Chapter 68 - Assault
After returning from the moon, the 1st task was to cut down on the flying monsters below the 18th floor. That meant flying through the floors below to do a search and destroy mission on any flying monsters. This would cut down the risks for a ground party to enter the floors below. The mission would start the next morning, but there was time for the reunited Hestia familia to enjoy a nice dinner at a restaurant. The cause for celebration was the return of Haruhime and Lili. After dinner, the familia also got to tease Bell and Ais for the name tag on their room door as "Mr. and Mrs. Bell Cranel. The teasing got even more intense when the baby teething ring was noticed hanging on the door. It had been such trouble times that no one even had time to have fun...
The next morning, Bell/Ais and Wiene met Lefiya, Riveria, Bete and Ottar at the dungeon entrance to start their seek and destroy mission. They would descend the dungeon by foot to do a final inspection before the new adventuring policy took effect in the afternoon. For the next 3 days, adventuring would be allowed from floors 1-17 for adventurers for adventurers at least at level 3. After that, the experience level requirement would drop to level 2. With the dungeon partially opened up, a groundswell of interested was satisfied to help harvest the magic stones that would help with the rebuilding of Orario.
The descend to the 18th floor was uneventful. They did not see any more flying insects so the less experienced parties should be safe enough when the dungeon opens back up in a few hours. When they reached the 18th floor, they checked in with Asterius but not much had happened. It appeared the sealing of the passageway and the 2 vertical holes had successfully transformed the floor to a good 1st line of defense. When the Hephaestus familia finishes with the heavy metal plates for the vertical holes, it would become even more secure.
After a quick lunch, Wiene transformed and the group flew into the 19th floor through the vertical hole. Once on the 19th floor, they saw that the enormous numbers of monsters have not changed. Bell and Ais immediately had to start firing Ariel and firebolt. To destroy the maximum number of monsters possible, they headed for the largest rooms as Riveria and Lefiya started chanting. When they reached the largest room, Riveria fired off Wynn Fimbulvetr to clear the room. They then headed to the 2nd largest room, and Lefiya was ready with Fusillade Fallarica to clear off the room. They then dropped off Bete and Ottar at the vertical hole sites to seal them off with metal mesh and boulders, while Bell, Ais and Wiene kept monsters from interfering with their work. That also gave Riveria and Lefiya a little time to relax and drink a couple potions. After sealing off the vertical holes, they then proceeded to 2 other large rooms where Riveria and Lefiya destroyed the monsters with Wynn Fimbulvetr and Fusillade Fallarica. They then dropped off Bete an Ottar for them to get some fighting done while Riveria and Lefiya took a short break and drank 2 more potions. By clearing the 4 largest room and more with about 2 hours of work, the number of monsters had been sufficient prepared for a ground assault. They then headed to the passageway to the 20th floor.
After getting through the passageway on foot, they started flying through the 20th floor and repeated the same tactic. Wynn Fimbulvetr and Fusillade Fallarica were used to clear the 4 largest rooms. Bete and Ottar sealed the 5 vertical holes on the floor. Thus, two more hours of work and the 20th floor was also prepared for a ground assault.
This operation was again repeated for the 21st floor. They cleared the 4 largest rooms and 3 vertical holes were sealed. With another 2 hours of work, it was dinner time, and Riveria and Lefiya were pretty tired as they headed back to the 18th floor. After a quick check in with Asterius, they flew back towards the surface using the vertical holes. On the way back to the surface, they saw many teams defeating monsters and collecting magic stones. This should help with the rebuilding of Orario...
The next day, the air assault was launched on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th floors. They were able to perform the same tactic on those floors without any major issues. At the same time, Finn, Gareth, Tione, Tiona, Asfi, Filvis and Mikoto along with most of the higher level members of the Freya familia joined in for a ground assault. By the end of the day, floors 19-24 were brought back to 'normal' in terms of the number of monsters. Furthermore, all the vertical holes in these floors were sealed so that flying monsters could not get to the higher floors. That night, they decided to stay on the 18th floor to save time on their mission.
The 3rd day, the air assault successfully thinned out the 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th levels. The ground assault was able clean out the same floors, so now floors 19-28 have been brought back to 'normal' with all vertical holes sealed. They again spent the night on the 18th floor.
The 4th day, the combined air and ground assault successfully thinned out the 29th, 30th, 31st and 32nd floors. Thus, all the floors without the large central cavern have been brought back to 'normal' with all their vertical holes sealed.
The 5th day, the combined air and ground assault went through the 33rd floor and sealed the central cavern, which was only 10 feet across on this floor. Afterwards, they went into the large central cavern so that Riveria and Lefiya could fire off Wynn Fimbulvetr and Fusillade Fallarica, which defeated the many thousands of flying insects in the enormous central cavern. After that, they worked with more than 100 eager adventurers to collects the tens of thousands of magic stones of defeated monsters between the 19th floor and the 30th floor. To ensure there is no surprise, Bell, Ais and Wiene kept watch on the 30th floor to prevent any unexpected monsters from arriving from the deep levels. By the end of the day, those eager adventurers collected an enormous wealth of magic stones that instantly boosted available resources and the Orario economy for the reconstruction.
Thus, with less than 1 week, normalcy was brought back to floors 1-33. The next phase of the operation would clear up everything from floors 34 to 44, at which point the colosseums start.