My Dungeon Comedy is Wrong, As Expected.

Hachiman's consciousness dissolved, swallowed by a cold, almost relieving darkness. The brutal impact of the Goliath, the excruciating pain of crushed bones – it all faded away. He floated. An absolute void engulfed him, without light, without ground, just drifting in a soundless, timeless, infinite abyss.

Then, the whispers came. Distant phantoms at first, then crawling closer, echoes of sour memories, like poisoned knives tearing through the stillness of his mind. "Did you really think you could be a hero? Pathetic." "Always alone, aren't you? Distant. That's all you are." "Give up, Hikifrogy. You're a born failure. Why bother?" "Dead fish eyes are good for nothing but rotting."

They were the voices of his past, the barbs he himself had driven deep into his soul, the masks he had worn to shield himself from the world. He remembered his own words, spat with fierce cynicism in another life: 'Youth is a lie. It is evil itself.' Words used as a shield, as a flimsy excuse for his self-imposed loneliness.

But, breaking through the chorus of self-deprecation, other voices emerged – familiar, warm, tearing through the veil of darkness. "Muahaha, Hachiman! Get strong and lead this goddess's Familia to the top!" – Aqua, with her loud, annoying confidence, but damn it, it was somehow comforting. "Hachiman, show up more, okay? My goddess really likes you!" – Tsubaki, with that teasing smile and support he hadn't expected. "My forge and my home will always be open to you, Hachiman-kun." – Hephaestus, her soft voice laden with an affection that caught him off guard. "Thank you for listening to me, Hachiman-san, even though you didn't have to." – Ryuu, her recent gratitude tinged with a respect he saw growing.

There, in that limbo between life and what seemed to be death, Hachiman realized, with a clarity that pained him, that his journey, however twisted and full of stumbles, had not been a complete waste. Every challenge, every scar, every choice had brought him here, connected him to these people, to these goddesses. And even if his body was in tatters, his soul found a strange peace in the memories of those who, one way or another, had touched his stone heart. 'If this is where it ends...' he thought with a melancholic calm, '...let it be knowing that, for a brief moment, I lived something real.'

And then, one voice cut through all the others – clear, beloved, impossibly distant, yet unmistakable. "Onii-chan! Dinner's ready!"

'Komachi...!' The name exploded in his mind like a supernova. His little sister. The reason he had always dragged himself forward, however crooked and cynical. He couldn't die. He couldn't throw it all away, couldn't abandon the spark of hope, however small, of maybe someday... He had to go back. Give up? Not a chance.

'Get up!' a voice roared in his consciousness, and a distant sound reached him, like a hammer striking incandescent metal, the heart of a forge. 'GET UP!' the hammer sounded louder, faster, the crackling of the forge flames roaring, a searing heat beginning to burn away the darkness. 'GET UP!!!' Like a scream torn from the depths of his soul, the hammer delivered its final, resounding blow, and Hachiman felt his consciousness violently yanked from the void, back to light, back to pain, back to life.

Scene Cut: A Little Earlier – While Hachiman Danced with His Goliath

While Hachiman executed his dangerous kiting choreography with one Goliath, the battle against the other colossus raged near Rivira. Asfi, after leaving the mages gathered by Mord Latro in position, awaiting Hachiman's signal (his Goliath kissing the ground), had returned to lend Ryuu and company a hand, but the scene was equally bleak. Bell Cranel was still out cold, the result of a powerful kick the other Goliath had dealt him moments before, when the boy had naively tried to confront the goliath.

Ryuu Lion fought with the fury of a lioness. The Goliath before her, whose eyes had been momentarily blinded by a coordinated attack with Asfi (before she left after Hachiman and was captured), was already recovering, its monstrous regeneration working at full steam. Ryuu advanced and retreated, her elven wood sword a nimble blur, but her strikes barely scratched the creature's thick bone plates. Seeing an opening, she leaped back, the air around her vibrating as she began her chant:

"In the sky of a forest now distant. Countless stars sprinkle the endless night mantle. Answer my foolish voice, grant me now the divine protection of starlight fire! Give the mercy of light to the one who abandoned you! Come, wandering wind, lost traveler! Cross the sky, sweep through nature, swifter than any! Imbue the light of stardust and pulverize the enemy... Luvia, LUMINOUS WIND!"

A barrage of cutting wind spheres, whizzing like spectral blades bathed in starlight, bombarded the Goliath. The monster roared, a guttural thunder tearing through the air, as the spheres exploded against its carapace, tearing off splinters of bone. But despite the furious barrage, the colossus only staggered for an instant, the fury in its eyes now incandescent. With a swift and brutal pounce, it grabbed Ryuu, its claws closing like a vise.

"RYUU-SAN!" Mikoto Yamato screamed, desperation in her voice. She was already in the middle of her own chant, sweat pouring down her face. Urgently, she concluded it, her voice laden with power: "Come here now by my command! Descend from the heavens, rule the earth – Shinbu Tousei!"

A titanic sword of pure gravitational energy tore through the artificial skies of the 18th floor, embedding itself in the Goliath's shoulder with a crushing impact, forcing it to kneel. Simultaneously, an invisible cube of gravitational pressure materialized around the monster, compressing it, the ground cracking under the force. The Goliath's grip loosened, and Ryuu, with a groan of pain, managed to free herself.

The Goliath bellowed, veins bulging on its body as it fought against the crushing pressure. For a moment, it seemed it would be contained. But with a titanic effort, shards of black energy erupted from it, and it shattered the gravity cube, though it was visibly slower, smoking, and wounded. In that instant, Welf Crozzo, who had rushed to retrieve his newest masterpiece, an anti-monster magic sword, emerged like a hurricane. Leaping to the edge of the smoking crater created by Mikoto's magic, he raised the blade, which radiated a palpable heat. "Fire Moon!" He delivered a downward slash, and the sword vomited a wave of infernal flames that engulfed the Goliath trapped in the hole, turning the area into a bubbling cauldron. It was at that moment that, in the distance, everyone saw a whirlwind of crimson-black energy rise into the heavens, a sinister aurora. 'Hachiman...' Ryuu thought, her heart tight with worry, recognizing the sinister signature of his power.

But distractions were a luxury they couldn't afford. The Goliath before them let out a deafening roar from within the flames, an inferno licking at its colossal form. Welf's sword, though potent, hadn't been enough for a fatal blow. And then, Bell Cranel, who had finally awakened with the commotion and the smell of burning flesh, appeared beside them, staggering but on his feet. He no longer looked like the scared boy. His red eyes shone with a white, pure, and intense light. In his hands, he wielded a disproportionate, serrated blade, which also gleamed with the same milky light of his Argonaut skill, charged to its maximum. With a cry that was pure determination, he advanced, disappearing and reappearing before the Goliath still wreathed in fire and smoke, and delivered a devastating blow to the creature's chest.

An blinding white flash engulfed the entire 18th floor for an instant, blinding everyone. When the light receded, the Goliath was horrifically mutilated, only half of its torso remaining, pathetically trying to regenerate, its enormous magic crystal exposed and pulsing erratically in what was left of its chest.

As Bell prepared for the killing blow, to shatter the crystal, he was suddenly swept away by an invisible wave of pressure, thrown far like a rag doll, falling unconscious once more. It was the other Goliath – the one Hachiman faced. Somehow, it had rid itself of its opponent and now, from a distance, spat spheres of compressed air, like invisible cannonballs, forcing everyone fighting the first Goliath (now on the verge of death) to retreat and seek cover. Ryuu, agile, grabbed Bell before he hit the ground too hard, dragging the unconscious boy out of the line of fire.

The victorious Goliath (Hachiman's) began to run towards them, its heavy steps making the ground tremble, clearly intending to finish off the other monster and then the group of adventurers. When it was halfway there, a shadow emerged like lightning from behind it. Hachiman.

He delivered a precise blow with a spear no one there had ever seen, striking the back of the Goliath's knee. The impact made the monster stumble and fall to its knees with a metallic crash. The instant the giant roared, unbalanced, a barrage of spells – fire arrows, ice lances, crackling lightning – rained down on it, coming from the mages Mord and Asfi had positioned. The Goliath roared again, more from fury than real pain, the rain of magic merely scratching its hide.

Scene Break: Moments Before Hachiman's Attack on the Goliath

Hachiman had awakened moments before, consciousness returning to his body like the last echo of a hammer on an incandescent anvil. Information flooded his mind: the Development Ability 'Beloved by the Forge' had saved him from certain death, rewinding his state to moments before the Goliath's crushing blow. He quickly checked Asfi, whom he was still holding protectively when he passed out; the ability had saved him, and he had absorbed the brunt of the damage from that last hit, so she was no worse off than before. Mentally thanking Hephaestus for that blacksmith's miracle, he ran with Asfi in his arms (she was still unconscious) towards where Mord had gathered the mages. He found them with their spells charged, the tension palpable in the air, waiting for the signal. Leaving Asfi in their care, his voice was a cold, quick command: "I'm going to bring the Goliath down. When it falls, hit it with everything you've got!"

And that was exactly what he did. Now, Hachiman was behind the Goliath that had almost sent him to the afterlife. "Trace On." Not Kanshou and Bakuya. Not Ningen Mukotsu. A new spear materialized in his hand, golden, shining, and intricately engraved. 'Trap of Argalia.' The spear of the knight Argalia, whose legend said it could trip anyone its point touched. Low lethality, but an unparalleled crowd control effect.

Charging the Trap of Argalia with the concentrated energy of 'Single Strike,' not to cause damage, but to amplify its kinetic impact and the intrinsic "trip" effect, Hachiman struck the back of the Goliath's knee with all the force he could muster. The spear's effect was instantaneous. The giant stumbled badly, completely lost its balance, and collapsed to the ground with a thunderous sound – the signal for the mages. The rain of spells hit it squarely, scorching its skin and chipping its natural armor, but mainly serving to enrage it further.

The Goliath, foaming with rage, tried to hit Hachiman with a sweeping punch, even while down. Hachiman, with 'A Loner's Protection' and 'Savage Determination' burning in his veins, dodged with a fluidity that bordered on the supernatural and, with feline agility, leaped onto the monster's massive arm. He ran along the gigantic limb as if it were a catwalk, towards the Goliath's head, which was already moving its other hand to crush him like an insect. Dodging by a hair's breadth, Hachiman gained as much momentum as possible and launched himself into the air, rising, rising, rising with a force that seemed to mock gravity.

As he ascended, he felt his mana dangerously low after so many projections and the previous use of Single Strike. Without hesitation, he brought two high-level mana potions to his lips at once and downed them, feeling his body vibrate and almost explode with the sudden, overwhelming influx of magical power. "Trace On!"

At the peak of his ascent, hovering over the Goliath that was struggling to rise, a large, black, taut, and sinister bow appeared in his hand. And as an arrow, he projected Clarent – Mordred's silver sword, whose beauty was described as "more dazzling than any silver." He began to draw the bowstring, an almost unbearable tension accumulating, imbuing not only the arrow-blade but the bow itself with the devastating and concentrated energy of 'Single Strike.' The entire 18th floor seemed to hold its breath, everyone's eyes fixed on Hachiman. He rose higher and higher, and the Clarent in his bow began to glow, first with a silver sheen, then with a light that thickened, becoming a star of intense, pulsating amethyst brilliance.

The moment Hachiman stopped rising, suspended in mid-air like an avenging angel or a comet about to collide, he felt an ancient and powerful chant resonate in the depths of his mind. If he could see his Falna at that instant, he would know that the first line of his magic 'Unlimited Blade Works,' previously gray and inaccessible like a distant dream, had just turned golden, alive.

Looking down at the enraged Goliath, which was finally managing to prop itself up on one knee, he finally chanted the first phrase, his voice echoing with a newfound power, a power that was intrinsically his. And then, he released the bowstring.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Clarent descended from the heavens like an amethyst shooting star, tearing through the air and leaving a dazzling luminous trail. It struck the Goliath squarely in the center of its chest. The ensuing explosion was apocalyptic, engulfing the monster entirely, a dome of amethyst energy that expanded and illuminated every nook and cranny of the eighteenth floor with its supernatural glow. After what felt like an eternity, the stunning light subsided, and the only thing left at the site of the explosion was the Goliath's magic stone, now cracked, dark, and lifeless, embedded in a smoking crater.

Hachiman, his energy and consciousness rapidly fading after that superhuman effort, began to fall towards the ground, a dead weight. As he fell, the sounds of the world returning – shouts, exclamations, perhaps even muffled applause – he felt arms catching him, breaking his fall before impact. With blurred vision, he recognized the pale face and golden hair of the one holding him. Aiz Wallenstein.

In his last wisp of consciousness, before darkness took him again, the last word he heard, whispered close to his ear with a tone of awe and something else, something he couldn't identify, was hers:

"...like the heroes... from mama's stories..."