Ch 17: Fame and Encounter

ENJOY!

….

"How long?"

"It should be coming soon"

Hestia Familia could be seen standing in a large hall with massive walls which shone like crystals. These crystallized walls were what provided light within the hall and also a gateway to despair.

They stood watching, astonished at pure height these walls possessed. What they were marvelling at wasn't present but rather the future. Sure, these walls were big and beautiful but what astonished them was the enormity of the being that would come out from here. From what they had heard, said being was every bit as big as these walls, something they had never seen or faced except in stories and legends.

They were waiting but without doing nothing. Lily could be seen arranging all the potions in her backpack, distributing them while others were completing their own preparations for soon-to-be fought battle.

They had just arrived here and as expected, the goliath had yet to spawn and show itself giving them time to arrange themselves in agreed-on formation.

CRACK-

Suddenly out of nowhere, a small crack could be seen appearing in otherwise smooth crystal wall right in front.

"Get ready!"

Not all members of Hestia Familia were here. Only those who would be able to do something against the Goliath and not become a burden were present here with everyone else situated elsewhere.

Those to not be present here were Suu, Emma and Leo.

Emma and Leo weren't here because their current powers wouldn't be able to deal any damage to that monster and Suu wasn't here due to her fighting style just not being compatible. Her current punches wouldn't be able to deal any damage to the goliath.

Take and Miach Familias had come over to help them but not here. They were situated right outside, at the entrance of 17th floor for the purpose of stopping any monsters from coming close. It was quite common for several monsters to come and fight alongside a floor boss whenever a battle occurred and so their job was to exterminate these helpers.

Leo, Emma and Suu were with them, and had completed their preparations. As soon as the battle begin, they would be facing waves upon waves of monsters and they would require every single individual, every single point of power to deal with them.

Seven lvl 2's and four lvl 1's.

A relatively strong group, equipped with everything. From fighters to a healer to magic casters and more. Their job was every bit as important as the ones fighting inside. This too was part of floor boss battle, one even those at low level could participate in.

….

On 17th floor, about to face the goliath, the atmosphere was solemn. This was their first time fighting something of this level. This was a monster which could easily destroy most C class familia and the ones fighting it were both low in level as well as numbers.

Zoro and Bell could be seen standing in front of everyone, facing the crystal wall while Lily was standing at the very back, on a raised ground. This position was dangerous, but it was also the only way she would be able to provide some help.

Welf on the other hand was standing slightly to the left of her with a large sword and a shield. His job was to protect Lily from after shockwaves which would no doubt be produced during this battle and also to attack the beast if a chance ever came.

Right in front of them, over some distance was where the Orchestra stood.

This formation was somewhat sloppy but also the most practical with their numbers. This fight would for the most part be led by Bell with Lily and others providing support from distance.

He was the main attacker as well as the distractor. He would keep Goliath attention solely towards him, giving all others chance to launch attacks from behind. This was dangerous but his speed made it possible.

Zoro on the other hand was like Bell but opposite. Both would keep Goliath's focus but in different ways. Bell by attacking while Zoro by defending.

Yes, Zoro had chosen to not go on offence during this battle and the reason was simple. If given a chance, he could single handily kill it off. Sure, Bell could do the same, but it would require a lot of time and effort for him going at it solo.

That said, the main reason was something completely different. He wanted to test the power of his armament. He wanted to see the amount of defence and endurance it provided him right now and so he stood, body covered in black metallic shine, waiting.

By now, the wall was filled with cracks and the hall started shaking, as if welcoming something.

They waited and waited until Bell suddenly jumped backwards while Zoro coming upfront,

BOOM-

With that sound, powerful shockwaves spreaded outwards. The ground they stood on and the walls around filling with cracks. Dust rose and covered everything, making it impossible to see anything.

Not too long after…

THUMP-

BANG-

…something shot out of said dust and collided heavily with wall right behind Lily and sliding down.

In the next instance, all the dust scattered around got blown away by powerful soundwaves and they finally saw it.

A huge silhouette heard only in stories. It was no different from men and woman, two legs, two arms two eyes, two ears and all. Everything was same but much much bigger than anything or anyone they had ever seen.

With eyes glazed over and body bulging with muscles, it roared with enough force to tremble the entire hall.

"So that's it!"

Zoro came from behind, patting his body. It was him who was blown away but even though that was the case, there wasn't a single scratch on him.

On the contrary, it was goliath bleeding from its hand it used to punch Zoro. Zoro had used his Ryo to destroy that hand from inside out while they connected but was blown away before any major damage could be done.

His physical strength was less than Goliath but with Haki, his endurance wasn't something Goliath could pierce through.

He looked at it, up and down,

"It's a lot smaller than giants", he whispered to himself.

Yes, Goliath was big but barely reached 7 meters in height, smaller than what he was expecting but whatever.

"Are you alright Zoro-sama!"

"I'm fine. Focus there. The real battle is about to begin"

As soon as he said so, Bell jumped up and slashed his knife across Goliaths chest till abdomen, injuring it.

GROWL!

Goliath waved its huge fist towards still in air Bell, bringing with it all the scattered wind.

"Now!"

Bell disappeared, replaced by Zoro…

BAANNG-

…who was once again blown away by that huge fist right on his body, colliding and crushing the crystal wall to the right.

"Ugh-"

That one was powerful since even though he wasn't injured, his body still felt a bit numb, and he even had a feeling of throwing up.

The battle continued and Bell once again went up-front.

Strong impacts could be felt with each of its swings at Bell who kept on dodging at its every blind spot. Many a times it happened that he was almost blown away by the wind pressure accompanying those fists or thrown upwards by impacts coming from the ground.

Same was the condition for those standing to the back, albeit a bit better. The impact which travelled through ground was difficult to deal with, but the wind pressure was continuously being scattered by sonic vibrations.

They were just barely keeping their ground but if things kept on going this way, their formation would break apart. Sure, they had prepared but in front of this pure power, all of their plans seemed to have become useless.

Still, they couldn't just turn back now. Since the decision had been made, they would go all out and finish it.

"ENOUGH! We're not here just for this!"

Jara finally couldn't take it. While Zoro and Bell doing their job and even Lily completing her coordination, they just stood here, watching and defending. Why were they here if that was all they could do?

And so, he changed the rhyme of his music and,

(Slit Barrage)

Launched massive barrage of sound blades, heading straight for its heads. Although they didn't deal much damage but atleast everyone got their bearing back.

"You couldn't be more right"

"Yeah nya. There's nothing to be afraid of nya"

"Well then let's show it, our full power"

They laughed and straightened themselves up. Now they would attack and attack and attack a bit more until that thing was down.

Sure, they would defend but only if a direct attack came their way. As for scattered wind and impacts in the ground, they would just tank all that.

(Full Concentration)

Their atmosphere changed. All the music flowed the same direction with all notes sounding the same rhythm. This was same as what had happened during their battle against Zoro but the song itself was different.

Slowly slowly, all the sound started converging but didn't take any specific shape this time around. From the looks of it, a flowing sound waves started to gather and take a long shape.

(Sonic River)

Feeling vibrations coming over, Bell didn't move and kept on fighting the beast. Distracting it with his own continuous barrage or attacks.

Just when said flowing sound river came close to him, he disappeared replaced by a stone, appearing beside Lily.

Goliath which suddenly lost its target and became confused but in the next moment, felt danger.

Keeping gaze fixed on the Orchestra, it opened its mouth and…

-AAAAAOOOOO!

…a roar accompanied by sonic boom erupted from between its jaws. In the next instance…

"Not so fast!"

…Zoro jumped upwards and slammed right into its chin from down with as much force as he could possibly exert. His punch didn't even come in contact with the beasts' chin and yet forced it's opened jaw close.

BAANG-

The next instance, a blast occurred right in its mouth, and it fell on its knees, holding its mouth which lacked a chin.

"Hahaha good luck!", with that Zoro too disappeared, the same as Bell and Goliath got surrounded by sound waves the next moment.

If looked from distance, it seemed as if a river had surrounded its entire body, encasing it.

Seeing that, Carl opened his mouth while waving the baton in peculiar fashion,

(Sonic Combustion)

And… nothing happened. There was no sound nor was there any resulting blast neither any shockwave. The scene remained placid and unusually calm. All the sound from entire chamber disappeared but something happened in the next instance.

Goliath started bleeding all over.

There wasn't a part on its body, not gushing blood in huge quantities washing it in its own blood.

Goliath which was grey just a moment ago turned crimson red. And the worst of all, it couldn't even scream due to losing the lower part of its mouth entirely.

It all happened in an instance, from Zoro's attack to Sonic combustion, everything took place in blink of an eye and this was the result.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha… how does it feel!", Jara launched weakly. It seemed that attack had taken a lot out of them. He along with Lyra fell on their knees, breathing heavily.

Celeste: "And here I thought that would be enough. I guess not!"

Karl: "It's a floor boss after all"

The other three had also gotten a lot weaker but still managed to stand straight. This was their new combined attack which had taken a lot of time and practice to perfect, and it worked. That's all that mattered.

"You did great. Leave the rest to us"

Zoro complimented them and stepped forward along with Bell. This time, Welf also joined them. He also wanted to do atleast something otherwise his coming here would have been in vain.

"Ha! Jus-tu- wait!", Jara spoke in hoarse voice, trying to stand up again but his legs just wouldn't allow it.

"I like your spirit", Zoro laughed and jumped towards standing Goliath which was ready for round two. Even though severely injured and bleeding heavily, it still stood up. It wouldn't die so easily, and this was no surprise to anyone.

But something happened taking everyone by surprise.

"H-How?"

It's mouth which had lost a chin healed back up and not just that. All the bleeding stopped, and the wounds started closing up at a rather fast pace.

"I didn't hear it having this ability"

Bell had talked to Eina before coming over and Eina didn't say anything like this about Goliath. Sure, it was strong and powerful and had that sonic attack but that was it. It didn't have any other ability but this one seemed different even though it looked same.

"This- tch! The mutation!"

"You know something Lily?"

"Yeah. From what Lily knows, all floor bosses have a sort of mutation which appears occasionally. Goliath's mutation has appeared only three times in last decade and this is probably the fourth!"

"A mutation you say…"

"Yeah. It looks exactly the same but has one extra ability"

"Regeneration", Celeste spoke in dreaded voice. If it could regenerate, then yeah. It was going to be very difficult to kill the damn thing.

"Exactly!"

"This has become somewhat troublesome. Still, our goal doesn't change", Zoro said noticing another change in it. Others might not have noticed but he did. Its size had increased by a few inches which meant it had grown stronger than before and if this kept going, things could get out of hand.

This was probably not known to many since the rate of increase wasn't much and seemed to be directly related to the number of injuries and even then, the rate was almost non-existent.

"Let's go!" if need be, he would also go on offensive and so, began the second round.

Lily handed mind potions over to the orchestra. This couldn't be used many times during a day but atleast they were able to stand up, also ready for round two.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Goliath raised its head and roared aloud, enough to be heard over vast distances and moved. It walked towards Orchestra with glazing eyes. One could feel immense wrath and anger from that distorted expression but ofcourse it wasn't so easy. Bell ran straight towards it, passing through its legs and turned around.

Taking advantage of the Goliath's blind spot, he jumped up to its leg from behind and slashed its knee in a single forceful motion of both of knifes.

ROAAR!

It roared in pain and lost almost all feeling in that one leg, falling down to the side but not for long. Just as its regeneration began and it stood up, Welf did the same as Bell and deepened the already opened wound forcing it to fall down once again.

(Arrows of Oblivion)

Not missing a beat, Orchestra launched their own attack, right at its mouth. The goal were its eyes, and they busted the next instance, blinding it.

Unable to see, Goliath crazily waved it massive fists in the air only to feel more pain on the back. Welf and Bell had started their own barrage on it's back. Their goal was to kill it as soon as possible and not giving it any chance to heal up.

Suddenly feeling danger, Bell threw his knife, Hakugen up in the air and kicked Welf, throwing him away. The next instance he curled up like a ball, with his legs in front and hands on top of chest and…

Thump-

…tanked that back swipe from Goliath. His entire body absorbed the damage. His legs cracked while arms went numb for a bit. It was good that atleast the rest of his body, even though injured didn't break.

He felt enough pain to lose consciousness but stopped himself from going that route.

Even Lily wasn't able to do anything at the moment due to not being able to see him and Zoro was also a bit late in reacting.

It seemed he had gotten too used to Lily's magic which had lessened his awareness, and this was the result. If he had reacted just a bit sooner which he totally could than nothing should have happened, not to him nor Welf but there was no use in regretting anything.

Bell flew straight through air, throwing up blood about to slam into a wall, "Lily there!", but just before hitting the wall, he pointed somewhere and screamed towards Lily in hoarse voice even as blood flowed in his mouth.

Seeing and hearing this, Lily hesitated a bit but switched his place with Hakugen, the knife he had thrown in air just before getting pounced.

As soon as he appeared, he slashed right into Goliath's back shoulder and went down with as much force as he had been thrown backwards with. He made use of that push to deal considerable amount of damage to the damn thing. The plan was to separate one of its arms and he succeeded in said endeavour.

OOOOOO….!

It screamed in pain feeling one of its arms getting separated along with it's left shoulder. It was the same arm it had used to attack backwards and now it was gone.

Bell too fell to the ground, but all that force had died down so didn't receive any extra damage.

Zoro appeared and picked him up, throwing him out and Lily transported him near her, fuming with anger.

"Sheesh you're too reckless"

"Hahahaha! I've realized my mistake"

"Pardon!"

"Nothing"

As Bell lay there, Goliath screamed in pain not just due to the arm but also due to all the attacks it was receiving continually from Orchestra and Welf.

(Sonic Buster)

It's tough hide failed to stop those sonic attacks which penetrated deep inside and spreaded destruction. They were like many small bombs which would explode on timely basis inside its body.

Then there was Welf who attacked him again and again on the knee, keeping it down.

Sure, it had healing/regeneration ability, but the speed wasn't instant. It took time for wounds to heal and even more to regenerate. That arm for example would take atleast five minutes to become whole again.

Blinded again and again, attacked from inside again and again and losing it's footing again and again enraged it to no end and yet it couldn't do anything. It attacked using the remaining arm but each of said attacks were intercepted by someone else and the worst of all, each time it would be able to throw said guy away but it's hand would be mysteriously filled with injuries and that guy would come back for more, uninjured.

Everyone was doing their job perfectly and the amount of damage was stacking up again and again, giving it no time to properly heal or become bigger.

From time to time, it would try to shoot that sonic attack in random directions but each time, it got intercepted, either by Zoro closing its mouth or by Welf using his magic disruption.

It writhed in pain, stepping back again and again, as if to create distance but the attacks always reached it. It waved it's one remaining arm, slammed its legs on the ground but to no avail. The ones it was fighting were like bugs, they would keep coming and attack it.

Everyone presents had tanked atleast some shallow hits from it and that included Lily. Not direct hits but the aftereffects of each of its attacks was enough to injure those with low endurance and all of Orchestra and Lily truly lacked that one aspect so each one had atleast some amount of injury, no matter how small.

This was especially for Welf who now took Bell's place as the frontline, close ranged attacker. He tanked those shockwaves again and again, had been sent flying in air but would still keep attacking. If not legs then he would climb and attack its chest and whenever it reacted, he would jump back down, having Goliath hit its own self.

Welf was continually stacking up the attacks and was just barely holding on. If not for Goliath being blinded again and again along with timely intervention from Lily and Zoro, he would have died many times over.

OOOOOOOO….!

Goliath suddenly let out a scream and raised its legs, bringing them down with great velocity. It slammed into ground again and again using full force it could muster in crazed manner.

It seemed as if it intended to destroy the entire room which started shaking like never before. Massive cracks opened forming deep pits.

Each of these slams produced enough force to bend the ground. The resulting shockwaves would have been powerful enough to injure everyone present but…

(Full coating)

… Zoro pushed his hands to the ground and coated a whole lot of it in Haki. The area it covered didn't exceed ten meters but said ten meters became safe zone while everyplace else got ravaged.

Zoro: "Damn it!"

Lily: "Seems it's gone berserk"

Seeing Goliath in this state confused everyone. Never had they ever heard Goliath doing something like this and in this state, they wouldn't be able to get close to it and even their sonic attacks would be blown away by crazed winds around.

Lily: "It's acting like this mostly due to receiving such injuries. This is probably it's first time and it doesn't know what to do so and how to react"

"Let's just wait for this barrage to end. It shouldn't go for long!"

Celeste: "But… would this place be able to survive till then?"

"Let's wait for a bit"

Bell too spoke up with his hands surrounded in white light. He was standing right now since the injury he received to the legs was for the most par healed. His legs didn't break, just cracked something which didn't require any specialized skill set to properly heal. Lily had learned atleast something for these emergency situations and so other than directing everything, she had also used potions to heal Bell as precisely as she could.

His skill, argonaut had been active for around two minutes with his limit being three minutes which should be enough to end this battle. His original goal wasn't just three minutes but going beyond the limit was easier said than done and so he waited until the charge completed.

It didn't take long and Goliath which had been attacking crazily everywhere also stopped. Its eyes were back, and the arm was still regenerating, about to be completed but it felt threatened by that white haired man.

It felt threatened and so started moving towards the group, but it was too late.

(FIRE BOLT!)

Massive roaring flame rose from that white haired man and came towards it. It reached it in blink of an eye and on the point of contact…

BAANG-

…the entire chamber glowed eye blinding white. Heat waves rose, turning everything within five meters of goliath into nothing.

Zoro used his Haki to form an invisible shield around everyone, protecting them from the after blast and raging flames.

Not too long after, everything settled and Goliath was gone, leaving behind only three things. A magic stone the size of like no other along with what appeared to be its concentrated hide and tooth.

The battle was finally over and even though it didn't go on for long, atleast not as long as their other battles went during past two weeks, it was definitely the most intensive till now.

It was final time to head back.

….

Word spreaded like a tidal wave. The news everyone had been waiting for was finally here and the result shocked everyone.

They killed the Goliath and not just that, the one they killed was a mutated one. This was confirmed by comparison.

Normal goliath usually had smaller magic stone and dropped only one thing and that too, occasionally but this one dropped two things and its magic stone was also bigger and brighter. These factors were enough to prove the validity.

That said, not everyone focused on that mutated stuff. Afterall most didn't even know of such existence. Only those old familias and guild paid attention to this stuff so by comparison, their shock was much greater than everyone else.

How did they kill that thing which could regenerate on top of being physically strong?

It was beyond their imagination, but this news took their fame to next level.

With this, they were officially a familia which had hunted down a Floor boss and this was a very big achievement. It had to be known that there were almost a hundred class C familias in Orario and yet among all those, barely ten were such to have hunted down a floor boss.

The news of their hunt was still hot when another one came about. It seemed their captain and vice-captain and reached lvl 3 after this battle and this was no surprise to anyone.

These two had already broken all previous records and being able to level up after killing a floor boss despite all odds stacking against them was considered normal so it didn't cause any waves.

…

"That was tiring?"

"Indeed. If not for what we did for them, I doubt the guild would just let us be"

Lily and Celeste had gone to the guild bringing with them the reports of these level ups. Without saying much, they were called to a separate chamber since the hidden dates on status sheets were of two weeks back. That meant Zoro and Bell had reached lvl 3 two weeks ago, but they reported it just now?

This was unacceptable for them and so they were about to penalize the familia but were stopped. Orders came from high up to give them first and last warning to not do so again and so Hestia Familia was spared, albeit on a condition they were forced to accept. If not, things would have gotten serious.

The condition was their participation in war.

Yes, a war that was currently going on.

The one attacking was none other than Rakia, a familia based country to the western side of Orario. This wasn't the first time neither was it going to be the last.

It was hard to understand the head of that celestials who was attacking again and again despite all of it being futile each time.

Anyway, since the guild asked them, they couldn't just back down now, would they?

That said, the question was, who? Who was going to go and fulfil this condition given by the guild.

"We'll go!", it was Karl who stepped forward. They liked to roam about but hadn't done so for quite some time. Going for that war would be a good chance to experience some open air and they would no doubt have many listeners which would motivate them.

Another reason for going there was for some sort of inspiration. Karl was planning to write a new song but lacked an inspiration and the same applied for everyone else and so with Hestia's permission, 'Orion' went to the war grounds followed by Suu, Emma and Leo.

The reason they were going was due to what Zoro had said. This war could serve as a great experience for them and also strengthen their foundations. This was especially true for Emma since she could practice her magic on large quantities of people of same level who would no doubt be present there from some other familias.

Suu on the other hand went to get that mercenary like feeling back. She quite liked said feeling and wanted to experience it all over again.

Welf also left for the time being. It seemed he had some sort of lessons with Hephaistos and others of that familia. He also wanted to meet some of his friends from there since it had been quite sometime since their last meeting.

Zoro left towards dungeon. It seemed he had some sort of goal, something like reaching till 25th floor solo. It was dangerous but given all of his skills and abilities, wasn't impossible.

Lily wanted to go with him, but he gave both Bell and her another job, to gather information about Ishtar Familia, no matter how insignificant. He had sensed eyes on them these last two weeks and all those belonged to amazonesses which he linked with Ishtar Familia.

It didn't seem like they wanted to do anything for the time being but rather be prepared than being sorry. He didn't want to be caught off guard and so put them both on this job.

Hestia on the other hand started her preparations, preparations for Denatus about to be held tomorrow and for said purpose, she went and met up with Take and Miach. It appeared these last two weeks served them good since Ouka and Daphne manage to level up to lvl 3 and with rather high stats to boot, putting everyone in the same boat.

And so, they left to do their own things for the time being and scattered about.

…..

Night-time came soon and Bell left towards his destination. He went there occasionally, and this would be his fourth time going during these last two weeks. He went there only for one purpose. To find someone who he knew had to be somewhere there and yet he couldn't find even a single trace of that one entity which frightened him.

That said, he did manage to find her last time and it was also the time which became extremely dangerous. Crazed amazoness had chased him all over and he had even been caught last time and almost suffered a fate worse than death. If not for someone's timely intervention, perhaps there wouldn't be Bell Cranel in this world. Even though that had transpired, it didn't diminish his will.

He wanted to meet her and talk to her, face to face. He wanted to know her situation since he knew she wasn't happy being there and he also wanted to know of why? Why was she imprisoned and why was there no record of her presence anywhere? What was so important about her?

Why was there so much secrecy regarding her so to speak.

There were many questions he needed answered and he felt the only way to truly free her would be through said answers and so he went there, again but stayed on his toes. He didn't want to attract any attention and so covered himself up, head to toes.

Just as he neared the red-light district, his eventual destination someone appeared, blocking his road.

"Here again, Bell?"

"Hermes-sama, it's you!", seeing that familiar face, tension left his face. He had met Hermes in there once and both had a rather 'healthy' talk.

"So, taken a liking to someone, aye Bell?"

"N-no I-"

"Hahahaha come now. Don't be so flustered. It's natural for men to be curious about these things. It's our nature"

"But I-"

"Say no more. I never saw you and you never saw me, alright!"

"Y-yes"

Perhaps seeing Bell in condrum, Hermes spoke in rather serious voice

"Hm… let me give you one advice. Don't try to go for something when you don't even have complete conviction to see everything through"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Just an advice some old man gave me a long time ago"

He seemed reminiscence about some event which might have transpired a long time ago. It didn't take long for him to get his bearing back and once again turned to Bell who himself seemed to be in some sort of deep thought, as if trying to make a decision but not able to reach a firm conclusion.

"Anyway, just ignore whatever I said. Say why not come with me?"

"Hm… ah! No thanks!"

"Fine. Take care"

With that Hermes turned around. To run errands, that's what he did. Same applied for guild and same applied for everyone else who wanted his services. His network was vast and was on good terms with almost every celestial which included Ishtar.

Just when he started walking towards the gates to red-light district, Bell called out from behind.

"Fine. You're right. Until I've firmly decided and have enough power, nothing would make any difference regardless of what I do but… were you just waiting for me?"

"Not really. I was just going there and found you on the way so stopped to have some friends talk, you know man to man discussion"

"Thankyou"

"For what? Oh! Almost forgot. Congratulations on your level up. Hestia is really rising up in the world alright. I'll visit sometime to- no wait! I'll just congratulate her tomorrow in Denatus"

Seeing him constantly talking to himself, Bell took a step back

"Anyway. I'll be taking my leave"

"Hm- oh! Yeah. Let's meet up sometime. Just between us but my familia is specialized in information gathering so…"

With that, he left, not turning back.

"He…probably knows everything", Bell muttered to himself seeing Hermes disappearing in the crowd and also left.

Now he won't come back here until his own mind was completely made up.

…

Hermes walked some distance, eventually stopping looking back to where Bell had left. There was a strange glint in his eyes as he muttered to himself,

"That was the right decision my dear Bell. Still, I can't just wait for you to make up your mind, can I?"

He grinned as a nefarious plot formed in his head. He wanted to see the decision that boy would make under pressure and also how his captain would react to all that.

"Things are going to get interesting all right"

He laughed, looking at the red-light district and then at what he came to deliver, "Oh how unfortunate"

…..

Hestia left for Denatus early in the morning after grumbling a bit about Zoro who hadn't come back from the dungeon yet, but she didn't seem all that worried about him. She could feel the condition of each of her familia member through the falna and Zoro seemed just fine so she didn't worry too much.

Bell on the other hand left towards Hermes Familia. Since Hermes had invited him with rather interesting proposal, it would be rude to just reject. Not to mention, if he could indeed get some information out of that guy then all the better

Atleast that's what he wanted to but changed his mind. Hermes wouldn't even be there at the time, and he doubted anyone would know of whatever Hermes wated to tell him and talk about so while on the way, he changed directions and went to Hostess of Fertility. Now-a-days they were preparing all their foods at home and due to past two weeks intense training journeys, he hadn't had much time to visit here so now that he had sometime to waste anyway, why not pay a visit and eat some food while at it?

Welf who had come back also left early in the morning. He said something about meeting some troublesome people and had a rather annoyed look while talking about who ever these troublesome people were.

Lily on the other hand decided to stay back, to guard their mansion which realistically wasn't possible for any individual to accomplish. She had talked about hiring some people to handle all this to Hestia who had also agreed but last two weeks simply didn't give her anytime to focus of all this. Hestia had reviewed some applications from people who didn't want to enter the dungeon but otherwise were ready to become part of their familias and take care of everything here.

These people were quite common in Orario and infact most were retired adventurers or adventurers who had no choice but to retire. Then there were those who had some sort of trauma regarding dungeon so didn't wish to enter ever again.

Regardless these were all people who were looking for a job which didn't included much danger for their lively hoods.

Lily took all the application papers selected by Hestia and started rumming through them. All had good resumes and were impressive in one way or another. Hestia rather obviously had done good job, but it seemed she couldn't decide who to chose among these.

"Yosh!" Lily made up her mind. She would go and meet each of these people individually and get to know them If their characters were up to the standard and they were good at whatever was written in this application.

If yes then she would talk about them to Hestia and those not so good, well whatever. She would just ignore them.

With this, Hestia Familia was once again empty which was no good by any means but rarely did anyone tried to steal in this neighbourhood. Anyway, all of their valuables were stored somewhere safe, so she didn't need to worry too much.

…

At the same time…

Deep inside dungeon, Zoro stood with blank expression on face. He was present on 28th floor of dungeon, which was for all sense and purposes, quite a bit lower than his original goal but reasons forced him to come so much down here.

He had been looking at something down here. A monster quite different from all others.

He had seen some rather suspicious people, covered from head to feet in black and went after them and these people brought him till here and what he saw here was beyond shocking. He saw these people transporting a group of monsters somewhere and all these monsters were actually either unconscious or crying, like babies. Their expressions were very much like people. No one could say these were the same monsters who would attack on a moment's notice.

He even saw one of them cursing these people with language very much like his own.

Till now his expression regarding all monsters was same but this changed everything. Were all monsters like this?

No. Of course they weren't, and he could be certain about that due to the aura these beings had. It was very different from that berserk and chaotic aura possessed by all others he had fought till now. He followed and followed until suddenly attacking their captors.

Even though he wanted to keep following them till their base whatever it was he just couldn't watch it. One of the men in black mercilessly whipped a monster which was fine till there but another one had rather nefarious light shining in his eyes while eyeing a lamia type monster who even he had to admit quite beautiful. He was about to open the cage and he attacked.

It was obvious of what would happen from here onwards and he just couldn't watch it. These captors weren't weak by any means it didn't take long for them all to be washed in blood under his barrage. He though of keeping atleast one of them alive to interrogate later but perhaps overcome by fury, he just slashed her apart as well. The anger he felt regarding her was greater than what he felt for all males and the reason was her nonchalant attitude. Despite knowing of their intelligence, she still didn't stop that man. Rather she even whistled as if about to see something amusing which infuriated him.

Anyway, he hacked apart all the cages along with the chains binding them.

"You're all free"

"Don't think we'll be deceived by you, human. I don't trust your kind", the lamia spoke up to him, eyeing him with uncertainty. He was strong, there was no doubt about that so what now?

Sure, he had saved them but was that really the case?

Hearing her doubt, Zoro chuckled lightly and looked everyone in the eyes.

"I don't care. I just did what I felt like, not because I wanted to help you lot"

With that, he turned around to leave. It had already been over a day since he came to dungeon, and it was about time to head back.

"Wait!"

But he was stopped. He turned around looking at the same Lamia, speaking.

"What is it now?"

"Even though I don't trust you but still, regardless of reason you helped us and for that I am thankful. Don't expect anything else", with that, everyone around her nodded in gratitude. Zoro smiled a bit and turned around, waving his hand.

"Heh! Sure sure. Do whatever you want", and he left with no one stopping him again, but he did feel a lot of gazes on his back until he exited that tunnel. They were really cautious of him alright.

"Now then. What now?"

He was once again in a condrum. He hadn't gotten lost as of late, so everyone thought his direction orientation no longer posed any problem, but the truth was, it did. The only reason he didn't get lost was due to being in company of many others and even here, he managed to make it only because of following those shaded men.

Not knowing what to do, he started walking, taking any and all corridors. His goal was to find someone who could possibly help him out of this mess. This travel took him to places he wasn't even aware of which was again natural. I mean he wasn't really aware of anything here. That said, this floor was indeed much bigger than many others and also much more beautiful.

By now he had simply forgotten or more like shelved all those previous events at the back of his mind. Intelligent monsters didn't really affect his mood too much. Atleast not as much as many others would be and the main reason was because he didn't originate from this world, so his way of thinking was quite different.

He walked and walked in this watery floor and tunnels while killing monsters upon monsters along the way but just didn't find his way back.

Like this, another day passed by without him being able to meet even a single individual except for monsters, and more monsters.

Finally, he sat down on a rock looking somewhere curiously but before he could say anything,

"You're really hopeless, human", a silhouette came from behind the bushes, covered completely in shawl.

Seeing this silhouette, he laughed asking curiously,

"Why are you here?"

From the aura he felt, it was that Lamia. The same one who didn't trust him.

"Nothing. Just a friend told me of someone loitering about cursing so I came to see and look who I find. A lost lamb"

"A friend you say? Is it the same one down in water?"

Zoro had felt presence of an aura very similar to this Lamia and others from deep in water, staring at him continuously. It felt harmless so he didn't pay much attention but now it seemed these intelligent monsters really did come in all races. Back then he had seen many of different kind and now it seemed even a mermaid wasn't spared from becoming part of this rather peculiar group/race.

That said, hearing him the Lamia got alert, eyeing him suspiciously, "How do you know?"

"It's not difficult to differentiate that aura, well not for me atleast"

Lamia stared at him, looking straight into his eyes devoid of any greed. She also didn't feel that ill feeling that was common among all the humans she had met till now, regardless of whether they were attacking them or not. "You're indeed very different"

"Different, how?"

"Forget it"

"By the way, how should I call you?"

She thought for a bit before replying

"I… do not have a name. Call me whatever you want"

"That so!"

Zoro fell into a though for a bit. Suddenly an image came to his mind,

"Sakura… I'll call you Sakura then"

"Suite yourself. It's not like we're going to meet again anyway."

"Is that so?"

"Your…"

"Hm?"

"What's your name?"

"Didn't I say it? Zoro. Roronoa Zoro"

Silence enveloped both as the stood not knowing what to talk about. Finally, she broke the silence,

"Come I'll take you somewhere. Many of your kind gather there"

"You seem to know a lot of things"

Hearing him, she replied with a forlorn look, "Survival teaches many things"

"Is that so…"

He fell into deep though while following her but suddenly a bad feeling welled up in his heart. As if something bad was about to happen soon or perhaps was already happening.

…..

Zoro came back by the evening with the help of an adventurer group which was headed back. They happily welcomed him being aware of all the fame and hype.

Regardless, the first thing to greet him after coming back was downtrodden mood in the atmosphere.

"What happened?"

He asked Hestia while looking at everyone gathered in the hall. All other members were already back and seemed tired. It seemed they had been called back in urgency and it weren't just them present here. Take and Miach Familias were also present on the scene.

He could see everyone except for Lily, Welf and Bell.

He looked around and asked once more after not receiving any answer,

"Where are others?"

"Why did it so much time to come back?"

"We'll talk about that later. First tell me, what the hell happened!?", his gaze deepened by not getting a straight reply from Hestia.

"Welf and Lily are on the back room but they're heavily injured while Bell is…"

"Heavily Injured? Did some monster get them while in dungeon? Where's Bell?"

Hearing him, room quietened down once more before Hestia spoke#

"We don't know but from what Welf said before going unconscious… some amazoness attacked them while in dungeon and took Bell away…"

"Amazoness?", hearing that, his gaze got even more serious as he growled.

"ISHTAR! Ishtar! So, it's her!"

He nodded heavily before calming down the next instance. Keeping his mood under control, he turned to Hestia. This was the second time happening and this time, it was them who initiated the attack.

"There's no need for red light district to exist any longer"

He declared with voice cold enough to freeze domains of flames.

…..

AND END!

I know it's early, but I just had an idea, and a bit of free time so wrote away. This is the beginning of Red-Light district arc and hopefully I'll be able to deliver everyone of you with good material.

I'm quite tired so let me end this with those same lines as always.

I hope you fellows would like it and share with me any idea you might have regarding literally anything going forward.

REGARDS!