Miach´s expression was grim, he was beyond serious while he walked.

The god right next to him looked similar.

"Miach, it´s time."

"I know, let´s do our best, Take."

Both gods entered a special chamber together, only the gods were allowed here.

One hour later, a huge uproar went through Orario.

.

.

The guild was filled with adventurers that looked at the blackboard. Eina could hear many whispers and mumbling.

"Three months..."

"Level two..."

"So fast..."

"Woah..."

"How did he do that?"

Due to Eina´s sharp ears, she heard the mumbling.

"Misha, do you know what happened?"

"What, haven´t you heard?!"

"Huh?"

"Your pupil reached level two already!"

"Oh? Good for him."

"Good for him?! He did that in three months!"

"What do you mean, three months?"

"Oh, Eina! He started to be an adventurer three months ago, you are his advisor! You should know that!"

"Ahm, yeah I know, but Bell trained heavily for two years before that. He told me that it sometimes got really brutal to prepare him for the dungeon."

"But mere training before, I mean...how much did that do?"

"I am not allowed to tell you the details, but he already had the status to level up."

"Oh...Ooooooh! Does that mean he didn´t need three months, but two years and three months?!"

"Yes. Why are you shouting?"

Soon other whispers, rumors and mumbling filled the guild, words came up that Miach was trying to show off his child, by spreading false facts.

Since it went a bit out of hand, the leader of the guild stepped in. The old elf asked around and got a few informations. Miach´s child indeed went up to level two, three months after becoming an adventurer. The gods were too amazed by this information and didn´t listen to Miach´s explanation, that he trained two years before that.

Many gods longed for entertainment and this indeed would´ve been too amazing.

Miach was glad that the situation was put right.

But he wasn´t that happy about Bell´s alias...

And because of the words that spread fast in Orario, Bell heard his alias before he even went home.

Still, the rumor of a rookie that only took three months to level up remained, not many people heard about the two years of training before or they thought normal training wouldn´t do much.

.

.
"Gnihi!"

"Mmmmh..."

"I can´t believe that the new rising star in Orario everybody´s talking about came to buy my armor."

Bell looked pretty flustered, the grin of the red haired man widened.

"Well, nice to meet you...Dragonboy."

"UUuuh...this sounds so uncool..."

"Ah get used to it, the gods have quite a lot of fun by handing out such names."

"*Sniff* At least I got the chance to meet you in person, Mr. Crozzo."

"Hey, could I ask you to not call me Mr. Crozzo? I am not really fond it of."

"Then, Mr. Welf?"

"Better, you have my thanks."

Suddenly, Welf grinned wide. "So, Bell Cranel. This is the second time you come to buy my work now! This makes you a regular customer, correct?"

"Ahm, I guess?"

Bell heard someone click their tongue, it looked like some people were watching them.

"Hehe, sorry ´bout that. It´s just something among smiths."

"What do you mean?"

"There is a rule among us smiths, as long as a customer only bought your work once, it doesn´t count. But when he or she comes back and asks for work of yours, that means this person becomes a regular."

"Hm, okay."

Welf winked. "You don´t understand why that is important, right?"

"You are right."

"We smiths always looked for good people to have a contract with, strong adventurers. It isn´t only about being profitable, this way we get a good chance to get our hands on rare dropp items and forge something out of it. For example, the captain of my familia has a direct contract with one of the high executives of the Loki familia."

"Wow, then your captain must be really good. But is it okay to tell me this?"

"She is, not as good as our goddess of course. Of course it is okay, she has to tell anyone who asks her for a contract anyway."

"So you are part of the Hephaistos familia, Mr. C-..Mr. Welf?"

"I am."

"Hm, I thought that the smiths of your familia put the symbol of the familia on the equipment they make."

"I don´t have the right to do that right now."

"But why?"

"Only someone with the high smith ability is allowed to do that. My goddess is very strict about this, she doesn´t tolerate that a cheap product has her name on it. Call it a smith´s or a goddess´ pride if you want."

"No, I think I understand it."

Welf´s expression suddenly got very serious.

"How about it, Bell. Would you form a direct contract with me?"

"A direct conract? Like your captain?"

"Exactly. I´ll work only for you, make weapons, armor, whatever you want. But in return, I would ask you to let me join your party. My familia doesn´t have really dungeon parties on it´s own, only one or two and I don´t really get along with these guys."

"Oh, that´s sad."

"Ah not really. In a familia as big as mine, you can´t get along with everyone."

"Hm, probably."

"So, what do you say?"

"Hm, I really would like to add someone to the party."

"I can understand if you have to ask your captain and god first."

Bell shook his head.

"Lord Miach said I am our dungeon captain, since my captain doesn´t go into the dungeon. I myself have nothing against it, I have the feeling that you are someone I can trust. But I would like to ask my god for permission, would that be okay?"

"You belong to the Miach familia? Ha, I guess there should be no problem then."

"Hm?"

Welf grinned. "My goddess and your god are friends, she is going out to drink with him and two other gods sometimes."

"Oh! So lady Hephaistos is one of lord Miach´s friends. Then there shouldn´t be a problem. But would you accompany me to our home, so that I can talk to the other members too?"

"Sure, I have nothing else to do. How many other people are in your party?"

"Two, one of them a supporter."

"Oh, that´s good. Going into the dungeon without a supporter is a bad idea, it´s a shame that most adventurers look down on them."

Bell already started to like Welf.

.

.

"Owie...Owie...Ouchie...Oww..."

Lily ached and whined, her whole body hurt. Alfia was merciless, but Lily already started to get better. She knew that Alfia was right, it was better to train hard. Also it would spare her from getting bullied by adventurers again. Alfia told Lily that she was a former adventurer and knew quite a lot of strong supporters.
That even supporters had to fight deep in the dungeon. A problem that came especially for supporters, was mostly a lower level, since they didn´t fight on their own as much as the others. So if they went further down, it would become dangerous for Lily.

At least Alfia didn´t train her for the whole day, by chance she returned to the home of her familia at the same time as Bell.

"Ah, Mr. Bell...hello..."

"Lily, you look really tired."

"Lily is tired..."

"Shall I talk with her?"

"No, she is right, this training is important."

He smiled wryly. "If you say so."

Lily was tired enough to not even notice the young man behind Bell. As a gentleman, Bell opened the door for Lily and let her go in first.

The home of his familia was a bit more lively than he thought.

"Mwehehehe...fluffy tails."

"Lena, no. Not now."

"Mouh...not even to celebrate the day?"

"No means no."

"*Sniff*"

"Y-Your puppy eyes won´t work..."

"*Sniff* Uuuuh..."

"Okay...but only one."

"Yeah!"

Haruhime and Lena sat on the couch in the living room, the shop was currently closed. Lena smiled like a child when Haruhime allowed her to fluff one of her tails.

Miach smiled slightly. "Ah, Bell, Lily, welcome back. What a coincidence."

Lily didn´t answer, she just walked to the next chair and sat down, sighing.

"Hm?"

Bell noticed that Nahza had her ears pushed against her head, the tail moved in the way when she was agitated and she eyed Lena. She also stood directly at Miach´s side, holding his right hand.

"I would like to introduce you two to the new member of our familia."

Bell looked perplexed at Lena, who let go of Haruhime´s tail for a moment and waved happily.

"Nice ´ta meet´cha, Boss."

"Huh?!"

Miach continued. "Lena came after you left and asked if she could join our familia."

Lena grinned. "Hehe, and lord Miach gave his okay. Will be nice to be part of a familia with such a handsome god."

"Rrrrrrr..."

Nahza growled at Lena and pushed herself against Miach.

"Ah don´t worry captain, lord Miach is handsome but I have my eyes on someone else."

Lena felt how Haruhime´s tail went stiff, she leaned forward and whispered into Haruhime´s ear.

"Not on your hero, don´t worry."

"Mh."

Haruhime´s tail went soft again. Lena thankfully knew how to handle women that were in love with someone.

"So, you are part of our familia now?"

"Jup, but don´t worry, I have my own room in the city. Would be a bit cramped here with me."

Miach nodded. "Our familia is growing a bit faster than I thought it would."

Lena looked around. "What did you expect? I´ve seen how the women in the city look at you lord Miach, you have to be aware of that. And in case you´re not, I know and see that our captain is deeply in love with you, you should make it clear to everyone that she is your woman and you are her man. And then is our "Dungeon-Captain", he is also quite handsome too. With the two of you it isn´t surprising that women continue to show up and probably more will in the future."

"I guess you are right."

Lena´s reputation grew immediatelly in Nahza´s eyes, since Miach put his arm around Nahza´s waist after her words.

"That´s what I´m talking about, this will make our captain´s life a lot easier."

Then she whispered into Haruhime´s ear again.

"And you make sure to mark your territory too."

"I-I´m trying..."

"So why did you want to join our familia, Ms. Lena?"

"Just say Lena, boss."

"And you Bell."

"Alright. I was looking for a new familia for a while, also some things happened."

They noticed how Lena put a hand on her waist, Bell noticed a small scar there.

"It isn´t easy to find a familia to get along with, Aisha and Samira are now both in the Ganesha familia, I don´t know why. And since I was really impressed by you and Haru-Haru is here, I just wanted to ask lord Miach. It is nice to join a smaller familia for once and I can really help you in the dungeon."

"I think I understand you."

"Hehe, now you won´t be alone in the frontline anymore. I´m also good to fight in the middle or the rearguard."

"We will need a bit of time to get used to each other in the party."

"Jup, nothing new. Ooohooo, but who is this handsome guy over there?"

"Oh, right. I´m sorry, Mr. Welf, I forgot for a minute."

"Don´t sweat it, a new familia member is always a big thing."

Bell cleared his throat. "Lord Miach, Mr. Welf here is a smith that belongs to the Hephaistos familia. He is currently looking for a party to go into the dungeon. I talked to him and he asked me to let him join our party."

"You don´t need to ask me, Bell, you make the choices for the dungeon party."

"I know, but I still wanted to talk to you first."

Miach smiled. "Your mother raised you well."

Then the god looked at Welf and his smile widened a bit.

"So you are Welf, Hephaistos talks a lot about you."

"She does?"

"Oh yes, she is really proud of you, but she hopes you will do much better in the future. So I have nothing against you joining the dungeon party."

They continued to introduce each other, then Welf and Bell went to business, he measured Bell and asked what kind of armor he would like, it would be similar to the first one, but a bit bigger. Since Bell´s new armor got made for him instead of buying one, they decided to take the week off from the dungeon. Like this they were able to organize everything and allow it to settle down.

And Bell could get used to his new alias, according to Haruhime it was...quite cute.

Also, Alfia could get used to the fact that an amazon was now part of her son´s familia, which was quite hard for her.

.

.

"..."

"Aisha?"

"Ahm."

For the first time in her life, Haruhime saw Aisha speechless. They had arranged to meet in a café, Aisha had recently been very busy with jobs for her new family. Lena accompanied Haruhime, the news about the fox spread like wildfire in Orario. Since they took a break from the dungeon, Haruhime helped in the shop of her familia. The customers soon noticed Haruhime´s additional tails and her increased beauty. There wasn´t one customer that wasn´t perplexed by her tails.
The rumors spread so fast in Orario, that a few gods came to see if it was true. They were too excited about this, more than one god asked her to join their familia. And more than one man tried to hit on her, thankfully Lena shooed them away.

And now Lena acted a bit like Haruhime´s bodyguard, they didn´t risk letting her walk alone in Orario. Maybe the situation would calm down in the near future, as far as they knew, Haruhime only had an unusual amount of tails.

"They are real, yes?"

"Of course they are."

"And they just grew?"

"No, my tail became thicker and then parted in a way."

"Didn´t that hurt?"

"Of course it did."

"And you are okay now?"

"Mostly, it takes a while to get used to them."

Lena grinned. "You should see how her boyfriend reacts to them. He can barely keep his eyes by himself."

"B-Bell isn´t my boyfriend..."

"Yet, Haru-Haru. You should get your act together or some other woman will do it and men would leave you alone."

"But...confessing to Bell..."

"If you don´t dare to confess, just push him down, when you two are al-"

Aisha noticed her mistake before she even finished her sentence, Haruhime didn´t react in the usual way to her teasing.

"I´m sorry, Haruhime. I didn´t think that...you know how I am..."

"It´s okay, Aisha. I know you didn't mean it badly."

"But you really do love him, don´t you?"

"I do. But I am not an amazon like you two, it takes me a while to gather my courage. I..."

"You?"

"I thought about..."

""Hmmmmmm?""

Lena and Aisha leaned forward, half grinning half smiling.

"W-We want to go forward into the middle floors soo. I thought...if we reach the 18th Floor...maybe...there."

"Ooooh! That´s a nice idea! Maybe I should confess to Bete Loga in the dungeon too!"

"Lena, you confessed to him twelf times already."

"Ten times! And I know that Bete Loga loves me! He promised to make as many babies with me as I want to, I just need to get stronger!"

He hadn't said it that way, but Lena understood it that way, wanted to understand it that way.

Aisha clapped her hands. "Alright, now we know what to do. Lena, it is your job to make sure that you reach the 18th floor soon!"

"Aye Aye!"

"H-Hey, how did we jump from asking why I have three tails to a confession plan?"

"Because these things are related, little sister. Your golden fur and hair alone make you exotic among animal people. But now that you've got three tails-"

"Which are very fluffy and soft! And smell good!"

"Thank you for interrupting me, Lena."

"Ehe, sorry."

"Where was I...right. Now that you have three tails, you are even more exotic than before. As Lena said, he barely can take his eyes away from you, I´m very sure he likes you a lot."

"Do you think so?"

"Absolutely."

Lena smiled. "Even his mother likes you."

"Oho? You've already made sure you're on good terms with his mother? A vixen thinks far ahead of what it looks like."

"It isn´t like that."

"Yeah, sure. Hah, I´m so proud of you, little sister. Now tell me in detail what happened when your tails parted."

"I also want to know that."

Haruhime averted her eyes at some point, while she told them.

Aisha whistled. "Phew, quite the erotic situation."

"Wow, that was hot. I want to do something like this with Bete Loga, being naked together and let him bite me..."

"We weren´t naked!"

"You were."

"N-Not completely!"

"Which is even more erotic. Looks like my gift was a good choice."

"I had to wear it because of the situation I was in."

"Okay, then tell me you didn´t enjoy it to be held by him."

"I...can´t."

"And now imagine, you two standing at night on the 18th floor, confessing to each other, kissing in the crystal light."

All three of Haruhime´s tails moved when she imagined this scene.

"Then we should make it happen. Steel yourself, little sister. On your next trip into the dungeon, when you reach the 18th floor, you will confess to your hero."

"You can do it, Haru-Haru!"

"Hauuu..."

.

.
The week went by and it was quite nice to relax a bit from the dungeon.

"So, Bell. Here."

Alfia pointed to the table between them. On it lay a sword in a scabbard, covered by a white cloth. Both were alone in Alfia's house, Bell had stayed there. Lily had got up quite early and left the house, Bell was almost certain that she had more or less fled from Alfia. The previous day and evening had been very nice, they had allowed themselves some mother and son time.

And now was the time to get his repaired sword back.

"Hm, Mom?"

"Yes?"

"The shape looks a little different than before."

"I know, take a look."

Bell carefully pulled away the white cloth.

His breath caught. Since it was in the scabbard, he could only see the hilt and crossguard. Both had a golden color, the knob at the end was designed quite simply. The crossguard itself was special, with both ends shaped like eagle heads bent upwards. On each broadside of the blade was a small jewel, blue on one side, green on the other. The scabbard was wider than the previous one, but only slightly. The main face was white, but bands of blue and green ran diagonally around it, leaving a large area in the center. The tip and the opening of the scabbard were also plated with gold. Bell saw it very clearly, the blues and greens matching his mother's and Alfia's eye colors. If he looked at it in a slightly different light, even that of Lefiya and Haruhime.

"Wow."

"Do you like it?"

"Very much."

His hands moved to the sword.

"May I?"

"It is yours, Sweety."

Bell carefully closed his right hand around the hilt of the sword, the left around the scabbard, lifted it up and slowly unsheathed it.

The full width of the blade did not transition from the crossguard to the cutting edge. The starting point was only about half as wide as the blade, but then went to full width in his short swing. The sword went straight up, but tapered about four inches from the point. A fuller was forged in the middle and the broadside of the blade was almost black, only the edges on both sides were slightly silvery. As far as he could see, the broadside was covered in runes he couldn't read. The moment he fully drew the sword, the runes glowed a faint blue.

"Woah, awesome."

Alfia smiled slightly. "You like it?"

"Yes, but..."

"Hm?"

"This...what happened to my father´s sword?"

"Don´t worry, it is in there."

"Hm?"

"I gave the remains of your father´s sword to a talented smith, together with my curved sword. She forged them together, into your sword. Your very own sword, made for your body."

Bell looked at the sword for a while without saying something. The blade was long enough to use the sword with both hands or together with a shield or maybe another weapon. Small tears gathered in his eyes, now he had a weapon from his father and mother combined.

Slowly he put the sword into the scabbard, then he got up and went to Alfia, hugging her gently.

"Thank you, Mom."

"I´m happy that you like it, Bell."

Both sat down next to each other.

Alfia pointed at the empty space on the scabbard. "The smith told me that when you give your sword a name, it will appear here. Also the sword will be bound to you, no one except you or one of your bloodline can use the full power of this sword."

"Does that mean you can use it too?"

"No, with bloodline I mean...children."

"Oh, Eheheh."

"Don´t even think about that, young man."

"D-Don´t worry, Mom."

Bell smiled shyly, he hadn´t even the chance to kiss a girl so far...

"Hm, giving my sword a name."

"It should be a name that you like."

Bell knew quite a lot of swords from his stories.

Hmm...Gram? No...Caladbolg? No...Masamune?...Muramasa?...Balmung?...or...

There was one mythical sword that was more famous than every other, the sword of the famous king of the roundtable. After the identity of his grandfather got reveiled to Bell, Zeus told him quite a lot about heroes of the past that he met personally. According to his grandfather, the famous king was actually a woman in disguise, she had blond hair and was "quite the babe", a "nine out of ten at least", Bell still didn´t understand what that meant. All he knew was, Alfia chased Zeus around the house after he told Bell that.

But copying the name of a famous sword seemed to be wrong.

Ehehe, maybe Olympus? After grandpa´s sword?

This wasn´t also what Bell was looking for.

Then...the name just came to him.

Bell slowly pulled the sword out again and held it upright in front of his face.

"Your name will be, Silence."

All of the runes engraved on the sword began to glow a soft blue. A faint crackle filled the air as tiny bolts of lightning leapt from Bell's hand to the blade, running along and encircling it. In his eyes the sword came to life, surrounded by a faint aura of lightning. Then the spectacle calmed down and the runes went out. On the scabbard, however, was a name etched in runic script, Bell couldn't read it, but he knew what it said.

"Bell, why?"

He smiled to Alfia. "Because I think it is a very beautiful name and I like it a lot. It means very much to me...Mom."

"But Bell, I-"

"Mom, no. I can´t tell you enough how much I love you, you mean the world for me. Also, I think the name Silence is fitting. Just like the name for you, it is simple, elegant, has a nice sound and it doesn't sound overly ostentatious. Besides, only you and I know the deeper meaning. And since you gave me this sword, it fits."

Alfia said nothing, just kissed Bell´s cheek.

"I´m glad that you like it."

"And I will use it for good."

"Be careful in the dungeon, okay?"

"Of course I will be."

Hephaistos gave Alfia a note together with the sword, apparently, this sword would grow in strength when Bell grew. She wrote in the explanation, that it would be too dangerous for Bell to get a sword that was stronger than that of the Empress. Alfia agreed with her.

.

.

"So, what do you say, Bell?"

"It fits quite well."

"Satisfied?"

"Absolutely."

"Good. Then Pyonkichi MK II is finished." Welf grinned.

Bell said nothing about the name. He turned around and moved in various ways, but everything was fine.

"I´m looking forward to test it."

"Just say something went it is uncomfortable, okay?"

"I will, thank you, Welf."

Satisfied with everything, Bell left his room together with Welf. His familia waited in the living room for them.

"Wow, it looks good, Bell."

"Thank you, lord Miach."

Nahza nodded in her sleepy way. "Looks good..."

"You look very nice, Mr. Bell."

"Very heroic, Bell."

"Hehe, thank you all."

All preparations were done, they would go into the dungeon for the first time in a week. Bell was all too eager to test out his new strength...and sword. They had talked about and agreed on a formation. They had two level two adventurers, Lena had more experience than Bell, but wasn´t that much stronger, since she wasn´t able to max out every stat. One option would´ve been to let both take the vanguard, but that would focus their strength on one point. Like Lena said, she was good in every position in a party. So Bell and Welf would be their vanguard, Lily and Haruhime in the middle and Lena would be their rearguard. That suited Lena very well, in this way she was able to fully develop her fighting style. She was in the process of mastering her very own fighting technique, Lena called it a war dancer.
She was also considerate enough, that her whirling, half naked body body wouldn´t distract Bell and Welf then, when she was behind them. While she had only eyes for one man and these two weren´t interested in her, Lena knew that it could be distracting.

Aisha and Samira said that Lena wasn´t the brightest sometimes, but this was actually pretty smart of her. By herself, Lena just thought it would be natural to be distracted by her beauty.

In her position she could also protect Haruhime better and chat with her from time to time.

.

.

"Yees, the 11th floor! Finally!"

Welf cheered as soon as they arrived on the floor, Bell was also happy, the way down here had been pretty easy. Not only because Bell was level two now, but because they were five people. They had talked about it beforehand, they aimed for the magic stones in the monsters, to turn them to ash. To fill Lily´s backpack with magic stones from the upper floors wouldn´t make much sense. They had the strength to move easily down to the 12th floor now, so they should collect the most profitable stuff.

Bell also grinned, happy that they moved forward. His need to protect Haruhime was as strong as becoming as strong as Lefiya Viridis.

"Then let us begin."

They had to go up one time to empty Lily´s backpack at the guild, taking a short lunch break and immediatelly going back into the dungeon. With five people, two of them level two, it was quite easy to move around these floors.

Welf didn´t only work for Bell, he took care of the party´s equipment in general, with the exception of Haruhime´s bow, since bows were different from the weapons he was familiar with. But he could help her with the arrowheads, sharpened them and carefully repaired them when something was cracked. Haruhime had learned to take care of her bow and arrows, but Welf was of great help. Lily also learned to appreciate Welf, apart from cleaning and polishing she couldn't really take care of her spear, but he could. And Lena was only too pleased to have Welf take care of her scimitar.

But there was one piece of equipment that drew in everyone´s eyes. Bell´s sword.

"Wow, just wow. Bell, whoever forged this sword is an absolute master of the craft. This is the best piece of blacksmithing I've ever seen. Merging adamantium and mithril alone must have been difficult."

"Mithril?"

"Yeah, the silvery part of your sword, it is too bright to just contain adamantium. Didn´t you know that?"

"No, my Mom just said that the reforged sword could withstand my magic."

"That proves it, you need mithril for that. Damn this is a fine sword, I feel blessed just to be allowed to clean it now and then. Do you see? You don't even have to sharpen the sword. And when you use your lightning magic with it, grease and blood just burns away."

The fact that Bell´s magic burned away any dirt was quite convenient, but it smelled. For now Welf showed him how to take perfect care of his sword, but Bell would soon do that by himself.

"It really is awesome."

"Does it have a name? Shall I give it one?"

"It´s name is "Silence"."

"Hm, simple. I would´ve given it another name."

"Yeah..."

Bell got to know which kind of names Welf prefered, they were a bit...weird.

They went into the dungeon for six days and made a good amount of money, they rested and bought necessary things on the seventh day.

And then finally...they would go into the middle floors.

.

.

"Bell, Haruhime, Liliruca, Lena and you too Welf. Please be careful when you go down into the middle floors, it is very different from the upper levels. Lena, you already have experience down there, you know what awaits you."

All five nodded, each of them wore a robe made from salamander wool.

"Please be careful..."

Nahza looked more than a bit uneasy, she had bad memories about the middle floors.

Bell nodded serious. "We will be careful, for today we just want to explore the 13th and 14th floors."

"Good, as long as you all return safely, I am satisfied."

"Then we´re heading out."

.

.

The party of the Miach familia was on their way to the dungeon, Alfia wasn´t that worried. Bell became strong, his party had grown, even when she wasn´t that happy that an amazon was part of his party. But there was something different about this amazon, she was strange, strange for an amazon at least.

Lena had changed the style of her closes, she wore long pants now that had slits at the sides from her hip down to her feet, so it covered more skin than before. Her sleeves also looked like that, Lena thought this was a brilliant idea. Covering more skin would let her look mysterious and very different from other amazons. Yet the long slits let her feel the air on her skin and that her skin got sometimes visible should make her more alluring for a certain werewolf. Even for Alfia this was something new, she had never seen an amazon that was so deeply in love with a man.

Today was one of the good days for Alfia, a day where her illness left her alone. But it would soon turn into a very unpleasant day. She would become exhausted and feel pain, but she did it for Bell.

Her goal for today was the education district, a special place in the education district. Alfia never told Bell about this, but at some days she felt very weak and ill, because of what she did in that special place. It was a good thing that no one there knew that she was one of the ultimate evils of the dark times.

But it was necessary, it would nearly completely drain her of her magical energy again.

Alfia was ready to bear with the pain again, if it meant to keep up "the barrier"...

I will bear everything for you, Sweety.

To distract herself when the pain started, Alfia drifted in a dream memory about Meteria, about the time when she first guessed that her beloved twin sister was pregnant. Meteria told Alfia for a while again and again that she wasn´t pregnant, that her "boyfriend" was too much of a whim or "didn´t have the balls" to sneak into her bed. Alfia still cursed Zeus that Meteria learned such phrases from the perverted god.

Alfia´s lips twitched and curled into the slightest smile possible when she rememberred the moment.

"I-I told you, Alfia. I am not pregnant, he would never dare to...y-you know."

"Your stomach is bulging...and you are a terrible liar. Alright...I will go and obliterate the perverted god´s familia now..."

"Noo! Stop! It wasn´t his fault!"

Alfia turned her face to her sister again.

"It...It...I mean..."

Up to this day, Alfia refused to believe that it was Meteria that lost patience and pulled her beloved into her bed for...adult cuddling.

Not her dear, innocent, pure and sweet sister...

.

.

The way down to the middle floors went smooth, Lena constantly told them everything she knew. Haruhime had only a little experience with the middle floors, she was only carried in a cage during these times.

"Haru-Haruuu! Look, look! Isn´t this Al-Miraj the cutest thing you have ever seen?!"

Haruhime backed a bit away.

Lena held the struggling monster in front of Haruhime. The white fur and the red eyes reminded her of something or...someone.

"Touh!"

Lena bent her flexible body in a beautiful, perfectly done german suplex and smashed the neck and head of the poor monster on the floor.

"Lena, how could you do that to Bell?!"

"Huh?"

"Ah sorry, I mean..ahm.."

Bell looked shocked when he heard Haruhime´s words.

"Hm, now that you say it, these Al-Miraj really look like Bell." Welf scrathed his skin.

"Lily thinks so too, a whole horde of Mr. Bells!"

"These are Al-Miraj!"

Lena looked shocked. "Awww, I bet you would look cute, boss. With rabbit ears and a bushy tail."

"This isn´t funny!"

Haruhime hastily covered her nose with her hand, the image of Bell being a rabbit animal person was too cute.

Lena grinned when she leaned closer and whispered.

"Don´t tell me you´re getting a nosebleed, hehe."

"N-No..."

"C-Could we focus on the monsters again, please?!"

Lena waved and grinned. "You´re doing fine, boss."

Bell indeed did a good job, with Silence in his hands, he hacked and slashed his way through the charging rabbit monsters. It looked almost like a king fighting his way through revolting peasants.

The feeling was completely different compared to before. Silence didn´t feel like something he held in his hand, it felt like a part of his arm. And it was so beautiful, Bell loved to two eagle heads, his grandfather told him that the eagle was his favorite bird, something about good memories with eagles.
It sounded like the blade nearly sung when it sliced through something, as if the metal were very fine and had a high degree of purity.

Oddly enough, it was never particularly loud. With his old sword, there was often a smacking sound as he sliced through flesh, or a louder cracking or metallic clang as he parried a claw or dungeon weapon. Silence, on the other hand, produced these sounds, but only very softly.

Hehe, how fitting.

An Al´Miraj that tried to jump at Bell from the side got it´s head chopped off by Welf´s giant sword.

"I am with you, Dragonboy!"

"Don´t call me by my alias! It´s embarrassing!"

Even between the sounds of the fight...probably because Silence didn't make much noise...Bell heard a sound behind him that someone was trying to stifle.

"Mufu."

"Lily?"

"L-Lily didn´t laugh!"

She wasn´t the first to do that because of his alias. When he told Alfia about it, she made a noise that was rare for her.

"Pfft..."

"Mom...did...did you just laugh about my alias?"

"No..."

"Mom..why aren´t you looking into my eyes?"

"Y-You shouldn´t talk like that with your Mom, Sweety..."

.

.
They all told him that it was meant to be like that, that he only would get a badass alias when he got stronger. Bell longed for a cool name, impressive ones like Nine Hell, Phoenix, Aeola Ventus or even Braver.

How about Thunder Warrior? Or Lightning Blade? That sounds good.

The fight continued.

Moving with a party of five was really something and having Welf and Lena to fight in close combat took a huge burden from his shoulders. The middle floors were much different from the upper levels, without Lena and Welf, they probably would have problems. They moved carefully, Lena shared all of her experience with them.

But sometimes the best preparation wasn´t good enough.

Sometimes Fate didn´t allowed any other outcome, no mater how much the circumstances changed.

She could be a cruel Mistress or even a generous queen.

And so again, Bell and his party experienced what it meant when the dungeon bared her fangs.

.

.

"Mikoto! Hurry, don´t fall behind!"

"Yes!"

The party of the Takemikazuchi familia also went to the dungeon this day, but in a smaller group. Only Chigusa, Mikoto and Ouka went down, they had intended to not move further than the start of the 13th floor, but the dungeon had other plans. As it was her fate in that moment, Ouka carried Chigusa on his back, a dungeon weapon stuck out of her back. Mikoto did her best to protect them, striked down the monsters that chased them. But it were just too many, the prey was there and the monsters hungry.

"We can´t escape them!"

Ouka´s head came up when he heard noises in front of them, someone was fighting.

"Follow me!"

They ran as fast as they could, Ouka had to make a grim decision. He would hate himself for it, but the survival of his own group was more important to him.

But...in this moment, the cruel Mistress Fate, smiled like a queen.

Mikoto guessed what Ouka planned to do, her heart got squeezed by her honor for what they were about to do. And then...Mikoto spotted something.

Long golden hair, two pointy ears and three fluffy tails.

"Ouka! Haruhime!"

He saw it too, the party that they wanted to ditch the monsters on was Haruhime´s. The intention to perform a pass parade vanished in that splitsecond, there was no way they could do that now.

And due to her very sensitive ears, Haruhime heard the approaching party as soon as they could spot them. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw her three dear friends, with the wounded Chigusa, chased by monsters.

"Mikoto! Chigusa! Ouka! Over here!"

The others noticed them too, as well as the monsters chasing them.

Bell tightened the grip on his sword. They are in danger!

"Lena! More incomming! Welf, I will go ahead! Lily, give them a position in our formation!"

"""Right!"""

.

.

Mikoto was simply stunned by the sight in front of her. A small army of Al´Miraj came from all sides to attack the party and a horde of Hellhounds chased them. She saw Haruhime moving quickly back and forth, sending arrows fly with great aim. The small supporter was in the middle of the group, sent bolts flying and defended herself and Haruhime with her spear, the backpack was on the ground. And in the backline, was the amazon.
She danced and whirled around, swinging her scimitar through the air, slicing and hacking Al Mirajs apart. Sometimes she threw one to the ground and stomped the head with her bare foot or cracked a skull with her ellbow. Whenever a dungeon weapon came even close, she blocked it with her special bracer.

It was really more a dance than a fight, Mikoto was fascinated by it for a moment. Lena moved fast and brutal, but with elegance, it almost looked like as if she wanted to impress someone with that fighting style. Or as if she worked to improve her style to impress someone with it in the future.

And then there was Bell, he looked different from when Mikoto had seen him before. His armor was new, it was more metallic white than a pure white. And there were green splinters everywhere in his armor, forged into it. Bell had asked Welf to use the shattered remains of his first shield, the emerald protector, and forge it into the armor pieces. Like this, the emerald protector could still protect Bell. In a way he still had his shield and his father´s sword with him, that was important to Bell.

"Thunderbolt!"

Bell pressed his hand against the broadside of his sword and used his magic. The effect looked amazing, blue lightning washed over the blade and remained on it for a while.

"Keep moving!"

Ouka ran with Chigusa on his back past Bell, moving in the middle of the group. Mikoto turned around when she ran past Bell and readied her stance.

"HARUHIME! EARS! Ms. Mikoto, cover your ears!"

Mikoto didn´t know what Bell planned, but she did as he ordered her.

She got goosebumps when Bell held his "burning" sword in his right hand, raised the left and took a deep breath.

"THUNDER-BOLT!"

It was good that she had covered her ears, the following thunderclap was very loud. And the Hellhounds received the full force of the magic spell. The massive wave of thunder and lightning washed forward. Mikoto saw ears and eyes of the monsters exploding, some got slightly scorched, but most of them just crushed by the magic. Even the Al´Miraj behind them screamed in pain when Bell basically made them deaf for now.

The spell was much stronger than the last time he had used it. Maybe because he was level two now. Bell had killed a dozen hellhounds with just one magic attack. The burden was still great and many more monsters came.

"We need to fall back!"

"We can´t!"

Bell looked quickly over his shoulder, the way back got blocked by dozens over dozens of Al Miraj and new hellhounds. The dungeon closed it´s jaws around the group of adventurers.

"Over there!"

Lily pointed with her spear into a direction where the ranks of the monsters were thinner.

"Welf, Mr. Ouka!"

Although he didn't want to leave her side, he entrusted Lily with the badly injured Chigusa. Haruhime stayed at Lily's side, slipping on her bow and grabbing her waist pack with the potions. Stabilizing Chigusa while moving was not easy and very dangerous, but they had no choice, there was no way to get to the 12th floor.

For their new direction, Ouka and Welf formed the vanguard, Lena was at the side, Bell and Mikoto became the rearguard. Their weapons rose and fell, thrusting, blocking, and doing whatever they could to kill the monsters as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Haruhime thought about using her magic, but there was no time to stand still long enough.

Under normal circumstances the ad hoc party would be more than strong enough to take on this floor even if they had one injured. But monsters appeared in such great numbers that they threatened to overwhelm them.

But even with four level two adventurers, one of them also very experienced with this floor, they could just retreat.

"Mouh, what´s wrong with them?! Since when are monsters coming in such numbers here?!" Lena couldn´t do much more than slaying monsters and complain.

The rule was, the further down in the dungeon someone went, the faster did the monsters appear. The middle levels were very different from the upper levels, but it still was very unusual.

"Boss! I have an idea!"

Lena called Bell for no particular reason like that, mostly because it was funny.

"What is it?!"

"Follow me!"

It was a blessing that Lena had so much experience on middle floors, even when she didn´t have a map, she was here often enough to know many ways.

What followed was a true odyssey through the floors middle. Monsters constantly pursued them, but Lena safely guided them through the tunnels and paths. No matter how Bell's fate changed or veered one way or the other, some things were firmly fixed in his destiny. One of those things was his first trip to the middle levels. Deprived of the choice to return to the surface, they instead moved deeper. Lily first realized Lena's plan to move down to the 18th floor. She would have made the same decision. As if the dungeon wouldn't allow them to move down easier due to their bigger and stronger party, endless waves of monsters came their way. Even for the dungeon, the massive horde was unusual.

It wasn't that the dungeon resisted anything like fate, but there was one in that group that the dungeon hated. The one who killed her child. Adventurers with the Falna of the Gods were a thorn in the side of monsters and their mother. But those who had the potential to become so-called heroes...they were anathema to the dungeon. Actually, the world belonged to the monsters, always had, mortal races were rare and more tolerated than anything else. Then the gods got involved, created and sent those children they called spirits to earth. At that time there were already those mortals who were stronger than others, they were called heroes by their people.

And then, when the time came when the Spirits lent their power to some mortals to become true heroes, the hole in the world that later came to be called the Dungeon became truly angry. The great mother sent her children to stop the onslaught of mortals, sent her beloved child Balor to stop the tiny among mortals. But the mortals won those battles, imprisoned the great mother, and then the gods came. And the gods did what they should never have dared, they blessed the mortals.

The gods gave power to the mortals, what was rare before, became common. And her children outside of her womb became weaker.

Heroes.

May they be strong mortals, those blessed by spirits or those with the Falna of the gods. The mortals cheered for them. The dungeon hated them.

The gods had created heroes.

Or how the dungeon called them.

The counterforce. The anathema. The enemy.

And in this party was one of them. One of those who had the potential to become a true hero. He had already proved it when he killed her beloved child. Mortals called their special children "irregulars", for her it were her favorites. And like every mother, she was angry about it. This one must not be allowed to escape! He had to die!

So the dungeon called for her children, to kill the one that had entered her maw and womb.

Bell Cranel couldn´t know that, nor one of his party members, but he was the reason why the dungeon unleashed her wrath. He had killed one of her favorite children, he was the reason why so many monsters came.

The dungeon was the dungeon, the gods knew what it truly was, but they never told the mortals. If they did, there was a chance that no one would enter the dungeon again.

And so it happened that even though the party there was more than strong enough for the middle levels, they were put through the wringer properly. Fight followed fight, muscles cramping, arms and legs getting tired. Healing potions ran out, magic could be cast less and less or there was a risk of collapse. But the party moved forward until they reached the 17th floor...where one of the true children of the dungeon was waiting.

.

.

"Unhh..."

Chigusa groaned, they had managed to pull out the dungeon weapon and used healing potions on her, but she still lost blood and was unable to fight.

"Huff...Huff...Huff...Huff...Hah, never had to fight so much to get down here..."

Lena leaned exhausted at a wall, she had bruises and scratches all over her body. She wiped her forehead and tried to bind the remains of her vest again. At some point she and Bell had fought against a large group of minotaurs. While Bell´s armor took the blows of the monsters had Lena the problem of her usual battle clothes. She wasn´t meant to be in the frontline of so many bulky monsters, but she was the strongest in the party together with Bell. Most of her vest was gone and she lost what she wore under it. So she used the remains of her vest to cover her chest. Lena´s problem wasn´t that the others would see her, she was an amazon after all, but she said Bete Loga was the only man now to see her bare body. She was truly, geniuenly in love with him.

"Ouch...owie...huff..."

Haruhime was equally exhausted, all her arrows were gone, the bow cracked. But her biggest problem was her left tail, a minotaur had stepped on it, letting Haruhime scream in pain. Mikoto beheaded the Minotaur a moment later, her technique with her Katana was amazing.

Ouka knelt next to the wounded Chigusa, his expression spoke of his worry. Welf took care of the equipment as good as possible. Lily put their last supplies on the ground, her backpack was damaged.

The party rested for the moment, they were at the entrance of the 17th floor.

"Why...why is he here?"

Bell looked into the big room, a towering monster stood there and waited.

The Goliath.

He shouldn´t spawn for another three days, but there he was. They could only rest because he was too big to get into the tunnel that marked the entrance.

Mikoto pulled on the strap of her shoulder guard to adjust it.

"Sometimes the dungeon acts weird, just like today."

Bell noticed that she swayed slightly, they had fought for hours.

"Are you okay, Ms. Mikoto?"

"My hand hurts from using my sword so much, and you?"

"The same."

Both looked now to the giant monster.

"We have to get past it, we can´t turn back."

"I know."

Lena joined them after covering herself as much as possible.

Bell glanced at her when she stopped.

"Ms. Lena would we stand a chance?"

She shook her head.

"We can´t fight and beat him, not in our condition, not with this party. You lack experience and we don´t have the necessary firepower, not even with Haru-Haru´s magic."

"Is he fast?"

"Not directly, but you have to make twenty steps for one of him. He is simply unstoppable, you can´t block his attacks, at least not with our levels. And you can´t hide from him as soon as you are in the room. The only thing we can do is distract him somehow."

"Hm."

Lena showed a grim expression.

"Only two people can distract him and hope to escape afterwards. You and me, boss."

Bell looked at Lena, then his eyes wandered down on her body, to her right ankle.

"It´s just twisted."

He shook his head. "No, Ms. Lena, I will do it. I entrust you with leading everyone to the exit on the other side."

"You don´t even know how he fights!"

"I know it in theory."

"Theory and practice aren´t the same. How will I face Haru-Haru when something happens to you?"

Bell nodded with a serious face. "It´s not like we have a choice."

He looked to the others, they needed to rest soon. And there was still a chance that monsters came down to this floor.

"Bell?.."

"Haruhime?"

"I will help you."

"Har-"

She raised her hand to stop him. "I will not stand by and watch how you bring yourself in danger to save us."

It looked like she wanted to say more, but now wasn´t the time for it.

"I am not as fast as you, my mind is too low to use Uchide, but I can do something else."

"You mean..."

She nodded. "You know what happened when we tested it."

Bell´s expression brightened. "This can work. Thank you, Haruhime."

Only two of her tails moved in joy, the left one was probably broken.

"Everyone, get ready, we only have this one chance."

.

.

Lena would lead them, making sure that no one fell behind and probably carry Haruhime.

Their whole escape plan relied on two things, Bell and Haruhime's magic, respectively, what happened when these two things got combined.

Ouka lifted Chigusa up, she leaned her head against his muscular chest. Welf helped Lily with her backpack, Mikoto got ready to support Haruhime when they started to run.

They all waited on the signal, which would be the end of Haruhime´s chant.

.

.

Haruhime stood behind Bell, folding her hands as if in prayer. She only had used her new magic spell twice so far, thankfully it was much less of a burden for her mind than Uchide no Kozuchi.

"Burn."

In the first moment of her chant, a magic circle formed below Haruhime. Instead of a slight orange for her other spell, this circle was yellow.

"Rise up flickering flame. Burning Fire. Bringer of light. Bring forth your gentle light and sacred warmth."

Her chant started with a faint whisper, the volume slowly rose. Bell felt warmth in his back, it was a gentle warmth.

"Burn."

Haruhime supressed a pain filled groan when her tails rose, this always happened when she used this magic, if she wanted to or not. Her left tail was definetely broken, but she tried to bear with it and focussed on her chant.

"Grant me your divine blessing. The golden light that shines from above. Come forth and enlighten the darkness."

Mikoto felt strange, Haruhime´s magic touched her heart in a way.

"Burn!"

Now Mikoto´s eyes widened, the magic circle started to shine, small flames danced in the air around Haruhime, moving up and around her.

"Turn to ash the corruption, the undead, the unnatural. Hear my call, for I am the divine daughter. My name is Tamamo. I am the demon fox!"

Haruhime´s voice got louder and louder, Ouka, Chigusa and Mikoto had never heard such strength in their friend´s voice.

"Burn!"

The flames circled with enormous speed around Haruhime, some even moved up on her tails without scorching the fur. To the end it looked like all three of her tails were burning.

.

.

"Taiyō no honō!"

.

.

The magic circle exploded in a cascade of yellow flames, moving forward from Haruhime´s tails and towards Bell, only her broken tail kept the flames. So Haruhime used two third of her enchantement spell onto Bell´s sword. In contrast to Uchide no Kozuchi, Haruhime didn´t enchant a person, but the weapon of that person. Bathing it in the flames of the sun.
The flames started from the crossguard and set the blade ablaze. The blade didn't burn though, the flames were sacred in a way.

For a moment, Haruhime´s eyes shone golden.

"FORWARD!"

Bell was the first to run into the boss' chamber, the others followed him immediatelly.

"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The Goliath had just waited for them, the earth shook when he made his first thundering step.

Bell charged forward with his burning blade, raising it over his head. He was the very picture of a hero charging at a monster.

Naturally, the Goliath tried to crush Bell.

Bell moved into one direction, his party into another.

While he moved his sword, Bell rememberred a famous hero story, thought about the famous hero, David. The hero who fought the first Goliath.

.

GONG!...GONG!...GONG!

.

Again, Bell heard the sound of a grand bell. But not only him, his friends heard it too.

And the Goliath.

"GROO?"

The titanous monster was confused for a moment. Bell raised his sword more, lightning crackled around his hands. He guessed that this sound was in fact his Argonaut skill, but he still didn´t know how to use or activate it. He just thought about a hero when it happened the last time, so he gave it a try.

Continuing the attack, the Goliath raised his foot.

Then Haruhime used the second part of her magic. When flames were still with her, she could use a control word.

Mikoto supported Haruhime while they ran, Haruhime supressed a scream of pain and raised her left hand. She pressed her middle and ring finger together, pushed the tips against her thumb, then she raised the small and index fingers up and forward, copying the head of a fox with her hand...that aimed at the goliath´s head.

.

.
"Kon!"

The flames on her left tail jumped up to her hand and rushed forward with enormous speed. The flames were yellow like the sun and looked almost like a fox's head with its mouth wide open.

With this, Haruhime was able to use it like a magical range attack. The fox fire collided with the goliath´s head and exploded.

"GROOOO!"

The Goliath was only agitated for a moment, which was everything that Haruhime tried to do.

He slowly turned to the fleeing group...

.

"THUUUUUUUUNDERBOOOOOOOOOOOLT!"

.
Bell hammered his sword down, the tip pointed at the goliath´s head. His magic got mixed with Haruhime´s, which was a spectacular but also kind of unpleasant experience. It felt like all of Bell´s mind power got sucked out of him. Since his magic didn´t had a long chant, it was weaker than normal magic, but he could use it very often. Right now he fired all of the charges he could use at once, creating a massive thunderbolt, similar to the one he had used to kill the dragon monster.
Haruhime´s flames combined with his lightning, the two spells entangled each other like lovers would. A fact that made Haruhime happy and embarrassed.

Bell´s lightning spell was now golden-yellow with a hint of blue in it. The full force of the spell smashed right into the goliath´s eyes.

.

.
"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

.

.
The sunfire lightning bolt was so bright, that the Goliath got blinded by it. The scream that he let loose hurt Haruhime´s ears and he sounded more agitated than hurt.

"Ruuuuun!"

The party ran as fast as they could, while the Goliath pressed his hands on his eyes.

Bell had not much mind power left, his vision started to become blurry while he ran, his hand clenched around the hilt of his sword in reflex.

Run! Run! Ruuuuun!

.

.

.

Where...am I?...

His feet kept moving, but slowly and sluggish, Bell didn´t understand his environment. It looked almost like he was outside...

A...dream?

There were figures around him, probably people. But more than the combined party contained. He didn´t understand the voices around him, the edges of his vision began to darken.

Irgh...

He stumbled and fell on something very soft and fragrant, it prevented his head from hitting the ground.

"Kya!"

Uhm...this is...so soft...I like...this pillow. Fhhhhhhh...ah...what a nice smell.

Bell didn´t know where he was anymore, he was so tired that he just wanted to hug his pillow and sleep, his arms moved around the wonderful pillow to cuddle with it.

.
Grope.

.
"Eeeeek!"

Lefiya Viridis, whose thighs were Bell's involuntary pillow once again...cried out slightly as Bell's hands grabbed something they shouldn't and took a deep breath while his face was pressed onto her thighs.

So soft...Mwehehe.

.

.

.
Bell´s grandfather would be really proud of his grandson right now.