And So, Bell Cranel Became a Hero
DISCLAIMER: Danmachi belongs to its respective owners. Everything that occurs in this fanmade story is of my own creation and the characters abide by the fictional laws in the setting.
Tags: Mature, Action, Romance[Harem]. Adventure.
Authors Note: Heya! Jas here, if you'd like to support me, please consider joining the dis cord server (42SQENPj54) or supporting my patrn (IreJasmine)
Chapter 3: And So, The First of Many was Born.
Part 6
Resolve.
To make his dream come true.
Willpower.
To fight for his dream to come true.
Determination
To never give up, no matter the circumstances.
Bell Cranel recited those words in his head as his chipped dagger sunk deep into the head of the hundredth kobold for that week. His cloak, once brown and clean, was teared in several spots and stained in crimson from the monster's dried lifeblood, his white hair stained an equal crimson mess with dirt splotches here and there.
Bloodshot crimson eyes strained with a single focus in mind.
To become stronger.
The irritating buzz became stronger in his mind, and his eyes swept around to spot the reason, finding it as another Kobold running towards him from the darkness.
More blood stained his cloak as another monster crystal was added to his pouch.
Bell had lost count of the days he spent down in the dungeon with only that single thought.
To become stronger.
Food and water weren't an issue. Bags of adventurers that didn't make the cut could be found here and there on the first three floors of the dungeon and Bell had no qualms pilfering from the dead.
One does not become a Hero by being a paragon of virtues.
Only hard work, sweat, blood, and tears could turn you into one. Besides, it's not like the dead could use those items anymore and he was not going to let such valuable resources go to waste.
Rest wasn't an issue, ever since the buzz in his head had grown loud enough to chase away any other thought besides becoming stronger, he had managed to sense the presence of monsters. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes naps interrupted by the buzz springing him into action as any monster thought his sleeping body an easy prey.
Equipment wasn't an issue.
Rocks became deadly arrows.
Landform structures became his weapons.
Monsters' bodies became his armor.
Bell would become stronger.
Deeper and deeper he went, the more wounds his body obtained, the more experienced and stronger he turned. Scars healed by the scavenged potions from deceased adventurers were the proof of his remaining weaknesses.
When overwhelmed, he would escape.
When underwhelmed, he would conquer.
When faced with monster, he thrived.
Resolve.
Could only take him so far, his body screamed for rest and Bell acquiesced.
Bell returned to the first floor, to a spot near the dungeon's entrance where he'd found a small cliff above the main path where he could safely hunker down and rest since the spawned monsters focused mostly on the adventurers entering and leaving the dungeon. Eyes closed, the buzzing calmed down, and Bell dreamed.
Saving a kingdom...
Slaying the dragon...
His Gramps smile as he retold one of his many favorite stories...
The buzzing grew louder, one crimson eye glanced around.
"HEL-"
His eye closed, rest was more important. He couldn't save anyone if he wasn't rested; besides, they were close to the dungeon entrance so whoever screamed for help would certainly get it.
He dreamed once more...
About that very same voice...
About that very same kindness...
Bell knew her.
Both eyes snapped open, then Bell forced his newfound sense to the limit as he threw himself down to the location he heard the scream a moment earlier. There he found two sets of footprints, one heavier than the other, and the trail of something that had been dragged across the floor for a while.
Then the buzzing grew stronger as it found what Bell was looking for.
Far up ahead, he could sense two hushed voices speaking hurriedly to one another, he couldn't discern their words but there was no need to. He chose to follow them, and despite the numerous monsters that interjected his path, none came even close to scratching him as he stalked the duo.
Down they went, and down, and down, and down until they hit the fifth floor.
Willpower.
Bell successfully stalked them, never taking his off them for even a single second, not even when monsters tried to get the jump on him. Anything crossing his path was swiftly dealt with without looking away from his two targets, and when they finally stopped, a cry of pain echoed through the dimly lit corridor.
A cry he easily recognized.
It was her.
Bell's blood boiled, then footsteps moved towards his direction.
"Cocky dwarf thinkin' he's the shit, without me he wouldn't have been able catch that bitch off-guard."
From his hidden position Bell finally got a good look at one of the two he'd been stalking, a blond elf, lanky with a lance casually reclined on his shoulder, guarding the entrance to the spot where Bell saw something that made him furious.
He saw her laying on her side after receiving a blow to the head, then the perpetrator pulled her up by the hair, making her cry out again as her clothes were cut, exposing her body.
Bell tasted blood in his mouth, not a second after, he threw a rock with all his might at the unsuspecting elf.
The elf, in his leisureliness, never saw the rock coming and it impacted harshly against his head, drawing a cry of pain from him, forcing his hands to nurse the wounded spot on his forehead.
Bell leaped, his chipped dagger gleaming under the unnatural light of the dungeon, then a muffled, gurgle of pain followed his actions.
Bell's bloodshot crimson eyes stared into the elf's shocked eyes, and Bell twisted the dagger embedded into the elf's throat, more gurgling followed as the elf's mouth feebly spurt his last breath, his blood staining Bell's face and hair further with crimson.
"Just get it… over with."
The buzz grew stronger, and throughout the muddle of his emotions, he heard her sobs. Bell kicked the dead body, his dagger coming free, and he leaped once more.
A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the fifth floor of the dungeon as the dwarf's exposed genitals were cut at the base by Bell's chipped dagger.
"ARGH!" The dwarf stumbled back, hands covering the gushing wound on his lower body as Bell's dagger glinted again. Another bloodcurdling scream followed as the dwarf's sight was taken away, and he stumbled wildly further back.
Not far away enough from the surprised werewolf behind him and Bell kicked the dwarf in the chest, sending the man flying and hitting the farthest wall. Bell instantly crouched next to her, and for a second, Rose didn't recognize the White Puppy until she caught sight of his worried crimson eyes beneath his dirty, ragged, cloak.
He was alive.
Rose sobbed harder, not knowing if it was because she was saved, or because he was also safe.
Bell's mind on the other hand was a buzz of motions, his dagger cut through the ropes tying Rose's hands behind her back, yet before he could cut the one around her thighs, the ground trembled and the walls rumbled. The buzz grew stronger again, so much that Bell was almost overwhelmed by his newfound sense, and he turned just in time to see the reason for it.
A hulking mass of muscles appeared in the room and rammed into the stumbling dwarf, crashing the wounded man into the wall, and turned him into a bloody paste of gore.
The mass turned around, organs and bones coating its face, before it howled.
"A minotaur!?" Bell heard Rose yelp behind him, "What is one doing here? They're supposed to be on the fifteen floor and below!"
The minotaur stamped his hooves, cracking the dwarf remains beneath it. It came down on all fours and prepared to attack its next prey.
Bell reacted faster than the monster and scooped the half-naked werewolf into a bridal carry and jumped just as the hulking mass of muscles crashed against the wall they were seconds earlier.
A howl of pain rumbled through the dungeon as Bell ran away; the moment he passed the body of the dead elf, he took a single second to jostle the half-naked werewolf towards his right side, his hand grabbed a handful of her rump to hold her close as her arms instinctively snared around his neck, her naked breast pressing into his chest.
There was no time to pay attention to the wonderful feeling of her body, for the moment his left hand became free, Bell pried the lance from the dead elf's hands and continued running away from the monster.
More howls and stomps followed them...
Bell's feet moved faster, the werewolf in his arms screamed something into his ear at the same time the buzzing grew, and Bell jumped again.
The minotaur missed once more, passing below Bell's barely lifted feet which he kicked into the back of the minotaur and backflipped over it. He turned on the dime of his feet once he landed and ran through another corridor as the monster crashed into another wall.
Bell ran, and ran, he didn't know where to, all he knew was that he had to run or the pursuing minotaur would turn him, and by default, Rose, into a smear. Monsters annoyingly jumped from the dungeon walls trying to get him with surprise attacks, yet Bell didn't spare more than a single movement for all of them.
The lance pierced directly through their cores without Bell slowing down, turning them all into dust.
The buzzing grew again, the werewolf's arms tightened around his neck as she shouted a warning again, just as another corridor to their right appeared. Bell pressed the werewolf tighter against his body and tucked into a roll towards the new path to the right, the minotaur not managing the same feat as him, rammed into the wall, giving Bell enough time to regain his bearings and resume his hasty escape.
Then the narrow corridor became a dead-end.
And the path behind them was blocked by the minotaur.
They couldn't go further; the stomping grew louder by the second.
Bell ground his teeth until gentle hands cupped his cheeks.
"It's okay…" Rose openly cried out, a resigned smile on her face as she pressed her forehead against his, "You have done enough."
No.
Closer stomps.
Not like this.
The minotaur was right behind them.
Determination
Bell's back fiercely burned, and he leaped.
A monstrous fist embedded into the ground the two stood seconds ago.
The lance in Bell's hand lashed out, gouging one of the Minotaur's eyes.
The monster backhanded the shaft in response, breaking the wooden section while Bell kicked off the Minotaur's head, and landed behind the trashing Minotaur which tried to rip out the piece of lance still embedded into its skull.
In its trashing, the Minotaur's fists sailed wildly around, and came much to close towards Bell, forcing him to tuck the werewolf again for another roll, one that made them pass beneath the monster's feet and once more come into the dead-end.
The monster teared the offending weapon from its skull and glared with its remaining eye at the perpetrator, it howled again, the sound echoed and almost left Bell and Rose deaf. The minotaur raised both arms while they recovered, fists meeting above its head for a haymaker, and it swung down.
The blow was too fast for Bell to completely dodge, but by sheer determination Bell moved enough to the right that the monster's haymaker clipped his left shoulder, hitting the gifted armor piece, and breaking the equipment to pieces. Bell withstood the pain flaring on his left shoulder, and for the single second that he still retained control over his left arm, his chipped dagger glinted again.
The dagger met its target.
The Minotaur's remaining eye.
The dagger embedded deep into the socket, deeper than the lance had pierced its previous target.
It roared in pain, but Bell capitalized on the only chance he created, with strength and dexterity he didn't know he possessed, Bell's feet met the wall, and as he hung mid-air for a split second, his left arm flaring in pain from exertion, he kicked off the wall and, with all his remaining strength, pushed the dagger deeper into the Minotaur's skull.
The trio of Monster, Adventurer and Advisor tumbled to the floor from the last strike. The minotaur falling on its back, roaring in pain as its massive hands went towards its face while it rolled around.
Bell tried to control his descent as he still hadn't let go of the werewolf in his right arm but all he managed was to crash onto the floor on his left side, aggravating the wound to his shoulder and he screamed in equal pain as the monster a few feet away from them. The werewolf in his arm was luckier, for only the air was pushed out of her lungs once her back collided with the hard floor.
Bell screamed in pain, but the Minotaur pushed through the pain first, and followed the boy's screams until it was standing above the two. The monster may not be able to see them anymore, but he could hear his prey clear enough and it would make them pay for the pain they inflicted.
Rose blurrily saw the monster getting ready to finish them, her arms brought the screaming Bell's head into her bosom, a list ditch effort to soften the final blow on him, and she closed her eyes in resignation.
This is it.
This was the scene a person stumbled onto, followed by two more. The last person to arrive wasted no time, jumped above the huddled duo, and landed sword first onto the Minotaur's chest before it could complete its attack.
A slice that bisected the Minotaur by the waist followed by the monster exploding into a shower of blood before it exploded into dust.
A crystal and a horn all that was left behind of its existence.
"Are you okay?" The first person walked towards the huddled duo; a person who Rose easily recognized. "Miss Rose! Your clothes! What are you doing down here! What happened!?"
"Questions can wait!" Rose sobbed as she hugged her heroic White Pup tighter, "Please help him!"
The person nodded, the werewolf woman released Bell, and he was rolled onto his back where the person could treat him better.
The buzzing grew stronger, the lack of rest, overwhelming amount of exhaustion, and pain was too much for Bell to plow through. The last thing he saw were the tear-stained face of his advisor and blobs of Yellow, Green and Gray.
And so, the young Hero drifted into unconsciousness.
- 0 – Part 6 End – 0 -