**Due to the MASSIVE LACK of fan fiction for Dungeon no Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka, or otherwise known as Is it Wrong to try and pick up girls in a Dungeon, or the ever shorter and easier to pronounce DanMachi, I have decided to write an all original content with a few original characters thrown in. This will not be following the Hestia family nor will it feature Bell Cranel (that much, he will make appearances.) Please enjoy and leave a review if you like or hate it!
End of Author Rant**
The sixth floor, it had been awhile since he delved this deep. Oh he knew he could handle it, he just wanted to be cautious… after all he didn't have the blessing of the gods to help him like other adventurers. He faintly recalled it being called the Falna, but today he needed some extra scratch to get his hands on some more of his favorite beer. His mouth watered with anticipation as the bar he frequented didn't import it that often from the Alv Mountains.
"I'll have to stock up on it. Can't let them run out now can I, without most of it going with me anyway!" Said the adventurer excited stalking the dark corridors of the dungeon looking for potential prey. He stepped in something viscous and looked down to see a faint dark red stain on the ground. It was a blood trail. The adventurer followed looking for the wounded person, or creature, either or would be fine by him.
*Cough* "Eh, that's going to hurt tomorrow for sure. Uh, man, where is that bastard with that help?" Said a voice from around a corner.
The adventurer took a quick peek around the corner to see a man with brown hair and two scars on his face. One on his left cheek and another over his left eye on his forehead.
"Mord? The hell happened to you big man?" Laughed the adventurer heartily looking over the injured man. He noticed a gash over his shoulder, it seemed pretty deep.
Mord looked to the mysterious man standing over him and squinted in the low light of the dungeon. As he realized who was standing before him his eyes widened in a nostalgic happiness.
"Ardorn is that you? What are you doing down here? More like when the hell did you get back to Orario?" Questioned a stunned Mord as he tried to stand and proceeded go into a coughing fit, hacking up a small amount of blood.
"Whoa there big guy, take it easy. What happened to you, where is your party?" Asked Ardorn, grabbing onto the man as he fell forward. He laid the wounded man back down against the wall where he had been originally.
"Long story short, I was going to Rivira with a small group of guys, the Loki familia headed down earlier trying to get to the thirtieth floor. So we were going to get there behind them after they did the hard work of killing the Goliath on the seventeenth floor. Lucky us though, we got attacked by War Shadows." Said Mord, managing to croak it out through his coughing fit. Blood ran down his chin onto his furred cloak. "Some people ran away right away, some others fought. I fought, obviously, as you can see. I sent one of the guys back the way we came for help. The rest went to check on the fools who fled."
"Let's get you out of here, you can buy me some beer for the trouble. And how many times must I tell you, call me Ard." Replied Ard, positioning himself so that he could flip Mord over onto his shoulder.
"Argh, watch it."
"Sorry." Shrugged Ard, apologetic as it was going to get.
"Argh, what the fuck Ardorn! And don't you dare say sorry and shrug again." Yelled a very angry and hurt Mord.
"Whatever you wish my ever humble princess." Replied Ard sarcastically, flourishing his free hand so that Mord could see it. In response Mord kneed him in the chest. "Oi, watch it or I just might sneeze bastard." Laughed Ard.
The going back was fairly easy, most of the monsters had been killed either by the Loki familia, or by other adventurers heading down to lower floors. However they did have to stop once to sneak around a large group of goblins on the second floor. Soon after they were out of the dungeon and ran into a frantic looking adventurer leading a small group of people with a stretcher.
"Conners, where the hell were you!?" Yelled Mord from over Ard's shoulder.
"Mord? Gods! MORD!" Screeched a very happy little man. "Oh, it's a miracle! You survived being alone down there and managed to… Who's the guy you're riding?" Questioned Conners quizzically looking at Ard, having never seen him before.
"The names A…" Ard began.
"Guys names Ardorn. Man just got back from travelling the land. Been what, how many years Ard?"
"Three." Sighed Ard annoyed at the talkative nature of his passenger. "And hey, who the hell said he was riding me? If anything he's getting off here." Barked out Ard dropping Mord onto the waiting stretcher.
"GOD DAMNIT ARD! The hell are you doing dropping me like that! That fucking hurt!" Cried out Mord in intense pain, tears welling in his eyes. "Well, for what it's worth, thank you for dragging my sorry ass out of there. As promised, take some valis." He said, looking a little embarrassed and to have had needed to rely on someone else as he tossed Ard a small bag of magic stones he had collected during the trip down.
"Thanks. No work for a bit of scratch? Maybe today is going to turn out better than I thought it would." Ard said catching the pouch and looked inside. "Pft, won't even buy two drinks, I'll see you later I need more from inside." He turned and headed back to the dungeon.
Before Ard went through the door again he turned to look over his shoulder and called out to the men carrying Mord, "Take it easy with him, he's one of my only associates!" Before he got through the door however.
"Just call me what you want to you dumbass, we're friends! Get over it!" Called out Mord.
Ard smiled as he went in, thinking to himself, some fools have it well off in this world don't they?
Ardorn made his way down to the third floor before he encountered any monsters, a small group of kobolds, from what Ard could see there were about several. He wasted no time in engaging them launching into an all-out assault. The first goblin was down the instant he entered the fray to fight them, snapping its neck with a lariat. The others now took notice of him as the goblin he just ended imploded into dust. He drew his two swords, the longer of the two he held in his off-hand, the shorter he held reversed in his right hand.
"Let's get started then." He mocked, grinning at the large group that was coming at him. One of the kobolds cried out a feral snarl and rushed headlong towards Ard, who brought forth his right hand in a forehand cut with his baselard, decapitating and killing it instantly. The other five were now moving cautiously two moving towards his right with great speed, trying to get behind him.
They now rushed him, the two from behind and one coming in from the left. Ard stood stock still in place, breathing to focus all his energy. He moved his footing to face the one that was charging from the left, putting his back completely to the two charging from behind. His hands moved on their own, his mind a blank slate.
His left hand, holding his broadsword was leverage across his right arm, the blades forming a cross. He spun on his back foot, thrusting with his offhand weapon into one of the two that was behind him while he ducked underneath the swiping claw of one of the kobolds, blocking the other kobold's attack with the rusty bracer on his right arm. He dug the short blade of the baselard underneath its ribcage and into its magic stone.
"Two down, three to go!" Ard declared, a feral look in his eyes and a wicked grin set on his lips. The third kobold leapt back flipping away from his counter, narrowly missing being caught across the face. It retreated back to the safety of its two fellow kobolds.
"Bastards, you're smarter than you look, aren't ya? Don't worry, you'll be seeing your friends soon enough." Said Ard throwing his baselard into the one standing to the left behind the first one. As soon as it was loosed he swung his broadsword through the like a flying disk of death. He sprinted after both weapons as soon as he planted his forefoot back into the dungeons bloodstained soil. The baselard struck the kobold first, impaling it through the right eye. The first kobold ducked beneath the swirling broadsword and ran towards Ard as he ran at it. The broadsword cleaving the ill-prepared third kobold in half. The sole surviving kobold leapt forward trying for a mighty blow with both claws.
"IMPACT!" Screamed Ard, punching the kobold under the jaw. A bright red flower of fire exploded where his fist struck sending the flaming kobold back into the wall of the dungeon, exploding into a fiery mass of light. The magic stone fell to the ground along with a couple of the kobolds teeth, which had probably been knocked out from the punch. Ardorn collected the several stones, the three teeth as well as his weapons.
"This should be able to get me enough valis for some of that Alv Ale." Said Ard, a twinkle in his eye, looking forward to his drink tonight. A rock bounced off of the ground, he spun around towards the sound, dropping into a combat stance. Shadows danced on the wall of the dungeon. The light source was bright, a torch? Ard thought to himself. He eased up his stance however he remained aware that it still might be dangerous. You could never tell with some adventurers.
"Hey Welf, do you think you could repair this bracer when we go for a day off next time? It's getting pretty beat up." Said a young man's voice as the shadows grew closer.
Why don't you just get a new one, better yet why don't you just let me make you a new one?" Said an older male, who Ard suspected was the Welf the first man had spoken to.
"I think Bell likes that one though, he got it from Miss Eina." Spoke a small feminine voice. Ard questioned what the three of them looked like and risked staying where he was. It wasn't often people went into the dungeon discussing random things like this.
The shadows were almost around the corner, whoever was holding the torch illuminated the two in the front, two male figures, one shorter another taller.
"The woman must be a supporter, her hands don't need to be free if she's holding a torch." Ardorn whispered to himself. Ard slipped into the shadows of one of the dungeons walls so he wouldn't be spotted as soon as they rounded the corner.
Ard noticed the shorter man first, his eyes crimson like blood glowed beneath his white bangs. The second, taller man, had red hair and was wearing a blue scarf. Lastly, a short woman carrying a large backpack holding the torch appeared. Ard noticed he had been correct, she was just a supporter, her cloak was white, her hood up. He also noted in the faint light of the torch that her hood had two small bulges on the top.
A cienthrope or was it some sort of helmet? Thought Ard curious as to what it may be.
"That doesn't have anything to do with it Lili, it just has been really…" Said Bell, stopping when he saw Ard. "Eh, hello." Sputtered Bell trying to be polite.
"Hey, so I'm curious…" Ard spoke leaning forward from the wall. The small party shuffled into a more ready position. "So is that a helmet or are you a cienthrope?" He finished. Everyone in the party looked confusedly at each other, until the two men finally looked to Lili, who pulled back her hood.
"I'm a cienthrope… Why'd you want to know?"
"Oh, honestly there was no reason. I saw the little bumps in your hood and was curious if it was an odd shaped helmet. No other reason, well I've got to go now, the bars awaiting." Said Ard pushing himself off the wall and headed the way the trio came from towards the exit.
"Wait!" Called the white haired boy. "Who are you, I've never seen you before."
"Yeah, neither have I. What's your name?" Called the taller man.
Ard turned and looked at them and started walking backwards. "Me? I'm no one really. But if you want to know, the name's Ardorn. Call me Ard though, shorter, easier." Ard replied, turning back to continue forward. Raising his hand in a wave.
**Okay, so first section of Ardorn's adventure, what did you people think? Good, Bad, Ugly? I have plans for this continuing on, but this was literally a spawned brain child that I only thought up in response to not many fics about DanMachi. Sooo I'm not sure where this will be going but it is going somewhere, I am open to suggestions however, not all or none may be used. Feel free to PM me or leave a review! It'll help me a bunch!**
Never stop believing in stories!
-Jaw112211