When the partial collapse of the basement finally ended, calm slowly returned to the sewer. At least as calm as it could be with the rushing water next to them. Luckily there wasn't too much dust and thanks to Lefiya's shield they had been saved from the worst of their injuries.
Most of what they had were bruises and small cuts, but each of them had faced worse. Bell groaned a bit, he would never say it out loud, but Haruhime and Lefiya on top of each other...were a bit heavy.
"Ouch.."
"Owie.."
"Ngh.."
Lefiya was the luckiest of the three, since her fall got cushioned by Bell and Haruhime. But at the same time she had the biggest injury. Her small backpack was ripped apart, her jacket, shirt and brassiere destroyed. Lefiya gritted her teeth when she noticed the burning feeling in her back.
When she pushed herself up a bit, Lefiya saw that Haruhime´s shoulder was injured and her kimono damaged, then she noticed Bell. She tried to get quick but carefully up, having two people on top of him would be heavy for Bell. Out of reflex, Lefiya put her left arm in front of her now bare chest.
"Haruhime."
"Ah, thank you."
Lefiya offered Haruhime her hand and helped her to get up. The fox girl hissed when she moved her other arm. As soon as Haruhime was on her feet, both turned to Bell and held a hand out each. Bell wasn´t ashamed to take their hands, he stood only on one foot, since the other leg was hurt.
"Are you two badly hurt?"
Haruhime shook her head, Lefiya let go of Bell, turned around and crossed both of her arms in front of her chest, using her hands to cup the mounds. She wanted to shake her head, but Bell and Haruhime saw her back.
"Lefiya!"
"Your back!"
"It isn´t that bad, don´t worry."
"Not bad?!" Bell dared to limb forward and gently touch her back.
Even when they were becoming friends, normally this would earn Bell a slap. But Lefiya didn´t slap him, a comfortable shiver ran through her body when Bell touched her skin. She felt safe, when she was with these two, Lefiya felt safe.
"Mh, this looks bad, but you shouldn´t heal it right away."
"Hm?"
"We have to clean the wound first."
"Can you...let Haruhime do this?"
Lefiya looked over her shoulder, even when she felt safe, this was embarrassing.
Haruhime whined a bit. "I´m sorry, I can´t move my arm."
Lefiya swallowed. "Then please be gentle...Bell."
"I will."
Bell hobbled to his backpack, opened it and pulled out a bottle of water and a healing potion. It was one of the new potions that Nahza had created, the kind that didn´t need to be swallowed.
Even when the situation was serious, Bell...and Haruhime...admired Lefiya´s bare back. An elf´s skin was much smoother than it should have any right to be. Lefiya was just beautiful. Even when she was a level three adventurer and got her fair share of close combat training, her body was very feminine. She was a bit smaller than Bell, but he didn´t see her shaking, Lefiya trusted him.
When Bell moved slowly towards her, Lefiya glanced over her shoulder, injured or not, her ears got a bit red from embarrassement.
He put a hand as gently as possible on her back where it wasn´t hurt, Lefiya twitched just one time but said nothing.
"Please tell me when it hurts."
"Mh."
After opening his drink bottle, Bell started to drip the water onto Lefiya´s wounds, to rinse out every small piece of dirt that could be in there. Lefiya hissed and twitched again, but she didn´t stop Bell. It was good that it weren´t that many cuts or even deep ones, more like scratches than everything else. But for Haruhime and Bell it looked horrifying, the back of that beautiful elf shouldn´t look like that.
"Mmmh!"
"Does it hurt?"
"D-Don´t breath into my neck!"
"S-Sorry..."
Lefiya got goosebumps from Bell accidentally doing that. Soon he was sure that her wounds were clean.
"I will use the potion now."
"I can heal myself."
"You shouldn´t use too much mind. I know that you are much stronger than Haruhime and I am, but we don´t know what we will face down here. Also, we have enough potions."
"Then do it."
Bell opened the potion carefully and started to drip it onto Lefiya´s wounds.
"It´s cold..."
"On your back?"
"No..."
Bell glanced shortly down, then immediatelly back at Lefiya´s back. The water that ran down her back made her skirt wet, not enough to drench it, but enough to let it cling to her hips and butt.
"Mmmmn...that feels good."
It was fascinating for them to see how Lefiya´s wounds slowly closed. The reddened edges of the deep abrasions moved towards each other and closed the wounds. Then gradually they began to turn pink and finally they took on Lefiya's normal skin color again. To be safe, Bell carefully poured almost the entire contents of the potion down her back.
"I will apply some to your ellbows, okay?"
As an answer, Lefiya moved her arms a bit up, Bell could now see her armpits, but he didn´t dare to glance more than one second there, it was still enough to see how smooth and hairless they were. His grandfather had told him stories about elves, that they nearly had no body hair.
He only looked at her ellbows and dripped the rest of the potion there, soon they looked normal too.
"That was it, are you hurt somewhere else?"
"No, thank you."
"Wait a moment, I will dry your back."
"Please do..."
Hah...why does it feel so good when he takes care of me like that?
"Bell wait."
"Hm?"
"Let me do it, I can move one arm."
"Oh, you´re right, this would be better."
Haruhime used a small towel to gently wipe Lefiya´s back. If she would be completely honest...Haruhime wanted to care for Lefiya too. Her finger tips slightly touched Lefiya´s skin now and then, it was really smooth. Lefiya glanced over her shoulder into Haruhime´s eyes, both still had in mind what had happened minutes ago.
Haruhime´s cheeks got red when she saw how Lefiya looked at her, even more when she saw Lefiya´s lips.
Hauauauauuu...what did I do? Why did I do that? Why am I looking at her like that?! Kyuuuu!
Hah...she is so beautiful. These ears...the tails...her lips...hah.
Bell noticed that both girls got a bit more red, than they glanced at him for some reason.
"Ahem. I want to inform you, so that you don´t startle. I will now take my jacket and shirt off. Your clothes are ruined, Lefiya, you have to wear something on top. Just the jacket could be unpleasant and just the shirt won´t do."
Haruhime´s eyes widened a bit when she heard that and...she gulped.
"Ack...ahm...w-well...okay..."
Lefiya´s ears were now completely red. To think that she would wear Bell´s clothes on her bare skin made her even more flustered. And not only Lefiya. Haruhime couldn´t help but glance to Bell when he took off his jacket, then grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up. Out of the corner of her eyes, Lefiya saw it too. Both young women gulped.
Abs.
Wonderful, trained, hardened, from sweat glistening...delicious...abs.
Haruhime gulped. Kyuuuu~~~~
And Lefiya could barely stop herself from drooling. Ah...six pack...
Lefiya and Haruhime felt how their faces got extremely hot until they remembered propriety and good manners and looked away. Both were only more ashamed of what they had done. They had been staring at Bell as he took off his clothes, but at the same time they hoped he wouldn't do such a thing. But if Haruhime was honest...if Bell really, really wanted to look...and he would tell her beforehand so that she could prepare her heart...then maybe?...
Against their will, their eyes followed a single drop of sweat that started at his chest, went slowly over his delicious abs...and eventually vanished in his pants.
Their faces got even more hot and they looked immediatelly away from that spot.
Shameful.
Sh-Shameful.
At least Haruhime managed to stay concious, that had needed a lot of training. Aisha and Lena had grinned when they explained it to her. Now that Haruhime didn´t faint every time she saw a bit naked skin of Bell...she had the chance to take in this sight and enjoy it.
And because of that, Haruhime felt weird. After seeing the half naked Lefiya and now the half naked Bell, she felt really weird. A bit like the nights when her tails grew or when she had used her magic just minutes ago. She felt the desire to bite them again.
Auuu...I´m a perverted fox...
"Haruhime."
"Y-Yes?!"
Bell held his shirt to her, so that she could give it to Lefiya. Haruhime gulped again when she took his shirt. The shirt that he just wore a minute ago. The shirt that had his scent on it.
Kyuuuuu~~~~
She could barely stop herself from making this sound loud.
"L-Lefiya...here."
"Th-Thank you."
When their fingers touched a bit, both looked for a moment into each others eyes before averting them. Lefiya even turned away from Haruhime, to make sure that she wasn´t able to see her front.
As loud as her heart yelled, Lefiya had of course noticed it. Never before had she felt really embarrassed when another woman saw her naked. Her goddess had, Filvis had, most members of her familia had. In the beginning she didn´t bath with the others or took showers, but after two years or so, Lefiya had taken a bath with Astrea when the goddess asked her. It was really nice to share this time with her familia and her goddess, but even when she was flustered in the beginning, Lefiya never felt completely embarrassed. When it was another woman, not that any man had ever seen her naked. The most skin that a man ever saw...was Bell.
But now...the thought of Haruhime seeing her chest...made Lefiya embarrassed. She glanced over her shoulder a last time, then she took her hands and arms completely away from her chest. It was a good thing that Bell was more muscular than Lefiya, if he was more on the slender side, she would get a problem with his shirt. She raised her arms over her head and slipped the shirt onto her body. When her head was inside his shirt, Bell´s scent hit her heavily. It made her knees weak...in a good way.
Mmmmh...he...smells so good.
She was careful with her ears, making sure they were out on top before she pulled her hair up. The feeling of the fabric of Bell´s shirt moving along her skin, especially rubbing along her breasts and the tips, it let her shiver comfortably. Now she noticed that his shirt was still a bit tight around her chest. Recently, Lefiya had grown a bit in that area, due to a "miracle" of the elves. Most elves didn´t eat much meat or fish, but Lefiya wasn´t the usual elf. Elves from the Wishe forest in general were different from other elves, more open to the outside world.
And so she ate a bit more meat and fish, since she wanted her body to become stronger. She admired Ryu´s and Filvis´ strength in close combat, while she didn´t want to become like them, a bit physical training wasn´t bad. Haruhime was still bigger, but her small growth spurt was enough to let Ryu sob... Of course her familia members had noticed this, but most of them didn´t say a word. Until Alise did...of course it had to be Alise. Her captain was too shocked to get the information that an elf´s body grew more womanly when she ate more meat.
Lefiya couldn´t know that this was the reason why Alise tried to feed Ryu more meat, to see if this was true.
"Lefiya, here."
Haruhime held Bell´s jacket towards Lefiya without looking. Just for a moment, Lefiya wondered when they had begun to call each other by their names without using honorifics, but it didn´t feel wrong at all.
"Thank you...Haruhime."
Lefiya saw that Haruhime´s tails twitched a bit, maybe a sign of happiness? Bell´s jacket also smelled like him, but it felt good to cover herself more and close the piece of cloth.
And right when the closed Bell´s jacket, Lefiya drifted in another of her fantasies...
.
.
"Mmmmh...I´m so cold..."
In her fantasy, Lefiya stood in the same place, shivering a bit while she closed her arms around her bare upper body.
"Lefiya...I will keep you warm."
"Mmmh.."
Bell came from behind and closed his arms around her, he had taken off his jacket and shirt. One of his arms went around her stomach, the other around her...chest. Lefiya closed her arms around his in reflex.
"Ha...you are so warm...Bell."
"And your skin is so smooth...I want to keep touching you forever..."
"Bell..."
Lefiya turned her head slightly, glanced over her shoulder. Bell leaned closer...her eyes were drawn to his lips.
.
.
Hiiii! What am I thinking about?! Naughty elf! Naughty elf! Naughty elf!
After finally closing the jacket, she was properly dressed again and turned around to Bell and Haruhime. Only to blush imediatelly when she saw Bell with his bare upper body.
"D-Don´t you have something to wear?"
"No, that´s why I gave you my clothes."
"I see..."
While Lefiya had dressed herself, Bell had helped Haruhime with her shoulder, using a part of another potion.
"Bell, sit down."
"Huh?"
"We have to take care of your leg, sit down."
"I agree with Lefiya."
Both pointed at a piece of fallen debris and Bell carefully sat down. Haruhime crouched down between Bell´s legs, Lefiya next to her. While Haruhime held the edges of Bell´s ripped pants, Lefiya cleaned the wound with water, which let Bell hiss. But he sighed in relief when the dripped the potion onto his leg and the wound slowly disappeared.
"It´s always fascinating to see healing magic or potions work."
"I agree, it sure is convenient."
"Thank you two."
Both looked up to Bell and smiled, the situation looked a bit strange. .
Lefiya got hit by another of her fantasies again. She rememberred the moment during the wargame and now both crouched in front of Bell.
In her fantasy, she saw Bell with a bright red face sitting there.
"Wh-What are you two doing?!"
Lefiya smirked. "Ufufufuf...we will take good care of you...Bell..."
And Haruhime mumbled her magical words again, while her hand wandered along Bell´s six pack. "Ara~Ara~~"
.
.
Hiiiii! Pure thoughts! Pure thoooooughts!
After all of them were healed, they started to prepare themself. Bell adjusted Silence to his belt, wearing it now on his bare upper body would be unpleasant and give him problems. Haruhime looked a bit unhappy to her sleeve, the cut was long and she didn´t want it to tear even more.
"Bell, can you help me?"
"Hm, what is it?"
"I don't want to get stuck somewhere and tear the fabric. Please make a clean cut, so I can sew the sleeve back on later."
"If you really want to...but I don´t like it."
"Neither do I, so please be careful."
Bell used a knife that he carried in his backpack, they never knew when they would need one. At some point, Haruhime had to raise her arm, Bell was surprised to see that her armpit was also completely smooth and without hair.
Hm, don´t women have hair there?
"P-Please don´t stare so much..."
"S-Sorry."
After he was done, Haruhime´s sleeve ended a bit below the point were the sleeve was normally attached.
"I´m sorry that I ruined your kimono."
"Mh-Mh, I think of myself as lucky that nothing worse happened."
"Mh, a good way to see it."
Haruhime carefully rolled up the severed sleeve and put it into her backpack.
And right then...again.
.
.
Lefiya saw Haruhime slowly rubbing her naked arm.
The fox girl looked at her with puppy eyes. "Lefiya...I´m cold...will you...warm me up? Cuddle with me?"
"~Gladly~"
When Lefiya came and hugged Haruhime from the side, the fox looked at her with a longing gaze. Lips drew closer to each other...she was aware that Bell was looking at them. Looking at what was about to happen, something that would be a precious sight for him.
Only centimeters separated the lips of the two young women.
.
.
What is with meeee?! This situation is way too much for me!
"Lefiya, shall I put your clothes in here too?"
"Please do."
Lefiya was sad that her favorite jacket and shirt were torn. But maybe it was right what Haruhime said, that she should be happy that nothing worse happened. Maybe it could be repaired when she got home, but that had to wait.
"Shall I take the backpack, Haruhime?"
"No, it´s okay. Do you want to drink something?"
Lefiya shook her head, she was glad that at least her water bottle wasn´t destroyed. Since Bell´s bottle was now empty, they had to share two bottles. And since Bell had used most of his water to clean her wounds...
She held her bottle to Bell. "B-Bell...do you want to drink something?!"
Her voice got a bit louder than she intended.
"Oh yes, thank you."
Lefiya squealed in her mind when he really took her water bottle and drank something. When she got the bottle back, Lefiya gulped heavily. Drinking from this bottle now would be like an indirect kiss! Haruhime seemed to have the same thought, she bit her lower lip when she looked at Lefiya´s bottle and then at the elf. And when Lefiya offered her the bottle, Haruhime squeaked a bit and looked into a different direction.
The situation wasn´t easy with all these feelings in the air.
It wasn´t only hard for the two young women, Bell felt the same. He would like nothing more than to yell out his feelings, to confess his love to them.
But at the same time...Bell felt like scum.
Zeus told him stories of his life, how awesome it was to love more than one woman at once. A part of him had the foolish wish to have a harem when he came to Orario, but now he thought different. For him it wasn´t fair to love two women at once, his feelings were complicated. It felt like he would value them less, that one wasn´t enough to "satisfy" him. He was sure he would love them both equally, but he could hardly imagine the reaction if he confessed his love for both of them. Would they be disgusted? despise him? Maybe even get angry? He often felt that there was more than just friendship between him and Haruhime. And then there was Lefiya, he had fallen for her from the moment he first saw her. While he contemplated whether it was okay to confess his love to more than one lady, he still wasn't sure if the feeling would be reciprocated. And he was a little scared of that...could it ruin everything between them?
His grandfather had also told him stories about elves, how these people could only fall in love once and never chose another partner when the first one died. That only true love mattered to her, nothing else. Now this was only true in theory, since elves valued their aristocracy very much. Bell knew that Lefiya, Filvis, Laurier and Ryu almost adored Riveria, but he didn't know the exact reason since he never asked, just assuming that she was somehow famous among the elves. He had also told and drummed into him that elves hated perverted things. At the same time, they were the first to see something raunchy or lewd in anything. Also, elves never showed affection for their partner in public. Flirting, kissing, cuddling, all these things were only done privately as they were no one else's business. Even if Lefiya came from the Wishe Forest and was thus far more open than other elves, that fact was immutable.
Bell's eyes wandered to Haruhime, in her own way she was just as beautiful as Lefiya. Beastkin was the other race that really fascinated him, Bell could never get enough of seeing Haruhime's tails and ears...how he wished to touch them. Zeus had also told him a lot about beastkin. That some of them referred to their partners as mates, or at least saw them that way. Depending on the race, certain beastkin "marked" their mate so others would know that they were taken, especially the women did so subconsciously. Cat people, for example, would rub against their partner, any other beastkin female would immediately notice the scent and it would be clear that that one was taken. Others, however...werewolves for example...bite their partners lightly. And that brought Bell to a problem for his mind. Haruhime had bitten him...more than once. And she had bitten Lefiya with a very special gleam in her eyes.
From what he'd seen, Lefiya and Haruhime were very friendly with each other, even a little shy at times. Could it possibly be that something was going on between the two of them? Would he perhaps interfere and complicate the situation? But then again, Haruhime had bitten him as many times as Lefiya...and that completely confused Bell. He was too inexperienced and too innocent to imagine that Lefiya and Haruhime might feel the same way he did.
So Bell was also completely unaware of what he did to Lefiya when he drank from her bottle, he didn´t know about the concept of indirect kisses.
.
.
After they got ready and took a few minutes to calm down, it was time to think about their next steps. If they just wanted to get out of the sewers, they could walk for a while and search for an exit, there were a few.
It was Haruhime that spoke the first words. "I think we shouldn´t just go back to the surface. You have seen the War Shadows too, right?"
Both nodded.
"We should look where they came from and if there are any other monsters in the sewers. I don´t even want to think about what could happen when they get into the city."
Bell nodded again. "I agree."
Lefiya looked determined. "A situation like this can´t be allowed, it is too important."
"Then let us go, Lefiya do you see any signs or tracks?"
They all let their eyes wander around, but it was indeed Lefiya that found something.
"Look at the wall here, where the ground collapsed under our feet. These marks here aren´t from the collapse, but from claws. I guess that the War Shadows climbed up here and somehow went into the house from below. Since their bodies aren´t really solid, they probably found or made a few cracks to slip inside."
The spots that Lefiya pointed at were not very big, but all a bit black at the sides.
"And on the ground here, these are tracks of War Shadows, but also something else."
"Tracks of War Shadows? I have never seen some in the dungeon."
"Have you ever looked for them, Bell?"
"Hmm..no."
"Ms. Ryu told me about it, if you know what you are looking out for it is quite easy to find. See? The ground here is a bit darker than it should be."
Haruhime and Bell followed her and looked at the ground, now that she pointed it out they saw it too.
"Hm, but I don´t understand what these are."
Lefiya crouched down, next to the remains of the monsters were what looked like plant debris on the stone floor. Small leaves, stems, and what looked like bark, but unlike any form of bark Lefiya had ever seen.
"Plants?"
"Or the remains of plants, but why would they be here? And they leave a trail. See."
Lefiya pointed to a corner, here and there were a few parts of the plants. "Since we can start everywhere, why not there."
.
Thumb.
.
Bell saw that Lefiya´s and Haruhime´s ears twitched. "What is wrong?"
.
Thumb.
.
"Something or someone is coming closer."
Haruhime took her staff with both hands. "Something heavy...and it smells bad."
Bell noticed the reaction of their bodies, he didn´t have to ask for what they sensed. He drew Silence and slowly walked towards the corner.
"You two stay behind me."
The air around Bell changed a bit, he got dead serious in a matter of seconds. He trusted their instincts, both girls had reacted in a way that only an adventurer would. Lefiya readied her staff, Haruhime followed her. Bell didn´t turn the corner close to the wall, he went as close to the water as he dared, also hearing the heavy footsteps.
Bell gritted his teeth for a moment when he was able to look around the corner and raised his sword.
"Bell, wa-"
"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The heavy foot steps suddenly increased to a sprint...a head on charge.
"Minotaur!"
""What?!""
The long sewer tunnel led into the distance. Here and there on the ground lay these strange remains of plants. And sure enough, what was approaching Bell from afar was a minotaur. A minotaur...in the sewers of Orario...outside the dungeon. The monster roared as soon as Bell saw it, holding a typical dungeon weapon, a long piece of rock roughly shaped like an axe. Quite a large axe... The Minotaur had dark brown fur that looked bloody in some places and wet in others. Incidentally, Bell noticed slightly bloody stains on the ground, which disappeared in the same direction as the plant remains. The Minotaur had followed these plant remains.
Minotaurs were not the smartest kind of monsters. These type of monsters had heavy horns and a body that was made to ram people, so they nearly always tried to do that. Or to use it´s giant dungeon weapon to just hack Bell in two.
Bell had faced a Minotaur before, if someone would want to call that facing. He got chased by it and nearly killed, if not for Ryu´s help. The second time was in the dungeon while they moved quickly down to the 18th floor. They had encountered a few minotaurs, but slaughtered them quickly with their big group. But here in the sewers, the situation could also get dangerous quickly. And Bell was everything that stood between Haruhime, Lefiya and the monster. This situation was a bit similar to his first encounter, but now Bell was level two and had much more experience.
"Stay behind me..."
When Bell walked slowly forward, Silence held at his side, it became obvious that he truly was Alfia´s son. He wasn´t agitated, hasty or infuriated. In his mind he recited a heroic story. He always did this to calm himself down and prepare for battle. In particular, however, to focus on his technique, the hero style. There was a famous story of the hero Argonaut fighting a Minotaur. However, this was not what Bell now had in mind. It was that of the Black Sword. The hero known simply as the Black Sword was a knight of old. When his city was overrun by monsters, his king gave him one task and one command. "Let them suffer."
Others took over the evacuation of the citizens, but the knight with the black sword went out and slew monsters where he found them. He challenged the monsters to endless duels, slaying each one. And he never said a word.
That day, the knight slew so many monsters that they started chasing him, instinct compelling them to do so. However, he slew them without stopping, buying time for the citizens and soldiers. Eventually, the monsters' bloodlust broke into panic. They could not defeat this mortal who continued to slaughter them. According to the story, it was thanks to the Black Sword that the city was saved. Many of the monsters attacking the city are said to have been just as bloodthirsty and ferocious as minotaurs.
The most important part of the story, was patience and to remain calm. With a thunderous roar, the minotaur charged forward, holding the axe at the side while lowering it´s head. Bell knew that Haruhime would have no chance to fight against this monster in close combat and even Lefiya would have a hard time as a magician, since it was already very close.
"Bell! Wai-"
"No problem."
He waited until the last second. The minotaur´s eyes were wide and red from bloodlust, the head lowered and it was already looking forward to pierce Bell´s body with it´s horns.
A body that suddenly wasn´t there anymore.
In the last moment, when the minotaur couldn´t stop it´s charge anymore, Bell ducked down to the opposite side of the axe and sliced forward with Silence. A minotaur´s skin was tough, in the past Bell´s starter weapon had no choice to wound something like that. Silence was different. The sword had become stronger when Bell had become stronger. And just from the look of it, the captain of the Apollo familia had been a stronger opponent.
Silence sliced through the waist of the minotaur and it wasn´t a shallow cut. Blood splattered out and the minotaur stumbled screaming. Bell was not an adventurer that focussed on his strength, he was more the type of agility and dexterity. In the moment that the minotaure passed him, Bell whirled around, kicked himself of the ground and followed the massive beast. Silence went up and fell down, slicing deep into the backside of the towering monster. Bell jumped to the side, to escape the blood and fat, as well as the axe of the minotaur when it whirled around. Just as Bell expected, the minotaur was so enraged that it didn´t look where exactly it stood. When it whirled around, the left foot went over the edge and it stepped into the sewer.
"GRoo?!"
The minotaur lost it´s balance and stumbled to the side. Bell ducked down under the swing of the axe that went way off, Silence made nearly no noise when it shot upwards.
"Guärglmrlg?!"
The tip of Silence had pierced the minotaurs throat, went up through the tongue and into the brain. With a strange sound, the minotaur´s movements stopped, then it started to twitch, the stone axe fell out of it´s paw.
Bell ripped Silence out of the monster and stepped to the side as the hulking monster fell. With an audible crash, the now dead Minotaur collapsed. Knowing where the magic stone was located in a Minotaur's body, Bell twisted Silence in his grip and slammed the blade down, smashing the magic stone. Immediately, the Minotaur began to crumble and disintegrate. He couldn't risk the beast's carcass somehow contaminating the water or the corpse rotting.
He swung Silence towards the wall to get the blood off the blade, then he whispered the name of his magic, let the lightning wash over his blade to burn away the rest, leaving his sword clean.
"Are you two unharmed?"
Lefiya and Haruhime could only look in awe.
"Bell...that was amazing."
"Yeah...even our captain couldn´t make this look easier. You really became strong."
Bell stopped for a second, then he smiled happy. "As long as nothing happened to you two, everything is okay."
Haruhime felt her heart jump. That was so cool.
"First War Shadows and now a Minotaur, something is going on here." Lefiya looked grim.
"How can they have escaped from the dungeon? Did something like this ever happened before?"
"From what I heard, only very rarely. Once two or three monsters escaped during a Monster Philia, but they were quickly slain."
Haruhime looked at the remains of the plants, then she took one of the parts and sniffed at it.
"Somehow this doesn´t smell like a natural plant. More like...a monster."
"A monster? A plant type monster?"
"Maybe, does something like that exist?"
Lefiya nodded. "Deeper in the dungeon, my familia fought them many times. But I´ve never seen parts like this."
Bell eyed the large corridor. "I am more bothered that the minotaur was following the plant parts. It looks almost like the path was marked."
Haruhime looked uneasy. "Marked by who?"
They slowly followed the trail of plant parts.
"Haruhime, Bell."
""Hm?""
"We must make a choice now. Will we continue to follow the plant parts or are we looking for an exit to alert the guild? Both options have benefits and both have risks. We don´t know what awaits us and it can become very dangerous. But it could also happen that we find the remaining monsters and get rid of them. In case we retreat, the guild will send an extermination squad of the Ganesha familia, maybe even Loki familia. But there will also be a chance that monsters will escape into the city. Which means if we retreat now, it could lead to people dying."
Bell and Haruhime had a grim expression, what Lefiya said wasn´t wrong.
Red eyes looked from one girl to the other. "I can´t retreat and open the chance of monsters going into the city. We are adventurers, we are meant to protect Orario and the world."
Haruhime looked very worried. "I couldn´t live with the thought that some people might die because of that. I say we follow the trail. In case there is a hole somewhere, you can blast it with your magic and then we can call for help."
Lefiya smiled. "I agree with you two, let us continue."
When they continued to walk, Haruhime chuckled for some reason.
"What is it?"
"I was just thinking, you don´t have much of a choice, Lefiya. Since doing this here is justice, isn´t it?"
The elf smiled. "You are absolutely right."
Bell raised his sword. "Then I offer you my sword to do justice work."
Haruhime raised her weapon too. "And my staff."
Lefiya sighed happy. "Hah, I really like you two."
"Hm?"
"Huh?"
"I ah...I...I mean, you two are worthy to be trusted! Yes! That´s what I meant!"
In her mind, Lefiya squealed. What have I done?! Why did I say that like this?!
Lefiya noticed the expression in Haruhime´s eyes. Auu...why are you looking at me like that.
Despite the serious situation, Lefiya couldn´t forget that Haruhime bit her again. Neze´s words were in Lefiya´s head.
Marking...her mate... But what about Bell?
Lefiya had seen how Haruhime also looked at Bell. And she was aware of her confusing feelings for both. And then Bell faced the minotaur alone to protect them. The more Lefiya thought about it, the more her heart started to pound.
And she wasn´t the only one.
But soon, the three stopped to think about all these confusing feelings...
They got company.
More monsters that followed the plant trail.
.
.
"Eyaaah! That was the last!"
Even when she didn´t like to use her staff like that, Lefiya had smashed in the skull of a goblin with it. To use her magic down here was dangerous, but for the wave of monsters that came it wasn´t necessary. It had been a large horde of goblins and kobolds, but all of them as weak as they usually were in the dungeon. Bell did the main work with his sword, Lefiya took the middle while Haruhime was their rear guard. So even the fox girl managed to defeat a few goblins with her staff, it was bad luck that she didn´t have her bow with her.
But like that it was Haruhime´s job to keep her eyes on their surroundings and alert them in case something happened or new monsters came. And to use her magic on one of them or both if it would become necessary.
"Lefiya, I will take care of the corpses."
"I can help you."
"No, let me do it. You shouldn´t sully your holy staff for something like that. Take a rest, Haruhime you too."
"Bell, you will get tired too, let us help."
Bell smiled wryly towards them. "I´m sorry, it goes against my nature to let a woman do such bloody work when she isn´t wearing the right clothes for that. And even more when it comes to you two."
Both blinked perplexed and watched how Bell went to work. He rammed Silence´s tip into the bodies of the goblins and kobolds to destroy the magic stones. After he finished the last monster, Bell used a small part of his mind again to clean Silence with a lightning bolt. While it smelled bad, he couldn´t stand the thought of leaving his beloved blade stained with monster blood and fat.
"What exactly do you mean by that, Bell Cranel?"
There was something in Lefiya that sometimes forced her to adress him in the same way as she did in the beginning. Even when that had now a different tone to it.
"I...I...can we talk about this later?"
Now Lefiya and Haruhime got really confused by Bell´s expression. He looked as if he felt very uneasy, worried and...bad.
"Sure..."
The girls exchanged a look and followed Bell.
.
.
The horde of goblins and kobolds were the last monsters they encountered for a long time. The trail of plant parts continued, but it changed somehow. They had walked for a long time and at some point, the stone beneath the plant parts was damaged. It almost looked like a giant snake moved there.
"Does one of you have an idea where under Orario we are now?"
There wasn´t even water anywhere, it were just tunnels.
"Not directly, but I would say we are getting closer to the middle...to the dungeon."
"I wonder why the trails move such a long distance away? And why do we not see new monsters? Did we get them all?"
"I somehow doubt it."
Suddenly, Haruhime stopped and her ears twitched.
"Haruhime?"
"Do you hear something."
"Shh." Haruhime put a finger to her lips.
Bell and Lefiya stopped their conversation and went silent. Lefiya closed her eyes and tried to hear what Haruhime heard. Bell tried his best to breath as quiet as possible.
Haruhime only whispered. "Do you hear that? That weird grinding noise?"
"Yes...like grinding stone over stone. And something else..."
Bell had one hand on Silence´s hilt. "Where?"
Both pointed forward.
"Then let us find out what it is...carefully."
.
.
"What is this?!"
"Dear heavens!"
"Oh all you gods in heaven and on the surface, what is this?!"
All three of them were equally shocked. They stood in front of a gate, a pretty big gate. They didn´t know where in the wide net of the sewers they were, but this gate looked like it shouldn´t been here.
The gate looked like it was made of some kind of metal, but none of the three had ever seen it. Welf might have known. But the sight told them the gate was probably heavily armored. To the left and right of the gate were small platforms with braziers. Braziers that burned. But the worst thing was, the gate was half open. A long trail of vegetation and indented stone led into the gate. Or rather... out of the gate. But not only plant parts lay on the ground. A figure lay there and it wasn't a monster. It was difficult to determine what the form had once been, but likely a member of the mortal races. Anyway, the figure had entered a white robe and hood. Now, however, the robe was red and the form horribly disfigured. As if something large had simply rolled over it and flattened the figure. The only thing that was still recognizable was the right hand, which was a little further to the right. And that hand was clutching something that looked like a sphere with some kind of engraved eye.
What they didn't know...what they couldn't know...the figure had once been a human male. He had been injured and fled through the sewers, using the stone...the key to open the gate. He expected safety there, but found something else. He had only been a pawn in a larger game, the stone in his hand was far more valuable than he was. Bell, Haruhime and Lefiya couldn't have known this. But... what Lefiya knew was what the figure's clothing meant. Her family had told her about these clothes, about the past.
Lefiya went pale. "No way...no way!"
Bell and Haruhime whirled to her, alerted by her tone.
"Lefiya?!"
"What is wrong?!"
"These clothes! These clothes!"
Both looked confused. And then Lefiya spoke a word that they knew what it meant.
.
.
"Evilus!"
.
.
And as if the word had summoned it, they discovered what had left the trail of plant parts. Lefiya and Haruhime heard a strange sound from the other side of the gate, then it got pushed open by force and a big monster burst out of it. For a split second, they saw something like a labyrinth behind the door. The view got all too soon blocked by the monster.
Not one of the three knew the name of that kind of monster.
Only a few people in Orario knew about these monsters.
.
.
The Loki familia called them...Violas.
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