Is It Too Much To Ask To Be Left Alone?

by Ashbel Longhart

Bell Cranel died to a Minotaur in the Dungeon. Years later, he finds himself in Lordran after escaping the Undead Asylum only to die over and over. And then he burned for many, many years. And after many centuries, what seemed like a dream, Bell finds himself back in the Dungeon. So what does he do now that he's back home? To be frank, he just wants to be left alone.

12. Grace 12: Vendetta

I AM NOT DEAD! Contrary to what people believe, I have not stopped writing my stories. Don't write me off dead just because I don't update in half a year. At this point, it should be well known how slow I tend to be with updates, not helped with the fact that I was kept busy due to classwork. But now I'm free, for the winter at least, so expect more updates to come out not soonish, but eventually.

Okay, now that I've said my piece, welcome back everyone to another chapter of my DanmachixDark Souls story! Considering just how popular this is with a lot of people *looking wide-eyed at the number of Fav's and Follows* I thought it would make the most sense to come back with a new chapter after being gone for so long. So sorry for those I kept waiting, but I'm here now so here you go. But before that, cue disclaimer!

(Disclaimer: I do not own Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka, Danmachi for short, or Dark Souls. Both belong to their respective owners. I just own this story and nothing more. Please Enjoy.)

Alright then, last time, not a lot happened actually. Bell finally reached the 18th Floor and began to ask around about Chester when he ran into Bete's group and figured that something was going on. After that was Ais and Asfi's group exploring the 24th Floor and discovering a mysterious labyrinth before running into the one and only Marvelous Chester.

I'll be the first to admit that the last chapter wasn't my best considering the second half of it was just the events of Sword Oratoria typed out almost word for word. I just needed a way to introduce Chester to the story so for those excited to see more of him here, then you're in luck. If you want to know what I mean, then simply read on ahead. But enough talking, it's time for some jolly adventuring!

---

Is It Too Much To Ask To Be Left Alone?

Grace 12: Marvelous Chester (Vendetta)

---

(Dungeon, 24th Floor)

"Shoot, sniper of the fairies. Penetrate, arrow of absolute accuracy. Arcs Ray!"

*SHOOOOOOM!*

A beam of light shot forward and destroyed the charging Monsters coming from behind. With the back covered, Lefiya quickly ran back in order to catch up with the rest of the group. Up ahead, another group of Monsters consisting of Hobgoblins, dragonfly-like monsters known as Gun Libellula, and Lizardmen all armed with Natural Weapons. The first two were no problem as Bete was a blur, killing the first two Monsters before they knew what hit them. As for the Lizardmen, Filvis faced them all on her own, fighting back with her short sword while at the same time chanting a spell.

"Sweep, holy staff of crushing evil. Dio Thyrsos!" From a short staff held in the right hand of the black-haired elf came forth golden lightning which took the head of one Lizardman. The last two had their throats sliced open by Filvis's short sword, ending the fight in a matter of a single minute.

"All right, the coast is clear. Let's get moving, we're almost to the pantry," Bete said as the group resumed moving, completely unaware that they were being followed.

'So that's how magic is cast here,' Bell thought to himself as he hid in the shadows despite his armor. For the last hour, the armored Adventurer had been following the trio, discovering that the 24th Floor was indeed flooded with Monsters. Of course, thanks to his stealth skills and his half-clean armor masking his scent, he had gone undetected.

"Chanting like that seems like a hassle. Also, why did that Lefiya girl just stand there instead of moving around like the black-haired one?" The voice in Bell's head commented. Bell, as per usual, ignored it as he figured the Loki elf wasn't asked skilled as the black-haired elf. It took him quite a long time to move around while casting Sorceries himself. But now wasn't the time to get caught up in memories.

With the unusual influx of monsters on this floor as well as the rush the trio seemed to be in, Bell concluded that something was happening down here. And as someone who had grown to dislike being uninformed about the world around him, he was going to find out what was going on. Much like every problem he tackled, Bell was going to remain focused, allowing nothing to distract him from—

*bling!*

From the corner of his vision, Bell noticed something sparkling under the artificial lighting of this floor. It was a creature whose body was made up of stone and had a noticeable huge crystal on its back. Bell blinked his eyes, recognizing the creature, and found himself staring at it in disbelief.

It was a Crystal Lizard.

...

...

...

...

...

...

*shing!*

"Hm?"

"Is something wrong?" Lefiya asked Bete who suddenly stopped running and looked behind them.

The werewolf narrowed his eyes at the path behind them but could not see, hear, or smell anything unusual.

"Must have been my imagination," Bete said as the three resumed running, completely unaware of Bell beating the Crystal Lizard to death with the end of his sword behind a bush as the voice in his head kept screaming and repeating "KILL IT!" Had Bell's helmet been off of him, one would have been greatly disturbed by the expression on the Undead's face.

---

"Marvelous...Chester?" Asfi repeated as she and everyone stared at the masked man who chuckled at them.

"Yes, that is my name," The newly introduced Chester said, tipping his hat back up. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hermes Familia. How's old Pan doing? Still getting into trouble with that god of yours?"

"Pan?" Asfi raised an eyebrow at that as did the other members of her Familia. It took the blue-haired woman a second to realize who Chester was talking about before narrowing her eyes at him, almost glaring at him. "Pan...as in, former captain Pan Flock?"

"Former captain?" Chester raised an eyebrow under his mask before realizing what Asfi was saying and sighed. "Ah, he passed away. Shame, I quite liked him. I still owed him a drink."

"You talk as if you knew him," Asfi said while trying to figure out who this man was and how he knew the former captain of her Familia who had passed away ten years ago.

"Of course I knew him. He and I were old drinking buddies," Chester said, chuckling as he seemed to be reminiscing before he gazed at Asfi from top to bottom. Despite the mask covering his face, many felt the man's expression matching his mask. "And judging by how you talk, I'm going to guess you're the new captain. I must say, Hermes' taste in women sure hasn't changed while I've been gone, not that I'm complaining of course, far from it."

Asfi felt her eye twitch as she quickly realized that the masked man was, how did Hermes say it, checking her out. Before she could say anything though, Ais suddenly stepped forward, her sword still pointed at Chester.

"Who are you?" She demanded. Chester in response tilted his head which, to her confusion and displeasure, strangely reminded her of Bell.

"Did you not hear me the first time? I said I'm—"

"That's not your name," Ais interrupted the masked man, slightly glaring at him. "That name belongs to Loki's first child, my senior."

"Loki?" Chester turned his full attention to Ais as if fully registering her presence for the first time. Then, surprising everyone, he started laughing. "Oh ho ho? I thought I recognized that scent of yours. You're from Loki's Familia."

'My scent? Wait...do I smell like Loki?' Ais blinked dumbly before suppressing the urge to shiver as she made a mental note to take a long bath when she got back home.

"Well, well, Loki must have scored lucky if she has someone like you in her Familia. Mmm, yes, very nice."

Ais felt her eye twitching at the masked man checking her out now. Yet, to her confusion, despite the fact that the masked man was the one speaking, she felt the inexplicable urge to stab Loki instead.

"How is that fox-eyed redhead doing? Still skirt-chasing after elves and anyone with a decent butt and rack?" Chester asked as he started walking over to Ais.

"You didn't answer my question," Ais said as she stopped the masked man from going any further, placing her sword right at his neck.

"Now, now, no need to get violent. I've been completely honest with you from the very beginning," Chester said as he placed his right forefinger on the tip of Ais' Desperate and pushed.

"Guh!" Ais let out a grunt of surprise as she found herself pushed and stumbling back. Quickly regaining her footing Ais looked up at Chester in surprise who laughed at her.

"Enough!" Asfi cried out as she, Falgar, and Jose all held blades at Chester's neck who didn't seem the least bit bothered at the fact that his neck was surrounded by sharp steel. "Since asking about your identity is getting us nowhere I'll instead ask this: what are you doing here? You say you have nothing to do with what's happening right now, but your appearance here makes me think otherwise."

"Oh come now, does this look like the face of a liar?"

"You're wearing a mask," Lulune pointed out.

"Aren't we all?" Chester said as he leaned against Dodon...wait, what!?

Everyone turns in surprise to see Chester right next to the masked item-carrier. Looking back to where Chester was previously, Asfi and the others found that the spot Chester was previously standing in was now empty.

"I mean, look at this guy," Chester pointed at Dodon, patting the masked man on the back. "I can't even tell if this guy is a human or something else. Are you a dwarf? Perhaps some sort of Cow Person? Would explain the horns on your head."

"Get away from him!" Asfi exclaimed as Ais was the fastest to react, reaching towards Chester in order to grab and restrain him yet her hand caught nothing but air.

"Now, now, what did I say about getting violent?" Chester said, appearing behind the Pallum twins, surprising everyone again at how he seemingly just appeared behind the twins when he wasn't even close to them.

'I...I couldn't see his movements...!' Ais thought to herself in disbelief. She was Lv. 6 and yet despite her increased stats she could not perceive Chester's movements. There were no sounds, no indication that the masked man had moved at all. He had moved in the literal blink of an eye.

'Just who is this man?' Everyone thought as they stared cautiously at Chester who seemed amused by their reactions.

"Should you all really be staring at me like that? I mean, I'm quite flattered, but we're about to have some company," Chester said as he pointed over to a forking path as emerging from both pathways were more Violas.

"Tch! Everyone, get into formation!" Asfi quickly threw out instructions, choosing to prioritize their survival over Chester.

"They're coming from behind too!" Lulune shouted as from behind the group came more Violas. Soon enough, the group found themselves surrounded by three different sides.

Analyzing the situation before them, Asfi moved over to Ais to give her her assigned task.

"[Sword Princess], can I ask you to take care of one side?" The blond swordswoman was the strongest person in their group, proven by the fact that before coming here Ais had taken care of a Monster Horde singlehandedly. If they were to survive, they had to divide their work accordingly.

"Understood," Ais said, accepting her task with no protest. Glancing over at the man claiming to be Chester, he...was nowhere to be seen.

'What!? Where did he—?'

"Focus, Sword Princess!" Asfi shouted, making Ais focus back on their current situation. Wherever the masked man had run off to it was none of their concern now. Right now they all had one job to do: survive and find out the source of this labyrinth.

"Let's go!" Asfi cried out as the group broke off into different groups with Ais being noticeably alone to face her side of the Violas.

As Ais came to a stop to face her enemies, her eyes widen in surprise before she jumped forward, leaping past the Violas as strange, reptilian-like pillars suddenly rained down from above, killing the Violas attacking her and almost squashing her had she not moved. Getting up, Ais soon saw that the pillars had formed a wall, cutting her off from the rest of the party.

"I was separated..."

"Seems that way." Ais jumped before turning to her right where standing right next to her was Chester. She quickly jumped away and pointed her sword at him, but the masked man seemed more interested in the pillars cutting her off from the rest of the party.

"I must say, I do not remember the Dungeon acting like this at all. How curious."

"..."

"Hm?" Chester seemingly finally noticed Ais and the way she was looking at him. "Oh come now, don't look at me like that. I had nothing to do with this."

"I don't believe you," Ais said, slowly circling around Chester in case he tried to move. "You're too suspicious."

"Well, I am wearing a mask. I'd have to question your sanity if you didn't find me suspicious," Chester said, laughing at Ais's attempt to gauge him. "But rest assured, I mean you no harm."

Ais stopped circling Chester, not because of what he said, but because of a new presence in the area, one that she was familiar with.

"Our guest, on the other hand, seems to have quite the interest in you," Chester said, looking over Ais's shoulder to see who had arrived.

It was a well-endowed pale-skinned woman with short red hair and green eyes. She wore a red leotard-like outfit with red sleeves and boots, and light purple leggings and bracers. A tattered black cloth hung around her waist and seemed to imply that her outfit may not have been hers originally.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Chester said, whistling as he checked out the red-haired woman much to Ais's annoyance who had the unexplainable urge to stab Loki again. "Why hello there madam. May this kind, masked gentleman here ask thee for thy name?"

"To think you'd come of your own accord..."

"Oh, you're ignoring me."

"But this is just what I wished for," The redheaded woman said, sending an expressionless stare at Ais. "Long time no see...Aria."

"Aria?" Chester raised an eyebrow behind his mask before turning to Ais. "I thought your name was Ais?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you're also ignoring me."

"Who knows?" The redhead replied back.

"Then...what is this place? Did you make it?" Ais questioned the red-haired tamer while at the same time preparing herself for a fight.

"You don't need to know," The redhead replied, cracking her neck a little. "There's someone that wants to meet you. You're coming with me, Aria."

"I'm not Aria. Aria is my mother."

"Stop speaking nonsense. There's no way Aria could have a child. But it doesn't matter if you're aren't her," With an audible crack of her fingers, the redheaded woman plunged her hands into the ground, seemingly grasping something. "I was only told the name 'Aria'. Over and over she told me she wanted to meet 'Aria'. As I obediently searched around, I finally found you."

*RIIIIP!*

With a sound akin to tearing flesh apart, the woman pulled out an unnatural-looking single-edged sword from the ground.

'A natural weapon?' Ais thought in slight surprise before raising her Desperate in front of her.

"I'm taking you with me," The redhead woman declared before charging towards Ais.

*CLASH!*

Off to the side, Chester looked between both women fighting each other, having no trouble tracking them as he moved his head back and forth to follow the fighting. After a few seconds of watching, Chester came to a conclusion.

"Well, I can clearly see you two are busy. I'll just mind my own business and take my leave from here," Chester said as he did just that. He noted how both women didn't seem to hear or even notice him anymore, too engrossed in their fighting. Chester couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

"Even after all these years, it's still hard to find a decent woman to talk to. Or perhaps my communications skills have grown rusty?" Chester shrugged his shoulders as he continued walking down the unknown labyrinth, the sounds of fighting growing quieter and quieter the deeper he went until the only thing he was hearing were his own steps.

"Now then..." Reaching into his coat pocket, Cheste pulled out the strange, richly colored Magic Stone he had torn off from the Monster he had killed earlier. "What are you?"

*pssssssssssst*

"Hm?" Chester raised his head, hearing something that sounded like a whisper. He stood still, seemingly doing nothing until...

"Oh?" Chester's expression started matching the mask he wore, grinning at the news he just received. "So, he's finally made it down here. It's about time. I expected him sooner given his capabilities. Oh well, better late than never, as they say. Now then, how should I...hm?"

Just as Chester was about to formulate a plan in his head, he noticed a light up ahead. Curious, the masked man continued forward and saw...

"Well now, what do we have here?"

---

(Abandoned Church)

"I CAN"T BELIEVE THIS!"

Lili flinched at the loud volume Hestia screamed before looking down in shame.

"Lili apologizes. She has no excuse for her mess up."

"I gave you ONE JOB and you BLEW IT!" Hestia screamed, red-faced with both anger and frustration. "How could let him out of your sight!?"

"Lili looked away for just a second and then he was gone! I didn't even hear him move!"

"He was wearing full-body armor, how could you not hear him!?"

"I don't know!? Maybe he's part ninja or something?"

"Ugh!" Hestia groaned as she dragged her hands across her face, her frustration increasing. Looking around, the goddess then noticed something. "Where the heck is Sif?"

"She's back at the Dungeon," Lili answered.

"You mean Bell took her with him?" Hestia asked. If that was the case, then maybe she didn't have to worry too much. Sure, Sif was a Monster who seemed to hate everyone but Bell and she had the vague feeling that there was more than meets the eye with that wolf, but there was no denying that the canine was loyal to the Undead. So long as Bell wasn't alone then all was good.

"Well..."

'Oh come on!' Hestia screamed in her mind, trying very hard not to explode again as to hear what the Pallum had to say.

"Master Bell didn't take Miss Sif with him."

"But you just said she was in the Dungeon," Hestia pointed out.

"Lili said she was at the Dungeon," Lili said, emphasizing the word 'at.' "Miss Sif is at Babel Tower sitting right next to the entrance to the Dungeon. Lili thinks Miss Sif is waiting for Master Bell's return as she refused to move anywhere."

"You mean she's still over there?" Hestia said as she looked out a window to gaze at Babel Tower and the setting sun in the distance.

"She wouldn't budge no matter what Lili did."

"Ugh, this just what I needed..." Hestia sarcastically groaned, running her hands across her face again and feeling very tired all of a sudden.

"Lili doesn't think it's that bad," Lili said. "I mean, this is Master Bell we're talking about. With how strong he is, I'm sure he can take care of himself.

"...Can't argue against that," Hestia muttered, knowing full well just how strong Bell was. Despite her worries, Bell was strong enough to venture into the Middle Floors of the Dungeon solo. And after all the tales he's told her of his exploits so far, she couldn't imagine anything posing a challenge to her child.

'Yeah, he'll be fine. I mean, what could possibly happen to him?'

...

...

...

'Oh fuck me.'

---

(Dungeon, 24 Floor)

*FWOOSH-BOOM!*

An explosion of fire easily blew a hole into the wall of the labyrinth. Not minding the smoke one bit, Bell stepped into the unknown labyrinth, looking around curiously.

'What is this place?' Bell thought to himself as he walked forward, taking note of how rough the ground felt underneath his boots. It was like he was stepping over fresh dirt covered in moss.

"Something tells me this isn't usually something that happens in the Dungeon." Bell mentally nodded with the voice in his head, coming to the same conclusion. Of course, considering said voice was a figment of his imagination, he shouldn't be that surprised that they were sharing thoughts. Perhaps he should talk to someone about this?

Storing the thought away for another time, Bell began walking as the hole he made began to close up. He wasn't worried about not being able to get out, already knowing that he could just make another hole if he wanted to. But right now, he had to focus on finding the group he had lost during his rush to kill the Crytal Lizard(it had dropped a chunk of Titianite so he didn't regret his decision one bit).

'Perhaps I should have brought Sif with me,' Bell thought to himself as he came upon a fork, facing two tunnels that both lead to who knows where. Had he had his faithful companion with him, she'd have been able to track them Bete's group via smell. But seeing as Sif was still somewhat uncomfortable with being in the Dungeon(the wolf hid it really well but Bell had a keen eye for spotting things) he de decided not to drag the monster canine down here with him as an act of kindness.

'Well, guess I should go with my gut, or what's left of it anyway,' Bell thought as he was about to take a path...

"CAW!"

When the sound of a cry started him, making him instinctively reached for the broadsword that used to belong to one of the men that had tried to use Lili to ambush him. Looking for the source of the cry, the sound of flapping wings reached Bell's ears and he looked up to see a crow flapping its wings in the air above him before descending down towards him, landing on an outstretched hand offered to it. The crow cawed again and Bell instinctively held out his free hand to the black-feathered bird who reached for something under its wing and dropped it into Bell's hand.

"This is..." Bell blinked as he stared at the single piece of Valis in his hand. Blinking again, the Undead looked at the crow in realization. "You're the crow from the church."

"Caw!" It cried out before flapping its wings again, taking to the air. Flying over to one of the paths, the blackbird flew around it for a while before flying through it, cawing a few more times in the process.

"I think it wants you to follow it."

"Hmm..."

"Something wrong?"

"I don't like this," Bell said before following after the crow. Something about this seemed fishy to him. This crow seemed more intelligent than it seemed, and it had given him a Valis coin, no doubt an exchange from when he gave it a Magic Stone yesterday.

'Exchanging items with a crow...'

"You, you. Give me, warm. Give me, soft."

'It's just like Snuggly,' Bell thought, remembering the talking crow back in the Undead Asylum. He never actually met the bird face to face, having only heard its voice whenever he went to trade something with it. Could this crow perhaps be related?

"Caw!" The crow's cry echoed from the path it took, crying as if to beckon him to hurry. Still somewhat suspicious of the bird, Bell did what he always does when faced with the unknown. He drew his sword and advanced forward.

*BOOM!*

Not even a second later when he stepped into the chosen tunnel did the wall to his right exploded as something—no, someone came crashing through it.

"Kuh! Dammit," Revis cursed under her breath as she picked herself up, holding up her weapon which showed clear signs of damage as the blade had chips of varying sizes.

"Had enough?" From the newly made hole in the wall stepped out Ais brandishing her sword. Her figure was slightly banged up, but compared to Revis who had cuts all over her, the Sword Princess was in better condition and showed who was winning the fight.

"Miss Ais?" Hearing her name from a familiar voice, Ais blinked in confusion before turning to her left to see Bell staring at her and Revis, his face covered by his helmet, as always.

"Bell?" Ais blinked in both surprise and confusion. What was he doing here?

Meanwhile, Revis looked between Ais and Bell and soon figured that the two were friends or at least acquaintances. Seeing as how she was slowly, much to her anger and frustration, losing to Ais, the red-haired tamer leaped towards Bell in order to use him as leverage against the blond swordswoman. Ais clearly saw this and quickly moved to intercept the woman.

As for Bell who now had two women charging straight at him, he did the first thing his instincts told him to: Raise his shield.

---

"Lulune, get away!"

*BOOM!*

"Th-Thane!"

"An explosion!?"

"Kaenseki! Th-These guys are suicide bombers!"

To say the situation was getting out of hand would be an understatement. It was complete and utter chaos. After the Hermes group had been separated from Ais, they had no choice but to continue forward without her after dealing with the Violas. After some time they had finally reached the Pantry only to find it had been taken over by a sort of parasitic plant monster. Quickly figuring out that this was the source of the labyrinth, the team went to investigate only to find that a group of Evilus members was occupying the floor. Under Asfi's orders, they had attempted to capture some of the Evilus members only to find that each and every member had straps of Kaenseki, an item dropped from the monster Flame Rock that explodes when exposed to fire, wrapped around their waist. And with tears in their crazed eyes...

*BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!*

The members of Evilus rained suicide attacks onto Asfi's team, shocking them with this unbelievable act.

"Forgive my sins, Sophia!"

"Reina, clear my dept with this!"

"Oh, Julius!"

*BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!*

One by one, Evilus members were shouting random nonsense before they pulled the plug, willingly ending their own lives in an attempt to weaken the Hermes group who could nothing but retreat lest they caught in the ensuing explosions.

"Comrades! Do not fear death! Our desires lay beyond them!" Far in the back, another Evilus member wearing a darker coat cried out towards his comrades, arms spread out as if to preach to all that could hear him. "Show your devotion to our God!"

*BOOM!*

'They're shouting the names of gods—no, the names of people!?' Asfi thought, trying to quickly process what was going on right now. 'Is this what their god desires of them? Are they showing their devotion through their own deaths?' She's heard how some people were completely devoted to the gods they served and had sometimes seen for herself how unusual they expressed it. But this...this was beyond comprehension.

"Just what are we fighting against?" Asfi muttered, sweating due to how chaotic it was below her.

"You're fighting crazy people, obviously."

"Wha—!?" Thinking that an enemy had snuck up on her, Asfi drew her knife and swung to her right only for a hand to grab her arm, stopping her attack as the blade of the knife stopped right at the neck of...

"Now now, no need to be so jumpy. It's just me," Chester said, chuckling at the blue-haired woman.

"You?"

"Yes, me. Marvelous Chester, remember? We met not too long ago," Chester said, releasing Asfi's arm before turning to look down at the chaos below them. "I must say this is quite the sight. All those men and women willingly killing themselves. It's absolutely horrendous. Yes, magnificently so! Mwahehehehe!"

"You're...laughing?" Asfi said, seemingly appalled by Chester laughing at all this chaos.

"Why shouldn't I? Can't you hear them? Spouting complete nonsense before they blow themselves up, why I can't see how one couldn't laugh at something like this," Chester said, chuckling again only to notice Asfi glaring at him. "Hm? What's wrong? Why so angry? ...No, don't tell me, you actually care for those broken people."

"We need those people alive in order to figure out what is going on here," Asfi said, still glaring at Chester. "And besides that, the loss of life is no laughing matter, especially something like this."

"My, my, aren't you the model student," Chester said in a mocking tone before pointing to his left. "By the way, you might want to look behind you."

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Asfi followed his finger and gasped when a group of Violas suddenly appeared from behind their position.

"I suggest you start running," Chester said before he took off, leaving Asfi behind.

"Wait, you—kuh!" Asfi grunted as she quickly moved out of the way of an incoming Viola before quickly shouting over to the others. "Falgar!"

Hearing his captain, the weretiger quickly turned and brought his shield up in time to block an incoming Viola. He breathed a quick sigh of relief only to gasp when the Viola snatched up an Evilus member who screamed as the Viola's teeth stabbed into him.

"They're attacking indiscriminately!?"

"You gotta be kidding me!?" Lulune exclaimed as the Viola turned around and headed straight for them only for the Evilus member in its mouth to detonate his Kaenseki bombs, blowing up and killing the Viola as it crashed right in front of the group, throwing them back.

"Ow..." Some of them groaned as they picked themselves back up. "Fuck, do they not care about how they die so long as they damage us?"

As if to answer them, from the smoke came more Evilus members who all attacked as some of them were caught by more Violas in the process. Yet those attacking Lulune and the others didn't even seem to mind or register what was happening.

"They're insane!" Lulune exclaimed as she and the others drew back from the chaos before them.

'This is bad,' Asfi thought to herself, analyzing the situation before her. In addition to the suicide attacks coming from Evilus, they now had to deal with indiscriminate attacks coming from the Violas. Once again, things were in total chaos. They can't turn around and retreat as that would be showing their backs to their enemies. However...

'The man in white...' Asfi thought, spotting a white-haired man garbed in white and covering his face with a bone mask. The way he moved before the Violas' appearance most likely meant that he was a tamer controlling the plant-eating monsters. While it's absurd, to Asfi's knowledge, to try and tame such a number of giant monsters, everything up until now seems to have been because of the white tamer. Which means...

"Falgar, take over as commander! Gather everyone and endure their attacks!" Asfi quickly said as she ran past her comrades, making a feeling towards the white tamer. If he was the leader behind all this then surely taking him out will end all this.

"Miss Asfi!" Hearing her name, Asfi glanced behind her to see Keaks following right behind her. "Please allow me to support you!"

"...I'm counting on you," Asfi said, much to Keaks surprise who thought she would deny him.

"Yes!" Keaks replied with a big smile and blushing cheeks.

"Careful now, monkey. Your face will get stuck if you smile that hard."

"Huh?" Hearing a voice next to them, Asfi and Keaks turned to their left to find Chester running with them backward.

"You!" Keaks exclaimed until he realized what Chester had just called him and turned red. "Hey! Who you calling a monkey!?"

"Well, I mean, your sideburns are quite long and those ears of yours are just so big. It's enough to make me want to grab and twist them like some old nanny," Chester said, looking ready to do just that.

"Why are you here?" Asfi intervened, sending a questioning look/glare at the masked man.

"Well, I figured since all the actions happening right here I should get a closer look to enjoy the show," Chester said.

"Is this all just a game to you?" Asfi said, really starting to dislike Chester's non-serious nature.

"A game? Please, if this were a game I'd be participating and having fun," Chester said. "No, this is half-time entertainment for me."

"Entertainment!?" Keaks exclaimed, appalled by this hat-wearing masked stranger.

"Ignore him, Keaks! Focus on the enemy!" Asfi shouted as the two (plus Chester) were approaching enemies.

"Leave it to me!" Keaks said, focusing on the situation while also trying to show as he grabbed throwing stones from both his pouch and from the ground and began throwing them at the Evilus members coming towards them.

"Gah!" "Ack!" "Guh!"

"Do not falter!" The Evilus commando shouted to how subordinates. "It's just a thrown weapon. There's a limit-gah!"

"Idiot," Keaks said, smiling smugly as his thrown stone hit the commando. "This is the Dungeon. There's no way I'd run out of throwing stones!"

"Seriously? Stones?" Chester commented, unimpressed. "You really are a monkey."

"You shut up! Like you could do any better."

"Oh please," Chester took out a throwing knife which had a rose-shaped mold at the end of the handle. "All it takes is one."

Both Asfi and Keaks didn't even have a chance to blink as Chester's arm blurred before a loud scream drew their attention.

Embedded into the head of an Evilus grunt was the knife Chester had been holding half a second ago. Not only that, but the grunt had accidentally pulled the string that detonated his Kaenseki bombs. As his whole body exploded, the explosion caught two other members that had been standing next to the grunt, and the fire from the explosion set off their Kaenseki bombs. Soon enough a chain reaction went off as multiple explosions occurred right in front of Asfi and Keaks as they and Chester now had a smoked-filled clear path towards the Evilus commando. To say Asfi and Keaks were impressed was an understatement.

"And that's how it's done," Chester said, his tone bragging as Keaks' jaw dropped in disbelief.

"A-All my men...!" The Evilus commando muttered in disbelief at how quickly his men had been dealt with so easily.

*SLASH!*

The commando couldn't even grunt out a pained cry as Asfi had run up and slashed his neck before running off ahead, leaving the commando to choke on his own blood.

'He dealt with all those men with just a single knife,' Asfi thought, glancing back at Chester with newfound caution. The level of skill it would take anyone else to accomplish what he did, and yet he made it seem so easy. Just who was this masked man?

'No, I can't focus on that right now. What I need to focus on...' Asfi turned her sights on the white tamer, her knife held at the ready. 'Is to take him down!'

"You should have let yourself be eaten by the Violas," The tamer said as vines suddenly erupted from the ground in front of Asfi. "Kill her."

"Guh!" Asfi grunted as she was forced to quickly jump to the right, dodging the vines which stabbed into the ground behind her.

"You move well, Adventurer. Or should I say [Perseus]?" The tamer said, speaking Asfi's alias. "Nevertheless, die."

Just as he said that did another Viola appear right in front of Asfi, leaving her no way to dodge due to the distance between them. However...

"Talaria."

*FWOOSH!*

The Viola chomped down only to bite into thin air. Confused, it looked around until the sound of flapping wings drew it and everyone's attention as they all looked up and froze. Why? Because there Asfi was, up in the air as a pair of four wings sprouted from her sandals. To the disbelief of many...

"She's...flying?" An Evilus member said in utter disbelief.

Chester let out a whistle through his mask as he looked up at the spectacle flying above him. "Well now, aren't those a fine pair of wings?"

"You made me use this. Now I mist dispose of you," Asfi coldly said as she reached into her pouches and throw out handfuls of Burst Oil.

"Oh crap!" Keaks exclaimed as he quickly dived out of the way.

"Oh, dear," Chester said as he too moved out of the way of what was about to occur.

*Crack-BOOOM!*

The second the glass bottles holding the Burst Oil broke die explosions go off, completely enveloping the Violas below and killing them. The white tamer quickly had a few nearby Violas circle around him in order to protect him from blast and Asfi took this chance to fly around behind him before diving down towards him.

"I have you now!" Asfi shouted, thrusting her dagger towards the tamer's back.

*GRAB!*

"What!?" Asfi gasped in surprise as just when her dagger was about to plunge into the tamer's back, said tamer turned around and grabbed her weapon with his bare hands, barely bleeding from grabbing the blade. Asfi quickly tried to pull away but found that the tamer had an iron grip on her weapon.

"Hmph!" With his other hand, the tamer grabbed Asfi by the collar of her cloak and threw her over his shoulder, slamming her hard on the ground.

'What strength!' Asfi thought, gritting through the pain as she quickly got up and flew back to create some distance. However, the second she blinked, the tamer was gone from her sight.

"What!? Where did he—!?"

"You forgot something."

*STAB!*

Asfi's breath was caught in her throat as pain flared up from her stomach. Feeling blood rise up into her mouth, Asfi looked down to see her dagger stabbed right through her stomach. Behind her and the one holding the dagger was the white tamer himself.

"Miss Asfi!" Keaks, as well as the other members of the party, all cried out in horror.

"Ooh, stabbed by your own weapon. I know the feeling," Chester commented before Keaks suddenly ran off to save Asfi. "Ah, monkey I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Ah...!" Asfi let out a choked noise as she felt the blade of her dagger move up, making her wound bigger and worse as blood started rising up into her mouth.

"I know full well how tough you Adventurers can be. You'd normally recover easily from this," The white tamer said as he continued to drag the dagger upward until it reached Asfi's chest, causing her to scream out in pain. "There, this should prevent you from recovering quickly. However, you won't die from this."

"Bastard!" From the smoke still left behind from Asfi's Burst Oil, Keaks jumped out and threw something at the tamer holding up his captain. "Get your dirty hands off Miss Asfi!"

*boom!*

Whatever Keaks threw at the tamer blew up into smoke the second it struck him, causing him to let go of Asfi and stumble back holding his face.

"Miss Asfi!" Hearing her name, Asfi gritted through the pain and looked up to see Keaks holding up the modified high potion she had given him earlier today.

"Please! Use thi—!"

"Violas."

*PIERCE!*

Before anyone could even blink, a vine erupted from under Keaks and stabbed straight through his chest. The entire Hermes Familia felt their hearts stop at the sight of their friend whose body was held up by the vine going through him and they watched with horrified eyes as the vine threw Keaks body away like a ragdoll where it struck a nearby cliffside before falling to the ground, lifeless as blood spilled out from the hole in his body.

"K...s...Ke...aks...Keaks!" Struggling through the pain, Asfi desperately called out to her injured party member. With a wound such as that, his chances of surviving were...

"...gh!" Gritting his teeth and fighting through the pain and blood, Keaks pushed himself up and lifted up the potion in his hands.

Seeing what he was trying to do, Asfi shook her head. "Keaks, no...forget about...me. Use it...on you...hurry!"

"Don't say that," Keaks said even as his lungs were damages and blood spilled from his eyes. "This'll only save...one of us..."

"Keaks..."

"Please...Miss Asfi...take thi—!"

*SQUASH!*

"That's enough out of you," The tamer coldly said as he stomped down on Keaks' head, smashing it as if it were watermelon.

"KEAKS!" Asfi screamed in anguish as the potion Keaks was about to throw over to her rolled uselessly on the ground, stopping too far away for Asfi to grab. However, while the potion was too far away from Asfi to reach, it instead reached the feet of one Marvelous Chester.

"Sigh, I tried to tell him," Chester sighed as he bent down and grabbed the potion Keaks had sacrificed his life to try and give to Asfi. "Poor man died as he lived."

"A fool?" The tamer said, turning to Chester.

"Oh yes, quite so," Chester said with a small laugh, earning a glare from Asfi. "However, as it turns out, I'm rather fond of fools. Woman."

Asfi blinked as Chester went and tossed the potion over to Asfi.

"Drink that."

"You..."

"As if I'll let you," The tamer said as he dashed over to Asfi, moving faster than anyone in the room...except for Chester.

*POW!*

"Guh!" The tamer let out a surprised grunt as he was suddenly kicked back by Chester who lowered his leg and stood right in front of Asfi.

"Now now, don't be rude. The man you just killed gave his life for the woman he loved. It's one of the few better ways for a man to die and we should respect that."

"Who are you?" The tamer demanded, brushing his chest as he faced the masked man. While he didn't show it, Chester's kick had actually hurt him.

"Forgive me for the late introductions. I am Marvelous Chester," Chester introduced himself, tipping his hat to the tamer. "Pleased to make your acquaintance whoever you are."

"Chester? Never heard of you."

"Well, that's no surprise considering I've been gone for quite some time now. I'll have you know that I'm actually quite famous."

"I don't care," The tamer bluntly said as he dashed up to Chester and threw a punch towards his masked face.

*GRAB!*

Behind his own mask, the tamer's eyes widen in surprise when Chester went and caught his fist with no signs of his strength damaging him. He threw his other fist at him only to get the same result as Chester now had the tamer by both hands. To the tamer's further disbelief, Chester began pushing him down until he was on his knees.

'He's stronger than me? Impossible!' The tamer thought to himself, trying to overpower and push back Chester but it felt like he was trying to move the ground itself; completely useless.

"Now now, why in such a rush?" Chester said in a mocking tone. "Why don't we take this time to get to know one another? As I said already I've been away for quite some time so I would like it if someone could catch me up on what's been going on lately. You'll help me, won't you?"

"Why...you..." Gritting his teeth, the tamer threw his head forward, trying to headbutt Chester's masked face...

*KICK!*

Only for his attempt to earn him a boot to the face. And to the shock of everyone here, Violas included, Chester had kicked the tamer so hard that he rocketed upwards and crashed up into the ceiling of the floor. And considering how high said ceiling was, quite a lot of jaws dropped at Chester's feat.

"Huh, didn't think he'd fly up that high. That doesn't usually happen to most people I face," Chester said, looking up to where he kicked the tamer before shrugging his shoulders. "Guess I don't know my own strength."

'Wha...' Asfi, haven drank the high potion and mostly recovered from her injury, stared at Chester in shock. The display of strength he just showed off was unlike anything the blue-haired captain had ever seen. She couldn't help but think to herself, 'What is he?'

*BOOM!*

Suddenly, a wall a distance way blew up, snapping Asfi from her thoughts as everyone turned to see pieces of Violas flying, having been sliced up by something. Then, stepping out the newly made hole in the wall...

"Huh? Who the hell are you guys?" Bete said, stepping on the head of a dead Viola as both Lefuya and Filvis stood behind him

"Hm, you know, for a second there I thought he had finally arrived," Chester said, haven expected someone else to show up before turning to Asfi. "Friends of yours?"

"No," Asfi shook her head, finally healed enough to get back up to her knees before looking over at Bete's group. "But...that's [Vanargand] and [Thousand Elf] of Loki Familia and [Maenads] of Dionysus Familia."

"Oh? So they're part of Loki's Familia too?" Chester said, looking over at Bete and Lefiya to get a better look at them while completely ignoring Filvis' presence. "Hmm, that werewolf's giving off the vibe of a bad boy, and that elf's pretty cute, very easy on the eyes. I can see why Loki added those two into her Familia."

"What is this place?" Lefiya wondered out loud, scanning the situation before her. She and the others had found a trail of crystal shards and followed it thinking it would lead them to Ais. But not only was their missing teammate not here, they had stumbled upon what seemed to be a very serious situation involving several forces all jumbled together.

"Hey," Bete spoke up to Lefiya. "I'll buy you some time. Get rid of those man-eating flowers in the meantime."

Lefiya nodded as she started gathering magical power. A bunch of Violas soon flew towards her, attracted to her magic but were stopped by both Bete and Filvis who protected the elf from harm. An Evilus member tried to kill them by running up and pulling the plug on his bombs, but Bete kicked the grunt up into the air right next to other Violas where he then promptly exploded, killing the Violas closest to him.

"No way..." One of the Pallum twins muttered in disbelief at what Bete just did. The feeling was shared by everyone else except for Chester who laughed and clapped at the display.

"Falling like rain, burn away the savages..."

'What magic power!' Meryl thought, shuddering under how much magic Lefiya was displaying. Compared to her, the elf was a monster! "Everyone, take cover!"

Under Meryl's warning, everyone quickly ran for cover as those bearing shields raised them in order to protect themselves from the incoming rain.

"Fusillade Fallarica!" Finishing her spell and speaking its name, Lefiya raised her staff as balls of flaming light gathered above the elf before they all became beams of light, bombarding the whole field and killing every Viola in it while remarkably not killing any of the Evilus members despite how destructive the elf's spell was. At the sight of this destruction, Chester laughed even more.

"Hahahaha! Marvelous! Simply marvelous!" Chester exclaimed, clapping at the destruction brought upon by the elf. "You've picked up quite the interesting children while I was away, Loki."

'What's with this guy?' Asfi thought as she stared at Chester, weirded out by his antics.

"Hey!" Bete shouted, marching over to where Asfi and Chester were as the werewolf, with the other two elves following close behind, glared at the latter. "You in the mask, are you behind this weird labyrinth?"

"Me?" Chester pointed at himself before shaking his head. "Oh no no, I have nothing to do with this. He's the one behind all this."

Chester pointed his thumb over at an empty spot, except a second later it was empty no more as the tamer Chester had kicked earlier had finally come down and crashlanded, kneeling and glaring over at him.

"Good to see you finally decided to come down. How was the upper floor?" Chester asked the tamer mockingly.

"You...!" The tamer heatedly glared at Chester as his mask was beginning to crack, threatening to break any moment.

"So yeah, go beat him up," Chester said, pointing Bete over to the tamer. "Oh, and before you ask, Marvelous Chester at your service."

"Don't tell me what to do," Bete said, already not liking the masked man until he noticed something. "Wait a sec, what did you just call yourself?"

"Marvelous Chester," He repeated. "I've been introducing myself a lot today. Guess that's what happens when you meet a bunch of new faces one after another."

"Marvelous Chester...You're the bastard Loki told us to look out for," Bete said, glaring at Chester as he lowered his stance and held up his duel blades. Lefiya did the same, holding up her staff in front of her.

"Oh? Loki's been looking? Marvelous!" Instead of being intimidated like Bete and the others had expected, Chester spoke joyfully which threw the group off balance. "Hey, after you deal with the old geezer could you be a good boy a deliver a message to her for me? That'd be great."

'Is...he treating Bete like a dog?' Lefiya thought as the way Chester was acting towards them weirded her out.

"Are you treating me like a dog?" Bete said, unknowingly echoing Lefiya's thoughts.

"Well, you are part canine, aren't you?" Chester pointed out before snapping his fingers in realization. "Oh! Do you need a treat first? From the looks of it, you must have rushed down here in a hurry. Unfortunately, my furry fellow, I do not have any bones on me." Chester then paused for a sec before checking the inside of his coat. "At least, I don't think I do?"

"You...!" A visible vein could be seen on Bete's head as he glared murderously at Chester, causing Lefiya and some of the others to move slightly away from the angry werewolf. Yet, despite Bete's anger, Chester's mannerism was reminding him and Lefiya of their goddess for some reason.

"ENOUGH!" An angry filled shout brought everyone's attention back to the tamer who seemed to have enough of Chester's antics as he waved his arm forward, summoning a group of Violas behind him. "Violas, kill them all!"

"Tch!" Bete clicked his tongue as he and everyone were forced to dodge out of the way.

Chester, by far the calmest person here, called out to Lefiya while pointing over at the new Violas.

"Elfy! You missed a few."

"Excuse me!?" Lefiya exclaimed, appalled at what Chester had just called her.

"Focus!" Bete shouted over, slashing the charging Violas as he advanced towards the tamer making him top priority over capturing Chester, promising to deal with the smiling-masked bastard later.

"We'll keep the stragglers busy!" Asfi said as she and the other Hermes party members kept what remained of the Evilus grunts occupied while Bete's group dealt with the tamer.

"Adventurers, one after another!" The tamer grumbled as he faced the werewolf head-on.

Bete was the first to attack, swinging his twin swords at the tamer who ducked under them before getting behind the werewolf. He drew his hand back, preparing to stab Bete but was quickly forced to raise his guard as the werewolf swung his right leg back, hitting the tamer's arm and forcing him back slightly.

'He's fast!' The tamer noted as the spot Bete had kicked steamed a little showing just how much power Bete had thrown in his kick.

'He's hard!' Bete thought in contrast, noting how his foot felt like it was kicking a wall of hardened stone rather than flesh.

"[Vanargand]...I see, the Loki Familia, is it?" The tamer said, realizing who Bete is. "Did you come following the [Sword Princess]?"

"What did you do with Ais?" Bete demanded.

"My comrade is attending to her," The tamer said, smugly smirking. "She's probably getting tortured right now, after having her arm severed or something like that."

*SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!*

"Guh!" The tamer quickly raised his arms as blinding speed slashes sliced his arms. He looked up at Bete in surprise, shocked that he had suddenly gotten faster.

"I'll kill you." The werewolf stated as he glared heatedly at the tamer.

"Bete!" Lefiya stepped forward to help only to be stopped by Filvis.

"Don't rush out, Miss Virdis," The black-haired elf said before pointing forward. To their eyes as well as everyone of a similar Level, the fight between Bete and the tamer was moving at a speed that made them hard to track.

"What speed, so this is how strong First-class Adventurers are..." Filvis said in slight awe.

"Yawn~!" A sudden yawn came from Chester who stood right beside the elves, surprising them both as they had not heard and sensed him coming anywhere near them.

"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry, did I surprise you? Forgive me, it's just that this fight is taking longer than I thought it would," Chester said as he looked over at the fight between Bete and the tamer. Despite the mask covering his face, Lefiya could somehow tell that the man appeared, to her astonishment, bored.

'Just who is this man? There's someone who's fighting evenly with Bete yet he looks so unimpressed,' Lefiya thought, staring warily at the masked man who seemed to be growing impatient with the fight going on before them. Heck, he was even starting to tap his foot!

"Okay, this taking way too long," Chester said before turning to Lefiya. "Oi, elf girl, go help him."

"E-Excuse me?"

"Do not talk to Miss Virdis that way," Filvis said, standing in between Lefiya and Chester only for the latter to suddenly grab her face and push her away as if she were unimportant.

"Miss Filvis!" Lefiya turned to her fellow elf in concern only to be stopped when Chester suddenly started poking her forehead. "Wha-? Hey!"

"You're a Loki Familia member too, aren't you? Hurry up and assist your comrade."

"How can I help when I can barely even follow them!?" Lefiya exclaimed slapping away Chester's finger only for him to flicked her head. "Ow!"

"Quit your whining. You're an Adventurer, aren't you? Use that brain of yours, or is your good looks the only thing you have going for you?"

"W-Why you...!" Lefiya, annoyed and angry, turned away from Chester and looked over towards the battle before them, holding her staff in front of her. For some reason, despite her anger, she felt oddly motivated. Chester's words had struck at her insecurities and she wanted to prove him wrong that she was more than a pretty face who stood on the sidelines.

"Miss Filvis, please protect me," Lefiya said as she started summoning forth magic. After picking herself up, Filvis nodded and, after throwing a glare at Chester, stood in front of Lefiya protectively.

"Violas!" Suddenly, the tamer shouted, and a few seconds later, a small group of Violas sprouted from the floor ceiling and attacked Bete, forcing him away from the tamer.

"These little...!"

"Unleashed streak of light, bow limbs of the holy tree." Lefiya began chanting the second she saw the new Violas. Knowing that they were attracted to strong magic, she planned to use herself to draw the Violas away from Bete. However...

"Forget the girl! Kill the werewolf first!" At the tamer's command, the Violas ignored the elf and went back to assaulting Bete, surprising both elves.

"Dammit!" Filvis cursed as she quickly raced to aid the werewolf.

"You are an expert of the bow."

'I have no choice but to keep chanting,' Lefiya thought. While she was surprised that the Violas had ignored her, she couldn't simply just stop the spell she was preparing. Luckily for her, she had decided to use her signature spell though how much help it'll be will have to wait as she scanned the battle, trying to think of what she should do when she completed her spell.

'And it's not like this man is helping anytime soon,' Lefiya added in as she glanced over at Chester who continued to just stand and watch things play out. From the way he crossed his arms and quietly hummed to himself, it was like he was silently judging them how they fought. And for some odd reason, it reminded Lefiya of her Captain whenever he was supervising new members of the Familia.

"Sweep, holy staff of crushing evil..." Filvis began chanting as she aimed her staff at the tamer, attempting to help the werewolf.

"Ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Chester suddenly called out to the black-haired elf but it was already too late.

"Dio Thyrsos!" The elf shouted as from her staff came a blast of gold lightning. While the spell was able to kill the Violas surrounding the tamer, the man himself forced his way through the spell to the elf's shock and disbelief.

"Too weak!" The tamer exclaimed as he kicked the black-haired elf away before jumping after her. Raising a hand, the tamer went to finish the elf off. "Die."

'Shit!' Filvis cursed in her mind having no way of evading this attack. She was really going to die if she didn't do anything. Her mind raced a thousand miles, trying to come up with some way to dodge or at least minimize the incoming damage...

*Kick!*

Until the elf found herself kicked out of the way by none other than Bete, rescuing her from her death. However, even with this success came a new problem.

'Shit. Now I can't dodge.' Bete thought as his outstretched leg was now in the path of the tamer. As one of the fastest Adventurers in Orario, Bete's legs were his ultimate weapon. The tamer himself knew this as he smiled wickedly and brought down his hand onto Bete's leg—

*KICK!*

Only to be kicked in the face by, to Bete's surprise, Chester whose kick was so powerful that it sent the masked tamer flying back and crashing into a distant wall so fast that even Bete himself had trouble tracking the flying tamer.

"Elf girl!" Chester shouted over to Lefiya who had been slightly stunned by what Chester has done as well as how fast he moved. At the sound of his voice did she shake herself from her stupor and knew exactly what the masked man wanted from her, her instincts taking over her further actions.

"Shoot, sniper of the fairies. Penetrate, arrow of absolute accuracy. Arcs Ray!" Quickly finishing her chant, Lefiya wasted no time firing it towards where the tamer had been kicked towards. An explosion of dust and flying rocks seconds later showed that her spell had hit its target.

Over with Chester, Bete, and Filvis, the elf pushed herself back up to her feet while the werewolf was busy throwing a glare at Chester who was dusting off his gloved hands.

"Why'd you help me?" Bete asked, confused as to why the masked man had stepped in and saved him from what would have been a debilitating injury.

"The better question is," Chester began as he turned to the werewolf. "Why didn't you kick him?"

"Huh?"

"The masked tamer. You do realize you could have kicked him away in order to save the black-haired elf instead of doing what you just did, right?"

"...fuck you," Was Bete's reply as he vainly turned his head away in order to hide how red his face was, realizing that he could have done what Chester just told him.

"Ah, a tsundere response. You're definitely one of Loki's," Chester said, chuckling in amusement which just made Bete redder though from anger this time than embarrassment.

Looking over towards his right, Chester checked to see how Asfi's group was faring and it seemed like they were just about done, taking down any remaining stragglers.

"Looks like they're just about done over there."

"Hmph. I guess weaklings are good for something," Bete commented before looking over towards where the tamer was, smoke still obscuring his figure. However, Bete frowned when he felt his wolf ears twitch, picking up the faint sound of moving. "Oi."

Chester turned to the werewolf. "Yes?"

"How hard did you kick that bastard?"

"I used half of my strength."

"...why?"

"I simply wanted you and your comrade to be the ones who finished him off. After all, what kind of senior would I be if I hogged all the experience and left my juniors in the mud," Chester said before looking over towards where the tamer was as the smoke was starting to dissipate. "Although, it looks like the elf girl's magic wasn't enough to kill him."

"Eh?" Lefiya looked over towards Chester and Bete, having heard what they had said, before looking over towards where she blasted the tamer. Even if she wasn't as strong as her Familia's Vice-Captain her magic wasn't something to scoff at. She actually took a bit of pride knowing that she was one Orario's strongest Magic users.

And yet...

"Close, but I'm afraid it was a futile effort. After all, my body that is loved by her wouldn't break from something like this." From the smoke came the masked tamer, except Chester's previous kick had utterly destroyed it, allowing everyone to finally see what the tamer looked like as his yellow-green eyes glared from under his long white hair.

Everyone but Chester gasped at who they saw.

"It can't be..." Asfi's eyes widen in disbelief at who was standing before them, her mind trying to figure how just how this man was here. "[Vendetta]...Olivas Act!"

"...who?" The tension was almost broken by Chester's innocent question, causing a few members to nearly trip and fall due to how ignorant he sounded.

"[Vendetta], Olivas Act," Lefiya spoke up, explaining to Chester while never taking her eyes off the man before everyone. "He was a member of Evilus and the one behind the 27th Floor Nightmare."

"27th Floor Nightmare? What's that?" Again, the tension was almost broken by Chester's question, causing the elf to almost trip and fall.

"You don't what that is either!?"

"I've been away from Orario for quite some time, so forgive me if I'm ignorant to a lot of things," Chester said with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Olivas Act was a member of Evilus," Asfi spoke up, taking over the explanation as she stressed the 'was' part. "He was chased by Adventurers and was eaten by Monsters. His death was confirmed when all they could find was his lower body. So then..."

"What's a dead man like him doing here?" Bete said, glaring over at Olivas who smiled smugly, taking joy at their confusion.

"Could he have been alive all this time?" Lefiya guessed.

"No, I did die," Olivas said as Lefiya's magic attack had destroyed everything but the lower part of his clothes, revealing all the injuries he had sustained thus far healing to the disbelief of many. If that wasn't shocking enough, with only rags covering his lower body, everyone got a good look at his chest and legs. The latter's skin was yellow-green like his eyes, appearing reptile-like, while the former, which had been carved open courtesy of Lefiya's earlier attack, displayed a rich-colored Magic Stone embedded inside.

'His wounds are healing without the use of healing magic. Not to mention those legs and that richly colored Magic Stone in his chest...' Beads of sweat dripped down from Lefiya as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing right now. And because of her confusion, she couldn't help but ask...

"W-What are you?"

Olivas smiled at that as he gestured to himself and over to the remains of a Viola.

"Human...and Monster. I am a supreme being with the powers of both."

'A hybrid between a human and a Monster!?' Lefiya thought, covering her mouth as the very thought of it made her sick.

"D-Don't fool around!" Lulune suddenly shouted. "A remnant of Evilus is now half monster and playing tamer!? How many Adventurers do you think died because of you guys!? Even Keaks...!"

"Don't group me up with garbage such as them. It's outrageous to be considered the same as those who are being played around with by the Gods. And on top of that, being lumped into the same category of the child's play that is taming..." Olivas said as he grabbed the Viola remains and lifted it above his head. "The Violas and I come from the same origin as her! The Monsters obey me as her agent! This labyrinth is a plant! With the Viscum parasitizing the Pantry and mass-producing Violas, this is a mid-way point for Lower Floor monsters to be born within the higher floors where we will eventually transport them up to the surface!"

'A Monster giving birth to other Monsters!?' Asfi thought in disbelief as she looked up at all the tiny sprouts hanging from the ceiling, now realizing that they were really unborn Violas. Whatever was doing this was unlike any Monster anyone's ever encountered. And that wasn't all. As far as Asfi knew, the Dungeon was the only womb for Monsters, a fact the Gods have all confirmed to be true.

'And yet, this man is trying to destroy that fact!' Asfi thought as she glared over at Olivas.

"Why? Why are you doing this!?"

Olivas smiled evilly as he bluntly announced, "To destroy Orario."

"What!?" Asfi exclaimed, a feeling shared by everyone here (except for Chester who just yawned in response.) "Do you realize what you're saying!? Orario is a 'lid!' It's the only thing preventing Monsters from reaching the surface! If it's destroyed, the surface will—!"

"Of course I do," Olivas interjected. "In order to grant her wish, I will destroy this city with my own hands. Can't you hear her? She's saying she wants to see the sky. She yearns for it! Since she longs for it, I will gladly sacrifice myself for the cause! That bothersome city should be destroyed and she should rule the surface in place of the foolish humans and the useless gods! I! Only I, who was chosen by her, can realize her—!"

*Stab!*

"Hrk!" Before the hybrid could continue on, a rose-tipped knife suddenly found itself stabbed right into the man's throat, surprising everyone at how it just suddenly appeared. Upon recognizing the knife, Asfi turned towards Chester whose arm was stretched out, showing that he was the one who had interrupted Olvias vis knife to the throat. Soon enough, everyone looked at Chester in surprise who looked back around at all of them.

"What?" Chester asked, confused by their stares. "He was just standing there prattling on. Did none of you think to take the shot?"

"As if any of us could have done anything!" Lulune exclaimed. Even if they had wanted to do something, Olivas had previous shown that he was evenly matched with Bete who was a Lv. 5 Adventurer and one of the most famous in Orario.

"hrk! ...you...!" Pulling the knife out from his throat, Olivas glared over at Chester as his wound began healing.

"Oh? So even a knife to the throat isn't enough to kill you," Chester said, slightly impressed.

"as i said before..." Olivas' voice started out quiet before it started to return to normal the more his throat healed. "This body of mine that is loved by her could never—!"

"Yes, yes, I get it. Praise be to whoever this 'her' person is," Chester interjected, speaking mockingly towards Olivas which just further angered him. "But don't think I don't know what you're trying to do. Your brain's still rattled from my kick earlier, isn't it? You're simply speaking in order to buy yourself time to heal."

"Kh!" Olivas gritted his teeth, having been found out. Chester's words spoke true as from the hybrid's point of view, his vision was still slightly blurry as his body shook so very slightly that from afar one wouldn't even be able to tell he was still recovering.

And yet, to the confusion of everyone, Olivas smiled.

"I'm surprised you saw through it. It's just as you said, I still can't move that well yet...just me, that is."

Everyone's eyes widen in realization, but it was already too late as the hybrid raised his arm towards the parasite that was coiled around the Pantry.

"Do it, Viscum!"

With those three words, one of the three monsters that had been coiled around the Pantry began to move and for the first time, everyone saw just how humungous it was compared to the Violas. Compared to it, they all may as well have been ants.

"Well now, ain't she a big girl," Chester said causally, being the only one who wasn't intimidated by the Viscum's size.

"Y-You gotta be fucking kidding!" Lulune cursed loudly as she and everyone stared in disbelief at the Viscum's size. In fact, much to their horror, it was getting bigger the more it neared them.

"Scatter!" Bete's cry snapped everyone out of their shock as they all quickly leaped out of the way and just in time as the Viscum slammed its body down on the ground, causing a small quake as everyone was thrown back by the shockwave it produced. Once the shaking stopped and everyone got their bearings back together, they all looked up to find the Viscum staring them all down with Olivas up on a small cliff standing right under it looking quite smug.

"Kill them." At his command, the giant monster began moving towards the group, it's movement serpent-like.

"Not so fast!" Bete cried out as he took out a Magic Sword in the form of a flaming dagger. However, the curious thing was that the flames from the magic-imbued weapon were being absorbed into his mithril boots. Said boots, named Flosvirt, were specially created to have the ability to absorb magic thus increasing its wielder's own power.

Kicking his literal flaming legs out, Bete struck the body of the Viscum, but to his surprise, his attack, while indeed leaving a mark and was able to successfully divert its path away from Asfi and the others, seemed to have no effect as the giant Monster didn't even seem to register it as it kept moving just fine.

'No effect? Must be because of how big it is,' Bete thought, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"Fuhahahahaha! Go, Viscum! Punish these foolish Adventurers for stepping into this sacred place!" Olivas shouted, laughing gleefully at how much trouble the monster was causing the others.

"Olivas Act!"

"Hm?" Hearing his name, the hybrid turned around to see Filvis standing a few feet behind him, aiming her staff and glaring at the man with eyes full of hate.

"How dare you still live after all you've done! Because of you, my companions...!"

"Oh? Are you perhaps a survivor of the 27th Floor Nightmare?" Olivas said before smiling. "Now now, it's true that I was the one who planned that incident, but I was as much of a victim as you were. By dying once I was able to free myself from the hands of the gods. We've both been through painful experiences."

"Don't fool around! You...!"

"Ah ah ah, now before you go ahead and direct all that anger at me, shouldn't you be more concerned about your fellow elf?" Olivas said as he stepped to the side to show that in the distance Lefiya was currently under assault by vines from a pack of Violas.

Filvis gasped as she now found herself in a conundrum. Just a few feet away from her was the man responsible for making her the living hell that it was today. The chance to avenge her fallen comrades was right in front of her. But on the other hand, a few yards away, her comrade was in danger. Lefiya, the elf who said she wasn't "dirty" or "cursed," was in danger if not aided right away.

"...kuh!" With gritted teeth, Filvis came to a decision. She charged straight towards Olivas...and ran past him, running off to aid her fellow elf.

"Hmph!" Olivas scoffed under his breath as he smiled knowingly towards the running elf.

"Well, doesn't that just make your heart warm-up?" A voice spoke up, making Olvias turn around to see Chester standing right next to him. The hybrid jumped back in surprise, knowing by now that the masked person was no ordinary man, and yet he continued to watch as Filvis assisted Lefiya with fending off the Violas.

"A girl helping another girl in a life-threatening crisis. I bet some god up above is writing something like right now, except its pure smut, not that there's anything wrong with that. Those things make a surprising amount of money. The real surprise is when a woman is found buying such things."

"Should you really be here talking instead of aiding your comrades?" Olivas said while staring warily at Chester who chuckled in response.

"'Comrades?' Please, I could care less about what happens to them all. Well, except maybe Loki's kids. She'd probably have my head if she found out I let them die here."

"So you're just another servant to the gods."

"Servant? Oh no no no, I am nothing like that."

"Then what are you? Some sort of an Adventurer?"

"Former Adventurer, really. Though, I am trying to get back into the business," Chester said before he finally turned towards Olivas. "But enough about me, let's talk about you, Mr. [Vendetta]."

"And what makes you think I'll tell you anything?" Olivas said as he took a fighting stance while letting out a wave of killing intent.

"Please, why not do us both a favor and drop the tough-guy act," Chester said, not in the least bit fazed by Olivas's attempt to intimidate him. "We both know that I could have killed you a long time ago. When I kicked you to the ceiling, and when I kicked you in order to save those kids. Both times I could have easily blown your head off...and you know that, don't you?"

Olivas made no response, but the sweat that was starting to form on the hybrid's body told Chester all he needed to know.

"Now you must be asking yourself why is it that I'm holding back against you. Well, the first reason is that you're not worth the effort. A quarter of my strength is all I need to take you down."

"Kh!" Olivas gritted his teeth but did not fall for Chester's provocation, knowing that route would lead to a second death for him.

"As for the other reason, I'm waiting for someone and so I'm simply using you to pass the time," Chester said as he smiled and chuckled under his mask. "And I must say that you've been very entertaining. Have you ever thought about becoming a preacher? You have a way with words."

"Are you mocking me?" Olivas growled, half tempted to send the Viscum at Chester. He didn't know exactly how strong he was but there was no way he could take on a Monster of the Viscum's size alone.

"Was that not obvious?" Chester said, his tone obviously showing that he was mocking the hybrid right now. Olivas himself felt something snap inside of him at Chester's tone.

'Fuck it. He dies first!' Olivas thought before raising his hand up. "Viscu—!"

*BOOM!*

Suddenly, just as Olivas was about to command the Vsicum to attack Chester, a wall to the far left of Olivas exploded as crashing through it, to Olivas's surprise, was Revis, her body showing signs of injuries and burns while the sword in her hand was completely destroyed, leaving her with just the handle.

"What!?" Olivas exclaimed in surprise, confused as to why his ally was here and why she was in such a state.

"Oh?" Chester, as well as everyone else, turned their head towards the newly made hole in the wall as a figure emerged from it who which everyone instantly recognized.

"Miss Ais!" Lefiya exclaimed in happiness as stepping out of the hole was indeed Ais, slightly exhausted but no worse for wear.

"Huh? Lefiya? And Bete?" Ais, recognizing her fellow Familia members, blinked at them in both surprise and confusion.

"Oh ho?" Chester let a noise of slight surprise. But his surprise was not directed towards Ais. No, it was directed towards the hole she came out from. Under his mask, Chester smirked as he heard the faint sound of clacking metal. "Well now, it's about time you got here."

*clack-clack-clack*

Barely audible at first, the sound of clacking metal grew louder and soon everyone heard it as a few seconds later another figure emerged from the hole Ais came from, a figure only Chester and those from Bete's group recognized.

"Hm?" From under his helmet, Bell blinked in confusion at all the people in the area as he stood beside Ais, sword and shield in hand.

"Wha—!? Tin Head!?" Bete exclaimed in surprise, wondering what the hell was the knight-wannabe doing here.

Looking around at all the people here, Bell then turned to Ais and asked her, "Your comrades?"

"Most of them," Ais said before pointing over to Olivas and Chester. "Those two, on the other hand..."

Following her finger, Bell's eyes passed by Olivas and settled on Chester who waved back at him. As if it were a reaction to it, a red glow emerged from under the slit of Bell's helmet as he trained his eyes down towards the masked man.

"Chester..."

Chester, sensing Bell's rising anger, simply chuckled in response. Meanwhile, Olivas looked over towards Revis who was picking herself up, and scoffed at her.

"Are you just talk, Revis? How pitiful," Olivas said before looking over towards Ais and Bell, focusing mainly on the former. "I wouldn't consider this little girl "Aria", however...if she desires it..." Lifting his hand up, Olivas took command of the Viscum. "Viscum!"

"Stop!" Revis shouted, trying to warn the hybrid, but it was already too late.

"I doubt it'd be a problem if we bring back a dead body. Die, [Sword Princess]!"

"Miss Ais!" Lefiya cried out in worry as the giant Monster obeyed its orders and charged towards Ais's location.

Seeing the monster heading towards her, Ais lifted up her sword, ready to unleash her magic which she had been restricting up until now. However...

*Grab-THROW!*

Faster than Ais could blink, she suddenly found herself flung away from where she was. Looking back she saw Bell with his left arm stretched out, showing that he had grabbed and flung her away, leaving him the one to face the incoming giant Monster.

"Bell!" Ais found herself crying out the armored Adventurer's name in worry as the Viscum practically crashed headfirst into the wall, seemingly crushing Bell in the process. Flipping herself around and landing on her feet, she looked back up in horror.

'He...saved me? ...Why?' In Ais's mind, she could not comprehend why the knight had flung her away when she was fully capable of dealing with the giant monster solo. Yet, as her mind played back the event, she saw that Bell had grabbed and thrown her away to safety on instinct. His first reaction to the giant Monster charging at them was, to her disbelief, to push her out of harm's way. When exactly was the last time anyone has ever done that to her?

"Hmph. I don't know who that man in the armor was but it matter's not," Olivas said, wiping away Bell's existence as a second thought. "Now, Viscum, the [Sword Princess]."

Hearing that did Ais get back up and raise her sword to unleash her magic. Yet, just as she summoned forth a small gale she, as well as everyone else noticed something, unknowingly sharing the same thought.

'Did it just get warmer in here?'

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

Suddenly, from where the Viscum crashed into, a massive pillar of flame erupted which completely enveloped the Viscum's entire head. A wave of hot air washed over the entire area, making everyone break out sweating as the temperature increased to uncomfortable levels. Despite that everyone kept their eyes on the pillar of fire as the body of the Viscum fell to the ground, dead with his head completely burned off. A few seconds later, the pillar of flame soon dissipated as the only thing that remained was a burnt ground and smoke. And from that smoke walked out Bell completely fine.

"The Magic Stone is in its head," Bell said as he turned to Asfi and the others who all stared at him in shock. "Thought I should let you know that."

"Wha...Wha...Wha...!?" Eyes wide with disbelief, Olivas was speechless as he fell back on his butt.

"What...the...hell?" Lulune's words pretty much summarized everyone's thoughts as they all continued to stare at Bell in disbelief. The ones who were the most affected were the mages as they stared at Bell with eyes filled with fear.

'Such a powerful spell...just the heat alone is making me sweat like a pig,' Lefiya thought as her whole body shook. 'Such power...how did he summon forth such a spell in only a few seconds...and without chanting!'

'Who is this person?' Asfi thought to herself, staring warily at Bell.

'Amazing...' In contrast to everyone else, Ais looked at Bell not with eyes filled with fear, but with awe. The magical power he just displayed matched her own—no, it surpassed it. She had been wondering for quite some time just how strong Bell was compared to her. And now...

'Could he be...stronger than me?'

*Clap-Clap-Clap*

The sound of clapping broke everyone from their stupor as the sounds of laughter made everyone turn to see Chester clapping and laughing down at them.

"Bravo! Bravo! It seems you're still as strong as ever, Bell Cranel."

'Bell Cranel!?' Asfi thought in surprise and disbelief, turning to the knight that Chester had called Bell. 'Bell...as in, the one Lord Hermes has been interested in?'

"Chester..." Bell growled as he glared over at the masked man.

"It's been quite some time since our last meeting. What brings you all the way down here?" Chester asked despite already knowing the answer.

Lifting up his sword, Bell pointed it over at Chester and said,

"I'm here for my stuff."

---

And done! Well now, that actually turned out better than I thought it would. Though If I may be honest this still isn't my best work. Most of it was just scenes taken out from the LN and manga with Chester seemingly slapped into it, not to mention that there was barely any Bell in this chapter. Of course, if you've seen the title, that's a given as I wanted to show off my interpretation of Marvelous Chester. Most interpretations I've seen him in other fanfic has him as this mysterious yet smug bastard who couldn't care less about anyone that wasn't himself. Mine's not that much different though I added a tone of mischief to him if you couldn't tell from his playful nature. Since he has a connection with Loki, I thought making him mischievous would be an interesting idea. The result was that he was a lot more fun to write up than I initially thought he would.

Of course, there's more to him than that, but I'm not revealing anything further until much later. Basically, I wanted to create a character Bell would distrust upon first meeting, but could not help associating with due to the events of the DLC. I do hope everyone liked how I interpreted Chester since the chapter is mostly focused on him. Next chapter though the focus will go back to Bell as he's finally confronting his old acquaintance. Until then, this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out. May the sun bless you all.