Chapter 11 - Possibilities
The team returned back to the surface after spending a night on the 18th floor. They were in time for lunch, so Finn invited everyone to dine at their cafeteria. It would also allow the entire team to brief Loki about what they have learned and decide on a strategy. Thus Bell and Ais went with Finn, while Mikoto went back to the Hestia familia home to stop the level boosting.
Ais still had her room in the familia home, so she brought Bell there for a shower. As Bell followed her, he was not sure what Ais meant by getting a shower in her room. Perhaps the Hermes training sessions may have had an impact. After showering and changing, they went to the cafeteria to find the whole group already gathered. After Finn explained the situation, Loki also became very suspicious. This may be a game changer, and she definitely does not want a repeat of the Knossos tragedy. Thus, she is so glad that Finn decided to retreat. Now a more powerful group can be sent down to investigate. Loki immediately called for a meeting with Ouranos, Freya, Hermes, Hephaestus and Takemikazuchi. After lunch, Loki gave Ais a quick look-over, perhaps due to Riveria's comments. She also asked whether Bell showered in her room, and Ais said so...
At the Hestia home, Welf was excited and talking to everyone about his new magic armor. His reactive armor is infused with a magic charge that will ignite and resist the force of an attack. Instead of rabbit armor, Welf proudly called it the jumping bunny armor. After hearing about the magic charge, Takemikazuchi was more worried if the armor can blow up by mistake. When Mikoto walked in, Takemikazuchi was really glad to see Mikoto safely back home. Lili and Haruhime were also glad to be freed from the spell's side-effects. During lunch, Mikoto told everyone about the trip and Finn's concerns. Near the end of the meal, a messenger came in requesting Takemikazuchi for an urgent meeting with Loki. After wrapping up his meal, Takemikazuchi headed to the meeting. Welf also went along to talk to Bell about his magic armor prototype.
In Ouranos' room, a messenger from Loki has advised him that a meeting has been called and it may be about Revis and Enyo. Thus, Fels immediately headed to the Loki familia home.
In Freya's temporary apartment, a messenger from Loki has advised her that a meeting has been called and relates to information from Bell's latest expedition. Thus, Freya and Ottar quickly left for the Loki familia home.
After all the bosses gathered at the Loki home, Finn outlined what they had learned. Everyone agreed this is very suspicious and Fels also suspected that this may have to do with Revis and Enyo. Obviously, it would be extremely dangerous if someone like Revis, who fought roughly at level 7, can simply eat magic stones and level extremely quickly. They thought Bell was unique, but he may no longer be the case... They also tried to guess how many powerful entities exist deep in the dungeon to be harvested. If only a few existed, there may only be enough magic energy for leveling up 1 or 2 levels. If there were more, obviously it could be more levels. At the end, they agreed that it probably would not be a large number, or the gods should have found out in the last thousand years.
Finally when the meeting was done, Welf wanted to try out his new magic armor with Bell. After hearing about this, everyone was smirking and thought the idea was silly. However they did go along for the show. To be safe, Bell wore the magic breastplate on top of his existing armor before Welf smacked him hard with a war hammer. The results were however astonishing. The armor pushed the hammer back and Bell only felt dull pressure spreaded across his chest instead of sharp pressure at the point of attack. Delighted with his results, Welf explained why it worked. When attacked, the magic charge would ignite and push back against the attack. Thus this reduced the pressure at the point of attack. However the charge pushes in all directions so the user feels a recoil pressure from the entire piece of armor.
Loki thought it was clever, but commented that this should have a benefit against a weapon strike or a focused magic attack like Bell's crystal attack. She thought it would be of little use against a magic attack like a fireball that covers the entire body. After the live demonstration, the bosses agreed to a 2nd meeting next afternoon. They needed sometime to think over the appropriate course of action.