Waking up after sleeping on the floor all night was a terrible experience. I don't care if we run into a dragon today, I am going to get a second bed for this church. I don't know how much vals I earned yesterday seeing as I didn't turn into the guild, but if it's not enough for a new bed I'm going to cry.
"It's about time you woke up master." Lili said to me as she, Bell and Hestia all sat on the couch. Guess I made everyone wait huh? "So what happens to us now master?"
"Well what happens now is that we are going to prepare for war." I said seriously.
"Against the Soma familia or against the dungeon?" Bell asked curiously.
"Yes." I smirked. Thank you for that Bell.
"No, but seriously what's the plan." Bell asked frowning. It seems he didn't like my little joke.
"Okay, I'll be serious now. Regardless of if the Soma familia becomes a problem or not, we will need to become much stronger to prevent a potential calamity from the dungeon." I began. I thought about listing our goals from most important to least important, but simply saying that getting stronger is the most important wasn't very helpful. First we needed to find out all we could about the Soma familia as they were the most immediate threat. I mean they had the potential to be the most immediate. Do they even know yet? No, once they see Lili with us they'll figure it out. "Lili, could you tell us more about the Soma familia?"
Lili didn't seem to expect a question directed at her since she jumped slightly as I asked. "Soma is a terrible god and his familia even worse. A bunch of useless addicts. Soma only cares about making wine and uses his familia to earn him the money for his hobby. Reject Soma wine is sold around Orario for sixty thousand vals while pure Soma is given to the familia to encourage them to work harder. They don't work harder though. The steal, cheat and lie." Lili said as he face contorted into an ugly snarl. A face that made me mad and that I never wanted to see again. I'll make Soma pay for whatever he's done.
"How much for a bottle of pure Soma?" I asked. This was the wrong thing to do as Lili immediately sent me a venomous glare. She must really hate that shit.
"Why?" She practically growled.
"Well I just figured if we could get a bottle of it, I may be able to persuade a member or two of theirs to sit out should this come to blows." I explained meekly not wanting to anger the poor girl any further. It seemed to work as the venom dissipated from her face and she sighed out loud.
"One million vals per bottle of pure Soma." Lili said causing me to gag. Well that idea is getting thrown in the trash. That does make things difficult if I can't bribe them though. I'd really rather not have to kill anyone else if I could avoid it, but if these guys really are crazed addicts that would do anything for pure Soma then my bargaining power simply doesn't exist. If they're hell bent on getting revenge then there's really not much I can do to prevent it. Yesterday Lili told me that it's quite the regular occurrence for adventurers to kill each other in the dungeon. Good news, I won't get in legal trouble for yesterday, bad news we will need to remain super vigilant in the dungeon until Soma is dealt with. Hell, we'll need to remain super vigilant after they're dealt with after what I've learned.
"Hestia, you told me to watch out for a war game. What are those exactly?" I asked as Hestia's face paled. Were war games really that bad?
"Well a war game is a way to settle disputes between familias. You can demand anything you want from a familia and you'll get it if you win. But the same works in reverse." She said faintly. She really didn't like the idea of us entering a war game it seemed.
"Does that mean we could demand the Soma familia disband if we win?" I asked. That wouldn't solve our problem completely as stray ex-Soma members could seek revenge, but their power would be extremely neutered.
"NO!" Hestia shouted. "War games aren't declared often for a reason despite all you could get from them. Even when you two become strong enough to win, If other familias think we will disband them over minor grievances then every god and goddess in Orario will want to crush us."
"Ah, so disbanding them is the nuclear option." I stated. Whelp that puts us in a pickle. "What if we had a legitimate reason to seek their disbandment?"
"Even if they attacked us outright... Unless they did something drastic, like burning our home, we would need another god to vouch for us." Hestia explained exasperated. Fucking hell, we can't even start to win unless we lose first? Are we really going to have to kill these guys!?
'Pride see if you can't find anything out about these guys. I think anything would help at this point.'
'You worry too much creator. These vermin can't touch you'
Pride suddenly flew from the cellar startling Hestia and Lili, but Bell didn't seemed bother by it.
"Lili, do you know how strong the Soma familia is?" I asked.
"The Soma familia is comprised of ten members. Zanis and Chandra are both level two, while the rest are strong level ones." She said. Okay, well that at least gives us a goal to work towards.
"Alright it's decided! Our first course of action is to get as strong as possible quickly and level up to level two!" I shouted in my excitement.
"Yeah! Let's do it!"
"Are you crazy!?"
"Lili is doomed."
It was a mixed bag of responses, but Bell was on board at least. He's the only one I really needed support from as he would be accompanying me to deeper and deeper floors. Hestia was too soft to refuse us, and it wasn't like I was going to put us in over our heads. I would take us as far as we could reasonably go and then start grinding experience points.
"Just don't go deeper than you can handle." Hestia sighed deeply. "Promise me."
"I promise." "Swear on my life." Bell and I answered at the same time.
"I suppose that's all I can ask from you. Bell, Matthew, there's a gathering for the gods happening tonight. I'm heading there, and I may be gone for a few days. Don't go too far into the dungeon until I come back to update your falna." She said with a pout. Don't worry Hestia, by the time you get back we will already be level two. The silent promise made, I began wonder exactly how I would achieve that. I don't actually know how level ups work in this world. Do you just need to meet an exp requirement? Hopefully.
"Have fun at your party Goddess." Bell said with a smile, bringing a blush to Hestia's face. Okay I'm certain Hestia is into Bell. I'll bring it up to him sometime when she's gone. Bell and I made sure to bid our goddess goodbye as we left for the dungeon. Lili to my surprise insisted on sticking along, explaining that she would be helpful as a supporter. This time I also decided to bring Reginald along after covering him in a cloak. I felt kind of bad for relegating him to dish duty yesterday. I really shouldn't feel that way though since he's essentially a machine.
It wasn't a challenge reaching the dungeon, entering it was a different story though. It was a difficult feeling to articulate, but it felt like today the dungeon had it's metaphorical eyes on me when it hasn't before. Almost like it was issuing a challenge. Hopefully this feeling is just paranoia, if the dungeon is actually challenging me directly I think that would make me sick. A stark reminder of how much stronger I need to get.
"Okay Bell lets see your spell in action." I told him as he grinned madly with a spark in his eye, drawing his dagger.
"Let lightning strike my foe, true as blade!" Bell said excitedly as his dagger suddenly became coated in dancing sparks of electricity. It didn't take long before the dungeon spawned five goblins ahead of us. Bell took the opportunity to test the spell. As he hit the lead goblin a thunderous boom echoed throughout the dungeon forcing Lili and I to cover our ears. That part I expected. What I didn't expect was for the goblin he struck to be fried by lightning, only for the sparks to then jump between the other four, killing them instantly. Yeah that a lot stronger than what the cantrip should be.
"That was amazing! Did you see that Matthew-san?" Bell asked excitedly. Well it's a good thing he's so hyped about his magic.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it, because you're going to keep doing it until you pass out." I told him with an evil grin.
"Eh?"
"We need to level up as fast as possible Bell, that means pushing ourselves to the limit and then shattering that limit into a million pieces." I explained as a second group of monsters began to spawn. Kobolds, a perfect target to test my new spell.
"Old rivalries, bad blood, hated enemy, destined foe. Let rage flow through your veins, an endless sea of fire. You are mine, my wrath yours." I chanted as I focused the spell. For a split second I could feel a mental bond form between myself and the kobold. The hatred of the dungeon, I could feel it again. It was directed at the three of us for the moment, but as soon as I mentally pictured the other kobolds in my mind there was a shift in the magic. Taken from my trance I could tell I was only gone for a second. The kobold now under the influence of my magic then began viciously attacking its kindred.
After the kobold had killed all of the others it then turned its aggression towards us once more. I suppose my spell only hijacks the dungeon's, so the monsters will return to their default programing after my magic runs its course. "Toll the Dead"
With the final monster dead Lili immediately began cutting into the monsters without hesitation. It was then I felt... something. The walls of the dungeon began swelling. Not literally, magically... I think.
"Lili, Bell, the dungeon is abou-" I tried to warn before the walls of the dungeon exploded in a torrent of monsters. Dozens of goblins and kobolds burst forth from the walls and swarmed me as a tidal wave. They ignored Lili and Reginald. They also ignored Bell who fried five of them right off the bat. I see how it is asshole. The dungeon was NOT happy with me using its own spell against it.
"Ice Knife!"
My spell struck one of the kobolds in the head killing it and two others with the following blast. That didn't really matter as ten or so monster dogpiled me. With all of the goblins and kobolds biting and scratching at me wherever they could I felt my False Life work overdrive to try and patch up every wound. Honestly thank the heavens above for Arcane Tradition - Necromancy. I would have died like three times by now if I didn't have it.
"Ice Knife!" I cast unsure of how many I killed this time. It had to have been more than two seeing as how close all of the monsters were, but I was unsure seeing as there was still a dogpile of monsters preventing me from seeing. I could feel a few of them fall limp meaning that Bell and Lili were helping now. It only took an extra Ice Knife and a few more attacks from Bell before I was freed of my fleshy prison. The dungeon didn't seem content with just that first wave though as it continued pummeling us for over an hour.
Well it felt like an hour. By the time the dungeon had decided to stop throwing monsters at us, I had used all of my tier one spells for the day and had cast Toll the Dead probably fifty times, and False Life about twenty. So in reality it was likely closer to ten or so minutes. I really need to stop being so reckless though. False Life is the only reason that unrelenting assault hadn't killed me. And the only reason it hadn't killed Bell or Lili is because the monsters were almost exclusively attacking me.
"I'm sorry Dungeon-chan, I'll never use your spell against you again. Please forgive me." I said allowed in hopes that the dungeon would overlook this instance. I wasn't going to hold my breath for a response. The dungeon may have stopped spawning monsters, but it was clear from the magic saturation in the walls that it could if it so chose. Why it didn't it? I don't know. Bell had past out at some point near the end so the dungeon very much could kill us right now. Lili on the other hand seemed completely unfazed by the torrent of monsters we just faced and was already carving into the mountain of corpses.
"You holding up alight over there Lili?" I asked, watching her put a brief pause to her monster harvesting. Pulling out my own knife I sat down next to a small pile of corpses and began cutting as well.
"Master you are insane. You know that right?" She asked before mumbling something else that I couldn't hear. I thought about the question as I tried to cut into a kobold. Was this really insane? I mean I didn't plan on pissing off the dungeon. I knew it was a possibility so perhaps I should have expected it, but I didn't. I also couldn't really use that as an excuse because my original plan for today was to cast nothing but False Life as I let war shadows attack me and for Bell to pretty much do what he did against that horde. I was drawn from my thoughts by just how annoying harvesting monsters was. It was difficult enough cutting the thing open with a stupid knife, but I've been digging around this kobold for at least a minute and I haven't been able to find its magic stone. This is so much easier when all the gross meat bits are melted away by my magic.
"Master you should really leave this part to Lili and watch out for more monsters." She giggled. I froze as I heard it. It honestly brought a smile to my face to know Lili could still laugh after all that has happened. Even if she was laughing at my inability to properly harvest monsters.
"Ugh, what happened?" Bell asked groggily.
"Welcome back to the land of the living Bell. What happened is that I used the dungeon's own spell against it, that really pissed her off so she tried really hard to kill us. Oh and you went into mind down." I explained as Bell stood up and looked at the sea of dead monsters before deadpanning.
"Wait you think the dungeon is a female?" He asked.
"Well to be honest I'm not sure, but if Dungeon-chan didn't like to be referred to as feminine I'm pretty sure she would have killed me for calling it a her." I said. Originally I just called the dungeon 'chan' to be silly, but I am absolutely certain that if the dungeon was a guy it would have killed me for saying that. "Anyways, you got pretty beat up today Bell. You help Lili cut these things up and get to the guild."
"What about you?"
"I don't really have a limit on how many times I can cast False Life a day so I'm going to stay in the dungeon to power level my defense stat." I explained. It was kind of scary to think about staying on my own, but from what I've been able to gather the dungeon did play by the rules. As long as I followed them it wouldn't fuck me like that again. What those rules are? No clue. As long as I don't use Command Hatred I should be fine though.
"If you're sure. Just don't go to far okay?" He said as he began to cut into the monsters with a practiced ease that made me jealous. How the hell can he get those stones out so fast?"
"False Life. Bell I'm heading further down, make sure to grab a mattress on your way back home." I told him. I didn't want to sleep on the floor again tonight.
The way to the second floor was oddly quite. It was really concerning given that the magic saturation seemed to follow me down the halls of the dungeon. It was almost like it was waiting for an excuse to kill me. I made sure to continually cast False Life as often as I could, but it wasn't that reassuring.
"Listen, I can still feel your magic pooling at the walls Dungeon-chan. The suspense is killing me. If you're going to make an attempt on my life just do it already." I commanded, yet the stillness of the dungeon continued as if it hadn't heard me. I know you can hear me you bitch!
After a few minutes I could feel the sea of magic around me begin to recede for whatever reason. The dungeon was clearly playing by some sort of rules, I really needed to find out what those rules were if I was going to stop it. It was eating me up to know that I needed to play by this entities rules if I wanted to grow strong enough to properly contend it. It was also confusing. I knew for a fact that it hated me. That it hated adventurers. That it hated the world itself. If it has all of this power, then why is it restricting itself? Its little outburst earlier proved it can and will go against these rules, but it went right back to them. Argh, if I didn't have to worry about Soma I wouldn't leave this place until I figured out what these damn rules are and why the dungeon follows them. It's not like I can defeat the dungeon as I am, but if I ever wanted to then finding out the how's and the why's was top priority.
"I almost wish I hadn't used Identify on that magic stone. Learning about you is scary dungeon-chan." I sighed as I felt magic pool on my left. Not enough to create a sea of monsters, just three goblins. I Ignored them and continued onto the forth floor. Even if the constant bites and clawing hurt, it would do wonders for my defense stat. The temp health I would get from False Life every six seconds was way more than the damage these weak goblins could dish out. My rate of healing was slightly higher than the war shadows could deal, so I could safely farm defense on the sixth floor. I wasn't sure if it would be enough on the seventh with whatever monsters came next, but seventh and beyond I would need to start relying on False Life less and less. It would still be good to keep a massive pool of temp health but I would need to avoid any unnecessary hits or absorb some damage with armor.
By the time I reached the sixth floor the amount of goblins attacking me tripled and four dungeon lizards joined the fray. I quickly disposed of them with Toll the Dead before heading deeper to power level.
I need to reach level two. I need to kick Soma's teeth in. I need to be there when the dungeon decides she's tired of playing by the rules. I need to be stronger.
AN: Yes I have read 'Is it Wrong to Speak in the Dungeon' (It's a good fic, you should read it if you haven't) . No there will be no yandere dungeon romance in this story. The dungeon is a girl, but she is not going to be a cute waifu romance option.
Haziq Saffari: Yeah it may seem a bit out of character for Bell to just be ok with killing, but I figured that it could be justified with Bell's love of heroes funnily enough. Evilus was a big deal before Bell was born and as he was growing. Even if gramps didn't directly tell him any stories where people died, I figured it wouldn't be unbelievable for Bell to hear stories about heroes who had to fight evil people and put two and two together on how they were dealt with.
Mew2: Thank you very much