Disclaimer: I do not own Danmachi or anything created by the author Fujino Omori; all rights go to him. I only own my original characters Sleipnir, Ikuchi, Sylphie, and all the others (including the Ganesha members in this chapter).

Speech: "So what have you been listening to while writing chapter 22?" Happa asks Shimizu.

Thoughts: 'Nothing too special. During Mikoto's scene, I listened to "One Winged Angel".' Shimizu thinks in thought.

Screaming/Demonic Voice: Happa laughs in disbelief. "Isn't that a little too much?"

Magic: Shimizu retorts. "Not really. I casually listen to 'Raw, Unfiltered Calamity' to relax. That doesn't even get started on Mikoto. Her last big scene was written within the calming lull of - Madara Uchiha (The God Awakens)!"

Runes: This is too much. You know that we still move in the early power level right? Voice of Reason within Fantasy! - Fuin!"

Writing: Shimizu shrugs his shoulders. 'It leads to interesting scenes at least. And inspires me to write more elaborate battles in Mikoto's case. Perhaps I should consciously choose the background music for more scenes…'

Chapter 22 Gems of the Dungeon

8 PM - Marial Dojo - Sleipnir POV

By the time Sly had recovered Welf was already sharpening Kogitsune-Maru and removing any leftover irregularities from the cast. After which they returned to the Martial Dojo as the day drew close to evening, but both were beyond excited. They presented the new weapon to Take who looked at them in shock.

He congratulated them very formally and invited the two to celebrate. He took out one of his rare sakes and the rest of the familia joined their small celebration.

Sly noticed that Take was beyond impressed and very enthused to speak with Welf about this new weapon and its intricacies. However, after the first hour Sly lost interest in the celebration and instead began practicing simple kata with the new fire naginata.

Being able to carry the weapon and having good control over it were two vastly different things; fine control only came with practice. No matter how high his stats were, without practice even the best weapon was little more than a stick.

Chuckling quietly Sly thought while practicing. 'Not to speak against sticks, but they are the most basic and predictable weapons. A spear already gives rise to many styles, although I prefer the reach it gives me. A naginata has the same reach, but adds swipes and cutting to the repertoire of the spear.'

The first naginata katas he practiced with Kogitsune-Maru consisted primarily of spinning and maneuvering the weapon in diagonal swipes in front of him. This reduced his reach but was one of the fastest ways to learn the new weight and how to work with it.

It was a considerable change. His new naginata was almost 8 times heavier than the previous one. He was accustomed to his old naginata which weighed barely 6 kg, but with the blade added and a counterweight, which doubled as a spike on the other end, Kogitsune-Maru weighed around 42 kg.

After only 10 minutes of practice, he already felt his arms growing slightly tired. At least he got a good feeling for the new weight and could move on to the spear katas, making use of the strong tip of Kogitsune-maru's blade, Sly spent another twenty minutes running through these. First with the blade and then the small tip on its back.

Marial Dojo - Mikoto POV

Mikoto was observing Sly's training for a few minutes now. She kept out view, to see how he trained when alone. 'His movements are crude. Sleipnir skipped training with a naginata since he hit level 2, and it looks like it is showing… The momentum of the swings directs his motions, instead of the other way around. Too obvious.'

As she observed she saw how he switched to the spear katas. Those were a little better, as most of them consisted of many simple stabs, which were hard to block. 'Time for a lesson so-called "tactician". Let's see how your bukijutsu performs in a battle of skill.'

Decided Mikoto switched her katanas. Instead of using her prized Bushido and her second dungeon katana, she swapped them for her training blades. 'Stupid Sleipnir, only getting training daggers!'

They were made from an alloy of hard armored shells. Welf loved her idea of making dull training weapons for them and was nice enough to make her two katanas, a spear and axe for Ouka, and even arrows for Chigusa. The added benefit of those weapons was the increased weight. Even now her normal katana didn't quite get to the 15 kg her training weapons were. Sly only followed suit with their new training weapons after seeing them in action, but of course ignored the naginata, as his narrow focus was purely on magic.

When she returned Take had joined Welf in his observation, and Sly was once again practising the more difficult naginata katas. A minute later she saw the perfect window to intervene. He got his footing wrong and the position of his naginata would unbalance him further. This needs rectifying.

With a shout, she sped up and rushed at Sly with both training katanas drawn. "Your footing is wrong!" Her call distracted Sly and caused him to whip his head towards her with rising panic. 'Carelessness. Lost in thought.'

With her surprising entry, she got to him before he could correct his stance, and with two quick swipes, she first corrected his footing with one katana, and then crossed her second blade with his naginata.

With a confident smirk, she asked. "Ready for a spar Sleipnir?"

He returned her challenge with a frown, which hid his uncertainty. "If it stays a spar Mikoto-san, I still need to get used to Kogitsune-Maru."

She didn't speak, merely gave him a minuscule nod, before jumping back. Following all their rules of engagement, she gave him a small bow which he returned a second later. Then they both drew their weapons and started trading blows.

She went easy on him at first, she wanted to see where he stood. 'He has far less practice with a weapon than me. He didn't grow up in a clan focused on swordsmanship. He didn't even join our familia that long ago. Ouka and I go way further back. Almost 6 years…'

She followed his pace. He usually kept up with her speed, but with this new weapon, he was noticeably slower. Every strike he made she met. His weapon carried far more momentum than hers, which made evasion far more valuable, but her strength surpassed him by a wide margin. So, she stopped his every attack with just one blade. Of course, she retreated just enough, so that she could distribute the force behind his strikes. If she met them head-on her training katanas would be damaged. 'I have to hand it to Welf. That weapon is really impressive.'

This broke his momentum and forced him to improvise. His strikes were wide and without the precision he usually wielded. The only time she had to use both blades was when he started incorporating the second tip, into his attacks. 'He is slow. Usually, he is barely slower than me, now it's as if he just entered level 2? I could beat him so easily, just go in for a punch and knock him out. No, I am here to teach him a lesson!'

Having seen him at his preferred range, Mikoto quickened her pace a bit and closed the distance. Sly instantly started retreating, but she didn't let up the pressure. She stepped into his stance making the reach of his naginata now work against him; she was too close for either end of the naginata to make a strike. He used one of his tails with a whispered foxfire to force her back, dropped the naginata, and switched to his training daggers.

Mikoto's eyes narrowed; now she had to pay a little attention. He used magic to switch his weapon. 'So much for a spar. Stupid ninjutsu wielding fox! If I went serious, you'd already be lying on the ground so play by the rules!'

The battle quickly grew in pace with the weapons Sly was more comfortable with. She still met his every attack; they were far more numerous but lacked the power the naginata carries. However, the bigger problem for Sly was that Mikoto's skill still outclassed his own. He may have more experience against monsters now that they were in Orario, but his person-to-person combat prowess had suffered.

She used her own strength to disarm him after one of his strikes by first blocking one dagger with extreme force to stagger him, then using both her blades to riposte with dual vicious strikes upon his 2nd dagger, knocking the second out of his hand. Her weaker left hand was just a moment ahead of her primary right hand, which catapulted the dagger clean out of his hands. Then she repeated the trick with the second.

Now unarmed, Sly changed his stance into a basic karate stance. Take taught all the orphans for self-defence, but she sheathed her blades as well and prepared to meet him in a match of martial arts.

Until he began to once again whisper foxfire, to add his tails to the mix. She wouldn't have that a second time. With a shout, she dodged a sloppy punch and grappled him, before knocking his feet clean of the ground with her foot.

Sly tried to keep standing, but aside from his tails gripping her arms, there was little he could do. With a loud "Omph!?" He crashed to the ground and was dizzy from the impact. His tails continued their hold on her arms and tried wrestling her off him, but their efforts were minuscule in comparison to even his punches.

She let them as she waited for Sly to recover. Then she gave him a hand and pulled him to his feet. Once they both stood again, she brushed his tails off her. By now the entire Take familia had gathered and were watching their exchange, however, her focus was solely on him.

"Sly, I think I made my point. You desperately need more practice with weapons. You can't always rely on ninjutsu! This was supposed to be a purely physical spar to get a feeling for your new weapon, however, even under those circumstances you used your magic. How will you ever improve your skill with such a good weapon, when you use your magic as a crutch?"

Hidden behind her back Take allowed himself a small smile. She pointed out a flaw he saw for a while, but he couldn't address with Acatl around.

Sly was annoyed at her words, but as she continued his focus shifted to her stance, to her two-sheathed katana and then to his weapons which lay discarded on the field. "When I closed the distance the idea of changing your weapons to better deal with me wasn't bad, but why did you use your foxfire for that? You could just as well have used a kunai to shift my focus while taking out your daggers!"

She looks him straight in the eyes for her next words. "And then when I disarmed you again you took a fighting stance, but instead of working with that or your kunai, you once again resorted to magic!"

Sly looks down to the ground, with both his tales hanging after her scolding. "Don't look away. Sly, I am not pointing this out to slight you this time. I am showing you a weakness, so that you may overcome it!"

This gives Sly a little hope and he returns her gaze with visible surprise and both ears locked on her. She steps closer and whispers, low enough only for Sly with his enhanced senses to hear. "The others have started looking to you for guidance. I loathe to admit it, but your strategies work, but this does not prevent you from making mistakes. Only a warrior that knows his flaws can work to overcome them."

With her words said, Mikoto nodded to him and left their training ground. As she left she stopped in front of Welf. "Welf-dono your work on that naginata was flawless, just as my Bushido has held true since you gave it to me. You are a valuable friend of our familia."

Having said her piece, Mikoto returned to their dojo to exchange her training weapons and enjoy a nice bath in their onsen, before going to rest. 'Hmm… Perhaps a little more training before then wouldn't hurt…'

11 PM - Marial Dojo - Sleipnir POV

Sly awoke a few hours after his spar to Take lightly tapping his shoulder. "Sleipnir-kun." He groaned loudly while hugging his two tails, not wanting to stand up.

Take waited a moment, then when it was clear he would not awaken on his own stabbed his index finger into a pressure point right behind his elbow. Jolting him awake with a start.

Once he saw Take, he stopped hugging his tails and instead rubbed his tingling elbow. "Oww, was that really necessary Take-san?"

Takemikazuchi merely points at the gear he had prepared earlier for his dungeon delve. Which causes Sly's eyes to widen in remembrance. "Oh kami I forgot I need to meet Ikuchi tonight. It's still night, right?"

"It is. Sleipnir-kun, please be careful. Take your dagger and naginata, and once you reach him stay with Ikuchi while you are on the Middle Floors. Your oath binds both of you, for the duration of your stay, which guarantees his help, however, any other monster, be it Xenos or otherwise will be unaffected by it."

Takemikazuchi keeps eye contact with him for a couple of seconds. Sly returns his gaze with seriousness. "I will Takemikazuchi-sama."

Having said their piece, Sly set out with all his gear including his potions and pouches ready to test out Kogitsune-Maru against monsters. One of those tests would be to see how potent his foxfire grew with the addition of Astrum metal to the weapon. However, with the new lesson mere hours behind him, he would also spend some time without magic.

First, he had to get into the dungeon. With a moment of thought, Sly summoned a spell circle for Illusio. He didn't push the radius and was content with a 3-meter radius as the white circle with black lines formed below him.

With his illusion ready Sly set out for the dungeon with two spirits in tow.

The Daedalus Streets were quiet at this late hour, so his progress was fast. His first obstacle was the Ganesha Guards stationed in front of the dungeon. They were led by one of their level 3 Captains and accompanied by a handful of level 2 guards.

Sly stayed invisible and in the shadow of the central fountain. 'Ganesha guards. I didn't even know the dungeon was guarded at night. Now that I think about it, this makes perfect sense. The greatest threat to deities is the monsters below our feet, of course. There must be guards to fight back stray monsters that find their way to the surface.'

This only covered one of the reasons the Ganesha familia was stationed here, but it didn't change the fact that most of them were bored and tired which lessened their focus. A fact Sly picked up on quickly as he observed them.

After 5 minutes he had to grit his teeth while murmuring. 'Getting past all of them is quite annoying. I must remain quiet and look out for the captain. Some of them could also be peak level twos, which are likely to notice my illusion. Without seeing them in action it's hard to predict which ones are… Which means I must look out for all of them.' He could only sigh at this.

Another 5 minutes passed as Sly debated the best angle to approach, as a few loud stomps, followed by the clatter of metal on the other side of Babel caught the attention of all the guards even the tired ones. The captain and many others went to investigate, to notice a bracket of spears had fallen to the floor with nobody in sight to move them.

By the time they returned to their post a certain kitsune had already made his way inside.

Now inside the dungeon, Sly unhooked Kogitsune-Maru from his back. Now was the time to practice his magic. To stay on the safe side, he would keep his illusion domain active but would remove his invisibility.

Sylphie joined him in the first layer. "Come on Sly show me what you can do with a spirit weapon." Her jubilant mood inspired Sly to test his foxfire, while she no longer showed any signs of weakening on the Upper Floors.

With a whispered "Foxfire" at minimum power, Sly summoned a 5 cm sphere of dark blue fire before him, while channelling his mana through his staff.

"The heat is around 100 degrees for less than a three hundredth of my mana. With this fireball, I should be capable of fighting the monsters on this floor. Come on Sylphie let's see how quickly we can finish the Upper Floors!"

On the third floor, the dungeon lizards resisted his fire for the first time, to make another test Sly concentrated for 10 seconds to slowly form a fire attributed magic circle on top of using his staff to see how it would affect his foxfire at the same mana cost.

The resulting foxfire remained the same size and temperature, which puzzled Sly for a moment, while Sylphie cut the dungeon lizard in half with one of her wind-wired with a clear chant. "I am the wind that binds - Fujin!"

Sly meanwhile figured out why his spell circle didn't boost his foxfire. 'That's it! My foxfire is magic-based, but it isn't a spell! It is a skill which is why it doesn't have a magic circle. At least it's not known to my falna like my illusio is!'

With this discovery Sly continued his descent into the dungeon, now using a little more mana up to a hundredth to create flames just short of 300 degrees, which helped till the end of floor nine. By now, Kogitsune-Maru had been heated up by his repeated casting through it to over a hundred degrees.

'I need to be careful. If I overdo it and cast too many foxfires or a too potent one, the naginata may get so hot that I can't keep fighting with it. I am already pushing it with almost a hundred degrees. I can likely push it a little further perhaps 150 degrees with the hellhound leather, but anything beyond that and I'll burn my hands. I need to take a break from casting till the staff has cooled.'

During his break, Sly also decided to cancel his illusion and instead fight without any magic for the first time in quite a while. However, as he lifted his illusion he noticed Akiri's lack of presence. Expanding his senses, Sly still cannot feel him at all. Concerned, he turns to Sylphie. "Sylphie, is Akiri still with us?"

Sylphie comes to a hovering stop to look around them. "Yes, he's weakened from the ritual but still following you. Not surprising you didn't sense him since the mana in the air isn't good for spirits."

Worrying about his fellow fox spirit Sly asks while using both hands to tip over a hard armored, "Is that why he hasn't shown himself since the ritual?"

Sylphie shakes her head. "No, it's one of the rules that binds messenger spirits. Unless they are called, they mustn't interact with other spirits unless they are delivering a message to them or called upon."

Using the tip of his naginata Sly stabs the magic stone of the hard armored. The armadillo shrieks and disintegrates. Sly retorts in an annoyed tone. "Well, that's a stupid stipulation. Akiri I may not sense you but if you hear me, please appear before me!"

With a small pop of smoke, Akiri appears beside them. His head is hanging low, and his tails are only barely hanging above the floor. "How may I help you Sleipnir-kun?"

Sly collects the stone and turns to the fox. In surprise. "Apologies for calling you Akiri-san, but you likely heard my questions to Sylphie, please do not push yourself for my sake."

Akiri curls his muzzle up in a small smile. "This isn't anything dangerous for me Sleipnir-kun. The Dungeon's Ire is harmful to spirits, but against one as old as me it would take at least a month before it starts affecting my mind. At most, the reduced mana regeneration in this cloud of negative mana is an annoyance. Even more so when it reduces my mana capacity for a time."

Sly's eyes turn frightened. "Reduced mana capacity, what are you talking about Akiri!?"

The fox shakes his head. "It does not affect you since your falna protects you from the effect. Even us spirits can recover once we leave the Dungeon."

Sly turns his focus to Sylphie with a frown. "Is this true? Why haven't you told me it was this serious!? Is this why all the spirits I sense here have such a foul affinity!?"

Sylphie scoffs at him and hits his ears with a few annoyed punches. "This is what I tried to tell you, but you just kept on saying I needed to grow my resistance to it! The mana drain on the Upper Floors isn't too bad, but without going back to the surface every day it would weaken me."

Sly looks at her in horror, before bowing deeply to both of them. "I didn't know it was so serious... Sylphie-san, Akiri-san please, should I ignore your warnings, do whatever it takes to correct my assumptions!"

Sylphie is frozen in her spot not expecting him to take his mistake so seriously. "You don't need to bow to me Sly. Stand back up. I thought we were over that? The negative effects didn't get too serious. With the break a few days ago, I managed to recover completely."

Sly unsurely stands back up, a frown still marring his face. 'How did I miss something so obvious? Now that I focus on it there are many more spirits here, but their mana feels… Unstable. Why do I always misunderstand what others are telling me!'

Akiri guesses his thoughts or maybe feels the direction they are taking intervenes. 'If there is nothing else Sleipnir-kun, I will return to the second layer, you should continue onwards towards Ikuchi-chan.' The fox twitches his tails in amusement. 'My mana regeneration is higher there, without the weakening effect of staying in the first layer.'

Akiri shakes his tails and disappears in a puff of smoke, as more monsters approach Sly. 'And remember to call me if you need my advice.'

With another fight approaching Sly stops his self-depreciating thoughts and continues battling, now even more conscious of using his limited mana supply. Together with his intention of doing the remaining Upper Floor without magic, this forced him to battle with his naginata, with the occasional kunai, which by now were strong enough to kill a bad bat, and significantly injure the imps.

This, however, did not stop him from thinking of a way to let Akiri speak to him permanently. A way he discovered shortly before entering the Cave Labyrinth. "Akiri, I found a solution to your problem. While you may be prohibited from speaking to others freely due to your nature, you can speak to them when called upon or when delivering messages correct?"

Akiri reappears and tilts his head in a 5-degree turn to the right, but answers. 'Yes, that is the case. Delivering messages is also the primary way messenger spirits can grow their mana pool.'

Sly smiles showing his canines. "Well, then how about you deliver a message to me! No, even better let's make a contract for you to deliver a message to me."

Sylphie tries to stop him. "Sly I don't think that's a good…" But Sly ignores her as he watches Akiri, who is looking at him in confusion. "Akiri Kage could you please bring this message to Sleipnir of the Takemikazuchi familia? I will pay you with magical relief for taking on this task. The message you should convey is: 'Spiritual axioms are there for a reason but can be outsmarted.' Feel free to take as much time as you need, as well as elaborate in any manner you see fit to accomplish this task."

His tails are tingling as Akiri seems to recover from his exhaustion. 'What a wonderful idea Sleipnir-san! I shall convey this message to you!' For both of them, one tail glows for a few seconds, as a good tenth of Sly's mana capacity leaves him and flows into Akiri.

Akiri is now bouncing around him. 'Ingenious! Unbelievable that I never had that idea! To be confident and reckless enough to try such a contract! Sleipnir I am uncertain if I should criticize or praise you! Perhaps both…'

Sly himself can't help his smug look. "It's no problem Akiri-san, you've looked after me since we left the East… I'll be happy to hear your counsel."

Akiri stops his prancing, looks him in the eye, and touches only his mind with a new direct link. 'However, this was very dangerous Shin. You are lucky the contract only needed you to lend me some of your mana. From what I can see it is maintaining a connection between us that can't be broken until we complete the contract. Until then your maximum mana capacity will be reduced.'

Losing his smug look Sly feels for his mana capacity. Almost a tenth of his mana is concentrated around his head, and no matter how much mana pressure he uses he can't move it anymore. Akiri continues.

'I shall keep this connection active, but by the lost goddess please think before making a contract. Playing with rules you do not fully comprehend always has a cost!'

Sly finishes another orc, takes out his journal, writes down that line, and underlines it twice. "I shall remember it. However, Akiri-san might you be so good as to stop following me in the Middle Floors? I have a meeting and unfortunately, you weren't part of my calculations, when I made the contract."

Sly winks one eye at Akiri, before entering the Middle Floors with a cackling Sylphie.

Midnight - Floor 13 - Ikuchi POV

Ikuchi has been pacing the 13th floor for a few hours already. Since he awoke he had been very excited. All the enhanced magic stones he ate led to a small growth spurt for him. He was now almost 3, without counting the tail, which made him slightly smaller than 3.5 meters long and even his tiny wings had grown a little. Nowhere close to the size needed for flight or even gliding though. Besides that, his last three days were boring and nothing exciting happened. He played some more with his breath attack and tested out how much stronger he grew, but quickly hit a dead end with his magic.

This annoyed him to no end. Sly made it look easy! 'He just chanted it once and had complete control over that blinding sphere of his and his fire! I must learn how he did it!'

Ikuchi climbs above hordes of hellhounds, as he thinks. 'I can already imagine it! Creating large streams of water, perhaps even waves, while fighting hordes of adventurers bearing three-pointed-sticks and watching as they are drowned by my might!' Ikuchi shakes his head. 'As if that won't happen! What about his lightning… It's hard to predict what will happen with that. More lightning..? Bouncing lightning..? Now I'm just confusing myself.'

His musing is interrupted when he tries climbing over a large collection of crystals all over a hallway ceiling. As soon as his paw touches the first one, it starts to loosen. He almost loses his grip, but holds himself with his other legs, before climbing to the nearest patch of dungeon stone.

Only a few seconds after he touched the crystal, the crystal on the ceiling started raining to the floor. They hit many hellhounds and splintered in a manner akin to grenades and tore through the low defense of the surrounding almiraj.

Ikuchi waits patiently with a raised brow as the crystals continue descending, before falling to the floor below and collecting the dropped magic stones in the bag he got from Sly. Yes, he is still carrying it and even takes the bones some hellhounds left behind.

A few monsters attack him, but with his rise in strength to mid-level 2, his uninjured scales resist the crude landform weapons of the almiraj easily. The hellhounds were scattered and without a pack, they weren't able to threaten him.

'This is boring… Where is the stupid spirit? I want to do something more challenging!' Ikuchi leaves the corridor and notices a faint scent in the air. 'Aha, there he is!'

Now with a scent, Ikuchi puts his snout to the ground and follows it carefully. Trying to stay hidden, intent on pouncing the spirit once he finds him. 'At least his scent is easy to recognize. It tastes similar to the potion he carried along with old dust. Perhaps the thing he scribbled in the last time? I smelt something similar before, but where?'

In a matter of minutes, Ikuchi found Sly, who was busy fighting a pack of hellhounds with a different weapon than last time. Helping him in his teal sphere with green wind magic was a small green thing. To his side sat the faint black outline of a three-tailed fox, eh spirit.

Ikuchi crouched behind one of the crystals and observed. Sly was using the fiercely glowing red tipped stick to control the fire of the hellhounds and slash them apart. No longer stabbing them with the small knives, he now hit hard enough to shatter bones. 'Ohh he got stronger as well! The stick feels dangerous and I want to fight him again, but then my scales would need to shed again…'

Once Sly beat the last hellhound with a huff and swipe of his naginata Ikuchi decided it was time to act. He began sneaking up on Sly, whose ears were twitching towards the green thing. As Sly was picking up the stones Ikuchi managed to get within 5 meters with neither of the two noticing him.

Shifting his weight slightly with a wide grin Ikuchi pounced, and sailed through the air, and only in the last second did Sly's ears twitch at the noise, but he was too late. With a startled yell from Sly and a loud growl from Ikuchi, Ikuchi landed with both his paws on his back and scratched his armored shoulders, as he held Sly down.

"I got you Sly! You should pay better attention!"

Sly tried to free himself, but Ikuchi held him fast. The green thing on the other hand already shot some green wind magic at his eyes. With his scales intact he merely closed his eyes, there was no way a thing with so little mana could harm him.

It stung a little and the threads tied around his snout, but he just needed to stretch his jaw to break through it. Sly meanwhile stopped trying to get up and spoke in annoyance. "Ikuchi could you please let me get up before you force me to use my foxfire against you!?"

Ikuchi instead shifts his weight and holds him a little steadier, getting closer to him to discern where he sensed that scent before. "Why should I? Our contract wasn't against pranking you!"

The green glowing thing was barely bigger than a bat spoke next. "Sly why aren't you blasting the wyvern with your fire? My wind is barely scratching it." Sly groans beneath him and Ikuchi sees how the mana around him contracts.

With a whispered "Foxfire" Ikuchi lets go and backtracks as if struck. "You are too mean Sly! And you, stupid bat, I am a dragon! Wyverns are beneath me!"

Sly dusts off his robes, and then pulls out a handful of magic stones, and gives them to him with a grin. "For letting me back up. You'll have to tell me how you managed to sneak up on me! If you were a monster that could have gotten ugly!" He then waves his glowing tails towards the green bat. "Now then, good to see you again Ikuchi. The wind fairy beside me is Sylphie. Sylphie this is Ikuchi the Xenos."

The flying fairy starts buzzing faster after Sly's words in agitation. "Why didn't you tell me he is a freaking monster!? Stupid kitsune and their stupid pranks! It's only funny if I'm in on the joke you know!"

While she had been buzzing around, Ikuchi got a little closer to get her scent as well. "Hrrmm… Strange, you smell like a potion. Sly why do you smell like your potion?"

The kitsune spirit tries smelling them as well but gives up after a few moments. "If I had to guess you smell the spiritual plant we have inside my room. It is one of the ingredients we use for potions."

Ikuchi nods eagerly. "Good. Can we go to a lower floor now? It's boring up here!"

Sly smiles, however, his gaze is turned to the bag he still carries. "We may and I see you made use of my gift. I hope it helped you?"

He glowed in happiness. "Yes, it has! I can now carry magic stones, and plants to eat after resting. It only took me a bit to get it back on, as it didn't like my pond."

Sly nods at him and asks him to show him, so he did. It took him a little less than ten minutes this time to get it back on. It was difficult but he'd do it to prove his finesse.

Sylphie tried helping a few times, but discouraged her with a snarl. He wanted his space, while Sly watched in curiosity. He first took it off in a minute and then put it back on. It was difficult. To get it right he first needed to lay down and strap it to the front of his leg, then hold it in place with his snout, before he could use his left front paw and hind leg to bind it. That was the most annoying part, but even the straps were made from some kind of leather and survived the handling of his paws.

As he finished Sly commented. "Not bad. I didn't think you'd manage it that well, but you still need to be careful. I'll ask a friend of mine to make you a sturdier bag, then you should be faster."

He smiled at his friend and was happy at the praise. "Great! Sly you took the items the feral monsters left behind; do you need hellhound bones? I'll keep them for you if you pay me magic stones. Otherwise, I can always eat them they are quite tasty."

The spirit laughed at him. "Now I see the connection to dragons. Already valis-pinching when he doesn't even know what valis is! Now he only needs a hoard, and he can call himself a real dragon."

One of Sly's tails swats at her disapprovingly. "That was uncalled for Sylphie. You already are a real dragon Ikuchi, no reason to follow legends of being a menace! Ignore her Ikuchi. I'll pay you for the drop items you can bring me. The more the better, I'll pay you with all the magic stones I got on my way down. Deal?"

Ikuchi nods eagerly. "I can't wait to taste the enhanced stones you got. Here take them." Without pause he gives Sly 6 bones he collected today. Before crunching the magic stones Sly gave him between his teeth. As he swallowed, he felt the mana inside rushing to his core and strengthening him a little more.

Stretching in bliss from the mana flowing though him he asks Sly. "Why did you want to meet?"

The spirit answers instantly with happily waving tails. "To meet with you again my friend. I wanted to learn more about you, and I think having a half-spirit half-adventurer cover for you will help you as well. If you want, we can explore the dungeon together or anything really, as long as you can stand my presence?"

By now he stood at attention. He looked for any kind of deceit in the spirit words. He wanted to trust him as his presence was so unique and interesting, but he had survived in the dungeon long enough to know how adventurers sometimes fought their own. However, the tone was even and there was no shift in his aura to indicate a lie. "When that's your reason, then I'm happy to work with you Sly. Now can you show me how you have so much control over your magic?"

Sly smiles and agrees easily, but Sylphie adds. "We need to go deeper. Sly promised me to look for a magic plant for me. Ikuchi do you know of any in the dungeon? Sly found some in secret rooms before on the way down, but none were ones we could grow on our own."

"They smell like your potions?" Sly nods at him. And Sylphie floats around his head. "Not all of them but that's a start."

Ikuchi nods and jumps towards the passage they wanted to use. "Then I have an idea where one is, but I have never found the way inside, and the best is that it's on floor 15 with ligerfangs. Let's go Sly!"

Ungodly Morning Hour 1 AM - Floor 14 - Sleipnir POV

On their way to the 15th floor, they continued fighting the monsters they met. However, they asked Sylphie to scout ahead for them to avoid large hellhound packs. Sly changed his illusion to hide their scent and fought openly next to Ikuchi.

Sly took the fastest passage he knew and after every battle, he took notes in his journal to update his map. His notes barely took a few moments, as he went with a very simple design. He elaborated once the party had a moment of rest.

Ikuchi meanwhile got Sly to tell him about a simple mana control exercise for water mages. "Ikuchi from what I saw your water magic has hydrokinesis. Is it limited to the water you create, or can it apply to any water?"

Finding a suitable corner of the chamber for his size, Ikuchi replies, "I can do both, but it takes more mana for when it's not from my breath attack."

Thinking back on his theory lessons with Acatl, Sly explains a good exercise. "In that case, it's better to practice with mana that isn't from your breath attack to improve your control over your mana pressure as much as possible. For this exercise you need to focus your mana pressure on as little water as possible. The goal is to control a single drop of water and keep it steady before you with nothing but your mana."

Ikuchi took the needed water from one of Sly's flasks, however, they quickly saw the problem. To Sly's senses it felt as if Ikuchi used the same amount of mana for his breath attack. "Sly why is half of your water following my mana?"

As it turned out, Ikuchi's mana control was bad. 'Like really, really, bad. Acatl would not even call it magic control, but merely brute forcing magic with his large mana capacity. If he was an adventurer, I'd say he had a skill that allowed him such a feat, but monsters do not have a falna, so that can't be the case.'

Explaining it, Sly told him. "Ikuchi you use far too much mana. You only need the tiniest bit to control a single drop. If it's hard to do, then try focusing on a smaller area and the water your mana pressure moves should be less."

After this explanation, they continue and battle another few encounters, when Ikuchi growls out. "It's not working! I get a little less water, but it's too much compared to the drop I need. This is too hard Sly!"

Sly expected such a reaction from him. After all it wasn't too different from the first time Sadao had him practicing magic control. "Are you already giving up Ikuchi? You don't have to feel bad, magic control needs time to learn. However, the payoff is exponential in nature. Every slight increase in mana control lets you cast more spells and have greater control over them."

Ikuchi interjects. "What would that do for my breath attacks!? Make bigger attacks with better aim?"

Sly shakes his head. "Certainly possible, but I more so thought about what you could do with your hydrokinesis. You see my fire is similar, and I can see you summoning tsunamis or pressurized water when you're older. Combine it with your lightning and I can see you creating storms and living up to your name."

Sylphie shakes her head. "Unlikely, storms need wind magic as well. Without wind I don't see him creating a storm."

He smiles at her and at Ikuchi who is glaring at her. "Not every storm relies purely on wind. They are rare but they exist. Take a typhoon for example. They consist mostly of water."

Sylphie remains quiet but Ikuchi has stopped to look at him turning his head 5 degrees to the right. "Ty-phoon? What's that? Aren't storms just water falling from the sky very fast?"

Elaborating, he changes and extends his illusion to its maximum range, with a large burst of mana, to showcase what a typhoon looks like. "Ikuchi, stop your magic vision. Storms are more than falling water. Most rely on large clouds that collect lightning magic and spirits who drive them forward, for water nymphs to then collect the water that falls as rain. The lightning spirits occasionally discharge the electricity the cloud collects and lead to falling lightning bolts. However, in the East we know ocean storms that are primarily built from water. Those are typhoons!"

His illusion shows an illustration of a boat manned by adventurers including his familia, who are crossing to the mainland with the Far East is an island.

"This happened to us when we came here."

There are giant clouds hanging in the air, forming a large spiral. Many of the sailors were nervous, as they had seen the buildup for days, but the storm was going in the same direction as them, only their adventurer endurance kept them ahead.

Sly was helping where he could and occasionally throwing glances at the heart of the storm. After almost a day of nonstop work he then saw it with his enhanced vision. A giant waterspout was connection the heart of the storm and the clouds overhead. The winds whipped around the watersprout, lightning was crashing upon high ocean waves, and the ship's crew had to fight to keep their course. In the very center a whirlwind drew in water, and the rain fell in a torrential downpour on the younger Take familia.

"Such storms are common in the larger ocean, and I believe that with enough control it should be theoretically possible to create such a storm with magic."

Sylphie is watching the storm in wonder, while Ikuchi is gasping at the illusion in shock. "You think I can create that? But it's huge!"

Sylphie adds. "I think what Sly's trying to say is that it is possible. It could be a goal for us to create such a storm together. I have never seen such a storm but there must have been hundreds of spirits helping and guiding such a storm!"

Sly waves his tails in satisfaction. "Now that you have a goal to strive towards Ikuchi, are you ready to continue practicing? We are almost at the end of the 14th floor and there we won't be able to focus on practice on the 15th."

Ikuchi is sad as the illusion vanishes again, but he starts bouncing around Sly with stars in his eyes. "I will practice Sly! And I will find a way to create storms on my own, just you wait! Nothing is beyond a dragon to accomplish!"

With renewed vigor Ikuchi continued his practice, until they entered the 15th floor. There they stopped with the practice in favor of getting to their goal. Ikuchi knew the direction, but they'd need to keep their senses open to find the correct place again.

Ungodly Morning Hour 2 AM - Floor 15 - Sylphie POV

She was honestly just observing the two of them. The monsters on Floor 15 were just too powerful. She could harm or even kill almiraj, but hellhounds were too powerful; she could at most annoy them and now the two crazy partners were planning on hunting ligerfangs and minotaurs! This didn't even consider the occasional enhanced version of the previous monsters that started appearing on this floor not long after we entered!

Sure, they were searching for her magic plant, but these two maniacs are so obsessed with going deeper into the Dungeon and encountering stronger monsters that it's starting to worry me! This was borderline suicidal and while it would end the pact between us this that isn't how I want it to end! So, what can I do? I'll just have to start scouting and guiding them around the mid-level two monsters; these blockheads are so keen to fight!

And that leads us to now. Lo and behold, every path leads to ligerfangs or minotaurs! I could only sigh and led them down the best path towards a single ligerfang. "Okay, you two. The path ahead leads to a ligerfang. Please be careful. My magic won't help against that one."

Ikuchi was bouncing around Sly and her with eagerness. "Finally! A real challenge! Sly let me at it first, I will tackle it!"

Sly sighed. "Fine, you may take it in melee, but keep inside my illusion, it should give an edge. Even without hiding our scent. And if it gets too much, create distance and charge your lightning breath, while I pursue it with my foxfire."

She could only watch them without helping at all. It was annoying her. With an angry buzz she demanded. "Sly give me a potion, I doubt you'll get out uninjured, this thing can kill hordes of hellhounds from what you told me, no way I will just hang back!"

"If it will ease your conscience Sylphie. But please keep to the ceiling it would be bad if you were targeted."

Without any further discussion, the three of them moved into the next cavern. Nothing special really compared to the other caves in this labyrinth, but prancing around the room was the ligerfang. A grey tiger monster with black stripes, big enough to go to Sly's stomach and with fangs as big as her!

Ikuchi didn't even stop for more than a second before he pounced towards it. The scraping of his claws alerted it, but with the invisibility, he got a first slash, before the monster could react. Which quickly became needed as the monster roared and lashed out with one of its paws.

Sylphie had no clue what happened next, the ligerfang was fast, far too fast for her to follow. Even Ikuchi had trouble as it attacked him from his front and avoided his attacks even while he stayed invisible. With her magic pressure, she felt his scales start to crack less than 10 seconds after the start of the battle, this caused him to roar in frustration, as the monster seemed to ignore the illusion.

Despite this he finally managed to hurt it, but every time he made contact it merely moved away before he could do serious damage. That was until Sly intervened. With a quick slash of his naginata, he made the first serious injury on the ligerfang as his strike was fast enough to connect with its shoulder. Together they continued the battle, Sly using his better range to cause injuries, as Ikuchi deflected its attacks and served as the vanguard.

Once the ligerfang noticed the new pattern it tried outmaneuvering them by running past Ikuchi and towards Sly in a semicircle, however, this was all the time Sly needed to cast his foxfire through Kogitsune-Maru, which flew at the ligerfang almost too fast for her senses.

Unfortunately, the ligerfang was faster still and avoided the floating around 1'000 degrees hot light blue fireball. Ikuchi used this distraction to pounce, which gave him his first direct hit. With a strong bite, he injured one of its front legs before it escaped with a loud snarl.

Which is when the previous fireball homed in from behind. The ligerfang saw its approach from the corner of its eye and its feral eyes widened as it tried to dodge. With the previous injury to its leg it was too slow, and the fireball connected. A large scorching wound on its back exposed the magic stone at its core.

A malicious grin cracked across Ikuchi's face. 'Weak spot!' Ikuchi wasted no time and pounced one last time hitting the magic stone and ending the battle.

Sylphie sighed in relief. For a moment she was worried. 'Ikuchi is too reckless! If he had fought this thing on his own, he would have had much more trouble! It was too fast for him. Stupid prideful dragons!'

She then fed Ikuchi the potion as Sly looked at his scales in concern. Sly picked up the discarded ones while she distracted him with the potion. Sly then sighs. "Ikuchi, this matchup is not in your favor. Without magic, I don't see you winning against a ligerfang."

Ikuchi scoffs at him. "I would have won, even without magic, it would have hurt me more, but I won't give up!"

Sylphie adds as she sees his injuries healing. "At least surprise it with your lightning breath the next time!" She looks at him with all her cuteness. Which causes his head to shift to the side in confusion. "Please?" She asks in her cutest, most adorable voice.

With a huff, Ikuchi looks away from her but agrees. "Fine, but minotaurs are easier, they don't have a speed advantage." Now done with the battle he sniffs the air a few times and calls them. "Come on, we are close. I can already smell it."

A few minutes later Ikuchi led them to a large passage filled to the brim with crystals in various sizes and colours different from the usual dungeon crystals. On the largest white central one, a shining ray of sunlight fell, which refracted around the room.

She did a quick check to see if there were any protrusions, which were used from other secret passages, but there were none. 'Wait these aren't crystals! They are giant gemstones!' As she discovered this, Sly also found no protrusions with his illusion domain, however, Ikuchi discovered where the scent was coming from. It came from the center of the room where the large white gemstone rested. "Think this one could be the way?"

She flew over, but there was nothing on this gem as well. The only strange thing was the light, as she sensed traces of light attributed to mana from it. "I don't think so, perhaps the passage opens beneath it?"

Sly was busy inspecting the different gems so Ikuchi took the initiative. "Perhaps we need to destroy it." Ikuchi then takes a step back, before charging it with his golden horns. The moment he crashes into it his entire body is shaken and a melodic hum resounds through the passage.

She looks around worried, and within moments multiple cracks resound through the caverns, and parts of the gems awaken. A swarm of 10 gemstone mantises of the different shades of the crystals attack them. Each different color seems to resemble a gemstone.

As they rush towards the two of them, Sly has already returned to his invisibility, however, it does not help in this instance, as the mantises reflect the light of the central crystal, and his illusion is canceled by the beams of magical light.

The sight would be beautiful if she wasn't spamming her magic to help Ikuchi against the largest pure white gemstone mantis, which seemed as durable as the crystal Ikuchi attacked. 'Is this thing made out of freaking diamond!?'

"I am the wind that binds - Fujin!"

"I am the wind that binds - Fujin!"

"I am the wind that binds - Fujin!"

She first shot the single wind strings at the monster but broke through without pause. But with every iteration, the net of wind strings she made grew thicker and after the third consecutive cast, it was strong enough to hold the irregular crystal mantis for a moment at least. "Help Sly! I'll hold it! I am the wind that binds - Fujin!"

Ikuchi curses as one of his claws splintered against the mantis, which is the only reason he accepted her command without argument, the thing ignored all his attacks up to this point and even managed to hurt him without landing an attack! Meanwhile Sly was using Kogitsune-Maru and its very high durability to crack the mantises in front of him. It took a bit as they circumvented his illusion and cancelled it when the reflected light fell upon it; this revealed his position.

Another problem was the different gemstone mantises, as they all had different durability. The first he fought was a light grey mantis, which shattered at his first swipe, but the very next that entered his range was a yellow topaz mantis, which only broke a bit of crystal and then he found a sapphire and ruby mantis joining the topaz one.

Those were even harder, which forced him to retreat a little. Just as Ikuchi joined him. "Ikuchi focus on the other ones, any that are too durable to destroy I will distract."

Ikuchi snarled at the repeated commands. 'Do I look like a hatchling!?' But fought the other six nonetheless. He killed 5 of them, till the last quartz mantis withstood his claws. "Sly, this one's too much!"

He dodged a swipe from his own and rushed over, using Ikuchi's back as a springboard to increase his velocity, before crashing into the quartz mantis with the tip on the bottom of his staff.

The mantis shattered with a loud crack, leaving behind a white magic stone. Together they turned towards the topaz, sapphire and ruby mantis, while Sylphie was on her fifth consecutive cast of Fujin, to hold the diamond one at bay. "Hurry up, I'm almost out of mana!"

Sly took a look at their opponents. "Ikuchi I need you to grab them, you are durable enough to withstand their attacks, then I can wedge my naginata between their crystals!"

Ikuchi didn't like being ordered constantly, but reluctantly followed the order to beat the mantises. They began with the topaz one, who had the least durability. Ikuchi grabbed it, before wedging it into the ground below him with a jump above the other two.

Sly used his higher agility to move in front of him and within moments wedged the spiritual weapon between the crystals in the torso of the mantis. It was already clawing its pincers into Ikuchi's legs, and drawing blood, as Sly used all his strength to leverage the blade against the topaz mantis, and with a loud crack a topaz magic stone fell to the floor.

They used the same strategy against the other two, they took even more effort, but Sly barely managed it, while Ikuchi had to pay with even more of his scales and very deep cuts. Then came the diamond one. Sylphie still kept it tied down but was barely floating anymore.

Without pause Sly tried the same they did with the previous ones, but this one resisted, even when he pushed against the very tip of Kogitsune-Maru while leveraging it as one would a lever.

Sylphie had to stop her spell and fell to the floor from mind zero before she was snatched up by Akiri and taken to the second layer. This left Ikuchi and Sly against the irregular diamond mantis!

Ungodly Morning Hour 3 AM - Floor 15 - Sleipnir POV

Sly fell back as Ikuchi was cut by the very sharp edges of the diamond mantis's pincers. "Ikuchi get distance!" 'How do we deal with this? The mantis has sharper legs than all the others, although the last three were already deadly enough. This one is too durable for me to break even using leverage against it!

We need something even stronger. That's it! Ikuchi needs to leverage Kogitsune-Maru, but how do we stop it from moving? Wait they were summoned by sound, maybe they can be distracted with it. This better work, I don't want to waste it.'

"Ikuchi cover your ears! I will hold it, but you must use my weapon as I did to kill it!" Then as Ikuchi followed his orders with a frown, still closely followed by the diamond mantis, he took out a stun grenade Asuka made for him.

With a whispered foxfire the stun grenade flew at the mantis, and he covered both his ears with his helmet, then the grenade crashed against it and the mantis stood silent, vibrating in a daze.

Without pause, he threw his naginata next to Ikuchi, where it stuck in the ground and rushed at the mantis. With his bare armored hands, Sly grabbed both of its pincers and held them steady as it vibrated in confusion while his tails grabbed the central crystal to hold them both steady.

Ikuchi took the chance, grabbed the naginata with his teeth, and used a small crystal as the pivot. He rammed the blade into the center of the irregular diamond mantis, and both his front paws pushed down.

He had to strain his tails to stay grounded and the mantis began thrashing randomly, cutting both of his arms, and even his tails but he kept his grip. This continued for 10 seconds till they heard the telltale crack of a defeated mantis.

"By kami that hurt! Are you alright Ikuchi?" Sly asks with a grimace, as he surveys the cuts on both his arms and his poor second tail. They looked really bad. Both his arms had cuts clean through the muscle.

Ikuchi growls, before limping to him. "I should ask you that. You held the sharpest one, and you are more squishy than I am!"

He looks at him in pain before saying. "Just take the potions in my third pouch on my right side. Drink one, then give me a second, I can't move my arms as it cut my biceps and I really don't want the pain to set in after the adrenaline leaves my system!"

Ikuchi follows his order with a strange grimace on his face, takes one for himself, and guides it to his mouth with great care using his claws. As the healing sets in he then takes a second and removes the cork with his maw, before carefully moving it in front of Sly with his claws, where he can drink it himself.

As both of them are healing he hears another voice. 'Shin-chan, I need a mana potion for Sylphie. Casting 5 spells in the Middle Floors and holding them for so long has drained her. We need to return soon.'

Without hesitation, he called Akiri, who gave Ikuchi a small nod in gratitude as he appeared in a puff of smoke before he left with the potion. Which gave Ikuchi the time to ask as they were regaining their bearings. "You met the fox spirit?"

He nods back slowly easing, as his muscles knit together. "Yes, thanks to your description I managed to sense him better, before figuring out how to sense what he looks like. Thank you very much Ikuchi for your help."

Ikuchi beams at the praise before wincing as a particularly bad cut on one of his fins heals. "No problem! But stop ordering me around! It is annoying and I know more about the Dungeon than you do!"

Sly shifts his head to the side and holds it with his uninjured tail. "Sorry, I didn't even think about that. I am just too used to giving commands. As the tactician of both my parties it's the role I usually have."

Ikuchi grumbles, but with a shake of his head moves towards the central crystal. "Shall we see what our reward is?"

Sly smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes as his tails wave behind him, which causes him to wince slightly. "Gladly." He then collected the 10 uniquely colored magic stones.

The secret passage hadn't opened yet, but with the battle behind him, Sly clearly saw how the gemstone mantises reflected the light. He was in a corridor filled with 10 gemstones, which all stood dark.

So, with a little testing, he found, that he could shift the central gemstone in one axis, as could all the other gemstones. From there it merely took a bit of trial and error, before the light beam from the central diamond hit the ruby, and from there the sapphire, topaz, quartz and all the other gemstones.

Once all were lit the ground rumbled and a crystalline staircase opened before the diamond. Once downstairs they saw a real wonder. A room filled with rainbow-colored light from the gemstones above, and all around there grew magical plants. The mana within this room was so bright and pure compared to the usual dungeon air it was overwhelming.

Even Ikuchi felt at ease in here. Sly wasted no time and started carefully collecting plants. Most wouldn't grow on the surface, not even in his care but one was an exception. He had grown a normal version together with Asuka before, a lavender. Usually, an aesthetic plant with a pleasant smell, this one exuded mana in a similar quantity to his tails.

He carefully took the entire plant, earth, and root into his largest satchel. Even giving up on mana and normal magic stones for it. Then he collected the other herbs, which would certainly be priceless to Asuka.

Once they were done, Sly and Ikuchi left the passage and with a new illusion covering both vision and scent, left with satisfied expressions. Neither noticed how the large diamond shifted back into the original position, nor how the other crystals followed its example.

They both parted ways on the 13th floor, as Sly made his way back home with a great reward, and a fairy to nurse back to health. As he passed the Daedalus District, he felt a shiver run down his spine as if he had intruded on another's grounds.

Sly's Dungeon Journal

Middle Floor: 15

Secret Crystal Room: The crystal structure in this corridor was unique. Instead of the usual crystals immovable gemstones littered this cavern. If attacked irregular gemstone mantises appear to protect their home, while the riddle was about redirecting the light. Once done a hidden paradise of magical plants opens. This room must remain a secret.

Monsters:

Ligerfang: A grey tiger monster with black stripes. They are the strongest monsters in the Cave Labyrinth due to their very high agility, which borders on high-level two. Approach with caution and surprise attack is possible to reduce mobility.

Weak points: Legs!

Drop Items: Ligerfang Leather, Ligerfang (The Fang, not the monster)

Value: 40'000 Valis

Irregular Gemstone Mantis: A monster that varies in durability, the sharpness of its pincers and size depending on the gemstone type. It is entirely made out of 1 kind of gemstone and drops a unique magic stone with the according colour and an elemental affinity related to said colour. They can reflect light, which disrubts illusion spells around them. In theory they should also be immune to light magic and dispel darkness spells.

Weak points: Very durable compared to crystal mantises. Best way to defeat the stronger types is by leveraging a weapon into a crack in their armor.

Drop Items: Elemental Attribute Maigc Stones

Value: Priceless for crafting purposes

Author's Note

I had no clue who should surprise whom in the dungeon, so I let the dice decide. And Sly rolled a nat 1 on his stealth check. So that's how Sly was caught completely unaware when he usually is the eyes of the party.