Chapter 5

POV Bell

The night went great! We sat around the fire told old stories about our childhood and time adventuring. Whenever I did tell a story about my past everyone for some reason decided that it was most of the time sad or difficult to hear, I don't really know why. I mean what 8-year-old doesn't want to fight dragons and monsters.

The night was great overall, but I got a weird feeling from Aiz she kept glancing at me. It was weird. I think she suspects something about what I am. I wonder if she has the same feeling I get from her. I'll ask Finn later when I dee him alone.

Normal POV

The day started out slow. Bell was the first to wake up about 4 hours later, his development skill allowed for him to survive off of little sleep or food, but he still slept more than usual.

Bell got up a few hours before anyone else would even start to move so he got started on the fire and breaking down his own tent. Even in the dark he was amazed by the beauty of the 18th floor. He could see the beautiful, lush greens and bright colors from the striking crystals lodged in the ceiling. He marveled at this beauty while poking at the fire trying to build it back up from its left-over embers.

He finally got it back to; life after a few minutes of care, with not so much as a stir from anyone else so he decided to pull out a book from his portal. Thinking he decided on the Zeus Familia records. He had only gotten to about floor 70, so he thought that being here and making his way through the dungeon it would make sense to catch up on some studying. Picking it out and plopping down on the log used for seating around the fire he flips through the pages lacks daily.

He continues reading the book for a few hours until he finally hears someone stirring in the tents. Not really looking up he sees Finn pushing his way out of the tent, blinking slightly at the change in light. He looked around and found bell siting around the fire reading the book Finn didn't really recognize.

Making his way over Finn asks, "Hey bell what 'cha reading?"

Bell looking up from his book He sees Finn and smiles "Oh, I was just reading a few pages of the Zeus Familia records, to catch up on some dungeon stuff I want to know about…" When bell said this, it made Finn short circuit, he was just reading one of the most coveted tombs of information in all of Orario like it was a trashy novel.

Bell continued "… I was also looking at the floor bosses that we will see on the way down to level 50, and I was wondering which ones were uncleared?"

Finn pulling himself out of his shock and mild jealousy "Well Amphisbaena is dead it was cleared not long ago by Genesha, Udaeus and Balor should both be alive so we can go fight them" Bells face lit up after hearing this. He looked that he was a kid his age getting a birthday present.

"Great I wanted to solo them as soon as possible to see how much excelia I'll get with my skill"

Finn looked at him like he turned blue "What do you mean, how on Gekai could you a fresh level 6 solo Balor?" Finn didn't actually think that bell would be naive enough to actually think that he could solo Balor on his first trip into the dungeon. He's powerful but I don't even think that Otarr would even attempt that?

"Well, I know that Balor and Udaeus are strong, but I have spent that past 4 years killing elder and mature dragons that are all just below Valgang dragons. I could take probably 7 mature dragons at once or at least 4 elder dragons before I start having to use magic so I would guess that I wouldn't really have a problem with them reading about their tendencies in the Records."

"I shouldn't even be surprised by this kind of thing anymore. You took on a number of dragons that moist second their families would be taken out by. What has your life been?" he asked rhetorically. "Well, I guess we can see how you do against Udaeus and go from there. If you do well and don't look to bad when we get to Balor, we will make a decision there"

Bell nodded and they went on to talk about the floors of the dungeon in the book that Finn hadn't even heard of, making him wonder what this young man can't do. Is he omnipotent? Who knows but at least he's on our side?

After maybe a half hour of talking about the dungeon and Bell promising Finn that he can read the Records back at the manor they fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments until bell said

"Hey Finn…" Getting his attention and Finn looking up at him "… I never asked earlier because I never talked to her much, but is Aiz related to a spirit."

This took Finn off guard for a moment. This was one of the best kept secrets of the Loki executives and something that Aiz would not like getting out. " How did you come to this conclusion" Finn question deciding what to do about this after he heard his answer.

"Well, I can't really explain it, I can just kind of feel an attraction to her that doesn't feel mortal. It's familiar … "He trailed off leaving Finn to wonder what he meant "it's just a hunch… I also think that she is feeling something similar, based on our conversations"

This all made sense to Finn, he knew that this might happen, and he had seen that Aiz was taking a bit more of an interest in bell but chocked that up to her absurd quest for power. But it now made sense. He finally said

"Yeah. She is a spirit." This was a kind of blunt way of stating this, but he couldn't really help it. He continued "well she is a sprit, but I can't tell you her story because it's hers to tell. But I can tell you one thing She is very guarded about this, so if you want to tell her about you being one don't be offended if she doesn't tell you about her past." Bell nodded and spoke

"I understand and I don't really mind I was about to ask if I could tell her, it's kind of amazing to find another half spirit out there, I mean there aren't very many of us throughout history. I also was wondering if I could just tell the executives. I can understand the rest of the lower levels, but I just don't like keeping secrets from people."

This took Finn a little off guard. He didn't expect bell, seemingly one of the most guarded people next to Aiz to be the one to volunteer this kind of information to this wide of an audience so soon. But he thought that this was great, he wanted to foster a relationship with the rest of the executives, and this is perfect to earn the trust of the rest of them.

Finn finally nods and says, "Yeah of course it's your secret to tell just keep it within the Familia and me Loki or the other captains are fine with it."

Bell took this as a good sign and nodded. "Why don't we send the Supporters back. I want to tell them on this trip, and I think the level 3's and 4's that are here with us could take them back up." Finn nodded and decided he would do just that, in light of bells ability to collect all of the drops like he has with portal there really is no need for supporters in this kind of dungeon run.

With that they just talked about logistical things and stories of the past until the rest of them get up and start their morning routine. Finn finally gathers their attention saying, "Let me say something before everyone continues eating." There are maybe 10 second and third their adventurers in the party some of whom were supporters for the deeper levels and some who were just there for protection of the supporters. "In light of bells abilities and some of the minor things he wants to show us we need the lower levels under 5 to head back to the surface because we need a smaller party then we thought."

This produced a low murmur from the supporting group but not one that was all that bad. Most of the supporting group didn't really mind not going, almost all of them hate going to the deeper floors and would much rather just go back to the surface.

"Alright now that that has been cleared up the upper tiered people will be moving out in about an hour, so the lower levels can use this as an opportunity to do some dungeon crawling on your own or just head back up to the surface, I'll let yall decide."

With this they split up and Finn goes to talk with the executives in the executive tent set up last night.

All of them are talking to each other like Tiona and Tione or Bete and Riveria are arguing like always with Gareth laughing at their antics. The only thing kind of out of place is that Aiz and Bell were talking… and not just bell doing all of the talking, it was Aiz who was talking more. Asking questions and just talking to the young man, what surprised him the most is that she was smiling at the boy.

This was surprising to him because Aiz was usually a Doll Princess when she wasn't fighting monsters or training with her sword. This boggled his mind with his past experiences and understanding of her. This was great though. They had tried for years trying to get Aiz to open up and start functioning as a person, and bell might be just the thing that she needed for her to grow and change.

Finn finally brought himself out of his musings saying " Alright everyone, I just told the supporters that they don't even need to fallow us down, so we will be going down without the others so we will be going faster than before to see something that bell wants to show us on the the 37th floor and then see how he handles Udaeus." Finn said this looking at the reactions, which all of them were of interest or of confusion but it didn't really matter they didn't need to know much yet.

"… He also expressed an interest in soloing Balor." Finishing this sentence, the rest of the group erupted in confusion

"EEEEEEh?!" All of them said in unison.

Riveria being the first to speak "Bell what do you mean you want to solo Balor? He's the most powerful boss encountered so far in the dungeon."

The rest of them are just as confused Tione speaking up

"Bell in know your strong but that's just reckless. You haven't even been past the 18th floor. And you want to kill Balor on your first run?"

Bete just scoffed and kept his mouth shut. This was odd, he never shut up normally, but he had heard some of the stories that bell had told them last night and he didn't think that it was that weird to think he could do it. He sat in silence picking his teeth in the corner.

Aiz oddly enough had frown on which to the people in the tent other than bell it was the most concern for someone else other than her that she had ever shown so it spoke volumes to the insanity of what he was trying to do. Tiona and Leifya are just silent because they can't even comprehend this in their kind of childish and naive minds.

Bell expected this kind of reaction after what he heard from Finn this morning when he said this earlier. He had prepared a counter to all of the dissent to his plan of soloing not that he really saw where they were coming from. This was mostly because he was kind of an airhead when it came to this kind of things, he didn't understand that he just said something insane by most people's standards. He has been training and doing this kind of outrageous thing since he was a small child, not to mention the fact he grew up in a Familia where level 6 and 7 were the norm in the stories Zeus told him.

"Well, I made a deal with Finn that we will see how I do against Udaeus and then see how I feel when we get to the battle. But one thing I do have to remind you guys, I did kill Antares who if I'm not mistaken you said was a legendary beast that you wouldn't even go near, Riveria." Bell said this like it was nothing. Which made the rest of them just sweat drop at the absurdity of this statement.

"Well, I did say that but…"

"Riveria." Finn says trying to reign control back "I have spoken with him, and he seems confident and from what he has told me I don't think that he would have to much problem. This is also a great measure of his skills, so I want to see it." Finn stated this sternly, leaving no room for an argument." Besides we will be right near him in the room so if he needs help, we can provide support."

This shut the rest of them up and left no room for an argument, so they let it be still holding onto their reservations.

"I trust you Finn…" Riveria said turning to Bell "I hope you know what you're doing and will tell us if you need help."

Bell just nodded.

"Alright we should just get ready to leave in an hour until we move out to the 37th floor."

With this the rest of the group pack up to leave. They make their way out of the tent all thinking different things, not really sure what to think of this apparent demi-god of an adventurer.

The group spends the next hour getting ready, putting tents up, eating a snack or just talking amongst themselves. Except for one person who just seems ready to go and stoic. The drastic change in the young man who is usually joking and talking with the people of the Familia is jarring to some and makes sense to the ones who have heard of his exploits prior.

Finn breaks the conversation of the executives and Leifya gathering them up in a corner of the camp so they can move out. Most of the other supporters and second their adventures were going to use this opportunity to go and crawl the dungeon themselves, so the camp was still set up.

"Alright everyone, we are going to be moving as fast as possible to 37th floor where bell has something to show us, we will plan from there about the rest of the descent." Finn spoke to the rest of the group. They all nodded, and they made their way to the entrance of the 19th floor. Bell led the way. Finn wanted to see his knowledge of the dungeon and see how good he is at crawling in general.

This went on for a while. They walked and walked for maybe 15 floors, bell killing everything in sight no matter the monster. He was a monster himself in most of their opinion it was like he was toying with these monsters in numbers that they would be hard pressed to do themselves. This went on for a while until Riveria saw something. He hasn't used his magic yet.

This was weird normally someone with a status this skewed towards magic combat would have had used at least one or two spells, but he hasn't. This perplexed Riveria to no end. This went on for another floor until they got to the entrance of the 34th floor she said

"Bell," Getting his attention "could you start using some magic? I wanted to see what you can do with that, but you haven't used any yet." This made the rest of them confused. 'He had magic?' The ones who weren't there for the status update minus Leifya who had known he's had magic since the other day. 'Why wasn't he using it?' All of them had this thought as it would have been second nature to use magic this far into the dungeon doing what he has been

Bell spoke "sure I can do that." Tis made them all curious. "I just haven't had this much fun with my swords in a while so I kind of forgot to use my magic for the past little bit." He said this kind of sheepishly scratching the back of his head like he does. This made the rest of them except for Aiz who could understand the feeling just awed at his childish nature.

The group moved on from here and they got to the first group of monsters, a bunch of loop Garous, the sheep equivalent of a minotaur Where bell says, "Alright ill use the magics at their base level first and then later ill power them up as we go so you can see what they max output is." This made sense to the captains only and the rest were confused but took it at face value.

Bell decided to use his firebolt first as it was his bread and butter when not fighting dragons, who are fire resistant to fire.

Bell lept at the Loup Garous and Said in kind of a monotonous voice

"firebolt" this led to a stream of red-hot lightening shaped fire shoot from his outstretched hand at blinding speeds. The speed of the chant surprised everyone there. Bell didn't stop there though, the magic he threw out led a bunch of lizard men elites and Peludas to the group, so bell just kept going. He cast Phalanx on the rest of the group to the surprise of them all. The shield was a done of condensed yellow looking magic that covered the group from all around.

With bell he was bouncing around swinging his swords killing everything that moved. The psychotic melody created from the parried blows of the landforms against the solid metal swords, and fleshy slashes fallowed by the loud thump of the large stones hitting the ground surrounded by the flurry of ash left over from the monsters' bodies.

Bell finally decided that it was time for the main event of his magic. The pinnacle of all magic no matter the race form or time. His innate power that runs through his veins thanks to Zeus. His lightning.

Bell stops fighting. To the interest of the group, he stands there, in the middle of the group of monsters sheathing his swords at his side. The monsters around, Lizard men elites, a few Loup Garous, a small army of skull sheep all kinds of things surrounding him closing in sensing his supposed weakness.

The group is getting nervous. Bell is stopping.

"Is he getting overwhelmed" Tiona questioned

"no" Finn says, "I think he's about to do something special." As he says this his thumb starts to ache more than anything he has felt over the past few weeks. Bell not hearing or knowing any of this turns to the group.

"You guys should stay in shield. I don't think it hurt you in the shield." Bell says confident almost relaxed to the confusion of the group.

Bell finally just looks at the monsters and it bursts to life. Bell stands there bathed in lightening dancing around his body. Running from clothing to clothing, bouncing from ground to his body. Running everywhere in a frenzy of blues and purples, bouncing from wall to ceiling. Bell sticks his hands in his pockets. The lightening just starts getting more and more frenzied getting more and more aggressive. Up until now the monsters had realized they had to keep their distance but by now a lizardman elite Bell has his back turned to finally moved in on the supposedly defenseless young man.

"BELL!" All of the group yells in worry. They were about to see their new friend who most have come to like if not respect.

Bell did nothing he just stood there with his hands in his pockets. Lightening dancing a storm up around him. Then the Lizard man gets with in five feet of him when it turns to ash.

to the confusion of the group and speaks

"Yall can just fallow me. The shield will fallow along with you since I'm controlling it, it will just move as I will it."

There was still a plethora of monsters in the area all of them slowly closing in on the boy. Then he turned back to the group and the lightning flares.

A storm of ash floats around the room.

The stones fall to the ground in a series of thumps.

Bell had killed over 30 higher level monsters in one attack. This attack seemed to have no chant and no actual reqwu9iremnt that Riviera could see.

Finn was just looking on in awe at the insane magic. He was salivating at the possibilities of this magic, when clearing the dungeon.

Leifya, Tione Tiona and bete all just stood there slack jawed not really knowing what to think about this monstrous feat from one person.

Aiz was different. She felt something familiar. Something that felt like… her aerial. Almost a sign of divinity that she felt when she would use magic… Something she only felt from one other type of magic she knew of… Her mother's magic.

Bell looked back and saw Everyone being in different stages of shock and awe. He chuckled a little at the sight of some of the most powerful people just completely blown away by his magic.

"We can just walk to the spot on the 37th floor now ill lead the way this will take care of any monster on the way there." Bell just stated like it was an everyday thing not realizing that they were floored by this spell he just showed off.

Bell and the group walked for the next three floors with no resistance at all. Bell just casually strolled along, his lightening bouncing around him. The insane melody of the lightning bouncing and singeing everything in his path. He walks and they fallow covered by the His Phalanx spell.

Bell is leading them through tunnels most of them haven't been into. The they see all kinds of new tunnels and spaces they had no clue existed, finally bell stops at a wall and shuts off his magics that were still running. He doesn't even look at the group and puts up his hand and speaks

"Firebolt" sending a stream of fiery red-hot lightening at the wall, crumbling it to a pile of rocks.

He steps over the rocks beckoning the rest to fallow. They walk through into a large ceiling room with a stream of light blue water running though the floor, with large crystals like the ceiling of Riveria jutting from the ceiling and floor leaving a low light along the room.

Bell gets halfway into the room and turns to the group and speaks

"This is a safe zone I read about in the Zeus Records. It's directly under the Colosseum but I know that it's safe because Zeus had been using this for 3 generations." Bell said this kind of matter of factly leading the rest to kind of just take his word for it.

There are a few moments of silence, the party is staring at bell intently. All of them making it obvious that he has some explaining to do form that magic display they just saw. Bell who has looked at them breaks the silence

"I Guess you guys have a few questions" Bell said kind of sheepishly." I'll answer them all, let's set up lunch first and ill sort through how I'll explain everything."

They took this at face value and got to work setting up the room for the stay. Tiona doesn't help much; she just runs around the room like a child exploring. Bell is silently making a fire and pulling food out of his portal to start cooking. The rest are just sitting around waiting for him to say something.

Bell finishes setting a piece of dragon meat he pulled out of his portal on a spit so it can roast while they talk.

"Alright I know you guys have some questions but can yall please wait till the end for me to finish what I have to say as a preface."

Finn speaks up "I Think that will be best"

"Alright…" Bell takes a breath through his nose and looks at the people sitting around the fire "Do you guys know what spirits are?"

Most save Finn Riveria Gareth and Aiz shake their heads no.

"Alright ill start there." Bell starts "Sprits are the progenitors of magic; they are what the gods created before they descended and allowed them a portion of their divinity to use magic." Bell starts by stating a brief history of sprits "they were originally there to give their power to the mortals of Gekai to combat the growing threat of the dungeon. They were basically direct children of the gods." This confused the ones not knowing what sprits are

Tiona being kind of naive asks "what does this have to do with you though?"

Bell glances at her "I was getting to that…Spirits are basically immortal; they can be corrupted but never killed in the sense you would know. They were also unable to really have kids but that isn't what matters here." Bell continued "I was born to some of Zeus and Hera familia members. My mother was both Zeus and Heras Favorite child" Bell takes a deep breath exhaling through his nose "She was very ill most of her life due to an unknown illness that no matter what they tried they couldn't cure…" Most of the group was very confused by what this has to do with his magic and the spirit history lesson, but they listened anyway. "When my mother was pregnant with me, she was so weak she couldn't conceive, and my parents wanted a kid so badly…" Bell took another dep breath. "Zeus decided to use something that would allow them to have a kid… every god is able to create a spirit, Zeus had never made one prior to this point, so he decided he would use that little bit of power on me so that I would survive, and my parents would be able to have a child"

This shocked everyone there. Finn Riveria and Gareth all knew what he was and that he was part spirit but didn't know how he came around. Bete Tiona, Tione and Leifya were all just confused not really understanding what this meant.

Aiz on the other hand compared to the others was in a mixture of emotions. She was happy to find someone like her but sad at the same time. He had an eerily similar start to life as her. She didn't understand what she will do. Would she tell him about her origins? Would he accept her? Would this hurt her goal for the dragon? She couldn't know. She decided to talk to him after they got out of the dungeon. It did make sense about her attraction to him.

Bell continued "my mother died from birth and my father was already dead at this point from the OBED battle… So, when I was born and my mother dead Hera who was actually the god of my mother couldn't look at me, my mother was her favorite child that she went to the ends of Gekai to find a cure for but failed. so, she left." Bell continued with a Brightening look "I was raised by Zeus, who I Guess you could say is my actual grandfather in a sense."

This led to a silence for a few moments When a confused Tiona said

"What does all of this have to do with your magic?"

Bell smirking a little "Well I was partially created as the spirit of the God of Thunder, so that means that I Hold complete Dominion over Lightning magic." He said this shocking the entirety of the group especially Aiz who didn't understand why he had complete dominion over lightening. "This also means that I in all truth will never die of old age, sickness or starvation being a partial construct of God. This also means I have near limitless levels of mind, so I could keep my lightening active virtually forever."

This made all of them slack jawed. They all thought about the implications of the nigh infinite source of magic power he had.

This was all too much for both Riveria and Finn who both fell out of their makeshift chairs, fainting where they lay.

Tiona and Leifya yelled out simultaneously "CAPTAIN/LADY RIVERI!"

Both ran to their perspective person helping them onto a blanket bell pulled out of the portal.

It took a few minutes went by the meat had finished and they had started to divide out the food when both of the captains woke up at the smell of the food being spread around.

After a few minutes of silent eating Aiz spoke up to most everyone's surprise

"When did you learn about being a spirit?"

Bell looked a bit pensive for a moment before saying "Well, my grandfather took me aside when I was about six and told me most of this including being a spirit but not the stuff about my birth and such. That I had to beat out of him when I learned about spirits in Athens." This got a little chuckle out of most of them and made Gareth who knew Zeus pretty well laughed hard at that. "I didn't understand at the time, so I just took it and went on the path of a "hero", as he called it. I began training maybe 2 days later when Alfia and Zald showed up and the rest yall know."

Finn says, "I can't believe that old pervert told that to a six-year-old."

Riveria was in mother mode thinking about how irresponsible Zeus was. She was also amazed that Alfia would let this happen to her nephew.

Bete Tiona and Tiona didn't really think one way or the other bout the kid's story. Tiona thought that he as cools like the heroes she reads about but not much else. Tione was just thinking that this really didn't change much she was mildly interested but more worried about Finn. Bete just blew it off and didn't really care. "Humph"

The most interesting was Aiz. She was going through inner turmoil after hearing the story. Aiz was confused how there was someone like her. Why does he eat alive by the same black flame that she has? Is something different about him? Is there more to the story? The one thing that she does know right now is that she is very interested in him and when he's alone next she will find answers.