SEASON IV PART 2 IS OUT BABY AND WHAT A FIRST EPISODE. If only I owned any rights to Danmachi, which I don't FYI
"Ready yourselves!"
He heard the shout but it didn't register in the boy's mind. Breathing was his main concern right now but with each shallow breath he took, pain racked his body. He was unsure why; breathing wasn't normally this painful. He kept breathing though as his body knew how that it was a necessity, his mind once again not registering the horrifying roar echo through his pointy ears.
"Ew, disgusting, gross!"
"Get over it!"
The bickering amazon sisters slowly brought his mind back into the real world. Slowly, Nathan opened his eyes. His vision was blurry and distorted. A haze glazed over his jade eyes, the mask not helping with his eyesight.
"Incoming!"
He recognised that voice. It belonged to Asfi. He followed the sound. His vision only saw distorted blobs through the blur but after a few seconds, Nathan managed to make out a blue colour, a small dash of white in the middle. He decided to focus on the white. Slowly his vision came back to him, along with his other senses.
"!"
"BLUEERRRRGHHHH!"
His instinct suddenly kicked in and on top of the overload on his senses, it immediately made him throw up. The pungent odour that invaded his nostrils almost threatened to make him throw up again. The ground shook, his whole body feeling the ground split open as a massive shockwave slammed into the cobble. The sound was the worst. Another deafening roar filled the room, followed quickly by a mass scream. It forced Nathan to squeeze down on his ears to try and block as much of it as possible.
"Tione and Tiona, get away!"
The half-elf heard the Prum captain shout and by now his eyes had overcome the foggy glaze and now he could see throughout the room. From his current position on the ground, he could only see a quagmire of boots and some ends of spears and battle axes. Looking past that, he made out what he could only describe as a slug. The form was obese and it seemed it had to slither to move. The black veins that ran through it were repulsive, swelling the rotted skin to a point it seemed the whole body would bulge and explode.
Nathan forced his hands on the ground, his mind now fully returning. He remembered how and why he was here. Barca Perdix had done… something, and before the half-elf could kill him, that something had flung him away with incredible strength.
The half-elf gave out a grunt of pain as he felt a burning sensation flood through his body again. Now fully conscious, he quickly assessed that his ribs were broken, explaining the reason for his painful breaths. Nathan could only manage a sitting position leaning against the wall before the pain forced him to stop. But now he got a full view.
'That's… Barca!'
The thought came to life as soon as Nathan got a full view, the view that everyone else was sharing. Writhing about was the most disgusting thing Nathan had ever seen. The grotesque form stood so tall that its head was crashing into the roof. His face was repulsive. One eye had been turned into what could only be described as insect eggs while the other had swelled so much that it seemed it was ready to pop. The engraving of the cursed D in it was the only confirmation left that the monster was once Barca Perdix.
The right arm had grown to the size of a thick tree trunk, while the left was a plant-like whip. Other types of green plant life sprouted from the enflamed body, twirling and swivelling around the distorted body of rotten skin and black veins. The lower half, where legs were meant to be, had been replaced by a large slug-like body, the one that Nathan had spotted. But now his vision was better and he could see it in so much more detail and it only made the half-elf want to throw up once more.
The body writhed about before…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"It's happening again, get down!"
The thing that was happening again was a wave of black blood shooting out of the monster's body. As soon as it came into contact with an adventurer, they buckled in agony. Screaming once again blasted throughout the room, forcing Nathan to cover his ears once again.
'Wait. Where are they?'
The last thing he remembered was jumping at Barca to kill him, but also to retrieve the sword that he had thrown. He remembered clinging onto both hilts with his life before being thrown. He must have let go when he smashed into the wall.
The half-elf quickly darted his eyes around the room. He thankfully spotted the first one very quickly. It was only a metre or two in front of him. However, when he spotted the other one, it made the boy gulp. It seems after he had let go of it in mid-air, allowing it to go flying away and into the swamp of feet. Somehow it had made it to the feet of a white robe. Nathan followed the white robe until his eyes settled on a young, beautiful face. Her eyes were closed as it seemed she was praying, with her hands grasping onto a mage's staff. Platinum hair fell past her shoulders as Nathan made out her mouth beginning to move, most likely beginning a chant. Nathan confirmed it was the Dea Saint when he felt an uneasy feeling from just looking at her, like all the other times he had before. Then a massive black blob smashed into him.
The Hermes Familia watched on. Fully captivated, even if only for a second, by the pride and strength shown by the Loki Familia as they rushed towards the Cursed monster standing before them. Only two goals washed through their collective mindset.
'Destroy the Curse!'
'Protect Dea Saint with all we have!'
It didn't take long until Asfi and the rest of the others were enthralled by the courage and soon became part of the joint effort. However, it became quite clear there was an issue that even the great Loki Familia was struggling to overcome.
Every time they got a hit on the grotesque monster and tried to initiate a counter-attack, it was quickly cancelled out by an onslaught of the cursed blood that spewed from the Barca monster, forcing those that tried to run forward in hopes of severing a limb to fall back.
One such attack happened. The mages shot out a wave of powerful magic towards the towering beast, making a direct impact. As the monster stumbled backwards, shaking the ground as it tried to regain balance, Tione and Tiona swept forward. Tione held her Roland outstretched while her sister was already in a position to full-swing Urga. But once again, the black blood rained towards them. As amazons, they were confident in their natural body strength and durability but it was their adventurer instinct that kept telling them to fall back. Tione once more listened to that instinct, annoyed but already preparing for the next chance. However, her less patient and more abrasive sister kept running, putting trust in her bronze skin.
"Oi you idiot, fall back now!"
Tiona heard her sister yell at her but both knew it was now too late to back out, she was too far forward to jump back as she would be hit by the cursed blots either way. If she tanked this damage, then she would be in a great position to attack so she stuck by her decision. The amazon prepared for the impact and the pain that was going to come alongside. She swung her Urga in a large sweep, sending out a shockwave of air that managed to be relatively successful at blowing some of the blood away from her position. But even as a level 6 and someone with mass experience with the weapon. Urga still wasn't that easy to keep swinging back and forth. She had thought of using her weapon as some sort of propeller in front of her but then she realised that would lead to an outcome of just spreading the cursed blood past her and into the people behind her. So now, with one more swing of her Urga to disperse as much of it as possible, she braced herself.
Tiona immediately regretted her decision, as when the first drop of blood splashed on her exposed skin, it instantly became inflamed and it was a burning feeling not even Bache's poison could match. But then she felt it. A massive gust of wind flew just over her, forcing her short-cut hair to fly everywhere. Then she felt a tug at her waist top which turned into an abrupt yank, sending her tumbling backwards. She, along with the rest looked forward and saw the person who had last been seen flying into a wall standing ahead.
"Can we leave the defence up to you?" Tiona heard her captain say. She saw the person turn their head slightly before giving a small nod.
Amid was once again chanting, doing everything she could to keep up with the constant attacks being thrown at the main group whom she had sworn to protect. Her eyes shut and her hands clasped together as she kept chanting, one would think she was praying if they looked at her. But no one wasted time with those thoughts as they were too busy fighting and supporting alongside the Dea Saint and she knew it. This forced her to keep going, gulping down mind potions whenever she grew tired, forcing her body to keep up with her will by any means.
Before the battle started, her mind wandered over to the motionless body that had been slammed into the wall with enough force to make a large dent in it. Even though she got an uncomfortable feeling from the person clad in black, she was still a healer and she would never leave someone in need behind.
"Incoming!"
After the shout from Perseus indicated the first wave of attacks, she manoeuvred a bit of her healing to the person in place of a bit more potency. This was only a one-time deal as she quickly realised she couldn't afford to spare anything and would have to go all out to keep the monster's curses at bay. Amid didn't even have time to spare a glance at whether the person was now all right but she held confidence in her abilities and put all of her concentration into the fight ahead.
However, on one of her quick intervals where the Loki Familia pressed another counter-attack in which she had time to drink a mind potion, she spared that glance to the person. She was quickly stunned to see that the body was no longer there. She shot her head back and forth, trying to see if the person had merged with the attacking group but with her medical knowledge, it would be almost impossible to be able to rejoin the battle after sustaining such injuries. However, her short break was quickly coming to an end and she once again reached out to her staff, waiting for Bernadette to hand it back to her. Once again she began her chant, the magic circle once again forming beneath her.
To Amid, her chants were more akin to a prayer, begging the gods for the power to keep everyone alive. During this process, she normally kept her eyes shut, choosing to focus on her chanting, allowing herself to not get distracted. However, this time her eyes were wide open. The reason, the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach had returned and was worse than ever. The cause, the stunned body of a figure dressed in all black clothing, a black mask hiding the face was currently crouched down beside her robe, a gloved hand millimetres away from grabbing a sword she hadn't realised was at her feet.
The more she looked, the more the uncomfortable feeling worsened. It took all of her experience and skill to continue her chanting while her body was almost ready to throw up. Something about the person below her caused her body to react negatively. The person didn't seem to be doing much better. They stayed in their crouched position, frozen. Her unblinking Amethyst eyes caught small signs of movement like their fingers twitching, narrowly grazing the hilt of the sword. But it didn't continue to reach out and grab it, instead, it remained, frozen.
"Dia Frater!"
Amid casted out her healing magic once again. All around her, she heard the usual sounds of gratitude and thanks for her saving the main force again from the vile black blood that had shot at them once more. But her eyes weren't currently looking at the good she was doing, instead, they grew even wider than before as she watched something she had never seen before. The person was currently writhing around on the floor, their hands grasping their head as she heard grunts of pain. She watched on horrified, as did her two attendants that had come to see if she needed anything, as the figure slammed their head into the floor. It was only when her magic circle faded and her healing had come to a stop did the boy cease his self-inflicted pain. Amid watched as the person got onto their hands and knees, clear and ragged gasps of breaths were heard as the person's body lurched as they gulped in the air.
Nathan was currently trying his best to stay conscious, his mind was spinning. He had always gotten an uncomfortable feeling whenever he had seen Dea Saint, with his body telling him to run away when he had seen her heal one time while her group fought the Goliath on floor 17. He never really knew why but now he did.
It burnt. He had been burnt before. At some point in his life, every part of his body had felt the touch of fire. But this… this was so much worse. It felt like his entire body was on boiling. His blood, skin, senses, hair and especially his back. His mind couldn't handle it, doing everything it could to stay conscious, forcing Nathan to slam his head into the ground multiple times just to keep his mind somewhat stable, if that even made sense. After what felt like an eternity, the burning stopped. Just like someone had flicked a switch, the pain evaporated in an instant.
Shakily, Nathan got onto his hands and knees, sucking in every ounce of air he could gulp. His mind slowly calmed down, surprisingly more than when he had arrived in the room. Slowly, he reached out and completed the mission of why he had come so close to Dea Saint. The familiarity of his trusted weapons now back in his possession, he got back up on his feet. He winced in anticipation at the pain from his broken ribs but to his surprise, he felt none. In fact, he felt no pain or fatigue that he had acquired since he had entered Knossos.
"-AAAAAAAUUUUUUURRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!"
The roar of the monster made that line of questioning be shelved for later as Nathan now focused on the thing that was once Barca. As he stood up, he felt a small gust of wind press onto his forehead. Reaching his hand up, he realised that the top part of his mask was shattered, most likely from his head smashing into the floor. He felt the warm feeling of blood but again, felt no pain from touching the area or any signs of marking or cuts.
"A-are…y-you ok?"
Nathan turned around and stared right into a pair of purple eyes. He instinctively took a step back, his hands tightening his grip on his swords. Dea Saint had also taken a step back after catching his gaze. After the silence lasted more than a few more seconds than it should have, one of Amid's assistants repeated the question.
Nathan gave a brief nod.
Again, the assistant asked another question.
"Are you here t-to help?"
Nathan gave another nod.
Then Nathan replayed that question again in his head before realising the full weight of it. Without so much as another glance at the healers, Nathan turned and ran towards the frontline just as Tiona and Tione were about to start another counter-attack.
"Are you all right Amid, what happened?" Bernadette asked.
Amid didn't respond for a few seconds, still processing what she had just experienced.
"I'm… I'm fine Bernadette and I don't know."
Amid watched as the person rushed forward, briefly stopping next to Finn Deimne before racing forward, straight towards a hail of the cursed blood. He was getting on with what was important. She would follow the example.
"That's not important right now though, I need to stay focused on the task at hand. Bernadette, could you pass me another mind potion please?"
"Right away!"
Amid clasped the glass vial, leaving the subject about what just occurred behind but with a determination to figure out what had caused it to happen and why she didn't feel uncomfortable looking at the person anymore. However, as she spared one last thought to it, she came to realise something, more specifically towards Barca. But if she was right, what did that mean about the person that she now saw swipe away the cursed blood with a large blade of dark green wind?
Finn was shocked at seeing Nathan standing next to him. It had only been a few minutes since the boy had been squashed and thrown at a speed he struggled to keep up with. That didn't matter now though as he had another strong ally next to him and judging from the black bile that was on his arm without a single sign of pain, a very useful one at that.
He watched as Nathan looked down at him and just to prove his theory, wiped the black stuff off himself. The two shared the same thought at the same time. Finn gave Nathan a quick nod, permission to place himself in the role both had come up with for the half-elf. As Finn watched Nathan save Tiona from the barrage of curses, he realised his thumb wasn't twitching as he observed Nathan unlike when he had dropped in earlier.
The fight was fierce but now the main force could see a victory. With the introduction of the duel-wielding fighter being seemingly unfazed by the black blood and with Dea Saint coming up with a plan to take it down with her healing, deducing that monster was filled with curses she could heal away, a victory seemed in sight.
Once again, the sluggish body had fallen into a compromising position. Tiona and Tione shot forward; this time accompanied by a hooded half-elf for the first proper counter-attack opportunity. The grotesque monster once again shot its disgusting cursed blood. However, this time the amazon twins didn't retreat. Instead, they dodged behind Nathan who had prepared a large swing of his magic-imbued, combined swords. Amid had already unleashed her magic, creating almost an invincible area that the main force stood in, allowing them to withstand the tidal wave of pain.
Nathan swung his swords back and forth with all his strength, tilting his blades upwards a bit. This pushed most of the cursed attack into the roof as his wind smashed the blood upwards. Only a few blots made it past the defence. A couple made it back to the main force but they were all dodged or parried away. The other few slammed into Nathan but he just dug his feet in, the pressure on his back from Tiona supporting him allowed him to stay upright. Even though he felt no cursed pain, the impact itself still had enough force to almost knock him off his feet.
Tiona, along with most of the main force, still couldn't believe the half-elf could firm the bile that caused her so much pain and agony. But she wasn't complaining though as the attack came to an end, freeing her and her sister to continue their push forward. Finn's plan was a resounding success, as should be expected. After Nathan protected the twins from the curses, they shot forward and started smashing into the monster. While keeping it occupied, Amid re-configured her magic, having not had to use most of it thanks to Nathan, and shot it towards the monster. The only confusing part was how quickly the figure dashed away whenever Amid's healing just began to damage the creature.
It was clear now; it had only taken two attempts and the Barca monster was struggling. Its attacks became more frantic and violent but more predictable and more avoidable, like a cornered animal. It spewed less of its most fatal attack as it was being countered, heavily. It was clear to everyone that one more attack and then the fight would be over.
Once again the monster made a mistake, with Finn himself being the one to drive it backwards with a well-timed spear jab to its abdomen. The monster howled in fear and fury as it once again prepared its attack. It watched as the similar three figures rushed forward, ready to perform their now well-coordinated attack to a point where it could do little to prevent it. This time, it would try something different. It waited.
Nathan, Tione and Tiona continued their sprint forward. They noticed it had not shot its usual attack at them. They gladly accepted this change of pace but still kept vigilant. They were adventurers and one rule of the dungeon that all knew was that if something is different, run. And something different did happen. The monster spun on its slug-like tail, spinning itself around at a speed something of its size should not be able to do. All three attackers saw it coming, as it was slower than before. However, as the three were in mid-jump, the monster unleashed its blasphemous attack. Tione and Tiona could only stare wide-eyed as they were still in free fall while the black blobs hurtled towards them. But to everyone's amazement, the third attacker still managed to swipe away the attack, perched on top of self-made wind that was attached to the bottom of his boots.
"Now Amid!"
All heard Finn shout out the final command of the fight to the healer and she responded instantly. This was the first mistake Finn had made and he would never have known until it happened.
The Barca monster knew it was defeated. It knew it had lost. It knew it couldn't win, especially against the horrific burning that ate away at its body. There must have been some part of Barca left in its destroyed mind as it had come to resent a specific attacker. The masked boy. It wasn't until that boy showed up did it begin to lose. Just from when it first looked at that mask did an uncontrollable hatred spur inside, only enflamed by how little they cared about its ultimate attack. So it watched. Even while it was being beaten by the other two attackers, its one eye was fixated on that mask and it noticed something. Just before it felt the awful burning, the masked adventurer leapt away, almost like it was avoiding something. That made it think, do they feel the burning sensation too? So it came up with a plan. Take the masked adventurer down with him.
Nathan's instinct screamed at him, blocking out the shout from Amid as she unleashed her magic. It screamed at him to dodge, just like it had done the other times she had shot it towards the Barca monster. This time though, it was louder as he was now in the middle of the firing range. Only one problem. The black blood was still raining down and if he moved now, Tione and Tiona would get pelted by the curse and it could be fatal. So Nathan decided there was only one cause of action and gritted his teeth.
"!"
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG"
It hit like a first-tier adventurer punch to the gut. The monster howled in pain as the burning was the worse it had ever been. Nathan did everything in his power to just keep his magic on, let alone swing his swords.
Fortunately, Amid's healing was that strong it nullified the pain for the amazon twins, so they were still able to continue the counter-attack. Unfortunately, Amid's healing was that strong, Nathan's body was too busy keeping itself together to allow him to move swiftly away. He did manage to drop down and push back, hoping to relieve himself from this horrible feeling but it seemed he wasn't the only one who fought through the pain.
His instinct was to be busy yelling at him to notice the other lethal attack. His senses were too busy dealing with the slight burning he felt, while not as bad as before it still hurt, to hear Tiona yell at him to watch out. It wasn't until his eyes caught sight of something plummeting towards him and by then it was too late.
"FWWWHHHHHHHPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"
Nathan was sent flying backwards, once again slamming into the same wall he was thrown into only a couple of minutes previously. As he crashed, he saw the tentacle-like whip curl itself inwards as the monster it was attached to continued to roar in pain, though Nathan could sense its singular eye directly in him. Then the pain flooded his senses once again but this burning was different and much worse.
Finn didn't need to continue watching to see Amid's healing had done its job. By the time he had turned, he heard the monster slump to the ground before turning into a large pile of ash. He was the first one who made it to the half-elf. His level 6 eyes saw it clearly. Nathan was thrashing around on the floor. His swords scattered on the ground as both his hands were clutching at the part of his face that had been ferociously whipped so strongly, it had broken the mask in half. His bleached white hair was now visible as his hood had been thrown back from the attack but Finn could see it was being matted with blood as Nathan rolled around on the floor.
Finn got to the boy and knelt down to him. He heard some of the main force cheer for their victory, others went up and thanked Amid or Tione and Tiona but most had begun to walk towards Finn and the boy, lead quickly by Asfi and the rest of the Hermes Familia.
"aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr!"
"Nat… hey, look at me!"
Finn stopped himself from saying Nathan's name. He also didn't mess about asking if the boy was ok as he clearly wasn't. Instead, he did his trying to calm the half-elf down. Asfi quickly knelt next to him, the look of worry clearly etched on her face. Falgar the weretiger also joined them with a look of concern as he saw his past Familia member moan in pain while clutching the right side of his face. Finn looked at the vice-captain and gave him a nod. Falgar understood it.
They slowly got closer to the boy who was writhing around in agony, doing his best not to go from moaning to screaming in pain. With a sudden move that seemed like the two men had rehearsed many times, they each grabbed a shoulder, pushing the boy up against the wall. Asfi then followed and reached for the boy's hands, realising what the two were doing. But while Finn had a clear strength advantage and Falgar just barely over the boy, Asfi struggled to pull Nathan's hands away from his face. However, his strength suddenly slackened but only for one arm, his other still firmly covering his eye. The reason for this was that Finn had put the boy's hood back up, covering his bleached hair.
Realising what Finn had done, Asfi gave him a nod of gratitude. Asfi and Falgar were the first to get to Nathan behind Finn. The actions they had just taken took only a few seconds. Finn had managed to put the boy's hood up quickly enough to stop most others from seeing it. Only Raul had managed to see it and he already knew the reason why his captain had hidden it and he wanted to help the person who had greatly contributed to their victory.
"Everyone, could you give the captain some room please?"
Asfi saw Finn smile at his subordinate's help. She too was grateful for High Novice's aid as she figured out why Nathan's arm had slackened. Finn's pulling up his hood and covering his hair had given the boy a feeling of comfort, allowing him to calm down. So Asfi continued this, making sure she whispered.
"Nathan, it's alright, it's over. We won, thanks to you."
She could feel the boy looking at her from the still-masked eye, his breathing still heavy but not as frantic and dishevelled as before, signs of him calming down.
"Don't worry, I promised to keep your identity hidden and I will follow it through"
Nathan's head turned slightly to Finn, relief showing on his face at the words. He then turned back towards Asfi and the Falgar who gave him a comforting smile and a firm nod of agreement.
Finn and Falgar slowly released Nathan's shoulders, allowing him to lean on the wall behind him. The brief moment of silence was welcoming as they took in their victory. However, it was still clear Nathan was a bit uncomfortable about the crowd in front of him. Finn quickly solved this.
"Ok everyone, thank you for your concern but he is alright now!"
Nathan's mouth hung slightly in awe when the statement was met with a cheer, earning a quick laugh from Asfi who was still letting all her stress fade away.
"But we still have a job to do. Our mission is over but there are others who haven't finished theirs. Enjoy a minute of rest because we are now going to go finish this invasion off and end this conflict once and for all!"
The rousing speech did its job as a loud cheer echoed through the large room. All who heard it recognised its meaning. While they had won the fight, the war was not over. As the group quickly dissolved into checking who was alright and who needed what, Nathan too was hit by Finn's speech.
'I still need to help where I can, I'm not sitting this out over some small injury.'
But as he dropped his other arm to get up, Asfi's quick gasp told Nathan that it wasn't just another small injury. Finn had whipped his head back round to look at why Asfi had gasped and his face creased. Falgar too wore an expression of horror.
"…how bad?"
Only a month this time, I'm getting better.
I wrote this after I watched the first episode of Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon IV part 2 (That's a mouthful) and I want to try and post a chapter alongside every episode, that's my plan anyway because the time the anime is on is at the same place this story is out, though I can imagine that I will most likely get ahead but that don't matter (That's the plan anyway, not promising after my sudden disappearing act 4 months ago)
BTW, EP 12 was AMAZING! Big up Aisha, love ya darling. Amphisbaena (Didn't google, promise) looks sick. Can't wait for white palace. ALSO, VOL 18 AND SO VOL 13 HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED ALONGSIDE ARGONOUT STORY BOOK. Yh, we eating good this yr.
Anyway, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter but I feel like the ending worked and it leads to the final chapter for the first invasion in Knossos. Yes, a lot of time is spent in Knossos buts its kind of important to explore it so you know, deal with it...please.
Weviews:
jank7457: Yh, I always enjoy talking about Nathan's skills and hinting to how he got to it. And he isn't no hero, well not one like Bell. His experience has molded him into a ruthless killer when he needs or wants to be, so don't fuck with him.
Thank you so much for reading this chapter and my story, hopefully i can only improve my upload schedule.
See ya next time and peace.