Chapter 67 - The Cleanup and the Big Meeting
With the rescue of the gods and the victory over Enyo and Thanatos, the next major event was the meeting on the moon. However, the tens of thousands or more monsters spawned by the dungeon had to be dealt with. Due to overcrowding below, flying monsters still made their way up using the vertical holes even though the passageway between the 18th floor and below was sealed. Furthermore, leaving that many monsters to run amok in the dungeon could have unexpected consequences. For now, the Ganesha familia and the Xenos have secured the dungeon entrance, but at a minimum, something needed to be done about the vertical holes between the 18th floor and the 19th floor.
Since there was still 2 days before the moon meeting, there was time to take some action in the dungeon. Thus Bell, Ais, Mikoto and Wiene joined the Loki familia, Asterius and the Xenos on a short mission to seal the vertical holes between the 18th and 19th floors. If that can be accomplished, the Xenos can return to the 18th floor and watch over the sealed areas. Once the floor was secured, Rivira's residents could also return home and also share in the guard duty of the vertical holes.
As they descend down the dungeon, the number of beginner level monsters was back to 'normal', confirming that the dungeon had calmed down since over 100 gods appeared in its deepest depths. However, the group did encounter quite a few hornets and dragonflies that normally did not exist in the beginner levels. The flying insects did not pose a problem as Bell and Ais took care of them with Ariel and firebolt. After several hours on foot, they reached the 18th level. The level had the most flying insects, requiring multiple rounds of Aerial and firebolt. Nevertheless, the team quickly reached the first vertical hole and installed several layers of the metal netting, which was secured with large boulders on the side. Once secured, the netting proved successful in keeping hornets from entering the 18th floor. The same process was repeated at the 2nd vertical hole. Ais, Bell and Wiene then flew around to search for problematic monsters, but only found more flying insects that they defeated with Ariel and firebolt. After an hour of pest control, the floor felt truly secured. Afterwards, Asterius and the Xenos decided to stay and monitor the vertical holes. With the floor secured, the team started back up the dungeon. On the way up, Ais, Bell and Wiene did quite a bit of flying on floors 13-17 to search for more insects and problematic monsters. Fortunately, they only had to deal with 8 more hornets in those levels, as the Loki familia and the Freya familia did a thorough job in clearing out those floors the day before. Afterwards, they all headed back to the surface, with only 2 more hornet encounters.
Having spent the entire day clearing up the beginner levels, the group enjoyed dinner at the Hostess of Fertility. Mia and her workers were still not finished cleaning up after the earthquakes but they were happy to serve dinner for the group of merry adventurers. Dinner conversation covered many topics, including the baby monsters, what the deep floors looked like, as well as what other enemies remained in the dungeon. Eventually the topic changed to Bell and Ais. With that, Riveria mentioned that Finn had a gift for Ais, but Finn immediately said that he did not have it with him. Tiona then asked about whether Bell and Ais had plans, which puzzled both Ais and Bell. Tione then asked about what else did they do in their room, but Gareth quickly hushed her. After the teasing, they started talking about the moon and what it was like. Bell said he enjoyed it because of the reduced gravity. Bell then winked at Ais and said he wanted to try wrestling with the reduced gravity, which got Ais completely bright red. After dinner, they returned home and were so glad to see Miach and Takemikazuchi back there. They chatted for a little while about what the timeless dimension was like, but Takemikazuchi just laughed because there was no time so there were no sensations. Miach did tell them about the battle with Enyo and Thanatos. Apparently, it took 10 gods to control Thanatos and over 30 gods combining their magic to apprehend Enyo. That night, Bell and Ais got a good shower and just did a little lap pillowing before going to sleep. They were both too tired to wrestle...
The next morning, the guild had meetings with the familias so they could represent the guild's point of view at the moon meeting. The first matter was the Rivira residents who already headed back down the dungeon. The second involved when adventuring could start for floors 1-18 and then for floors under floor 18. Finally it was the matter of all the repairs needed in the city would require a lot of funds and raw materials from the dungeon. After the meeting, Bell and Ais decided to fly to the ocean to have some fun because they have no work for the afternoon. After flying to the same shack, they speared some fish for lunch and then played in the water for much of the afternoon. After a seafood dinner of clams and lobsters, they enjoyed the nice atmosphere of a campfire by the ocean...
The next day, everyone met at the guild for the trip to the moon. This included the top 2 representatives from each familia as well as the entire Hestia familia and the Loki familia. Asterius, Lyd and Gros were also representing the Xenos. Many gods were there also including Hephaestus, Freya, Njord, Ganesha as well as Hestia, Loki and Zeus who came from heaven. After 2 hours of arguing, the following decisions were made:
1. Send Bell/Ais and Wiene with Lefiya, Riveria, Bete and Ottar to quickly cut down on the monster population below the 18th floor. The top priority was the flying monsters which could greatly magnify if they were to join in a battle. Meanwhile adventuring would be allowed from floors 1-17.
2. The 18th floor would become the 1st line of defense to be jointly-manned by the Xenos and the surface familias, though Rivira residents also had a role. The block passageway between the 18th and 19th floors would be further fortified so it would be extremely difficult to penetrate. The metal netting over the 2 vertical holes would be replaced by heavy metal plates to be fabricated by the Hephaestus familia. The plates would have a door with a roll-up ladder that would be dropped when adventurers/Xenos wish to pass through.
3. Powerful teams would need to be sent below the 18th floor to cut down the number of monsters in the dungeon. Currently, it appeared the number of monster was more than 10 times above normal.
4. Less experienced teams were not allowed to descend below the 18th floor until tasks 2 and 3 are completed.
5. Once tasks 2 and 3 are completed, a powerful team would need to be sent down to carefully inspect the damage from the explosion as well as any new monsters that may have appeared.
After the meeting, there was time for updating for the Hestia and the Loki familias but no one leveled, though Bell and Ais were getting close. While others were updating and chatting, Bell and Ais took a walk on the moon. Feeling naughty, Bell attacked Ais to try out wrestling on the moon... When they returned, they saw Loki and Hestia in another cat fight. Guess things were back to normal, which was reassuring to them.
After the updating and meetings were all finished, the groups returned to their respective locations. Over the next week or so, the dungeon cleanup would take place and then the deep mission to thoroughly inspect the deep levels. A lot of monsters would need to be defeated, which should help generate the magic stones that would help with the rebuilding of Orario.