The Crystal Shield transformed into light and seeped into Irene's chest.
More specifically, it seeped into the Goddess's symbol on Irene's chest.
"Oh my? Hanna, what did you do?"
"Uh, no, I... I really didn't do anything?"
This wasn't a metaphor—the sacred relic had literally crumbled away and disappeared. Everyone's gaze turned toward Han Se-ah, who was frozen in an awkward posture at this bewildering sight.
It seemed she hadn't intended this outcome, judging by the obvious earthquake in her pupils. She'd probably just been trying to strike a pose with the Crystal Shield after receiving a mission from viewers, but now the shield had suddenly vanished, leaving her understandably shocked.
This wasn't just any shield—it was a core artifact from the 67th floor, a treasure that the beast-kin natives had protected for generations. The thought of carelessly destroying it while fulfilling a mission would make anyone's spine tingle.
"Still, it doesn't feel bad at all."
-Of course, having been chosen by a sacred relic is only natural
Something seemed wrong with the connection. While Han Se-ah was freezing up in confusion and Irene was instinctively drawing on holy power to check what had happened to the Crystal Shield, a strange voice reached my ears.
It wasn't the voice of any of our party members, nor was it from the beast-kin. Listening carefully, it was clearly the voice of Katie's ancestor who had scattered like snowflakes.
Why was this old man's voice reaching my ears? Was I actually possessed?
As I looked around wondering what was happening, Katie's suspicious behavior caught my eye. Everyone else was staring at Han Se-ah and Irene because of the vanished Crystal Shield, but Katie's gaze was directed elsewhere.
'What should I call you, sir?'
-Call me whatever you like, child of the family.
'I understand, ancestor. Then the armor...'
-Naturally, it's yours—won by conquering the dungeon.
She wasn't looking at Han Se-ah and Irene in front of her, but was glancing slightly upward to the right while muttering something. From the content, her conversation partner was clearly the ancestor dwelling in her armor.
The strange thing was that there was no way others couldn't hear whispers of that volume.
The 67th floor beast-kin, Grace with her 5.5★-level guide abilities, and even Han Se-ah's camera drone hovering nearby should all be capable of detecting such sounds. Unless someone was hard of hearing, there was no way the beast-kin, superhuman guide, and broadcast drone would miss these voices.
'Could it be that only I can hear this, like Han Se-ah's broadcast?'
So there was only one conclusion I could draw.
The conversation between Katie and her ancestor's spirit was protected by the system, just like Han Se-ah's exchanges with viewers. And somehow, I was able to bypass this system protection.
My head started aching a bit as a result.
"No, it didn't break—it attached itself! Come on, can't you choose your wording properly?"
'Can I ask why you dwell in the armor, ancestor?'
-My memories aren't entirely clear yet, I was bound for too long
"I can feel the World Tree's light of life."
Han Se-ah's broadcast, Katie's conversation with the spirit, Grace worrying about Irene, and the beast-kin muttering about the sacred relic—there were too many voices coming from all directions, creating absolute chaos.
To be completely honest, my brain doesn't work particularly fast. There's a reason people say what's above my neck is just a helmet rack. I could confidently claim that while I'm good at steadily pushing forward relying on my body, I lack the ability to think quickly on my feet.
So right now, my biggest concern was saying something I shouldn't.
I wasn't worried about calculating what to say to drop hints for Han Se-ah, but rather about accidentally responding to Katie's secret conversation or Han Se-ah's broadcast. With these complicated thoughts on my mind as I watched Irene deploy her holy protection, a quest window suddenly popped up in front of me.
[Subtly drop hints? to Streamer Han Se-ah 0/0]
[Reward: CanBlockThatForYou]
'...?'
The text wasn't even garbled, and the slightly longer words made me wonder if my faith energy had recovered a bit. But that didn't seem right since it hadn't been long since I received the "Reward: X" message.
As if answering my internal questions, one last message appeared:
[Protect Katie's ancestor as much as possible 0/0]
[Reward: UsedAllEnergyMakingWiFiRepeater]
So that's why our scatterbrained Goddess had gathered energy to awaken Katie's armor.
※
Apparently, Katie's ancestral spirit served both as an ultimate ability to strengthen her and as a radar-like entity to improve the energy efficiency of the Goddess's messages.
Of course, this had scraped the bottom of the energy barrel, meaning things would have to remain quiet for a while. Still, if my companion and woman became instantly stronger thanks to the Goddess, I should be grateful.
The Crystal Shield hadn't broken or disappeared—it had attached itself to Irene's symbol, strengthening her holy protection. Meanwhile, Katie's ancestral spirit had evolved from a broken radio into a swordsmanship advisor, gradually raising Katie's experience like an externally mounted XP module.
"Hahaha! After a duel with a true warrior, the sacred relic awakens! Excellent! Let's find that gate thing and head to the Thunder Bird tribe!"
"Do you know where the gate is?"
"We've paved all the roads around our village, so it's easy to spot."
"...Why didn't you mention this earlier?"
"Because that was before our duel!"
The bull beast-kin laughed heartily after seeing Irene's strengthened barrier. At his gesture, a female beast-kin who appeared to be a horse stepped forward.
She was small compared to other beast-kin, though "small" still meant just slightly shorter than me—a slender build of about 178cm. With horse-like ears perked atop what looked like a black mare's hair, she stomped the ground with her hooves and—
"I will guide you!"
"Excellent!"
"Sigh, you people really..."
I thought she was just warming up, but suddenly she lowered her stance and took off at lightning speed. Those thick thighs that would make professional athletes envious tensed with power, and she disappeared into the distance even faster than a superhuman aura user.
This is what they call guidance?
The bull beast-kin chuckled with approval while the wolf beast-kin held his forehead and sighed deeply. Apparently, since the World Tree tribe and Stone Hoof tribe were physically close, this kind of absurd situation was familiar to them.
"She'll leave clear footprints, so just follow those."
"Don't worry. Let's go, human children."
True to their brute nature, the Stone Hoof tribe's progression speed was impressive. While the World Tree tribe had built roads in the treetops, the Stone Hoof tribe had smashed and flattened trees around their village to make their paths. Sёarch* The NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
The solid roads created by aura-infused hooves trampling the ground thousands of times resembled pavement compressed by a road roller. Had they really pounded the soft, fertile forest floor with their hooves until it became as hard as stone pavement?
Thanks to this, we were able to leave the 67th floor at a speed approaching a free pass, without even stopping to rest.
"Wow, we spent a whole day searching for gates on the 66th floor, but on the 67th floor, one duel and boom—instant gate."
-So it's straight through if you solve the gimmick, otherwise you're stuck?
-Yeah seems that way, I mean if you had lost the one-on-one with the bull beast-kin, you'd be stuck there
-It was easy to get past the Amber Lantern but from Stone Hoof onward you could be stuck for ages
-So where's the super barrier Irene mama is supposed to show us? Why are we just skipping past this? Test it out at least
-What about the ancestor show the kiddo pulled off? Does that have a cooldown? Shouldn't we check?
Just as Han Se-ah said, we'd spent less than half a day on this floor—not even a full day. The viewers' opinions were all over the place regarding this unprecedented speed.
Some argued this pace was only possible because of Han Se-ah and her 5★ companions, others questioned why we weren't verifying Irene's barrier in actual combat after confirming the Crystal Shield hadn't disappeared, and some insisted we needed to understand exactly how Katie's ancestor suddenly manifested—
Of course, the majority of viewers were still expressing their desires for bouncing breasts... but some were demanding verification, believing that building a solid foundation was more important than rapid progression.
'Honestly, I'm curious too.'
"What are you thinking about, Roland?"
-Truly a powerful body. Perfect as a Wesley companion.
"Just pondering a few things I'm wondering about."
I wanted to analyze Katie's ancestor running beside me, and the holy protection that had gone from fluorescent light to chandelier status.
When a skill gets enhanced, isn't it a fundamental RPG player instinct to thoroughly analyze and understand it? No RPG enthusiast would just click through without reading when their skills get upgraded.
"What are you so curious about?"
"Everything, really. The Crystal Shield, and Katie's summoned ancestor."
Unlike the World Tree tribe's narrow roads, the Stone Hoof tribe's wide paths allowed Grace to approach my side. With Katie on my right and Grace on my left—achieving the coveted "flowers on both hands" status—we continued our conversation.
I wondered if I should carry Irene on my back, but she was awkwardly running while enhancing her body with shimmering holy power. The two women at my sides opened their eyes wide at the sight, nodding in agreement that they were curious too.
"Right. Is that how a shield is supposed to work?"
"Did she strengthen her body with holy power like mages do with mana?"
"Yes, yes, that's right. But it's... harder than I thought... moving my body."
Does the sacred relic increase all stats rather than just defense, living up to its name?
While I was pondering this, the gate appeared ahead of us as I quietly stepped aside to let the three people who were happy to run side by side chat freely, along with the spirits throwing in occasional comments.
Already at the 68th floor? That was seriously fast.
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