Chapter 5: Desperate struggle

"Human talking"

"Human thoughts"

"Human Chanting"

"Monster/Fels sound/talking"

"Monster/Fels thoughts"

"Monster/Fels Chanting "

Darkness was all that surrounds them no matter where you look and the forest doesn't help the two of them to make it out more easier.

There is no shred of light illuminating from the crystals above which replicates the night sky outside the dungeon which means this is how it also looks outside.

"It's really dark here, it's a little scarry..." The boy with red ruby eyes said while shaking lightly.

"What are you!? A kid!? How did you even beat that irregular minotaur if you are afraid of dark places!?" The young mage said while walking beside him.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll try to calm down... Anyway how do we get back in the first place? we don't have any clue where are we right now... Um... Viridis-san?" Bell called out to her, unsure of what to call her, he decided to just call the elf by her last name to not sound so rude.

"Just call me Lefiya, I don't like any people outside of my village to call me on my Clan's name and you are right... But let me ask you one question... How old are you?" Lefiya asked with a very curious expression.

"I'm 14 years old" He said simply

Inside Lefiya's mind.

He is just a 14 year old level 2 while I'm 15 and a level 3! HAHAHA! It looks like I win this time!

Back to reality.

"Okay! don't worry leave it all to me!" the elf said triumphantly.

"Y-Yes!" was all Bell could say as Lefiya closed the gap between them.

"But first, let me borrow that lamp please?" She asked nicely and Bell gave her the lamp.

Their strategy to not get lost and walk into circles is for both of them to mark the path they've already gone through.

While Lefiya put's a form of crystal in the middle of it, Bell marks the trees with an "X" mark to indicate a checkpoint and this goes on for a few good minutes until they found a huge tree.

"Wait human! I've got an Idea! We could use this tree to try and locate our current position!" She commanded and as soon as Bell heard her, he stopped on his tracks and walked towards her direction.

"Please just call me Bell, also how can we do that? Do you plan on climbing up this tree?" The white haired boy asked while measuring up the size of the tree.

It was a very huge tree but not as big as the one at the center of the floor which they really couldn't see right now because it's really pitch black.

"Yes, I'm gonna do it so please hold on to this and also...D-Don't you dare look up or I'll burn you out for real this time!" She threatened Bell as she positioned herself under the tree.

"R-Roger! but are you su-" Lefiya then suddenly ran at full speed at the top of the tree, Bell was left speechless to how fast she is even though she is a mage.

"Even though there is just a 1 gap in our level, it's still very huge! and also she's really amazing..." Bell said in awe as he looked up but couldn't see a thing because of the darkness.

"Let's see... AH! The giant tree is there and behind it was the camp! I can clearly see the huge fire we've set up earlier"

She jumped down as soon as she got the information of their location and their camp's.

"I know where to go! we just have to go straight to the tree up ahead and then go behind it, we don't have to walk around blindly anymore and our only problem right now are the monsters that's wandering around" The young elf said as she gestured Bell to give the lamp back to her which he did.

"You are so amazing Lefiya-san, even though you are a mage, you charge to this forest like some kind of explorer!" The white haired kid complimented her innocently.

"WAWAWA... WHAT ARE YOU SAYING OUT OF NOWHERE!? F-FLATTERY WON'T DO YOU ANY GOOD, YOU KNOW!?" Lefiya screamed in embarrassment as she couldn't handle the compliment.

"W-Well! You as well...It's hard to tell it's your first time here at the 18th floor since you're handling yourself so well..." Lefiya said a little weaker as she turns away to hide her face.

"Really!?" Bell said in complete surprise.

"D-Don't get the wrong idea! I'm not complimenting you, it's just something I'm pointing out as a rival..." She started to step away from Bell as she looks at the ceiling.

"I've been watching you after all..." It's already too late when she realized that she said something that would cause a huge misunderstanding so she tried to hide her embarrassment for a bit but it didn't last that long because she exploded as soon as she saw the look on Bell's face but before she could talk, Bell spoke up.

"Thank you so much, I'm very happy that you consider me as your rival, I don't know why and I don't plan to ask but I'll do my best to catch up to you!" He said with a smile and determination burning from his eyes.

"What is this..? this thing pounding on my chest so hard? I've never experienced this kind of feeling and looking directly into his eyes doesn't help me to ease it, in fact, it's getting more and more louder and stronger the more I looked into his red ruby eyes"

She couldn't come up with a reply so she kept silent for a minute before shaking her head to calm herself down which didn't really help her but she continued on doing anyway until the white haired kid spoke up.

"Wait Lefiya-san! Someone's approaching! Let's hide for a bit!" He drags Lefiya to the backside of the tree and placed his arms around her like he's embracing her.

"Lefiya-san, I think it's not just one person, I th-"

SLAPP!

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!? FIRST YOU PEEPED ON AIZ-SAN AND THE OTHERS AND NOW YOU ARE MAKING MOVES ON ME!? YOU ARE THE WORST!" She screamed with her face completely red because she didn't expect that he would do something like that right now.

"Wait! those outfit... don't tell me... now of all times!?" the loud elf thought as soon as she saw what the men and his fellows wears and how similar their clothes are to Evilus.

Lefiya's POV

We already know that this kin1ds of things will happen that's why the captain have announced our deep level expedition publicly, to lure them out to operate in the high and middle floors.

"But I didn't expect our encounter with them this soon... and I don't have anyone at my side beside him!"I know that Bell Cranel was the current record holder who reached Level 2 in just a month, but reaching level 2 with a month of an experience is a double edged sword for him.

It means he grows 10x faster than a normal person but at the same time, facing an unknown danger is way too much for him.

"Should I go back to the camp? or pursue them myself... but it's impossible for a level 2 to go back there alone..!""I've got no choice... Bell-san please follow my lead..!" I said to the boy beside me who's currently confused on what's happening.

"In case of emergency... I'll protect him!""Lefiya-san, are those an enemy of Loki familia?" He whispered to me which caught me off guard because I didn't realize that I was already this close to him.

"Look..! Stop prying too much and also, you're too close!!"

We followed them until we reached a certain location which looks very familiar to me since this is where we fought the female tamer.

The eastern wall.

I gestured him to follow my lead and we tried to go to their location but as soon as we went halfway, the grass sudenly disappeared and we both fell into a deep hole.

"Somehow we landed safely" He said while scratching the back of his head.

""H-Hot..!"" We said in unison as our legs started to feel like burning and as soon as I looked at it, I noticed my clothes are burning slowly.

"Are these human bones!?" He said with a horrified face and I also notice that not only human bones are here but also armors, weapons and monster's bones as well.

"These are remains of adventurers! It's an acid we need to get out of here!" I grabbed his arms but noticed that he's looking into something.

"Lefiya-san... look at that..!"

"That's one of those brightly colored monsters!"

"A new species!?" was all he could say before it started to attack us.

"The pitfall itself was clearly this trap monster that we are currently facing, it has a massive acid pool but the acid in it was clearly weaker than the ones we fought on the 50th floor up to 59th and clothes will hold on for a while but a level 2 wouldn't last for too long in this... speaking of which..."

"Hah..!! Hyaah!! Hmph!" I looked at him astounded because he doesn't seem to be slowing down at all.

"I know that he broke common sense when he leveled up in just a month but seriously!? How far will you grow? You maybe a level 2 adventurer but you clearly move like a fresh level 3 for me!"

I looked at him in awe for a moment before I snap back to reality when I saw that one of the monster's tentacles was about to hit him from his blind spot.

"Watch out!"

GRAB

Before I knew it, my body was already moving towards his direction and by the time I came in to realization, I've already pushed him down to evade the attack.

"Please stay on your toes and also..." I removed my battle robe and placed it on his head.

"Use this, since your clothes are made from salamander wool, It won't easily dissolve and you can use my robe here to block both!"

Nobody knew that there was such a monster here, I consider myself lucky and unlucky at the same time because this is one of those rare opportunities to get some information regarding our enemies and what are they planning out, but the problem is we are the only ones here and this is both our first time to face this kind of monster without the higher ups.

"Gotta keep calm and find it's weakness... THERE!"

"Look at that! It's eye! it turns in the direction it's going to attack!"

As soon as my voice rang out, it attacked Bell-san which he easily dodged and blocked.

It's a one pony trick with just tentacles as it's weapon and just a weak acid pool,the only problem we were facing is if we get hit by those big tentacles or the armors that's flying out whenever it hit's the ground because we can't dodge all of it.

"My skin is burning and my clothes aren't lasting... not to mention that a boy is here! This battle is going to be a huge pain!"

"Hey! If I ever see an opening, I will blast it with my magic so you focus on attacking that wall of flesh!" I ordered him as I started to channel my magic to my staff.

"Roger!"

FWOOSH!

"He's really fast! I already realized that he's not just some level 2 adventurer after chasing him so many times but..."

I looked at the wall he's currently attacking at there are barely any scratch on it, it's not even flinching.

"How could I even chant if it's not even flinching on his attacks!?"

It suddenly stopped moving and redirected it's eye to the middle of the acid pool and before we realize what it's up to.

SCREECH!

"A SOUND WAVE...!?"

I noticed that it was just a distraction to put our guards down and when the monster saw Bell-san kneeling and covering his ears, it started to bombard him with it's tentacles.

"NO!! RUN!!" I said in horror, I thought that he's going to die there but to my surprise, he found a shield beneath him and quickly pulled it up to block it's attacks which he managed to but the force of it still managed to knock him away to the wall.

I started to panick a bit and started to chant to make it focus on me more than him.

"Limbs of the Holy Tree!! Master of the Bow! " I started to chant desperately in hopes to get it's attention which worked out.

"The reason he got caught up in this situation... Was me..!"

I continued to chant while dodging it's attacks the one thing I didn't noticed was it already has one of it's weapons under the acid pool and by the time I realized it's already wrapped around my legs.

"Oh no!" "It's going to slam me on those weapon remains..!! This can't be..." I thought I was going to die at that moment when suddenly, I heard a loud voice screaming my name.

"YOU BASTARD!! LET GO OF HER!!" He screamed as he slashed the tentacle that's binding me with an axe.

"Bell Cranel... I don't know if I still hate you or not but I can say one thing for sure... I really don't like you...! You are one year younger than me and 1 level below me but still.. not to mention from an obscure... and even if it's finally my turn to protect someone...! You really are a trouble some unlikeable person!"

At the Loki familia's camp.

Normal POV

It was just a normal night, or everyone pretends to be but there is this chill in the air that goes down to your spine whenever you try to look around but all you can see outside of the camp is all black.

"Riveria... It might sound down to earth dumb coming from me but... What's wrong?" The blonde pallum said to his vice captain who's just staring at the pitch black forest.

"I don't know... there is something I feel going on right now in this floor that we don't know and I don't like the timing where Lefiya and Bell went missing" The beautiful lady said while closing her eyes, praying for their safety.

"Have faith in your student especially in your beloved, Riveria because we already know that those two have a large amount of untapped potential in them especially Bell Cranel, they need to learn how to use it in the future so it's a very good oportunity to them to be put in a dire situation with just the two of them" He tapped the high elf's shoulders before entering his tent to take a rest for the night.

"I'll try to ignore that 'beloved' part but I hope you are right..." she whispered to her self.

"Riveria-san..?" A voice rang out, calling her name.

She looked behind her and she saw the cat person of their familia, Aki who looks just as worried as her.

"Do you feel it too?? this air of uneasiness that surrounds us all?" The high elf asked her comrade as she walks to her side.

"Yeah... They are fine right? especially with Lefiya accompanying him, because she's already strong enough to handle a couple of Violas by herself" Aki said while staring at the black space.

"Are you really worried about Lefiya? or are you worried about Bell?" Riveria inquired.

"I'm worried about both of them but more on Bell than Lefiya because he's just beaten up as bad as you guys are when we saw you at the 50th floor exit" The cat girl said with a small smile forming on her face.

"Just be safe Bell... Please" Aki whispered before she felt a small earthquake and saw a very large pillar of light coming from the eastern wall of the dungeon.

Finn went out as soon as he felt the ground shake up a bit and when he saw the pillar of light illuminating the dark area of the dungeon, he knew that it was both Lefiya and Bell.

"Tiona, Tione, Aiz, Aki and Riveria, come with me! we don't know what's happening over there but it's probably Bell Cranel and Lefiya. I'm pretty sure they've already defeated their enemy but the Evilus might notice the two of them and starts to attack them at their weaker state!" The familia captain ordered while grabbing his small bag of potion and spear.

"C-Captain! I wanna come too! Please...!" Narvi said while looking into Finn's eyes, begging him to say 'yes' but sadly he said the opposite.

"I'm sorry but I can't leave the camp unguarded so you have to stay here with Raul and the others, Everyone! Let's go!" The Pallum ordered leaving the camp with the executives.

"Just be safe... BELL!" Aiz, Riveria and Aki screamed in their minds as they ran towards the location they saw the light earlier.

A/N: That's it! I really want to stretch this to a full 2 chapters in 1 but I wanna get this out and just tease you guys for a bit because I won't be able to upload the next chapter for maybe two weeks? or a month... Why? because I have covid 19... Yeah so yeahh...

I'M JUST JOKING I'm gonna upload the next chapter as soon as I've polished it because I love the next scene... and it's my favorite chapter in both Sword Oratoria manga adaptation and original light novel so stay tuned for that!

And as always please stay safe and healthy everyone see you next time, Farewell!