Chapter 2:
A/N: Yo wys. Guess who's back? Read at least until the divider.
Not for long though. I'm writing this chapter on the 15th of October 2021, but I have no clue when this will be posted. First of all, the important bits.
The pairings as of right now, have been decided. Now my thought process for this was initially that I wanted a harem. However, 1 single person changed that view. Drake Atlas.
This reader's logic in this case was in my opinion very sound, as of right now, none of the characters has a real reason to genuinely get with him. So I can't really start off with a pair.
So, for now, I'll write the story from an objective-based storyline, for Bell. Then as it progresses I'll slowly add the pairings. Hell, it may even become a slow burn.
Anyways, if you for some reason care for what has kept me away for about a month and my future upload patterns then I'll say it here. If you couldn't care less jus go to the unbold part where the story starts.
So the academic year has started, and I have entered college. I swear it has been killing me. Constant homework, revision and the fact that they gave me tests for each subject just 4 weeks in is just so annoying.
As for my schedule. As some of you may know, if you read Chaotic Worlds then you may have figured out, that I regularly update the series every Saturday or Sunday but that's because I've done the chapters ahead of time for a few of them.
Fanfiction chapters however are a whole other story. I haven't really had the time to maintain my stories but don't worry, my vacation is coming soon so I might bang these chapters out. But during school days, my update schedule may be a bit sporadic.
Anyways enough from me, Enjoy!
Fuck you= writing in italics only= is the character's POV's thought. So if I write Bell's POV, and then write in italics at any point, it's Bell's thoughts.
Olympian's Manor
Bell woke up, feeling that rather comfortable and luxurious mattress with every fibre of his body. In this massive mansion, he could not clean up everything by himself, it was freaking 3 stories tall!
Although it made a lot of sense considering the Zeus familia was massive. But now they had two extra floors, heck all 3 were basically empty since there was only 2 of them. Bell was a rather quiet wake up, in the sense that he would silently wake up and wouldn't speak too much for the beginning of the morning. It would take for all his gears to restart after sleeping the best response you can get is a nod or a shake of the head. To say it was weird was an understatement, but as someone who hated sudden loud noises, it made quite a lot of sense.
The timing was also random, sometimes he can get back to normal in 10 mins and other times it takes a couple of hours. Zeus however, was already used to it. Returning to the current time, however, he sat up and looked around his room. It was large, basically the size of the cabin that he lived in, it had a few things already and after some cleaning in the room, it was already enough for someone as minimalistic as Bell. A large dressing table with a mirror, a wardrobe that can fit a shit ton of clothes that he didn't even own.
Was he looking for simple luxuries? No, not particularly but would he buy decent things here and there? yes, he would.
He had his own bathroom, with a sink and cabinet to keep his toothbrush, comb etc. He simply got up and prepared for the day. Bell, as a person who has trained to fight from a fairly young age, the basics was to develop an internal clock. Thanks to his immaculate timing he woke up exactly at 5 am.
Usually, he would go into the woods to do some shadow training but now he had a massive backyard, with a pool in it. So he decided to get up and go out to grab some food since the kitchen hadn't been cleaned yet. He got dressed, wearing a plain white shirt, black trousers that hung loosely and wool knitted hoodie with an extra edge. He got his boots on and opened the main gate, the fog had begun clearing soon, and his vision was decent until he got to the gate. He turned to the left to see, a green-haired high elf. His eyes met her, the emerald eyes glistening a bit.
It was Riveria.
Riveria's POV
The night before Riveria returned to the Twilight Manor a bit more than a little agitated. Not just her, all 4 of them were different levels of peeved out. Loki was practically stomping like Udaeus, her footsteps ringing out throughout the mansion. None of them said anything though, they wouldn't dare when she looks so angry. Riveria was a mixture of guilt and anger.
He didn't have to be so rude about it.
She initially thought, but when she considered it was literally about the death of his family, she couldn't think the same. Most likely, Finn also held guilt but didn't show it, she understood his reasoning. He was the captain.
Their leader.
If he broke apart and revealed the disgusting reality that Zeus and Hera didn't necessarily have to be kicked out, then who was the familia supposed to believe in? From the very beginning ever since more than a decade ago, Gareth was the least involved in the situation. He knew what Bell said was correct, but didn't intervene solely because he chose to stay out of it from the beginning. Even though his old drinking partner's familia was being thrown out, he was too depressed after the death of his friend, Olga against the OEBD to speak out much.
He had to admit, he didn't see value in the Zeus familia after Olga's death, they didn't seem to matter anymore. Which was fairly wrong, and he realised that afterwards, how his cruel and selfish mourning got people who were suffering more than he was kicked out. Yet, it was too late and it seems Bell's words and feelings touched him on a different level, it was the same loss as it had been a decade ago.
His hesitance to act against Loki's wishes had cost him his friend, his friend's family and a young child's family. Even after a decade, they were still being affected by the one moment of hesitance he had.
Riveria however was also the only one to try and earn some sort of apology. Finn couldn't since he was the captain, and probably wouldn't because he wouldn't allow himself to admit that he was wrong and Gareth probably needed time for himself. However, like a true tank, he would seem just fine. Like always.
Back to the present, Riveria stood in front of the main gate for the last 15 minutes, she may have arrived a bit too early and she understood that but well, she was already here. The other girls were already up since they would be apparently hanging around with the girls from the Astraea familia. Plus, it wasn't like she could go to sleep knowing she sent a pregnant woman to her death. Her eyes met his and she felt herself once being pulled to it. The same sensation she had felt in the guild was being repeated all over again.
(Yes you're thinking the right thing. Astraea's are still alive, so I feel like I should at least clarify everyone's levels or something.
Alise Lovell, captain, level 6
Gojouno Kaguya, vice captain, level 5
Lyra, member, level 5
Ryuu Lion, member, level 4
This is what it looks like right now.)
"H-hello, Good morning Cranel san." Riveria greeted, caught off guard by his sudden appearance. She didn't expect him to not even raise her attention but she chalked it up to her being lost in thought. Bell gave a curt bow, without saying any words and started walking. Riveria stared baffled at his back as he walked.
Is he mad at me? So mad that he refuses to even talk?
Well, it wouldn't be very surprising if he did refuse to talk to her but she had expected him to at least brush her off coldly, especially since he was so expressive the afternoon before. Riveria however wouldn't give up, so she caught up to him. He didn't say nor even acknowledge her existence, but she had started to learn quite a lot about him already.
First of all, he didn't manage to surprise her just because she was lost in thought but rather because his footsteps were quiet. Extremely so. She was a level 6 and still couldn't hear it, he had evidently perfected the art of stealth and earned,
sneak 100.
Second of all, his sense of fashion was actually rather good, while she was not one to usually acknowledge something like this, she could see from his dress sense he wasn't much of a battle maniac who wore armour, prepared to fight everywhere.
She followed closely by, "uh, Cranel san?" she called out. But Bell didn't stop.
He is mad. Ugh, if I knew I would be so desperate to have a conversation with someone, I would've read a book about it or something.
Bell's POV
Why in the hell is she here this early? Fuck, I don't wanna talk, it's gonna be a pain in the ass and I doubt I can only respond with yes or no.
"uh, Cranel san?"
Wow, she is persistent. I got no choice but to ignore her.
Bell began walking towards a random direction, mainly the dungeon. But then, his belly rumbled rather loudly. He realised how he skipped dinner yesterday.
Curse this corporal function.
On a bright note, Riveria seemed to have come to a halt, but Bell had a lot of experience with weird coincidences, so he knew this situation would not result in her just going away for now. I mean what are the chances of him being able to respond with yes or no?
"um...are you perhaps hungry?" She asked.
oh? Did we actually get lucky? Ok, here goes.
Bell nodded shortly, with a slight blush in his cheeks.
Nailed it.
Riveria smiled, he didn't seem to be completely ignoring her.
"Come with me, I know a great place," she said as she walked forward, her green robe seemed to flutter slightly as the wind gathered around her, mature yet innocent behaviour. Bell shrugged and followed, she wouldn't try to kill him right?
Whatever. As long as it allows me to fill my stomach I guess.
Riveria guided Bell. There was a sense of grace in her steps, truly honest to her heritage as a princess. They were light yet depthful, and she moved with purpose evidently exhibiting her movement in the dungeon in real life due to repetition.
Bell himself had a weird habit of analysing what was in front of him. She most likely felt his eyes looking at her like that. He could only pray that she didn't think anything bad of it. Not that he cared enough to worry.
The streets of Orario was usually packed. However, the mornings were surprisingly quiet. As the sun gently rose up in the sky slowly, allowing the people to get up by themselves. The birds chirping quietly, allowing those with fatigue to rest for a few more minutes. It was a peaceful environment that one would find only in villages or underdeveloped settlements.
Definitely not in a city that has a massive dungeon in the middle of it, but that's what made Orario seem so pleasing. Bell's boots moved with no sounds. It was a methodical way, he had trained himself.
The ability to deafen your footsteps, make your breathing unnoticeable. A method trained specifically for catching your opponent off guard that had sadly merged with his day to day lifestyle.
He glanced over to the quiet Riveria. It seemed that she was a person who appreciated silence. Something he too liked, although most likely they did so for different reasons. Bell's adoration for quietness was inherited from his aunt. As far as Zeus has told him at least. It was a symbol of peace to him, at least near his vicinity. It served as a sign that no disturbance was particularly taking place.
Riveria seemed to be in thought, thinking about something. Her mature features, were undermined but the cute crinkle that formed as she pondered on whatever she was thinking. The cool morning air provided a relaxing atmosphere for the two as they slowly trudged to get breakfast. It was a Sunday anyways, neither felt like working on such a day.
As they slowly turned a corner however, it would seem their peaceful walk would be disturbed as,
"THIEF! SOMEONE STOP HIM," a loud voice roared early in the morning.
Bell POV
I heard someone shout about a thief or something?
"tch..." was the only response I could muster at that moment. Why would anyone in their right mind do something this early in the morning. Ah, my quietness...please come back.
As Bell seemed to have difficulties process what in the world dared to disturb the silence, he dawned upon the realisation that he could finally speak again. What divine timing.
The figure got closer and closer,
"Get outta the way Idiot, you wanna get hurt or something!?" The man screamed approaching the two in a full sprint.
Rolling his eyes Bell took a step further from where Riveria had stopped. She watched him take a step. Then another, before asking,
"uh...Cranel-san?" She asked seemingly confused as to what he was doing. She was ready to strike the thief down but him getting in the way wouldn't really help out much.
The thief had appeared right in front of them by now,
"alright then, you asked for it!" the crook shouted as he pulled out his knife.
Bell felt a vein bulge in his forehead. There was a few things you shouldn't do in front of him. Especially when you are in close range, and one of the ones high up in the list was shouting.
Does this crude idiot not realise how loud he is? I feel like my ears are going to pop.
Then without any warning Bell stepped back by one step, dodging the knife slash. It was at a speed which the thief couldn't even see a blur of. Bell lowered his posture,
"13 passages of the moon-12th race- Were-beast moon cycle." he muttered as he raise his foot up faster than ever, hitting the arm of the assailant, knocking the knife away.
He spun on his back heel, pivoting himself and hitting another hit to the gut, launching the criminal upwards. By this point he had already lost his consciousness. The one kick to the arm alone broke it and brought immense pain that a simple 3rd rate criminal couldn't handle.
But Bell wasn't finished. He leapt up lightly, now spinning his whole body, making his body seem like a windmill. As his foot connected to the attacker's face, it seemed to be glued to his leg as he guided it down to the ground, creating a crack in the road. The poor thief probably broke his jaw too, even though Bell was holding back considerably, in the end the was the result.
Riveria simply watched astonished as he had effectively and utterly demolished the thief. Sure, the damage was extra and simply cruel, his smooth movements originated from intense training and that was something a mere 14 year old shouldn't be capable off. Which then plunged her into another question,
'Just what kind of life did he live to become this...' She couldn't find the words to describe him. Intimidating? Strong? She herself wasn't weak, but she and him were not comparable.
They excelled in separate fields, not meant to be any sort of skill. In a fist fight, she would hands down get pummeled within seconds. Normally a level 6 shouldn't making such points but even if Bell was a level 4, his movements and technique were too polished to underestimate.
"Well then, shall we get going?" He asked Riveria, who was in so distracted by his fighting, that she forgot to even realise that he was speaking again. She barely let out a dumb nod as she began walking once more, guiding him. To the central part of Orario, nearby where the massive pillar stands. A bar, that was the most popular in the area.
One of the must haves in the city.
The Hostess of Fertility.
It was a place well popular with the Lokis. A perfect place to show the beautiful sides of Orario. Riveria herself found the food quite decent. Although not much a match to the royal palate that was engraved onto her tongue ever since birth.
It was plain from the outside, but clean looking. Evidently well looked after. The smooth brown boards covering its outside acting as insulation to the wood that formed the infrastructure. Riveria pushed through the doors and Bell followed.
The internal seemingly generic. Rows of seats, for doubles, four and round tables for larger groups. It seemed prepared for every circumstance, and even with the sun barely rising, the tables seemed squeaky clean.
"Oi, we ain't open yet." a gruff female voice roared from inside. Soon, a decently tall woman appeared. She had chestnut brown hair, tied into a short ponytail. Her eyes held a level of authority, a sign of dominance in this space. Truly fitting for the owner of such establishment.
"Hey Mia. Sorry for coming in so early." Riveria apologised with a level of familiarity. Clearly they knew each other.
Mia observed Riveria for a split second before, her eyes went to the man beside her. Her eyes narrowed a bit, as if she was eyeing him and analysing his appearance.
"So yer the famous captain of the Zeus familia?" Mia asked. Although her tone suggested she already knew of that he was.
"I should've expected you to know about him already. As always, you sure do keep up with the info." Riveria praised.
Although what she suggested may have made Mia seem like some information broker, but clearly to Bell she was no simple broker. Her aura, level of strength overflowed from just her gaze, she was strong. Stronger than him.
"Heh."
"So what do ya both want?"
"food."
"well ya came to the right place, but since May is still asleep, guess its up to me huh?" Mia shrugged and went into the small kitchen she came out of. "give me a few will ya?"
Bell and Riveria sat down at the bar, the slight noise of something sizzling emanating from the kitchen.
Riveria POV
...
...
'Awkward!'
It seemed that Riveria had failed to anticipate anything more than breakfast. Now she was suffering the consequences of having to sit in the weird silence.
'C-Come on Riveria, its a conversation. How hard can it be?'
"So Cranel san, what did you do before coming to Orario?" Riveria asked trying to make some sort of conversation.
"mourn for my mother."
And there it was. The conversation was instantly shut down, she could no longer reply. Or rather she couldn't find an adequate reply that would actually meet the level of dejection he just showed.
"and practiced to fight." he added.
Oh thank lord he added that bit.
"So you practice CQC?(Close Quarter Combat) What style is that in, I've never seen nor read about it before?"
'Good this is progress. Come on Riveria, who said that talking to people was hard?' She encouraged herself.
"It's my original style. I named it the 13 passages of the moon."
"What an interesting name though, what influenced you to name it that?" She asked. It did truly interest her, the moves he showed were efficient and strong.
Bell seemed to pause for a second before giving a long sigh. Riveria felt her eyebrow twitch?
'I am trying aren't I? I'm giving it my all, but you so obviously potray your disdain to talking to me?' Riveria wondered how someone could express how obviously pained they felt talking to someone else in such a manner.
"In respect of your repetitive yet futile attempts at making conversation, I will tell you the story..." He retorted but soon looked a bit more serious, a wave of strange emotions she could distinguish washing over his red flaring eyes, "It all began a long long time ago. When the Gods weren't the only transcendental beings to walk the Earth. When there wasn't only 12 months in a year but 13. A time when humans fought beings on the same footing as the Gods, and 12 other categories of sentient beings." He began to explain.
" Each race were fabled with deep and rich history. They all came at the unanimous agreement in respect of ancestors of each others, that every month will be in honour of a certain race. They chose something so far away yet close to them in terms of astronomical activity. The very sun of this planet. However, it didn't provide the uniqueness that each race deserved."
"after all, the sun looked the same no matter what period of time it was. It didn't matter whether it was the beginning or the end of the year, the blazing yellow ball looked the same nonetheless." He paused, a glimmer now emerging in his eyes. Riveria wasn't one to pay much attention to fantastical stories, but this one seemed to be quite different compared to the others. Her eyes that only read books for the facts were now lit with a flame of curiosity.
"One day the fairies of the planet noticed something. Although the sun looked the same no matter what period of time in the year it was, the moon was a different case. Each month the moon would look different. Starting from nothing to slowly emerging from the sun to a full white globe that shone down light onto the night. The races each agreed to practice a certain move in justice of the moon. To honour the dead that lay down their lives to combat the evil, collectively it was named the 13 passages of the moon. As a new moon smoothly flows into its next stage."
Silence surrounded the two once more. Still the sizzling hadn't stopped,
"Ah shit! Its slightly burnt now," Mia grunted from inside earning a chuckle from Bell. Riveria looked at Bell mystically as if she had her words stolen from her.
"So how does the story end? What made this style of fighting disappear? How did you even come up with this story?" Riveria asked in quickfire, not giving Bell a second to pause. In the end he shook his head.
"how am I meant to know, I made this story up." He shrugged. Suddenly Riveria realised that she had been pulled into a fictional story and felt embarrassed at the sudden attraction to the fantastical story. Well no one could really blame her, the story was captivating in its own right.
Mia finally came back and put down a plate of food on the counter. "It's on the house, I did burn ya eggs a bit."
Bell shook his hands, "It's fine. I like it that way anyways." He picked up his fork and looked at the plate. A poached egg with a few strips of bacon. Two sausages sitting neatly on the side.
All in all, it seemed liked a common breakfast you would expect just about anywhere. A bit highly caloric sure, but for an adventurer about to spend all their day in the dungeon, this was a perfect meal.
And the taste was amazing. It was difficult to comprehend how Mia managed to make such simple ingredients into such a fine meal, but Bell could chow it all down.
Mia seemingly pleased gave a hearty laugh, "seems ya liked it. Good to know kid. Yer welcome anytime." Mia grinned. She may have had to maintain a tough appearance for the ruffians, but for the customers who knew how to appreciate food and had a decent set of manners she would gladly welcome.
After the breakfast, Bell requested for a black coffee and Riveria asked for some tea. Of course they paid for this bit but still. As Riveria would come to realise it was much easier to have a conversation keep going with Mia there too. She asked her own fair share of questions and Riveria managed to learn a few things about Bell.
First, she learnt that he had been an all rounder. He had practiced daggers, swords and spears and even a bit of bow. But ultimately he decided upon his falcatas. Riveria couldn't help but see the resemblance in the weapon between Tione's weapons and Bell's but didn't point it out.
Second, Bell had a really weird habit of not speaking early in the morning, thus why he wasn't responding to what she was saying. Which came as a relieve to her.
Third, he really disliked loud noises. And he didn't like sweet things and preferred the bitterness of black coffee which only complemented its rich aroma.
However, as they kept talking for about a good 20 mins the backdoor to the pub opened. A few light footsteps could be heard as it approached the main area.
"Mama Mia, I'm back." A small and quiet voice uttered as she came in through the door. Revealing a high elven woman with golden hair and sky blue eyes that seemed to be the surface of the ocean.
Riveria noticed a slight change in posture with Bell. A faint signal of recognition that emerged in Bell's eyes for a split second before disappearing. It was...mysterious.
Then again, although they knew a lot about Bell by now, none of was any detail that would define him. Of course, not in a literal sense but in the way someone would perceive another's personality. They knew nothing in that regard.
Granted it was barely the second day of them knowing each other, but something for some reason unsettled Riveria a bit. As if she was in the dark for something extremely crucial and blaringly obvious but she still couldn't find it.
"Oh, there were people here. Sorry for the disturbance," the woman bowed politely. Bell waved it off.
"Oh don't worry, we were the ones intruding since this place hasn't apparently opened yet. Don't mind it Lion san." Ryu felt a bit surprised and her head looked up to see the addresser.
Contrary what she had expected it was a young man. She felt confused as to who he was. It was a logical reaction, after all someone did just randomly call your name out without you introducing yourself.
"ya know her?" Mia asked the man. His face turning into a smirk as he turned his fiery gaze from Ryu to Mia.
"of course. Ryu Lion, level 4 executive of the great Astraea familia. Who wouldn't know her? Besides, it is proper to do your homework when marching straight into the unknown." Bell shrugged. Mia raised an eyebrow as if she was impressed. Riveria continued to sip on her tea, she herself knew better now than to question Bell.
"Um..." Ryu broke the silence as she drew their attention and once more Bell looked at her.
"Ah sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I am Bell Cranel, please call me Bell. I am new to Orario." Bell introduced himself.
Ryuu POV
'hmm.. this person... I feel like I've seen him somewhere before?'
"Oh it's nice to meet you, I would introduce myself but it seems you already know who I am. Excuse me, but have we met before?" She asked with a level of uncertainty.
Bell's lips slowly curled into a smile, undetectable of any specific emotion or motive. "No. I don't think so. But perhaps we crossed each other's paths yesterday? I did walk around quite a bit."
'no. These familiar vibes...it's not possible for it to be from just bumping into him for a split second.'
But Ryu couldn't particularly make him admit something she had no evidence for.
"But I want to ask, what is a second class adventurer doing working at this place?" Bell asked. It was something to wonder, whatever could've made her decide to work at a pub. Ryu blushed a bit before responding.
"I-I owe her a lot," Ryu replied. It was her way of saying that she wasn't comfortable with revealing this information.
"Well, no matter. Its time for me to leave. Nice meeting you guys." Bell got up from his seat, as he was about to leave he paused for a second, "ah this is on the side, but if you see Grandpa coming here and acting weird feel free to hit him a couple times...well then, see ya." Bell walked out the doors with Riveria following quickly behind.
Normal POV
Now that Bell's breakfast was done it was time to go back to his duties for cleaning. But before he could do so...
"Riveria sama, I'll be blunt. Why are you following me?" Bell asked turning to face the composed elf. She looked at him momentarily trying to solidify her face before speaking.
"I just want to ask for forgiveness for doing such a horrible thing," Riveria replied. Unsurprisingly she got an extra long sigh back from Bell.
"Riveria sama, even if you slay every soul in Orario, clear the dungeon and somehow revive my parents, I still won't give out. A. Single. Shred. Of. Forgiveness. Give it up. The past is the past, I'll be as salty as I want to be and rightfully I will, but I won't make you bumlick me for an entire day just so you can go home feeling a bit good about yourself."
This served as a harsh reminder for Riveria. She knew she was trying. Sure, she was socially awkward in many ways and perhaps her being there, only bothered him.
But she truly did wish to try to do something. Anything, she thought it was better than the other two. Yet now she was being told to reconsider. Perhaps she was acting selfishly, doing these things just so she could feel pleased by herself. Now she can question herself, what was she trying to achieve by following him around. Was it truly better to just let him be? Would it have been better had she tried to stay tough?
She was evidently in deep thought. So Bell decided to break her chain of thoughts.
"So, instead of doing this for me just make sure this doesn't happen again." He added. Riveria stopped for a moment, her head snapping up to him surprised, his playful demeanour now gone replaced by a serious look and firm eyes that peered into her, "make sure you don't end up making another person suffer at the expense of your personal gain. Make sure there isn't going anyone else after this that you are going to have to chase around for forgiveness. Because who knows...maybe they won't be as accepting as me." Bell left her with those words and went back to his home.
The Next day
After that conversation with Riveria, Bell had a rather normal day. Just cleaning up the house interior and the back garden. It truly helped to be level 4, but he doubted that it would just become dusty once more if they left it as is.
Thus Bell had decided to hire some servants. But to hire servants, he needed money. To get the money he needed to dive into the dungeon.
So he got up from bed and put on his armour. A black full set of light armour. He grabbed his falcatas and sheathed them. Holsters around his waist carried 2 recovery potions, 2 detoxification potions and 1 buff potion.
He put on two metal rings around his biceps over his undershirt. Something that wouldn't be spotted immediately because of the shirt and rings being the same colour.
Now, he was ready so he went to the guild first. As always, arriving early meant that the place was almost empty. Yet he could still feel the stares of people as soon as he entered. He spotted Eina at the front desk and made way there ignoring the people watching him.
"Yo Eina san."
Eina looked up to see Bell and felt a bit surprised to see him so early.
"Bell san, good morning. You sure are early." She commented. Bell nodded.
"Yeah well I have made this internal clock you see, so now I wake up at exactly 5 am no matter what. I thought may as well start early." He shrugged. Eina seemed a bit impressed by his diligence and nodded her head agreeing with him.
"Well, then Bell have you decided to join any parties?" Eina asked. To her dismay, he shook his head.
"Nope. I'll run solo, besides with my fighting style, it gets-" Bell was about to speak but stopped himself, "Actually you know what never mind. Forget I said anything. Anyways, I just came to let you know, I'm going." Bell waved and as quickly he had entered the guild, he left.
Leaving Eina very puzzled but curious as to what he was about to say. Of course, she couldn't necessarily force it out of him since guild staff were not authorised to ask for personal details such as skills and their specific status.
Meanwhile, Bell simply went towards the tall tower and felt a feeling of someone staring at him. It was an overwhelming stare of fascination. Not particularly malicious but evidently unsettling.
However, staring straight up he couldn't see anything of particular notice. Besides the fact that there were rooms clearly on the top of it. Which condescending person could actually be staring at an adventurer going into the dungeon at 6 am?
He shrugged it off deciding that it wasn't worth the trouble and continued to make his way towards the dungeon. Entering and descending the initial towers he saw, a goblin just standing there.
Now for Bell who had experience killing monsters, very obviously otherwise it would've been rather difficult to get to level 4 otherwise, but knew that the monsters in the dungeon were stronger than the ones on the surface he wanted to experiment with just how much force it would require.
He leapt forward at extreme speed and kneed the goblin's head. The force was so strong it literally occurred before the goblin even noticed, and its head went flying into a wall. Decapitating a lower level monster was something just that easy for him.
Needless to say, the monster dispersed into a stone. These stones were the core of every monster. Well, regular monster wise. It was like a heart of a human, a magic stone pumped energy around the monster's blood just how the heart did for humans. It was also proportional to the monster's size, meaning if the monster was bigger, the stone would be too.
Although money was something he needed by now, he imagined the day to be an experiment as a whole. He had to see how far down he can get, how each monster compares to its strength. Of course, he knew from the information left by the predecessors of the Zeus familia and knew the behavioural patterns and attributes each monster had. However, he couldn't properly gauge the power of each monster without comparing it to his own.
So using the quick thinking brain he came up with a quota of sorts. The goal was 10 monsters of each type. Meaning before he could advance into the next stage he needed to kill 10 of each monster. The first 3 as singles, the next 2 as a pair and the last 5 as an entire group.
This was to, as stated previously, gauge the monsters. Their individual strength, power as a duo and tactical approach as a group, to see their intelligence.
Thus he began with goblins. Single goblin, 1 shot. He found two goblins in a corner of the 1st floor, he grabbed both by their heads but didn't kill them to see how they would resist.
They ended up simply trying to scratch him. Nothing special, they were the dumbest and weakest monsters possible. He bashed both their heads in, staining his gloves in blood a bit but in the end picking up two small size magic stones.
Next was a group, he found a few duos of goblins but no major groups showing that they had no instinct to stick together and ended up just being alone by themselves or with one other person. So he grabbed 5 goblins and threw them out together.
Same thing anyways.
Even after being gathered, they seemed to show no particular instinct to work together and just recklessly lunged at him. Of course, he brutally murdered them too.
Kobolds seemed a bit better, they seemed to pick up on their cues of attacks. They knew how to minimally use their weapons too. As a group, at the very least they stayed out of each other's ways. Nothing more though, so he decided to grab their own weapons and kill each of the monsters with its own weapon.
He kept progressing through monsters( I can't fill the entire chapter with just monsters descriptions can I? If you're curious about what each monster does, just go to the fandom)
After a solid 5 hours of slowly doing these, he had reached floor 17. All by himself, while tactically measuring their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, he was left with minotaurs.
One thing he noticed after floor 15 was that monsters were indeed smarter as he went deeper. The first, somewhat intelligent monster he had seen was Orcs, on floor 10 which seemed to be in groups.
But hellhounds were the major jump. They were smart, they timed their attacks, joined into packs and when in danger knew to either back away or call for reinforcements.
As he ran around floor 17, Bell happened upon a minotaur, and straight away he noticed something.
It stunk.
How could he describe the smell? Let's see, take the most smelly, stinkiest piece of shit you ever dropped in the toilet. Then multiply that but the smell of monster blood and you'll get the body odour of minotaurs.
Hell even unloading all the Arabian perfumes will not be able to remove the smell. Oh and besides they were big, fast and strong. Like unnecessarily fast for its size.
But it seemed a bit dumber compared to others. It charged straight in without thinking, could use the weapons it had stolen from the corpses of other adventurers but didn't understand its efficiency and just swung them around.
It should be pointed out that so far, Bell hadn't used a single one of his swords or techniques. Relying on simple speed and power he found one or more brutal ways of killing each monster.
The swiftest kill was, the killer ants which were troublesome in the sense that they called for back-up quite quickly. So as soon as he saw one, without fail he smashed its brains in with a single punch.
But with minotaurs with tough skins, he really had no chance without his swords.
Yet, his dumbass still decided to jump in without weapons. He had to test its physical endurance first. The minotaur roared at him and tried to grab him by the legs, but Bell jumped barely out of its way and swung his leg up to its chin.
Surprisingly, it dodged. Without giving a moment of rest, Bell went in for another punch, which it couldn't dodged and it packed quite the punch. Bell felt the monster's ribs crack, but it didn't relent and punched at Bell. Without being able to dodge, Bell blocked the hit and jumped back.
The overall power wasn't bad and would give a high level 2 somewhat of a hard time but besides that, it was rather easy to deal with. Perhaps this thing was worth him using his techniques. So, he closed in. The minotaur went in for a punch, but Bell ducked under and for the first time, within those feral eyes of the minotaur, Bell sensed fear.
The fear of messing up. The fear of death was now inside its mind. It knew just how easily Bell could overpower it. He increased its intelligence ranking by two levels.
But it was too late.
'13 passages of the Moon- 3rd race- Elves crescent rise.' as he lowered his posture and hit the minotaurs jaw in the curved shape of a crescent moon. The force was massive and ended up causing the monster's jaw to be twisted the other way round.
Easily killing the monster, which fell to its knees and crumbled into a medium sized magic stone. He now had three bags full of magic stones about to burst.
'I guess this much is fine for today, I'll see Rivira tomorrow.' he thought as he made his way back.
As he was making his way back though, on the 4th floor he met them.
'Ah shit. Here we go again...'
The entire Loki familia making its way down the dungeon.
A/N: And that's a wrap. Wow, it took me a whole 11 days to finish. Granted I was too lazy to do anything for quite a while but give me a break, my holidays began on the 22nd man.
This is something I changed a bit. I think you can see how weird it is and how the form suddenly changes. That's because, the first 2,000 words or so were written during august. When I was still allowed to have a life. So without changing that, I simple wrote, so do forgive me if this chapter was shit.
It's also shorter than usual because, the length of stories is different. My fanfiction chapters usually average around 10k words. But when I post chapters on Chaotic Worlds, due to the character limitations of Tapas,I'm restricted to about 15,000 characters or about 3-4k words. So the balance does crumble over time.
Anyways hope you enjoy this chapter, stay safe and healthy and I probs will come out with another chapter this week. Tell me which series you want it for. Since I only have time to do 1 or 2 more chapters, I'll give whatever series you want. The options are as follows,
Walking the Wrong Path
The Last Hero
Ghost of The Future
Chocolate Love.
Pick your poison and
Bless.