AN: There I was, deciding to read my own work from the beginning to cringe at my work like all good authors should (no, seriously, every author I know does this), only to cringe at the sight of the first four damn chapters that didn't have the damn linebreaks in it. So, I decided to update those chapters with the damn lines in case some of you were confused with the sudden change of scene (changes won't appear on the website supposedly for 30 minutes). Had to wait the whole damn week to do this because I know that readers get pissed if they see an update and nothing new to read... me among them. Anyway, enjoy the Elf Bullying.
Chapter 13
Life was a funny thing.
One could even compare to the Dungeon in saying 'unexpected things can happen.' Too which someone like Drake would reply with something like 'No shit Sherlock'.
But for said unusual event to happen it's a miracle in itself.
That's why someone like Drake would take full advantage of it.
"You know…" without a single hint of remorse. "One of my brother's once said this kind of thing always happens the other way around."
The event in question being boy stares atnaked girl while in the middle of a bath, girl shouts and degrades man for 'peeping' without knowing if said person had even that intention in the first place. But it didn't matter, because at the end of that little event all that's important is that the boy looked at the naked girl.
"You even had the audacity to keep staring for another thirty seconds before looking away." He heard a soft groan of embarrassment coming from the lake.
'This has got to be the mother of all reverse Uno Cards.' Guy commented, to which even Drake heartfully agreed.
"I already apologized." The peeping Elf, otherwise known as Ryuu Lyon, replied as she washed her body in the lake; her expression more unreadable than usual, despite how red her face was.
"I am sorry. But protocol dictates that the person doing the peeping must do a dogeza and apologize over a thousand times and receive no absolution whatsoever."
Her eye twitched. She knew what a dogeza was thanks to Kaguya, who tricked her into thinking it was a way of showing appreciation from her homeland.
"Is that what your brother told you as well?"
"Oh yeah."
'We have even been on the other side of that event thanks to a certain someone.' Lloyd said scornfully while Zelos whistled innocently.
"Also, don't think I don't realize what you are trying to do right now."
The Elf froze standing in the middle of the lake, had anyone been watching her, it would have been quite the sight.
"… and what would that be?" she asked, a tone of edginess in her voice.
"You are either hoping I take a peek at you to use against me," there was no reaction from her side. And for Ryuu's point of view and Drake's credit, the blonde didn't seem like the type to do that, so she wasn't worried about that. "Or you are stalling for time so you can excuse yourself with the others before I spill the beans."
She trembled, and he could hear from the sound of the water.
He was currently sitting behind a nearby tree. The peeping elf had asked to stay and keep a 'lookout' in case someone else came close by.
But he knew that was all just an excuse.
"The fact that you can't lie automatically makes it so everyone will believe you, and I can't have that happen." She sighed. "Have you ever been mocked and laughed at by your friends?"
There was an involuntary twitch from Drake's part. Memories of jokes and sabotages between him and his brothers came to mind. But just as he was laughed at , he also laughed back.
"Of course, I am pretty sure everyone with a friend has gone through that… the other way around as well."
There was a moment of silence between the two, which Drake was able to read immediately. Had he turned around to look at the Elf, he would have seen her looking down at her own reflection with a dejected look.
"Ryuu… are you telling me you never managed to get one up your friends?"
He heard her kneel in the water in shame, that being the only confirmation he needed.
There was even a collective 'bruh' in his mind at the thoughts of always being picked on and not doing the same back.
"… How?" The disbelief was clear in his voice.
"I come from an Elf village, so human customs were foreign to me at the time," she started. "When I got accepted into Astrea Familia, I felt blessed to be with so many wonderful people… but some of them were really two faced."
Drake could almost hear the scorn on her voice, kind of hilarious if he was being honest.
"I learned a lot of useful things from them, and I was heavily misinformed on others."
"And since you were a naïve little Elf, you believed everything they said to the letter."
She hummed with a nod.
"And you never got back at them because…"
She sighed heavily. "At first, I thought about it. But it turns out sabotaging their weapons or burning their things was a little too much."
The Elf got a confirmation to her own statement after hearing a facepalm coming from the trees.
"You never got the meaning of 'too much', didn't you?"
Ryuu chuckled. "Alise said the same exact thing once… I am curious thought, what could I have done in those ca-"
"Put laxatives in their food." Drake's reply came in a heartbeat, she could even feel the determination in his answer.
"… Wouldn't that be a little too much as well?" Ryuu asked, already knowing the blonde had experience on this.
"Not at all. You aren't destroying any kind of personal property or permanently damaging them, just make sure they aren't doing anything for the next twenty-four hours and you are set." The blonde replied, ignoring the feeling of his brother staring at him with scorn at memories in the past.
She couldn't help but sigh at his logic.
"But in the end… I suppose you still had a good time with them, didn't you?"
Ryuu froze for a moment.
'Right, he knows.' She had recalled he already knew of her past as the Gale and of her Familia thanks to a sketch that resembled her. So of course, he would also know of the fate of her Familia members.
"Yesterday… did you already know why I was heading into the Dungeon today?"
"Nope. But I knew it was important to you, so I didn't press on it." he replied. "Although now I seem to recall trying to act as a tour guide and mentioning popular sites like Astrea Familia grave, where sometimes the infamous Gale comes to haunt and kill those that are around the area."
He could feel a lot of killing intent coming from the lake. "Don't go on a murder spree."
"Going after one person can hardly be called a spree." She replied with a deadly edge in her voice, only to then sigh and calm down.
"I miss them a lot." A sad smile adorned her face.
"I am familiar with it; I miss my brothers and family as well… to a degree."
She chuckled.
"I am surprised you are being a little open with me."
He snorted in return. "I am surprised we are even having a conversation without calling names at each other or involving you know who."
The Elf sighed, not needing to think hard to know who he meant.
"Why don't you like Syr? And do not give me another vague answer like last time." Ryuu pretty much translated his last answer as 'Because I want to.', which wasn't any kind of answer at all.
"… I can't put it into words. But all I can say is that out of all the people at the Hostess, she's the most abnormal of them all, even you." He stated. "I know you are indebted to her, in the same way I am indebted to my brothers. So, I am not gonna antagonize her as I had been doing since I started working at the Hostess."
"I can assure you, her feelings towards you are just fleeting. She takes interest in someone new every now and then, and then passes to the next."
There was a moment of silence as Drake examined her words carefully.
"… You do realize you are not making her seem as good as you usually do, right?"
The Elf shrugged. "Nobody's perfect." The blonde's jaw almost dropped at the audacity of that Elf. "Besides, it's not like she tosses them aside or something. if anything, it's the other way around, they just disappear after a while. So, they either died in the Dungeon, or she just found new interest."
A sweat drop ran down the blonde's forehead. 'Red flag?'
'Crimson.' Guy and Zelos replied in an instance, as if that happening to every one of Syr's 'interests' was too good of a coincidence.
"But even so, you understand why I would do anything for her. I want to be a good friend to Syr, just like she's been to me."
The young dragon scowled. Not because of Ryuu's words about being there for Syr at every moment, but because her little speech reminds him of his previous conversation with Lloyd regarding Tsubaki.
"I want to be there when she's in trouble or struggling with something and help her achieve everything she seeks out to do." her words continued, not realizing that every word was making the blonde feel as if metaphorical arrows were piercing his very soul.
"But overall, I just want to be the best friend I can be for her." By this moment, there was a tick mark on Drake's forehead. The blonde sighed deeply as he stood up, making the elf submerge herself again out of instinct in fear that he might have actually decided to take a look.
But to her surprise, he was just walking away.
"I left a towel for you behind the tree, you can give it back later."
Ryuu raised an eyebrow at the blonde's sudden change of demeanor. She moved her body up slowly so only her head could be above the water. "Where are you going?"
"To be a good friend and make Udaeus drop something!" he shouted in the distance, leaving the Elf alone in the lake.
"Oh… I see." She stood up and continued with her bath, only to stop mid track after finally letting his final words sink in her mind. Her eyes remained half open, but her jaw hung down slightly as she looked in the direction the blonde disappeared. "… Uh?"
'I didn't expect things to take this turn of events,' Lloyd said before clapping his hands together with a little too much enthusiasm. 'But I will take it. Three Hoorays for the perverted Elf.'
The rest of his brothers did as asked, some with more energy than others. But it still annoyed him as he walked through Rivira's streets with a big scowl on his face.
'Fuck you.' He mentally cursed as he spotted Bors coming out of a bar. The Adventurer patted his stomach fully satisfied as he let his drunkenness guide him, only for it to disappear in an instance the moment he spotted Drake walking in his direction, or rather in the direction to the deep floors.
It didn't take him long to figure out what he was planning to do with that scowl on his face. "Oh no." he stated as the blonde walked past him, who in return addressed him without stopping.
"Oh Yes."
The Adventurer stood at the entrance of the bar, watching as the blonde continued his way. "I am nowhere near drunk enough for what's about to happen." He turned around and headed back inside the establishment once more. Hoping that at the very least there weren't gonna be any inconveniences with Loki Famila.
Anything can happen in the Dungeon.
For every Adventurer that was an understatement. Even a First class like Ottarl would agree with that, even though not everyone could just brush it off as if it was nothing.
If anything, he would find the current situation amusing.
The rest, like Raul Nord of Loki Familia,
"He's heading your way you stupid Amazon!"
Not so much. They had arrived on the floor, surprised by the incredible amount of monster blood on the floor along with crystals and drop items scattered around. The initial report from the guild had stated that the monster seemed to be an Irregular I, seeing how it attacked everyone and everything in its sight, even other monsters.
The aftermath of what many considered a bloodbath was a clear indication the monster had been there not too long ago.
Bete, who had regained his consciousness soon after getting knocked out by Tione, ordered Raul to do his job as a supporter by picking up anything of value, not noticing that the rocks he had stepped were grouped together weirdly, or that they were colored in a rather brownish-orange tone of color, a completely different tone from the theme of the floor.
What he did notice however, was that there was a kind of moving orb moving in one of the rocks. The orb in question had a weird symbol reflecting on its surface.
The orb stopped moving, as if it were looking directly at him.
'… There are not just rocks, are they?' The young Adventurer lost his balance as the ground started to tremble. No, it wasn't the ground, it was the rocks he had been standing on.
The Irregular monster they had been looking for.
"Oh look, Raul found it." The younger Hyrute stated as Raul fell on the ground and froze at the visage of a giant snake like monster made of rocks roaring at him.
"Don't you just stand frozen there, you idiot!" Bete pulled Raul by the collar and rushed back to avoid an incoming slam attack from the monster. He then quickly tossed his companion aside and charged at the monster with a dive kick, a grin on his face seeing he would be able to finally vent his anger against something.
However, there were a lot of things the werewolf wasn't expecting: that the rock didn't shatter with his strength, nor did he expect-
*CRACK*
That his own leg would become fractured by the counter impact.
"-!" his eyes widened, taking advantage of the little momentum he had to jump back and land on his good leg. "High Potion, NOW!"
The supporter was already one step ahead since everyone had managed to hear the sound of the fracture.
"Poor pup needs to drink more milk." The younger Hyrute got the serpent's attention as she easily backflipped, avoiding its head as well as any other parts of its body. "I thought that was a cat thing!"
"Anakitty would be offended by that remark." Raul thought out loud in a low tone before tossing Bete his potion.
"Fuck you, you stupid amazon!" Bete shouted as he gulped the potion in a single swing. "Don't bother in using your-" the werewolf saw the amazon swinging her double bladed sword after taking one strong swing, it made it look as if Tiona had hit a wall made of metal seeing her Urga started to vibrate and in return so did her entire body.
The monster quickly moved its head above the amazon and dived in on her position. Tiona quickly jumped back, seeing as the servant burrowed itself into the floor and disappeared .
"Did it go to the next floor!?" Tione asked, to which the werewolf groaned with a shake of its head, his ears hearing everything around him. "It didn't, it's between floors!"
Tiona Hyrute meanwhile recovered her equilibrium from the vibration of her previous clash, her eyes widened when she saw a crack on the edge of her Urga. "What kind of Black Dragon bullshit is this!?"
Tione put her weapons away, already seeing normal means wouldn't do anything against that monster. "Magic swords!" she shouted after looking at Raul, the ground trembled soon after.
"Here!" Raul managed to toss one explosive sword to both Bete and Tione. He was about to toss another one to Tiona, but the serpent surfaced right behind Raul, making the Adventurer almost lose his balance.
"It's wide open!" Bete swung his sword, a fiery energy flew and hit the rock below the head of the serpent. A massive explosion happened in that instant, the monster waved from left to right and in all directions, a clear visible crack for all to see on the rock the previous attack had hit.
"Bete!" The werewolf didn't waste his time as he jumped in the air to perform another dive kick, already figuring it out the amazon's plan as she swung her own magic sword in Bete's direction, more specifically his kicking leg as the magic was absorbed by his combat boots.
The fiery kick made impact with its target, and unlike last time not only didn't his leg break, but also managed to break the core of the rock as the attack exploded, the werewolf managing to break through it and land on the ground without problem.
The head of the monster fell on the floor given that it had been separated from its main body. "Blast him!"
All the members of the Loki Familia swung their magic weapons, the attacks flew in the same direction. But something managed to catch the werewolf's attention as the attacks were about to reach their target.
"Hey…" his eyes noticed a faint brownish-orange glow in front of the head. "Hey." A circular glyph of the same color appeared soon after, making several pillars of stone appear and intercept the attacks.
"Hey, Hey, Hey." Soon after, several glyphs appeared all around the floor. "Since when the fuck can monsters just use magic!?"
None dared to answer the question as they started to run through the whole floor in order to avoid the pillars of earth that were appearing in an non specific order.
"Shit, shit, shit," Tione muttered as she felt this had become the most extreme version of 'The Floor is Lava' as she noticed that several rocks of various large shapes started to gather around the monster's head. "It's reconstructing its body!"
Bete groaned, jumping high into the air to avoid several pillars to land near the head and prepared to launch another magic attack with his sword. However, another glyph appeared below the Adventurer. This time however the color was different, it was gray and bigger than the rest. But even so, he didn't waste his time to jump back not wanting to risk it, too bad he didn't expect the range of the spell to be as wide as it was, nor was it the same spell as before as he came to learn.
A black dome appeared, trapping Bete inside of it and then immediately forced him down to the ground as the gravity inside increased greatly while lightning traveled through the surface of the dome. Inside of it, the werewolf couldn't see anything, only feel the gravitational pressure trying to crush him.
His scream of pain was heard through the whole floor. The magic soon faded, leaving the werewolf struggling to stand up as his body felt sluggish.
'Damn it, a status effect!?'
"Bete!" Raul's shout made the werewolf grit his teeth as he looked up to see the monster, whose body had been fully reformed and charged straight at him.
"What the fuck are you waiting for!? Dodge!"
He tried to shout back at the older amazon and do as he was told, but his body was moving way too slowly thanks to the status effect put on him. He mentally prepared himself to being send crashing against the well… until his werewolf ears caught the sound of a distant *CLICK*
"[Magna Ray]"
A light blue beam of energy impacted the side of the monster's head, forcing a roar out of the monster as it changed its trajectory to crash against the wall instead of Bete.
"…" the werewolf blinked before gazing at the origin of the sound he heard before, slow steps approaching from the direction of where the stairs of the floor below were supposed to be. "Who the fuck-" Bete let his words die in his mouth, as they were able to identify a man around the same stature as the werewolf's wearing a black cloak approching them. He was also holding what they identified as a very strange katana sheath that seemed to have some kind of trigger while its end was releasing a trace of smoke, indicating that the beam attack had been shot from it.
They were about to question the new arrival, but they were interrupted when the floor started to tremble. The Adventurers of Loki Familia looked at the monster, who seemed to have been temporally knocked out by the previous attack, which could only mean-
"And here you go again acting like a fucking conceited bitch." The cloaked individual gestured to the Dungeon as several monsters of all types started to spawn from the walls and even some from the ceiling and ground.
"Why… Why are there so many?!" Raul asked, his body trembling as most of the monster headed towards the new arrival while the rest headed to where the serpent was laying.
The unknown person pointed the pommel of his blade at the direction of the monsters. "There's an old friend of mine heading pretty close by from where we are right now," the mechanism of his sheath triggered, making it so a red blade would shoot itself forward, resulting in the pommel completely crushing the Barbarian's skull.
He then quickly appeared in front of it to grab his blade and perform an horizontal slash to exterminate the line of monsters close in line. He then kneeled slightly after sheeting his blade to phase through various monsters. "[Ghost Wolf]" he muttered as all the monsters behind him received two slashes back and forth between dying.
The swordsman quickly jumped in the direction of the stone serpent and pointed the tip of his sheath at the horde running right below him.
"[Displode]" He pulled the trigger again to release a barrage of azure blue projectiles from left to right as he landed right between the unconscious serpent and the remaining monsters. "So let's get this over quickly," he pointed his blade at them. "Because neither him nor I are in the mood to meet each other right now."
"You didn't have to come." Drake Aurion stated as he went down the stairs, another set of footsteps close behind him.
"I apologize, it's just that I heard something incredibly stupid before about facing Udaeus alone. I just needed to double check." Ryuu Lyon stated in a tone of sarcasm in the last part of her sentence.
"Nope. You heard quite right." He arrived at the Thirty-Seventh floor; his eyes narrowed before he continued walking. Ever since he left Rivira, there hadn't been a single monster in sight.
It was as she feared, and there was no way she could just stay idle knowing what he planned to do.
'The last time that happened was because the Dungeon was saving energy to pull the double Goliath stunt.' Flynn made an observation.
'Are you ok with fighting with her next to you?' Lloyd asked, making his brother snort internally.
'After preaching all this time about going after Udaeus, you want me to pull back?'
'Not really. We know you call pull this, but how much effort are you willing to put in with a spectator around?'
Drake contemplated those words. 'Guess I will cross that bridge when the time comes.'
"I am sure you have noticed the lack of monsters in the Dungeon. Is it usually like this for you?"
He snorted. "On the contrary. The only difference right now is that I am with you, guess even monsters fear you."
The Elf twitched, clearly offended by the remark but seemed to compose herself after a moment. "It's alright, I do not expect people to look at me positively. For my crimes, I deserve their scorn."
"…" There was a moment of silence, as if her words were confirmed by the blonde seeing he couldn't say anything about it, or so she thought.
"You were in your right."
She stopped in her tracks, as if her brain couldn't process those words and walk at the same time.
No one had ever given her such an answer, or even a positive one regarding her past actions.
"… How could you say something like that with such ease?"
Flashes of all the people she killed and tortured came to her mind, stains of blood on her hands as face as memories became livid by the second.
All of her beliefs and ideas of Justice completely discarded by her actions, to the point of betraying her own Goddess's teachings.
"Breath." She was surprised to see the blonde staring directly into her eyes. "Someone took away from you the very people that gave your life shape, inspired, made memories with, gave sense to every action you did. You, Ryuu Lyon, were in the right to go and seek your revenge."
His words came out so naturally and secure in their message that Ryuu just remembered that the person in front of her had the very same look as her sometimes. And now she knew why, because he had also walked that very path.
"Even so, betraying the very Justice Astrea Familia believe in-"
"Justice will always be useless if it's blinded, Ryuu. Make no mistake, in the eyes of society you might forever be a fallen icon whose story ended in blood. But why should that matter to you? You were the victim, and there was no judge, jury or executioner to see those implicated be rightfully punished…"
There was a pause in his words, indicating Drake wanted her to reach her own conclusion.
"Justice had failed me."
Back then, she didn't realize it because she acted out of anger. But now she understood nothing would have been done if she hadn't acted.
"Justice isn't absolute nor fair, Ryuu. That's why people often decide to forge their own. If you want to repent for killing so many people because you feel your beliefs betrayed you, don't."
Because there's no need to feel guilty if those beliefs don't answer back in return.
"Just keep on doing what you have been doing until now," he turned around and headed his way. "If your friends are anything like mine, I am sure they would want nothing but for you to experience what life has to offer."
'… You are such a fucking hypocrite, you know that?' Lloyd stated, to which Drake snorted and accepted the statement, knowing it was the truth.
"… More likely laughing at my misery." The Elf stated as she resumed her walk again, a soft smile planted on her face as if all of her despair had been lifted a little.
"Oh, that too… although…" she raised an eyebrow at him seeing as he looked at the Dungeon's ceiling, as if contemplating whether to say anything or not. "I sometimes wonder if you just wish to be picked on."
Silence.
Her smile faded; a clear scowl took over. "I fail to understand the meaning behind those words, please explain."
"Leaving the obvious lack of social and serving skills in the Hostess aside…," his words pierced her. "There are other things to which I wonder if you are being conscious about; like your current set of clothes for example."
Both seemed to stop. Ryuu because she really couldn't comprehend the words that he was saying, and him in order to point at her from top to bottom.
"What's wrong with what I am wearing?" she twitched.
"Leaving the hood aside and the gloves, you are wearing nothing but a white sleeveless top and bloomers."
Her face flushed, even though her scowl remained.
"So, you did see something."
He gave her a deadpan at her glare of accusation. "Only because someone decided to undress in front of me as I got out of the lake. Also, I definitely didn't see as much compared to someone else."
She averted her gaze, not being able to counter her argument. "I still don't see the problem."
The look he gave her next, was one that she was very familiar with. It was the same look Lyra would give her whenever she did or say something completely stupid. The only exception was, Drake wasn't laughing at the end at all.
"You are showing to much skin, you stupid elf. Not to mention so far you have got the most indecent outfits out of everyone I have seen, amazons included."
She shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous. Had it been so indecent, someone would have told me already-" her words died in her mouth as she recalled the first time she had tried this set. It was some of her few belongings that she still had that wasn't damaged.
Syr had insisted on her not to go out like that until she had something prepared for her. that something being her current hood.
'Syr knew.'
The gray-haired waitress most likely didn't have it in her heart to call her out and instead opted to have something prepared to hide her indecency.
"And it was in that moment, that Ryuu Lyon realized-"
"Please don't."
"That she was the lewdest elf of them all." And with his thoughts voiced, he continued his walk , soon followed by a red-faced Elf that no longer dared to enter in another argument with him in fears he might make her realize something else about herself.
But there was still something bugging her. He didn't confirm it, but he spoke with so much familiarity about revenge that she was certain he had walked through the same path. That led her to many questions.
'Who did you lose? What did you do?... How many people suffered because of you?'
She wasn't gonna judge him. Even if what he did was worse than her actions, because it would be beyond hypocritical to do so.
Some of the staff in the Hostess knew he was a former Noble, but she really doubted it was for the loss of his title.
The Elf knew whatever came from his mouth would be the truth, but he was still entitled to not answering.
"We are here."
Her questions would have to wait. For what was waiting around the next corner was something that she was sure he wasn't prepared for, even if someone like Tsubaki Collbrande vouched for him. Challenging Udaeus alone was something only a lunatic would do, High-Level or not.
"The moment it looks like things are about to go south; retreating is a must." Even if she herself had to drag him out of the floor.
"…" he didn't reply, instead he just stared at the entrance to the white palace for a moment before he moved his scarf to rub the wound on the left side of his neck.
"Having second thoughts?" She couldn't help but move the side of her lip upward at the thought of seeing her doubt, but his serious gaze made her hesitate.
"My scar is itching." He replied. "Also… I can't explain it, but there's something awfully familiar close by…" his eyes narrowed. "I just can't figure out what."
Ryuu couldn't help but feel confused, mainly because of how serious he had gotten all of a sudden. She was about to suggest falling back, but the ground started to tremble.
"Udeaus?" her eyes instantly moved to the center of the room in front of them, but there was nothing in sight.
"There was a report from the Guild about an unknown monster causing these very earthquakes inside the Dungeon. Loki Familia was dispatched to take care of it… my guess is that they are on the floors below fighting it." he didn't wait for her to fully understand the situation as he headed in with her following close by. "Whatever, I am sure the mutt and company are more than enough to deal with it."
"It's a little bit to ask, but why the sudden urge of fighting Udaeus and see if it drops something?" she asked, knowing full well there wasn't anything the Monster Rex could drop according to the guild's record.
'Unless it had dropped for someone, and the records were updated.' She thought knowing full well it has been a long time since she stepped in the guild.
Drake sighed. "Tsubaki had been struggling with her forging seeing how a certain asshole…" he unironically pointed at himself. "kept breaking her swords. That and the fact the items I have been given her are fairly common, even if the number's large."
She looked at him as if a second head had popped out of his shoulder. She had seen the list of drop items requested, all of them from the deep floor, and the quantity she had asked wasn't small at all. It seemed that either Drake didn't understand how valuable those items were, or things were just that easy for him.
"So going for Monster Rex materials was the next best option?"
He nodded with a scowl. "But someone managed to beat the Goliath and the Amphisbaena, which only left Grim on this floor."
"And the knowledge of this unknown drop item Udaeus can drop was heard from?" she asked in honest curiosity, only to regret it instantly.
"Bors thinks Udaeus might have a secret sword if certain conditions are to be met." He didn't see the Elf's face. But if he had, he would have seen the Elf giving him the most blank of expression she had given to anyone, all because he mentioned Bors. "Udaeus's usually taken down by a group of thirty Adventurers or above. In Bors story-"
"There were only three Adventurers." She interrupted rudely. "That story has even reached my ears." And she clearly didn't believe it by the looks of it.
"And has this theory of a small party ever been properly tested?" Drake asked, the fact that he had a 'as a matter of fact' tone didn't help her hide her irritation at the whole situation.
"No one in their sane mind would dare to do something so incredibly irresponsible." A small tremble started to be felt in the floor as she said those words, but this time, it happened closer than before.
"And yet here you are." Udaeus started to emerge a couple of feet away while the Elf just glared at the blonde and at the fact of being indirectly called irresponsible. "Thank you for volunteering."
And so, Udaeus roared.
The situation was weird, no matter how Raul tried to think about it.
Abnormal Monster, and the weird behavior of the Dungeon against said monster aside. The arrival of the mysterious individual took the cake, mainly because of his current actions.
"Why the fuck are you defending that Monster!?" Bete summarized everyone's thought as the person simply focused on slashing and shooting with what everyone thought some kind of magic rod.
"…" the man didn't reply and just kept standing his ground, almost as if he even barely acknowledged the existence of the Loki Familia.
'He's already on the floor above, right inside the White Palace.'
'Udaeus. That was his goal all along, doesn't seem like him to just risk potential trouble.' He blocked the sword of a Lizardmen Elite, his red blade glowing brighter with each blocking or parry he did.
'I am sure he's got his reasons. And that just leaves us ten minutes at least before he finishes with it, and one extra minute for him to feel what's going on right under his nose.'
'Better hurry up then.' He sidestepped to the side to avoid an incoming swing of the Lizardmen and aimed his sheath at it. "[Brutal Shot!]" a barrage of shots pulverized the monster's head in a mere moment.
'Which would be enough, if my fucking backup were here!' a wave of fire magic wiped most of the incoming horde.
"Do you have any idea what's going on!?"
He barely eyed to the side to notice the older Amazon of the Loki Familia rushing to him with a magical sword that seemed to lose all of its power with that last swing.
"Why would you assume that?" He extended his sheath in her direction, her eyes widened at the sight of the smoking hole knowing fully well what it could do. "Duck."
The Amazon kneeled to slide on the floor as he pulled the trigger. "[Magna Ray]" Tione Hyrute looked back as she slid to see a line of monsters behind her, soon followed by a familiar blue beam that wiped them all out.
"We are even." He noticed part of his sheath was red and fuming, indicating it was overheated. "Damn it."
"Looks like you won't be using that for a while, also, Watch out!" The voice of the younger Amazon came from his right, his instincts forcing him to bend his back a little to see a monster flying past him and crash straight into her sister.
"Oops." Tiona exclaimed while grabbing a barbarian by the horns and then twist it with ease. "My bad."
"Don't you 'My bad' me you stupid bitch!" The older amazon scolded her sister from afar, dealing with the very monster thrown at her. "And you!" she pointed at the swordsman.
"Don't you fucking bullshit me in feigning ignorance, why the hell are you protecting tha-" Tione's focus shifted the moment the Dungeon started to shake again.
'…No, something isn't right.' The Monster that was supposed to be doing the earthquakes was knocked out, and the Dungeon wasn't spawning any more monsters. 'So what…' another tremble occurred. But this time, it was distinct enough for her to figure out it was coming from above.
"Looks like someone is facing Udaeus." Tione thought out loud, leading her sister to the same conclusion before focusing back on the swordsman and notice he was gritting his teeth while looking up.
"Damn it." He turned around to face the monster. 'Sorry Solum, but we are running out of time.'
"Wait, what are you planning on-"
"Help!" Everyone's attention was now focused on Raul, who had Bete's arm around his shoulder as a support. The status effect on the werewolf was still in effect while they were with their backs against a wall and what remained of the current horde of monsters approaching on their position.
"Damn it, Tiona. Your magic sword!?"
"It already broke." She quickly looked at the swordsman. "What about your shooting thingy!?"
He twitched at the term used to describe his weapon, but still looked at it to see its state. "It still needs some time." Tione was about to curse, until he saw the stranger stabbing his sheath on the floor and taking something out from inside his cloak.
It was a weird looking knife; seeing as the whole part of the blade was green and glowing. But what really got her attention was the fact that it looked like there were runes moving through the blade as well.
He was about to throw the blade in their direction, but stopped the moment a big red glyph formed on the wall Raul was in front of.
"About fucking time." He muttered, not amused at his timing. But it was better late than never, he supposed
The wall bursted in a fiery explosion, making Raul lose his balance before he looked up to see a small figure jumping off the newly created hole and through the flames to then throw a similar knife as the one the first stranger had at the ground; the only difference was, this one was purple.
"[Thunder Arrow!]"
Three orbs of light-blue sparks surrounded the monsters in a triangle formation before currents of electricity connected each one to generate a pyramid of electricity that fried the monsters out of existence.
The older Amazon looked in amazement at the item used to create such powerful magic as the new arrival landed in a stylish manner with one knee on the ground. "Enter the amazing-"
"Let!" The shorter individual cursed at the interruption of his entrance, almost losing his balance in the process. "You were supposed to be here minutes ago!" the swordsman shouted while almost gritting his teeth while the other cloaked individual shrugged.
"Road rage."
"… The fuck that's supposed to mean?" Tiona thought out loud, the swordsman groaned instantly understanding what Let meant. "Don't tell me-"
Let pointed with his thumb at the flaming hole he went through for another horde of monsters to appear through the flames.
"Fuck my life." The swordsman threw the green knife he had been holding, impaling the one in the front straight in the head while still being airborne.
"[Air Thrust]"
"Wait, Wait, I am still in range! I am still in range!" Lett jumped ahead, the body of the monster exploded as various wind blades started to expand in various directions to decimate the others nearby, turning the whole area into a bloodbath.
"Stop fooling around and cover me."
"You aren't done yet!?" Lett questioned as he noticed the rock serpent monster still intact.
"No, and we are running out of time before-"there was another earthquake, making the swordsman scowl. "This isn't because of him." He commented, as this tremble was once more work of the Dungeon, but this was stronger than before.
"Shit." Tione muttered as she noticed that the monsters that started to spawn out of the wall were black. "Abnormals." She stared at her sister. "Go and help Raul with Bete, quick!'' She then eyed the swordsman, who was touching the monster with his free palm as if looking for something. "You can't deny that you aren't related all you want. But if you want to get out of here alive-".
He interrupted, or to be more specific, he snorted.
"Do you find this whole situation funny, asshole!?" She approached him with clear intent in forcing him to take her seriously, but a quick move of his blade millimeters away from her neck stopped her in her tracks.
"Don't put me and my partner in the same league as you lot. If you aren't in the loop then you could at least go and earn some time while I put an end to this. So stop pretending you are in control and go kill some monsters, that is if my partner is kind enough to leave some to you." Tione gritted her teeth as she managed to catch a glimpse of a slight smirk under his cloak, and the fact that she looked to the side and saw his partner fighting the abnormals along with her sister didn't help. "This isn't over."
His smirk remained as she took out her daggers and joined the fray. "So original." He raised his punch, a red energy surrounded his whole body before he started to punch the monster's body, tearing it apart with ease unlike when Bete had tried before.
"You're pretty good!" Tiona swung her Urga to decapitate a monster, but the Abnormal Lizardmen managed to raise its shield and parry, not noticing a small figure rushing from below and slashing its legs with two daggers. "What Familia are you from?"
"Not telling!" Lett quickly jumped from behind the monster and planted his hand on its head to then descend while slashing its throat. "[Demon Fang!]" Let shouted after landing to send a blue fang projectile to another abnormal Lizarman, but it wasn't strong enough to make it lose his balance as the attack was blocked by the shield.
"Mine!" The Amazon took the chance to slam her weapon into the monster, forcing it to fall back the moment her knees made contact with its shield while putting all her weight on them and quickly stabbed its head as they fell. She then quickly backflipped to avoid a Barbarian's mace, leaving Lett the chance to run up and jump to stab both of his eyes out.
He then quickly let himself fall to slash both of its knees as the monster screamed in pain at its sudden blindness. It fell on its knees while still trying to swing the mace. But Lett easily avoided them and targeted the Barbarian's elbows, making it go completely idle as it could no longer move any of his limbs, his roar continued, and then it was silenced swiftly as the daggers impaled its throat.
"Hey, that was my kill!" Lett complained as Tione Hyrute retrieved her weapons before the monster faded.
"Consider it a team effort." Despite saying that, there was a deep scowl on her face.
"Let her, apparently someone got rejected." Tiona said teasingly, guessing her 'interrogation' didn't go as planned.
"What the fuck are you spouting you bitch!?" her anger was genuine. "I only have eyes for my captain!"
"But he doesn't have eyes for you." Tiona sighed in fake depression, her sister on the other hand growled before she sighed seeing there were at least five more abnormals charging at them.
"You wouldn't happen to have more of those magical knives, right?" Tione asked Lett, who in return smirked behind his mask as he pulled a pitch black one this time.
"Get together as many of them as you can!" Lett ran to the side while Tiona did the same in different directions.
'I think you should tell our companion to refrain himself.' The swordsman continued punching the rock, his objective so close by. 'I am almost done, Tenebrae. Besides, what's the worst he could do?'
"Tiona, send it to your right!" the older amazon shouted, she quickly jumped and held the barbarian by the horns to lift it up and threw it a couple of feet forward.
"Ok!" She swung her Urga upward to break a Lizardman's defense and then quickly used the other blade of her weapon to propel herself and kick it in the chest, successfully sending it to where other monsters were lying.
"We are done!" the older Hyrute shouted while turning to see Lett avoiding the attacks of the three remaining monsters while being chased.
"Got it!" he charged in the direction of the knocked down monsters as the rest chased close behind him, just like he wanted.
'Oh, I don't know.' Tenebrae's sarcasm was evident as Let used one of the heads of the fallen monsters jump high in the air. He spun around while being airborne and then managed to turn around to throw the black knife on the ground. How about making a hole straight into the floor above?'
The swordsman froze mid punch as his eyes widened, he quickly turned around to stop his partner, but the deed was already done.
"[Execution!]"
A black glyph formed below the monsters before a pillar made of darkness shot itself up, erasing the monster in an instant, as it did the ceiling above.
"Ooooooh!" Tiona clapped like a small child that had just seen a magic trick, meanwhile Tione just looked on with a pondering look. She had asked Lett to use it to see what else those knives were capable of, her captain and Riveria would certainly be interested in them and their capabilities.
'And I will most likely be praised.' Her inner fan girl screamed, but it was quickly discarded as she internally sighed. He looked at Lett, who seemed more approachable than his partner. If Tione played her cards right, she could get the method or the name of the person who made those knives out of him.
"You fucking imbecile!" However, it seemed like she would never get the chance.
"What? What did I do?" Lett actually recoiled back at his partner's sudden rage. "All I did was get rid of the monsters!"
"And making a hole in the ceiling in the process!"
Lett looked confused at him, not really understanding the issue. His partner's next words made Lett freeze in his place however.
"He's right above us!" Lett's eyes widened behind his mask. His body trembled in instinct as he looked up, a figure descending unto them.
Couple of minutes ago
'Is it just me, or is this underwhelming compared to the Goliath?'
'The Goliath did seem a little more vicious.' Drake answered Guy's inquiry as he zigzagged to the side to avoid a road of spikes sent his way. Now that he pondered about it, compared to the Goliath's fight, there were a lot more handicaps.
The Goliath was far more mobile and the room, although big enough for the fight, wasn't comparable to the size of Udaeus boss room; especially as the black skeleton seemed to remain in a single point.
'There are the Spartois though.'
'Yeah but,' he looked at the side to see a green blur shattering skeletons with grace in every swing of her wooden sword. 'Then there's her.'
The stubborn Elf didn't say a word the moment the Monster Rex appeared, clearly angry at the blonde for following such a vague leak. But she still decided to help him by dealing with the mobs.
'Too flashy for my liking.' Luke stated, being the least appropriate to speak seeing his main element was lightning. 'Also, you do know she's sending a glare at you every time she can, right?'
He was aware.
Drake was now at the monster's arm length, making Udaues slam both of his arms on the floor to surround itself with a circle of spikes. He quickly backflipped several times as the circle started to expand through the whole floor, killing some of its own spartois in the process.
"There will be nowhere to run at this rate." Ryuu appeared behind him once he stopped. He held his blade with both hands and slightly raised it up and then brought it back to the level of his hip. Ryuu stared with widened eyes as his body became surrounded in black energy, as did his katana seeing the whole blade changed to the same color.
"[Void Wave]" he pushed his weapon forward and unleashed a beam of darkness that tore apart a way in the incoming spikes and managed to hit Udaeus on its chest, but not enough to crack it.
'Performance issues?' Zelos teased seeing as that Arte could have broken through Udaues ribcage were it at full power.
'Don't want Ryuu to see too much, nor the Dungeon to get bitchy if I decided to make things easier.' It was in that moment that he really missed Tsubaki, seeing as he didn't have to hold back anything with her.
'Not that it matters.' He jumped high in the air and turned his body to gain momentum as his black blade became engulfed with fiery energy.
"[Destruction Field!]"
He slammed his blade on his ribcage, causing an explosion to take place as the clear sound of cracking reached his ears and Udaeus fell on the floor, making the whole floor tremble in the process.
"Look out!" He didn't have time to register Ryuu's words as the Elf herself tackled him off the Monster's body seeing it moved its empowered fist to try and land an attack on Drake.
"Recklessness aside," the Elf said after both managed to land a couple of feet away behind Udaeus. "That stunt left the crystal completely exposed. Let's just finish this-"
Her words were interrupted as Udaeus, even if it was knocked down, slammed both of its hands into the ground, making it so more spikes in wall formations came at them. "They are not big enough, jumping above them should be possible."
He internally nodded as both jumped above the spikes and noticed that the Monster Rex was not only already on its 'feet', but also that its left hand was moving as if it was about to reach for something.
And then they saw it.
"Unbelievable." Thought the stubborn Elf to herself, her eyes focusing on the handle of the giant sword that was coming out of the ground and was consequently pulled out by Udaeus.
At this point, there was a slight scowl on her face knowing full well the blonde was giving her a look that said 'Apologize to Bors later'.
However, all thoughts became naught as Udaeus turned with a full swing of its sword.
And a deafening silence took over both as it swung. Ryuu, being more sensitive to sound due to her ears, was very susceptible to it. Her senses became distorted, but the next thing she noticed was that she was being held while laying on the ground.
Her eyes widened as she looked back to see the blonde, a slight scowl in his face, his scarf gone.
Realization hit her as she looked up to see his scarf carefully wrapped around her waist.
'It all happened so fast.' He must have realized all of her senses were a mess thanks to the sheer intensity of the attack and quickly pulled her towards him to embrace her and take the attack… her face started to turn red in realization of how grave the situation was for her.
"Whatever fantasy it is you are thinking of, put a pin to it. Here it comes." Her eyes widened as she noticed he was not only standing up, but also retrieved his scarf without her noticing it. So, she did as told and rushed to the opposite side while he did the same to avoid the full force of a vertical attack.
"You must be really delighted to know the rumors were true ." She noticed the expression in his eyes from afar, they were anything but happy.
'… don't tell me he's disgusted by making contact with me.' In her thoughts, it should have been the other way around. But no, it wasn't that. His eyes didn't reflect disgust, rather it almost looked like anger.
"There's something happening on the floor below." He replied, and instinctively moved to touch his scarf, where the wound on his neck was supposed to be. "And I can't help but keep having a feeling of déjà vu."
His eyes narrowed at Udaeus. He needed to finish this quickly and check what was going on below them. "Udaeus is more focused on me, and his chest it's already exposed. Let's take advantage of that."
She got his plan and stayed back a little as he took the front, a road of spines coming his way from the Monster Rex.
"I don't have time for this." He channeled his Aura into his legs and pushed forward with his blade in front. "[Super Sonic Thurst!]" the sheer force of the attack managed to pierce through the spines. But it could only carry him so far before he started to lose his momentum, forcing him to side step a good distance and notice there was a big shadow looming over him and getting smaller by the second.
The blonde didn't think twice, he lifted his blade above in horizontal position to then quickly put his fist behind the blade's dull part in order to receive the full impact of Udaeus sword. The impact generated a massive shockwave that covered the whole room.
"… Now would be fine!"
Ryuu Lyon jumped high in the air, her Alf's Lumina pulled back and then back onward at full speed. But her instincts screamed; something, for some reason didn't feel right to her as she continued her way. And it looked like she wasn't the only one.
"From below!" his shout made her snap. She forced her body to seize her movement by shifting the position of her weapon and then swing it as hard as she could to counter her previous direction before a pillar of darkness broke through the ground and into the ceiling, missing her by just a few feet.
'Just what's going on down there?' she asked herself as she managed to land gracefully back on the ground. However, it seemed the pillar of darkness had managed to weaken the floor's nearby structures, seeing as the floor below her started to break apart. it was too late for her to react.
What happened next was beyond her comprehension. Ryuu looked at the blonde as she fell, his eyes widened as he looked back. He quickly punched the back of his blade with his left hand.
"[Beast!]" the impact of the attack generated by the attack followed by the black energy dragon that shot off his fist was enough to knock back Udaeus's sword and even the monster itself as Drake quickly turned around at max speed and rushed to where the hole was to then jump over it and grab the Elf's hand before reaching the other side of the edge.
"Got-" He stopped mid-sentence. No, it wasn't because the Elf was giving him an unreadable expression while her face had turned more crimson than ever before. The feeling he got in his gut was going beyond déjà vu as he looked down past the blushing mess that was Ryuu Lyon with his glowing eyes, a very familiar Aura signature down below him.
"Ryuu," the Elf's heart skipped a beat the moment her name was pronounced with such focus and seriousness. "You can berate me all you want for making direct contact with you twice, later."
She realized; he knew about the elves' dislike of direct contact. Well, given the circumstances she was willing to let bygones be bygones and-
"But I am going to drop you now."
'… eh?' Just as before, his voice left no room for doubt, especially when he let go of her hand.
"What's going on down there is more important, I am counting on you." He saw her fall as the Dungeon started to show it's presence by already closing the hole to the floor below. His eyes locked with the Elf's one more final time, her expression even more unreadable than before.
'… one thing's for certain. She's absolutely pissed.' Guy stated the obvious, in a clear intent to lift the mood with no real success in that department. 'You are actually taking him being alive rather well seeing as you didn't head there immediately.'
"There are still things I don't know about the Dungeon. I can't risk it for Udaeus to do something that might affect the floor below." He stated out loud as he recalled Bors saying it could be possible for the Goliath to break through his floor and into Rivira if the monster remained at large for too long.
It was a risk he wasn't willing to take.
"I am gonna finish this quickly." He finally let a portion of his Aura run through his body more quickly as his shadow materialized next to him. Several Spartoi started to spawn from the ground, but it didn't matter.
"[Demon Fang!]"
Twin waves of energies ran in a straight line, wiping all the spartoi in the way as Drake and his Shadow took posture to perform [Void Wave] each.
"We have more than enough time." He thought out loud, seeing that Udeaus was preparing to do another horizontal swing. But the attack the duo was performing was already midway-
"[Void-]" his body froze, his pupils became dilated as a sudden headache invaded his head. Karma for what he did to Bete Loga, probably. But now wasn't the time for that, especially since it looked like his Shadow was going through the same thing if the noises of complaint were something to guide himself for.
The former Noble looked to the side, still having in mind that Udaeus was in the middle of his attack. But what he saw made him forget all focus on what was important, and replace it with mild annoyance.
There was a very familiar person where his shadow used to be standing.
"… What the fuck are-" his sentence died down as the person in question quickly crouched to perform a sweeping strike on the blonde making him fall on his back right in time to see Udaeus's Black Sword striking down on the position he had just stood on as he fell.
Several explosions started to occur around the blonde. The familiar sound of Arte spells being casted reached his ears as several bones flew above him, signifying the destruction of several sparois around them.
"Geez, bud." Drake's eye twitched in annoyance. "I know I am awe inspiring, but that doesn't give you the right to lower your guard like that!" the person standing in front of him with a wall of fire behind him offered a helping hand with a smug smirk on his face.
"Don't you fucking call me bud. And how the fuck did you make it out of my soul, Zelos?"
The Second Guardian simply smirked as the blonde took his helping hand to properly stand up.
"That's easy, Drakey." His smirk remained as both quickly made a back side kick with enough force to push back several skeletons jumping through the flames before both stood back-to-back. "I am just that awesome. Now," his light blue eyes became slit and turned orange, an Aura of the same color wrapped his body as his grin was replaced by a cold gaze.
"Zelos Regulus Wilder, ready to wreak some havoc."
AN: I forgot to add in chapter Seven from which game of the Tales Of Series each of the brothers come from:
Lloyd Aurion and Zelos Wilder: Tales of Symphonia
Yuri Lowelll and Flynn Schifo: Tales of Vesperia
Luke Fon Fabre and Gailardia AKA Guy: Tales of the Abyss
Jude: Tales of Xillia 1 and 2.