It was night, I had a bottle of beer next to me and I was cleaning the internal parts of the PMM that I planned to give to Lili.
I was also listening to music while I worked, my radio playing Na Zare, a very up-tempo Russian synthpop, so much so that I found myself humming the tune.
I put the toothbrush and pot of industrial grease aside to dry my hands with a rag I had lying around. Maintenance is one of the tasks that keeps my mind off destructive thoughts, but now I don't need therapy.
I reassembled the Makarov without any problem and left it next to the tactical belt on my work table.
I told Lili that we would practice shooting the monsters in the Dungeon, so for that reason I need to have everything ready now, lest a malfunction occurs and there is no way to fix it unless I take the time to check the gun itself, which would be fatal being in the Dungeon.
Just like in the Zone.
I'm still not sure if that place we visited was the Zone... sure, it felt like it, but...
I need time to think. Am I really going to expose Lili to the horrors that Chernobyl has to offer? Was that even Ukraine? It seemed more like a port city than anythin-
Hold up.
I've seen pictures of that place before... I'm... I'm sure.
My memory will tell me at some point, or at least I hope so.
A ruined city of that size is not at all normal where I come from and I don't think it is from around here either, the buildings here are not that modern.
Whatever...
Next time, I'll have Lili bring a much smaller backpack, since her own paints her as too big of a target and it would be unfortunate for her to die because of that.
I took the bottle and drank its contents.
Maybe... carrying another suppressed weapon isn't a bad idea. It's always good to have a silent way out.
Well, we'll leave the exploration of the Zone for later, I need to fulfill that order from Wings of... what was it again?
I'll remember it when it's important.
I'm assuming I'll need to deal with those things quietly if I want to avoid trouble in... wherever this Dungeon Pantry was.
Come to think of it, I forgot to ask Lili about it.
I put the bottle down and stood up to walk over to my rack full of weapons. Then, picked up one in particular that I hadn't used in a while.
VSS Vintorez.
9x39mm subsonic, integrated suppressor and with a PSO-1 telescopic sight, a weapon for exceptional shooters.
I consider myself a decent marksman, which was one of the reasons I purchased the gun.
That and the fact that I wanted to have it in my collection.
Anyway, I'll take this. I plan to find that damn Dungeon Pantry once and for all and fulfill that order. Then I'll focus on gathering magic stones together with Lili.
Well, this would help me take care of that bug at a safe distance, but now how do I get there without any troubles?
I won't be able to use light protection if we only focus on going down, since Lili talked about how strong the monsters get.
Welp.
I will change the Remington for an AKMS.
7.62x39mm, good stopping power and piercing properties as well as the fact that it has a retractable stock, making it great for maneuvering.
I'll carry it with me, as well as six extra 30-round magazines, four of 10 for the Vintorez, and three packages with extra piercing ammo for both weapons.
You can never be too sure in the face of danger.
I'll leave the Desert Eagle in its place, except that I will remove two reserve magazines to make room and increase the ammunition of my main weapon.
Should I use a suppressor? We'll make too much noise down there...
Nah, it would be a lot of trouble to clean it later...
The only bad thing is going to be that I won't have a way to use melee attacks with it.
Or... maybe...
I reached for something hanging on my shelf, which was a knife sheath.
I unsheathed the blade, a 6H4 bayonet for AK rifles.
This would do.
I took the blade and its sheath and left them on my workbench for easy access tomorrow morning.
Now, for the armor...
I checked my metal chest, looking for something that might satisfy the requirements for the task at hand.
Which was a black painted THOR integrated plate carrier that I bought when I was still working with the mercenaries.
I still have the black uniform, just the vest needs to be swapped.
The steel plates, the strong fabric and the good quality of the clothing will prevent my certain death down there. Although the vest itself is a bit heavy, so I'll be moving a little slower than usual.
Not much of a problem with an automatic weapon in my hands.
I changed my clothes, replaced the shotgun cartridges with metal AK magazines, as well as the Vintorez ones, and organized the things I would take for tomorrow, so I would have everything at hand.
It would be awesome if Lili also wore a vest, but I doubt her fragile body can resist the impact of a bullet...
In that case, I would have to make one with a lot of capacity, taking into account that she usually carries everything.
Yes... I'll try it another time, I'm not very good at sewing.
The belt would do for now.
Now, where did I leave my grenades...
"Are you sure it's here?"
Fuck.
I reached for a specific weapon that I had on my bed, a Colt M1911 as well as a magazine that I hid under the pillow.
Seven .45 Hydrashok caliber bullets in my gun, another seven in the other magazine, 14 shots that I'm going to make count.
Using the Desert Eagle would be a bit overkill, plus I'm short on that ammo, so this weapon will serve as a better replacement for now.
I quietly checked for a bullet in the chamber and pressed myself against the wall next to the door, then turned off the light.
"Okay, slow and steady..."
Silly me for always leaving the door open, but I really didn't expect anyone to find my hideout.
The moonlight entered deeper into my bunker as the door slowly opened, maybe they think I'm sleeping after all...
I checked the time.
1 AM.
"See, I told you he'd be sleeping, there's no-"
I kicked the door with all my might as the music in the radio shifted to something more post-punk, I think it was Tancevat.
The metal door crashed against the face of the idiot behind it.
"FUCK!"
I pulled the door back with my free hand and aimed my gun.
There were two men carrying knives in their hands, one on the ground crying in pain and rubbing his nose while the other was standing there, shocked to see me.
"Good night, motherfuckers."
"What-?" He couldn't finish because a bullet lodged in his brain, him falling dead to the ground.
I wasted no time and gave the same treatment to the other one that was crying in pain.
"What was that noise!?"
"You two, go down and check!"
I stuck my gun against the door frame and pointed it up the stairs.
Two other young men appeared, one with a crude-looking crossbow and the other with a short sword.
They were both dead in a second, the two spent bullet casings bouncing off the ground.
Their bodies fell down the stairs like two sacks of potatoes.
I took a deep breath and adjusted my grip on the gun.
I don't know how many there are outside, but I won't stay here until they decide it's not worth it and throw a Molotov cocktail down the stairs.
I avoided the corpses on the floor and climbed the steps, gun ready in my hands.
As soon as I reached the surface, moonlight illuminated my attackers, who were unsure of how to proceed.
10 people, 5 carrying swords, 3 knives and 2 crossbows.
They all prepared their weapons when they saw me, but did nothing while I stood there, watching them.
One of them snorted and carried the longsword he had in his hands to his shoulder. "Well... you must be-"
I shot him in the chest and he fell to the ground on his back. He screamed and coughed up blood, it was obvious that he was going to die soon without medical treatment.
And I'm not going to just let them go like that.
"Get off my property."
An arrow flew past my head. I turned and fired two shots at the guy who tried to kill me, he fell to his knees on the ground with the two new holes in his chest.
"HIYAA!" I heard screaming behind me and ducked under the sword slash aimed at my head. Then I elbowed my attacker in the stomach, causing him to wince in pain.
"RAAAH!" Another shouted in front of me with a knife, being dangerously close to stabbing me, so I threw myself on my back, on top of the guy I hit, and raised one of my legs to intercept the stabber, pushing him with all my strength away from me.
I did a tactical reload with the magazine I had in my left hand and threw the empty one into the face of another swordsman who approached to take advantage of my vulnerability. He screamed as the piece of metal collided with his nose.
I cocked the gun and put one bullet in his face, he collapsed to the ground the next second.
I headbutted the guy under me with the back of my head and stood up.
Only to be thrown to the ground by two attackers who charged at me and pushed me with all their weight, making me crash face first on the ground. The others falling a little further back.
Ouch.
"Go get him!"
I turned on my back and took aim.
They all had gathered with their swords and knives to kill me where I was, the ones that didn't were there was the guy I kicked and another one with a crossbow.
Two things, they were pretty slow and I'm quick with the trigger.
I fired four times in the span of two seconds, each bullet colliding with my target.
The four idiots recoiled as they felt the projectiles embed themselves in their bodies, inside their stomachs or any other internal organs that had been unfortunate enough to be pierced by the fragmentation of the hollow-point bullet.
They fell to the ground or knelt when they knew their minutes were numbered. They felt what had happened and knew what would happen next.
I watched my surroundings, there were still those three, one with a crossbow, one unconscious on the ground and another who was rubbing his chest from the kick I gave him.
I didn't hesitate and shot the idiot with the crossbow twice, the first time I missed, but the next I hit him in the neck.
He fell to the ground in a bloody mess.
I aimed at the one with the knife who stood up and he looked at me in terror.
"Move and I'll kill you."
He didn't move a single muscle as I stood up from the ground.
The only injury I had during the fight was that I hit my butt on a rock after that fall.
I approached the guy with the knife.
... he looked quite young.
"How old are you?"
No response.
"Speak or you won't be able to anymore."
"Seventeen, sir..."
...
Shit... this... stupid fucking kid.
He has the same age as my sister.
Motherfu-
"Drop the weapon, lie down on the ground and put your hands behind your back."
The boy had no problems obeying the orders.
I turned to see the other guy still unconscious on the ground.
I approached him and tied his hands and legs with a piece of cloth that I tore from his shirt.
Confident that he couldn't catch me off guard, I pointed the gun at the boy again and continued with the questions. "Why are you here?"
"I... needed the money..."
"And that made you come here to kill me, right?"
I find scolding him for trying to kill me for money kind of ironic.
He just remained silent, it seems I guessed right.
"Who hired you?"
"The boss... knew it..."
"Okay, where's your boss?"
He turned his head to the unconscious body of the moron I tied up.
Eh...
I guess asking him will be difficult now that he's sleeping.
Sigh.
Well, fuck.
"What about the others?" I asked him while pointing at all the corpses.
"I... I don't even know them..."
Pft.
"Really? And how did you get involved?"
"I was dragged... by them on the street... they offered me the money."
Shit.
It's a shame it ended this way, but I guess there was no other option for this idiot.
I lowered the gun. "I'm gonna make you an offer that you can't refuse."
I grabbed the knife that was on the ground in front of him.
"I want you to take all of those idiots' equipment and sell it, use the money for yourself and don't get dragged into things like this again." I told. "You're too young for your life to end now, so take everything and leave, don't expect me to be happy the next time I see you doing the same thing."
I handed him the knife and walked away from him. It seemed like he wasn't expecting forgiveness, because he stayed there watching me for a few minutes.
"What? I thought you needed the money."
At that, he began to collect everything and tie it with a piece of cloth behind his back. Once he gathered enough, he left without looking back.
I could have killed him, it would save me trouble if he sought revenge or something, that would be very troublesome.
I've killed so many times before for selfish reasons, this could have been another one of them, just break his legs, punch him in the face and break his ne-
I brought the barrel of the gun under my chin and pulled the trigger.
The mechanical click brought me back to reality, no bullet firing. There wasn't any left.
I didn't see myself capable of ending that stupid child's life.
He had to fucking have the same age as my sister.
Lucky fool.
...
... there is no better teaching than learning from mistakes, I guess.
Next time, I won't hesitate, an extra chance is more than enough and I would be putting myself in danger if I left any loose ends.
Hopefully this doesn't come to bite me in the ass later.
"Ugh... damnit, where...?"
Tak, tak, tak... what do we have here?
"Uh... huh? Why... am I tied up?"
I walked over and kicked the newly awakened asshole in the ribs, causing him to scream in pain. "Good morning, sleeping beauty!" With you I will not be merciful, you look old enough for you to know that you have to deal with the consequences of your actions.
Besides, you have something I want.
"I have questions and I'm looking for answers, would you be so kind as to have a chat with me?"
"Ah, Ah! Get away from me, you bastard!"
"It seems like you don't want to cooperate... well, fine by me." The last thing he saw before his lights went out again was the sole of my boot.
I'll deal with you later, now... I have to clean up this mess.
Where did I left the shovels again?
Lili was sitting on the fountain in the plaza in front of Babel.
She had slept well last night. For some reason she felt like going down to the Dungeon and being productive.
The only bad thing is that she had gotten up a little too early and had been waiting in the plaza for like 30 minutes before it was time to meet with her partner.
In fact, she was kind of hungry now.
She looked around, the streets would begin to fill with adventurers soon.
Leaving too early was a bad idea, but watching the sun rise over the horizon made her day.
"Huh? I didn't expect to see you here so early."
Lili turned to the direction of the sound and noticed Yuri approaching.
He looked completely different from yesterday.
Mostly because of the new clothes he wore on his torso, the flat-looking helmet from the other day, and the now two firearms hanging from his back. She didn't recognize those.
Yuri raised the visor of his Altyn and greeted her. "Aye."
Lili waved back. "Uhm... hello."
"Are you ready?"
She stood up and adjusted her backpack. "Yeah!"
No more words were exchanged as they walked down the Dungeon and separated from the other groups of adventurers.
"So..." Lili started. "How far are you planning to go today... uhm... Yuri?"
"Floor 7." He answered. "To the Dungeon Pantry, I have an errand to do there, also, here..." He took out the tactical belt from his backpack and handed it to Lili.
She, however, didn't because she stopped and looked at him in disbelief.
"To the... Dungeon Pantry?"
"Yup, I have to deliver the wings of... something blue."
She frowned.
"Are you looking for Blue Papilio wings?"
"Ah! That was the name."
"Master!"
"Yuri."
"Are you sure keep going down is the right thing to do!?"
"I already told you, I have an errand to do and I'm equipped for the descent."
"I... uhm..." She sighed. "Lili... Lili will take care of the magic stones then."
Yuri left the tactical belt in Lili's hands and patted her head, surprisingly, she allowed it this time. "Don't worry about it, after all, you will covering my back, don't you?"
She put on her belt. "I guess so..."
"Good, because I'll need your help to find this Dungeon Pantry."
"Yes... Lili will act as a guide."
He took the gun from his back. "Let's not waste any more time then."
Lili unholstered her pistol. "Okay!"
They descended to the second floor without problems, avoiding the monsters or killing those in the way, Yuri allowing Lili to practice some target shooting on the weak monsters.
They continued their descent in a relatively normal manner to the 5th floor, where Yuri was forced to fight the war shadows that frequently appeared from the walls, avoiding unnecessarily wasting ammunition by using his bayonet and the fact that his armor protected him from moderate cuts and scrapes.
Floor 6 was also relatively passable, the only notable threats being, again, the war shadows and frog shooters, which were a dangerous combination as the aggressiveness of the black ghosts coupled with the frogs' long range made it quite difficult to find room to breathe.
Still, through sheer luck and skill, Yuri and Lili managed to push further in.
...
Yuri ducked away from the claws of another war shadow, then cut off its sharp appendages with the bayonet of his weapon.
The creature recoiled in surprise, but Yuri didn't allow it to get far enough because he pushed the blade into the monster's face, the only physical thing aside from its claws, and then pushed it towards the ground.
The shadow fell to the ground on its butt and died after the renegade finished it off by destroying its face with the bayonet.
Around them lay the corpses of several war shadows and frog shooters.
"Would you mind telling Lili again what you are supposed to be?" Lili asked, appearing from the shadows.
"Stalker."
"Right." She responded in an expressionless manner. "You also mentioned that you were a soldier... still, for someone without a Falna, it's quite surprising the skill with which you fight."
He removed the blade from the shadow corpse. "It's not the first time I've done something like this."
He unclipped the bayonet and wiped it on the sleeve of his jacket, reattaching it to the end of his weapon. "Okay, how close are we to the 7th floor?"
Lili finished collecting the magic stones. "It shouldn't be too far, we just need to keep going this way."
"Great." He checked the chamber of his AKMS, he had spent about a magazine and a half, but he had a feeling he would spend more with the creatures below. "Let's keep going."
Lili put away her knife and picked up her Makarov.
They found the entrance a few minutes later and descended without problems.
Not long after that, new creatures greeted them.
They were a bunch of horned white rabbits.
"The hell...?"
"Those are Needle Rabbits!" Lili shouted as she slowly moved away. "They are fast and attack in groups, be careful!"
Yuri simply raised his gun and shot one of them.
The bullet tore through it, the projectile tearing through its skin, flesh, and internal organs.
The rabbit monster fell on its back, motionless.
The others looked at their fallen comrade for a second and then turned to look at Yuri.
Each and every one of them screamed in fury and lunged at him.
"Oh shit!" Was the only thing the Stalker could say as he took a few steps back and readied his bayonet.
The monsters divided into three groups, attacking from the front and flanks.
He took his AK sideways and swept shots across the front, finishing off the monsters in front of him, then slashed horizontally to his right, trapping another one of the rabbits that had jumped by his neck and cutting off its head.
He felt several extra weights on his body when the monsters climbed onto his clothes, trying to bite, cut or even stab him with those horns they had on their heads, his clothes and armor barely resisting the fierce attacks of the beasts.
He grabbed one that was attached to his shoulder with his right hand and threw it against the wall with a lot of his strength.
He felt a pair of claws scratch his titanium helmet, so he also grabbed that rabbit by the neck and threw it to the ground, then stepped on it with his boot, smashing its head.
At this rate, there was no way he could get rid of all of them before one gets a lucky shot at him.
"Lili!"
The girl took aim and, with wonderful precision, hit one of the rabbits that her friend had hanging from his backpack.
She lowered her gun.
Wow... wait, friend? why did she think about that?
Yuri staggered towards the wall and crashed into it on its right side where monsters were clinging to him.
The creatures screamed in pain at the blow and broke free, falling to the ground, which was perfect for Yuri.
He aimed his gun and executed them there on the ground.
"Oof, god da-."
"Yuri!"
There was still one of the monsters and he was pointing its horn at his butt, but a bullet went through its head, completely changing its course and causing the monster to fall rolling to the ground, dead.
Yuri backed away from the corpse with some fear.
That thing almost made him another hole.
"Fuck."
"Yuri! Are you okay!?"
He noticed Lili approaching, her face showing concern. "You were surrounded! Do you need a potion!?"
The Stalker simply checked his own body for injuries and, finding none, laughed lightly.
"I'd need one if you'd missed that shot." He answered. "My ass would hurt pretty bad if it weren't for you." He pointed to the dead monster on the ground.
She blinked several times, registering his words, then let out a sigh of relief.
He rolled his shoulders and scanned the area around him.
It doesn't look like more monsters will appear anytime soon.
"Okay, Lili, grab the stones and then take us to that pantry."
"Sure." Was her only response as she pulled out her knife and got to work. Yuri reloading his magazines with the extra ammunition he brought in his backpack and acting as guard.
The wait was only several seconds in which Lili picked up everything and adjusted her backpack again. "Ready!"
Yuri examined the chamber of his gun before answering. "Lead the way."
"Okay!" She replied, adjusting her grip on her own gun. "We have to go around the edges of this floor until we find a hidden passage."
"Great, and this hidden passage looks like...?"
"A hole in the wall that leads to a long tunnel full of monsters."
Yuri remained silent.
"We can go back." Lili mentioned, sounding a little more smuggy than she normally is. "We'll get you a Falna and return as soon as you're sure that-"
"Tsk, don't bother me and take us there already."
His dry response took her somewhat by surprise. "Ah! Uh... okay."
They both wandered through the suspiciously clean routes of the seventh floor.
"Isn't this place supposed to be full of monsters or something?" Yuri asked, finding the silence somewhat awkward.
"And it usually is." Lili responded. "But it seems that someone else already took this path and exhausted the monster respawn rate on this side."
Yuri looked at her, completely confused.
"The rate of what?"
"That no other monsters will appear for a while." Lili explained with a casual expression.
"Heh, is that possible?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't know, I'm just repeating what I heard from higher ranking adventurers."
"Hmm..." Yuri hummed as he remained alert in case something unforeseen happened. "Any recent gossip you've heard about?"
Lili bit her lip lightly, trying to remember something.
"Lili has heard members of the Ganesha Familia talk about some guys who speak strangely... they also mentioned that they wander around at night, although I don't think it's important."
Yuri laughed. "It sounds more like a cult."
The Pallum simply gave a small, disheartened laugh. "Heh, I guess so."
They eventually found said passage Lili was talking about, this being a narrow opening within the wall about five feet high.
Yuri stopped in front of the hole and tried to see what was on the other side. However, the strange natural light from the hallways did not seem to be able to enter through the opening.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue. "Lili, come here."
She approached and he turned on the flashlight on her head.
The way ahead only showed a narrow hallway, which was bad, as it didn't give him much room to maneuver with his bayonet.
He will have to shoot everything he finds then.
"Stay behind me and try to illuminate everything in front."
"Alright!"
Yuri entered the hole and held his weapon steady to the darkness in front of him.
Lili followed him, barely entering with her large backpack, and illuminated the shadows.
There was nothing, just the hallway.
"Are you sure is this way?"
Lili tightened her grip on the Makarov. "Yeah." She answered.
He continued to move forward. "Very well."
And so, they both continued their advance.
Nothing happened for a long while, which got on Yuri's nerves.
He knew beasts came out of the walls and that they were smart enough to do ambushes, so he was on high alert.
He clenched the handguard of his AK as he continued to point it forward.
The pressure of the environment was too much, so he decided to lighten it a little with some idle chatter.
"Lili."
"Hm?" She hummed, paying more attention to the shadows so as not to be caught off guard.
"Have you ever... played video games?"
"Video... what?"
The Stalker laughed lightly.
"No, nothing..."
She rolled her eyes, not in the mood for jokes now that they were in a dangerous area.
"And... how about television series?"
"Are those things where you come from?" She asked almost immediately. "I don't even know what they mean."
He made a mental note to teach her that in the future, though he wasn't sure how he would do it.
Maybe Tom and Jerry is a good way to start, everyone likes Tom and Jerry, although he is more of a fan of Nu, pogodi!
That old cartoon has a special place in his heart.
The wall to his right cracked.
He held his AK with his right hand while with his left stopped Lili, who was behind him.
"They're coming out." Was the only thing he said, which she understood and backed away to a safe distance, the light from her head still illuminating the hallway in front of Yuri.
The renegade smiled slightly as he checked the chamber of his gun, finding a bullet loaded and ready to fire.
Three giant ants came out of the walls, as well as two horned rabbits.
The beasts immediately took notice of him.
A 9x18mm bullet pierced the air and caught one of the rabbits, killing it on the spot.
Yuri whistled at Lili's good aim, then aimed his gun and fired at the monsters.
The remaining rabbit died instantly, but the ants withstood the entire 30-bullet magazine he emptied into their heads, although it's not like he aimed all his bullets at them.
He assumed he underestimated their exoskeletons.
It was probably better to just aim at their eyes.
If you can't kill them with Soviet steel, some 50 caliber should do the trick.
He let his AKMS hang from its strap while he unholstered his Desert Eagle.
He remembered hearing that this gun could even take down a bear.
"Well, let's see how true that is." He whispered to himself.
He rolled back onto his back, avoiding one of the ants from cutting him in half with its jaws, and shot at its tough head again.
The bullet passed through it and simply collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"Don't leave them alive too long or they'll call in their allies!"
He wasn't planning to do it either.
He stood up and fired again, killing another ant, but the remaining one moved quickly and lifted him off the ground.
He fell on his back, the force with which it threw him hurt quite a bit.
Several gunshots distracted the ant, courtesy of Lili, giving Yuri enough time to catch his breath.
On the ground, he turned on his chest and took aim.
He put a bullet into its abdomen, making the ant screech horribly.
He continued shooting until the ant stopped moving.
Standing up, he emptied the last bullet from his magazine into the ant's head. "Damn bitch..."
Lili, having finished cutting down the other monsters, walked over. "I agree, but there's no need to swear like a pirate."
Yuri looked at her. "Are there pirates around here?"
She laughed. "Do you see any sea over here?"
"..."
Lili's smile grew bigger.
"I didn't expect you to attack me with sarcasm."
"Weell, Lili is learning from someone." She replied as she moved closer to cut down the last ant.
Yuri couldn't help but smile. "Do you consider me a good or a bad influence?"
"Nah, Lili traveled with adventurers much worse than you." She said casually. "There were some who made insults their entire vocabulary."
He let out an amused snort, remembering certain people with similar characteristics he met back in the Zone.
Once Lili finished and adjusted her backpack, they both continued down the long hallway.
The further they went, the path became much more irregular, which was strange for Yuri, since until now everything had uniform dimensions in the Dungeon.
In the distance, he saw a small glow slightly illuminate the stone ahead.
"Are we close?" Yuri asked.
"We should be." His supporter responded.
They followed the slight peck of light until they reached an area much more open than the narrow hallway from before.
Surely the place was around 20 meters high, with enough space to move without problems. There were also several entrances, now that he realized it.
In the center of the room was a huge pillar that reached to the ceiling, appearing to be made of quartz and emitting an ominous green glow throughout the room.
From the cracks in that pillar, a viscous transparent liquid fell towards the ground, forming a huge pond.
And from it, dozens of monsters drank that liquid quite fervently.
"Yuri... Yurii." He heard Lili calling him.
He turned his head towards her.
"We should hide." She whispered. "They may not have seen us yet, but there's a good chance they will if we just stand here."
He nodded and they both went to one of the corners of the giant room, then lay down behind the uneven floor, serving as light cover.
"If one of those things sees us, we're screwed, right?" Yuri asked quietly.
"Yeah... I could have brought a cloth to camouflage us if you had told Lili in advance, but these rocks will work just as well... I hope..."
Camouflage... camouflage...
"Wait, I think I have what we need." Yuri said as he checked inside his backpack.
Lili just watched him while he searched. She then took off her own backpack and set it aside.
"Okay, here it is." She looked at the folded cloth he had pulled out.
"What's that?" She asked.
Yuri began to unwrap the cloth, getting bigger each time he extended it, to Lili's surprise.
"A camouflage tarp." He answered. "Made of strong, resistant and waterproof materials, usually polyethylene or polyester-urethane."
Lili looked at him, completely confused.
"Plastics."
She shook her head. "I still don't understand you at all."
They both covered themselves with the large tarp, effectively fooling the monsters' view as the walls were almost the same color as the camouflage of the tarp.
"The monsters here don't have a good sense of smell, so this should do the trick."
"Very good." Yuri said as he put away his AK and readied his VSS Vintorez. "Now show me which one is a blue Papilio."
The Pallum narrowed her gaze, watching the crowd of monsters gathering at the pond. "Uhm... I don't see it, maybe we should wait so we could catch one as soon as it shows up to feed itself."
"Alright." He answered. "Besides, it's not the first time I've done something like this."
They both stayed there in silence, attentive for the moment when that peculiar monster appears.
"Anyway, what is that?" Yuri asked, referring to the pool of viscous liquid in the middle of the room.
"Monsters usually devour adventurers who dare to enter the Dungeon." She explained. "But when there are no adventurers to eat, the monsters usually come here... it's like the Dungeon feeds them or something."
"Huh... Interesting."
A small roar was heard between the two.
Yuri looked next to him, at Lili, who was hiding her face in her arms.
"Hungry?"
She nodded.
He took a moment to look at his watch, which read sometime after 12 in the afternoon. "Did you eat this morning?"
She shook her head.
He let out a laugh escape his mouth.
"Check inside my backpack, there should be a can with a blue label, let me know when you find it." He said as he continued to observe the crowd of monsters with his Vintorez.
She unzipped his backpack and rummaged through his things.
There were empty bullet casings, pieces of metal shaped like a thick nail, small packets of paper that jingled when moved, and other gadgets she wouldn't bother to understand.
"Have you found it yet?"
"Ah, wait a second..."
She continued rummaging through the miscellaneous trash in her partner's backpack and finally grabbed something.
It was a 'can' if she remembered correctly, she practiced her aiming skills with it yesterday.
Aside from that, it also had a label with writing behind a blue background.
"I think I found it."
"Well, open it and eat, it's condensed milk."
"Oh, uh.. sure..."
Lili stared at the can without any idea how to... eat it.
"Do you know how to open it?" Her partner asked.
"Uhh... no?"
Yuri laughed lightly. "Of course you wouldn't know, it's stupid Soviet engineering... okay, give me that for a second."
Confused by Yuri's words, she simply decided to ignore him and hand him the can, to which he put his VSS Vintorez aside. "Keep an eye out and see if that stupid blue thing comes through... also, don't put your finger in the trigger, just let me know when you see it."
"Ah! Okay, okay." She responded, resting the stock on her shoulder and holding the gun by the magazine and handle, just like he was holding it.
She wondered what the strange cylinder on top of the gun was until she looked inside, realizing that it had the functionality of a telescope.
She thought it was awesome.
Yuri, on the other hand, opened the can of condensed milk without making much noise so as not to attract attention.
He left the can on the ground and, from his backpack, he took out a folding spoon, and then left it inside the can.
"There, take this and give me back my weapon."
Lili pushed the VSS from her side. "It's too big."
"Thanks."
"Ah?" Her mind pieced two and two together. Then, she flushed. "Wait, what?"
"Eat before you starve."
She rolled her eyes and simply scooped up the 'condensed milk', finding it strange that it was slimy.
She took a taste and delighted in how sweet it tasted.
She ate quite enthusiastically after that.
Nothing happened for a long time, just the two of them covered by the camouflage tarp, waiting for the target to pass by.
"And..." Lili began, for some reason finding the silence somewhat uncomfortable. "Is there a story you can tell? To... uhm, I don't know... to get to know you better?"
Yuri didn't take his eyes off the PSO-1 scope. "What do you want to know?"
"How about... I don't know, what else can you tell me about the... the..."
"The Zone?"
"Yeah, that."
He grunted, really preferring to stay focused, but he figured entertaining his little supporter's question wouldn't hurt.
"The Zone wasn't always a hell on earth, it was once a thriving city kept alive by a newly discovered method of producing energy."
"Let me guess." Lili spoke. "It failed and became hell on earth."
For her cheeky response, she received a light knock on the top of her head.
"Oww, what was that for!?"
"If you want to listen, at least let me finish."
She didn't say anything, so Yuri continued.
"Partially, you're right." Lili smiled victoriously at that. "A fatal mistake caused one of the reactors that, in short, provided power, to explode."
He fixed his gaze on the monsters, nothing blue among them yet.
"The air and land were irreparably poisoned and the place was left uninhabitable, except... that was the least of the problems."
"What happened?" She asked, somewhat incredulous.
"A group of..." He couldn't call them scientists, it would just confuse her. "Researchers tried to conduct an experiment in the Zone and screwed it up even more, so nature is much more dangerous than before because now there are horrible monsters and deadly bugs roaming the surface."
"That..." She didn't know how to respond. "It sounds pretty ugly."
"It is." It was the only thing Yuri added.
Again, they both remained silent.
"And you lived there for two years?"
Something caught Yuri's eye.
"Yes." Answered. "Tell me, Lili, are those..."
Lili looked towards the huge pillar in the center of the room.
Among the variety of monsters, there were some that stood out from the rest as they arrived flying through the air.
They were giant butterflies, with beautiful blue wings that moved with incomparable grace.
Yuri aimed his gun.
"Wait wait!"
Without losing sight of the target, he hummed. "Hm?"
"We could follow them out of the pantry and ambush them, there is no need to kill them now."
Yuri debated it in his mind for a single second.
"Lili, how many monsters do you think are there?"
"What? Did you even listen to me-?"
He looked inside his backpack and took out a pair of binoculars, then pushed them to Lili. "Use this."
"What? Why!? We're going to lose sight of them-!"
"We won't." He responded as he calmly removed the safety of the gun.
"W-W-What are you doing?"
"Look through the binoculars, see which ones have noticed our position."
"Huh!?"
"Just keep quiet or they'll kill us."
"But Master!
"Yuri."
"Hush!"
The Stalker let out a small dry laugh.
"Have some faith in your master, will you-?"
"Yuri." She deadpanned.
"..."
Both of their flat gazes met.
"I must admit, that was good."
"Heh."
Yuri took aim again. "Just listen to me and we'll come out alive with a fortune you can't even imagine."
Lili sighed. "I hope you're right..."
"Meh, I am most of the time." He said, then pulled the trigger.
The 9x39mm bullet passed through the giant butterfly without any problem, killing it on the spot.
He pulled the trigger again and the other Papilio who was there also fell to the ground, motionless.
"Wha-? Does your gun reach all the way over there?"
"Look through the binoculars." He instructed, pulling the trigger again, killing a rabbit that noticed the recent corpses. "Or you would miss the party."
She set aside her condensed milk and examined the tool in her hands called 'binoculars', noticing that it had small and large lenses at each end.
She assumed it would be similar to his partner's weapon, so she looked through the lenses and was quite surprised at how far she could see.
"Be my peripheral vision."
She needed no other instruction.
"An ant on the right turns its head this way."
PSST.
"Got it."
Lili continued watching.
"That lizard is leaving."
"On my way."
PSST.
"Wow, you have good aim."
PSST.
"I had a lot of practice."
She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she actually wished she were a little bigger now, maybe so she could try out the heavier weapons his friend had in his arsenal.
Yuri fired twice into an ant's hard head, its exoskeleton giving way to the armor-piercing bullets and dying as they passed through it.
A needle rabbit turned its head in the direction they were facing, searching but failing to find the source of the cracks that echoed through the large room.
That is until a bullet passed through its head at speeds slightly slower than the speed of sound.
They both continued eliminating targets from a distance, Lili's fear of being discovered gradually diminishing as she saw how easily Yuri dispatched the monsters.
The renegade reloaded his weapon with practiced ease. "Lili."
"Yes? By the way, the ant on the right."
PSST.
"From my backpack, take out the paper packages I have there."
She put the binoculars aside and moved closer to Yuri to gain access to his backpack.
"How do they look?"
"Like little boxes."
She took them and left them on the ground.
"I got them, now?"
Yuri handed her the empty magazine.
"Do you know how to refill magazines?"
"Uhm... no?"
"Well, it's time for you to learn." He fired again, the monsters were realizing what was happening, but there was still time.
He took a moment to look at the packages and pointed to one in particular. "Open that one and put the others away."
"Alright." Lili responded.
He pointed again, this time at the shiny metal 9x39mm cartridges. "Those bullets go inside the magazine, make sure you push them hard so they don't come out."
Lili chose not to answer and simply get to work, deciding that she would be more useful that way, so she started by trying to guess how the bullets went inside the magazine until she finally got it right. After that, it was a pretty easy and mundane task to do.
She entertained herself by continuing to watch Yuri who, with lethal precision, killed or maimed the monsters without any problem.
It didn't take long until each and every one of the monsters were lying on the ground, dead or seriously injured.
"Lili, prioritize the Papilios while I get rid of the survivors." Yuri mentioned, exchanging his VSS for his Kalashnikov with bayonet.
"Sure!"
The Pallum avoided the dying monsters and approached the giant blue butterflies, using her knife to remove the magic stones and obtaining four blue Papilio wings from the slain monsters.
She put the materials inside her backpack and turned to look at her partner.
Watching him execute the agonizing monsters was a somewhat morbid sight, but not at all out of place.
Still, it scared her, so she decided to never get on Yuri's bad side.
Deciding that it would be best to end all of this quickly, she also began removing the magic stones from the already dead monsters.
It only took five minutes until something happened.
Two large groups of monsters entered the Pantry and noticed the two in the center of the place.
"Uhm... Yuri..."
The Stalker turned around after cutting off the head of a killer ant and felt a hole form in his stomach as he saw the crowd in the distance.
"Uh... I think it's time to go."
"I absolutely agree!" Lili exclaimed, barely containing her internal panic as she hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders.
Yuri simply unclipped a grenade he was carrying and held it in his hands as he followed the slow Lili.
The Dungeon monsters screamed at the sight of fresh food and, ignoring the sweet nectar falling from the giant pillar in the center of the room, charged at them.
Yuri unpinned the grenade and dropped it behind him as he hurried Lili who was running as hard as she could with her little legs.
"Faster!"
"What do you think I'm trying to do!?" She responded between deep breaths.
The grenade exploded, taking several of the monsters with it and disorienting those closest to it from the noise, giving them both a chance to focus on escaping.
They headed back through the hallways they came in, hoping that hopefully they can lose the monsters.
The cracks in the walls indicating the birth of new beasts around them proved the opposite.
"Fuck!" Yuri shouted as he mowed down a killer ant that had jumped in front of them, the lucky shots beheading it.
"Be more careful where you shoot!"
"Then run faster!"
They both turned a corner and almost tripped due to the speed they were going, but they noticed the hole they had entered through at the end of the hallway.
"Lili, you go first, I'll cover you!"
"O-Okey!"
They reached the hole in the wall and Yuri knelt on the ground, taking aim and covering the rear, waiting for the horde to appear to finish them off.
She, on the other hand, had to take off her backpack and go through the hole first because of how narrow the passage was.
The monsters appeared at the end of the hallway and Yuri was already killing them from the distance.
"Move faster, gal!"
Lili didn't bother to respond, instead, she pulled her backpack with all her might until it gave way and she was able to get it through.
"I got it!"
He emptied the entire magazine of his AK as he fired into the crowd, then stood up and jumped through the hole, narrowly avoiding the pincers of an ant that nearly caught his foot.
He spun on the ground as he fell and turned around, noticing how the monsters had become stuck in the passage.
"Keep running, I'll stop them." He spoke as he unclipped another grenade from his vest just for good measure.
"No, let's go already!" She responded, pulling him from his arm.
Shit, he thought.
He unpinned the grenade and threw it into the hole.
"Okay, continue ahead of me!"
They both ran for several minutes until they lost the monsters that were chasing them.
Tired, they sat on the floor leaning against the wall.
He drank half the bottle of water he brought, his throat feeling quite dry.
Lili just watched him while licking her lips.
"Uhm..."
Faced with the unspoken question, Yuri simply handed the bottle to his partner, who took it in her hands and looked at it with some embarrassment, then shook her head and finished the liquid.
They stayed there for a few minutes, catching their breath.
That until a hulking beast ran past further down the hallway.
Yuri scratched his head at the strange occurrence.
"Should we...?"
"No." Lili denied.
He sighed.
"How long do you think it'll be until that thing crushes the first poor motherfucker it meets?"
"I don't know and I don't care, let's just go."
"Okay, okay! But I remind you that that thing is heading upstairs."
Lili paled at that information.
"Hmm." The Stalker hummed. "How much do you think its magic stone costs?"
"Y-You can't be serious..."
Yuri stood up and reloaded his weapon.
...
Lili felt like having a stroke at that moment.
Bell was having a very bad day.
He screamed at the top of his lungs as he fled in terror from the enormous beast that was chasing him.
A minotaur.
Today was a very bad day to decide that going down to the 5th floor would be a good idea.
Now he was regretting it with every inch of his body, but he didn't have much time to think about it. Between his lungs screaming for oxygen and his mind in a state of panic, the only thing keeping him in total coordination with his body was fear.
He turned a corner and fell to the ground when a loud stomp from the beast following him shook the ground.
He rolled onto his back and stood up almost immediately, resuming his escape and narrowly avoiding the beast's fist that would have turned him into pulp.
He laughed knowing how close he came to dying, finding no other way to react due to his nerves.
And, because he was distracted, he collided face first with the stone wall of the Dungeon.
When the pain vanished, he opened his eyes in absolute terror as he realized he had ended up in a dead end.
Of all the places he could have ended up...
He slowly turned around, knowing full well what would happen to him in the next few seconds.
The beast huffed as it slowly walked towards him, clenching its fists tightly in anticipation of what it would do to the adventurer before it.
That's it, was what the young man thought.
Why was he here? A cruel play of fate? It was not fair.
He closed his eyes, accepting the fact that he was going to die.
He wondered if his goddess would find out.
...
Probably yes the second he ceases to exist.
He will die here, his dreams scattered on the ground like all his remains would as soon as the minotaur stops playing and decides to kill him once and for all.
Or so it would have happened had it not been for a flurry of explosions that interrupted his thoughts at that moment.
What the...?
He opened his eyes and frowned at what he was seeing.
"Lili! Explain to me what the hell is that thing!!"
"Minotaur!"
The beast in question was backing away while covering its face with its arms for some reason that Bell didn't understand.
"Can it be killed or not!?"
He felt a pair of hands grab his arm and lift him off the ground.
He looked to his side and noticed the rather short girl with a huge backpack who was helping him.
She turned her head towards the other figure that had arrived. "Maybe yes if you shoot it enough!"
Bell followed the girl's gaze and observed the other adventurer.
He seemed to be protected by a kind of cloth armor, since he was not wearing anything metal on him, but strangely his clothes remained firm with the constant movement that this person made while backing away from the Minotaur.
He was much shorter than the minotaur itself, his body would be crushed by a single swipe of the beast in front of him.
Despite this, the man remained defiant in the face of danger, a sight that consequently inspired Bell.
Before he knew it, the adventurer was already at his side and lifted him off the ground as if he weighed nothing.
"Huh!?"
He lost sight of the minotaur as they turned a corner.
He didn't say anything as they fled, even though he was quite embarrassed to be carried all the way.
Once far enough away, the adventurer lowered him to the ground and took back that strange weapon he was carrying in his arms.
"Did we lose it?" The stranger asked.
"I think so..." The girl responded.
Bell couldn't sit still with all his curiosity.
"W-Who are you??"
Yuri sighed audibly. "Boy, worry about that later..."
The ground shook, reminding them of the abomination they had just escaped.
"Lili, how long until he finds us?"
"It can smell us since it's a monster from the middle floors." She answered. "So... really not much."
"Hmph... good..."
He replaced the magazine on his gun and took a deep breath.
"Any chance to escape?"
"Are you chickening out now?" Lili asked, a hint of smugness in her voice.
At Yuri's serious look, she sighed. "If we run now, probably, but in that case it will become someone else's problem."
Yuri thought about it for a moment.
"Yeah... let's kill it."
Lili readied her gun with a smile. "Just tell me how to help."
Bell, who watched the exchange with interest, just took into account that the adventurers in front of him wanted to eliminate the minotaur on their own.
"Alright, kid, get lost." Yuri mentioned. "We're about to do something pretty crazy."
Bell disagreed.
His more rational side told him to accept the opportunity and run out of here as fast as he could.
His emotional side, however...
"I... I-I'll help too!" He exclaimed as he stood up, trying to imitate the bravery that Lili demonstrated. "J-Just tell me what to do!"
Stalker and Pallum exchanged glances.
The renegade looked at the boy from head to toe.
Light clothing, small backpack, sheathed dagger, work boots.
He had no preparation at all to face a beast more than three meters tall.
Plus, he had white hair.
Wait, this fool looks familiar...
"Well, shit, if you want to help so much, we might as well use you as a distraction."
Before Bell could feel horrified by his words, a roar broke through the pseudo-calm atmosphere of the conversation.
"ROOOOOOAAAAAR."
"Aaand... there goes our chance to escape, fuck... boy, couldn't have you waited until later to start your sh-?" Yuri couldn't finish either because the wall behind him collapsed as an immense fist went through it smoothly.
"FUCK!"
"Master Yuri!"
Luckily, Lili and Bell got out of the way in time before any debris reached them.
The Stalker, on the other hand, rolled on the ground after feeling as if he had been run over by a truck.
"Aaaaaagh... fuuuuuuuuuck..." He rolled onto his back and forced his head up.
The minotaur was there, looking him straight in the eyes.
If he were his past self, he would be scared to death right now.
...
Well, he still did, but now that he'd experienced worse things than staring at a beast more than twice his size right in the eye, there really wasn't much that could make his bones tremble with paralyzing fear.
After all, there are fates worse than death.
And, having death in front of him, he simply raised his gun and aimed at the eyes.
He pulled the trigger, taking advantage of the fact that the beast seemed to delight in seeing him wounded on the ground.
Its eyes were not spared and, in seconds, the beast became blind after the barrage of bullets.
His thick skull was not penetrated by the projectiles, but they did enough damage to give him a concussion and a severe migraine.
The creature recoiled, covering its bleeding face, and, in its blindness, stumbled and fell backwards.
Yuri dropped his weapon, his body making him feel a painful hell.
"Master! M-Master! Here!" Lili uncapped a vial that she took out of her backpack and brought it to Yuri's mouth.
Trusting her, he accepted the drink and swallowed the bittersweet blue liquid.
It wasn't immediate, but he could feel the pain becoming slightly more tolerable with each passing second.
It was still present, but at least he could move without seeing stars.
"Ugh... good." He got up from the ground and picked up his gun. "Where is that motherfu-?"
Yuri and Lili looked in the direction the monster crawled away, but instead of the dying beast, there was an even stranger sight.
In front of them was a young lady the same size as Bell. Wearing a white one-piece dress, blue boots that reached up to her thighs, and pieces of armor that were held together by blue ribbons that ran across her figure, she carried a rather thin sword stained with blood. At her feet was the body cut in half of the creature, the minotaur, slowly fading into a fine black mist as all monsters did.
Stalker and supporter said nothing as they watched the scene before them in slight stupefaction.
Bell was the same, although for completely different reasons.
The three of them spoke what they were feeling at that moment after the surprise faded.
"Wow."
"S-S-Sword Princess!?"
"Hehe... hehehe..."
They both turned to Bell, who, with his gaze lost, was laughing like a fool as he watched the young lady.
Yuri turned his head towards Lili and pointed his thumb in the boy's direction, to which the Pallum simply shrugged.
Sheathing her sword, the 'Sword Princess', as Lili had called her, approached them.
"Are you alright?" She asked, her voice an angelic melody, though Bell took that quite literally with the way he looked at her.
Yuri shook his head, in an attempt to dispel the slight dizziness he felt. "Uh... yeah, we're fine... I assume you're... the one who killed that monster."
The girl simply nodded and watched them one by one, until her gaze landed on Bell.
The boy, as if the absolute truth were presented to him, choked on seemingly nothing and screamed in unintelligible gibberish as he ran away in terror in an unknown direction.
"Huh." It was the collective thought of them, being expressed by Yuri.
They remained silent for a few seconds until the lady spoke.
"Uhm..."
"Yeah?" Yuri responded.
"The boy..." She began. "Was he part of your team?"
He denied with his head. "I don't even know him."
"I... I see... in that case, could you tell him that I'm sorry?"
"Yeah, sure."
With that, the swordswoman left.
"Any idea why she apologized?"
Lili huffed. "No idea."
Yuri huffed too, just to mimic her and make her huff louder.
He approached the corpse of the creature, which had already completely disintegrated, and picked up the large magic stone that was left behind.
"At least he left us a gift."
Lili also approached and looked at the magic stone.
"That sure is worth a good amount of money."
He handed the stone to his supporter and she put it inside her backpack.
"Okay, time to head back."
"I absolutely agree!"
Before returning to exchange the magic stones and other monster parts we collected, I insisted that I should hand over those 'Blue Papilio Wings' once and for all, so we were now in front of that Miach man's shop.
"So... do you know the god that lives here?"
"Yes, I helped him open the door of his shop and he helped me understand the local language, in return, they asked me to... wait, did you say god?"
"Oh, didn't you know? This is the shop of the god Miach."
...
"Tell me about that later, for now, prepare those wings we brought."
"Okay!"
I opened the door and entered the establishment. The woman from the other day, Naaza, was sitting there behind the counter with a tired look.
Although it was just her, Miach was nowhere to be found.
"Aye." I greeted.
"Hmm?" She raised her head. "Welcome... are you looking for something?"
It's true, I never introduced myself and these clothes make me look almost unrecognizable from how I was dressed before.
"I'm looking to deliver an order for blue Papilio wings."
Her ears perked up at the mention of the object.
I probably brought her good news.
"Are you...?"
"The same and only."
I could see the disbelief on her almost expressionless face. "I thought you'd take longer."
I leaned on the counter while Lili placed the package next to me. "I like to be efficient."
Removing the rope that tied the contents, Naaza was able to see the beautiful giant butterfly wings that we brought.
Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, abandoning her sleepy act.
I suppose she must have been quite happy about it because of the smile she was showing, although if that wasn't it, then the fact that her tail was wagging from side to side was.
"You really did it!"
"Yup, it cost me a lot of good ammo, so you better be damn grateful."
"Eh... sorry..."
I shook my head. "You don't have to, you and Miach helped me, so I say we're even now."
She ran her hands over the soft wings.
"It's... incredible..."
"More beautiful while they were alive, but I guess you're going to need this for something, right?"
She nodded her head in response.
When she finally looked away from the materials, she looked me straight in the eyes and her lips curved upward.
"Thank you."
I may be a cold-hearted adult sometimes, but I swear I could feel my cheeks warm up a little at that little smile.
It's strange to feel like this... it seems that I forgotten quite a few things then.
The doors to the store opened and we all turned to see who had arrived.
It was the same dumb boy from before.
Apparently, he recognized me too because his eyes widened when he saw me and Lili.
"B-B-Bah!?"
What kind of reaction is that?
"Bell-kun, hello." Naaza greeted, her tone cheerful. "How can I help you?"
So that's what the boy's name was?
"Y-You!?"
Welp.
I waved, Lili imitating my actions seconds later.
Naaza looked confused. "Hm? Do you guys know Bell?"
"We saved his ass a few hours ago." I answered honestly. "He didn't even say thanks."
"Uh, I'm so sorry about that!"
I guess no one around here is used to my sense of humor.
"No thanks, now you owe us."
Except for Lili, although I don't know if that last one was a joke or if she was being serious.
The boy, Bell, paled at Lili's threat, who was smiling shamelessly.
"Relax kid, she's just joking." I told the boy.
"R-Really?"
I looked at Lili and she laughed lightly before nodding.
The boy sighed with relief after the confirmation, did he really take it seriously?
"Putting that aside, how are you feeling?" I asked, trying to center the boy before something else made him uncontrollably nervous again. "You disappeared pretty quickly once it was all over, so I guess you aren't injured at all..."
Wait, we're in a magic potion shop, maybe and he did get hurt...
"Ah! No, no... thank you, but I'm just here to replenish my... potions..."
Heh, it's good to know he's okay.
"Well, if that's all." I stepped away from the counter. "Naaza, we are leaving."
She nodded and waved us off, but the boy grabbed my jacket before I could move.
I turned to him. "Yeah?"
"Uhm... I never knew... your names..."
"Oh, it's true." I could hear Naaza say.
Good point.
I pointed to myself. "Yuri." Then to my supporter "Lili."
She, being the little comedian she is, pointed to herself. "Lili." And then to me, with a smile. "Yuri."
I couldn't help but laugh a little.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, come back if you need anything else." Naaza mentioned with a small smile.
"Same way." I replied. "And you, boy, don't get into trouble again."
Although it was partly my fault for not having killed that minotaur faster.
"I-I'll try not to!"
I patted the boy on the head on my way out of the place and was finally grateful that it was all over.
Man, it ended up being fun in the end.
I would be happier if I hadn't spent around two hundred rounds throughout the course of that shitshow.
At least we got a lot of magic stones.
"Should we exchange the stones?" I heard Lili ask.
It's not like I can do much with those things, right? So there's no point for me keeping them.
"Yup."
There they go, those two...
Ugh, they make me sick.
"Boss?"
Damn pig, with the fucking guts to humiliate me and above all in front of the stupid brat!
"Uhm... boss...?"
I hope both sides of his pillow are warm when he goes to sleep.
"Boss..."
What a waste, I knew it wouldn't be worth hiring those-
"Boss!"
"WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"
One of my colleagues pointed out the strange man we were spying on. "That guy... we've asked around and no one knows anything about him."
That... huh...
How strange.
"Even in the guild?"
"That's the thing..."
Hm?
"That guy... is not registered in the guild..."
...
"Wait, that might be quite useful for us."
"What do you mean, boss?"
Yes... yes...
"Tell me, who would be upset about the death of two adventurers that no one knows? If that guy isn't registered, his god will have no right to claim... same with Lili, haha! She's officially dead."
This is great!
"Makes sense."
"Awesome!"
Hehehe...
"And what do you want us to do, Kanu?"
Great, good...
What was the name of Lili's most recent companion? I think I spoke to him before.
"Come on, let's go visit someone."
Bed, my only comfort.
But there are still things to do, so sleeping will be for later.
I left my backpack and equipment on my workbench and then went to lie down on my couch.
"Hm!?"
Interesting things happened today.
I got some good money today which I split 50/50 with Lili, I made sure no idiot was going to steal from her and I think I got a discount at that store.
I wonder if that Naaza girl has any other errands for me.
... as long as it's not another thing Lili scolds me about. She made sure to make it clear to me how much money we could have gotten for those Papilio wings if I hadn't just handed them over just like that.
She only calmed down when I assured her I wouldn't do the same thing again, but it seems like she now sees me as a womanizer or something.
Pst, it's not my fault Naaza is so pretty!
I took a deep breath.
Man, I never had a girlfriend.
Anyway, I don't think I'll get one, my sister made sure to drill that into my head, that little devil.
Bah, they're missing out. No one will have this beautiful Ukrainian killing machine.
Which reminds me...
I stood up and grabbed a Bowie knife from my shelf.
"Hmm! Hmmmm!"
I kicked the fool I had tied to the ground.
"Hmmmmm!"
I removed the gag and listened to his pained whimpers.
His face was bruised, as was the rest of his body from the beating I gave him. Gone was the pride he showed, now replaced by pure fear and anguish.
I almost feel sorry for him.
Almost.
"Do you feel like continuing our little talk yet?"
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!?" He screamed, then laid his head sideways on the concrete floor and cried.
"Uh-huh." I replied as I grabbed a Makarov from the shelf. "A certain Kanu guy from the Soma Family arrived and asked you to follow and beat me to death in exchange for bottles of Soma wine."
"SEE!? Let me go... PLEASE!!"
Tsk, what a waste of time.
I crouched down to ground level and rested the gun against his temple.
"Four things." With my knife, I scraped the ground while enumerating with my words. "You are stupid, explain to me about this 'wine', tell me what Kanu looks like and what the Soma Familia is."
"Ah... ah ...ah? Don't you... know?"
I stopped aiming at his head and fired at the ground very close to his ear.
"OKAY!! Stop it... please stop it!!!"
I placed the hot barrel of the gun on his temple.
"S-Soma wine... is a liquor made by the hands of the god Soma himself... they say... they say that it is so perfect that mere mortals cannot resist it... that it is... the most strong liquor ever made."
Hm, that would be quite good in particular cases, like having to stop using chloroform to put my victims to sleep.
Although I think making my own things will be cheaper than buying a god's wine.
I pressed harder. "What else?"
"E-Ehm... he... Kanu is a raccoon man... with ears and tail of... heh... a raccoon."
"Anything else, smartass?"
"Y-Yes... his is somewhat robust and he is also short... just like how he has yellow eyes and..."
I stopped listening to it at that point, that description was quite familiar.
Where... ah, the guy who was hitting Lili that day.
Well, I have a target now.
"Stop right there, that's enough, now tell me about the Soma Familia."
"S-Sure.."
He began by explaining that they are a group of alcoholics and poor people, so hooked on the liquor of their god that they are unable to leave the faction of their own free will.
It sounds horrible, but that's not what I care about right now.
"Anything else?"
"Yes... if you are thinking about attacking them... be careful with the captain of the Familia, he is level 2... he is... exaggeratedly stronger than the average person."
Well, it's not like I'm going to look for that Kanu guy in his own home, but might as well do it, I don't care.
Nobody is forgiven.
"I'll keep it in mind."
Well, that would be... all I need, really.
With that, I could track that asshole and make his life insufferable.
"That's enough, thanks." I stood up and raked the gun, an unfired bullet in its casing landing on the guy's face for intimidating effect.
"No, wait! Please!"
...
Should I kill him?
I've done this hundreds of times before, even in worse ways. This is nothing.
If I leave him alive, he'll probably want to seek revenge and come back to kill me.
Still, it would be somewhat difficult to clean the floor afterwards...
But if he escapes, everyone will know where my home is and what kind of weapons I use.
Bah, at some point they're going to find out with all the noise I make.
If I let it him go-
I used my knife to cut his restraints.
"Get out."
I saw fear, apprehension and hatred in his eyes.
But also gratitude, which was strange.
"I might need a pair of spy eyes later." His brow furrowed. "So if you really need money, you better have something great to tell me next time I see you, or else I'll have your ass for dinner."
He nodded and turned to leave.
"If tomorrow more hitmen come to kill me, I'm going to find and castrate you!"
He didn't hesitate to run towards the freedom of the surface at my last threat.
Hopefully that won't come back to bite me in the ass later.
Shit, again.
I sat back down on the couch and looked at the ceiling.
...
Damn, why...?
It does not matter now.
I should have bought potions because I have a hunch that minor inconveniences will occur.
I took a deep breath and relaxed my muscles.
I need to teach Lili how to use automatics.
Although I better leave it for her to choose.
I have to reorganize the shooting range and refill magazines for the weapons we will use.
That would be a pain.
Welp, one more night without sleep is nothing.
I better start now.
Let's see... I need to figure out if she would like the german or the russian guns.
"Goddess, I'm back!"
"Bell-kuuun!"
The albino boy was knocked to the ground when Hestia, the goddess who accepted him as a member of her Familia, lunged at him.
"You're so late Bell, did something happen to you!?"
"Uhm... well, I got distracted by some things on the way and... there's also the fact that I may or may not have died today."
Still on the ground, the goddess began to examine the boy with considerable concern.
"Huh!? Are you hurt!? What kind of horror happened to you!? Talk to me, Bell, talk to me!!"
The boy allowed himself to be shaken a bit before trying to calm his goddess. "No, goddess, I'm fine, I wouldn't dare die after promising you that I wouldn't do exactly that, right?"
The short, busty goddess stood up and puffed out her chest with an air of superiority. "You better! Now tell me, how did you almost die!?"
Knowing very well that she won't calm down until he explains it, Bell sighed somewhat tiredly and said. "Well... I ran into a Minotaur on the fifth floor..."
"AH!?"
"B-But don't worry! I'm here thanks to some strangers who saved me at the last second!"
"SO WHAT?! I came so close to losing my precious Bell!! Now tell me how it happened!" The goddess of the hearth demanded.
"Eh... well... when I was running away from the monster, two adventurers rescued me by distracting the minotaur and getting me out of there."
"Oh, so you escaped the monster?"
"That's the bad thing, it caught up with us."
Hestia looked so distressed that Bell started to feel bad for her.
"But nothing serious happened! Then another adventurer came and... and..."
Remembering who defeated the monster, Bell couldn't help but daydream.
"It was..."
"Who?"
"Heh... hehe..."
"(((へ井)..."
"Heh..."
"Stop making that face and tell me who it was!"
"Aah, y-yes... it was A-Ais Wallenstein."
Hestia raised an eyebrow at the name of her rival's daughter, Loki.
Knowing that her child was telling the truth, she simply sighed.
"So, do you know the names of those two adventurers who saved you from the monster?"
"Yes! Their names were Yuri and Lili."
"Hmmm... were they two women?" She asked, curiously suspicious as to why Bell was so popular with the girls.
"Huh? N-No... one was a man."
"Huh, which one?"
"The one called Yuri..."
She put a hand under her chin. "How strange, Yuri sounds more like a woman's name to me."
"Uh, goddess, don't make fun of other people's names..."
"Hey, whatever! Come sit down and eat these sweet potatoes I brought from work!"
"Alright!"
They both sat on the couch and ate quietly.
As they were a Familia that was just starting out, they were quite poor, so the little money that the two earned went directly to help Bell buy supplies or for the debt that Hestia had, as well as using the little that was left to pay the monthly license to be recognized as a Familia to the guild.
The low income and lack of recognition was beginning to affect the goddess slightly, as she did not expect human life to end up being so difficult.
She sighed and lay sideways on the couch, across Bell's lap.
"I'm really sorry, Bell..."
"Hm? Why do you say that, goddess?"
"I tried, okay? With the jagamarukun stand, asking around, searching in the guild, but... it doesn't seem like anyone wants to join our Familia."
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it, goddess."
She turned her head and her gaze met her child's.
"I'm sure the right people will come along in time, so don't get depressed." He stroked his goddess's hair. "I know that for a deity like you, this may be difficult, but as long as I can continue with you, I will be happy."
Hestia felt her cheeks redden a little, as well as some butterflies flying inside her stomach.
"Oh, Bell, you always know what to say to make me happy!" She exclaimed. "In that case, let's update your status immediately!"
"Yes, goddess!"
Life can be difficult, but as long as she can share that life with her beloved child, she will be more than happy.
She doesn't know if those two adventurers belonged to a famous family, but if she can convince them to accompany Bell to the Dungeon, she can stop worrying about her child.
She had to keep him alive, after all, it was her duty as a goddess.
I appreciate that you guys appreciate what I do.
I chose tancevat for that particular fight scene because of it's meaning, a powerful expression for the desire to connect with others and feel alive, even in the face of our own limitations.
Anyways, that joke about Hestia thinking Yuri is a girl's name was because in japan that's a common name... for women.
It's the opposite for eastern europe, as you may know.
Anyways, shameless upload in the early morning, haha.
bye BYE
~ Moi