Heya heya!!! It's been a while since I last posted a chapter and I do apologize for that, I kind of got bored of the story for a little bit and went to focus on some other stuff, I have half a mind to discontinue this story and focus on my other story... buuuuuttt it won't be fair to those who've believed in me since I started writing and even up until now, you guys are the reason why I even bother doing this shit hehe, I want to show that I get shit done instead of initiating projects and never finishing them, so here we are! Rest assured, the quality won't be dropping because I still do enjoy exploring this little what if, I just needed a bit of time to recharge and I'm happy to say I'll be continuing the story! Classes are just right around the corner so I'll be selfish again and ask you kind readers to please be more patient with the subsequent chapters of both 'Is It Wrong for A Rabbit to Save the Day' and 'The Rabbit and the Saint', I'll be posting new chapters for both within a more liberal schedule, basically whenever the hell I have time to write, that's all I want to say for now! Enjoy the chapter!
I do not own Danmachi
Chapter XV: Incursion
"Proud warrior, snipers of the forest..."
Down within the thirty-seventh floor, Lefiya was currently being engaged by a group of Spartoi in close combat, for the past few days she has been diligently working on her concurrent chanting, initially, with fellow familia members who would hold back when she was struggling and slowly work their way towards a more difficult pace, until today... she had practically pleaded Ais and the Amazoness Twins to accompany her in the dungeon for the morning to practice her concurrent chanting against real opponents, initially, the three shared an unsure look with one another, but after witnessing just how obstinate the young elf was, acquiesced to her request
With Udaeus recently taken care of by other adventurers and yet to spawn for a few more days, they could fully focus on the countless other monsters that inhabited the White Palace
The three other Loki Familia women strictly regulated the number of monsters that the elf was to face, keeping it to strictly less than a dozen, any excess would quickly be taken care of before they could join in on the fun
So far, the results have been less than satisfactory, the elf's petite frame was littered with minor scratches, some were bleeding, and abrasions, the three talked with one another in hushed voices, worried that the elf may be taking it a bit too far...
"Take up your bows before the advancing plunder-Argh!"
The elf's chant was cut short as she squealed in pain, a Spartoi had landed a pretty nasty hit in, her left arm sustained a rather sizable cut that was now dripping fresh blood
She quickly smacked the Spartoi's head with her staff, the blow obliterating the monster's skull as it blew up into nothingness, she stepped back a few paces to create a bit of room to breathe
"I knew this was a bad idea..."
Tiona muttered to herself, about to jump in to help the girl but was held firmly in place by her sister, not wanting to jump in without the elf's explicit permission
"Lefiya! Isn't this a bit too much? Should we go to a higher floor?"
Tione exclaimed out, worried that the elf was being overwhelmed
The response she got was instant
"NO!"
The three wore a surprised expression at the elf's outburst
"I'm fine... I just got a bit distracted... that's all..."
She reassured them with a smile, her gaze still intently focused on the group of Spartoi, who were motionless as if to humor their prey with a few seconds to breathe before they ultimately kill her
'She's lying... She isn't ready for this yet...'
Ais furrowed her eyebrows as she assessed the elf's performance, Lefiya was still struggling to fully commit evading the enemy's attacks to muscle memory, she was only used to the comfortable phase that they had conditioned her with the past few days, but... against monsters that will be much more merciless and hellbent on killing her was a whole 'nother can of worms
"I don't want to be useless anymore... that's why, please allow me this..."
She readied herself once again, as the Spartoi were finished just standing there idly and charged towards the slightly panting Lefiya
"Proud warriors, snipers of the forest..."
Two Spartoi were rushing towards her at once, gracefully dodging their high swing by ducking underneath and sliding back a few meters away from them, she was then grabbed by a few other Spartoi, which prompted her to less-than-gently disconnect their heads from their bodies with a single swift strike of her staff
"Take your bows before the advancing plunderers..."
With an eerie battle cry, one Spartoi lunged at her, which she dodged by pivoting sharply
"Answer the call of your brethren and ready your arrows..."
More and more magical power was gathering and surrounding the elf as she continued her concurrent chanting despite the stressful setting she was in, her heart was still racing from fear, to correct this, she took a few deep breaths before continuing her chant
"Tinge them with flame, the lamplight of the forest, release them... the fire arrows of the fairies..."
Lefiya was currently exceeding the trio's expectations, which was impressive
.
"Woah! Lefiya's really going at this! She's doing better than the last few times!"
Tiona chirped animatedly, she was proud of the girl for putting in this much effort to better herself, but a small feeling of uneasiness still gnawed at her, though she pushed it aside for now
"Indeed, she seems to be livelier this time... what do you think Ais?"
Tione spoke her mind, then glanced to the blonde woman beside her, who was yet to say something up til now
Ais remained silent, still deeply fixated on the chanting and evading elf in front of them, she was analyzing for any vulnerabilities and awkwardness in her evasive maneuvers that should be corrected
'She's dodging very gracefully, in a choreographic way even...'
'!!!'
Her eyes widen as she rushes into the battlefield, surprising the two amazon sisters when they found that the blonde girl was no longer beside them
.
Lefiya was in the final stretch of her chant, a vigorous amount of magical power was concentrating around and within her body, aching to be released, she now gave off a orange-ish glow, but more so her staff, where the focal point of her magic was, it contained a small yet intricate magic circle on top of the staff, withlight particles dancing around the staff like jellyfish in the sea, it was only a matter of time before she finishes the chant and unleashes hell, or so she thought...
"Falling like rain, burn awa-GUH!!!!!"
Her chant was abruptly cut short when a skull sheep came out of nowhere and rammed into her staff, launching her off of her feet and onto a mob of Spartoi, she had violently collided with the monsters, which concussed her
The magical power that was gathering around and within her body had dissipated as soon as her chanting was forcefully ended
Unable to chant or properly defend herself from being disoriented, she was left to the mercy of the monsters around her
But the thing is... they had none
The Spartois congregated around the vulnerable elf like a pack of wolves around a downed prey about to administer the coup de grâce, simultaneously raising their swords, the elf's life was about to be forfeit
Thankfully, Ais managed to take out all of the monsters surrounding the poor elf just in time before they could bring down their weapons
"Lefiya! Are you hurt?"
She extended her hand to the downed elf, Lefiya reluctantly accepted it
"Ais-san..."
She was surprised at her idol's sudden appearance, but was thankful nonetheless...
"Woah! Holy Loki! Good thing you reacted when you did Ais!"
Tiona appeared beside them as Tione caught up with them after making sure all of the monsters were dealt with
"Yeah, I knew that she wasn't ready to practice her concurrent chanting here yet..."
Tione sighed to herself
A sense of disappointment and feeling of incompetence began to fester within the young elf, she bit down hard on her lip, ashamed of having had to be helped by others again
'Why? Why?! I was so close... I...'
Her eyes became bleary as she choked back a sob
Ais, noticing this, petted her head out of concern
Lefiya was surprised by the sudden gesture, stared wide-eyed at Ais, who wore a stern yet soft expression on her face
"Lefiya... don't blame yourself for it... you were caught off guard"
She may not be the best at these kinds of things, but she still tried to comfort the elf, she didn't want to see her precious friend sulking
"But... I was so close... if only I saw..."
Ais shook her head, cutting her off mid-sentence
"Don't force yourself too much Lefiya... you may be level four now but the monsters down here are comparable to a mid to high level four... so it's not your fault that you couldn't pull it off just yet"
Her honest evaluation didn't really make the elf feel any better
"Though... there was something that surprised me..."
Ais trailed off, which made Lefiya momentarily stop her sulking and lean in towards the blonde girl in anticipation
"A-Ais-san...?"
She murmured
"Even though you just recently leveled up... surprisingly, you were able to last as long as you did, gracefully dodging the enemies' attacks, you held your own for quite a while despite the difference in abilities... and for that I'm proud of you..."
Ais finished off her evaluation with a beautiful smile, which lightened the elf's spirits, she wasn't completely convinced but at least she stopped sulking and now wore a small smile on her face
"I say we should call it a day for now, we'll come back tomorrow, but we'll start on the twenty-fifth, which should be comfortable for you... then we can work our way back here and deeper. Judging by what we saw today, it won't be long until we come back here and you successfully get used to the pace here"
She nodded at the elf girl, who smiled at her suggestion
"Y-yes! I'll do my best!"
"Oh, and you should probably heal your arm... the blood is starting to stain your sleeve..."
.
..
...
..
.
The quartet were now making their way back up to the surface, mission accomplished with less-than-success, they decided to try again tomorrow down on the twenty-fifth to get Lefiya comfortable with the pace there first before they work their way to the lower floors
Their ascent had been rather uneventful, with the four women quickly disposing of any monsters that stood in their way
Strangely though, when they passed by the thirtieth floor... there was a massive scorched clearing present, with thick, dark smoke billowing out from the affected site, surrounded by dense forest, it was as if something or someone unleashed hell there
Yet they paid it little mind, reaching the surface in just two hours, it was high noon and they were hungry and decided to head back to the Twilight Manor to have lunch
After a few minutes of walking, they reached the familiar manor's gates
"AISSSSSS-PUUUUUUU~~~!!!!"
A red blur suddenly flew towards the four women, or more specifically towards the Sword Princess
But she deftly stepped to the side to avoid the projectile that was Loki, who crashed face-first into the stony pavement
"Owww..."
Rubbing her possibly broken nose, she pouted at the blonde girl
"Aww, don't be like that Ais-pu~"
She cried crocodile tears, attempting to hug Ais, but was being held back by her arm
"We're back, Goddess"
Lefiya smiled wearily at the red-haired goddess, who raised an eyebrow at her
"Hoh? Why so down in the dumps Lefiya?"
She suddenly disappeared from their collective visions, then reappeared behind the elf
"How about I make you feel better then~?"
And with both of her hands, she touched the heavens
"Ah! No! Loki stop please!!!"
...
"So... have we found any leads on the perpetrator?"
Night hath cometh, we now cut to the War Room of the Twilight Manor, where the high-executives of the Familia were currently discussing their findings, or rather lack thereof, on who was responsible for the attack, they had even asked the Ganesha Familia to keep an eye or ear out for any leads, but have so far come up empty...
"No... Bete and Gareth kept watch all day down by the sewers where we found the secret base, found nothing so far... nobody went in or out..."
Loki explained with a serious expression, which Gareth nodded to confirm
"Our sense of smell was delightfully treated to the smell of the sewers for the entire day, but compared to our werewolf... I'm better off"
The dwarf sighed, Bete had actually gotten mildly sick from staying down there for too long, he had tolerated it the first few times, but this time was just a step too far
"Well, if he ever causes a ruckus again... I know the perfect punishment"
Riveria nodded to herself, which caused a minor bout of chuckling from the others
"That aside... are you sure it was another god Loki? It could be anybody who just happened to get a hold of a weird magical item..."
Finn asked again for confirmation, all he got was a weird look from Loki
"I told you... I know an Arcanum when I see one! But it doesn't really narrow it down for us..."
The red-headed goddess spoke while stroking her chin, with a troubled thought on her face
"Why is that? Don't deities have specific Arcanum?"
Riveria questioned, to which Loki shook her head
"Not really... Arcanum is an abstract ability that we gods possess, it makes the impossible possible, it's infinitely versatile... with every and any uses, there's no such thing as a distinct Arcanum that's exclusive to one god..."
Loki explained to them, who all nodded in understanding
"I see... it seems we've got our work cut out for us"
Finn concluded with a sigh
"Well... I guess there's nothing we can do about it for now, we'll just have to wa-"
A hurried and frantic knock was suddenly heard on the door to the war room, which surprised all who were present
"Come in!"
Finn shouted out
The door creaked open and Tione entered, with a concerned look on her face
"Captain! It's bad!"
Her tone of voice caught them off guard, what could possibly warrant such behavior from the amazoness
"Calm down Tione, what is this about?"
Finn inquired, slightly nervous
"Rakia... they're attacking!"
All present within the room minus Tione all raised their eyebrows at this
"Is this really such a big deal lass? weren't their forces consisting of mostly level twos and high level threes at the very best?"
Gareth inquired, confused on why the amazoness was so worked up about this
"That's the thing... the guild actually told us that the army was seen outside Orario a few hours ago... they thought nothing of it too and only bothered to send out some level fours and even a few level fives, Ankusha included, to take care of the situation, but they just recently came back barely in one piece, Ankusha is currently being treated at the Dian Cecht Familia's Hospital, she was in terrible shape"
This alarmed them, to think that an intermediate level five was beaten so severely and thoroughly...
"What?! How is that possible?!"
Gareth exclaimed out his shock, Riveria simply said nothing and was deep in thought, a troubled expression was present on the high elf's face
"Could it be that they've hired mercenaries?"
Finn suggested, but received no immediate reply
"That is a possibility..."
Riveria's eyes then fell onto the amazoness
"Tione... what's the situation now?"
"The guild's calling for the mobilization of all high-level adventurers from all Familias, the Rakian invasion force is being held back for now... but they said that it was pretty much a one-sided slaughter..."
She solemnly said, which prompted them into action
"Then there's no time to lose! Gather all of our familia members level four and above, we move out in five"
"Roger!"
Tione was out of the room not a second later, the rest followed suit and went to prepare, leaving Finn inside the war room alone
"One event after another... it's been an eventful week"
Outside the southern walls of Orario, the Rakian invasion force lay siege to Orario, with fierce clashes erupting hither and yonder, the main defense force of Orario consisted of mostly second-class adventurers and few first-class adventurers, who proved to be of no match to the revamped forces of the Rakian army, whose enhanced soldiers were comparable to the likes of a high second-class adventurer. The situation escalates further as the invasion army crushes the defense force, the breaking point is imminent
"Look lively you lot! The Loki and Freya Familias should be arriving soon!"
A level four adventurer shouted to his fellows, barely dodging the powerful swing of a heavily-built Radian soldier's battle axe
"Heh! Call for reinforcements all you want! We will trample your forces underneath our heels and take Orario as Lord Ares wills!"
With a bloodthirsty battlecry, the man violently swung his weapon against the adventurer, who was caught off guard by the sudden attack, forcing him to block at the last second instead of dodge, despite not sustaining any major injuries, he was launched towards the walls of the city with a powerful impact, he slid down and fell onto the grass floor, unconscious
"C-Captain!"
A level three adventurer panicked and rushed towards the downed man
"Tch! You'll regret antagonizing us you Rakian rats!"
A burly high level five adventurer roared at the surrounding Rakian soldiers, next to him was a lightly built, androgynous, bespectacled man holding an intricately designed staff with an orb on top of it
"Don't go and slaughter them all Goud, leave a few alive"
He spoke, but the man merely grubbed at him
"I know pretty boy, I won't get carried away"
With that, the stout man crashed into the battlefield, sending the Rakian soldiers flying off into the distance
"Heh... he always get carried away regardless..."
The bespectacled man began to emit a soft bluish glow, magic was concentrating around him
"I prostrate myself below your feet, most venerable god of destruction..."
"He's chanting! Get the bastard!"
A few Rakian soldiers charged towards the man, intent on slicing him into ribbons before he could finish his little prayer
"Take this!"
A hasty swing from a soldier was deftly evaded with one clean motion
"What?!"
His comrades followed up with successive attacks, all to be effortlessly dodged by the mage, who nonchalantly continued his chanting as if he were merely dealing with flies
"Do grant unto this most unworthy servant o' yours the power to realize destruction..."
His magic was now becoming more and more concentrated, seeing this... the Rakian soldiers became panicked and went at the chanting mage with their full powers
"Crap! Kill him already!!!"
Six men jumped the bespectacled man, only to suddenly find that the man had disappeared in the blink of an eye
"Wha?!"
The mage had jumped into the air, just a little bit higher than they were, then proceeded to kick away two of them with each foot, then swat the remaining four away with his staff, its crystal growing brighter as each second passes
"Humor me in my foolish request, spread destruction near and far..."
"Tch! How hard is it to take care of one single mage?!"
One of the downed soldiers spat onto the ground, forcing his body to get up and halt the mage, who was getting closer and closer to the end of his spell, the kick he received had a lot of force within it, it left him struggling to get up
"for the time is most ripe... that these ignorant fools witness the dawn of a new era!"
His body shone even brighter than ever before, concentrating into the tip of his staff, with an intricately designed magic circle rotating on top of it
Then, the concentrated energy was unleashed
"Interitus Totus!"
The darkness of the night was briefly overwhelmed by a blinding light, which momentarily blinded all who witnessed it from a distance... and permanently obliterated those within its range
Despite such a gigantic and powerful burst of energy being released, there was no audible explosion, only a sphere of pure destruction that seemed to slowly expand and swallow everything in its path
""""""""Argh!!!!""""""""
""""""""Yahhhh!!!""""""""
""""""""Noooooo!!!!""""""""
""""""""Ugh!!!!""""""""
And with just that, the Rakian invasion force was reduced to less than half of their original invading force
"Tch... you go and give me a sermon about not taking things too far and you turn around and do just that..."
The burly man returned, standing beside the mage who just shrugged
"I just can't help myself when things get lively"
A twisted smile showed on his face, creeping out the large man
"Goodness gracious Yu... you're hopeless"
Goud sighed as he shook his head
"Oh... it's Loki's bunch"
.
"Oraaa!!!"
With a powerful swing of his arm, Finn sent his trusty spear mightily flying towards the Radian soldiers, who were unprepared for the sudden attack, some of them were shish kebab'd with bullseye accuracy
""""Urg!""""
"I-It's Braver!!!"
A Rakian soldier recognized the spear, he was quickly dealt with not a second later
"Guah!!!!"
A fierce kick sent him flying into the woods, crashing into a few trees
Tione did not hold back with the kick
"That's Finn-sama to you!"
Her hateful glare bore holes into the enemy ranks, dispiriting many of them
"W-what a monster!!!"
They began to back away
"What are you idiots doing? Attack!"
A lone, heavily armored figure spoke behind the cowering men, glaring intensely at them
"G-General Leo!"
One soldier squeaked
"S-she's too powerful..."
Another murmured out weakly, they were stuck between a rock and a hard place
"There's just one of her... and there's five of you... or do you want me to help her in slaughtering you all for desertion?"
His glare intensified even further, as if he was glaring at their very souls
"Eek! So sorry!"
Tione could only sigh with the display she was witnessing
'An effective and respected leader shouldn't threaten their men with death..."
The men hesitantly began to advance towards the Amazoness, who was about to temporarily retreat due to being outnumbered, but saw no further need when a projectile suddenly shot past her and knocked back a few men
Aforementioned projectile being Tiona wielding her Urga
"Heyaaaaa~ Let's dance!"
Tiona, being the more reckless of the twins, jumped into enemy lines and began to pick away at them one by one, taking on all of them at once would just be suicide
"Hiyah!!!!"
With a fierce swing, she sent two soldiers flying, one of them straight towards his comrades
"Take that you Rakian jer-!!!"
A soldier managed to get a lucky hit it and open a wound on her lower back, which disoriented her
"Tiona!!!"
Tione, seeing her sister at a disadvantage, decided to jump in
"Arg! You'll pay for that!"
She sent a straight hook towards the perpetrator, only for her arm to be caught by a large and muscular man
"What?! Let... me... go!"
She kneed the man straight in the family jewels with as much force as she could muster, he quickly let go of her and folded over in pain
"Uraahhh!!!"
She was about to land the finishing blow but was prevented by a soldier sending her flying with a surprise kick to her side
"Ugh!!!"
She crashed into grass a few meters away
"You bastard!!!"
The man who kicked her was also sent flying not a second later by an enraged Tione, her right hook sinking so deep into his cheek that it probably collapsed it
Tione was now positively furious, her eyes basically glowing in fury
"Get the bitch!"
A group of Rakian soldiers then surrounded her, severely outnumbering her
"Oraaaahhh!!!!"
Pulling out her Zolas, she danced the deadly tango with the Rakian adventurers
Connecting swords with one, she kicked the man away and slashed at another, who fell to the ground
A single soldier managed to grab her by the hair roughly and connect his fist with her face, sending her tumbling a few meters away
"Arg! That hurt!"
She spat out blood
"Tione!"
She heard her twin call out to her, nodding at her, they both get up and charge into enemy lines
"You're a pair of dead bitches!"
A rough-looking Rakian soldier spat out as he went to meet the two, accompanied by his fellow soldiers
No words were exchanged between the two amazonesses, Tione went to connect swords with the man then Tiona followed up with a powerful blow with her Urga, sending the man flying to oblivion
"Tch! Forward men!"
A dozen soldiers advanced towards the two girls, who displayed proficient teamwork on the battlefield
Tione intercepted a swing aimed at Tiona's head, then delivered an unmerciful knee into the man's stomach, which took his breath away as he collapsed into the ground, unconscious
"Keh! Haaa!!!!"
Seeing his comrade fall, seized the opening and went for a lethal strike towards Tione
But the strike never reached its target, as the man was sent flying instead by Urga
"Thanks sis"
Tione smiled at her twin, who returned it
"Hoh? So my men prove to be of no match to you monsters?"
Both of their gazes fixate upon the imposing figure of the man in front of them, it was the general from earlier
"Even though they're now comparable to level fives... such a tragedy, the ranks are filled with incompetent buffoons!"
His face contorted into a painfully enraged expression
"After this... I'll make sure to address the issue myself!"
The Hiryute twins glanced at one another uneasily, the man exuded such a strong presence it was actually starting to become hard to breathe
"This guy's on a whole different level..."
Tione immediately deduced, to which the man smiled derisively at them
"That's right! I'm glad you noticed! I'm on a completely different caliber than those weaklings!"
As soon as his sentence concluded, the man rushed towards them with surprising speed
"You may be monsters... but I'm an even bigger monster!!!"
Reappearing right in front of Tiona, he sent a mean right hook towards her, which shook her to the core
'ARGH!!!! He's really strong!!!'
She was launched off of her feet, sent flying a some distance away
"Tiona!!!"
Tione shouted in concern, but was also met with a crippling blow to the abdomen, which made her fold over in pain, the blow was controlled enough to not launch her away, but powerful enough to knock the air out of her lungs
"ARGH!!!!"
She coughed out blood onto the grass, her vision became blurry from the hit she sustained
The man then grabbed her by the hair and lifted her up
"Hohh... shame that a doll such as you is our enemy... so I'll make you an offer, how about you join my ranks? You're at least better than those weaklings earlier"
He offered with a condescending smile, to which Tione simply replied with a glare and a mocking smirk
"Over my dead body!"
She spat out some blood, which landed on his face
"Hmph... well that's too bad..."
He cocked back his arm as far as he could, about to send her to the afterlife
But was interrupter by a spear tearing open his left shoulder
"ARGH!!!!!"
He was surprised by the sudden attack that he had let go of Tione, glaring towards the one who'd dare to injure him
"Who do you fu-"
It may be because he was blinded by his rage, or the figure was simply moving way too fast for him to register, but before he knew it a fist had connected with his jaw, sending him flying a few meters into the air, the force of the strike fracturing his jaw
"ARGH!!!"
Groaning in pain, he tried to upright himself to land properly, but before he could touch the ground, a powerful kick sent him crashing into the ground some distance away, throwing up dust and dirt into the air
"You've hurt somebody important to me... and I can't forgive you for that!"
The golden locks of Finn Diemne gently swayed with the wind
-Fin-
I know that the skirmishes were a bit underwhelming and the power levels were quite inconsistent and incongruent, but I'll try to make it more engaging next time, I want to focus more on the other characters' strengths and capabilities here, instead of just simply having the almighty Rabbit bulldoze every enemy they encounter... that'd be boring. Also, I'm still trying to piece together the story into a comprehensive and engaging one... so I'm very sorry if there are any plot holes; which there will definitely be... but I'll try to minimize them as much as I can while at the same time not being excessively explanatory and pulling ass-pulls here and there, along with any inconsistencies, major or minor. Once again, I welcome everybody to share what they think about the chapter or the story in general down in the comment section, are there parts where I could've done better? Or left out entirely? ANy suggestions? Criticism? All are welcome! Anyway, that's all I've got for today, see you lovelies in the next one!