Here is the next chapter! After the build up from last chapter, I just really felt inspired to write so I put out this beast of a chapter :P While I wasn't all that happy with my last chapter, I am pretty confident that this one is the best chapter so far! For one thing it's more than double the length of the previous chapters. Furthermore, I feel like I really put pretty much everything in this one: Sex, action, comedy!
I have to say I am really happy about this one! Before I start, one last thing since someone asked about it:
Bell's equipment is with Hestia now. As you pointed out he had his equipment with him when he had been kicked out. Basically, I just did a poor job at writing xD
My idea was that, after the battle in the pleasure quarter, Bell would come back to Hestia and Haruhime would join the familia. Hestia however would decide to fully throw him out now.
Before this, she let him keep his equipment so he could still make money in the dungeon, however she can't let him keep his stuff now that he is fully out since he is literally the person with the most expensive equipment in the world and that equipment being the reason why she is so deep in debt now. That's why I felt she wouldn't want him to keep his stuff.
Should have actually wrote that though and not just expected everyone to read my mind :P
Anyway, now have fun with this chapter!
"WHAT?!", both of them exclaimed at the same time as they read their statuses.
However from their onwards their reactions began to differ. On one hand, there was Bell, his fist tightly clenching the sheet of paper, now starting to realize why her goddess might have kicked him out, though even more than that he was taken aback that the night with Riveria had earned him a total of three skills! After all he only had Argonaut before that, but now he had four skills in total, two of which were able to increase the speed at which he grew! Considering his already abnormal growth, there was no telling what would happen with not one but two skills to increase that even further! (Author's note: I felt like including this since Bell never heard of Liaris Freese before that and would now naturally think that this skill must have appeared after the night with Riveria)
Riveria on the other hand was silent, her face flushed red to the very tip of her pointy ears, her entire body feeling hot from the embarrassment of having such shameful skills carved into her back. However her own skills weren't the only thing on her mind, she was impressed with Bell's skills too! Now, of course she had never seen his skills before, unlike his status, however unlike Bell she could tell that at least one of his growth skills, presumably Liaris Freese must have been there even before meeting her, enabling him to make such advancements in so little time. It made her kind of jealous actually, thinking about how he had a different woman in his life besides her to which he felt such love…
Other than that she was obviously impressed by his Argonaut skill, which was a skill many adventurers would kill for! Truly a skill befitting a hero…
*Loki's perspective*
While the two love birds were still shocked by their new skills, Loki had already returned to her bottle of wine, though unlike before she was wearing a much darker expression now, completely opposed to what she had been like when she had left Bell and Riveria behind.
"Hah…", Loki let out a sigh before sipping from her bottle. "Really, I am happy you finally found someone for yourself Riveria but… you really had to choose the one person who would give me the biggest headache huh?"
A certain white haired goddess of beauty now flashed through her mind, someone who she had promised not to interfere with when it came to Bell, someone who had been ruthless enough to burn down an entire city district simply because the person responsible for that district had touched 'her' Bell…
"Damn it, sorry woman, but my children come first here, so I ain't handing him over and time soon. I suggest you get over him quickly…", Loki mumbled, taking another great gulp of her drink, almost as if to drown her worries…
*Meanwhile on top of Babel*
"My Lady…?", Ottar asked.
He didn't get a response. Freya was sitting on her usual seat, though unlike normally, she wasn't enjoying watching the children play on the ground, now was she watching her new favourite mortal struggling and growing down there, no today she was clenching her hands to fists, visibly shaking in anger! Just now she had witnessed Bell entering Twilight Manor, the home of Loki familia from on top of her tower…
"My Lady…", Ottar tried once again, seemingly able to get Freya's attention this time.
Freya appeared to be calmed down by Ottar's voice, even if only slightly. She took a deep breath and stopped her shaking. Ottar was relieved seeing that. He had never seen Freya this angry before. Perhaps they could avoid conflict over this matter still…
"Ottar.", Freya said, interrupting the warrior's trail of thought.
"Yes my Lady?", he replied, ready to accept her orders.
"Go get everyone ready, we are going to war", Freya proclaimed.
Even Ottar couldn't keep up appearance at that. Even his eyes widened in shock hearing such a statement!
Now he knew that human Bell was important to her but… a war between Freya and Loki familia would not only be a far harder war than fighting off Ishtar, it would most likely cause the city as a whole to collapse!
Unlike with Ishtar, the guild would intervene immediately and, given how they were the aggressors and had only recently wracked havoc on an entire district, there was no way they would be able to get out of that with just a minor fine to pay!
Unless they planned on becoming enemies of Orario as a whole they couldn't go up against the guild, not even mentioning that they would be vastly outnumbered. Sure numbers didn't matter all that much anymore due to the Falna, but that didn't mean they could just go up against an entire city and that was without considering that the enemy forced would consist of multiple Level Six and Level Five adventurers too…
No matter how much he revered his goddess, Ottar just couldn't allow this. He wouldn't allow her and the rest of the familia to become criminals just for the sake of a single selfish wish!
"My Lady…", he began, trying to pick his words carefully.
"Ottar?", Freya then turned around to him, obviously taken aback by him not immediately confirming her orders, getting ready to carry them out. It was unusual, perhaps even a first for him…
"I would suggest that you do not interfere at this point already", he told her, Freya's face quickly show her dissatisfaction of such a statement…
"You must already know by now how some of our members greatly seem to dislike that boy, so I believe that he will be able to grow a lot more and… shine even brighter if he stays in Loki familia for a while.", Ottar continued nonetheless.
"I am positive that no living creature can withstand your beauty. You can get him to join you any time and Loki gave her promise not to interfere so I doubt she will betray you. Besides, in a way you should thank her, after all her familia will help him grow and will keep him from falling into the hands of a… no cooperative god or goddess.", Ottar pointed out the benefits of Bell staying with Loki.
"You can have him come over any time, you merely have to ask after all, so I beg of you, keep your temper and simply wait for the right time.", he finished his plea to his goddess.
Freya seemed to be a little dissatisfied still but… "I suppose you are right. Maybe I slightly lost my cool there…", she agreed, effectively revoking her orders. Ottar let out an internal sigh of relieve, having averted a crisis this time…
"I will bid my time for now, however I really hope that Loki will keep her promise, otherwise I won't forgive her…", Freya mumbled…
*One month later*
Loki familia had been in quite the uproar when their newest member had been announced. Some of them had been overjoyed, like Tiona or Aiz, (though Aiz obviously wasn't as pumped up as Tiona…) some of them had been happy about it, like Finn and Gareth, both happy to have yet another promising youth in their familia, some of them had been rather dismissive like Bete, who had run his mouth like usual, though he didn't voice any objections, after all Bell has shown his potential more than enough, some simply hadn't cared like Tione who, as usual had only had eyes for Finn and finally there had been some who had been jealous of him and his achievements, especially the adventurers with lower ranks as well as Lefiya.
Now, one month after that, the situation had calmed down considerably. Bell simply wasn't a bad guy and he didn't look down on others, even the opposite! He often belittled his own hard work and was his own worst critic, which naturally led to him quickly becoming quite popular in the familia, especially with the lower members of the familia that had been jealous of him before. They now realized that it wasn't just luck that had gotten him to where he was now, but rather that it had been pure dedication and an iron will.
He now spent most of his days like this: After waking up he would train with Aiz as she had taken it upon herself to continue her training with him, now that they were in the same familia. Tiona would occasionally join in as well, though she was usually still sleeping when these two were at it, meaning that if she did join, she only did so later in the day. At first the other members of the familia had been jealous of this as well but… as soon as they saw just how badly he was being beaten by both of them that jealousy soon turned into pity, which then turned into admiration, seeing how he got up and continued fighting relentlessly and with spirit despite the overwhelming difference in power.
After training, he would usually go out with some of the lower ranking members of the familia, Level Threes and Fours, like Raul and take on quests issued by the guild. Of course they weren't any spectacular adventures as Raul seemed to know at this point which quests would get them the highest benefit with the least amount of trouble, something that Bell was quite glad about as the training of Aiz and Tiona took a heavy toll on his body…
Whenever he got home, he was exhausted and totally spent. Incidentally he also shared a room with Raul, so Raul knew better than anyone just how hard all of this was on Bell, perhaps that also being part of why he would choose easier quests rather than trying to push himself as well as Bell beyond their limits…
Now of course, no matter his exhaustion, Bell really wished to visit Riveria and talk to her a lot, now that he was part of her familia and saw her on a daily basis but that was… hard to say the least. For one thing, he would never get through the entire house at night, to her room and back again without anyone noticing, something that both of them still tried to avoid. Of course he could now openly talk to her during the day but… still trying to keep their relationship a secret, they could hardly have any real hearth to hearth talk or flirt with each other in public like that…
That of course not even considered Riveria's own work schedule! After all it wasn't like she was doing nothing all day long either…
There had been a few days where both of them had been free however… even then they didn't exactly have time or rather, while they did have time, they had no place to meet. Meeting inside the house was out of the question and so was meeting a restaurant, however they couldn't even meet in the abandoned building they had previously used! That was due to the destruction of the pleasure quarter as it had let to an overwhelming increase in demand for housing since many prostitutes had not only worked but also lived in that district. Now that it had been burned down, many of them had relocated into previously abandoned buildings all over the city.
That pretty much left them with only one option to meet, that option being the dungeon. However even that option had its problems. For one thing, they couldn't go into the deep levels where there were fewer people with just the two of them, meaning they would have to stick to the upper or at least middle floors. While both of them would manage to get to the 18th floor by now, it still wasn't a good idea for Bell, still only a Level Three to go there all by himself given that he didn't have nearly as much experience as other adventurer's so that wasn't an option, only leaving the floors above the 18th. That also meant however, that they would encounter much, much more adventurers they would have to hide from, after all if someone saw them it would surely turn into some weird rumours… Even if someone, say from Loki familia, gave them the chance to explain themselves… well there wasn't exactly any real excuse for them to be here together on their day off, after all they weren't particularly close in the eyes of the other familia members and training was hardly any excuse, after all it was pretty much pointless for a mage to teach a swordsman…
Their best bet was the 12th floor with its unnaturally thick fog, however while that made it easier to hide, it didn't perfectly conceal them either and all of that didn't even take the atmosphere into account, after all it would be hard for any romantic atmosphere to blossom inside of the dungeon…
With all of that said though, both of them were slowly but surely becoming starved for each other! If nothing happened, they would eventually end up meeting in the dungeon anyway, that or taking the risk of Bell sneaking off to Riveria's room at night…
Luckily however, they didn't have to resort to such measures…
"A quest from Melen?", Riveria asked.
"Yes, apparently there is a sea monster that is troubling them and they can't deal with it themselves so they reached out to the guild instead", Loki replied.
Just this morning a quest from Melen had arrived at the guild, requesting immediate help in eliminating a sea monster that had claimed multiple victims already.
"And why should we handle it? There should be other familia's that can handle this no?", Gareth asked, not sure why they of all people should take care of it, after all it wasn't like Freya or perhaps Ganesha familia wouldn't be able to handle this. A regular sea monster, even if it might trouble the people of Melen, shouldn't be too hard to deal with for these familias.
However Loki's expression seemed to betray those thoughts as she began to explain: "Apparently that thing has ripped apart multiple ships now and there hasn't been a single survivor in any of these incidents."
Further Loki continued: "This has been going on for more than a week now and the people of Melen are obviously getting distressed. They people can't go out fishing anymore and are losing both money and food fast. Hence why the guild wants this to be dealt with as soon as possible. That is why they want to send out a strong familia as this situation can't go on for much longer. Of course I wanted to push that job off to Freya but… she seemed to be in a really foul mood and so we ended up having to deal with this."
Finally Loki sighed, adding: "But sadly the guild is still as hard headed when it comes to upper class adventurers leaving the city, that's why only a small group of us will go."
"I have decided to send out four people in total. That might be quite the small group but I believe they will be able to deal with that thing.", Loki told the three familia elites.
Finn too let out a small sigh and voiced his opinion: "Well, not like we can delay this any further. So, who did you plan to send out?"
Loki then told them: "First of all I decided to send out Tiona and Tione. Both of them have the dive ability as well as experience when it comes to sea monsters, meaning they are pretty much ideal for this job."
"I also want Riveria to join them", Loki continued, turning her head to Riveria in the process. "You know the god of that city, Njord so I believe it would be good to have you working on this as well. Besides, I can't exactly leave Tiona and Tione alone to deal with this. While Tione might be quite reliable in day to day life, these two still need a calm leader while in battle"
Finally Loki said: "And the finally member I chose is Bell Cranel. It would be troublesome to send out even more first class adventurers. Also, I believe that his skills might come in handy here…"
Of course it was up to debate whether 'his skills would come in handy', meant his skills connected to Riveria which would mean Loki was planning to help them out and give them some time to themselves, or perhaps his Argonaut skill which might be useful on this quest for real…
Riveria chose to believe that Loki was talking about Argonaut, otherwise she would have had yet another reason to punch that mischievous goddess…
Finn closed his eyes and gave the line-up some thought before saying: "Yes, I suppose these four will work…", though for some reason, his thumb was aching which always indicated a bad thing would happen… Nonetheless he believed that each of the members of this small team would be able to handle any unforeseen events, Bell Cranel in particular seemed like he was accustomed to these sort of things…
*Small time skip*
With all of that sorted out, the individual members of the quest team were informed by Loki, all of them packed up a few things as they didn't know just how long they would stay in Melen and finally they departed through the city gate…
"I can't believe we get to go to Melen again!", Tiona exclaimed as they walked along the road to Melen, clearly excited for the quest.
"Were you in Melen before Tiona?", Bell asked, obviously curious.
"Yes, me and Tione arrived there first before we came to Orario! You were there for a while too, weren't you Riveria?", Tiona replied, asking Riveria right after.
However Riveria didn't respond. She was walking behind the three of them, focused on reading a book. It was a strange book really… for some reason it didn't have any title written on it and for whatever reason, Riveria kept glancing up at Bell while reading, apparently a slight blush on her face…
"Riveria!", Tiona exclaimed, as always oblivious to the fact that Riveria had been focused on reading and that she was disturbing her now.
"H-Huh?! O-Oh yeah, I was in Melen before too!", Riveria replied, trying to mask the fact that she hadn't been paying attention behind a cough.
Bell wryly smiled at her, she was really cute when she was flustered…
After the attention shifted away from Riveria, she once again buried her nose in the book. It was a book she had read more than just once the past month, despite that she could never do so without blushing. In fact, she had sworn herself never to read this book at any point in her life but… she was jealous alright! Since the moment she read about Bell's skill Liaris Freese, she had been jealous. First she had tried to deny it but… the more she denied it, the more she heard Loki's word echo in her mind: "Trust me! Men will leave you if you don't perform well in bed". Normally that wouldn't have bothered her, but combining that with the fact that she rarely even got to talk to Bell, even less have any physical contact with him, it eventually led to her carving in and, despite her pride and the shame this meant, reading this book anyway…
She had sworn to herself that she would show her 'progress' to him once she would get the opportunity and well… this quest seemed to be a good chance. That was why she was reading this book all out in the open now, rather than at night in her room which she had been doing the past month…
Either way they continued onwards towards Melen without any incidents, Tiona happily chatting with Bell while annoying Tione with her constant laughter like any other day…
*Another small time skip*
"Wow, so this is the ocean? It's so big…", Bell voice his surprise when he saw that large body of water for the first time. Unlike the other three this was a first for him and so he was quite excited.
Tiona too joined in, saying: "Right? That's what I said too when I got my first look at the sea when leaving my home."
Tione couldn't help but add: "Yeah, that airhead couldn't help but jump right in and go for a swim…"
Tiona, not even realizing that Tione's comment had been a negative one, suggested: "Yeah now that you mention it, I could really go for a swim right now!"
At that Riveria quickly told her: "Sorry Tiona, but we aren't here to play around. You can go for a swim soon enough once we know more about that monster. Let's go around town and meet up with Njord."
Even Tiona had to agree that perhaps she got a little too heated there, after all they had a quest to take care of first…
As they walked through the harbor, Bell couldn't help but ask: "Does it… always look like this here?"
"No it doesn't. Seems like the town really was hit that hard by the monster attacks…", Riveria answered him.
All around them there were ships chained to the jetty, the harbor seemed to be bursting full right now. Not a single ship could be seen out on the sea. The only ships that were sailing right now appeared to be those of guild personnel patrolling along the shore, far, far away from the waters deep enough for a sea monster to be lurking in.
The characteristic stench of fresh fish was also missing, as well as the hustling and bustling of tourists and merchants busily boarding or unloading/loading their ships. Over all the atmosphere seemed tense and dark, nothing like the welcoming water gateway to the Labyrinth city of Orario that Melen used to be.
There were a few groups of fishermen sitting and standing in the corners of the street, apparently drinking their worries away evident through the many empty bottles beside them. Overall it was quite a terrible look for the once bright town of fishermen.
Finally the group arrived at the home of Njord, the god of this town and an old friend of Riveria.
They entered his house, only to find him too looking quite tense and worried. Nonetheless he gave them a bright smile and greeted them, trying to hide his dark state of mind behind a smile: "Hello Riveria! And… others I suppose haha. Nice to meet you, I am Njord, the god somehow managing this little town of fishermen."
"Hello Njord. You seem not to be doing to well, is it because of the monster?", Riveria asked him, clearly worried about his current state, after all he was a close and reliable friend.
Njord let out a sigh: "Well I guess there is no hiding it huh? Sorry, the past few days have been quite busy and exhausting and many people keep coming to me, complaining how they are losing more and more of their income by the day…"
However, after cheering up a little, he gave them a smile and said: "But that end's now right? I suppose you would be the group they sent to help us?"
"Yeah, we will take that thing down easily! Wouldn't be our first sea monster!", Tiona energetically said, clearly pumped up to finish that thing off fast, now that she had seen what that monster had caused for this town. After all, if she hated anything more than thinking, it was seeing people around her feeling down and in despair!
Even Njord had to let out a chuckle at her eagerness. "Seems I got nothing to worry about then huh?", he told the group.
Riveria, the composed leader of the group, then tried to further move the conversation along by saying: "As much as I hate to say so, I doubt we will be able to take that thing down completely without your help. We will at least need you to lend us a ship and we might need a few brave fishermen to join our fight, after all none of us knows how to properly sail a ship…"
"Don't worry about that! I already expected that, those things were already taken care of! Your crew and ship are ready to sail off whenever you are.", Njord told them, showing that he already expected this much…
"I am glad you can take care of such things so easily, really shows that you are indeed worthy of managing this town. You seem to be a lot more reliable than a certain mischievous goddess…", Riveria told him.
"Now now, no badmouthing a goddess while she isn't around.", Njord told her with a chuckle.
"Well, since everything is prepared, I suppose we will head out to slay this monster as soon as possible. Before that however, I would like you to tell as anything, anything at all that might somehow be connected to this monster. After all it's always best to be prepared", Riveria said.
At that, all three remaining members also turned their full attention to Njord, after all anything he might tell them might be crucial information…
Njord put his hand to his chin, seemingly lost in thought for a moment before he began: "Well first of all there is its size. Of course we don't know its actual size, after all no one that saw it ever returned alive but… judged from the debris that were washed ashore, it's supposedly multiple dozens of meters long. The thing most likely has a snake like body that it wraps around the ships to crush them, rather than bite them. From that we can estimate that it's head must be rather small, or at least not much bigger than the rest of its body."
"Why has no one seen it yet actually? It appears that you can't even drive away too much from the shore, but if that thing is really that big and that close at that, wouldn't someone on the shore have seen it by now?", Bell interjected.
"That's the thing. Whenever that beast attacks, there seems to be a storm. It comes suddenly and completely unpredictably and as soon as the monster leaves, the storms loosens up as well… However, while the monster is out there, the rain becomes so dense that you can barely even see along the coast, making it completely impossible to catch a glimpse of that thing. It's almost as if that beast is controlling the weather…", Njord answered him with a grim expression.
"I see… Anything else you can tell us? Anything might help.", Riveria asked one finally time.
"I… Well I doubt that it has any significance but… since that thing appeared, all the fish around the area is gone. It's not only the fish though, even other sea monsters, the smaller monsters that we all got used to by now, seem to have completely left as well.", Njord told them.
"Almost as if they had been scared of that thing…", Bell mumbled, more to himself than to anyone in particular. There was something, something that kept bugging him. Somehow this all seemed familiar but… Bell just couldn't quite grasp what this reminded him off…
"Thank you for your help in this Njord. Tell your men we will be leaving immediately. I promise you we will take that thing down and restore peace in this town.", Riveria finally said with reassuring determination in her voice.
"No, thank you", was the only thing Njord had to say before he got up to call together his men…
Just about half an hour later their ship had set sail and they were floating out of the harbor, the sun still high up in the sky on this bright and cloudless day.
Of course everyone seemed wary of the waves around them, the crew especially tense as they steered the ship out towards the open sea.
Tiona and Tione had taken position on the left and right side of the ship respectively to fend off attacks from the side, while both Bell and Riveria were stationed in the front. It was decided that they would share a position since Riveria wasn't a physical fighter and would have trouble fending off a monsters attacks with only her staff, so Bell had been ordered to protect her until she could finish casting.
"What do you think of this Bell? You seem to be worried…", Riveria asked him as they stared off into the distance side by side.
"It's nothing, just… somehow all of the things Njord told us about… They seem to remind me of something. I get the feeling it's something important but… I can't quite put my hands on it…", Bell answered honestly.
"Well this phenomenon sounds rather special, so I doubt it would be anything that has happened before. Are you sure it's not just a bad feeling?", Riveria voice her opinion.
"No, I just…", Bell said, not sure how to express what he meant…
Either way they didn't have much more time to talk about this matter as soon enough dark clouds began to hide the sun. The clouds had appeared suddenly and from no particular direction, almost as if they had formed around them rather than in a natural way. As the clouds darkened the sky and decreased the light around them, the sea as well began to darken, slowly turning the colour of pitch black rather than its earlier bright blue.
And then the rain came. It almost seemed impossible. So much rain began to fall from the pitch black sky that the view towards the shore was all but gone in a matter of seconds. The winds around them too picked up, causing the waves to rise higher and higher, the now frightened fishermen working hard all around them to keep the ship under control.
Especially the kept on the back of the ship was doing his best. He kept throwing around the ship's steering wheel and yelling out orders to the other crew members. He was so focused on his task, just like the crew members as well as the adventurers on their respective tasks, that he didn't notice it, it being an enormous head rising up from the water behind him. Only when the head came crashing down on him, swallowing him whole did he manage to let out one finally cry before he was gone from this world without a trace.
Every head on the ship immediately turned towards his scream, however the only thing they saw, was the giant creature's head once again diving down under water.
"Hey! Stay here you damn thing!", Tiona cried out before jumping into the water to follow the beast.
"You idiot!", Tione cursed before she followed her sister, unwilling to leave her alone in the water with that monster.
Almost as if the beast had anticipated this turn of events, its head shot out of the water as soon as Tiona and Tione had jumped down from the ship on the complete opposite side of the twins.
It then began wrapping itself around the ship, crushing multiple fishermen as well as the main sail in the process. Obviously it was looking to continue that process, however before it had any chance to, Tiona and Tione stopped it in its fourth loop around the ship. Both of them were visibly angry from being outwitted by the monster like that, causing them to hack away at it with fury however… they barely even scratched the things large scales!
Meanwhile, now stopped in its tracks, the monster began contracting around the ship, causing the wood in its grasp to creak and splitter. The ship would barely last even a minute under this pressure!
Simultaneously it was even battling the twin under what with nothing more than it's head!
The fishermen, in an attempt to defend their ship from sinking, rushed towards the snake like body of the creature and started pounding away on it with their fist, some of them with knifes too, however it was no use. Their bones creaked and multiple knives even shattered, but they were unable to put even a dent into the scales all over the monsters body.
Slowly but surely they began to succumb to despair when…
"Harbringer of the end, the white snow.", Riveria began weaving her song of magic!
Hearing her calm, collected, clear, battle honed voice, helped the crew to stay calm.
"Blow with the wind before the twilight", Riveria's reliable voice continued, her spell already closing in on the final verses of her spell.
However, the singing voice of the elf wasn't something the creature seemed to ignore. It temporarily abandoned its fight with the Amazonian twins, raising its head above water instead and charging straight at Riveria to swallow her up!
"No you don't!", Bell exclaimed, slamming a brought sword he had brought along into the creatures head. Now normally, a Level Three adventurer like him wouldn't be able to harm this beast, given that it had barely been scratched by not one, but two Level Six adventurers, however he seemed to be in luck! As the beast was too focused on Riveria and her voice, Bell managed to slip past its natural defences and could ram his sword right into one of the things eyes.
A painful roar echoed over the ocean as the monster drew back its head in agony, trashing around wildly as it tried to get the sword out of it's eye.
That diversion gave Riveria enough time to finish her spell!
"Closing light, the freezing land. Blizzard the three severe winters – my name is Alf", she sang and finally, she released her magic. "Wynn Fimbulvetr!"
Immediately a cold torrent of ice and snow came forth from her staff, capable of freezing anything and everything!
Riveria however, didn't aim at the monster! No, instead she had decided to use her magic to craft a large platform of ice right next to the ship!
Honestly, it was doubtful if her spell could have harmed such a creature with how little mind she had poured into it, but even if she would have been able to harm it, it would have meant sacrificing many of the fishermen as they would be caught up in the blast.
That is why, instead she had chosen to make a platform for everyone to escape too, where they could continue their fight! Of course she had made sure to do so on the opposite side of the twins so they wouldn't be trapped in the ice.
While Riveria had made sure not to harm the fishermen, she had also managed to still cause some damage to the beast, after all her spell had an incredibly wide range! While it certainly wasn't enough to do more than just freeze of the things scales, it was still remarkable that she had put so much thought into executing this single spell. It really showed just how capable of a leader and mage she really was!
"Quick! Over there while the thing is still distracted!", Riveria gave her orders, the fishermen as well as Bell following her command.
No sooner than the last fishermen had set foot onto the newly created platform, did the beast finally fully crush the ship in its grasp and once again dive down deep into the ocean to prepare its next attack…
In the meantime, both of the twins were back from underwater, joining the rest of the group up on the platform. Apparently they had even been wounded severely despite the short time they had actually thought the beast, apparent by their respective skills already having activated!
"What even is that thing?! My knives aren't even scratching it!", Tiona, who was wielding a pair of twin blades now, rather than her Urga as it was too slow and heavy to use underwater, asked in anger.
"Leviathan…", Bell said.
As that name was mentioned, everyone who heard it suddenly grew silent.
"What?", Tione asked, doubtful of his words.
"I am sure of it! That thing… it has to be Leviathan!", Bell said with confidence.
"But Leviathan is long dead! It was killed by Hera familia more than ten years ago!", Riveria exclaimed.
"I know! It doesn't make sense! But… it just all fits! Ruling over the weather, scaring away all the fish and other monsters… It just… seems to be a lot smaller than the Leviathan mentioned in all the stories. Maybe this thing is still a child?", Bell suggested.
"Either way it would be trouble…", Riveria said.
Before they could discuss this matter any further however, the beast, presumably the baby Leviathan started attacking again! Within seconds it chipped away the large ice platform, taking with it a bunch of sailors!
Only now did the group finally get a clear look at its ugly head! On top of its snake like body sat a head not unlike that of a snake, however it had large fins on either side of its head and it also spurted two disturbingly large teeth on either side of its mouth, not unlike those of a sabretooth, joined by many small, yet no less sharp teeth on the inside of its mouth.
It's one remaining eye seemed to glare at the group, Bell in particular, as it dragged its victims down into the water.
"W-We are all going to die!", one of the fishermen exclaimed finally losing all the courage he had felt before.
While Tiona, Tione and Riveria hadn't fallen too far into despair yet, they too weren't exactly optimistic at this point. The thing is, none of them was able to fully penetrate the baby Leviathan's scales. Even Riveria would only be able to do it by sacrificing all of her mind in the process and even then there was a good chance it might survive her spell…
Only now, when times were darkest and hope was all but forgotten, do heroes emerge!
As everyone was struggling with despair, they found themselves listening, listening to… a bell.
At first it was a quite small bell, a little chime at best, calming their nerves and soothing their souls, however the longer they waited, the louder it grew! Soon enough it had turned from a small chime into a grand church bell that might be so loud that even people on the shore of Melen might be able to hear it!
And that sound originated from Bell. While everyone else had started to drown in despair, Bell had decided to stand up and fight. He decided to become the hero they needed, no matter what!
"Tiona, Tione! I will need you to protect me please!" Bell asked of them. Despite him being a Level Three, a supporter in this group of Level Six's at best, they didn't question him. Instead they raised their weapons with a grin, preparing to engage the beast in combat once again.
And of course they didn't have to wait long! Soon enough the Leviathan emerged from the sea again, its remaining eye set firmly on Bell almost as if it knew that this boy was the biggest threat to it right now.
It rushed forward trying to kill him, however…
"Oh no you don't you damn snake!", Tiona exclaimed. She had abandoned her weapons at this point, aware that she would hardly even scratch the beast. Instead she simply used brute force to punch the side of its head and divert its course.
The Leviathan was furious, however it wasn't dumb,. It knew that Tiona was only buying time. Instead of focusing on her, it simply repeated its attack on Bell, however this time too it was diverted, this time from a kick of Tiona's counterpart, Tione!
Riveria too wanted to ready a spell to protect Bell. She planned to create a barrier around him however…
"Don't Riveria! Leave defending me to these two!", Bell told her as he was starting to glow now, his Argonaut skill picking up in power.
"But-!", Riveria began.
"I don't know if my power along will be enough! Help me out! Start chanting!", Bell ordered.
Now of course his skill was used to create a power enough to slay whatever was his enemy however… that still didn't mean it would be strong enough to put a Level Three adventurer on equal footing with a legendary beast of myth! After all even skills had their limits…. That is why he decided on a gamble. He would gamble on Riveria's strength, not on his own, after all he was able to trust his lover with all of his soul!
And Riveria too would trust him with all she had! She abandoned all thoughts of protecting him and instead began weaving another spell!
Both of them prepared for the final showdown, the Leviathan growing more and more furious with each attack that the heavily injured twins blocked.
And finally… everything was ready!
Bell had fully charged his skill and Riveria was ready to unleash her most powerful magic!
Bell then grabbed a hold of Riveria's staff. Finally he would have to see whether his gamble had worked or not…
"Not let's do this. Together…", he said as… his white aura began to slowly flow onto Riveria as well! Now not only himself, but Riveria too was enveloped by Argonaut!
"Yes. Together.", Riveria said, pointing her staff towards the Leviathan.
"Firebolt!"
"Rea Laevateinn!"
As both of them cast their spell, their magic burst further towards the beast in the water. The twins had already left their position, getting away from the impact zone. Of course the Leviathan also tried to dive back down into the water, however it wasn't able to make it in time!
As Riveria's and Bell's magic travelled, it… began to combine! Their spells collided, merged, burst apart again, only to once again fuse together! Their magic created a phenomenon that had never before been witnessed! Through merging their respective powers, they created a new spell, one that was unrivalled in speed and destructive power!
Then it struck! Their attack hit the Leviathan's main body, causing a gigantic shockwave, sending everyone including Bell and Riveria down to the floor. The heat of their new spell was so intense, parts of the ocean itself began to evaporate! And amidst it all… was a pain filled roar of a beast, a dying beast.
No matter how hard these scales were, they weren't nearly enough to protect against this kind of heat! The beast seemed to be grilled from inside out, its magic stone liquefying inside of its chest!
And finally… there was silence…
The beast had long died, its body been turned into ashes, leaving only one of its teeth behind as a drop item.
And then, the cheers of victory began! The fishermen hugged each other and felling to their knees in prayer, savouring their lives. Never before had they been so happy to be alive!
Tiona and Tione joined their celebration too.
"That's what I call a hero Argonaut!", Tiona exclaimed, Tione adding: "You truly are one special kind of hero…"
Bell and Riveria however, were lying face down on the floor, both of them unconscious now as they had given this attack their all, one of them due to mind down, the other one due to having exhausted every ounce of stamina in his body…
*Several hours later*
Bell opened his eyes, still feeling completely spent and exhausted.
"Where… am I?", he mumbled as he turned around. Apparently he was lying in a warm, comfortable bed. Besides him, he could hear a snorting Tiona and see a sleeping Tione.
What Bell didn't know was that, after their intense battle, they had been rescued from the platform of ice by a ship sent from the shore after the storm had cleared up.
Njord had then taken care of Tiona, Tione, Riveria and Bell or well… he had some take care of them would be more accurate as he certainly wasn't a healer…
Tiona and Tione had still been conscious at that time, however once things had settled down, they too had quickly fallen asleep. Seeing them like that, Njord decided to have them transported away from the city and along the shore into a small little beach house where they could sleep and relax without anyone bothering them.
Of course Bell didn't know any of that, however he could tell that Tiona and Tione had been treated, so he didn't really care.
He then turned around in his bed once more. On the other side of his bed, he could see a tooth lying around, the drop item from the Leviathan!
"So we really defeated it…", Bell mumbled.
Only now that he tore his gaze away from the long, sharp teeth next to him, did he see… an empty bed besides him.
Of course that bed belonged to Riveria. She had woken up earlier than him, after all she had a skill that helped her recover her Mind, meaning she was up a lot faster than him.
"Riveria…?", Bell mumbled, having a look around the room, however there was no answer.
Bell now decided to get out of bed and look for his elven lover. Sure he was exhausted, but there were some things more important than that!
He found an open door leading outside. He went through it only to find…
Rivera. Bathing in the nude in the calm, dark ocean under a full moon, once again charming him just like she had back then on the 18th floor.
Riveria had decided to take a bath to lift her own exhaustion and allow her body to unwind and, since she hadn't brought along a swimsuit, she had decided to bath in the nude.
"Wow…", he whispered, captivated by her beauty. Hearing his voice she quickly turned around, facing him.
As they looked into each other's eyes, both of them blushed, however unlike during their first encounter, none of them shied away…
"This… really takes me back to our meeting on the 18th floor", Bell said, awkwardly rubbing his head with one hand.
Riveria sheepishly replied: "You know… if you wanted to see me bath… you only needed to ask…"
Both of them chuckled at that remark.
Finally, Riveria held out a hand to Bell, saying: "Do you… perhaps wish to join me?"
"I would love nothing more right now", Bell told her, his exhaustion all but gone when he stripped off his clothes and walked into the water towards her.
The water was surprisingly warm, perhaps because of the vast amount of heat their spell had poured into the sea earlier, however it may just have been his imagination.
Either way Bell soon sat down beside Riveria, neither one of them covering up anything. Bell's erection was quite easy to spot at this point and it was even more obvious to see Riveria's eyes focus on his length. Of course she was still shy, averting her eyes again and again, however nonetheless she couldn't keep her eyes off of it…
"See something you like?", Bell teasingly said.
Riveria blushed at his remark. She pouted and said: "D-Don't act like you aren't looking at me dummy!"
Chuckling, Bell leaned over to slowly, sensually kiss Rivera. She eagerly returned his kiss, their tongues soon dancing around each other as they deepened their kiss, through fully enjoying their first real intimate time for the entire last moth…
When they finally separated, both of them were panting heavily.
"If I wasn't looking at you, I certainly wouldn't be hard like this.", Bell now told her.
Riveria in turn teasingly said: "Oh, so this is my fault huh? How about I take care of this problem for you then?", her hand extending towards Bell's crotch.
Soon enough her fingers wrapped around Bell's dick, giving him a few slow, teasing pumps, causing him to groan in pleasure and craving more. It looks like someone has been training…
Of course it was all due to that book Riveria had been reading. However, while she certainly was better at this now, she had a lot more in store for her lover! She would reward him for his incredible fight tonight! She would show him the fruits of her hard work this past month!
Now thankfully they were sitting in quite the shallow part of the water, meaning that Bell's penis and testicles were fully above water, something that greatly helped Riveria as…
"R-Riveria! What are you-!", Bell couldn't believe his eyes as Riveria bent down and… began to lick and kiss his dick!
Soon enough, she took part of Bell into her mouth as she was further spurned on from Bell's moans.
And of course he couldn't help but moan with a view like this! Obviously there was the pleasure too, however even better than that was the view she gave him! He couldn't believe his eyes really! The strongest mage of the city, a total beauty able to rival the gods, known for her prideful and dignified appearance, was bending down for him to suck his dick! Yes, she was almost… worshiping it!
Soon enough Bell couldn't help himself anymore and he began bucking his hips up against her head. Riveria skilfully and eagerly accepted his thrusts, swallowing more and more of his length in the process!
"R-Riveria I am going to-", Bell began, trying to warn Riveria. She however, stayed calm and kept Bell's dick inside of her mouth, if anything, she further intensified her blowjob for him!
Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and shot one, two, three spurts of semen right into her mouth. Riveria in turn eagerly accepted it all!
Once he had finished, she got back up again, showing him that she had caught all of his semen in her mouth before… swallowing it all down!
Almost as if to finish him off, she said: "Thank you… for the delicious meal…" with a bright red face!
That was all his poor hearth (and dick) could take! Bell wasn't able to hold himself back anymore! Without another word, he pushed Riveria down and lined himself up with her entrance…
"Bell…?" Riveria began, worried she might have done something wrong….
However she didn't have much time to worry any longer as he immediately pushed himself inside of her, causing her to throw back her head and moan out lewdly!
Bell then once again grabbed her head and kissed her, immediately starting to pound away at her! It was only now that his new skill Bunny Breeding finally had its debut!
And said skill proofed to be quite effective, the speed, the strength and the stamina enhancement seemed to be almost godly as he pounded away at the poor elf beneath him, rocking her body back and forth and driving her to orgasm after orgasm!
Bell too came inside of Riveria multiple times, however he didn't even seem to care as he didn't even slow down during or after his orgasms! He simply kept pushing her towards mind blowing orgasm after mind blowing orgasm!
*Several hours later*
"Fuck! I think this is my last load Riveria!", Bell told his lover as his hips finally slowed down and stopped after one last orgasm.
Riveria didn't say anything, not able to find the breath for it, however she still had both of her hands and long legs firmly wrapped around Bell, keeping him inside of her.
The two of them had been fucking for so long now that the first few rays of the sun already began to paint the ocean in a brilliant orange!
Had it not been for the water all around them, Bell and Riveria would surely be full of sweat now after multiple hours of sex…
At this point, Riveria seemed to barely hang on to consciousness as well as intelligence as her eyes seemed to be unfocused and dazed in pleasure. Unlike Bell she didn't have the stamina to go at it for hours on end or the endurance to take his speed and power for a long period of time, leading to her having orgasm after orgasm…
It may even have been an unknown side effect of her Mind recovery skill that kept her sane throughout these hours of pure bliss…
Either way, knowing that they couldn't stick around for much longer if they didn't want Tiona and Tione to find them out here, they quickly got out of the water, or well rather Bell got out of the water, carrying Riveria along…
Only now, finally coming out of his state of pure horniness that Riveria had caused, did he finally realize just how hard he really had taken her…
"R-Riveria are you ok? D-Did I go to far?", He worried as he hurried to get her dressed in the clothes she had left out on the beach before getting dressed himself.
He once again let Riveria down, splashing some water onto her face to make her mind wake up properly from her daze of pleasure. At least that was working!
"W-What's going on? How- How is it morning already", Riveria asked, her mind still hazy…
Nonetheless she was now able to stand on her own legs again, albeit they were really shaky…
"I- I guess I went a little overboard last night. Sorry….", Bell apologized…
"It's… fine…", Riveria told him, unable to properly look at him as he mentioned how he had fucked her not too long ago so casually. She just still wasn't used to this whole couple thing…
After that, both of them went back inside the house before either one of the twins would wake up….
*Several hours later after a walk back to Orario (with a Riveria who was walking as if she was drunk…)*
"I heard from Njord! You really… you really killed a Leviathan?! The legendary monster?!", Loki exclaimed as soon as they entered through the front door of Twilight Manor.
Their arrival caused a huge commotion as apparently a messenger of Njord had announced the results of their quest to the familia already. Fortunately Riveria was able to keep her legs under control now that she was back…
Anyway, almost the entire familia was forming a circle around them now, bombarding them with questions:
"Are you serious?!"
"Did you get hurt?!"
"Are you ok?!"
"Was that thing really as strong as in the legends?!"
"How did you beat that thing?!"
They weren't getting out of that encirclement until everyone knew the story of their fight, so they soon began to explain. Fortunately, Tiona loved to tell stories anyway so she did most of the talking, Tione only occasionally had to butt in as Tiona liked to exaggerate a little bit…
"Haha, good job protectin' these girl's boy!", Gareth told him with a toothy grin after they had finished their story, the other men of the familia, most of them anyway, too patting Bell on the back and congratulating him on their victory.
Of course the females of the familia were no less excited about this and kept congratulating the women of the team as well.
Finally, Loki began shouting loudly to get everyone's attention before saying: "Ok now, you guys all come with me so I can update your statuses!"
They followed along, though unlike last time, they didn't have their statuses updated together, or well Tiona and Tione did as they were sisters and so didn't quite care about it. Apparently they both had improved quite a lot of their stats!
Next up was Riveria…
*Inside of the room with Loki*
Riveria had taken off her clothes and turned her back towards Loki who used her powers to update her Falna.
Loki's eyes grew wide when she saw Riveria's new status… just before once again breaking out into laughter!
"W-What is is now you useless goddess?!", Riveria exclaimed, the exhaustion in her voice quite obvious.
"O-Oh it's nothing… say, did you like night spent in Melen", Loki asked with a mischievous grin.
"What do you mean?", Riveria returned.
"Oh you know, I didn't know that before either but… seems like that skill you and Bell share has a counter in it", Loki answered with a chuckle, staring at Riveria's Lover's Growth skill that now read something like this:
Lover's growth:
Experiences shared with their significant other will greatly increase Excelia gained.
Sexual activity with each other will transfer the bonus generated from this skill to the lover, effectively doubling it. (Used so far: 1)
Hearing that, Riveria couldn't help but shiver in pure shame, unable to say even one more word…
"Also, there is something else", Loki told her…
*Afterwards*
Finally the door opening, revealing a bright red Riveria and a grinning Loki.
Of course everyone present, meaning almost the entire familia, was wondering why this meant when suddenly Loki exclaimed:
"May I introduce: Riveria Ljos Alf! The second Level Seven Adventurer of Orario!"
At that, everyone broke out into cheers!
*Three days later*
"The next Denatus was just announced. Apparently we have to take both a female and a male member of our familia with us." Loki said.
Further she continued: "As both of you levelled up after that quest in Melen and are the talk of town anyway, I decided to have you two join me."
"Is that fine with you? Bell? Riveria?", Loki asked the two adventurers she had called for, one Level Four after their quest in Melen, the other one the now strongest member of the familia, Level Seven…
Thank you for reading this chapter and I really hope you guys enjoyed it!
Now what do you think? What should happen on the Denatus? Personally I believe it will be something involving Freya, but who knows, perhaps I should give Hestia and/or Lili a chance to talk to Bell again? Or perhaps something completely different?
Be sure to tell me your ideas!
Also, I was thinking off adding yet another skill to Riveria since she Leveled up. Now personally I was thinking perhaps a skill that would help her keep up with Bell during nights but I would like to hear your ideas on this as well :P
If you want to, you can include another skill for Bell too, however that isn't something I planned, not that I would mind giving him one though if anything you suggest strikes me.