"I see… so that's how it is." Eina said as Bell and Chiron finished explaining the situation.
They were no longer out in the main lobby. Because they had already made a scene from Eina's reaction to Heracles, Chiron had suggested that they moved to a more private locale so they didn't make even more of a scene out in the lobby. When Bell managed to break Eina out of her shocked stupor, she agreed, bringing them all to one of the meeting rooms, though she was still clearly nervous of being even a little alone with Heracles. Once they were there, both Chiron and Bell explained the situation to Eina, though they changed the details just a little bit.
"So you're saying your student saved Bell from the minotaur on the fifth floor, and he mistook him for a monster? Then after Bell ran away from him, he found him later to make sure he was safe. Now you and your student want to join the Hestia Familia as new adventurers?" Eina asked to make sure that she fully understood everything.
"Indeed it is Ms. Tulle." Chiron answered as he nodded his head, which Bell also did.
"Well I can certainly see how he thought that after coming across the minotaur…" Eina said to herself as her eyes drifted up a bit past Bell and Chiron, who were sitting across the table from her, to the massive form of Heracles, who was standing directly behind them. "Though, if I may ask, how is it that not only he was able to sneak in and out of the dungeon, but kill a minotaur, a level 2 monster, despite not having the blessing from a god? And why does he look… like that?".
"Well, to answer the more complicated questions first, Berserker's appearance is due to what you may call a curse that makes his appearance and mannerisms more monstrous, though, as you can see, he isn't hostile. We also lived out in the wild, away from where the gods and other people would lived since he was young, where there were monsters that managed to escape from the Dungeon and it would be normal for him to fight these monsters while he was younger, so he's already had experience in fighting monsters with a side effect of the curse being that his power has been boosted." Chiron explained, surprising Bell with how fast he was able to create such a story so fast.
He wondered if Chiron had been thinking about it while they had been walking to the Pantheon and how much of the story was actually true.
Meanwhile, Eina gave Chiron an odd look at Berserker's "name", but didn't question it, based off of him introducing himself as "Archer" earlier.
"As for how he entered and exited the dungeon without anyone noticing, Berserker can be very sneaky if he wants to be." Chiron said with a completely straight face, causing Eina to give him a disbelieving look. He wasn't lying though, Heracles' capability to be summoned as an Assassin making that more than enough proof of that. And Eina also had no other choice of having to believe Chiron's claim since no one had reported a monster entering or exiting the Dungeon, which would have certainly been reported if anyone had seen Heracles coming or going.
"Leaving that aside for the time being then… I've never heard of someone being able to hunt a monster without the assistance of a Falna since the gods descended, let alone someone able to do it since they were a child." Eina said, as she thought over the implications of it. Monsters were far weaker on the surface than they were in the Dungeon, but it was still considered to be highly dangerous for anyone to fight them if they were not a part of a Familia. Eina's eyes drifted over to Heracles. For someone to hunt them since childhood and to defeat a level 2 monster without the blessing, Eina could only imagine how strong he could become now that he did. Even the sword princess still had the Falna when she was a child and she still struggled to fight level 1 monsters...
"Oh yeah, Ms. Eina, we were hoping that we could post a notice about Heracles so people don't attack him in the dungeon if they mistake him for a monster. Is there a way we can do it." Bell asked, breaking Eina out of her thoughts.
"Heracles is Berserker's real name. We prefer to go by secondary names when we aren't talking to friends or members of the familia, if that isn't a problem." Chiron explained when he saw the confusion on Eina's face at the name and causing Bell to realize his slip up.
"Forgot about that…" Bell said as he let out an awkward chuckle, though Chiron gave him a smile telling him not to worry about it.
"Well, I don't see a problem with it as long as you put both names on the form when you fill it out to get registered." Eina began, bringing both of their attention back to her. "As for the notice, usually you would have to pay a decent fine for the Guild to post anything…"
Bell and Chiron both winced slightly, they didn't have much in the way of money due to the financial state of the Familia.
"But since this is about avoiding a fight between adventurers, I might be able to pull just enough strings so that you can post it for free." Eina said, finishing with a smile as she saw the relieved looks from the members of the Hestia Familia.
"You're the best Ms. Eina!" Bell said happily, causing the Half-Elf's smile to grow just a bit.
"It would be appreciated if you could manage to do that for us." Chiron said just after, a relieved smile on his face at the prospect of not having to pay anything for the notice after seeing first hand how the Hestia Familia was doing monetarily.
"It's no problem, since he saved one of my adventurers, you can just think of it as my thanks to him to help him out." Eina said, returning the smile before her eyes once again drifted up to Heracles behind them. It could've just been her imagination, but it looked like his statue-like features seemed to have softened just a bit as it looked down at her for a second.
"I'll go see what I can do about that." Eina began as she got up from the chair she had been sitting in. She then went over the side of the room before going back to the table and handing Chiron two pieces of paper. "While I am gone, you two should be able to finish filling out these registration forms. When I get back, I'll give you and Berserker the adventurer orientation.".
"I'm assuming it would be alright if I did Berserker's form for him?" Chiron asked, causing both of them to look up at Heracles, who was still staring at the spot that Eina had been sitting at. Berserkers weren't exactly known for their penmanship…
"Yeah, that would probably be for the best." Eina said after a second, before heading to the door. "Oh yeah Bell, since you've already received the orientation, it would be best if you just waited out in the lobby until we're done.".
"Right! I'll see you after it, Chi-Archer!" Bell said, correcting himself mid sentence before leaving with Eina, with Chiron waving him a farewell as the door was shut, his other hand reaching out to stop Heracles from following after their master.
With a quiet click of the door, the private meeting room fell silent aside from the sound of the pencil that Chiron was using to fill out the forms for him and Heracles. Chiron focused on writing on the paper in complete silence. His student meanwhile, stayed silent and still behind him like a statue, if one were to ignore the eyes, which wandered over the room in a clear attempt to never land on Chiron for too long.
"...Heracles, I know you can understand me, despite the effect of the Madness Enhancement on your sanity and mind." Chiron said after a second when he had finished filling out the form for him and had begun filling out the form for Heracles. This was the first time that the two of them were alone "You don't need to be so uncomfortable around me. I know what had happened in our lives had been an accident, and I do not blame you for it.".
Chiron didn't get a response, not that he had been expecting one. It didn't take him long to finish filling out the registration form for Heracles. When he did, he put it neatly next to the form for himself before turning his head back to look at his student.
Heracles was no longer the stoic statue that he had been before. His hands were tightened into fists. His face was contorted in a snarl. There was a soft red light coming up from under his iron like skin. But his head was turned off to the side, away from Chiron.
The teacher of heroes frowned at seeing Heracles reaction to his words. He knew that despite Heracles being one of the most noble and heroic of all the figures of legend, he still had many regrets. Most were the result of Hera driving him insane, such as the murders of his original wife and family, but there were others that were the results of simple accidents or mistakes that no one was truly responsible for that Heracles always blamed himself for. Chiron knew that his death from the Hydra's venom not only fell into the latter category, but was one of the biggest regrets Heracles had.
He knew him well enough to know that Heracles wasn't angered at Chiron, but at himself. Despite his words making it clear that Chiron had long since forgiven him, it was clear that he did not forgive himself. Chiron didn't need the Wisdom of Divine Gift to know that whatever sane part of him remained was scolding himself harsher than any lecture that Chiron had ever given or could give him.
Chiron sighed at the sight, knowing that his attempt to help close the gap between the two of them that had been evident since his summoning had inadvertently caused his student more pain. But with the level of Madness Enhancement he had, finding a way to do so was difficult. He opened his mouth to try again, but the click of the door opening was heard.
Chiron and Heracles both turned their heads toward Eina as she entered the room, the red glow from under Heracles' skin fading as he calmed himself in time for Eina not to notice it. Both of them knew that they would at some point have to confront the gap between them. Right now though, was not the time or place.
"Good news! I managed to get that notice about Berserker up for free! It should be up as early as later today once we get the picture of him drawn." Eina said as she closed the door behind her and went around to the side of the table, picking up the finished forms off of the table in front of Chiron.
"That's good to hear." Chiron said, smiling at Eina as she went over the forms to see if there was any problems with it.
The Guild advisor let out a small hum as she read Chiron's and Heracles' names in the assigned spots, separated by a slash from Archer and Berserker respectively for their chosen secondary names. The rest of the document was filled out perfectly without any other deviation. Though it was a bit vague in certain spots, only having the bare minimum in order for it to be fine in the eyes of the Guild. It struck her as odd, but she didn't think it was worth questioning them about.
"Well everything seems like it's in order… I think we're good to begin the orientation." Eina said putting the forms back down on the table before looking over to Chiron and Heracles.
"Well if you're ready, I have no objections. Honestly, I'm excited to learn something new and interesting for once!" Chiron said, smiling at the end with complete honesty. The Grail may give him information on how to operate in everyday society regardless of where and when he was summoned in. However, the information was always just the bare minimum, so that still left a large amount of unknowns in the world for Chiron.
For instance, Chiron knew about the Dungeon and what it was through the Grail, and a general idea of how it functioned and the dangers that it held. However, he didn't know much about the exact history of it. A subject that he was sure would be covered in the orientation.
It was also a unique experience for him to be something of a student for once after being a teacher for so much of life.
"I'm glad, it's admittedly a bit refreshing in comparison to most new adventurers' reaction to the orientation." Eina said, pleasantly surprised. "Oh,uh, Berserker? This could take a while, would you like to take a seat?".
Heracles' response was to simply stare down at her silently without moving. Even knowing that he had no intention of harming her in any way, Eina still found herself being intimidated by the statue-like man's intense gaze on her.
"I think Berserker will be fine standing up over the course of the orientation…" Chiron answered for his student in mild amusement.
"Yeah…" Eina said trailing off for a second before shaking her head and beginning the official orientation for the two Servants. "A thousand years ago the gods descended from Heaven, beginning with Ouranos, Hera, and Zeus-"
Eina stopped mid sentence as Heracles' stoic expression visibly changed into one of surprise and of sudden interest.
"Uh, I'm sorry is there something wrong with Berserker?" Eina asked, visibly caught off guard by the change in the monstrous giant of a man.
"No, no he's fine." Chiron said after a second. Though it wasn't as evident or as clear as his student's for once, and quite frankly, Eina was too distracted by Heracles to notice Chiron's own look of surprise at those names before he regained his composure. "Berserker's father was also named Zeus, perhaps after the god you just named, and the two of them had a very close relationship. I imagine suddenly hearing the name of his father surprised him, even with the curse's effect on his mind.".
Chiron for a second thought that he should also add in the information that Hera was his stepmother, but decided against it. Bringing up the Queen of the Olympian Gods was sure to sour the mood that he was in, as it always did. The only reason he didn't react to Hera's name when Eina mentioned her was just due to how suddenly she was mentioned alongside he was more focused on his father's name.
"Oh, I see. I guess it isn't something too unusual for parents to name their children after the gods in the hopes of the gods blessing them or just simply in honor of them." Eina thought out loud as Heracles began to calm down and returned to the same stoic expression he had before.
"Apologies for my student's interruption. Please continue when ready." Chiron said, reminding Eina about the orientation and getting her thoughts off the track of questioning it.
"Oh yes, sorry about that." Eina said, mildly embarrassed about getting sidetracked during her job. "As I was saying, those were the first three gods to descend from Heaven to live in the Lower World…".
In the Lobby
Bell waited patiently for Eina and his Servants to finish the orientation so that the two could legally become adventurers. He sat off to the side on one of the provided benches and seats as other adventures came and went, exchanging magic stones for money and talking to their advisors for various reasons. He had waited for roughly a couple of hours which wasn't unusual as he recalled his own orientation form half a month ago. No one noticed him as they went about their own business, so he was left alone with his own thoughts.
And it really was, the first time that he was actually alone since summoning both Heracles and Chiron, and the first time he could actually think about and process the situation that he was in now.
Right now, he had summoned two heroes from an entirely other world, and almost a certainty that he could summon more later in the future. The prospect of living, interacting, and learning from them excited Bell more than just about anything had in his entire life. Especially with Chiron saying that he was a teacher of heroes, and that he saw enough potential in Bell to train him. Which meant that there was a very real potential for Bell to become a hero himself.
The white haired boy couldn't help but wonder how Chiron was going to train him specifically. He knew that the man was wiser than just about anyone Bell had ever met before, including most gods. With one of his skills, one that had to be a unique one, being the perfect skill for a teacher. Under Chiron's guidance, Bell couldn't help but wonder how far he could go.
Of course, just as one couldn't think of a blacksmith without thinking of their most famous weapon, Bell couldn't think of Chiron without his thoughts drifting to the thought of his student.
Unlike with Chiron, Bell didn't know what to think about Heracles. Even while knowing what had really happened behind the misunderstanding and that he had really saved him for the minotaur, Bell still hadn't completely gotten over the sheer terror he had felt in that moment that he thought his Servant was a monster. He honestly felt ashamed of himself for still feeling a little afraid of Heracles, especially when he thought of the brief description of him that Chiron had given him before he was interrupted. However, it would take a lot to fully remove the image of Heracles' massive form seemingly attempting to grab him from his mind each time he looked at Heracles.
"..quizzing adventurers during the orientation would not only make sure they're paying attention, but also help you see which of the concepts that they're struggling with, whether it's the history of the Guild, the rules of the adventurer, or how the mechanisms of the Dungeon and its monsters." Chiron's voice came into earshot for Bell, bringing him out of his thoughts and prompting him to look up towards where Chiron, Eina, and Heracles were walking towards him.
"I've never really considered, but when you put it like that, it seems like the most obvious thing in the world!" Eina said to Chiron in response to his advice on lecturing adventures in the orientation after bringing up in passing how she had issues with most would be adventures when it came to the orientation.
"It's nothing too impressive." Chiron said, waving off her praise as he noticed Bell running back to them. "It's just that I once had a student who was too quick for his own good and couldn't focus during my lectures, that was just one of the strategies that I found to be useful for him.".
Bell smiled seeing that the two of them were getting along, even if he couldn't quite understand what they were talking about specifically. That smile would waver though with Heracles in his sight, the giant of a man looking down at him stoically as he ran up to them. It also didn't help that he could now feel people openly stare at their group precisely because of Heracles.
"Oh, Hey Bell, I hope we didn't make you wait too long." Eina greeted him as he ran up to them, prompting Chiron to look at him as well.
"It's no problem, I didn't mind waiting." Bell said to Eina before looking over to Chiron. "Did you guys get everything taken care of?"
"I believe so." Chiron answered before looking over to Eina as if to confirm it.
"Yes, we covered all the required materials in the orientation, including the layout and the monsters of the Upper Floors." Eina said with a nod. "As far as the Guild and I am concerned, you and Berserker have been fully registered as adventurers and are prepared enough to go into the dungeon. As long as you already have weapons of course. If not, I can go get you some starting equipment that the Guild provides."
"There's no need for that. Though before we go, I do have one more question." Chiron replied, catching Eina and Bell's attention. "You mentioned that the Zeus Familia lost power fifteen years ago and were exiled out of Orario along with the Hera Familia, beginning the Dark Age of Orario, but I was wondering, does anyone know what happened to them after their exile?"
"Well, I can't be a hundred percent sure, but as far as I'm aware no one knows." Eina answered after a moment of thought. "After their exile, both Zeus and Hera were forced to leave Orario, and even the Guild lost track of them a month or so afterward.".
"I see, a shame then…" Chiron said to himself as he frowned in disappointment to himself as his eyes drifted over subconsciously to look at Heracles, who was looking off to the side at a group of Amazons in what appeared to be curiosity, who seemed to be uncomfortable with him looking at them, causing him to look away.
Eina and Bell both gave Chiron an odd look each at his odd reaction at the news, but neither of them were able to question it before his usual expression returned as he looked back to them.
"Anyway, it was a pleasure to meet you , thank you for your assistance in getting us registered and posting that notice for Berserker." Chiron said as he looked back to them, his expression going back to normal.
"Oh, it was a pleasure to meet you and Berserker. And it's no problem. Like I said, it was the least I could do after he saved one of my adventurers." Eina said smiling back at Chiron as she gestured to Bell. "Though if you want to pay me back somehow, you can make sure that he stays safe in the Dungeon from now on. Of course you were probably going to do that anyway since you're a part of the same Familia now."
"Yes, but it wouldn't hurt to have an extra reason to do so." Chiron replied.
"Bye Ms. Eina! Thank you again for helping us!" Bell said, waving goodbye to her as he and Chiron began to walk away from her, Heracles following close behind them. Eina smiled as she waved back at them in farewell.
"So are we going to go to the Dungeon now?" Bell asked Chiron once they were outside. He already knew the coming answer, but as he felt the need to talk about something to keep his mind off the gazes of all the other adventurers stare at them as they saw Heracles. It didn't help that it was no longer early in the morning, meaning that there were even more people out to look at them.
"Of course. Like I said before, I need to see what your preferred style of combat is if I want to teach you properly." Chiron answered, knowing what Bell was doing and decided to go along with it to help keep his master calm.
"So does that mean you and Her- Berserker aren't going to be doing any of the fighting?" Bell asked, correcting himself mid sentence as he was still getting used to the idea of the secondary names, and slightly disappointed at not getting to be able to see two legendary heroes fight.
"I'm afraid not." Chiron said with a good natured laugh as he looked over at Bell to give him a somewhat apologetic smile. "But I wouldn't be too worried about not being able to see me and Heracles in action. It'll only be a matter of time until then, you'll just have to be patient.".
"Yeah you're right…" Bell said in response, still a little disappointed, but still content to wait for the time being.
The two of them continue talking to one another as they walk through the streets of the Dungeon City toward the thing that gave Orario its nickname, with Heracles being never more than a step behind them. Of course, they gained a number of looks and stares from the Berserker Servant's presence, but that was about it, with no one so far wanting to make a scene and attack him. So they continued on about their day toward the Dungeon.
The Dungeon, Later
"Master...this may be my first time in the dungeon, but I don't believe that it should be quite so…" Chiron began, trailing off as he struggled to find the proper word.
"Dead?" Bell suggested as he looked around the bare labyrinthian hallways for any sign at all for monsters.
"'Inactive' was the word I was going for, but that certainly works too." Chiron replied.
They had entered the Dungeon more than an hour ago, and they had yet to encounter any monsters at all. They were already down to the Third floor of the Dungeon so far and there wasn't even a sign of a goblin having spawned around them. The only sign of hostility they had met so far had actually come from a group of adventurers that had seen Heracles and had attempted to attack them. Nothing really came of it, Chiron having stopped them from attacking before either Heracles or Bell had even noticed them or they had launched their first attack. It was almost as if Chiron had seen them coming before they had even seen Heracles.
Which, when Bell remembered about a specific skill that Chiron had, he realized was actually something that was a possibility.
"Well, no… usually it's constantly spawning out monsters. Enough to where you can't go more than ten feet without running into a monster, even up here on the Upper Floors." Bell answered, more than a little confused about the absence of monsters himself.
"I figured that was usually the case from how Ms. Tulle described the Dungeon." Chiron muttered to himself as one of his hands cupped his chin as he attempted to think of answers to the current mystery. He wondered briefly if this was how the Dungeon was reacting to his and Heracles' presence, but found that unlikely. "Do you know if something like this has ever happened before?".
"Actually, yeah. I couldn't find any monsters at all yesterday." Bell said in realization, catching Chiron's attention and interest.
"I see… can you think of anything that was different than usual that could've caused that?" Chiron asked, with Bell beginning to wrack his brain in an attempt to find the source of their current problem.
"Well, I can't think of anything immediately sticking out to me. Besides when I ran into a minotaur on the Fifth floor and-." Bell said before both his and Chiron's eyes widened in a shared realization. They both looked back behind them as they came to a stop, where Heracles was following close behind them, stopping at the same time as them to avoid walking into them.
"Master… what's the deepest floor that Ms. Tulle recommends for you?" Chiron asked as he looked over to Bell after a second.
"Oh, um, she says until I get an E on one of my stats, I should only go to the Fourth Floor." Bell responded,confused at the sudden question and causing Chiron to give him a confused look.
"Excuse me Master, but unless I misheard you, but I could've sworn you said earlier you were on the Fifth Floor when you ran into the minotaur?"
"Oh, uh…" Bell found himself blushing slightly and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment under Chiron's gaze. "I may or may not have gone deeper than I should've yesterday.".
Chiron didn't verbally respond to that, simply looking down at Bell in a unreadable fashion that made it clear that he wanted to say something about that, but didn't think now was the time to say it. Sufficient to say, the silent stare made Bell feel more embarrassed and uncomfortable than he already was.
After a few more seconds, Chiron simply turned around without saying anything before walking down one of the stone labyrinthian hallways in a direction that Bell knew meant he was heading to the entrance down to the Fourth Floor. Bell would've wondered how Chiron knew which way to go had it not been for his own experiences with Eina's detailed orientations. He made a gesture for both Bell and Heracles to follow after them, which they were both quick to follow the silent order.
"Heracles, when we get to the entrance to the next floor, I want you to wait there for a little while." Chiron ordered after a few seconds before explaining why, "There's something I want to test.".
For once, Heracles actually gave some sort of response, albeit it was something that could only be called a grunt. Whether or not it was because it was Chiron talking to him directly, it was an actual order, or some sort of combination of the two, neither Bell or Chiron could tell. Regardless, it was clear that Heracles wouldn't be joining them down on the Fourth Floor. Bell let out a small sigh of relief at that, even if he did feel a little guilty about doing so. He had been around Heracles for most of the day and he still found the Servant's presence to be intimidating, so having a short break from it would do wonders for his nerves.
Of course thinking that made him feel a little bad. It wasn't as if Heracles had asked to be summoned in this class, and he had even saved him once already. It was just that he still wasn't used to the Servant's monstrous presence yet. Plus, it wasn't as if Heracles could talk to him like Chiron did, which definitely put a strain on communication and making any attempt at forming a friendship with the dark giant difficult.
It didn't take them too long to arrive at the entrance to the Fourth Floor, which was a series of stone stairs that descended into the darkness. As he was commanded, Heracles came to a dead stop in front of the first step while Bell and Chiron continued down the steps. Bell worried for a second about what would happen if there was another group of adventurers that were heading down to the Fourth Floor encountered Heracles at this entrance, but figured Chiron must've thought about it and didn't seem worried about it.
Less than a minute later of walking down the stairs, Chiron and Bell found themselves on the Fourth Floor of the dungeon… which looked no different than the Third, Second, or First Floors.
"Do you know if all Floors look like this, master?" Chiron asked Bell out of a mild curiosity.
"No. The walls and floor of the Fifth floor were colored more like a light green than blue, and I've heard from some adventurers that some floors look more like an actual jungle." Bell answered quickly as he walked off of the final step of the stairs.
"Really? I wonder what the flora is like on those floors." Chiron said to himself, his curiosity clearly peaked.
Though he would have to think about it later, as the two of them soon felt the stone ground began to rumble and the sound of cracking could be heard. In front of them the walls of the Dungeon began to break open, revealing the bodies of newborn monsters that dropped down to the ground. The monsters were Kobolds, a race of dog headed monsters that reminded Chiron of an archetypal werewolf from his world.
"Well master, it seems like it's finally time to show me what you can do." Chiron said calmly as the Kobolds began to notice them and began to growl at them. "I'll support you if I feel like you're in any danger at all, but I want you to fight as if you were on your own like usual.".
"Right!" Bell said as he drew his dagger and held it in a reverse grip as he stood in front of Chiron in preparation for the fight. He waited for a few seconds, either for Chiron to say something else or for the Kobolds to make the first move. When neither of those happened, Bell tightened his grip on his dagger before charging at the dog headed monsters as he let out a war cry.
As if the Dungeon was working overtime to make up for the lack of monsters they had seen on the floors above, there were far more monsters than he was used to fighting all at once. That being said, it wasn't a particularly hard fight for Bell. Even if Chiron wasn't helping him out, the knowledge that he wasn't alone gave Bell a new sense of confidence that allowed him to take on the entire pack without hesitation.
Bell ducked under another clawed slash that had aimed to take his eyes out, before leaping forward and cutting open the stomach of the Kobold that had tried it with his knife. Once he stopped, he quickly readjusted his grip on his dagger before slashing it out to cut the throat of a Kobold that had leaped at him to bite him. He then twisted on his back foot, slamming his heel into the face of another monster that had been behind him.
Suddenly, what looked like a golden laser shot past Bell's head, and the sound of a monster erupting into a cloud of ash after it's magic stone was destroyed. Bell's head snapped in the direction of where the laser to come from, to see Chiron with a large long bow that seemed to be made out of a bronze like metal with an arrow nocked and pulled back, ready to fire.
"Stay focused Master!" Chiron called out as he let loose the prepared arrow, which traveled so fast that it appeared as another laser to Bell as it shot past him to completely take off a Kobold's head off that was behind him that was preparing to attack him while he was distracted.
"R-right!" Bell said as he returned his attention to the fight at hand, dodging yet another clawed slash from a Kobold before stabbing it through the chest, destroying its stone and causing it to instantly explode into a cloud of ash.
The rest of the fight continued like that. With Bell taking care of most of the pack by himself, and Chiron sniping a one or two of them at a time whenever they were about to attack Bell from behind them. With the two of them so quickly cutting their numbers down, it wasn't long before the last of the Kobolds were killed.
"Alright!" Chiron exclaimed as he clapped his hands together, having dispelled his bow. "I have a good grasp on your fighting style now, and I already have a few lessons in mind for you."
"Really?" Bell asked in surprise as he regained his breath after such an intense fight, expecting to have to fight longer.
"Yes, though to be completely honest, it wasn't too hard. Your fighting style is a rather simple one, dodging and attacking purely off reflex and openings."
"I guess that's fair." Bell said, thinking somewhat about what Chiron said on how he fought before noticing that the Sage was frowning in thought, "Uh, is there something wrong with that?".
"...Hm? Oh, no it's just that… there's no denying it now." Chiron said with a sigh before noticing the confused expression on Bell's face as to what he meant. "The moment that Heracles isn't with us, we immediately run into a large pack of monsters versus the hour we had spent with him without encountering any of them. That can only mean that they react to him in the same way they would a monster from a deeper floor and avoid him out of instinct."
"Yeah, you're right!" Bell said, blinking somewhat in realization at Chiron's words, but neither of them could make a further comment on it as the sounds of heavy footsteps came from behind them.
Turning to look at their source, both of them saw Heracles come off the final step of the stone flight of stairs, as if being summoned by the mention of him.
"So does that mean we're not going to be able to bring Heracles on the Upper Floors at least?" Bell asked as they both watched the giant of a Servant approach them.
"No… which is going to cause us some problems." Chiron said, almost muttering the last part to himself, but was still loud enough for Bell to hear him.
"Huh? What kind of problems?" Bell asked, turning his head to look at Chiron with worry clear in his voice and expression.
"Well, as much as I want to, I can't always be down here with you to monitor your progress. In order to get enough money to properly support the familia, I'll have to take different jobs around town whenever I can. When that happens, I was hoping to be able to leave Heracles with you in order to keep you safe… but with this new information, that plan has gone out the proverbial window." Chiron explained, cupping his chin near the end as he clearly thought about what to do for a backup plan.
Bell mulled over what Chiron said over in his mind. While he was slightly disappointed that Chiron couldn't always come down into the Dungeon with him, he understood why and realized that it was the best thing to do. Of course, he was slightly relieved that he wasn't going to have to be alone with Heracles in the Dungeon for an extended period of time, not used to the Berserker Servant's presence enough to be comfortable for so long.
"So what are we going to do about that then?" Bell asked after letting Chiron think for a couple of seconds.
Chiron didn't answer immediately, clearly mulling it over in his head as Bell and Heracles awaited his response. When he did decide, he still didn't respond immediately, at least not verbally. Wordlessly, Chiron went over to one of the nearby kobold corpses before crouching down next to it. For a second, Bell could've sworn that Chiron's glow with a soft light before in one swift movement, he plunged his hand into the kobold's body and pulled out the magical stone.
"... Heracles, I want you to travel down the floors until you encounter monsters that won't avoid you. When you do, I want you to stay there for a few hours, collecting these stones from their corpses when you're able to and avoiding any and all adventurers. When you're done, come back to the church." Chiron said as he stood up from the now pile of magic ash before walking over to Heracles to show him the small magical purple stones to his student.
Heracles stared at Chiron and the magic stone for several seconds, long enough for Bell to begin to wonder if Heracles even understood such complicated orders with the Madness Enhancement. However, Heracles would nod in understanding after another second. After that, Heracles silently turned and began to walk away from his Master and his teacher.
"...What about us?" Bell asked, watching as the Berserker Servant walked away, his dark frame soon disappearing in the dim light of the Dungeon's cavernous halls.
"For the time being you and I will just collect the rest of the magic stones of the Kobolds here." Chiron said as he dropped the magic stone he already had into the one of the provided bags that Eina had given him and Heracles during the orientation. "They won't be as valuable as the ones that Heracles will collect, but with the financial state of the Familia, we need as much money as we can get. Afterwards, we'll cash them in and head back home."
"Already? I thought we were going to go hunt more monsters since Heracles won't be keeping them away?" Bell asked as he pulled his dagger back out to collect the magic stones, slightly confused at what Chiron planned to do.
"We could do that... But I thought you would like to get to your first lesson to become a hero as soon as possible." Chiron said as he crouched down next to another Kobold corpse to collect the next magic stone, soon smirking in amusement at Bell's reaction.
"Nevermind!" Bell said quickly as he moved with almost more energy and urgency than he had given to the fight that had left these corpses in the first place as he began to collect the magic stones as fast as he could.
Collecting all of the magic stones didn't take them very long at all with Bell's enthusiasm and Chiron's surgical skill, even with the large number of bodies to collect them from. With that task taken care of, Bell and Chiron began their trek back up to the surface. Though, unlike their journey downwards, they actually encountered a few monsters with Heracles' presence no longer keeping them away. Fighting them did little to slow the pair down, with the packs being much smaller than the one they had faced on the Fourth Floor and being composed of only Kobolds and Goblins, but it did give them more magic stones for them to cash in later.
When they did leave the Dungeon, they immediately went to the Pantheon to cash in the stones and get the much needed Valis in return. Eina was evidently on break or another task since they didn't see any sign of the half elf. So, having done that they needed to do there, they headed home to the abandoned church.
"So the lesson today will be a simple one." Chiron said once Bell had asked what it was exactly that they were going to be doing. "With your style of fighting, it's best to focus on three different things: speed and agility, awareness, and pain tolerance."
They were currently in a small patch of grass amongst the ruins that was within sight of the church with Chiron making a small circle in the grass with his foot that was about two feet in diameter as he spoke. "Speed and agility are obvious, being what you rely on to both land and avoid attacks, as is awareness since all the speed in the world won't help you dodge an attack you don't see coming, which is where pain tolerance comes in. Though it isn't something one tends to think about when training despite how important it is it is what allows you to keep fighting after taking a solid hit. And if your tolerance is high enough, you can surprise an opponent by deliberately taking a hit, creating an opportunity to strike."
"So what are we going to do with the circle?" Bell asked Chiron to finish his lecture, having paid close attention to what the teacher was saying.
"Simple. In order to train all three of those in the most efficient way possible, I will stay in this circle while you attempt to land a hit on me with your knife. I'll also defend myself while holding back of course." Chrion explained as he stood in the center of the circle.
"Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you and that doesn't look like a whole lot of room…" Bell questioned, worded about Chiron being too constricted with the room that the circle gave.
"I appreciate the concern, but like I said last night, I'm no slouch in combat and Servants can heal from all non-fatal wounds unless a curse prevents us. Plus, I've seen you in action and I'm confident with this amount of room to move while you're at your current level of skill." Chiron responded with his usual smile.
"Alright then…" Bell said, clearly still having some worries, but decided that Chiron probably knew what was doing and drew his dagger to enter his usual combat stance. He also wanted to hear more on the capabilities of a Servant, but decided now wasn't the time.
In contrast, Chiron simply stood where he was, simply waiting for Bell to come at him when he was ready. They stood there for a few seconds staring at each other. Eventually, Bell built up his nerve enough to make a move, charging at Chiron and slashing at him with a knife, though he held back a bit, still not wanting to hurt him.
Only for Chiron to grab the wrist holding the knife mid slash, bringing the attack to a dead stop. Then he would use both his other hand and Bell's own momentum to throw Bell over his shoulder and brutally slam his back onto the ground outside the circle. Not only did Chiron not even move his feet at all, but he had done it all that Bell didn't even have time to realize that Chiron had grabbed his wrist in the first place.
"Come on Master! I made sure to hold back to make sure you didn't get too hurt let alone knocked out!" Chiron said, his smile not even having shrunk as Bell began to cough and reorient himself as pain wracked his back.
The image of Chiron firing off his arrows suddenly appeared in Bell's mind as he slowly began to stand back up, albeit unsteadily. The realization came to him that instead of being worried about Chiron not having enough space to move, he should have been more worried about having so much space to move. Despite how humble about it he had been, the titanic gap in skill between him and Chiron became clear, and that Chiron was more than just 'no slouch in combat'.
Still though, Bell didn't let it deter him as he looked back at Chiron with clear determination in his eyes as he adjusted the grip on his knife, clearly pleasing the teacher with the clear refusal to give up.
With new found caution and appreciation as to what Chiron could do, it took Bell another couple of seconds to attack. Though this time it was spent closely watching Chiron and trying to guess what he was going to do rather than simply building up the nerve to attack. When he thought he was ready, Bell charged once again, this time thrusting his knife out at Chiron.
Bell had expected for Chiron to grab his arm again and throw him back out of the circle like he did before, but what he had gotten instead was much worse.
Chiron did grab his wrist again like he did before, but that was where the comparisons ended. Chiron twisted Bell's wrist, forcing him to cry out in pain and drop the knife to the ground before his other hand chopped Bell's neck with enough force to make him stop breathing. He then slammed his knee into Bell's stomach with enough force to make Bell feel like he was going to throw up the food that Syr had given him earlier, and when Bell was being pushed back from the force, Chiron pulled him right back with the the arm he still had grabbed with the same amount of strength. Chiron would then finish off the mini beatdown session by letting go of the arm and then using the hand to deliver a powerful punch to Bell's chest that sent him flying back several feet, landing harshly on the ground to be face down against the ground.
As Bell laid on his back in the patch of grass up at the sky once again, he found him something of a painfilled daze. He hadn't even been able to process everything that had just happened, all he knew now was that he was suddenly on the ground again in an even greater amount of pain than before. Of course, having his dagger that he had dropped suddenly appear embedded in the ground right next to his head shocked him back into reality. He rolled away onto all fours in reaction, regretting it as his body immediately protested the action.
"Don't give up now Master! We still have several hours until Goddess Hestia gets off her works, and we should make use of all that time." Chiron said, causing Bell to look up at him to see that he still had his comforting smile on his face, but suddenly to Bell, that smile made him feel an intense amount of fear in him.
If things continued the way they had been, Bell honestly began to be afraid that he wasn't going to survive until Hestia came back from work.
Deep in the Dungeon.
"Rrrrraaaaagggghhhh-"
The sound of the Troll's roar was suddenly silenced as Heracles crushed it's head in the palm of his hand in a small explosion of the monster's brain matter and blood. It was replaced by the similar roar of another troll that was behind him, seemingly in rage to the death of it's brethren as it raised it's clublike landform weapon at Heracles. The Berserker Servant didn't even bother to dodge or block the attack, as the club shattered to pieces as soon as it touched him. Though the Troll didn't even have time to be shocked by this before Heracles threw a punch with enough force to create a massive, bloody hole in it's torso as it's center of mass seemingly disappeared before the creature promptly erupted into magic ash with the destruction of its magic stone.
Heracles watched as the Troll disappeared into the fine white ash before turning around to the headless corpse. Using the massive size of his hand to his advantage, he plunged into the general area of the corpse where he believed that the magic stone of Trolls were located and pulled out a chunk of the monster's flesh. He was proven right in his deduction when both the body of the troll and the chunk turned to ash.
Had he been in his usual state in the Berserker class, it was highly unlikely that he would even be able to complete such basic deductive reasoning much less the control needed to do it without crushing the stone into dust, but the odd clarity in his mind he had since his summon made it possible. With the task complete, Heracles dropped the stone into his own bag carefully. He then turned and walked away to find more monsters in the jungle-like area of Floor Twenty.
After Chiron had given him his orders, he had traveled down the floors looking for the first sign that the monsters wouldn't run away from him while making sure that he didn't encounter any adventurers. It was an uneventful trip of course, but that did little to shorten the length of time it took to travel down the floors due to the growing size of each floor, with the Eighteenth Floor taking him the longest to get through. Ironically enough, the Dungeon safe zone of that floor was what provided him the most amount of difficulty getting through it due to the large amount of adventurers that were on that floor. Of course, it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle and soon after getting through that floor, he encountered the first monster that didn't flee from his presence.
Of course that didn't mean they were anywhere near his level, with none of them proving capable of breaking through the defenses of God Hand. Not that he minded that. The ease of fighting these monsters allowed him to think about everything that had occurred since his summoning.
So far this summon had proven… interesting to say the least. Between the bizarre world he had found himself in, the events immediately following his summoning, the alternate universe version of one of his favorite aunts, and the reunion between him and his mentor, interesting was an understatement. Of course, thinking about all of that, brought his thoughts toward his master and Chiron.
His thoughts and feelings toward Chiron were obvious. Though he loved Chiron like a father, the guilt and regret for killing him he had harbored for literal lifetimes that was suddenly forced to the front of his mind when he looked at Chiron. He absolutely hated that it was creating a rift between the two, especially since Chiron had already given him his forgiveness, but those emotions weren't going to go away. He resolved to try and get past them so he could at least somewhat return to the relation that he and Chiron had during their life, but that was going to take time. And until that time came or he had done something that had redeemed himself in his mind, he was just going to have to deal with it as best he could.
In regards to his master, he liked Bell. He could tell that the white haired boy was a good kid, and under Chiron's care, he was fully capable of becoming a great hero. Of course, unfortunately he wasn't able to see his master in action for himself to assess his natural talent and skill for himself, but he knew that with Chiron's training, any weakness he had was going to be brutally pounded out of him. On the other hand, it still hurt him somewhat that Bell was clearly intimidated by him, but it wasn't like he could blame him. He could only hope that his relationship with him was going to get better as time went on and Bell got used to him.
"Grrr!" came the sound of a growl, bringing Heracles out of his thoughts and to a stop at the sound. Looking to where it came from, he saw a Sword Stag, a large deer-like monster with it's horns replaced with blades, growling at him threateningly at him with it pounding its front hoof in a clear challenge to him.
"GRRRRR!" came a deep and powerful growl, erupting from Heracles throat in response to the monster's challenge, his earlier thoughts being wiped from his mind as the instincts from his Madness Enhancement saw a target and refused to give up the challenge.
Despite the clearly more powerful roar, the Sword Stag stood its ground with its head bent downwards, pointing it's lethal sword-horns toward Heracles. The two stood still for a few seconds in a standoff. Then, both erupted into movement as they charged at one another, but there was a clear and massive difference in power between them.
With his charge destroying the very ground beneath him with its power, Heracles not only closed the distance between the two of them, he did it before the Sword Stag could even take more than a gallop toward him. It's proud blade horns were shattered uselessly against Heracles' skin before the massive demigod barreled into it with enough force to kill it instantly.
Even if it had already been killed, Heracles didn't realize that immediately and kept charging forward, carrying the corpse with it for a great distance, destroying several trees before slamming into one of the stone cliff walls that were scattered around the Floor. The impact of Heracles slamming the corpse into the stone wall completely destroyed the clifface, creating a huge crater in it.
Heracles let out a grunting noise as he realized he had maybe gone a bit too far as stones from the now decimated cliffside fell down nearby him. He briefly wondered if he would search for a magic stone from the Sword Stag, but decided against it. Afterall, not only was the stone probably destroyed from the impact, but there was no sign at all of the remains of the Sword Stag, meaning that it was either buried under a few tons of rock or that it had already turned into magic ash.
He turned around and began to walk away from the scene to search for more monsters… but he came to a stop when he noticed a bizarre rock that had fallen from the broken cliff.
Well it wasn't exactly a rock. It was a landform weapon, and a bizarre one at that. It had the general shape of a one sided sword made completely out of stone and rock, with the sharpened edge made up of jagged, smooth grey stone. It's size was also unique, being nearly twice as large as any other landform that he had seen so far.
Feeling drawn to it, Heracles went over to it, an odd sense of familiarity that he couldn't place making him feel connected to it somehow. He reached out, grabbing the weapon near the end where there was a large hole in it that simulated a handle and a guard was located. Lifting it up off of the ground, he noticed the absurd weight and mass of the weapon which would've made it impossible for even most monsters to even lift it, but in his hands, it was as if it weighed the same as a feather.
He gave the axe-sword a test swing to get a feel from it, but it proved unneeded when the same odd familiarity with the weapon made the test swing feel like the most natural thing in the world. Though that in itself isn't impressive, he did master every weapon to their fullest potential in life, but it was odd that it felt so natural and familiar to him in his Berserker class. Under the dark cloud of the Madness Enhancement, Heracles wondered why and how it was so familiar to him and he wanted to know why the Dungeon had produced such a weapon, but such thoughts were soon discarded and lost.
All that mattered to him for right now was that now he had a weapon and he still had a mission to complete. With one last swing of the axe-sword, Heracles turned around and began to search for more monsters.
For those of you wondering why I suddenly started calling the Guild Building the Pantheon, I only found out between the last chapter and this one that is it's actual name.
Chiron is not a gentle teacher, remember when we saw his first lesson with Achilles in the Apocrypha event? And how it was him shooting dozens of arrows at once at a child Achilles until he could kick the right way to send the arrows back at him? No wonder Achilles is so afraid of him.