Watching the basilisk’s body slowly turn into particles of light, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. But the next moment, a flood of windows filled my view.

[Congratulations to players WhiteGod, FleetingCloud, Kristal, and GentleBreeze! You have defeated the Basilisk!]

[You have gained experience points. You have leveled up.]

[Congratulations to... for the first clear of Howling Dungeon!]

[All members Fame +50]

[Congratulations to... for being the first one to clear a dungeon in the entire server.]

[Receiving Dungeon Clear Package x1]

[Achievement Received: Basilisk Slayer]

The rewards were quite fair, but still, it wasn’t time to celebrate.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" I shouted. "The cutscene will play now!"

Right.

Although the dungeon was now cleared, there was still something else that was about to happen. The main reason why I had even bothered soloing the basilisk fight in the first place.

"So the Basilisk has been slain...?"

A reverberating voice echoed inside the dark dungeon, causing the entire place to shake as if a magnitude-3 earthquake was occurring. Dust and loose pebbles rained down from the ceiling in a fine shower, and a few of the remaining columns groaned under the vibration.

[JumboTent: Whoa, it really appeared...]

[Haruhi: This... is a god, right?]

[MoeLover: Don’t worry, girls, I only have eyes for you three~!]

Even the chat, having been "primed" of this event by me, couldn’t help but comment.

And yes.

The voice talking to us wasn’t human—it was actually a god’s.

One of the few scripted events we couldn’t avoid no matter how hard we tried. And one that could get fatal too, if not careful.

"Who’s there?!" I spoke, even though I wasn’t really trying to.

It really felt weird. Almost as if someone or something had taken over the controls of my body entirely, puppeting me from the inside. My mouth moved, my legs shifted into stance—all of it without a single conscious thought from me.

"W-Woah, I’m moving!"

"Waah! Autopathing?"

"This... amazing..."

Even the girls couldn’t help but gasp as they moved, rushing to my side to complete a formation, the order obviously based on party member order. As I was the party leader, I ended up being the one to confront the "voice" too.

However, one thing I hadn’t taken into consideration was...

[Anon00010101: ...Huh? This voice...]

[Anon78440705: No way... She’s here? Hide!]

The gods in the chat seemed to be panicking.

Wait... wasn’t this just a scripted event...?

"You..." The voice echoed, loud and overbearing. "WhiteGod...? Weird... I can feel the presences of numerous gods from you."

As the voice said this, something happened.

The space above our heads started to build clouds for whatever reason.

Clouds inside a cave... talk about weird. But worse, they started shooting lightning toward the ground, along with a pillar of light in the middle of it all, beaming down with a holy presence so thick it was almost physical.

"..."

I kept a straight face, didn’t I?

Fuck my poker face. No way I could keep my composure right now!

After all, from the flow of this conversation... that figure descending from the pillar of light was...

"A... goddess?" Miyabi whispered, taking the word right out of my mouth.

Not that I could speak right now, since I was still being controlled by the scenario. But still—in my over 50 years of life, this was really the first time I had actually "seen" a god.

Even across two timelines, even after everything I had witnessed and fought through, nothing had quite prepared me for this.

"These presences..." The voice continued as the figure landed.

The light hovering around her made her figure completely indiscernible until it faded. And when it did, I couldn’t help but hold my breath.

I thought I was already used to seeing beautiful figures from being around Miyabi, Kiki, and Eri all the time, but... this "goddess" definitely outranked them completely.

It wasn’t even close.

Blue hair that flowed like water, dropping down to her waist. Pale gold eyes that overflowed with kindness and curiosity, framed by thin eyebrows and long lashes. A shapely nose that could only be described as perfect. Lips so full and kissable it made one take an unconscious gulp.

Her body was covered in a fine white gown, lined with gold and decorated with amber. Her attire barely contained her willful figure, almost spilling out of its containers

Despite that, she still looked so pure and innocent in her attire.

An overall appearance that would easily earn her the "goddess of beauty" title, no doubt.

"It really is them." The goddess spoke, a thin smile hovering over her lips.

[Bell: I’m... in love.]

[GreatLoverParan: Ah! My heart! 💝Take it~!]

[MoeLover: My... love is... unwavering...!]

A smile that could captivate anyone watching, even third parties watching through cameras over our livestream. The chat had practically erupted—messages flooding in faster than I could track, hearts and prayer hands stacking on top of each other in a continuous wave.

"Then that must mean you are..." The goddess’s eyes turned to me next.

Those golden eyes, which seemed capable of seeing straight through my soul, stared at me for a good few seconds. "As expected. It is you. The man who overturned the heaven’s grand plot."

Then, she smiled even wider than before. So sweet it was almost sickening.

As if affected by her smile, my body moved on its own—half kneeling on the ground, head hanging, with a hand pressed to my heart. Like a salute from olden times, a knight before his queen.

Not only me, but even the girls behind me, even Ram and Gwen, followed suit.

"I am WhiteGod, Goddess Freyja." My lips moved on their own once more. "And it is I who broke the fate of our world."

Even though it was technically me speaking, I had no idea what I had just said.

Heaven’s grand plot? Fate of our world? Was this really the content of the fixed event...? My heart was telling me that something was wrong.

That this wasn’t going where it was supposed to go.

But still—Goddess Freyja? From Norse Mythology? How did that even happen... And how the hell did I even "know" to say that?

My mind was in a jumble, so I decided to try and calm myself.

As such, I stared at the familiar display on the upper left of my view. My own HP, MP, and SP bars, filled up after the level up—were now at 75% each.

"...!"

Right, even though this was going the "wrong" way, this was still that weird event. Our HP was truly still falling. If we died during this event, then nothing would really happen—those who died would simply miss out on the "extra" reward after clearing the dungeon.

And that something was exactly what I really needed.

"Weird... All the gods watching over you suddenly left? Did they run away after sensing my presence...?" Freyja whispered, tilting her head in curiosity. "Those people... Are they still scared of..."

Although she seemed to be whispering something to herself, her voice was so small we could barely make it out.

After a little bit of thinking in silence, her glance caught our figures. Then her expression flashed with something like surprise, as if she had only just recalled that we were standing there.

"Oh, right. You’ve completed the Basilisk’s trial. I wouldn’t linger here for long—manifesting physically is pushing your spirits to break faster. Let me be brief."

With a single wave of her arm, a golden marble-sized light appeared before each of us, drifting down gently like embers in reverse.

"Brave souls, here is my gift to you for overcoming this challenge by the gods. I hope that this could help you out in the future, no matter how little."

[Congratulations! You’ve received Idunn’s Golden Apple x1]

...Huh?

Wait, wasn’t the reward... different?

Before I could complain, however, Freyja turned her gaze to me and smiled.

"And as for you, WhiteGod... Let us meet in a more private setting next time. If possible, with the gods favoring you joining in." She winked.

Although that playful side of her would excite any man completely, I was more or less concerned about something else entirely.

My HP had dropped below 10%.

Any longer, and I’d die from her unbearable presence alone—not from the boss, not from the dungeon, but from standing in the vicinity of a goddess who apparently radiated enough divine pressure to chip away at a person’s spirit just by existing!

The reward apple wasn’t something I had hoped for, but... it wouldn’t disappear if I died now, would it? I couldn’t be sure. As such—please, just leave already!

"Fufu. Looks like my time’s up. Well then, brave adventurers, I pray that the next time we meet is the time when you are all ready to stand up against what’s to come."

Her figure started to fade, turning into bright particles of light. Returning to the pillar behind her, assimilating back into it piece by piece, until even the faint warmth she had brought with her was gone.

"I wish you luck."

She whispered last, the words echoing clearly in our ears even as the clouds and the lightning and the light dissolved all at once—snapping out like a candle in the wind.

"Bah...!"

At that moment, I finally took a deep breath, gasping for air.

I checked my HP, and it was literally just a single pixel left. One poke right now, and I was dead. The girls were in a similar state themselves, all of them hunched over or pressing their hands to their chests like they’d just sprinted a full kilometer uphill.

I supposed that presence-based pressure damage was percentage-based, then. Cruel, really.

Anyway...

I...

Didn’t get what I was hoping for.

Damn it.