Prelude: Defiance

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"W-What?"

'Hestia didn't quite understand what Silver had just said.'

The Status of… Everyone?!

"Is it that surprising? Don't we also keep records of everyone's updates?" Silver asked as he looked at Hestia

We have so many of those papers that they've started to accumulate...

Although it feels such a shame to throw some of them away.

"Yes we do, but that's not the point here."

/Chuckles…/

"I know, I'm just messing with you."

"#!"

He is so...

"In any case, give me a moment, I need to take a look at this."

"Once I'm done, I'll return."

"Why do you need to read their Statuses?" Haruhime asked softly as she stopped next to the door

"Well... For the same reason, you and everyone else study monsters in the library."

"By knowing thy enemy and thyself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."

"Th-That's quite wise." Hestia said with a half smile

He's showing off again.

'Silver merely smiled, taking a small stack of papers.'

"Here, if you wish, you can read them as well, and learn a bit about the standard."

"The Ishtar Familia is one of the most prominent Familias in the world, so it would be a shame to throw away the opportunity to get a closer look into their ranks."

"I can't really copy all of these right now though, as my focus is already elsewhere…"

It would be too much to do so many things at the same time.

'He turned to Hestia and smiled.'

"Of course, don't hesitate to go back to sleep, I know its late, so I won't force you to read them."

"By the time you're up, I'll have at least a few of these copied so you can take a look."

"I'm sure you won't get bored by checking them out, it can be quite interesting to see what these adventurers have to offer."

Their Stats before leveling up, their Skills, Magic...

Even though the Ishtar Familia is on the lower side in regards to Magic possessing adventurers and Skill holders, the quality of their warriors is still decent.

"By having a standard, then you can better appraise the efforts and progress of your own children."

"Don't you think so too?"

'Hestia's eyes were a bit unfocused...'

"..."

He speaks so fast that sometimes it gets hard to follow…

'However, she quickly smiled.'

"Well… With this, will I finally understand just how out of the norm you are?" She teased

"Perhaps… Only a little."

"Hm? Why?"

"Because… I'm just too outstanding." He said with a little pose

'The moonlight coming from the window even intensified, shining onto his body as sparks of light lit up around him...'

"..."

"...Pff…"

"Don't laugh, he doesn't deserve it." Hestia said sternly as she turned to Haruhime

"As for you, "Mr Outstanding", we'll be taking our leave."

He said everything I needed to learn.

And what I did understand is that...

I'll care about this tomorrow... I need some sleep.

'She grabbed Haruhime's hand, pulling her onto the other side of the door.'

'But she stopped to look at him one last time:'

"Don't take too long, promise?"

"Promise." Silver replied with a smile

...

'Little did Hestia know, this night would be a long one... And sleep would be the least of her concerns.'

...

/Clack!/

'The magical door closed, and now, there was no need for him to worry anymore.'

"Phew…"

One thing less for me to worry about.

'The moment the two of them vanished into the door, Silver felt a wave of relief wash over him.'

'He grabbed all of the papers and went through all of them quickly, looking for something.'

'Honestly, Silver had already done this before during the time he investigated them.'

'Albeit... He didn't say that to them, because they would end up asking him for reasons...'

'Was there a need to take a look at their Stats and risking being caught if he already did so some time ago?'

'Of course, he didn't want them to worry by saying that the Ishtar Familia got a huge boost in strength.'

'And this was exactly why he was here.'

'He wanted to see for himself exactly how strong each of the top warriors of the Ishtar Familia was.'

'Including the other people that recently Leveled up.'

'Even if their stats would be something around I-0, by taking a look at their Skills, Magic, and Development abilities, Silver could better prepare for their eventual clash.'

'Their Stats don't matter as much, he was pretty confident in himself that, apart from Phryne, Tammuz, and perhaps a few outstanding Amazons like Aisha, no one would be able to reach his own Stats at all.'

'And after fondling the pages for a few minutes...'

"Here it is." He said as he focused on the page

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Aisha Belka

Level-4

Strength    B-747 -> I-0

Vitality      B-710 -> I-0

Dexterity    C-686 -> I-0

Agility        B-700 -> I-0

Magic        D-532 -> I-0

Hunter -> H

Fist Strike -> H

Abnormal Resistance -> I

Magic:

>Hell Kaios

Skills: N/A

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"Aisha huh…"

She is the strongest of the Berbera for a reason, she has pretty high Stats for all values.

And I'm sure this Status is old already.

When I saw her back in the Great Falls, she seemed perfectly in line with her new strengthened body, so she has definitely already adapted to her Status change.

Albeit not much, an increase is still an increase…

"Is there a date in here?... No, nothing."

"A shame, if I had their dates... Whatever."

As for the rest, Aisha is the clear image of an ideal adventurer.

She has Magic, something that's rare, so she can Level up her Magic Stat.

She also got one Development Ability every time she Leveled up.

"It's just a shame that she wasn't appreciated that well…"

By taking a look at her past Level ups, it becomes clear she actually leveled up hastily, which isn't advised…

Yes, you could say most adventurers struggle to even get the opportunity to Level up, but sometimes, hitting your limit before Leveling is the ideal scenario, even if it takes a year more time.

Her average was at least 100sh points higher than this, it's honestly pretty disappointing to see her being forced to Level up ahead of time.

And I'm sure the other Berbera are no different…

Actually, with those high stats, she would actually qualify to be an Executive of the Loki Familia easily was she to become Level 5.

She has potential, but her Goddess doesn't care, she only needs results.

"It would be great to recruit her after everything's over, after all, considering her situation, I'm her best option."

She knows me, I know her, and I also took care of Haruhime.

If she comes to me, its likely others will come with her, it wouldn't be hard to recruit several of the Bebera at once, and like that, the forces of the Hestia Familia would increase by several Level 3 and 4 all of the sudden.

But…

"That wouldn't be that great of an idea…"

The overall personality between the current girls of the Hestia Familia and the Berbera is too distinct.

And albeit I have nothing against them, I can't deny that having them interact wouldn't result in smooth outcomes.

They would… End up becoming a bad influence on those girls.

Besides, there is also the question of intent.

Hestia would only accept girls with pure intentions, it doesn't matter if they aren't pure themselves, that isn't important at all.

The thing is, would they truly be capable to see this place as their home?

"I'm sure there would be one or a few Berbera worth recruiting."

But that's for later.

'He flipped the pages...'

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Tammuz Belili

Level-5

Strength    D-514 -> I-0

Vitality      E-493 -> I-0

Dexterity    B-710 -> I-0

Agility        B-746 -> I-0

Magic        I-0 -> I-0

Quick Strike -> H

Abnormal resistance  -> H

Magic: N/A

Skills: N/A

----

No matter how many times I see this, he's pretty useless.

'Silver's expression was one of disappointment as he looked at the man.'

When you think of the Captain of the Ishtar Familia, a Familia with a High Level 5, this isn't exactly what you expect to see...

You would expect to see a man that has a stat average of 800, with strong Development Abilities, Skills, Magic...

But he barely has any of that...

Tammuz is young, less than 30, but not that far off.

And he's like Ottar in a sense as he stays most of his time next to Ishtar, and that is where their similarities end.

Regardless, he still managed to gather his Stats, that's better than many others.

Enough for him to be said to be above average.

Yet, at the end of the day, Tammuz is… Hopeless, an extremely weak Level 5 adventurer.

No Skills.

No Magic.

Almost no Development Abilities. He's already Level 5, but only has half of the potential ones he could've gotten…

With this setup, he cannot hunt in the Deep floors alone, even in the topmost ones, which is very embarrassing for a Level 5.

Hum… Allow me to be more precise.

He definitely can, but he would need some decent equipment.

But in the situation something out of the ordinary comes, he'll die.

It's not like it's the end of the world for him, many adventurers lack magic, so he wouldn't lose in that regard.

Although not having one despite being Level 5 is considered late.

That can be fixed with Grimore though…

But Skills can't, not having one by now is actually… Pretty embarrassing.

"Well, Tammuz is more of a butler than an adventurer… A consort."

So him being this strong is already a feat of its own.

'Silver had enough though, this man wasn't worth his time.'

'He put the page aside, flipping to the last one.'

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Phryne Jamil

Level-6

Strength    A-822 -> I-0

Vitality      A-807 -> I-0

Dexterity    D-517 -> I-0

Agility        D-502 -> I-0

Magic        I-0 -> I-0

Fist Strike -> F

Abnormal resistance  -> G

Magic Resistance -> H

Healing Power -> H

Physical Resistance -> I

Magic: N/A

Skills: N/A

----

"Now this is more like a proper adventurer…"

Her Stats may be a bit on the lower side compared to some other adventurers...

But Phryne has a pretty solid lineup of Abilities.

Still... Phryne fell short of expectations.

All due to her own endless greed.

"For her age, she has accomplished a lot."

Despite that, she could've done so much more…

Phryne is known for being lazy and not trying her best.

This behavior of her started showing around the time she hit Level 4, which was over 15 years ago, this means she became Level 4 by the time she was 18.

I can already imagine, an angry, strong, promising Amazon, there are many like her all around.

Phryne just had the drive others didn't, and as such, she rose rapidly…

And when she reached the top, she ruled over it like a true lord… With an iron fist, plowing down anyone that tried to reach her.

Perhaps because she realized her own limitations, instead of striving for more, why not relax when in the entire world, there were so few that could actually do anything to her?

Phryne actually became Level 5 before the disaster that hit Orario 5 years ago, but instead of fighting in the frontlines, she fought in safe locations, far away from the big guys...

Because of this sly way of thinking, she's been Level 5 for at least well over 13 years now.

I questioned myself once, why didn't Ishtar give her a Grimoire?

Even if it's expensive, with some going well over 50 Million, for her, it would be akin to a normal adventurer buying a new chest plate.

It's expensive and definitely not some change, but she can do it many times over.

There aren't records of the why, but my guess is that Ishtar has long realized Phryne is not loyal, perhaps from the very first day she became her child.

As such, she has always withheld from giving her too much power, in fear she may very well outgrow her, to the point she could at any moment leave for another Familia… Like Loki's or Freya's.

Or end up ruling her own Familia in her place, something that isn't too uncommon.

Many Gods end up losing control of their own Familias, or not caring in the slightest, becoming mere tolls on their Children's growth.

In the end, Ishtar's worries never happened, perhaps because she did everything in her reach to keep her, such as turning a blind eye to her deplorable actions and 'hobbies'.

Since in that way, Phryne has nowhere else to go, she wouldn't be welcomed anywhere but within a dark Familia…

Or a Kingdom far away.

And honestly, I do think she would leave for such faraway places, if she was given better treatment there than here.

However, Orario isn't a place you can easily leave, Phryne wouldn't be allowed to leave, and if she were to try and resist… Heh.

The Guild has more than enough connections to handle her.

I'm sure that given Ishtar's view on sex and romance, Phryne's actions would be a tad much…

But since she is a woman that views her goals as greater than others…

"Hm…"

'Silver shook his head.'

I should be thankful for this regardless.

If Phryne had Skills and Magic to boot, then she would've been comparable to Loki's Top Executives.

And although Ishtar attests to Phryne's power even today, that is a delusion she made herself.

Phryne had long been surpassed by them, despite being there when they grew to become who they were now.

Because they are monsters of monsters.

"What I should be really thinking about is…"

Can I handle her right now?

'He made some quick calculations in his mind.'

She's stronger than me, but not enough for me to despair, even if I can't close the gap, I won't die from a single strike.

Tougher than me as well… But is she tough enough to prevent me from striking her?

Perhaps tough enough for my Halberd to not cut her, as it copies my Stats, hence, its durability and sharpness depend on my Stats…

But that can be solved by me just buying a sharper weapon... Although I would fall into debt again.

My Plasmids will likely be of little effect on her, even if I tried to poison her or use other debilitating effects, Phryne is simply too tanky.

Magic resistance, High Vitality, and also Abnormal resistance, and now, Even Physical Resistance?

By adding the Level difference, it would be funny if my magic were to even tickle her.

But if I can't touch her, then I can fully focus my Plasmids on what they are best at.

Versatility.

If I can't affect her, then I shall affect myself… And other things as well.

In the end, it'll be an ordinary fight between us, her Axe versus my Halberd.

But… That is all from her side.

I'm faster than her, I don't even need to consider much.

Phryne uses heavy armor and a large Axe, making long and heavy swings.

She'll likely be no faster than some of the monsters of the Lower Floors, but I won't bet on that.

I have no need to mention how dextrous she is as she's a heavy armor user with a big weapon…

"Overall… In theory, it's doable."

Phryne won't come out of anywhere with some hidden Skill or Powerfull Magic attack.

She'll just charge with her axe and that is the most complicated tactic she can use.

I just need to last long enough in a battle of attrition.

"If I were to Level up again, our gap would completely disappear."

By striving to do my hardest in this one week of time I have… And once I get used to my body…

That'll mark the end of the Ishtar Familia

/Thud/

'Silver placed the papers inside the locker again before grabbing a few other papers, giving all of them a quick scroll.'

'Her new documents, her new plans, her sources…'

'He made sure to have as many tools at his disposal as he could.'

...

'And as the minutes passed, Silver smiled.'

"Oh? Aisha didn't lie to me."

According to these reports, the investigation is still far away from my current location.

They'll stick with checking key/suspicious locations first before attacking me.

They're being cautious due to what I did last time...

"They are trying to sniff out the people that interfered with their plans... A shame, there are no such people."

"At their pace… A little over a week…"

'He smiled.'

I can increase that.

Phryne isn't in charge of these investigations, there is nothing to fear.

Why don't I… Create some false tails for them to stick with?

"That sounds like a good plan."

...

'Silver cleaned the environment and made the 4 buffed men reappear on the bed.'

'And once everything was crystal clear, he took a step towards the side…'

'But he stopped.'

"Wow there…"

'He went to a chair on the side, grabbing something.'

'It was a long singular string of golden hair.'

I almost left some evidence behind.

Time to double-check…

...

"Hm..."

Okay, that was all it seems.

'Now sure of his preparations, Silver touched the wall, ready to leave.'

"?"

'Yet once again, he stopped.'

'Because he felt the presence of something heavy and big making its way across the hallways of the Ishtar Familia's home.'

"Is that…"

'He recognized who it was almost immediately, the weight of her steps was difficult to match.'

Blood?

In her hands?

'Silver could faintly discern red, coagulated blood in Phryne's hands, and this made him frown.'

'A strange feeling rose on his tummy… Something was wrong.'

'As he started to remember what he knew about her, he grimaced.'

"Since it seems she just entered the bathroom to shower…"

She wouldn't be there to stop me from taking a look around.

'A sudden change of plans, Silver vanished.'

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