Chapter 3: Goliath run
A/N: Yo wys. So, yes I'm being impatient. I've seen like 6 people say what the next chapter is to be of. Just goes to show how many of the 2329 BLOODY PEOPLE that read the story actually look at my notes. Anyways most of the 6 said this series so yh.
Update:
Ok never mind there are more people now. In the double digits at least thnakfully.
Of all the things that could happen.
This was perhaps the worst time ever.
Bell's eyes crossed Finn's within a split second.
""Ah.""
And now the entire front body of the Loki familia was looking at him. Maybe the ones at the back hadn't seen him yet. Bell looked at Finn, then at Riveria, who looked at him as if she was begging him to not cause anything to happen.
How could Bell avoid any incidents? Simple.
"Ahaha, what a coincidence right guys? Eh? But you know what I forgot my falcatas at the monster basin so I'll go down again." Bell said as he rubbed the back of his head. He watched as Riveria's eyes glided to the sides of hips where each of the forgotten falcatas rested. He picked them up and yeeted them across the floor.
"What weapons? I don't need them." Bell shrugged.
"you might want to get them back," Finn commented.
"Ah...I really should. Oh well, later." Bell shrugged as he went to run over but,
"Cranel san," Finn called out making Bell freeze in place.
Bell POV
'ah, you dipshit I'm trying to leave why are you trying to talk to me?'
"yes?" He replied turning around.
"I'm not gonna apologise y'know," Finn smirked.
'This ass is trying to pick a fight?' Bell wondered as he felt a vein bulge.
"About what I would expect from a cold-blooded murder." Bell retorted smiling just as innocently as Finn. But Riveria could swear she saw sparks flying between them. But surprisingly he sighed,
"you know, Braver san. I actually don't hold any grudges against you on a personal term. Not you nor the other members, it was your deity's order, not like you can avoid it." Bell shrugged, "If you ask Riveria sama there, you'll know I'm genuinely trying to develop friendly relations with the Loki familia. But the one person, I do have beef against, is Loki herself." Bell pointed out.
"What?" Gareth chimed in surprised. He was expecting to get flamed.
"As I told her, I can't necessarily expect you to do anything at this point in time, apologising to me means shit since they lost their lives regardless. Nor do I expect Loki, a deity to who a human's lifespan would be compared to a mere second, to understand the loss of importance of one single life. Especially since it's not one of her children," Bell paused, "but I do expect that you won't repeat the same thing in the future, not just as individuals but as a familia as a whole. So, this warning is especially for you...Braver," he pointed at Finn, who narrowed his eyes in response, "don't stain the hands of your familia with the blood of the innocent."
Silence stretched on for a bit. By now everyone was listening in. Well, those who could hear at least, some were at previous floors and currently, the main executives were the only ones there. They looked more or less confused and only vanargand or Bete Loga was giving Bell a dirty stare.
"Warning noted Cranel san." Finn replied in a serious voice but soon his look softened, "but it is surprising. For the captain of the Zeus familia, who promised to end the legacy as a villain, to warn people about spilling innocent blood. Aren't you meant to encourage it?" He asked.
'Oh my days, give it a fucking REST man, my swords are laying by that wall there.' Bell groaned internally.
"That's because your expectations and understanding of a villain are too narrow." Bell pointed out.
Ais POV
It really felt a bit strange. The man was giving off familiar vibes.
Regardless of that, he was evidently in a position where he was arguing with Finn. So he was a possible enemy too. But after what he said, nothing more came.
They stood in silence.
'D-did...he just saying Finn's understanding is narrow? Finn's? The man recognised as one of the smartest tacticians of the era?' Ais questioned internally as her external appearance stirred a bit.
"You see, the definition of a villain is someone who opposes the hero. If the hero's goal is to save everyone then the villain's goal is to fuck everyone over. Thus following that logic, if the pallum hero's goal is to eliminate all threats then my goal is to become that threat. Needless to say, I don't have any intentions of attacking anyone. Since you switched the roles. You who so easily sent people to their deaths are a hero. So as a villain my goal is to save people then." Bell shrugged after his wordy explanation.
"So what you're trying to say is that I'm in the wrong? For acting out of self-preservation? To protect what's dear to me?" Finn asked.
"you referring to your over-inflated ego?" Bell bit back and surprisingly it affected Finn who looked a bit more hostile than before, "joking man. But whatever, this is what I mean. You instantly try to judge something as right or wrong. Why jump to a conclusion? Why not make your own understanding and logic?" Bell questioned.
"What are you trying to say? Get to the point." Finn was nearing the end of his nerve. He didn't like the man called Bell Cranel. He was a threat. But not something he could eliminate. It was a futile feeling in him that he couldn't avoid.
"Point is...don't rush your understanding of things. No one has a set definition of villainy, nor is it something that can be explained in simple words. So when I die, my life will be the definition of villainy. After all, who said that villany cannot be the same as heroism?"
"I-I don't follow." Finn finally admitted. Truth be told, he was confused af.
"Neither do I," Bell shrugged, "all we know are vague definitions and I sure as hell won't follow the pattern. That's the one main way, I can be a threat to you, strategist." Bell smirked.
It all clicked.
Finn finally understood everything Bell had been saying.
"You...are you going to get in my way?" Finn asked with a bitter tone.
"Oi, I've sat and listened to enough of this. Finn, can't we just kill this brat?" Bete spoke up. Although no one responded, their posture did stiffen a bit. But Finn shook his head.
"Cranel s- no, Bell san. What is your aim? Why are you telling us this? Are you trying to antagonise me to the point where I attack you? Or are you planning to cross paths with all of us?" Finn asked with a ball in his throat. Depending on the answer, Bell would very well change from either ally to enemy or vice versa.
Bell grinned maniacally, "who knows?"
The one response he didn't want to hear. The most vague response that Finn couldn't really predict.
"But enough of that. I do need to go and get my swords back. Anyways, a final final word Finn." he paused as they both unverablly agreed to use first names, "I am not your enemy. At least not yet. Depending on what you do, I may or may not switch sides. Sure, I'll not be worth much but don't forget this...I know way more about you guys than anyone of you do about me."
Riveria suddenly raised her hand, "actually I know a fair about you now." They all looked at her confused.
'How did she do that?' Finn wondered.
"Right. And how useful is the data you have on me?" Bell asked.
"its a mix of useless and extremely crucial." she replied.
"that's that. Well, its time for me to go. Oh and Ais-nee, it was great to see you after so long, good to see you're doing well." Bell waved his hand. Finn's worry rose dramatically.
Finn's POV
H-he knows Ais? That's impossible...we were the first one to find her after her...
Does that mean that he came from back then too? No, my thumb is still aching.
How did he meet her?
"Oh, no way. I finally remember, Bell chan?" Ais realised.
B-Bell chan?
"You've changed so much. You're grown so much. But why are you an adventurer? Weren't you..."She was about to say but got cut off,
"Right I'm going to have you hold on there. I hope you won't say anything that will cause me trouble, Ais nee." Bell winked and put a finger on his lips. But before any more questions could be asked, he jumped down and ran off to get his swords back.
They simply watched him as he sped off rather quickly. His speed seemed to betray the expectations of him being a level 4.
"Ais. Riveria. As we go down, you'll have to tell me on everything on you know on him. This is an order." Finn commanded as he gripped his thumb in his own hand. He looked ahead into the dungeon and thought,
'I already have enough to worry about, I don't need a wild card like you to imagine like this...Bell Cranel.'
And so it happened. Riveria was giving a run down of the minimal information she had on him,
" right so, the only useful information there was his 13 passages of the moon? Seriously? You spent what about 2 hours and you found out 1 move and a backstory that may or may not have made up?" Finn asked with accusing eyes.
"Finn, don't look at me as if you were expecting me to find more information, I wasn't exactly there to gather info. The way I see it, you just made it worse but aggravating him for no reason. It's not the logical type of action anyone would expect from you," Riveria hit the nail on the head as she pointed out the flaws.
Finn simply sighed in response, "Riveria. Do you realise just how much of a issue he is? He is level 4 at the age of 14, and that's with him having no access to the dungeon. Lets say by the time he is 20, what do you think he will be?" Finn asked Riveria instead while making a very valid point. Bell was someone outside of their expectations mainly because they had virtually no details on him.
"Now Ais." Finn spoke without turning, "you say...you knew him. Is it from back..'then'?" Finn asked cryptically.
"No." Ais simply replied.
"Then how did you know him?" Finn asked.
"We are childhood friends." She replied and they paused.
No one moved as Ais simply looked at him with plain eyes.
"Sorry? I must've heard wrong." Finn turned pushing his ear a bit further. As unbelievable as it sounded Ais was serious and she felt ever so slightly offended.
"Childhood friends. You guys found me from a tip right? I was in the care of Uncle Zeus and Bell slightly before that."
"Wha-How? We found you pe- anyways, its impossible you know?" Riveria pointed out. Ais shrugged.
"I'm not allowed to talk about that. By some divine will of uncle Zeus."
That was the entire conversation, after that Ais refused to give any outstanding information about Bell. Whenever combat came up, they noticed a slight shiver from her, as if she was afraid or something but held it back.
"All I will say is that the 13 passages of the moon was something Bell started developing before meeting me. I, first handed experienced those techniques while they were in development. It wasn't...fun." Ais told them as she massaged her jaw. She never really spoke for so long and now it was hurting her.
"I can imagine that. The one move I saw seemed brutal as it was by itself," Riveria chuckled. Meanwhile the rest of the executives i.e. Bete, Tiona, Tione and the others remained confused and in the dark as to why this man was so special.
"Hey, Finn. If we're supposed to be so worried about this brat, then why don't we just kill him?" Bete asked. Although seemingly violent and haphazardous, it made complete sense.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Gareth finally spoke up. As a dwarf who seemed like an eccentric person and one that would often get involved in conversation, he was uncharacteristically silent. But now that he spoke up, it drew everyone's attention.
"Why?" Bete growled angrily. It made no sense to him. if a weakling was to get in his way, he should just stomp him out.
"Let's just say the Loki and Zeus familia have...bad blood." Riveria informed him. Finn nodded.
"Killing him will earn us major flashback. Not to mention, if we were to kill Zeus's child, there is a decent chance that Zeus will simply use his arcanum to punish us. Even if its against the laws."
"How'd you know that?"
Internally Finn imagined the threat he had received long time ago,
*Flashback start*
"you'll pay for this...LOKI!" Zeus screamed as he sat on his knees with tears flooding down his eyes.
"haah? What position do you think you are in to say shit like that? It was bound to happen, Zeus, you were the ones who sent them in." Loki shrugged.
"Their bonds! I can feel them being ripped off one by one. Mark my words Loki! Freya! If in the future you touch any of my children again, even a single hair on their body. I'll strike your children down, even at the cost of being forcefully kicked back to tenkai"
*Flashback end*
"call it an intuitive guess." Fin shrugged.
Meanwhile, Bell had picked up his swords and made his way to the surface.
"Oh Bell san, you're back. How did the first run go?" Eina asked. Bell sighed in response which honestly confused her,
"Why do minotaurs stink so much?" Bell asked as he slumped against the front desk. Eina shrugged before she paused.
'Wait...'
"d-did you go to Rivira on your first day?" Eina asked fixing her glasses with sweat rolling down her forehead. It was preposterous. Just the idea of any adventurer going to floor 18 was plain, impossible.
"I didn't. I went to floor 17. See, I got real curious as to how each monster behaves, so.." and then Bell proceeded to explain the method he had decided to do and even showed Eina the notes he had roughly taken down.
Eina looked at the sheets amazed as every monster from floor 1 to 17 was meticulously observed of their behavioural patterns and strategies. She looked a bit seriously at Bell momentarily.
"Bell san. Do you mind selling these to the guild?" She asked him. It was an obvious request, these sheets went into much more detail than any guild handbook. As for Eina, someone who had been on the sidelines helplessly watching people die everyday if this information could save even a single person, then it would be well worth it.
"Actually I do mind. Thank you very much."Bell crossed his arms as Eina's bright expression dulled and she looked down at the table. " Why would I sell them? You can just have them for free." Bell shrugged as he chucked over the sheets to her.
Her expression took another U-turn and she looked back up to him.
"Y-you're just giving all of these away as is?" Eina asked baffled. It made no sense to simply give them away.
"Yeah?" Bell tilted his head to this side confused. Why would he want payment for a bunch of simple drawings? Eina reluctantly agreed mostly out of shocked and advised that Bell gets his stones exchanged.
He went to where a drawer was pushed out. He stared into it for a second.
*clink*
The drawer was pulled in,
"25 valis." a female's voice came out as a couple coins were in the drawer.
"oooohhh. A mystery woman. Say, what's your name?" Bell asked. But the voice didn't reply. He picked up the coins and then,
*clink*
It was once more pulled in,
"50 valis."
"hm hm. I see." Bell then proceeded to collect the money and put another stone in. It went up to 150 until, the drawer was taken in for the last time.
"Hey. HEY!" The voice shouted from inside.
"yes?" Bell replied with a smug grin.
"I CAN STILL SEE YOU, YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT? WHY ARE YOU PUTTING ONLY ONE STONE IN AT A TIME?" the voice shouted in frustration.
"I wanted to know your name?"
"And how is that related to the fact that you are putting one FREAKING stone in at a time. Some of us got work to do," she screamed.
"There is literally no one behind or ahead of me."
"Doesn't matter. I'm trying to doz- do paperwork here," she replied.
'She was so about to say doze off.' Bell narrowed his eyes.
"How about this? You give tell me your name and I'll give in all my stones." Bell offered. It was a confusing conversation for any listeners nearby but they stood and silently listened in.
"Keep doing that and even if you put in your stones, you won't get any money from it." the woman threatened instead.
"And you'll lose your job." Bell's face contorted into a shit-eating grin.
'get dunked on bitch!'
The woman seemed to growl for a bit but sighed, "Rose. It's Rose, now give me the stones, take your cash and go away." She snarled but Bell smirked victoriously and put the bags in.
"26025 valis." she returned the money, it was a daily earning of a whole level 1 party however, for a level 4 it was just about right. But Bell eyed suspiciously.
"are you trying to commit daylight robbery? You realise you told me the value of every single monster stone that I've gotten today, there is no way in hell you're going to take 25% of my earning and think you can trick me."
Silence ensued for a bit before the drawer withdrew and came back with more money.
"tch. Good eyes." Rose admitted. Bell shrugged.
"Nah, I just know how to count. Unlike a certain worker at the guild."
Bell proceeded to take his money and go back to the manor. While, he had become rather pleased with himself since he found yet another target to bully, the next poor soul who tried to get his stones in, got robbed and swindled in a horrible manner.
Bell entered the hall to see, Zeus sitting at the couch, with his feet up on a holder as he read a book. It was the tale of Argonaut. Zeus looked up and saw Bell come in.
"Ah Bell. Welcome back, did you get our vault's money from the guild?" Zeus asked as Bell froze on the spot. A sweatdrop flowed down his jaw as he internally cursed and berated himself.
'God Fuckin' damnit, if I remembered to go then I wouldn't of even needed to go to the dungeon today and wouldn't have to deal with Finn.' He facepalmed in frustration and Zeus just went back to reading his book.
Surprisingly, Bell had a pretty loose mouth, he didn't have the filter of appropriateness and at often times said things how he felt them. One could say, it's perhaps a good honest trait. While others will choose to call it detrimental when it comes to maintaining a friendly relations with someone important. His interaction with Finn is one such example of that.
Bell spent the rest of the day finalising all the cleaning up. He decided that going to the Hostess for dinner would be nice, since he didn't really mind the food.
"hey gramps, Wanna eat out? I found a good place." Bell offered his grandpa, who momentarily looked up at him. Without giving him a chance Bell spoke anyways, "I'm going whether you come or not. So your choices are either come to eat or starve."
Zeus's face dropped for a second as he bolted to the doorway with Bell. He had no desire to go hungry that night. So he went to the Hostess of Fertility. Zeus looked up at the sign,
"the Hostess eh? I used to eat here before." he commented but went in regardless. As they entered they saw that it was clearly a busy night, tables were full, the waitresses were walking around taking down orders and giving food. Soon someone approached them.
A cat girl with black hair and green eyes. She had a wide smile on her face and playful air around her.
"Welcome nya. I'm Chloe, Table for 2?" She asked. Bell stared at her blankly,
'd...did she just say nya?' he asked himself. He had seen cat people before, but most were...well, normal. They definitely didn't end their sentences with a nya at the end.
"nya?" she tilted her head to gaze into his eyes for a second breaking him out of his mental torment of what the actual hell was going on.
"Uh yeah...If possible by the bar." Bell requested and Chloe smiled brightly and led them to the side seats of a bar. Mia was as usual scrubbing the glasses clean. She felt a gaze on her and looked towards him and smirked.
"ah Brat seems that ya came back for me." She grinned, "what's more, ya even brought a package with ya."
"try not to poison him please." Bell sighed half-expecting that something would go horribly wrong.
"Mia it's been a while I've seen you. Since when did your shithole have so many beauties working?" Zeus asked with another smirk as his hand unsuspectingly roamed to the ass of a certain elven waitress taking an order.
Bell and Mia noticed it but said nothing and only looked at each other before grinning at each other.
'So that's why ya brought him huh...' Mia realised Bell's intentions. As he expected, a level 4 like Ryu wouldn't notice someone's hand approaching her. she promptly whacked his wrist with the tray.
"OUCH!" Zeus groaned as he jumped and massaged his wrist. Flailing it back and forth with a tear in the corner of his eye. Bell burst into laughter and Mia chuckled. Ryu turned her head to see Zeus and Bell, her eyes widening in shock.
"C-Cranel san." Ryu spun around and looked at him in shock and then back to Zeus, seemingly realising her action she instantly bowed, "I-I apologised, I moved out of instinct."
Although not illegal, it was mighty disrespectful to hit another deity, and effectively a declaration of war. It was quite literally throwing a glove at another person, but what really concerned Ryu was that her actions could harm the reputation of Mia and the others.
"Why are you apologising?" Bell asked as he wiped a tear from his eyes, "I knew you wouldn't let him do that. He needed that as a lesson, I should be thanking you instead." Bell then turned to Zeus with a massive grin on his face, "guess what dumb perv of a grandfather. Most of the waitresses in this place are at least second class adventurers, good luck trying to grope them." Bell laughed like a maniac.
This wasn't much of a noble sight to see for anyone, but it was rather appropriate for a joyous mood in a pub late at night when everyone was drinking.
"Mia san, two of your strongest drinks," Bell pushed money onto the table. He turned to Ryu and gestured for her to sit.
Ryu looked baffled about the exchange that just occurred and looked up to Mia a bit lost. Who instead of verbally assisting her, simply nodded for her to sit down.
So that's exactly what she did. Ryu sat down next to Bell.
"Order whatever you want, I'll pay as a consideration for this gramps trying to harass you." Bell offered.
"Hey!" Zeus called out. Ryu couldn't believe how quick Bell's head spun from to face Zeus, she thought it may as well fly off the neck.
"Zip. It. You perv." Bell hushed Zeus and instead brought his focus to Ryu.
"a-ah, it's not necessary. I should be apologising for hitting your deity instead," Ryu tried to deny the offer. However, it seemed that Bell was rather adamant in getting her to accept the offer, and after a few seconds of prodding, she finally sighed and ordered a simple omelette.
Bell however forcefully also ordered an iced tea alongside it.
Throughout the entire exchange, Ryu couldn't understand the purpose of Bell's actions. He seemingly brought his deity in for dinner because he predicted that he would be, on rude terms, put under a leash. Not only that, he insistingly bought her dinner instead.
"Ah, you're quite the looker huh nya," a voice called out from behind them. Ryu turned to see Chloe there licking the back of her hand like a paw. Bell meanwhile didn't even bother turning around and spoke,
"I'm adorable. I know." He spoke in a playful tone. He chugged one of the heaviest drinks Mia could produce and faced her instead, Ryu silently observed his body movement and positions.
One major thing that struck out to her was that even though it seemed he was uncaring and vulnerable. There was not a single-blind spot on him.
It baffled her to an unbelievable extent as to how he can seem defenceless, yet have no holes in it. However, her observation got interrupted as he spoke,
"Chloe Rollo. Level 4. Current occupation: Waitress at the Hostess. Previous occupation: Classified. Age: 21. Preferences: Shotacon." Bell seemingly described a character profile. He looked at her with a smirk but even the playful Chloe seemed serious as her usual dumb grin was gone and now was replaced by a serious look.
"how in the world did someone like you end up here? I don't mean to be rude, but you were rather...proficient in your last job." Bell seemingly hinted that he may know things he shouldn't. Ryu's eyes widened at what he was insinuating, and before they could even move, Bell raised his hands in defeat.
"I give. Wasn't planning on doing anything anyway," Bell shrugged but the smile never left his face. Mia was there right behind him by the counter, covertly holding a kitchen knife by his throat. not visible to anyone but those sitting by him."
"And how do I know, yer not lying?" Mia asked in a threatening but hushed tone.
"hmph, you already do. Otherwise, you would've cut my throat already. Besides, it's not like I revealed any major piece of info, simply told you as is." Bell replied smugly. He knew he won, and he was right. Mia swiftly removed the knife from his throat and returned to doing her thing.
"I got ma eyes on you," Mia told him without even looking at him.
"Oh sure, you do." He then proceeded to look at Chloe, who still seemed wary of him, but to her surprise, he let out a sigh, "well at the very least it's good to see you're still alive after all this time. Seemingly happy as well."
Chloe's eyes furrowed as did Ryu's. Judging from the way he was talking, he was hinting that they had already had a previous encounter, but from the top of Chloe's head, she couldn't remember him.
Normally you would think that someone with pure white hair, would stick out to you. Yet nothing came to her mind.
The rest of the night was spent with Chloe clearly avoiding him for the rest of the time, Ryu simply returning to her job with a head full of questions and Bell and Zeus having a normal dinner.
1 week later
Bell had seemingly gotten used to being an adventurer of Orario. It was a daily cycle where he went into the dungeon, beat the living shit out of monsters, got the stones and got paid. The only difference in this pattern was the fact that he had gotten the vault of the Zeus familia and retrieved about 50,000,000 valis. With it he hired maids and butlers, to do the work around the massive building.
He even allowed them to live there should they want to, to which many did accept the offer. However, a problem that rose up was the fact that Zeus had essentially started sexually harassing the maids.
How unpredictable.
Thus, after careful consideration and thinking for a long time (about 3 seconds) Bell decided to assign only the butlers to Zeus. If Zeus got unnecessarily close to any maid, they were to report to Bell when he got back from the dungeon, for Zeus to receive a punishment.
In terms of the dungeon, he had made it to floor 22 all by himself. While, Eina advised him many times to get into a party, he always insisted that his method of fighting was... unfriendly to groups of allies. Not that Eina had a way to check up on this since obviously, she didn't go to the dungeon with him.
Regardless, Bell was looking for a real challenge. He could always go further down, but after the incident where he stumbled across a monster basin on floor 22 filled with lizardman, mad beetles and deadly hornets, Eina had strictly forbidden him to go below that floor for a bit.
But today was different. Today, he would be able to fight something considered a risk threat level of 4. The monster took about a week to respawn and coincidentally the Loki familia had killed it the day Bell returned from the 17th floor. Today was the day he would fight it instead.
Bell got up early as always and did some training. About an hour or so later, he went back to his room, showered and got dressed. He went to his bedside table and put on the special gloves that lay. Stretching on a good fit, the K representing King in terms of poker lined perfectly with his index finger. He picked up the sheaths of his falcatas and decided to make his way down for the day.
Making his way to the guild, he walked up to Eina once more.
"Hey Eina san." Bell greeted, then he looked to her right and saw a a red head werewolf, her eyes seemed to meet his for a fleeting instant but soon went back. "Morning to you too, Rose san."
Rose Fannett. The mysterious guild lady who hid behind the blinds in the exchange, and regrettably got bullied (according to Misha Flott) by Bell to give her name. Now, she had this incessant war going with him. She always gives him the cold shoulder, and tries to chase him away as much a non-blessed person can to a level 4.
"Tch." she clicked her tongue as she scribbled out some calculations she was doing on her sheet. Bell smiled, happy that one of his daily goals of pissing her off was going so well. He then returned to speaking with Eina.
"Remember Bell. No further than floor 22." Eina warned.
"Right right. Anyways, do you what day it is?" Bell asked with a smile. Eina raised an eyebrow in confusion, as if today was supposed to be some great day.
"The day when the Loki familia comes back from their expedition?" Eina asked confused.
"huh, didn't know that. But I don't care about them, today... is the day when the goliath respawns." Bell cheered. Eina seemed to nod for a second.
...
"N-no way...don't tell me..." realisation dawned upon Eina, who had paled considerably for a moment, but then soon became fuming with anger, "you better not Bell san... I'm warning you, Don't you dare try solo it."
Bell chuckled awkwardly at how obvious her emotions were. Her face contorted in such easy to interpret ways that it took only 1 look to be able to tell what she was thinking.
"Uh... no promises. Finally, a worthy opponent," Bell pumped his fist into the air. Eina looked exasperated as she face palmed rather loudly.
"A worthy challenge? It take at least a few second class adventurers to beat that monster, it's too big for just one person to kill. You will die!" Eina yelled at him. Why was he being so dumb? Although he always was to begin with but this was just a new level of stupidity.
" And I, as an adventurer, relish the challenge." Bell replied and before sprinting off to the exit, not allowing Eina to get one more word in. People on stared at him as he ran, the conversation was exactly defined as...private. Soon though they heard a loud slam on the receptionist's desk and decided today was a nice day to avoid the place.
Bell ignored most other monsters. He was too fast for them anyways, speeding through the floors he quickly came to the entrance of the 17th floor before doing a check-up on himself.
"alright. Potions? Check. Swords? Check. Plan? Missing." Bell thought for a second before shrugging. ' How bad could it be?'
...
Oh he had no idea.
He entered the 18th floor, the massive crystalline wall glimmering with light in the dark room. No other monster spawning in there, as if they had forbidden from doing so. After a moment of doing a quick scan, Bell heard the sound of something cracking.
His head spun around to the wall to see cracks appear on the wall. As if it was made of simple glass, it soon shattered and chunks of the wall flew outwards kicking up a cloud of dust. Now the logical solution would be to leap back.
However, Bell knew it wouldn't be appropriate. From the records he had read that the quickest way to deal damage or even kill the goliath was when it was breaking out of the wall. Since it's mobility would be heavily restricted, it was the perfect opportunity to attack.
And attack he did.
Bell leapt into the air drawing on his falcatas, and spinning to the right at an amazing speed. How he hadn't thrown up by now is something I as the author will never understand, but we move.
As he was landing, he slashed the goliath's neck. Cutting deeply into it. Although not completely through it left a deep mark in the beast causing it to erupt with a loud roar that caused the floor to shake a bit. Seemingly enraged, the goliath began to flail its arms about, trying to hit its speedy assailant to no avail.
Bell gripped his weapons tightly, the handle is well capable of handling the pressure exerted by a level 6 person easily so the strength of a level 4 did no damage to it.
He slashed its shoulder once more, but this time he reacted too late to see the hand coming for him. He managed to block the hit but got flung across the entire floor into a wall.
"oof..." he groaned in pain.
He dropped to the ground and sat at a weird angle.
"yup that's a few broken bones alright." he chuckled popping open a potion and pouring it into his mouth. Feeling a bit better to see the goliath literally, on all 4s... racing towards him.
"This kutta!"
Bell had about 3 seconds before the goliath reached him and so he put his mind to quick work. Thinking and visualising of possible paths for him to avoid the damage that would come.
Each one ended with failure but one path still remained. No matter what, a passage is always open.
His eyes widened and realisation and he grinned madly. Staring right into the goliaths lifeless eyes, he shifted himself slightly to the left.
Sheathing his blades, the answer he came to was simple. If large cuts and blades weren't going to cut it. His fists will have to do the job.
(Get it? Blades..Cuts?)
As the goliath swiped its arms upon reaching him. Bell pivoted his foots to make it seem like he effortlessly brushed the attack off.
'There are 2 common practices and logics of martial arts. 1, no matter what. The fluidity of the body is crucial to create impact. Flowing like the river hitting harder than a sledgehammer. The second however, was just a plain physics,
The BIGGER they are, the HARDER they fall!'
Bell immediately crouched down and faced the goliath's arm in a stance he preferred a lot. His right hand winded back in a palm, the other acted as an guide for his hit.
"13 passages of the moon-2nd race- Spirit's waxing after-shock!" he shouted as he threw his palm at the monsters.
A large impact caused it to lose all its power, however, the trick came from here.
Like the name, the after-shock was twice the strength of the original hit. Thus, the second impact led the hand of the monster to carry its momentum towards its own face. The goliath's own power, plus the spirit's waxing after shock, hit full power at the monster's jaw.
Instantly every bone within, shattered like glass.
Bell however, didn't give it time to regenerate. He would use his all to beat the monster,
"Oh spirits of the past! Hear my desperate cries, this lonesome body persists through a thousand cuts. From the pact of the ancient, to the present, I acknowledge thine existence. This blessed body will tread on the thin line of life. Lend me your powers, burn my enemies down, cut through them, Crush them, bury them, Annihilate them from the face of the Earth...
INTERITUS!"
A bright light emerged from his body. Channeling itself around his body, strength coursed his body. Bell felt himself growing exponentially with power. Enough to cause an massive radius to be decimated. All contained in his body.
Jumping up in the air, he went towards the goliath's neck.
"13 passages of the moon- 11th race- Draconic flux."
All the power and glow that seemed to cover his body, slowly poured to his right fist, and disappeared.
No, not disappear. More accurately speaking, it transferred into the goliath instead.
"ROOOOAAAAARRRRR!" it cried out in pain, as it soon began to swell. Lumps forming in its outer layer, the goliath looked like a bloated balloon.
And like any balloon with too much air...
it popped.
Instantly disintegrating into a massive stone, its blood splattered all over the walls, even covering Bell.
"aw shit. I should've moved away." He regretted as he was literally stained with its pungent blood.
He picked up the stone and decided to go back to the surface after a quick shower trip to Rivira.
Needless to say when he looked at the entrance and saw 3 gaping mouths, he felt like he may have gotten distracted a bit.
" Why the flying fuck do I keep running into you everywhere I go...
FINN DIEMNE."
A/N: And that's a wrap. I can't even count the number of grammatical errors this chapter has, nor can I change it right now. Unfortunately, it took me an entire week just to write this one chapter. Granted, I have been writing a my hero academia fanfiction over at Wattpad,
(hint hint, go read it there. Fanfiction . net doesn't have much of MHA audience soo...)
but yeah, enjoy Ig.
Bless.