Chapter 19 - Fateful Decision

After returning to the surface, Loki and Hestia called a meeting with Freya, Ganesha, Hermes and Hephaestus. Meanwhile, it was time for updating and some good food.

Probably due to extreme magic use, Haruhime made it to level 2, which was critical as she could now boost 7. She also seem to be able to maintain the boost period longer. Bell's progress was good as he was approaching level 6. After updating, Bell and Ais had time for a long bath to wash off the dungeon grime.

The next morning, Ais, Tiona and Tione went out for some food and they got a chance to talk.

Tione "Ais, looks look you are Bell are really close"

Embarrassed Ais "Yea, we are"

Tiona "I cant take it any more! What were you doing in the tent?"

Ais "You saw"

Tiona "We only got a quick look. We want details"

Ais "It is too embarrassing"

Tione "I did not get to see"

Ais "Hestia told us that it is important for Bell's growth that we are intimate"

Tione "How intimate? Hestia is your excuse?"

Ais "Intimate but not totally intimate"

Tiona "If that was not totally intimate, ..."

Ais "Tiona, have you been totally intimate"

Blushing Tiona "Why are you asking? You were the one doing it"

Ais "Bell was practicing washing me without the water"

Tione "What?"

Really embarrassed Ais "That is intimate without being totally intimate"

Tiona "The Hestia familia is full of surprises"

Tiona with an evil smile "Do you like it?"

The furious Ais chased Tiona for a long distance before Tiona was punished...

During the lunch meeting, Freya brought Ottar while Hephaestus brought Tsubaki and Hermes brought Asfi.

Freya "You were able to clear 2 farming floors but the next floor had the same setup?"

Ais "Yes, each floor had multiple viscums and hundreds of violas."

Finn "The enemy is using the magic stones and pantries' nutrients to get stronger and incubate demi spirits."

Riveria "We did not fight with any demi spirits and we already had our hands full"

Hermes "This is troubling indeed"

Freya "What are you looking for? Oh Hestia, we can discuss compensation AFTER the meeting."

Loki "Finn believes that we need 2 teams. A small team to keep higher floors under control, particularly the 58th floor where the dragons are. The larger team will keep burning down the farming floors."

Ganesha "We also need to defend against an attack on Orario."

Hermes "We know they probably have at least 6 of those jewel fetuses"

Loki "True, I am not sure we can defeat 6 at the same time. But they may have even more now"

Hestia "We need to draw those demi spirits out in the dungeon instead of in Orario."

Freya "If 1 of those almost defeated 4 level 6 and 4 level 5, how are we going to beat 6 of them?"

Finn "Best case, Bell takes one. Our familia takes 2. Your familia takes 2. And others keep another one busy"

Freya "6 is barely believable, and 10 would be suicide"

Hestia "I think they would have attacked already if they had overwhelming force."

Loki "By dismantling Bali, Ishtar, Thanatos and Ikelos familiars, we may have delayed their plans"

Finn "It does seem they want to get their monsters on the surface before using the jewel fetuses."

Riveria "May be those demi spirits are hard to control once fully formed"

Freya "That makes sense. Strike now while we have a chance"

Finn "Ideally, we do quick strikes. We go in and burn down their assets. Do it enough and draw out a few of those demi spirits while gathering information"

Riveria "Those farms took a lot of effort and time. Burn them down. Hopefully draw a response."

Hestia "We have a secret weapon. One of my children can temporarily boost the level of 7 adventurers. So let say Ottar, Finn, Riveria, Bell, Gareth, Bete and one more"

Hephaestus "Wow"

Freya "Hestia is full of surprises"

Loki "Also Lefiya is now level 4 so her magic will be more powerful too"

With consensus, Hestia and Freya met after the meeting to discuss compensation. The negotiations were tough, but Hestia got Freya to accept compensation after the dungeon battles are over. Before adjourning, Welf provided 3 lightning magic swords for the expedition. Bell also received 2 special long swords made from Udaeus' sword.

An expedition would be launched the next day. The main team would consist of the Loki execs, Ottar, Allen, Asfi, Bell and Haruhime. The 2nd team would consist of the Gulliver brothers and Lefiya.

Chapter 20 - The Battle

The team went down in 2 groups. To save time, they got all the way down to the 25th floor for the 1st night. The next day, they traveled to the 50th floor. Bell and Ais had their privacy as no one wanted to be near Ais' tent

On the 3rd day, the trek down through the labyrinth started. Like the previous trip, there were no attacks from dragons beneath, probably meaning the virgas returned. The 1st team was able to battle their way down to the 58th floor while mostly the vanguard defeated a good number of monsters including virgas.

When they entered the 58th floor, there were a good number of virgas but the violas and viscums have not returned. Ottar and Allen got in some fighting with the monsters before Lefiya launched Fusillade Fallarica. At that point, the larger team headed to the 59th floor while the small team stayed to patrol the conquered floors.

The invisible Asfi took a quick look at the 59th floor before returning to report only a manageable number of virgas. To save Riveria's magic, Lefiya did follow them to use Fusillade Fallarica. The same was done on the 60th floor with Asfi scouting the floor and Lefiya using Fusillade Fallarica one last time. At that point, it was time for the showdown.

When they entered the 61st floor, they saw the hundreds of violas and several viscum. For the battle, they would separate into 3 teams. Team 1 consisted of Ais, Bell and Tione. Team 2 consisted of Bete, Gareth, Ottar and Allen. Team 3 consisted of Finn, Riveria, Tiona, Asfi and Haruhime. Haruhime apparently boosted Ais, Bell, Ottar, Bete, Gareth, Riveria and Tiona.

As they headed towards the enemy, Revis suddenly spoke from a highpoint "Aria, we have been waiting for you"

Behind Revis were 2 mage type demi spirits and a bull type demi spirit. Realizing the danger, Riveria put up Via Shilheim. At that point, Welf, revealing himself when he took off his Hades Hat, used will-o-wisp to block the attack from the first mage demi spirit. The second mage demi spirit launched meteror swarm, which was stopped by the level 7 shield spell. Remembering what happened the last time, Gareth got his shield ready to protect the group. Riveria then started chanting her attacking spell while the 2 mage spirits were again casting their attack spells. Welf was able to block the spell of the 2nd demi spirit this time, while Riveria and 1st mage demi spirit traded attacks. Riveria's shield barely survived the 2nd attack, but her attack caused severe damage on the 2 mage demi spirits. As the 2 demi spirits were regenerating by sucking the magic out of other monsters, the group launched their direct attack. Bell launched a 3-minute charged argonaut firebolt at the bull type demi spirit, which destroyed its legs, and Tiona then charged towards the disabled monster to kill it. Ais and Ottar headed towards the regenerating mage demi spirits. Meanwhile, Allen, Bete, Tione, and Gareth battled the violas and viscum.

Bell, charging argo vesta, then headed directly towards Revis, who had her weapon at the ready. To stop the first demi spirit from casting another spell, Ais used a huge wind to knock it down. Welf again blocked the attack from the second mage demi spirit so it could not fire on Ottar. Using the lightning swords, Gareth and Tione were able to vaporized the magic stones from two viscums. At the same time, Bete and Allen were making progress against the remaining viscums and violas.

As Revis battled Bell, there were huge explosions as argo vesta impacted with Revis' green swords. Bell's gain in strength from his update surprised Revis, but she realized she is stronger. Ais used another huge wind to knock down the 1st mage demi spirit again, while Ottar has severely damaged the 2nd mage demi spirit with Welf's spell blocking help. Gareth and Tione used more lightning strikes to take out the remaining viscum, and ran to help with the demi spirits.

After a few exchanges, Bell realized he was being pushed by Revis, and decided to use both argo vesta and the new sword from Welf. At the same time, Gareth and Tione reached Ais and Ottar. Gareth jumped on the 1st mage demi spirit that was again knocked down by ariel, while Tione combine with Ottar to finish off the 2nd mage demi spirit. Meanwhile, Bete and Allen were thinned out most of the remaining violas.

Even with 2 swords, Bell was stabbed by Revis, but fortunately, Ottar and Tione got there before Revis could make a deeper slash. At that point, it was Ottar fighting at level 8 versus Revis. Tiona dragged Bell off to the side and pour potions on him. Meanwhile, Ais and Gareth finished off the 1st mage demi spirit.

Ottar and Revis were having an even fight. Ais, who saw Bell was injured, headed towards the battle with Revis. Gareth then went to assist Bete and Allen with the remaining plants. However, Haruhime was running out of power, so the level boosting had to end.

Losing the level boost, Revis started pushing Ottar, but Tiona and Ais joined in the battle, making it 3 on 1. As Bell recovered, he started charging argonaut with no limit using the new sword from Welf.

Seeing that all the monsters were defeated with the grand bell tolling in the bankground, Revis decided to retreat again, but Bell jumped in to block her way. While only charged for 2 minutes, the new sword impacted with Revis' weapon. The new sword won, and cut off Revis' right arm and the shock from the explosion blew Revis away 30 feet into a wall. However, that gave the defeated Revis the distance she needed to escape. Before the team could get close, Revis went through the entrance to the 62nd level.

Realizing they had the advantage, they decided to chase to the 62nd level. When they came out of the entrance, it was more of the same with the hot level and lots of plants. With no sign of Revis, they moved forward. However, their advance was stopped by viscums and violas, but no tamer was in sight. This time, Finn and Ottar took the lead, allowing Bell, Ais and Riveria to rest a bit with their heavy use of magic. While the battle proceeded, Bell thanked Welf for risking his life to help. Led by Ottar and Finn, the violas and viscums were cut down, but there were still no sign of Revis or any tamer. Realizing they still had the advantage, the team headed to the 63rd floor. It was yet another hot level with lots of vegetation and farming. Again, they were attacked by violas and viscums, which appeared to be a delay tactic to protect Revis.

In the battle led by Finn and Ottar, the team quickly cut down the violas and viscums. Continuing to push their advantage, they headed down to the 64th floor. They proceeded to cut and burn down many floors with enemy plants until they got to the 70th floor. The 70th floor was different because the plants appeared to be much less developed and hopefully marked the end of the farming activity. After cutting and burning the plants, they went to the 71st floor, where no farming was apparent. By that point, they had fought most of the day and needed to figure out where to rest. Deciding it was too dangerous to be that far from the 2nd group, they headed back up the floors. They found the 2nd team patrolling on the 60th floor on the way back up and spent the night there. Having burned down the farming floors, the question was 'what now'.

Finn "Wow, they were farming 12 floors."

Gareth "We have no idea how many jewel fetuses they have now"

Ottar "I dont know how we would battle 6 or 10 of those at the same time"

Finn "It was good we got defeat 3 of those. Hopefully they have less than 6 now"

Finn "The question is what do we do now. Revis is severely injured but which floor is she hiding?"

Riveria "We cannot stretch ourselves too thin. We need more reinforcements"

Bell "Orario still needs protection. We do not have any more."

Finn "There only reason to attack now is because Revis is injured"

Riveria "Right, hopefully with their farm burnt down, they are not getting stronger"

Ottar "Agreed. We need to go back and get approval for a new plan. The 70th floor is deeper than we expected"

With the decision made, the group rested for the night and headed back up the next day.

Chapter 21 - Allies Needed

After reaching the surface, everyone went home to rest up. That evening, Ais and Bell had their bath that they were really looking forward to. The hot water felt great and all the dungeon dirt took a lot of clean off. Afterwards, Hestia announced that Bell had reached level 6, with the victory over Revis to be worthy of praise from the gods. Ais congratulated Bell, who had finally caught up in level to her. With his stats, he should actually be fighting more like a level 7.

After Ais return to the Loki home, she found out that Riveria had finally reached level 7 after a decade of hard work. She was so happy for Riveria, and the increase in power could not have come at a better time. Enjoying her promotion, the elf definitely gave the dwarf and the pallum grief about the rank difference.

The next day, the familias met. The level up by Bell and Riveria were however the sizzle in the meeting. The topic of the meeting though was to figure out how to fight deeper and deeper into the dungeon while controlling the spawning monsters in all the conquered floors.

Ganesha "This is impossible. We just dont have enough high level adventurers"

Finn "We took out 3 demi spirits. It is much better to draw out the enemy in the dungeon now. Imagine if they still have 10 of those and they all show up in Orario"

Ottar "We have trouble fighting 5 of these at the same time. And that red haired tamer is a level 8 monster"

Bell "What if we got help from the Xenos? They should want to help"

Hermes "That is a splendid idea"

Freya "Alliance with monsters?"

Ais "They can talk and are intelligent. Some have helped us"

Freya "This is hard to believe."

Bell "Of the powerful Xenos we have met. I am quite sure the lizardman will help and he is a level 5 or so. I think the gargoyle may join us but we need to talk to him. The gargoyle is a level 5 or so. The key is the minotaur that is at least a level 7."

Ottar "The minotaur was fighting at a level higher than 7"

Loki "Hermes, may be we go talk to Ouranos?"

Hermes "Yes I agree. Lets go to the guild"

Freya "Alright, I will keep an open mind. I would need to meet them before agreeing to anything"

Freya to Hestia "Hestia, my compensation has gotten more substantial"

Hestia nodded, making Bell and Ais more worried.

Thus, Hermes and Loki went to find Ouranos. Meanwhile, with some down time, the team did some training so Ottar and Allen could understand better Haruhime's powers. With Welf's role in blocking monster magic, he also took part in the training. Finally, everyone got to try out the level 6 Bell and see the level 7 Riveria.

As expected, the level 6 Bell fought like a level 7. When Bell fought against Ais, he had the advantage but the battle was reasonably even when she used ariel. When it came time for Bell and Ottar to spar, everybody dropped what they were doing to watch. Ottar had the advantage over Bell, but when Haruhime boosted Bell, the roles were reversed. When Bell practiced against Bete, he spanked the wolf, which was really hard for Bete to take. Refusing to swallow his pride, Bete fought on but it was a losing cause.

Riveria's magic power at level 7 was similar to the boosted performance in the dungeon, but when boosted to level 8, it was absolutely frightening. Some wanted Bell to use argonaut against her new shield, but Finn refused to allow it.

Loki and Hermes returned after talking to Ouranos, who agreed to meet with all the participating gods. He believed the Xenos would help and offered Fels to coordinate. The next day, the meeting with Ouranos went as expected. Ouranos gave his description of Enyo and Revis to Freya and the other gods. It was agreed that the next expedition would start after 2 more days. Fels left early to find the Xenos so a meeting could be arranged at the Babel.

Two days of practicing, eating, bathing and updating went by quickly. The Xenos meeting would take place at the dungeon entrance, while the entire Babel area was sealed off by Ganesha members. Hephaestus, Loki, Hestia, Ganesha and Hermes, along with their familia executives, were waiting for the Xenos. With Fels leading the way, the key Xenos showed up including Asterius, Lyd and Gros. Lyd and Gros repeated their desire to live in peace while the Freya and Loki indicated that time was needed for such a drastic change in views by the surface world. With Fels guiding the talks, the two sides agreed to a truce and also to work together against Enyo and Revis. Finn then took over and discussed the tactics with the Xenos. The key was that the Xenos would take keeping the 58th floor under control, freeing up the small party to do more patrolling of the conquered floors. With that settled, the expedition immediately started. While the expedition was ongoing, the Ganesha familia would watch over the dungeon entrances at the Babel and the Knossos.