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Is It Wrong For The Devil To Fool Around In Orario?
Chapter 4
The Salome
Lucifer was contently sipping at a glass of brandy while looking out over the Entertainment District from his balcony on the top of the Salome. It had been a little over two weeks since his first encounter with Bell and he still wasn't entirely sure what to do about the situation. While it was true that he and Maze had mostly acclimated to having him living in the club there was still a slight feeling of tension that arose whenever someone mentioned the youth. Maze continued to ignore Bell while Lucifer tried to remain friendly with the young man, with him successfully managing to mask his unease whenever he interacted with him. Bell for his part had continued to remain a very chipper and optimistic young man whose attention was mostly taken up with proving himself in The Dungeon.
Since his talk with Bell's advisor Eina Lucifer had found some success in finding Bell some additional assistance. He had heard of a small clinic called the Blue Pharmacy that was willing to sell healing potions to adventurers from one of the clubs regulars and had shared this information with Bell, giving him a slightly cheaper alternative to the potions sold at the Dian Cecht Familia's shop and The Guild. While Lucifer had yet to find any parties willing to treat Bell as more than a glorified pack mule Bell had provided a potential solution when he mentioned some fellow rookie adventurers he knew from the Hestia Familia. Bell had told him that he had met the two girls that made up the familia's adventurers on his first day at The Guild and that he ran into them occasionally at The Guild when they were turning in their magic stones for the day. Lucifer had immediately suggested that it might be a good idea to see if they were open to working together in The Dungeon, but surprisingly Bell was concerned about doing this. When asked why he had blushed slightly and said that he was afraid of looking weak or incapable in front of the two girls and he didn't want to lower their opinion of him. Lucifer had simply rolled his eyes at the reason and not questioned it but made a mental note to try and find where the Hestia Familia was based so that he could speak to them himself. Lucifer figured that Bell would have less of a problem with the team up if he framed it as Lucifer being concerned about his child's safety and suggesting the team up himself instead of Bell having to confess his current weakness himself and potentially wounding his young ego.
Lucifer was brought out of his musings when he noticed a flash of white near the entrance to the district and upon focusing on the street confirmed that it was indeed Bell running towards the club at full tilt. Lucifer proceeded to finish his drink and began to make his way down towards the entrance to meet Bell and see what brought him back several hours earlier than usual. Lucifer was halfway down the stairs when he heard running and saw Bell arrive at the base of the stairs, his flushed face making it clear that he had been in quite the hurry to return to the club.
"You seem to be in more of a rush than usual." Lucifer said as he grinned down at Bell. "Anything interesting happen today?"
Bell took a moment to catch his breath before nodding vigorously. "Yes, something terrifying then shocking then….. amazing." Bell huffed out as his face split into a wide grin.
Seeing how clearly excited Bell was Lucifer gestured up the stairs. "Well why don't you tell me about it while I update your falna."
Bell nodded again and the two made their way up the stairs.
/
Lucifer stood behind Bell as the young man leaned forward onto the back of a simple wooden chair in his room, his shirt and jacket lying on a small table beside the chair. Bell's room on the third floor was furnished with a bed in one corner a table with three chairs in another corner next to a tall bookshelf and a medium sized couch in the center of the room. The furniture was of decent quality and the floor had several brightly colored carpets spread across it and there was a door to a small private bathroom closed on one wall. When Lucifer had first shown the room to Bell on his second night at the club the young man had been completely floored, stating in shock that the room was at least four times the size of his old one and profusely thanking Lucifer for his generosity.
Lucifer pricked his finger as Bell continued to ramble on about almost getting crushed by a minotaur and the beautiful blonde girl who had saved him from that fate. Lucifer was vaguely aware of Loki Familia's sword princess from several of the clubs patrons comparing the beauty of several of the blonde dancers in his employ to the beauty the sword princess possessed. He had even once been asked if his girls were into cosplay as the god in question had a thing for the sword princess and thought one of the dancers would look good in her adventuring outfit, a question Lucifer had answered by telling him to take it up with the girl in question and see if she was willing. Lucifer had at first been interested in seeing the girl for himself until he learned she was only sixteen, putting her a few years too young for Lucifer's tastes.
Now he wished that he had paid more attention to all the gossip about the girl as Bell continued to wax on and on about how amazing and powerful and beautiful she was. Lucifer simply rolled his eyes and forced down a chuckle at Bell's clear infatuation with his savior and continued with updating the falna, a task he had become familiar with over the past several weeks. He watched the numbers shift as the stats adjusted themselves and felt trickle of information enter his mind at the same time, flashes of what Bell had experienced to merit the increase in power appearing in his mind. As the trickle showed him pieces of what Bell saw, felt, and did in The Dungeon The Devil again felt that he could better understand why the gods of this world were so obsessed with their never ending game of familias. While such sights and stimuli were not his preferred form of diversion that did not mean he did not find them intriguing and could understand why so many gods were obsessed with experiencing the mortals struggle against The Dungeon and each other with this method.
As Lucifer completed his adjustment of the falna he looked over Bell's stats and saw that something new had appeared beneath them. It took Lucifer a second to remember that the falna could bestow special skills to adventurers if certain conditions were met and he read over Bell's first skill with great interest, a smile splitting his lips as he began to grasp what it meant.
Liaris Freese: Rapid Growth. Continued desire results in continued growth. Stronger desire results in stronger growth.
Lucifer failed to suppress his chuckle as he read over the skills description. How very fitting that the first skill Bell developed was fueled by his desires when his patron was a being who drew out people's inner desires to the surface and encouraged them to indulge in them without fear or shame. Bell glanced back at him after hearing his chuckle and seeing the curiosity in his eyes Lucifer took a sheet of paper off the table next to them and transcribed Bell's new stats onto them before handing them to the young adventurer.
"I'm glad to see you've taken my advice on desire to heart." Lucifer said as he pulled out a chair and turned it to face Bell. "Given you spending most nights tucked up away in your room I was concerned you didn't approve. Just the other night Sasha and Leyla were telling me they wished you would come down so they could show you some more of their moves."
Bell blushed at his deity's statement and began examining his updated stats. It took a scant few seconds for him to notice his new skill and he nearly tore the sheet of paper in two when his hands clenched as he read the description. Bell sat there transfixed by what he saw before suddenly jumping out of his chair so quickly that it toppled over onto the floor. Bell let out a loud cheer as he raised his hands and the paper above his head, his eyes continuously re-reading the skill and its description to make sure that his eyes were not playing some cruel trick on him. After a moment Bell lowered his hands and clasped the paper against his chest, sporting the widest grin Lucifer had seen on him since the morning he woke up and discovered his falna.
"L-Lord Lucifer!" Bell exclaimed in clear excitement as he turned to face his patron. "Does this mean what I think it means? Does this mean that I might actually have a chance to grow stronger? Does this mean I might ACTUALLY have a chance to prove myself to miss Aiz?!"
Lucifer chuckled lightly but leaned back slightly from Bell, suddenly feeling a bit smothered by the excitement radiating off of Bell at that moment. "As far as I can tell yes, the skill should help you to grow faster than what is normal for an adventurer. Although I am not entirely certain how much of an increase we are talking about given the whole "strong desire results in stronger growth" bit but it definitely seems like a very useful skill to have if there is a girl a few levels higher than you that you want to impress.
Hearing this conformation from Lucifer Bell returned to clasping the sheet of paper to his chest and grinning like an idiot, his entire form practically shaking from how excited he was. Lucifer looked at the excited young man and felt a small sense of trepidation creep into him.
"Just be sure to not let it go to your head alright." Lucifer said in a half joking manner. "I'd rather not hear you got squashed by some minotaur because you got a bit excited and charged down The Dungeon a bit faster than was wise."
At the mention of a minotaur Bell froze up for a second before turning back to face Lucifer with a slightly nervous expression on his face.
"Yes running into more minotaur's anytime soon would probably be bad… very, Very bad." Bell said as memories of nearly being killed by the minotaur a few hours earlier flashed in his mind. "I'll be sure to be careful Lord Lucifer."
"Glad to hear it." Lucifer said as he rose from his chair. "Now how about we go down to the bar and see if we can find a suitable drink to mark this occasion. I seem to remember you rather seemed to enjoy the Demeter Familia's grape wine on your first night here."
Bell blushed at the mention of his first night at the club and began to stutter out a polite refusal when Lucifer opened the door to his room and revealed the dark skinned woman who had been waiting with crossed arms on the other side.
Maze looked into the room with her customary look of disapproval that she wore whenever Bell was in her Prescence, her position and posture making it clear to the two men that she had been waiting for them to emerge. She spared Lucifer a quick glance before turning her attention to Bell and slowly strutting into the room. Lucifer followed her movements with surprise and curiosity, clearly not expecting her to seek out Bell like this. Bell for his part swallowed as he suddenly felt his previous excitement drain and be replaced with nervousness.
Over the past several weeks he had made numerous attempts to approach and befriend his fellow familia member but had been rebuffed by Maze at every attempt. She tended to either simply ignore his presence outright or would fix him with a look that had every instinct in his body telling him to flee. After the first few failed attempts Bell had decided to try to learn more about Maze in an effort to find some common ground or shared interest between them and then try to build a better relationship from there. However, after talking to the clubs employees all Bell had been able to learn was that Maze enjoyed strong drinks and sex, information that did not help Bell in the slightest as he had no experience with either of those things. Talking to Lucifer had only been marginally more helpful as the only thing he could think to add was that Maze enjoyed a good fight but immediately told Bell to never ask Maze to spar, stating that the level of fighting she enjoyed was a bit beyond what was safe for a level one to attempt. These answers had caused Bell to resign himself to a long search to try to find some way to bond with his familia's captain, a search that had up to that point borne no fruit.
It was therefore a great surprise to the young rabbit for Maze to come and seek him out herself, let alone wait outside for him and Lucifer to finish his update.
"I heard the cheering from outside." Maze stated sounding perfectly nonchalant. "Something good happen?"
It took a few seconds for Bell to answer. "Yes, the update was very good. I got my first skill today."
"Your first skill huh." Maze replied. "That means you should be stronger now right? Able to dive deeper into The Dungeon than before?"
Bell feeling nervous chose to simply nod in conformation.
"Well that's not exactly the case yet." Lucifer interjected from his spot beside the still open door. "Bell's skill will help him get stronger but it's not like he's suddenly ready to tackle the middle floors tomorrow."
"Still after two weeks in The Dungeon I'm guessing that you know your way around reasonably well by now, right?" Maze asked, her attention still focused on Bell. "Specifically, the ways to descend down the floors relatively quickly, right?"
At that question Maze leaned down slightly to better look Bell in the eye, causing him to swallow again and lean back slightly without thinking.
"Um yes I do have a pretty good idea on the route most adventurers take when they travel down The Dungeon." Bell said, clearly uncomfortable. "Miss Eina makes sure that I study the layout of each floor of The Dungeon I'm allowed on, and I've even seen maps depicting every floor down to the tenth floor."
"Good." Maze said as she leaned back and continued to stare at Bell nonchalantly. "I've been thinking about taking a look at The Dungeon myself, seeing what all the damn fuss is about. As the Lucifer Familia's captain I am ordering you to show me the quickest way down from the top of The Dungeon. I'd rather not bother memorizing maps and I don't want to bother with floors where the monsters are too weak to even bother fighting. We leave tomorrow at mid-morning, I expect to find you at the front waiting for me and ready to go."
With that rather shocking proclamation Maze promptly turned around and walked out of the room, Leaving a surprised Lucifer and a gawking Bell behind her.
/
Maze examined herself in the mirror after completing her preparations for her first trip into The Dungeon. Her cloths were for the most part made of black leather and while holding tight to her form they covered more of her skin than those she wore when she tended the bar during the night. the clothes consisted of black leather boots and pants with a simple black shirt and jacket, a rather plain ensemble for her but past experience had taught her to not wear her favorite clothes to battle if she wanted to keep them, along with how much of a hassle cleaning stains out of brighter shades of clothing could be. Besides, Maze knew she looked damn good in black so she felt no particular desire to add a splash of color to her outfit.
Besides her cloths Maze also had several knives strapped to her body in various places with her favored curved hellforged knives sheathed at her waist. Unusually for Maze she also had a proper sword strapped to her back, a longsword thirty inches long resting in a dark sheath with elaborate silver filigree covering its length. The sword was there in the unlikely event that she ran into something in The Dungeon that could possibly pose a threat to her, it being the weapon she preferred to use when she was more interested in outright killing her quarry instead of seeing how many cuts they could stand from her knives before they fell.
Pleased with her appearance Maze turned away from the mirror and strode out her door, beginning her descent to the first floor and the club's entrance. As she turned down the final flight of steps, she was unsurprised to find Lucifer there waiting for her. The Devil was casually leaning against the wall near the bottom idly flipping his Pentecostal coin in the air as he waited for her to complete her descent.
"So why now?" Lucifer asked, deciding to simply cut to the chase as Maze stopped and faced him.
Maze simply shrugged in response to his question. "I was feeling a bit bored the last couple of days and decided to try something new. That is why we are here after all, to enjoy ourselves and sample what the mortal world has to offer. Or has that changed since you decided to try raising rabbits?"
Lucifer didn't take the bait and simply stopped flipping his coin as he continued to look at Maze. "How deep are you planning to descend? If memory serves Bell got in trouble with his advisor for going to floor five yesterday but I suspect you won't find anything worth fighting so high up. So how far do you plan to ask Bell to take you?"
"Maybe floor ten for starters." Maze said. "I heard the first nine floors are very cave-like and packed with the lower ranking adventurers so I'd rather not waste my time there. Floor ten however is supposed to be some big dark field with larger monsters, I even hear baby dragons spawn there occasionally so that might make it worth visiting."
Lucifer nodded at Maze's statement and Maze began to turn away before he spoke again. "If you plan to use Bell as a tour guide to go to a floor he clearly isn't ready for then I expect you to make sure he isn't crushed by the monsters you find there. I know you don't like him but as the captain of this familia it is part of your job to keep him alive down there."
"As the captain of this familia." Maze repeated back to him. "This familia that we had no intention of creating during our stay here, with its main reason for existing being the fact that you got drunk and took pity on a child after knowing him for less than a day. A decision that you made without thinking about how it would affect me or the club and yet I am supposed to simply accept it and do my best to support it."
Maze turned to face Lucifer as she spoke and The Devil did his best to not look embarrassed at her response, only partially succeeding. Maze leveled a mild glare at Lucifer for a few seconds before turning back around towards the entrance.
"If you're that damn worried about the boy then I'll try to make sure he doesn't get smeared across the floor today." Maze said as she moved away from Lucifer. "But don't expect me to make babysitting your pet rabbit a regular part of my daily routine. He gets special protection today because he's my guide on how to descend quickly, once I memorize the path, he's on his own."
Behind Maze's back Lucifer still looked dissatisfied but decided to let the matter drop for the day since Maze had said she would watch Bell during this dive into The Dungeon.
Maze made her way to the entrance where she found a clearly nervous Bell waiting for her. Without speaking to him she strode forward and opened the door, gesturing for Bell to follow her which the nervous boy did without complaint.
The two made their way out of the Entertainment District and began to make their way towards Babel, the size of the tower making it impossible to miss and clearly showing the way to The Dungeon. As they walked Maze felt dozens of people glance at her as she made her way down the street. The reasons for the looks varied, some looking at her with lust or admiration while others looked with confusion or even watched her out of simple boredom.
Even after living in the city for half a year Maze was still surprised by the lack of fear in the gazes of most of the population when they looked at her. In Hell she had taken great pains to instill a healthy level of fear in all her underlings as well as the demons not under her direct control. If she had taken a walk around Hell armed as she was now most demons would do their best to find somewhere else to be quickly, fearful that they might be the one she was armed to deal with. Even back during her short stay on earth she had drawn looks of confusion and concern whenever she went out with any of her knives visible to see, people preferring to avoid someone so obviously armed.
However, here in Orario the sight of heavily armed individuals walking down the street was treated as just another part of the day, with people noticing her weapons and not seeming to care in the least that she was armed. It was something that Maze was still getting used to after spending most of her existence fighting hard to be feared only to end up living in a city where she inspired no obvious fear in the people she encountered. In fact instead of fear she was most often met with confusion when she interacted with others in the city.
This confusion was due to her skin color and aggressive manner leading people to believe that she was an amazon despite Maze never declaring herself to be one since her arrival. This lead to some people, specifically actual amazons, asking her about why she was dressed the way she was. This had initially confused Maze until she remembered what most amazons considered "clothing" and how even most of the more revealing outfits she wore still covered more skin than what the average amazon walked around in public dressed in. this had led to her simply stating that her cloths were her preferred style and she had no intention of changing them. This consistent answer had in turn led to Maze being viewed as something of an oddball by many of the amazons living in and around the Entertainment District, a fact that had amused Lucifer greatly when he learned about it. The suggestion that Maze dressed a bit prudishly for an amazon had caused him to laugh out loud more than once when it was brought up in his presence.
The demon and the rabbit were making their way up the south main street and where almost to the plaza that surrounded babel when they both heard a cry of surprise come from close behind them. The two turned around and saw a silver haired girl laying on the ground next to a spilled bag of groceries. The girl was wearing a green dress with a white apron worn over it and a frilly white headband worn on the top of her head, making the girl look like a maid who had decided to swap the traditional black parts of the outfit with green instead.
Though she didn't look hurt the girl let out a low groan of distress as she looked upon the spilled contents of her bag, a look of clear distress on her face. Maze simply spared a quick glance at the maid before turning around and resuming her journey to babel but stopped when she heard the sound of her guide moving away from her. Turning back around she saw Bell bending down to offer the fallen girl a hand up, a gesture the girl gratefully accepted.
"Are you okay?" Bell asked as he helped the young woman to her feet.
"Yes, I'm alright, I just tripped on a loose stone." The girl replied in a thankful manner before turning to look at her fallen bag with distress. "Though I can't say the same for my groceries. Oh, Mama Mia will be so mad if I ruined everything by being clumsy."
The girl knelt and began to pick up the contents of her bag, looking at each item to see if it was still usable. Upon seeing this Bell immediately knelt down alongside her and began to help her, an act that earned him a thankful smile from the girl that caused his cheeks to flush. During all this Maze simply stood there watching the two, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. After gathering all of the bags spilled contents the girl turned to face Bell with a beaming smile on her face.
"Thank you for your help Mr. adventurer! It's always nice to meet an adventurer with such good manners." The girl shifted the contents of her bag into one arm and held out a hand towards Bell. "I'm Syr Flova a waitress at the Hostess of Fertility, have you heard of our establishment before?"
Bell shook the offered hand with his cheeks still slightly flushed from the attention of the pretty girl in front of him. "No, I'm afraid I haven't, do you think you'll be able to carry the bag back on your own or would you like some help?"
The girl smiled all the more brightly at the young man if front of her. "Well, I certainly won't say no if your offering! The pub isn't open yet, but I may be able to find some food to offer you as tha-."
"That won't be necessary." Maze suddenly interjected, her patience for the holdup gone. "If she can make it back on her own then let her do it herself, or did you forget we have places to be?"
The two turned to look at Maze, the girl having an expression of surprise on her face while Bell's face quickly lost the blush that had been present for most of the conversation and quickly paled. He started to make his way back towards Maze before stopping and turning back to face the girl with an apologetic expression on his face.
"Sorry Ms. Flova but my captain and I have a lot to do in The Dungeon today, maybe I can come visit your pub some other time."
With that Bell quickly made his way back towards Maze and the two attempted to resume their trek towards babel before a yelp sounded behind them. The two glanced back to see the waitress kneeling down on the ground gently rubbing one of her ankles a look of pain on her face. Bell made to go back towards her but was stopped by Maze placing a hand on his shoulder. Maze was very, very familiar with expressions of pain from her previous job so she could tell the girl was faking her hurt and began to pull Bell back in the direction of Babel. Seeing this the waitresses' eyes widened and she began to follow after the two, hopping on one foot to maintain the illusion of hurt.
"Um, if you were to help me back I'm sure Mama Mia and the other girls would be grateful." She called out to the two as they continued to move towards babel. Seeing the distance between them growing the girl began to hop faster and called out to them in increasing desperation.
"We have some of the best food in the city at the hostess!" she cried out at the two departing figures, the woman noticeably pulling the boy alongside her. "Mama Mia is especially proud of her wine collection! Everyone says it's one of the best in the city!"
This cry finally prompted Maze to slow her advance and glance back at the girl. The waitress continued to hop on one leg until she was just about at arm's length of the two and then stopped to take a few deep breaths, her hopping having proved a bit tiring. Maze looked her over coolly as she considered what the girl said while Bell moved forward to offer the waitress an arm to steady herself, having not caught on to the girl's ruse.
"One of the best in the city huh." Maze said as she crossed her arms and stared at the girl with clear suspicion. "I've had a lot of drinks in my time, so I'm pretty sure your pub couldn't offer me something I haven't had before."
"But how will you know that if you don't at least look at the menu first?" Syr responded. "I know for a fact that we are the only place in the city you can buy Mama Mia fruit wine and I've never known anyone who didn't enjoy their meal. Even the high elven princess Riveria has dined at our establishment many times over the years, and I've never seen her look dissatisfied with our food or drinks even once!"
Maze continued to stare at and access the waitress while Bell joined her in sending Maze a pleading look, not wanting to leave a girl he thought was hurt to make her way back to her pub with the groceries without some help. Maze seemed unfazed by their pleading looks and leaned forward to better gaze into Syr's blueish-grey eyes before speaking again.
"Time spent going to look at your bar is time not spent in The Dungeon making money." Maze said as she locked eyes with the waitress. "So, I hope your little pub will actually be worth our time."
Seeing a chance Syr immediately jumped on it. "Oh yes, I'm sure once you see it, you'll see we are the best in all of Orario!"
Maze simply leaned back again and stared at the girl for another moment before making a gesture that Syr and Bell understood as "lead the way". Seeing this Syr immediately smiled and began leading the way towards Orario's western main street. Bell moved to follow before being held back by Maze again. When he turned to face her again she silently pointed in the direction they had just come, causing Bell to look back and see the forgotten bag of groceries Syr had left behind when she had scrambled to follow them. Seeing this Bell immediately ran over to scoop up the bag and follow after Syr as Maze began to follow the curious Silver haired girl that had been so hellbent on getting their attention.
/
The Dungeon, Ninth Floor
Bell was feeling a variety of different emotions as he watched Maze casually carve through a pack of war shadows that had attempted to attack her as she strolled through The Dungeon, following Bell as they took the fastest route down to the tenth floor. One emotion was admiration as he saw the clear strength and skill of his familia's captain on display for the first time. another was a slight tinge of fear as Maze made it clear that she very much enjoyed hurting the monsters in front of her, cutting into several non-vital areas on their bodies just so she could watch them shudder and shriek in pain. And yet another was exasperation as he would have to quickly carve out the magic stones from the dead monsters before they moved on, something Maze had questioned before Bell had explained that you couldn't simply leave magic stones lying around in The Dungeon.
That had been one of Eina's first lessons to him as she explained that leaving magic stones behind was a dangerous thing to do as other monsters could come along and devour them, granting them greater power and a hunger for more magic stones. This led to them cannibalizing other monsters and turning into what was known as enhanced species, a monster that deviated from the norm and was all the more dangerous because of it. Maze accepted the explanation but still tapped her foot impatiently on the floor as she waited for Bell to finish extracting the stones, something that was beginning to slightly irk Bell after enduring it for nine floors already.
After Maze had agreed to see what the Hostess of Fertility had to offer the three had made their way to Syr's pub, a surprisingly large establishment located on the western main street. Syr had taken the groceries and run inside returning a moment latter with a menu and a lunch box, handing the first to Maze and the second to Bell. Maze had quickly skimmed through the menu while Bell had tried to refuse Syr's lunch only for his stomach to growl during the refusal. This had led to him sheepishly agreeing to take the offered food and promising to return the box later that day. After a moment Maze had closed the menu and asked Syr about several of the vintages she was unfamiliar with leading to Syr giving a brief description of each. After Syr had finished Maze had thought for a moment and then told her that the wine better be as good as she made it sound or she would regret wasting her time. Syr had simply smiled at the amazon and promised her she would definitely find something up to her standards in the pub. Maze had then turned around and began to head back towards Babel but had called back that the two of them might be back later if they felt hungry after finishing up in The Dungeon, which caused Syr to pump her fists in victory as the two resumed their trek to The Dungeon.
With Bell showing the way the two had quickly descended the floors, with Maze effortlessly killing anything that tried to impede their way. Now they were at the entrance to the path that should lead down to the tenth floor, their destination and the lowest floor Bell had any real knowledge of at the moment.
The two made their way down the stone stairs before emerging onto the tenth floor. Unlike the parts of The Dungeon Bell had experienced before now the tenth floor was wide and open with the ground covered in white grass and stones protruding out of the ground that took the shape of barren white trees. The entire floor was covered in a white mist that gave of soft white light, giving the entire floor a very eerie appearance.
The two made their way down the stairs and searched for any monsters in the area, with Bell being far more cautious than Maze due to his recent run in with the minotaur teaching him how dangerous it could be to face monsters you weren't ready to fight yet. Maze was much calmer as she took in the surroundings, her demeanor more like a tourist seeing something interesting rather than an adventurer in a dangerous environment.
"So the monsters on this floor are supposed to be bigger right?" Maze asked as she casually strolled ahead of Bell. "Hopefully big enough that they won't just drop dead after a few light cuts like the disappointments above them. Honestly if you're going to give something a name like war shadow you would think they wouldn't be so damn fragile."
Bell nodded as he scanned the environment. "This floor is where many larger monsters begin to spawn, things like orcs, silverbacks, and hard armors. I think even infant dragons spawn her occasionally, though with much less regularity than the other types."
Maze perked up at the mention of infant dragons and continued to look around for any monsters nearby. Seeing none she let out a grunt of annoyance and began to strut deeper into the floor only to be stopped by several cracking sounds a few steps ahead of her. The ground a short way ahead of Maze split open and from several crevices large green monsters began to emerge.
Maze and Bell watched as four orcs emerged and begin to lumber towards several of the white stone tree's that covered the floor. They reached out and grabbed each of the trees in their meaty hands and the trees suddenly began to change as the monsters grasped them, shifting from imitation trees into large stone clubs. Now armed the four turned back towards the two and growled threateningly as they began to approach them. Seeing this Bell swallowed hard and began to back away towards the stairs. Maze on the other hand simply smiled and began to strut towards the four, unsheathing her two wicked curved knives as she went.
"Well, you four might not be much to look at but with all that blubber I'm hoping that you can keep standing after a few cuts." And with that she broke into a run towards the four.
The orc closest to Maze roared out and raised its club to try and smash down on Maze but she accelerated and closed the distance with the orc before it could bring the club down. Once she was close enough the demon swiped out with her daggers and carved two long but surprisingly shallow cuts across the orcs stomach. The monster squealed in pain and tried to smash Maze only for her to nimbly hop to the side and avoid the blow.
Another orc tried to hit Maze by swinging its club at her back but she simply performed a backflip over the weapon and then lashed out at the offending orcs arm, carving a long gash from its wrist to its elbow.
A third orc reached out and attempted to grab Maze with its meaty hand but she simply swiped one of her knives at the offending appendage and removed most of the orcs fingers from its left hand, causing it to recoil its hand with a sharp squeal.
The final orc was apparently more creative than its fellows and hurled its stone club directly at Maze from a short distance away. In response the demon simply twirled to the side and as the club passed through the space she had just occupied she hurled her two curved knives at the orc. The two knives struck true and buried themselves in each of the orcs beady eyes, causing it to stagger back and release the most pain filled squeal yet.
Seeing the orcs stagger back a few steps after she had wounded each of them Maze reached down and pulled out two more knives that had been sheathed on her body. She casually twirled them in both of her hands as she considered which orc to strike next, a vicious smile making its way onto her face as she decided to give the second orc a matching cut on its other arm and stalked towards it.
Bell watched the fight from a short distance away and felt his jaw drop as he watched Maze effortlessly carve into the four orcs. Soon each of the orcs was sporting roughly a dozen cuts and their blood was beginning to stain the white grass that surrounded them, though none of it seemed to land on Maze herself as she continued to carve. It was painfully clear to even an amateur adventurer like Bell that Maze was simply playing with the four monsters, more interested in seeing how much punishment they could take before they died.
On the one hand Bell felt a slight sense of revulsion at Maze's fighting style, feeling a strange sense of pity for the four orcs that most people would not. on the other hand he was amazed by the clear skill with which Maze fought, her every move quick and precise each movement seeming to flow into the next without any obvious effort on her part. This display along with everything he had seen during their descent through The Dungeon cemented Maze in Bell's mind as a person of exceptional skill and viciousness.
Bell was so focused on the fight in front of him that he almost missed the sound of stone splitting a few feet behind him. Bell spun around and saw another corpulent green arm emerge and drag another orc from the floor. Bell drew his knife and stepped back from the newly born orc as it looked around for any nearby landform weapons. Finding none the orc turned its attention to Bell and began to lumber towards him, a vicious snarl appearing on its piglike face. Bell quailed before the approaching orc and turned towards Maze to call to her before stopping.
Maze had paused her game for a moment and was looking straight back towards Bell and the new orc. She had not begun to move and gestured towards the orc with one of her knives and raised an eyebrow at Bell. Bell was uncertain what exactly what it was Maze wanted to convey until she opened her mouth and called out.
"Do you want me to get that one or do you want it?" Maze asked Bell. "I mean I know I'm the one who wanted to come down here today but I figured adventurers like you liked to fight monsters to."
These words surprised Bell for a moment, the fact that Maze of all people was asking for his permission to kill another monster bewildering the young rabbit. Then Bell grit his teeth and shook his head at Maze and turned back to face the orc himself.
Ever since he had learned about his new skill yesterday his head had been filled with fantasies of one day coming to Ais' defense in the same manner she had come to his, his new skill adding fuel to the fire because it made it seem that his dream was more achievable than it would have been without it. But he had forgotten one very important part of his dream to become as strong as Ais, that being that a skill that helped with grow still required effort on the part of the holder. Seeing the power shown by both Ais and Maze reminded him just how far he would still have to climb even with Liaris Freese helping him and while the orc was scary it was nowhere near as terrifying as the minotaur Ais had saved him from.
With these thoughts in his head Bell steeled himself to face the orc and failed to notice Maze offering him a tiny little nod of her head as she saw what he was doing. The demon turned back to continue tearing apart the four orcs around her while sending quick glances back towards Bell and his own orc to try and make sure that the rabbit was not killed by the monster, because while Lucifer may have been the one who never went back on his word that did not mean Maze considered her own word something cheap and easily broken. And while she might not have any particular affection for the boy she had still promised Lucifer that she would try to make sure he didn't get smeared across the floor of The Dungeon… at least for today.
/
Maze tossed the newly loaded coin purse up into the air before catching it as gravity brought it back down before again tossing it into the air, repeating the action again and again as she and Bell made their way to the Hostess of Fertility.
Maze's first dive into The Dungeon had proven to be very profitable for the two as the demon had been able to tear through anything the tenth floor had thrown at them, thoroughly enjoying the chance to gleefully carve apart any monster that appeared before her. For his part Bell had done his best to not hold her back and had even killed several lone orcs himself, using his small stature and speed to dodge the monster's attacks and gradually bring them down with his knife. There had been two instances where an orc had been able to knock the boy to the ground and had been about to squash him before Maze had dispatched the monsters with expertly thrown knives to the head.
These last-minute saves coupled with the skill she had shown when fighting the monsters had done much to raise Bell's opinion of Maze, although the clear sadism she had shown during her fights had also instilled a fair bit of nervousness as well. Still, Bell was honestly happy with the trip as he felt that he finally gotten a better understanding of his familia's captain, something he had been trying to attain ever since he joined their familia.
For these reason's Maze and Bell were both in a good mood as they made their way to the Hostess of Fertility to see if the pub could live up to Syr's promises, confident that their earnings for the day should be enough to cover their expenses.
As the pub came into view they saw the young silver haired woman standing outside the front doors greeting patrons as they arrived, clearly on the lookout for someone from how she searched the street when she wasn't speaking. Her face lit up when she finally noticed Maze and Bell's approach and waved enthusiastically at them, clearly excited to see them again. Or perhaps just excited to see one of them as she ran up to greet Bell as they neared the door.
"Bell, how wonderful to see you again!" Syr greeted him before reaching out and grabbing one of his hands and leading him towards the entrance. "I saved two seats on the bar just for the two of you!"
Bell blushed as he was led into the pub with Maze simply rolling her eyes and following after the two through the swinging doors. The interior of the pub was well lit and surprisingly large, filled with wooden tables and chairs occupied by groups of people of varying races. From the look of the patrons it appeared that most of them were adventurers celebrating another successful trip into The Dungeon, with mugs being raised in toasts and excited adventurers recounting particularly encounters to other parties seated nearby. All in all, the Hostess of Fertility possessed a welcoming but rowdy atmosphere, something Maze appreciated as she took her seat on the barstool next to Bell's.
The large woman behind the bar turned to face them as they sat down and gave each of them an appraising look. She was a tall woman with a very muscular physique and brown hair tied behind her head in a short ponytail. She took a moment to examine them before she grinned at them and set down a plate of pasta in front of Bell without prompting.
"So, you're the one who Syr has been fawning over all day." She said as she poured a mug of ale and set it down besides the pasta. "A bit scrawny to be an adventurer aren't you? Here, eat up and try to put some muscles on your bones."
With that she picked up a skillet containing a whole cooked fish and placed it down besides the pasta before turning away to face Maze, leaving a shocked Bell to try and figure out exactly how much this meal was going to cost him. Her demeanor shifted as she regarded Maze, going from welcoming to challenging in an instant.
"So, I hear that you fancy yourself to be quite the connoisseur when it comes to booze." She said as she crossed her arms and stared into Maze's eyes. "Syr told me that you said you wanted to sample some of my better wines. I trust you came with enough to pay, correct?"
Maze simply continued to meet her gaze as she set the coin purse down in front of her. The amount of money the two had made today far exceeded anything Bell had previously, with Maze tearing a bloody swath through the tenth floor and Bell scrambling to collect all of the magic stones from the slain monsters. Maze's pursuit of monsters to eviscerate had led to her killing dozens orcs along with several silverbacks that had been foolish enough to challenge her. This had led to Bell's collection bag being full to bursting when they had arrived at The Guild to trade the magic stones for valis.
The owner of the pub picked up the purse and took a quick look inside before setting it back down and turning to walk through the doors into the kitchen, leaving the three of them at the bar.
"Mama Mia doesn't like it when people question the quality of our food and drinks." Syr said to Maze as they waited. "She's very proud of the pub and doesn't tolerate disrespect towards the pub or us."
Before Maze could offer much of a response Mia returned from the back with a small barrel held under her arm. She set it down on the bar and placed a tankard under its nozzle and poured out a moderate amount before stopping the flow and setting down the tankard in front of Maze.
"My own fruit wine. Normally I only bring it out on special occasions but if you're so set on testing out my booze then I suppose I can make an exception."
Maze looked down into the tankard in front of her and brought it to her lips, taking a small sip of the contents. Bell and Syr looked at her curiously, wondering what she would have to say. Mama Mia on the other hand stared straight at Maze and practically dared her to criticize her creation, a recipe she had spent years perfecting.
Maze held the sip in her mouth for a moment as she tasted the flavor of the wine before swallowing. She then leaned back on her stool and crossed her own arms as she stared back at Mia for a moment. Bell and Syr fidgeted nervously at the growing tension between the two.
"….. Not bad." Maze finally said after a moment. "When you said fruit wine I was afraid you were going to serve me some crap meant for kids. But this actually has some kick to it, so I guess you pass."
With that Maze took another sip from her tankard and Mia uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on her waist, a victorious smirk splitting her face. Bell and Syr let out a short breath as the tension dissipated.
"Damn straight it has some kick to it, it's made so that even a full-grown dwarf can get wasted after a few cups. It's not that ridiculous bloody watered down wine elves seem to love so damn much but a proper drink for fighting men and women!" With that said Mia reached down behind the counter and brought up a second plate of pasta that she set down in front of Maze. The demon accepted the food with a nod and began to eat.
Maze and Bell enjoyed their meals while Syr remained by their side and tried to chat up Bell. Mia moved away and served other patrons that were seated at the bar. Maze found the food and drink to be of good quality and the rowdy atmosphere helped her relax after her day in The Dungeon. All in all Maze felt rather pleased with how the day had gone and began to think about spending more of her time seeing what both The Dungeon and places like the Hostess, places were adventurers congregated before and after their dives, could offer her.
"The big party with the reservation has arrived!" A brown haired catgirl waitress shouted from the entrance of the pub, drawing most eyes towards the front.
A large group began to make their way into the Hostess, the person leading them in being a slim red-haired goddess dressed in blue and black. Behind her came many people of different ages and races, all of them dressed in the eccentric styles adventurers so seemed to love with the spectrum ranging from a young human man dressed in a simple long sleeved black shirt and tan pants to a young amazon who walked around in what basically amounted to a set of red lingerie with a tan cloth tied around her waist. The party quickly took their seats and began to enthusiastically chat amongst themselves.
Maze simply observed the group for a moment before mentally shrugging and returning to her meal, only to stop herself when she saw Bell suddenly duck behind the bar and hide. She raised her eyebrow at his antics and took another look around the room. The other groups that had occupied the pub before the arrival of the new party seemed to become more subdued and had noticeably lowered their voices. Many of them made sure to not look directly at the new arrivals while many of the younger ones stared at them in open awe. This piqued Maze's curiosity and she turned to Syr who was trying to coax Bell back onto his stool.
"Hey, who are the new guys and what makes them so damn special?" Maze asked with all the finesse of a sledgehammer, not wanting to waste too much time before returning to her food.
Syr turned to look at Maze with a confused expression on her face. "They are the Loki Familia, the second strongest familia in the city. They have a lot of high-level adventurers among their numbers and they even have the cities strongest pure mage." Syr looked around at the other patrons as she spoke. "Their mostly good people but the power difference between them and most of the other adventurers tend to intimidate most other familia's when they have to deal with them."
Maze listened to the silver haired waitress before shrugging and returning to her meal, leaving the matter of Bell to Syr and Mama Mia. The fact that they were some of the top dogs in Orario didn't mean much to Maze as most of the adventurers she had been forced to deal with before then had been very disappointing in terms of strength and skill, so she simply chose to ignore them and enjoy her meal. As she ate she watched as Syr and Mia tried to coax Bell from his hiding spot to little effect, leading to them scratching their heads in exasperation. The sound of chatter from the Loki Familia grew louder as they began to enjoy their food and drinks, with someone amongst their number calling for a drinking contest with the prize being the chance for the winner to grope the elf with green hair. The elf simply ignored the nonsense and many of the party began to consume the drinks brought to them as quickly as they could get them. All of this went on for some time as Maze finished her dinner and began to look over the menu again to see if there were any other wines she would like to sample when a voice suddenly shouted over all the others.
"Hey Ais, tell us about that story! You know the one! We were coming home, and all those minotaur's ran off." The speaker was a white-haired werewolf whose face was flushed from the amount he had drunken up to that point. "You minced up the last one on the fifth floor, yeah!? Then, ya know, The Tomato Boy!"
At the mention of "The Tomato Boy" Maze heard a slight bang of wood behind the bar as Bell gave a start. Curious, Maze leaned over to look at the boy and saw that he was now fidgeting nervously in his hiding spot, clearly listening to what the werewolf was saying.
"Ais chopped the mino to bits at the last second and that kid got bathed in cow blood and wound up red as a fricken' tomato!" at that part the werewolf let out a peel of laughter and banged his fist on the table a few times in clear amusement. "Then guess what? The second he saw Ais, Tomato Boy ran away screaming at the top of his lungs! He ran away from our princess after she saved him!"
At that many of the party began to laugh along with the werewolf and their laughter filled the whole pub. Bell became noticeably more and more distressed as he listened to the Loki Familia's laughter and as she observed him Maze had the feeling she knew who the "Tomato Boy" the werewolf seemed to enjoy mocking was. Behind her the green haired elf was attempting to get the werewolf to cease his story after noticing how it was affecting the blonde haired girl he was talking to but the werewolf ignored her rebuke and continued on.
"Fine different question." The werewolf said and leaned forward and rested his head on his fist as he looked directly at Ais. "Who'd you take home, him or me?"
Everyone around them looked surprised at the bold question asked by the werewolf and the familia's captain asked him if he was aware what he had just asked only for him to press on.
"Yo, Ais who's it gonna be?" The werewolf asked in clear interest as he continued to gaze directly at Ais. "Which man're you gonna wag your tail at? Who do you want on you?"
"Definitely not the one who would ask that question." The girl replied, her previously calm voice taking on a clear edge with those words.
"Then tell me! Say the shit says he likes you, loves you. Shaking in front of you, you'd take him? Like hell you would! Some runt going nowhere doesn't belong next to you!" The man said, his voice rising with each sentence until he was all but shouting his words. "You wouldn't take him, now would you, Ais! He's a worm. A weakling like that isn't gonna land Ais Wallenstein!"
At that Bell simply bolted, running past Syr and out the door to the pub as fast as he could, not being able to listen to any more. His actions drew the attention of most people in the pub with several of them laughing at his guts for attempting a dine and dash at the Hostess of Fertility of all places. Syr ran out the door after him in a vain attempt to try and stop him with Ais following after them a second later.
Maze simply observed all of this with a growing frown on her face, her previously good mood taking a dive. Now Maze had no love for Bell, but her opinion of the brat had gone up slightly after seeing his willingness to fight monsters he knew were supposed to be stronger than him earlier that day, so hearing the werewolf talk shit about him so openly rubbed her the wrong way. And then there was the fact that all of the mutt's shit talking had dragged down the entire mood of the pub, ruining what had been up to that point been a surprisingly pleasant night. Feeling her irritation spike as she went over how the night had gone downhill she turned to look at the culprit.
"You know he wouldn't bark so much if you had him fixed." She said loudly as she crossed her arms and leaned back against the bar. "I've found there are few things more annoying in life than having to deal with a horny mutt who doesn't know when to shut his mouth."
At that the pub went from subdued to dead silent, all those present turning to look at Maze with varying levels of surprise and shock. The staff of the Hostess and higher ranking members of the Loki Familia just looked at Maze with clear surprise while the other adventurers and lower ranking Loki Familia members felt their collective jaws drop in shock and dread. Finally the aforementioned mutt slowly turned his head to turn and glare at Maze, his expression a mix of surprise and rage.
"Huh, what was that?" Bete asked as he flashed his teeth and scowled directly at Maze, standing from his seat. "You wanna repeat that small fry? Not sure if I heard the shit that was coming out of your mouth right, so why don't you repeat that."
Bete began to approach Maze as he spoke, glaring challengingly at the woman, daring her to trash talk him again. In response Maze stood up straight and met the werewolf's glare with a cocky smirk of her own as looked down on Bete, Maze standing several inches taller than the wolf.
"Aww, having trouble hearing me little doggy?" Maze said as she adopted the overly cutsie way people sometimes used when speaking to their pets. "Was there not enough blood going to your ears for you to catch all that? Understandable given how you were drooling at blonde, to bad your come on didn't seem to work out so well. But hey look on the bright side, if you're like most other mutts I've seen then you should be able to work out your frustration pretty easily given how much you seem to love waggling that tongue of yours."
At that everyone in the pub stopped what they were doing to look at Maze in shock, even Bete stopping his approach as he felt his jaw drop. Everyone in the pub stared at Maze as she continued to smirk at Bete, not seeming to give a damn she was picking a fight with one of the cities strongest adventurers. After a moment Bete clenched his jaw shut as his face flushed and sent a positively murderous glare at Maze as his hands balled into fists and his knees bent in preparation for a leap. In response Maze uncrossed her arms and adopted a fighting stance as she prepared to meet the werewolf's attack head on.
However, before either of them could throw the first punch a thunderous smack echoed throughout the pub. Everyone turned to look at the source of the noise and saw Mia with a furious scowl on her face as she glared directly at the two adventurers preparing to throw down in her establishment.
"IF EITHER OF YOU THROW SO MUCH AS ONE PUNCH IN HERE, I'LL POUND THE BOTH OF YOU SO FAR INTO THE GROUND YOU'LL BOTH DROP INTO THE GODS DAMNED DUNGEON!" Mia roared before the two could start. "IF YOU WANT TO BEAT EACH OTHER BLACK AND BLUE FINE, BUT YOURE DAMN WELL GOING TO TAKE IT OUTSIDE, GOT IT!"
At that Maze and Bete glanced at each other and then Mia, resuming more relaxed stances as neither of them wanted to bring Mia into the fight. After a second Bete scoffed and put his hands in his pockets and continued to glare at Maze. Maze for her part simply sent a semi-respectful look at Mia before offering a small nod to the establishment's owner.
"…. Alright whatever you say." Maze said as she nodded at Mia….. before her foot suddenly shot out towards Bete and caught the wolf by surprise and sent him careening out the establishments front doors. Maze began to walk backwards towards the door while offering Mia a smile.
"You said no punches." And with that Maze turned around and walked out the doors herself, leaving a pissed of Mama Mia to glare at her back while she excited the pub.
Outside she found Bete picking himself up off the ground as his glare returned to its previous level of murderous. Anyone who was out on the street quickly scrambled away from the irate werewolf, giving Maze and Bete a large area in front of the Hostess that was free of anyone else.
"That was a cheap fucking shot, you bitch." Bete growled as he got into his previous fighting stance.
"Sorry, I'm not one to give too much of a damn about fair play and honorable conduct and all that shit." Maze replied as she adopted her own stance. "Now do you wanna keep waggling that tongue or do you want to fight."
"Cocky fucking shrimp." Bete growled out before launching himself at Maze, his fist cocked back.
Maze was surprised by the speed of Bete's movement, but not so much that she couldn't track his movements and steped to the side and avoid the punch. Bete's face shifted to shock as she dodged and warped again as Maze's own fist slammed into the side of his head, snapping his head to the side and sending him skidding away from her with the force of the blow. Bete quickly caught himself and rose to face Maze again, finding the demon looking at him with the same cocky smirk she had worn as she adopted another stance and opened one of her fists to make the universal "come here" motion with her fingers.
Bete felt his surprise be replaced with anger and he launched himself at her again, this time aiming to hit her with a sweeping kick. Maze again dodged by stepping back out of the kicks range and immediately stepped to the side to avoid the second kick Bete sent straight at her. Bete continued to attack Maze with Maze continuing to dodge out of the way of each until Bete lunged out at her with a sweeping punch. Instead of dodging out of the way Maze instead caught the blow on her arm and then reached out with her other limb to grab Bete's arm and hurl him over her shoulder using a mix of her own strength and Bete's momentum and then slammed him back first onto the street.
Bete hit the road with a loud crack as Maze's slam sent him into the ground with enough force to crack many of the stones and create a small indent where she slammed the werewolf down. As Bete was momentarily stunned by the move Maze raised one of her legs high before slamming her foot down directly onto Bete's chest, sending him further into the ground as he cried out in pain for the first time during their fight. He tried to sweep Maze's feet out from under her with one of his arms but Maze simply backflipped out of the way and assumed another stance as she waited for him to rise, the cocky smirk Bete was coming to utterly despise returning to her face. After another few seconds Bete launched himself back onto his feet threw himself at Maze again, his anger and inebriation removing the possibility of more complex maneuvers from his mind.
This was how the fight proceeded for the next several moments, with Bete attempting to rain down blows on Maze but Maze either dodging or blocking them before countering. But though the fight was mostly in Maze's favor that did not mean that Bete was unable to get any hits in as his self-taught and animalistic fighting style did manage to catch Maze by surprise once or twice with unorthodox moves she had not experienced before. Still, after a few moments it was clear to all observers that the fight was clearly going in the demons favor as more and more bruises began to appear on Bete's face and body.
With a sweeping kick of her own Maze sent Bete hurtling back from her several meters, the wolf landing face down in the street. Maze took another stance as she waited for him to rise again with her face split in the same smirk that had been present for much of the fight. While this had not been part of the plan Maze found she was enjoying this fight even more than she had her hunting in The Dungeon. Because while she had enjoyed tearing the monster to shreds there hadn't been any that had really challenged her, the thrill of the fight coming from the pain she was able to deal and not because of any challenge the monsters had been able to present. The mutt, however, was different. While still weaker than her she still had to take him seriously to prevent herself from being hurt and had even been caught by surprise a few times. This had filled her with a sense of excitement throughout the fight and as she watched the werewolf pick himself up off the ground yet again she felt her cocky smirk shift into an eager grin as she waited to see what the wolf would do next.
As he rose to his feet Bete was breathing harder than he had previously and he stayed on his knee for a few seconds, seeming to muster the strength to continue. Then he suddenly threw his head back and howled, the sound that emerged from his throat being far more bestial than anything he had made prior to that point. As he lowered his head Maze saw that his eyes were now wilder than at any point previous to then and his hair seemed to be standing on end. His muscles began to twitch under his cloths before seeming to expand slightly, all of this giving the werewolf an inhumanly intimidating aura. But instead of being intimidated Maze felt another rush of excitement shoot through her as she watched the werewolf get on all fours like a real wolf and prepare to launch himself at her. Bete howled again as he bunched his muscles and prepared to launch himself at Maze again….. before an unexpected voice cut through the night.
"That's enough." A young sounding voice suddenly spoke out and before either of them could react the fighting space they had been using was invaded by several others.
Maze suddenly found herself surrounded by four people, the blonde-haired girl from earlier standing behind her and two amazon's took up positions on either side of her. In front of her Maze found herself looking down in surprise at a blonde haired pallum whose cloths were colored purple and yellow. As for Bete as short muscular figure landed on the ground beside him and before he could react a brown-haired dwarf punched the back of his head sending him to the ground again, this time unconscious.
As Maze watched Bete fall to the ground, she felt the energy and excitement slowly began to drain out of her and she scowled down at the pallum who had ruined her fun, with the pallum simply grinning up at her in a confident manner.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to call an end to this match." The pallum said as he met Maze's irritated gaze with a calm gaze of his own. "While I know many adventurers prefer to resolve disputes with their fists, I feel that Beastification takes things a tad too far."
With that the pallum dropped his friendly manner and gave Maze a challenging look. "Therefore, I am calling an end to this fight. If you happen to desire to continue miss, then I will have to ask you to take it up with the rest of us." And with that the pallum's smile returned but had a far more threatening air to it than before.
Maze continued to glare down at the Loki Familia's captain, who returned the look with a challenging one of his own. After a tense moment Maze broke off their staring contest with a huff and began to walk away from the four, brushing past the longer haired amazon in red as she left. Before she could reach the edge of the circle of people who had gathered to watch the fight she heard the Pallum call out to her again.
"That was quite the fight the two of you had, very impressive." He said as he stared at Maze's departing back. "I like to think I'm well acquainted with all of the cites first class adventurers, but I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of making your acquaintance before. Might I at least get your name before you go miss….?"
"Mazikeen." Maze said as she glanced over her shoulder at the questioning pallum. "Mazikeen Lilim, captain of the Lucifer Familia."
And with that Maze turned her head from the blonde pallum and continued to walk forward, the spectators in front of her giving her a wide berth as she walked in the direction of Babel and began her trek home.
/
You know back before I began to write myself, I would often feel frustrated with how long it took for stories to update. I always used to think things like "Its just a few thousand words were asking for, how long does it take to just put down a few thousand words?" Well, I can now confidently say that jotting down a few thousand words can take a pretty long damn time, depending on how things are going in your life at the moment and how much inspiration you feel when you try to write. I already had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to put in this chapter even before I finished chapter three, and it still took me about a month to get it to you all. Sorry for the wait everyone but I've been busy with some personal projects since early January so I haven't felt much of a drive to write during my free time, which is why it took me so long to get this to you all.
Now regarding my last author's note I have decided that Lucifer is even more powerful than Ouranos in terms of power level, though not to the extent that he could say challenge every single god in tenkai and walk away without a scratch. He's strong but Luci isn't his father so there are still some limits on his power. That being said I don't see Lucifer's actual power level coming up much at all during this fic, as like the actual story the story is about the familia members struggles and their goals to become stronger, not about their gods swooping in whenever they are in danger and smiting whatever is threatening them out of existence. That would make for a rather dull story which is part of why the gods limit themselves when descending to gekai in the first place. The only real effect I can think of off Lucifer being so powerful is Ouranos being cautious when dealing with him because he realizes he doesn't have the strength to enforce the rules on Lucifer if Luci decides to break them, something that is unlikely to happen due to Lucifer's lack of any real ambition concerning gekai and his sense of sportsmanship.
As for Maze's power level I have decided to go with high level six for the moment, with an idea to justify making her stronger later in the story if I feel like using it. That means she is comparable to people like Loki Familia's top three and Allen, Hogni, and Hedin from Freya Familia. Ottar would be a bit stronger but Maze would still qualify as a credible threat to him if (and when) they fight. I know some of you wanted Maze to be even stronger but this seems to be as strong as I can make her at the moment without making the Lucifer Familia broken in terms of power. Like I said above I do have a justification in mind for raising her power level latter in the story but I haven't decided if I want to use it or simply have Maze do some training and grow stronger that way.
As for those who were wondering about Maze receiving a falna the answer to that is no. Remember, Maze is a demon, a supernatural being that is essentially immortal and is capable of feats that normal humans cannot match. I would compare her to the spirits found in Danmachi in terms of power, less than the gods but still capable of feats mortals cannot perform. Maze simply doesn't need a falna to fight and Lucifer would likely find the idea of putting one on Maze to be even more uncomfortable than when he found out he had put his on Bell. This is due in large part to the whole "family" connotations that come with the falna and Luci would probably feel pretty uncomfortable making his best friend into his adopted daughter, especially when it has basically been confirmed that Maze and Luci have slept together in the past adding another layer of uncomfortable to the idea.
My question for you all this week is this: What type of magic do you think I should give Maze? Demons in D.C. are pretty magical creatures so I think it makes sense for Maze to have something to call upon. Personally I am thinking of giving her the ability to conjure and manipulate hellfire without the need to speak as that seems like a pretty solid power to give a high ranking demon. I may include more magic depending on what I feel is appropriate and non-story breaking. That being said I have no problem giving Maze more than three spells since that is a limitation of falna based magic and Maze's magic will be demonic in nature.
Hoping you all are enjoying 2023 so far.