Disclaimer : I don't own Danmachi or Saint Seiya, this fanfic is solely created for shits, giggles, and entertainment for my boredom waiting for some of my favourites fanfic updates.
Prologue
There had existed a seemingly infinite dungeon underneath a blooming city, paired with numerous floors with spacious rooms. Inside, there birthed a variety of heinous monsters, hostile to both mortals seeking earnings and the gods themselves who've been bound by rules and who descended from the upper realm for their own reasons.
And with it, a certain white-haired naive boy from a remote farming village who has grown up listening to legends and stories now aspires for his own story with a destined, romantic meeting with a beautiful maiden in distress from monsters, while easily defeating said monster, meanwhile acting cool and heroic to gain the maiden's favour and heart.
Goaded by his no-good, scum of a mysterious grandfather back from the farms, alongside his new friend whom he befriend on the streets, with the newly acquired blessing of a goddess, who is both he only known for a few weeks and the sole member of her familia, now embarking on an exciting adventure in the dungeon !
If this were a story written personally by the naive boy himself, life wouldn't have been too rough and tough at all. At least, he would have achieved his dream in no time...
He probably shouldn't have pushed his luck back then, since such arrogance often invites disaster to oneself.
Having a falna at level 1 or defeating a few monsters of beginner level floors are no feats enough to boast for...as he had learned during an embarrassing declaration in the past.
The boy tempted fate by declaring his impure and immature intentions. Forgetting himself at the moment he dared to budge the lower floors that he isn't supposed to, in order to raise his prowess for a romantic encounter,
He forgot that he himself had already seen it ...there's countless graves of failed adventures that line the city's own graveyard from ancient times, be it heroes or unnamed nobodies...
...and those who couldn't even provide bodies for burial, those who happen to be devoured by roaming monsters without a trace, even the greatest of the heroes in the past have fallen under the onslaught of the mightiest and strongest monster in legends, the dragon king, the black apocalypse, undefeated,
...merely records of it being permanently wounded in one eye till this very day, stories pass down from generation to generation, not only served as glorifying the heroes and entertainment, but they were warnings and wake-up calls for idiots' fantasies and fool's daydreams.
"ーーー!!!!(roaring!!)"
"Huaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!??"
The boy, letting out a high-pitched scream like a terrified girl, is currently running through the tunnel and stairs using zigzag or whatever advice he remembers to save himself. Such is the ending result for an adventurer who holds such improper and immature thoughts.
In a battlefield of life and death, where one must prepare for their own deaths to deliver death upon enemies, the unknown can bring anything.
instead of a fateful meeting with beautiful maidens while he acted heroically, hordes of monsters that's completely out of his league has suddenly appears from the lower floors, seemly panicked, and terrified, forcefully driven up, they have arrived for the boy's fateful meeting...taking the monster script place, but there's no maidens in sight.
There's nothing romantic about it at all. If one looks carefully and studies the current situation, they would have laughed while watching in safety, at the boy's dismay, running while crying without tears at his distress.
The white-haired boy's face was as pale as a ghost, sweating like rivers, as he dared to sneak a peek behind the red-eyed death incarnate, who squirmed and squeaked like a panicked rabbit cornered by a top predator about to die in a horrible manner.
To be more precise about the situation, the white-haired boy is currently being chased by one of the monsters, with an enlarged body that resembles a human but has hooves and a bull's head.
A "Minotaur", one of the monsters named from the legend of the foolish hero Argonaut who he defeated with a princess' aid, was Minos.
Apparently some minotaurs horde came up... If he had taken Miss Advisor's advice, he probably should have been safer in the upper beginner floors, or if he were stronger... Unlike now where he is one of the few most foolish and overeager idiots adventurers who thinks they are tough meat and heroes in the stories, but in reality they were only fit as monster's fodder.
And now...one is currently dead set about to crush the weak foolish boy, it locks on the boy as an easy prey, determined to turn said boy into crushed spreads of tomato paste. In its rage of being driven from its lair by mortals far stronger, the humiliation of having to escape in such manner and its natural hatred for adventurers and human that wander into its domain.
Even if it couldn't take out its frustration and rage at the high-ranked adventurers who had driven them from their lairs, it could at least crush one of them...like this male white-haired one currently in front of him.
The boy turned pale. The monster he currently faced was completely immune to his feeble attacks from a small, cheap dirk...or dagger knife; it being adventurer beginner equipment and all,
Not to mention his low level of goddess gifts, attacks of such weak magnitude wouldn't even scratch or harm it seriously. Even if he managed to poke its eyes, it would merely serve to further stroke its anger or annoy it.
He might as well surrender and hope for a quick death, as the minotaur is obviously angered and dead set on bringing a painful death to the boy from earlier attempts...so he wisely decides to continue running, trusting in luck that he might escape or be saved.
The fleeing boy lamented about his bleak and despairing fate. He chided himself wordlessly in his fleeting mind for being such a weak, daydreaming fool who expected a fateful encounter in the dungeon where death and misfortune are unpredictable.
The idea of gathering vast riches in great hoards, living a life full of fame and luxury, gaining a harem made up of beautiful maidens and women from every race and culture possible, is naturally a daydream and illusion envisioned by a fool.
At the instant when one doesn't mentally prepare oneself for death in a deadly battlefield, their fate would have been sealed from the start, for monsters wouldn't hesitate to kill nor choose to grant mercy to fools that wander into its domain, and the dungeon itself...is partially alive and hates all existing, gods or mortals alike who enter its lair.
The boy despaired and deeply regretted his choices for pushing his luck to go against Miss Advisor's advice, "Adventurers should never go for risky adventures." She said, but he foolishly went to the lower floors. He began loathing himself for giving such a shameful display as he fled.
wishing time itself would turn backwards to give him a slap, or maybe better a kick to his shins to awaken his younger and foolish self to reality,
Saddened as he begins to think that he might not even have a grave for his friend, he starts searching for him. His friend had said he would come later after collecting his farm products from the outskirts or the city and meet him on the upper floors, but where he is currently isn't anywhere in the upper beginner floors... if only he could reach there...
Maybe, just maybe, the two of them together held a slight chance of escaping his impending doom situation? As his mysterious friend often demonstrated great strength and power in helping out with daily chores and farming at the city's outskirts, he had a bit of hope... but he quickly remembered that his situation was unknown to his friend.
...well that's impossible when his friend didn't know he wandered off course and is currently being chased by a raging and deadly minotaur, a natural killer for decimating unlucky rookies, whom he's quite positive his friend might not be an equal match alone...but with his aid... maybe
No matter from a physical reality point of view or from the angle of fate, a miracle happening to save the boy is so low that it could safely be stated as impossible.
"ーーー!!?!(incomprehensible roaring)(the earth shook and trembled, as the minotaur approached closer and closer...!!)"
"Ha...haa...ha..ha (panting) ...ha ...ha.(the boy's currently hyperventilating and gasping like a fish in desperate need of water, as his wobbling weak legs are running out of energy)"
The Minotaur's great hoof rises, and stomps the ground, sending a great shake towards the boy, likely having enough of the game of cat and mouse.
Although it did not directly hit the boy's back, every step it takes is enough to tremble the earth, so even the location where the boy was standing far away , it's still being affected by the impacts.
"...ahh...?!"
(-A slight tremor travels through the ground, shaking the boy and reducing his stance balance to nothing)
The boy wasn't able to stand still and slipped; he could only roll around the floor of the dungeon to break his fall, but it still stings and hurts like mad as the pain of soft flesh hitting hard earth/rock solid ground came later.
"Ouch!!"
"ーーー!!!!??(incomprehensible roaring again, this time with rising anger and murderous intent for such an unworthy and weak opponent)"
"-Uwaaaaah-!!!"
Unwilling to give up on his own life, the terrified boy scrambled and crawled as well as he could on hard ground, narrowly dodging a hoof that shook and cracked the floor, trying his best to run and live to see another day, but it seems his luck has finally run out... and he ... actually reached a wall, signalling a dead end.
Oh no.
There was no path for retreat, and the dark shadow of the looming minotaur seems to grow bigger and darker by the second.
After exhausting himself to merely flee ... the angered and murderous minotaur (minos?) finally forces his once sworn enemy into an inescapable square-shaped space, back facing the wall and the only exits are only through him.
... nowhere to run, no way to hide, guess it's the end of the road and the laughable fantasies of a foolish boy, the boy let out an awkward self-mocking chuckle...hahaha ...
The ridiculous muscular figure of the minotaur, at least twice the size of a normal human, slowly became clearer as it approached the boy like the grim reaper about to collect his due. Steak-like veins and rock-hard muscles bulged like twisted vines and the trunk of an ancient tree, and the stinking, putrid breath of the beast was visible in the air.
It's grinning, showing huge crooked teeth as if celebrating its victory over a long-standing grudge or feud. Like the eyes of a feasting predator finally cornering a squirming, terrified, helpless rabbit, the boy's thoughts go blank...it's like in his last moments he has accepted death and achieved enlightenment...a little dust cloud rises from the minotaur raising its massive hoof to squash the boy into tomato paste.
The boy's last thoughts went to his lonely, cute little patron goddess waiting at the abandoned prayer building, helpful friends at the inn, his kind advisor at the guild...and his mysterious friend he met in the cemetery at the city's outskirts.
(Ah, it's no good. He would like to see them one last time before the hooves crush him into a pulp.)
This is reality...no miracles, no fateful encounters...
At that instant, as if the heavens themselves had heard the boy's prayer and intervened to aid his plight, a sliver-shinning streak flashed across the minotaur like a shooting star, with a cobweb line appearing on the boy's would-be killer's torso, swiftly twisting through its pectoral muscles, limbs, shoulders, and neck.
"huh--?!?!"
"(Confused roaring--alarmed?!?!)"
It seems the minotaur didn't quite understand what had happened to itself as well just like the boy, in this situation... ...
...until few drops of blood suddenly appeared from the lines, a moment later, great gushes of blood torrents burst out and the lines enlarged into clean cuts, silver light...lines, the flashes of a sword that's been blessed by the wind that moves so swiftly beyond the boy's eyes could follow
And so, the beast that would scoff and laugh at boys' feeble attempts for attacks is revealed to be cleaved and cut into neat and smooth slabs of flesh, and bones, as if a Masterchef who has completely mastered a sharp kitchen knife slices up a meat dish in a matter of seconds.
"(roaring in anguish, rage and disappointment at being humiliated and hurt, losing a battle due to interference again)--!!!!"
The great beast split and fell apart into pieces along the dissection incisions, as if someone squeezed a juicy fruit full of liquid, dark crimson blood spray blasting itself out, along with some indescribable heinous thingy guts akin to those from a high-pressured water geyser.
with its decaying remains slowly dissolving into mist and dust, only the magic stone, the core of the minotaur dropped on the stone floor with pleasant "clink~" resounding at that moment of silence ...
"Errm..., are you...ok?"
(An awkward but soft, curious nature spoken voice, the boy felt like it was the warm breeze tenderly brushing over the fields of wheat back at his home village )
The boy is stunned, rooted to the spot, as a wave of dark blood and gore dyed him red. It's not the stinking odor of blood nor the disgusting gore or the impressive feat of effortlessly slaying the minotaur that stunned him at that moment ... no, it's what emerges after: a beautiful maiden without a single drop of blood or dust from the remains of the minotaur that mesmerized him.
A maiden with unparalleled beauty that could easily rival or surpass any goddess that he knew of, clad in azure sapphire clothing and silver armour that perfectly captured the curves and slenderness of her feminine charm.
The girl stood straight and tall, with a petite frame, while no name is uttered or declared, there's no need to, with the mad and laughing Peri-ot (clown?) emblem engraved on the silver breastplate and greaves, blonde hair shinning like molten gold, a chiburi, graceful flick of the saber to remove bloodstains to sheath the blade, and that power displayed...for one look is all adventurers in Orario needed to identify one of the famed peak adventurers of the Loki Familia.
The white-haired boy's heart skipped a beat, as the innocent and pure look of the girl's gaze turned to him in concern. Golden-irises eyes that seem like they could charm gods and goddesses alike.
Even the boy, with his newbie experience, knew at once who stood before him.
Ais Wallenstein, the famed level-five adventurer of Loki Familia, hailed as the highest-ranked female adventurer among all races.
The boy's mind is in turmoil at the moment and couldn't give a proper reply, so the confused girl decided to politely ask again for causing this trouble in the first place.
"Er, are you sure you're okay?"
The shame of his weakness being seen by a girl, disgusted for the gore and blood, gratitude and relief for being saved at last, pure admiration for such a great display of power and beauty, a cacophony of disharmonious emotions and unhelpful random thoughts rushed over the boy's mind in a split second, but amidst all the chaos and confusion...
one sole emotion, top all and is currently burning strongly and fiercely in the boy's heart desires and soul, the boy's almost grateful for the blood and gore that's currently keeping his face hidden, as the boy's true face would have been the same red from this feeling even should the blood be removed to reveal what's underneath.
this feeling... it's... it's crying out loudly even when he can't discern its truth...!
His heart rate accelerated, his cheeks flushed, and he felt hot. ...as his gaze was akin to a doe finding its soulmate... just blankly staring at the powerful and beautiful heroine in front of him.
to put it simply, the boy's wish had been fulfilled, just not in the way he imagined it, but he filled the role of the damsel in distress...while the role of hero was played by the beautiful and mighty maiden instead...and his soul and heart were captivated by the heroic maiden like fools, as if the script he envisioned.
It seems the boy's daydream isn't so idiotic or far-fetched after all...and he got his wish in the end...The boy simply chooses to forget the painful lesson he learned earlier...and bask in the moment
Should his faithful friend have seen him in this state, he would have sighed and shaken his head while saying "it can't be helped..." with a polite smile of encouragement