Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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New week, let's push!!

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"I'm back!"

Hestia opened the door and stepped inside after her evening patrol. The first thing she noticed was Liliruca Arde in the corner, replacing the bloodied bandages around her arm.

Hestia completely ignored her.

A little Supporter dared to call me an old hag? Fine, she can deal with those bandages on her own.

Hmph.

As she walked further in, she suddenly stopped. August was in the middle of the room, casually lifting a huge, heavy barbell.

Hestia tilted her head. 'You just survived a life-or-death trip in the Dungeon, and your first thought is to lift weights? There are pretty girls right here!'

"August, what are you doing?" Hestia walked over, leaning in close to inspect the ridiculous weight he was lifting.

"Hestia. I think I finally figured out why my Falna doesn't display any stats," August said, setting the heavy barbell down with a loud thud.

"Stats?" Hestia blinked. "What did you find out? Tell me."

August's Status board was completely blank regarding traditional parameters—a stark contrast to normal Adventurers like Lili. It had been bothering her.

"I fought a Xenos today," August explained, a spark of excitement in his eyes. "We clashed, and it specifically pointed out that my physical strength was completely unnatural for a human."

If a Xenos recognized his power, then his base stats had to be real. The numbers were just hidden or changed by the world's system, even from God's view.

"Unnatural for a human?" Hestia's eyes widened. "Oho? Now that is interesting."

If a monster could sense his strength, then the power was real. It might not show up in the Divine Contract, but it was definitely in his muscles.

"My working theory is dimensional correction," August continued. "Since I crossed over from another universe, the world recognizes my existence and compensates for it, but the traditional Falna system can't accurately quantify the data."

"And what causes that specific correction?" Hestia leaned in, her curiosity at its peak. She really wanted to know how it worked. If humans from his world had something special, she needed to find out why.

"No idea," August shrugged casually. "I'm not a scientist."

"..." Hestia froze. She stared at him.

"You jerk! You totally baited me!" She realized he was just teasing her. Annoyed at being tricked, she jumped at him and tackled him to the floor, laughing and shouting.

As the mortal and Goddess wrestled, Lili finally finished wrapping her arm and raised her hand to interrupt. "Lady Hestia. Regarding the kidnapping attempt earlier… word has already spread to the surface."

"From the moment Lord August set foot in the Dungeon on day 1, the smuggling factions have had their eyes on him. The Ikelos Familia is definitely involved."

"What??" Hestia snapped her head toward the Pallum. "They targeted my child on his very first dive?"

Her playful mood disappeared, replaced by a sudden burst of divine anger.

'Do these bottom-feeders really think I'm a pushover?'

"I'm going to track Ikelos down and beat him until his teeth fall out!" Hestia growled.

Messing with a Xenos was one thing, but trying to smuggle someone from her Familia was another. That meant war. She would never let anyone put a price tag on her child and get away with it.

"They hide deep inside the Daedalus Dungeon," Lili pointed out, throwing cold water on the Goddess's rage. "We can't touch them down there. They control the terrain and use proxies to do their dirty work."

"Tch. Who cares about their little maze?" Hestia sneered. "We'll just crush them with a War Game."

If they wanted to hide like rats, she would simply use the Guild's absolute rules to smoke them out.

With August's overwhelming power, a mid-tier faction like Ikelos, which only had one Level 4 captain, would be easy to defeat. She would challenge them officially. They could either fight and lose, or run away and lose everything.

(In the main timeline, Dix Perdix was Level 5, but we have not reached that point yet, so Level 4 seems fair.)

"Go after my family, and you'll regret it." Hestia's eyes burned with malice.

"We'll handle the rats later," August interrupted, steering the conversation back to the immediate priority. "Is everything prepped for the expedition?"

"Oh, right!" Hestia snapped out of her rage. "Everything is green-lit. The Artemis Familia is ready to escort us to the Elsos Ruins, and Ganesha is loaning us a flying dragon for aerial navigation."

All the preparations were finished.

"Good. Then we wait for midnight."

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Midnight.

The ruined sector of Orario was completely abandoned, providing a massive, open clearing.

Artemis waited with her captain, Rethusa, and five Level 2 members of her Familia. The rookies and Level 1s stayed behind to guard their base.

"You made it!" Hestia called out, waving as she approached the group.

But as she scanned the assembly, her eyes landed on a very unexpected face.

"Hello there!"

"Hermes??" Hestia's jaw dropped. She glared at the fedora-wearing God. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ahahaha, a Guild request!" Hermes scratched the back of his head, looking a bit sheepish. "Ouranos handed down a direct commission. I couldn't exactly say no."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Asfi Al Andromeda, captain of the Hermes Familia," a blue-haired woman stepped forward, bowing respectfully.

Asfi stood straight, but her eyes quickly went to August. She knew how dangerous he was. If she let her guard down, everything could go wrong.

'Tch. Ouranos.' Hestia clicked her tongue.

The ancient God clearly didn't trust her to keep August under control. Sending Hermes and his Level 4 captain was both an escort and a backup plan.

Hestia looked back at August.

"It's fine," August waved a hand dismissively. "We have the seats."

Two more passengers didn't matter for his transport capacity.

"I AM GANESHA!"

A booming voice shattered the quiet night.

A huge flying dragon came down from the clouds and landed in the middle of the ruins. Ganesha jumped off its back and struck a dramatic pose.

"Everyone's here!" Ganesha said, looking over the group. Hermes showing up didn't surprise him. It was just another layer of testing for the rookie.

"Hestia, I brought the dragon as requested," Ganesha announced. "But one beast cannot possibly carry a team this large. Do you have a secondary transport?"

"Since everyone is here, we're leaving." August stepped forward.

He reached into the void of his [Spatial Backpack].

The air shimmered, and a huge pitch-black military transport helicopter appeared on the cracked pavement.

"What in the world is that?" Ganesha stared at the steel behemoth.

"A heavy transport chopper. Made for the sky," August answered.

He walked to the cockpit, turned on the systems, and pressed the hydraulics. The big rear cargo ramp slowly lowered with a loud mechanical hiss.

August grabbed a duffel bag and tossed it onto the tarmac.

"Everyone grab a parachute rig and put on a headset," August ordered. "Lili, help them gear up."

"Yes, sir!" Lili immediately began distributing the equipment.

"The rigs are for safety if we lose altitude. The headsets are needed for talking inside," August said, tapping his earpiece. "Once the rotors start, it'll be too loud to hear anything. Use the mics to talk."

This wasn't a luxury ride. Military helicopters were very loud.

Knowing what to do, Hestia buckled herself into the strange harness. When she took the lead, Artemis and Hermes quickly told their children to do the same.

"Everyone else, get inside and strap into the wall seats," Hestia commanded. "Ganesha, lead the dragon up the ramp."

Ganesha took the reins and carefully led the huge dragon into the wide cargo bay.

Once everyone was secured, August climbed into the pilot's seat and sealed the ramp.

"Is everyone strapped in?" August's voice crackled clearly through their headsets.

"READY!"

The girls from Artemis and Hermes Familias looked around the dark, steel interior, their eyes wide with nervous excitement. They had never seen a machine like this, much less flown in one.

"Hold on. Takeoff in three."

August flipped the ignition switches.

WHUP-WHUP-WHUP-WHUP!

The twin rotors roared to life, whipping the air into a storm. The huge helicopter lifted off and quickly rose into the night sky.

Standing in the ruins below, Ganesha shielded his eyes from the intense downdraft.

INCREDIBLE… Ganesha watched the black machine rise into the sky. How could a world without magic build something like that? Its destructive potential is ridiculous.

He waved his hand at the departing aircraft. "Safe travels!"

Inside the cockpit, August returned the salute. He banked the chopper toward their coordinates and flipped on the high-intensity searchlights, cutting a blinding path through the dark clouds.

Down in the streets of Orario, late-night Adventurers stopped in their tracks. They stared up at the roaring silhouette tearing across the stars—baffled by the alien machine.

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Cruising altitude.

The helicopter was much faster than the flying dragon could ever be.

"Wow… Orario…"

The girls pressed their faces to the strong windows, staring down at the glowing maze of the city. Seeing Orario from above at night was breathtaking.

Asfi Al Andromeda was used to flying—thanks to her magical Talaria boots—but sitting comfortably inside a soaring fortress of steel was a whole new experience.

"Fascinating... A pure steel machine capable of transporting an entire platoon," Hermes murmured, observing the rivets and reinforced bulkheads. "The pinnacle of mortal ingenuity. This is undeniably a weapon of war."

Moving troops this fast without needing unpredictable monsters changed everything for tactics.

Hermes turned his gaze to Hestia, who was busy trying to keep the nervous flying dragon calm in the back of the bay.

"Hey, Hestia," Hermes leaned in, his voice filtering through the headset. "Exactly how much hardware did you buy from his world?"

The question hung in the air.

Artemis looked over, waiting for an answer. She knew Hestia had been draining Miach for healing potions and pressuring Hephaestus for rare metals to pay for her shopping from another world.

"Not much!" Hestia flinched, her hands freezing on the dragon's scales.

She was buried in debt.

"Just a little bit!" Hestia lied through her teeth, pinching her fingers together.

The truth was, the heavy weapons were still being made. After less than two weeks, August was using leftover military gear. The real custom orders weren't ready yet.

"Just a little bit?" Hermes raised an eyebrow. "I heard you dropped hundreds of millions of Valis on Miach's potions alone. Miach's entire Familia is working overtime just to meet your quotas."

And that was just the medicine. Hephaestus had outright drained her personal reserves of high-grade mythril and adamantine to funnel into Hestia's trade pipeline.

There was no way Hestia was only buying a "little bit" of hardware... She was stockpiling an arsenal.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Hestia sweated bullets, violently dodging the question.

She couldn't admit that her pending invoices contained enough modern firepower to wipe a medium-sized country off the map. If they knew she had purchased the equivalent of a national defense budget's worth of weapons, they would lose their minds.

"It's just basic supplies!" she stammered.

Hermes and Artemis stared at her. They didn't buy a single word.

If they believed that terrible lie, they would be idiots.

"Well, whatever it is, this machine is a lifesaver," Artemis said, deciding to drop the interrogation. "Deploying a squad this fast is incredibly efficient."

"Haha! As long as it works!" Hestia laughed nervously, desperately praying they wouldn't ask about the artillery.

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NEW WEEKLY EVENT, BULK UPLOAD OF 6 CHAPTERS IF WE HIT 1100 POWERSTONES THIS WEEK!!

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