Ch 16: Reunion

ENJOY!

..

The next day…

"Damn it Damn it Damn it DAMN IT ALL!"

Ishtar stood in her room fuming with anger. Everything she had planned had gone haywire. One of her trump cards against Freya Familia had gone missing while her captain was in miserable condition. It was good that the arm was cut clean and was frozen before it could go bad otherwise this captain of hers would become one armed. She was being treated in the back tent even while she cursed the world.

It felt as if the entire world had turned against her. Why was it that every bad thing was happening to her?

As if that wasn't enough, Kali came to visit at the worst time possible.

As soon as that woman entered, she uttered a single word, taking her stance,

"I'm out!", she said.

Ishtar didn't need any explanation or context. She immediately knew what Kali was talking about and hearing that angered her to no end, but she stopped herself from blowing. She couldn't exactly do anything in current situation. She was weak when compared to Kali as-is and now her reliance, that growing demi-spirit was gone.

Yes! It was her who brought all those Violas and that Fetus out of Orario through back channels. The reason for that was because, Orario wasn't safe. If anyone got even a slight hint of their presence, then her familia along with them would have been exterminated and so she saw it fit to have them grow up outside in those dizzying caves but, everything was over.

Someone raided there, killed all the Violas and took that thing away and she couldn't do anything about it. She could only hope now that her involvement in all this would remain hidden otherwise, she wouldn't survive this time around.

Still, "But why?" the only thing she could do was to ask for a reason. Why was it that Kali who was so pumped up for this war against Freya was back tracking?

"It's simple really. You're too WEAK!", Kali had her doubts regarding this plan of hers and the incidents prior confirmed them. She wasn't capable of uprooting that behemoth even with some extra help.

Hearing such direct, negative remark, Ishtar's face contracted in humiliation, she gritted her teeth and asked again,

"What makes you say that?"

"You think I'm deaf or blind? Do you think I don't know about that captain of yours who's lying in half-dead state right now and that the one who did that wasn't even from Loki Familia. An alleged lvl 2 brought your familia to this misery. What else to say after that?"

"Humph! Lvl 2. That's what they say. I've never once believed that statement!", even though she said that, deep down she knew that it wasn't possible to fake one's level in front of the guild and that was especially true for Hestia Familia which was new. All of their members must have been verified at the guild regarding their levels so it couldn't be faked.

Still, she refused to believe just because she didn't want to believe.

Hearing her, Kali shook her head, laughing, "Believe what you want, I don't care! Anyway, best of luck and if you have even a bit of brain then don't target that familia. You won't be able to handle the consequences!"

"What consequences? What can Hestia or her Familia do anyway?"

"I'm not talking about her; I'm talking about Loki Familia. Would they let you harm the ones who helped them? Not to mention, all the damage that happened to the city…"

Reaching till here, Kali who was talking nonchalantly quietened down a bit, wallowing in sorrow,

"…Guild would probably put all the charges over my head and ignore your involvement but… you would simply be giving them a reason to go after you if you decide to involve Hestia or her Familia without any justification."

Hearing more and more soured Ishtar's mood even further. She knew and understood what Kali was talking about but… would she really just let it be? She had some reputation and if the word of this incident spread then she would become a laughingstock that someone almost killed her captain, and she couldn't even touch that someone out of fear of anther force!

It just wouldn't sit right with her.

Thinking till here, she shook her head and looked Kali in the eyes,

"NO! Hestia is going to pay, and I'll make sure of that. It's a matter of my reputation"

"If it's about reputation then you better keep your mouth shut. Only Loki and Hestia and your familia and me knows of what happened and no one else. Do you want everyone to start talking about something which could otherwise stay hidden? I doubt they would spill the beans"

She had a point. So far as Ishtar knew of Loki and Hestia, they wouldn't talk about this incident or any for that matter, openly. It was better to keep shut BUT…

"Fine. I'll stay my hand FOR NOW"

"Suite yourself", Kali knew she couldn't change Ishtar's mind and she had no interest in doing so anyway. The only reason she was talking like this was to warn Ishtar. Sure, they didn't have any great friendship but if Ishtar moved, some blame would come her way as well regarding whatever would happen then, and she was already worried about all the mountains about to fall over her head so didn't want any more tension.

Anyway, she came to tell Ishtar her decision and she had done so. There wasn't anything left here for Kali to involve herself in, "I'm taking my leave. Again, best of luck!"

Seeing her leave, Ishtar wanted to step forward and stop but couldn't. She was back to square one. Now she only had one trump card remaining and that too would be useless in current conditions. Even if she did play that move, her familia would still be stomped by Freya.

Taking a deep sigh, she went and laid on her couch staring in empty air. All her plans had fallen and she didn't even have a mood to be furious.

She called for wine and drowned herself in it…

..

Hestia Familia was back! They had gone out for a three-day trip and returned just in time. All that transpired there was tiring. Everyone wanted to rest and so they did. That was the reason of as to why they came back so late even though they should have reached back by noon.

Anyway, everything was finally over. Ishtar, very unlike herself stayed silent but this silence frightened Hestia. Who knew what they woman was thinking about. She sweard to herself that if something happened to her children due to that vixen, she would destroy her in both worlds regardless of rules.

There was also something to be relieved about. All the damage that had been done to Melen was paid by Kali. She was forced to and that meant that Inn fellow who had his lively hood destroyed could rebuild everything. She was happy about that but… all the innocent lives lost wouldn't come back, would they?

Still, now wasn't the time to be worried about all that. It was night by the time they returned, and they were tired, both mentally and physically. Sure, they had rested in Melen for a bit before leaving but rest outside and rest in one's own home were two completely different things.

Each went to their room and got a good night rest…

The next morning brought a new day as well as a new guest. While everyone was freshening up, someone came to their doorstep ringing the Doorbell.

Lily went ahead and opened the door, but no one could be seen except for what appeared to be an envelope. This was strange. Why would they leave it here when the letter box was just beside the door?

Confused, she picked it up and came back inside. Nothing could be seen on top of said envelop, no address or name. Nothing!

"What is it now?", Hestia could be seen standing in the middle of the hall lighting by the firewood's. It was a lot colder today than usual which was natural. Winter had started after all and with this winter, it had been two and a half months since Zoro came over and Bell went to his very first adventure, reaching lvl 2. Everything had changed afterwards.

Regardless, Lily came to her, confused. Everyone else was converging after freshening up around her.

"I… don't now. Look Hestia-sama, someone left this outside the door but…"

"Hm… no name or address! Open it. Let's see what's inside"

"Yes"

It didn't take long. There was only a single sentence along with some address which red,

("Thanks for your help. Collect your reward from here: -")

And that was it.

Bell: "This?"

Emma: "Is it about that mission?"

Leo: "Probably."

Hestia: "Good! We went through so much trouble there. Let's see what this reward is all about"

Everyone else, "…."

Welf and others stood there, not understanding anything. As far as they knew. It was a simple mission so what trouble?

They didn't know anything about all that had transpired there since the group directly want to sleep after coming back.

"Um… what are you guys talking about?"

"Hmm. Oh! Of course, you wouldn't know. It's a long story and Lily will tell you all later but… who'll go to collect it"

Bell and Leo came forward, raising their hands at about the same time, "Let me!"

Zoro who stood silent till now also spoke up, "Then go but be careful. This could be a trap"

"We will", and with that they left towards the location given on the note.

Seeing them leave, Hestia whispered to herself, "It should be worthwhile"

"I know you want to know but… who's going to make the breakfast? I'm hungry. They should return by then", Last night they directly went to sleep after coming over so Hestia and others couldn't help massaging their empty stomachs.

"Certainly!", and with that, Celeste and Emma moved towards the kitchen. There was no fixed menu. They would just make whatever could be made.

After some time…

Bell and Leo came back, supporting a bag. It wasn't big neither was it small. By now everyone knew of all the events that took place in Melen. Lily had briefed everything to them and so everyone was expectantly waiting. The difficulties they faced due to those missions weren't small and so the reward should be phenomenal as well.

Atleast, they hoped so.

Seeing them coming over, Welf came forward, "Come. Tell m-", only to be stopped by Hestia who remained seated looking at all the food present on dining table, "Wait! First eat than other things. I can't wait any longer and look… he's already eating", she motioned towards Zoro who had busied himself gulping all the food down. He never cared about any reward so whatever it was wouldn't matter him in the slightest. His first priority right now was to eat and fill his empty stomach.

Seeing this, others followed with Bell and Leo also taking their seats, "Yes Hestia-sama"

There was no fixed arrangement of seating. Anyone could sit anywhere to eat surrounding the dining table.

"LET'S EAT!"

It didn't take long for table filled with food to go empty. Everything, even scraps were eaten clean with nothing left. Usually everyone would go out for some exercise after eating but now, they remained seated.

"That was the best"

"Yeah. It was great like always"

"Now then… open it! Let's see what we got."

They were all waiting for Bell to open the bag. This was the first time they had been issued a mission from guild and said mission was divided into many missions.

"They shouldn't be stingy"

"Indeed!"

Under everyone's watchful gaze, he opened the bag. Even he himself didn't know what it was all about. They just went there with letter and got this bag in return. They wanted to open it on the way but resisted the impulse.

The thing that came into view after opening it surprised everyone,

"This!?"

"Not too shabby!"

It was a grimoire and not one but a whole total of three. Taking them out, he checked the bag which was now empty. There was nothing else inside.

It seemed the rewards were these Grimoires and yeah! Nothing else would have suited better than these.

Grimoire in essence was a book written by using monster drops of atleast lvl 5 or higher as the main component, coupled with required specialize skills and number of failures during formation and all other costs made it so that the demand was always there while the amount limited.

These things were priceless. Even in the whole of Orario today, there didn't exceed five people capable of making these books and yet even among them, the chances of successful formation were one-in-ten, provided that best of materials were used.

Their effect, these books allowed one to learn and use magic based on themselves, their personalities, fighting styles, wants, needs etc. Any person of any race could use a grimoire and gain some sort of magic, given they had a falna.

Other than that, there was a limit.

Any person could only use one grimoire in their whole lives.

That simply illustrated of how great a power magic was and so the limitation but even despite said limitations, any familia would want this thing.

The question now was, who to give these Grimoires to?

They had in total twelve members of whom only three could be chosen. The decision was left to Hestia since it was difficult for any of them to make a proper, unbiased judgement.

"So first, let's remove those who just can't be given. Bell has already used one so he's removed, and Zoro can't use any magic, so he's also removed. With that, we have ten members remaining…"

She looked around at each one's placid faces. From the outlooks, it seemed that to them it didn't matter of who she chose.

Naturally all of them would want this thing and why wouldn't they? Having multiple trump cards was a must for those in this profession but they also understood that the amount was limited so they didn't become too excited so as to not feel down if not selected.

Seeing them like this warmed her heart. She more than anything else didn't want any sort of disturbance in familia regarding this matter and so,

"Of the ten, we have two groups. Those who went and completed the missions and those who stayed back to protect the home. Honestly, it's hard for me to decide who to give them to so… give me your thoughts"

Hearing that, Karl stepped forward "I don't think my group would want any. We already have all the tools, skills and magic needed to perform our best so…" he looked around at each of Orchestra's members all of whom nodded in confirmation. He wasn't wrong. They would want these grimoires, but they already had everything.

"In that case, my suggestion would be to give one to someone who doesn't have any skill or magic", with that, he along with everyone in the room turned to Leo. He was the only one who would need these grimoires the most

"Yeah nya~. He fought hard nya~ so he should get the reward nya~…"

"Indeed."

"Since everyone agrees, Leo come over. This one's yours", Hestia handed one of the grimoires to tearful Leo. He was touched by everyone. Before today, he wouldn't have even thought of getting something this precious. He knew of his own talents best and it amounted to almost nothing. The only thing he had was determination but everyone had that so there was nothing special there.

Now he had the ability to obtain magic which would definitely help him and perhaps even awaken some sort of hidden talent or power he wasn't aware of.

Childish thought but hopeful.

"Next, I personally want to give one to Lily. There's no doubt that she's the brain so…"

"Well yeah. What about the last one?"

Second Grimoire was given to Lily. She already had magic, but it was useless in direct combat or in most dangerous situations so having something practical could save her life and others as well. Her tactical skills were already known to everyone. In every raid, everyone battle she was the one positioning and commanding the group so giving one to her could bring many benefits.

Now the question was who to give the last one to? There were only two hopeful remaining, Welf and Emma.

It was hard to decide who to choose between them. Welf was their personal smith and all items made by him were great. His talent for smithing was something even Hephaistos mentioned to be the best in Orario so nothing else needed to be said.

As for Emma, she was a new recruit, but she already had a skill and rather powerful one at that especially in pure combat.

It was really hard to decide. Seeing everyone in condrum, Welf stepped forward, "Give it to her. I don't need any new magic, especially when I can't even properly use what I already have. It would just be a waste"

"If you say so!" and with that Hestia handed the last Grimoire to Emma Flores.

Afterwards, all three chosen stepped forward bowing to everyone, "Thank you"

Welf: "Stop it. There's no such thing as thanks or sorry among family"

Jara: "Yeah. Don't waste your time here. Go and see what you get"

"Clean everything up and those who want a status update, come to my room an hour later. Now scram!"

.

An hour later…

"Here. Take a look", Hestia handed five papers to five individuals.

These were their status sheets. Not everyone came to get a status update since they themselves didn't feel like having gotten any stronger in just a week and a half.

Bells status had already been updated by her back then, but she still shared his status sheet with others by his permission. Members of Hestia familia shared their status sheets with others without too much reluctance. This was a sign of trust they shared with each other.

Other than Bell, the ones who got status updates were Zoro, Lily, Emma, Leo and Octave.

..

RORONOA ZORO (Lvl 2)

Human/Male/19

Stats:

Strength: SSS1400

Endurance: SS1199

Dexterity: B710

Agility: SSS1400

Skill(s):

The Conquerors Will

Those with weak wills are not permitted. Those with weak strengths are not permitted. The limits matter not, nothing can limit a conqueror, nothing can supress a conqueror.

Voice of All Things

Ability to sense and trace the breathing and the rhythm of everything. Ability to understand all languages. Nothing is hidden neither can it be hidden.

Full Counter

Resistance to all sorts of magics and phenomenon. Ability to survive in any environment. Full immunity to all sorts of harmful substances and poisons

Armament Haki

Armor, taking properties of whatever, it's applied on, enhancing them in return

..

RORONOA ZORO (Lvl 3)

Human/Male/19

Stats:

Strength: I0

Endurance: I0

Dexterity: I0

Agility: I0

Skill(s):

HAKI

Conquerors Haki

To supress and to rule, tangible or intangible

To strengthen or to destroy whatever is desired

Armament Haki

Armour, taking properties of whatever, it's applied on, enhancing them in return

To touch anything, tangible or intangible

Outside Projection; invisible shields

Inside Projection; destructive Shockwaves

Observation Haki

Ability to sense and trace everything, Tangible, or Intangible

Large Area detection

Insight: to glimpse present

Foresight: to glimpse future

Zoro no longer had any skills except for Haki. No magic, no development ability and now the previously owned skills. Everything was sacrificed for Haki, and he had no problem with that. Now probably due to completion, he could use advanced versions of Haki he had already mastered in the past.

That said, he didn't gain back the full power of his Haki. He couldn't coat entire mountains or destroy them simply based on Haki any longer but that was fine. That simply meant he had to train hard and become powerful to finally be able to reach said level again.

BELL CRANEL (level 2)

Human/Male/15

Stats:

Strength: SS1091

Endurance: SSS1400

Dexterity: S936

Agility: SSS1201

Magic: SS1075

Luck: H

Tenacity: H

Skill(s):

Liaris Freese (Hidden)

Fast growth as long as a desire lasts. Stronger the desire, the faster the growth. Extremely Intense desires could help break past certain limits.

Argonaut

A chance at victory

Magic:

Firebolt

.

BELL CRANEL (level 3)

Human/Male/16

Stats:

Strength: I0

Endurance: I0

Dexterity: I0

Agility: I0

Magic: I0

Luck: H

Tenacity: H

Abnormal Resistance: I

Skill(s):

Liaris Freese (Hidden)

Fast growth as long as a desire lasts. Stronger the desire, the faster the growth. Extremely Intense desires could help break past certain limits.

Argonaut

A chance at victory

Magic:

Firebolt

Bell had finally managed to max out of his stats. This happened mostly due to all the beating he had to endure again and again. Probably due to said beating, he gained a development ability, Tenacity while still being at lvl 2 and said ability was already at F. He truly did go through Hell again and again.

As for after levelling up, he chose abnormal resistance which would prove to be very helpful in exploring the dungeon.

OCTAVE GATLIN (Lvl 2)

Boaz/Male/21

Stats:

Strength: D572

Endurance: E409

Dexterity: F315

Agility: I29

Magic: S901

Sonic: H

Skill(s):

Sonic Parade

Ability to attack or defend using sound waves

Magic:

Percussion

Powerful Sonic vibrations for wide area annihilation

OCTAVE GATLIN (Lvl 3)

Boaz/Male/21

Stats:

Strength: I0

Endurance: I0

Dexterity: I0

Agility: I0

Magic: I0

Sonic: H

Destro: I

Skill(s):

Sonic Parade

Ability to attack or defend using sound waves

Magic:

Percussion

Powerful Sonic vibrations for wide area annihilation

Octave could lvl up quite some time ago, but he lacked the required number of stats as prescribed by Zoro. That said, he was very close to reaching S in one and he finally did after going to the dungeon multiple times during past weak. He had also accomplished something great during that time, to kill a horde of Minotaurs and that was enough.

The development ability that he chose was 'Destro' which probably had something to do with destructive power of his music but that remained to be proven.

.

LILILUKA ARDE (lvl 2)

Pallum/Female/16

Stats:

Strength: I11

Endurance: I9

Dexterity: I93

Agility: I75

Magic: I30

Abnormal Resistance: I

Skill(s):

Artel Asist

Compensation in ability when carrying a weight. Rate of compensation depends on weight being carried.

Magic:

Cinder Ella

Transformation in physical appearance

'Your wound is mine

My wound is mine

Echoing message of midnight'

Permutando Plaudere

Top swap positions of physical things, living or dead

Lily's stats didn't increase by much, but she had another magic and unlike previous one, it was chant less. It had something to do with switching people and things around but how, that remained to be seen.

..

LEO DIAZ (lvl 1)

Human/Male/15

Stats:

Strength: I97

Endurance: H199

Dexterity: I7

Agility: I83

Magic: I0

Skill(s):

Magic:

Fulgurant Fulgurate

Thunder release & enchantment

'Dance, dance, Lord of Thunder, Lord of sky

Destroy everything in the blink of an eye; Cover this body and let it fly

Share with all this lightness, this uplift, this freedom, this joy

Let the world know not to spy

AND

Let it be filled with sounds of thunder, the flashing of light the moment of plunder'

Leo gained a lot from this trip. His stats were also quite high for someone who got his falna just a week ago and all this was mostly due to that one incident in the Inn. Yes. He had been severely injured, but he fought hard even against impossible odds with Bell. Perhaps if he did just a bit more, all of his stats would have reached H by now, but it was fine as is.

The thing he was most happy about was this magic. What it did exactly remained to be seen but it sounded powerful with word thunder and somewhat long chant. He was ready to dive into dungeon anytime now if for nothing else than to test this new power.

.

EMMA FLORES (lvl 1)

Human/Female/17

Stats:

Strength: I23

Endurance: I19

Dexterity: I11

Agility: I31

Magic: I35

Skill(s):

Rein Amur

Rhapsodia among those with the same falna. Ability to borrow stats from others of same falna within limitations

Magic:

Life Link

'Let all be connected by my grace; To be fulfilled right to the chase

Together we bind the threads of fate; To gain to lose till we break

Let this be blessing and not the curse; For those too brave and those too frail'

What this magic was exactly remained to be seen but Emma was hopeful and so was Hestia. According to her, this was sort of group magic to empower multiple people but how it worked was up in the air for now but not for long.

.

With this, Hestia Familia now had five lvl 3's which put them among the strongest in C-rank familias. Given this rank was quite low but still, it showed their phenomenal progress when compared to other familias.

"Yosh! I'm going to meet up with Take and Miach, what about you?"

"Is there a need to be said? Ofcourse we're heading to the dungeon"

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. They had gotten new powers and it just wouldn't be right not to test them straight away.

Welf: "I've called big guy over as well. They should meet us in the tower"

Celeste: "That's all fine but… what about reporting?"

Hestia: "Oh, that stuff… well yeah. Let's keep Bell and Zoro's lvl ups under wrap for now. I don't want any attention"

Celeste: "Would that really be fine?"

Lyra: "Wouldn't they like blacklist us, nya?"

Lily: "Well yeah, but Lily agrees with Hestia-sama on this one. It would be too shocking, lvl ups within months! all sorts of bad rumours would fly about"

Jara: "Hmph! What's all the fuss about. It's not like we did anything wrong so why be scared?"

Karl: "It's not about being 'scared' or anything. We don't want infamy which would no doubt tarnish our reputation"

Hestia: "Since that's the case and I assume everyone agrees, we can just do something to shut their mouths"

Bell: "And what would that 'something' be?"

Celeste: "The main problem is the reason! People need a reason to believe something or atleast have it sit right with them so if we accomplish something and then announce, it should lessen the impact by great deal"

Lily: "Let's see… something like… yeah! We could hunt a floor boss and announce level ups after that"

Bell: "But… wouldn't that work against us? I mean to hunt a floor boss with our small number and given we would only have three official lvl 3's… I don't know."

"That's indeed true!"

Lily: "But we don't have any other choice, do we?"

Lily scanned everywhere and after seeing no one disagreeing turned towards Zoro who had uptil now stayed silent. He was the captain and final decision would be his to make. All of them could only give suggestions

"Personally, I don't see any problem with announcing right away but since you think it would be a problem then sure, let's get at it"

With Zoro's approval, their course was set. They would hunt down Behemoth, the floor boss of 17th floor.

.

Sha-

Clang-

Boom-

Whomp-

Several sounds were all mixed up together in this confusing environment. It was Hestia familia along with Takemikazuchi and Miach familia hunting down hordes upon hordes of monsters, left and right in a rather peculiar manner.

From time to time, someone would disappear replaced with another in blink of any eye while at other times, someone would stand back up even after getting a direct hit from a minotaur. Over on one side, several monsters could be found lying, electrocuted while on the other side they were just being butchered. It happened many times that monsters disappeared simply by moving somewhere or standing still while many others would mysteriously be cut apart into several pieces. There were some who attacked and killed their own brethren while others would start bleeding, dying as a result in the next instance.

While all this was going on, some individuals could be seen shuffling among hordes of monsters without the fear of anything.

A swordsman being surrounded by monsters in one instance and said monsters being cut apart in another. A boy wielding hot knife, glowing knife, cutting through hordes of monsters like butter with one hand, and sending electrical fire from the other. Two young men, each one tall in their own right standing back-to-back killing any unfortunate beings coming close. And lastly two girls, one running around throwing knifes and what appeared to be shuriken while at the same time killing any monster within line of sight with a short katana while the other girl was punching, kicking and blowing any monsters coming within her range.

These were also the ones who disappeared from time to time, with someone else taking their place.

Over on the side, there were others each of whom holding an equipment of sort and just playing them without a care in the world but the strange thing was, no monster dared to come forward as if afraid of something.

This was the monster spawn position of 16th floor in the dungeon. This place was relatively dangerous since even the weakest monsters here were atleast lvl 2 with some lvl 3's popping out from time to time to join the fray. That said, the danger right now was facing the monsters themselves since the rate of their deaths surpassed the rate of generation. This was also the reason the party took breaks from time to time in between to give room to more monsters to spawn.

Lily stood at the back watching everything, directing the fight and intervening from time to time. Sometimes she would use her crossbow to shoot down a monster while on other times, get back to kill one with dagger. Her main job right now was to assist the party and get used to her new power, but she wasn't alone here. Emma and Leo had joined her with the only difference being, Leo was out cold while Emma seemed extremely tired.

Two sisters, Daphne and Cassandra along with two others stood on either of their side, protecting them from monsters which managed to come over or more like, which were made to come over.

This entire party right now consisted of a total of twenty individuals, 12 from Hestia Familia, 6 from Takemikazuchi Familia and 2 from Miach Familia.

Daphne and Cassandra had joined Miach while Takemikazuchi familia got 2 new members both of whom were lvl 1's so served support role.

After some time, Emma lost consciousness followed shortly by Lily who although didn't lose consciousness but fell to her knees. Seeing this, Daphne took out some sort of whistle and blowed it hard. The sound from said whistle wasn't loud and yet could be heard by everyone present.

Hearing this whistle, all fighters stepped back while a loud gong like sound could be heard and,

BAANG!

That part of the floors was gone with one loud voice. It was disintegrated and monsters stopped spawning. The ones left were then picked up by fighters and slayed the next instance.

Zoro came forward, drowning in his own sweat "Let's go!"

And everyone went back to their designated spot for rest. Everyone in the party had been fighting for quite some time now and this was their third time taking a rest.

Welf: "Hoo that was great!"

Ouka: "I haven't had such extensive exercise in quite some time now."

"Uh!"

Welf: "Oh Leo! Rise and shine"

"Ah! I wasn't sleeping"

Leo who had just woken up, sat up straight with red face. This was how many times now since he lost consciousness? If not for others timely intervention, he would have died many times over.

This time they came to dungeon specifically to get back to routine along with testing their new abilities and yes. Everyone, including Leo was satisfied.

Ouka: "Still. Man, your magic is powerful. Hope I had one like it"

"Hehe… I was just lucky"

His magic allowed him to coat himself along with his sword in lightening. After the chant was done, he could decide which part of body to coat in lightening. Coating his feet allowed him to move faster and provided greater manoeuvrability, coating hands gave greater swiftness and coating his sword gave it greater edge and destructiveness. Along with that, extra Armor and electrocution came as a bonus.

This was truly a mind changing ability. He could even send lightening slashes by coating his blade in lightening but that would consume too much mind. Other than that, he had a theory that he could even move at the speed of lightening, provided his entire body was coated in it and there was an electromagnetic field for him to run over but that wasn't possible for him. He had tried to do so once but lost consciousness halfway through. The price was just too great for current him.

Other than coating, this magic also gave him the choice to summon bursts of thunder which he had tried only once but got wasted. The chant of this magic itself was divided into two, the first part allowed for coating while the second part allowed for summoning lightening. Using both together gave him a sort of dominion over lightening within certain field which would be filled with this berserk power, but he couldn't do so right now.

Still, this was his trump card, and it was awesome. It allowed him, even if only for a certain amount of time to fight on par with advanced lvl 1's despite being only a novice at said lvl 1. This was an extremely powerful magic with untold uses, and he would have to work extra hard to become capable of using it to its fullest extent.

"I just hope I'll be able to master it"

Jara: "Don't act like a wimp. Stand straight like a man. Have some conviction!"

"Y-yes. I'll work hard"

"It's not only him you know. Your familia has one crazy after another. As if that orchestra wasn't enough, now there are you three"

Seeing them talking, Daphne also interjected talking to Lily who just gave a light smile. Obviously despite their poor performance of loosing consciousness again and again, the powers they possessed was no doubt great.

"That's right Lily-dono. Yours and Emma-dono's magics were great as well"

"Look who's talking"

Hearing Mikoto, Lily couldn't help chuckling. Mikoto herself possessed such a powerful magic related to gravity and the potential it possessed was probably on the same level as Leo's thunder.

"She should wake up soon"

She turned around looking at Emma who was still knocked unconscious due to her own magic.

Emma was a condrum. The very first skill she had was already bordering on insanity. It allowed her to borrow someone else's status for certain amount of time. Ofcourse there were limitations like she couldn't borrow other skills or magic if they were higher level than her and also that she couldn't borrow any stats from anyone who was two level higher than hers.

Still, even with these limitations this meant that she could possibly borrow Bells status and his skill if at the same level and same applied for Zoro… or maybe not. Haki was something that no one understood and even Hestia called it outrageous so it was highly possible that she wouldn't be able to borrow that but what about stats. Yes, she could borrow them from Zoro as well, no doubt.

There were some downsides to this borrowing but still it was a powerful skill. How she even got it, and the reason, no one knew. She just had it.

Anyway, now her new magic. It was just like Hestia had said, a group support magic. It allowed her to link several individuals within two levels of each other together. She couldn't link lvl 1's with lvl 3's but she could link lvl 1's with lvl 2's and lvl 2's with lvl 3's, one group at a time.

The limitation she faced was similar to Leo in that it consumed great amount of mind. Especially if she tried to link people with two levels higher than her own together which had caused her to faint within ten seconds. She was able to link five individuals at lvl 1 and lvl 2 together and managed to keep it as is for 1 minute before fainting.

This 'linking' did one thing which was obvious. Perhaps it did other things as well but only one could be confirmed and that was 'equal distribution' of pain and injury and whatnot. It couldn't do anything to lvl or stats or skills neither could either of those be shared in this life link but if one member got injured, said injury would be divided into how many numbers were connected and be distributed evenly across everyone so one person was equal to several when it came to endurance and vitality.

This was indeed a ridiculous ability. Another downside was, she herself had to stay stationary while this magic was in effect(atleast for now) and had to stay conscious otherwise the effect would be gone so she hadn't joined the fight this time around but got a lot of valuable experience in testing her new magic and atleast according to her gut feeling, the people linked also shared experience evenly but that couldn't be proven as of yet.

Anyway, both her skill and magic worked in rather peculiar fashion, and both required others help to be successful but once succeed, they worked wonders.

And last but not least, Lily herself. Her magic was like she had thought. It allowed her to swap peoples positions, but she could only swap one at a time. She could also swap people with monsters and inanimate objects but there was a limitation. One was naturally great mind consumption; another was she had to be able to see both individuals about to be swapped. Then there was coverage area problem. She couldn't swap people who were too far away from herself even if she could see them. The limit appeared to be about 50 meters for now.

Her ability was great for assist but there perhaps might be other limitations. Like what would happen if the person doesn't want to be swapped, would she be able to move them? Or what if their level was much higher than her own?

These were an important question needing to be answered but couldn't be right now.

Daphne: "So, if I didn't hear it wrong, you guys' plan to hunt down Goliath. Is that it?"

Lily: "Yeah!"

Ouka interjected: "Then you'll have to wait for about two weeks. Last goliath was killed just yesterday"

Zoro: "That's fine. That means there's time to grow stronger and get better in the meantime"

Bell: "So, are you guys joining us tomorrow?"

Ouka: "Sure. Why not!"

Daphne: "Yea. I'll also come."

"What about Cassandra-dono?"

"Her class is starting tomorrow regarding medicine making and what-not. I'm not all that interested in that stuff"

"Oh! Good luck then Cassandra-dono"

"Th-thanks"

While everyone was busy talking about this and that, Emma too woke up which served as a sort of signal for the party.

Karl who was busy writing something rose his head, "I think it's enough for today. We've been fighting for quite some time now"

"Indeed! We should head back before it turns dark outside"

Celeste nodded in affirmation, and it wasn't just her. Everyone was dead tired, and time was close as well.

Zoro who served as the de-facto leader of this group also agreed. He could see everyone's condition from a single glance, and none was exactly in great shape to continue fighting.

"Fine. Take some rest and freshen up. We'll be leaving in half-an-hour"

"YES!"

And with that, this trip to the dungeon came to a close. Today they had hunted weeks' worth of monsters and would probably continue doing so with Hestia Familia who was preparing for Goliath and that was fine and dandy. This simply meant more experience within short period of time.

And like this, they fought and prepared for that one hunt and the time came before long.

Time for their hunt as well as the Denatus.

..

AND END!

This was as the name suggested, a reunion chapter. Nothing special, just a setup for next arc.

A breather ch so to speak. And another thing. I just like these bold letters so once I tried to go the other way around, it just didn't seem fit for me so I'm bringing it back and will edit the previous chapter shortly after.

Truthfully, I'm trying to think up of some new ideas to forward the plot, something a bit different from original script but can't seem to think of anything as of now.

Once I do, I'll upload the next chapter.

AND finally, like always, give me any idea you might have regarding the plot regarding literally anything, even if it's faar into the story.

REGARDS!