"Ritsuka!"

A bolt flew over Bell's head taking out the purple moth on the other side of where Bell's finger pointed at. This was the strategy the two had come to rely on with great effect in dealing with the poisonous moths that inhabited the seventh floor, with Bell working as a spotter and Ritsuka as sniper.

With no other monsters in sight, Bell made his way down the hallway. Finding it to be empty of monsters as well, he gave Ritsuka a nod, which prompted the young man to begin cutting into the needle rabbits the pair had slain a few minutes ago. Bell joined him a few seconds later.

Once they were done extracting the cores from the monsters, the two continued their journey through the dungeon. And not too soon after, the duo found themselves at a dead end.

"Looks like we've fully explored this part." Bell said.

"Yeah, let's go back and check the left passage."

The two began walking back to the

"Sorry about making you waste time on this." Ritsuka said.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it Rituska. If it wasn't for you, I don't think I'd even be anywhere near the seventh floor."

Without Ritsuka, he knew he wouldn't be making such incredible progress as he had this past week. Which is why as far as Bell was concerned, taking their time to explore every last bit of nook and crook of a floor before advancing to the next, even when they already knew where the entrance to the next was located, was of no issue to him.

"Then, I'll be counting you, Bell."

"Right!"

With that they made their way back to the fork road from which they had come in order to continue Ritsuka's search for the grail.

"Ms. Eina!" The young elven receptionist heard a loud, excited voice calling out to her. She lifted her head to see the source of this disturbance, and was not surprised at all to find a young, white-haired adventurer with a wide smile waving at her.

"Hello Ms. Eina." A young, black-haired blue-eyed man said from behind the other adventurer.

The duo were adventurers she was responsible for as a guild advisor, and a great source of headaches for her as of late.

The two had begun adventuring around within a week of each other, and both were making pretty good progress through the first few floors of the dungeon. Which for novice adventurer's with no prior experience in the dungeon was not a good thing.

What Eina wanted more than anything was for those adventurers under her care to survive, and that meant not taking the dungeon lightly, not pushing themselves as far as they could, and not going on any adventures.

The rate of their individual progress through the dungeon had worried her greatly, so she foolishly recommended to the two that they should party up a week ago. She had somehow foolishly thought that by having them to work together, they would be slowed down by the kinks and troubles that came with partying up with someone for the first time. Or at least, Bell would have to slow down as Ritsuka caught up to him.

Of course that wasn't what happened.

Instead the two breezed through the first six floors through the dungeon, and were now entering the seventh floor. Perhaps if one of them had any experience dungeoneering before she might have thought this possible, but neither of them had even stepped foot in Orario a month ago.

It was reckless and foolish to take the dungeon lightly. To progress through it without mastering the environment and monsters that each floor had to offer. All it took was one mistake, one slip up where you found yourself caught off-guard for an adventurer's life to come to a premature end. It was much better to be over prepared than to keep on progressing until you hit your limits. For it was at that point that the dungeon would reveal its tricks and get you.

"So, what do you two have for me today?" She asked the two adventurers before her.

"We finished exploring the seventh floor!" Bell proudly proclaimed.

Her fist slammed the wooden counter, alarming the boy before her and momentarily silencing the entire office.

"Is that so?" She creaked out. "And let me guess…you two plan on heading to the eighth floor tomorrow, isn't that right?"

The two adventurers looked away from her with guilty expressions on their faces. She groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she fought to keep herself composed.

"You two, follow me."

Eina made her way towards a room in the back. If the two were going to ignore her repeated pleas to slow down their progress in the dungeon, then she would at least make sure they were as knowledgeably prepared for whatever they would face as they could.

But first—

"What did I tell you two about trying to rush through the dungeon?" She said as she glared at the two before her.

"That we should take our time in moving from one floor to another so that we can gather resources and prepare ourselves." Answered Bell.

She nodded, then shifted her glare to Ritsuka.

"That we shouldn't move to another floor until we've grown fully comfortable with the one we're on."

She nodded at him as well, then said—

"And?"

"But we fully explored the seventh floor! Right, Ritsuka?"

"We did map out everywhere we could here.

She sighed. "Be honest, did you two encounter any trouble?"

"None at all." Ritsuka replied. "Thanks to your advice, we were able to deal with all monsters without letting anything get out of hand."

"Yeah!" Bell eagerly agreed. "That crossbow you had Ritsuka get really helped out with dealing with the purple moths! Thank you, Eina!"

Despite the joy and pride she felt from the praises she was receiving from the two adventurers, she did her best to keep it from showing on her face. Instead, she maintained a scowl on her face as she told the two—

"Then I take it you two understand why–" She brought out a large book that produced a heavy thud as it hit the desk. "-I'm going to have you two memorize everything you can about the eight floor. Isn't that right?"

The two adventurers groaned at seeing the book, but as they saw that her expression showed no sign of mercy, the two sighed in defeat as they both said,

""Yes, Miss Eina.""

"Good. Now let's begin."

Four hours later, Eina was satisfied. Even if she didn't believe for one second that the two were strong enough to safely explore the eight floor, she hoped that the knowledge she drilled into them would help to make up for the difference.

Still, during the moments that she left the room to return to her duties, she found it hard to keep a smile from appearing on her face. It had been a while since an adventurer took her guidance seriously. For most, she was simply too overbearing, too intense in her approach of helping for most adventurers to tolerate.

So to see two adventurers who didn't find her lessons troublesome, but instead readily agreed to them and thanked her for them, meant a lot to her. Which is why she wanted to make sure didn't fail them, that the two of them survived and hopefully grew up to be old, something that was rare among adventurers.

"Now promise you two." She said in as serious a tone as she could. "Whatever you do, don't get yourselves into a dangerous situation. Keep track of surroundings at all times and be ready to run at the first sign of trouble. Do you understand?"

""Yes Miss Eina.""

"If you come across any situation or monster I haven't thought you about, you run. Do you understand?"

""Yes Miss Eina.""

"So that means you two promise to stay out of trouble, right?"

""We do.""

"Good." She nodded. "Now go, and make sure you two return from the eight floor tomorrow."

They were surrounded.

It happened in an instant. An error in judgment on their part to hold off on finishing a killer ant in favor of a group of needle rabbits, which had seemed a much more pressing issue at the time.

Now however, over a dozen killer ants had come to reinforce their wounded comrade. Leaving them in this grim situation.

"Bell." Ritsuka said.

"Our plan?" Bell asked back.

"Yeah."

"Aright!" Bell screamed.

The second Ritsuka launched an arrow at one of the killer ants in the direction where they had just come from, Bell attacked the ant directly beside it. This created a path, one that two of them used to get away from their encirclement.

The ants only stayed still for a second, and immediately moved to chase down the two fleeing adventurers. Luckily, the hallway they had come from was rather narrow, preventing the ants from using their large numbers to swallow them from all sides.

Bell stopped here. He wasn't planning on making some sort of last stand, just a short moment of rear guard action to buy time for Ritsuka. He struck at the ant that was at the front of the group, the same one that Ritsuka had shot earlier, and surprisingly was able to bury his knife into its head, killing it. The rest of the ants stopped for a second, perhaps preparing for a more coordinated attack to deal with the adventurer before them. But Bell was not about to let them.

He stared down the monsters before him. His hand tightly gripped the handle of his knife until his knuckles turned white. Every bit of his being was concentrating on the ants before them, on their movements, and for the sign that they would strike.

Finally, the moment came. Two ants jumped at him at the same time, and Bell, with as much strength as he could muster on his legs, quickly hightailed out there towards the direction Ritsuka had gone, leaving the ants behind him.

When Bell entered the room Ritsuka had gone in, he failed to find any sign of him, which meant that Bell had accomplished his job. Bell waited by entrance, until he could hear the sounds of killer ants quickly closing in.

This was it. The actual moment where he would stand his ground. He took a deep breath, adjusted his grip on his knife, and took one last look at the large room he was in as he prepared himself for battle.

First one ant showed up, then immediately two followed behind it, then another two. The ants quickly trickled into the room, until they threatened to once more surround Bell. So he turned his body so as if to run further back into the room.

The ants at the front, seeing Bell ready to run yet again, sprinted at him, separating themselves from the group.

But Bell never ran. Instead he turned and charged at them.

Power, intoxicating power was cursing through Bell's entire being. This was the result of one of Ritsuka's support spells, their greatest trump card when it came to getting them out of troublesome situations.

Bell felt strong, stronger than a level 1 adventurer had any right of being. It was this strength that allowed him to plunge his knife through the killer ant's tough exoskeleton with ease, killing the monster.

He felt fast, moving far swifter than he had ever before in his life. It was this speed that allowed him to react quickly enough to dodge the mandibles trying to chop off his head,, as well as to sidestep the ant trying to ram him from the behind, decapitating the monster as he did so.

There was only one ant left from the group that had broken off the larger one, and Belt dealt with it with ease.

Bell didn't take this moment to catch his breath. Didn't take this moment to allow another group of ants to come at him. Instead, he moved to intercept the rest of the group.

This incredible boost to his power would only last for less than a minute. Which meant that he couldn't afford to let up for even a second. He had to attack and attack and attack. And that's what he did.

He sprinted towards the right flank of the group of ants and moved to attack the killer ant at the edge. Bell dodged an attack by the ant and cut off two of its legs. He turned to an ant that had made its way behind him and jumped over it with incredible agility. Landing on top of it, he drove his knife into its head with as much force as he could, killing it.

He jumped off before two other ants could pincer him. He took a quick check of the room, ensuring that all ants were focusing on him and him only.

Good. He thought to himself. It meant none of them were aware of his partner's location, and that he could allow himself to cut loose.

He turned back to the ant whose legs he had severed, ready to finish it. The ant tried to bite him in a desperate last-ditch effort, but without its full mobility, it's attack failed to produce any serious threat to the nimble adventurer. Bell killed it, and immediately blocked a bite from another ant.

He used the momentum from his block to turn around and drive his knife into the head of another. Then spun around and threw with as much force as he could his knife in between the mandibles of the ant he had blocked.

Seven ants now lay dead. Eight with the one he killed outside of here. But seven more now had him fully surrounded.

He pulled his spare knife from the holster on his right leg. This was it. The last card they had to play. His power up would soon run out, and from there they would have to rely on nothing but their own power to defeat the remaining enemies.

The ants all charged as one. And Bell answered them. He charged at them in a suicidal fashion, completely ignoring the other six rapidly closing in on him from his sides and behind.

He spun around one of the ant's bites, then drove his knife into the side of the ant's head, and ran a line all across its head before reaching the neck and decapitating the overgrown insect.

But that was all the time he was granted. Two ants were on him. Prepared to stick their mandibles into his soft flesh. With the last of his incredible strength, Bell plunged the knife into one of them, killing the beast right before it closed its mandibles on him. But this allowed the other to reach him unimpededly, and with Bell facing the other way, the ant closed its mandibles on the young adventurer's head. Putting an end to his short story.

Or at least that's what should have happened. But just before the ants attack connected with Bell, the very space around him began to warp, and the ants mandibles found nothing but air in their path. While Bell stood to the side completely unharmed.

Knifeless, Bell rushed the ant he had earlier thrown his knife at and retrieved the weapon. When he turned around, he saw the ant who had almost decapitated him chasing after him, but a familiar bolt put an end to its charge.

From a rock to the side, Ritsuka made his appearance, throwing out a blanket he had used to camouflage himself. There was still quite the number of killer ants left, but they were now at a number that the two could manage with teamwork, even at their low strength.

The rest of the fight went mostly without problem, although there was one incident of grave danger. The sudden drop in strength and speed proved to be quite jarring for Bell. The ease with which he had cut through the ant's exoskeleton was no longer there, and a badly placed strike ended up with one of his arms in between the mandibles of an ant. Thankfully, one of Ritsuka's bolts killed it before he could lose the limb, but it still left him with a painful fracture. Thankfully, this was where the last of his friend's 'support spells' came into play. And as soon as he created distance between himself and the remaining ants, he felt the warmth of Ritsuka's recovery spell heal not just his arm, but most of the other little cuts and bruises he had accrued throughout their exploration of the eighth floor.

With the last of the killer ants falling, the pair made their way towards the wall, and allowed themselves a moment to relax as they sat and rested against it.

"Sorry I couldn't be of more help." Ritsuka commented once the two were comfortable.

"What are you saying, Ritsuka? It's thanks to your incredible support spells that we were able to deal with them."

Magic. Bell had been fascinated with it since the moment he had heard about it in the stories his grandfather would read to him. In those stories, magic was portrayed as something that had the potential to turn any situation around, no matter how hopeless it may seem. Magic was what could make the impossible possible, the stuff of heroes. Finally, here in Orario, he had the chance to see it with his own eyes, nay, to experience its potency with his own body. And he found that the stories he had read did not lie. Magic truly was as incredible as he had believed, and the proof lied in the bodies of killer ants strewed around them.

"Let's clean this up, then take a break." Ritsuka said.

"Yeah, we should gather the magic stone before others show up."

After harvesting every magical stone and picking up the few drops they gained from their battle against the killer ants, the two chose to take a break. It was a good time to calm down from the battle and regain their strength, but the truth was the break was mostly for the sake of 'recharging' Ritsuka's spells. Rituska had explained to Bell that his outfit allowed him to cast three spells, but that they could only be cast once each before needing to 'recharge by absorbing mana from the environment. From tests they had done, they knew It would be over an hour before Ritsuka could use all his spells again. And neither Bell nor Ritsuka wished to be caught in trouble without their trump cards to keep them safe.

"Hey…do you hear that?" Bell asked his fellow party member.

They had been resting for about an hour by this time, enough time for two of Ritsuka's spells to be ready for use. All that was left was the 'power' spell. Their greatest trump card.

"No, why? Is something out there?"

The past week had taught Ritsuka that the young adventurer's senses were not only keen, but quite trustworthy. So before he had even received confirmation from Bell, he had already begun gathering their stuff so as to be ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice.

"Yeah, something's coming this way…and fast!"

Bell yelled out the last part as he ran outside the room, taking his knife out and reading his stance for combat.

Ritsuka followed him only a moment later, just in time to see the arrival of the beast of the Daedalus's labyrinth, the Minotaur.

But this minotaur wasn't the monster of Greek legends. He wasn't the creature with a head and tail of a bull and the body of a man described in legends and seen in sculptures. Nor was he the Asterios he knew, the misunderstood boy who was his friend and servant.

No, this was a beast, pure and simple. One whose appearance better fit the terrifying rendition given to him in modern fictional lore. To call it part man and part bull would be wrong, for it would imply that there was something human about the monster. This was nothing short of a beast, one whose undisguised rage in its eyes conveyed its desire to massacre all before it. A desire that was being aimed at the two young adventurers before it.

Both petrified onlookers gulped. Even though this wasn't a monster they had read about in Eina's lessons, the two instinctively knew that the monster before them stood far above them. It was less a monster for them to combat, and more of a disaster for them to survive.

"Bell!"

Just in time, Ritsuka managed to pull back Bell from being cleaved in two by the stone weapon on the minotaur's hand. But that was all he could accomplish. Enraged, the monster pulled the stone ax from the ground and swung it like a bat in Ritsuka's direction, sending him flying towards the wall of the dungeon.

"Ritsuka!"

Bell cursed at himself. His inability to move before the might of the minotaur had almost gotten him killed and gotten his friend hurt. He needed to fight. Even if there was no way for him to defeat the monster before him, even if he had promised his guild advisor that he would never fight a monster they hadn't studied and prepared for, he was going to fight.

Because the alternative was to let his friend die.

Almost too fast for him to react, the monster swung its massive stone ax in a horizontal swing that almost decapitated him. He managed to dodge under it just in time, but the monster immediately followed up with another swing that forced him to jump back.

But that was as far as his luck would carry him. The next swing from the minotaur caught the young level 1 adventurer.

The only reason why Bell wasn't separated into two parts was that he managed to raise his knife just in time to meet the 'blade' of the ax. Still, the power behind the blow shattered both his knife and his arm, while the impact of his body crashing into the wall left him with a few broken ribs and some nasty bruises.

Dazed, all thoughts left his body as he stared at the massive bull making its way towards him. He couldn't move his body, could no longer fight to keep himself alive. This was it, this was the moment where his short and foolish adventure came to an end.

He was surprised to find that the fear which had pumped his body full of adrenaline in an attempt to keep him alive had left him. Instead, regret had come to fill its vacant place, and in his last moments, all Bell could do was lament at all the people he would disappoint with his death.

His goddess, Hesita, who had so kindly taken him in when no one else would.

His guild advisor, Eina, who worked so hard to make sure they were prepared for the dungeon.

His grandfather, who had raised him and inspired him to become a hero.

His friend, Rit—

He pushed against his ground with one fist, trying to lift himself one more time so that he could save his friend.

It was impossible. The mere notion that the boy could somehow hope to stand against as injured as he was, against a beast who had just moments ago defeated him and his friend with ease was beyond preposterous. They had been defeated in seconds, without even being allowed to put up a token resistance against the beast. Nonetheless, in his disoriented state of mind, he tried to move his battered body to pull off one last stand.

He barely got his torso off his body when his hand was crushed under the minotaur's foot. The beast howled with rage, it looked down at the adventure pinned by his foot, and raised his ax to the sky.

"Hey!"

The minotaur turned around, and an arrow flew into its eye.

The beast howled in pain, tumbling backwards until it crashed on the wall. It stopped paying attention to the two adventurers, too distracted by the pain of having an arrow where his eye was.

Bell turned his head to his side and found there, leaning against the wall opposite to the minotaur, his fellow party member Ritsuka.

He was clearly in bad shape, although better than him if he still had enough strength to stand and fire his crossbow. It was doubtful if his friend would have been able to escape the slowest of monsters, never mind the mighty minotaur before them. Still, he wanted his friend to at least survive. So he tried telling him to leave.

"...Ritsuka…ru—"

Bell suddenly took a sharp breath as a familiar warmth coursed over him. His bruises began to disappear. His ribs and arm were no longer fractured. And the concussion he didn't know he had was cured as well, bridging clarity back to his thoughts,

When he focused on his friend again, he saw that Ritsuka had dropped the crossbow and was now pointing his hand in his direction. He immediately ran to his friend's direction.

"Let's go!" He yelled at his friend, trying to pick him up. "We need to escape while he's distracted!"

But Ritsuka shook his head.

"A minute…we only need one more minute." Ritsuka told him.

Bell stopped. He looked at his friend's eyes, at the words and worries that were conveyed in them. Escape was unlikely. They had to beat it. Or at least make it unable to chase two looked at the beast, then to the crossbow at the floor, and nodded.

"Can't you?" Bell asked. It wasn't that he was afraid, it was just that Ritsuka had proved to be a far better shot than he was.

But when Ritsuka opened and closed his hands and Bell saw that their movement was sluggish, he knew that relying on Ritsuka any further wasn't possible.

"All right, I'll do my best." Bell told his friend solemnly.

He picked up the crossbow and readied an arrow while keeping an eye at the minotaur. It was howling in both pain and anger, leaning against the wall with one hand while keeping the other on the shaft. It was still distracted, giving Bell a perfect chance to attack him. But he didn't. Couldn't. If their plan failed, it would mean angering the beast even further than it already was. He couldn't afford to be next to Ritsuka when that happened, not in the state Ritsuka was in.

Once there was enough space between the two, he took a deep breath and waited. He only had one opportunity to take the minotaur's one remaining eye. If he missed, their situation would turn from nearly hopeless to assuredly doomed. He had to make sure he incapacitated the beast now.

Bell didn't need to wait long for his chance. Soon, the minotaur stopped yelling, and just like Bell, took a deep breath as it readied itself for what was to come.

It was at the moment that the minotaur stood completely still, right before pulling the arrow out of its eye, that Bell fired his crossbow. The arrow flew in a straight line to the minotaur's face, faster than the beast could react, and struck the beast before it could finish pulling the arrow out.

The beast screamed in rage, turning its head to stare at Bell as it eyed him with a bloodshot eye and an arrow sticking just to the right from where his eye was.

He had missed.

The minotaur snorted and pulled both arrows out of its face. Bell responded by pulling out his last remaining knife, readying himself to defend against the minotaur. But without a weapon in his hand, and completely engulfed by rage, the monster resorted to a primal charge as it rushed with full speed, his horns facing forward, at the adventurer before him.

There was no dodging this attack. Even if he tried to dodge out to either side, go under the raging bull, or jump over it, his speed would not be fast enough to completely escape both horns. So he stood still.

With his horns now guaranteed to skewer the adventurer, the minotaur let out one last roar as it pressed forward with all its power, barreling right through the spot the adventurer was in and straight into the dungeon wall.

Debris fell around the minotaur, and his horns were stuck to the wall. But the minotaur didn't mind, so long as he had killed the adventure.

But when he looked upwards with his last remaining eye, he failed to find the sight of an adventurer pinned to the wall by his horns.

"How much longer!" Bell yelled out, standing in the very same spot he had just been, completely unharmed.

"It's almost charged up again!" Was Ritsuka's reply.

The duo were down two of their trump cards. This meant they could no longer make any errors, could no longer afford to take any risks. They had to strike the minotaur now that it was immobilized and unable to defend itself. But even stuck to the wall, the minotaur was still incredibly dangerous. They had to take it down in one hit, and they had a way to do so. Only it was not available to them just yet.

Bell took a stance and readied himself. They couldn't afford to waste a single second. As soon as he felt that familiar warmth, he would spring at the monster and plunge his knife deep into the back of its head.

The minotaur yelled at the two of them, having caught sight of them from the corner of its eye. It then put both of its hands on the wall, and began to push.

"Now!" Ritsuka yelled out.

Bell didn't need the signal. The second the spell's power coursed through his body, Bell launched himself like a spring at the minotaur, his knife pointed at the beast's head.

But he was too slow.

The minotaur managed to pull its head out from the wall in time to block the attack with one of its horns. It wasn't able to fully stop the attack, the boy's knife going through its horn and embedding itself into its stick skull. But that's as far as he got. The knife failed to penetrate the monster's thick skull. It was still alive.

Even more enraged, the monster looked down at the adventurer with pure unadulterated rage. Bell in turn, looked back at the monster who would soon kill it, and froze. A second later, he felt his body shatter as a punch landed in his sternum, the force propelling him to the wall. Bell's consciousness disappeared with this.

Bells.

Somehow, from within the nothingness of his existence, Bell could hear the sound of bells ringing. Their beautiful sound seemed to resonate with his very soul, telling him to not give up just yet.

He tried to open his eyes, tried to move his body, but nothing changed.

The bells continued ringing, continuing to tell him to not give up hope, to not fall into despair. And so, Bell tried once more.

Consciousness returned to him once more.

He opened his eyes. His surroundings were blurry, and it was difficult to make out his location. He tried to move his limbs but found it to be almost impossible. Still, he was able to move his hands, and could feel them brush against something soft.

He blinked once. Then again. Then continued repeating this until his vision was no longer as impaired as it had been. Now, capable of seeing his surroundings, he was met by the sight of a violet sea surrounding him.

Oh. he had died. Were his thoughts.

He remembered now, the sight right before his death. Remembered the face of the minotaur right before it ended his life. Now, he laid in a bed of violet flowers. He wondered if this was heaven, the home of his goddess. If it was, he was both excited and terribly afraid at the prospect of seeing her again.

"Bell! Are you alright?"

He turned his head. There, looking down at him, was Rituska.

He was somewhat surprised to see a familiar face, but not as much as he would have had it been anyone else. It made perfect sense, after all, if he had been killed, then it was reasonable to believe that Ritsuka had followed after him not too long after. He tried to open his mouth to apologize. To ask for forgiveness for failing the two of them and getting them killed. But when he tried to, he found himself unable to form the words.

"Hey! Can you get help for him?" Ritsuka asked someone.

Bell turned his head, curious as to who his friend was talking to. He found two blonds in the direction that his friend's head had turned. One of them nodded at his friend's words, and then departed in a flash.

"You'll be alright Bell, I promise." Rituska said.

Ritsuka gently lifted him up, placing him against a wall so that he was sitting against it. With a higher vantage point, he could now better see his surroundings.

They were still in the dungeon.

It was impossible, something that simply could not be. Yet only the floor had been blanketed by this sea of flowers. The walls and roof were still clearly that of the dungeon. And when he looked to his left, he could see the remains of the minotaur that should have killed them, surrounded by flowers that were painted red by its blood.

To say Bell was confused would be an understatement. No matter how much he tried, he was having trouble piecing together anything resembling a coherent explanation as to what had occurred. He wanted to know how they could still be alive. He wanted to know how the minotaur had ended up dead. He wanted to know who the two girls were.

But more than any of that, he wanted to know about that impossible, yet beautiful sight all around him.

He wanted to know how there could be flowers blooming in the dungeon.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know your thoughts.

Next chapter, we will finally meet the two faeries who will play an important role in this story.