished.
"I stored it inside my space storage," Lioro replied casually, dusting off his hands.
"Space storage… you really can do anything," Elsa muttered with a helpless smile, a mix of admiration and quiet pride flickering across her face.
Yes. This was her Lioro.
The miracle-maker. The one she had chosen.
While Elsa was busy in her fantasy, Lioro moved toward the second half of the Black Dragon's corpse.
His gaze locked onto something embedded within the exposed flesh, an enormous pitch-black magic crystal, glowing ominously.
A peculiar fact about the Three Great Calamities was that, unlike typical dungeon monsters, their bodies didn't dissolve even after death or after the removal of their crystals.
This trait was also witnessed when Behemoth and Leviathan were defeated by the Zeus and Hera families.
Lioro's sharp eyes studied the black crystal intently.
Unfortunately, a good quarter of it had been completely obliterated when he cleaved the dragon in two with his divine sword.
Still, there was plenty left.
First, Lioro stored the remaining half of the dragon's body inside his inventory. Then, he approached the enormous crystal.
Raising his hand, he placed his palm against it.
A familiar blue screen flickered to life before his eyes.
[Experience Crystal detected. Would you like to absorb it?]
'Yes,' Lioro responded internally without hesitation.
The moment he confirmed, a blinding wave of dark energy surged from the crystal, wrapping around his body like tendrils of smoke as its immense magic flowed into him.
The surrounding undead looked on in eerie silence. Elsa shielded her eyes against the overwhelming glow, staring at Lioro with a mix of awe and curiosity.
In mere seconds, the massive crystal began to shrink rapidly, its power being drained at an alarming rate, until it finally disappeared into nothingness.
[Experience Gained: 137,700,805]
Lioro exhaled slowly, absorbing the insane number with a calm exterior, though his heart raced beneath his ribs.
Just then, something unexpected caught his eye.
Where the magic crystal once lay, a strange object remained.
It was a grotesque, pulsating, pitch-black heart, surrounded by a swirling haze of dark miasma.
The final item drop from the strongest of the Three Calamities.
With a mixture of curiosity and caution, Lioro approached it. The thick miasma posed no threat, its purpose was clearly dramatic rather than harmful.
He bent down and picked up the black heart.
It felt wet and strangely sticky in his palm, like a gelatinous blob of pitch-black mucus.
He narrowed his eyes and tried to appraise it.
Unfortunately, it didn't match any known items or materials. Even his Epic Class's passive recognition skill failed to identify it, which meant it wasn't a crafting component.
"That's new," Lioro muttered, giving it another once-over.
After a few more moments of inspection, he shrugged and tossed the black heart into his inventory. He'd figure it out later, perhaps by learning an appraisal skill in the Overlord world.
With the battlefield thoroughly looted, Lioro turned back to Elsa and the undead.
"Let's go."
----
Dungeon City, Orario
As soon as Lioro stepped through the shattered gates of Orario, a deafening roar erupted from the crowd gathered near the entrance.
"Our hero has returned!!"
A swarm of gods surged forward.
"Kyaaaa! He's so handsome!" screamed a tanned goddess with sparkles in her eyes.
"These hands… these divine hands took down a Calamity!" a petite goddess moaned dreamily, grabbing Lioro's hand and pressing it against her cheek. A trail of drool slipped from the corner of her lips.
Before he could react, a masked goddess suddenly lunged forward and embraced him tightly.
Lioro blinked, confused, as the goddess raised her head to look into his eyes.
"Darling," she purred with affection, "are you eating well? You've lost weight… Want something fresh from my garden?"
She said it so naturally, Lioro genuinely questioned if they'd met before.
'Wait a second—who even are you!?' he cursed internally, barely managing to keep a straight face.
Then he looked around.
And all he saw was…
Boobs.
Boobs in every shape, size, and divine configuration imaginable.
Unfortunately, the one pair he'd secretly been looking forward to, the ones belonging to Goddess Demeter, were nowhere to be seen.
She had apparently returned to the heavens.
A wave of disappointment swept through him.
No. Wait.
Why was he even sad!?
Shaking off the thought, Lioro tried to peel away from the crowd of goddesses, but it was pointless.
They latched onto him like starved animals.
One of them, he didn't even know who, was licking his hand.
"Since you asked, I'll reluctantly give you my body," a tsundere goddess stammered, cheeks flushed as she began undressing.
'Who the heck asked you to strip!?' Lioro shouted inwardly.
But his eyes betrayed him, sneaking peeks.
Damn. She was hot.
The other goddesses noticed and giggled seductively.
"Ohoho~ so you like that, huh?"
"You only have to say the word, Hero~"
"Look at me, Dragon Slayer!"
Without hesitation, several goddesses began stripping, hurling their lingerie at him like offerings.
Lioro's brain completely short-circuited.
'Is this heaven?', He wondered absentmindedly.
Still clinging to his chest, Goddess Hathor looked up and said with a teasing smile, "Pervert Hero."
'Says the one rubbing her face into my pecs!' Lioro thought with a twitching eye.
Around them, the people of Orario watched the scene in stunned silence.
The male gods, however, were hooting and cheering wildly, some even giving the goddesses a thumbs-up.
God Takemikazuchi rubbed his temple in embarrassment, muttering, "These crazy women…"
Just when Lioro felt someone's hand reach somewhere very inappropriate…
The ground froze.
Literally.
A thick layer of ice blanketed the area, making several goddesses shriek in surprise as they slipped and landed on their divine butts.
As Lioro turned toward the source, he felt a chill run through him, though not from the ice.
Elsa stood beside him, expression dark, clinging to his arm possessively.
She glared daggers at the horde of goddesses, her eyes cold enough to freeze fire.
But the gods… were gods.
Crazy. Shameless. And completely unstoppable.
"Oooh~ another flower joins the bouquet!" one goddess cooed.
A tall, curvaceous goddess gave Elsa an appreciative look before nodding. "I like this one more…"
Elsa blinked, confused. "Wha—?"
And then the goddesses surrounded both of them.
"Two for the price of one!"
"Kyaaa! Couple combo!!"
Goddess Hathor sprang out of nowhere and wrapped both Lioro and Elsa in her arms. "My darlings, I'll pamper you both!"
Chaos erupted.
Elsa's mind was on the verge of collapse.
Lioro… was smiling like a fool.
He was truly living every man's fantasy.
But reality struck again as he noticed the male gods pushing through the crowd.
Some of them headed for Elsa.
But an alarming number…
We're coming straight for him.
'F***!!'
Lioro's instincts kicked in.
He grabbed Elsa, activated Infinity, and bolted into the sky.
"They're running!"
"Don't let them escape!"
"Mine!!!"
The citizens of Orario and the undead watched speechlessly as their hero fled from a horde of maniacal divinities.
As he vanished into the horizon, Lioro's voice echoed through the air:
"Collect the magic crystals and begin city repairs!"
The undead nodded solemnly as their lord disappeared in a burst of teleportation, leaving behind chaos, crying goddesses, and flustered gods.
Far from the madness, God Hermes stood on a distant rooftop, adjusting his feathered hat as he looked to the sky.
The thousand-year nightmare was finally over.
Only one final challenge remained: the Dungeon itself.
"I wonder…" he muttered, "can the Dungeon finally be conquered?"
"Hey, Hermes."
He turned to see Hephaestus approaching with arms folded.
"What is it?" he asked, flashing his usual charming grin.
Hephaestus didn't respond right away. She looked toward the place Lioro had vanished and asked softly, "Do you know the Hero's name?"
"…Huh?"
Hermes blinked dumbly.
Only now did it hit him.
They didn't even know the hero's name.
Hephaestus sighed quietly as Hermes sprinted toward the undead army for answers.
'Still as unreliable as ever.'
She looked up at the sky, her mind drifting.
Should she return to the heavens?
Most of her children were dead. The lower world had grown quiet… empty.
She recalled the intricate armor Lioro wore.
'Who forged that equipment? Another god?'
She remembered how it shattered under the dragon's attack.
'He lost his gear… while protecting us all.'
She clenched her fist.
It was only right.
The final item she would ever forge… would be for him.
A gift for the hero who would conquer the Calamity.
A small smile appeared on her lips as she imagined it.
That was a blacksmith's ultimate prize, seeing their work used by the worthy.
But how would she find him?
Hephaestus narrowed her eyes.
'I remember… his status had the Undying Flame.'
Her gaze landed on Hestia, who was silently walking away.
Hephaestus followed after her.
----
Abandoned Church, Underground Floor
The space twisted gently before settling into stillness. In the next breath, Lioro and Elsa materialized in the familiar gloom of the abandoned church. The soft crackle of displaced air echoed off the old stone walls, accompanied only by the distant creaks of aged wood and the scent of dust and stone.
Elsa stumbled slightly, but Lioro reached out and caught her hand before she could fall. The tension from earlier still lingered on her face, her expression tight with emotion.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice low and calm.
Elsa gave a small nod, brushing her silvery hair behind her ear. "I'm fine… just… overwhelmed."
Her eyes scanned the quiet chamber. The dim lantern light cast long shadows along the cracked stone floor. It was peaceful here, a world away from the chaos above.
Lioro walked over to a worn-out bed in the corner and sat down with a sigh.
"Well," he said, his tone dry, "the Black Dragon is dead."
Elsa followed and sat beside him. Her expression turned sharper as she narrowed her eyes. "And how did you like the prize? The goddesses are going crazy over you."
Lioro blinked. "Don't forget the gods."
She tilted her head. "Wait, the male gods too?"
He gave her a deadpan look. "One of them tried to grab my butt."
A giggle escaped Elsa's lips before she could stop it. She quickly covered her mouth, but more laughter followed, soft and genuine.
Lioro gave a helpless shrug.
The moment of humor faded, and Elsa looked down at her lap, her fingers tightening around the fabric of her dress.
"I didn't like it earlier," she murmured. "The way they were clinging to you…"
Lioro didn't respond right away. A silence stretched between them.
It seems she was jealous.
He opened his inventory without a word and pulled out a wrapped burger, offering it to her.
Elsa blinked in confusion.
"Try it," Lioro said as he unwrapped one for himself and took a bite. "It's pretty good."
She looked from him to the burger, then took a tentative bite.
A pleasant surprise lit her face. The flavor was unlike anything she'd tasted before.
Without another word, she leaned against Lioro's shoulder and continued eating in small, thoughtful bites.
They finished their meal in comfortable silence, a quiet moment of shared peace.
Just as Elsa set the empty wrapper aside, two figures entered the place.
Goddess Hestia and Hephaestus.
------
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