Hey everyone.

Yeah, I know some have been waiting on this chapter, but work and everything just got dumped on me. Let me tell ya: It's rough! Pretty rough, but doable.

I finally was able to write this and decided to just cut it in half. This is done just for reasons.

Until then, enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer, I don't own Danmachi, nor the characters

Chapter 12: Pushing Forward
The next day, Hestia and Hermes Familia got together. They had a large map out and Hestia pointed at the temple.

"We will head to the temple, while Hermes will send some of the others for cover."

Hermes nodded, "We will do our best to lure them away from you, and deal with the monsters. It won't be easy, but doable."

Lilli looked at the plan and looked at Artemis "Lilli wonders where Lady Artemis' familia?"

She smiled, "They will wait for us inside."

Lilli stared at her suspiciously, but let it go for now. She then saw Bell look at Allen and whispered a few things in his ear. He nodded.

"I will lead in front, once we are inside." The cat man got up and stretched.

They nodded as it will make it easier for them to push through.

Ryuu looked at them "I will stick on the rear for any stragglers."

They each took a position and knew this would be it.

Hermes then looked at his familia. "Alright. We will begin the attack in one hour, so be prepared with everything we will need."

They nodded and began to load up. They each knew that they would face their toughest monster up to that point. Despite Allen helping them out, Bell had to finish the job.

Floor 14, Dungeon
Nick, a member of Loki's familia, was fighting off a number of monsters. He, along with Sharon, were backing off.

"What's up with these monsters?!" Nick avoided a swipe and decapitated a monster.

"No idea. We have to fall back and get the others out!"

They, along with other familia who were there, were pushing for a retreat. They have no idea why the creatures were acting this way at all. More were coming out and acting more berserk than ever. The people were trying to fight some of them off, but for some reason, the numbers are growing more.

They saw the opening they needed and ran for it. As they ran, they noticed others were trying to make a run for it as well.

"We have to let the Guild know about this!"

Deep within the Pantheon
In the prayer room, a lone god opened his eyes and felt it. He noticed Fels already was in. "Lord Oraunous. We have a problem."

"I sensed it and didn't understand it at first. Now I know the Dungeon feels….agitated. I am doing everything on my end to calm it down."

"Should we do something about it?"

"Have the Xenox do their best to defend the Middle Floors without being seen. I already have a feeling an emergency commission is heading to the Pantheon."

"Yes, Lord."

He left immediately.

The older god knew that it involved the mission far away. "Time is almost up." He closed his eyes and prayed.

Near the Temple
Bell and the others saw the immense temple, which has been overrun by decaying vines and vegetation. They noticed a few of those scorpion creatures appearing.

Asfi walked forward and threw the first vial right at the direction and fire came out. Out came a number of the scorpion-like creatures, after some of the few that were guarding it were engulfed in the flames. More are appearing with some hissing and clicking.

Some looked larger than others, and went right toward the group.

"Now!"

In came a number of people and shot some of them down with explosives arrows, taking some of them out. Some of them caused them to go after the attackers. "Go now!" They shot another round and some of them were hit, and more appeared.

Bell's group ran right toward the ruins. They kept running until they saw the place was sealed.

"Okay, so what do we do from here?" Welf asked.

Artemis stepped forward and touched the circular symbol on the door. The door briefly glowed and it began to open. Once opened, she signaled them to go in. They went in and began to walk faster, all while looking around for any enemies in the way.

Once they were all inside of the ruins, the door behind them closed. This startled nearly everyone inside. Bell said "Let's keep moving."

They nodded and did so, ready for anything.

Outside of the temple, members of the Hermes Familia and other hired familia members were fighting against the large creatures.

"Riwo Flame!" The Pallums flame managed to ignite one of them and the creature was thrashing in pain. She stood back when Lulune took its claws out.

The creature then began to slowly regenerate and began to change its body parts.

"They are healing somehow!"

Asfi was frustrated and threw an acidic flask and the monster was melting, before it began to slowly regenerate.

"This is bad."

Falgar just had enough of all of this. "Everyone, out of the way!"

They saw Falgar's hand popping out. They ran out of the way, knowing what was going to happen.

"Choke on this!" He released the attack and it brought a very large fireball and it consumed the creatures in it, along with the trees. The fire attack then was out and they stared at how it scorched the area.

Falgar smirked "Gotcha…what the?!"

More appeared and their skin looked hardened red and looked meaner.

"Well fuck…seems we will have to go all in, don't we?" He placed a different ball inside. "Let's fall back and lure them in!"

They nodded and began to move back, while attracting them. They avoided the attacks, while fighting back.

Pantheon Guild
Eina stared at the shattered cup. "Strange…." She stared at it as it just cracked out of random, then shattered "Bad luck?"

"Hey Eina!"

She turned to see her friend Misha. "Hey."

"So, how are you holding out without your boyfriend?~"

She blushed a little "I'm hanging in there. Just wish he was here."

The pink haired woman smirked "Same here. Bellerophon told me he would be gone for a while, on a recent deal." She sighed "He is so cute in a way. Even though I know he is way older than me, he is a good kisser."

She gave a small giggle "Maybe if he returns, you could do something together."

"Maybe. If I do get some time off again." She looked dreamy.

"Yeah. Huh?" She noticed a small commotion with one of her co-workers and a member of the Loki familia.

"We need emergency help! The Dungeon is going mad! We will need every first class adventurer for assistance! We already warned our own familia, but it won't be enough!"

Out came Rehmer and said "We will immediately start the process."

"Thank you! Those monsters have gone berserk and we tried to quell it, but it is too much for us!"

They immediately gave the emergency request.

Eina thought "What is going on?"

Back at the Ruins
Bell and the others kept moving for a while. Artemis said "We are getting closer."

They nodded as they looked around. "This place is infected." The place looked as if the walls were somewhat alive with red crystals in some parts of the place.

"Antares must have spread its influence around." Artemis simply said "We have to get moving, if not-"

Click.

They stopped and looked around. The scorpion creatures came out of the walls, like those of being born within the Dungeon. They prepared their weapons at the ready.

Bell had his knife out ready "We will push these monsters down until we reach Antares."

They nodded as Bell aimed straight at the path that was being blocked by the creature "Firebolt!" It managed to make a damage on the creature and Allen finished it off.

Lilli fired a few volley shots and was able to stop some of them on their tracks, but they seem to regenerate after the damage. "We have to move!"

They saw what happened and got on a move, all while Eli threw a small red orb at them. It stopped right at a group of the scorpion creatures and it blew up, taking out some of them.

They have been running for some time, all while slowing some of them down.

"Not much further from here…." Artemis knew her time was getting close. They would see the truth of the creature and what was her involvement.

She prayed that Hestia and Bell would forgive her.

Orario
Loki familia were heading toward the Tower Of Babel and noticed Ottarl was with his familia.

"Heading there as well?"

The larger man looked down on the Pallum "I am doing this for the sake of my lady. I am to make sure that these monsters never reach her."

He had a mirth look "Right." He turned to the others "Alright listen up! We are going to take these monsters down at all costs! Make sure we keep fighting until every last of them are put down!"

They roared and they went right at the entrance of the dungeon.

They breezed through the first 10 floors, until they saw a number of monster parades just coming down. They took each monster down from one wave to another.

They kept fighting for a while, until Finn said "Split into groups to suppress them!"

Aki took her team and pushed forward toward the other tunnels and just managed to reach from the 10th floor to the 12 floor, due to a hole they jumped in. As they reached the area, a familiar number of white robed people were causing chaos, and had their weapons out. And a man with a masked fox stepped forward and shouted "Get them!"

The cat girl knew this was her chance to take him out for good. They charged as well as she said "If you see any of them with a bomb, back off!"

They clashed in the fight with their weapons, while she pushed forward to face the man who took Raul's life. She was now in front of him.

"My, oh my. A little kitty cat decided to face me."

"You will pay for what you did! You killed my best friend!" Her weapon, gripped hard.

"Oh which one, the one that I loped his feet that was as old as a father, or was it the young man who I took his arm off. I can't seem to recall."

She went for a diagonal slice attack, but he avoided the attack and went for a straight stab on her. She parried it and went for a punch, but he avoided it easily. "Not bad. At least you put up a better fight than your little boyfriend."

She hated this man's taunting and went right after him.

On another section of the 11th floor, Finn and Ottarl easily took out another batch of monsters. Both looked around for more, until more of them came out.

"Why do I have a feeling that the monsters are popping out as if a god will destroy them?"

"I have been pondering about it a lot."

One of the monsters jumped right at Ottarl, but he punched it to dust.

At the top of the Tower of Babel, Freya looked at the sky and frowned. She saw a bow was slowly being formed. "I know you can do this, my Odr. I know you can."

Ruins
"Firebolt!"

A few more are destroyed right in front of them. And kept moving.

"We are almost there…Orion." She was slowly losing her breathing. She knew it was nearly time.

Bell knew it was almost time.

They kept running until Allen looked back and snarled. "I am sick of running!" He stopped and took his spear out. "I am going to wipe you all out!"

Bell knew what Allen was going to do. "Everyone keep moving!"

They ran with him, while Eli was being carried by his father. Hestia and Artemis was carried by Aura and Ryuu respectively.

He raised his spear and focused on his magic. "Let the chariots rise!" His spear began to glow. "Let me reach Valhalla!" He hit the hilt of the spear, and he got himself into running position. "Valna Freyja!" He went at a speed that not even the eye could see, and a great magic was released. Every monster that was chasing them was gone, cease to exist.

Bell remembers seeing this attack once as it was used a handful of times, due to the amount of magic it is used, and how destructive it was.

Allen then placed his spear back and was breathing. "How do you like them apples." He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he had decided to trust Bell on taking care of the problem.

They kept running until they felt heavy footsteps and clacking.

They stopped and had themselves ready for what was coming. Artemis fell on one knee and winced in pain.

"Artemis!"

The others noticed how she was breathing hard. Then they saw the larger scorpion, with dark red metallic armor on it, and carried something on it.

"No way!"

12th Floor
He avoided an attack, as a monster was coming toward him. "Stupid creature!" He swiped it, taking it out.

Aki found an opening and went for a stab, but was blocked. Then she was kicked hard, sending her flying a few feet but landed. She was ready to attack, but stopped as she saw one of her companions being held.

"You know what the worst thing about being in a familia: attachments. All this so-called 'friendship' could lead to nothing but misery." He laughed humorlessly.

"Let her go!"

"Oh, I don't know, she would be perfect for an experiment." He got the blade close to the girl's neck.

Aki felt trapped.

He then just barely dodged and let go of the girl. His mask cracked a bit and stared at the person ahead. She was surprised who it was.

"Mew are nothing but twouble. Meow!"

He was annoyed, until a fist was coming right toward him. He used the hilt of the sword to block the attack. A woman with brunette hair was holding on to the attack.

"Pathetic!" He kicked back.

He then dodged a knife flying right at him and got into a fighting position. He saw a dark haired cat girl as well.

"Huh. More level 4 opponents. As much as I push myself to beat them, I have bigger fish to fry."

Not far off a monster parade was not far off. "Guess you got lucky this time. Until then." He took a vial out and threw it at them, creating a red smoke. This caused the creatures to turn toward Aki and the others.

They began to fight them, while Aki was losing distance from the man that killed Raul, and he was gone after more monsters appeared.

"Bastard!"

To be continued.

A/N:
Yep. I am splitting it into two parts, considering the holiday season and work hours. I think by around the week of Thanksgiving, I may give myself a week before returning, so hope we wrap up this arc and then get a break.

And yes, I added the fight between Aki and him. Much of it is to continue their story later on, as that arc will happen, right after the next arc.

At this point, a lot of things can happen, so we will see.

Until then, take care all.

Next time: The truth of Artemis, Bell vs. Antares, and the aftermath. Don't miss it.