What up what up! This week has been hellish, to put it mildly, final exams and completions got me drained af and deprived me of any time to write any new chapters, but now that I finally have a bit of free time, I decided to post a new chapter as I'll also be busy the following week with more sets of exams huhu. Also, it may not be receiving as much publicity as I thought it would, but I genuinely appreciate you readers who've taken an interest in this little project of mine :3, it's my first project so I'm celebrating the small wins, love and thank you all hehe. Anyways, on with the story!
I do not own Danmachi
Chapter VI: Confrontation
It had been three hours after the Loki Familia expedition had officially begun, the expedition had progressed fairly quickly for such a large group, they were now resting in Rivira at the eighteenth floor after the lower level members of the Loki Familia had finished dealing with Goliath, the Monster Rex of the seventeenth floor. Usually, in the expeditions that the Loki Familia regularly undertook, lower level members, level one up to three would usually clear out the way for the expedition up until the they reach the first safety point, which is the eighteenth floor, all adventurers from level one and two will remain at the safe zone as it will be too dangerous for them to advance any deeper, then adventurers level three up to level five would clear the way until the expedition reached the third safety point, which is within the thirty-ninth floor, similarly... adventurers level three and four will stay back within the safe zone, then the first class adventurers will push on towards their goal, as they will be more capable of dealing with what lies ahead
The expedition set up their tents near the forest some distance away from Rivira, the lower leveled adventurers were to stay in the eighteenth-floor and welcome the returning expedition later
A certain Rabbit's Foot accompanied a certain cyclops, who inspected his armor
"Hmm... I do admit that the quality isn't bad, it could be better"
Tsubaki said as she closely inspected the armor
"Well... it's pretty high-grade armor for a level two though, so I'll give him that"
She added as he nodded
"The armor he made me has saved my live many times in the past, so I wouldn't have it any other way"
He solemnly replied, which earned him the blacksmith's smile
"Well, anyway... I have a few ideas on how to make this armor of yours even better! It'll be ready just before we head out"
The smith gave him a smirk and a thumbs up as she went to work with his armor, he bid her goodbye and went to walk towards the location of the first-class adventurers
Passing by the tents of the members of the Loki Familia, he heard a few murmurs
"If it isn't Rabbit's Foot"
"Heard he leveled up recently, again..."
"Seriously? That's ridiculous!"
He tried to ignore all the murmuring around him as he walked faster towards the Braver tent
Opening up the flap entrance of the tent, he found the Captain of the Loki Familia discussing something with the Vice-captain, both stopped mid-sentence to gaze upon the adventurer who had let himself in
"Oh... I'm sorry! Is this a bad time?"
Bell asked as he was getting ready to exit the tent to give them privacy, but the prum stopped him
"No, come on in Bell Cranel"
With the prum's approval, he walked up towards the both of them
"Something on your mind, Bell Cranel?"
Riveria asked the white haired adventurer as he fidgeted a bit, overwhelmed with both executives' presence
"Ahm... it's just that... is there anything I could do to help around here?"
Bell asked as both of them raised an eyebrow at the boy
"It's alright Bell Cranel, you don't have to help around, you are a guest after all..."
Finn droned out
"Let the others take care of the work, you should conserve your strength until it is needed"
Riveria added
"Oh, okay then... but if there's something that I can help with, please let me know"
Both nodded at him as they resumed their conversation while Bell bid them farewell and then exited the Braver tent
'Perhaps I'll take a walk around here, check out the place...'
After leaving the Braver tent, Bell had decided to walk a bit around the town of Rivira, looking around to kill some time, the expedition was due to continue the following morning
He decided to visit the Mistress of Plenitude, entering to find it bustling with rough-housing rowdy adventurers
"Well if it ain't Rabbit's Foot, what brings you back here?"
Maria appeared, holding a dish of steaming grilled fish
"Hello Maria-san! I was recruited by the Loki Familia to join their expedition down to uncharted territory, since we're here in Rivira for the time being... I figured to pay a visit here"
She smiled at the the white haired kid
"Well, as long as you eat something I don't mind you hanging around here!"
"You really remind me of Mama Mia, Maria-san..."
I sweat dropped at her as she laughed heartily
"I get that a lot"
Deciding to find something to order, he sat down by the bar beside a hooded man with a mug of ale
The man secretly eyed him for a moment, not that Bell didn't notice, then decided to strike up a conversation
"Your Rabbit's Foot right?"
The man asked in a bass voice, which piqued his attention
"I am, and you are?"
"Brio... Brio Mue"
The man extended his hand to the boy, who shook it
"Nice to meet you Mue-san"
"Likewise"
And with that, the conversation died out and the silence got a bit awkward for the boy
"I have something for you to do... if you're willing that is"
This grabbed the boy's attention, who raised an eyebrow at the man
"And that is?"
The man didn't speak for a few seconds, then decided to speak in a hushed tone
"Heard from a few buddies that Evilus has been walking around here these past few days, planting some sort of crystals on the ground in a nearby forest to the west of Rivira..."
'West of the town... '
"...it's just my take on it but I think they're planning something big, something we've never seen before"
Bell's eyes widened at that, and he started to fidget with panic
"So I have a job for you Rabbit's Foot..."
Bell met the man's eyes, which had a tint of blue to them
"Go and investigate the area, you're strong enough to handle whatever comes your way aren't you? Once you report your findings, meet me here and I'll reward you for your efforts"
Bell was about to get up and dash straight towards the woods near the expedition's camp, but stopped himself at the last second
"How do I know that I'm not being set up here... Mue-san?"
His eyes narrowed at the man, who shrugged his shoulders
"That's totally up to you, I'm not forcing you to do it... but if you really want me to convince you, let's just say that I have a few friends called the Xenos who informed me of Evilus' little antics"
His eyes widen at the hooded man's words
"You know of them?"
He confirmed as the man nodded
"I know many things... anyway, are you up to the job Rabbit's Foot?"
The man asked again, the white haired adventurer stood silent for a few seconds, then nodded his approval
Bell was now running towards the forest West of Rivira as fast as he can, he stayed for a meal at Brio's behest, suggesting he fill himself first before going, which he reluctantly agreed to
He had initially planned to bring this to the Loki Familia's attention, but decided against it as it would force him to talk about the Xenos with them, which was a whole other Pandora's box, so after finishing up his meal, he went straight towards the west of Rivira to start investigating for any leads, and if push came to shove, confront Evilus alone if he needed to
He had slowed his sprint to a light jog when he reached the forest, deciding to search for clues for Evilus' presence, he closed his eyes, concentrating his level six senses as he scanned the area around him, sensing no dangerous presence, he continued onwards
Seemingly finding nothing out of the ordinary within the forest initially, he went in deeper, eventually finding a clearing that seemed to lead to somewhere, flanked by trees left and right, it almost seemed to be an artificial path, but was not. Deciding to start here, he started walking in the direction of the clearing, at the left of the path he was following was a lake, which might hold some clues so he decided to look around the lake after
Looking left and right, he found only vast stretches of green and brown, nothing particularly noteworthy
'I hope that this is all just some sick prank...'
He then reflected back on Brio's words
'...it's just my take on it but I think they're planning something big, something we've never seen before'
He gulped, feeling a sense of foreboding
As he was walking down the clearing, he stopped when he noticed something reflecting light in the ground
"What is that...?"
He murmured to himself as he slowly walked up to the strange object, digging it out of the earth and taking a look at it, his eyes widened
"W-What is this?"
In his hands, was an orb with a creature incubating inside it, as if reacting to its surroundings, the creature opened its eyes and met Bell's own, the creature's eyes widened the second it saw Bell's eyes, surprising him and filling him with a profound feeling of fear, almost instinctual
"?!"
He nearly dropped the orb he held in his hand as he was assaulted by a wave of fear
'This is... this thing's more powerful than the Juggernaut!!'
Then, from the corner of his vision, he saw another glint
Turning towards the glint, he saw that there were more of these mysterious orbs firmly placed into the ground, which made the feeling of uneasiness in him increase
'I...I need to take this back to the camp! They might know something about it"
Deciding to pocket it and take it back to the base, he was about to put it in his backpack and head back to the expedition encampment before a presence made itself known
"So a rabbit wandered somewhere it wasn't supposed to go..."
Alarmed by the sudden presence, he turned towards the source of the voice and found a certain red-haired tamer Evilus member, Revis
With her ever present scowl, she glared at the white haired adventurer holding the orb containing the unknown creature
"Wha- Who are you?!"
Sensing the danger, he took some steps back and kept his guard up lest she try something
"My name is not important, what is important is that you've made a huge mistake sniffing around here, Rabbit's Foot"
She slowly took a step towards him, and then another, then another, she was now slowly but surely closing the distance between them
Bell's hand began to fall towards his sheathed knife on his hip
"Are you an Evilus member?"
He wasn't expecting a reply from the woman, but inquired anyway
"Maybe I am... maybe not..."
Her ambiguous reply troubled the white haired adventurer
"I'm afraid that since you saw this, I'm going to have to kill you now"
Her monotone voice speaking such cold words unnerved him, yet he stood firm
The second she took another step, she boosted herself towards Bell, surprising him with her sudden actions
"Tch!"
Having little time to react, he dropped the orb and quickly went to unsheathed his knife, narrowly blocking her outstretched hand with the length of his knife
'She's strong!!'
Revis was surprised that her attack was blocked by the white haired adventurer, she had assessed his abilities to be that of a middle level five, it seems she had grossly underestimated the white haired adventurer
"Hoh... you're strong, but I'm stronger"
Suddenly she grabbed the knife, and reeled him in for a nasty slug to the face
"Kuagh!!!"
He spat out some blood due to the sheer force of her punch, then was sent flying towards some trees by a kick to the gut
Bell's knife was now within her grasp, inspecting the blade, she noticed that it was now dull and useless in her hands
"Hmm... either this blade is of very, very poor quality or you're the only one who can utilize its full capabilities, I assume the latter as no level five would ever wield such a useless weapon"
She threw the useless blade towards the side, seeing no use for it, and started walking towards the direction she sent the white haired adventurer flying
Some distance away, Bell clutched his abdomen, the dull pain from her kick made his face slightly grimace
'Damn... I'm not sure if I can beat her! I need to find help!'
Then, the snapping of twigs caught his attention, turning towards the direction he was launched away from, the ominous figure of Revis appeared, her cold, scornful eyes glinting from the rays of the sun hitting her face
"Is this the fast growing adventurer everyone's been talking about ceaselessly? I'm disappointed"
Barely, managing to get up on his two legs, he leaned onto a tree for support
"Kuh! W-What are you planning to do here?!"
He glared at the monster tamer defiantly, which piqued her interest
'Hoh... normally, one would be reduced to a pathetic cowering mess, but this boy's spirit still burns bright'
"I'm simply finishing off what I started..."
And as she finished uttering that sentence, she closed the distance between them in an instant once more, a fist cocked back and intent on punching her opponent to oblivion, she was genuinely surprised when said opponent suddenly moved so fast that she could just barely register getting slugged in the abdomen, hard
"Guagh!!!"
She was sent crashing onto multiple trees, which had been merely perforated, but not uprooted
"Hah... hah... hah!"
Panting, he ran towards where his knife was, but Revis caught up to the speeding adventurer, intent on taking off his head with a chop, which he avoided at the last second
"Kuh!"
"Apparently I underestimated you severely, Rabbit's Foot"
She followed up the failed attack with a dropkick aimed at the boy's head, which he evaded, then countered with an elbow to her face
"Augh!!!"
She had been forced some steps back from Bell's blow, wasting no time, he rushed her
Unleashing a barrage of blows left and right ceaselessly, she was now on the defensive with her forearms blocking her head from any serious damage
Her hands were slightly starting to bruise from his onslaught, so she decided to turn the tables on him
Suddenly dropping her body down, she swept his legs off the ground with a powerful leg sweep and dealt a devastating blow to his abdomen, which caused him to shoot off into the lake
"Argh!!!"
He tasted iron in his mouth, he could not afford to get hit like that again
With all the remaining strength in his legs, he swap up towards the surface, where Revis was waiting for the right opportunity, she sent an uprooted tree shooting towards the lake, towards him, which he barely avoided by forcing his body towards the side with all his strength, the waves of the impact threw him onto the land where he roughly landed onto another tree, coughing and wet, he opened his eyes to see Revis in front of him
Grabbing the white adventurer by the throat, she lifted him up, choking him
"Ugh!... Kuh!"
Bell was struggling to breathe, her grip on his throat becoming ever tighter as he clutched
"I win Rabbit's Foot"
She brought her hand to Bell's chest level, about to end the fight
"After I'm done with you, I'll be taking care of the Loki Familia while they're here..."
Bell's eyes widened at her words
'WHAT?!'
A sudden surge of strength flowed within his veins, moving faster than the blink of an eye, he kneed the red-haired monster tamer in the gut as hard as he could, which made her fall to her knees and release her grip on the white haired adventurer, she tasted iron in her mouth
"ARGH!!!"
She clutched her hurting abdomen, profoundly perplexed at the adventurer's renewed vigor
"You still have strength left...?"
She went for a powerful blow, but was beat to the punch by Bell, literally
Her face contorted painfully from Bell's powerful right hook, which sent her flying head first onto a tree, which was uprooted from the sudden collision
"So this was what you were planning!"
Fury filled his ruby irises, resolving to stop her here and now
Said woman slowly got up to a kneeling position, she sent a scornful glare at the boy, who returned it
"You are already dead, so stop resisting"
Her voice was filled with venom, but the white haired adventurer stood firm
"I can't let you do that!"
Her scowl deepened
"A corpse shouldn't be talking!"
She sprung forth, blasting towards him at speeds that would be imperceptible to a level five or below, but Bell was able to see her just fine and responded appropriately, avoiding her tackle and swung his arm at her to counter
She went for a duck to avoid his punch, and went for a kick aimed at his side, but Bell was able to catch her kick, surprising her
"Wha-"
Before she could finish what she was saying, she was cut off by a blow to her face, which made her impact the floor in disorienting manner, seeing her disoriented for now, Bell ran off to look for his knife, finding something glinting by some overgrown grass, he immediately went to reach for the object, successfully retrieving his weapon
But before he could look back, Revis send a crushing kick to his temple, which sent him flying off into a tree
"AUGH!!!!"
Blood trickled from his mouth and nostrils, his vision inundated by vertigo as he grabbed onto the last bits of his consciousness, fighting the urge to go unconscious
"Augh! It hurts!!'
His head was killing him, it felt like a sledgehammer had struck his head
"This is the end of the line, Rabbit's Foot"
Revis slowly walked towards his debilitated form, with every step she took, fear and hopelessness began to grip at his heart
"You'll be dead soon, so stop prolonging the inevitable"
With her next step, she boosted herself towards the white haired adventurer, resolute in tearing the vulnerable adventurer apart, but was caught off guard by his knife now firmly embedded in her forearm, just above the wrist
Seizing the opportunity, he went for a powerful kick to her knee; which made her buckle against her weight, and followed up with a devastating knee to the face, breaking her nose
"Augh!!!"
She clutched her broken nose, bleeding profusely from the sustained injury
"You'll pay for that!!"
Then, not a second later, Bell's abdomen was now perforated by the monster tamer's arm
"ARGHHH!!!!!"
Choking out blood, he was getting more lightheaded with each passing moment, the wound he sustained was grievous
"You fought well, Rabbit's Foot...but in the end, I won"
He arm now raised into the air, just above his head, intent on dealing the final blow
'I-Is this how it ends...?'
Shutting his eyes in anticipation of the blow, in the midst of it all, a feminine voice could be heard
"ARCS RAY!!!"
A powerful beam of energy shot out from a flower shaped staff and connected with the monster tamer's outstretched arm, disintegrating her entire forearm
"AURGHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Her face violently contorted in pain, she had taken out her hand that stabbed through Bell's abdomen to clutch the area where her forearm used to be, which was now just a steaming, cauterized stump
"Bell Cranel!!!"
Lefiya had arrived at such a crucial moment, and intercepted their fight, sparing the white haired adventurer, the distraught elf ran up towards the nigh-lifeless adventurer's bloodied and broken body, quickly retrieving a high grade healing potion from her thigh strap, she uncorked it and assisted Bell in ingesting it, he struggled to gulp it down, but managed to do so
"*cough* *cough* L...Lefiya-san...?"
He coughed up more blood as she shook her head, her eyes were slightly watery
"Don't talk! Save your strength!"
The healing potion started to take effect, the hole on his abdomen started to close up, alleviating the blood loss, and minor wounds had disappeared, she had also used a healing spell on him to aid the effect of the healing potion to hasten healing
"You're going to be alri-"
"You wretched worm"
A voice spoke out from behind her, seething with more and more unfettered hatred at every syllable
Surprising the elf, she turned to see a now livid Revis, her scowl replaced by a face of pure maniacal rage, gone was her calm and collected persona, now she could only care about shredding both bothersome adventurers to ribbons
"You miserable elf, I'll color this entire forest with your blood!!!"
Moving faster than the blink of an eye, Revis disappeared and then shortly reappeared in front of Lefiya, arm outstretched for a punch, which connected with the elf's vulnerable cheek
"GUAHHH!!!!"
Her senses were overwhelmed by the sudden surge of pain assaulting her, not having fully mastered concurrent chanting yet, and especially not against an enemy of such caliber, as such... she was utterly outclassed by the monster tamer
Her limp body crashed against a tree, knocking the wind out of her lungs, she tasted iron in her mouth
Coughing violently, she fell onto the floor by the red-haired woman's feet, which left her at the mercy of said woman
"You and your worthless Familia will be taken care of very shortly! Along with Rabbit's Foot here!"
A sadistic smile presented itself on her face, while her heel found itself on Lefiya's abdomen, making her cough out blood
"AGHHHH!!!"
Revis was slowly starting to add more pressure on her heel which was firmly planted on Lefiya as she squirmed helplessly under her boot
"It'll all be over soon"
Then everything stopped
Lefiya suddenly felt the pressure of her boot gone from her abdomen, her eyes reluctantly opened, then what she saw next made her eyes widen
Revis was now being lifted high up into the air by the wounded Bell, the red-haired adventurer was flailing helplessly at being grabbed by her throat, she was greatly struggling to breathe
"H-Hoooowwwww...?!"
She managed to choke out as her scornful eyes met Bell's utterly furious ones, his ruby irises burned vindictively
"You dare do this to her?!?!"
Before she could attempt to do anything to break free from his grasp, he jumped as high as he could then he slammed her onto the ground with as much force as he could generate, creating a large depression around the impact spot, a violent tremor shook the forest, severely concussing the monster tamer
"AUGHHH!!!!!!!!!"
But alas, the berserk white haired boy wasn't done and then proceeded to grab her by the throat once more and roughly fling her towards the distance, breaking a few trees that were within her trajectory
"GAAAHHHHH!!!!"
Revis cried out as she violently collided with a tree, uprooting it and sending it crashing onto the ground with the force, she weakly tried to get up before the white haired monster appeared once more and violently kicked her downed figure in the solar plexus, sending her rolling some distance away, coughing violently, she struggled to get up and resorted to a genuflected position as she was suddenly inundated with vertigo
Her vulnerable state left her open to a disorienting left hook, courtesy of Bell Cranel, which knocked the wind out of her as she stumbled back some paces. Seeing the situation suddenly turn desperate, she is to retreat the moment an opportunity presents herself, but Bell wouldn't allow her such an opportunity and moved with a speed imperceptible to the red-haired monster tamed as he violently connected his shin with her head, causing her to violently crash to the ground with the powerful blow
Before she could recover from the previous hit, he grabbed her by the neck once again and repeatedly slammed her against the ground, with each impact becoming more powerful and severe than the last
"AUGH!!!"
She was slowly getting weaker and weaker from the injuries she was sustaining, she needed to retreat now
Then Bell had enough of slamming the woman onto the ground, releasing his grip from her neck, he stood up and watched as the bloodied and broken woman struggled to do the same, her eyes burning with rage as she glared at him, she was confused with the development of the whole situation
'I don't understand... where is this strength coming from?!'
Her thoughts raged, then she suddenly received a powerful blow to her side, breaking a few ribs, and her other good arm along with it
"AUGH!!!!"
She couldn't take the monster of an adventurer on any longer, anymore and she'll be killed, she had to retreat now
With newfound speed born out of desperation, she kicked herself up and sprinted away from the white haired adventurer in an attempt to get away, clutching her hurting ribs with her broken arm as she grit her teeth to try to endure the burning pain everywhere on her body
Seeing the red-haired monster tamer suddenly turn tail in front o him, he attempted to pursue her but stopped and clutched his abdomen as his wound reopened up and was now bleeding profusely once more, then his panicked eyes turned towards the unconscious elf, now lying motionless on the ground, he could on watch in anger as the woman's bloodied and crippled figure limped further and further into the forest
-Fin-
Fancy a moment of repose? Weary traveller? The fight scene with Revis was quite awkward and drawn out because I wanted to emphasize just how much of a struggle it would've been for Bell had he went up against the likes of her, and despite the awkward structuring, I'm kind of digging it, the next chapter will be about Lefiya's business before she got dragged into this mess, bye for now!