Spirit Child Chapter 27: Encounter, a dungeon ni deai o motomeru no wa machigatte iru darou ka fanfic

"Bell, you will be careful yes?"

Hestia looked up to Bell pleadingly, she was really worried. Bell stood in the middle of the big living room of his home. After Finn´s encouraging speech, the Familia had made preparations to leave Orario.
No one would go to sleep anymore, they felt like they were on fire. Messengers ran to the Hephaistos and Goibniu Familias, they had thankfully changed their work pattern too so that someone was present around the clock.
The guild would take most of the costs to prepare the Loki Familia. Right now it was four in the morning and the whole Hestia alliance was awake. Welf had worked on Bell´s "Hero set" for a while now, to increase it a bit more and in Bell´s eyes it got only cooler and cooler.
His whole left arm was still covered in the armament called the "Golden Fleece", the old cloth around his hips were gone and a leather kilt took it´s place, with an additional cloth skirt under it. Welf had joked that in the original sense, Bell had to wear it without underwear and got a good laugh because of Bell´s expression.
His upper body was now covered by a golden chestplate with stylized wings over his pectoral muscles, a small fur covered his right shoulder, with a shoulder armor smaller than on the left side underneath.

The Hestia Knife had it´s sheath imbedded in the underside of his left bracers, Hakugen in the right bracers. Olympus was on Bell´s back, but he would need to rely more on his Knives in this battle. Olympus had only regenerated two of it´s ten charges since the first fight, Bell had used them all there.
Also the monsters were weak to Hakugen´s purity. Sadly, not even lord Goibniu, lady Hephaistos or Tsubaki were able to forge a weapon for Ais out of unicorn horn in that short time.

"Master Bell, you really look like a hero of old times now."

Despite being extremely tired and nervous, Haruhime showed him a warm, loving smile, while she held his golden headband. Welf helped Bell to adjust his armor for a last time, Naza knelt behind Bell and made sure that the special potions she made for him were safely in his pockets.
Mikoto was busy in the kitchen, preparing food for him and Ais, the Loki Familia wouldn´t be away for long, but they would face the monsters at the next day. Everyone helped Bell to be fully prepared, he really looked like a hero ready to save the world.

"Thank you all so much."

"Okay, everything good." Naza smacked Bell´s butt lightly as she got up.

"Eep!"

"Hehe, you are so easy to startle, Bell."

She had her own way to distract Bell from being worried too much. When everyone was finished, there was only one thing left to do. Bell turned to Hestia and knelt down in front of her. Hestia didn´t wore her usual white dress, she had put on a special outfit.
Her legs were covered by long, white stockings with golden ornaments on top, bottom and the middle. Her middle was covered by a tunic of similar design...well her back was mostly free and her chest barely covered..as always. She wore a golden necklace and headband. On the middle of her upper arms, she had gold bangles with long, blue, silk ribbons.

Hestia really looked like a greek goddess now, even with showing so much skin she looked...elegant and...divine. She took the golden headband gently out of Haruhime´s hands and turned to the kneeling Bell.

"Bell, my first child."

"Goddess."

"Hereby I send you on a mission of paramount importance. You will move out to slay the monsters that threaten this city...this world. I will send you with the blessing of the goddess of hearth."

She leaned forward and kissed Bell´s forehead, before placing the golden headband on his head, it didn´t contained a magic stone this time, there wasn´t enough time beforehand to prepare.

"I only order you to do one thing, come back safely to us. Stand up now, my champion."

Bell got back to his feet and opened his eyes, it was an old ritual of heroes and Hestia had prepared it to see Bell off safely, to focus his mind and ease his nervousness. She knew that he always dreamed of that, and his child-like smile was as pure as it could be.

"Thank you, goddess."

The others wished Bell the best luck and only wished that he would return to them.

"Everyone, thank you. I have to go now."

Bell grinned widely in his usual manner.

"I will be back in a few days!"

All of them walked with him to the gate of the Mansion and waved while he followed the street, he would meet the Loki Familia at the north-east gate.

"Bell..."

"Lady Hestia?" Haruhime looked worried at the goddess.

"Why do I have the feeling...this is the last time...we see Bell like this?"

"Don´t say that lady Hestia! Master Bell will return to us!" Lily yelled out by Hestia´s words.

"Little Cassandra...do you see something?" Hestia felt very uneasy.

"No..."

They wished they could go with Bell, but all others Familias were ordered to prepare the defence of Orario, just in case monsters attacked from another side. And the Hestia alliance would go with the Demeter Familia every day now.
A last time one of Bell´s golden armaments flashed before he went around a corner. Later that morning, Ryu would come with her goddess to the Mansion, they would then find out that he had already left town.
Astrea hugged her "daughter" when Ryu got tears in her eyes, her feelings for Bell never stopped, no matter how many time went by, when she went to her work at the pub later, Syr would to her best to spend her best friend comfort, telling her everything would be okay. Many people that knew Bell would react in a similar way, he didn´t had time to talk to everyone.

.
The north-east gate came into view when Bell came closer. Even at this early hour, craftsmen worked at the gate, repairing and enchancing such a big gate took time...and Orario had eight of those. Many people waited for him, nearly the whole Loki Familia was here, as well as their goddess.

"Yo little rabbit, right on time!"

Loki grinned and put her arm around Bell, shaking him a bit. The goddess had not only accepted that Bell was Ais´ partner, but she had slowly taken a liking to him. Without knowing it, Bell had made Loki really happy one day. Loki thought that Ais would bath alone and jumped into the big bathroom, as soon as she opened the door, she stood right in front of the naked Bell.
Bell had averted his eyes in panic, never before had a man reacted to Loki´s chest...even if it was only embarrasement. Her heart got filled with joy and she hugged him instead of Ais, which let Bell only squeak more. But Loki had to let him go, since Ais also came over, not that Ais got jealous over Bell having skin contact with other women, but for Loki, he was only there for her cute, little, adorable, lovely Ais.

Not everyone would leave the city, Bete and all of the beast people, as well as a few others would stay in the city, to help defend it and have an eye on the Mansion. Bell noticed that Bete was alone, these days Lena often stayed over at night at the Loki Mansion, like Bell did often, but he asumed that she was still sleeping, she wasn´t a morning person.

"Everyone, get ready to move out!" Finn raised his spear for a moment.

"Okaaaay everyone, bring me back some souvenirs from Melistora when you are done spanking these monsters. I order you all to come back safely, we will have a big party when this all is over!"

It...sure looked a bit strange when Loki said that, since she still had her arm around Bell and pulled him towards her. When Ais was the Familia´s idol in Loki´s eyes, her rabbit slowly became their mascot.

The goddess lowered her voice and whispered to Bell with a naughty grin.

"I expect much of you two, hurry up when you are back, I want to see some small Ais´ running around! Breed like the bunny you are!"

"E-Eh?! Th-That´s way too early!"

"Too early? Okay. Raul, Aki, then you two hurry up!"

"Sh-Shut up Loki!" Anakity got easily flustered by her goddess.

"W-We aren´t like th-that!"

"Ah c´mon, I have good ears you know? Especially when I am right in front of your door!"

A few Familia members chuckled by the sight of the blushing couple, but not the elves.

"Loki...stop teasing the young ones..."

Riveria gently bonked Loki on the head.

"Understood, Mom!"

"Who is a mom..."

"Bring them all safely back to me, Mommy Riveria!"

"Loki..."

As Ais had explained to Bell after Finn´s speech a few hours ago, Finn was really good at firing people up and Loki was really good at allaying their worries.

Bell´s eyes widened when he saw Ais, her new armor was finally finished.

"Ais...you look...gorgeous...stunning...so beautiful...like a goddess..."

The others could understand Bell´s reaction. Ais´ feet were in silvery plate boots, with golden borders at the top and white, stylized wings. Her legs were covered by black stockings until the middle of ther thighs. Her middle was a blue and white tunic that went over into a wide skirt, when she stood still the stockings ended a hand wide under her skirt...she still wore some kind of hot pants under the skirt, not wanting everyone except Bell to be able to see her underwear.
She had armor plates on the sides of her hips, in the same position as her old ones, also with golden borders at the top and stylized wings. They were hold in place by two crosswise worn, black belts with golden buckles. Instead of her old chestplate that would let half of her right breast uncovered, she got a new one. It was completely silver with wings in the middle, that spread over her chest and a golden bottom border, her old chestplate had gotten too tight anyway, she had gifted it to Lefiya, together with her old hip armor and her arm guards, who cried in joy about that and added it to her own battle dress, declaring she wanted to look like a battle mage. Ais´ tunic continued under her chestplate up to her neck, her back was mostly free, due to old habits of fighting. A blue ribbon on her back held the tunic in place.
Her hands were in dark blue gloves, together with silver bracers that also covered the back of her hands, also with golden borders near to her ellbows. Her hair would be held back by a silver tiara, that had a small green emerald in it. All pieces of the armor and the cloth for her skirt and the cape that started at her hip downwards were enchanted.
The silvery metal was the finest adamantit that she could get her hands on. Ais and Bell went into the dungeon together often to find the metal, sometimes they brought a smith from the Hephaistos Familia or Welf with them, they had it easier to mine the ore.

"Hey, hey, hey little rabbit, no flirting with my cute, little Ais before you go into battle. Stay focused you two and don´t be together all the time."

"Loki, they form a team...they are our vanguard."

"Oh...well then forgot what I said, flirt all you want! But make sure I will see some children soon!"

"Loki, enough!" Now Lefiya got flustered too.

"You too Lefiya! Jump in with them! Even more children!"

"H-Huh?! N-N-N-N-Never! Bell is like a *mumble mumble mumble*..."

"Loki enough now, you know that Lefiya can´t handle your teasing."

"Ah come on, Mommy Riveria, don´t you want to have some grandchildren soon too?"

"I´m not that old!"

More Familia members chuckled, Loki was really good at what she did.

"Okay, okay. Enough fooled around. Come back safely you all!"

Loki and the Familia members that would stand in Orario watched how the raid party went through the gate. They had a long way ahead of them and would walk fast, instead of walking as one big group, they split up into smaller groups and walked with a bit distance to each other, but not more than two dozen meters.
Some of the Familia members and the guards looked especially at Ais and Bell, their armors made them stand out from the rest...they really looked like two heroes. Despite Loki´s joking nature, she remained on the wall until her beloved children vanished into the distance, looking all too serious.

"Come all back safely..."

Bell used the chance while they marched forward to learn something. He looked left and right at the groups around his own.

"Bell?"

Ais watched him from the side while they walked.

"It´s interesting how Mr. Finn organized the groups."

Bell wanted to learn as much as possible from the Loki Familia, for the dungeon adventures of his own Familia in the future. There were nine groups in total, each with a mage at least. The groups at the front contained the frontline adventurers like Gareth, Ais and Bell.
Most of the archers and spell user were held in the middle, it was the standard formation to evade getting attacked from the sides. The stronger adventurers were spread over the various groups. Gareth was in the group to Bell´s right, he was surprised how much the Familia members admired the old dwarf, he once heard one of them talking about his "gentleman charm".
Tiona and Tione formed a vanguard duo like Bell and Ais, were part of the group to his left. Finn remained in the center group, the only group with more than five members, they were fifteen in total in the middle, so fifty-five adventurers were part of the raid group. Riveria was part of the rear guard, she was the second in command after Finn and the vice-captain.
And then there was the magic user that was part of Bell´s group...a certain familiar mage.

"Eheheh...Ms. Ais...I´m so happy to be with you."

Lefiya smiled all over her face, Finn didn´t made her part of this group because of their close friendship, but because he knew how strong Lefiya was when she focused her mind. Thanks to the training with the Hestia Familia over the year and even more since she had returned to the Loki Familia, Lefiya had recently reached level five...Bell noticed that her ears were twitching from happiness.

"I´m reassured that you are with us."

Bell smiled. "The armor really suits you Lefiya, you look so strong with it."

"Ehehehe, thank you, Bell!"

The armor parts she got from Ais fit surprisingly well with her usual outfit, together with the weapons from Filvis that she used, Lefiya really looked like a battle mage. She even found a use for the remains of her old staff, that was destroyed by Filvis back in Knossos. Under Lefiya´s eyes, an elven craftsmen had carefully split the tip of the staff and took the magic stone out. The golden leaves that formed the tip were carefully placed on the shoulder guards she got from Ais, it looked like her shoulders were now protected by these leaves. The magic stone was still intact and she let it place in the middle of her new chestplate, right at the valley of her breasts. The shattered rod was put upright into Filvis´ grave, she deserved a piece of an elven forest in her grave.
Over time...as if it was a wonder...the rod that was formerly a branch from a thousand years old tree...took root...a small tree around a meter in height would grow on Filvis´ grave, Lefiya smiled and cried in joy when she saw this and took care of the tree every few days. She had added the old knee guards of Ais to her white stockings and even asked an elven craftsmen to work on the color of the small cape that started at her hips.
Formerly it was pure pink, now it started blue around her hip and went over into pink. The rest of her outfit looked the same, but she had to change the sleeves under her armpits. Due to the chestplate and pink jacket she always wore, it got really warm, so she cut off the part under her smooth, armpits, of course no one saw her skin due to the jacket, but the fresh air felt nice.

In addition to her magic training with Riveria, Lefiya trained with Ais and Bell to get better in sword fighting, she didn´t wanted only to rely on her magic and become a better close combat fighter like Filvis was, partly to honor her deceased friend. The fact that the chestplate showed the outline of her chest was something she could live with, Ais´ old armor parts added a lot of protection for her.

"You look really mature with that new outfit."

Lefiya wriggled her ears in joy, her relationship with Bell had changed a lot in this one and a half years since he had carried her to his home. She would always be thankful to him for what he had done for her, her feelings of despise were gone. Sometimes the old rivalry remained, but in a good way. If she was honest with her feelings, Lefiya really liked Bell, but not in a romantic way.
She had reacted so strongly to Loki´s tease because Bell was Ais´ partner...and Lefiya liked Bell more like a brother.

"I will protect you tw-Ouch!"

Lefiya tried to look cool when she hit her chest with her fist in a pose that should say "You can rely on me"...but she forgot the chestplate for a moment. So she winced in sudden pain when her fist hit the metal...

Ais giggled slightly. "We will protect you when you protect us, Lefiya."

And something else on Lefiya was different, she had a new hairband for her ponytail, it was a gift from Bell to her birthday. She was really perplexed when he gifted her that, got really red when he told her that she was also important to him.

"Lefiya?"

"Ms. Ais?"

"Mou Lefiya...I told you...just Ais."

"A-Ais..."

"Hehe...Bell wants to learn more about our formations and work together, can you tell him some things about the magic user?"

"Of course! Hehe now listen my disciple!"

"D-Disciple?"

"Would you like "pupil" more?"

"Let´s go with disciple..."

Being a bit carefree while they were still so far away was not only allowed, it was necessary to keep everyone calm. Only when she came to the end of her lecture did Lefiya notice that everyone was listening to her and looking at her...

"H-Hey...why are you all looking at me..."

"That was very good Lefiya, you memorized everything I teached you."

Riveria looked proud fromt he back. The others laughed when they saw that Lefiya´s face and ears got deep red. The way continued, while they chatted carefree, the party walked with a speed that a normal person couldn´t endure. They walked and walked, sometimes even falling into a light jogging until the night came.
They made their camp, but without tents this time, only two blankets for each person, one to sleep on, the other to use as a regular blanket. It wouldn´t be the most comfortable night, since they were only allowed to take off their armors.

Bell borrowed a pan and cooking utensils from a supporter and made a small fire. Ais sat next to him and watched how he made the omelett with rice and vegetables for her that he had perfected ever since the cook off of the Loki Familia.
While they were experienced adventurers, some of them were just too nervous to eat much. Anakity and Raul excused themself, they wanted to wander around a bit alone. Since they didn´t had much else to do, Tiona and Lefiya sat down with Ais and watched Bell making food, Tione remained at Finn´s side.
It was amazing to watch the speed at which he worked, this was the only dish he ever truly mastered. Ais´ eyes shone when Bell dealt the finishing touch, tossed the omelette up in the pan and caught it on the plate. The three young women applauded lightly.

"Woah Argonaut, you will be a perfect househusband later!"

"Ehe..."

"Mmmmh Bell...it tastes wonderful..."

"I´m glad."

"Bell, you can cook really good it seems."

"I have improved since the time I did it for you."

"Eh? Lefiya, Argonaut cooked for you?"

"Only one time..."

Lefiya glanced abashed to the side...

Then...

"*Grooowl*"

"Mmmh!" Lefiya got deep red, her stomach had growled.

"Hehe, sounds like someone wants to eat more handmade food?" Tiona grinned.

"N-No, I- *GROWL*-...Mmh..."

Lefiya hid her face behind her hands.

"Don´t worry Lefiya, there is enough for you...and for you too Tiona if you want."

"Really? Yeah!"

Since Bell only had his battle garment with him, he had no other choice than to take off his shirt. He couldn´t risk getting splashes of fat on it.

"B-B-Bell?! Why are you taking your shirt off?!"

"Woah, Argonaut you are pretty hot! Also don´t complain Lefiya, handmade food and fanservice!" Tiona whistled appreciatively.

"B-B-But..."

"Ah come on, your eyes are glued to his abdominal muscles."

"Hiii..."

"I have no other choice...I can´t risk getting dirty..."

In the past, Lefiya would have lashed out at Bell for doing that, now she just averted her eyes and only glanced at his well formed upper body from time to time. Tiona was more interested in the food and Ais was busy eating happily.
A little away from them, Riveria raised an eyebrow when she saw Bell taking off his shirt. At least he put it back on after he made enough food for Lefiya, Tiona, himself and Ais again.

The Loki Familia was as relaxed as possible, but tomorrow would be a completely different day. Still, Lefiya didn´t knew how she ended that way, but since they didn´t had tents this time, the Familia slept closer to each other. She ended up in Bell´s arms, Bell and Ais tended to roll away from each other when they completely fell asleep, since hugging another person all the time wasn´t that comfortable. But to Lefiya´s bad luck, when Bell rolled around and noticed her body, the instinct of hugging it kicked in, his subconscious thought of her as Ais, Ais was on Bell´s other side and did the same with Tiona.
When Bell´s arms closed around her body and pulled her lightly towards him, Lefiya startled and rememberred a moment she had forgotten. Bell had spend her company and given her comfort one night at the Mansion when she was crying again. He sat on her bed and held her while she cried at his chest, at some point she fell asleep from exhaustion and Bell didn´t dared to move away, so they slept like this in their clothes. Thankfully no one could see how red her face was when she ended sleeping with her cheek on Bell´s chest and her soft body pressed against him, but again his smell calmed her down. It was a good thing for the pure, innocent elf that she saw Bell more like a brother and not a love interest.
She still apologized to Ais in the morning, but Ais wasn´t mad. But Lefiya felt great shame...mostly because she felt something that happened to Bell in the morning when she woke up in his arms.

Why do these things keep happen to me with Beeeeell?

"Bell, duck down more, with your ridiculous shiny armor they will spot you right away." Lefiya tried to pull Bell deeper into the cover.

It was the early afternoon of the second day, the Loki Familia was hiding in a ditch. The scene before them was no joke, there was a rustling in the air, the titanic black cloud crawled across the land towards them, a horde of monsters marched on the outer edges, just outside of the miasma. From the ground and so close it looked even worse than Asfi had described it to them. The smell that waved to them was the same sour one as back in Orario. Just as Lulune had said, an alpha monster was right in the middle of the long line of smaller monsters. Over one hundred monsters could be seen, but they didn´t knew what was inside the cloud. The ground trembled under the thundering footsteps of a titan in the cloud, whatever it was, the growls they heard were loud enough so that the Loki Familia couldn´t even whisper to each other.

The whole raid party had spread over the dried out ditch, waiting for Finn´s signal to attack. The strategy sounded simple but needed much concentration. Gareth, Tiona and Tione would led the charge with Ais and Bell behind them. The three in the front would encounter the alpha to open a path for the two behind them. The others would take on a defensive formation to defend their flanks, while the mages would prepare their magic spells.
Lefiya had already prepared her "Arc´s ray" in a golden ring around her left hand, since she leveled up to five it felt easier for her to have a magic spell on hold. But the most important part of the plan, Ais and Bell would enter the cloud due to their immunity and discover what was inside. If it was a giant monster like they thought, they should fall back and report, if it was an army of monsters even more, by no means these two should risk their lives.
Finn had even prepared signals with them, Bell would send a normal Firebolt back outside the cloud if it was an army of monsters and a charged white one if it was a giant monster. The mages would immediately start to chant and unleash a magical bombardement into the cloud. In case for one or the other scenario happening, Finn had explained six different strategies to fall back to various landmarks they had passed, depending on the situation.
Bell could only watch in awe about the speed with which Finn formed plans.

"Bell, ready?" Ais glanced to him.

"Always, my love."

For a last time before the attack, they shared an encouraging kiss.

Finn tapped moved his spear behind his back in a way to give signals to the raid party. All magic user started to chant immediately, it might be the most dangerous situation they were ever in, even more than the fight against the demi spirits in Knossos, but Lefiya was calm. Her friends would protect her, so that she could protect them. And she would do her best, she also wanted to see Ais in a wedding dress in the future and the cute children of Bell and her.

"Harbinger of the end, the white snow."

The monsters were only two hundred meters away now. Lefiya and Riveria were side by side, Lefiya´s unique skill allowed her to use the magic of other elves, so she chanted together with Riveria.

"Blow with the wind before the twilight."

The roaring of the wind got so loud that the monsters didn´t heard them even when they sang with normal voices.

"Closing light, the freezing land."

Particles of light gathered around both of Bell´s hands, he stood right behind Riveria and Lefiya. Despite the situation, he admired the voices of these two while they sang their chants, they made a perfect magical pair, master and student. But Riveria's voice was stronger than Lefiya's.

"Blizzard, the three severe winters - my name is Alf"

Right when they came to the end, Bell raised his hands and placed them in the neck of both elves, the particles of light shot into the bodies of the two women. This was the first time they would try this in actual combat and not in training.
A rush movement filled the ranks of the Loki Familia, all at once the adventurers jumped up to the edge of the ditch, the monsters were surprised for a second...more than enough.

"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"

And for the first time, Riveria´s and Lefiya´s chant added another line to their chant, only able to do it because of Bell powering them up with his Argonaut skill.

"ABSOLUTE ZERO!"

Wynn Fimbulvetr was an extreme cold magic that was said to be able to even freeze time...normally. But the last chant and the power up raised it to a whole other level. It wasn´t a wave of cold and ice that washed forward...everything just froze.
The grass turned white instantly, mist formed in the air. The first monsters that were hit by the magic just froze solid and exploded into shards of ice. Even the Alpha got hit by it, the right half of it´s face froze and the right front leg just broke off.
Lefiya and Riveria had killed sixty monsters in an instant.

"Loki Familia...CHAAAAAARGE!"

With a fierce warcry, the raid party charged forward, weapons raised. The monsters didn´t waited but charged at them. Gareth led the charge with the amazon twins next to him, Ais and Bell behind. The colossal alpha monster stormed towards them, even with one lost leg it was still dangerous.
The sound of weapons and claws clashing filled the air, archers let loose their arrows and magic threw magic wherever possible. Gareth rammed the alpha monster frontal with his axe, the twins attacked the head from the now blind side and all three together kicked him to the side.

"Ais, Bell, Go!"

Finn was in the second line next to the magic users.

He didn´t needed to tell them twice, both ran at maximum speed past the tumbling alpha monster.

There was no fear, there was no hesitation...the cloud swallowed both of them.

Darkness enveloped them, the sounds from outside the cloud turned dull in the moment they got inside. Ais and Bell kept running, they were sure the cloud would end at some point. Roars and shockwaves filled the air, whatever was in front of them had to be gigantic. Hakugen was like a torch in the darkness, burning and slashing right through the Miasma.
Their golden and silver armor still shone in the darkness but both were so close to each other that they could touch if they wanted. All too soon they left the cloud...or rather they reached the center. It was like the eye of an tornado, the center was almost calm and much bigger than the Loki Mansion.
Like a dome in the darkness, if they saw it correctly it was about one hundred meters high until the cloud started again.

Their eyes fell on the monster inside the cloud. Horns bigger than the alpha monster outside, claws that could obliterate the walls of Orario with one swift slash, a head as big as a house. Roars that would let every elf become deaf.
Over and over armored in thick, black scales, six eyes, three on each side of the head. A tail longer than a boat.

That´s what they had expected.

Instead...

"What is this?!"

"What the-?!"

A single monster was inside the cloud, about three meters tall. It wasn´t massive at all, rather slim. A really long tail went right over into the body without any limbs, moving up with two horn fins on the back, ending in the head.
If the word head was correct...it looked like a floating brain with a long tail...nothing more. A loud throbbing filled their ears and from time to time little violet lightning bolts flashed from her brain into the cloud. The further the throbbing moved outwards, the more it sounded like titanic steps.
This monster that no living person had ever seen before floated right in the middle of the titantic cloud...a single eye opened in the middle of the brain and looked at Bell and Ais.

Wryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Outside of the cloud, every elf dropped to their knees and covered their ears screaming in intense pain, the others didn´t reacted in any way, not hearing the ultra high pitched scream that came from the monster. Back in Orario, animal people covered their ears due to a screeching noise that was unpleasant but too far away to be painful.
Wider and wider went the screech and less and less people heard it.

Energy accumulated around the eye, fixed on Ais.

"Ais!"

Bell threw Hakugen out of reflex onto the eye and pushed Ais out of the way. Instead of firing whatever it intended to do, the monster jerked back when Hakugen pierced the eye in the center and right into the brain. Floating left and right in immense pain, the screech got higher and higher. The elves outside never felt such pain before...then it got too high for even them to hear it.
Ais and Bell got ready to fight, but the brain writhed in immense pain...

Then it exploded into ash and Hakugen fell to the ground.

"Huh?!"

"Wha?!"

The roaring and the stomps stopped immediately and everything went silent. The movement of the clouds stopped and...it started to dissolve. All too soon Bell and Ais could see the others, the cloud just dissolved into nothing, the sour smell also vanished.

"Bell, Ais! Did you defeated it? What happened?!"

"We..." Bell blinked perplexed and looked at Finn.

"We are not sure..." Ais continued to him.

With a loud cracking sound, every surviving monster exploded into ash, leaving nothing behind. Adventurers that were wounded by the monsters watched perplexed how their wounds vanished together with the pain.
The whole scenery was surreal...it was...as if the monsters never were there in the first place. The Beol mountains rose mightily to their left, far away they could see Babel slightly.
Everyone fell silent, the fight didn´t even went on for two minutes, the only witness was the destroyed grass. The further the cloud dissolved, they saw...green grass. Not one plant had withered under the Miasma.

"Wha...c-captain...what happened?" Lefiya was as confused as the others.

"I´m...not sure."

"Finn!"

Riveria yelled out from the back and pointed towards Babel. The eyes of every adventurer present widened in shock. Behind Babel, out of the direction of Melen, rose an enormous black pillar made of clouds towards the sky...it seemed to be coming out of the sea.

Finn´s face turned pale. "It was a trap! We were lured away!"

The unique monster inside the cloud was one of it´s kind, no else existed. It had created a massive illusion of a monster army and a titan class monster marching towards Orario, but in truth it was just alone floating over the grass lands.
The screech it produced wasn´t an attack...it was a message that the trap was shut. Orario´s strongest defender had left the city and were lured far away...Orario was vulnerable.

.
"Run! Run for your li-BLuargh!"

The man that shouted was pierced by a claw from behind. The people in Melen ran away from the water, leaving everything behind an just ran for their lives. An army of monsters came out of the water, most of them looking like water based monsters or giant reptiles.
A giant cloud of true Miasma rose from the water...something inside it moved.

With a roar so loud that every person in Orario heard it, the queen of the monster swarm announced her presence.

A giant scaly head with a long, slender body like a snake came out of the cloud, finns on both sides of the head and the top. Three eyes were one each side of the head, it was about twenty meters above the water... The body was as thick as a clock tower.

It looked all too similar to a monster that even in death filled the hearts of every person on the sea with fear...the Leviathan.

The few people that looked behind their backs screamed in terror.

Orario...

Was on the verge of disaster.

Authors Note: No one said that monsters are dumb and can´t set up traps. Sorry but the plot twist was the reason I couldn´t answer some questions that were send to me. I will continue to write as fast as I can.