Chapter 76

Confused, Loki stood there. Despite having transformed, she could not feel any power at all. The physical abilities to fight on equal terms with the "Hercules Knight," the dagger techniques, and the mysterious secret power that rendered attacks ineffective were all gone.

She was an ordinary person. Though her appearance was that of a beautiful woman, Loki was not seeking such things. She wanted the mysterious beauty's abilities.

"I've never failed to transform before!"

"No, you have succeeded, haven't you? You've transformed into a stunning beauty."

With a soft, seductive smile, Frigg praised Loki, but Loki seemed to think it was sarcastic and became enraged.

"Cut the crap! Transforming just my appearance is meaningless! What did you do?"

Loki believed that Frigg had used some kind of magic to prevent her transformation. However, the transformation had indeed succeeded. Frigg had genuinely praised her.

The reason Loki couldn't copy Frigg's power was simple.

"Can you transform into the earth by licking the soil? Can you transform into the sea by licking seawater?"

"Huh? That's impossible! Are you telling me to become a god?"

Of course, that was impossible. Loki, who had been so confident, now discarded her calm demeanor and shouted in anger.

"You're right. That's exactly what I mean."

"Huh?"

"I am a goddess. This body is human, but the inside is something entirely different. Think of it as a natural phenomenon. If you could transform into a planet, you might have been able to copy my power."

Shrugging, Frigg revealed the truth. As expected, this was the result. Now she knew what she needed to know. Loki was no longer of any use. It was time for the foolish human who claimed to be a god to leave the stage.

"N-no... That's ridiculous... You're kidding! There's no choice. I'll transform into the Hercules Knight and defeat you!"

"Transform"

Loki must have thought that if she transformed into the "Hercules Knight" again, she wouldn't lose. Frigg could see the fear in her words. Because Frigg had absolute confidence in her transformation magic, Loki feared that her words might be true.

But it was too late. Her fate was sealed.

"I've seen enough of that trick. I'm tired of it."

"Disappear"

With a snap of her fingers, Loki's transformed form glowed faintly and returned to her original female appearance.

"W-what's going on?"

"I'm a specialist in support magic. That was the Seize magic 'Disappear.' It cancels out all magical effects. It has nothing to do with Seize magic, though. Don't you think that's unfair?"

"Ah, ah!"

Without looking at Frigg's discontented pout, Loki turned and fled like a hare. In the 18 years since she had learned transformation, no one had ever been able to undo her transformation.

Yet, the woman in front of her had casually and naturally revealed that she could do it. It was truly 'magic,' and Loki realized that the woman was beyond human.

"Run!"

"Heaven Soaring Shoes"

The shoes Loki was wearing activated their magical power. They were ancient relics she had obtained. The mysterious relics somehow adjusted to her size, so she could wear them no matter what form she took. Moreover, they concealed her mana, so they looked like ordinary sneakers at a glance.

Their effect allowed her to fly through the air and teleport to any marked location. However, they had a weakness: they could only be used once every 24 hours, making them Loki's trump card.

The space in front of her tore open, and the "Heaven Soaring Shoes" emitted a divine light. Loki felt a sense of relief and turned back with a smug smile.

"Goodbye, mysterious beauty. I will definitely investigate you and your organization. Look forward to our next meeting."

"Goodbye."

"Right. See you later!"

She jumped into the tear in space, and the scenery wavered. When she returned to her original space, she should have been in one of her hideouts.

"I need to close the detective agency first. And I will definitely find out who that mysterious beauty is. Ah, this is getting exciting."

Feeling like an explorer about to tackle an unknown mystery, Loki laughed. Although the situation had taken an unexpected turn, she found it more interesting and chuckled as the distortion in space returned to normal.

"See you again."

"Huh?"

When her feet touched the ground, she felt the texture of stone. Goblins and human corpses were scattered around, treasures glowed, and the mysterious beauty was grinning mischievously.

"Huh? What? Why?"

She had teleported. The magic had activated, and she thought she had escaped to her hideout, but Loki was now stunned.

"Didn't I tell you? I have a skill to save beginners. I can use magic to prevent high-level individuals or those with a lot of money from escaping. I thought I told you, but you must have ignored it. What a shame."

Frigg, who had just finished loading her flintlock pistol, smiled even more seductively.

"So, you can't escape from me. You should have run the moment we met. You can't escape from a goddess."

With a natural attitude, as if it were a matter of course, Frigg spoke, and finally, Loki, or rather, Sae Takanashi, was broken and fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me! I understand your power. I understand. From now on, I won't do anything bad. I'll use this transformation power to help people in trouble! I'll join your organization if you want."

At this point, Sae had surrendered completely. She pressed her forehead to the ground and begged for her life, but Frigg's smile did not change.

"I see. The lady must have told you to kill me. The protagonist apparently forgave you. With 'Magic Destruction,' he undid your transformation and spared you, and you became an important informant character."

Frigg, who was talking about something incomprehensible again, but Sae listened without speaking. Seeing this, Frigg tilted her head.

"The lady was apparently angry that you weren't killed. The event battle ended when you took a certain amount of damage. It must have been the same in the original story."

Miharu, looking at the game screen, seemed dissatisfied. She had expected a killing scene, but the battle ended without a kill, which is a common event battle in games. No matter how much it looked like a killing blow, the battle ended with the opponent only slightly injured.

"In games and novels, it's fine. It's exciting when a rival character repents and joins the team, no matter how many people they've killed."

In fiction, it's fine. But, and she pointed the flintlock pistol at Loki, Frigg continued.

"You're real. In the original story, you might have repented, but the lady couldn't overlook it. If left alone, you would have killed countless nameless people. You don't even care how many people would die if you released a horde of mantises, do you? You only surrendered to my power, not out of guilt for those you've killed. You've crossed the line. You should have only killed the bad guys."

"Wait! There's a reason—"

"Because you were an orphan and were mistreated? So you got power to live freely? Then you should have just played around. You became free from this world. Whether you live or kill is up to you. That's what you thought."

Everything the mysterious beauty said was true. Sae, who understood that this being was not human, was paralyzed with fear.

"You're free now. Congratulations. But being free from everything means you're also free to be killed."

"What kind of, ridiculous, reason is that?"

"Fufu, maybe. I'm not really serious. This is just a template, right? Like, 'Serves you right.'"

Lifting her trembling head, Sae managed to look at the mysterious beauty's face and eyes, and despair washed over her.

The eyes showed no pity, sympathy, or anger. They only conveyed that acting was a bother.

In the depths of the eyes that gazed at Loki, there was an abyss. A light that should not be seen or touched.

"Goodbye, Takanashi."

"Wait—"

Ignoring Sae's desperate plea for her life, Frigg pulled the trigger of her flintlock pistol.

"This is the Level 99 'Moonlight Gun' and the Level 1 'Endless Bullet' that doesn't consume mana. The combined attack power isn't much, but let's see if you've trained yourself. Maybe you can withstand it."

"Sae Takanashi: Level 5"

Seeing Sae's level, who had only borrowed others' power and never trained herself, Frigg smiled thinly and said her final farewell.

Then, a massive beam was fired from the Moonlight Gun. The heat wave from the beam caused Frigg's hair to flutter and her clothes to flap. The space turned red, releasing an incredible amount of heat.

Sae tried to stand and escape, but the beam pierced her body. She thought it would burn her to ashes, but there were no holes in her body, only a strong impact.

Before she could wonder why, another beam passed through her body from behind. Then from the side, and diagonally in front, as Frigg moved at high speed, firing continuously. She danced and twirled, the beautiful goddess firing the Moonlight Gun with a seductive smile, her golden hair flowing.

She danced around Sae, firing continuously, each shot piercing her body and lifting her into the air.

"No, no, this can't be—"

The ceiling of the dungeon was at least 10 meters high, but strangely, Sae was lifted beyond it and into the darkness.

Suddenly, the Earth was visible below, and Sae was floating in space. It was a fantastical scene. The moon was visible, and the planets of the solar system were aligned in a straight line.

"This is the end."

"Star Shatter"

Frigg seemed to kiss her gun, and a magic circle larger than the moon unfolded in front of her.

"This is... This can't be..."

Before she could say it was magic, Frigg aimed the gun at Sae and pulled the trigger. A beam of aurora light was released from the massive magic circle, erasing Sae with a vast amount of energy and shattering the planets behind her, causing a massive explosion.

The solar system exploded, and only light remained, scattering as particles. Sae's body was completely dissolved and vanished in the light.

After the light subsided, Frigg stood there. The surroundings had returned to the dungeon from space.

"The ultimate sure-hit skill 'Star Shatter,' which consumes half of my maximum MP. Did you enjoy it?"

Spinning the gun, Frigg put it away in her item box and smiled. It had all happened in a fraction of a second.

"Sae Takanashi has been killed!"

The log appeared, listing the dropped items, but Frigg ignored it and walked over to the treasure, picking up a gold coin.

"It's not a background image. That's good."

Erasing Sae from her memory, Frigg seriously assessed the value of the treasure. Her expression was more serious than when she had fought Sae.

"Roughly 300 billion yen. I should give this to the emperor."

Frigg sent her thoughts to Miharu, following the plan.

"Wow, you're done? I'm in the trunk of the car Frigg taught me about. I'm getting ready for a nap."

Miharu, curled up in the trunk, was about to take a nap. She yawned, tired and ready to sleep soundly.

"Yes, it's done. The treasure is worth about 200 billion yen."

"Got it. Take your fee and return. Collect all the magical items."

"Yes, I'll take a little and return."

Frigg nodded and decided to take a small portion of the treasure as payment for stopping the rampage and other expenses.

"Well, I'll take a little. 20 billion yen should be enough."

Frigg diligently put the treasure into her item box and skipped away.

Thus, the kind Frigg took a small fee, and 20 billion yen worth of gold bars remained in the treasure room.