Kibble scribble: Alright it been a while but here we go, another chapter, pushing the darker themes, and a few other things in this one. I also went back and habe done some edits to all the prior chapters, fixing spelling mistakes and some ords and flow and the like.
Also also, in other news, I finally got myself a keyboard for my tablet and it should improve my writing speed. Not sure if it ill be noticeable in how often I update, but here hoping.
Bella awoke bright and early as was becoming the norm for her. On days she was working at the Hostess it was to have a morning exercise with either Ryuu, Chloe or Lunoire, while on days she had on her own she used to enter the dungeon as early as possible.
Today was one such day, and as she was only a few thousand Valis under the cost for the blade Welf was making for her, she wanted to get the remaining amount as quick as possible.
With that in mind she decided to forgo the morning bath and just threw her combat clothing on. She would need a bath after the dungeon so it made more sense to just go straight out. And it meant she could avoid Chloe, who seemed intent on catching her in the bath, and had repeatedly in the last few days.
Something that was becoming a problem as Bella was ever so slightly finding it less awkward to be in the bath with another girl. Chloe's skinship was still super embarrassing though. Shaking her head Bella finished getting ready and then picked up her sack and knife, looking over the latter with a sigh. It was so close to the end of its lifespan. All she needed was it to last one more day and she would have a knife that could compare to the minotaur knife he had before.
"Maybe I should ask Eina once I have it if I could go deeper?" Bella pondered as she left her room and headed down the stairs and found everyone but Chloe and May in the main room preparing breakfast. "Good morning."
Everyone responded in return, though Ryuu spoke up with more than just greetings. "You are heading into the dungeon today then?"
"Yes, I still need a few thousand Valis before I have enough to pay for my new blade,"
"who is making it for you?" Ryuu asked.
Bella opened her mouth to speak but was caught off guard when the sound of someone knocking on glass turned her and everyone else's gazes to the window where Welf stood in clear view holding a cloth wrapped package under one arm. "Welf!?" Bella exclaimed before she got up and ran over to the front door, unlocking and opening it as he came over.
"Yo! I finished the blade, so I came over as promised," Welf said with a smile.
"Oh, uh, I'm still a bit short. By a few thousand Valis," Bella admitted sadly.
Welf on the other hand looked impressed. "really? I expected you'd be short, but by only a few thousand is pretty surprising actually. Tell you what we can-" welf stopped when Mama Mia stepped up behind Bella, towering over both of them.
"so, you're the one who Bella went to get her weapon made from then?"
"Y-yes, " Welf said nervously.
"You have it on you?"
"I do."
"Come inside, both of you," Mama Mia commanded as she stepped back inside. Both Bella and Welf did so, and were quickly pointed to the table were May was putting out breakfast for everyone. "take a seat, you may as well join us for breakfast."
"Um,, thank you for the offer, but I wouldn't want to impose," Welf said respectfully as je noticed all the girls looking in his direction.
"you won't be imposing. If you're as good as Bella alluded to, I may have work for you," Mia stated with a grin.
Welf nodded, his stance shifting ever so slightly before following Bella and Mia into the Hostess. The other girls appeared to have noticed or overheard and already were in the middle of shifting chairs around to make room for another at the table.
"Oh, and who is this?" Lunoire asked with a friend smile as Welf approached.
"This is Welf, who is the one I went to have a blade made," Bella answered, causing everyone to introduce themselves before breakfast was then begun.
Welf seemed a bit nervous at the start, but as everyone at and had light conversation he seemed to lighten up. Right up until Anya spoke up. "So, you make Magic swords right nyaa? I mean, you're a Crozzo, right?"
Welf tensed up for a second before nodding shallowly. "I am a Crozzo, but I don't make Magic swords."
"Why not?"
"I don't like them."
"Why not?"
"Anya, while magic swords can be very powerful they are not for everyone," Ryuu spoke up, much to Welfs surprise.
"Some tend to be hard to aim and they are very loud too," Chloe added, causing Lunoire to nod and add her own thoughts to the mix.
"You also only get so many uses out of magic swords before they up and break on you, and its difficult to tell how many uses you will get. They are not very trustworthy despite their power."
"No, they aren't," Welf agreed, surprising some of the girls as he continued. "They are not made like regular blades, they dont use the same skill, they are made to be broken. They fail when you need them and cannot protect anyone or anything. No proper smith could take pride in that."
The room was silent for a moment, the atmosphere having changed as the conversation had. Then , after a couple seconds Mia slapped the table and spoke. "well, they are not for everyone, but that is not why you are here is it boy? Why don't you show us the blade you made for Bella?"
"Yeah, sure," Welf said with a smile as he scooted his chair back a bit to pick the wrap of the chair and place it on the table before him. As he unrolled it the girls crowded around and gasped lightly as he unveiled the blade.
The blade was about five inches long and had no visible change of its angle, yet ended in a perfect point. The blade and its handle were a deep black and between them was a small and simple yet sufficient crossguard.
"Doesn't look to bad at all," Lunoire said as she picked up the blade and twirled it in her hand and between her fingers. Then, much to Bella's surprise she picked up an apple and tossed it into the air before slicing it cleanly in half. "This is good. The balance is near perfect and the edge is very good."
"Thank you, I'm quiet happy with that prototype," Welf stated with a slight smile, causing everyone to suddenly look at him.
"That isn't the real blade?" Mia asked simply.
"No, that's just the prototype," Welf said as he patted the cloth on the table, making it clear there was still something within its rolls. "The perfected one is here."
"I, thought you needed the extra materials for making a prototype to make the blade?" Bella asked in surprise as Lunoire passed her the prototype blade. It was light, but firm in her hand, and the edge looked like it could cut just by looking at it.
"I did. I used the extra parts to try a few different things and make that prototype. That's why it's a bit too short and has its guard made of a different material," Welf explained as he scratched his chin. "Sometimes you lose just some material, other times you lose the whole prototype. This time I knew some of its qualities from hearing them from Hephaestus once before, so I only lost some material and was able to keep the prototype as a secondary blade for you."
"That is impressive already, but we still have not seen the main blade then," Chloe stated as she eyed the roll of cloth on the table.
Welf nodded and picked up the roll, then held it out to Bella.
"But, I'm still a little short on Valis?" Bella said sadly.
"We'll talk about that in a bit. First, take it and look it over. Tell me what you think," Welf said as he gently shook the roll of cloth in the air.
Bella gingerly took it and then unrolled it in one hand, her eyes going wide at what she saw. The blade looked similar in style to the Hestia knife she no longer had. It was longer, with a blade easily eight inches on its own. The guard was a single protrusion below the blade with a slight curve that could fit a finger under it, and the handle was slightly tilted at the bottom, the pommel being a small and slightly curved yet flattened bulge. It was similar, but it had no carved runes like the Hestia knife did, and the entire thing was a ddep glossy black with an ever so light deep red tinge to it, and a slightly lighter red tinge to the edge of the blade itself. As if the edge itself could bleed.
Bella very slowly picked it up with her dominant hand and gripped it, finding it felt strangely good in her hands. "This, is amazing," she muttered without realizing it.
"That so? May I?" Mia asked as she stepped up behind Bella and held a hand out. Bella nodded and Handed the blade to Mia, who looked it over with a discerning eye before handing it back and looking at Welf. "it is a bit to small for my hands, but that is a very good blade boy. Know anything about making kitchen knives?"
"I've made a couple," Welf answered honestly as he looked at Mia, slowly but surely understanding what she was insinuating.
"Up for making a set? Same material."
"I would need a blade for each knife, two or three for a cleaver," Welf said, figuring the amount needed would probably ruin the chance.
Instead Mia walked around the counter and pulled out a bundle of them. "Four pairs of wraith blades enough for you?" she asked with a grin. "I want a new set of blades for the kitchen that are sharp and durable, and if that knife is any show of skill, you have the ability. So, up for the job?"
"Yes but, do you not want to hear the price?" Welf asked.
"You are skilled and take pride in good work and craftsmanship, I'll trust that your pricing is fair," Mia stated with a strong smile.
Welf seemed to understand the unspoken words in Mia's expression and nodded back at her. "Of course. Though I will not be able to start right away."
"Need to get supplies?" May asked, clearly giddy at the idea of new knives for the kitchen.
"Sort of," Welf answered as he looked to Bella, who was looking over the main knife in awe. "you are a few thousand Valis short, right?"
"Y-yes, I should be able to get it today so-" Bella began to say apologetically.
"Don't sorry about it. Help me get to the seventh floor and we'll be even, sound fair?" Welf asked sith a grin.
Bella nodded instantly, but before she could speak up, Chloe abruptly stood up and pointed at Welf. "Hold on, are you saying you made those blades but don't have the smithing or advanced smithing skills?"
"That's right," welf answered simply, Earning stares of disbelief from the girls aside from Bella and Mia.
"Well, that is more impressive then," Mia said as she took a step back from the table. "When your ready to talk about my order just come back here, alright?"
"Of course. I'll come by once I get the smithing skill," Welf stated with a nod.
"We can get you it today then!" Bella suddenly declared. "Its my day off to go into the dungeon, so I'll talk to Eina and get permission to go deeper now that I'll have a proper weapon!"
Everyone looked at Bella and then to Welf, expecting him to say otherwise, but he simply shrugged. "Works for me, not like I'm doing anything else today."
"You do not have other work to be doing?" Ryuu asked calmly.
"No. Honestly this order is the first direct order I've had in weeks, and the stuff I make to be sold doesn't sell as often as I'd like, " Welf admitted with a dry chuckle.
"That is strange. You definitely have the skill and craftsmanship for your work to sell if these blades are any indication," Lunoire said as she looked at Welf, seemingly fishing for information.
Welf just shrugged, unaware of why his work would not sell, while Bella was staying as silent as possible. She had an idea why his work might not sell, but had been told a few times already to not make assumptions with her old information. After all it would be bad to mention Welfs naming conventions for his work, if they were normal here.
"Right, thank you for the meal!" Welf suddenly said a few seconds later, making it clear he had finished his food in record time before any of the girls had done the same. Standing up he stretched his arms and then looked at Bella. "I'll need to grab my gear, so if we're doing this I'll meet you at the doorway to Babel, sound good?"
It took Bella a second to clear her throat before nodding enthusiastically. "Right, I'll head to the guild then meet you there!" she declared before bolting from the table and disappearing into the back, heading for her room.
Welf gave another thanks to Mia and the girls before he headed out, and a short few seconds later Bella came barreling back down and out the door, leaving Mia and the girls alone with the last bits of breakfast.
"So, did anyone else notice that Bella seemed a bit, energetic?" Lunoire asked after a few seconds of silence.
"She's calways energetic, Nyaa," Anya said with a smirk.
"Not what I meant" Lunoire said with a sigh, prompting Syr to speak up.
"She did seem to be breathing a bit strangely,"
"Yeah, I've felt warm this morning as well, so its probably that, " Chloe said with a shrug.
"What?" May asked, clearly not quiet understanding what Chloe was insinuating.
"She's meaning Estrus," Mia said bluntly. "It's just about that time of year after all."
"Oh right, I forgot that was a thing," Syr said before suddenly freezing for a second. "Wait, does Bella know that her body will go into Heat soon since she used to be a human boy?"
"No, she likely does not," Mia said with a sigh before looking to Chloe. "Chloe, you tell her when she returns from the dungeon. That's why you have been trying to force skinship on her after all, no?"
"Oops, I got found out, " Chloe said with a silly grin. "Don't worry, I know how awkward it can be, I'll tell her gently as I can."
"As long as you are serious about it. For now though finish up, we've got preparations to make before we open," Mia declared as she walked back, around the counter to begin working while her mind was still on Bella. And the fact she went to the dungeon with a man.
"So, What am I like?"
Bella stumbled a bit as she turned to look at Welf , who was now wearing what she knew as his adventuring gear. It had the addition of a custom made chest plate and vambraces, but it was essentially the same armor he wore from before, and his weapon was the same as well. A long greatsword he rested on one shoulder with surprising ease.
"P-pardon?"
"Sorry, that probably didn't make too much sense, huh?" Welf said as he scratched the back of his head. "I meant in the world you come from. Was I the same as I am here? Was I the same person, were there differences, that sort of thing. It's where you knew me from, so I got curious."
"Oh, I see," Bella said as they both continued to walk down the hallways of the dungeons fifth floor. Eina had given her the okay to go down to the seventh, but no further, so they were making their way and making a surprising pace. The monsters they had encountered already were only goblins and kobolds, and between them they had no issue doing away with them. Meaning it was probably safe enough for some simple conversation, at least until they got down to the sixth floor. "You are. We met when I hunted for a replacement to the armor I lost when I had to fight a minotaur at level 1. You became my Smith and we began going into the dungeon with another person. I think . . . . I mean, we were good friends."
"Cool, that's ice," Welf said as he suddenly took a step forward and swung his sword down, splitting a goblin in half as it came around a corner. "I wasn't a woman or something was I?"
"No, you were the same. Even down to your opinion on magic swords," Bella said before she leapt forward to the end of the hall and swung her blade, taking the head off another goblin as it came to investigate the noise. It also revealed the hallway to go down a few meters before it changed from the walls of a cave to hewn brickwork that led to a stairway that slowly spiraled down into the earth. The stairway down to the sixth floor.
"Nice. I can't imagine myself as a woman," Welf said as he came up behind Bella, and then paled a bit. "Oh, uh, i suppose you couldn't have imagined yourself as a woman either before this, huh?"
Bella shook her head as she walked down the hall and stopped right before the stairway. "I'm, getting used to it. I have no choice but to," she said before shaking head and looking at Welf. "Should we take a quick rest before heading down to the sixth floor?"
"You haven't been down to the sixth floor yet, right?" Welf asked, resulting in a shake of the head from Bella. "Then yeah, we should take a rest," he said as he took a seat to the side. "You said you had no choice?"
"I have a skill, it stops my body from changing or being effected by mind magic," Bella explained as she took a seat beside Welf, not noticing him scooch to the side to make some space between them.
"Ah I get it. That skill is stopping you from getting turned back to what you were," Welf said in understanding. He then shifted his blade across his lap and began looking it over, taking out a sharpening stone a second later. "At least those girls all seem friendly. Most of them are adventurers, right?"
"They were. How could you tell?"
"The way they held themselves, and the way they looked at those blades. Made it clear they knew what they were looking for. Mia Grande is well known too, even if she is retired."
"Oh," Bella said, not sure what else to say. It was hard to think of things to ask, would she just be retold things she already knew? If she assumed things would she be wrong?
"You're not sure what is safe to ask me, yeah?" Welf suddenly asked, catching Bella off guard and making her turn to look at him in surprise. Welf chuckled. "You wear your worries on your face. Makes it east to tell what your thinking to some extent."
"Oh, really?" Bella asked as a hand went to her face.
"well, it's not just your face. Most animal people have a hard time hiding emotions because their ears and tails often react according to their emotions," Welf said as he put his sharpening stone away. "I know a girl in my Familia, a Werewolf, whenever she got excited her tail would wag side to side so fast it could dust a room."
"My tail, is too small to do that," Bella said, trying to understand what Welf was tying to get at.
"No, but your ears make up for it," Welf said with a smile. "There were sticking mostly up when I came by with your knives, they went perfectly straight when you ran off to the guild, and just earlier they were drooping. I'd say the happier or more excited you are the straighter they get, but when sad or uncertain they droop."
"Really?" Bella asked nervously as she reached up, only to feel one of her ears drooping down. She wasn't sure how to feel about them. They didn't cause her much grief during the day, and the improved hearing was nice, but washing them was a hassle, getting water in them was uncomfortable, and now knowing they showed her emotions was . . . . . She wasn't sure.
"Not sure how you feel about them?"
Bella was about to speak in surprise, before then suddenly realizing that Welf must have simply noticed her ears drooping or something. "No, they're just, odd I guess. I'm not used to them I guess," Bella said with a sigh." Its weird they show my emotions."
"It's normal for most races with animal features. Besides, its pretty cute seeing your ears move to match your expressions!" Welf said with a smile as he shifted his sword and leaned it against the wall, preparing to get up.
Bella did not notice however as Welfs word was echoing through her mind.
Cute. She had been called cute before when she was growing up as a guy. The older villagers sometimes called him cute as a bunny, especially the older women, and even when he did become an adventurer he knew some peopled had called him a little cute rabbit behind his back, despite having had the title of little rookie. It had been mildly annoying in the past, a simple jab at how thin and short he was, a jab at his odd hair and eye color that set him apart from others.
Now though it was doing something weird. She felt a strange and otherworldly sense of happiness and embarrassment. She felt her body heat up slightly, and her stomach felt strange. Why was the word cute so dangerous?
"Hey, you okay?"
Bella looked up to find Welf standing in front of her and bending down toward her in worry, something that made her feel incredibly uncomfortable for some reason. "I-im fine!" Bella almost panicked as she slunk over to the side and hopped to her feet.
"You sure? Your face looked a bit red, and having a fever or the like in the dungeon is pretty dangerous,"
"Yes, I'm fine, I'm sure, positive," Bella said as she walked around Welf and over to the stairway. "Let's just head down already."
"Alright," Welf said with a shrug as he followed and they both began their descent. "You haven't been down this far yet, right?"
"No, not yet. Eina told me is was to dangerous earlier and that she was only letting me because there would be two of us and I had a better weapon."
"sounds like a good advisor. She give you any tips or tell you about the floor?"
"She said to watch my feet and to avoid getting cornered, but she didn't say anything else specific," Bella said, leaving out that Eina probably had tried to tell her more, but as soon as she had been told okay she was running off out if the guild.
"Fair. The sixth floor is known as the trappers paradise. The only monsters are killer ants and their subspecies, and the floor is littered with all manner of traps. From simple tripwire and pitfalls, to summoning circles, spinning blades and even rolling boulders. I've heard a lot of level ones lose their lives from getting cornered by the killer ants while trying to avoid traps and getting tricked into dead ends," Welf explained just before they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, giving Bella her first view of the sixth floor that was drastically different from what she knew.
Instead of tunnels of rock a darker hue than above, the tunnels they now were in appeared to be made of grey chiseled stone and brick. Crystals stuck out of the walls and ceiling at distant intervals, giving barely adequate lighting, and to worsen the situation even more, a thick mist hung over the bottom foot of the floor in irregular patches.
"This is, the sixth floor?" Bella asked in surprise, looking down the three hallways that came away from the room she and Welf stood in, finding that the hallways were bigger than expected.
"Yep, welcome to the sixth floor. I've come down here a few times, but it always ends badly for me. It's basically impossible for a level one to get past this floor on their own," Welf said before chuckling. "Hell, I've heard it can even be hard for level twos to get around on their own."
"Because of the ants, or the traps?" Bella asked in a slightly nervous tone.
"Both depending on the person, luckily, getting lost won't be a problem because this floor doesn't change too often, and a acquaintance of mine gave me this," Welf said as he pulled out a folded piece of vellum.
"Is that a-"
"Yep, a map of the shortest route the seventh floor!" Welf declared proudly. "A member of my familia passed it in to me yesterday, though he wouldn't say how he knew I was planning to try again soon."
"I thought making maps in the dungeon was futile? Doesn't it change a lot?" Bella asked as her ears suddenly perked up for a second.
"This floor only changes every few months, so unless we are very unlucky it should be fine," Welf said as he unfolded athe map, bet then noticed Bella's ears twitching toward the ceiling. "something wrong?"
"I, I just thought I heard something," Bella said as she looked around nervously, but no longer could hear anything.
"Well, maybe it was a distant monster or something," Welf said with a shrugcbefor4 smiling. "So, you ready?"
Bella looked down the hallway, and after a few seconds gave a nervous nod.
"What the hell is your problem? I told you to stay still and quiet! That rabbit almost noticed us!" a dark haired man in a heavy cloak hissed as he pushed his comrade, a male Hume bunny with dark grey hair and ears, away from him.
"My silencing spell was working fine until your mace tapped the wall behind you," the grey Hume bunny said as he pointed at his comrades waist. "I wouldn't worry though."
"Why? If they catch us before we are ready-"
"They won't. She has no armor and had no idea about this floor, she's clearly new and Crozzo said he hadn't been past this floor. They will have no idea to what we are preparing or are capable of. We'll catch them."
"I hope so. Roscoe and his group disappearing is a problem, and our familia need more problems, just more women and that Crozzo," the human said as he looked around the corner they were hiding behind. "Think we've waited long enough?"
"Couple more minutes. If the girl is new, she'll take longer to get past any traps they find," the grey Hume Bunny replied as he leaned against the wall, one of his ears drooping, while the other was straight as a rod.
The human noticed this and let out a slight sigh. "You want the Hume girl personally, don't you?"
"Why wouldn't i?" he replied with a lecherous grin. "That body of hers is to die for. Having a girl like that become mine and regularly serve me would be utter perfection!" he declared before his grin twisted strangely. "I might even break her in without the drugs to make her my wife!"
"Not a good idea. You know how hard it is to break any adventurer without the drugs or magic,"
"Ah but that is the beauty of it. At this time of year it will be easier to break her in, and if I do it right I can warp her mind with no drug and minimal magic. She won't be just another whore in our brothel, but my own wife and another adventurer who will stand beside us!"
"Right, sure, whatever," the human said with a light shake of his head, before glancing down the hallway. "We've waited long enough, let's go."
"Fair enough " The Hume bunny said with a nod, before suddenly chuckling to himself. "I take it your planning on using the elixir on Crozzo?"
The human simply grinned.
Bella did not like traps.
She was used to the dungeon just being dangerous due to its monsters, but traps added a whole new level of difficulty that she was unprepared for. Up until this floor the ooly trap she had encountered had been the one that had summoned the Wall-wraiths and a couple other minor ones, yet now she had lost count of how many she and Welf had dealt with. Tripwires, pressure-plates, light triggers and even magical sensors were among the triggers they had both triggered and deactivated and avoided, while the traps themselves were even more varied. Arrows launching out of walls, wooden shafts swinging out, sometimes with weapons attached to their ends, spike filled pitfall traps, scythes, bolts of fire, ice and earth, it was so hard to tell what each trigger caused that she barely had time to react.
Surprisingly she had not been directly hit by anything more than a broom handle, though she and Welf had used their weapons multiple times to block the traps and protect themselves.
"Are there supposed to be this many traps normally?" Bella asked as she very carefully walked forward, nervous that the mist over the floor was rather thick, making it impossible to see her feet.
"There are lots, but this is more than I've ever seen myself," Welf answered just as a click echoed alongside his footstep, causing him to bring up his sword just as a section of the wall slipped open and a axe swung out of it toward him crashing into his blade and braking off its shaft to fall to the ground with a clang. "way more than I've ever seen or heard of even."
"Would a skill that alters luck effect their number?"
"I don't think so," Welf said as he lowered his blade and nervously eyed the wall. "If anything such a skill should make this easier."
"Oh," was all Bella could say as she moved cautiously forward. If she recalled her ability correctly it made things more likely to occur, or something like that, so it did seem unlikely it could responsible for the traps themselves, just making them harder or easier. "Are we close to the stairs down?"
"One sec," Welf said as he took out the map and looked it over. "Should be straight past the next junction."
"oh good, I'm getting tired of-" Bella began to say, until she stopped dead in her tracks, her ears shooting straight up as if straining.
"What is it?"
"I, I hear someone running and, screaming. They're in trouble!" Bella exclaimed as she burst forward down the hallway with Welf lagging behind. Arriving at the junction Welf had mentioned was surprisingly easy with no traps activating on the way, but when she arrived she found the junction was echoing from multiple directions, making it difficult to tell where the noise was coming from.
A second later Welf came up behind her panting bit. "Please don't run off like that without warning."
"sorry, I just wanted to help."
"I get it . . . . so, where are they?"
"I, can't tell," Bella admitted upsettingly. "I'm still not used to how my hearing works now, and it's echoing badly. I can't tell which direction its coming from."
"A case of having too good of hearing then," Welf nodded in understanding as he stepped up beside Bella, before both of them suddenly looked to the right hallway as a scream came out of it.
Right before a young human came barreling out, screaming like a lunatic. "RUN! There's too many of them! Run for your lives!" the young man screamed as he ran into the junction and right past both Welf and Bella into the left hallway.
Both of them exchanged glances and then looked back down the right hallway where the other adventurer had come from. First came the sound of legs, then clicking, then a dark blue ant the size of a mid sized dog came zround the corner. It looked at them with its huge eyes, clicked its mandibles and rushed forward.
Just as another, and another, and another following behind it until the right hallway was filled with an uncountabke number of the things.
"Swarm ants, run! Down to the next floor!" Welf yelled as he grabbed Bella's wrist and began running down the hallway directly ahead of them.
Bella felt her wrist warm and her face awkwardly flush, but instantly shook her head and threw the feelings away before breaking free of Welf's grasp and pushing on her own power to run beside him. "Those aren't killer ants?"
"Swarm ants. A rare subspecies that I've only ever heard about. They are smaller and weaker, but never travel alone and summon allies while moving. I've heard they can take out entire groups of adventurers at once through sheer numbers, and that without a good mage they can be nearly impossible to deal with."
"Well, I have my firebolt spell, would that help?" Bella asked hopefully as she looked behind them to see the swarm ants following after them on the floors, walls, and even the ceiling.
"Not unless it can kill more than one at a time!" Welf said before letting out a yelp as he barely managed to dodge over a sudden arc of electricity coming out of the wall due to a trap. "If we can get down to the seventh floor we should be fine, I've heard that they don't leave the floor they spawn on like some monsters can!"
"But, what about that other adventurer?" Bella asked as she looked back again, now unable to see past the amount of swarm ants followin them.
"Forget about him. He had a good lead on them, and we can't worry about him when we are in danger," Welf said as he suddenly swung his sword to smash an arrow out of the air.
"But-"
"Worry about ourselves first before-, there, I can see the stairs!"
Bella looked ahead to see the hallway change back to the dungeons normal cavernous walls and arch downward into stairs. She smiled and slowed ever so slightly, knowing that running down stairs was a bad idea.
She and Welf broke past the threshold and onto the stairs a second later. They both went down easily a dozen stairs before stopping and looking back. A second later a number of swarm ants came up to the edge of the stairs and stopped. They seemed to look down at them and then, just as Welf had said, they turned around and left, seemingly unable or unwilling to e ntr the stairway themselves.
"I, am surprised they didn't actually follow us," Welf said after a few moments of silence.
"But, you said they wouldn't."
"Yeah, but it was second hand information. There's always the chance it is wrong, or had special circumstances to it," Welf chuckled. "let's go, we're almost to the seventh floor."
"Bella simply nodded as she followed Welf down the stairs. She considered asking about the floor or what it was like, but decided that was silly as it was likely the same as the ones before the trap floor.
Only it wasn't.
When they came out Bell found himself standing before an open Field covered in mist with a pitch black ceiling far above them. Old horrid looking twig like trees stuck out of the ground al over, and bushes of thorns were scattered around them at random. The entire field had a sort of half light look to it, a pale and dull light that came from no one place but made it possible to see, but not well.
"The, the tenth floor?!" Bella exclaimed in shock and surprise.
"Uh, no, it's the seventh floor," Welf said in confusion as he looked to Bella.
"No uh, this was the tenth floor in my old world," Bell said as she looked around in thought. If this was the seventh floor did that mean its monsters were weaker? If they weren't did that mean that traps made that big a difference in how dangerous the dungeon was? Did it mean more people lost their lives in the dungeon than he had first thought?
"Really? That's interesting," Welf commented as he took a few steps forward and stretched his arms above his head while taking a deep breath. He seemed almost casual.
"Um, you just needed to get down to this floor, right?" Bella asked nervously, the swarm ants having made her a bit worried as to what else this dungeon could throw at her. "or, do you need to slay a monster?"
"nah, I just needed to get down to this floor to unlock the ability but," Welf stopped and turned back to look at the stairway they had just come out of. "I think I want to wait for those swarm ants to disperse before we head back up. That alright with you?"
"its okay, I, think that's a good idea," Bella replied as she too looked back at the stairs and recalled the numbers that had been chasing them. "I, don't think I could fight that many."
"Yeah, I've heard them described as more a natural phenomenon than actual monsters," Welf began as he walking to their right alongside the cavern wall. "they're suppose to be weaker than killer ants, but they are faster and due to being smaller they are harder to hit I've heard. There's no way my sword would be good against them."
Bella cracked a smile, easily imagining how much trouble such small monsters could give Welf. She had seen him have trouble hitting Almiraj in her other world after all. His sword was strong and well made, but it really wasn't suited for precise attacks, just heavy swings and sweeps. "Um, where are we going though?" Bella asked a few seconds later and they continued to follow the wall.
"I remember hearing that there's supposed to be a good mining spot around here for ores, so I kind of figured I'd grab a few while we wait. Monster are supposed to stay near the open area, but if any come around can you give me a heads up?" Welf replied just before they came upon a section of the wall covered in dull yet sparkling rocks of various luminosity.
"Okay, how long will it take?" Bella asked her ears perked up slightly, hearing the sound of distant combat somewhere on the floor.
"Well," Welf began as he unshouldered his backpack and took out a wooden shaft, and then a pickaxe head and began screwing them together. "that depends on the ore."
Bella nodded in understanding as she took up a position a ways away from Welf so any combat she might get into wouldn't impede him.
Welfs comment about monsters not being by the wall turned out mostly true. After what felt like easily a couple hours the only monsters she had fought were a couple of Imps that had tried sneaking up on her by hiding in the mist. In the past they might have succeeded, but it appeared her ears could even point her to monsters that were rather quiet.
About an hour later she heard him call out to her and ran over back to the wall of ore. And found Welf with his shirt off and a pickaxe in his hand. His well toned upper body was covered in a thin layer of glistening sweat that made his muscles clear and evident, and as Bella looked she realized where she was looking and quickly looked to the side, her face flushing as she herself had no idea what was going on. "So, you are done mining?"
"Yeah, if I mine any more I'll have trouble bringing it back up to the surface," Welf said as he tapped a sack by his feet that went up to his knees and looked rather heavy with ore. " Figured you might be bored too. Didn't sound like too many monsters came by, yeah?"
"no, just a pair of Imps," Bella stated as she looked back at Welf and found it hard to look at him, even at his face. Which was odd because there was no reason for their to be any difficulty to look at him. Was it because she was a Hume Bunny maybe?
"Those sound like they would be easy for you to deal with," Welf chuckled as he took out a small towel from his bag that was lying on the ground and wiped his face, then his shoulders and his muscled torso. "Did you want to go after any monsters on this floor?"
Bella turned and looked out into the mist filled cavern and thought to herself for a moment. She was level 2 so technically shouldn't have any issue with most monsters, but the dungeon here was so different it was hard to tell. Plus there was the fact she had no armor if something went wrong, and still felt a little bit not fully into her body yet. "No, I think I'll wait until I have some armor to be on the safe side,"
"Yeah, that's fair," Welf said as he tossed the cloth into his bag and began donning his shirt and then his other upper garments and his armor, chuckling a bit as he did. " You'll need to really hit the dungeon hard then, armor can be just as expensive as a god weapon. Though with the way you fight you wouldn't need a whole lot of metal I would wager."
"Well, my last armor had a metal chest plate, and vambraces and greaves but, what would you suggest?" Bella asked, now finding it far easier to look at Welf that he was fully clothed.
Welf hummed to himself as he then began staring at Bella, as if sizing her up and down while looking all over her body. It made her feel strange, but Welf did not seem to notice as he shrugged and picked8 up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he spoke. "Leather and cloth of some kind, maybe some bits of more rigid materials in some places. It would depend on what form of armor you wanted, how much protection and mobility you wanted and the like . . . though I will admit making armor around your chest would be, a bit more difficult."
"o-oh," Bella said as she turned her body a bit, finding her body feeling warm and her face flush again. Just what was going on with her body?
"Yeah, sorry for being blunt, but that is how it is. You won't be able to get any old mass produced chestpiece or cuirass. Anything you get for covering your upper body in any way will need to be custom made," Welf explained as he tied the sack of ore shut and threw it over his shoulder. "ready to head back up?"
"yes i-" Bella began to say, stopping as her ears caught a noise she didn't recognize, something like a hissing or fizzing noise.
"Something wrong?" Welf asked, noticing Bella freeze up a bit.
"I- I thought I heard something," Bella replied as she looked around, her ears straight up and still hearing it.
"What did you hear?"
"Some kind of, hissing, I can still hear it," Bella said as suddenly she could hear the noise getting louder and managed to track it to an object sailing through the air toward her and Welf. An object with one end of it sparking. Her instincts screamed at her in an instant, causing her to react by leaping at Welf and sending him and her backwards to the dirt and roll away a bit as she yelled, "Get down!"
A second later the object crashed into the floor where Bella and Welf had been and exploded into a thick cloud of sparkly yellow gas that they managed to not be within.
"What, what was that?" Bella asked in surprise, before realizing she was sort of straddling Welf and feeling strangely embarrassed and quickly rolled off of him and got to her feet.
"A Grenade. Paralysis gas if I got the color right," Welf said as he climbed up to his feet and then suddenly drew his blade as he stared at the gas that was quickly settling t the ground and dissipating.
"A grenade?"
"A potion meant to be thrown that explodes due to some of the ingredients inside of it. Alchemists use them very often in the dungeon and can do a lot with them," Welf explained as his expression turned grim. "And s it was clearly aimed at us, that means some other adventurers tried to paralyze us. Probably to swipe our gear and equipment."
"What?!" Bella exclaimed in surprise. After all, the idea of adventurers attacking each other actively was still pretty foreign to her, even if Mord had done it in her prior life. Did that mean such a thing wasn't a rare occurrence, but more common? Did people just, attack each other despite being n the same team?
"They're coming after us. Are you ready?" Welf said as he readied his blade.
"Are, are we sure they didn't maybe just miss, or throw it in the wrong direction?" Bella asked hopefully.
"We are at the edge of this floor, and there are no monsters around," Welf said as he shouldered his bags off his back to free up his body. " I'm pretty sure they are after us for some reason."
"But, couldn't it be some kind of guild test maybe?"
"No, the only people the guild sends into the dungeon are specialists during extreme situations. These are adventurers, coming after us for some personal reason, probably to mug us. Don't be too gentle on them, they will probably attack us with the intention to either maim, or outright kill us," Welf said grimly as he took a few steps forward and took in a deep breath before yelling out. " Hey, why don't you show yourselves assholes!"
It took a few moments, but a pair of people came into view through the mist until they were clearly in view. Both were wearing heavy cloaks that hid their bodies frim view but neither had their hoods up and both had their weapons in hand. One was a human with dark hair and a rough face. In his hands was an oversized crossbow with a potion bottle at the back behind the strings, and hanging from a belt on the outside of his cloak was a carrying case and a number of bottles and vials, clearly marking him as an alchemist or something similar. The other man was a younger looking Hume Bunny with grey hair and ears and dull blue eyes with a strange look to them. He was holding a large wooden staff in one hand, but the staff looked strange as it had bandings of metal across it at regular intervals, magical carvings between the bands, and what appeared to be a folding blade near its head.
"Goodness, this would have been so much easier if you had simply gotten hit," the human said with a shake of his head as he held his crossbow to the side and pulled a vial of pinkish liquid off his belt before pointing it at Welf. "It's going to be hard to make you drink this if you can resist after all."
"You're trying to poison me?" Welf asked in tense surprise. "Why? I don't recall doing anything to earn anyone's direct ire."
"Poison? Of course not," the human said with a vile grin as he put the vial back on his belt and hefted his crossbow. " just something to make you more in line with our way of thinking, and more pleasing to the eyes. After all, having a Crozzo in our Familia making us weapons during the day would be a very powerful boon for us!"
"I don't make magic swords," Welf said angrily in return, causing the man to let out a deep laugh.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. You will once we turn you to our way of thinking," he stated as if it was preordained. He then looked to Bella and smirked. " You deal with the rabbit, I'll take Crozzo."
"Wouldn't have it any other way," The grey haired Hume Bunny said with a grin as he began circling to his right while looking at Bella.
Before either Bella or Welf could speak up the man aimed his Crossbow to the space between them, but far closer to Welf, and fired. The bottle sailed through the air and crashed to the ground, forcing Welf to roll away from Bella to dodge, and then sending him flying to the side as it exploded with a blast of pure force.
"Welf!" Bella cried as she tried to run over and help, only to have a wall of fire suddenly rise up in her way. She turned to see the grey haired Hume walking casually toward her, red runes on his staff glowing as fiercly as the flames in her way. "why are you attacking us?!"
"Having a Crozzo in our Familia would be a major boon, but you don't need to worry about him. He'll be quite happy using his skills, and body, for us once he's good and properly trained," the Hume bunny said before grinning at Bella. "Don't worry though, I'm sure you can still be friends once you join us as well."
"I'm not joining a Familia that forces people into it," Bella said seriously as she pulled out her dagger and held it in front of herself in preparation.
"Oh you will. After all, it wouldn't do for ones significant other to not be in the Familia, don't you think?"
"what, are you talking about?" Bella asked, not understanding what this person was getting at.
"Oh, so you're one of the more naïve or innocent ones then?" the man asked before his smile turned deranged. " Fantastic! It will be so much fun molding you to my preferences! Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself; to put it into simple terms, I shall be taking you as my mate, My Wife!"
In the instant that the words left his lips, Bella felt her mind go into overdrive as he body reacted as well. A part of her stomach seemed to warm, but was promptly squashed as the rest of her body shivered with disgust as her mind instantly understood what he had been alluding to. She was a girl now, and had a girls body. A body this man was after. "NO!"
The Grey haired Hume Bunny let out a horrendously disgusting laugh as he licked his lips and spun his staff in his hands once, causing the folding blade to unfold out and stick out to the side like a scythe. "You can try to deny it all you want, but once I get a hold of your body and stat molding it to my liking, your mind will follow soon enough, especially at this time of year!" He declared as he began taking measured steps toward Bella. " I'll break you in, fill you with so much pleasure and love that you wont be able to even think about a life without me. You will be my wife, in all that it entails, and you will love it. That I promise, so I suggest you don't resist to much, I wouldn't want to hurt your body before we begin using it for more proper means!"
"Absolutely not! I have no interest in guys!" Bella yelled out as she jumped backwards, dodging a wide and sudden swipe of the mans Scythe.
"Of course you do, you're a Hume Bunny, and your body will be in Heat soon if it isn't already! Even if you think you don't have any interest, your body certainly will, and I'll use that to its utmost to break you in and make you mine!" The Grey Hume Bunny declared as she swung his scythe upwards at Bella, only for her to dodge both it, and a subsequent whip of fire that came from behind it.
She leapt to the side, her mind close to panicking both due to the horrible things the man before her was stating he had planned for her, and because he seemed to be casting spells without saying anything. It made no sense. Spells had to have chants to cast them. Even to cast her Firebolt she had to call out the spell to cause it to be cast, So how was he able to create those whips of fire behind his strikes without speaking them at the minimum?
"You, you can't just force people into such things against their wills!" Bella argued with him as she dodged swing after swing, finding the scythe's wide and long reach to be a problem to get past. Worse was that after each swing came the lash of flame, making it nearly impossible to close in on him. She needed to find an opening, or something that could give her an opening.
"Of course we can! If their opinion changes after time, then there is no harm or foul that can be proven," He said with a grin as one of his hands shifted down the shaft of his scythe and brushed against a glowing rune just before he swung the scythe itself. " That's why no one can stop our familia! If no one reports anything, there's no proof we have committed any crime!"
"I'll report you to the guild!" Bella declared as she dodged the swing, and then the lash of fire that formed behind it, a bit of realization crossing her mind.
"No you wont, not after if taken you back to our base and turned you into a perfect and willing Fuck bunny of a wife!" He declared as he swung his scythe toward Bella.
In that instant, as he swung, Bella threw her second blade at his foot, causing him to shift around to dodge the blade, and forcing him to shift his grip on his weapon itself. Using that chance she lunged foreword with her main dagger and thrust it toward him, Carefully slashing the shaft of the scythe staff and carving a chunk of wood off of it before narrowly cutting into the mans cloak around his chest before he managed to leap backwards while kicking up the bottom of the staff to force her away.
"Whoa there!" the Grey haired Hume Bunny exclaimed with a strange grin as he touched the cut in his cloak, noticing it over the damage to his staff due to how Bella moved. " Heh, You got fire in you yet it seems, I'll enjoy building that fire up under the covers of our bed!" He declared as he grabbed his staff and lunged forward to swing it. Only this time when his one hand gently touched the rune on its shaft, now damaged, the rune, and the entire middle of the shaft, exploded in a blast of fire that send him and his weapon apart with a roar.
Bella braced herself against the blast and shortly found herself looking at the mans prone form, and as he didn't move, and the wall of flame he had created earlier was gone, she ran over to where she could see Welf fighting the other man.
Cresting the small hill she found Welf looking ragged and tired, his clothing and armor both blackened and bleached in spots as puddles of liquid were all over the ground. His sword was chipped and it looked like the tip had been melted off as well, but the Alchemist himself looked to be in just as dire straits. His cloak was shredded, there was a belt of now broken vials on the ground, and the belt still on the mans waist and chest looked to be nearly empty. His crossbow appeared to be broken, and while it had a blade stuck at its front, it was broken off, leaving little remaining.
He also was mostly turned away from her, and didn't see her. "Firebolt!" Bella called as soon as she saw as such.
The firebolt crashed into the back of the mans right arm, making him drop his crossbow with a scream, the fire visibly burning his flesh as he fell to a knee and grabbed at his arm.
"Bella, you okay?" Welf called out as Bella ran over to his side.
"I should be asking you that!"
Welf smiled and winced at once. " Heh, fighting a level two is a bit much for me."
"Where is my partner?" The human suddenly demanded as he climbed to his feel while still clutching his arm, his burnt one trembling as it slowly reached down at his belt.
"I beat him," Bella stated as she stepped between the man and Welf.
"Dead?" The human asked, more curious sounding than horrified.
"Of course not! I just knocked him out," Bella responded, scandalized by the idea of killing another adventurer.
The man looked at her for a second before letting out a pained yet deranged laugh. " Naïve of you girl, that man isn't going to go down that easily, are you?"
"No," the Grey haired Hume bunny said as he suddenly walked out from behind the human, his form wavering as is he was a mirage. " But I do admit I was caught off guard. You're a level two, aren't you my lovely?"
" . . . I am," Bella said anxiously, worried about what could happen that he wasn't as unconscious as she had figured.
"Marvelous! I cannot wait till I mold you into my perfect wife, but alas it seems I must. We will see each other again, I promise you that!"
"You think we'll just let you go after attacking us?" Welf called as he stood up and held his one hand out with his palm open, ready to cast his own spell it seemed.
"you have no choice," the Hume Bunny said with a grin. "Both of us are level 2, and while both my staff and its attached magic sword have been destroyed, I am still far from helpless. In comparison, one of you are level 1 and wounded. We are leaving, and you would best let us."
"Why, we'll just report you to the guild," Welf stated. "You wont get away with this!"
"oh, I would say as such. After all, you cant report us if you don't know our names, or faces," The Hume Bunny said as he grabbed his allies hood on his cloak, as well as his own, and flipped them both up over their heads.
And in that instant, much to Welf and Bella's shock, they could not make out anything of the two men's faces, and could not recall anything about what they looked like.
"Recognition blocking hoods! Those are illegal by guild law!" Welf yelled in shock.
"Perhaps, but that matters not," the one hooded person said as they looked toward Bella. " I shall see you again in time, my future wife. Stay healthy and pure till then, I wouldn't want someone to take our glorious night from us."
Then, before anything more could be said, the other person threw a vial to the ground where it shattered and exploded into a cloud of thick grey smoke that quickly expanded over Welf and Bella, making it impossible to see anything.
It took almost a full minute for the cloud to disperse, and by the time it did Welf and Bella found themselves alone on the floor, with only some pools of liquid, and a single unbroken vial on the ground to tell that they had even been attacked.
"What, what do we do?" Bella asked uncertainly as she glanced to Welf, who looked very tired and beaten, reminding her of their attempt to reach the 18th floor, where she had almost lost Welf and Lili. He wasn't that badly beaten or worn, but he looked like he was getting there.
"The only thing we can do. Report what happened to both the guild, and our Familia's," Welf said in a defeated tone as he picked up his bags with a groan, seemingly unwilling to leave them behind. "Will you be able to protect both of us on the way back up? I don't think I'll be a whole lot of use unfortunately."
"I will," Bella said seriously before the pair began trekking back up the floors of the dungeon towards Orario, and hopefully safety.