.
.
Bell and Welf had been adventuring for 2 weeks now and they had been making good progress through the upper floors. Having a level 5 adventurer watching his back really did wonders to his motivation. Since Bell wouldn't have any problem on those floors, the duo ended up with the blacksmith fighting, and the rabbit acting as a supporter. Initially, Welf was against it saying that it should have been him who supported, but Bell insisted for the blacksmith to gain more experience fighting monsters.
Forming a party with Bell had the unknown benefit of getting large amounts of drop items that he could use for his blacksmithing. Although the rabbit wouldn't be gaining any high quality excelia, Bell didn't mind. His wishes still remained undeterred and growth stunted, but he was okay with that, since he didn't want to leave his friends behind again and wanted to grow along with them...even though he was still a whole level above the rest of the women in his familia.
From what he remembered from talking with Alise, she mentioned that she was ready to level up with her stats more or less in the B to A range, but wanted to get her stats to S after hearing how the adventurers of the legendary Zeus and Hera familia had done so in the past. She and Bell, both being humans, did not have any racial advantages like elves with magic, or dwarves with their endurance. As such, she wanted to rid that gap by getting all of her stats as high as possible.
"Ahhh finally we're out." Exhaled Welf.
"I think that was some pretty good progress today."
"Yeah, now let's go cash in those magic stones!" The large sword on his back was caught on a loose rock in the pavement, making the redhead trip and fall over. "Ouch.."
Bell extended his hand which Welf took standing back up. "You good?"
"Yeah, i'm fine thanks." Welf held his chin, looking at the comically large sword wedged into the stone pavement. "Maybe I should adjust its size again..."
Bell laughed dryly, "Hasn't it been the 5th time already?" looking at the redhead.
Welf looked away whistling while he started walking in the direction of the guild. Bell followed after him as he watched Welf fall over again. By all means, Welf wasn't short, on the contrary he was on the taller side of his age, being 153 celches tall. But the greatsword latched onto his back wasn't perfectly centered as the tip of his blade hovered slightly above the ground.
Arriving at the guild, Bell headed over to the exchange booth to cash in the magic stones. Welf had already taken the drop items from the pile he wanted and handed the rest to Bell. He took out the small bags and slid them onto the tray.
"Could you split it into two?"
"Of course. Wow that's a lot of finger blades, run into a monster party?" The guild employee on the other side of the booth asked.
A monster party was what the guild and adventurers referred to an event that where large hordes of monsters would spawn at once. The most common instances were on the 7th to 9th floors with Killer ants. Upon killing one, its corpse would release pheromones which would attract other nearby Killer ants and swarm adventurers. They were known among adventurers as the 'Rookie killer'
"Yes, though I was acting as a supporter for my party when we ran into them."
"A first class supporter...now i've seen everything. That's 46 magic stones, 4 Kobold nails, 2 Goblin fangs and 13 War shadow finger blade totaling to 55,260 valis." The small window opened and a tray with two relatively large bags of valis slid out. "27,630 valis each."
"Thanks." Bell thanked her. Their exchange was brief but such was how interactions with the 'flowers of the guild' always were. On his way out, he made a quick stop by the quest board to see if there was anything they could complete the next day.
...Let's see... Collect Almiraj fur x6... Collect Hellhound fang x4... Notice: Monsters stealing adventurer's equipment in middle levels...Huh?... Collect Blazerock xAS MANY AS YOU CAN!... Wh- who is this quest even targeted at? How many adventurers can even go that deep!?...
Unable to find anything, he exited the building. Looking to the left, he found Welf being smothered by a large group of adventurers of differing sizes and races.
"Hey you're that Crozzo kid right? Make me a magic sword!"
"No, make me one!"
"I'll pay you good money!"
"I've said it once and i'll say it again! I. Am. Not. Making. Any. Magic. Swords!"
"Oh come on, don't be like that. I'll make it worth your while~" An amazoness cooed.
"H-hey! Where do you think you're touching! Hiiii!!!" Welf cried.
Seeing as it was getting out of hand...literally... and that his friend might lose something, Bell put away the bags of valis and swiftly made his way over. In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind the amazoness, pulling her unnecessarily adventurous hands off of Welf.
"That's enough." He shouted at the group forcing the several heads to turn his way. "Save that for the pleasure district."
"C'mon what was that for?"
"Hey leave him alone." Bell let go of the amazoness and stood between Welf and the mob. Seeing as the woman didn't want to back down, he flashed his shoulder pad which he had Welf engrave the symbol of the Astraea familia on. "Or do I need to arrest you for assaulting a minor?"
Sure, Welf was an adventurer. But before that he was a boy...and seeing an amazoness get so 'touchy feely' raised a lot of red flags for the rabbit. Although there weren't any laws in Orario that inhibited relationships with a younger people since races like Elves existed, society looked down upon these kinds of people.
"That emblem..."
"Astraea familia?"
"White hair and red eyes... that's the Astrapi!"
"Let me join your familia!"
"No, let me!"
Bell placed his palm hand on Vesta. "..Do I need to repeat myself?"
Normally, lots of adventurers would have bombed a first class with many questions and the such, but Bell's reputation in Orario wasn't exactly the best at the moment. The mob hastily dispersed in fear, leaving the rabbit and blacksmith to their lonesome. It hurt his pride to see that people were scared of him but hey, at least Welf's fine...right?
"Welf, she didn't do anything...right?" He asked worriedly.
"I don't like amazoness'..." Welf had a look of trauma as he held his crotch from whatever that woman did. In the future, Welf would develop an instinctual fear whenever around any amazoness...he never understood why but maybe it was thanks to his subconscious shutting away the memory for good.
...I'm sorry Auntie Hephaestus, little Welf nearly passed on...
Bell mentally apologized, hoisting the empty husk of a blacksmith and his comically large slab of metal over his shoulders and made his way to the Hephaestus familia home. He didn't know where Welf lived so that seemed like the safest bet. Coming through the large doors of Etna Volcano, he walked over to the receptionist and explained to her that Welf simply had a 'rough day in the dungeon' and asked where Welf's room was.
Luckily or maybe not so lucky for Welf, Hephaestus, the woman and goddess of the red-haired blacksmith's affection and admiration was there. Holding a stack of papers. It seemed like every time he saw her, there had to be paper anywhere within a 1 meder radius.
"Hey Bell, is Welf alright."
"He had a...rough day in the dungeon."
Though he technically wasn't wrong, having fought off a large horde of War shadows, but Bell pretty much did all the work so Hephaestus sensed a lie from him. "Could you take him up to my office? I was about to head up there anyways."
Bell nodded, following behind her. In a matter of minutes they were in her office. Bell sat Welf down on the armchair and his trusty slab of metal adjacent. He dug into his pouch and retrieved a bag of valis, placing it on her desk.
"Could you give this to Welf when he wakes up? It's his share for today in the dungeon."
"Sure." Hephaestus dropped the mound of processed, murdered trees onto her desk with a resounding 'thud'. "I'd like to thank you for letting Welf join your party. Even though Tsubaki basically forced it onto you."
"No no, it's alright."
"...So are you going to tell me what really happened?" Though worded like a question, it was more of a demand if anything.
"Welf was getting pestered by some adventurers for some reason and let's just say...an amazoness got a little too handsy."
"Ah." She needn't ask any more, lest the pride of the blacksmith be hurt any further.
.
It looked like Welf would be out of commission for the next few days so Bell had to find something to do. Luckily for him, it came in the form of a pink haired pallum of his familia dragging him to go item hunting the next day. Bell returned to the Stardust Garden as the sun began to set, arriving just in time for dinner.
"I'm back."
"Ah welcome home Bell! You gonna join us for dinner?" Alise asked, as energetic as ever.
"If you still have space for one more." Taking a seat.
"How was your day, Bell?" The rabbit turned to the goddess.
"Me and Welf ran into a horde of War shadows but we took care of it. We managed to get a good amount of drop items from it too. Something came up though so I'll probably be dungeon diving myself for some time." He replied.
"Welf..as in the red haired boy who joined your party?"
"Yes, Welf Crozzo. He's from the Hephaestus familia." The moment his full name was uttered, Ryuu and Celty's eyes widened, as if he said something strange. "Umm... Ryuu, Celty, did I say something wrong?" Tilting his head.
"You don't know?"
"?" Tilting his head.
Seeing as the rabbit was clueless, Ryuu began to explain. "The Crozzo are a family of nobles that reside in the Rakia kingdom. They are known for having the power to create powerful magic swords which are far stronger than the standard magic sword. From what I know, they were granted nobility in exchange for forging magic swords for the Rakian army. Those same magic swords were used to burn down elven forests in the past."
Bell shot up slamming the table. "Wait! Welf isn't like that!"
"Please, calm down for a moment, that isn't what I was trying to imply."
"Ah I-i'm sorry. Your home forests weren't harmed by them were they?" Bell asked, taking a seat again.
"No, my home forest was not directly affected." Ryuu shook her head as the rabbit turned to face the other elf who wore glasses.
"Mine wasn't either, my parents just told me a lot of horror stories as a child about them." Celty continued.
Bell sighed in relief, Welf probably had his own reasons why he didn't want to make magic swords so he wouldn't pry. Not that he would admit it, being the hero story 'nerd' as the gods referred to it, he wanted to know if his ancestor was the same Crozzo from the heroic tale Argonaut. In that story, Crozzo nearly died saving a spirit from monsters and in turn was given some of it's blood. He forged the Argonaut a sword of fire.
Everyone finished eating dinner as some of the girls retired for the night. Bell was sitting in the living room while maintaining his armor. He found it somewhat amusing how Astraea was always the last one to fall asleep...just like a mother. Bell really enjoyed these little moments, relaxing and spending time with family.
"Hey Bell, you dont have anything to do tomorrow right?"
"I guess not... Why do you ask?" He turned to Lyra who sat on an armchair across from him.
"I got an idea I wanna test out and there're some drop items I need to pick up."
Bell thought for a moment. "Hmm... Ok sure."
"-And your literal luck would be very appreciated." Lyra grinned.
"Urk- So that's why..." Bell flinched. "What drop item are you looking for?"
"Blazerock." The pallum stated plainly. Blazerock was a drop item that could be acquired by killing a monster of the same name, which spawned in floor 44 of the deep floors. The 44th to 48th floor resembled the inside of a volcano, the walls, ground, and ceiling being a crimson red. There were also many deformities in the terrain with several large cracks and craters in the ground and walls.
"So it was you..." Bell mumbled quietly.
"Say something?"
"N-no."
"Aren't they from the 44th floor? We haven't even gotten that far down on yet." Neze pointed out. Currently, the deepest floor achieved by the Astraea familia was the 41st floor.
"Umm...actually I have." Bell raised his hand as the women's attention fell onto him. "Well not as a party but I went down there once to test out my new level."
"I guess thats what you can do when you're effectively a level 6." Ryuu added.
"Is it really ok to go that deep by yourself, Bell?" Astraea asked the rabbit who laughed dryly earning a sigh from the goddess. "Well I dont assume we can just buy this Blazerock right?"
Lyra shook her head. "Nope, it's damn expensive since no one besides us or the Loki or Freya familia can go that deep." She shot a glance at Bell. "-and we're broke enough."
"...I'm sorry." Bell shrunk in his seat. After a round of laughter from the women, Alise stood up and clapped as her fellow familia members turned to her.
"Okay okay, enough teasing Bell...as fun as it is."
"Hey!" Bell exclaimed.
"So, who else's coming along?" The redhead would only ignore his pleas.
"You're coming with us Alise?"
"Mhm! You're gonna need me if you want to make farming them faster! My beauty can't be harmed by some tiny flames!" Nodding proudly at herself.
"Well if we're going that deep just for a few rocks then we don't need to bring everyone along. So I'll join too." Kaguya declared, turning to Bell. "We're entering territory that none of us have set foot in so we will be relying on you, Bell."
"Yes! You can count on me Big sister Kaguya!" Her small smile was covered by her sleeve as Bell beamed with confidence. Though the far-eastern noble wouldn't show it, she felt like melting on the spot. Well that was the case with any woman Bell knew who saw his million valis smile which was only further empowered by being called 'big sister'.
"Actually now that I think about it, what weakness does Blazerock have?" Neze asked to Bell.
"They're basically moving bombs, so the easiest way to get rid of one is to destroy the magic stone." He replied to the werewolf who nodded. Out of all the members in the Astraea familia, Alise, Kaguya, Ryuu and Bell were the only sword users so they were the ideal group if fighting against Blazerock which required precision. "Will you come with us too, Ryuu?"
"Yes. Your party needs a healer if we're going that deep." The blonde elf replied.
"-Then, it's going to be Bell, Lion, Alise and Kaguya. That right?" The four nodded. "It's decided then."
"This is basically an expedition isn't it?" Bell asked.
"I guess so?" Alise shrugged. "We'll head out by dawn tomorrow so get your gear ready!"
""""Yes!""""
The five split, returning to their respective rooms to get ready for a long dive in the dungeon. Since their goal was the 44th floor, they would have to camp for a night on the 39th floor. None of them besides Bell had experience that deep into the dungeon, it would be the equivalent to an expedition, just with less members.
.
.
Morning had come. With it, the members of the Astraea familia would begin their individual preparations. Bell woke up first making himself a small breakfast then doing some light training for half an hour as a warm-up before taking a quick shower.
The women filled the dining hall as the fog began to dissipate. Alise, Kaguya and Lyra finished their breakfast quickly and got dressed. Bell ended up wearing Welf's armor. His breastplate was flat with red markings along the bottom left, the shoulder pads rounded and reaching no lower than the middle of his biceps. Slim silver bracers with circular red rubies at the back of the palm were on his forearms.
In the entire set, there was a pair of hip guards but he only wore the one for his right thigh as Vesta took the spot on his left along with some potions. Pyonkichi was not exactly forged with intentions of entering the deep levels but it would do as he didn't have any other armor at the moment. His clothing was also relatively durable, being sewn together with a mixture of Salamander wool and Undine cloth fibers which granted resistance against fire and water.
Bell sat on the side of the fountain at the epicenter of the front courtyard, waiting for his familia members. Although it wasn't necessary, having done it already the night prior, he inspected his gear again and made some practice swings with Vesta.
"Morning!"
He sheathed his blade turning to the voice, being met with his red-haired captain. "Hi Alise." She made her way over to him. "Where are Kaguya, Ryuu and Lyra?"
"Right here."
"Eek!" His head darted to the left, quickly taking a step away and finding Kaguya standing there behind him. "How did you-" Somehow she, a level 4 managed to sneak up on him, a level 5 but that's beside the point.
"I have my ways." She smirked.
"You all seem pretty lively this morning." The pallum walked up to the trio.
"Good morning Alise, Bell." Ryuu nodded.
"Good morning Kaguya, Lyra and Lion." Alise said. "Alright then, let's get going!" The other four nodded, following behind the Scarlet Harnel.
Bell stole a glance at Lyra's weapons. They were a pair of chakram but with small dagger-like blades protruding from the outer half. He never used weapons like that before so the rabbit was rather curious.
"Lyra, how do you fight with those?" Pointing to the chakram.
"Hm? Oh...well anyways, isn't the Amphisbaena respawning tomorrow?"
...She's avoiding the question?!...
"Yes, me and our captain are ready for our level ups so I was considering wether or not we should push for it."
"...Shouldn't we have told goddess?" Bell scratched the back of his head.
"Bah! What's the worse that could happen?" Alise laughed away.
Kaguya jabbed Alise in her side, "Stop right there captain, we don't need any unnecessary comments." glaring at her slightly. "Though, yes. I do believe it is time for us to level up."
In no time, the Astraea familia arrived at Babel as the sun began to illuminate the Labyrinth City. Their formation consisted of Bell and Alise as the vanguard, Lyra and Ryuu in the middle, and lastly Kaguya as the rearguard. They made quick progress through the upper and middle floors. Along the way, the party managed to amass a large amount of drop items from many monsters which was a clear sign that Bell's Luck development ability was at work.
"Leave them behind Lyra, we don't have infinite space to carry them." Ryuu said to the pallum who was stuffing a minotaur horn into her backpack.
"Tsk.. Fine, fine." ...She still ended up putting it into her backpack drawing a look of exasperation from the elf. Clearly her mind was occupied with making money which, although was not a desire born out of greed, was unsightly.
"It feel like it's late to ask this but do we really have enough people? Even if we're just heading down there quickly and coming back up I'm not sure a party of one level 5, three level 4s and one level 3 is enough. Ah n-not that I'm saying you girls aren't strong." Bell asked.
"Well it should be fine. You and Alise more or less go up by one level using your enchants, not to mention your...unique skills and magic." The elf seemed to struggle finding the right words. Although 'absurd' was probably more fitting, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
In less than an hour, they arrived at the safe point of the 18th floor, the 'Under Resort'. One of the many safe points in the dungeon. It wasn't exactly a 'safe point' but adventurers liked to call it that, seeing as monsters didn't spawn in the floor. Although monsters didn't spawn, that didn't stop them from wandering up or down depending on floor to the large floor.
They passed by Rivira, a man-made town in the dungeon ran by adventurers. It was originally managed by the guild but due to how frequently the town got overrun and destroyed by monsters, it was abandoned and later taken up by adventurers. Most of the 'shops' were more alike to wooden huts seeing as how broken they were.
"Hmm... Let's make a pitstop then head straight for the 39th floor."
"Eh? We aren't stopping by Rivira?" Bell looked back to the entrance of the bandit town, seeing a sign saying 'The 324th Reincarnation.'
Alise shook her head. "Nope, we're going to a different spot." The other three women seemed to catch onto what she was saying. Bell nodded, following behind the women as they made their way through the expansive forest. They seemed to make calculated and specific turns at crystals through the tunnel of trees. After 20 minuets or so of walking, the party arrived at an open field within the forest.
"Whenever we go on expeditions, we usually camp here."
"It's beautiful..."
"Isn't it? We managed to find it by chance when we got lost on our first time down here but everyone really likes it here."
The other three women nodded along to their captain. Bell could see why the appeal, it was not only away from the more populated areas in the 18th floor where monsters would spawn, it was also a perfectly round patch if land which was ideal for fighting on. Although they could've stayed at an inn in Rivira, the prices were absurd, similarly to everything else sold in the rogue town.
They laid on the grass, staring up to the crystal ceiling. Unlike the crystals in the dungeon, the ones spread throughout the floor were a form of sustenance for monsters as they were similar to trees on the surface in the way that they produced sap. Though there were also plenty of fruits that grew on the trees which were what was usually eaten by adventurers. The crystals on the 18th floor didn't always glow though, the under resort had its own kind of day and nighttime. For example, if it was 6:00pm and already dark on the surface, it would be about 12:00pm in noon down there.
Since it was roughly 9:00pm, the floor was dark so they didn't stay for long and began to trek through the Great Tree Labyrinth of floors 19 to 24. The floor was named after it's walls and floor looking wooden, as if the inside of a tree. Moss that radiated blue light grew all over the floor in contrast to the usual phosphorescent light in the dungeon. The monsters that populated the floors were predominantly insect types that could spew deadly poisons. It was heavily recommended by the guild that anyone who wants to explore those floors to at least have the Abnormal Resistance development ability to start exploring the region.
"Kaguya, four Lizardmen heading your way!" Lyra shouted.
The far eastern woman nodded, sheathing her katana as the monsters rushed at her. She spoke words in the far-eastern language, "Iai no tachi: Issen." as in a single graceful yet powerful motion, her katana was drawn with such force, it cleanly cut through the horde.
"Jupiter!" Several bolts of blue actinic lighting bursted from Bell's open palm extinguishing a flock of firebirds. "Alise! Sword Stags and Deadly Hornets at your 6!"
"Got it!" Her sword swept with flames as explosions erupted from the tip of her blade, roasting the monsters and leaving only their magic stones. "Lion!"
The blonde elf danced around the battlefield as she sung her song. "-Imbue the light of stardust and destroy my enemy!" The others jumped out of the way. "Luminous wind!" A wave of viridescent blades of wind swept through the forest, shredding any monsters that came into contact with it.
Once the monsters were cleared out and magic stones destroyed, they continued onwards through the Great Tree Labyrinth and into the Water City.
Although the floors in the Water City were separate, they were considered a single large floor by the dungeon. At the entrance of the 25th floor was the Great Fall, a colossal waterfall that is estimated to be at the very least 400 meders wide and twice as long, stretching down all the way to the 27th floor. Any decent adventurer knew that setting foot in the Water City without Undine cloth was a death wish, as the many rivers washed at ridiculously high speeds, that could sweep anyone away.
The trek down was long as they passed through the several overlapping and narrow tunnels that eventually ended at the base of the Great Fall, the 'boss room' where the Amphisbaena spawned. The 27th floor was more like a large circular lake which the Amphisbaena spawned. The most common method in fighting the Amphisbaena was where there was stable footing so adventurers often would lure it towards the shore, not to mention the fact the lake it swam upon was home to a multitude of aquatic monsters.
"Looks like it hasn't spawned yet."
"Mhm, we got about a little over a day left so let's get moving!"
...I wonder if Bell could electrocute the water... Well no matter, we'll see tomorrow anyways... Kaguya thought to herself.
.
In a handful of hours, they had traversed through the Upper and Middle floors, now arriving at the 30th floor, a part of the Dense Forest Ravine. His breath became increasingly labored as he forced himself forwards, the women of his familia following behind closely. The redhead noticed and stopped abruptly, turning to face the rabbit. The rabbit hadn't even noticed she stopped walking and continued on trudging forwards.
"Hey, you good?"
.
Four women stood in front of him, at the center of a blood stained masssacre. Screams erupted left and right, bringing the several mutilated corpses into view.
The pig-tailed mage cried as she leaned on her staff.
-"Captain!"-
The golden yellow haired knight gripped her broken spear.
-"We'll buy you some time, we can't beat this thing without your skill!"-
The black haired fencer coughed out blood, clutching where her arm once was.
-"We doing this or not, Emma?"-
The pink haired human turned to him, giving him a bitter smile.
-"I'm sorry but please, Bell. Win, and live enough for the rest of us."-
She drew her twin blades and dashed forwards with the other three women in tow. His lips quivered and eyes watered. The toll of a bell and white particles of light illuminated the blood-stained massacre.
.
Blinking once more, the women were gone, the bodies were gone, the cries were deafened. A look of unease adorning his captain's face.
"Bell?" Alise grabbed his hand. The Astrapi had a look of confusion on his face, both from how she got in front of him and a warm sensation trailing down his cheeks. The white particles of light dancing around his palm faded along with the chime of bells. Hearing the exchange, the three other women walked over to the tearing rabbit.
He looked down at his hand, seeing droplets of water cascading onto the stone floor. "Why am I?..."
"Are you ok?" Alise asked, gripping his hand tightly.
"I-... Y-yes, I'm..fine." He smiled wryly, quickly wiping away the tears.
"...No matter how you look at it you aren't. Please, if you aren't feeling well then we can head back to the 28th floor." Ryuu added, a look of concern breaking through her usually cold sky-blue eyes.
"Yes, you're looking awfully pale." Kaguya sheathed her katana.
"N-no...i'm ok, really-truly. There was just...something in my eyes, honest." Bell answered hastily, avoiding their eyes as he made his way to the front of the party. They didn't have time to stay idle for too long, lest they be surrounded by monsters so they continued on and began traversing through the dense forest. As they made their way out of the 36th and began treading through the 'White Palace', Bell looked somewhat better, no longer shaking and more color to his skin. His eyes looked lost though, as if wandering somewhere.
Lyra checked her pocket watch, seeing the larger hand sitting at 4:00. They had spent about 8 hours in the dungeon since dawn and they finally arrived at the safety point of the 39th floor from using the main route. Ryuu managed to find a spot that had a small waterfall nearby where they could wash themselves off to which they set up camp there. After finishing setting up camp and eating their albeit small, but tasty lunches, the pallum marked the camp location as they prepared to start their 'farming' session.
"Okay now that our stomach's are stuffed, let's head down!" Alise declared to her familia members, then turning to the rabbit. "Bell, I know that you're going to be in front of our formation but are you sure you're alright? We can always rest for some time longer."
He steadied his breathing as his rubellite gaze regarded her jade pair. "Don't worry I'm ok now, thanks. I won't let you down."
She gave him an affirmative pat on the back. "We're counting on you! Ah no pressure or anything."
A small round of laughter was shared before they got ready to venture to the 44th floor. Exiting the 39th floor and entering the 40th, they were met with a gush of hot tropical air, signaling that they would begin trekking through the 'Volcanic Labyrinth'.
The 40th floor to the 48th floor was often compared to the inside of a volcano, except the walls were a bright crimson red rather than the gray, coal-ish color of one from the surface. Despite looking similar to volcanoes, there was actually no lava anywhere to be seen, only the searing heat which would drench any ill-prepared adventurer in a tsunami of sweat. Aside of the uneven terrain, there were many large black cracks in the walls which had a faint red glow, as if carbonized. The sight was unsettling to say the least.
Not long after setting foot into the Volcanic Labyrinth, had they fortunately come across a large flock of Blazerock. Normally they spawned on the 44th floor but nothing really stopped them from venturing up, the same which applied to all monsters in the dungeon. Maybe it was Bell's luck at work here, nevertheless they had been served a grand feast of Blazerock on a silver platter and they would take it.
"It appears that luck is on our side." Kaguya chuckled, sending a look to Bell.
"Okay let's get to work guys!"
"""Yes!""" The Astraea familia drew their blades and began to swiftly deal with the monsters.
Bell felt his back burn, slowly breaking a sweat. In actuality his back burned the moment they stepped foot into the dungeon, the heat came from the spot where his Luck development ability was displayed. Not that he could see it, of course, it was just felt in that area.
.
"Jeez, luck is no joke..." Alise was open-mouthed at the large pile of amber-red stones. Using the universally accepted Lyra system of measurement, the pallum being 117 celches tall, the mountain of rocks was about 1 Lyra wide and 0.6 Lyra's tall. They only managed to get this many due to the sheer amount of time spent farming them and monsters killed. If Blazerock were animals on the surface, the Astraea familia would have committed a mass-extinction in less than a quarter of a day.
"This should last me for a very long time." Lyra smiled contently as she began distributing the rocks into several backpacks.
"Ah let's stop wasting our time here, I for one want to clean myself off." Kaguya groaned as she fanned her face. They had been farming the Blazerock for several hours and somewhere in that time frame, she had taken off the top half of her kimono and let it dangle around her waist to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of sweat on skin.
"K-kaguya! Have you no shame?! B-bell is still here!" Ryuu blushed madly at the far-eastern noble who merely gave a smirk in return. All of them felt very uncomfortable by then as their clothes were drenched in sweat and clung tightly to their skin. Bell and Lyra were the only exception to this, as the former's clothing couldn't get wet and the latter wore relatively loose clothing. It wasn't as if the rabbit and pallum didn't sweat though, they just didn't show it.
Bell sat down with his back turned on the girls of his familia, focused on keeping watch for any monsters. When he collected the drop items and brought them over, he had his eyes closed and didn't make any attempts to open them. His face burned hotter than the average temperature on the floor.
For some reason, he heard the voice of an old man in his mind shout"RRRRRRRROOOOMANCEEEE!" He wasn't sure who the voice was from but it sounded familiar somehow. As he turned to ask the others if they were done packing the Blazerock, he was met with the far-eastern woman's sizable chest in his face.
She leaned in and lightly blew into the albino's ear. "Oh my, since when did our little rabbit get so bold?~"
"I-I'M SORRY!" The rabbit stumbled back, shielding his eyes from her. "I-i'm sorry! I-i swear I didn't see your chest wrapped in a sarashi or Alise's white underwear!- Aaaahhh what am I saying!?" He clutched the sides of his head as he screamed from embarrassment.
...Hauuu I wish I could just crawl in a hole and disappear. Mom, guys, i'm sorry. I saw a woman before we got into a relationship...
Growing up with one of the three virgin goddesses as his mother naturally made no space for any impure and lascivious thoughts to emerge, not that Bell's pure soul had any either way. He remembered her saying something about their familia being a 'Christian household' where 'performing the devil's tango before marriage was a grave sin!'... whatever either of those meant. It was probably one of those weird phrases the god's liked to use or something of that kind, he thought.
"Well anyways, we need to get back to camp so lead the way Bell!" Alise took his right hand, pulling him up.
Bell replied, "Y-yes, a cold shower would be really nice right now." picking up one of the backpacks.
"Who said anything about cold showers?" Lyra asked in a teasing tone.
"A-anyways! We don't want to stay here longer do we? No? Okay, let's get going!" The rabbit looked away as he began to lead the giggling group of women back onto the main route to the 39th floor.
.
Arriving back to their camp, Bell began to prepare dinner while the girls went to clean themselves off in the river. He had been told that they might take at the very least, an hour, so Bell had plenty of time to go forage for wood. The rabbit and whoever returned first was tasked with collecting wood while the rest were tasked with collecting fruits from the dungeon to have for dinner.
Lyra was the first to come back, not being one who enjoyed extended periods of time in a bath, followed by Alise, Kaguya and lastly Ryuu. The elf wanted to thoroughly, clean herself as her elven blood demanded her so. Once they were all out, Bell unpacked a towel from his backpack and went to go clean himself. During his not-so-long time in the river, he heard an explosion come from the campsite and hastily got dressed and returned.
"I heard an explosion, are you guys alright?" He jogged over to the elf and redhead.
"Ah Bell, welcome back." Alise greeted him, standing in between him and the pile of smoking wood and laughing loudly. For whatever reason, her cheeks had a tint of pink on them.
"Umm... was that a monster or something?" The rabbit asked, looking over the redhead's shoulder and pointing to a pile of smoldered ashes.
"No. That, is what happens when Alise tries to start a fire with an explosion." Ryuu replied every stoically as she came up to the redhead and albino.
Alise choked, "You betrayed me Lion! You said you wouldn't tell!" whining and lightly hitting the elf on the back.
"I-i made no such promise..." Desperately avoiding her captain's eyes.
"Fine! I'm going to cuddle and use you as a pillow tonight and you're not saying no! Hmph!" Alise huffed as the elf scrambled out an apology to the redhead who started wriggling her fingers and chasing Ryuu around, saying something along the lines of "Stop running Lion! I swear I won't try to sleep on your thighs like all those other nights! Promise!" This was a reminder to the rabbit that his captain, Alise Lovell, the Scarlet Harnel, Captain of the Astraea familia, was strong and respected, yet hopelessly immature and childish.
The two started running in circles around the campsite as Kaguya and Lyra returned, holding a bundle of fruits.
"...What are those two doing?" Lyra asked.
"I have honestly no clue..." Bell sighed in exhaustion.
Their little game of cat and mouse...or was it human and embarrassed elf? Was put to a stop by the far-eastern woman who tripped Alise, making the redhead fall down face-first. The captain rubbed her sore head as Kaguya knelt over her, whispering something into her ear. In the meantime, Ryuu took to seat by the campfire and making as much reasonable distance from the redhead as possible with a still red face. The elf's ears twitched as Alise's pouting face would be instantly morphed into one of existential dread as Kaguya stood back up with a twisted grin on her face.
"Lion, what did Kaguya say?"
"...You don't want to know." She winced.
The night continued as the four women retreated to their tents for the night. Alise and Ryuu in one with Kaguya and Lyra in the other. Bell didn't bring a tent with him and instead just brought along a sleeping bag which was currently laid out on the grass. Alise and Kaguya had ultimately decided to challenge the Amphisbaena the next day so Lyra and Ryuu would take watch, letting the redhead and black-haired noble to have enough rest.
Bell would switch with Lyra at 2:00am so he had 2 more hours to kill. He didn't sense any monsters nearby and made his way to a clearing far enough that he wouldn't wake up the girls but would be able to make it back fast enough if needed. Bell drew Vesta and recited his Elegy.
After he first used the skill, he had a dream... One of a time long passed. A silver-haired woman sat across from him. The table in between them was stacked with a large pile of complicated and old-looking books. Although her eyelids were shut, he could feel her piercing gaze being laid upon himself.
-"Listen Bell, magic is about knowledge and understanding. The more you know about your magic, the more ways you can use it. The better you understand your own magic, the better you will be able to use your magic. Hey. You were the one who asked me to teach you about magic, brat. I never said that you could fall asleep."-
He held his head in pain, the phantom of a punch lasting on the top of his head.
.
My body clock woke me up. I didn't need a full night's worth of sleep but I was quite exhausted from the day before. Tiredly, I got slipped on my gray jacket and quietly sneaked out of the tent as to not wake up Kaguya and looked around, not seeing Bell anywhere nearby.
...He's probably out patrolling the area or something...
Through a crack in the trees, I could see a faint crimson red light and hastily rushed over. Pushing through the foliage, I soon found myself at the edge of a clearing with a small crater at the center. Standing at its core, was Bell. The grass around him was singed along with the dirt, there was a faint smoky smell in the air, the grass was probably just burnt. There was also a small hole in the ground with smoke emanating from it. Maybe he fought some monsters?
"Oh Lyra, is it time to switch?" I walked up to him as he sheathed his sword.
"Yeah, go get some rest." He turned to face me. As I met his eyes, I noticed something peculiar. Perhaps my eyes were deceiving me, or I hadn't fully woken up, but I swore, they were ash-gray. Yet the next moment, they were back to the normal rubellite-red.
"Alright, well goodnight then." Bell nodded as he made his way back to camp. As his form shrunk into the forest, I turned back to the field. There were no claw marks anywhere, no footprints, no signs of fighting, no magic stones, nothing. Just an empty crater with a burnt hole at its center.
...Just what happened here?...
.
.
Authors Notes :
Thanks for all your answers regarding what a Jagamarukun is and sorry for the late update, i've been procrastinating a lot BUT, i finally managed to get a chapter done ahead of time so hopefully i wont end up having to update chapters after uploading them.
I'm going to try to start extending the individual chapters out to get a feel for how much i can write at once. In all honesty, i would want to write chapters hitting 11k words but I feel like I would be cramming too much content in a single chapter. As for what minuscule acts of tomfoolery Bell was participating in at the end of the chapter, we will see. Though there's no plans of any scenes regarding it anytime soon.
I've more or less planned out some of the future arcs I wanna include and some scenes too. Right now im just sorting out the small technicalities etc.
Oh also random question, do you think 'Kaguya Onee-chan' fits better? Or just 'Big sister Kaguya'? I don't wanna use japanese honorifics if i could help it but saying 'Big sister (insert name)' feels like a mouthful.
On a side note, have y'all seen the final episode of this season of Danmachi? J.C staff really pulled out all the stops with animating the luminous wind scene...and that they added a mini date at the end of the episode of Bell and Ryuu, that was adorable. Nice that they added Alise telling Ryuu to chase after Bell.
Now, to answer some long overdue reviews.
Trooper of Kher Keep : Chapter 3 : Originally, Bell was going to be level 3 during the great feud/evilus war but comparing it to the canon timeline where he levels up once every month and a half, i feel like level 3 just wouldn't have been enough during that time. Also that in this messed up timeline of mine at the very least, Evilus had 15 years to build up power while in the canon story they had 8 years. Adding Bell in as a level 4 who's abilities are that of a high level 5 more or less balances everything out.
Cloackn :
Chapter 4 : Bell believes that the act of killing is wrong and goes against his fundamental beliefs and dream of being a hero, but i believe that to avenge his family he would do it again without a second thought. After all, Bell prioritizes his friends and family over everything else. I want to keep characters as similar to canon as possible but for Bell's case, having lost his best friend, his aunt/stepmother, and lastly his familia to Evilus was what pushed him off the rails.
Chapter 5 : At the moment, no one in the Astraea familia knows of his past with Alfia/Zard and it's something I want to develop on in later chapters. As for Bell's history with the Loki familia, that's another thing I want to talk about later on but I think most of you can more or less guess what it's related to. Or who it's related to.
Orion2405 : Yeah I was also thinking of writing an Ardi x Bell fic once im done with this but eh, only time will tell.
Dusker : Thanks you so much for your feedback, really. I think that it really helped me get a better understanding of my own story and got me to try to look deeper into the individual characters and relationships surrounding them, not only just the surface.
MereC55 : As nice as it would be to give Bell some form of 'sin' that he has to atone for which goes in alignment with the story's theme about justice, I honestly don't know at the moment. I'll probably answer the question later on in the story but for now there's no answer.
smyrski63 : It's honestly kinda ironic because I have a lot of stuff planned to weigh over Bell's mind but I haven't wrote half of the things in yet but thanks for your advice!
Gid Lucione Deviluke : Sorry man, you read the title, it's strictly Bell x Alise. Kaguya wont be a love interest but will have a relatively close relationship with Bell, being an older sister figure to the rabbit.
As always, Thanks for reading!