"Original" Idea

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A/N One chapter today since editing takes way longer than I thought on my laptop

T-T Ill post three tomorrow since I still have a bunch of chapters ready (I just need to start editing earlier T-T)

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[2599 Words]

[The Next Day]

Orario was buzzing.

Quite literally since the clamor and apparent panic of its citizens was so chaotic that if you stood still enough you could almost feel the ground vibrating. Not like you could blame the poor bastards.

The only constant of their entire lives has just… changed. Just like that. It's been a day and they still gather around that ugly tower clamoring around in hopes of information, or assurance.

Watching them like little ants from Hephaestus' mansion certainly didn't help my cynical view of the situation… But damn Shaed would kick my ass if she knew how I am acting right now.

I was kicked out of my own planet ok! I should be allowed to show some cynicism… stupid ass [chronovore].

"Lord Shai! Goddess Hephaestus is ready for you."

Not bothering to suppress my sigh I open my door and start down to the front of the mansion. Walking through the halls it was hard to not throw up at the looks the random familia members would give me.

As a part of Hephaestus' plan I had to not try and suppress the latent aether within my body. Which was simple, yeah, but still annoying. The other part was what I'm wearing right now. Half these blacksmiths could care less that to them I felt like a god because I was literally wearing armor made from lava.

Well, not literally. [Torgadoro Leather] was actually a nice deep orange color, but once it interacts directly with an aether supply it glows and shifts giving it a magma like appearance. Luckily the heat it gives off passively wouldn't be noticed by those around me, and actually this is one of the armors we make to feel colder when you wear it. So you don't die from the heat of some of the shattered isles.

Walking outside I saw Hephaestus standing next to Tsubaki, who remembers me, but as a demi-god, and some dwarf guy. His name is Naug or something.

Hephaestus calls me over so I walk towards her and take off the [Torgadoro's Apex], or helmet. Honestly whoever decided to give each armor piece a unique name is dead to me, but the names are mostly cool so I'll let it slide.

"Hephaestus, guys." I gave a small nod to the two others and did my best to ignore their semi fanatical looks as I put the helmet in storage.

"We're all ready so let's… no weapon?" Hephaestus asks. I just sighed and summoned a set of [Inferno's Fangs] and placed one on each hip. They fit the vibe pretty well. Hephaestus just nodded, satisfied.

We walked right out of the front gates and straight to the tower. It didn't take us long to reach the massive crowds, and it took them less time to notice us. I mean I am literally glowing. It is pretty cool though to walk through a crowd with thousands of people and them all split to allow us through.

"Who is that?"

"A god?"

"I've never seen them before?"

Ignoring the whispers we continued all the way to the tower until we were escorted inside by a half elf. She led us to a large elevator and wished us off as the doors closed. She smiled, but the anxiety she felt was obvious. It seems the dungeon changing really did scare people more than I thought.

Once it stopped we were led through another hall before stopping at the door. Outside of it were a bunch of adventurers that looked at me and Hephaestus with surprised expressions. Naug joined them, as this gathering was of the third in commands, so people right below the captains like Tsubaki.

Tsubaki held the door open and Hephaestus and I walked right in. The room was colossal, probably expanded with whatever magic the gods decided wasn't breaking their oaths. The room was filled with a large number of white marble thrones arranged in a circle. Each throne sat a god, and behind them stood their captains.

Everyone had a serious expression at first but they all shifted to one of surprise when they looked at me. As Hephaestus told me we just continue forward until Hephaestus takes her seat. Tsubaki stood behind like all the other captains while I stood right next to my fake mother. It took a while for the silence to be cast away.

"Is that what I think it is?" A voice asked.

Looking at them I saw a skinny woman with short red hair. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at me. Behind her was perhaps the shortest forty year old I've ever seen. Hephaestus shrugged and looked at who I recognized from the books as Loki.

"If you mean my child. Then yes." Bombshell dropped and every gods couldn't hold in their surprise. Letting them ramble for a moment, Hephaestus finally put her hand up to silence them. "While his arrival does mean what I believe you all think it means. He did not come empty handed."

Another round of concerned murmurs ensues. It went on for quite a while before the oldest looking dude in the room suddenly spoke up. This was the easiest god to memorize from Hephaestus' descriptions.

"What drew the world to bring him here?" Ouranos asks. Hephaestus just looks at me and motions me to step forward.

With a nod I step into the center of the room and hold out my hand. A blue light temporarily blinded everyone before a loud thud drew back their attention. On the ground was a full sized [Embermane] corpse. One from my world.

More murmuring happened but this time a lot of it came from the captains who looked on in disbelief. They clamored for a moment before that child looking guy from earlier raised his hand. I just looked at him.

"May I come take a closer look, my lord?" I just nod. He quickly approached the corpse and looked over each part. More specifically the parts that he shouldnt recognize as they weren't on the [lesser embermane]. "This is an [embermane] no doubt. But I've never seen one like this before."

Before any more murmuring could begin, Ouranos addressed me.

"Would you explain, demi-god."

"Of course. This is indeed an [embermane]. The one you've fought in the dungeon is a variant known as a [lesser embermane]. This corpse is from my world, but I have no doubt a full born group exists below."

Surprisingly no clamor this time as each person within the room was now deep in thought. The captains in the room were easy to read, and they were no doubt thinking about the implications of what I said. Grief covered a good chunk of their faces so no doubt they had casualties to something I just called lesser. Showing them a corpse of the stronger version probably didn't inspire too much hope.

"Monsters huh?" A new voice spoke up. This time it was from the woman with silver hair with the big boar guy behind her. "Are there any other monsters from your world that have sprung up in the dungeon." I nodded.

"At least one other that I know of. But the difference in strength between it and the [lesser embermane] doesn't make the most sense, so my assumption is that with the change of the layout in the dungeon the ones in between the two have appeared." The gods nodded at my words. Honestly the palpable fear within the room was not the best feeling.

"May we know about your world, young demi-god?" Another new voice. This time from a lanky blonde guy in a green hat. Hermes I believe.

"Well, first off my world is dying." Que shock bla bla. "The energy within the planet was too great and shattered the surface. We live on islands floating above its abyss. The aether within the planet corrupted the monsters and animals and formed the behemoths. I lived as a slayer for a good part of my life before learning of my potential within a smithy. I then did both until I wound up here." Kind of a lie there at the end but whatever.

"Hmm." Ouranos again. Turning back and forth between these guys is tiring. "So the dungeon stole your monsters, and the world stole you in retaliation."

I couldn't help but sadly smile at that. Placing my hand on the corpse I sent it back to my storage and motioned for the pallum to go back to his goddess.

"From what I know of the role the world has given me, I'm supposed to guide the people here and help them." Ouranos nodded at my words. "But I just want to go home, and that's not possible is it?"

Everyone within the room shifted in their seats. Even Ouranos as I just stared right into him. It took him a moment, but he inevitably just shook his head. I let out a shaky breath. Hephaestus walked over and put her hand on my chest to steady me. Once I could, I stood tall and looked back at Ouranos.

"Then I request for you to let me clear the dungeon on my own."

"..."

"What?" Ouranos' shocked expression led the rest of the room to burst into discussion. I stared forward as the others had their shocked moments.

"Enough!" I silenced the room. My anger surprised literally everyone except Hephaestus who still stood by me with her hand steading me. "I just want to go home. If my task is the dungeon, then I'll clear it. After that maybe the world would let you all send me back?" It was a leap, but honestly it's all I have to go on for now.

The room stayed silent for a bit longer before a surprising voice piped up.

"Could you actually do it alone?" Ottar asks. The rest of the room looks at the stoic captain in surprise. I couldn't help but silently laugh.

"It doesn't matter. If it's my monsters all the way down, then no. I'm not gonna let dying stop me from getting home though."

The room was silent once again. Everyone clearly had thoughts running through their heads. I look at Hephaestus for a moment and I can tell that internally she's smiling. Seems to be working I guess.

"Perhaps I have a solution." Someone finally speaks up, Freya this time. "While I admire your desire to return to your home there is perhaps a way for you to complete this task in a way the world's will accepts." Everyone turned to her.

"If you create whatever you are, a "slayer," you said. With the adventurers of Orario. Make your team and clear the dungeon, then perhaps the world would wish you that mercy."

'....Perfect.'

[Later]

"That probably couldn't have gone better honestly."

Hephaestus was sitting at her desk sorting through a bunch of papers she had to sign off on. She's been pretty happy about the whole thing.

"Was the whole thing really necessary?" I asked. She just nodded.

"We had to make it their idea. If you had offered to just train people and give them weapons then they probably would have just had you make weapons and keep you above ground." She explained. "But since you basically threatened to go and kill yourself down there they knew you were serious. This way they can't restrict you in the dungeon and they still get your help making their people stronger. Win win."

"Well not really. I still have to train a bunch of people that I've never met. From what I could tell only a few people in that room were of any use at all, so who knows how long it's gonna take."

Hephaestus looks up from her work and sighs.

"At least you can get down there."

"...sigh"

She's right. At least with this I can put a team together and get this whole dungeon thing over with. Anything to get down there and kill that [Chronovore].

I felt it after I tore that [Valomyr] apart. It's definitely down there. The same bastard that threw me here is just sitting down there. Probably healing after I ripped most of its tail off.

My assumption, backed by some Hephaestus logic, is that when it threw me into the portal, it was too weak to resist itself and fell in as well. Which is good for me because once I get down there I'm gonna shove [The Apocalypse Needle] in its mouth and make it send me back home.

Until then I gotta make some slayers, and hopefully the adventurers they send me are not too difficult to work with. I'm sure they wouldn't send me anyone who is difficult to work with…. Right?

"Goddess Hephaestus!" Someone suddenly called from outside.

"Enter." The door opened and a young looking human entered.

"Goddess." He said, then he looked at me. "God….ling. Lord…. My lord." He looked confused, but Hephaestus' laugh snapped him out of it.

"Goddess, a representative from the guild just dropped of the statements."

Hephaestus' eyes widened slightly.

"Already? Well bring them in." The young boy handed both of us a small pamphlet and quickly left the room. "They sure do work fast."

I nodded as I read the cover page. 'The Dungeon Changing, And What That Means' was the title. It went on to explain what a herald of the world was and my identity. Or the one we made. It explained how my world's monsters, called behemoths, were slowly entering the dungeon and I was brought here to minimize the damage to the world. All in all, whoever wrote all of this in three hours needs a raise.

"This is released tomorrow morning, correct?"

"Yes." Hephaestus sighed. "We'll need to reinforce the gate tonight. No doubt the mansion will be swarmed with people tomorrow. It would probably be best for you to make an appearance as well. So get some rest."

"No can do." I said. "I need to find a way to make my armor and weapons interact with mana if I want to go home. There is definitely not enough time to get these people adapted to aether."

Hephaestus nodded and leaned back in thought for a moment. As I stood to leave she suddenly called for her assistant. A moment later a young human woman entered the door.

"Bring Welf to me please. I require his assistance."

The young girl quickly nodded and ran out of the room. I looked back at the red head.

"Who is that?"

"A smith. One capable of making magic weapons. He should be able to help in your research."

With a nod of thanks I left the room. Once back in my own little workshop Hephaestus gave me I got out the smithing tools I was given.

I hate wasting time so I removed the [Apocalypse Horn] that I got from the [Valomyr] and tossed it straight in the fire. While that was getting nice and hot I held up the hammer that was supplied to me.

"Nope." Into the trash that goes.

I'll need to make my own hammer it seems. That one is gonna shatter if it touches anything I make. [Rockscale] from a [Scarn] will definitely suffice, but for now I'll just use a [Recruits Hammer]. It'll be awkward but it'll work.

"My lord." A voice called. Entering my workshop was a tall human male. "Welf Crozzo is here for you." Setting down my hammer I nodded at the man.

"Send him in."