Chapter 3: Is it wrong when you have constant nightmares?
Scyron stood in a forest. The trees had no leaves and had died long ago as their bark had fallen off and their wooden trunks and brances had turned White due a Long period of time without any decomposion. There was only low vegetation on the ground like grass and farns. The leafless branches looked like fingers, streching out for the endless void that was the sky. The demon player was more than confused about the fact that he had no idea how he got there. He was totally crept out. It was not the scenery but the unnatural silence. Not a single bird or animal was to be heard. Even the wind seemed to be silent in this moment. But then he heard something. It was a whisper like breeze sweeping over the landscape.
"Annihilate..."
Instinctly Scyron took a step backwards.
'What is this?' He thought as he suddenly felt his legs moving on their own. He took a step forward. And another one. 'What the-! I can't move my legs?!' Scyron tried to move his legs, but now his entire body from the neck down seemed to have a mind on it's own. With a steady pace he walked further and further into the dead forest. With each step the voices became louder. He was sure that he was Walking towards the scource of it.
"Kill. Destroy. Mangle. Mutilate. Rape. Take. Betray. Steal. Devour." The voice became more and more disorted, impossible to belong to a human being as it echoed through the forest. Scyron wanted to turn away from this, but he couldn't move. He arrived at a small clearing now as the voice became voices and came now from all sides.
'No... Those are not my thoughts!'
"KILL! DEVOUR! DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT PAINS YOU! MAKE EVERYONE PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID! PERISH ALL OF IT WITH YOUR OWN STRENGTH AND CRUSH IT LIKE A PATHETIC FLEA!" It said no more demanding. Suddenly the floor seemed to vanish as Scyron fell into an endless black depth. This was the last thing he saw before he saw nothing but darkness and a single red star inside it.
Scyron jolted up as he awoke from his sleep. It was not a good idea to sleep on the floor of the dungeon when every moment a monster could come around a corner and attack you, but Scyron was confident that his armor could take any blow something tried to pull off on him. However he had not slept since his nap on the 18th floor. He really had to resist the urge to simply murder everyone in Liveria as they had demanded a little fortune just for a room to spent the night in. Needless to say he rather slept on the floor in his armor than in a nest of potential burglars and wannabe mercenaries.
'For how long did I sleep. I go here and then just laid down. It's kind of hard to check on time without a clock. Well at least I got some calm and quite here since the 18th floor. Still the Goliath Eina has warned me about was totally weak. Damn a death knight takes more damage without falling over like this.' Scyron thought disappointed. So far even the mini bosses were too weak for him. He basically could go one hit kill on them, but he doesn't because this way it at least makes more fun this way to literally beat the living hell out of them. 'What did I expect? I killed the Seven Demon Kings of Sin on my own to obtain the [Lord of Inferno] Job Class. Still those nightmares...' He shook his head as he walked further down the dungeon. 'Those thoughts are not my own ones. Could it be that the [Lord of Inferno] Job Class is causing this behaviour of my mind? In the lore of YGGDRASIL is written that the Prime Evil is the one that manages to kill all 7 Demon Kings of Sin and therefore has their essence inside of himself/herself. It could be possible. Ever since I came here my negative emotions are growing strong, but my karma level prevents them from spreading too much. So far I've felt sudden peaks of such emotions, but they don't last for long. Still could this mean that I will become... a monster?' Scyron thought panicked as he began to imagine himself under the deadly sins' influence. Destroying Orario, burning all life in the city into oblivion and do much worse things than death to those that would survive the fire. It truly disgusted him and it disgusted him slightly of himself and what he had become. But there was nothing he could do about that. He had decided to play as a demon. Back then it had only been a game, but now it's reality.
The only way to change that would be to use a race changing item. He had a few of them for the sake of roleplaying as a demon and for people that might wanted to join his guild and accept the term to be part of a demonic race. For example he had [Fallen Seeds] that could transform one into a devil or [Heaven's Feathers] to transform people into angels. Hell he even had [Fenrir's Fangs] for people that wanted to become a YGGDRASIL werewolf. The real heteromorphic race, not the humanoids, that lived on the surface of this world like that idiot in the bar lately.
But that was something he didn't want either. His avatar had 25 levels in total in demonic races. If he changed now into an angel he would lose all those racial classes. Normally a player could then chose in the menu new classes like during a Level up, but the menu didn't work in this world, meaning that in the worst case Scyron would lose 24 levels for a simple beginner angelic race. Also the change would be irreversible. But he got already used to this new demonnic ody. It was quite handy to have a physical strong body, not to mention how easy some things were now since he had a tail and six wings on his back.
'No the only thing that prevents me from becoming such an evil creature is my self-discipline. If I stay strong that will not happen.' Scyron thought. 'According to Eina it is like the 18th floor a safe point where no monster spawn. I'm currently on the 50th floor. I hope I get down to the 59th in time. I'm already here for more than 2 days and yet I barely slept only, because I wanted to. I don't feel that tired as I should be. Is this the endurance my avatar possessed in YGGDRASIL?' he thought as he dismissed the thought. For being so long already in the dungeon people on the surface probably already thought that he was dead. However he had not even broke a sweat yet against any of the monsters that the dungeon had thrown at him. Even the monster rex of the 37th floor Udeaus was merely a pushover of an undead creature, that barely could be compared to skeletal dragons or overlords in YGGDRASIL. Though he was suprised when the creature suddenly drew a massive sword out of the ground. It was almost the size of an old friend's weapon.
Flashback
2 days ago/37th floor
The Monster Rex Udeaus looked like a massive demonic skeleton. It had spikes on it's limbs and a pair of curved goat like horns grew from the skull. Sharp teeth sat inside the jaws and red dots glowed inside the eye sockets like those of an overlord.
Meanwhile in an alternative dimension a certain dark hero sneezed.
Scyron stood there in his armor as he looked at the skeleton as it drew back it's fist.
"[Aspect of the Devil: Giant Arms]!" Scyron said as his arms grow multiple times in size as they became as big as that of the Udeaus. As the monster punched Scyron simply caught the monster's fist and crushed it under his hand. Then he grabbed the Udeaus' throat, before throwing it across the room. The skeletal monster crashed into the wall with a thundering sound as Scyro's arms turned back to normal. Then however the Udeaus did something unexpected. Out of the ground came a giant sword, made of the same bones as the Udeaus. It glowed with a dark red flaming aura before it struck down at Scyron. The shockwave ripped the entire floor in the attack's way apart like a massive earthslide. The monster withdrew it's sword as the dust settled down. Scyron had visibly remained untouched by the blow, though it had shaken him a little.
"So you want a sword fight huh? Here you can have one." Scyron said as he put his cleaver away and drew his chokuto. "A shame really. You do look a lot like him save for the fact that you don't have skin, flesh or legs, but I wouldn't even consider using his weapon against you if you had a bigger weapon with you. [Earth Cleaver: Mountain Feller]? A fitting name that you gave that weapon Boraynorai-san." Scyron said as he grabbed his weapon with both hands. As the Udeaus swung it's sword right at the demon, Scyron blocked the massive weapon with nothing but te thin sword. With a strong push Scyron made the udeaus stagger back. Using this opening to attack Scyron ran at the undead creature, before cutting it's sword arm right off. The appendage fell to the ground with a thundering sound. However in the moment as Scyron touched the ground Spikes erupted from it and tried to pierce the armor. "Not bad. I can consider you now as a Level 45 monster. But..." Scyron said as he shattered the spikes in to pieces. "...that's not strong enough to make me fall!" He yelled as he jumped back up and aimed right for the neck of the monster rex. His sword was swung in a horizontal motion, cutting through spine of the massive monster with ease. The monster's head fell to the ground only leaving a legless ribcage in it's wake, which fell over as well as Scyron slashed the other arm off as well. After jumping off the falling skeleton Scyron simply scratched the magic stone in the ribcage with his thin sword, making a part of it break off. Then the body of the creature evaporated into white dust, leaving only a magic stone of the size of an adult human in it's wake.
"Now that was something." Scyron said to himself as he looked over to the sword of the skeletal monster. It had not disappeared. He walked over to the massive weapon and grabbed the handle. It was heavier than his swords, but most likely less stable than the Divine Class items. It was about Top Class Quality in YGGDRASIL terms. "Well I think I can change that with a bit of alchemy, but how much would the Hephaestus Familia give me for all those weapons?" He thought loud as he made the weapon disappear in his inventory and left the boss room.
Flashback Ends
Scyron shook his head as he looked up the ceiling of the 50th floor. It perhaps wasn't as save as the 18th since monsters could come from both above and below, but he had nothing against that. So far he had merely seen some kind of black rhinoceros coming from the lower floors, which were not that strong. He had collected not only drop items and magic stones on his journey, but also so caled nature weapons. It were weapons or other objects the monsters could use which were also spawned by the dungeon alongside the monsters like an axe of a minotaurus or an almiraj, a small albino rabbit like monster.
"Well doesn't matter. One last time down there and then back up." He said as he went to the entrance of the 51th floor to reach his goal for this trip: reaching the 58th floor before the Loki Familia does to troll them later...not really. Actually he just wanted to get down there to see what was there. After all you couldn't gain anything in YGGDRASIL if you didn't went out of the towns to beat monsters and collect items. He would later say that he simply went to the 24th floor and then got stuck there as he had walked to close to one of those pantries, before being able to go back to the surface. 'Today at evening I should get going back to the surface.' he thought as he went further down.
Meanwhile in the Twilight Manor
"What do you mean he isn't in a familia yet?" Loki said as she sat on the desk of her second-in-command's office. In front of her stood Riveria while Finn sat at his desk and Gareth had taken a chair for himself.
"I've asked in the guild. Apparantly he has registered just a few days ago without being part of familia." The elven woman replied. "He already went to the 17th floor on his own and returned alive. Without a supporter or a party that would even be for a level 2 adventurer almost impossible. And for someone who just comes out of nowhere this is very suspicious."
"I agree on that one." Finn said. "An individual like this is basically impossible to exist. We should be careful about this Topic."
"Perhaps he had adventurers as parents and gew up under difficult conditions. It is very rare, but sometimes people come to Orario that are already on level 2 or even 3." Gareth said.
"True. And this is what is so problematic about this individual. We know nothing about his backstory. Had he worked as a soldier or a mercenary or even as a spy? Did he experience war or was he just unlucky with where he was born? This all are factors we need to consider." Finn said biting his thump.
"What is there to consider? We just ask him if he wants to join and if he doesn't we had bad luck. We are not like some other familias that are stealing the children from one another. Also shouldn't we be worried more about our next expidition in a 4 days?" Loki asked.
"The preparations are already finished. Still we do every day check ups on our supplies." Finn said.
"In that case the others are most likely training." Gareth said.
"Goddess there is one more thing." Riveria said.
"What is it?" Loki said.
"Apparantly this Scyron went 3 days ago into the dungeon and has not returned yet." Riveria said. "This is very weird especially with our expedition drawing closer." Loki sighed.
"So what? It is a shame to say this, but perhaps this new guy has overestimated himself. Only to be expected by someone without a falna at all." Gareth said.
"I don't think that's case." Said Finn. "According to what Riveria said about this person, he plans what he does before making a move. To simply throw all this aside and go into intuition is easy, but risky. And for a newcomer who goes alone to the 17th floor and comes back this is indeed not fitting at all." Finn said.
"So you think he stays longer on the upper floors than ususal?" Gareth asked.
"No. That would be against what he said in front of the entire guild. He said he plans to 'clear' the dungeon." Riveria said.
"'Clear' the dungeon?" Loki said confused.
"It sems like it's a term that refers to go into the deepest floor of the dungeon and defeat the last monster rex. Personally I think this is nothing but arrogance. However given the fact that he went deeper with every time he went into the dungeon he probably goes even deeper than most other adventurers Probably he is now on a floor in the 20s. I wouldn't expect more." Riveria said.
"Well perhaps we run into him during our expedition." Loki joked, while the other three just looked at her without much of a reaction."Say Loki." Finn spoke up. "Don't you have to update the statuses of our members before the expedition begins? Last time you had to do it right before the expedition and we got later in the dungeon than we wanted to." he said.
"Don't worry about it. I have everything under control." Loki said.
Meanwhile on top of Babel
Freya looked down to the world of mortals again as she watched a certain white-haired boy running towards the dungeon. Such childish eagerness to throw himself into harm's way was something everyone would call crazy, but she admired not his body or abilities. No his soul was untained by anything. A small, honest, innocent soul as it was only found once in a few centuries. This unlimited potential was something she wanted to have. Then she could shape him like wet clay like she wanted him to be. That was something she wanted. Without turning her head she spoke up.
"I see you're back Ottar." Freya said. "Did you got what I wanted you to bring me?"
"Yes, however it is unfortunately not much." Ottar said as he handed the goddess a book. The goddess noticed that it was very thin, more like a single sheet of paper. She looked over it, while walking to her throne like chair.
"I see. That's truly interesting." She said. "In less then a week he appeared and went to the 17th floor. And now he's gone since a few days." Freya said as she closed the book. A small smile crept over her face. "Fascinating. This is truly an interesting individual. Don't you think so as well Ottar?"
"He's very outstanding for a beginner. Almost like he has personal experiences with the dungeon." Ottar said. Freya smiled at him at this.
"That is true with no doubt. However I still wonder what kind of power is this that he keeps me out with." she said.
"Keeping you out?" Ottar asked. Freya sighed dramatically.
"I don't get it either. They only had a description of his appearance, but no picture. And even then there was only how he looked like in armor. Every time I use my ability on this one some kind of force prevents me from looking at him and it feels like a sword is driven in my head." She said. Behind her Ottar clenched his hands into fists and his grit his teeth behind his lips. When there was one thing this man didn't like it was when someone insulted his goddess. To hear that someone was actually forcing her away from said person which in return even hurt her physically made this act even more unforgiveable to the boaz. How did this person dare to hurt her? But his anger calmed down a little as he remembered that Freya loved everyone and was not bound to a single individual. After all she was a goddess. No mortal could claim her for his own. In his hateful thoughts he just now realized that Freya was chuckling. "This pain, this misery that I'm feeling makes this hunt even more exciting. This is probably the first time that I have set my eyes on a prey that actually manages to fight back." she said.
Several hours later in the dungeon, 46th floor
The eye of a flame rock stared right down the demon as it's mouth began to drool liquid fire. These golem like creatures had a single flaming eye on their bulky Body while a big mouth was on the torso. For some reason Scyron felt disgusted by these creatures, but not because of their hideous appreance, but the fact that they were so weak. It was like he felt that they were not worthy to become even the dust under his feet. Even the monster rex of the 49th floor, the Balog was no match for his power. As then one of the flame rocks fired a stream of fire at Scyron, he didn't moved a muscle. He let the searing flames envelop him like a warm summer breeze. Only that said breeze was several thousand degrees hotter and was made of burning gases. As the fire died down Scyron had simply changed into his casual clothes as he shot the rock monster a glare. There were many monsters of different types in the same room with him. It was a so called colloseum, a room inside the dungeon that spawned monsters nonstop until a certain number was reached. Like a factory of monsters if one might say so, but that was irrelevant for the demon. The only thing that had changed for him was the fact that when the monsters kept standing so close to one another he had it easier to attack them to wipe them all out at once. He spread his wings and flew up as a group of satyr like monster jumped up to assault him.
"Take this!" Scyron said as his tail shot out. Despite not being bladed like a blade nor having a lance like tip, the spine like tail simply impaled one of the monsters through the chest and whipped around. Even the tail's sides cut through the monsters without much resistance. Only a few magic stones fell to the ground into the crowd of monsters as already replacement for the fallen ones spawned. Almost at the exit of the room Scyron turned to the creatures and held his hand out. "[Maximize Magic: Pyroclastic Stream]." Scyron said as a cloud of burning ashes escaped Scyron's hand and shot towards the monsters. Because Scyron flew above the crowd and was near exit of the room the ashes simply envelopped them from above, urning them away as soon as they touched the ashes. Not a single monster had enough time to make it to the exit in time. After a moment Scyron cast another spell. "[Wind Tunnel]." This rather weak spell simply blew the ashes out the room and the magic stones and drop items right into his vicinity to put them away into his inventory. Not sparring the colloseum another look he walked towards the entrance of the 45th floor, while equipping his armor as he could already hear how new monsters spawned to replace the destroyed ones. The monsters on the lower floors respawned at a faster rate than he was used to. "Perhaps it would be easier if I don't kill them but just cripple them." He thought loud as his fingers transformed into claws.
Meanwhile
In a dark wide room only two torches on an high altar provided light to the ones in the room. Behind them was a throne like chair on which an old looking man sat. He wore a black hooded robe. His old face and a few strands of his white hair were visible for onlookers. He had his eyes closed as if he was sleeping, but in fact he was very concentraded in this very moment. After a moment he opened his blue eyes.
"You have felt it as well, didn't you?" the old man said.
"I did." Replied a voice in the room.
"How long has it been since this happened to be so close?" the old man said.
"About 15 years by now. Back then we ignored it and a lot of people had died. Including the disappearance of a valueable ally. This time however it is much stronger than back then and blocks our ways to find it." The bodyless voice said.
"I know." The old man stated.
"What do you think to do about this then? We don't know where it is or what it's capable off." The voice asked. After a moment of silence the old man spoke up again.
"We leave it for now. If this makes problems we will act. As long as it doesn't, keep an eye on the dungeon. We should focus on the things at hand." The old man said.
"As you wish." The voice said as the old man felt the presence slowly slipping away until he couldn't feel it anymore. He closed his eyes again and continued what he had done before. 'It has gotten more difficultly to calm the dungeon lately.' He thought to himself.
Meanwhile
A figure clad in robes was sitting on a stone as next to it a small pile of magic stones laid next to it. Behind said figure was another robed figure, however this one had a red mask on it's face. A third in robes figure leaned against a wall and wore a goat's skull as a mask. Both of them were deep within the dungeon. The red-masked individual looked upwards, before looking at the other persons.
"It seems like the adventurer is going back to the surface now." it said.
"So what?" said the other robed figure.
"If this individual would have got here we would have been in trouble. SHE would have been in trouble." The red masked person said. The skull-masked Person tensed up a little at this.
"Don't worry about it. If he's going back there is nothing to worry about right now." The robed figure said as it picked up one of the magic stones. There was a small silence between the two of them before the masked person spoke up again.
"Aren't you curious how he managed to get there without a party at all?" Now there was a verbal reaction from the one with the skull mask.
"Without a party? Impossible. Not even the princess of blades gets to the 50th floor without assistance." it said.
"And yet he did. Alone all the way down to the 50th floor and killed many monsters without breaking a sweat. Such power...such purely evil power..." the masked figure said as it panted for a few moments, before calming down again. "I'm sure SHE would love to hear such nNews. If we had such power..." The masked one said before the other masked person shot it a glare.
"Will you be silent for once? It isn't my problem if this guy came down here on his own. I will overcome that as well." The sitting figure said before turning away again before picking up another stone. The red-masked person huffled amused.
"We'll see how long this person won't be a problem anymore." It said before leaving. The one sitting meanwhile looked at the magic stone between it's fingers. Behind the hood a lime green eye with a slit pupil looked at it.
"Such power in a single person. If I had such power I would have reached my Goal. And I will reach it no matter what. That's for sure." it said.
Another couple of hours later 18th floor
Finally Scyron was back in the safe zone. He had rushed as fast as he could through the most floors and only made a break for a few minutes. Also he killed most monsters he had come across on his way. Everything simply was split in half by the two Divine Class Items. And in the case of his chokuto it's real potential wasn't even used. It was truly a reason to cry. From here it would make no difference if he used [Gate] to get back up again or if he simply walked the other 17 floors to the surface. But all that aside Scyron was mentally exhausted. So he decided to make a small break since it was already night time. So he went deep inside the forest and sat down under a tree. Leaning against the bark wasn't really comfortable, but better than staying in Liveria.
'Huh?' Scyron thought as he looked up to the massive crystals hanging above his head. 'I ask myself if this was how the people felt when they looked up in the nightsky and watched the stars after they had travelled into a for them unknown region of the world.' He couldn't really help but admire the dungeon despite being filled with such weak monsters. It was so much deeper than any dungeon from YGGDRASIL and the variation of each floor was simply breathtaking for the demon. His eye lids got heavier with each moment and finally he fell asleep.
Dream
"Oi Scyron. Scyron! HEY SCYRON! WAKE UP!" Someone yelled at him as he opened his eyes. He came face to face with a group of silhouttes he knew very well. The silouhettes didn't belong to anything someone would call human. Sure a few of them looked indeed like humans, but at the same time they didn't. Above his for example was the looked a black silouhette down at him with yellow glowing eyes. It reminded him of a young woman with a row of horns growing on the head.
"Let him sleep. He deserves some rest." A tall figure with bull horns said. The female silouhette sighed at this comment. Scyron couldn't move as he looked into the sky. It was crimson red like when the sun had set so long ago as gray clouds filled the sky and red light shone between them down on the ground. In the air he noticed more silhouettes flying around him like a vulture around a carcass. All around him those terrifying creatures looked down at him, but he wasn't afraid the slightest. Scyron regonised each of them as the female silhouette stood up.
"Hey Sleeping Beauty. When you're finished with lazing around come meet with us, okay?" She said as as walked out of his view alongside the others.
"No wait!" Scyron called out as he tried to move his body and suddenly it felt like the invisible chains around his body had disappeared. However, as he looked around the land and the sky had become abandoned. Not a single living thing was around this barren ground as all he saw were fire and rocks. An Inferno burned at the horizon and the naked Stone floor seemed to look right back at him.
Then suddenly the plain became pitch black and all light disappeared leaving Scyron in the dark.
"Is it eating you away already? Their loss? Your loneliness? The fact that they abandoned you?" A voice said in the void.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Scyron said whipping his head back and forth.
"Hehehehe. You were the strategist that created the plan for emergencies didn't you? So basically it's your fault that the others gave up and quit." The voice chuckled.
"Shut up! You know nothing about me!"
"Oh I don't? Then tell me something I don't know yet. After the League disbanded your so called friends left you behind with nothing. For 2 weeks you logged in and stayed always Close to the dungeon you once had. But everytime you looked on the friend list you found an empty void, both there and your heart. No one came back for you. Instead they simply deleted every Memory of you with their old selves." The voice said. Suddenly the void filled itself with water as it crashed down on Scyron like a wave of pitch black tar. He felt how water filled his lungs. Despereately for air he tried to go up, but the surface seemed to be so far away. In the end he lost consciousness.
Dream Ends
"What the heck!?" Scyron shouted as he woke again. He whipped his head back and forth until he calmed down. 'Huh, another nightmare. These get worse every time I try to rest. If this goes on I might lose my mind in such dreams. But what does this Thing want from me?' Scyron thought. "I should really go to my therapist. This is already taking far too long." He said as he stood up and walked out of the 18th floor back to the surface.
Babel
Instead of heading back to the adventurer's guild to get yelled again by Eina, the demon went furher up the tower of Babel. It was suprising when he found elevators here instead of long staircases. As he arrived at a lower floor of the shopping district he almost fell over in shock as he saw the corridor. It was purely made out of gold. Real gold was made into the floor, walls and ceiling, burning in every normal person's eyes by the brightness of the metal. Scyron walked around as he found weapons in windows of a shop. Each sword indeed looked like a piece of art and the prizes for each was more than Scyron would afford for such a weapon. After all, he could simply use the spell [Create Greater Item] to create gear of the same, if not better quality when [All Appraisal Magic Item] had worked correctly.
'To think that someone would pay that much for High Class Item or Top Class Item. Unbelievable...' Scyron thought as he walked to the uper floors. Here the floor was made of ordinary stone and wood as adventurers looked through armor pieces and weapons. After using [All Appraisal Magic Item] again, Scyron almost left immediately if he wouldn't have been standing in the hallway. 'Here the weapons are of Low and Middle Class quality. However a few High Class Items have found their way here as well. Still it's nothing compared to the weapons I carry with me. Coming here seems to be a waste of time.' Scyron thought as he walked silently through the iles and looked through each shelf just out of curiousity. After he was finished with inspecting the work of the local blacksmiths he walked back to the lower floor as he suddenly felt the aura of a deity nearby. It came from one of the blacksmith shops that sold mostly High Class, but also Top Class gear.
Deciding it would be a bad idea to go in there he quickly left the tower and went into the city's streets.
'I really need to be more careful. Who knows how people would react to a real demon in this world.' he thought. 'Especially given how close the people are here to their gods.'
Later
After getting a room in a small hotel, instead of the Hostess of Fertility, Scyron went back to the guild to get more Intel about the dungeon. The suprise was quite big as he arrived back at the building. After all he was gone for a few days.
"Alright then Scyron where have you been?" Eina said in her serious tone. Scyron was suprised a little to say at least.
'No yelling this time. Well that's music for my ears, though I shouldn't tell her where I really had been.' Scyron thought as in his head a chibi Version of himself was yelled on by a chibi version of Eina.
"THE 58TH FLOOR! HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR HEAD SOMEWHERE IN THE DUNGEON?!" Chibi Eina yelled as Chibi Scyron put his fingers to the places where his ears would be.
"If you are referring the dullahan in the room then no." Scyron said pointing at a headless knight, who was harrasing women by rolling his head like a bowling ball under their skirts, while laughing triumphant.
'What the hell is wrong with my mind?' Scyron shook his head at this. "Just one the 24th floor, killing monsters, collecting items. You know the usual." Eina sighed in deafeat as she hung her head.
"You really are looking for trouble wherever you go, don't you?" she said.
"Hey I'm not looking for trouble. It's more like trouble is always looking for me. I'm just taking a walk through a nice grown forest full of monsters and I end up being attacked for no reason at all." Scyron said. Eina gave him a deadpan look as he began to look away. "Anyway I would like to no more about the dungeon or rather it's monsters."
Eina tilted her head in confusion. "The monsters?" Scyron nodded.
"Correct. So far I know the types that I have encountered and know about the ones others have seen so far, but I doubt that is everything necessary to know. I'd like to know more about them. A monster disintegrates into energy when killed, but there are parts that don't simply vanish after the monsters death. Those are drop items. Yet a monster is made of flesh and blood like we are. So I'm curious. Had there ever be extraordinary cases involving the monsters of the dungeon?" Scyron asked. Eina thought about it before looking up.
"Say Scyron have you heard of the One Eyed Black Dragon?" She asked. Scyron shook his head at this. "In total it happened many times that monsters escaped the dungeon. Today their ancestors live in this world and threat the people of this world."
"So Babel and Orario act like a barrier to keep them from coming out." Scyron said to himself.
"Yes. Due the adventurers effords the People can live here in safety, despite the fact that the threat of monsters is so close. However, before Babel was built there had been three monsters that had escaped caused problems like no other. These monsters were the Behemoth, the Leviathan and the One Eyed Black Dragon. The three of them didn't appear at the same time, but they all appeared and managed to get to the surface. The Hera Familia and Zeus Familia took care off them and fought them. They managed to kill the Behemoth and the Leviathan, but they lost the fight against the dragon. Until today the dragon still roams the land on the surface, but no one has ever seen it again."
"And no one got a clue how this happened?" Scyron asked.
"No. Until today this event had been one of the greatest tragedies Orario had ever faced. The Zeus Familia that had been the strongest during that time was driven out Orario by the Freya Familia and Loki Familia." Eina said.
"They were what? Why?" Scyron asked. Eina had told him that they had disbanded earlier, but this was a stupid reason to do so.
"I only know the stories, but after the defeat of the Zeus Familia it was chaos in Orario. When the two current strongest familias took over order was restored." Eina said.
"Driving someone out, because they failed, has nothing to do with maintaining order. It's simply looking for a scapegoat." Scyron said.
"It doesn't matter anymore. The Zeus familia has disbanded after this event. Though I don't agree with such methods as well it did it's purpose." Eina said. There was a silence in the air after this. Neither of the two of them spoke as Scyron tried to keep his anger in check.
'This is like back at work when the managers fired people for no reason at all only to save money. Such idiots! Burning in hell is not even a satisfying puishment for such people. If I had this body back on Earth, what would I have done?' Scyron thought. 'I couldn't have made a doomed world to a better place. It was already to late for such things. probably I'd only have created more chaos and destruction than there already was.' His train of thoughts was interrupted by Eina's voice.
"Anyway what you said about the drop items. What do you want to know about that?" She asked.
"I want to know what I can do with it. There must be something else than brining them here. For example the people have managed to use the magic stones for things of the daily life so it wouldn't be suprising if they did the same with the drop items right. Now let's say I got something from such a monster, let's say a rare drop item, what could I do with that?" Scyron asked.
"You could sell it at an item shop or give it to the guild. We would pay you for such things more than ordinary salesmen." Eina said.
"True, however in order to maximize the profit of such worth it is needed to know what such an item is really worth and what it can be used for. he guild knows such things and probably sells them to higher prizes than they buy them here to make some profit at least. Or am I wrong?" Scyron said a bit slyly. Eina adjusted her glasses.
"That's true, but unfortunately I'm not someone who's specialized in such fields. You would have to ask merchants about such things." she said.
"I see. In that case I don't want to keep you off your work any longer." Scyron said. Eina chuckled at this.
"People like you are my work. To provide informations to adventurers and making sure they are ready to go deep inside the dungeon is my job. Though you really should be more careful. I've lost a lot of friends in the dungeon." Eina said looking down.
"Death is a constant companion of every warrior. One day you'll get used to it and don't mind the reaper's scythe at your neck anymore. You just have to dodge him long enough." Scyron said as he only put a small amount of the magic stones he had gathered in the drawer and received his Money.
"Not more this time?" Eina asked.
"Well I don't want you guys to go into ruin now, do I?" he chuckled. "Well have a nice day. I'll take a few days off for now to do other things like finding a familia or go shopping." He said before leaving the building. Walking through the crowd of people he put his hand to his chin. 'I wonder if I can do something with those magic stones. That calls for a test.' He thought as he decided what he would do later. As he walked through the streets he didn't notice a group of 4 hooded people looking at him from the corners of a street.
"You sure that she is looking for him?"
"100% sure."
"Why is she even wasting time with such a...a... dimwit!"
"Silence. We are only here to find out more about him. We can Show him his place sometime else. But not in the broad daylight." The four people then disappeared in the crowd.
5 hours later
It had become night time as Scyron had put on an item that granted him invisibility for a certain amount of time. So he flew low above the roofs of Orario as he looked around the City for anything that got his Attention. After a while he then flew up into the cloudy night sky.
"[Life Essence]." He said as the city beneath him began to shine in multiple shades of many colors. It was as if someone had put water on fresh paint, staining the water with the colors and make the original picture vanish. Through this Scyron could see the strongest people in Orario much clearer as they outshone the most other people around them like the sun outshines the stars around them every day. With another beat of his six wings he shot upwards. Soon her breached the clouds' surface as he even managed to fly higher than Babel itself. When the tower itself became nothing more but a small Point on the ground he stopped and looked around. The stars shone bright in the night sky, while the moon seemed to close by it's size. It warmed the demon's heart that he was able to see such a thing. 'The very galaxy above the head, right? I think Brilliance once talked about that. Or was it something else like 'The entire galaxy in my hand.'? I guess it was about that one science fiction game he played as he talked about the fact that one couldn't use one and the same avatar in different games. Might have been the best. If she would have used that body in such a game the GM probably would have kicked her out.' He thought. He placed his hand on his chest as he thought about his friends again, before pushing the thought away, fearing that whatever was appearing in his nightmares could use moments like this to gain more control of him. Shaking his head at this he looked up into the nightsky above him again.
"It would be best if I keep a low profile for a few days. The Loki Familia is aiming for the 59th floor in two days. Maybe I should see how far they can go. By using [Crystal Monitor] I should be able to follow their little journey. Or I could use [Gate] to follow them and troll them. I should be able to teleport to the 50 or even the 58th floor without much of a problem. Well unless a truck sized dragon manages to get through a worm hole of the size of an average sized person. I mean when the infant ones are already so big, I'm curious how strong their parents must be." He thought loud as he flew back downwards. 'Still something isn't right about that dungeon. It feels almost like it's alive. As ridicolous as it sounds like it makes sense in a way. Dungeons can regenerate themselves, but whenever I used my powers to an higher extend the dungeon responds with spawning more and stronger monsters, but they don't really reach my power. As if the monsters are antibodies to fend of a disease. Right. For the dungeon we are invaders and the monsters act like the immune system by neutralizing threats from the outside. Damn this gets more and more complicated with every moment. In any case I should gather some informations about the dungeon and the world in the next few days.' Scyron thought as he descended into forest far away from Orario.
The ground was covered with dirt and fallen leaves that had not rotten away yet. On the floor grew farns and small bushes while the trees blocked out the Little light that came through the clouds. It was really dark down there. Almost too dark for the demon to see, but by creating a fire ball in his Hand he solved the Illumination Problem quickly.
'Well at least it doesn't look my nightmare.' He thought as he started to collect wood for a fire. After igniting a small campfire at a small clearing a few minutes ago he pulled out a magic stone he had gotten from the 11th floor from one of the infant dragons. 'If I remember it correctly I could try something.' He thought as he tried to channel magic energy inside the fist sized stone. Wherever his fingers touched it black veins started to appear, tainting the natural violet color into black and red. 'Now that's interesting. Did it absorb demonic energy as well?' He thought as he lost concentration for a moment and the stone glowed in a deep red color. 'Uh oh...' Without another warning the stone in his hand exploded like a hand grenade. Sycron was slightly shaken thanks to his armor, but still coughed out the smoke in his lungs. 'Right demonic energy is simply unpredictable when not controlled.' he said, making a mental note to not get distracted when performing such experiments. He got a second magic stone out this time of a minotaurus from the 15th floor. He took a step back and pulled out his chokuto for the case that something might go wrong. He then pointed at the Stone. "[Resurrection]." He said as the stone didn't reacted at all. 'Alright then. Magic stones don't count as body parts and cannot be used for the spell [Resurrection]. Noted.' Scyron thought as wanted to grab a drop item from his inventory as he put the magic stone away he decided against it and put the fire out again, before flying back up in the sky and using invisibility.
"[Teleportation]." he said as he appeared above the district of Orario, where he was staying for this night. As he descended into an alley as he heard something. Only a few meters away from him group of men was laughinh and not the friendly kind of laughing.
"Look what we got from that newbie." One of them said as he held up a hand and made the contents in it ring with metallic clicking sounds.
"Wow. We could get by with that for a while." Said a second man.
"Hey gice that back!" A young man demanded. He had a broken nose and his left eye was blue already. He staggereing, hardly keeping his balance.
"Huh? Didn't I told you to piss off?" The first thug said as he kicked the young man to the ground. Now Scyron was pissed. It reminded him too much of his own first game experiences on YGGDRASIL. And that he was invisible and in his demon form didn't helped the slightest to calm his rage down.
"[Silent Cast: Teleportation]." He said as he appeared behind the man that had kicked the younger one in the stomach. The second thug turned at his colleague as he froze in shock as the invisibility wore off.
"Oi! What's with the stupid face?" The thug said as Scyron grabbed his head and lifted him up in the air. Struggling he threw his arms and legs around, but he was like a fish on the hook. There was no escape.
"People like you..." Scyron said as he slammed the man into the floor with the face first, breaking his nose and jaw. "... really piss me off." he said like talking to a bug as he. The man in his hand laid unconscious on the ground as Scyron directed his gaze at the second one. The man froze in fear and began to walk backwards.
"No wait! It wasn't like this. I was just trying to help this poor newbie, right?" he said looking pleading at the young man's face. Before even a reaction came from the young boy Scyron let go of the first man and appeared next to the frightened thief. As the man drew a dagger Scyron simply delivered a blow against the side of his head. He crashed into a wall of a building. Holding his bleeding temple with his hand he couldn't dodge as the demon struck again, knocking the man out. Scyron was really tempted to grow his claws and ear these people into shreds. The voices in his head demanded blood. However the sound of the young man falling against the ground caught his attention, preventing a killing spree from happening. He turned around and saw the man leaning against the wall with the back while sitting on the ground. Sighing to himself he grabbbed the man's pouch and brought it back to him. "Here boy." But there was no reaction. He could hear him breathing, but he had lost conciousness. "Great. Just great." Scyron cursed his luck as he put the pouch back into the man's pocket and casted a spell. "[Heal Greater Wounds]." He said as the wounds on the man's body disappeared without a trace. Nodding to himself he looked at the two thugs he had knocked out. With a rope he tied their arms and legs together before leaving them were they were.
"[Teleportation]." he said as he found himself back in the room he had payed for tonight. Though it was less comfortable then the Hostess of Fertility it was enough to sleep in for a night. 'What did I just do? I was almost ready to kill These guys right in front of that young man! What the hell is wrong with me? Hopefully these guys won't remember how I looked like since it was pretty dark. Yes. Tomorrow I'll definetaly go to another inn somewhere else criminal. But why did it felt so delightful to beat the hell out of them?' He thought as he went into his casual clothes and slipped under the blanket. 'No don't waste your power on such things Micheal. Just relax and calm down. I didn't semt them to hell nor did I left a demon with them to eat their worthless bodies. Everything will be fine tomorrow.' Scyron quickly thought at something else as his mind travelled back to the 27th floor as he had come from the 28th floor. 'Down there it looked very nice. If it atleast had been a sytem with several rooms it would have been fun to put a summer house there. Though then I might get caught by the guild. The Loki Familia starts their expedition in two days. Though... something was down there. I don't know why but I got the feeling that something is not right in that dungeon.' He thought as he thought back to the 27th floor before he fell asleep.
Dream
The smell of burned woods hung in the air as screams of Terror tore through the throats of many People. Everywhere one looked it burned. Stores, houses, inns, every building with no exception but the Tower that stood there like a tree. In the air flew shadows that shot fire from the thick smoke as they roared like the dragons of YGGDRASIL. In the towers shadow the xity burned as people fled in terror from something. A black mist went through the streets as well as everything it touched was swallowed whole. A Person fell to the floor and screamed as the mist envelopped it and drowned the screams in it.
Suddenly Monsters jumped out alleys. It were not simple kobolds and goblins, but more terrifying and grotesque creatures. Their appearance alone struck fear into the hearts of men as they lunged at the people, threw them to the ground and tore them apart with massive claws and fangs. As the people were slowly cornered the mist rose up in the air like a wave ready to fall down on it's victims.
Instead however it concentrated in one Point. An orb of swirling black gases that absorbed the remains of of the mist until it had fully absorbed al of it. Still the small orb was surrounded by an hurricane of black wind.
Then inside of it a pair of red glowing eyes opened. Lightning struck and everything went black.
Dream ends
At the next day
"GAAHH!" Scyron shot awake as he felt like his stomach had been thrown into a blender. He stumbled over the blaket and fell out the bed, before landing with the face first on the wooden ground. "Ouch! Seriously what is it lately with either something heavy falling on top of me or me falling from somewhere high?" he said.
Flashback
25th floor
Scyron was sitting in a small madeshift raft that was actually the Shell of a big Crystal turtle he had killed, but had not removed the Magic Stone yet. Out of the water pike like fishes jumped at him to drag him under water, but Scyron couldn't care less about the annoying fishes as he grabbed on of them by the tail fin and swung it around like a baseball bat, throwing it into the other fishes.
"Seriously can't one moment of silence, now can I." He said as he suddenly heard the Sound of water rushing down somewhere. He turned around and saw the edge of a water fall not that far away from him. "Oh goddammit..." he muttered as the turtle raft hit the edge. Suprisingly it was just a small step. "Hahaha. And I already thought Eina was serious about the water fall that went down to the 27th floor and..." he laughed as he looked at the edge of a much bigger waterfall. "Oh..." He quickly tried to bring the raft back up the stream by using his hands to go up, but the tide was too strong and dragged the boat into the depths. "NOOOOO!" Scyron said as he fell down. 'Hey wait a Minute. I have wings. Why did I built that stupid raft to begin with?' He thought as he simply stopped in mid air using his wings. "Ha! What are you going to do about that dungeon?" he said mockingly as the turtle shell he had used as a raft earlier landed right on top of him, preventing him to use his wings. "You traitor!" Was all he yelled as he landed in the basin at the 27th floor.
Flashback Ends
It had happened quite often now. Scyron looked out of a window and noticed that the sun had not risen yet and was barely visible at the horizon where the clouds were paited in redish colors. Sighing to himself the demon stood up and left the building. 'I have to find a place where I can sell those drop items more efficiently than in the adventurer's guild. Perhaps this Hephaestus Familia is interested in such things. After all one can make weapons out of the materials from Monsters in games and this world is kinda like one.' Scyron thought as he walked through the streets of Orario. 'The Hephaestus Familia lives in the northeast of Orario. So I should...' His train of thoughts was interrupted as he noticed how someone bumped into him from behind before trying to run away. For the enhanced senses of the devil however it had been no secret that this person had followed him and just had waited for the right moment to try and steal the ouch strapped on his waist. Also the greed this person emitted was hardly to miss. There was not much in that pouch except a few thousand valis he had earned over the last few days, however he was not somone that liked to be stolen from. With the Reflexes of a viper his hand grabbed the hooded person by the shoulder and held it in a vice grip. The person yelped and tried to break free, but Scyron simply lifted the person up while almost breaking the shoulder blade of this thief.
"Not so fast you little thief." Scyron said as he dragged thief into an alley. The short person tried to reach for a dagger as Scyron noticed that and grabbed the other arm as well. "So... I'll ask this only once little thief wannabe, so you better ask honestly. Say why are you stealing?" He said.
"What? How's that important? Let go please." Scyron now saw that it was nothing but a small child dressed in rags. The little boy didn't look too good as well. Sighing Scyron took the dagger out of the child's hand and put him down. He then took the pouch the kid had tried to steal and put a sum of it in his Hand. "Here." He said holding his hand out to the child.
"B-but those are more than 1000 valis." the child said.
"I know. I guess you can use it better than I do. But in all honesty try to steal something to eat Boy. You can't eat gold." Scyron said as he put the money in the boy's hand and dropped the small dagger as he walked back to the main street and continued to look for the Hephaestus Familia. While he walked calmly through the streets as the sun rose a hurricane raged inside him. He wasn't angry at the boy, since he probably had no other choice in his life. No he felt angry at the social system that allowed such things to happen and did nothing about it. Ever since he came here he had seen no guards to maintain order and he doubted that such a familia existed. It really made him violently ill. Back on Earth he had worked since hehad been 10 years old and many of his chiildhood friends died due the stress and literally worked themselves to death as if it was the human's only purpose to do that.
'Yes give in to your rage. Let the hatred flow through you.' he thought ironically as he remembererd the old quote from an old movie. He was indeed tempted to kill the next person he would meet just to satisfy the urge to do so. 'Great. Just calm down will you.' Scyron mentally said to himself as he slapped himself on the right cheek to get his mind clear again to follow his plan. 'First sell the drop items, then gather additional informations, then go back to the 50th floor and kill some monsters. That's the plan.' He thought. As he cleared his thoughts he came across many forges that had not opened yet. Understandable after all it was like 4 am in the morning. Scyron found a weapon and armor store, but the sigh told him that it won't open in the next 2 hours. 'What is this with my situation getting more complicated with every time I try to do something that is not related to kill and destroy something?' Scyron thought sweatdropping as he sat down leaning agains the wall next to the entrance and crossed his arms and legs. He lowered his head as he tried to get some sleep. He doze off quicer than he expected, but woke up when a voice tore him out of his dreamless sleep some time later.
"Oi! Wake up. You make it look bad for the buisness if you sleep here." The Stern voice of a woman said. Scyron opened his eyes and was confronted with a tall black-haired woman with an eyepatch on her right eye. Her skin had an healthy tan.
"Oh please forgive me miss. I just had waited for the store to open and must have fallen asleep while waiting." Scyron said. The woman's face Expression changed from an irritated glare to suprised look and then to happy smile.
"Why didn't said that earlier?" she asked. "Okay come in, but if you fall asleep again on next to the store I'll have to beat you up."
'I just woke up miss.' Scyron sweatdropped as he noted that the sun was now hanging higher in the sky, but it was not midday yet. The store of the woman was quite organized. There were shelves with weapons and armor pieces. The woman sat down as she looked at him.
"So what can I do for you?" she asked.
"I'd like to sell a few drop items I'd like to sell if it's possible. Then I'd like to look through the weapons you sell." Scyron said.
"Very well. Show me what you got." The woman said smirking. As Scyron got out his [Bottomless Pouch] the woman looked a little disappointed, but that look was replaced with that of complete shock as Scyron pulled out something that was much bigger then the small cloth pouch. Giant crystals from crystal turtles, pincers of giant crabs, lizardmen nails, urchin spikes and many more things that simply could not fit in that tiny pouch under normal circumstances. The blacksmith was more focused on the small pouch in Scyron's hand than the drop items that he had piled up on the ground.
"So what of these could you use in the moment?" Scyron asked as he noticed the woman's stare. "Uh miss are you okay?" He asked, but received no answer. The demon became slightly worried as the atmosphere grew more and more uncomfortable. Without a warning the woman tried to pounce at him if he had not turned away in the last moment, making the woman land on her hands and roll over, before standing up again. There was a fire in her red eye, that burned with the intensity of a star. Scyron's next words summarized his situation perfectly. "Uh oh."
From outside people nearby suddenly heard loud crashes from within the workshop.
"What happened?" A woman suddenly called out as a red haired woman with an eyepatch on the right eye stepped inside. She wore dark pants and a shite blouse as she saw the blacksmith who had grabbed Scyron's collar and shook him violently back and forth, which was very hard since the blacksmith woman possessed thanks to her work a lot of physical strength.
'What did I got myself into now?' Scyron thought.
Hey guys. Chapter 3 is up. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a Review with your opinion about the Story and/or how it should go on in your opinion. Or PM me if you want. Just finished the Sword Oratoria Anime as well. Really Feeds my brain with new ideas I must confess.
Now to a question you asked. One Thing I was asked multiple times is what I think who's stronger. A Level 100 YGGDRASIL Player or a Level 7 or even Level 8 adventurer? I'll say my opinion here. If you gave a different one I respect that totally as Long as you respect my own and not go into flame mode just because of a different opinion.
So far there had been no Level 8 adventurer in Danmachi and Ottar with being the only Level 7 adventurer so far had Little to no Screen time. So I can only say two things about Ottar's strength so far. 1. He's able to take on Level 6 adventurers without much Problems like we have seen against Ais. 2. He was able to defeat an Minotaurus without breaking a sweat, which is rather to be expected, but most likely he could have taken on the Udeaus as well without any bigger Problems. So since I think that the Udeaus is stronger than a death Knight it should be around Level 45. Ais should be now somewhere between 50-55. Ottar however is even stronger and could be around Level 60 or even 65 if he can't beat a Group of Level 6 adventurers. Meaning that a Level 100 YGGDRASIL Player is still way far above such terms of strength as the Level System of Danmachi is. Also a the strength of the Level is relative since the adventurers grow in strength without really levelling up.
However it all depends on the character built of the player and the talent of the adventurer. Ottar seems to be a natural in fighting , which could also have to do with his race as a boaz, so he could most likely take on Level 70 YGGDRASIL Players, that have focused mainly on crafting classes and such things. And when we realize that all races in this world are human races and heteromorphs get even then a Bonus in stats that human Players don't get it is very likely that Ottar could even kill an heteromorphic craftsmen of the same Level as he is. (I actually think that's a very likely case since this world is not without racism and far from flawless.
Now then I did a bit more Researchs in the lore of Danmachi and found a few things that made me think a little more about how to make the plot deeper. I'll reveal These Facts in the future during the Story plot, however if you want to know some bits just PM me. I'll try to put more lore in the Story to give it in the future more Content since that is something I unfortunately have found lacking so far.
Also if someone could give me a website to read the Danmachi Light Novel I'd really appreciate it, because it is quite weird to be honest. While Accel World's Light Novel got translated into german, but the anime wasn't, it's the complete opposite with Danmachi. The anime got translated, but the Light Novel never came out. So yeah... help please? ^(T-T)^
The next updates should come out a bit later now since I try to Focus on my other stories as well and upload new chapters for them as well.
That would be everything so far. Well see ya next time and have a nice day ;)