Chapter 9: I Change
A/N: Yo wys. Hello ppl, just watched danmachi season 4 part 1 and Icl, the sound effects were MEATY.
Not just that, I didn't expect them to carry on till episode 11 in the dungeon (I won't get into much detail for SPOILERS SO DON'T WORRY)
but yeah. If you haven't watched it yet, I'd recommend you just wait, being up to date with it will just put a strain on ya.
Update: Ffs, bad news. I lost the book where I had character profiles written down, including all the moves of the 12 paths of the moon...
So, this is the last time I trust books but it also means I won't be able to introduce all the moves until I recreate them. Amazing, either way, we move.
WARNING: THERE are some POTENTIAL branching off from what happened in EPISODE FREYA, if you haven't read it, don't worry about it. If you have and find any discrepancies, I kindly ask you to let me know or just don't bother either work.
Tata~
Honestly, it was easier to count the number of people who knew the simple fact that the dungeon is, in fact, Dangerous than the number of idiots willingly throwing themselves in with minimal knowledge and equipment.
"Haa...so, what levels are you guys?" Bell asked as he stood in front of a group of adventurers. A bunch of rookies, who didn't know any better.
From the looks of it, they were three-man cells, and from the looks of their aura a maximum level 2.
Though that is not bad for the early floors, to be in the middle floors with just a 3-man group is simply suicidal when you are a low-level 2 or below. Even more so if you have no healer or supporter.
"I asked you guys a question," Bell repeated.
"Level 1..." the boy in front replied. He looked no older than Bell, so it was easy to understand that he was filled with a bit of frustration as he was getting scolded by someone a similar age to him.
As if to prove his hunch the other male pallum in the party clicked his tongue, "Why are you the one scolding us? You're just lucky to have enough money to be able to lug around armour like that. Some of us have to get our hands dirty to get money to even scrape by. We have no intention to listen to you."
Bell's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fist. Such words deserved nothing but rage from him, heated he lost control of his aura and let go of it. A feeling of dread never before experienced by the group of adventurers filled the air. The air got sucked out of the lungs and they struggled to breathe as they could only look up to see the blood-red eyes. Madness seemingly dancing in the back of it, they could swear they saw a monster scarier than anything the dungeon produced.
"Get your hands dirty huh," Bell spoke in a low voice, "You don't know a thing about getting your hands dirty. I'd suggest you refrain from using big words you don't know the meaning of."
All that could be heard was the occasional birth of a low-level monster but even they seemed to be afraid of approaching.
Bell sighed deeply before the aura was reeled back in, "You three. Every adventurer starts somewhere, even the Loki familia started off with a weak pallum, a delusional princess and a drunken dwarf," Bell insulted the 3, "Now look where they are, a large and strong familia for sure. They have a strong, smart and conniving pallum, a delusional but strong princess and a still drunken dwarf. Point is, it takes time to grow. You have no choice but to be patient with it. You're level one, and while it's good to be ambitious, all it takes is one 'accident' to happen and suddenly you might find yourself in a situation which is anything but pleasant."
The party didn't know how to react to Bell's words. Whether it was the fact that he so casually insulted the grand Loki familia or the fact that his words had given them a lot to think about.
"Listen you three," Bell kneeled, "Why do you enter the dungeon?"
"Why you say..." the first one replied, "What do you mean by that? Everyone has their reasons."
"Well of course they do. Whether it's the riches, fame or simple desire to be strong, there is no shame in any reason. But bear in mind, when you step foot into the dungeon. You're already on the enemy's turf, you aren't responsible simply for your own but also your party's lives. It's your duty to protect each other."
"T-Then what the hell should we do? If we play it safe every time, we won't be able to make any progress at all!"
Bell grinned hearing those words and stood back up, " A wise man once said 'Strength can defeat an entire city. But knowledge can defeat a whole world.' and I have just the perfect advisor in mind for you."
After Bell lugged the 3 adventurers to the guild, he left them with Eina. Entrusting her to give them lessons, since she did offer lessons on them.
He made his way to the hostess, planning on grabbing some lunch. Truly he had been coasting along for the past few days because well, he had been waiting for contact from Ouranos. Being an agent for Ouranos had its pros and cons. Overall, he had started because Ouranos had made a deal that he couldn't refuse.
He would help out Ouranos, and in exchange, he would be granted entry to the dungeon city and be allowed access to a wealth of artifacts and items that he'd have to travel to different parts of the world for. Though he had to maintain many rules to prevent his cover from being blown, effectively having to go solo and in secrecy. It wasn't unusual for an adventurer to go about fully cloaked anyways.
Monsters weren't an issue, as much as he wanted to hunt them in the dungeon, the monsters outside gave him just as much excelia as inside due to his skill.
Of course, in the dungeon, he would get more than usual so it was a relative value.
'It's about time he sent me another quest, now it may even be harder than usual considering I'm level 5. Well, it's only going to make me stronger.' Bell mentally shrugged as he realised he had come to the doorstep of the Hostess of Fertility.
Surprisingly, the place was still decently filled though nearly not as much as it is at night. Most adventurers are in the dungeon by now and the only people here at this time are either those who are taking a day off, or just have a lunch break.
"Welcome to the Hostess, it's a pleasure to see you once more Bell san." Syr greeted him, hiding her face behind her tray evidently trying to act coy.
Bell brushed off the gesture, "Pleasure to see you too. Mind if I sit by the bar?"
Syr tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Why not sit by one of my tables?"
"Because I have a thing for Mia." Bell deadpanned before walking himself to the bar leaving a rather shocked Syr.
Casually sitting down he looked up at Mia who had a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek as she wiped the same mug she probably had been for the last 2 years, "I was joking relax."
"I-I wasn't worried about that," Mia replied cautiously. It seemed as though even Mia Grand could be caught off guard in her own domain.
"Well that girl of yours, no offein nce, is a minx. Either way, an ale please." Bell ordered but quickly looking to his right he saw a woman he recognised.
Ginger orange hair, a gentle smile on her face and breast larger than Bell's head.
"...2 ales." He corrected.
"My, how kind of you to buy me one too. Though isn't it a bit early to drink?" The woman spoke up.
"It's never too early to drink at least for you." Bell snorted, "It's been a while Demeter sama."
Demeter pouted a bit, "Mou, I told you to stop with the sama Bell chan. We've been friends for a while, it's just Demeter."
"Ah yes, drinking buddies for an underage person. To be honest, I shouldn't even be able to drink but thankfully, Mia san doesn't seem to care."
Mia shrugged, " I've served younger." She nonchalantly adds before putting down 2 mugs of ale.
"Oh, Cranel san you're here." Ryuu popped her head out of the corridor leading to the changing rooms. This time, however, another head also came out.
A woman with straight and lush black hair. A somewhat petite face with 'cute' features and a dainty figure. Yet her strength was not to be trifled with, even in her kimono she had one of the best dextrous skill sets in the entirety of Orario.
"Hello Ryuu san," Bell greeted before moving his eyes to the woman beside her, " It's an honour to be able to meet the famous Yamato Rindou."
Yes, this person was Gojouno Kaguya. The vice-captain of the Astraea Familia, a level 5 executive of the familia and one whose notoriety reached outside the walls.
"Oh my, the pleasures all mine. To be recognised by the captain of the famous Zeus Familia," she replied. "I heard much of you Cranel san."
" Oh?" Bell asked surprised. There shouldn't have been enough rumours about him already, he only arrived there a couple of weeks ago.
"Not really, I don't keep up with the news, fufu~" Kaguya giggled.
'But she just said...' Bell wondered what that was all about. First, she says she heard of him but hasn't actually heard of him, so she just lied.
For what purpose? Why would she want to lie?
"Ah, I'm sorry Cranel san, our vice-captain," Ryuu paused to look at Kaguya, "has an issue with being too playful on non-serious occasions."
"...I see."
It was a wonder how she was being so regal just now and suddenly she had said a lie with no purpose. It didn't even fuel the conversation, rather just ended it quicker.
" Say, Demeter sama," Kaguya asked with a bright expression, "How long have you known this captain of the Zeus familia?"
"Why it's been 2 years now correct?" Demeter asked as she turned to Bell for affirmation.
Bell grunted, "It was a stupid way to meet."
Demeter looked a bit annoyed at that one, "On the contrary, I believe it was a perfectly fine way to meet."
*Flashback*
'That's another mission down,' Bell thought as he was on his way to leave the dungeon city
For convenience's sake, it was always easier to leave at early dawn, it was when the nightshift guards would be most relaxed and tired and thus, less efficient at their checks. Not that he lacked anything to properly get himself out of the city, but just as a precaution.
As he was walking toward the outer border, he saw a woman in an alley being hounded by two men. Instinctively, he grabbed one of his swords under the cloak.
The woman in the question was beautiful. One of the prettiest he had ever seen. She wasn't wearing anything particularly expensive, rather it was a modest one-piece that reached her ankles and was full-sleeved. However, her deep cleavage only showed her off, though, he doubted she could've done anything else.
'Seriously, it's like 5 am. Do these bastards just harass people 24/7?' Bell groaned internally. He didn't want to create a scene so he let go of his weapon and simply entered the alley himself. After all, even if he killed both of them, there was no doubt in his mind that the woman wouldn't scream bringing the nearby guards into full alert.
In fact, he actually wondered how these guards didn't even realise this woman was being taken into the alley. Gosh, they are just the next level of carelessness, he should really send an anonymous complaint to Ganesha, but that was for later.
"Hey miss, wanna hang with us a bit?"
"Yeah, we wanna play with some watermelons, mind joining us?" the other man asked, breathing like a creep as he had his eyes plastered to her breasts.
'...My man has no game, play with watermelons? What is he an idiot?' Bell wondered.
"Oh, I don't know about that," the woman put one of her hands on her cheeks, "I have to go work in the fields today."
"Oh, I can help ya out. I know how to plough a good field."
"My~ Unfortunately, I'm currently watering the plants only. It's growing season you see," the woman added.
"Hehe, I-" the man was interrupted by someone putting a hand on their shoulder, "Huh? What d'ya want?"
Bell smirked, "Dude. You need to be able to take the hint before it becomes too embarrassing for you. She isn't interested."
A vein bulged on his forehead, "The fuck you say punk?"
"Did I fucking stutter?"
The other one simply went in for a jab, but Bell dodged instead and punched the man's throat quicker than they could see.
Repeating the same act with the other man as well. Of course, he had to keep them quiet. Bell then grabbed one of them by the throat and slammed him into the wall.
"I hope you will know not to bother a lady from now on?" Bell asked.
Without waiting for a response, he grabbed the woman's hand and began walking out of the alley with her.
"Oh, my hero!" The woman giggled. "Thank you for saving me."
"I didn't save you," the man muttered, he turned, exposing his rubellite eyes, "I just had a grudge against those two specifically."
"Ufufu, is that so?" The woman held his hand with her other hand as well, " Well then I suppose introductions are in order, I'm the Goddess of the harvest, Demeter. It's a pleasure to meet you, my hero."
"Pleasure is mine, I go by Spades." He flippantly introduced himself.
"Oooh, an alias for someone who is not from here," Demeter smiled, "Well thank you once more Spades."
Bell paused midway," How did you know I'm not from here?"
"Well because my field is by the Eastern exit there, and occasionally I've seen you leave. Always around this time of the day." Demeter stated. "I feel like I should compensate you somehow, would you care for some tea or coffee?"
"I'm alright, I'll head out." Bell tried to leave but she stopped him.
"Please, I'd feel bad for not providing anything." Demeter insisted. "This way," she began walking without even hearing his response.
Grumbling a bit, he began following her.
"So, tell me Spades. What is it that you do whenever you come in from time to time? By your weapons, I'd assume you are a warrior of sorts." Demeter asked.
"I'm a spy for Rakia, I come here every now and then to gauge the level of adventurers so that we can plan out the next invasion," Bell replied.
"Sounds like a pretty eventful job, even more, the reason to re-energise yourself with some delicious tea. We grow the leaves ourselves."
Bell's face palmed, it seemed that this woman didn't really get sarcasm. "I was joking, which spy have you seen before openly admitting he was a spy?"
" Today would've been the first time." Demeter giggled once more.
Bell understood at that moment, this woman... was going to be a pain in the ass.
*End Flashback*
"I see, it sounds as though you had a pleasant meeting." Kaguya smiled but all of a sudden her face changed into a sterner one, "However, Cranel san."
"Yes?" Bell replied already aware of what she was going to ask. Even he didn't expect Demeter would exactly recite their entire first meeting but now that she had, it was to be expected Kaguya would pick up on the discrepancy.
"Did the tea you get served taste nice?" Kaguya asked.
...
"Yes?"
Or maybe she wouldn't pick up on it at all.
"Awesome, I was on the edge of buying some tea leaves from Demeter stores, but I didn't know how good they were. It seems I can expect good things," Kaguya nodded to herself.
"How mean? The tea leaves are of course of the highest quality, why would you doubt it?" Demeter pouted.
"Sorry sorry, reviews from active customers are always more trustworthy you know?" Kaguya laughed.
"So..." Mia jumped into the conversation, " are you going to eat something or what boy? You're gonna remain thin and dangly like that if you don't eat enough."
Bell snorted in response knowing she just wanted him to spend money, "Alright I'll have one of your spaghettis," he turned to Demeter, "She can have whatever she wants."
"Oh my, buying me lunch as well. If I didn't know you, I would've thought you were trying to win me over."
"What kind of man tries to win over a woman by buying her food?"
"Well, my industry is with food and produce. It's one way to gain my favour." Demeter replied." Well, either way, I'll also have one of your spaghettis."
Mia sent the order through to May in the kitchen.
"Say," Bell began," Doesn't one of your children work here?"
"And pray tell how you knew that?" Mia asked with a tiny glare. The origin of her waitresses was all enshrouded in mystery. They had been careful about it too considering each of them had a unique past.
Besides, who would willingly come to a pub with an ex-justice/rage-blinded murder elf, a stray cat that came from Freya, a bounty hunter and an ex-assassin?
Though Mia took them in to allow them to start a new life. A second chance, not just because they were all lost and didn't know what to do but also because she herself was the ex-captain of the Freya familia. Though that was well known before she was also one who had partially left the familia, and fiercely protected the girls in her pub with her level 6 strength.
So when in this random period, so kid comes in as the newest captain of the Zeus familia, she couldn't help but be filled with curiosity. Besides, being a general pub, they also dealt with a fair amount of information handling and she really wanted to keep their reputation as trustworthy, so she tried learning more.
Who would've imagined, this snot-nosed brat (or so he seemed to her) was actually a weirdo that oh so coincidentally happened to know what is the deal with her waitresses and also not afraid of well...her.
"I have my ways," Bell replied vaguely before, digging into the food that May brought out. "This place is the only one that knows to cook with a good salt balance, compliments to the chef."
Mia sighed, knowing she would achieve nothing by bugging him, "Yeah well, she is a cat person so their taste buds tend to be a bit more sensitive."
"Talking about Lunor, where is she?" Demeter asked. She had arrived half expecting to see her child.
It was for an obvious reason as to why Lunor didn't actually connect with her familia. She opted to stay as far away as possible, being a bounty hair and all, she had her fair share of enemies and she didn't want to attract them to Demeter, given the fact that they were predominantly an agricultural familia.
For her Demeter taking her in was something like a debt she owed to the woman, and though she couldn't pay her back she wouldn't dare to risk endangering the woman. Since she had failed to kill Ryuu the hostess had been her home.
"I sent her and Chloe out for re-stocking, can't run a pub with no supplies." Mia shrugged.
"Well I better head out myself," Bell got up after putting down a small pile of coins, with a healthy 'tip' as well, "I got some diving to do it seems," Bell sighed as he looked at the small glowing blue orb.
"What's that?"
"Just an alert to let me know I have an incoming job, handy little thing but I digress. A pleasure to see you again Demeter," Bell excused himself as he left.
"Bye Bell chan," Demeter waved with a sweet smile, "Come visit my farm sometime."
With that, he left without noticing the glint in a certain eastern girl's eyes.
In the grand scheme of things, Ouranos was more involved in the matters of Orario and the dungeon than the people thought.
While he was greatly respected, because his prayers were the only thing preventing the dungeon from running loose, the corrupt part of Orario believed that he was unaware of events that occur outside.
After all, he was concealed inside a deep room, and besides major cases, he never really had to even show himself. However, some lower-level familias had heavily underestimated his influence.
The deity, Ouranos, was the head of the guild. A guild which catered towards adventurers, inside of a city predominantly compromised of adventurers and warriors. In such a place, he maintained order he had to keep his influence strong by staying up to date. To prevent a disaster or any evil God from wreaking havoc, he had the extinguish the flame of evil before it grew too big.
That's why he had his own set of daggers.
Weapons of his that coordinated with Fels and the Xenos to thwart any plans that they may hold. Though the familias that was more hidden and secretive were harder to find and eliminate.
" Are you there Bell Cranel?" The voice of Fels came from the blue orbs came.
"Yes." He offered a short reply.
Though the occulus had a range for just the person holding it to hear through it, there was a chance of being overheard while speaking. So it was usually better to just hurry, at least on the surface.
Since he was in the dungeon he ran minor issues, by just using the unknown routes he could get to floor 28 with minimal time waste.
" Head to floor 28, we have recieved reports of an abnormal showing up out of the blue. The adventurer that had reported it was bleeding and was missing one of his arms." Fels briefly described his task.
"Any possible guesses as to what monster it is?" Bell asked.
"It's suspected to be a black scorpion that has evolved," Fels reported.
Bell quirked an eyebrow, " aren't those usually found on the surface?"
"We have no idea currently as to how it made it into the dungeon, but we will investigate it later. For now, it needs to be taken care of urgently!"
Bell nodded as he put the occulus away. He could understand the urgency. Monsters were naturally stronger in the dungeon, but they had to be borne of the dungeon to be stronger. Monsters on the surface were almost always weaker than their dungeon counterparts. However, one dangerous case is the fact that a black scorpion from the surface made it there and survived.
Black scorpions are large scorpions with red markings around them. It wouldn't be the first time he fought one, but this time the monster had undoubtedly adapted to the dungeon, meaning it was stronger and tougher. At least tough enough to take off an arm of an adventurer that made it there, most likely using the large pincers they had.
Bell ran faster than ever, not bothering to use magic for the trip. Jumping from rock to rock he quickly made it to Rivira.
Under normal circumstances, he would've shot straight through the town, however, not wanting to attract too much attention, he had no choice but to travel around the town jumping from tree to tree he dashed across the area before entering floor 19.
Immediately, he was met with slight resistance from a group of battle boars appearing and directly charging towards him.
"Flow freely, my body is a cloud, ZAP!" He cast as electricity rose from gathering at his blade coating it.
Jumping over them horde, he forced them to come to a halt. The sudden stop, however, slowed the battle boars down and with 3 clean slashes he killed the entire group and continued his run once more not bothering to pick up the stones.
He had a job to do.
As he approached floor 20 he quickly put on his mask. Having to hides his face and maintains his anonymity as a fighter of Ouranos.
A simple mask that's blank and white in colour with two holes to allow him to see. Not the most pleasant-looking mask but rather fear-inducing to see as the last one in sight.
Bell's preference took towards simplicity.
"Fels, approaching floor 27. Update on the monster's status?" Bell spoke into the occulus.
"It is currently engaged in combat with adventurers. There are 4 of them, level 3 each of them and mostly injured. Prolonged combat is not sustainable," He reported.
"Roger that, I'll take care of them."
As he jumped down the better path of floor 27, he jumped large distances and kept to the wall to not run any risk of monsters jumping out of the water.
The great fall was truly a sight to be held. A large cascade descended multiple floors, the clear water of the dungeon putting to shame the murky lakes on the surface.
Though these waters were not to be messed with, as even within these clean waters there were plenty of monsters and without undine's cloth even Bell would have issues having fights underwater.
As he descended further down he heard a shrill cry of fear. Most likely by one of the adventurers.
Inciting new haste in his steps, he dashed and turned the corner to see something he wished didn't happen.
The black scorpion was not only larger than it should be but also no longer blue. Most likely to match the floor's environment, it adopted a bluer tint in colour, giving a shine to its harder shell outside. Its tail dripped with a purple poison, and its pincer was occupied crushing the bones of an adventurer as if it was made of paper.
"H-HELP! Please!" the adventurer begged. That was all Bell needed to jump forward and race forward.
"Path of the 12 moons, 9th moon, Ex-Machina's Eclipse." Bell took a step back just as he was about to hit, correctly predicting that the monster's fast pincers would slam into the area he was in.
He brought his falcatas in a curved shape, one on top of the other imitating a claw himself. Speeding forward, now that the monster had missed, it had left its body open. Typically at the very least, a black scorpion's claws were much stronger than its main body, mainly due to the amount of pressure they had to generate.
Capitalising on the gap, Bell dashed, a blue aura phantom surrounded his weapon as he focused his electricity into the blades, and brought them down and up respectively. A cleave made itself apparent on the monster exposing the insides of the monster, a gory, wet red innard.
The scorpion shrieked in pain as it now identified its newest threat. A man that had broken into his shell with relative ease.
Casually it swung its arms and threw away the adventurer it was about to devour. That can wait, it now had an enemy to fight.
Once more it swung its arm at Bell, causing him to jump to the side as he thrust forward about to stab into the red wound, deeper into its body.
However, it had been expecting that.
"!"
Bell didn't hesitate in bringing his blades to form an 'x' in front of his face to block the hit. Heavy enough to knock him back and send him tumbling.
"What the hell! It can shoot water blasts?" Bell asked in confusion.
'It seems that it got a lot more than just the monster's characteristics here.' It dawned upon him.
Having to change tactics, he was no longer safe in bringing himself close and just shoot himself forward. The monster was definitely at least a high-level 4, and he finally understood why it was giving the adventurers here a hard time.
"Flow freely, my body is a cloud, ZAP," he manifested a blue spear of electricity to go straight towards the scorpion, but just as he predicted, the lightning couldn't penetrate the shell, most likely because it had insulating properties like many of the monsters here.
With another shriek, the monster opted to shoot its acid from its tail in Bell's direction. Though he easily dodged it, he was met with a claw that he had to block.
'Shit I need to end this quick, this thing is learning too fast. What the hell is going on?' Bell wondered.
Black scorpions were known to be a species that could adapt to their environment to best suit it and increase their survivability. But the speed of improvement was unheard of, at least to Bell.
Jumping into the fight, he dashed straight at the scorpion, just as he was about to be hit, he jumped into the wall on the side.
Pushing himself from the corner and into the ceiling, he used the momentum to guide himself into the monster from the top.
'If cutting won't work, stabbing will!' he thought.
Like a hot knife running through butter, he stabbed right into the monster. A splatter of dark, murky red blood stained his white mask.
"ZAP" he cast once more, pumping in mind causing the electricity to rage brighter and more fierce than before.
The monster once more let out a shriek of pain, but as it tried to hit Bell, its claws couldn't reach Bell's position. Before it got the idea, Bell promptly cut off the tail of the monster, its purple venom flowed out of its tail end, now a simple puddle.
Feeling the monster not yet ready to croak over, Bell re-cast "ZAP," and once more caused the thrashing monster to spasm. A guttural moan of pain escaped the monster as it tried its hardest to remove the eyesore that used its sword to penetrate its hard shell but to no avail.
It began frantically swinging itself, from one leg to another. Each of its legs just barely supports its entire weight.
"Who the hell do you think I am?" Bell asked rhetorically before slamming a hard kick to its body, causing its already weak legs to shake before collapsing onto the ground.
And finally,
the monster crumbled into ash, leaving behind its moderate-sized magic stone and a strange orb.
'?' Bell went closer to the stone about to pick it up, but just as he was about to touch it, his instinct screamed at him to move his finger away. Trusting said instinct, he immediately retracted his hand, just in time to see the orb glowing yellow and a black claw-like hand come to grip something but missing.
"Don't tell me...it's a slaving orb?" Bell asked aloud astonished at what he was seeing.
A slaving orb was something that could be best described as an abomination swept under the rug. It was a secret object that shouldn't have been created but due to the disgusting existence of things such as discord and hatred, it was created in an attempt to get an edge over the others.
Bell fished out his occulus, and with sweat down his jaw he spoke, "Fels."
"Ah, Spades. The mission was a success yes?" Fels asked.
Bell gulped before speaking, "Uh well kind of. The monster has been terminated, but I may have found the cause of why a black scorpion was in the dungeon and even evolved in such a manner."
"Oh?"
"Either way, I'll require you to come and collect its magic stone and the other object that it dropped."
Fels pondered for a second before speaking. He/She? knew Bell Cranel for a while now. The kid wasn't someone he personally would underestimate and did he no way shape or form even think of him as a muscle-brained adventurer?
Not that many people who met him did anyways. But Fels was quick to understand that Bell knew many things. Many histories were studied, many hypothetical situations discovered and he had a terrifying intuition that allowed him to survive some nasty situations.
Long story short, he was pretty wise for a teen.
Yet the voice that was speaking to him was insinuating the gravity of the situation was enormous.
"Just what did you find Bell Cranel?" Fels asked.
After a pause that felt like forever, Bell replied, "It's a fucking slaving orb, from the war Hjadningavíg." (1)
The battle of Hjadningavíg was one of the many disasters Freya had effectively ruined in her so-called search for "love".
Though Bell didn't know her actual purpose, he was aware of how she went around charming people left and right.
Including how she caused the war between the two elven kingdoms of Hjadningavíg. Though they hadn't realised how the war was being fought nor the weapon that had been made.
"The war was far from pretty," the voice of Ouranos rang as he sat on his chair in the prayer room, "Hedin and Hogni were so absorbed in their war, that they had failed to realise the effect of Freya's charm."
Indeed the slaving orb was an object created by the Dark elves, in an attempt to control the white elves. The two sides were competing with each other and with both being charmed under Freya, they had each tried to do something, anything to win so that they could win her favour.
That's just how strong her charm's effect had on them.
The dark elves had created the slaving orb in an attempt to capture the white elves and infiltrate their ranks and create chaos in their backlines. The orb was made to be embedded into the victim's body and be well hidden.
"Their effort had failed though," Bell now spoke to him, "No slaving orb could ever overcome the hold induced by the charm of a Goddess of beauty."
Yet it only meant that the technology wasn't lost. The only proof of this in history was a book of the Dark elves which had somehow made its way to Bell when he was in a coastal area.
It was only mentioned in one paragraph only but it couldn't be missed.
"Very well, Fels will come down there to collect it. You may return Bell Cranel, we have much to discuss, if it's as serious as we think it is, then it's a reason for concern." Ouranos agreed.
"Already on the way, will be there in a couple of hours or so," Bell replied before putting the occulus away.
' The war of Hjadningavíg was known to have caused a decimation on either side, only the two Kings survived and they had decided to follow the woman that caused their very own countries to be destroyed.
Two weird elves.
'Or maybe it was just due to her charm.' Bell shrugged mentally as he dispatched a minotaur. He had come back to floor 17, and steadily going up he decided to go through the main path. His pouch was already full to the brim with monster stones.
He jumped and spun delivering a roundhouse kick to the head of a nearby minotaur, the move strong enough to rip its cow head from its body and be lodged into a wall nearby.
He moved and effectively dealt with every monster that he came into contact with. Running back he continued ripping through the monsters with his hands until he made his way to floor 13 when he heard a shriek of a woman as he passed by a room.
"Hyaa," the voice screamed.
'Oh great, a cliche.' Bell rolled his eyes before seeing the reason why the person screamed.
The room was absolutely filled to the brim with monsters, most likely because it was a monster house. The room absolutely stunk due to the sheer number of minotaurs present which reminded him.
Bell honestly from the bottom of his heart pitied minotaurs. To be born as such a dumb muscle-brained monster was already bad enough, it was only made worse that no amount of toothpaste could ever fix their bad smell and breath.
It's like the second they emerged from that God-forbidden dungeon wall, the body and mouth were just covered by a metaphorical infinite pile of shit and they just smelled that bad 24/7.
Bell decided to quickly get rid of them. At the end of the room, he spotted 3 blobs of hair and well that made more than enough sense to guess what happened.
3 naive adventurers made their way into the dungeon and then got caught up in some trap. Why does such an event sound so familiar?
OH Yeah, that's right, it happened to him not too long ago. It had that very day.
was this a sort of curse? He'd come across a bunch of asshole idiots that refused to acknowledge their limits, pushed through a bit too much and then were made to suffer?
For Zeus' sake.
Mikoto POV
'No, no, no. This wasn't planned.' Mikoto thought in fear, her face scrunched into a frown as she fought and defended against the minotaur.
Under normal circumstances, a single minotaur wouldn't be a major issue, but the fact of the matter was, this wasn't just a single minotaur.
No, it was a room filled with monsters many of which were minotaurs.
"Mikoto, keep Chigusa safe." Her captain Ouka ordered as he ran forward to slash a minotaur, only for the cut to be too shallow.
The minotaur reared its arm and threw a haymaker pushing the captain back. It was a good thing, his axe was sturdy to survive the blow.
"MHOOO,"
A minotaur screamed from the back of the room. Mikoto wasn't tall enough to see behind the towering minotaurs, though it didn't take much to know that something else had made its entrance into the room and was currently decimating anything in its path.
Mikoto, Chigusa and Ouka could only sit and pray that it was a high-level adventurer that had come to save them and not some abnormal monster that was mauling through its brethren.
And for once in Mikoto's life, her prayer was accepted, as she saw a visage of a man.
"Oh thank God," Mikoto uttered but quickly her relief turned into astonishment as she saw the man that came to save them.
Pristine white hair lay atop a face that can only be described as the middle ground of 'cute' and handsome. Not entirely childish yet not chiselled. Sharp features and rubellite eyes that looked somewhat bored, as if he had stopped caring for the monsters in front of him.
He had two swords on his hips, ready to decapitate any monster in front of him yet he instead opted to quite literally rip the magic stones out of the monsters, big or small, he went for the central ish area and tore a hole into the monster.
The juxtaposition between his almost regal and dance-like footwork and manoeuvring and the sheer brutality he was fighting with made the scene even more unbelievable.
Minotaurs especially were known to have tough skin, even level 3s could pierce it with their bare hands and most didn't see the need to do so, they had weapons that could cut through the hide.
"What the fuck?" Ouka cursed.
Yet this man in front of him, ever so calmly annihilated the entire monster party single-handedly. Quite literally.
His armour had stains on the floor all over, yet his left hand was covered in a deep red colour of blood, his other hand was just clean. Though it didn't seem to get onto his skin as he was practically covered neck to toe, even his hands donned his thin black gloves with a poker card.
The minotaur closest to them let out a low growl, one that Mikoto had never heard before.
A growl of fear.
A growl of prey in front of a predator.
A growl...that knew it had no chance of surviving.
And as if the dungeon itself had given up on that minotaur's life, the repeating words in the cow's mind that kept tormenting him to kill the adventurer ceased for a second.
The next it had already turned to ash.
"Urk it stinks," the man commented before muttering some words and then blue electricity emerged from his body and systematically burned and remove every inch of blood on him, evaporating it.
Mikoto still in a daze from what she had just witnessed couldn't help but think, 'How...beautiful.'
"Why thank you very much." the man in front of her responded, letting her know she had thought the words aloud.
Immediately, she went a deep crimson.
"Ah-Well-Um." She stumbled over her words. Thankfully, her captain took to rein in the interaction by bowing to the man.
"Thank you for saving us."
Bell frantically shook his hands, "Oh don't worry about it, I was just doing what anyone would do."
'And he's humble too,' Mikoto once more thought.
Ouka shook his head, not even bothering to tell Mikoto that she was thinking out loud. Though Bell had slightly dusted cheeks this time.
"Believe it or not, most would just leave us to die. Though our familia may not be strong enough to be of any matter to someone like you, we will do our best to repay you." Ouka once more thanked the man.
"Oh please do not belittle yourself like that, every familia starts somewhere, even Loki's familia started low," Bell replied as he felt some sort of deja vu from the mention of that fucking Pallum's familia.
"I'm Ouka, these are Mikoto and Chigusa of the Takemikazuchi Familia." He introduced.
"Bell, Bell Cranel, of the Zeus familia," Bell replied sticking his hand out for a handshake.
"T-The Zeus familia?" Ouka stuttered as he also stuck his hand out and the 2 shook hands. "I'm glad to make your acquaintance. Mikoto here levelled up to level 2 recently so we came here to help her get used to her new strength." He explained.
"Well well well, a fresh level 2 I hear, allow me to congratulate you." Bell clapped his hands with genuine praise, to which Mikoto blushed a bright pink.
"A-Ah thank you." Mikoto murmured before her eyes took this glisten as she closed the distance as if her previous shyness just didn't exist, "Uhm," she began, "can I ask you about your fighting style? You have swords at your hips yet you chose to use your fists to deal with them, was there any particular reason?"
Bell stumbled backwards at the sudden behaviour change, her closing in allowed him to see a little too much down her wrapped chest, bountiful as they were, he had no intention of ruining their impression of him so he looked away with a slight blush of his own.
Bell scratched his cheek before replying, " Well, uh, I didn't want to stain my blades with minotaur blood. They were a real pain to get rid of last time around."
This was a sorry excuse, he knew it, Ouka probably knew it but Mikoto all but ate it up. Her eyes glimmered in admiration once more and Bell couldn't help but feel bad for lying to such an innocent woman.
The real reason was quite frankly because he wanted to have a cool entrance. I mean, entering to save the ones in trouble with hands bloodied yet faces composed and cold, how freaking cool was that?!
The captain of the Zeus familia was, wise and mature too, but Bell Cranel was also a teen. A teen who had grown up with hero stories. Yes, he had his own devious plans for his so-called 'Villain' ending but he still adored and aspired to be heroes to anyone but Loki and Freya's familia.
"Moving on from that," Bell changed the subject, " Being level 2 means you should have an alias right?"
Now the glaze in Mikoto's eyes died, in an explicable manner that left Bell confused for but a second, before he remembered the common trope that is denatus.
"Your name got..."Bell began.
"Please don't finish that sentence Cranel dono." Mikoto hushed him with an even brighter blush.
"Bell is fine," he said moving his face away. "Either way, I promise not to laugh, will you tell me your name?"
Mikoto's eyes became spirals as if she was overheating from the embarrassment before she sighed, "It's... Absolute✝Shadow." she whispered.
Even though Bell heard her, he pretended not to, "Sorry? I couldn't quite catch that."
Mikoto seemed to get redder by the moment as she then shouted, "IT'S ABSOLUTE✝SHADOW, OKAY?"
Bell laughed even though he had promised not to and he couldn't help but pat her head as she pouted rather adorably.
"Hey uh, not to interrupt your rather comical interactions," Ouka began, pointing behind the two, " but we better leave before more of those show-up."
Yep, another minotaur had made its way to them, a tick appearing on Bell's forehead, he disappeared from his spot, reappearing in front of the cow, "This fucking cow," he shouted before punching its head sideway, creating a dent in its face and promptly caused the monster to crumble into dust, leaving behind a magic stone and a horn.
"So," Bell picked up the horn, "who wants a drop item?"
The trip back was rather uneventful, though he gained a fair amount of knowledge. The entire trip was basically just Mikoto talking to Bell as if she was a child seeing a hero, she shared a lot about herself and asked for combat tips.
It was odd how easily she had trusted him but he took it in stride and saw no fault in explaining some combat moves and tactics she could use.
He learnt plenty about her too.
Her, Ouka and Chigusa along with some people in their familia were all from the Far East, all childhood friends and they knew the severe lack of resources there as they lived in a shrine.
In an attempt to make ends meet, they had come to Orario to seek a better life. Though she was about to say something a Renard, she quickly stopped herself and carried on with something else, even though she most likely knew Bell caught on, she could do nothing but pray that he didn't pursue it any further.
And truly like a gentleman, he didn't.
Mikoto was a swordswoman and prided herself on her martial arts and sword arts, she was one of the rarer adventurers who valued technique and skills over the falna which was something Bell was pleasantly surprised with.
Though she prided herself in those fields, she remained quite humble enough to pique Bell's curiosity to know if this little familia he saw had a hidden gem in it.
Thus he decided to bet on it. (2)
"Say Mikoto san," Bell called, already on familiar enough terms to be on a first-name basis.
"Hm?"
"Do you want to be trained by me?" Bell asked.
"I beg your pardon?" Mikoto asked flabbergasted at the proposition, she had come to realise what kind of skilled warrior Bell was and her admiration only increased, not just as their saviour but also because it seemed he had enough skill to develop his own original attacks, " A-Are you sure? We are of different familias and-"
"Well, we can always ask your Deity. I'll be blunt, I find you interesting," Bell revealed, causing both Chigusa and Ouka to seem shocked, "you seem to have enough willpower to keep up and I want to test your limits to see if you can truly succeed in this endeavour."
Mikoto smiled and nodded as Bell praised her and her eyes burning with a fervour that she hadn't shown before. As if she was willing to take up the challenge.
They sped up, going towards her familia where immediately after receiving the 'go-ahead' from Takemikazuchi and a strong bear hug, Bell departed to head towards the guild.
Indeed he was so busy today that dinner was looking unlikely today.
'No matter, it's a minor inconvenience.' Bell shrugged before his eyes narrowed towards a cat that had been following him, 'I suppose I get rid of the stray before I go pay Ouranos a visit.'
And so he disappeared.
Not even a second later reappeared beside the cat that had been following him, the fastest man in the city of Orario, Allen Fromel.
'Or is it ex-fastest man?' Bell grinned, "Yo, do you mind not following me around?"
(I'm trying to change my writing so I'd appreciate it if you guys could provide any changes you wish to see, so I could improve it.)
A/N: And that's a wrap. An odd end if I do say so myself, but I'm trying to change some things about my writing. I have seen your reviews, and in general, would appreciate it if you guys could tell me if there were any improvements you'd like to see.
Either way, I tried adding markers for certain parts to explain parts that may be confusing and took some inspiration from the series called 'AND SO BELL BECAME A HERO' by IreJasmine.
Read the story, it's good.
(1) Hjadningavíg- An actual place from the Danmachi universe, it's actually the place where Hedin Selland and Hogni Ragnar are from. The war between the white and dark elves there was mentioned and how the two had fought for days as their mutual Kingdoms had destroyed each other.
I found it rather comical how Freya caused the war and the 2 idiots still followed her. I know they were charmed but still plenty funny.
Since as far as I could find, the war itself wasn't covered in depth, I took the opportunity to include some personal creations such as the slaving orb and well hopefully it fits.
(2) All I will say here is that I've wanted to do a harem and I suppose here is where Jas' influence comes in because the harem plan will follow much like his plan simply because his method of handling it so far was something I found feasible.
Of course, our MCs are quite different with mine being way more OOC than his, but well we shall see ahead how it works.
So far at least, I can confirm we have met at least 4 potential partners, I haven't concluded how many partners he will have and we will find out later on.
Either way,
Bless.