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The air on the 17th floor had started to change the whole morning. It looked like slight rainbow colored fog was rising up, a sign that the Goliath´s emerge was close.

While everyone was still shocked that a fire spirit came out of Welf´s hands, an enormous moan echoed all over the 17th floor and with a shattering sound, the first long crack appeared along the half transparent wall.
It didn´t go straight down, but jumped left and right like a lightning bolt.

"On your positions!"

Bell yelled loud, raising Silence with his right hand and his shield with the left. While his shield couldn´t be used directly against the Goliath, they knew that this Monster Rex used more than just direct punches. Coming out of the wall of sorrows was already an attack, since piece of the wall fell down, shattered and shot into every direction.

The vanguard gathered behind Bell, who raised his shield and his new goliath cape. Daphne and Lena crouched down behind him, so that he could block all the splinters that shot into their direction.

Lily used her strength boost as a supporter to raise a tower shield, similar to the one that Bell used in the wargame, Haruhime, Luan, Cassandra and Chigusa ducked down with her. For the rearguard, Ouka did that, Mikoto was with them for the moment. The only one that didn´t duck down was Ursu, all the splinters just shot through her body.

"Oy! Get down!"

The fire spirit tilted her head after looking at Welf when he shouted.

If the spirit would´ve been on the absolute height of her strength, she would´ve been able to defeat the Goliath on her own without even "breaking a sweat". But the reason why the spirit slept in Welf´s bloodline was that his ancestor Crozzo had saved the wounded spirit, so she had saved his life in return and mixed their blood. She didn´t even have a fifth of her original strength left and was bound to remain close to someone of the bloodline. Precisely, to be close to Welf, he had the strongest blood for a long time in his family and that Ursu now slept inside him was a side effect.

Since she just awakened...mostly out of jealousy...Ursu couldn´t do much. But she moved down after Welf shouted.

"Whoever you are, stay c-"

Ursu put both of her hand claws on his cheeks, then she pressed her face against his forehead...just like she was kissing him. Her body shone for a moment, her claws went away from his cheeks without scratching him. Welf felt a bit strange when he moved her hand claws along the broad sides of his sword. Ursu´s flames rushed from her hands towards his sword, covering it with fire.

I´m with you, Crozzo!

"My name is Welf!"

Welf!

Her mental shout sounded very happy. He didn´t have time to get flustered, too surprised about what happened. Welf held his sword backwards, away from his group as crimson flames rushed up the metal. It was a really beautiful color, just like Hephaistos´ haircolor. Ursu´s upper body was her only visible part, while it looked like she was naked, it didn´t look lewd, thankfully her chest didn´t have any tips. Not that Welf was into spirits, but that Ursu looked nearly completely like Hephaistos would´ve been a problem for him.

Welf felt her hand claws on his shoulders.

I protect your back, Welf. Before your mind gives in, I will go back.

Then she turned around and looked in the other direction. Welf somehow felt...whole...now, it was a strange feeling. At the same time he had to be careful now with Will-O-Wisp, when Ursu would slowly but constantly drain his mind power to remain outside of his body.

More and more cracks appeared, bigger pieces fell out of the wall.

"Luan! Haruhime!"

Lily shouted, both knew what to do. Luan raised up a second tower shield, while Haruhime made three steps backwards and raised her big bow. The start of the battle was dangerous but also gave them a special chance.

A giant chunk fell out of the wall, around seven meters above the ground.

"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The Goliath´s head appeared, screaming loud and announcing its presence.

Haruhime didn´t have much time and it was hard for her to focus because of the loud scream. She pressed her ears onto her hair, kept the aim steady and chanted. Haruhime had learned fast that she could use her enchantement spell directly only her own weapon, but then she couldn´t enchant anyone else.

Lines of fire went from her tails to her arrow, ablazing the arrow head.

The whole floor shook when the Goliath roared again, a part of the wall burst open as it raised the right hand, then more cracks appeared at the bottom, it would soon free it´s legs.

Haruhime chanted as fast as she dared to do.

More pieces of the wall fell down, shattered on the ground and created smoke and dust. Bell and his group had moved back to the supporter camp, as did the rear guard, so now they had four big shields raised up in a mobile wall, protecting everyone behind them. Mikoto´s senses were completely focussed, she waited next to Haruhime now. If any piece would shoot into her direction and somehow get past the shields, Mikoto would deflect it.

"GROOOOOOOOOOO!"

The wall finally shattered completely, the Goliath fell forward and landed on it´s hands and knees. Dust, smoke and that strange rainbow colored fog covered everything.

"Taiyō no honō!"

A wave of dust, smoke and fog washed up, hiding the Goliath.

But Haruhime could hear him, waiting for something.

Then two red dots appeared in the dust.

Haruhime immediatelly shot her arrow, she only had one try.

The arrow vanished in the dust, it was so fast that the Goliath couldn´t even try to evade or raise a hand to block it.

The following scream let Haruhime dropp her bow and cover her ears. Her arrow had hit the right eye and then detonated. Her strength with the great bow was only barely enough to pierce the skin of this Monster Rex slightly, but the eye was something else.

Suddenly, the upper body of the Goliath appeared out of the cloud, pressing the right hand onto it´s now destroyed eye.

"Scatter! Into positions!"

Ouka, Luan and Lily dropped the massive tower shields. Welf, Ouka and Lily ran towards the ramps that led to this floor. Haruhime, Chigusa, Cassandra and Luan split up so that they wouldn´t stand side by side. Bell also dropped his shield, he knew that Luan would pick it up. Daphne, Lena and Mikoto followed him as they ran forward.

Everything had to happen fast, so that the gigantic monster wouldn´t get the initiative.

A giant foot appeared out of the dust as the Goliath thundered forward.

To open the fight with Haruhime´s attack was Bell´s idea. They didn´t know if this Goliath would have the regeneration ability or not, it was different at some times. So in case it did, they would see it soon. And in case it didn´t have the ability, then Haruhime dealt quite the damage and destroyed one of the Goliath´s eyes, this would help the vanguard a lot.

They only dared to do it, because the Goliath couldn´t move for a short time after it landed. Otherwise, just as they had discussed, the head moved too much around to aim for the eyes, it would only be a waste of arrows. After she let loose the arrow, Haruhime moved back to one of the big backpacks, put the great bow behind it and took the normal one, as usual she wore the quiver at her waist. Luan took his crossbow and moved with Chigusa in the direction of the rear guard. Haruhime remained closer to Cassandra, so that she would be in range of "Gentle One", which helped her to regenerate her mind power faster.

"G-Good shot."

Haruhime only nodded, Cassandra looked at the Goliath and gulped, while Haruhime kept her eyes on the entrance of the floor. Cassandra felt a bit unwell, but not in panic, she knew that everyone would protect her, so that she could heal them in case something happened. For that reason, both women stood in the middle between the rearguard and the vanguard.

"OooooOoooooOoooooOoooooOooooOoooooOOooooooo..."

The Goliath´s shout this time was different, as if it was calling something.

Haruhime´s ears twitched shortly after.

"Lily!"

"Understood!"

Lily knew what Haruhime´s shout meant, they talked before about a few short signals, Haruhime would only yell out to Lily when monsters were approaching. Evern after the deafening scream, Haruhime could hear them soon enough.

Lily raised her banner. "Mikoto!"

"Comin´!"

The monsters reacted surprisingly fast to the shout of the Goliath, they didn´t know if the dungeon spawned them to help in the fight or if they just came down from the 16th floor. Howls came from the ramps that led to the 17th floor, the first monsters that appeared and slid down these ramps were of course hellhounds.

"Smith, right of Commander!"

"Roger that!"

Ouka, Lily, Welf and Mikoto got ready to intercept the monsters.

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Bell, Daphne and Lena didn´t wait for the Goliath to stand up, but charged at it right away. At first he had wondered, seven meters didn´t sound that tall. But having the Goliath directly in front of him made Bell aware how big it actually was, basically a moving house. Out of reaction, the Goliath had pressed one hand onto the wound that Haruhime had inflicted. Bell was the first to arrive, aiming for the arm crook. Silence was covered in lightning as Bell swung it with all of his strength.

For a second, he wondered how it was for the very first adventurers to face the Goliath. He knew that the Goliath was a level four monster, even a bit stronger than a normal level four monster because it was a Rex. When the first adventurers went to explore the dungeon, the Goliath had to be there and waited. So they could never go to the 18th floor before they slew it for the first time.

For the first adventurers it had been the same as it was for their party now, they didn´t have someone above level two. With Bell´s high status that he had at level one and Lena being an already very strong level two, they had an advantage to the people of the past. And they knew what the Goliath could do.

It felt like he tried to cut through several layers of cooked leather with a dull knife, but Bell managed to deal a shallow cut in the crook of the Goliath´s arm. As soon as his attack landed, Bell moved to the side.

"Hah!"

Lena´s scimitar landed a second later on the same spot, with a grim face she yanked her weapon free and moved away. The Goliath was about to get up, Daphne dashed from the side and thrusted the tip of her weapon into the Goliath´s ankle.

The biggest part of the skin was just too tough, so they aimed for the weak spots, where the skin had to be a bit softer.

The dance with the Goliath started as it got up to it´s feet. When it took the right hand away from the wound, they could see that the right eye was gone, leaving behind a smoking crater. The flesh still sizzled, but so far it didn´t look like it regenerated.

"Bell! Arm!"

He reacted instantly to Daphne´s scream, the Goliath´s body was big enough so that he couldn´t see the arm that was on the other side. It wasn´t that hard to evade the Goliath´s arm swipe, but the draft was something else. The Goliath continued to move the arm, so that Daphne had to evade too. Lena used the chance to jump onto the Goliath´s back, that she was barefoot helped now. She immediatelly sliced the neck of the Goliath, the plan was to attack it from all sides, to see if it would heal. Also to never stand still, that´s why Bell took off most of his armor, to be as fast as possible.

When Daphne jumped past him, Bell noticed for a brief moment that shorts under her outfit, the extreme perception of adventurers let him notice it if he wanted to or not.

The Goliath´s hand came up to swipe Lena away, she retreated before he got her. Bell evaded an incoming foot, jumped towards the leg that the Goliath was standing on and rammed Silence into the thigh, slicing downward. While Daphne and Lena had problems to get through the thick skin of the Goliath, Silence cut more easily into it.

A fierce roar answered Bell´s attack, he retreated again immediatelly. White light gathered around the maw of the Goliath as it turned towards Daphne.

"HOWL!"

The Goliath´s head jerked slightly backwards as it fired the wave of sound towards Daphne. The hem of her skirt got grazed by it and torn away, now it was a blessing for Daphne that she wore shorts under the outfit.

She continued to run with all of her speed, along the shattered Wall of Sorrow. While the Goliath was focussed on Daphne, Lena used the short amount of time to eye the Goliath´s wounds, they remained and didn´t start to heal, only the bleeding of the wounds stopped.

"No regeneration!"

Lena jumped forward again, whirled around and used the momentum to slash into the hollow of the Goliath´s right knee. After firing the fifth howl at Daphne, he turned around and tried to ram his fist onto Lena, but she retreated again.

The ground shook when the fist slammed down, Chigusa, Haruhime and Cassandra stumbled slightly. The Goliath´s eyes fell onto the supporter camp and he opened the maw again, white light gathered there.

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"Will-O-Wisp!"

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An explosion errupted from the Goliath´s face. Welf didn´t see what the Goliath had planned, he was focussed on the monsters. But Ursu saw it and she immediatelly told Welf via their mental connection. Thankfully Will-O-Wips had a pretty short chant. The result was a truly disgusting sight, the Goliath´s lips and cheeks were gone, not he was constantly "grinning".

The Goliath turned his wounded maw towards Welf, new light gathered.

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"Thunderbolt!"

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Bell´s magic hammered into the Goliath´s maw and exploded, breaking the attack again and two teeth. For a normal monster, this would mean a serious wound and probably death, but not for a Monster Rex.

And so the Goliath tried again to shoot at Welf.

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"Ethereal jailer, appear in my hand, chain my enemies and submit them to my will...Spectris Catenae!"

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Two small portals appeared behind the Goliath´s head, similar to the ones that came when Lefiya chanted her fire magic. Two silvery chains shot out of these portals, both had a sharp, golden tip like an arrow head. The chains quickly wrapped around the Goliath's neck, getting tighter when Lena made a fist.

Then Lena made a gesture as if she was pulling the chains, at the same time the chains slowly got pulled backwards into the portals, pulling the Goliath slightly backwards.

Of course she wasn´t strong enough to let the Goliath fall backwards, but it was just enough to move the head a little back, so he aimed too high and blew a minotaur into pieces instead, that came just sliding down a ramp.

This was Lena´s magic that she got with her last status update, she was really happy about it.

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Just before the Expedition started, Miach had updated all of their statuses.

"Hehe...I´m getting closer to Bete Loga!"

Lena had smiled happily when she saw her status sheet.

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Lena Tally

Belongs to: Miach familia

Level: 2

Strength: E 420 to D 501 (*+10*)

Endurance: E 401 to E 489 (*+10*)

Dexterity: D 500 to C 602 (*+10*)

Agility: A 850 to S 914 (*+10*)

Magic: I 0 to I 1 (*+10*)

(Magic): Spectris Catenae

Spectris Catenae: Chain magic. Being able to summon chains to stop target´s movement or to pull on allies.

(Skill):

Nimble One: Fourth crew member of the Argo, the "Nimble One". When close to Captain, slightly increased Excelia gain and status. The "Nimble One" reduces stamina consumption for crew members of the Argo when nearby and increases stamina regeneration. When in movement without stopping, building up "Momentum" to increase speed and allows to temporarily obtain "Chain Attack" skill until movement stops.

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The wargame and her harsh training really paid off for Lena.

Only going by the numbers of her status, Lena was the strongest member of the party, but if one would of course add the numbers of level one, she was only number two. Her magic and her skill made her insanely happy. Lena said the chains were so pretty and fitting for a wardancer. Now she could practice a sword and chain dance to impress Bete. "Nimble One" was the perfect skill for her, especially when she would get two swords later, she could become a whirlwind of destruction.

Miach said that it would be most likely that she could summon more chains later with Spectris Catenae when she got the hang out of her magic. It was her dream to chain down something as big as the Goliath or Amphisbaena completely one day. The reduced cost and increased regeneration for stamina also made her very valuable to the party. She wasn´t surprised that she got the skill together with the others, since her feelings for Bell were strong. He was her little Haru-Haru´s boyfriend, a strong warrior, handsome and her number two when it came to men. Not that she had any romantic feelings, Bete Loga already owned 120% of her heart. But she respected Bell and really liked him as a friend.

Lena swore to practice her magic, so that she could use her chains also to save party members from danger. To her bad luck, Haruhime was the first one she used as a practice target. And of course...because Lena was Lena...she had a naughty grin afterwards, Lena imagined to chain down Bete Loga on a bed...

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Lena gave up her momentum to chain the Goliath´s neck for a moment, she was close to activate chain attack, now she had to start from the beginning again. But it was worth to save Welf´s life.

With her skill, Lena needed about one minute in a combat to get up to her full speed, which would be pretty dangerous for any opponent, to notice that she got faster and faster. At first she was confused about "Chain Attack", Lena thought she was supposed to whip her opponent with her chains, until Miach explained to her that it meant the Development Ability.

And about her magic, Lena thought about options to combine it with the magic of the other party members. Chaining down a target and then let Bell used his lightning, Haruhime her fire or Mikoto her gravity magic, it could be quite useful.

Lena had begged Bell to invite Bete onto the ship too...but it wasn´t like he could control who got a share of his skill.

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She exhaled after letting go of her magic, hopping from one foot to the other, back and forth, building momentum that way

"Yooooosh! Here I go agaaaaaaain!"

The Goliath turned with a furious face towards the three members of the vanguard, that they had disrupted him so often.

"Daphne, keep up with meeeee!"

Daphne had to use her magic to keep up with Lena, she still disliked her magic because it reminded her of Apollo. So far, Daphne didn´t receive a crew member skill, Miach said she and Bell had to grow closer together first.

Both attacked again, but the Goliath focussed mostly on Bell because Silence was actually very dangerous for the Goliath.

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"Kon!"

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Five foxes made out of sunfire ran through the air, leaving burning strings behind them as Haruhime used her magic, the five minutes waiting time was up. One of the foxes dived into Lily´s spear, the second into Ouka´s big sword, the third into Mikoto´s Zansetsu, the other two went for Daphne´s and Lena´s swords. Only Bell didn´t receive a flame, but his sword was stronger anyway.

And Welf didn´t get one of course, Ursu had stared at Haruhime in a way that said.

Don´t you dare...

As soon as the flames enveloped their weapons, their attack strength rose and the wounds inflicted got more dangerous.

Lily managed to stab a hell hound in it´s maw, yellow flames errupted and the monster squealed in pain as it´s head started to burn. With that, this one stab had basically killed the monster, it ran in panic around, until a minotaur stomped on it´s head.

"Minotaur!"

Lily backed away, it was the job of the level two members to deal with these and even they could have a hard time.

"I´m with you!"

Ouka charged forward and hacked at the Minotaur´s wrist. As usual, the skin of these monsters were hard to cut, but the fire scorched the shallow cut. Fire magic from the outside wouldn´t do much to the Minotaur, but from the inside it was something else.

Lily whirled her spear around and faced five monsters, a hell hound and four Al´Mirajs. It was strange that the rabbit type monsters were here, they thought the Goliath would only call monsters from the 16th floor and Al´Mirajs didn´t appear on this floor.

And it would look like these weren´t the only unusual monsters.

"Monster from the 18th!"

Lily heard Cassandra´s warning shout, but she didn´t have time to turn around.

"Lena!"

"On it, Boss!"

Lena reacted to Bell´s order and moved away from the Goliath. The young woman grinned as her amazonian blood started to boil. What charged towards the Goliath to follow it´s command shout weren´t monsters from the 16th floor, but monsters from the 19th floor that had strolled around on the 18th floor and heard the call.

Bell had seen what monsters came, that´s why he ordered Lena to intercept them, she had actually experience with them and was stronger now than the last time she faced them.

Ten monsters in total charged with fiery red eyes. A Battleboar led the charge, the head lowered and ready to ram everything. Three Bugbears and six Lizardmen followed, the lizards raised their dungeon weapons.

While she ran, Lena held her left hand forward, the scimitar was in her right hand.

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"Ethereal jailer, appear in my hand, chain my enemies and submit them to my will...Spectris Catenae!"

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The two portals appeared between Lena and the Battleboar, close to the ground. When the monster passed the small portals, the chains shot out and pierce the front legs, before Lena made a fist and the pulling gesture.

"OOOIIINK!"

The boar tripped, as expected and fell forward. It rolled over, while Lena let go of her magic and ran further, not giving up her momentum this time. When she arrived at the boar, Lena dealt two quick slashes, destroying the eyes of the monster and cutting it´s throat. The size of two meters was now a disadvantage for the monster, for it made it easier for Lena to get it´s throat.

"I love this magic!"

Bell got reminded of Tiona and Iska when Lena started to laugh as she charged fearless towards the nine bulky monsters.

Do amazons don´t know fear?

Lena enjoyed the following fight, she danced between the monsters, made them miss her again and again.

And then...her skill was fully charged.

Her speed increased further, as did her attack power with each following attack. It was important now that she didn´t block anything, but kept swinging and dancing. Each attack would become stronger than the last one, but she had to cut a monster multiple times to kill it, since she couldn´t aim for killing blows.

Except for the two Lizardmen that she decapitated.

The Bugbears roared in anger and pain, their fur caught fire and Lena was all to happy about her team with her little Haru-Haru.

But now Bell and Daphne were alone with the Goliath and it sounded as if more monsters were approaching from the 18th.

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"Mikoto, help them!"

"Understood!"

Zansetsu slashed through the air and decapitated a Liger Fang, then Mikoto whirled around and rammed her katana through an Al´Miraj, before she fell back and moved towards the Goliath.

Haruhime, Luan and Chigusa split up their firepower. Luan and Chigusa aimed for the monsters from the 16th floor, while Haruhime supported Lena from afar with her big bow again.

Only elves were probably better in using bow and arrows than a beast person. But Haruhime still had become very good with her bow. She could only shoot slowly, since she used the big bow. But the impact of such an arrow was worth it. Haruhime watched and waited for the right moment to shoot.

Bugbears were as sturdy as a Minotaur, but faster. One towered behind Lena and threatened to block her movement for a moment, breaking her momentum. Haruhime let loose, the arrow shot with great speed and pierced deep intot he bear monster, letting it spit blood. Lena´s battlefocus let her notice this immediatelly. She whirled with a perfect hip swing in her belly dance around, slashed upwards and dealt a long cut from the Bugbear´s throat to it´s groin. Then was whirled away again.

Lena´s trust in Haruhime was complete, she knew she wouldn´t hit her, at the same time Haruhime trusted Lena to stop the monsters from advancing towards her or the Goliath.

Cassandra moved closer to the rear guard and used her healing magic, to take care of the wounds they received so far.

Healing magic was really awesome, the pain from the wounds just vanished and they felt refreshed.

But not only the party could heal. Bell and Daphne noticed that the smaller wounds on the Goliath´s body not only stopped to bleed, but started to slowly close. It wasn´t the form of insane battle regeneration that the Goliath could have, which was more like an active skill and could even grow back entire limbs. This was a passive regeneration, it happened slower but continually.

Mikoto joined them and they attacked the Goliath together, with only three level two adventurers, a lot of attacks were needed to inflict real damage to this monster.

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The fight continued for thirty more minutes, more monsters came, the group just couldn´t take a break. These thirty minutes felt like an eternity. Haruhime switched to her normal bow after she ran out of big arrows, her arms, hands and fingers hurt.

Cassandra was as exhausted as Haruhime was, using her healing magic again and again. A Liger Fang managed to dig it´s fangs into Ouka´s right shoulder, letting Chigusa scream in fear. Welf fought close by, it looked like he was wearing a cape made of fire, with Ursu´s upper body forming the end of the cape. Before Welf could jump to help Ouka, Ursu moved towards him, grabbed the Liger Fang´s head with her hand claws, then she pushed her burning thumbs into the eyes of the monster, piercing and burning them. The Liger Fang roared in pain, let go of Ouka and stumbled around, blind. Ouka gritted his teeth in pain and rammed his sword into the maw of the monster, killing it that way.

He didn´t get a break, three hell hounds opened their maws and spat fire at him.

Shi-

Ursu was there again, she spread her arms wide and moved into the way of the fire. If she weren´t completely immune to fire, Ouka would´ve been dead. But like that she absorbed the fire, shreeked in rage, moved her claws forward and unleashed hell.

An enormous wave of fire washed forward, cremated the three hell hounds and a few Al`Mirajs that followed them.

"Argh...thank y-"

Ouka couldn´t finish his sentence, Ursu´s upper body vanished in a stream of sparks, the fire flew backwards towards Welf and vanished in his body. Her time was up, Welf was down to only 20% of his mind power.

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"Soul Light!"

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Lily was at Ouka´s side and covered for him while Cassandra used her healing magic. Arrow after arrow shot past them as Chigusa gave her all to help them, but she would run out of arrows soon too.

"I´m empty!" Luan tossed the crossbow towards the big backpack, then he picked up a shield with a fitting size for a prum and a mace.

He wasn´t really good in close combat, but it was better than just standing around, at least he could help Lily a bit.

And Lily could need help, even when she did an amazing job as a level one. She still lacked the strength to fight any monster except for Al´Mirajs head on, but Lily never went head on. She only went for weak spots, like the maws or eyes, it was her only option. She had used her shield magic quick chant more than one time, Al´Mirajs didn´t only hit with their weapons, they tended to throw them when more were lying around. The reason why Lily was still alive was her armor, it was far better than a normal level one armor would be. The banner of her familia was splattered with monster blood...and a bit of her own...but it still moved.

In the beginning they had three magic swords, made by Welf. Now they were down to one, the number of monsters that came down from the 16th floor was just insane at some times. The longer the fight went, the more monsters got called by the Goliath. The command howl together with his insane toughness and the regeneration was what made this fight so hard and exhausting. The Goliath could just last longer than it had any right to.

Lena still moved, "Nimble One" was the reason why she could still move. Her body glistened from sweat, small wounds covered her body, her clothes were tattered. Even with a strong level two body and her skill, Lena started to get more and more problems. Her mouth felt completely dry and she lost more and more water, her sword arm hurt and the scimitar didn´t look that good anymore. If she would move back, then the monsters from the 18th floor were free to help the Goliath directly or attack the support camp.

Bell, Daphne and Mikoto slowly got problems too, they just didn´t do enough damage. The Goliath focussed more and more onto Bell, swiping his arms and legs at him. There was a strange feeling in the Monster Rex that went beyond the danger that Bell´s sword posed.

The Goliath didn´t have a true mind, it wasn´t capable of thinking like a person did, but there was something inside it, deep in it´s core that let it see Bell as it´s greatest threat.

It had something to do with the monster´s race.

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The Goliath belonged to the species of Giants, it was basically THE Giant. Bell knew enough about the mythology to know where the giants came from. It was said that in ancient times, the titans wandered over the surface of the world and fought a war against everything, including the gods. Some said that the titans were originally the parents of the gods, like the Titan Chronos. Bell didn´t know if that was true and Zeus never answered this question.

But according to Zeus, the fight against the titans was true. It was the first time that a few gods had descended onto the surface for a very short amount of time. How they did it would later turn into what they used for their "vacation". Zeus fought alongside his brothers, Poseidon and Hades...basically Bell´s great uncles. Other gods fought in this war too, but it was apparently Zeus that ended the fight. It was said that he used his divine weapon, the "Blade of Olympus", it was on the same level as Odin´s Gungnir, Thor´s Mjöllnir, Raijin´s sword, Artemis´ bow and other weapons...maybe it was even stronger than the most. Zeus used his sword to summon the biggest thunderstorm that was ever seen, unleashed a tsunami of lightning, destroyed a few titans and imprisoned the others in Tartarus.

At least this was the legend, Zeus claimed many of these things were true, but maybe not all.

And according to legend, the remains of some titans formed the world how it was now. Bell asked Zeus if this was how the dungeon came to be, if it was maybe a primordial goddess like Tiamat or even a titan herself. Zeus had just smiled and said that the dungeon was the dungeon. The only thing that Bell knew was that from the remains of one of these titans, a special kind of monsters were born and later bound to the dungeon, like all monsters.

The Giants.

Basically, Mini titans...if one could say the word Mini when they looked at the Goliath.

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Even when the Goliath never lived long enough to memorize it´s former lives...even the one before it got fought back into the dungeon...it had some kind of faint memory about a white haired warrior, wielding a sword and lightning.

That this posed the greatest of all dangers, that this warrior promised doom.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The Goliath attacked Bell with all of it´s might, it had to destroy him or it would get destroyed again.

And if it got destroyed again...it would make "Mother" angry. Angry because one of her favorite children got slaughtered again and she had to rebirth it. Angry because it was one of her favorite children and only ever lived for a short amount of time. Yet the dungeon´s nature made it impossible for the Goliath to leave the floor and become stronger. As mighty as the Monster Rexes were, it was impossible for them to become an irregular...at least it should be. If things went different and Bell had a goddess instead of a god, maybe this goddess would travel into the dungeon to search for him for some reason, infuriating the dungeon and let it spawn an irregular Goliath.

"Raaaaaaaah!"

Bell evaded the fist in the last second, slashing at the arm and dealing a deep cut.

The feelings between Bell and the Goliath were mutual. Just like the Goliath wanted to destroy Bell more than anything, he wanted to finish the Goliath off more than anything right now. He knew about the legend, he was the grandson of Zeus.

The fight between the titans and Zeus had returned on a much smaller scale between Bell´s party and the Goliath.

Following their strategy made Bell the key to slay the Goliath, together with Haruhime´s magic, he could deal the strongest blow.

The hero´s strike.

And after his last status update, all of them were sure he could do it if he just got the time to charge his skill.

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There wasn´t one of them that wasn´t shocked after Bell got his update, he was the last one that Miach did that for.

They had sat in the big living room and even Bell couldn´t say a word at first.

The wargame and everything else that happened had done wonders.

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Bell Cranel

Belongs To: Miach Familia

Level: 2

Strength: G 301 to E 550 (+20) (*+40*)

Endurance: F 410 to E 523 (+20) (*+40*)

Dexterity: H 250 to E 598 (+20) (*+40*)

Agility: H 299 to F 612 (+20) (*+40*)

Magic: H 220 to E 588 (+20) (*+40*)

New Skills:

Ship of Heros unlocked:

The Captain: Ruler of the Argo, the "Captain". Unlocks all abilities for the crew members, increased Excelia gain and status for each crew member in fourty meters range towards Captain. Grants crew members increased status for half the amount of fulfilled "Herculean tasks".

Herculean task fulfilled: Two. When Herculean task fulfilled, grants jump of 100 points in every status.

Swordsman: G

Blood of Zeus (evolved): In addition to other effects, increases mastery of wielding lightning, due to relation to "King of Olympus". Lightning enchantement can be moved between Sword, Shield and Armor.

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They had waited with his update until the day before the Expedition, Bell wanted to see a jump as big as possible. Miach didn´t know what exactly the Herculean tasks were, maybe it was his fight against Hyakinthos. Whatever it was, whenever he fulfilled one of them, he was granted a passive bonus to his status that lasted forever and also a bonus directly of 100 points for each status.

Miach had chuckled. "Heh, it looks like you´re forming a group of upcoming heroes around you, Bell. Make sure to lead them properly, hm?"

Bell´s eyes had sparkled, he was beyond happy. Not only about Blood of Zeus or his hero fighting style, but the Herculean tasks...they just sounded so cool! Together with the ship of heroes, Bell could squeal out of joy, which he actually did.

"I will, Lord Miach!"

That his swordsman ability was already on rank G was no less than a miracle, which didn´t surprise Alfia when she heard about it.

Bell´s skills made him the centerpiece of his party, strenghtening all of them. He also received strength in return and the range for that between him and a crew members was bigger than between two crew members. Which meant even when Bell fought the Goliath, he still received the passive boni from Lena, Cassandra, Haruhime and Lily. Bell was in more ways than one their leader.

And while they adored him, they couldn´t help but tease him a bit.

Lena had jumped to her feet, put a fist in front of her heart.

"Oh captain, my captain!"

She had grinned when Lily did the same. Cassandra and Haruhime wouldn´t join, it was too embarrassing for them.

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Bell panted while he stood on the ground, Silence in his hands, the Goliath turned to him again. His blood was rushing in his ears, with a short glimpse, Bell noticed how dire their situation became.

Think, Bell...think!

Their plan was to defeat the Goliath, the best chance would be to deliver a heavy blow.

How did David do it...think!

While he evaded the Goliath´s next attack, Bell, Daphne and Mikoto continued to attack the hollow of the knees, if they could deal enough damage and force the Goliath down, they had a good chance.

He thought about the myth, how did David do it?

The answer was so simple that Bell thought he had to be quite dumb so far. They attacked the Goliath head on, inflicting damage and creating wounds. The Goliath regenerated and attacked on it´s own. Which meant, they fought exactly in the style that the Goliath preffered.

That was not how David won in the myth. David used his brain, used his own strength instead of fighting to the Goliath´s term.

And...he aimed for the head.

Bell´s hand around Silence´s hilt twitched, a picture of one of his books came to his mind.

The picture of a true hero, who was about to slay the titan Chronos and banished it into Tartarus.

A hero that was a god.

The most handsome, intelligent, smart, nice, strong and cool god of them all.

Zeus.

His awesome Grandpa.

The Goliath bared it´s teeth again...which he basically did constantly since it´s lips were still missing. It didn´t like the expression in Bell´s eyes one bit...and the fact that light gathered around his hands, while a light chirming started.

"HARUHIMEEE!"

"Yes!"

They had talked about this before, Bell would only yell Haruhime´s name like that out of one reason. She lowered her bow and started to chant her special, very unique magic.

"Daphne! Mikoto!"

""Understood!""

Both knew what would happen now that he called out for Haruhime. Originally they had planned on letting Lena join, but she was busy with the monsters. So Daphne and Mikoto had now the job to distract the Goliath for two minutes, Bell had to stand still to focus on his skill.

It was extremely dangerous, but they had no other choice, supplies of potions ran out. They had only one magic sword left and Welf forbid everyone from using it, since it was far more dangerous than the other ones.

Lily shouted exhausted. "If that doesn´t work, we will fall back immediatelly!"

It was a smart decision, a wise decision, the right decision. Whenever a party encountered a Monster Rex and were not able to beat it, they had to run. Monster Rexes were mostly bound to their rooms, the Amphisbaena was an exeption, but at least there was a way to exit these fights.

But there was a problem, a big problem. A problem in form of the raging Goliath. If they decided to stop their try and fall back to the 18th floor, they would still be trapped. The Goliath would still be there and they had run out of supplies without achieving something. While food and water wasn´t that much of a problem on the 18th floor, they would have a problem to get out of the dungeon. The Goliath would wait for them and the elite familias wouldn´t go into the dungeon soon, since they were busy with Knossos. At the same time, all the other familias that were strong enough for the Goliath would get stopped by the Ganesha familia and the guild now from entering the dungeon, since the big familias were just about to start their move.

And in contrast to their first plan, Astrea wouldn´t send only her seven strongest children into Knossos, but all of them, except for the one that currently sat in the camp on the 18th floor. They couldn´t risk anything and Loki had argued that one or two members more could make the difference between some people dying and saving everyone.

So Loki, Dyonisus, Freya, Hermes and Astrea started to move out at this moment, the gods would accompany their children into Knossos. Ganesha´s familia spread out in the city, in case hidden Evilus members would attack the city.

Due to this, no one that would be able to slay the Goliath would go into the dungeon soon.

They had no real choice.

Also, the dungeon didn´t intend to let them go this easy.

Maybe the Goliath heard what Lily shouted or it was just a coincidence, but when Bell started to charge his skill, the Goliath turned to the side.

Before they could warn Lena, the Goliath fired three howls directly at her and the group of monsters that she fought against. The ground exploded, the monsters were torn to shreds and Lena thrown to the side. She slammed against a wall and fell to the ground, without moving.

"Ms. Lena!"

Cassandra ran immediatelly to the unconcious amazon and started to heal her. It was as if a change ran through the Goliath, suddenly it started to move faster.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

The monsters shreeked loud when they heard the command call again, they didn´t try to attack the rear guard much anymore, just to get towards the Goliath...and Bell.

"Stop them! Intercept them!"

Lily got thrown to the ground when a Liger Fang rammed her, immediatelly a bunch of Al´Mirajs jumped onto her.

"Dah!" Lily rammed her spear forward and greeted the first rabbit monster with the tip.

The second got stopped by Luan´s shield and mace.

Ouka did his best to hold back the stronger monsters, but he was exhausted and his sword got really heavy.

"Daphnee!"

Daphne heard Cassandra´s scream and reacted immediatelly.

"I will stop them!"

Mikoto nodded. "Go!"

Daphne dashed towards the entrance to the 18th floor as new monsters came and charged at Cassandra and Lena.

"Smith, go!"

Welf reacted to Ouka´s shout and ran towards the Goliath, to help Mikoto. He stumbled to the side when the Liger Fang rammed him too and charged at Mikoto, using the Goliath´s leg to jump up.

"Mikoto!"

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One minute and fifty seconds left.

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She glanced down after hearing Welf´s yell. Mikoto was stronger and faster than a Liger Fang, even when she was jumping around in the air like that. Her somersault was perfect, she kicked herself off the Goliath and met the Liger Fang´s forehead with Zansetsu, she had no other choice but to deal with it quickly.

The Liger Fang managed to distract Mikoto for two seconds...enough time for the Goliath.

It was as if Mikoto rammed a wall head on at full speed. The Goliath slapped her whole body with his hand at once. She wasn´t the only one that heard the loud crack when her sword arm broke. Mikoto got catapulted away from the Goliath.

"Mikotooooo!"

Chigusa ran immediatelly into her direction when Mikoto slammed onto the ground, her left leg broke by impact. Mikoto screamed in pain, blood spurted out of her mouth, she bit her cheek on the inside by accident when she got hit. Everything was spinning in her head and Mikoto couldn't help but throw up.

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One minute and fourty seconds left.

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The Goliath turned with a mean grin towards Bell, whose arms shone now while the white light around crawled towards his body. A wet smacking sound followed as the Goliath regenerated it´s right eye.

The ground shook under the thunderous footsteps of the Monster Rex.

It opened it´s maw wide again.

A small figure with a bright shining banner came running from the side, singing her chant out loud.

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"Radians Lux Pallum!"

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Just as the Goliath fired it´s howl, Lily rammed her banner into the ground halfway between the monster and Bell. Since she used the chant version, the shield Lily summoned was bigger and could take on more.

It looked like the Goliath got seriously infuriated that it´s howl and attacks got intercepted so often. Howl after howl got fired onto Lily´s golden shield, while the gigantic monster came closer.

"Grgh!"

"Lily!"

"Focus, Bell! Lily will hold this!"

A fist like a rock boulder collided with Lily´s shield, in a way she felt that. When something like that hit the shield, a huge amount of her mind got used to keep it up.

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Gong...

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"Bufagh! Ack...aaah..."

"Mikoto! Don´t move!"

Blood was on Mikoto´s broken arm and leg, as well as her lips. She tried to hold herself up with her good arm, but fell down again.

"I will give you a potion."

"Ack, just...turn me around!"

"Mikot-"

"Do it!"

Chigusa had tears in her eyes when she rolled Mikoto around, who screamed in pain.

Mikoto stretched out her good arm and pointed her palm at the Goliath.

"My God of War...Bringer of Destruction...I humbly beseech thee...Grant me guidance from the heavens..."

She started to slightly glow in a purple color. Chigusa saw how much in pain Mikoto was. Yet she refused to give up, not in a situation like this.

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One minute and ten seconds left. A whirl of golden light came from above and hammered down on Bell, he felt his strength rising as Haruhime unleashed her magic. She immediatelly started to chant again, squeezing everything she had left into a last fire spell.

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Gong...

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The fist collided again with Lily´s shield, cracks appeared all over the shield, Lily felt her mind giving in.

Thirty seconds...her shield had managed to hold the Goliath back for merely thirty seconds.

"Bell, sorry.."

The Goliath swiped with it´s giant right hand, shattered the shield and threw Lily to the side. Even when she was thrown away like a ragdoll, she refused to let her banner go.

Bell stared up at the Goliath, he didn´t move, he trusted his friends. He knelt down, put Silence with the tip down in front of him and lowered his head, already noticing the figure that approached him from the side.

Focus...

The Goliath raised a titanic foot and was about to crush Bell´s kneeling figure.

"No you dooooooon´t!"

Welf jumped upwards and pulled a bright red sword from his back.

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"FIRE MOOOOOOOON!"

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Welf swung his sword down and a literal tsunami of fire shot over the kneeling Bell, washing all over the Goliath and the monsters at it´s side. The monsters didn´t even have time to scream as they got cremated and turned to ash.

The sound of the grand bell got louder and louder as Bell charged his skill further. His body wasn´t shining anymore, all the light flew towards Silence, lightning washed and lept over the black blade, illuminating all the runes and let them shine in an actinic blue.

Even while he burned brightly, the Goliath tried to get forward.

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GONG!

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One by one, Bell´s friends threw their attacks at the Goliath to stop it as long as possible and so that their attacks won´t cancel each other out.

The Goliath´s fist rose, Welf took his big sword again after the magic sword crumbled.

"KON!"

Haruhime channeled her fire magic into two fire foxes that smashed right into the Goliath´s eyes. The Monster Rex had closed it´s eyes when Welf´s magic sword did it´s work, but now both of it´s eyes got burned heavily, not as much as with Haruhime´s first attack but still enough to blind it for a moment.

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GONG! GONG! GONG!

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The sound of the grand bell came faster and louder. Another sound mixed in between the, thunderclaps. An Al´Miraj that tried to jump at Bell got pierced by a lightning bolt that shot out of Silence, his magic was overflowing. With the sword burning from lightning fire, lightning crawling over Bell´s arms, his eyes glowing in a fierce red, Bell looked like a demi-god...like a hero.

The true grandson of THE Thunder God.

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Thirty seconds left...

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The gong got so loud that it hurt Haruhime´s ears, she kept releasing her last arrows at the Goliath. With a fast kick, the half blind Goliath got rid of Welf, breaking at least two of his rips.

No one was left between Bell and the Goliath.

It raised it´s fist for the last time.

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"FUTSO NO MITAMA!"

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The giant sword made of purple light shot out of the ceiling, crushing down on the Goliath and the few monsters next to it. Mikoto screamed in pain as her magic flew through her, but she didn´t stop it. The Goliath tried to make a step forward, but it got pushed down more and more by the enormous gravity. With a crack the ground around it started to collapse, squashing a Minotaur and lesser monsters.

"Hrngh!"

Mikoto´s good hand looked more like a claw, she fought to keep her magic up, the pressure on her was enormous just to try keeping the Goliath at bay.

One of her eyes was squeezed shut from pain, she saw the Goliath stumble as the wounds they had inflicted to it´s ankles and knee hollows finally bear fruit.

Two legs for an arm and a leg!

She kept pressing and eventually, the Goliath´s ankles and knees shattered under it´s own increased weight. The breaking sound was the loudest noise for a second.

Mikoto was about to get a blackout when she saw Bell standing up.

The time was over, Bell was fully charged.

With a loud shattering sound, Mikoto´s magic collapsed and she got thrown back by the recoil. Her broken bones rubbed against each other, cutting into the surrounding flesh. She had never felt such pain before... but she was pleased. Takemikazuchi would be proud of her, she had given her best without even flinching.

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When the Goliath fell backwards to the ground, Bell started to run.

The time went slow like honey, only a few of his party members saw him running, the others fought for their lives or were unconcious.

Bell´s left foot went on the Goliath´s big, right toe. From their he jumped forward, the Goliath still falling. Bell´s right foot touched the broken ankle, then his left the shin and his right the cracked knee.

The Goliath´s body hit the ground, an earthquake shook everything in the cave.

Bell ran over the thigh towards the pelvic bone.

The Goliath´s head hit the ground a splitsecond after it´s body. Both arms got thrown into the air. Bell dodged the right arm as he ran over the stomach and chest.

When his left foot met the Goliath´s chin, the eyes of the monster shot towards him.

And then for the very first time since it was born by the dungeon, the Goliath felt something like...fear.

Maybe it was a last memory of the original titan from where the giants came from, but for the Monster Rex, the young man that jumped on it´s head and raised the sword that was covered in lightning, looked like the Thunder God for a moment.

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"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

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Bell rammed Silence into the Goliath´s forehead and unleashed his skill and magic at full force..

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It was as if they saw the heart of a thunderstorm, lightning, lightning and even more lightning exploded and washed all over from the place. The Goliath´s head detonated, lightning washed into it´s body and destroyed the heart and the outer shell of the magic stone.

Lightning bolts shout away from him, killing the last monsters in the cave.

A blinding light filled the cave, making it impossible for everyone to see anything.

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When Haruhime could see and hear again, she looked at the spot where the Goliath had fallen.

The Monster Rex was gone.

But her hero remained.

Bell stood there with his sword and looked up.

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The had beaten the Goliath.

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A bit away from Orario, a beardy, old man sat down in a wide gras field, looking at the sky. He waited for a reply to the letter he sent two days ago towards Orario.

I really want to see Bell again and meet his cute girlfriends!

Zeus grinned and relaxed.

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