Yahallo~~!!! I know I said that it'll probably takeme a week to update the story again, but I just couldn't help it, I spent pretty much the entirety of yesterday planning out the whole story, getting as far as the last Arc, but haven't gotten it completely solid yet. I'll try to pump out as many chapters as I can until school starts cuz the contents are pretty much the same as the previous chapters I deleted, but take a different turn, think of it as compensation for my inactivity, and mostly just because I'm feeling quite energized in writing todayso I thought what's the harm in postDanmachiher chapter a little more than a day after the previous one, so here we are, thanks for the few comments I've gotten since I updated the story yesterday, here are my responses:
The Quotable Patella: Lol ikr, but it's what keeps things interesting.
Lestat719: Are you talking about Bell's feelings not yet shifting to another person? If so, if you remember the previous chapter, Bete and Lefiya were there so it wasn't really an ideal time to confess his feelings, especially after he knocked her (up)out *ahem, or am I misunderstanding your question?
Roland Tepes: Thanks for the honest feedback, I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to critique my work, I'll try not to disappoint, but I'll warn you now, the first few chapters of the reupload will probably be a bit boring, and might feel like they're unnecessarily dragged out because the exciting part is the middle to last arcs of the story, so far, I've planned out nine arcs, the first arc being the Failed Loki Familia expedition arc, which is where we're at right now, but I promise that the story won't be ridiculously long, probably forty or fifty chapters at best, but idk, we'll just have to wait and see :3
Oh, and before I forget, I know I said in the update that I won't be making any OCs, I was referring to OCs who'll be a major player in the story, I'll still be making OCs for certain parts where they'll be convenient.
And with that out of the way, here's another chapter for you beautiful lot ;)
I do not own Danmachi
Chapter VI: Expedition
3rd Person POV:
"Hyaaah!!!"
With a fierce cry, a level-two adventurer from the Loki Familia took down an Orc much larger than him, clearing the path for the expedition force to march onward. It had been short of four hours since the expedition force mobilized, managing to breeze past the first ten floors with very little difficulty, the only monsters that bothered to even show up and antagonize the expedition group were a few Goblins, Kobolds, Frog Shooters and even a few War Shadows at best, which were quickly and efficiently dispatched by the lower level members of the expedition force, earning valuable excel and experience. Everything proceeded smoothly until they reached the twelfth floor, where the few dispatch groups consisting of level ones had great difficulty in dealing with the monsters, exchanging with the level twos who were by that point itching to join the fun.
"Heh... I see, so this is how your expeditions normally work"
Bell Cranel carefully and unblinkingly observed, for fear that if he even so much as blinked, he'll miss crucial information
The miniature captain of the Loki Familia simply chuckled at his childlike behavior, displaying the curiosity and willingness to learn and observe that of a child.
"Indeed, we first have the lower levels clear the way for us until we reach the safe point in Rivira, set up camp for the lower members to stay there while the higher-leveled members venture even further into the dungeon"
The prum elaborated, which Bell nodded understandingly
"I'm sorry the invitation was on such short notice, we didn't have the time to brief you on how the expedition works in detail, might as well see it for yourself in person"
He shrugged, which Bell chuckled nervously at
Reaching the edge of the mist-covered forest, they were now in front of the entrance to the thirteenth-floor
"If you need something, please don't hesitate to look for me, Bell Cranel"
Finn nodded to him as a goodbye gesture, then headed towards the dispatch team who were looking visibly winded, asking them if they needed to rest for a bit, receiving a no, the expedition force marched on.
As they descended the stairs leading to the thirteenth floor, Bell smiled to himself, the middle floors brought back weird memories for him, two of his now irreplaceable Familia members had tried to get him killed here, but looking back it, he just laughed it off as their weird way of getting acquainted.
Noticing the boy smiling to himself, Ais got closer until she was walking beside him, striking up a conversation
"What are you smiling about, Bell?"
His smile was infectious, she couldn't help but curve the corners of her lips upwards from looking at the cute rabbit beside her
"Nothing much, just remembered some memories of when I was still new to the middle floors..."
He vaguely answered, which didn't seem to satisfy her
"Are they... good memories, or bad ones?"
She seemed genuinely concerned, which served to warm the boy's heart just a bit
"Well, they're bad... but they're also good"
Becoming confused by the rabbit's vague responses, she cutely tilted her head to the side as she pressed once more
"What do you mean, Bell?"
Finally resolving to give the girl a solid answer, he replied
"Well... two of my now irreplaceable Familia members previously tried to get me killed down here in the past..."
And immediately regretted his decision to open his mouth
As if she were Medusa herself, the flowing, silky golden locks of Ais Wallenstein suddenly started branching out and rising individually as if they were snakes
"Is it true Bell?"
Her smile and tone were sweet, but it would've been more believable if she didn't let out so much killing intent that any monsters from as far as three floors down that would have tried their luck with the expedition force didn't want to approach them, especially the vindictive blonde girl
"My thumb hurts real bad..."
Finn complained to himself in the distance but didn't seem too concerned about it as if knowing what, or more specifically who was releasing all that murderous intent
"Ah! I was just joking Ais-san!"
Bell passed it off as a joke but cringed to the side as as much as he would've liked for it to be a joke, it was true, but he couldn't confirm that, lest his friend becomes a murderer.
...
After lying to Ais and getting her to calm down, the expedition force proceeded as usual, reaching the seventeenth floor in less than three hours, which was very fast considering that the expedition force consisted of such a large group of people.
Entering the chamber of the first Monster Rex of the dungeon, they quickly noticed that the Goliath was nowhere to be found, indicating that it had likely been previously dealt with by another party, which was convenient for the lower-level adventurers but a bother for the higher-leveled adventurers, who wanted the excelia from defeating a Monster Rex. The first and second battalions passed the chamber and into the entrance to the eighteenth floor with great ease, now it was time for the rear battalion to make the cross.
"Man, that sucks... I really wanted to fight the big guy but I guess it'll be for another time"
Tiona started, which immediately set off alarm bells in her sister's head
"Don't..."
She tried to reprimand her
"At least we don't have to fight over it, since it's not here, hahaha!"
And as if the dungeon had a sense of comedy, cracks started appearing on the wall, which alarmed the calmly walking adventurers
"OW!!! What'd you do that for?!"
Tiona complained as she nursed her forehead after a painful strike from an annoyed Tione
"I told you to keep your mouth shut when in these types of situations!"
Tione, clearly annoyed as this wasn't the first instance of this happening, reprimanded her sister
"Uhm guys... so who wants to take care of ugly here?"
Raul spoke as he gestured towards the enormous head appearing from the newly formed depression in the dungeon wall
Letting out a powerful roar, the Goliath formally announced its presence and intent to kill the trespassers in front of it, who didn't look scared at all by the titanic monster approaching, they looked like they'd done this a million times already and were frankly quite bored and wanted to get it over with.
"Ooh! Ooh! I'd like to be the one to do it, but how about we give this one to Argonaut-kun?!"
Tiona cheerfully pulled on Bell's arm as he verbally questioned her actions
"T-Tiona-san... are you sure?"
Bell asked for confirmation as Tiona hugged his arm, which gave him a rough feeling of her chest, which greatly flustered the poor(lucky) boy
"Mhm! What you say, guys?"
Tiona asked around as she continued hugging Bell's arm, the Goliath was taking its first steps towards them, confused that these adventurers weren't concerned or scared in the slightest bit, unaware that the power balance had a great discrepancy to it, and not in its favor.
Everyone around them just nodded dumbly, as they weren't bothered by giving Bell the right to take out the Goliath, but what they were bothered about was Tiona's casual hugging of his arm, holding onto him as if he were a walking pillow.
"Tch! Whatever..."
Bete grunted his approval
"Show us what you got, Bell!"
Ais seemed uncharacteristically pumped up by this
"D-Do your best... or maybe not, poor Goliath"
Lefiya tried to encourage him, but murmured the last part to herself, which was pointless as Bell still heard her
'D-Does she still hold it against me...?'
He began to think, but Tione's voice snapped him out of it
"Sister, please let go of Bell-san and let him fight it"
Tione shook her head in disbelief, embarrassed by her sister's behavior
With a bit of reluctance, she let go, which allowed Bell to feel his left arm once again after the amazoness' iron grip
"I'll make it quick"
Bell nodded to them and ran to meet the approaching Goliath midway
Seeing one of its targets brazenly approaching it, it let out a large roar and suddenly went for a powerful right hook into the ground to crush the pest, throwing dust and debris all around the epicenter of the attack, but Bell was much too fast for the poor Monster Rex as it dodged its meteor fist and hopped onto its arm, closing the length from his wrist to his shoulder in mere seconds, seeing the prey getting dangerously closer, the Goliath opened its mouth to try and consume its target whole, but missed its target by quite a large margin, with its mouth wide open as it retracted its head, it was a sitting duck to Bell's counterattack, raising his free, left arm and aimed it at the opened mouth of the Goliath, he spoke the magic words
"FIREBOLT!"
A white, scorching pillar of flames violently erupted from the palm of Bell's outstretched hand and straight into the poor Monster Rex's mouth, exploding upon impact with the back of its throat, destroying its head completely and sending Bell flying from the shockwave created by the explosion.
"FATALITY!"
Tiona, mimicking the voice of a man, exclaimed
Tione raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively but decided to ignore her antics
Then, with as much grace as a person slipping on a wet floor, Bell crashed into the ground beside them, seemingly unfazed by the not-very-gentle landing
"Hah, well that was fun"
Bell smiled sheepishly at the Loki Familia members looking at him in disbelief
"Wow... I- I honestly don't even know what to say..."
Raul began as Anakitty nodded at his words, indicating that she had the same reaction
Bete clicked his tongue in annoyance
"Damn rabbit showing off..."
"What he actually means is that Bell-san is so cool"
Alicia playfully smirked as she chimed in and translated Bete talk for Bell to understand, which made him raise an eyebrow at the wolf
The aforementioned werewolf exploded at the elf, shouting words that were much too vulgar for her elven ears to be violated by, or anybody's for that matter.
Ais and Lefiya both simply remained silent, Ais having a sort of proud smile on her face while Lefiya looked like she had just eaten a lemon.
'He's so strong now... is this really the Bell I saved from a minotaur all those months ago?'
Ais questioned as her smile grew wider, she really had to find out what made him grow so fast
While within Lefiya's mind, a war was currently being fought, a part of her really did not want to accept that her self-proclaimed rival was much stronger than her, and her idol, but a small, more honest part of the elven maiden deeply admired the boy for his iron-will and unbending resolve to get stronger, regardless of the obstacle presented to him, no matter how great or insurmountable it is, he always blasts through them, coming out stronger than ever, dare she even say it made her heart skip a beat.
Vigorously shaking her head to get such heretical thoughts out of her mind, she blushed and directed her gaze towards anywhere but the smiling albino boy
...
"There you finally are, what took you so long?"
Riveria walked up to us as she questioned why we took so long to reach the eighteenth floor
But before any of us could respond to her question, she abruptly raised her dainty, elven hand
"Wait, don't tell me, Goliath spawned on you lot?"
She guessed, which wasn't a bad guess at all, they had to admit
"Yup! It was really cool! Argo-OW!!!"
Tiona, with childlike jubilation, started but was rudely interrupted by her sister's knuckles meeting her head
"It's because somebody had to test their luck by opening their mouth"
Tione told her, which earned Tiona an icy stare from Nine Hells herself
"Tiona, what did I tell you about pushing your luck and jinxing us?! I can count the instances of such events occurring because of you with my two hands, which is much more than what I'd like! Do we need to go over this again?"
With her last sentence, her glare got even icier, if that was possible
"N-No Riveria!!! I'm s-sorry, I won't do it again, I promise!!!"
Bell simply took a step back in fear
'Yikes, now I know why they call her Nine Hells...'
Bell thought as he shrank under the sheer intensity of Rivera's glare, and it wasn't even directed at him
"*Sigh* Anyway, who was it this time?"
Riveria relented as she dropped her glare and asked the group on who took it down this time
Raul chimed in to answer the high elf
"Guess who..."
Indirectly answering her question with a few suggestive glances at Bell, not that she needed them as she immediately guessed correctly
'Well, how did it go, Bell Cranel?"
Riveria walked up to the nervously smiling boy, stopping two meters in front of him
He was about to answer her question when Tiona, once again, beat him to it
"Ooh! Ooh! Before Tione rudely interrupted me, I was about to explain how Argonaut coolly took out poor ol' Goliath in one hit!"
Riveria glanced at her, sighed, and then motioned for her to continue
Then the amazoness proceeded to tell her the events earlier, although they were quite exaggerated, she was still accurate in her explanation
"Is that so? It appears that you've gotten quite powerful since the first time we saw you, Bell Cranel"
Riveria praised the albino boy with a warm smile, which warmed Bell's heart, it felt as if she were his mother expressing her sincere pride in her child after they achieved something great.
"Well, we best get a move on, we've still got to help with setting up the campsite, come along now..."
Motioning for them to follow her, they all proceeded toward the campsite where the rest of the expedition force was setting up
...
"Aaand that's the last of it..."
With a soft thud, Bell placed a large crate containing dried food rations that would be consumed by the division of the expedition that would remain in Rivira, stretching his back to loosen some knots that formed from all the physical labor he had done earlier, he let out a satisfied noise.
"Thank you so much for helping, Bell Cranel"
Finn walked up to him and handed him a canteen filled with fresh water
Taking the canteen from the Loki Familia captain with gratitude, he nodded toward him
"Please, it's the least I can do, Mr. Finn..."
He smiled at the prum before taking a hearty swig, while Finn simply returned his smile
After a few seconds of drinking, he finally relented and parted the mouthpiece from his thirst-quenched mouth
"Is there anything more I can do to help around, Mr. Finn?"
Bell asked, as he still felt like contributing to the setting-up, the more hands there are, the sooner they'll get done after all.
Finn simply smiled at him and shook his head
"I appreciate that you're so eager to help, Bell Cranel, but we're pretty much done here, thank you"
Bell nodded his head in acknowledgment of his response
By this time, it was already well past dusk and they were already serving dinner to the exhausted expedition force.
"You've done well, Bell Cranel, please, don't be a stranger, go and have a hearty meal, rest well, and prepare for tomorrow, for we leave at first light"
And with that, they said their goodbyes and parted ways, with Finn attending to other matters, Bell went to grab himself some dinner before it got cold.
Now armed with a bowl of vegetable soup, a sizable piece of beef, and some bread, Bell Cranel made his way toward a group of familiar faces huddled by a small campfire a little further out from the main mass of people
"Ooh! Argonaut-kun! Over here!!!"
As usual, Tiona, with childlike jubilation, waved him over, inviting him to sit at the now empty spot beside her after shoving Tione a bit to the left
"What's the big idea?!"
Tione snapped at her sister's antics while she just stuck her tongue out at her
"Hello again, Bell"
Ais greeted the approaching albino boy while Lefiya meekly nodded her acknowledgment of his presence beside her
"Hello to you ladies too!"
Bell reciprocated their greeting with a warm smile, making them all blush except for Tione because she was currently fixated on the blonde prum talking with Raul some distance away
"Mind if I sit here?"
Despite being invited over by Tiona, he still inquired as the gentleman he is, the amazoness didn't look amused though
"Mou! I already waved you over here Argonaut-kun, come sit!"
And with her permission, he sat down beside her and took a bite out of his piece of bread, chewing carefully and thoroughly
"How are you guys holding up?"
He asked, which earned him some light chuckling on the girls' part
"We should be the ones asking you that, Bell-san!"
Tione chuckled at his odd question but nonetheless answered
"But to answer your question, we're a bit restless right now, we can't wait to actually start getting some action tomorrow"
She said, which Tiona immediately excitedly added to
"That's right! I can't wait to fight some strong monsters!!!"
Bell smiled at her innocent excitement, it was as if she were a child given their favorite toy.
"Me too, I can't wait to challenge some strong monsters tomorrow"
Ais also agreed with them, with Lefiya also nodding her agreement, and then they all looked at Bell, expecting his input
"And you, Bell?"
Ais inquired as they all patiently waited for his input
The boy thought it over while finishing his piece of bread, swallowing first before speaking
"To be honest, I'm kind of nervous for tomorrow, the deepest I've gone down is the thirty-seventh floor, which was quite the experience..."
He trailed off vaguely, with the four Loki Familia members sitting silently as they nodded in acknowledgment. They thought that Bell was referring to his fight with Udaeus that pushed him to level up the previous week, but were unaware that he was referring to the first time he, unwillingly, entered the deep floors with Ryuu while being hunted down by a literal killing machine the dungeon sent after them.
"Not to say that I'm scared, I'm not... well maybe a bit, but more excited and nervous for what's beyond that"
He sheepishly smiled as he continued his explanation
"Don't worry Argonaut-kun! We're right with you so there's nothing to worry about!"
Tiona tried lifting the mood, she was successful
"Indeed, take it from someone who has done this a dozen times already, it'll be quite the first experience, but it's nothing too much, especially with your abilities"
Tione added, which made the corners of the albino boy's lips curve upward into an awkward smile
"I-It was also incredibly scary for me the first time I went, b-but it got easier with time!"
Lefiya also added her encouragement, feeling especially bothered that her rival seemed so insecure about himself, especially after the battle prowess he displayed the previous week.
"You guys..."
Bell smiled earnestly, thankful that he had such wonderful people as his allies
...
"Mhm... can't sleep..."
Tossing and turning around to get into a more comfortable position, Bell tried in vain to get some more sleep, with only three hours worth of sleep.
It was now late at night and the rest of the expedition force had already retired for the night, as it was going to be a busy day tomorrow, so they all decided that it was best to get some sleep as early as possible to counteract the inevitable discomfort that keeps one awake.
Resigning himself to his fate of having a sleepless night tonight, he wearily got up into a sitting position
Rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, he ran his fingers through his pure, white hair to straighten it out after being messed up by all the tossing and turning about
"...gotta pee..."
Feeling the call of nature, he got up to his feet and quietly left the tent to not disturb others adjacent to his tent
Then he looked around for a bit until he spotted one of the few watchmen currently patrolling the perimeter of the camp
"Hello, I need to pee so I'll be back in a bit..."
The chienthrope adventurer from the Loki Familia raised his eyebrow at the boy, but eventually nodded his approval
"Sure, don't stray too far, Rabbit's Foot"
Nodding at the man's suggestion, he jogged a bit into the forest, stopping after he was around a few dozen meters from the camp, shielded by dense foliage, free to do his business
...
"Ah, much better"
Fixing his belt, he sighed as the pressure from his bladder was finally relieved
Making his way back to the camp, with his incredibly astute perception, he noticed a fairly distant, hooded figure crouched down, seemingly observing something on the ground in his peripheral vision
Suspicious of the figure, but also curious, he noiselessly walked over to the figure, who had still not noticed the currently approaching boy
"Excuse me? What are you doing here?"
Now a fair distance away from the boy, the hooded figure suddenly stood up, seemingly alarmed that somebody had noticed them
Turning to face the boy, cold and unmerciful green irises met his rubellite ones as the figure suddenly lunged towards the surprised boy, not expecting such a sudden action from the figure, Bell tried to defend himself, but was too slow considering the distance between them was not far enough for him to react in time.
Receiving a nasty slug in the face, he was forced into the dirty ground as the figure created some distance between them
"Ack...!"
Groaning in pain, he tried to stand up to confront the foe but found it hastily retreating further into the forest
Losing all sense of reason from the violent outburst he was the recipient of, Bell recklessly chased after the rapidly retreating enemy
"COME BACK HERE!!!!"
...
Tossing and turning in her bed as well as Lefiya, who was also having trouble sleeping, but for a different reason
She had finally mustered up the courage to properly apologize to the boy for excessively hurting him too much during their spar a week ago, which was great since her pride as an elf probably wouldn't handle holding off on apologizing for a day longer, but had another problem, she couldn't find the right moment to do so, she would've done so after everybody retreated for the night, but Bell had excused himself first and the girls didn't allow her to do the same to confront the albino boy about it.
It's honestly starting to give her a headache from how long she's holding off on apologizing. That does it, the first time she sees the boy tomorrow, she'll drag him off to somewhere private to apologize to him, and finally get it over with.
Content with the promise to herself, she closed her eyes and tried to get some decent sleep, but a few seconds later, she couldn't help but sit up and get onto her two feet because of the feeling of thirst
With careful deliberation, she opened the flap of her tent and exited, intending to get some water from the supplies.
The dark "sky" on the eighteenth floor was illuminated by a "moon", shining brilliantly in the distance, it was as if they were on the surface and were enjoying a night out camping, fixating her vision on the luminous "moon", which reminded her of her home forest that she had missed so.
Reaching the area where they kept the supplies, she took out a canteen filled with water and had a drink, satiating her thirst, she then made her way back to her tent when her sensitive elven hearing picked up the shout of a certain albino boy
"COME BACK HERE!!!!"
Snapping her head toward the general origin of the sound, her eyes saw the distant figure of the boy, rapidly retreating into the dark forest.
Putting two and two together, she sprung to action, rushing back to her tent, she placed down the canteen of water on her nightstand, grabbed her purse, and headed out to look for one of the few adventurers patrolling the area
Noticing one of them, the same chienthrope that Bell had talked to earlier when he asked for permission to go into the forest and relieve himself, the chienthrope adventurer was currently engaged in conversation with a fellow patrol when they noticed the distressed figure of the elf
"L-Lefiya?! What's the matter?"
The man asked him
"I heard Bell Cranel shout at something in the forest, my intuition tells me that he found someone who isn't friendly, please tell Finn and the others, Max!"
The chienthrope Max looked confused, glancing over at his fellow patrol who wasn't any better
"Are you sure? It's probably nothing or he's probably playing a prank on you..."
He trailed off, but noticing the urgent look on the elf's face immediately snapped him into action
"It's serious huh... well come on!"
He waved them to come with him to alert the others, but after noticing that only his fellow patrol was following him, he abruptly stopped in his tracks
"What the?! Where's Lefiya?!"
Max asked the man, who also just noticed that Lefiya was nowhere to be found
Then they saw her, she was already far away from the two, speeding right into the dark forest
"HEY!!! LEFIYA!!!"
It was no use, she was already too far away, not stopping for even a second, she accelerated her pace as she headed into the general direction where she saw Bell running to
'I have to help him...!'
Wooh! Another chapter done, I'm on a roll today ain't I? Well, I'll reiterate and say that there will be maximum productivity these next two weeks since no classes yet, after that, my speed of updating will slow down to about a chapter per week, or two if I'm feeling especially productive during the week, and I'll go ahead and say that if you're concerned about the quality of the upcoming chapters dropping due to such short intervals between each upload, I'll go ahead and pat you on the back in reassurance and say not to worry, as I've already figured out the general direction of where I want the story to go, only thing left is to work on the specifics (scene building and all that pizazz), so yeah that's that. I've said it before and I'll say it again as many times as I need to, please, please, please leave your thoughts in the comment section so that I can get better at writing and deliver much more meaningful, quality content to you dear readers, and with that, I'll be signing off for now, see you in the next one!