Astoria stepped back inside her palace with a smile on her face. But it was not the smile that made others feel reassured.

Instead, it was one that made her servants run away from her in fright.

"Goddess Astoria, i-is everything alright? Were you able to achieve what you wanted?"

Her most loyal servant asked as he stepped forward. He was newly appointed and was not aware of the horrors his goddess was able to commit. Perhaps that was why he was able to approach her and even put his hand on her.

The others watched in horror and pity as the poor servant did his best to serve the goddess. But Astoria was not amused by his lack of boundaries and respect.

Her hand smacked him, and the man’s face separated from his body and went flying.

"Tsk, how dare a pest like this try to touch me? Does he not have any class?"

No one said anything as they watched this scene. But Goddess Astoria was not done. Her eyes looked around the room, and she made a declaration.

"I will be closing my eyes for a moment. Take care of my palace in the meantime. Or else-"

Her threat was left hanging, but everyone who heard it shivered. They knew better than to question her decision and waited for her to go to sleep.

Finally, the goddess closed her eyes, and silence returned to the place. But by then, no one wanted to move.

__________

"Shuu, I have a bad feeling about it. Can we call Caelis and Kaiden?"

Rin tugged at Shuu’s clothes as he made this request. They were about to fall asleep when his son suddenly woke up and looked around the room.

Shuu had followed him as well and decided to look around. But he did not notice anything out of the ordinary.

’Hmm, since Rin is so certain that something is wrong, I guess it won’t be a mistake to call Kaiden.’

Shuu’s mind was too tired to argue at this point. He reached toward the table and picked up the phone to make a call.

The phone rang twice and then got picked up on the third ring.

"Hello-! Shuu...you are calling me at a rather amusing time. Did you miss me? Want me to come over and make you feel better?"

Kaiden asked in a teasing voice, and Shuu felt tongue-tied for a second. But his tired brain did not have the capacity to think at the moment, so he ended up telling Kaiden the truth.

"Rin says he feels like someone is keeping an eye on us. I cannot confirm nor deny his claim since I am too tired. Do you think you would be able to swing by and reassure him?"

Shuu asked, and he heard loud noises from the other side. Once he paid a little more attention, he became aware that Kaiden was outside right now. The voices in the background told him that he might even be in a dungeon.

That suddenly made Shuu feel guilty and he decided to take his words back.

"You don’t have to come if you are too busy. I know that you are busy with your own thing, so I won’t burden you anymore."

Shuu quickly added, but silence greeted him from the other side.

That silence suddenly made Shuu feel nervous, and then he heard a cheerful sound reaching his ears. Was the fight...over? 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Kaiden?"

Shuu asked, and someone finally answered him back.

"Ah, sorry. I was just taking care of the remaining pests. I will come back to you right now since my task for today is over. Everyone else can take care of the cleanup."

Shuu had a feeling that Kaiden was not done yet, but he was still coming over without a care in the world. It made Shuu feel better, so he decided not to question it and welcomed Kaiden back.

"Ah, that’s good. I will wait for you here in that case. Just...make sure you are alright when you come over."

Shuu told Kaiden, and he let out a chuckle.

"Of course. Don’t worry about me and only worry about yourself."

It was so easy for Kaiden to say this, but just hearing it made Shuu feel more reassured.

His heart felt lighter as he put the phone down, and Rin looked relieved as well.

Suddenly, the night did not look as dark as before, and the moonlight was penetrating their room. Shuu lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

He was about to fall asleep when he felt something touching his face and chest. He looked down, expecting to see Rin, but something was bubbling all over his body, trying to drag him under.

"Shuu-! No-!"

Rin let out a yell as he tried to grab Shuu and pull him back. He even used his abilities, but the double strain was beginning to hurt.

His pained expression made Rin immediately let go of him, and that allowed that thing to immediately pull Shuu inside.

But Shuu had a feeling that the darkness did not stop there. It was stretching faster and faster every second.

’Is this...a dungeon outbreak?’

Shuu could not be sure, but if it was, it was unlike any report he had ever read.

He was scared but also surprised that he had gotten caught in another dungeon outbreak so soon. This was too much for a person who was not an esper.

Also, weren’t the walls of this guild made up of anti-dungeon tech? Then, how did this happen? Had the dungeons become more advanced?

Whatever the reason was, Shuu did not want to think about it anymore. He wanted to close his eyes and go back to sleep.

’It feels...weird and empty inside. What is this feeling? It feels like I am forgetting something important I am not supposed to forget?’

Shuu’s mind was beginning to blank, and he found it hard to keep his eyes open for long. He wanted to sink into this comfort and surrender himself to these familiar powers.