Chapter 133 - Inari

After the archers were taken out, Ethan decided it was better to wipe out all the other skeletons that, although their movements were rather slow, he wanted to avoid being unnecessarily surrounded.

Hearing the various noises emitted by the skeletons, Ethan closed his eyes as words slowly began to come out of his mouth.

"Gather,17 spirits of Ice, cut apart my enemy. Magic Arrows.."

As he pronounced slowly, word after word, Ethan added a very small part of his Mana to the composition.

The first time he actually tried to do that, he was blinded by anger, and this had led him to use all of his strongest resources together, ending up in a [Mind Zero] state, but it was right after waking up that he realized that this tactic, if used very carefully, could have been very useful. Although Ethan was not exactly able to decide what to boost of the spell, for him it was enough that the arrows would be able to decimate all the skeletons that were around him.

"..Series of 17 Ice arrows!"

Putting much more emphasis on the last part of his sentence, Ethan saw how the arrows formed quickly in front of him and, unlike the other times, he could almost feel that the coldness of the ice was perpetuating in the air, instead of remaining condensed., before each of them left to do their work.

Upon seeing the arrows disperse quickly, Ethan decided to follow with his eyes the first one as he saw that the latter, without hesitation, pierced the c.h.e.s.t of a skeleton before continuing on its way but, unlike the normal ice that would remain on the victim pierced by an ice arrow, Ethan could see that from the blow inflicted on the skeleton, ice suddenly began to generate and expand throughout the body of the latter and, before he was able to fully realize what was going on, the skeleton was already completely froze.

This led Ethan to open his mouth in shock, also because he knew he had not exaggerated with his mana and that, he still had a good reserve to go.

While he was trying to understand what was going on, the arrows struck without hesitation most of the skeletons that, not being particularly resistant against the ice, perished shortly after.

Knowing that he wouldn't get any answer anyway, he decided to check that the area was now cleared and, just as he had thought, the area was covered with frozen skeletons all over it.

But, Ethan didn't relax at all as, he didn't want to be caught unprepared in case other skeletons might appear, also because he didn't know anything yet about the actual strength of his enemies.

'My first objective is to find the Hidden Dungeon, so, let's do that for now..'

Intrigued by this, Ethan began to walk swiftly towards it and, once reached the building, he looked at the rest of it as, he noticed that the structure possessed half-timbered walls, with a glazed-tile roof, but that was all he could understand as, trying to glance something more, was simply impossible.

'The style is distinctly different from that of Danmachi in terms of materials and workmanship, but the structure itself is almost similar. That means they also had adventurers...?'

Although Ethan had never particularly liked history, now that it was so directed at him, Ethan couldn't help but feel curiosity to know, how a city that would be similar to Orario, fall.

But, from what he could understand, the System itself didn't seem particularly interested in the city's history at all as, the only thing it cared about, was to kill monsters and to reach the Dungeon and, he knew he had no choice but to go along with it as he turned to his left, ready to explore further but, before being able to do so, he could hear a weak scream coming from the building.

---

What Ethan didn't know, was that the history of the city itself was over just a day after he pressed the button to enter the Dungeon as, a very strong earthquake, had hit the entire city, leading to the situation that he could now observe.. But, that wasn't all as, the moment he agreed to enter it, the world 1999 underwent a great change. In fact, the area on which the city resided, had been completely isolated from the rest of the world itself, to allow the ideal conditions of the Dungeon to be there.

Just before all this happened, however, the various races were facing the minority of humans again while a young fox, called Maple for the red fur she had that, was said to be very similar to that of a maple leaf, was in what Ethan had defined as similar to the Guild. In reality, that palace, was just where the young foxes, could verify their potential in the art of transformation, as well as train with others who had the same potential.

"Mama..can I really become like you..?"

Asking this question to her mama, the young fox had great hope and confidence in a positive response, which soon arrived.

"..Our family is a direct descendant of the queen, and she has mastered the art of transformation in just 3 years from her birth.."

Although she had heard these words many times before, Maple could only nod slowly with her head while her pointed ears moved slightly.

Entering the building, Maple saw as a receptionist with almost red fox-like ears and paws, long white hair, and deep blue eyes, was already on her way to assist her while her mother had other important things to do, and this, led her to leave Maple as she added

"I'll come to pick you up after the evaluation.."

Saying so, she headed towards Inari's Merchant Ward while Maple, now already in, stared at the receptionist. She had never been a person who could talk to strangers easily, even because her parents were too protective with her, but that was not all because normally, Maple always felt agitated, or confused about what to say, but that was irrelevant as the receptionist immediately added

"Welcome to Inari's System Evaluation..oh, you must be Cinnamon's daughter, right..?"

At her question, Maple nodded as she replied

"Yes..she's my mother..I...came here for... the Evaluation"

Saying slowly these words, Maple felt agitated and this, brought her red tail to twitch as she already wanted to go away, but, her dream, was to become as her mama who, with her hair, and tail, red as blood, pointed ears with a shade that always remained the same colour, and the eyes, which were distinguished by being of a 'natural' yellow, considered a real rarity, envied by all the other foxes that populated the city, which Maple could only be happy about, and aspired to have a beauty comparable to hers.

The weak response, brought the receptionist to look at her closer as, from her tail, she quickly understood she wasn't a sociable person but, she knew it was necessary for her so, she decided to completely ignore it.

"I see. My name is Crimson and today I'll assist you throughout your evaluation.."

The fact that today was her fourth year of life was precisely why Maple was there. In fact, it was precisely from that age that foxes could show the first signs of affinity with the "Arts", with the simplest of the latter, being precisely the transformation into semi-foxes, with a more human-like appearance, which was much more common than normal..

Without actually saying anything, Maple saw as Crimson took the lead and, in no-time, she led her in a small room while she gave a quick explanation.

"This area, is where we test a fox's potential. The scale ranges from [weak] to [not comparable] as all foxes have at least a weak affinity to the Arts. Obviously, based on the result, learning the arts can be more or less difficult, as more or less long.."

Saying so, Crimson finished her speech by giving her instructions on how to actually start the evaluation.

"To perform the evaluation, you have to place your paw on the [Analyser] at the centre of the room, and it will show you a light which I will evaluate. The brighter it is, the more your affinity to the Arts is....is that clear?"

Hearing her question, brought Maple to flinch as she immediately nodded while she approached The small cube before gently laying her paw on it.

A second later, Maple could see that a light slowly appeared while Crimson had an evaluator of the intensity of it, which was just to give the final result that, only from the light emitted by the cube, was impossible to decipher for ordinary people.

Moments after, Crimson looked at the device she had in her hands as she could see that her affinity, was not even at a good level of those who had a [weak], and this shocked her as, Maple's family was well known for the monstrous affinity of her relatives as her mother, and her grandfather, were two of the first [Not comparable] they could ever see...

Seeing the light fading, Maple turned her small head towards Crimson while her tail, standing straight all the time, was now wagging side to side while she could not help but ask

"..So?! How did it go!?"

Being asked this question, Crimson looked down as her expression, could already tell that something wasn't right..

"..Your Affinity is..[weak], one of the weakest..we have ever had.."

These words, brought Maple's previously wagging tail to stop while her mouth, was now slightly open in shock as, by looking at her for a second time, she could see that her words were the pure truth as Crimson turned the device, so that she could also read the actual number.

Being a 'noble', Maple already knew the truth behind the numbers and, remembering that even the lowest-valued friend had a 330, while she had a measly 100, quickly brought her in tears and, before realizing it, Maple had already escaped from the room as, the tears that once threatened to come out, now flowed incessantly as Crimson, could only look down. In fact, Maple was not the only heir with a [weak] affinity.

'At this rate, who will be able to replace the old queen.. without her.. how can we continue to live in peace..!?'

Sighing, Crimson could only return to her place, hoping that the next heir will be able to save the city, now at the end of its life...

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(Alternate Titles: "Maple's evaluation.. didn't go as planned!", "Inari's done for..Crimson","I don't want to see Maple cry...")