Chapter 38

(Kodori)

After giving myself a quick shake to see if anything had come loose or been broken (both for the armour and myself), I felt a subtle tremor through the bottoms of my boots. From overhead, a couple of little pebbles pinged off my helmet, but otherwise nothing happened.

I would have to trust them to survive. Later, when I got home, I would ask them how it went, and trust them again to tell me properly.

So... where the heck was I?

The walls were an unfamiliar marbled white, and smooth. Not just 'worn smooth' or smoothed by time or water, or smooth like a lava tunnel. But 'professionally mined' smooth, even smoother than the walls of Gnossis. There were also right angled corners on the two entrances to the room I was in. The room itself was also rather large... Sadly, Eina's lessons never got this far...

I was about to try and contact home, use one of my foxes to talk to someone, anyone, and tell them what I could, but the connection felt... thin. It was still there, but it was like I was getting really poor signal. I tried for a moment to 'force' the connection, put a little more mana into it or something, but that actually broke the connection, and I felt the fox disconnect and the mana I had reserved for it return to my body. A moment later, a little fox flopped to the floor from one of my tails, looking up at me with a little confused noise.

Distance? No... I had a fox listen in to someone half a world away once. Interference from the dungeon? Probably... Well, I'd just contact home like I did the first time...

"Hestia?" I mumbled quietly, giving my attentive little fox a pat on the head, making my own ears feel a little better as well, "I'm still alive, and on my way back."

It took a moment, but I felt the familiar small hand of my Goddess on my back, followed by the smallest of Karate Chops of Justice.

"Okay..." I said, taking a deep breath and getting my 'dungeon face' back on. "If I'm going to get out, I need to know what way is up, without resorting to trying to just jump through the ceiling..." I looked up, a little late, and saw that yes, the hole the monster had made getting down here was all but totally healed. It was actually rather fast too, thinking about it. Maybe the dungeon healed faster the lower you got? Or a monster passing through like this prompted less damage?

I shook my head to clear it of 'wanting to science!' thoughts and looked down at my little fox spirit again, "You go that way I suppose, quietly."

(Bell and company)

"Damn! If I could just hold my sword!" Welf growled as Lilly tended to him.

All around him, in what was left of the room, the ones who could fight still (Fear, Ray, Mikoto, Ryuu and only sorta, Bell) were dealing with a sudden rush of monsters. After the Juggernaut had fallen, and they'd breathed a sigh of relief, the dungeon woke up again. Thankfully, the walls in this room were either partially Frontier Zone, or ruined by the fighting and thus incapable of spawning. That left only the entrance of the room, made wider by the Juggernaut, to let monsters in from the Basin.

That was the only good side to all this. Aisha was a wreck of armour, with a couple of broken ribs and a broken arm. Both of Welf's arms were broken. And Bell's legs were a mess of pulled muscles and tendons. Thankfully, the two Xenos had instantly shaken off their fear as soon as the Juggernaut had fallen, helping get Bell, Welf and Aisha into one place so Lilly could treat them.

"Lilly will bite you if you keep moving." She warned, tightly bandaging one of his arms after setting the bones, "Welf will hate having to get his arms broken again if this doesn't set properly!"

Welf was angry enough that he didn't even feel the pain in his arms, though any professional would tell you that was shock setting in, and not a good thing.

"We can hold them here." Ryuu, the current 'party leader' since both Kodori and Bell were not at 'full combat' readiness, "Recover properly." She said with a voice that sent a shiver through their spines, just like Eina's best 'ahem' would. "Bell?"

Bell aimed and sent another firebolt down range, toasting a merman as it crested a little mound of broken rocks, "Almost." He said. He had put his back to one of the little water craters, stretched his legs out and drank a potion. Now, while the potion worked to heal his legs, he was just aiming and casting, "Most of the pain is gone."

"Lucky you." Aisha grumbled from her spot next to Welf. "Hey Ears, where can I get a sword like that?"

Ryuu didn't reply, but she did smile slightly.

"I can move my hand fine now." Welf said, "Get her back on her feet." Welf said thought clenched teeth, "Gonna be feeling this for a week when I'm at the forge." Lilly moved over to Aisha, making sure she'd set the bone properly and that her ribs were mending, while Welf used his good hand and teeth to make sure the binding on his other forearm was tight.

"Take time off then?" Ray said after using one of her taloned feet to pull the head off a giant turtle.

Even in the full swing of combat, everyone chuckled at that.

"Survive first." Ryuu commanded.

(Ouranos)

"Your friends are... exceptional." He said quietly to Sir Skitters, very gently patting that spot just behind his head. Ouranos didn't know for sure, but somehow he knew it was the Hestia Alliance.

Right in the middle of their most recent game of checkers (Sir Skitters had actually, silently, taught the God of the Sky how to play, because yes, he was that smart), Ouranos had gone pale, his eyes went wide, and he started to sweat like he had a fever.

But, maybe ten minutes later, the symptoms had passed. Sir Skitters, not knowing what else to do, had hopped over to Ouranos's big stone chair and tried to comfort him. Now, for his efforts, he was getting his favourite spot patted. Even so, he managed to tilt his head, "?"

"Lord Ouranos!" It was Royman, coming down the stairs that led back up to his office, "Is everything okay?"

"Royman." Ouranos greeted, "For the most part, yes." He gave Sir Skitters one last pat, scooped him up with his other hand, then leaned forward to give the spider less distance to hop back to his little stool on the other side of the chessboard. "Someone had summoned the Juggernaut, again."

Royman emerged from the stairwell just in time to hear this, and nearly fumbled the tray he was carrying, "What?! But..."

"The dungeon's rage was sharp, but swift, and even now it calms again while it recovers from the damage done." Ouranos replied, "It was slain." He finished as Royman put the platter down.

It was a good thing he did. The guild master looked faint, and all the colour drained from his face, "But... Isn't that the dungeon's ultimate defence?"

"Yes. The ultimate response to the adventurers that wander its caverns." The god nodded, looking up at the ceiling, "The last time it happened, the city lost a great asset with the Astraea Familia. This time however... It was slain. Royman, say nothing about this."

"Yes my lord." He replied as he poured tea into a little bowl for Sir Skitters, "I'm surprised you're still here." He said to the spider, "Thank you for the scarf as well."

Sir Skitters did a little spin in place, then a celebratory crab dance.

"Thank you, Royman." Ouranos said as the Guild Master poured tea for him, "Tell the staff that there is nothing to be alarmed about, but post a warning about increased monster activity."

"Yes my lord." Royman repeated, "Hmm, an excuse to use this new 'broad cast system' as well."

(Kodori)

"And I thought you were cute like... ten seconds ago..." I said as I weaved between projectiles.

I'd apparently found three of the monsters that the two Oni had used to make shoulder armour. And yes, if you looked at them and they hadn't noticed you, they did look kind of cute. 'Skull sheep'. About a metre and a half long and about half that tall, they almost looked like ghosts, with a long sort of... leathery skin cape hanging off the back of their heads over their skeletal bodies.

But since they were in the way of the direction I was going, I stepped out from behind the corner I'd been observing them from, fully ready to kick them into orbit so I could continue...

When they turned, spotted me, then hunkered down like they were squatting to take a crap. Then they all opened their mouths (they even had a bit of stringy hair dangling from their 'chins') and suddenly started firing spikes at me! They weren't very fast, but the hand length spikes impacted the wall behind me with enough force to bury themselves in it. So now, I was zipping between projectiles, getting closer with every step, so I could get close enough to kick them.

With a neat little low sweeping kick, my heel popped the head off the first one, turning it to black ash before I could really feel the impact. I grabbed the face of the second one just as it was opening its mouth again to fire at me, then scooped up the third one with my tails and crushed it. I was about to pulverize the second one, but stopped, instead reaching under it, bracing, and pulling its head from its body. "Mine now."

Shaking the black ash from my tails, I found myself the proud new owner of a perfectly preserved ram head, but more importantly, the sheet of skin it had trailing behind it. Giving it a shake to get the ash off it, I gave it a couple of tugs to test its strength. Eh... not as good as Orc hide, but it matched the dungeon floor (dusky grey/black) perfectly, and most importantly, it was big enough to hold stuff if I just... and here... and there! One makeshift pouch for stuff.

I continued walking, and couldn't help but sigh quietly as I entered the next room. There, in the middle of a room that could probably fit the entire Hearthstone Manor, was the giant skeletal upper body of Udaeus. Unlike when I'd fought it in the Underworld back on Earth, it had no weapon in its hand. It simply rested there, its glowing eyes dim as if it were sleeping. This told me two things.

First, I was in the exact wrong place. Ryuu had told me a little more about Udaeus afterwords our encounter with it on the 'other side', and it guarded the way down to the thirty eighth floor.

And second? Since I'd gotten within sight of it, it was waking up. The eyes brightened suddenly, its head turned slightly to face me, and its huge right hand plunged into the floor, emerging a moment later with a massive stone sword with a jagged, almost tooth like edge.

This sparked a memory... Ottar had a small version of this when he and I fought... He'd nearly beaten me with it too, when he managed to cut through the dragon scales protecting my inner thigh. But... Something else. A minotaur... No, the minotaur. The same one that Bell had killed to reach level two. It also had a sword like this.

"Damn... Well, no hard feelings." I said to the monster as it roared at me, daring me to come closer while its left hand waved over the ground, the dungeon floor blistering and spawning a dozen smaller versions of itself, with two proper legs though, Spartoi, I think they were called. "But you've just become evidence."

Yes, I could have gone back the way I'd come, but then I'd have these monsters trying to chase me down. Unacceptable.

(Bell and company)

Again, they'd reached a bit of a lull in spawns. Through proper funnelling of monsters, controlling the choke point of the way into the room, they'd all managed to get back on their feet. Overall, they weren't badly off. Their best potions had gone into healing broken limbs, but they still had plenty of lesser ones, mostly meant for 'minor to severe' injury. They'd had a couple of mind potions, but they'd actually become much easier to make in Kodori's lab, since Jiru was indeed the best patch of moss ever.

Otherwise, Aisha was the worst off. Her clothing and armour had been reduced to her tough leather leggings and some scraps of cloth (now, let's be honest, it was only slightly less than her usual clothing anyhow), and her weapon was now reduced to a poorly balanced club with a sort of sharp bit at the end. That wasn't to say she wasn't strong enough to use that as a weapon, but now only Welf could really deal with the heavily armoured monsters.

Except his arms were still feeling a little stiff. It was to be expected, but a day of sleep would probably clear that right up.

"So just lend me your sword." Aisha said after hearing Welf grumble.

"I'd say don't break it, but I know how to make another one already." He handed it over, "Just have to get back up." He accepted the dysfunctional club, sighed, but hung it off his belt anyhow.

"Lilly doesn't have that much rope." She said, "Though we do have people who can fly." She looked at the two Xenos.

"We could maybe get one of you up there... but we couldn't fight while we did it." Fear said with a little pout, looking at her wing and brushing a few feathers back into line with her nose.

There was a sudden 'whack!' then a puff of ash from the entryway. Ryuu spoke a moment later, "We don't need to do this alone." She said, "Bell?"

Bell blinked for a moment, then looked to Lilly, "You have our Occulus still?"

Lilly, now back in her Goliath robe, nodded, "Both of them. But who will we call?"

"We should at least call home. Tell them about what happened." Bell said, doing a couple of good squats, then hopping up and down in place a couple of times, "Maybe call the inn in Rivira? They're closest."

"Just like everything, they're going to overcharge for it though." Welf sighed.

"We can count on their discretion though." Aisha said, "If we announce to the city that we need help, it will become obvious we aren't at home."

"We could climb." Mikoto said, "So long as we are careful, and follow the spiral of rooms along what used to be the ramp." She motioned to the two Xenos, "With your help, we could string the rope along room after room."

They gave each other a look, knowing that no matter what way they chose, it wouldn't be 'fast'. The only alternative was to simply wait for the dungeon to heal. But that might take days considering the damage. The way back up was close to eight hundred metres, and they just didn't have the proper tools. To be fair, there really weren't any 'proper tools' for such a disaster.

"Lilly has called home." She said while the others had been puzzling over it, "Lady Hestia says we are all grounded, but to be safe."

"Did she mention Miss Kodori?" Bell asked, looking through the entryway to the room and into the wreck of the Basin, his mind doing a jumble of 'dungeon math'.

"That she's still grounded, but on her way back up too." Lilly added.

"Bell?" Ryuu looked to him, "Have you decided?"

He was still the Captain, at least while Kodori was away. "Mikoto, we'll go with your idea. Lilly, climbing equipment. Fear? Ray? Can you carry my weight?"

They all nodded and started getting set up while Bell talked to the two Xenos, "Well... You aren't too heavy..." Ray gave him an appraising look.

"I'll need one of you to look into each room as we go up, check for monsters, then the other one get me into the room. We'll clear the room, I'll brace the rope, and the rest of us will cross." Bell explained, "We'll try and make as few trips as possible, even if we have to climb straight up in a few places."

"We can do that." They both said.

"Lilly? When you're done unpacking, please tell the innkeeper on the eighteenth, that there may be a monster rush coming." Bell said, giving himself a quick equipment check.

"Not a bad idea." Aisha nodded, "If anyone else is there, they might start clearing the way back up for us."

Bell blinked, like that actually didn't cross his mind. Of course, he was just trying to make sure they had some warning in case there was a monster rush. "Ryuu? If we find any rooms that are directly above us, can your magic dig through the floor, like the moss monster?"

"Risky, but yes, provided the distance isn't too great."

"Okay." Bell handed Welf the spool of rope, and the Smith hung it over one shoulder, "Drink a little water, eat a little food."

"What about Kodori-dono?" Mikoto asked.

"She's trusting us to get home." Bell said, "I don't want to leave her behind, but like before, we have to make sure she has a home to return to."

(Shinkage)

It was an interesting feeling, being what basically amounted to a living magic battery. While she was sustaining the Manor wide 'please ignore me' spell that had been painted on all the walls, Shinkage was simply reading, and... being a battery.

It was actually a little boring. But that was her own fault in a way. She'd turned away Weine's company. The birds didn't want anything to do with her, even with Delly stopping by to say hello. Maki had come by with lunch and tea, but seemed to recognize Shinkage's desire to be left alone. And only Loaner had stayed by her side. But that was probably just to get away from the children. He hadn't said anything, just trotted over and curled up on Hagane to take advantage of his cooler 'skin', and politely ignored her.

She was however, paying attention. Inwardly, she could feel the slow constant pull of the energy needed for the spell. For her, it was almost like pushing fog off a vast body of water. It was actually rather alarming. She still had no real idea on the limits of this body, but could also feel... artificial limits. Her experiments with the small collection of Mathmagic cards Kodori had made for her had helped with her 'self discovery' greatly, but some of what she found, she didn't like.

For example, she seemed to have a maximum 'output'. Her 'do not touch' spell should technically have no limit on how much power you could put through it, but, something inside her was limiting it. She would increase the intensity of the lightning surrounding her, but then it would simply stop getting stronger. Her power was vast, but couldn't be dialed up to ten.

This didn't bother her, so much as offend her. She had been freed from a near eternity of being a passenger on someone else's soul. She had been given not one, but three different bodies, each more elaborate than the last. One had been limited by the skill of the creator, and improved over time. The second was made when the first was simply insufficient, and could not be improved. And the third seemed to have near limitless power... But whomever made this body, probably Georg, had... deliberately put a flaw in it. Kodori had done her best, but Georg had purposefully stopped short.

This of course brought up other thoughts. Were there other flaws? A hidden weakness? A literal 'kill switch'? Sadly, no one here, even herself, could figure that out. She was far from an expert on magic. Kodori was a fast learner, but would need reference materials to actually learn from. Fels, while an expert locally, probably wouldn't have a clue, and was also disturbing to be around. No, to find out for sure, she'd have to go back. About the only thing she really missed from back home, aside from Rias and the rest, was chocolate.

And of course, Kodori had been one step ahead of her, and Rakia was probably growing Carob trees already. She'd just have to wait a few years.

"Hmm." Shinkage made her first noise since the ground had shaken under the city (that noise had also been 'Hmm', if you were wondering). She looked at the small speck of water on the page of her book (borrowed from Weine), then to the sky above. "It's too bad this tree isn't just a little bigger."

Because yes, she'd been sitting under the small Sakura tree Kodori had sent back before her return. It was already far bigger than it had any right to be, but not nearly big enough to stop the threatening rain clouds overhead.

"I'm moving someplace dryer." She said to Loaner, who was still snoozing over Hagane's shoulders, "And I'm taking my cat with me."

Loaner's ears perked up, twitched, turned towards her voice, and the messenger fox rolled off of the metal cat and onto the ground. He then poked his nose against Shinkage's knee, "Not going to dare the children?"

"They seem uncomfortable with the magic I'm putting out." Shinkage replied, "And I need to be as close to the wall as is reasonable, or I seem to lose efficiency."

Another poke, "I'll have someone bring you snacks." And Loaner trotted off towards the manor, while Shinkage walked along the wall, towards the next place she knew she could get some quiet, while still being around people.

(Ottar)

The veritable giant of an adventurer stepped off the elevator on the ground floor of the tower. The ominous rumble from below had started an almost kicked beehive surge of activity. Some were worried, others were excited, and other still simply moved about the chaos of the 'front lobby' of the dungeon with calm professionalism. Like the guild employee who was putting notices up on the boards.

It read simply, 'Be cautious when entering the dungeon, monster spawns may have increased but are expected to settle down again in the next few days'. A moment later, he heard a mumbled warning from one of those new bracers that some of the Alliance supporters had been wearing, saying the exact same thing.

Even he had to admit, it was a useful idea.

He turned around, intent on continuing his mission for Freya, when he spotted his target coming towards him.

"Allen." Ottar greeted, then frowned, "Why are you here?"

Allen frowned back up at him and replied, "I'm... not sure." His words were slow, confused almost. "But... I can't figure out why..."

"You were supposed to be watching the Hearthstone Manor." Ottar said, "I was about to send a runner to fetch you, and have you look into what's happening underground."

Mentioning the name of the Alliance home seemed to spark a bit of memory in the cat-person. "That's right! But... why am I here now?" He frowned, looking down and away, his hand covering part of his face.

"Magic." Ottar said, "Trace your day from breakfast."

Allen shook his head, then nodded, "I checked in with the other watchers, then went to my usual spot. They were really busy this morning too. Everyone was painting the walls. Then..." He paused, his hand going back to his face, "I... left? I just... left."

"When?"

"I'm... no, no, it was still fairly early morning. Yeah, I just..."

Ottar put a hand on Allen's shoulder, "Forget it. I will report to Lady Freya. She wants you to enter the dungeon, and find out what the tremors were about. Do not forget your equipment."

The big hand on Allen's shoulder seemed to focus him, and he brushed it off with the back of his hand and more of his usual fire, "Of course. Who do you think you're talking to?" He then walked off, heading to a room near the back of the lobby marked 'private storage'.

And so, Ottar returned to the elevator.

(Kodori)

It felt like I was starring in my own zombie apocalypse movie. You know, when the hero makes their last stand against the hoard of undead? Spartoi, the monsters that Udaeus had 'summoned', fought like reasonably competent adventurers. Their skeletal forms were covered by old and tarnished equipment, that vanished with them when I destroyed them, as well as weapons that were similarly old, but there was a wide variety among them. Like I was literally fighting a hoard of dead adventurers.

They weren't the most skilled, but they had a lot of power, and a respectable speed as well. But, they all shared the same weakness of monsters, and their armour was no match for me. The problem was the GIANT FRIKKIN half skeleton in the background, who would occasionally sweep that massive sword at me, uncaring of what got in the way. Or summon a spike of bone as thick as a post box, and as tall as a lamp post, under my feet.

At least, it tried to. I already knew the signs of an incoming spike of bone, and was already moving out of the way, or better yet, dragging a spartoi to stand where I had been, so it would get smashed to dust by the Udaeus's attack.

I would have ended the fight quickly, but I needed to put a hand on that sword. Just for a moment. I had questions, and I wanted to limit the amount of 'you have no proof' replies I knew I'd get. All I had to do was get a little closer...

With a short hop, a quick jab, grab, and Chloe Javelin, I dodged, punched, braced and threw a spartoi towards a small collection that were coming towards me. I was just close enough now, and as expected, the Udaeus roared at me, the huge shark tooth edged blade came sweeping towards me in a wide arc parallel with the ground.

Time to be mysterious.

I kicked the head off a skeletal warrior with a rusty sword, fell to the ground onto my stomach to avoid an incoming spear, then rolled over. The massive blade swept past me, and I put my palms flat against its surface. My tails made sure my legs were held on properly, and my armour made sure the metre or two of being scraped along the ground didn't hurt. The Udaeus finished his swing, but now I was away from the monsters below, and hanging on to the blade.

The Udaeus looked up at me, and made ready to throw his blade away, but with a single heavy elbow I cracked the giant stone weapon, my tails making sure to hold on to one of the smaller bits with a bit of 'blade' attached to it still. The rest of the weapon came apart before it could throw, and with a jump and a spectral claw, I landed on top of the massive monster.

"Boot to the head." I said, not pausing for effect, and slamming my heel down as hard as I could against the top of the Udaeus's skull.

Its head split like a log, dust and smoke pouring from it, the rest of it fracturing and coming apart much like a castle after the evil overlord has been slain. I almost lost my footing, but managed a nice three point landing on the dungeon floor, the magic crystal 'heart' of the monster hitting the ground behind me with a glassy 'thump'.

Of course, the spartoi who where still standing didn't care about my victory, and I had to go back to ripping through them before I could catch my breath.

I dusted my hands off as the last of the Spartoi vanished to dust, then observed the mess. There was a good collection of magic stone, as well as the person sized lump that Udaeus had left behind. There were a few bits of broken armour, remnants of my Unbreakable Grip forcing them to be a monster drop instead of turning to ash along with the Spartoi I'd killed.

"One day, I'm going to come into the dungeon, and just pull things off of monsters..." I mumbled to myself, picking up and examining a reasonably whole shoulder plate.

Then my little scouting fox started to scratch its ear. It had found something? I closed one eye so I could focus on it better, and...

Carnage.

Following the theme of this floor looking 'constructed' my fox had found a massive... Colosseum? Smooth walls with pillars at regular intervals surrounded a circular room big enough to hold an Olympic sized race track. Much like the Roman Colosseum of old, it too was being used for fighting, except... It was full of monsters. LOTS of monsters. And they were fighting each other. A Spartoi stabbed at blue lizard, killed it, then was smashed to dust by a massive rocky fist from a stone humanoid looking thing. This was pulled apart by a half dozen short broad shouldered wolf-men(?) who instantly started killing each other once the rock monster had turned to ash.

And with every monster death, the smooth marble walls of the massive arena would spawn another one just like it. A spiky dragon-pocupine melted a dozen monsters, only to have a two metre tall obsidian skinned horned humanoid hack its head off with a crude stone sword. A moment later though, a familiar blue skinned Oni caved in its head with his massive iron dipped club.

Fukawa's body was in full 'battle mode' with his muscles standing out sharply against his skin and his face grinning in that dreadful 'Oni Mask'. Without pause, he turned, put his foot through the chest of a Spartoi, grabbed the arm of a rock monster, then applied his club to one of those vicious little were-wolves.

Then, pulling himself from a sudden cloud of black ash, Okakai's massive club demolished the rock monster before it could swing at his brother.

Aha, this is why my fox got my attention.

But, if they were here, then that meant, unless they dug through the floor, they came down from above properly, and that meant the knew where the way back up was.

"Fukawa, Okakai." I said through the little fox's mouth.

I had to suppress a chuckle when they both stopped, looked at each other in total shock, then towards my little fox, who had just gained enough colour to be visible and was flailing its tail around happily. Then, they started towards it. With single minded determination, they smashed, flung, stomped and crushed everything that so much as looked at them with any sort of hostility.

Seeing that they were going to take a little while to fight their way to my little fox, I started tracing the path to the Coliseum myself. Using a bit of tough fabric from a Spartoi, I dusted off the face and eyes of my helmet, then took the helmet off and dabbed at my actual face. After putting my helmet back on, I started running towards the two Oni, doing my own version of 'smash/fling/stomp/crush' so I could make descent time.

"We are surprised." They said together after we'd met up in a smaller (still large, but smaller than the Coliseum or Udaeus's chamber) and finished up a fight.

"Your armour looks proper now." Okakai grinned, his tusks and teeth showing, "Properly worn in."

"It's been a long day." I nodded, "But, as you can see, something went wrong."

They both nodded, "Your hunt for Ryuu-sama's prey?" Fukawa asked.

"I suspect it's done. But I was swallowed up by some kind of burrowing monster and dropped off here. "Now, I'm very lost, and would like to go back up."

Again they nodded, "We are surprised you haven't come here yourself yet." Okakai said, "It is... endless."

"Endless? So it just spawns monsters forever?"

"Yes. It will spawn as quickly as it can, until the same number of monsters are there again." Fukawa explained, "And they seem to lose interest as soon as you leave as well, more or less. Short attention spans."

"How long have you two been here? Food? Water?" I asked, looking at them. Aside from some very quickly mending cuts and bruises, they looked fine. Their clothes were a wreck, and their massive clubs were covered in monster fluids and other bits. But they looked fine, happy even.

"We are not picky eaters, and monsters will live for a little while, so long as you don't bite off anything vital to their immediate survival." Fukawa said.

"And for us, blood is just as good as water." Okakai added, "Though, now that I have calmed down a little, I wouldn't mind a little wine."

"Well, I need a guide back up, and I'm willing to bet that little Momiji has a batch of sake cooking." I said, "If you two wouldn't mind?"

They nodded, "We even know where to take a quick bath, though it is a few floors up." Fukawa leaned over me and did a deliberate 'sniff sniff', "It wouldn't do to return home smelling like that."

I wanted to make a snarky comment, but the two of them were just as gore covered and smelly as I was. "What should a trio of demons smell like after a good day of fighting?" I asked.

"Like blood, and victory." They said together, the two of them giving each of my shoulders a pat, "Kodori-sama, we will guide you, and tell you about our discoveries while we've been hunting."

"I would be honoured, however, let's move as quickly as is practical." I turned as they walked past me, then started to jog, then run, as they sped up.

(Bell and Company)

It was slow going, but they were making progress. Overall, they were maybe three quarters of the way up before they ran into any -real- problems. Of course, it was monsters. A few more monsters than Bell and the two Xenos could handle at once. Ryuu managed to use her wind magic to fly to the room, and help Bell clean it out, while the two Xenos cleared up a small swarm of small flying monsters. Lilly lamented as one of those, a Light Quartz, dropped a rare quartz crystal, but there was no way they were going all the way down to the bottom to get it.

After that however, they managed the rest of the climb without too much more trouble. It took several hours, but it was the best they could do with what they had. It wasn't like Lilly carried nearly a kilometre of rope, and the two Xenos would have been easy targets for the flying monsters who were slowly but consistently spawning.

"We should get to the underwater entrance to Gnossis as soon as we can." Mikoto said.

They all nodded, "We're going to have to slog through monsters on the way no matter what." Welf added.

"Sorry..." The two Xenos said.

Bell of course, was quick to comfort them, "We don't blame you. You've been a great help." He gave both their shoulders a pat, "Please help us just a little longer?"

Much like their distant bird cousins, they were quick to switch tunes and they smiled at the words, "Of course!"

The women of the party sighed ever so slightly.

"Let's move." Aisha said, recovering first, "We have a lot of ground to cover, fighting or not."

They'd only made it up two floors, a little over half way to the underwater entrance to Gnossis on floor twenty two, when their luck finally ran out.

Waiting for them on the other side of (yet another) furious monster spawn, was yet another Cat-person. Except this one was whole, with both arms and ears attached. Leaning over his shoulder casually was a long silver spear, while the rest of him seemed ready to spring into action.

"Well well, aren't you a little far from home." Allen said, his handsome face grinning darkly, "The Hestia Familia and a pair of those monsters that think they are 'people'." He did a quick look over the party, while Bell and the rest started to reach for their weapons, "Hmm, not seeing that irritating Fox with you..."

Aisha stepped forward, just a little, "We've had a long day. Step aside so we can return home."

Allen's smile turned into a frown, "Do not dare try and give me orders." He said, "You know, I think it's high time you all had an accident." His eyes focused on Bell, "Been meaning to vent a little frustration on the rabbit, and now, I have you out of sight of all those weaklings you've put together in the city."

In an instant, Ryuu had crossed the space between them, her sword blocked by the silver spear, "Go!" She said.

"Whoa! It's the Gale Wind." Allen smirked, "Word is you're pretty fast..." He made to take a swing at the others who were moving along the edge of the room towards the pathway up, "Where do you-"

There was another ring of steel on steel, and Allen was forced to hop back a few steps as Bell tried to slash at him, "We will hold him off." Bell said.

(Shinkage)

"This is unfortunate." Shinkage said as a lance of lightning streaked across the sky, followed a moment later by a rolling rumble of thunder.

"Yes. It turns my sand to mud." Gros said, as the rain started to really come down.

Shinkage gave the gargoyle a raised eyebrow, then turned to the nearest wall, watching as the slowly growing wind started to spatter it with rain. A couple of the mathmagic lines were already starting to glisten with moisture, and there was a single dark dribble as the paint started to run.

"We're about to lose the enchantment." Shinkage said, putting her book under her arm, "As uncomfortable as it might be, you may want to bury yourself in the sand again."

"Oh bother... " Gros sighed, "Well, move out of the way." He said.

"Woo? Woowooowooooooo." The birds said, sounding offended.

"I will sit by the gate." Hagane said as the three of them left Gros's shelter.

NOTES!

Yup, it's all going sideways now. See you all in five days!