Astrea was honestly the most beautiful of the goddesses I have seen so far. Soft brown hair cd in a tight-fitting dress that clung to her voluptuous frame and exposed a good deal of her cleavage but she wore it well as her soft brown eyes gazed at me in understanding as I spoke of the Hepheastus Familia culling.

  "I see... We ourselves have come to Melen temporarily due to some issues in Orario and we have decided to come provide what Justice we can to this sinful city." Astrea spoke kindly but firmly.

  I gave a nod of agreement and I looked over at Alise who was standing in beside her goddess with a grin crossing her face as she sent me a happy wave but as I took in their ships siding to fight monsters... I noticed the side panels were a lot smaller than the ones on my ship.

  And knowing that the Astrea Familia was one of the most trustworthy goddesses and their familia members being very much on the 'Order Good' side of things I spoke up. "Hey if you girls want, you girls are welcome to hook up to the back of my ship and you can fight on here with us as we have plenty of room."

  Astrea being a virgin goddess gave me an odd look before I smiled wryly and pointed out to the size of my ship and I said. "I only have these two Familia members so if anything it would help me if you guys could take up some of the space so the monsters can't get to my ship."

  Alise the captain of the Astrea Familia waved a hand and said. "Lady Astrea he isn't lying and we could use some extra space as Lyra and Kaguya can't fight properly on our boat."

  As though summoned by the beautiful redhead's words the door leading into the small interior section of the boat opened up with three more dies walking out. First was a woman I did recognize as being Gojouno Kaguya with her reddish-pink eyes, long bck hair and oriental features as she was noted for being the second strongest member of the Astrea Familia.

  Second was a woman I didn't recognize with a curvy form and long bluish hair that. The st woman was also someone I did recognize in Lyra who had light pink hair... And was a pallum like my Tina but she had this terrible smug smile she wore as she inspected my form along with Tina's as she killed monsters with her spear.

  "Yo, I want to go py with her, she has some spunk haha," Lyra called out excitedly and she showed off what looked like the abilities of a level 2 like myself as she leaped from her boat's railing down to my ship's widened ptform on the water level with a soft thudding noise ringing out from her light frame hitting the ptform.

  "Lyra! You ugh!" Alise called out with annoyance and I couldn't help a chuckle at how exasperated she looked.

  But either way, I shrugged my shoulders and called out to Astrea. "Then please excuse me Lady Astrea, I will also be joining in the melee if you don't have anything else you wish to speak of?"

  To which Astrea gave a small gentle smile before shaking her head and then she stepped back towards the ship's hold and simply said. "Maryuu, you keep an eye on the ship and heal anyone that needs it. I will be going back into the hold to keep out of the way."

  Seeing her leaving I jumped down onto the wide semi-circle pte alone for but a moment and then I blinked seeing the kimono-cd figure of Gojouno Kaguya regally nding atop my ptform and bowing her head as she said calmly. "I do not suppose, I could share this ptform with you?"

  And I just chuckled saying easily. "You are welcome to my ship Kaguya, but I ask that you leave any Mermaids and Kelpies to me and mine as we are trying to tame them if that is alright," I spoke up at the end to everyone in earshot.

  Alise and Lyra gave me an odd look until I waved my hand with my rge Kelpie leaving my inventory and making their eyes widen as I patted the rge enhanced sea-based horse.

  "So you have a skill for taming?" Kaguya asked curiously and I think I saw Astrea peaking over the edge of her ship so I replied honestly.

  "Yeah, though it's more of a... Spatial skill that keeps stuff and even living things that I can summon at will. Behind you Kaguya." I said in a rush at the end and the 'Far Eastern' woman spun around beautifully with her kimono dancing in the motion as she drew her katana and sliced a swordfish that flew towards her in half with its guts spilling out onto the ptform.

  She then gave me a nod of respect in telling her and that was it as we slowly drifted over the water and the level one and two-rated monsters that dared to climb up onto our ship were sughtered as we all quickly found a rhythm that just... Worked honestly.

  Lyra would use her throwing knives to support Tina from range and would pick up her knives and such when Tina would call upon her skill to gain more strength. Alise and Tamamo... Luckily the fucking ship's ptforms were made out of metal as both of them were throwing around their fire abilities like our boats weren't the only thing keeping us from having to swim in monster-infested water!

  But Kaguya and I... We were a bloody dance of gore and efficient murder.

  See I knew a good bit of Kaguya's past as she was frankly one of the most interesting members of the Astrea Familia, she used to be an assassin back in the Far East which was the home of where the majority of the Shinto gods stayed and she performed murder like a master pianist pyed a well-tuned instrument.

  Her swordwork was a painter drawing death upon the world and I in turn complimented her perfectly as my... The exhaustive list of weapons I had some manner of expertise in and some amount of masterly allowed me to dance between her sweeping blows to murder everything that her slicing bde couldn't properly bisect within a single blow.

  A Diamond Back Turtle's shell she couldn't get through? That was easy, I used the hooked side bde of the Abyss Watchers in the Farron Greatsword to pry open its shell slightly so she could filet the inside of the turtle from its side.

  Dozens of Flying Fish shooting from the water towards us like high speed arrows? She danced between me and pressed her form against mine to help me hold Havel's stone-like dragon-scale Greatshield in front of me killing all the flying fishes with their own impacts.

  But minutes ter Kaguya lost her regal appearance in front of me as she chuckled loudly and said. "Haha, I like you, Jake. You are a delight to fight alongside with those weapons you have tucked away."

  I gave a wry smile as Alise flushed and looked between me and Kaguya scandalized for a moment before a loud hiss gathered my attention.

  I raised an eyebrow seeing two Merman rising up out of the water while mounted on their Kelpies along with a trio of mermaids who remained in the water behind the merman obviously there to heal the merman would be knights who were armed with tridents made out of what looked like coral.

  I stood up straight seeing the upper level three monsters with Kaguya asking bluntly. "You confident in dealing with them?"

  I smiled and feeling the perk of Guts from doing his sword challenge giving me a hint of confidence that I didn't really even need, I answered calmly. "Yeah, I can deal with them if I have you to help."

  And the Kelpi mounted Mermen didn't give me and Kaguya any longer to pn as the Kelpi's hissed loudly and charged across the water like its hoof steps were running over smooth ground.

  'Gotta dismount the Merman with their height, reach, and force advantage due to the Kelpies.' I thought before taking a breath and as they came close I spoke to Kaguya. "Get ready to go straight for the Mermen."

  I heard a grunt of agreement and as they came closer I stepped forward and spun to gain momentum and then I whipped my hands outwards with my rge weighted metal net flying outwards and falling onto the face of one of the Kelpies and over its rider.

  Then with one of the Kelpies staggered as it got hit in the eyes by the bouncing net that the Merman was trying to rip off its form with the net's spikes digging into both the rider and the Kelpie's flesh. I dashed forward with Kaguya to the other one and with Guts Dragonsyer sword I met a powerful thrust from the merman's trident that pushed me back due to the Merman and the Kelpie's combined strength pushing me back.

  But that was perfect as it gave Kaguya time to retaliate as when the Merman pulled his trident back to go for another powerful thrust she came from behind me past my side and the Merman screamed as her sword cut off one of his fin-covered legs with her then putting a palm to the back of her sword and stabbing the Mermain up through the side and into its chest cavity before ripping out her sword as the Kelpi tried to brain her with a series of kicks.

  With the other Kelpie and its rider quickly healing due to the three mermaids throwing drops of their stupidly powerful healing blood onto their forms, I knew we needed to kill this one quickly so I took out my Rivers of Blood Katana and I felt it drink deeply of my life force and Kaguya danced away at the sight of the sword just as I swung in a quick X shaped series of sshes that sent beams of corrupted blood into the Kelpie and Merman

  The X-shaped double ssh of cursed blood smmed into the Kelpie and Merman with the Merman having his chest cut deeply open and the Kelpie's thick flesh acting as a bit of a barrier for the penetrating effects of the cursed blood attack.

  But it was enough. The cursed blood of the Rivers of Blood katana that I made out of the scraps of a cursed broken weapon Tsubaki had within her workshop clearly went to work as the Merman began pissing blood to the point. Where even as the three mermaids hurriedly came to try to heal it.

  It didn't matter as it just keeled over and into the welcoming embrace of Kaguya cutting its head clean off as it fell off its horse.

  With the rider dead I quickly threw a literal dozen heavy weighted nets onto the Kelpie to immobilize it so I could begin taming it ter and keep it from moving as much so its injuries wouldn't get worse.

  "So how do you pn to capture the Mermaids," Kaguya asked conversationally and I brushed a hand through my hair as the non-dungeon-born monsters looked at us with some wariness especially the mermaids who were famously cowards or just refused to fight, who wouldn't even harm adventurers unless directly pulled out of the water and their struggles even then weren't anything to note.

  I coughed putting a hand to my chest and I said weakly. "I will py dead to make them charge you me as the wounded... You just try to get the Merman and I will deal with the Mermaids."

  Kaguya gave me a look of amused exasperation but I just dramatically keeled over falling onto a knee as I held onto my head and I groaned loudly and I could see through my hand the Merman's eyes widen with sadistic glee as he fell for my apparent sign of weakness.

  The Merman obviously attributed to my previous show of myself using the magical effect of the Rivers of Blood and being exhausted by it. And then it charged towards me from the side with it raising its trident to throw at me.

  "I got the trident," I said quietly and Kaguya stilled as she prepared to attack the merman and then the merman pitched his arm forward and I thanked all the gods as his trident sped towards me in a blur of speed and smmed into my summoned shield.

  'Fucking stupidly strong monster!' I mentally cursed incredulously as I was smmed backward with my shield and feet making harsh scratching noises I was shoved backward a good five or six meters and only stopping with a jolt of pain running through my feet as I caught myself on one of the folds on the ptform.

  I stood up as Kaguya waited till the Kelpi reached the ptform and then abruptly the Kelpi stopped at a squeeze from the Merman and both Kaguya and I both were stunned as the Merman flew through the air with its fist drawn back and poised to sm into my head as it flew across the length of the ptform.

  A loud crunching noise rang out as the flying Merman abrutly lost all of its momentum and even the Kelpie and Mermaids looked stunned as I summoned the massive sword spear of the Nameless King and the Mermaid just impaled itself and remained stuck on the massive bde.

  A flick of my arms threw the impaled Merman into the ground and then I waved a hand with my much rger Kelpi being summoned from the tamed space that I quickly leaped onto.

  And before the other Kelpi could run off I threw another series of weighted nets onto it that were then caught on the hooks surrounding the edge of the ship's ptforms as it tried to escape without its rider.

  After that I took a deep breath and the Kelpi ran downwards... Into the water like it was still solid ground although it was running downhill even. But even as water rushed over my face I was able to sh out with my hands as the Kelpi sent a mental message and with both my arms I managed to catch a mermaid with each arm around their humanoid torsos.

  Without a single mental order, I felt the Kelpie's charge through the water change course and we quickly broke through the surface of the water with myself taking a deep breath and shook my head to throw off the water covering my face and hair with a hearty ugh escaping me as I held the two weakly struggling mermaids in a tight grip.

  My Kelpi quickly ran back to the ship and I saw Tina wave in celebration as she and Lyra were dealing with their monsters in a couple of turtle-like monsters I didn't really know the name of to be honest.

  "Well, well, the galnt hero sys the monster... And brings back more monsters instead of a princess." Kaguya said dryly as she eyed the two scared mermaids who had given up resistance towards me after realizing I was a good deal stronger than them.

  To Kaguya's teasing, I gave a small chuckle raised an eyebrow, and responded cheerfully. "Would you rather take these monsters' pce and ride with me instead?"

  And surprisingly Kaguya only raised an eyebrow and without hesitation grinned and said. "Yeah, I would like that actually. I always hated walking for a few hours in the dungeon to get past floor ten and see monsters of any actual challenge."

  'What does a man do when the waifu actually says? Fuck yeah go ahead and carry me away?' I thought with a wry smile as I put away my Kelpi and then bound up the mermaids in some rope and put them aboard the ship so I could work at taming them ter.

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