Chapter 2: Is it wrong to bump into gods?
The Dungeon, 9th floor
Scyron walked through the dungeon's corridors as he decided to go how strong the monsters were. Sadly they didn't met his expectations given how fast they died. A swing of his great sword was enough to bring down any monster he encountered. He had not even drawn his chokuto once until now. Originally Scyron had intended to use the greatsword for rather slow and armored monsters, while using the thinner chokuto to change his fighting syle when his opponents were too fast. However alone batting the monsters away with the side of the great sword was enough to simply make them explode into black smoke and magic stones. Scyron honestly felt like crying in sadness at this point. If it had been so easy to slay monsters in YGGDRASIL, despite the fact that it was easy to level up, no one would have played the game. However then again the standard for monsters and adventurers here was far lower than on the digital plane of existence he once knew as YGGDRASIL. Basically he managed to rush through the dungeon's floors like a hurricane of destruction, leaving nothing but torn open walls and destroyed monsters in his wake.
Speaking of monsters, a large green one eyed frog had grabbed the player's sword arm with it's long tongue. However this was only a short lifed vixtory as Scyron pulled the creature towards him and punched it with the other arm directly in the face. Scyron could hear the sound of the entire ambphibian's skull breaking apart before it exploded. Then a group of War Shadows rushed in for the attack. The dark humanoid monsters with only one big red glowing eyes were not stupid, however they couldn't stand idly by and do nothing as well. As they brought their claws down on Scyron's armored form, they all had been slicced in half by a horizontal slash of the weapon.
"Man this is boring." Scyron sighed as he looked at what had remained of the tunnel. The wall was riped open like a nasty flesh wound several times as they began to close again almost like the skin of an organism. Then his gaze fell on the magic stones on the ground. Sighing he them picked up. During the fight he had simply put the magic stones in his inventory during the fight, which looked like making them disappear along the monster's bodies. However a certain frog had to disturb him doing that. After a minute he had finished picking up the stones as he turned back to the way he was heading to. In that moment he heard the rapid footsteps of another monster approaching him from behind. In the moment the footsteps suddenly stopped, Scyron turned sideways, making a horned rabbit monster pass him harmlessly through the air. With the speed of a viper Scyron slashed the monster in mid air, killing it as well. Scyron really hated it to kill cute monsters. It just made him feel bad. He picked up the magic stone as he arrived at a stair case was. Calmly he walked down as he finally got out the tunnel and found himself at a very misty and desolated place. 'So this is the 10th floor. Well it sure is misty down here, but that should be far enough for now.' Scyron thought. He had been in the dungeon for hours now only to kill weak monsters, though he couldn't really blame anyone for that. Back in YGGDRASIL POP monsters of guild bases were below level 30, while mercenary monsters could be stronger. And so far all these monsters had been below level 30.
The demon than turned around a few times, scanning the area for any sigh of life. It was calm. Too calm. He knew tat down there in the mist probably more monsters were but he had no interest in fighting those as well. He had spilled enough blood for tonight. Suprisingly though, he didn't care about that. He didn't care the slightests about killing another living being even if it was just a monster. He guessed it was a side effect of becoming a demon. Scyron shook his head as he turned away from the 10th floor.
"[Greater Teleportation]." he said and with a flash of light he was gone from the 10th floor.
In the next moment he reappeared on the 1rst floor not far from the entrance. It was quite a comfortable method to simply travel between the different floors instead of walking the whole way back up like the others had to, since teleportation magic seemed to be unknown here.
'Is it considering cheating if I do this? I mean the others will have to fight their way through the dungeon back up wafter they had taken all those dangers on themselves to get down.' He thought as he walked back to the stairs and climbed them up to get out of the dungeon. As he arrived on the surfae again he suddenly felt a nagging feeling in his stomach. 'Oh man did I really forgot to eat something?' Scyron thought as he quickly walked into the streets. He wasn't running but he looked a little nervous by walking at such a pace and the fact that he whipped his head around every 2 meters to find something edible. 'Dammit gluttony! Why in hell are you a deadly sin as well?' Scyron thought as he cursed his own stupidity. He had tried to gather informations about this world and this city, went down the dungeon to kill monsters and make some money and yet he forgot something that should have been taken care of in the first place. He had not eaten a thing suince he had come in this world.
Demons might had a strong durability like dragons for example, but they were not undead that didn't need to eat at all. After a few moments he had scanned three main streets and the alleys for food, but found none. He leaned with one arm against a building as he bowed down his head to his growling stomach.
But then he picked up a smell. Something rather simple, but still being recognisable as food. Scyron almost summoned an hellhound to find the scource of food as he walked now more calmly through the streets. As he turned around a corner he suddenly felt something bumping into his armor. Quickly looking down and reacting on reflex his arm shot out and grabbed whatever had made contact with his armor. He held on the shoulder of a rather short woman, barely reaching his lower chest in height. Her hair was combed in two pig tails one on each side of the head. Her eyes were blue, while her skin had a healthy light tone. he couldn't see more of her because of the heigth difference between the two of them.
"Oh I'm sorry." Scyron said as he pulled the woman straight up so she stood on her feet. He took a step backwatds and scanned her from head to toe. She wore rather revealing white clothes. Her white dress had no sleeves and a short skirt barely covered her legs. A blue ribbon was strapped around both of her arms holding up her... very big mammaries. Her short height didn't help as it made her cleavage appear even bigger. Also something was... odd. He felt some kind of aura emitted from her. Earlier he had scanned the streets of Orario with [Life Essence] to get a picture of the strength of the other adventurers, but found not many people that were actually strong by this world's standards. Shaking those thoughts out of his head he looked in her rather suprised face. "Are you alright? You didn't broke anything, did you?" He said.
"What? No no! Of course not!" The woman said laughing nervously. Scyron sighed.
"I see. Bumping into someone in armor is rather safe for the wearer but not the bumped into." Scyron said, imagining someone wearing full plate armor like him running with high speed into someone without armor. It was quite a painful picture.
"No really. I'm fine." The woman said. "I wasn't looking where I went when I..." The woman stopped as she seemed to remmeber something. She whipped her head around and began to tear up. scyron followed her gaze wit his eyes and saw a potato croquette laying on the ground, now being mashed by the unaware of the food some had stepped on. Now Scyron began to panic inside his head. Surely a croquette was no big deal, but making a girl cry for such a stupid incident was more than a low blow for every man's pride.
"Oh uh... I'm really sorry for that miss. I'll buy you a new one. My treat since it was my mistake." Scyron said as he looked down the street and spotted a stand where those croquettes were sold. He looked down the young woman again. She looked at him with a combination of sparkling puppy eyes and gasping in joy.
"Really?" She asked. Scyron nodded. Before he could say something the girl had grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the food stand like a child would drag it's parent to show it something it had seen. It was quite weird considering the fact that they had just met and didn't knew more of one another than their appearances. In the next moment he stood in front of the stand already.
5 minutes later
The short woman was digging in her croquette like a wolf would into defenseless prey animal. Each bite ripped off another piece of the potato almost half the size of a human's hand. Meanwhile Scyron had put his helmet aside and ate slower than the girl as the duo had sat down a bench. He would never have thought that something so small could actually have such an ferocious apatitte. After finishing her food off and trowing away the paper into a bin next to the bench she looked at the black haired demon in disguise with a beaming smile.
"Thank you for the meal mister." She said. Scyron only gave a small smile himself.
"It was nothing. After all I was the reason why you lost your first one." He said apologizing again.
"Ah I have forgotten to introduce myself." The short woman said as she extended her hand to him as he still ate. "I'm the goddess Hestia." She said. In that moment Scyron almost crushed the croquette he was holding in his hand as he looked dumbfounded at her. His passive abilities activated on their own and he was once again surrounded by an aura that promised a very painful death to anyone close to him. This time however the one he talked about it noticed the pure dark, infernal aura and flinched visibly, but was stuck in her pose.
'Nonono! Don't flip out! Just calm down.' He told himself as he forced the aura down again, easing the tension a little. 'I've expected many things, but this is really the weirdest thing I've ever heard for an introduction! She's a goddess! That would explain the aura around her, but I'm not familiar with the name Hestia. I guess asking won't kill me.' Scyron thought as he took Hestia's hand and shook it lightly. "My name is Scyron. It's a pleasure to meet you Hestia. Though..." Scyron then scratched the back of his neck while smiling at her. "I'm unfortunately not familiar with this name of yours. Would you mind what kind of goddess you are?" he asked. Hestia turned from one second to another pale ike a piece of chalk as he said that. Scyron looked a little confused at her. 'Did I say something wrong?' he thought as Hestia shook the shocked expression of her face.
"Well I'm a goddess of the hearth." Hestia said. Scyron still couldn't say anything about her.
"Do you have any siblings?" He asked. Many gods had either a sibling relationship to other gods or a parent/children relationship. Through this he might got an idea where to put Hestia.
"W-well how about you tell me something of yourself stranger before asking such questions?" Hestia said pointing at him pouting. He sighed in defeat.
"I just came into this city and was on my way back to an inn from the dungeon as I met you..."
"Oh you are an adventurer?" Hestia cut him clean off as he rose an eyebrow at her sudden curiosity, but he nodded anyway. "Who's familia are you part of then?" she asked.
"No one's." Scyron said as he took another bite from his food. Hestia looked at him with a confused look.
"No one's? Really?" She asked as he nodded, before swallowing. There was something weird in her eyes as if they sparkled with... hope?
"Really. I'm not part of a familia. So about my question..." Scyron said.
"Oh that." Hestia said. "Well, I'm a goddess so we don't really have a family on our own. But I've got a lot of friends among them." She said. Scyron nodded, though he somehow doubted the last statement by looking at her body language. Hell she even nodded rapidly at this so it had to be a lie. As a demon he was sensitive towards negative emotions and this girl basically radiated it like a star would emitt light and nuclear radiation.
'So she's a not very popular goddess. Wow I guess even in heaven are jerks. What am I saying? Probably every jerk goes to heaven! But I unfortunately don't know right now if she's a goddess of this realm only or perhaps from the mythology back on Earth. Though Hephaestus is a name I've heard before in YGGDRASIL.' Scyron thought. "I see. Well, I've already bothered you too much already, so I'll take my leave." Scyron said as he put his helmet back on and stood up. "I wish you a good night goddess Hestia. And try to not bump into more people." He said as he walked off.
"Yeah bye. And thanks for the food." Hestia said as she waved him goodbye. After this she went back home into an old ruin of a church. However in the moment she closed the door she suddenly realised something. "That was my perfect opportunity to get a new member for my familia! Though he was a bit scary..." she shouted at herself for her own stupidity. "No! The next time I see him I'll just ask him if he wants to join." She said with determination, but her self confidence quickly vanished and was replaced by depression. "Who am I kidding? Someone like him will be snatched away in no time and I ruined it. Aaahhh! Why do I never have luck?!" Hestia said as her frustration at herself finally faded away. "Well at least I've you Bell." Hestia said as she looked over to the white haired boy sleeping on the couch.
Meanwhile with Scyron
The demon player simply walked through the crowds of people as most people rather backed away from him given the scary looking armor he wore. Still it made it easier for him to walk through the usually crowded streets. Sure it wasn't as bad as in on Earth, but it was still crowded. As he arrived at the guild it was already too late to bring his gathered items for exchange there so he decided to walk back to the inn he was staying at.
As his eyes wandered through the different kinds of people he almost felt like in one of the cities of YGGDRASIL. Each and everyone he had seen so far in Orario was part of a human race, even though he had heard a few people say demi-human to individuals of certain races. Scyron could only mentally shake his head at this familiar picture of racism. It didn't seem to matter where one went. Humans would forever be like this. Still there was not a single 'real demihuman' on the streets in Scyron's opinion. The races of YGGDRASIL were divided in three categories by the developers and were given therefore certain stats and talents. Demi-humans like in YGGDRASIL were not present in Orario as those would be creatures like goblins, orcs, trolls, naga and others. He actually doubted that demi-human and heteromorphic races like himself existed in this world as actual sentient beings as the only creatures that would fit in this category had been monsters of the dungeon. So far every living thing that was not human was a monster in the dungeon, but he couldn't tell for certain. This world was like what Earth used to be during the middle ages. A very large, undiscovered place with almost no information about far away places. Earth had no such wonders anymore. Every last place was discovered and their secrets scientifically explained, taking away all the mystery from the world. And then humanity turned it into a wasteland with nothing to live on it, except the humans in their cities and the large number of vermin that had been on mankind's heels for centuries.
Lost in such thoughts Scyron suddenly bumped into someone. Quickly he shot out his trance and looked at a man about his height with long dark blue hair, holding a paper bag. However a second one had fallen down and it's contents now were littered on the ground. It was mostly food.
"Oh I'm so sorry. Here let me help you." Scyron said as he quickly put everything back in the bag before someone could step on it again, before giving the man the bag.
"Thank you very much young man." the man replied as he took the second bag again. However just as he thought that the day was finally over he entered the inn and almost bumbed into a maid. "It's kind of rare to meet such people this late outside."
"Is that so?" Scyron asked as he noticed the man's aura. 'It feels like this goddess Hestia's aura. Could it be that this man is a god as well? My life essence says his totally weak not even Level 1 Players are that weak.' he thought. "Excuse me sir this might now sound a little rude, but do you happen to be a god?" Scyron asked. The man looked at him wide eyed for a moment, before smiling kindly.
"Yes. My name is Miach and I'm a god. However may I ask how you figured this out?" Miach asked.
"I happened to have some... skills with the detection of certain types of people. I guess being at a place with many gods I can tell them apart from normal people." Scyron said. Miach nodded.
"An ability that could proof quite handy in the right situation. I'd like to talk some more, but I have to get back to my shop. Good night then." He said, before walking off.
"Huh. Somehow I had imagined gods to be more selfish and ignorant about what normal mortals do." The demon said to himself,before he headed back to his destination.
In that moment a certain goddess on top of Babel sneezed.
As he arrived back in the Hostess of Fertility he was sure his day would finally have come to an end. However he almost bumped into a certain blonde maid.
"Oh my apologies." He said as the elf maid only gave a short nod, before returning to her duty. He glanced around the inn as he used Life Essenbce again. There was something unusual at this evening as the other people's already small auras seemed to be overshadowed by those coming from a certain table. Almost instantly he turned his eyes into their direction. The individuals on the table where strong as in really strong for this world around level 30 as an average. The table stood right between him and the staircase leading upstairs so he had to walk pass them anyway so he let is eyes wander around the table. A white haired version of this world's werewolfs was chugging down beer and was already red in his face, a sign of being drunk. Also Scyron was sure he wouldn't be wagging his tail like he did right now if he was sobber. A short blonde man, who looked like nothing but a simple boy, was talking with a stereotype looking dwarf. Two of the group were a pair of tanned woman with dark hair. They looked rather similiar to one another, making Scyron think that they might be sisters or even twins. Another girl sitting at the table was a green haired elf with a white coat while another one was had blonde hair and chose pink clothes. The last two individuals were a young woman with red hair braided in a single short ponytail and a blonde girl that sat rather calm next to the redhead and the blonde elf. Scyron could detect that the blonde human girl was the strongest in the group with a level of about 35, which was the highest Level he had encountered that far in Orario. Still her power was compared to his nothing to worry about too much. And also this red haired woman gave the same aura off as the two gods he had met just a few minutes ago. His own [Shroud of Evil] was already about to flare up when he supressed it with his will power.
'Alright, supressed my wrath already before it could come out. Well that's a progress. I guess I have to stay for a longer time around gods and other divine creatures without unconciously activating this skill.' Scyron thought as he made his way over to the staircase. And just as he thought he had finally avoided anymore trouble thegroup noticed him.
"Hey who's that guy?" One of the tanned women said.
"Seems to be new around here. Though he has a nice armor." her friend said.
"Whatever. When he's new here he's just some weak trash that got it as a gift from his rich parents." The werewolf said. Scyron really wanted to teach that arrogant idiot a lesson in that moment, but he knew that bar fights were not allowed in here. Otherwise he would have to deal with both this idiot and Mama Mia. And repaying hospility with violence wasn't really what he wanted. He then almost had passed them as the werewolf streached his leg out, blocking the way. "Where do you think you're going? We're talking about you, you know?" He said.
"Bete stop." The green haired elf spoke up.
"No Riveria. Apparantly that weak trash doesn't know it's place yet." Bete said as he looked up to the full armored demon. Scyron couldn't help, but sigh.
"I'm sorry if I offended you somehow. I'm not quite familiar with the different familias yet." The demon said.
"Hmph. Did you live under a rock or something? We are from the Loki familia, one of the most famous familias at all. And you know why? Becase we are among the strongest of the strong that's why. So know your place trashbag!" Bete shouted the last part.
"Look. I don't want any trouble with you or your familia. I just want to get through here. So would you please make way?" The player asked, his patience slowly running thin with this fellow.
"Why should I make place for trash like you..." Bete froze as Scyron released not only his [Shroud of Evil], but a few other passive abilities to a small extend as well. His silver eyes glared down the werewolf on the chair like a hawk would on a mouse, sending a shiver down Bete's spine as a result of one of the most primal emotions. Fear.
"I said make way." Scyron said coldly as he gave Bete a glare. If looks could kill Bete would be now dead, rotten and forgotten. Quickly in fear the werewolf put his leg away. "Thank you. I'm sorry for the commotion. Good night." Was all Scyron said as he walked past the table and climbed up the stairs.
"Wow that was something." the tanned woman with short hair and small cleavage said.
"Yeah, hey how are you Bete?" Her friend said, but received no answer. "Bete? Are you too drunk again?" The long haired girl asked again as she heard no remarks like usually. Bete on the other hand shivered like being thrown into a lake in the middle of a harsh winter night. But he didn't shook out of coldness. He shook out of fear. The red-haired goddess looked very interested at her child and then at the staircase the white armored man had disappeared to.
"Well guess we have to find out who that was." she said.
"Why's that Loki?" The elf named Riveria asked.
"Didn't you see him just make Bete back off with his tail between his legs and that as a newcomer. He has potential, so we should see in who's familia he is. Hey waitress..." Loki the norse goddess of lies and trickery said as she called over one of the maids of the inn. Her blonde child Ais Wallenstein however couldn't help, but look after the man. The aura he had given off was purely dark like the void between the stars. She didn't knew who this man was or why he had come here, but she knew one thing. He was strong.
On the next day
Scyron stood up early this morning and headed straight for the guild to finally exchange the magic stones he had gathered last night. So far it was the only kind of income he had and it didn't look like he would do something else in the next time as well. However before he got out the door he was already greeted by the staff of the inn, looking at him.
'What did I do this time?' Scyron asked himself. "Is something the matter?" He said like he didn't notice the looks the women gave him.
"Well if it isn't our guest." Mama Mia said, before she suddenly pulled the full armored demon closer as she put her arm around his shoulders. "You really have guts to say something like that to a member of the Loki familia and even get your way with them, you know boy?" She said smiling.
'Boy? She doesn't look much older than 50. Okay then she's older than me, but I'm not thatyoung now am I? Though perhaps this has changed with my race as well.' Scyron thought as he remembered that heteromorphs simply stopped aging at a certain point, meaning that Scyron wouldn't age any longer and basically could be centuries old. He would have to check the lore of YGGDRASIL for that later. "It was nothing. He was drunk and his familia would have held him back anyway. And if he really would have lashed out, well I'm sure you could take him out the door miss." Scyron said waving her off.
"Nonsense! That idiot has been a pain ever since the Loki familia comes here to celebrate. I like it when they celebrate. It's good for the reputation of our inn and they are a good bunch of fellas, but we really could use it when this guy wouldn't always get wasted and talk nonsense. Am I right girls?" Mama Mia said, earning nods from all waitresses.
"And because you shut him up without causing much of a Scene we thought we could repay you somehow, nya." A black-haired cat girl waitress said.
"It's fine really. I don't want to cause you too much trouble." Scyron said.
"If that's so than eat up!" The cat girl said, gesturing at a plate of food on a table. The steaming scent flew over to Scyron, making his mouth water slightly and kicking himself mentally that he had not smelled it earlier. For someone who grew up with eating mostly what other people would have thrown to waste about a hundred years ago and the general poverty of the population around the entire world, except for the rich ones in charge, a home made meal likt this was like finding the Holy Grail. His mind going back and forth between politely declining their offered food and the said plate of food he gave in as his stomach grumbled more in agreement with the girls then actual hunger.
"Very well." Scyron said as he sat on the table and loooked down his food. It was rather simple Food, but the scent was almost just too good. However there was something that bothered him. The most of the girls looked at him with a curios look, like a bird that was observing something it had never seen before. Scyron shrugged it off and put the helmet off, revealing his face. He then dug in his food and ate quitely. It was really good, much better than the garbage he had been eating on Earth. After then downing the cup of water he collected the dishes and brought them back to the counter.
"And?" One of the waitresses asked.
"It was really good. The best I've eaten in a long time to be honest." Scyron said smiling. "Well I'll be off then. Have a nice day." He said before putting his helmet back on and left the inn.
"Do you think he meant that nya?" Asked a brunette cat girl.
"Don't know for sure, but he isn't bad looking." another waitress said. The attention of the staff was drawn to Mama Mia as the tall woman clapped her hands once.
"Alright, enough chit chat. We still have to prepare food for a lot of people today. So get to work!" She said.
"Yes!" the waitresses said in unsion as they rushed back into the kitchen.
A few minutes later
Scyron had walked back to the adventurer's guild to finally collect the money for the magic stones he got in the [Bottomless Pouch] in his inventory. THe way back to this building from the inn had been as uneventful as the last time he had went there. Walking through the streets, Walking into some back alley, getting ambushed by thugs that actually learned from last time and brought a net with them, only to be caught in it themselves, wriggling like fresh caught fishes and leaving said alley to go to the main street again. Yup, absolutely nothing had happened. Except for another attempt to invade his privacy. Unsuprisingly the result was the same as yesterday. Perhaps he should find the one who tried so presistent to say hello to him and have a long 'talk' with this person.
When he got inside he was immediately greeted by a few more adventurers than yesterday and the staff of the guild. He walked over to the Counter that was occupied by a familiar half elf woman.
"Good morning Miss." He said as he stood in front of the counter.
"Oh good morning Scyron. How can I help you?" The young woman said.
"I'd like to gather some informations about the dungeon before I go down there again." Scyron said.
An hour later
After Eina finished her explanation about the dungeon, the individual floors that are known so far and the different types of Monsters Scyron sait on the Couch for a Moment to compose all the informations he had just received.
'So until now the deepest advance was to the 58th floor by the now disbanded Zeus familia. Quite a suprise given the fact that these people are really weak. Alone they would never have reached even the 50th floor when those monster rexes are that strong as she says. Does that mean down there could be a monster of perhaps Level 100 or even a raid boss?' Scyron thought. Back in YGGDRASIL there was always a boss monster that was way stronger than the others. The devs mostly put those monsters in high level dungeons on level 100 or even above that when it was one of the level breaking bosses. If a guild wanted to conquer a dungeon to make it their personal base they would have to defeat it. However this world was not the game he once knew and had played before so it might be possible that there was no such monster on the lowest floor. Also there was no upper limit for a group to raid the dungeon anymore. In YGGDRASIL it had not been possible to go with more than 30 people into a dungeon to conquer it to keep some kind of fairness to weaker players and guilds. 'No, this is a real living world with a dungeon in which monsters spawned no matter how strong they are apparantly and the People in this world were as real as I am. Meaning that death in this world was most likely as ultimate as it had been on Earth. And still... Even after Hearing all of this... I feel totally motivated to conquer this dungeon! But why? Is it because it sounds so easy this time? Or are my demon genes coming through again despite the fact that my karma is very positive?' Those thoughts raced through his brain as he began to make plans for the future, but first there was one more Thing he had to ask. "Excuse me miss, but I have one last question. What can you tell me about the individual familias?" He asked. The receptionist looked at him for a moment before smiling.
"I see. You haven't joined a familia yet and you want to know which would be suitable one, right?" She said.
"In a way yes, however I simply like with who and what I'll have to deal with before I make a move." Scyron said.
"Well there are different types of familias. Some are based on producing goods and sell their wares like for example the Miach familia or the Hephaestos familia. Then there are even familias that take the role of entire nations, but those are far away from Orario. The category that would be fitting for you would be exploration type familias. They are roaming the dungeon and go down as adventurers. The most powerful one would be the Freya Familia followed by the Loki Familia, but there are also smaller exploration familias like the Takemikazuchi Familia for example." The receptionist said.
"I see. In that case I could go deeper then. Ah I almost forgot." Scyron said as he stood up and walked back to counter that gave out the money for drop items and magic stones. And once again the guild staff and the present adventurers were rendered speechless as he simply spilled magic stones in large quantity down into the drawer. This time however more magic stones than last time were poured into the drawer and some were bigger then the ususal ones, almost making the drawer spill over as Scyron stopped. The drawer was pulled back and after a minute or two a small mound of coins was put into it. However after the demon took the money and the next adventurer wanted to get his money Scyron spilled more stones into the drawer again until nothing came out anymore. The people were slackjawed at this. "Thank you." Scyron said as he put the coins away and walked back to the couch.
"Where did you got all those magic stones?" The receptionist demanded as she looked at him like he had just pulled some kind of trick off.
"From the dungeon obviously. I was last night there and went through the upper floors. It was rather easy like solving a labyrinth with a simple trick."
"A trick?" An adventurer asked loud as the entire room wanted to hear this trick of him.
"Just stick to one wall and walk forward. In the end it means walking through the entire floor, but it also means to definately find the exit to the next floor or the way back up. And you have o kill every monster you come across." Scyron said as like talking about the weather.
"Still those magic stones a bigger than those you get on the first 3 floors. Where do they come from?" The receptionist demanded her face slightly glowing red.
"I don't remember which monster I had killed for each of them, but I went down to the 9th floor, before arriving on the 10th and walking back. It's quite..."
"FROM THE 9TH FLOOR?!" The brunette elf woman yelled at Scyron who sat on the opposite side of her on a couch. The entire guild and all adventurers looked at the duo in disbelief, but the demon just looked at them with disinterest.
"Yeah. So what?" Scyron asked. 'Jeez. This girl shouts a lot. I mean yeah they are weak compared to me, but it shouldn't be that hard at all. Or I lost my sensibiliy for that because I'm basically untouchable for those monsters.'
"SO WHAT? You are here for less then 2 days, you are not part of a familia and you already went down to the 9th floor alone!" The receptionist yelled at him, spilling the information for everyone in the room. "Do you have any idea how insane this sounds like? You don't even have a falna and yet you just go deeper and deeper in the dungeon. Are you suicidal?" The elf panted as her ouburst finally came to an end and silence descended on the guild hall. Scyron sighed at this.
"Say miss I never got your name." He said.
"It's Eina. Why are you asking?" Eina asked confused.
"Eina then. Yes, I went so deep and I'll go deeper inside the dungeon today on my own. I'll face everything the dungeon will throw at me until I reach the last floor. That is my goal. To clear this dungeon." Scyron said earning gasps from the people in the building.
"B-but you need at least a supporter. A-and a party of many adventurers to go further down." Eina said in a worried tone. Scyron however only stood up at this.
"It really is nice, that you worry about my health. But be assured that I never underestimate my opponents. Ignorace and pride can lead to wrong decisions in battle and even cost someone's life. In order to prevent such a thing I do not ever do this. No matter who or what I fight. However I will not go down into the dungeon with a Party. I'm not a team player nor do I want to put the lifes of others on the line. I believe you can understand this." Scyron said watching the elf girl nod. 'She looks down for some reason. Probably a lot of people died in that dungeon after overestimating themselves. Well can't say I was that different. How many times did I die at the beginning? I don't know anymore. I always had relied on other people for informations and they gave me wrong ones, because I have chosen to be a demon. Damn those idiots! Still this is what it means to go on an adventure. You simply don't have the certainty of coming back.' He thought. "Don't worry miss Eina. I do not intent to die down there. Now then I should get going. Until we meet again." Scyron said as he walked out the door.
"Do you really think he will be alright?" A pinkette woman in an identical blazer as the one Eina wore said. The half elf in question kept a rather neutral expression.
"I hope so. Otherwise we would have failed as the adventurer's guild." Eina said, before returning to work.
Meanwhile on top of Babel
Freya was sitting on her chair and watched from above down on the world of the mortals. It was almost like back in heaven with the exception that being in heaven would mean the extremely annoying work of guiding the souls of the dead into the afterlife and that 24/7. All deities that had descended to this world were lucky compared to those in heaven and intended to stay here as they could live here with their familias and the other people of this world as one of them. However there were rules that even bound the gods to this realm.
The most important one was to seal their divine powers, their so called arcanum. A deity that broke this law was automatically sent back to heaven and had never the chance to go back to this realm ever again. All gods had an aura they could release to be recognised if they wished to, but that was more a tool to intimidate the mortals. Some gods like Freya however had other abilities as well. Freya for example could see into the souls of people, which made it quite easy for her to pick people for her familia. The Freya Familia was the most powerful of all familias in Orario. Only the strongest and most talented adventurers were even considered to join their ranks. That however didn't meant that she would not just steal someone from someone else's familia. It was possible to do a familia change, a so called conversion, in order to join another familia, however one had to wait an entire year in order to do so again. Freya was quite a picky woman and thanks to her powers she made sure her familia remained strong at all times.
However, now she was almost like a wolf that was searching for a track of it's prey. Impatiently she scanned the streets of Orario for the one she had looked at yesterday, but when she looked into a certain direction she was repeled again by the unknown force that kept her out. Quite an ironic picture when one thought about it. She, a goddess of Beauty, who was swarmed and admired by men and women, alike was right now kept outside like an ordinary homeless person. However even if she couldn't look directly for the one who was putting her into this state, she had more ways to figure out who it was.
"You asked for me?" a deep male voice said behind her. Freya didn't need to turn around to know who the one behind her was. His name was Ottar, a true masterpiece of an adventurer with an incredible level of 7, the only level 7 adventurer in Orario at all. And Ottar was not an old man, but in the 30s with 32 years. Yes, he was a result of Freya's selection of familia members and Ottar was their leader as she lived not with her familia together, but on top of Babel.
"Ottar, I need you to gather informations for me about any new adventurers in Orario." Freya said, Ottar looked a little confused at her, but nodded. Normally Freya would give him a name, a description or at least the familia the one who had gained her attention was in, but this time it was a rather weird request, especially when coming from her.
"Is there anyone special we should look for?" He asked.
"Yes. Look for someone of great power. Someone who has done something... outstanding." Freya said.
"Very well." Ottar said as he took his leave. Freya smiled and chuckle, looking down on the human world.
"So where are you, who heeps me outside? I can't wait to finally meet you." She said with a hint of affection. And insanity.
Dungeon 11th floor
"GRROOAARRHG!" An orc roared in pain before it exploded into ashes, leaving only the magic stone in it's wake. Scyron strapped his greatsword back on his back as he picked up the Stone. The fog was so thick that a human would barely be able to see the outlines of the barren trees that grew on this ground. Then there was a sound in the fog. Light footsteps that resonated through the misty grounds of the 11th Floor. Scyron only turned his head slightly before suddenly a pain filled, pathetic cry rang through the mist. Blood dripped on the ground as the creature revealed itself. It was a lupine creature about the size of a large wolf. It was an hellhound, a summoned low level demon summoned by Scyron to cover a larger area as he couldn't detect any humans so far. The hell hound pack he had summoned had rushed into the fog and tore the monsters of the dungeon into bits like the one in the hellhound's jaws. It was an ugly monkey like creature with big eyes and ears. As it tried to scratch the hellhound or plunge an eye out with it's sharp claws, the lupine monster's jaws crunched down the imp like in a branch, snapping it in half. The corpse disintegrated into ashes and the magic stone fell to the ground with a soft thud.
"Good boy." Scyron said as he petted the lower demon. 'What would a hunter be without his loyal hunting dogs?' He thought as the rest of the pack appeared out the fog and brought magic stones with themselves. Scyron figured out that, because this floor was unlike the narrow tunnels of the upper floors an wide open area it would be more difficult to get a lot of magic crystals. So why not summoning some helpers? The hellhounds might be low level demons, but they were more then capable of tearing the monsters of this dungeon into bloody shreds in no time. Even the large orcs stood barely a chance as an hellhound bit down their throats and tore them right out. There was no need to summon something strong like a wendigo or even a baku so far so he conserved most MP. After collecting the magic stones and petting his dogs he dismissed them, making them disappear in burning embers. 'That should be quite a sum for going so deep already, however when the people had already been on the 58th floor then this is little to nothing.' Scyron thought as he looked at one of the stones. However, his train of thoughts was interrupted when he noticed the presence of adventurers in the area. And they were coming closer at a fast pace. Soon he saw the group of 5 men running like the devil itself was after them.
"What's going on?" Scyron asked in a demanding tone as the adventurers passed him by. None of them answered as he felt the ground vibrate with the footsteps of something big and/or heavy as he could hear a stomping coming closer. It was a large quadroped lizard of about 6 or 7 meters body length. Orange scales covered the body as four small Horns decorated the back of the head. The mouth was filled with sharp teeth and the feet had big claws. "So that's an infant dragon? How disappointing. It barely is on Level 23." Scyron muttered as the reptilian monster took notice of him and charged at him with a loud roar. The demon however barely moved his Hand to his chokotu. Just as the creature was just an arm's length away from him, he drew the sword and slashed the dragon's neck. The weapon sliced through the pack of muscles like wet paper, slashing the creature's head clean off. The dragon's body then exploded into ashes leaving a fist sized magic stone in it's way. Scyron however grabbed the monster's head. "[Incineration]." He said as the monster's head in his Hand began to burn. [Incineration] was a rather powerful 6th tier spell, that could even roast a full armored monster in it's own shell. Scyron however wanted to experiment with his powers a little, like for example how much he could hold back. He stopped the spell and the flames disappeared, leaving the skull of the dragon in his hand now free from all remaining flesh and blood. "This would look good on my night stand." He said to himself as he picked up the magic stone.
The magic stones were also very interesting for the demon. Apparantly it didn't matter for some monsters if you slashed their heads off as long as the magic stone remains unharmed. It was like the stone was the brain, the heart and the core of the monsters themselves. More suprising it was for the YGGDRASIL player that the people of this world managed to use such things to make fridges, lamps and stoves for example. In all honesty Scyron liked this concept of engineering. It was unlike the ways of energy production not bound to coal or anything like it though that too was still very commonly used in this world.
Scyron grabbed the dragon's magic stone as he felt the body vibrate once again. In the distance more of those infant dragons were running towards him like hunting dogs that had smelled blood. "Seems like I'll have plenty of test subjects for my experiments later. Now come on." Scyron said as he drew his chokuto and his greatsword and rushed towards the dragons that ran towards him. When the first one snapped it's jaws at him, he slashed the dragon's side open with his greatsword, before spinning around and cutting the second dragon's chest open with his chokuto. A third of them swiped it's tail at the demon, who only had barely enough time to bring up his greatsword to block the attack. Then however a fourth dragon bit down his arm with the chokuto and lifted the demon from the ground. The third dragon then grabbed one of the demon's legs as both dragons tried to tear him in half.
"Didn't you mothers told you to not bite off more then you can chew." Scyron deadpanned as barely felt the thugging of the dragons. His body was on level 100 so he probably wouldn't be able to get ripped in two by those two dragons. Turning the chokuto in his hand he stabbed the weapon into the dragon's skull, killing it instantly. As it let go of his upper body Scyron twisted his body and slashed the other dragon's throat open, causing him to drop ungracefully to the ground. "But before he could stand up the dead dragon's body collapsed on top of him. "Ouch." He deadpanned as he felt no pain at all. The dragon's body suprisingly didn't evaporate so Scyron had to lift the body up himself and throw it away from him to get out. His white armor was now covered in the dragons' blood as it dripped down to the gray floor, but Scyron ignored it. He simply drew his arm back and plunged it into the dead dragon's body to pull out the magic stone. "That makes 5 then. Let's get to the next floor." Scyron thought loud as he walked towards the entrace of the 12th floor. The adventurers from earlier on the 11th floor were only confused that the infant dragons didn't follow them any longer.
6 hours later
Adventurer's Guild
"EEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!" A collective of outcries of suprise and shock rang through the building as a certain half elf was once again losing her nerves alongside all the others that worked in that building and the present adventurers. No one cared for the fact that the god in the building Ouranus could hear them and probably was disturbed in this moment with whatever he had been doing. The reason for the sudden alert in the guild hall was again a certain white armored demon with literally a wheelbarrow of magic stones and drop items. If he would have put them all into a sac and would have worn red with a fake white beard he would have looked like Santa Claus.
"What is it?" Scyron asked obvious as always.
After getting his money the people started asking questions and things got with every answer even louder. After 10 minutes or so the atmosphere was not anymore so tense as Scyron stood in the room and eyed the blackboard for informations.
'Perhaps I should take a few days off from going into the dungeon. That would give me the opportunity to finally test [Prometheus] or a few other spells.' Scyron thought as he could still feel the stares of the other adventurers in his back. And they were not the only ones. From the corner of his eyes he could see the aura of a god coming from somewhere closeby as he decided that it would be the best to leave the guild hall for now. 'I should wander a little the city and look for players that might have surfaced in this world as well.' He thought while walking into the northern districts of Orario. 'But that one article was interesting. Apparantly the Loki Familia wants to go down to the last floor and they start in a couple of days. Mhmm now that I think about it, if I use a few stealth spells and don't leave the dungeon every few hours like the last two days I might get down there in less then a week. Though if I'd do that I'd Need something to prepare food. Damn now I curse myself for not having the chief class like Mako did.' The memory of this old friend of his made his heart grow heavy.
Flashback
"Mako! What's going on here?!" Scyron asked paniced without his armor as he stood in a large kitchen. In front of him everything burned like someone had bathed the entire furniture with gasoline and putting it on fire. In the middle of this Inferno stood a single person at the stove as it seemed to stir something in a large pot. Said figure was big and stocky, almost making it look short given how short the limbs were in comparision to the body. A small tail sat at the waist and small horns ran along it's spine and the feet had two sharp claws for toes, almost like those of an ostrich. On top of the head sat a chef hat between two short horns, while an apron was wrapped in front of it's waist. The creature turned around revealing it's rather hideous face with a lipless mouth filled with sharp teeth looked back at him. Yellow eyes without pupils looked back at him as the creature Held in it's deformed clawed hands a wooden spoon. On the black apron stood in white letters 'Don't do anything with the cook.'
"Oh I just tried a new recipe." the short demon said as a smiling emoji appeared next to his head. He then took out a small bowl and handed it over to Scyron. The brown soup looked pretty normal until insect like legs and tentacles sprout out the bowl and began to move. Scyron almost threw the bowl across the room as Mako put his hands on his hips and proudly puffed his chest out.
Flashback Ends
A small chuckle escaped Scyron's lips as he remembered the smaller demon. He was sure that if he had not erased his character and didn't quit YGGDRASIL after the fall of the League, he would have become a powerful archdemon, but he never saw hom again, therefore he had to presume that he had quit as well. A shame really. Mako was a rather timid Person despite being actually older than Scyron himself. Then he stopped and looked around. The dungeon city Orario could be a labyrinth on it's own when someone didn't know where to go. Such as a certain YGGDRASIL player who actually wanted to explore the city a little and now found himself in an unknown territory. And the sun had started to set a well.
'Just great. Why the hell didn't I just go to the dungeon again? Oh right, checking ot the competition.' Scyron thought as he walked past busy traders, women with children and adventurers of most likely local familias. What Eina had told him abut the familias reminded him a lot of guilds in YGGDRASIL. Not every guild was a roleplay or PK guild, there were also those that found pleasure in making items and selling them and those that collected and sold information about certain dungeons for example.
"Hey who are you?" Someone said. Scyron looked up and found some kind of guard standing in front of a large mansion. The sign next to the gate he had arrived said 'Twilight Manor'.
"Oh just and adventurer looking around the neighbourhood." Scyron said.
"Don't you know this is the home of the Loki familia?" the guard asked.
'Why the hell do those guys live here? What's with bumping into things lately? Sure they were powerful, but why living in such a big mansion? Then again, when you have the Money you could probably afford it.' Scyron thought. "Really? I didn't know. All I know abut you guys so far is that you are quite famous." Scyron said.
"Yes. The Loki Familia is one of the strongest familias of all. Guess it's mostly because of Ais though." The guard said. Just before Scyron could ask who Ais was he heard another voice.
"Oi! Who's that?" a young red haired woman said. Scyron recognised her from yesterday in the inn. As she saw him a sly smile flashed over her face.
"Goddess Loki. The treepasser says he was just talking a walk and ended up on our gates by Chance." the guard said.
"Well so what's the problem then? There are losts of people that would like to come inside, but they don't. Now then..." Loki said turning towards the armored demon. "I remember you. You were the one who made Bete back off in that inn, didn't you?" She said with a smile that Scyron only could call carefree. The guard next to her looked at her in shock, before looking at the White armored demon.
"If you refer the incident last night as such yes that was me. Is there a problem because of that?" Scyron asked.
"No. He was just so scared last night that he stopped drinking for the rest of the evening, but that's all." Loki said.
'Somehow I feel like I'm really in big trouble.' Scyron thought. "I see."
"Yeah but he can be jerk sometimes I admit that. So no hard feelings?" she said. That caught the demon slightly off guard.
'Okay now she's playing with me. But in which direction is this going? Only one way to find out.' The demon thought. "Fine by me. How about a new start then." He said as he bowed slightly towards the goddess. "My name is Scyron. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said.
"Well and I'm Loki. So how about we stop standing here and actually go inside to talk? It's a bit weird to do that here on the street." Loki said pointing over her shoulder to the manor.
"Though I'd like to talk a little more, I still have to take care of a few things that require my attention." Scyron said.
"Ah stuff for your familia, right? Well I know that kind of trouble." Loki said.
"No. I'm not part of a familia yet. Until now I've more focused on going further down into the dungeon." Scyron admitted. There was suddenly a dangerous look in Loki's eyes as they looked like that off a feline, ready to pounce at a defenseless Prey animal. "Perhaps another time then?" Scyron said.
"Yeah another time." Loki said almost sounding disappointed, but it was just for a part of a second. "So see ya." Loki said before turning around and Walking back into her manor. Scyron bowed a last time towards the guard and left. The demon took his leave as soon and as fast as possible. He was basically running through the streets back to the Hostess of Fertility, but he didn't run, but walked.
'She definately wanted something from me and I presume it has something to do with the whole familia thing. Damn I need to be more careful with such things. Alright new rules. Number one: Don't talk about joining a familia or my Status of not being part of one. Two: Don't get involved with their stuff. Okay who am I kidding? These guys are like companies back on Earth so they are basically everywhere. Man why must gods make things so complicated? Hey wait. I didn't had my passive skill active when I talked to Loki. Though I'm suprised that she's a woman, I completely ignored her god aura even though I took notice of it. Yes! Progress!' Scyron cheered in his head.
However this was shortlifed as he felt how someone bumped into him from behind. Scyron turned around and found himself face to face with a boy. He didn't look much older or younger than 15, most likely he was younger. He had red eyes and white hair, almost making him look like a albino, with the exception that his skin was not as pale as one and he looked rather healthy. He wore a tan jacket and had a dagger with him.
'A newbie, perhaps?' Scyron thought as he looked at the Young man, who was rubbing his head.
"Ouch did I walk straight into a wall?" he said loud, before opening his eyes. He apparantly only saw Scyron's feet as he slowly lifted his gaze, his face twisting in panic as he looked fearful up to Scyron, who in return just sweatdropped at the sight in front of him. After a moment the boy shot up and bowed towards the demon. "I-I'm sorry sir." he said.
"It's cool. I wasn't looking where I was going either." The demon said as he looked down at the boy. "So you're an adventurer right?" He asked.
"Y-yes. I have come here to become an adventurer a few weeks ago." The white-haired Boy said.
"I see. Well I guess introductions are needed. Scyron, pleasure to meet you." Scyron said extending his hand. The boy grabbed it as he looked up to the taller man.
"Bell Cranel. I'm a member of the Hestia familia." Bell said.
'Hestia? Wasn't that this short, buxom goddess with black hair in twin tails style?' Scyron thought. "I see. Well we should better get going. We might cause the traffic to get stuck." Scyron said as he walked further down the street. Bell who walked in the same direction walked next to him. They walked in silence for a while as Bell opened his mouth.
"Say Sir Scyron. Where did you get this gear?" he asked looking like a curious child at the armor and weapons.
'I spent weeks with crawling through dungeons and beating the living hell out of everything in my way. Then I tore those monsters apart in such a gruesome manner, if you had seen that it would give you nightmares forever, and handed their body parts to my friends who made them into the Divine Class Items you see kid. Only look, don't touch.' Scyron thought as he looked at him. "A friend of mine made them a long time ago. It serves as a constant reminder of them." He said.
"Wow. They must be very talented craftsmen then." Bell said.
"They indeed are. Say kid, why are you here? Why did you became an adventurer?" He asked. Bell looked away a bit ashamed.
"W-well. My grandfather always used to read me stories about Heros and told me how great the life as a hero would be. He got attacked in the mountains by a monster and fell down a cliff."
"Oh. I'm sorry for asking kid. It was not my intention to bring up such memories." Scyron said as he looked at the white-haired boy with sympathy. He knew the pain of losing someone precious to oneself very well.
"Don't worry. That's why I came here. To become a hero." Bell said smiling.
"A noble goal. It seems like I have arrived at my destination." Scyron said as he noticed that they had indeed arrived at the Hostess of Fertility.
"You live in this inn?" Bell asked.
"For now yes. Goodbye and take care boy." Scyron said.
"You as well sir." Bell said as he dashed off again. He didn't saw the demon look after him as he disappeared in the crowds.
'Such an enthusiastic young man. He has no idea what he has signed up. Becoming a hero? Here? Heroes are people that are risking their own life for a greater good like protecting innocent people. Legends are individuals that have done the impossible. This is perhaps a place to become a legend, but no hero. Though I cannot lie.' Scyron thought as he entered the inn as he thought about the adventurers from the 11th floor. He had looked into the city of Orario and had seen a lot of problems. Crimes, poverty of certain people that are ready to kill and the constant competition of the individual familias with one another. 'This place is like a barrel full of dynamite by being packed wih so many strong individuals. One misguided spark could ignite a fire that could burn everything to the ground, when it falls on something inflammable. I can feel it. The envy of the lower adventurers and their frustration. I'm sure that if the conditions are right even a place with so many gods present could turn into a burning Inferno. In order to prevent that from happening or at least don't get into a crossfire I would need more information.' He thought as he shook his head. His brain was already back in making preparations for his next move on this chess board.
I hope you liked this chapter of Chthonian Infernalis. Leave a review with your opinion and/or how the story should go on. Constructive ideas are always appreciated.
Until next the next chapter comes out, have a good time ;)