Hey everyone.
Here we are, getting pretty close ending the arc here and then taking a small break before the next arc, to cover a few relationships. This will prepare before the big meet up with Bell and the mask fox man, but I have to set up one more thing before it starts.
I do hope I can make this work. So until then, enjoy the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danmachi nor the characters
Chapter 11: Dancing in the Pale Moonlight
The next day arrived and made the choice of being on foot. It has to do more with allowing the dragons to rest up for now. "It isn't far now." The others heard what Artemis said, and they wondered what to expect there. Bell and Hestia know, but the others are preparing for the worst.
As they kept walking, they kept their guard up for anything. Bell looked around and noticed something was off about the place. The trees were withering. Aura was frowned seeing lack of green in the area they just entered. "How could those creatures suck the life out of the life of those trees? My magic is hearing their plea of help. I have to keep calm."
She then felt a hand and saw it was Hestia's. She smiled, already used to certain physical contact with the goddess. "Thank you."
"I know it is concerning, but I need you to stay focused. If we are able to stop this enemy, then this forest will be restored."
She nodded and continued to focus.
Just as they kept moving, they saw a large amount of spears heading their way. Bell stretched his hand out "Aegis Than!" He pushed his shield to cover them as it rained down on them. The attack stopped. "Ambush."
They heard clicking and they saw more of the scorpion-like creatures. Allen took his spear out "Alright, time to squish some bugs-"
"Luminous Wind!" Out came stardust attacks and it took out all of the enemies immediately, making Eli look in awe. As the dust settled, there was no scorpion left. She went to see the group and saw Bell. She smiled softly, "My love."
"Ryuu. How are you?"
"Hanging in there." She held his hand. "I'm surprised you are here."
Bell showed the spear "I was chosen for this trip."
Her smile grew more "I see. I'm happy about it." She knew about what the spear meant and knew she made the right choice to accept the marriage proposal to him.
"Indeed. Now what has been going on?"
They heard a bit of rustling in the forest and out came an annoyed Asfi and marched toward them. She passed the others and confronted her god.
"Where have you been?! How could you just leave us here, in the middle of this place?!" she began to poke his chest.
Hermes was backing up "Easy there, Asfi…I brought reinforcements, like I promised!"
She looked at the group. She recognized the people that were on the 18th floor. She then saw a familiar cat man. "Fair enough. Just warn us when you leave."
"Yes, yes! Now that we are here, can you tell us what has been going on?"
Asfi gestured to follow her. They followed her as she began to explain "It has been nothing but a stalemate with these creatures. Each time we get closer to the temple, it is nearly impossible to get near the place." They kept walking a bit more. "A number of villages have been hit by those monsters, and people have been evacuated safely."
"And the temple?"
"As I said, we noticed it never opens, and yet enemies are ready to take us out if we try to get any closer."
Hermes got thoughtful Then he replied. "We could try tomorrow."
She nodded as they noticed the familiar members of the Hermes familia, particularly a certain weretiger, who looked like he was loading something on his arm, and then closing it with his hand.
"Wow….cool!"
He saw the werewolf child and nodded. He then saw Asfi and said "Are you sure this new ball would do it? It hasn't been tested yet."
"We will have to see how effective it is tomorrow then."
"Good. Getting tired of dealing with these scorpion creatures."
Allen looked around and asked "How many of them appear around here?"
Falgar looked at Allen and replied "Depends on the mood. Sometimes, it is a small number, but lately more of them have been active than ever before."
"Hmm…." he looked at parts of the forest. He noticed how some of the trees were still living. "Do they suck out the life out of the trees?"
"Heck should I know. I haven't seen how they do it."
Bell reached a dead tree and touched the twig. He frowned at how it turned into a dark dust. Artemis placed a hand on his shoulder, and he looked at her. "Don't worry, Orion, we will stop it."
He nodded "We will."
Lower Floors in the Dungeon
A few members of Evilus, along with the man with a fox mask were walking in the path. Thus far, very little to no creatures were around.
"My boredom is growing…."
The Evilus members grew somewhat nervous around him, hearing that. They saw a familiar pink short haired woman approaching them.
"Ah, looking restless?"
"As much as I enjoy going through the outer route to leave this city, dear Valletta, Barca gave the order not to go there, as he is working on something. Traps I assume."
She harrumphed "I don't understand what is going on. The only clue we got is keeping of a lockdown of sorts around here."
Just as he was going to answer, he heard a body falling down. He turned to see one of them was dead, and behind the dead body was a large Lizardman, and a few more appearing.
The masked fox man sighed "Well, at least my boredom is over." He took his sword out and took one out with ease.
Evening
Eli was sleeping after eating more than he usually does. Welf decided to sleep by himself as well.
As for the others. "Alright men! Not far off, the women will be bathing and we will do the time and honor the tradition of….peeking."
The other men, save Bell and Allen, were in awed. "We will go there and see some of the most beautiful women, bathing away. This is our only chance, people!" They cheered loudly.
Bell knew he would head to the other way, and he noticed Allen just left for some reason. "Huh. Where did he go? Oh well, knowing him, he must have gone on patrol." He then took the time to sneak away, as the men went to the area where they would bathe. They kept sneaking quietly until they reached the edge of it.
"Just a bit more and we can see them."
They edge more, until they saw….nothing.
"Huh?"
"So, you are trying to see our goods, eh?"
What happened next was the worst beating they have ever taken in their life. Screams of pain and tying up were heard. With the last one tied up, the girls had a satisfied look.
"That's what you get for trying to peek at us." Lulune was covering herself with a towel.
"I am not surprised you tried to do this" Asfi looked at Allen, who had a satisfied look "thanks for the heads up."
Hermes had a scandalous look "You betrayed us?!"
"I despise voyeurs. Plus, you should have already known better to do that."
Ryuu looked around "Where is Bell?"
The other girls looked around for a familiar white haired teen. One of the men said "I think I saw him go that way!"
Lilli answered "Lilli thinks that is where Artemis and Hestia are."
Allen looked at the direction and he recalled something from conversation about the last time a group of gods tried to peek. His face turned ashen and knew if he died, then Freya would greatly punish him. Just as he was ready to run, despite the men being tied up, they managed to trip him down and put their weight down, doing their best to hold him down.
"Go Bell! It is your destiny!" Hermes shouted, all while Allen was struggling to get up, comically.
The other girls knew he was doomed already, if he was caught.
A big 'if'.
On the other side
Bell kept walking for a while, and prepared himself to chat with her. He kept walking until he spotted the goddess of the hunt.
Just as he remembered her, her beauty would stop any man, mortal or god, to stare at her. He knew he shouldn't stare long. And yet, he couldn't help but notice how her hand went transparent.
He noticed Hestia wasn't far off and she saw him. She smiled and said "Lost, Bell?"
He nearly stumbled and Artemis turned to see him. She noticed he was a bit red on the face. "Sorry about that. I got lost on the way here, I will leave you two-"
"Wait. Stay here. Just give me a moment."
Hestia went to put some clothes on her as well.
After they were done, Hestia said "I will leave you two alone for a moment, I will check on Eli." She placed a hand on Artemis' shoulder and the other woman nodded. She then left them alone.
Both sat down at the edge of the water and she smiled softly. "You got lost?"
"Yeah. Hermes wanted me to join into the familiar peeking. As something I recall, my grandfather used to call it 'a man's romance.'"
She giggled "I think your grandfather is a silly man."
In a far away land, an old man sneezed "I feel someone talked bad about me."
"I suppose."
She then went to hold his hand, and he gave a gentle squeeze. "Orion, what is your desire?"
"My desire is to be a hero, my desire is to make sure people could be inspired to stand up for themselves. That is my desire, to save someone."
Her smile had a hint of sadness. "I know you are going to be a great hero."
He squeezes her hand.
She changes the subject "One of my familia member told me about how love is such a wonderful feeling." She giggled "I also recall another goddess telling me that. At first, I thought it was just nonsense talk, a waste of time. But….just meeting you and being with you, changed that."
She got up "Maybe it is these emotions I have never felt before. Maybe it is the right person I have been waiting for. Either way" She then turned around and looked at him "I have fallen in love." She then stretched her hand "Will you dance with me?"
He nodded "I would love to."
He got up and took her hand. Both then looked at each other and began to dance. Both swayed to a song, only they can hear themselves. Both looked at each other's eyes, and danced on. He twirled her a bit and they got close, as the moonlight illuminated them. For Bell, he felt happy dancing with her, for Artemis she felt at peace and loved dancing with her Orion.
She had to think hard about whether she wanted to be in a relationship with him, knowing he is shared with other girls. She decided to take a chance and go for the thing to seal the relationship.
They got close, holding one another. Artemis then took a chance and gave a peck on the lips to Bell. This surprised him at how soft her lips and the kiss as well. He smiled and gave her a peck as well, making her blush a little.
"The kiss feels nice." she then declared "As I descended here, let's make this 10,000 years of romance together, my Orion."
"I accept."
Both felt a brief warmth for a moment, then it was gone.
Back at camp
Hestia saw Eli rolling over and muttering 'Food….mmmm I did it dad….I beat the evil Black Dragon…."
She giggled and caressed his hair.
"Tomorrow we will start heading to the temple."
"I know."
She looked at Hermes, as he had a somber look. "You already know what Bell will have to do, right?"
She nodded "Don't worry. She will be home tomorrow for sure."
He noticed how her expression seemed very calm. Accepting the concept of what Bell has to do to save her. Normally she would fight it or anything, and was wondering why? Maybe she accepted the inevitable fate of Artemis' fate or something else. He would question it more, but decided to put it aside for more.
"It's going to be a long day, I will let my familia know where they will attack and from there….we will let it all play out."
Hestia agreed. "Okay."
They left it as that, and Hestia looked at the spear. "I hope your plan works. Then she will learn more about love here"
Unknown location
Royman was writing up a few things, when they heard the door open abruptly, making the man fall off of his chair. He saw it was the familiar masked man. "Damn it! Have you ever heard a thing called knocking?!"
"Shut it. Where is Enyo?"
A man in a dark robe appeared and looked at him "Yes?"
"I made the order to lockdown the labs for now."
"Oh, whatever for?"
"Monsters are coming out more often lately, and some of them are far more agitated than I could remember." He then went to sit down.
"Interesting. If that is the case, then have Barca block off all the tunnels and stand by until things die down. As much as I would love to watch blood spill, the last thing I need is to be in the crosshairs of those creatures."
The masked fox man looked at Vallera for a while. She scoffed "Fine….although you should have done it, but whatever." She left.
"Is that all?"
"One more thing. I noticed the moon has begun to look weirder, and it is affecting bringing her here." He showed off how he was tracking her down "This will delay the plans for her to appear."
He waved him off "I wouldn't be concerned about your little pet project. My concern is whether or not we could use this to our advantage to cause as much damage as possible."
The man took his mask off and he grinned "I could find a way to make the adventurers dwindle their numbers" then his grin grew sadistic "it wouldn't be difficult."
"If you can, find a volunteer or two and get working."
"Oh I will sir." He placed his mask on and he was gone.
Royman sighed "I wish they would arrive, to cause a ruckus here in Orario. It is getting frustrated dealing with the people looking for me here."
"I wouldn't worry too much about an army, being led by that fool of a god."
Royman shook his head "It isn't just him bringing over, but also hoping that the man I am contacting will be on the god's side."
"What do you mean?"
Royman got up and smiled "I know someone that can take care of Freya's champion. And rumors has it that this man, has no faulna at all."
Now this intrigued the god of wine "Go on."
"It is somewhat of a rumor, but I don't even know how true it is. However, he is powerfully strong. Even bested a good number of elite fighters from The Empire. The gods wanted him, but he preferred not to join any familia, and would take the highest bidder for hire. I have sent him a deal to come here and cause havoc in this place with Lord Ares."
"How much did you offer him?"
He wrote it on a paper and showed it. He looked at it "You also threw in a piece of property in Orario."
"Of course I did. I did send him an advance, and do hope he takes it."
"If he does, then what."
"I will meet him personally and will give him the map of Orario. I will also give him a copy of the information of each of the strongest fighters Orario has on, just so he could take care of them."
He then placed a hand on his chin "The guards are still around here."
The older elf went over and reached a cloak and put it on. He vanished. The god took a sniff and he looked impressed "Even the scent is blocked."
He took it off and smirked "It cost me a fortune, but it is perfect for me to sneak out. I will wait until all of this dies down."
"Excellent. Continue your planning."
"Yes, Lord Enyo." He bowed.
He saw the god leave and went to sit down. "I will make Bellerophon pay for exposing me…."
He then went up and got back into writing.
To be continued.
A/N: A lot of unpacking needed to be done and also added this scene. This chapter wasn't as long as I wanted it, but there isn't much to talk about until we reached the interlude for what happened those seven days. It will add more context and how it will play out later.
I noticed we are getting close to Halloween and I am debating if I should give you all a Trick (A nice Bell x Phrynne hanky pankiness) or a Treat (Something else). It will all fall on how my mood is. So just wait and see.
Until then take care all.
Next Time: Bell and his companions infiltrate the temple, Orario is under attack, Bell faces Antares. Don't miss it.