Hey there guys, Striker777 here with the next chapter of Loki's Renard. Next week will be the final chapter to the Expedition Mini-Arc, and will be where the final votes are tallied for Lili vs Asfi, Lili currently in the lead at 10-8. Be sure to comment on who you want over the next week in order to solidify your vote.
BrimazKing: I'm usually not this good, especially during uni season, but I try. Anyway, I started reading that story you recommended, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Oh, it's amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes, and I get what you mean about Lili in different Familia vs Lili with new people. It'll be fun if she's picked to explore how her interacting with the members of the Astraea Familia changes her.
NeibeiskiLis: Yeah, I suppose when Asfi becomes the Captain of the Hermes Familia, things will get much more hectic for her, and she won't be able to go into the Dungeon with Kiddy Party as much, but I actually have that part planned out for all the members as well and how they react to their responsibilities slowly keeping them further and further apart. It'll be fun to write, look forward to it.
Also, just letting you guys know, after next week I will be taking a four break, there's a training course happening through my job that opens a few doors later down the line of my employment, so I will be focusing heavily on that, but anyway, onto the story!
Akihide watched as the same party that took down the Goliath made their way through the hordes and hordes of monsters as if they were nothing. It was inspiring, watching the older and more experienced adventurers show off what they were capable of, seeing blades slice through the monsters of Floor 17 like they were nothing, magic soar over his head and into the oncoming horde of Minotaurs and Hellhounds. Watching the more experienced adventurers filled him with pride, as they thinned the horde considerably before any of the monsters could so much as scratch them. It was truly a magical sight.
But then problems arose.
Namely, for the last 10 days, Akihide Okami had done literally nothing.
All the money the Loki Familia made was from collecting magic stones on the lower areas of the Dungeon, so when it came to Floors 1-32, Loki Familia generally didn't kill monsters for magic stones more than they did the Excilia, which meant that most of, if not all the time, the fighters of the Loki Familia were destroying the magic stones of the monsters they killed, as to avoid an enhanced species from spawning.
For the young boy, who had been a supporter the entire time, it made him extremely bored, as there were no monsters to move, no stones to extract, nothing he could do. He was going insane, as there wasn't a need for his magic either other than breaks when he restored whatever minor wounds they had accumulated during the fights or restore the mind of the mages between battles, which was the only thing he really did, as their weapons were holding true and there was no need to waste potions if he was around and available. Economically, he was an amazing addition to the team, who saved the Loki Familia a hefty sum of money.
Unfortunately...
He was becoming restless, and everyone knew it.
"We're gonna have to head up higher so Akihide can work off some steam..." muttered Remilia, looking back at the boy who was casting his mind restoration magic on Kalos and Cynthia. "The poor thing looks ready to explode."
"Tell me about it..." sighed Liza. "Whenever we're taking a break, he's basically just bouncing off the walls. It really makes you remember that he's a kid and not one of us." she said, catching herself as she remembered Akihide wasn't an experienced adventurer like the rest of them, but a small child that was able to come into this incredibly dangerous place.
"I think we should be able to make a trip to Floor 15 today." responded Lloyd, looking back at the still but clearly agitated boy. "He's only here to get experience as well, so it feels wrong to rob him of the opportunity to. We should head to Floor 15 now, and allow Akihide the position of vanguard." said the party leader, before turning to the others. "Is that alright with the rest of you?" he asked, getting nods all around. It was nice to take a break every now and then, and it would get the hyperactive Akihide to be less hyperactive, so it was a win-win all round.
Nodding, Lloyd called out to Akihide, and gave the boy the good news. Akihide smiled as he thought of finally being able to fight, and not stay at the back like some kind of walking potion effect supporter that just sat there and prepared to pick up the odd monster drop. He smiled at the thought of finally getting to do what he wanted and gain some Excilia, as the group prepared themselves to head up Floor 16 to Floor 15, and allow Akihide to finally fight like he wanted to when coming on this expedition.
Akihide slashed his blade through a Dungeon Worm, watching as the creature burst into ash as it's magic stone was destroyed, before he teleported to a Hellhound and slammed his katana through it's chest, destroying it's magic stone as well, and watching it burst into ash like the many before it. Not stopping, he looked over the battlefield, before coming to Sharon's aid to take on the Lamia Mormos that she was having trouble taking care of on top of the Minotaur she was facing, taking on the weaker of the two as he was weaker than her. He slashed his blade down from the top of her head down to the bottom of her stomach, killing the monster instantly as the magic stone had been destroyed as well.
Looking over the battlefield, he saw Kalos strike his magic into an oncoming Liger Fang that Remilia and Lloyd were engaging, Kaguya and Alise taking on their own Minotaurs, Liza and Cynthia acting as their temporary supporters so they could take a break. All in all, the group was functioning well as a unit, completing their mission with efficiency and wasting no energy with unnecessary movements, always exactly where they needed to be to support the party.
This is what it felt like to truly explore the Middle Floors of the Dungeon to stand in the way of some of the toughest beasts that would send more than half the adventurers in Orario away, scurrying like ants. But this young boy, barely 8 years old, was facing them down with no fear, his party behind him, ready to cover him should things go awry. He smiled, his mind full of faith in those behind him, locked in combat with the dangerous monsters of Floor 15, allowing him to gain experience and Excilia with the safety of multiple adventurers much stronger than himself to watch his back.
By the time the party had cleared out the monsters that were in, Akihide had a light pant to his voice, looking at the collection of ash littering the floor that seemed to only get larger and larger as time went on, the blades of the Loki Familia and Astraea Familia slicing through any monster that was foolish enough to cross paths with these pillars of the adventurers world, for strength of members and character. Akihide looked around, noticing not a single monster drop from the slain monsters, which was a shame as some could have been used to upgrade some of the equipment of the members of the Loki Familia. But oh well, as the saying went, 'you can't have everything'.
"We should take a break." said Sharon, leaning against the wall of the Dungeon. "We've been at this for hours now. We could all use a moment or two to catch our breath and have something to eat." she said, reaching for her personal bag and pulling out her rations for the day, a sandwich, as well as a pair of Dungeon Fruit. The party looked at each other and agreed, sitting down and pulling out their own food, ranging from sandwiches to roasted meat and vegetables.
However, the two that stood out amongst the rest were the lunches of Akihide and Kaguya, who were packing a staple of their homeland, onigiri. Wrapped in seaweed, the two put their hands together and muttered "Itadakimasu." before digging into their meals. Akihide had prepared it as a small lunch for Kaguya, as it had apparently been quite a few years since she had been able to eat anything from the Far East, so it was a nice way for the both of them to reconnect to their homeland through their lunch.
"It's good..." muttered Kaguya, mouth full of rice. "What did you use as the filling? It tastes familiar."
"I used a bit of umeboshi that I found at the market a few days before the expedition." replied Akihide, his mouth also full of rice.
"How did I not pick up on that?" asked Kaguya to herself, remembering the sweet taste of umeboshi. "I love plums. Thanks, you brat." she said, taking another bite as Akihide giggled, rubbing the back of his neck.
Lloyd and Liza looked over their plans. "We'll head over to the pantry and see what monsters are there, before deciding if we want to risk it or look for monsters elsewhere." said Lloyd, pointing at the map to the pantry of Floor 15, approximately 30 minutes away from their current location. "If we're lucky, we'll find a few more Minotaurs or Liger Fangs, and gain a bit of experience from them, or better yet, gain a few of their drop items."
"If we can get a few Liger Fang Claws or Minotaur Horns, we could get a pretty good material for some of our weapons when we get them replaced or forge new ones." said Liza, looking at her spear tip, which seemed to be dulling. "I certainly wouldn't mind a few drops to make a new spear tip."
"Amen to that..." muttered Alise, looking at Kaguya. "Kaguya's using one of her spare weapons at the moment, but she certainly needs a new katana after Akihide broke her other one." she said, remembering the incident well. "That kid, slicing the katana of an almost level 3 adventurer as a new level 2 is seriously impressive, something I expect no less from as someone taught by the Princess of Justice, me!" she exclaimed with a smug grin, one that both Akihide and Kaguya were intimately familiar with.
Lloyd sweat dropped as he looked at the red haired Captain of the Astraea Familia. "Isn't Kaguya the one training him?" he asked, looking at her as if she had grown a second head, which didn't faze her in the slightest, her grin still plastered across her face. "...Whatever then, let's just get started." he said, grabbing the group to look over his shoulder at the map as he explained everything. "We'll take the direct route to the pantry, which will take us along this path here, before we turn her and continue on." he said, pointing at several parts of the map and ensuring everyone knew what the plan was. "We'll stick with our current formation for the moment, and decide on if we need to change it up when we get to the pantry. Are there any questions?" he asked, getting nothing but shaking heads. "Alright then, let's head out."
Little did they know, that as soon as they chose their path, their fate was sealed.
Akihide was the first to get a chill down his spine as the group made their way to the pantry. "It's quiet..." he muttered to the group. The party quickly realised he was right, and that there should at least be the quiet sound of monsters feasting on the nectar of the quartz pillar in the pantry, but they heard nothing, let alone meet any monsters. Sure, there was a need to be stealthy at this point, seeing as monsters would often come and go from this point due to the pantry, but yet there was nothing, not so much as a peep to be heard in the Dungeon.
"You're right, something's off..." agreed Kaguya, her hand resting on her hilt. "It's never a good sign when the Dungeon is quiet."
"Should we head back then?" asked Remilia, looking at the group. "We should get out if something is wrong in the Dungeon, who knows what's waiting for us."
Lloyd thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "We should at least scout the situation out, if we have more information, we can rally reinforcements from Rivira and deal with the situation." said the man, thinking for the long term. It was clear that a few of the party disagreed with the idea, but they were better off following his orders. "We'll just scout out the situation, not deal with it, and then gather reinforcements to deal with it. There will be no fighting, just look and run."
The party continued on, extra careful and prepared to jump into action at a moment's notice. They made the final track to the pantry, and looked inside to see what was happening.
The first thing they noticed was that there were no monsters, which was improbable at best and impossible more often than not. There was always a monster or two feasting in the pantry, but yet, here it was, empty. That was a major red flag, as the only time it was usually empty was that there was another party that had cleared out the pantry just before they arrived, but the lack of other adventurers threw that idea down the drain.
However, the more unsettling thing they saw was an arm, seemingly still attached to a body, barely visible from behind the pillar. The group was ready to turn back and run at that point, but then the unthinkable happened. They all heard a groan of intense pain.
Akihide grabbed a healing potion out from the pack they had, and teleported over to the hand, finding a blonde male elf behind the pillar, eyes closed and blood trickling down his lip. "Hold on! You're gonna be okay!" he shouted, trying to get the elf to open his eyes and he poured a potion over him. The elf groaned in satisfaction and relief, before opening his eyes to stare into the soul of the boy, as the rest of the party made their way over to see if they could help. But only one thing left the elf's mouth.
"I-it's a tra-trap..."
The roar was deafening, as the creature came into view from it's rocky hiding spot. A pure blood red, it's hooves stomped on the ground as it walk, the fur a mix of it's natural fur colour and the dripping blood all over it's body. Blood dripped from it's mouth, it's teeth razor sharp and strong, much like it's horns. It's eyes shone red as well, glaring at the party of adventurers, a bloodied axe resting over it's shoulders that was clearly forged, not a natural weapon of the Dungeon.
A Blood Red Minotaur.
An extremely rare and even more powerful monster, a combination of an Irregular and Enhanced Species, it boasted the highest kill count amongst the Middle Floor Irregular monsters, even though it was insanely rare. The only way for one to spawn was for an certain Irregular Minotaur, a darker brown Minotaur, to spawn on Floor 17. That monster was weaker than it's regular counterparts, but it was much more intelligent, quickly making it all the way up to Floor 15 or 14, and begin to attack other monsters, devouring their magic stones and growing stronger as a result. Then, once a certain threshold had been reached, the fur would turn a bloody shade of red, and the monster would be the most deadly possible monster in the Middle Floors to occur naturally.
The party looked at the monster, fear in their souls as the monster gazed down on them. Alise's skill began to activate, and she could feel the rush of stats to her body, activating at the mere presence of this monster. There was no way for them to peacefully leave the pantry alive, so the group prepared for combat. However, Akihide's senses were screaming at him, as if his subconscious knew what to do, but he couldn't bring the words from his brain to his mouth. All he could do was act on instinct, and they were telling him to hit hard and fast.
And his best option for that was resting on his hip.
Akihide gripped one of the magic kunai that Tsubaki had forged him, and threw it. It was the first time he had ever thrown a magic sword, and apart from that one instance with the Enhanced Species Hellhound on Floor 12, it was the first time he had used a magic sword at all. He had no idea what to expect, but he knew instinctively that this was the best course of action. As a fresh level 2, he didn't have a hope in hell of beating this thing with his own might, even with Mico Grandus, the best he could hope for was avoiding this thing until it wore itself out and making a run for it, but magic swords made all the difference.
As it passed his party in front of him, lightning danced along the blade before the bolts struck the Minotaur with a thunderous clap, causing the creature to cry out in pain and back off. "Now!" called out Akihide, moving to grab the elf, before he teleported behind the Minotaur to the entry to the pantry. The rest of the party needed no further incentive and ran as well, passing the burning monster and rushing out of the pantry, but not before Liza picked up the magic sword that had fallen near the entrance. They turned tail and bolted.
"A Blood Minotaur?! Fucking hell!" cried out Sharon, as she picked up the elf from Akihide and threw him over her shoulder and bolted. "We need to get back to Rivira fast!"
"Tell me something I don't know!" yelled Lloyd, looking up ahead. "It'll take us at least two hours if we're lucky and don't get into any fights on the way there." he said, thinking about how they could possibly lose the dangerous monster. "We don't have the capacity to fight this thing, even if Akihide boosts our stats."
That was true. Although the party had taken on the Goliath, a Blood Minotaur was an entirely different monster. The Goliath was slow, which is what allowed them to take the monster Rex on with no issues, and they had Finn and Riveria as back up in case things didn't go well, so there was an absolute safety net in the worst case scenario. However, here there was no safety net, and the Blood Minotaur was actually faster on average than the Goliath, more well rounded with no easily exploited weaknesses and was smarter than the Goliath as well. If the party tried to fight that monster now, there was no debate that they would die.
Sure, they could try to rely on Alise again and her magic, but the Blood Minotaur would more likely than not realise what they were doing and target her before she could fully charge it, so that option was out as well. All that they could do was run.
The monster roared behind them, and the stomping on the ground told the party it was on their tail and catching up. They picked up the speed, pushing their legs to carry them faster, with Akihide being forced to teleport a few times to keep up with the more veteran adventurers, but the Blood Minotaur continued to close in on them.
"Try and drive it to a monster party!" demanded Lloyd, looking at their options, which were rapidly dwindling, and came up with the best plan. "If we can force them to fight each other, we can escape in the chaos and get reinforcements! Pull a pass parade on a monster party!"
It seemed like the best plan, and the group thought it was the best chance they had at getting out of the situation alive, and continued to run with the hope of finding a monster party to use so they could escape.
Then it happened, the moment that their fate changed.
The good news was that the Dungeon decided to spawn some monsters from around them, and a pair of Minotaurs spawned, regular ones.
The bad news was that the Minotaurs weren't the only monsters that spawned.
From the ceiling, a collection of Bad Bats spawned, and they immediately let out their sonic screech. Akihide, on instinct, teleported behind them and slashed them, but the damage was done, as the rest of the party was paralysed, the Blood Minotaur approaching. But they weren't out of the woods yet, as the ground beneath them opened up with the falling debris, and they fell down into the hole.
"Guys!" shouted Akihide, watching as everyone fell down through the floor of the Dungeon. Before Akihide could decide what to do next, the Blood Minotaur appeared, and Akihide watched for a moments at it tore the two new Minotaurs apart before eating their stones, and turning to face him from the other side of the hole.
Pure fear guiding him, Akihide turned around and teleported to the end of the hallway before running and teleporting some more, trying to escape the beast. It roared behind him, and gave chase, as the young boy found himself all alone on Floor 15 with a dangerous monster.
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter, part 2 will come out next week. Be sure to cast your votes by then, but for now, a small omake.
Omake: The Food Fight Incident
Akihide sat down at one of the tables of the Loki Familia mess hall. It was early, but he had agreed to cover a patrol for Ardee who was going to spend the day training with her sister, and would need to join the Ganesha Familia over at their Familia home soon. The problem was he was so tired from training under Alfia the previous day, he was sluggish and slow, barely picking at his food, let alone eating it.
Akihide sighed as the doors opened up, and in strutted her majesty herself, Ais Wallenstein. Akihide growled into his breakfast, as the girl grabbed some stuff from the breakfast cupboard and sat down across from him. A collection of fruits, some bacon, scrambled eggs and toast. Akihide was not in the mood for her antics, and just looked down at his breakfast and kept eating, eager to get out of there.
He stopped, however, as he felt something ricochet off his skin. "Wha-?" he muttered, before something else hit his forehead. He looked up to see Ais, throwing apple seeds from her eaten fruit at him. "Stop." he told her, to no avail, as she flicked another at him. "Ais, stop it."
It was futile though, as Ais continued throwing seeds at him, or hardened and crispy bits of bacon. It was getting on Akihide's nerves after about the tenth time, to which he stood up. "Fucking stop i-"
He then proceeded to get a handful of eggs thrown in his face.
Now normally, this wouldn't be an issue, as he would dodge it, but a combination of irritation, tiredness, and a lowered guard from being at home made it possible for the eggs to hit him. He blinked the eggs out of his eyes and looked down at the girl, who was laughing at him in her own small way.
"OH YOU FUCKING BITCH! IT'S ON!"
The mess hall took a whole week for the two to clean up, after wasting all of the breakfast food that Loki had prepared before Finn and Riveria arrived to put a stop to the madness. It was then made an official Familia Rule that Ais and Akihide were never to sit at the same table again, lest they become covered in condiments and fruit juice like the last time.
Anyway, that's all for now, this is Striker777, over and out.