What does it feel like to be a Hero’s companion?
For Lia, this unprecedented sense of “ease” and “exhilaration” was like a bronze-ranked player suddenly teaming up with a top-tier pro, or a 1.6-meter-tall benchwarmer joining forces with Kobe to score 81 points.
How could a single word like “爽” ever capture this feeling!
For the first time in her life, Lia realized—being treated like a little sister was this blissful!
[Hero, if I’d had a powerhouse like you back then, forget the Empire, I’d have stormed the Divine Realm, kidnapped the Goddess of Light, and given her to you as your wife!]
How does it compare to now…
Lia silently lowered her head, looking at Pika, the second strongest in the Pu tribe beneath her, and Little Black, the top fighter cosplaying a rolling wheel behind Pika.
“Be optimistic. Even if the stats are low, the growth potential is high!”
She muttered to herself.
Low EQ: Weak.
High EQ: Room for great improvement.
Lia had plenty of experience consoling herself; otherwise, she’d have died from anger thanks to those demon subordinates long ago.
A standard villain boss’s iron heart—even if her underlings were dumb enough to line up and deliver themselves to the Hero, she’d still have to laugh and stabilize morale with some equally idiotic excuse.
“Hoo.”
Jon paused midway, removed his helmet, and wiped his sweat.
He looked back at Lia.
“Lily, are we there? Help me check if the direction’s off.”
“Oh!”
Lia immediately closed her eyes to sense.
After a few seconds, she opened them, bouncing with excitement.
“We’re here! Friend! The target is sixteen meters right above you!”
Even as she spoke, Lia marveled inwardly at the efficiency… It was terrifyingly high.
In just four minutes, the Hero had dug a sixty-meter underground tunnel—without even going all out, pausing here and there to conserve mana.
The real limit was her own slow PuPu soil transport…
“Is this the spot?”
The Hero gestured in the direction, pondering if he could punch straight through all four layers with one Rising Dragon.
“Friend! Smash with this! This is powerful!”
Lia immediately offered up her own Commander, Little Black.
The Hero had more than enough strength, so there was no need to use [Harden] midway for extra momentum.
Lia directly ordered Little Black to transform into Super Alloy Black Pu and handed him to the Hero.
“Oh.”
Jon weighed it in his hands, getting a feel for the force.
“Friend! Lily will handle the countdown!”
Lia jumped into the Hero’s armor, liquefied herself, and pressed tightly to his chest to avoid the incoming rubble and debris.
“Ten…”
“Nine…”
“Eight…”
The sound was muffled by the thick foundation.
Above Jon’s head, the first and second floors were empty rooms.
The third floor housed Kobeleo and four elites, obeying the princess’s maid’s order to lie in ambush.
Kobeleo was already numb.
He’d barely survived two calamities, only to find he couldn’t escape a third.
At this moment, he was clutching half of the Goddess’s Prayer, questioning his existence.
He wondered: What crime did I commit to end up in this mess?
Sigh!
Beside him, his adjutant asked anxiously, “Boss, do you think Hero-dono will hold back when he beats us? Could we be torn apart by accident?”
“Jon is an honest man.”
After a long daze, Kobeleo answered with a bitter sigh.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. But I’m done for! Damn!”
“Boss, your luck’s the worst.”
Kobeleo sighed heavily.
“I finally understand what my mother meant… The official world is truly dangerous, the path unpredictable. No matter how cautious you are, you can still get caught in a fatal situation out of nowhere.”
“Sir, if you had the choice, would you still become a soldier and official?”
“I would! Why not?”
Kobeleo gulped down a fiery drink, eyes bloodshot.
“Ever since I saw my mother bowing and scraping with tears for that bastard, I understood—only by rising to the top can a man truly live!”
“As long as I’m alive! Even for a moment! A second! An instant! That’s still living!”
“I… Wait, Phil, do you hear something strange?”
“Boss, do I?”
“Let me listen again…”
Kobeleo suspiciously lay down, pressing his ear to the floor—but he’d barely listened for half a second before his face turned pale, and he leapt up like a startled grasshopper.
“Not good! Enemy attack! Scatter!”
Before he finished speaking, he’d already grabbed his adjutant and the nearby guards, fleeing the room instantly.
Almost simultaneously—
A thunderous crash erupted.
Bricks and stones flew as a giant, mysterious black sphere burst through where Kobeleo had just been, shattering the ground and surging upward toward the ceiling.
Elsewhere, Margaret had been chatting with Annana, planning how to “educate” the Hero once he was captured.
“I’m going to whip Jon’s butt hard!”
Though she hadn’t yet succeeded, Margaret’s face already radiated satisfaction.
“Even my father never hit me! Those blows—I’ll pay them back tenfold! I’ll even stomp his head with my high heels!”
Annana managed a bitter smile.
“Your Highness, retaliating is one thing, but acts like ‘head stomping’ are best avoided. Men have their pride. Don’t damage the Hero’s dignity too much, or you’ll create a deadly grudge that could harm you in the future.”
“I don’t care about that! I—”
Margaret bristled with indignation, but just as she opened her mouth, a series of explosions sounded.
The floor beneath her seat suddenly blew apart.
Debris flew, the ground collapsed, and a massive black sphere shot upward, launching Margaret vertically and pinning her against the ceiling.
The Hero’s control was exact—the momentum stopped precisely, so the ceiling didn’t collapse further, but the princess was left dazed and embedded in the ceiling’s mural, Goddess’s Birth, overlapping with the painted “Goddess,” then, succumbing to gravity, slid downward.
“Your Highness!”
Annana’s face went pale, but the collapsed floor made her fall instantly.
Weightless…
Floating…
“Pa.”
Annana felt herself land on a cold, firm arm.
She looked up blankly, meeting the eyes of an armored, tin-can-headed figure.
The “tin can” lifted its visor, revealing Jon’s handsome, resolute face.
Annana froze, then suddenly felt embarrassed for reasons she couldn’t explain, her face flushing.
Her throat was dry.
“Hero-dono…”
But Jon immediately let go, tossing her aside.
“Wrong one. Not this.”
“Pia!”
“Eek!”
Annana crashed to the ground after all, chest first, perfectly cushioning the impact.
Moments later, another red-haired figure fell from above.
Jon reached out to catch her, examining her face as he had Annana’s.
Margaret felt like a mosquito blasted by a cannon—her head spinning, her whole body aching.
The spell inscribed on her necklace activated, warm divine power surging through her to heal the damage.
She turned her head in a daze.
When her eyes met the Hero’s—
For an instant, Margaret’s heart seemed to stop, a chilling fear crawling up her spine.
The anger in her cheeks froze, shifting to nervousness, then to fear.
“J-Jon…”
She stuttered.
The fully armored Hero smiled.
Though his face and tone were gentle, it sent shivers down the once fearless princess’s spine.
“Miss Margaret, as promised, I’ve come to get you.”
He said solemnly.