The Adventures of Lox

by BookDEVOURER12

A long thought dead god returned for some time, Erebus. He changed some things, but the biggest thing he did was break the rules. A tiny fraction of divinity and a weapon was granted to a single mortal. The ability to Endure, and an ax, cursed to always be heavy in its wielders grasp.

The Adventures of Lox - Chapter : ?

AN: This is a spinoff of a story I've been writing for some time. [Rotting Growth on SB]

Lox Smith (yes his name is pronounced Locks Smith) is an OC character from Danmachi, this section happens during the Black Goliath fight. While Bell and Co. are fighting the Black Goliath, The cat person Lox and his Pallum friend Rosinore are holding back the monsters from the nineteenth floor. Begin the chaos!

Lox stats right before fight

2

•Strength: S954

•Endurance: SSS1191

•Dexterity: A867

•Agility: B766

•Magic: A894

Skills

Primordial Son:A Conditions not yet meet Ω

'Exilia Echos': 0

Spells

Doom Blade: 'The void is without substance, but cuts like steel- destroy the one that stands before me.'

Lox pov

Lox urged the exhausted adventurer up the stairs as the sound of black and white crackling lightning echoed up the steps. A distant shout, then the roar of flames follows. Straining his ears, Lox hears it, Rosinore has begun to chant her earth dome spell.

As they reach the top of the steps Lox sees the Black Goliath, a green gale of wind rips one of its arms off and continues on to shred a portion of the 18th floors crystal ceiling, dropping deadly fragments to the unoccupied forest below.

Lox's mouth dropped open when it healed its arm in seconds. The Black Goliath roared out a magic beam that blasted into the ceiling as the sword princess dodged around the magic attack that seemed to curve around her. She appeared as a freshly fallen leaf in a spinning green vortex of wind.

A red explosion was seen in the distance followed by a distant roar that was echoed by the Black Goliath Ais was fighting. There were two, not one.

Lox heard Rosinore reach the middle of her chant and he knew he could do nothing else here.

"Change of plans, we're blocking the stairway, don't follow me."

With these words Lox left the startled adventurer, sprinted down the steps and turned the corner only a few seconds after Rosinore's earth dome covered the pallum mage from sight and harm. Bugbears, battle boars, lizardmen, and many more monsters swarmed the dome, smashing and chipping away at the stone. Lox knew what Rosinore was doing placing her earth dome so close to the steps. She was going to collapse the tunnel behind them, and seal the stairs.

Leaping upwards Lox came to rest atop the twenty foot high earth dome as muffled chanting can be heard inside. He stood on an island in a sea of monsters as the second chant neared its completion. Lox bent his knees, preparing for the explosion he knew would come. Five Lizardmen were swatted back down to the ground and a battle boar was cleaved vertically with a scythe of black, Doom Blade. The world turned cold and quiet as death, then Rosinore finished her chant and the cold was replaced with light, heat, and sound.

The earth dome under Lox's feet detonated and he rode the blast upwards as the entrance to the stairs collapsed under the massive blast of flame and molten rock. A tiny lick of fire clung to his chest and with the blowing of the wind from Lox's flight, it spread to the rest of his body, stinging his skin and blackening his armor.

Wreathed in pure white flame, Lox adjusts himself midair and comes down with a flaming heavy axe chop. Making a huge flaming crater and pulping two lizardmen that he landed on.

Lox stepped out of the impact crater, coated in white fire and burning ash, looking like a flaming suit of armor. The fire clung to his skin yet did not burn, only sting as it tried to pierce his mighty endurance. With an inhale of burning air, Lox reared back his ax and charged through the smoke towards the gathering hoards of monsters, white glowing fire spewed from his maw. Swinging his white blazing axe in a mighty overhead blow, he smashed into the closest bugbear, cleaving it under his axe's mighty weight. Too tired to stop his swing after it cleaved through the monster's skull, the ax continues downwards to bury itself into the floor. Charred wood, chips of burning stone and both halves of the bugbear are launched from the impact sight. The burning chips of stone skittered off of Loxs armor, but bruised and abraded his skin.

Fearing for his life Lox threw himself to the floor and rolled to put out the fire, but this only succeeded in spreading the flames over the ground and Lox further.

Three bugbears were the first to come out of the smoke. Lox quickly rolled to his feet as a pillar of flame and gripped his ax, heaving it out of the ground and swinging it in one motion, burying his axe halfway through the bugbear on the right.

With a coughing inhale of fire, Lox carried on with the blow lifting the first mortality wounded bugbear off its feet and smashed it into the other two, staggering them back a few feet.

The magical fire continues to burn and spreads over the now soon to be dead bugbear, a few splatters of white flame jumped hungrily towards the two monsters. Lox backed up and breathed through his blackening salamander wool cloak. The fabric of his clothes had already burned up in the magical flames, the leathers were gone, and his salamander wool cloak was beginning to crumble from the top down. Lox inhaled another breath through the cloak as the glowing white fire on the bugbear cut out with a sputter. Leaving only a burning and melting magic stone in its wake.

Then Lox rooted his feet, readied his ax and prepared himself for his two closets foes, and the ones that would follow after. Through the fires and smog of burning and thrashing monsters, he had seen flashes, brown fur, red scales and green shells, more Bugbears, lizardmen and Mad Beetles. With an exhale the spell chant for Doom Blade fell from his lips and the world suddenly felt cold, even when surrounded by fire. Scythes of black left Lox's hand and then two lifeless bugbears hit the ground, their chests looked as if something had chewed through them and ate all the flesh around the magic stone.. His head pounded as his internal count of Doom Blade castings went down two. Lox felt it deep down, he only had Eleven… no ten more castings of Doom Blade. On the eleventh casting he knew it would be the end for him. He just had to hold out until the Black Goliath was killed. He could hear it roaring from the floor above. So he grinned as the last of his cloak burned down to his waist and his armor began to glow from the heat.

The four meter tall wall of stone and lava spikes was dotted with impaled and burning monsters. It also had a break in it about ten feet wide, a choke point. Beyond the gap he caught sight of a firebird coated in white flames dropping out of the air and burning to ash before it could reach the ground. He came to a stop at the choke point and stilled. He waited as the flames on his skin died down to small tongues of sputtering specs of white, all he could do was endure. His armor continued to glow brighter and sting his skin like. It was at that moment when Lox accepted what he must do. Every second was pain, every movement fanned the flames coating his body higher and hotter. But Lox had to live, he had to protect Rosinore, so he had to hold this spot, and Endure.

Lox was tired, he had been tired for days, but now he could no longer feel his limbs even as they burned.

But no monster would get past as long as he could lift his ax. With a roar he readied his ax for the first monster to come through, he would Endure.

Rosinore pov

That last spell had thrown Rosinore to the floor so hard she had rolled over a few times. She blinked and felt so tired from casting her last spell, she had almost suffered Mind down. The world spun and she rolled off her side and shakily got to her feet. Dizzy from her tumble, she gripped her staff and touched the light, healing herself only marginally and making her only feel more tired. The ringing of the explosion suddenly faded with the healing, but the sounds of battle above still raged on. With a wave of her oversized magic focus, the dust and ash was blown away to reveal the floor had gone from dangerous forest, to a burning hell.

Hundreds of burning and charred monster bodies were tossed into thrashing piles by her newest spell. Every few seconds a monster evaporated when the magical fires reached its crystal. The sound of bodies being cleaved into twain had lately become a more familiar sound, a more welcome sound morbidly, and she had just heard it. Turning her head she saw the thing she feared most. Lox was still here and the stairway was sealed. But worse was he was coated in Witch's fire. The fire pulled back from his skin and armor, rushing up his arms and gathering at the head of his axe. Lox turned his head from the now dead flaming battle boar to look back at her. His armor was glowing a bright orange, but now slowly began to fade to red. Lox turned back to face the hoard and swung his blazing ax widely forcing the monsters to either taste the righteous flames of his ax, or climb over a wall of magical fire to flank him. He was a wall between two cliffs of fire, a wall that was slowly being pushed back. He had said he was going upstairs, to safety...

He must have turned back as soon as her earth dome had gone up. Now she was too weak to help him, even too weak to get away. Her eyes lit up, Lady Hestia gave her some potions. With slow and steady movements she reached into her hip pack and paused. Her hands had only met broken glass and damp paper, no. She dumped out her pack scattering broken glass and potion soaked spell formula. The Witches fire blast had knocked her over, she had fallen onto the side she hung the little bag from. She looked up from their broken last chance at Lox as the fire burned on around him. Two more bugbears charged through the narrow gap, three lizardmen slipped though the gap as well. Lox killed both bugbears with Doom Blade and knocked all three lizardmen back into the flaming wall. The large purple ax in his hands was sagging lower and lower in Lox's grip.

She knew Lox was nearing his limit, ever since they entered the dungeon he hadn't put his axe away. She knew it was heavy, that it was too heavy. And he had been swinging it almost non-stop since they entered. His swings had started to become labored when he was killing Minatours on the thirteenth floor. Now he was fighting bugbears, lizards and battle boars on the nineteenth. Rosinore blinked as the world began to grow cold and her vision began to fade, her hands reached towards Lox as his eyes locked to hers. She tried to tell him to run, but no sound came out. The last of her mind was used up by the still burning Witches fire, and she slid to the floor clinging to her staff as the world turned to darkness.

Lox pov

After killing the twentieth monster and third battle boar, the fire coating his entire body rushed off of him to stick to his ax's head. Lox snapped his gaze to Rosinore who had stood up from her island of stone in a small pond of lava. She smiled sadly before blinking slowly, opening her mouth and falling over gently with a breathless sigh. Mind down, she was only unconscious. She would be safest right there, the lava spikes and moat will stop anything land based from getting to her for a short while.

Lox turned to face the now visible hoard, the fires faded and lost their white glow. The hoard charged through the gap in the wall and Lox swung his ax. It parted flesh and crushed bones, shells were cracked, scales were torn. A bugbears claws left shallow furrows in his red hot armor as they raked his back, the claws jerked downwards viciously and parted the flesh of his back. With a roar of pain the ax fell once again, claiming another life.

With a final sputter the fire on Lox's ax died. Through the gap he saw more monsters gathering to push through once again. Two battle boars lead the charge, shoulder to shoulder, forcing aside the charred and burned wall of bodies. The feeling of death returned and both battle boars vanished, leaving only two magical stones, both had a razor thin cut right through their centers. The count fell to eight. Lox's ax fell upon the hoard as it erupted from the now wide gap the battle boars had made.

The stampede of feet was only drowned out by the distant roars from above. They were not done, he had to hold. As monster after monster charged him and meet death, they added injuries to the lone adventurer. A small cut here, a thin puncture wound from a Gun Libellula. Every hurt blended together, yet Lox's ax continued to swing. Death followed in his ax's wake. A short muttering brought down a Mad Beetle before it could gut him with its claws. Seven. A Gun Libellula was swatted out of the air with another scythe of death. Six. Four Lizardmen at his back and three bugbears to his front, a battle boar to the right and a Mammoth Fool was charging its way towards him from the left.

With a heaving spin two lizardmen were cleaved in twain as the third and forth used landform weapons to block his blow. With a mighty heave the ax spun the other way as death fell from Lox's lips. The Mammoth Fool fell to the dungeon floor without its head, five, and the Lizardmen were unprepared for Lox's mighty ax to smash right through the landform weapons they held. His swing carried on and two more monsters were slain at his feet. Taking a laboured breath Lox turned to face the bugbears and battle boar with ax already swinging for the bugbears. The battle boar silently roared and began its charge, the feeling of cold and it dropped dead before it could gather momentum. Four. His ax was swung through the air without a sound, and buried itself into a bugbears chest.

His grip was tight on his ax as he was knocked off his feet by two bugbears tackling him. Inhale as they clawed at his chest, leaving deep gouges in the now cooled metal. Exhale as death fell once more. Both bugbears stilled and vanished, leaving behind shattered stones. Two.

Dragging himself to his feet once more he looked at the hoard. Ringing silence was the only thing Lox heard, even as he could see the hoard growing closer, but he could only feel one Black Goliath stomping about the floor above.

With shaky arms and stiff legs Lox climbed atop a pile of dead and charred bugbears as the hoard neared his new spot. With graying vision Lox pointed, the only two remaining Gun Libellula died as the blades of death passed through them. Zero. Lox's vision narrowed and he saw his own chest rise as he drew a shuddering breath, his body felt completely numb, bit still he stood. His ax rose and fell, more monsters died as they had to climb to get to him. Battleboars tripped over the gathered bodies of the dead, their hooves not ment to climb the bodies of its fellows. Bugbears climbed with ease using claws to grip the growing hill. Lizardmen jumped up the hill, only to meet Lox's ax.

Lox's ax rose and fell. His arms strained to lift his weapon once more to kill another bugbear. His ax rose and fell, his ax rose and fell, his ax rose, fell…

Ais pov

Just a few minutes ago she had slain the first Black Goliath by stabbing it through the chest with all her strength. Turbanis made Its body balloon up for all of a second before the giant monster had turned to dust. Just like everything else that Turbanis' effect struck.

Now she watched helplessly as the small white haired boy screamed and unleashed a mighty bolt of fire onto the remaining Black Goliath. Helplessly because with too many people near the giant monster, she did not dare swing Turbanis. An errant movement would spell death for hundreds of allies, so Ais stood and did nothing.

The battle could have been over with ease, a single swing to annihilate the monster's torso and magic stone, but the powerful blast of wind would turn even the most powerful nearby adventures into a fine mist as well.

So she watched as the small boy and his goddess slayed a monster. Light gathered about the boy as he charged the second and last Black Goliath while the distant rings of a bell tolled the hour. He swung the glowing sword in his hands and the Goliath's vanished from the waist up. His sword turned to dust in his hands as the smoke cleared, showing that the monster still lives.

It's massive magic stone was exposed but it began to regenerate quickly. Ais readied Turbanis and froze, not yet, he was still too close. The boy jumped up to the shining crystal and impaled it with his knife, a sudden twist and the stone shattered into a million pieces, obscuring him from sight.

Rosinore pov

She woke with a pained gasp to a steady beat. *crush smash, crush smash*

It was a familiar sound, but she couldn't place from where she heard it from last.

A pair of hands gently turned her over, it was the adventurer who had told them about the Goliath. He kept glancing towards the source of the familiar sound, but the arm he used to support himself blocked her blurry view.

*crush smash, crush smash*

Rosinore coaghed, making her rescuer startle as she tried to sit up. He quickly and gently pushed her back down.

"No just stay down, help is on the way. You're safe." He stiffened at the now regular sound.

*crush smash, crush smash*

She caught sight of a flash of golden hair. The sword princess had arrived with Turbanis the hurricane on her hip. She was safe, but what was making that noise? Her thoughts turned to Lox. 'Did he run… of course, he went to get help with her rescuer… Good, Lox was safe...' Darkness reclaimed her.

*crush smash, crush clang*

Ais pov

She followed the rushing adventure as he was blabbering about how it wasn't his fault. That the stairway had collapsed. With a flick of Turbanis the stairway was cleared and her guide rushed down the now clear steps with visible panic.

As they ran down the steps, she began to hear a steady repeat of sounds.

*crush smash, crush smash*

The guide paused only momentarily at the distant form of the still standing adventurer before he ran towards a prone form. He skidded to a stop beside the unconscious pallum mage and turned her over to check on her.

Ais stopped and fixed her gaze on the distant adventurer as his ax fell again, crushing an already dead monster into ash as its stone was smashed to bits.

*crushed smash, crush smash*

Approaching him she froze at what she saw. It was Lox and he had his back to her. His armor was more tatters than steel, the only thing that he still wore was a black tattered skirt. Tied to his waist with the shredded remains of a bugbear. But his state of dress did not catch her off guard, it was his wounds.

Cuts, scratches, Gun Libellula darts, and the burns. His skin was covered in blood and dust, but underneath his skin was red and blistering. Everyone of his steps made more blood ooze from his wounds. The bones on his knuckles and one arm were visible, a Mad Beetle's claw was jammed under his ribs, every inhale was wet like he had water in his lungs. But still, he stood tall, his ax rose again to crush a decapitated bugbear.

*crush smash*

Blood leaked out of every wound on Lox's body, the axe fell and another monster body vanished as the crystal was smashed.

Ais rushed to him as his ax rose again, putting strain on every cut. Less blood than before leaked as every cut grew wider with the strain he was putting on his body.

His ax fell once more caving in the chest of a dead bugbear. *crush* His ax rose and fell towards the exposed crystal. And she knew he needed help. Ais kept Turbanis sheathed and deflected his ax swing to bury itself in the charred stone beneath their feet.

*clang*

He turned his head and Ais saw his eyes. They stared straight ahead into the distance. Lox's head tilted to take in his surroundings and his eyes blinked and cleared. He slowly turned his head to see the carnage he had caused.

Ais followed his gaze with half interest. She saw that the piles of shattered crystals far outnumbered the piles of burned and broken monsters.

Lox took a single step, and held his ax low. His grip slacked as his gaze locked onto Rosinores prone form. The purple ax slipped through his fingers to smash into the floor, throwing up pulverized stone from the three foot drop. Lox stumbled and Ais caught him before he could fall. Lox gripped her shoulders like a life line and took another step towards Rosinore.

The sudden sound of rushing feet alerted Ais to danger. They were still on the nineteenth floor of the dungeon.

Ais was about to lift Lox and carry him to safety when he grabbed his ax and it vanished into thin air. The ears atop his head twitched and he let go of her, standing fully on his own.

"Ais…"

His voice was shallow and dry, his cuts had ceased to bleed.

"Thank you… please, protect our retreat."

He took a deep rattling breath, and began to walk towards the stairs. One step at a time. Ais nodded to him as he passed and unsheathed the beautiful blade from its sheath. The air stilling around her as her lungs filled with life. Lox stopped by Rosinore and urged the adventurer to either pick her up and carry her, or he would do it himself. The walls began to crack just as Lox reached the foot of the steps. Rosinore was being carried by the unknown adventurer.

Ais turned her attention to the newly birthed monsters. A few swings of Turbanis cleaned up the piles of dead monsters and tore her surroundings to shreds.

The sound of cracking stone ceased as the walls themselves were ground to dust more than a foot deep.

Ais slowly sheathed Turbanis at her side and left the ruined entrance to the nineteenth floor. Dust on the wind was the only thing that was left of the hundreds of dead monsters.