A good mythical morning to y'all, this week's chapter is a bit rushed I admit, as my schedule is quite full, but I'll try to write them in bulk whenever inspiration strikes, and finalize them when I plan on releasing them. Also, do note that Ryu might be a bit OOC in this chapter, but I try to write her character as close to her canon self as I possibly could, but there might be noticeable differences here and there. Another thing to note is that in this story, I'll make Bell level up a bit faster than he should so that I won't unnecessarily drag the story on too long, I plan for the story to be finished in perhaps forty or so chapters, may be less than that, or more than that, time will tell. Anyway, here's chapter three
I do not own Danmachi
Chapter III: Udaeus
A week later...
"Hyah!"
On the thirty-seventh floor, a Barbarian was taken down as a white blur sped past the white hallways of the White Palace, a green blur following closely, monsters in their way were decimated, monster crystals were dropping left and right as the two figures sped away, not bothering to stop for even a second
"Mr. Cranel, we must hurry... Udaeus will spawn soon"
Ryu and Bell were speeding down towards the spawn location of Udaeus, intent on taking down the Monster Rex. Bell remembered her request and decided to invite Ryu with him back down to the thirty-seventh floor, after reaching the end of the thirty-sixth floor and entrance to the thirty-seventh, she needed to take a step back and breath deeply for a few seconds before nodding back at him, then they both stepped into the White Palace, the unpleasant memories immediately started terrorizing Ryu and she began to breath erratically.
'Oh gods... what if the same situation occurs? Will we be able to get back out?! We were really lucky last time but this time might be different! Was coming back down here a good idea?! Perhaps I should've given it some more thou-'
Her panicked thoughts were broken by two calloused yet pleasantly warm hands taking her own
Seeing Ryu in such a distressed state, Bell reacted quickly and grabbed both of her hands with his own, interlocking their fingers together, which momentarily distracted the elf from her thoughts, noticing this, her eyes widened a good amount and her cheeks were tainted red, yet she did not pull away.
"I know that this is scary... it was like that for me when I came back here, but I promise that it's different this time! We can definitely handle whatever's thrown our way, right Ryu-san?"
Ryu could tell that it was false bravado, after all... his hands were slightly shaking, while he still may be terrified of the lower floors, his confidence in their teamwork is a large reassurance.
Taking in the glow of his uneasy eyes for a moment, she sighed and her lips curved into a small smile, her hands squeezing his hands in return
"You're right Cranel-san... things are different this time..."
With her reply, his smile grew wider
Back to the present
The pair were dealing with monsters left and right, leaving none in their wake whilst continuing onwards to their destination
"Ryu-san! To your right!"
A pair of skull-sheep were ready to pounce at her, she did not stop despite the threat
Then both skull-sheep jumped her, which she gracefully dodged to the side and with one precise slash with her sword, struck both in their skull and quickly turned both to dust, leaving only their crystals
Bell stopped for a moment to stare at her display in awe
"I sometimes forget just how skilled a veteran adventurer is..."
Hearing his comment, Ryu's lips curved upward
"Fret not Mr. Cranel, I'll personally see to it that you become a highly skilled veteran adventurer in the future"
Her response made him flash his thousand-valid smile at her with full force, which she was not prepared for in all her years as a former adventurer, this caused her cheeks to redden slightly
"A-anyway, we should hurry to the spawn location, Udaeus will spawn soon"
She then took of without another word, as Bell quickly followed her
They managed to reach the spawn point a few minutes later, which was a spacious area surrounded by glowing white walls
Looking around to see if there were any monsters, or adventurers also waiting for Udaeus to spawn and seeing none, Ryu nodded to herself
"No monsters or other adventurers in the area... an ideal situation"
Bell grabbed his water bottle and took a few sips
"Any time now... let us go and take our positions Mr. Cranel"
He nodded at her, and both started to descend from their vantage point
The area was flanked with rocky formations which would easily trap adventurers that would be bold enough to take on Udaues, and also making it difficult for large teams to coordinate and fight the floor boss.
The floor then suddenly started to crack and give way as a large, dark skull rose from the depression on the ground, its dark and empty eye sockets then gained a blood-red glow, its pupils focusing on the two adventurers below it.
Its entire skeletal body then emerged from the depression on the ground, it stood up to its full height and its mouth fell open as an extremely loud and animalistic roar filled the area and reverberated across the hallways of the thirty-seventh floor, announcing to all that its ruler has returned.
"Ready yourself Cranel-san!"
Ryu advised as Bell was frozen with awe at the Monster Rex, he was snapped out of his stupor with the mighty roar that it gave out. Its red, glowing, predatory irises focusing on Bell's own.
"We'll attack from each flank!"
Ryu's voice bellowed out as he nodded at her and ran towards the towering figure's right side, Ryu then proceeded to take the left flank of Udaeus
The floor boss couldn't decide on which to prioritize as both were equally dangerous, so it simply decided to take out both at once
A giant sword made out of bone suddenly emerged from a nascent crack from the ground, it was almost like an extension of Udaeus' body, the floor boss grabbed it and readied itself to swing against the two adventurers
Seeing the danger imminent, Bell decided to release a few fireboats against the Monster Rex in an attempt to blind it, but to little avail.
"Luminous Wind!"
Udaeus was now just about to swing its titanic sword before Ryu assaulted the floor boss with her magic, which was significantly more effective than Bell's previous barrage. The floor boss was disoriented by the relentless barrage on its being, momentarily giving them the chance to create some distance and formulate a battle plan.
"What do we do Ryu-san?"
Bell ran towards the panting Ryu's side, she put a bit more mind into the attack than what she usually put in, if the attack were any weaker, it wouldn't have had any effect on Udaeus. After the dust had settled around the floor boss, it refocused its livid gaze towards the assailants, intent on making quick work of them.
"I'll try to create another opening, in the meantime... I want you to charge your Argonaut ability to its fullest."
Seeing no better plan, Bell nodded at her suggestion
They then refocused their gaze towards the floor boss who was now... crouched down?
Then Bell reacted instantly
He forecfully shoved Ryu with all the strength he could momentarily muster before he jumped away, just barely avoiding Udaeus' monstrous tackle, the sheer force of it sent him flying of to the side even though he wasn't directly hit.
"BELL!!!!"
Ryu managed out after getting up after getting roughly shoved some meters away
Good thing Bell reacted when he did, as the sheer force of Udaeus' tackle was strong enough to create a gigantic crater where he impacted, causing dust and debris to be kicked up and sent flying everywhere, which was also immediately followed with a huge tremor.
"Kuh!"
Bell was sent flying a few meters away from where he stood, his left arm numb from cushioning his impact, but he didn't break any bones fortunately, some bruises and abrasions were the worst of it.
"Are you alright Ryu-san? Sorry about that..."
He lightly chuckled despite almost getting squashed into a pulp, which made Ryu glare at him
"Nevermind that, are you okay?"
Bell weakly nodded at her as she got up, a few abrasions could be seen on her immaculate skin but that was the worst of it
"Yeah... nothing's broken thankfully, but I'd rather not get thrown around like a rag doll again..."
The dust had settled and Udaeus was now facing both, its anger was boiling over from failing to dispose of the two targets
The floor boss raised its blade, about to deliver retribution when both adventurers sped towards it, catching it off guard
Bell activated his Argonaut ability, which enveloped his hand in a pure and bright white glow, intent on charging the ability to its utter limit, which was five minutes. Ryu was going to preoccupy the floor boss until then.
Seeing one of its opponents basked in a white glow, the floor boss was just about to go for a swing against the adventurer before its jaw was unhinged with a powerful blow, a green blur sped past its field of vision
"I'll be your opponent!"
Ryu said before gracefully landing a few paces from the monster, Udaeus now had its attention on her, but it was still keeping the white haired adventurer in the background in mind. An eerie silence ensued, neither Monster nor elf moved...
The one to take the initiative was Ryu, springing to action, she readied her blade for another blow against the floor boss. Anticipating this, the floor boss blindly slashed at her, but she was graceful and agile enough to dodge, she wasn't prepared for the sheer power of Udaeus' swing though, hence she was caught off guard by the shockwave and was sent back a few paces.
"Tch!"
Landing gracefully on her feet, she charged once more at the monster, which attempted to skewer her rapidly closing figure with a precise stab at her, barely dodging to the side, she grabbed a hold of the tip of the sword and used it to swing herself on top of it, then she sped towards Udaeus' face, traversing the span of the Monster Rex' entire arm within mere seconds, then she went for a series of powerful blows against the monster's face, which successfully connected and produced a long, diagonal crack on the floor boss' face, further enraging it.
Udaeus let out an enraged roar as it swung its body fiercely, throwing Ryu off of the floor boss. As Ryu was suspended in the air, the floor boss went for a skewer, which Ryu barely parried as she was sent flying into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris.
Bell watched this from the spectacle as he grit his teeth
'One minute has passed... I need to help Ryu-san!'
Bell's entire arm was glowing with a dazzling white light, he felt his arm slightly pulsate with the sheer power that was coursing through his arm
While Ryu was down for the count temporarily, Bell found himself the target of the vindictive floor boss, enraged by all the injuries it sustained against the two adventurers. The Monster Rex then slowly lumbered its way towards him, sensing the killing intent from the monster, Bell jumped some distance away, but was quickly covered by the floor boss
'Damn! it's fast!'
The Monster Rex let out a mighty roar as it went for a downwards slash at the white-haired adventurer
Bell, with all the strength in his legs, shot off towards the side, avoiding the powerful blow from the floor boss, he was unable to dodge the debris sent flying his way however, and slashed as much debris flying his way as he could, but had to tank some hits, which did considerable damage.
His armor severely dented and his left arm fractured from getting hit by a sizable chunk of debris, multiple cuts littered his exposed flesh and tore up his shirt, he was profusely bleeding from the barrage and was panting from the exertion, but he was in no way down for the count. A little bit after the dust settled, the menacing figure of the floor boss could be seen slowly and intimidatingly walking towards the wounded and exhausted adventurer.
Bell was sore all over, and his body simply refused to move to safety for the time being in fear of aggravating his injuries
'Two minutes have gone by, we need to hold out for a bit more...!'
Bell kept a stern face as the Monster Rex stopped some meters in front of him, its dislocated jaw opening slightly to let out a sinister guttural sound, and its arm was raised over its head to deliver the finishing blow against its opponent, then the monster suddenly lost its balance and, as gravity worked against its weight, violently slammed into the ground.
"I'm... hah... terribly sorry... hah... you had to endure that... hah... Cranel-san..."
Ryu appeared next to him, panting and wounded, she was lightly concussed by her rough landing, and needed to take a bit to get the vertigo out of her system before resuming battle.
The elf took advantage of the floor boss' tunnel vision dead set on the white adventurer, sneaking up towards the lanky, yet robust legs of the monster, she put all of her upper body strength into one blow, which did significant and extensive damage towards the right leg of Udaeus, which successfully knocked it off balance.
"No-urgh!... worries Ryu-san... though am I glad you got back up when you did, my body's a bit too battered to move..."
Her head turning to Bell and indeed finding him battered like a doll that a child just finished handling roughly, she took a healing potion from the strap on his thigh, uncorked it and assisted in making him drink the contents, which immediately began to take effect and heal his injuries, from the most serious to simple abrasions.
His arm was now healed and regained its range of motion, the white light that enveloped his entire arm started to get ever brighter the more time passed
A while later, Udaeus slowly got up from the crater its fall had created, its right leg a few hits away from being completely shattered, the back of the skull now had a network of cracks around it, almost caving in, a few ribs were broken and even more were cracked, but its crystal lay safely and unpertuped within its thoracic cavity. Its jaw was now hanging from one side, completely disconnected from the left side, and one of its horns were now gone.
"As I said... I'm your opponent!"
Ryu bellowed out towards the floor boss as its blood-red irises now became fiery with unyielding rage
Ryu had crippled the floor boss enough that it now couldn't suddenly and rapidly launch itself towards them, which gave them the upper hand
The floor boss, despite its rage, was now unsure of what move to make, it initially had the advantage of speed, but that was now taken away from it, which left it vulnerable, so despite its anger, there was also fear within it
As such... all three adventurers stood silent, waiting for one to make a move.
A bead of sweat rolled from Bell's forehead, down his cheek and chin, and onto the ground
'Three minutes... we got this...'
Bell's stomach suddenly felt off...
'Underground!'
"Ryu-san! JUMP!!!"
Ryu was initially startled by his volume, but sensing the urgency in his voice, jumped as high as she could, a bundle of spikes sharper than the sharpest needle suddenly erupted below her not a second later
"Close call! You have my thanks Cranel-san!"
Ryu shouted as she was still suspended in the air, along with Bell who also narrowly avoided getting skewered
Ryu landed on the ground a bit later and immediately went for a dead sprint towards the vulnerable floor boss, or so she thought
More spikes emerged in front of her, nearly taking her out, before she narrowly dodged to the side, but was impaled on her arm
"ARGH!"
Driving the spike out of her arm, she proceeded to further close the distance between them
'I need to do something...'
Bell was sweating bullets from the pressure of the situation, should he help her or should he stay back and focus on charging his ability? He couldn't decide on which
The sight of Ryu flailing as she was grabbed by the monster made up his mind
In an instant, he closed the distance and cut off Udaeus' hand, freeing Ryu
The monster roared in pain as its recently separated arm fell onto the floor, limp and useless
Udaeus then blindly swung its sword down at Bell with greater speed than it previously displayed, but Bell was narrowly able to parry it and save Ryu from becoming collateral damage.
"Are you alright Ryu-san?"
He gave the elf a concerned look as she recovered from roughly getting grabbed by her leg and suspended into the air, the floor boss had gotten lucky and managed to grab her leg while she was darting around it, and was about to finish the job before once again being interrupted.
"Yes... I'm fine Cranel-san, once again you have my thanks..."
Her reply elicited a nod from the white haired adventurer
"We're in the final stretch"
Bell's sudden words caused a perplexed expression to appear on her face
"Cranel-san?"
Ryu asked
"One more minute before Udaeus returns to whence he came"
His words now registering in her head, she got up and her face became serious
"Then it's about time we end this"
She ominously spoke out as they nodded at each other
Bell's arm was now visibly pulsating and was starting to hurt with all the sheer power that was building up, screaming to be released, his entire arm was just barely visible from the sheer brightness of the light that encompassed it, sparks dancing around his arm, which glimmered brilliantly.
Ryu stared down the floor boss, which was starting to snarl at them, she had to create an opening for Bell to deliver the final blow, and she knew exactly how to create it...
"Now in the skies of the distant forest..."
Ryu's entire body started to faintly glow an emerald aura, which the floor boss noticed and immediately went to work on administering a relentless assault against her using its spikes, yet Ryu was now prepared for the onslaught as she predicted and dodged each attack, wholly trusting in her intuition as a veteran adventurer.
"...to the infinite stars mounted upon the eternal firmament of night!"
Sidestepping towards the side just in the nick of time to avoid receiving a spiky demise, she continued her chanting
"This fool doth entreat, just once for the divine protection of the stars' fire..."
With all the strength she could muster, she deflected the powerful blow of Udaeus' sword and left it wide open, the fight against the Monster Rex evidently pushed her to new heights
"Grant thy benevolent light to the one who abandoned thee!"
Udaeus could do nothing as it was too weak to counter, its arm was heavy from constant swinging against its opponent, only to get deflected violently and lose whatever strength it had left
"Let the light of stardust occupy me and strike my enemy... LUMINOUS WIND!"
Not a second later, several green orbs of devastating energy appeared and enveloped Udaeus in its deathly requiem
Green light enveloped the area before settling down a few seconds later, Ryu had hit Udaeus with her magic point blank, which wouldn't be a pretty sight, and indeed it wasn't
After the dust had settled, Udaeus was now a miserable shell of its former self, in the span of five minutes, the Monster Rex was beaten to an inch of its life, its entire left was was now missing, along with its right leg, now nowhere to be seen, its left leg was also as good as gone, its chest cavity was now exposed, not a single rib was left, its monster crystal now slightly cracked by the onslaught, its face was reduced to a large, gaping hole, which connected its left eye, nose and oral cavity, as its jaw was completely detached from its hinges. Now, all the Monster Rex felt was fear for its life, its anger dissipated and fear completely took its place.
"IT"S READY!"
The last thing Udaeus saw was white, then nothing
The sheer force of the blast was so overwhelming, the entire vicinity shook with a violent tremor, and temperature of the surrounding area rose by at least ten degrees celsius, rendering the simple act of breathing to be difficult, and all surrounding debris around the range of the blast was either outright obliterated into nothingness or turned into molten rock, the sound of the blast was deafening and reverberated around the walls of the White Palace, anything flammable nearby caught fire due to the scorching heat generated by the blast. The entire vicinity became blindingly bright for around ten seconds before rapidly dimming and revealing the outcome.
Nothing of Udaeus remained, not even ash, along with the general area where it stood, was now molten, the silence following the cacophonous blast was eerie and desolate. The temperature then slowly returned back to normal, as bell and Ryu were dumbstruck with the aftermath of the former's attack
"...That was amazing Bell!"
Ryu couldn't help but dumbly blurt out, the sheer power of the attack etched into her mind
Ryu was able to get away in time just a few seconds before Bell unleashed hell upon Udaeus, but surfacen't mean that she escaped completely unscathed, she still sustained minor burns from the heat and was knocked back some distance by the shock of the blast, her injuries were nothing a healing potion couldn't fix
"We should head back to the surface, monsters may have been alerted to our location with all that fighting..."
She slowly turned to Bell as she was speaking, and found him halfway through a mind-down
"BELL!"
She closed the distance between them as quick as she could, catching him just before he faceplanted onto the ground
"It'll be alright Bell! We'll be alright"
She fidgeted around her thigh strap for a mind potion, uncorked it and helped the white haired adventurer down its contents, which restored his mind completely
"...Ryu-san...?"
He spoke her name, as he slowly blinked away the bleariness and lethargy
His only reply was a soft smile from the elf
"Congratulations, Bell..."
Bell's face contorted in confusion
"But we beat it together Ryu-san! You're just as much due credit!"
Ryu, due to her proud elven nature, politely refused the compromise
"No, Cranel-san, this victory is yours and yours alone"
Bell disagreed and had a back-and-forth retort battle with her that led nowhere, then the two burst out laughing at the development of the situation
After taking some time to recover, both made their way back to the surface as quick as they could, having enough of adventuring for the day, Bell was able to obtain a drop item from Udaeus, a miniature version of its sword, along with countless other drops from the monsters they fought to and back from the floor. Eina initially went to greet both adventurers, but nearly fell into a coma after seeing their battered state, her eyes widened after seeing the black sword Bell was carrying
"YOU FOUGHT UDAEUS BELL-KUN?!"
She shouted out in disbelief, which grabbed the attention of the other guild members and many adventurers, which grouped around the two adventurers and began to congratulate and cheer for them
"Woah! Rabbit's Foot fought Udaeus?!"
"Holy crap! These two fought that monster? By themselves?!"
"How was the fight?!"
"Did you have any help? or were you two by yourselves?"
Bell and Ryu, after being swarmed by the overzealous crowd, began to awkwardly fidget and blush, unused to the praise and attention they were getting
"The both of us fought the floor boss alone, but I give special credit to Ryu-san, without her... I never would've been able to beat Udaeus, she actually fought it while I sat back and dealt the final blow"
The crowd's cheer got louder at his sheepish reply
"You sell yourself short, Cranel-san! You were just as instrumental to the defeat of Udaeus, perhaps moreso!"
Ryu scolded him in front of the crowd, which rendered him a blushing mess as the crown jubilantly laughed and dispersed, but not before giving the both of them another round of congratulations
"Bell, I don't know what to say..."
Eina stood in front of both adventurers, her bespectacled eyes were hidden by her chestnut-colored bangs
"I did promise to be careful, Eina-san... and I had help"
Her head rose as her eyes met his
"I know... but what doesn't sit right with me is it was just the two of you!"
Her voice got louder at the end of her sentence, but it wasn't a shout
What she said could've been misunderstood by a passerby, unfortunately for the half-elf guild member, a coworker overheard her exclamation and decided to make her presence known
"Oho? Is Eina getting jealous?"
Misha teased her, with a smug smirk on her face and a hand covering her mouth. Eina's face drained of color
"Wha?! Misha?! No! That's not what I meant!"
Eina gradually got redder and redder as her arms gesticulated wildly, Bell and Ryu were unsure of how to react with the situation and merely looked at one another
After exchanging the monster drops, Bell and Ryu decided to celebrate their success at the Hostess of Fertility, and then call it a day, they were totally beat from the epic fight they had earlier in the day and yearned for rest. Bell decided to keep the miniature sword from Udaeus as a souvenir, deciding to hand it to Welf later and see what he could do with it, they split their earnings evenly, which resulted in both receiving around ten million valis. Both adventurers temporarily parted to head back home and freshen up for the evening.
-Fin-
Aaaaaand that's a wrap! I might have ran out of creativity juice at the tail end of the chapter, but I hope that it's still satisfactory. Also, you guys may notice that I suck at writing battle scenes, especially long and drawn out ones, but I hope I'll get better with time, any pointers and tips will be highly appreciated. Again, I encourage anybody and everybody to leave criticism in the comments, as it'll help further the story. Author-kun signing off!