A/N: I'm still alive, just posting late. I made the chapters have a format now!
Not much to spoil; a little canon happens, important reveals with Blaec and the masked man.
PS: Is it Bate or Bete? I've seen it both ways.
"Um, Bell?"
"Yes, Lili?"
"Wouldn't it be a good idea if you got some armor before going to the lower floors?"
"Now that you mention it, I think it would be a good idea. Let's go look for some armor."
"Hey, Lili, have you found anything good yet?"
"No, Bell. Have you?"
"No, let's keep looking."
They continued looking, until Bell found a box of light armor.
"Hey, Lili! I found a set!"
"Oh, really Bell? Let me see."
"Here. It's really light, so I'd be able to move around a lot when I'm wearing it."
"That looks good, Bell."
"Thanks, Lili."
Lili smiled, nodding. "Well, this is a good set. A bit expensive, but I have enough."
He looked at the signature on the armor. "Welf Crozzo, huh?"
They carried the box out after paying for it, and parted ways for the day.
"Blaec."
"Yes?"
"How did you escape?"
"Well, that was easy. I just hid in the crowd."
"It's not that simple. I couldn't see you, yet you were the tallest one there."
"Eh, don't tell, alright? Something happened after that incident in the lower floors. I don't know how, but after a while, I found out something."
"What?"
"I can see again."
The masked man's eyes widened.
"Your eyes are made of glass, Blaec. How do you see?"
"I'm not sure. But you have my eyes, has anything different happened with your vision?"
"No. However, I'm sure he has something to do with it."
Blaec shook his head.
"No. You have my eyes, and I haven't gone back down there since you were banished."
"The ban has been lifted, you know. It's been ten years, but I can go back."
"You already went back, didn't you?"
"Yes, as soon as the ban was lifted."
A smile slowly formed on Blaec's face.
"You went to see Medusa, didn't you?"
The masked man's tone was even. "Yes."
Blaec leaned back. "I should have known. You could never forgive yourself for killing her, even if she did resurrect with almost none of her memories."
"Yes, I do regret that, even now. She's forgiven me, of course."
"Hey, did you get a new adventurer?"
"Yes, his name is Bell Cranel. He's a level one rookie adventurer. I'm not trying to replace you."
Blaec waved a hand dismissively.
"It can't be helped. What does he look like? I can't see much, only vague shapes and very limited color."
"He has red eyes, white hair, and looked a bit like you when we first met."
"You're not replacing me, I know. We can't restart when we've come so far. You're getting stronger, even with your limits."
The masked man chuckled.
"Only strive for greater than you limit."
"With you, that's a little difficult. How's the mask holding up?"
"It's fine. No cracks yet, and I've made sure to grow slowly, so it can adapt."
Blaec nodded, resting a hand on the masked man's shoulder.
"That's good. You're his supporter, so you need to help him get stronger."
"I know, I am a supporter. It is my duty to my adventurer to assist him always, to support him on the path he chooses, no matter where that path may lead, and to always protect him when he cannot, no matter the consequences that may fall upon me."
Blaec looked down.
"I know it's hard for you, but I know you can do it."
The masked man rested a hand on Blaec's shoulder.
"I will always support my adventurer on the path he chooses. Always."
Blaec smiled, running a hand through his black and white hair.
"So, that's how it is, huh? So, what path will you choose for yourself?"
"Never the path of another. I will forge the path I take with my own hands. My path will be the bridge that spans between the ones I support, and what they wish to achieve."
Blaec's smile broke into a full grin.
"Then let's do it. To fight with my very soul -"
"- That's what makes an adventurer. To fulfill the wishes of those I hold close, no matter how evil those wishes shall become - "
"That's what makes a supporter."
The masked man shook his head.
"That's what makes a friend, Blaec. I have seen what you have seen, and I have paid the extreme price for saving you. But I don't regret it at all. I have formed a new creed."
He cleared his throat, staring into Blaec's blank eyes.
"If you fall to evil, to the terror makes your very soul despair, I will be their to guide you. If you lose everything, I will give what I have left to make you whole again. If you stray from the path you sought to forge, I will be there by your side to make a new one. That's what makes a supporter, that's what makes a friend."
Blaec chuckled.
"I don't have much to top that off, but I can try. If you fall to those with ill intent towards you, I will protect you with all my strength. If you cannot stand and fight, I will fight for us both. No matter what you believe, I will always fight, so that we can triumph over our foes. That's what makes an adventurer."
They let go of each other, then clasped each other's hand, Blaec's grin widening.
"We will never surrender to those who oppose us, for we shall not falter. We will not look back on past events that have faded into obscurity, and we shall always triumph."
The masked man nodded.
"I like it. At its least it is impressive, and at its greatest, it is a creed that is truly understanding of who we are."
Bete rubbed the mark on the right side his face, even as he killed monsters left and right.
"That mark won't come off if you keep rubbing it."
Bete snarled at Ais. "I know that! I've tried washing it, rubbing, even burning and then healing it, but it still hasn't come off yet!"
Ais sighed. "Bete, whatever he did to you -"
"He? Ais, that man is not a he, and he's not a man at all. He's a monster."
Ais stared hard at Bete. "No, he's not. I know him. He's not a monster."
Bete sighed. "Did you look under his mask, Ais? Did you see what he is? He's not normal. I was wrong to say he couldn't make a minotaur scream in pain."
His eyes widened, as if he was seeing something that frightened him.
"He could make anything scream in pain."
He shuddered. "Come on, I don't want to go back when it's dark out."
The entire area went dark, and Ais heard a scream. When the light came back, she noticed three things. The first was a new person had joined their group, with black and white hair, and wearing a black and white trench coat, with matching gloves. In his hands were two longswords, one black, one white. The second thing she noticed was every monster in the area was gone, their magic stones lying on the ground. But the third, and possibly most important thing she noticed, was Bete on the ground in a fetal position, eyes wide, shaking.
"He's here, he's here, he's here. I don't want to die. Don't let me die."
The man glanced over, chuckling even as he stared with blank, black eyes.
"Oh, come now, I may be called a monster, but I'm not that scary looking."
Ais stared at the newcomer.
"I take it you know the masked man."
The man nodded, grinning. "Indeed I do. By the way, my name's Blaec. I take it you've met the masked man before?"
Ais nodded, and the man tilted his head towards Bete.
"This little guy here did something he really shouldn't have. I suppose it's because my supporter wants help for upcoming battles, but really, he's not getting much if this is all this guy is."
Bete looked at Blaec, his eyes mixed with fear and anger.
"Have you seen under his mask? He's a true monster, worse than anything down here."
"Well, I'd have to argue with that one. You see, about a decade ago, I found something in this dungeon that truly haunted me, something worse than anything I could imagine to ever exist."
"What was it?"
Blaec stopped grinning, his face full of melancholy.
"I found a place where the dungeon changed. The monsters there looked human, or almost human at the very least. But the worst thing, although I had seen it as something good at the time, was that they could think like a human. Fantastic, I thought. Who would have imagined that there would be something like this so far down in the dungeon? Monsters that could empathize with us, lay down their weapons, and make peace with us. We wouldn't have to worry about dangers past these floors, and the amount of money we could make by simple trading would be good to. Our stats would improve by spars, and we wouldn't have to kill them, because they could think like us."
Bete stood up, tilting his head slightly. "Then what made it so bad?"
Ais nodded.
"Where they came from."
Blaec nodded, his grin returning.
"Ah, the girl gets it right! Yes, where the monsters came from. They didn't come from the walls, and I suspected the dungeon didn't even create them. So, what did? I went to lower and lower floors, with almost completely human monsters, and what I found there was truly terrifying."
"What was it? Tell me already!"
"The creator of all monsters. You see, the power he wields is more than enough to give every monster humanlike intelligence, but don't tell the masked man that. Instead, he hid himself away, feeding off of adventures that the monsters managed to kill, no matter how weak. He gave the monsters on the lower levels more strength, more power, so that the closer an adventurer got to him, the more powerful they would have to be, so that he could kill and consume only the strongest adventurers."
"And he didn't kill you?"
"Oh, no. He did. It was quite painful, really. But that's what a supporter is for. He sacrificed the majority of his power to return what I lost, losing a lot in the process. That's why he looks as he does now. That mask is part of his magic. If he ever destroys that mask, he'd die. Although, I'm sure it's a skill by now. He said it was magic, but he's had the mask active for ten years now."
Bete's eyes widened.
"Ten years? That's not possible. Magic doesn't last that long."
"Oh, but this magic has lasted for long periods of time. The mask prevents injuries to whoever is wearing it, and the injuries return all at once when the mask is destroyed, or dismissed. I usually fought large waves of lower level monsters, and he went forward to challenge the floor boss. When I get there, the boss is weakened enough that I can continue the fight, finish it, then he releases the mask, and I tend to his injuries."
"Magic is a trump card, to only be used as a last resort. What you just described doesn't sound like a trump card to me."
"Oh? Even when you unleash your most powerful attack at him, and he walks through it like it never even happened? That sounds like a trump card to me. But the duration make it hard to believe that it's magic, but it needs to be actively activated by chant, so it can't be a skill."
Ais nodded.
"It's a magic with long-term effects. I can see that. My magic can last longer than an instant."
Bete looked at her.
"Yeah, but not for ten years."
Ais ignored him, addressing Blaec.
"So, how did you get here, and why?"
Blaec nodded.
"Well, I have a skill, that whenever I unsheathe both my swords, I teleport close to the masked man's power. Seeing as your friend over here had some of the masked man's power, I suppose that the teleport sent me to the closest source. As for why -"
He spun around, towards where Ais and her party had been traveling to before, and swung his swords down, parallel to each other. Bete's eyes widened.
"When did those things get here?"
"Ah, so you can see them. If you can do that, stop being lazy and help me!"
Bete jumped up, dashing and kicking at what seemed to be thin air. Ais tilted her head.
"What are you attacking?"
"If you can't see it, then you almost can't interact with it. This only applies to adventurers. Monsters can fully interact with monsters, so they can completely interact with these monsters. If you don't touch them, they'll ignore you."
Blaec continued hacking away at the invisible creatures, Ais standing still, and still unable to see the creatures. Bete was still fighting the invisible creatures, until blood dripped from a cut on his upper leg.
"Hey, kid. Don't let them get you. These guys aren't that strong by themselves, but as a group, it's not easy to kill all of them."
"I can see that. This cut is nothing."
Bete tried to move, but fell when trying to move the injured leg.
"They also paralyze living things they cut."
"You couldn't tell me this before why?"
"I like to think of myself as a teacher. Girly, get the kid out. Kid, don't let any of these guys get past you on your way out. Even if nobody can see them, they can still attack. If either of you have some kind of area effect spell, use it now. I'm not joking. You'd only be able to fight by touching them."
Ais nodded, then drew her sword.
"Awaken, Ariel."
A strong blast of wind surrounded her body, and she could feel extreme resistance as she carried Bete. Some things were trying to get her. Blaec glanced at her expression chiefly.
"They're after the kid, not you. I'll distract them until you get out of here."
Ais nodded, picking up the pace, her speed rapidly increasing. Blaec grinned as she vanished from sight.
"Alright, who wants to fight a real monster?"
He swung both swords away from his body, and many deep gouges formed on the walls. Dark auras formed on both his white and black swords, spreading to his arms. His grin widened, becoming increasingly bloodthirsty.
"Now, let's begin."
"Ais, I'm fine, let me go already."
"You cannot fight with a paralyzed leg."
"Ais, I'm fine. I can still fight with one leg."
"No."
"Ais, you can't go much more either. They're getting to you, I can see them, and you can't. Let me go, and I'll buy you some time to get out of here."
"No."
Bete struggled, but Ais still held firm to him, carrying him across their current floor. Sparks flew around her, as the invisible creatures clashed with her magic.
"Alright, Ais. That should be enough. my leg is fine now, you can look if you want."
Ais looked down, seeing black lines across Bete's injured leg. He moved it around, showing her that he could indeed, move his leg.
"Ais, let me go already."
Ais looked conflicted, but let Bete go anyway. He jumped up, lashing out at the invisible creature, a bloodthirsty grin spread across his face.
"Finally! I can really beat down on these weaklings!"
He spun, the black boots blasting the creatures away from Ais. She could feel the pressure on her magic lighten, and she swung her sword at several sparks, feeling brief resistance, after which no more sparks were generated in the area.
She narrowed her eyes, then continued swing at any sparks she could see around her, her swings quickening after each hit.
"Ais, look out!"
Bete swung his leg with immense power, striking an invisible creature behind Ais, then snarling at it.
"So, you want to fight? I'll show you a fight!"
"Bete, don't be reckless."
Bete just laughed.
"Don't worry, this will be over soon enough."
He crouched, then lunged at the invisible creature, striking with his legs.
"Something so weak is barely worth my time!"
He was proved wrong an instant later when he was flung across the room, crashing into the wall. Ais stared at him.
"I told you to not be reckless."
Bete sat up, growling.
"I know that."
He got up again, the black lines spreading across his legs. "Don't mess with me, weakling!"
He lunged again, and Ais shook her head. "So reckless."
"I'm not weaker than some overgrown bug!"
Bete snarled, lunging and unleashing a decimating kick to the invisible creature. Ais thought for a moment.
"I get it now."
Bete looked back for an instant, addressing her.
"What do you get?"
"They have a high defense, but weak offense."
Bete nodded.
"So, if our attacks are more powerful than their defense, we can kill them."
"Let's end this quickly."
They continued their fight, slashing at the insects, for Bete, and the invisible creatures for Ais. Ais was reaching a difficult solution, however.
'How long can I make Ariel last like this?'
"Hey, Ais, let me fight them. You're getting tired, and these guys are really weak."
Ais nodded, and the two moved around so that Bete was roughly in the center of the swarm. he took a breath.
"Hey, weaklings! Fight me!"
He braced himself, and spun around and struck at the swarm with decimating kicks.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Ais ran toward the entrance of the room, and, striking the rocks above it, collapsed the wall, preventing escape. She left the opening that led to Blaec clear. She turned and watched as Bete continued fighting, various scratches forming on his armor, even as he blocked.
Her eyes widened as she saw Bete fall. She rushed to help him, Ariel active, but she was blocked by an invisible wall of the creatures she still couldn't see. She swung her sword, and dashed through the opening formed by it. She knelt above Bete, protecting his body with her magic. He looked up with resentment in his eyes.
"Hey, I'm not going to die, you know. I'll be fine soon enough."
"They can still injure you."
"If you run, and block off the entrance, you'll make it. Tell everyone else not to come to this part of the floor. I'll be fine."
"I'm not leaving."
"Aw, how sweet. Kid, you did your job, but dying won't help anyone here."
Bete glared in Blaec's general direction. Blaec simply chuckled.
"Now, You two need to close your eyes, and get as close to the ground as possible. Girly, make a shield as strong as you can to cover you both."
Ais nodded, laying down next to Bete, and covering both of them with Ariel. Blaec grinned, madness in his expression as he sheathed his white sword, grasping the black one with both hands.
"Now, let's see how well you handle this!"
He swung his black sword horizontally with tremendous force, and the entire room was filled with darkness.
Moments passed.
"Hey, you two can get up now."
Ais and Bete opened their eyes. The entire had been carved smooth by the attack, the walls seemingly polished by the sheer force of the swing. They looked at Blaec, who was panting slightly.
"It's been a long time since I've done something like that."
"What are you?"
Blaec chuckled softly.
"What am I, she asks? Well, I had an epithet once. It was, 'The first to kill'. I was known to have the strongest attack of any adventurer. That was uncontested."
"What about the masked man?"
"He was known as, 'The last to die'. Fitting, with his magic, after all."
Blaec fell to one knee, his breathing heavier. He raised a hand.
"I'll be fine. Just clear the opening, and get out of here."
The two nodded silently before doing as Blaec instructed. Bete looked back.
"You're really strong, you know. I can respect that. But don't think you're stronger than me!"
"I wasn't thinking if, kid."
"I have a name, you know. It's Bete Loga. Remember it, Blaec."
"Of course, Bete. I'll remember it."
Blaec collapsed, his body disappearing in a mixture of black and white.
"He said he'll be fine. He probably has means to recover in a safe spot."
"Bete, we're leaving."
"Right."
A/N: Even though Ariel has a strong offensive power, the invisible insects have stronger defensive power. But, the invisible insects have a much weaker offensive power than Ariel has defensive power. Paralyze, then attack the immobile prey when they can't defend. So, kinda sorta maybe balanced.
Bete, don't die if it's pointless to do so. (He's actually being somewhat good in the story. Yay.)