Chapter 2: Crawling

Bell woke, as usual at four and a half in the morning, rubbing his eyes groggily and pulling himself up so as to prepare himself for the Dungeon crawling that he would have to do it. Hestia was still fast asleep on her bed, as her job at the stall only began much later, while the two Servants he had summoned were nowhere to be seen.

Atleast that was what he thought, until both of the Servants shimmered into existence, with the same blue particles glowing off them. It was clear that they had dematerialized for the time being. Bell quickly jumped off the bed in excitement, glad that he had not died in the dungeon and the entire incident had not been a near-death hallucination or a dream.

He quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face, while the two Servants waited patiently. Bell spoke in excitement at the prospect of seeing what were the equivalents of high level adventurers in action, "Ummm, Saber… Lancer… will the two of you accompany me today?"

The King of Hungary spoke, "Hmm… I for one will be accompanying you inside the Dungeon, even if it is mostly out of consideration for your safety rather than any interest in fighting Dungeon-spawn. Though I do wonder what a level-up would do for me. I have never been a battle-hungry person so to speak… but to grow stronger even as a Servant…. Intrigues me."

Lancer then rubbed his stubble and spoke, "But I'll probably have to leave you far behind, in case what you've told me about level ups is right…. To do something the gods would find 'amazing' so to speak probably will not be possible if I stick to the upper floors. Anyway, whatever it is, we'll have to submit our filled in documents to the Guild."

Bell nodded, and then placed two fingers in an L shape onto his chin, mimicking a thoughtful position that he had seen on Eina, "Hmmm, but it'll display the Falna as Level 1 on your sheets, and to kill a minotaur at Level 1 with 0 status… might bring down some suspicion from Miss Eina or the other guild employees."

Matthias mused this before speaking, "Not necessarily, I can spin a lie very easily for the same, the Charisma skill comes in use in pinches like this. Maybe something about how mine and Aurelian's kingdoms are situated on very powerful magical leylines, and generations of living on top of these have given us superhuman abilities due to magical saturation."

Bell was confused, but smiled all the same, "I guess that might work, I'll trust in you Lancer! But what about Saber, will he be joining us?"

Saber spoke, his soft glow brightening even the dim room "Not right now at the very least, I believe that I'll stay with Hestia and see about storing the Grail somewhere safe in the Church. Indeed, Matthias could use his portal to store it in his library, but I doubt that the Grail would acquiesce to such an option. "

Aurelian fidgeted with the mask on his hip before coughing and continuing, "It is however voluntarily suppressing its own Magical aura, so I doubt it would be more difficult than storing a regular goblet for now. I'll also experiment with suppressing my Divinity with Hestia's help; I do not want to draw the attention of an overtly curious god onto my nature as a Heroic Spirit with Divine Spirit aptitude. And besides, it would be bad if someone steals the Grail and manages to summon their own Servant."

Both Bell and Matthias nodded at this, and left the Church, waving at Aurelian. Once they came out under the morning sun, Bell breathed in the dew-filled air deeply before speaking, "Hey… Lancer, maybe you could train me sometime? I'm not very skilled to be honest."

Lancer seemed to muse this as they walked slowly before speaking, "You're better off asking Saber, Bell. His Blessing of Martial Arts should help him teach you the apt way of using a Knife but he'll need a Knife to spar with you in the first place."

Bell grinned at the prospect, but then spoke in haste, "Wait the two of you don't have weapons right? We should get you to the guild."

Lancer chuckled at Bell's worried expression before speaking, "Did you forget it so quick, Bell?" before materializing his Spear in his hands. Bell chuckled nervously, mollified that he had forgotten about Lancer skewering the Minotaur without as so much as a glance with his thrown spear.

Matthias then rubbed his spear-tip before speaking, "Though indeed, if you wish for him to train you in the knife, he will need to purchase one. And like he said, do not worry, Golden Rule is a powerful enough skill that we will likely earn millions of Valis today even without Aurelian further bolstering the effect of the skill with his own."

Bell was gobsmacked at the prospect, seeing as how the minotaur crystal from yesterday was only worth fifty thousand. To consider earning millions today with only two members, three if Aurelian joined seemed ridiculous…. no downright fantastical if anything!

The air in front of Bell suddenly distorted, and he yelped in surprise, but then calmed down seeing as it was only Aurelian. Matthias raised an eyebrow, before speaking, "You're done with what you planned to do at such speed?" For indeed it had only been fifteen minutes since they left the Church.

Aurelian rubbed his neck sheepishly before speaking, "Well, Hestia woke up when I gently shook her, and simply pointed to an alcove that existed behind some loose bricks in the wall while groggily mumbling something about Bell. I placed the Grail there, and then spoke to her after suppressing my Divinity. She jumped up and down and spoke that I no longer felt like a God, and so I decided to join up with you two again, not to mention she fell asleep again after I confirmed that I did infact not feel like a god."

Aurelian continued, "Indeed I feel mildly miffed that more effort was not required to hide my… presence so to speak, but never mind that, I'll be joining you at the Dungeon for now." He said, before fastening the mask onto his face.

Aurelian spoke again, "I heard something about training you… and to be fair, Lancer is right that my Blessing would help in the same, but seeing as I do not have a knife as of now, I could teach you how to fight unarmed if that is fine, Bell."

Bell nodded vigorously, for it was highly probable that he could lose his knife in the dungeon even if only momentarily and would be forced to defend himself without it. Aurelian spoke, all friendliness now gone, "Very well then, I will train you with a focus on offense, your nimble frame should adapt to this quite soon."

Bell gulped, but nodded as Saber walked away from him and turned around to face him. The old man spoke, "Lancer, you can go submit the documents to the Guild. We'll join you after I train Bell in the Basics." To which the Raven King shook his head and spoke, "There is no hurry, and besides, I would like to see expertise in action."

Aurelian rolled his eyes at the King, and spoke, "Show me how you would fight something like a Minotaur unarmed. You should be familiar with its size, and its relatively humanoid form." Bell nodded, "Yes!" before crouching lower in a stance that belied he would choose to focus on the Solar Plexus of the beast.

Saber shook his head, disapproval on his face and spoke, "Such beasts have denser musculature than a human being, aiming for the center of their chest is not a particularly good idea." Before he disappeared from Bell's view, re-appearing in front of Bell, with his hands poised to strike Bell's eyes.

Bell shook mildly, but nodded in understanding as Saber further explained, "Go for their eyes and ears, a disoriented monster would allow you to land more blows on it as you aim to cripple their limbs next."

Aurelian then spoke, "I will now punch you with the same speed and force you possess, show me how you will deal with it." To which Bell barely had time to blink twice before Aurelian's fist lanced up, ready to strike Bell's own solar plexus. Bell jumped back, as it was well within his capability of reacting to.

Saber gave a nod, his stern face making Bell feel he had done something wrong, but the man gave a small smile as he spoke, "Indeed, when faced with humanoid opponents, and with your physique in mind it is in your interests to outright avoid the blow, with attempting to redirect it coming second. Never try to take the force of the blow head on, though with further training you should be able to use their own force against them with grappling throws."

Bell nodded, and for the next hour, they continued to practice, with Saber correcting Bell's form repeatedly, and showing him better ways to strike at an opponent's limbs with aims to cripple. Bell was extremely sweaty, and tired at the end of it, and was only grateful at the fact that Lancer had retrieved a glass of water from their Familia Home at his incredible speed for Bell who indeed gulped it down greedily.

But he did infact feel that a lot of his movements were no longer wasted, and could apply the lessons learnt to fighting with the knife as well. He spoke, "Wow… even when you're denying yourself the use of so many skills, as well as the fact you're restraining your strength, you're still so awesome, Saber!" his eyes shining.

The older man smiled, before telling him, "Well then, come on, lead the way!" to which Bell nodded, happily walking ahead. Lancer spoke, his spear resting on his shoulder in a casual position, "Well? Does the boy have talent?" to which Saber scratched his beard before speaking, "It is strange…. He did not initially strike me as a prodigy, but the rate at which he grasped the concepts I taught and implemented them is… unusual to say the least. Perhaps it is due to his bloodline or so, some latent talent that we do not know of."

Lancer spoke, his dark eyes calculative, "Or perhaps… it is the Falna? I feel that his growth in particular is greater than normal, though we have nothing else to compare it with. I am a scholar as much as I am a king, perhaps I will keep an eye on the boy's growth and some other friendly adventurer, or mine own even, to see if the rate of growth is different."

Saber nodded, but not before realising that in-fact, their Master had stopped, and was speaking to a girl in what was quite obviously the uniform of a waitress with short grey hair. Aurelian himself narrowed his eyes, as even if for only a moment, the woman had given off an aura of a Divine Spirit, but the logic of this World said that no demigods could exist.

She was clearly raising a small magic stone to Bell's eyes, perhaps indicating that Bell had dropped it, but both the Servants knew that it could not be, for all of Bell's haul had been exchanged yesterday. Lancer whispered quietly, "She is a civilian is she not? It would seem her adventurer friend has taken a liking to Bell if the stone is an indicator of anything."

Aurelian growled, his golden eyes glowing dangerously beneath his mask "Or another god has taken undue interest in him. She had the feel of one… if only momentarily. Perhaps she is a… undercover adventurer so to speak herself."

Lancer narrowed his eyes himself, but then raised an eyebrow as Bell pointed in their direction with a sheepish smile, which he suppose was an indirect signal that they should join in the conversation. Both the servants walked forward, towering above both Bell as well as the server girl at 6 feet each.

But before they could speak, they were cut off by Bell's own rumbling stomach to which the girl stared for half a heartbeat, before giggling, "I see… you did not have breakfast then." Before pouting, "It is bad for adventurers to go to the Dungeon without eating!"

Lancer was surprised at this to say the least, before speaking, "I assume you are an employee at this locale? The Hostess of Fertility is it? I admit I am curious if a goddess of fertility is the sponsor of the place."

A shadow passed over the girl's face for a second before she smiled and spoke, "Err yes! The proprietor, Mama Mia… oops… I mean Mia Grand was the captain of Freya Familia before she took a sabbatical to open the Hostess!"

Matthias spoke, "Freya? Hmm, interesting. Bell, maybe you should buy a light breakfast for yourself inside." To which the waitress lowered in head in apology, "That is indeed a sensible thing to do… if not for the fact that the restaurant only opens at 7.. however…" she trailed off, before jogging inside the building, and coming back out with a wrapped box, clearly her own packed lunch.

Bell squawked in surprise, before spluttering, "Eh?! Eh!, I can't possibly take your breakfast! And I've only just met you, I certainly can't take it either way!" to which the Waitress pointed at her colleagues and spoke, "I can certainly get something to eat when the pub opens, but I do hope you return to eat dinner tonight at the pub, okay?"

Saber smiled at this, "Interesting business venture to say the least, In Rome atleast, the waiters did not coerce patrons to visit for Dinner by forcing their own breakfast onto them!" to which the small girl tilted her head in confusion before speaking, "Rome? I am afraid I have never heard of the place."

To which Matthias coughed, interrupting whatever Aurelian was going to say, to say, "It's a small island-nation to the West of Orario, I am not surprised nobody has heard of it. Poseidon Familia was the first to come into contact with us as we've been isolated for a long time due to a covenant with a group of benevolent spirits. Aurelian and myself, were former Nobles, before we decided to renounce our own roles in accord with the Covenant, and leave to see the mainland and Orario."

Syr tilted her head, in confusion, as if she was considering if what Matthias had said was truth or lie, before speaking, "Oh, indeed, from what I've heard, Poseidon Familia set out to exterminate all sea monsters, so it's not surprising they came into contact with an isolated Island."

Saber then spoke, "The fact of our home besides, we shall ensure that Bell visits your establishment in the night. It is the least we can do" though his mask hid any expression he had on his face.

The girl gave the older man a small smile before saying, "Bell?" to which Bell, turning red responded, "Er, yes, I'm Bell Cranel, What's your name?" to which the girl giggled yet again before speaking, "Syr, Syr Flower. I'll hope to see you in the night Bell, it's nice to meet you and your familia members."

Bell turned a darker shade of red before mumbling something in the form of thanks for the breakfast and walking off with his Servants.

====================XeX====================

Saber spoke loudly, "It would seem that someone has already taken an interest in yourself, Bell." To which the boy momentarily choked on the sandwich he was munching on before swallowing and saying, "I don't think it was like that…" though his ears were tinged a bright red.

Lancer then whispered to his Servant compatriot, "There is something… off about that girl. She is resistant to Charisma if nothing else, as she did not buy the lie instantly." To which the older servant's eyes took on a deeper glow before speaking, "Perhaps her skills have something to do with Mental Resistance, we cannot be sure. I do not think something foul is at play, but there is something we do not see."

Bell then interrupted their private conversation by saying, "Err, we're at the Guild! We can submit the documents then head to the Dungeon." Before walking through the doors and running up to his guild advisor with a large smile plastered on his face.

He greeted her, "Good morning Miss Eina!" to which the half-elf responded in kind, with her owns mile, "Morning Bell, I suppose your familia members are here to register?" to which the young boy nodded his head.

Lancer dropped the two stacks of documents onto her table, at which she perused them at a moderate pace before speaking, "Everything seems to be in order, though I see that you are Level 1, and hence entitled for the orientation."

She led them to a private room, and spoke of all the details that the Guild approved orientation brought to bear to both the Servants, from the history of it to its sealing. She then spoke, "As the two of you are new adventurers… though well equipped, I should recommend that you not pass the Fifth Floor, perhaps the Sixth due to your prior combat experience." Before adjusting her glasses.

Lancer then coughed and spoke, while Eina's eyes rested on his bronze wreath, "Though we are not at…. liberty to say this normally, due to our circumstances, I believe that it is fine to reveal that we are infact naturally superhuman. Rome itself, our home country, is settled upon a series of twelve incredibly powerful magical leylines, and the country itself holds a pact with a covenant of spirits who allow the magic to infuse our bodies with great strength and speed. We keep to the old ways before the gods descended so to speak, and hence most warrior nobles such as the two of us, are closer in power to what you would refer to as Level 3s."

Eina mused this with her fingers resting on her chin, "I see, that would indeed explain how you slew the Minotaur and rescued Bell yesterday. If you are naturally at Level 3, then I see no issue with the two of you venturing deeper. Though I suppose for posterity, it is necessary to inform Lord Ouranos and my colleagues of the same."

Saber then spoke, "How deep does the… Dungeon itself stretch?" to which Eina considered the statement before speaking, "Zeus Familia stated they made it down to the fifty-ninth floor at the apex of their power, though there are some conflicting reports that they actually reached the seventieth floor that are considered merely rumours. The Dungeon itself is considered to be a hundred levels deep, though nobody knows for sure."

She then spoke, "Well, if that is all, I suppose I should collect the papers and take them to the necessary department. Though I see you are under different names than that given here."

Saber then spoke, "Consider it a… necessity due to our self-imposed exile. Our names are an indicator of our former nobility… and since we are no longer nobles, we can only keep to our true names in private, hence the aliases."

Eina nodded, but then Saber spoke, fidgeting with their mask, "I do not suppose the Guild offers the service of house-hunting? The church is not exactly… large enough to accommodate us in its rundown state."

Eina tilted her head before speaking, "Indeed, the Guild can do so, but a budget is necessary, as a moderately sized home could cost you eight hundred thousand Valis."

Bell choked at the exorbitant amount, though he did remember that his two Servants both could earn an exorbitant amount far surpassing the quote. Lancer spoke, "And how much would a fortress-type house cost? That is if any exist?"

Eina seemed to consider this before speaking, "There are a dozen such in Orario… though half are occupied by various Familias. The Twilight Manor for one is Loki Familia's. There is the…. former Poseidon Familia home, though I suppose they still possess the deed to the property and would be unwilling to part with it. I will inform you if we locate any adequate property, though It could run upto six million valis in cost."

Saber spoke, "Cost is no issue for us… we still possess some wealth from our home I suppose. If the building is fully furnished and in good condition, and can house twenty people or more, we would be willing to go upto ten million as well."

Eina nodded, "It would be more likely you would have to spend some money on renovation I suppose, but I shall keep you informed!" to which both Servants nodded and moved to take their leave.

Bell was gobsmacked all the same, yet he stammered out, "B-bye miss Eina! We'll see you later!" and ran after his Servants. He stammered to Aurelian, "Can we bring to bear so much money so soon? I mean if you actually did have some treasures to sell, it would be easier I think?"

Matthias spoke, "It is no Gate of Babylon, but my own Bibiliotheca Corviniana possesses many magical artifacts. Though I can only use five of them as a Lancer, I do not see the issue in selling some grimoires of magic that I cannot use to a magical familia if we do not manage to hunt enough monsters to earn the sufficient amount."

Bell mouthed, "Gate… of Babylon?" to which Lancer scratched his chin before speaking, "The treasury of the…. strongest Heroic Spirit so to speak, is the Gate of Babylon. All weapons of one hero or another can trace their origin to his treasury as he is… humanity's oldest hero from our origin worlds. In some worlds however, he is merely the King of Heroes, and humanity's oldest hero is his father Lugalbanda. A difference of merely one generation perhaps, but a difference all the same."

Bell nodded, then realised what was said and spoke, excitedly, "Stronger than even Saber?! I thought he was a top-tier Servant as you call them!" to which Lancer pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking, "Indeed, Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, is not the strongest servant in terms of Parameters or Skills, but he is in possession of what is indisputably the strongest Noble Phantasm. I have met two of his… forms so to speak, in Chaldea, and I greatly prefer the Caster version that does not possess the aforementioned Phantasm than the annoying Archer version."

He then growled out as they continued to walk towards the Dungeon entrance, "He is indeed… a pain to be around, but you cannot deny his strength. Saber here perhaps… would have a 40/60 chance of winning if he took a fight with the King of Heroes, merely because he possesses his own strong Noble Phantasms and has higher parameters, but Gilgamesh himself would take the fight more seriously than normal and bring out Ea… his Sword of Rupture to fight Aurelian from the get-go."

Bell then glanced at Aurelian, who seemed to be taking in the words and considering them, or rather, confirming it with the knowledge that the Grail was providing him, "There are other servants… who fall outside the scale, called Grand Servants. If Gilgamesh is a 10/10, these Grand Servants are a 14/10, and are empowered by the Counterforce, and are only brought to bear to fight Beasts. Gilgamesh as a Caster indeed is a Grand Caster candidate, seeing as to how… Solomon died in a manner to make him unsummonable, and Merlin took up the spot; though I suppose Solomon is only unsummonable in Chaldean Worlds in specific."

Saber then spoke, "Mind you, this is an assessment that is only applicable when both entities exist as Servants, though even as a full Hero I would lose to Gilgamesh at the Caster stage of his life as he would be less arrogant as well as possess his Sword of Rupture along with his magic."

Lancer nodded in agreement before continuing, "The only Servants who have a reliable 50/50 chance of facing the King of Heroes are Karna, Arjuna and Ashwatthama, along with Gilgamesh's own best friend Enkidu. Perhaps other Indian heroes are also capable of doing the same, but I have not met any other ones. Indian heroes are generally more powerful than most other ones, though it is not always the case."

(A/N) : This is not Fanon, as Nasu himself stated that Karna has a 50/50 chance of winning a fight with Gilgamesh, and Arjuna is regarded to be Karna's equal, while Karna admits Ashwattama is stronger than even him. This does not include non-standard versions such as Super Karna or Arjuna Alter in the equation.

Bell was star-eyed, at the concept of such powerful heroes existing, before speaking, "But what makes the Sword of Rupture so powerful? I mean, Saber also has his own sword, which you said can destroy a very large country."

Lancer chuckled darkly, before speaking while shaking his head, "The devil's in the details you see. Saber's gladius is an Anti-Country Phantasm… while Gilgamesh's Ea? That is a… Anti-World Phantasm, and of course, a World is larger than a Country is it not? Not to mention he claims the sword cleaved the heaven and the earth from one another at the beginning of time."

Bell was absolutely gobsmacked and was much like a fish for a moment, considering the concept of a handheld sword capable of destroying the entire planet. He shook his head and spoke, "All this talk of powerful heroes makes me want to kill monsters and get stronger!" with a smile plastered on his face.

The two heroes chuckled, before Saber spoke, ruffling the boy's hair, "Very well then, let us head to the Dungeon, little master. To be stronger is a worthy belief." And the boy responded in the affirmative, the gleam in his eye brightening.

====================XeX====================

The Dungeon was of a normal nature today, a brightly lit unnatural tunnel with a slightly chilly wind passing through it. As of right now, on the fifth floor, a pair of kobold's were pulling themselves from the wall, as was usual for all those born from the Dungeon.

Once they dropped down, they picked up the small landform knives that they were born with, and grinned maliciously, and then they prowled the floor.

Normally, they would fall upon low-level adventurers, and be killed with some moderate effort. But this pair in particular, had an unseemly end, seeing as to how two small pebbles flew through the air at supersonic speed and tore their heads from their bodies in an instant.

Lancer mused, "How boring… two pebbles sufficed for this. Though the Minotaur from yesterday would also require the same I suppose. Perhaps we should double the depth we traverse?" while Bell himself carved magic crystals from the body with Saber's help. That is to say, Saber merely used his high strength and tore his hand through the body of the Kobold and plucked the crystal out of it.

Bell muttered, "I suppose the tenth floor would be fine with the both of you around… Minotaurs are only born at the fifteenth floor or so." Though he was still apprehensive of being caught off-guard by Infant Dragons if they appeared.

The sizes of the rooms continued to increase, while the length of the hallways began to become shorter as they descended further and further into the 8th and 9th floor. Moss covered the brown walls while the ground below their feet became a short grass plain. Not to mention that on their way down, the two Servants continued to casually kill all the Killer Ants that could pose a threat to Bell while he himself handled the stronger Goblins that spawned here.

Indeed, it was recommended that Adventurers have E rank in their abilities to fight these goblins, but with the training from the morning, as well as the Servants pulling him out of pinches, Bell continued to fight without much threat.

Finally, they reached the 10th floor, which while similar in structure as 8th and 9th, but which was covered in its entirety with a dense mist that reduced vision. Under the watchful eye of Lancer, Bell continued to fight groups of Kobolds and Goblins, and with it, his strength continued to rise in large quantities, and he even felt that he had perhaps reached F rank in his abilities due to the same.

It was then, that the signature monsters of these floors, Orcs began to be born. And Bell gulped at the idea of facing them. It was Saber who spoke, arising from his seated position on the floor, "Go on Bell, you are indeed a higher-calibre of warrior than you were this mere morning. I believe that you should be able to fight an Orc on your own. Lancer should keep the rest of the pack of Orcs off you."

Lancer nodded, and indeed, five pebbles arced through the air, flying like arrows and annihilating the heads of five of the six orcs which had been born. Bell gulped yet again, but steeled himself, and approached the Orc, which roared, and raised its landform axe in an overhead fashion so as to strike Bell.

Bell took a quick breath, and quickly lanced out at the monster's eyes, slashing the pair of eyeballs, and not stabbing so as to ensure his knife did not catch onto the beast. The monster howled its roar of rage and flailed wildly. Bell dodged the limbs of the beast, and dashed behind the orc, slashing at its heel as he slid on his knees.

The orc shambled around, hoping to catch Bell, but it had been effectively crippled. However, in a stroke of misfortune, its fist lashed out, directly in the path Bell was going to take. He was going to collide, there was no doubt about it, and so he raised his hands to intercept the blow, all too slowly.

However, in the blink of an eye, the Orc's hand had been severed at the elbow, and the fist that was to strike, merely struck with lessened force due to the sudden disappearance of the energy driving it forward.

The hand struck Bell in his face, and he was sent hurtling back a few meters, spitting out some blood as he struggled to right himself. As he shook his head while he grabbed his bearings, he spat the gob of blood that had pooled in his mouth and gritted his teeth. The blow was not as bad as it could have been, and it was merely a serious pain upon his jaw for now.

He raced forward, determined to end the battle, and worked on the remaining three limbs of the orc in quick succession, turning it into a limbless body that was roaring piteously. He moved forward, and stabbed his digger in the brain of the orc, and once he had confirmed that it was dead, sat back down suddenly, due to the exhaustion.

It was Lancer who approached the orc, carving it for the stone with his spear, while Saber came to Bell, speaking, "You did well, Master. Your growth is downright extraordinary." Bell smiled at this, though his swollen lip leaking blood made it harder to smile.

Saber seemed to consider the injury before materializing his sword, and holding it sideways to Bell's face. He muttered a few words, and a bright light shot out of the sword and in a matter of seconds had healed Bell's wound.

Bell was surprised to say the least at the effect, and poked his jaw experimentally, and was happy to see that he did not feel any pain. He spoke, "T-thanks, Saber!" to which the old man laughed, and spoke, "It is no problem, it is rare that I can use my sword for the other purpose it holds than destruction."

Suddenly, a loud roar filled the air, and the party of three turned to look upon a gout of flame being blasted into the air. Bell shouted, "In-in-infant Dragon?" and sure enough, a large lizard four meters in height came into view.

Aurelian spoke, cracking his fists against one another, "This is not a fight… but I am glad that I shall be doing something almost worthwhile today." Before approaching the Dragon slowly, unperturbed by its body temperature of 150 degrees Celsius,, as flames began to appear on his own arms.

The Dragon seemed almost perplexed, but it quickly got a hold of itself and blew fire upon the Saber-class Servant with impunity for half a minute. Bell almost yelled out a warning before remember who exactly it was the Infant Dragon had decided to fight.

Sure enough, Saber was unaffected, and half a meter away from the Dragon, when the monster in question began to attempt to bite him. It would not get the opportunity, as Aurelian aligned himself accordingly, and punched the Dragon with what seemed to be a portion of his strength, causing it to fly through the air at extraordinary speeds far belying its size as it cratered into the Dungeon wall, dying on impact.

Indeed, the impact was so hard, the Dungeon wall itself seemed to be on the verge of collapse, while Aurelian himself moved at speeds faster than Bell could track and quickly ripped the large crystal from the corpse before the body was destroyed and tossed it to Lancer, who caught it deftly, while returning, so as to avoid the falling wall debris.

====================XeX====================

The malevolent consciousness of the Dungeon awoke yet again in great fury, perplexed that it had done so twice in two days, but it realised that this time, the walls of its self, upon the 10th floor had been severely damaged, and so it decided that a Juggernaut must be brought to bear.

It then paused, as it analysed itself, and realised that the not-god from yesterday had been the one to cause such extensive damage. "THIS GOD MANAGED TO SUPPRESS ITS DIVINITY SO WELL?" it thought, and then cooled its anger, and continued to think "No… no god, suppressed Arcanum or not can escape my attention once they enter the Dungeon. I was right, this is something wholly alien to my understanding. A strong Juggernaut will be needed for this, a Juggernaut that does not elapse after a certain time to test this thing, something… equivalent to a Level 7 at the very least" it finished with distaste.

And so it began the process of birthing a Juggernaut with a magic crystal, upon the 10th floor of its self. While continuing to think, "Let us see if your nature shall help you in slaying my child, abomination."

====================XeX====================

Aurelian smiled at Bell, who had been jumping with enthusiasm at his feat of punching the infant dragon, when suddenly, he felt the presence of an entity that could be considered…. strong, and something that Lancer might find hard to deal with without the use of a Noble Phantasm.

He smiled, for even so, this… monster did not bear any appreciable threat to him. He looked at Lancer, who nodded, and spoke, "I'll get the Master out of here, go all out if need be, Saber." Before pulling up Bell to his feet and rushing him to the exit while covering his back from any attack the monster might strike at him.

Aurelian cracked his knuckles momentarily, before staring at the ceiling above. Indeed, there was a revulsive creature upon the ceiling of the floor, something with a body with extended limbs, a very long neck, and a skull that resembled a goat's, with reptilian eyes. Its main body itself was extraordinarily swollen, and Aurelian's intuition told him that the magic stone of the creature should be present there.

It growled from the ceiling at Aurelian, who merely brought his sword to bear, while wreathing his entire body in flames. The monster growled, "Abomi… hrak…nation" before jumping downwards towards Saber, who dodged the monster, while sending a wave of flames towards it. The monster only seemed mildly burnt rather than the crisp that Aurelian had expected

He raised an eyebrow beneath his mask, glowing as he was due to his Divinity being released, "A monster that can speak?" to which the monster merely roared, "Hrak… Hrak…Gaargh…Abomi… …nation", and swiped at Aurelian with its razor-sharp claws. He merely swatted it away with his sword and mused, "Oh I see, you are merely repeating the sentiments of your mother, the Dungeon. Indeed, it was explained to me it holds a strong distaste for gods, and I understand that I feel close enough to one while not being one it would consider me as such. Not to mention I have hurt your mother by punching a child of hers into her own body. Very well then, come beast."

The beast charged, but Aurelian had already realised that the Beast seemed to possess some measure of magical resistance, and a Mana Burst would be ineffective. Instead, he moved forward, effortlessly side-stepping the beast's claws and bringing all of his A+ strength to bear, swung his sword at the Beast's neck.

There could be only one result, the beast was decapitated. And Aurelian mused, "So it has taken an interest in me… I suppose I should not antagonize it by damaging its body until the Master is stronger." And so he carved the beast's body for the crystal, which he found, to his own surprise, was as large as him, and even so, coloured a bright golden colour. He hefted it onto his shoulder and turned to leave the floor, when he detected a second presence on the floor.

He raised an eyebrow, for a few metres ahead of him, was a slender person wearing black robes that covered their face, making it hard for normal people to tell their gender or discern any other features, but not a Servant. He spoke, "I shall assume you yourself are… not a monster so to speak?" to which the person seemed surprised and spoke, "Indeed, I am not, I am …. Fels… a mage affiliated with the Guild so to speak. I did not expect a Juggernaut to… appear here, especially not one that would refer to an adventurer as an abomination, nor one that possesses a magical crystal."

Saber tilted his head, his own expressions hidden well by his mask, "You are not undead are you? No… such a thing is not possible, though a human who does not possess any flesh or sinew and yet is alive is… not as outlandish as all that, even if it is surprising. I am… called Saber."

The mage seemed confused, for indeed, Saber could feel the voice distortion spell that the skeleton mage was using waver, "I… am not undead as you call it… I am merely… changed so to speak… immortality at the cost of never growing stronger. The Falna… can only be updated on one who has skin."

Indeed, it would seem the two not-entirely humans had come to a silent agreement, that they would not question each other's presence on this floor further than necessary when Saber mused the statement and spoke, "That begs the question, whether you have actually experimented if you can grow stronger or not? The Falna is a contract upon the soul which my own colleague agrees with...whether one has skin or not… should be irrelevant."

Fels seemed to consider this statement before speaking, "I shall… speak to a god about the same then… being stronger… should help in the… interests of the Guild. I request you keep the existence of this… Juggernaut to yourself… it is worrisome that these monsters… which are always of variable strength can spawn naturally… with magic stones."

Saber nodded, seeing no reason to deny the not-undead's request, "Very well, then… Guild Mage Fels… there was no Juggernaut here." To which the mage nodded, and retreated towards the lower floor, while Aurelian himself turned around.

He then walked towards the 9th floor, and ascended the passageway, upon which he found Lancer and Bell waiting patiently, having killed a few Killer Ants. Bell for one gaped at the gigantic crystal on Saber's shoulder before shouting, "S-Saber! You're back! Lancer told me that Monster was roughly on par with himself! You killed it? I had a headache for a bit, but it disappeared as soon as you walked up."

Aurelian chuckled, plucking his mask off slowly, and suppressing his divinity and active skills yet again, before speaking, "Indeed… it was roughly Level 7 so to speak, though what such a monster was doing on the 10th floor is anyone's guess. Lancer is underselling himself anyhow, with his Noble Phantasms he could deal with the creature quite easily, it was merely resistant to Magic, nothing special."

Bell nodded, unnaturally somber, before speaking, "Monsters that should be on lower floors appearing where we go… it's happened two times now… I hope it doesn't become a constant occurrence."

Lancer ruffled Bell's head before speaking, "Don't worry about that for now, your white hair will turn grey if you begin to stress at such a young age, Master Bell. Come now, we shall head back so you can clean up before dinner, and perhaps even update your status. Then we can take the Goddess with us to your date with the waitress!"

Bell blushed a dark red yet again, shouting denials, before they walked through the halls of the dungeon floor as they made their way back up to the surface. Indeed, Lancer and Bell continued to head to the Familia home, entrusting Aurelian with the Crystals.

He went to the exchange booth, and traded all the small crystals, before the man behind the booth ogled at the large crystals nestled on his shoulder as well as beneath his arm, from the Juggernaut and Infant Dragon respectively before speaking, "Err… we can't exchange that in the booth, please head to the private exchange room for the same."

Saber nodded, following another guild worker, a woman with blonde hair, who led him to a room where a detector as they called it lay. The worker, Misha Flott as he learnt, swiped the detector over the crystal momentarily, before her eyes widened before she left the room for a while, before returning with a fat man with pointed ears, an elf, who used another detector upon the object before his own eyes widened.

The elf looked at Saber for a moment, and then asked Misha to vacate the room to retrieve the money. She did as told, and so the man spoke, "I am… Royman, the head of the Guild… this crystal… what monster did It come from?"

Aurelian responded, "Hmm... I believe the mage who arrived after I killed it called it a Juggernaut." To which the elf's eyebrows raised ever higher before speaking, "A Juggernaut with a crystal? This is…. unprecedented. What was the mage's name?"

Saber rubbed his wrist momentarily before speaking, "I believe he called himself Fels." Royman straightened up, clearly having recognized the name and clearly did not want to pry anymore spoke, "Very well then, you will receive the compensation for the crystal" and called for Misha, who along with two other men, one with dog ears, brought five large bags of valis.

Aurelian asked, suitably curious, "How much is in these bags?" to which the Guild Head responded, "Twenty Million, the quality of this Crystal is extra-ordinary." To which Aurelian threw his head back, and began to laugh, for the situation was plain as day for him. Indeed the Juggernaut had been set on them because of the Dungeon's hatred for all things godly, but both the Servants' Golden Rule had also affected its thought process or done something similar and hence allowed him to obtain the money that now laid before him. Truly, Fate was comedic.

Aurelian then spoke, his peals of laughter fading rapidly, "Indeed, to cart this much money back to the Church to see my compatriots' reaction would be interesting. But I would rather have an account opened in the name of the Familia. That is indeed possible is it not?"

The elf nodded, as if he was expecting the same all along, and soon enough, Aurelian left the Guild, a triplicate of receipt copies in hand, in the direction of his Familia.

Well, there's chapter two, hope y'all like it. Once again, I had many nice suggestions for Servants and will be considering them all, though the frontrunners for Archer are still Proto-Gil and Arash, mainly for their interesting personalities. Rider only has Iskandar in contention, and the rest of the servants are undecided, so comment for the same!

All constructive criticism is welcome, both on reviews and PM!