"Ahhh!" a white rabbit cried in a panic. "Why is this happening?!" he cried out.
"Because Bell, you said to let Berserker down into the lower floors!" a ginger girl yelled at the white rabbit, Bell Cranel, level one adventurer of the Hestia Familia, and dungeon crawler for only two weeks.
Bell Cranel
LV 1
Strength I-77
Vitality I-13
Defense I-93
Agility H-148
Magic I-0
"I'm sorry Ritsuka!" Bell apologized. "I just wanted to have some money for the Goddess-AH!" Bell cried, dodging a strike from the minotaur chasing them. Ritsuka Fujimaru let out a long yell, ruffling her hair. This was Ritsuka Fujimaru, level one adventurer of the Hestia Familia, and dungeon crawler for two weeks as well.
Ritsuka Fujimaru
LV 1
Strength I-92
Vitality I-32
Defense H-102
Agility I-52
Magic H-180
Magic:
Reinforcement: Strengthens one's self with magic
Servant Summoning: Summons humanities champion, Heroic Spirits. [Summoned: 1]
Let silver and steel be the essence.
Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.
Let red be the color I pay tribute to.
Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.
Let the four cardinal gates close.
Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
"Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again.
Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling.
My dreams form the body
Your Spirit shall show me the path as I walk it by my own power
And so I hereby swear,
That I shall be all the good in the world
That I shall defeat all the evil in the world.
You seven souls who reside at the fate I wish to reach
Come forth from the binding circle
Oh Keeper of the Balance!
The duo kept having their argument as they ran away from the minotaur, the only plus side was that no other monster was out, which still wasn't much of a benefit.
"Bell, I have a crazy idea," Ritsuka called the rabbit.
"Don't say that! Your crazy ideas always end terribly! Don't think I forgot what happened back home!" Bell yelled at Ritsuka.
On the long list of Ritsuka's "crazy" plans, she had told Bell to act more confident as a way to try to not only stop the tomboys of his village to not only stop playing "Chase the rabbit," but also maybe get him a relationship that was other than the "cute little bunny."
"Get over that! We don't have time for your complaining!" she glared at him. "Here it is, just keep running!"
"Great idea!"
"And I'll fight the monster!" she suddenly added.
"Horrible idea!" he changed his mind as he almost fell on the ground.
"Just go get help! I can take care of myself! I've been in worse situations than this!" she told him, as she got her sword ready. "I don't care who, some newbie adventurer, or some super sketchy guy, I don't care! Just get somebody!"
Ritsuka turned around as she went to the large status minotaur. Bell also turned around, seeing the older girl getting ready to fight the monster. "Ritsuka!"
"Bell, shut up and go! I can handle this, I've faced way worse things than this!" she told him.
Bell watched as she was about to face the minotaur. He didn't know how to feel. She was about to do exactly what his grandfather told him what made a man, and here he was, doing the exact opposite. Letting the maiden fight for him, and he would run away.
Bell then did as we were told, he looked for help.
Ritsuka took one last look, sizing it up. "Okay Ritsuka, you fought Goetia with a shield and fought Ruler(Shi Huang Di) with your bare fists for the rights of whos humanity was going to live. What's one giant, what's one Herculean monster?
"RRRRAAAHHHHH!" a loud roar echoed throughout the stone hall.
"Huh?" Ritsuka turned behind her.
"Good news Ritsuka! I found-" Bell cut himself off. "Heracles?!" then he saw the minotaur on the ground before it turned into ashes.
"He what?!" Eina Tulle, Guild worker and dungeon adviser of Bell Cranel and Ritsuka Fujimaru. "Surely you are kidding me?!"
"Nope, he threw a rock, the size of my hand, at the Minotaur, killing it," Ritsuka said, sitting comfortably on top of the Berserker's shoulder.
"Remind me again, how is Heracles a level one?!" she yelled, pointing at the Berserker, who ;et out a grunt in response, making her sit back in her seat.
This was Heracles, wild card and power house of the Hestia Familia, dungeon crawler for two weeks, and traveled all the way to floor 15 before monsters even dared to try and attack him.
Heracles
Lv1
Strength G-231
Vitality G-201
Defense I-73
Agility G-204
Magic I-5
Magic:
God Hand: Ability to heal all wounds, and revive from the dead eleven times. All attacks under a certain level and rank are negated, and also gains resistance to attacks he has encountered before, regardless of if it took a life. (Lives can also be regenerated if given enough time and magical energy)
Skills:
Madness Enhancement: Increases Strength, Speed, and Durability to inhuman levels at the cost of mental capacity and Dexterity.
Nine Lives (Sealed due to Madness Enhancement): Any weapon wielded by the user becomes the ultimate type of that weapon. Adapts and changes based on what opponent is and what weapon is being used. Can range from a series of nine simultaneous attacks at a single target to a hundred slashes launched at the same time capable of destroying armies and fortresses, and beyond depending on what the opponent is. If the target has the capability to resurrect upon death, it is ignored and the target stays dead due to the characteristic of "killing something no matter how many times it resurrects".
Valor/Bravery (Sealed due to Madness Enhancement): Negates all forms of mental interference such as charms and dazes. Increases melee damage.
Battle Continuation Ability to ignore fatal wounds and continue fighting.
Mind's Eye (False): An Instinct to avoid danger that can be honed by experience.
"We all start somewhere," Ritsuka said with a shrug. "Berserker here just happened to be the personification of a walking army."
Eina looked at the large hero, "I would normally scold a level one for throwing a rock at a minotaur but since he probably won't understand," Eina let out a defeated sigh, she decided to alternate between Bell and Ritsuka. "You both should be more careful, you haven't even been adventurers for a month, and you both only started two weeks ago and you've been going so far as floor five." Ritsuka nodded at the half-elf while Bell looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock and not come out.
The half-elf looked at the three. "Why don't you go and cash in your magic stones? I'm sure you still got a nice hall," she said, trying her best to cheer the ruby eyed adventurer up.
"Right!" he said, nodding his head. If there was one thing that made him happy was when he got to see the pay off of his and his Familia's hard work, even though most of the "hard work," came from Heracles from his work in the middle floors.
At the end of the day the three adventures made a total of 82,000 valis (12,000 being from Bell and Ritsuka).
On the way from the Guild the group had gotten used to the stairs they got for the Berserker, being such a large man and carrying a large stone sword definitely caught attention.
As the three adventures entered a decrepit old church, they could hear the sounds of little cheers from downstairs from a single voice. Two of the three adventurers went down a secret door in the church.
This was the Hestia Familia Headquarters.
"Goddess we're home/Hestia we come alive and hungry, feed us!" the two adventures called a black haired goddess, Goddess "Loli-Big boobs" Hestia.
"Bell! Ritsuka! You're back!" Hestia cheered. "How was your trip in the dungeon."
Bell froze, not entirely sure how to respond to that. Then the ginger haired Master spoke. "We got a good hall, about 82,000 valis, so if we put half of that into our savings we should be out of here soon, and Bell and I almost got killed by a minotaur before Berserker saved us like a hero. With a rock."
"WHAT?!" Hestia yelled, her eyes almost flying out of their sockets.
Bell didn't know how Ritsuka was so casual about these things, sure she told him about her adventures, but still sounding so carefree about almost dying.
"I know! Heracles is such a badass!" She praised her Servant. "We love you Berserk!" she called upstairs.
"RRRAAAHHH!" came from upstairs.
Hestia grabbed Ritsuka's head. "You almost died! This isn't okay! You aren't hurt anywhere are you? Bell, come over here so I can check you too!" she ordered, inspecting both of her Familia members.
After a brief scolding from their Goddess, the three sat down for dinner, Ritsuka being the kind person she was, gave some of her portion to Heracles, even if he didn't exactly need it. This wasn't an irregular thing she did, she did it all the time, and even when Bell or Hestia tried to give some to Heracles as well she insisted that she didn't want to bother them.
Once they finished their food it was time for status updates.
Bell Cranel
LV 1
Strength I-77 - I-82
Vitality I-13
Defense I-93 - I-96
Agility H-148 - H-172
Magic I-0
Ritsuka Fujimaru
LV1
Strength I-92 - H-100
Vitality I-32
Defence H-102 - H-107
Agility I-52 - I-66
Magic H-180 - 194
Heracles
Lv1
Strength G-231 - G-244
Vitality G-201 - G-210
Defense I-73
Agility G-204 - G207
Magic I-5 - I5
"Wow, Bell. You are getting closer and closer to your humbunny heritage every day," Ritsuka teased the boy, getting a blush of embarrassment as a response.
"Bell's part humbunny? I didn't know that," Hestia said, tilting her head at the new information. "I can kind of see it though."
"I'm not part humbunny!" he yelled. As a response both girls ended up laughing at him.
Once everything was settled, Hestia looked at the Master. "Now, Ritsuka, I need to speak with you."
Ritsuka didn't like where this was going by the tone of her voice, "Yes Goddess Hestia?" she asked her Goddess, going for a more serious tone as she figured that was the direction of the conversation.
"You said you and Bell were attacked by a Minotaur," she asked, she got a nod in confirmation. "And you needed Heracles to come and kill it?"
"Yes, I'm sorry but I don't think I would've been able to kill it, at most hold it off for a minute or two," Ritsuka answered. Bell wanted to say something in Ritsuka's defense, but the conversation didn't seem like it wished for any outsiders.
Hestia looked at Ritsuka, Ritsuka looked at the ground, feeling ashamed. That thing was like a weak Berserker. Not as strong as Lancelot or Heracles, but a devastating force of strength.
"Ritsuka, I want you to use your magic, bring a hero like you did with Heracles. Someone who can keep you both safe," Hestia wished for her children's safety, Ritsuka had the ability to keep them both safe.
Ritsuka seemed apprehensive to say yes. On one hand she could pull either an unknown hero from this world which she still didn't know one hundred percent, or she could summon a God from her world. "Oh God- er Hestia? Gah! Whatever! What if I summon Gilgamesh as an Archer!" she thought.
But on the alternative, she could be a king like Artoria or Leonidas or an Assassin like Gramps or a Rider like Kintoki. "Golden," she whispered.
"Golden?" Hestia repeated.
Ritsuka stopped looking at the ground. "Fine, give me a second to draw up the circle."
"Hey, I thought you just needed to say the incantation to do a spell," Hestia asked, thinking she got something wrong.
Ritsuka shook her head, "No, summoning requires a circle, and I've done this enough to memorize it. Now let me do my work," she said. Going upstairs Ritsuka got all she needed. And by all she needed, she meant a sharp rock to carve into the ground.
"Ready?" Ritsuka asked, standing in front of the circle with Heracles, Hestia and Bell behind her.
"Oh, I wonder who she'll summon? Hey, Bell, you got any ideas?!" Hestia asked her only male Familia member.
Bell looked up, "I don't know, it could be a number of people, it could be the King of the Cavern, Edmond Dantes, or it could be the King of Sparta, Leonidas the first," Bell began to list off a number of Heroic Spirits Ritsuka told him about.
"Alright, let's get rolling!" Ritsuka cheered, getting ready to start the chant.
"Let silver and steel be the essence.
Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.
Let red be the color I pay tribute to.
Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.
Let the four cardinal gates close.
Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
"Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again.
Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling.
My dreams form the body
Your Spirit shall show me the path as I walk it by my own power
And so I hereby swear,
That I shall be all the good in the world
That I shall defeat all the evil in the world.
You seven souls who reside at the fate I wish to reach
Come forth from the binding circle
Oh Keeper of the Balance!"
The circle Ritsuka carved into the ground lit up as she spoke, and when the incarnation was complete and a blast of bright light came forth, Ritsuka smiled, she had brought another Servant into this world. Now the question was who was it behind the wall of smoke and dust.
"Servant, Ruler," a voice spoke.
Ritsuka knew the voice well. A part of her didn't know how to respond.
"True name, Jeanne d'Arc, I ask you are you my- wait, Ritsuka?!" the French woman said in shock as she saw Ritsuka Fujimaru.
"Oh… shit," Ritsuka said. This was debatable a good or bad thing.