Danmachi is not in my possession at the moment, gimme a few more days.
The Hestia Familia had made it to the 18th floor with little incident. Their well-practised usual formation allowed them to coordinate through to the first safe zone of the dungeon. This, however, was only the prologue to their mission. In front of them was now the dangerous part. The entrance to the Great Tree Labyrinth. Only Bell, Welf and Nathan had gone that far, with the prior two only going through the first bit or while with a massive group of adventurers. From here on out, the party contained two level 1 supporters who, while providing use with commanding and power boosted magic, would ultimately be a liability. A level 2 blacksmith and a level 2 ninja who would be of some help, ultimately they would be only on par with the strength of the monsters they would be about to face, with some even being stronger than the pair of adventurers. The only people who would be able to properly stand their ground would be the Level 3 captain of the Hestia Familia and the Level 4 half-elf, who was the only one with any actual experience from here on out.
Nathan knew this. He had been thinking non-stop about this ever since the mission was requested by the Guild. He had wanted to suggest letting just him and Bell go down with Weine, allowing the pair to go faster. The plan would have been Nathan dealing with the monsters that got in their way while Bell carried the Vouviere, with the main tactic to just run past all the monsters. But the half-elf knew none of the others, especially their patron deity Hestia, would allow it. The boy had since been thinking of a plan on how to keep everyone safe. Lili and himself had been up for a full night concocting a proper strategy. The main discussion was who they were going to give Haruhime's level boost to. At first, both believed it would be best to give it to Bell, so the party could have two level 4s around them all the time, one at the front and one at the back. However, after discussing it for a bit, they realised that this would put too much strain on Bell. The final result they come up with was what the party had gone over for the last time before taking their first steps into the dungeon.
Nathan stood at the front with a level boosted Welf. Lili and Haruhime stood on either side of Weine, both adorning Goliath robes for protection. Mikoto stood in between the two groups, her main role was to have her black crow on constant use to be able to tell when a monster is coming from behind or to the side of the party. Her other main role was to take out any monster that slipped from either the two at the front or from Bell at the rear. Bell was put at the rear because, unlike Welf who is only pseudo level 3, he is a proper level 3, and a strong one at that. His job is full protection duty over the girls in the middle. If Mikoto senses a monster coming towards the middle of the group, Bell will jump in and take them out. The reason the white-haired boy wasn't at the front and the half-elf wasn't at the back like their normal formation was simple. Nathan had been down here before and had experience. He would be able to direct Welf and sometimes Mikoto in what needed to be done. Even though Welf had been given the level boost so it would be easier for him to fight the monsters on these floors, he was still only there as backup for the half-elf. Nathan would be in full attack mode and if Welf or even Bell for that matter treid to assist, both would just get in the half-elf's way. Welf's job was to lighten the load for the boy, so he didn't tire himself out.
It didn't take long into the 19th floor for it to come to show the main reason why Nathan wanted for it to just be him, Bell and Weine. When he had previously come down here on his solo trip, he had to go out of his way to find as many monsters as he could. Now that a party of 7 was travelling through the bottom of the middle floors, monsters flocked to them in droves. Nathan fought almost the same amount of monsters during this mission as he had during his whole solo dive. He knew Welf didn't have the abnormal resistance ability, so whenever they came into a fight with the Gun Libellula's, the half-elf had to immediately dash into the air and face them head-on, even if it meant taking a few poison shots. He feared if he dodged them, it would hit some of the others and they had nowhere near the level of resistance he obtained. This meant that Welf was on his own on the floor for a few seconds, but that was enough for some Mad Beetles to jump at him. If it wasn't for Mikoto's detection and Haruhime's level up magic, Welf wouldn't have had time to react.
To the others though, they were finally seeing Nathan fight serious and to the trained fighter, Mikoto, the half-elf was in his element here. Large rooms gave him space to roam, with branches and logs that jutted out of the walls to give him places to push of. At one point, Welf fully realised why Lili gave him the level boost but still made him a backup. Bell being up here would have wasted his strength as before the smith could even engage with a pack of 5 sword stags, Nathan had sliced them all with his magic swords, cutting them all in a blink of an eye. Without even stopping for a breath, the half-elf then sprang forward to take on a massive group of dark fungus that was blocking the main passage.
"Why is that there Lil'E?"
"I-I don't know, it shouldn't be."
Dark fungus were monsters that produced a poison attack so lethal that even first-class adventurers could be dealt a heavy blow unless they possessed abnormal resistance. And blocking the group from progressing was a wall of these monsters. To make the situation worse, the wall of fungi had now set off a massive explosion of deadly poison, heading straight towards the party. To everyone's horror, the half-elf didn't stop running and looked like he was going to take the poison head-on. They knew he had his resistance skill but this was too much, even for him.
Nathan decided to take out the mushroom wall before anything bad happened to the party behind him. So when he saw the massive explosion head his way, he swung his now conjoined swords in a massive upwards strike. The wind on them flew outwards and upwards. Deadly Orange cascaded into a dark green wind, both fighting for dominance. The gale preceded to blow the poison back and upwards, the orange-coloured poison crashing into the ceiling and walls, dispersing it and stopping its advance dead in its tracks. The green wind continued its advance, barrelling straight into the wall of mushroom monsters. Without even stopping, Nathan followed his magic and started to carve through the dark fungus.
This was truly the strength and battle prowess of a high second-tier adventurer. It was obvious that the boy that was fighting so fluently ahead of them was only one step away from attaining first-tier adventurer status. The other thing they noticed was how silent he was. He was always a quiet person but he didn't make a single sound while fighting. No shouts to power his attacks, no sound of footsteps and not even the sound of a blade cutting through flesh. Only the sounds of the monsters groaning or roaring in pain could be heard.
"Firebolt!"
A burst of fire and lightning raced past the half-elf's ear, blowing up 3 of the monsters in front of him. The support from his captain was greatly appreciated as the boy ran up to help the half-elf to dismember the rest of the wall.
*GRAAAAHHHHH *
*OUUOOOOOOOOO*
The others weren't given the luxury to watch for more than a few seconds as Mikoto informed the others of their next opponents. Now having fought some of the monsters down here, Mikoto could identify what was coming. Mikoto herself had to deal with 3 bugbears that were running in from behind while Welf turned to face two lizardmen. Though the young man and Mikoto were struggling with these fights and the descent, their main objective was still a current success. None of the girls in the middle had been dealt any harm. Lili and Haruhime had yet to use their Goliath robes seriously and Weine was completely unharmed. Haruhime was feeling the effects of having to constantly use her magic but other than that, the party was working well together.
With Bell and Welf both currently being level 3s and Mikoto being a prodigy of the War god Takemikazuchi, they could instantly kill the monsters that attacked them. They were after all only level 2 or low level 3 monsters, so they could still hold their own. This was shown when Bell ran back and helped Mikoto out by jumping in and blocking the bugbear's attacks, allowing the samurai to jump around and stab into their magic stones. Welf roared into the air and pushed the two lizardmen away and swung his greatsword across, killing both monsters instantly.
After everything had calmed, the group reconvened.
"Nathan are you alright? You took on that massive wave of poison." Bell asked the half-elf
"I'm fine. It hasn't hurt me before. I've already tested so I knew I'd be fine. Did it reach any of you?"
"It didn't reach us thanks to you. Cheers for that."
"That's fine. Bell, what about you. I'm grateful for the help but you probably got some in you."
The lack of colour in Bell's face showed that he had indeed come into contact with the poison.
"Here Master Bell, take this," Lili said while handing Bell an antidote potion.
"Thank you, Lili" the boy said while downing the potion.
The party began their routine of crushing all the magic stones they weren't taking with them and continued on their mission.
It was another 10-15 minutes until they were near the entrance of the 20th floor.
"Sir Nathan are you alright, do you need any potions or any other help?"
"I'm fine at the moment but could you pass me a strength and mind potion. I'd recommend for everyone to have a healing potion on them at all times, even give one to Weine. One stray shot or one too many attacks is all it takes."
"Lili understands." The prum girl said as she passed the two requested potions to the half-elf who slotted them into a leg holster. "Do you need a healing potion as well?"
"Don't waste one on me. I haven't been hit yet and don't intend to. The one I've got on me is for an emergency, whether that be for me or you. Even if I do get hit, I'm a level 4, I can tank a hit or two."
Everyone knew the half-elf wasn't being arrogant about his statement. He had yet to be hit by any monsters, always able to dance around all the attacks thrown at him. He only ever allowed himself to be hit by a few projectiles shot by the dragonflies but with his resistance, they did nothing to him.
"Nathan, when we were here last time, we didn't experience this many as before," Welf said, walking up to the front again with the half-elf.
"I agree. I've rarely ever encountered this many. It might be down to that we have more people than before."
"Maybe.."
Welf turned back to check on his supplies. At this point, the white-haired had walked over to them.
"Nathan, do you still feel it?"
"Yeah, I do."
When on the 18th floor, Bell had protested at first for not being at the front, wanting to help out. Nathan, however, whispered to the young boy.
"Bell. Do you feel us being watched?"
This made the boy realise what the half-elf wanted. The two continued to talk about how they felt their party was being watched from behind them. Nathan wanted Bell at the back because he was good at sensing when he had eyes on him and that he was still stronger than Welf even with a power boost. The two boys had agreed that they would do their best to keep sensing when they are being watched. This was also why Nathan was putting on such a savage display of his strength in hope of deterring the watchers from continuing to follow them. It seemed it hadn't worked.
"More of them have joined them."
"You sure?" Nathan could tell he was being watched but because he was too busy focusing on his vicious fighting out front, he wasn't able to tell if more joined. Though, after stopping for a second he realised Bell was telling the truth.
"When did this happen?"
"On the 19th floor."
"So they met up with some of their friends on the 18th floor and have continued to follow us."
"I believe so"
The two boys talked but realised there was little they could do for now, so instead, they began to get back into formation for the trip into the 20th floor. All preparations were thrown away as soon as a loud buzzing started to close in on them. Weine was the first to hear it, with Nathan hearing straight after but soon, everyone else picked up on it too.
On the top floors, killer ants were known as novice slayers. Well, here in the middle floors, the deadly hornets were dubbed high-adventurer killer bees. Everyone turned to see what they were up against and what they saw froze them in terror. An entire swarm was flying towards them. Nathan immediately detached his swords and put one in each hand again. He would run from this many monsters, only the likes of the sword princess or Ottar would be able to take this on with their strength. He couldn't run away though as he saw the look of terror on everyone else's faces. He had to have everyone else leave first. That didn't take long though.
"-RUUUNNNNN!"
Welf screamed at the party to jump straight down the hole leading to the next floor. Everyone didn't need to be told twice as they all sprinted down the entrance. Nathan was the last to go as he turned to see Welf pull out his magic sword and shower the swarm in a hellfire. The result was catastrophic. Almost all the hornets were taken out in one go, but some did make it out. Nathan preceded to grab Welf by the collar and threw him into the hole where he immediately followed after. As Nathan saw the rest of his party now under the body of the smith, he turned to see the rest of the swarm had followed them. There weren't many left, about 5 by Nathan's count. The magic sword was that powerful it had nearly decimated something that even he would have run away from without a second thought. But now there was only a few left, Nathan quickly dispatched them with his magic and two clean swings with his once again detached swords.
Everyone took a second to breathe and get back up by pushing the body of the smith off of them. Once they realised they were safe, they realised they were now on the 20th floor.
"There is a difference from up there and down hhere. Monster spawns will increase but the strength and type won't change. The only thing I can say is that there will be fewer Lizardmen and bugbears. In contrast, there will be a few more Dark funguses. The only thing worth saying is now Trolls can spawn. They aren't more of a threat than bugbears or even Minotaurs. So Welf, Bell, Mikoto, just keep swinging your weapons at them and dodge all their attacks, don't try and block them as even though they are level 2, they can pack a punch. We will also be facing massive groups of monsters, maybe even up to about 20 at a time."
All of them closely listened to the half-elf who once again stood at the front of the group. They all knew he was now the only one to ever venture this far and anything he said will be the most valuable thing they could receive right now. It was no speech for confidence or saying that they will be fine, Nathan doesn't bother with that kind of talk but they all knew this was his way of giving them as much protection as possible, as while he was out front fighting, this information was all he could give them for help.
"Welf, Lili will be readying the magic sword and Lili suggests you give yours to Mikoto in the middle."
"Yeah that's fine and I can understand that. Nathan is already as powerful as one of my swords anyway." The smith replied, a slight grimace crossing his features as he was admitting to himself his work still wasn't good enough while looking at his almost broken sword in his hands.
"Are you kidding, one of your magic swords just now took out something I would immediately run from."
"Really?"
"Yes. I wish I could produce something like that. Give yourself some credit man."
"Yeah Welf, if it wasn't for you, we might not have gotten out of that."
"I don't plan on sacrificing myself for you guys yet, keep them coming."
The back and forth between the two other boys brought Welf out of his grimace, allowing a small smile to settle on his face.
"Do you hear that?"
This time, Weine spoke up. No one else could hear it, not even Nathan could pick up anything. Though after a while, a soft singing voice reached their ears. They all looked at one another, with Lili realising that the singing was in the direction that the mission directions said to go, and they all set off after it. It led them to a massive quartz room, in which the directions came to an end. After some looking about, Welf smashed open a pillar of quartz to reveal a hidden passageway. Both Bell and Nathan had confirmed with each other that they no longer felt any eyes on them, meaning that they must have lost the stalkers with the deadly hornets.
The Hestia Familia slowly entered the newly exposed cave, walking down what looked like a narrow hallway. Bell led the way with Weine right behind him. The others involuntarily slowly fell into their normal formation, with Nathan at the back once again. After a minutes' walk, Nathan heard Bell speak up at the front.
".. A spring"
They came across what looked to be a spring. It could easily pass for being a small pond in the half-elf's eyes.
"Is this it?"
"The song came from in here."
It wasn't until Mikoto jumped into the water and went for a swim was progress made. After she came back up and wiped her wet hair that plastered her face away, she confirmed her suspicion. One after the other, they all slowly made their way into the water. Mikoto and Haruhime were happy to swim, with Lili only taking what she conceded essential as she swam after the two girls. Bell held onto Weine and helped her navigate through the water while Nathan joined Welf at the bottom, using his magic to push him down while the smith used his heavy equipment as his weight. It also gave the half-elf something to push off and a full vantage point in case something happened. Nothing happened though and as everyone continued to follow Mikoto, they all found a place to surface.
It took a second for all of them to realise that this was now unmarked territory. Just like the brave adventurers before them, they slowly started to walk into a never seen before area of the dungeon. As they slowly moved their way down the dark passageway, using the constructed moss lamp Lili had made as their only source of light, they all stayed on edge. Nathan's instinct was kicking in slightly, making the boy chant his magic again. The half-elf chugged half of the mind potion he had on him and then readied his pair of swords in each hand.
"""""!""""""
Suddenly a wave of bloodlust spewed from the darkness, the incredible Killing intent swept over all of them. All but Nathan froze up at this while the half-elf immediately jumped to the front, taking a low defensive stance. Suddenly loud Thuds echoed around the room, drawing closer to the Hestia Familia. As Bell lifted the moss lamp, a flash of red scales entered his eyesight. Though Nathan saw something else. A glint of metal flickered into his mask.
"UUOOOOOOUUUUUUU!"
With a massive roar, the red-scaled monster jumped at Bell, duel scimitars ready to slice at him. Before Bell could react with the obsidian Hestia Knife, the blades were intercepted by another pair of swords. However to everyone's surprise, even with his magic on, Nathan was still flung backwards.
It only took a few seconds for Nathan to regain control of his flying body and just before he slammed into the wall behind him, the half-elf managed to flip mid-air and place both feet on the rocky surface. Looking back up he saw Bell engaged with the Lizardman that had just thrown him with the strength of at least a high level 4. He looked and saw Mikoto now taking on a Siren, with his instinct ability telling Nathan that there were many other monsters behind them. Still feeling the killing intent attempting to make him scared, he decided to fight back.
"Nathan!"
Bell watched as his friend was thrown back after intercepting an attack meant for him. Quick to retaliate, the young boy drew the Hestia knife and Ushiwakamaru-Nishiki and fought back against the lizardman. He had wanted to go and see if Nathan was alright but he couldn't risk the monster attacking any more of the group. The sound of feathers filled his ears as he looked up just a bit to spot a siren heading straight for Mikoto and Weine. Bell quickly pushed the Lizardman back with a double-arched swing from his knives and started to run over to help the two girls out. The red-scaled monster didn't allow him and jumped back in front of the boy and began to swing his scimitars down once more.
Standing in a now revealed wide open chamber was a cluster of monsters. Though the most striking and scariest part about what the Hestia Familia was looking at was something much more terrifying.
"M-monsters…"
"…with weapons!"
Bell and Welf were frozen by the sight in front of them. Surrounding them was an overwhelming number of monsters, some wielding weapons. Not the normal landform weapons they commonly use but weapons made by blacksmiths. Weapons used by adventurers when scouring the dangerous dungeon. They all came to the same conclusion. These monsters had stolen them off of adventurers they had killed. The thought made everyone gulp and sweat in fear.
"""""!""""
Suddenly another feeling of bloodlust slammed into the group but this time it was much stronger than before. Bell knew that it wasn't coming from the monsters either as he saw that the lizardman too was shaken by the feeling that was almost suffocating him. Bell saw the monster look straight up and behind him and the boy followed suit. What he saw was a figure covered in blackish green wind walking towards them, two swords drawn at his sides.
'This is almost like back then.'
Bell, along with the rest of the Hestia Familia, thought back to the night they saved Haruhime from Ishtar Familia. That horrid feeling of dread flooded the air, causing them to choke, almost like it was poisoning the air itself. Welf, Lili and Mikoto all recognised that the Wrath wasn't as bad as the time before when they faced off against the Ishtar Familia, both in the dungeon and in the Pleasure District. This feeling that was amplified by the pure killing intent itself. There was little feeling of rage behind it but they knew it wasn't directed at them.
Nathan started to walk towards the weapon-wielding monsters, not taking his eyes off of any of them. He tracked their movements entirely, from when the Lizardman jumped back away from Bell and stood just a bit ahead of the others, with the Siren now joining it. He had already assessed that the Lizardman's strength was at least a level 5 but the technique that he used was amateur like but still well trained. The half-elf knew he could kill the monster easily and forcing it away with fear was a key element in beating any stronger opponent.
The half-elf had already theorised that this might be the place other talking monsters resided. Dix Perdix and the other Ikelos Familia had always gone on about how they believed that a monster village existed and how they kept trying to find it. He had also never come across a monster that could expose that much killing intent that it could make a level 3 like Bell freeze up, which showed Nathan an intelligence that surpassed that of a normal monster on these floors. While he was directing his bloodlust at them, they also got into some form of formation with the Siren and the red-scaled lizard showing some kind of protection over the other monsters. He wasn't planning on killing them, unless it came to that, but he was going to beat them very close to it for trying to attack his Familia.
As he was passing the others he spared a quick glance over at them. He saw Bell and Welf staring at him, clearly holding their breath at the slight leakage of his aura. He turned his head to look at the girls. Thankfully he hadn't caused Lili or Haruhime to fall unconscious but they were still showing signs of fear, even if his feelings weren't directed at them. Mikoto still stood in a defensive stance in front of them, her eyes glued ahead but her legs were shaking a bit.
'I really need to get this under control. If I'm going to keep using this, I can't keep scaring them every time.'
Then, Nathan suddenly stopped walking and the bloodlust calmed down. Everyone, including the monsters, who were looking at him stared in confusion. They all saw how the half-elf was looking over at the group of girls and was curious why he dispelled his bloodlust. Everyone else, including the monsters, followed his gaze. When the others were now looking in the same direction, they all shared the same wide-eyed expression that was under the half-elf's mask. A pair of child-like and teary amber eyes looked back at all of them from beneath the two goliath robes. The little monster girl was huddled between the supporter and the Renard, shaking with fear. The loud scary monsters reminded her of the monsters that constantly bit and scratched her just after she was born and now Nathan was emitting a terrifying aura that made the young girl's lips quiver. All of this brought the half-elf to a halt. He had worryingly got quite close to the young girl over the few days she had stayed with them and seeing what he was now doing to her was unbearable.
The half-elf stared back at the wide and terrified amber eyes before he closed his own eyes and took a few long breaths. As he kept breathing in and out, slowly he reeled his bloodlust down to almost nothing. Nathan decided to leave just a small fraction to pulsate out to keep the monsters wary about him but now everyone could finally breathe again after the unrelenting pressure was lifted.
The whole of the Hestia Familia now turned their heads back to the armed monsters and they readied their weapons once again.
"You lot can talk, right? This is your hidden village of sorts. We are not here to hurt or harm you unless that is what you want. Stop putting on this act and let's get this over with."
The stunned silence that followed showed the confusion and shock that now resided on everyone's faces. As the remaining Hestia Familia processed what Nathan had just said, the Lizardman stepped forward.
"How do you know about us?"
The voice that reached everyone's ears was a gruff and confident voice that showed no signs of faltering or hesitation. Though the fact that it came out of a monster's mouth was enough to short circuit a few of the adventurers' brains. As like the other times, Nathan didn't seem to care.
"Doesn't matter how I know, I just do. Now, why did you attack us? The guild told you about us coming down, didn't they?"
"We just wanted to do a little test is all. We didn't mean to cause any harm or start a proper fight."
The conversation between the half-elf and lizardman was the only noise or movement taking place in the large open room, as everyone else, adventurers and monsters alike, were all staring at the two. Both sides couldn't seem to wrap their heads around the almost normal conversation between two creatures that had just shown off that much killing intent at one another only a few seconds ago.
"Could someone explain to me what the hell is going on?"
"Welf, it isn't that hard to understand. This here is the place where monsters like Weine currently reside. The guild had told them we were coming just like they were the ones to tell us to come here, showing that they also know about this place. I still don't fully understand the stupid reason why they decided to attack us but they did. Got that?"
"Not in the slightest."
"How do you know that guild communicates with us."
A woman's voice now pierced the air. It was a beautiful voice that could lull anyone to sleep with just a simple conversation. Nathan found it eerily similar to the Siren he hasn't been able to get out of his head ever since this whole incident started.
Everyone turned to look at a beautiful Siren. She was the one who had begun an attack on the girls a few moments ago but quickly Bell recognised the voice.
"Wait, are you the one who we met on the 19th floor?"
"Yes, that would be me. However, I would still like an answer to my previous question."
Ray was very observant of the mask-wearing adventurer. That amount of bloodlust was at a ridiculous level and yet she could tell he was still holding back. She wanted to be very defensive of this person as she didn't want to risk anything happening, even if it meant souring relationships that could help them. All she cared about was the well-being of her brothers and sisters. The appearance of these people were to be expected as Fels had told them earlier, even burdening her with helping them find their hideout. However, the masked boy facing her was something that set off her instincts in a negative way and from the stance and body language the other Xenos were showing, they were having the same feeling.
"Because how else would you know we needed help finding this place?"
The blunt answer came quick and without care, setting off another alarm in the Siren.
'He doesn't seem fazed by us at all, even the Ganesha Familia were taken aback by our existence like his companions'
"The reason we attacked you was just that we wanted to test you a bit so we could see if you were able to tke of one of our own. I'm happy to say you passed." The duel wielding lizardmen spoke out.
"We. It was you who came up with the ridicolous idea and dragges us along with it." Ray immediately backlashed, making the Lizardman shrink back.
The small talk had allowed everyone to calm down and now come to an understanding of what the situation was though most were still sceptical of one another. Introductions were quickly made, names being shared between the two groups and afterwards, intermingling sprouted up. It didn't take long for a party to commence, a celebration for the arrival of Weine as the now revealed Lyd put it. The Xenos quickly came to like the new arrival, along with her fellow dungeon divers though they all still kept a foot away from the masked individual, the aura that he previously produced gauging a distance between the aforementioned half-elf and the Xenos. A group of them, in particular, were keeping a sharp watch on him with a grey Gargoyle staring a hole into the side of his head. They couldn't hold the gaze for long though when it was met by the blank, emotionless, empty mask.
"Nathucchi, are you alright?"
Nathan turned his head back to the Lizardman with an eyebrow raised and twisted mouth. 'What the fuck did he just call me?'
"Just Nathan is fine and what?"
"Oh ok. Well, Just Nathan…" A tick appeared on some bleacehd hair "… are you enjoying yourself, you seem kind of an edge. I promise we don't bite." Lyd said with a grin that showed off an impressive row of razor shape teeth.
"I'm fine."
"Ignore him, he gets like this around people he doesn't know. Can't trust anyone, that one."
"That's fine Welfchi, he would be a bit nervous around us. Hmm, just Nathan, what's wrong now?"
Lyd had noticed Nathan quickly turn towards a place in the dungeon wall. It didn't stay that long as a few seconds later it opened up, allowing a black-robed figure to walk in.
'He noticed Fels was coming before me.'
Fels made his presence known to everyone at the party, earning quite a few puzzled looks from the adventurers, then looks of shock after revealing his true identity. The skeleton wasn't surprised to see that Nathan wasn't sharing the same expressions as his Familia having already encountered each other before.
The celebration carried on, the Skeleton's appearance doing little to stop the party but instead just adding one more to the cheering and dancing. Fels began chatting to Bell Cranel and the rest of the Hestia Familia, filling them in on what had gone on behind the scenes, though he was forming a plan to talk to the half-elf. That chance finally came when Weine dragged Bell onto the dance floor with Haruhime and Mikoto while Welf was busy talking to Lett and Lyd practically forcing Lili into a conversation about the outside world.
"I'm not interested."
Fels had barely made it within a few metres of the boy before being shut down, though that did little to stop his advance.
"Rea… Nathan, can I talk to you for a bit?" He quickly said, trying his best to cover up his slip of the tongue, the death glare telling him he had done a terrible job at it.
"Be thankful no one else heard that." An icy voice responded.
"I'm terribly sorry, I will not make that mistake again. However, I still would like to talk to you."
A wave of the hand signaled the go-ahead. Fels continued his advance until he was within whispering distance.
"Do they know about this place?"
The question was simple, though the implications said otherwise. Fels was hesitant to about ask this as it would bring up the past that the half-elf had desperately tried to cover up for over a year.
"Trust me, if they knew they would have already attacked." A quiet answer was all that was given, stating that the conversation was already over. The Skeleton did not want to push any further, seeming satisfied with the answer, and walked away.
'How the hell am I supposed to know, It's not like I stayed in contact with them or had the equipment to spy on them.'
The party continued until it was decided that it was time to part ways. Hands were shaken and tears were shed, mainly coming from a dragon girl and a blonde Renard. The Hestia Familia departed the Xenos village one member less than when they arrived, though they felt like they left with more than they arrived with. The white-haired boy was the last to jump into the water, giving one last goodbye wave to the Vouviere.
"What did you guys make of them?"
"I thought they were very nice, especially Bellucchi."
"Yes, Weine seemed to be very attached to the boy, along with that blonde girl."
"I don't trust them one bit, especially that one who wore a mask."
"You don't trust anyone though Gros."
"I'm with Gros on the masked boy though Lyd. I get a bad feeling from him." A murmur of agreements from the others backed up the Siren's statement.
"Let me just say this about Nathan. It isn't my place to share everything about him and who he is and who he was but I will say this now. You aren't the first he has met and Weine isn't the first he has helped." With that said, Fels made his departure as well, already planning what he was going to report back to Ouranos.
The statement reached everyone, and feelings of curiosity to suspicion spread throughout the village.
A few days had now passed since the Hestia Familia accepted the Guild's mission and problems were beginning to show. Bell was having a complete inner rework on how he viewed everything, even becoming a burden in the dungeon, though he had gotten over his hesitancy of killing monsters. The Hearthstone manor did feel a little empty now that the number of inhabitants had reduced back down to 6. Haruhime was being fuelled solely on the promise that was made that they would go back to visit the dragon girl again. Though the problems had not stopped but only just begun as all of them were alerted by the alarm bells ringing out from the guild.
"Warning, there has been an attack on the town of Rivira by a group of monsters. All available upper-class adventurers are ordered to come and help immediately.
I would just like to apologise. This amount was not nearly enough for how long it has been since the last chapter. I'm going to be frank; I hate this chapter. I don't like writing boring dialogue and especially hate when I'm just ctrl+c ctrl+v from the light novels and manga. I assume since you are here you know what happens. Maybe you don't remember everything but you most likely know the story and I don't like having to write stuff that you guys already know. IT IS BORING. However, I know it is necessary to write it as some scenes like the Fels and Nathan interaction are important.
The main reason this took so long though was because every time I post a new chapter, a day later I'll come up with a better plan with more detail but I can't add it as you guys already read some things that I look back on and think "Maybe I should have not included that." So I took my time and properly detailed my plan for this story as I still love it and can't wait to write it, even more so that I have planned stuff ahead, especially when I reach the end of canon and start writing my own original story.
Anyway, thank you for the wait and I once again apologise, it took me a while to reload this word document and pretty much start it from scratch about 3 times.
Reviews:
that guy who existed – I agree with you on this but in the canon story, they ran away from a group of somewhat 30ish monsters or so and I always thought Bell and Mikoto should be enough to handle that but the dungeon is a lot worse and dangerous than we assume so I used it as a cool scene to show off Nathan's ability and skill. He did do it in about 15 seconds.
SoarenStrafer – This conversation about Knossos happens in vol 9 while Syr and Bell finding an entrance to Knossos is in vol 8, meaning he didn't know about it then. If you are asking if Bell has figured out what it is after what Nathan said, then I think I'm just gonna gloss over it. I know it is kinda lazy but I hope you can accept it as it doesn't really affect the story anyway so yeah I'm gonna follow anime on this one.
Jank7457 – Cheers mate, these reviews help me continue this with a bigger smile.
mistalenny – I know right. I can't really understand the hatred towards Hestia and kinda Lili (I know the reason why but get over it, Hestia was alone for so long and Lili was literally beaten, bullied and abused for her entire life. Of course, they are gonna be a bit clingy to the one person who saved them.) This is definitely how I imagine she would act towards Nathan's solo dive
PSYCONIG – So this is from my prologue. Yeah, it is obvious what happened to a neutral outsider, but to the elven royal family who wants to cover up as much about it as possible, then, of course, they are gonna make a horrible rumour like that. The elven people are worse than us Brits when it comes to royalty, they are practically Fanatical about it so of course they would believe the royal palace and choose them over a half-elf, who are already known to be discriminated. Personally, I don't think it is as far fetched as you believe but you do you, my good Sir.