Chapter 53 - The Way Down
At the Hestia home, Mikoto just got back from her city patrols and Welf left to perform his patrols. With security the priority, Welf no longer had time to work on weapons and armor. To help out, Takemikazuchi and Miach familias were cooking and cleaning. In the evenings, everyone just gathered around and chatted, as the city's activities have rapidly declined without the gods and dungeon adventures.
At the Loki home, the executives were also not used to sitting at home unable to make a difference. Fortunately, Welf provided them with 2 magic swords, so they could help out with city security. Thus, Bete patrolled with Mikoto on the first shift while Finn patrolled with Welf on the second shift. Meanwhile, Tione wanted to cook for Finn. Riveria and Tiona mostly waited near the communications rock for any messages from Bell and Ais, just like Hestia in heaven.
In heaven, Hestia's thoughts revolved around Ais seducing Bell and worrying about their trip into levels that no one has even been to before. Meanwhile on the moon, Lili and Haruhime spend time by themselves when Hestia returned to heaven, as there is insufficient power to beam them there.
On the bitter cold 86th floor, Bell and Ais were flying while in a tight embrace to keep warm. That was fortunate for them when a cone of ice struck them while they turned the corner around an ice wall. First, Bell's hati and magic resistance protected him from the great majority of the damage. Second, since he wrapped himself around Ais to keep her warm, Ais was mostly protected as well. As it was, Ais' legs were encased in ice. The unexpected attack did cause them to crash some distance away. Wiene did not get hit, but had flew right by the crash and had to turn around.
Their attacker was a ice-white goliath resembling an enormous yeti. The goliath looked hungry and headed for them. Bell fired firebolt at it while trying to use some of the fire to melt the ice around Ais' feet. With ice surrounding her legs, they could not even use elixir. The firebolt caused some damage but the goliath continued to head for them. After a couple more firebolts, the ice was melted around Ais' legs. However, the goliath was near, and they had to move quickly way to avoid another ice attack. Fortunately, Wiene got back and attack the goliath from its backside with her talons. Two lightning sharp edges ignited and cause serious damage to the goliath. Bell and Ais added an Ariel/firebolt to knock the giant down. Just when they thought they had the advantage, the goliath jumped back up and attacked Wiene with the ice attack. While Wiene did avoid a lot of the attack, her wings got frozen and she fell down. Bell and Ais kept firing Ariel/firebolt at its face to draw its attention away. Fortunately, that worked, but they were attacked again by the cone of ice. While hati and Bell's magic resistance absorbed most of the attack, they took additional damage and were getting a lot of frostbite. Finally, Bell's argonaut charged enough for a 1 minute Ariel/firebolt, which brought down the giant for good. They realized they need to heal up enough to leave the floor. Bell used firebolt to warm the air around Wiene's wings to help free her of the ice. However, she was in no shape to fly. Thus, they had to look for a way off the floor by walking. With everyone freezing, Bell noticed a few large plants covered in snow. He used firebolt to set them afire to warm everyone up. That worked, and the fire really helped. Wiene warmed her wings up a lot and they poured more elixir on them. Bell and Ais also healed their frost damage with more elixir. After a few more minutes, they set off again after collecting and consuming the goliath's magic stone. They found a vertical hole and decided to go into without searching the frozen floor any more.
Floor 87 -This was back to a more typical dungeon floor with reasonable temperatures. They encountered a few monsters but were able to avoid a battle. After flying around a bit more, they found 2 vertical holes and use the 2nd one.
Floor 88 - Another typical floor with reasonable temperatures. They had trouble finding a vertical hole after flying through most of the floor. As they headed towards the final windy pathway, they slowed down due to the potential threat of colliding with a dangerous monster. However, they still almost ran into one coming around a turn. The turn opened into a large room and there was a large red dragon only about 10 feet from them. The dragon turned its head and shot fire at them. Fortunately, with hati and magic resistance, there was only light damage to Bell and Ais. Wiene got burned a bit worse. They knew they could not turn back because the dragon was probably blocking the way to the exit. Thus, Bell and Ais increased their speed while launching an Ariel/crystal attack, trying to draw the dragon's attention away from Wiene, who was more vulnerable to the attack. They definitely succeeded in getting the attention of the dragon, which shot more fire at them. Meanwhile Bell was charging argonaut and Ais was focused in creating more distance from the dragon to reduce the damage. As the dragon pursued, Wiene waited for her opportunity after Bell's argonaut attack. After 1 minute of charging, Bell and Ais launched an argonaut Ariel/crystal attack that caused very serious damage. After that, Wiene attacked from its backside with both talons armed with fresh lightning sharp edges. That defeated the dragon, but Wiene needed more elixir. While Hestia gave them a good amount of elixir, they were starting to run low, so they would have to fight more carefully as none of them had any healing powers. Wiene was also starting to run low on charged sharp edges, so they would also have to conserve Wiene's physical attacks. While Bell and Ais searched for the exit, Wiene collected and consumed the magic crystal. They did find a passageway that seemed to lead to the next floor close to the far end of the large room.
Floor 89 - This was another typical dungeon floor. They encountered several groups of monsters which they were able to avoid. Hestia called and they gave her an update on the situation and thanked her for the elixirs again. After finding many vertical holes, they went through one of them.
Floor 90 - Another typical dungeon floor except it was one large room. They could see some of the monsters, but again none of the 'new' types of monsters. They could see a few vertical holes and went through one of them.
Floor 91 - This was a dark floor but not like the abyss-like floor where stray light seemed to be absorbed. Due to the darkness, they slowed down a lot. This caused a lot more encounters with monsters. To save Wiene's charged edges, Bell and Ais were able to defeat the monsters including scorpions, black rhinos and silver worms, with Ariel/firebolt attacks. They found a vertical hole and went through it without searching through the dark floor anymore.
Floor 92-93 - The vertical hole allowed them to go straight to the 93rd floor. The floor also seem to be a normal floor, which allowed them to move faster. There were substantially more monsters, but none were the new types. They did find a few vertical holes and went through one of them.
Floor 94 - The floor was relatively normal except there were lots of vertical holes and a lot of light shone threw them from the floor below. There were again more monsters, but none were the new type. They called Finn and Riveria to report their progress and mentioned the unusual look of the 94th floor.
Bell and Ais went through one of the vertical holes and then were shocked by what they saw on the 95th floor...