I hadn't let myself rest for long only pausing to apply an antidote and drink some water. The rumbling of the dungeon was getting louder the more time I spent there, I didn't think it was a good idea to stay long.

It is in a bad mood…

I can see that already, if you don't have a profound secret to share keep silent.

The sky god's pact weakens

Sky god? Ouranos… He holds back the Dungeon?

I continued extracting the magic stones of monsters and packing aside the occasional drop item as I questioned the surprisingly helpful evil voice in my head.

He placates it with his prayers…

It almost sounded appreciative of him, odd considering how much it hates everyone else on the surface.

…

The creature went silent at that.

Oh? No response to that?

The blissful silence held.

I picked up the last drop item on the ground, it was a crest like rigid piece of cartilage. It looked like it would've fit on the giant serpent. This must've been the worm well crest Fels had been talking about, they'd said they could get it themselves but since it was a somewhat rare item, I'm sure they won't mind me giving one to them.

Checking over my gear one last time I got ready to head off. The 37th floor was dangerous enough already, hanging around when the Dungeon was prissy was asking for trouble.

With a dash I sped back up. My course was set on the exit of the 37th floor. It was inside one of the five rings of the floor often called the Throne Room. The monster rex that was supposed to be here, Udaeus had been defeated two months ago by a familia the Guild had sent on an expedition so that room should be clear.

That didn't mean the way to the room was clear though. The Dungeon had just sent a monster party my way, but it had also been constantly spawning monsters along the way.

I avoided monsters where I could and killed where I couldn't. My footsteps thundered and occasionally my sword whistled through the air as I had to defend myself against the scattered monsters. Werewolf like monsters, skeleton sheep and other common monsters like that appeared along the way but were easy to defeat scattered as they were.

I avoided eating magic stones as I ran, I didn't want to sheath my sword to do it until I was in a safe zone. I still had to go through the 38th floor until then though.

Though considering it wasn't all that different from the 37th only being a slight bit larger it should be fine.

As I dodged another volley of spears and arrows made of bone, I had the realisation that this really wasn't fine.

The 38th floor, despite being quite similar was perhaps even more violent. An entire floor filled with nothing but peluda; red furred, bipedal monsters called barbarians and legions of spartoi.

On its own completely fine, not much more difficult than the previous floor. That is of course… so long as you had a large party to fight with.

Being by myself in an open cavern against a semi coordinated monster force. That made this floor a whole lot more of a mess.

I kept running around stomping the smaller groups of monsters to lessen their numbers. Skirmish tactics. Run in, kill the isolated group and run right back out.

Back when I had my powers it was a tactic I rarely used, simply because of how cape fights worked in most circumstances you wouldn't harry your opponents instead aiming to demolish them with a decisive strike.

I had to admit that there were also my own personal biases that demanded I end fights quickly, but I had to adapt as needs be.

There simply was no way I could destroy all these monsters with a decisive strike. I simply didn't have the crowd control necessary.

So I kept running around using positioning to my advantage to destroy outlying monsters before escaping again.

Suffice to say it was taking a while.

In that moment, as I was busy crushing the skull of a barbarian, I saw cracks appear all along the floor and monstrous roars filled the cavern. Another wave, just as I had finished dealing with the last one.

This wasn't going to work. If I kept killing at this pace, I would be here for days until I finally wiped out the last bunch.

I glanced at the abnormally large stalactites hanging from the ceiling. I wasn't sure how strong the structural integrity of the Dungeon was and definitely didn't want to end up summoning the Juggernaut again but dropping one of those things might end up being my only chance to clear this place out at any acceptable timeframe.

As I deflected another bone arrow I made my choice.

If reasonable means cannot bring victory, unreasonable means must be taken.

…

I think I'm kind of heading towards the self-justification thing a little bit with this one so I'm going to set some rules.

Okay, unreasonable only to a certain extent. Wanton destruction of environments and plans risky to my own wellbeing, yes.

More… unsavoury things, such as extortion, blackmail, torture and almost all the other things on my old rap sheet, no.

With those rules set I decided to execute my plan.

I crushed the spine of another peluda with an axe kick and ran away as I thought of the most important question.

Namely: How?

The stalactites where high up in the air, maybe up to fifteen stories up. Not exactly jumping distance.

Could I climb the walls? Not with the spartoi and peluda shooting at me.

Simply running up the walls was also out, they were too smooth with not enough texture for my feet to keep grip as I ran.

I could create a smoke screen with the smoke bombs and then run up as far as I could. After that transition to climbing up instead.

Hmm…

It would do.

After one last thrust through the brain matter of a barbarian I sheathed my sword and got a handful of black orbs into my palm. Smoke bombs made by Fels, they exploded and spread smoke rapidly unlike the smoke bombs I was used to, and the smoke itself was as opaque if not more so than the ones I remembered the troopers carrying.

They were fairly small, so I managed to fit four into my palm.

I got a running start and with a flick of my middle and index fingers threw the first bomb towards where the wall and the floor met. A popping noise later a large cloud of billowing, black fog appeared.

Without a moment's hesitation I ran straight through. Arrows and javelins along with quills followed me into the smoke but they were inaccurate and scattered. Good.

Right as I was about at the wall, I threw the second bomb upwards towards the wall. With the popping noise as my signal I leapt upwards and once my feet found the wall kept pushing myself upwards.

I needed to be fast, the smoke was heavier than air and wouldn't stay around for long up here. So I pushed harder even as my feet began to slide wasting momentum. I threw the second to last bomb as I continued to ascend but right as I entered the third cloud I began slipping.

With a muttered curse I clawed into the wall with my fingers and feet.

My pace slowed but I kept climbing up by throwing myself upwards and constantly stabbing into the walls. I left deep gauges as I travelled upwards, but my pace was far too slow. Carefully cradling the last bomb was slowing me down.

I released myself for a second and threw the last bomb. It impacted against the ceiling providing me my last bit of cover.

I pushed myself to cover the last bit upwards. I saw the smoke clearing as I finally got to the ceiling.

I hoped I was too high for the monsters to shoot but I was proven wrong as a hail of quills barely missed me.

Taking that as my que I jumped towards the nearest gigantic stalactite and gave it a full power kick.

The stone shattered and a terrible groaning noise came from it, but it didn't fall just yet. Landing on another stalactite I pushed off towards it and kicked again. This time it came loose with a tremendous rumbling.

Jumping back up I latched onto another stalactite and watched the fruits of my labours.

The stalactite fell speeding up as it did so and finally crashed down onto the mass of monsters. A dust cloud exploded out of the crash and the entire floor shook furiously. I watched with grim satisfaction as more and more monsters were crashed under car sized chunks of stone scattered from the first impact.

Of course my satisfaction couldn't last long because I heard a very specific noise all around me. Stone cracking.

I gazed up in horror and my premonition was proven correct. The other gigantic stalactites had cracks along their bases from the shockwaves caused by the first.

Oh no.

I watched in horror as one fell, and then the other, and then the other. A series of earth-shaking explosions and an artificial earthquake caused by my hands turned the floor into mulch with monsters scattered in their entirety.

Thankfully the Juggernaut's recognizable screech didn't come.

Hopefully no one above felt that.

Ryuu Lyon the Fairie Serenade

As I rolled to a stop after having to desperately dodge another draw of the sword from Kaguya I rose with my new temporary longsword in hand. But when I finally managed to get my eyes back on Kaguya, I saw her standing still concentrating on something.

"You feel that?" She asked me.

I shook my head I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary.

Right as I was about to answer her it began.

An earthquake. Not a major one but still one nonetheless. The shaking passed quickly and truthfully speaking if I hadn't been paying attention, I probably wouldn't have felt it.

"That's odd. You don't see earthquakes much in Orario." I spoke.

Kaguya nodded as she tried sheathing her sword with her silver arm only to miss the sheath as she had changed its side.

She still hadn't managed to fully get used to using her left arm as her main hand even after all our spars. It hurt to see it, but I swallowed it down, Kaguya would hate it if she realised.

Kaguya sheathed her sword correctly and our spars for the day ended there.

We had been doing these spars precisely to combat the issue. Normally Kaguya didn't much spar with me, I wasn't sure if she considered it counterproductive since she also thought me her sword style or whether it was for some other reason but in this instance, she didn't have much of a choice.

Alise and Lyra were too busy trying to deal with the Guild and the yet to be revealed objective of our expedition whilst also preparing magic items, potions, food and water and other necessary equipment for a deep dive.

With Celty… no longer with us a lot more of the administrative work had fallen onto Lyra, who was barely managing without her help.

Celty who had been the smartest of us all. Celty who'd kept filling in missing details and sharing specks of information that had saved us on more than one occasion.

Gone now, with no fanfare at all. Slaughtered by a monster unlike any we'd seen.

And I hadn't managed to do anything about it.

"You wanna break that sword you idiot elf?" Kaguya's voice broke me out of my thoughts and in shock I let go of the creaking hilt of my loaned sword.

There were finger marks on it. Great, that's another five thousand valis to repair the damages. Lyra's really going to shout at me…

I hadn't even managed to decide on whether to have my sword reprocessed or to hang it by the shrine yet. If I broke a loan sword before I even commissioned a new one I'd really be in trouble.

I shook my head and stood up to my full height and sheathed my own sword.

"It can't be high level adventurers going at it in the Dungeon, right?" I asked Kaguya with a bit of trepidation in my voice.

Kaguya rolled her eyes.

"Maybe if it was ten years ago with Zeus and Hera around, you saw how monstrous Alfia was, imagine a familia of her and all with the same mentality as their crazy goddess."

I felt a shiver crawl up my spine. But a thought did stop it Miss Hebert was probably one of them too, she wasn't really all that… insane so most of them probably weren't that bad.

Still if only one in ten were like Alfia had been I could see them constantly shaking the city, especially with how they were often said to fight with Zeus familia over petty reasons.

I'd heard there had been an instance where an executive from Hera familia had attacked one of the Zeus executives for winking at another woman.

Shamelessness like that combined with a short temper and immense strength beyond any modern adventurer but the strongest of our generation the Warlord…

Back then quakes like these had most likely been commonplace.

"Then it's either natural or something is seriously wrong in the Dungeon." I commented.

Kaguya stretched her arms and yawned slightly.

"Either way, it doesn't matter to us. Let's call Ne-" Kaguya halted her speech the moment she realised her misstep.

I didn't bring attention to who she was trying to call. Neze and Kaguya hadn't been particularly close, but Neze was the one who often managed our patrol schedules so Kaguya and her had often spent a lot of time together.

Another missing piece in our lives.

"Let's talk to Lady Astrea about heading into the Dungeon for some money, we'll need more if we don't want Lyra to faint from stress." I tried to keep the conversation going.

Thankfully Kaguya was fully alright with playing along despite the anger I saw on her face. A face framing two bloodshot dark magenta eyes. She tried to hide the tear marks along her face every morning she woke up, but I saw them.

Kaguya hid her feelings, that was simply how she was. Her past had thought her to not reveal her feelings, to hide away her thoughts but she felt as raw as any of us.

I hadn't been strong enough to defend our friends… So I needed to be strong and compassionate enough to help my remaining friends.

Just as we walked out the training ground of packed dirt in the middle of our home, I heard the door to the outside being thrown open.

It was thrown back shut and finally after a few loud breaths I heard something. "Damn it!" Alise swearing silently to herself.

All colour faded from my face and a cold shiver passed through me. This was going to be bad if even Alise was like this.

I sped up my steps with Kaguya fast on my heels. I finally peaked into the entrance hall and saw Alise throw herself at Lady Astrea, who caught her in her arms and patted her head.

Not in itself unusual but the silence from Alise was. This was really bad.

"The Guild has finally issued us our quest." She said once she separated herself from Lady Astrea. The totally serious tone in her voice was like iron scraping against iron to my ears.

"We are to head down to the 37th floor and-" She began but my mind was sent reeling.

37th? But we've already made it past there. Even if our Familia ranking had fallen with only four of us left, Guild missions didn't work that way, they were rarely so allowing. Was it a mapping mission? That we could do.

But if it was what my instincts already knew it was… We…

"-kill Udaeus. We have three weeks to prepare and then we need to descend."

We can't do this.

After another day's rest and eating all the magic stones I'd hoarded up until that point I had been fairly refreshed and cautiously optimistic about the rest of my journey.

After all I had specifically prepared my clothes and equipment for the place I was going to head into the last stretch of my journey. An area like some sort of imitation of a primal planet where lava flows freely, and the walls and floor are all burning red hot.

The very air is hostile to the point that adventurers under level three have to wear salamander wool clothes like my tabard to merely stay alive in here. Though of course with the heat protection elements salamander wool offered it was recommended gear regardless.

When the werewolf woman that served as my unofficial advisor heard I'd been going down here she'd mentioned salamander wool with a faux dispassionate voice. I'd decided to take her advice and was very glad I had.

Because even with the exotic qualities of the cloth I wore it was still hot! Hot as the hottest summer day. That alone wasn't something I couldn't deal with but with everything in these floors being actually fairly strong it was wearing me down.

Speaking off…

A high-pitched whining screech warned me, and I jumped to the side to dodge a spray of high-pressure lava fired by a rock monster with a gaping "mouth" and a singular crystalline eye.

Taking care not to step into the places where the cooled lava was too thin, I dashed towards the tall humanoid frame made of rock aligning my sword with the cracks in its form I thrust precisely shattering its chest and ripping out the magic stone with a flick.

By the time I'd done that another five of them appeared from inside the lava running through the river I'd come across. According to Fels the crystals I was supposed to gather and the adamantite they wanted were abundant inside a side cave near the end of the basin this river poured into.

Once that was knocked off my list, I'd only need to find some spiders down on the next floor to kill and extract a silk gland from and then my job was done.

Still with the way these floors were fighting me I'd be here for a while yet.

Leaning back to dodge another pressurised beam of lava heralded by a high-pitched screech I dashed towards another monster pushing myself to my limits, trying to figure out my strength.

My leg came around in a spin kick shattering its guarding hand before I finished it off with a flourish from my sword.

As I'd thought, the best way for me to learn how to properly use this sword was experience. I was getting better and better at moving it around. More precise thrusts, faster recoveries, the occasional redirection of blows…

I'd been trying them out as I went and my skill with them was only getting better. I was not a professional or even all that skilled by far, I'd rate my skill a two out of ten. But two was already enough to hold my own against these sorts of monsters.

…Even if my regeneration was the only reason I wasn't covered in scraps and cuts from accumulating injuries.

Even then I avoided the was majority of blows, I was quick on my feet. Even if my skill with my sword was lacking my regeneration along with skill at dodging and footwork was enough to carry me through the trials of the Dungeon.

Though as I barely avoided a swinging fist only to get caught on the shoulder by another, I had to somewhat reconsider things. With an axe kick the reinforced heel of my boots crushed another monster's head and I dashed backwards to dodge a lava beam aimed at my torso.

Even the common low-level encounters of this floor were starting to wear me out.

I spun my sword around to direct an encroaching slam to the side and spun to land another kick to one of the remaining monsters. I managed to shatter the torso, but not destroy the core. I had to retreat to avoid a charge from the last one.

My clothes were getting more and more damaged and as I went longer my regeneration was also noticeably slowing down. Perhaps the heat was to blame?

I wasn't sure.

I charged forth to stab into the wounded rock creature and flicked out the magic stone turning it into a pile of ash.

One last monster left. It charged at me with speed far beyond its cumbrous frame and threw a wide hook. I stepped inside its guard and dipped under the blow only to thrust my sword into a crack in the stone.

As the monster exploded into ash I took a deep breath.

The last one had left behind a drop item some sort of crystalline orb, supposedly their eye. I chucked it into my backpack and gathered the magic stones before following along the river to my destination.

I sheathed my sword and began snacking on the stones as I travelled.

With the way things were going I'd need to start using the nanothorn knife. Not something I wanted to resort to for obvious reasons. The knife didn't have much time left, my efforts at cleaning it were ineffective and repairing it was beyond hopeless.

There weren't exactly tinkers running around in this world. The smiths I'd gotten my weapons from might be able to do something… not likely but if I wanted to keep the thing around and functional rather than as a memento lying on a shelf somewhere I would probably have to risk it.

I saw another group of monsters spawning up ahead. A bunch of those goat things, having seen how they work I'd bet a massive horde of them was nearby. Better keep a low profile.

I stepped away from the river and tried to hide myself among the jagged rocks and gauges in the floor. It was very uncomfortable, especially with how hot the ground was but I wasn't one to shy away from a little pain if it came to staying alive.

I felt a moment of panic as one of the goat monsters turned towards my hiding point and began sniffing the air but just as it began to get closer another of the monsters shouted and dashed off somewhere. Following its instincts the overly curious one also went away.

I let out the breath I was holding and stood up.

Thank whoever is watching out for me up there.

I had fought against those things only once. They weren't particularly strong but had some way of communication over long distances and roamed around in hordes numbering in the hundreds.

That is to say, once I get back onto the surface I'm eating as much lamb as I can as payback. They had become one of my most hated monsters because of just how much of an annoyance it was to fight them and watch them summon more and more of their kind faster than you could kill them.

If this floor had some terrain features, I could use to kill them en masse, I would've probably been fine with them. But without those or magic to annihilate them with explosions they were hell to fight. Utter nonsensical bullshit.

No way am I ever fighting them again unless it's absolutely necessary.

As my impromptu rant about the goats came to an end I finally reached the basin of lava I was searching for. The cave I was supposed to gather crystals and adamantite from was barely visible to the side.

Time to get to work. Though I'd only brought a small pickaxe to dig through to the adamantite so this might take a while.

Ais Wallenstein Princess of Battle

"Hup!"

A slash came from my newest borrowed…

Yes, borrowed blade. I'd give it back once I got back up.

A slash came from my newest borrowed blade and cut apart the minotaur in my way bisecting it neatly despite its size being at least five times my own.

I quickly ripped out the magic stone with another borrowed knife. Since I'd broken the last sword, I had Riveria had… grounded me and taken away even my carving knife.

But that was fine, the familia armoury was easy enough to get into if you could bend the Damascus bars over its window and knew when no one was around it.

I took the magic stone of the minotaur and its left-over horn to and stuffed them into my backpack. If I left even a scrap of evidence behind Riveria would catch up to me and scold me before I managed to get to my objective.

A green Dragon. A rare Dragon in the Dungeon that sat near a hoard, the strongest monster in the 24th floor. I had to kill it.

I'd hit another roadblock in levelling up, even the Great Feud hadn't taken me to level 4 yet. I needed to kill more, exterminate more evil and get stronger.

My teeth grinding against each other I threw myself into another mass of monsters, I needed to move fast so avoiding them wasn't an option.

"Tempest." I chanted and the winds came.

My mother's winds tainted by my filthy soul. The slightest black tinge to them made me sick to my stomach no matter how much their touch brought pleasant memories.

It took less than a second for the monsters to be annihilated. I swung, stabbed, slashed, crushed, kicked and bit until they were all dead.

Wait…

I wasn't supposed to use Ariel! Riveria can sense it!

No! No! I need to go faster, before she catches me and takes me back home again!

I forgot!

I knew a faint worried look had taken the place of the cruel fury that had been there moments before, but I couldn't care about either of them. I quickly smothered my magic, Ariel.

Then ripped apart the monsters messily, I knew I was wasting drop items and magic stones but money wouldn't be a problem if I managed to get to the green Dragon and killed it. I could just buy more blades with its hoard.

The pitter patter of my feet carried me along the Dungeon, and I made the noises Loki told me to make if I was trying to get somewhere fast.

"I'm late! I'm late!" I muttered in a monotone.

I wasn't sure it would really get me there faster, but Loki said that that line always brought good fortune.

"Hup!"

"Eyup!"

I echoed as I jumped along.

Hm…. Loki wasn't tricking me with this right?

She wouldn't… probably.

Jumping down another shaft between floors I finally arrived at the 17th. I immediately brought up my sword in case Goliath was alive but only saw that the entire room was wrecked with Goliath's wall crumbled.

Someone must've killed it a day or so ago. Shame, I would've settled with fighting Goliath even if it wasn't a Dragon. The money would've been more of a problem, but it would've eventually worked out.

I reached down to drink a stamina potion as I entered the Under Resort only for my hands to grasp nothing.

Uh oh.

I glanced down at my belt dreading what I was going to find. "It's not there…" I muttered.

I'd forgotten my potion belt back home. I glanced towards the way back home debating whether to go back for it or not. But the sound of a flame storm burning through the upper layers echoed all the way down here.

It convinced me to keep going and ask for Riveria's forgiveness later.

The scolding would be about the same regardless. So long as I win…

I sped up again running through the 18th floor I saw a group of dwarfs recovering from their wounds off to the side of the entrance, relatively nearby but far enough away to be safe.

Hmm…

Sorry Riveria.

I turned in their direction and ran at their camp. I saw them panic and rise to arms so I said what Loki told me to say to announce my presence peacefully.

"I have come for parley!" I declared with the exact tone she used.

The dwarfs looked at me tensely.

Did I screw it up?

"Sword Princess? Loki's doll?" One of them muttered.

I wasn't a doll despite how short I was, so that nickname had never made sense to me.

"Three days later and another weird lass visiting us, eh?" Another complained.

Another weird lass? I wasn't weird, just different.

I was the only one that had realised no hero was coming for me.

"Sorry, if Riveria passes by here can you tell her I'm heading down to the 30th floor?" I asked them.

"Nine Hells? Sure lass but you sure you can head down all by your lonesome, if she's coming after you wouldn't it make sense to go with her?" The oldest looking one asked. I discretely looked away.

"Oi you do have your Familia's permission, right?" The leader like old dwarf asked.

I felt a drop of sweat fall down my forehead. Uh oh, they know.

Knowing I was defeated I ran away. Hopefully my diversion would still send Riveria away.

"Hup!"

I jumped away and continued my journey to the green Dragon.

I'd kill it and get stronger. I'd kill until I could destroy the source of all Evil. That accursed Dragon that took my mother and killed dad.

Spiders.

Large spiders, large spiders with red and purple colouring. Large as in quite large.

I saw them exit out of a cave clearly filled to the brim with webs. If Fels hadn't told me to exclusively take the threads from inside the spiders' bodies I would've just gone ahead and took those. But I had to go and kill the spiders to extract their silk glands as a drop item.

Just one should be enough but I'll kill this group in its entirety regardless.

I drew my sword, got into position…

And the moment one of the spiders passed a threshold I burst forward going at my maximum speed.

Just as I was about to hit the spider in between its head and torso where the magic stone should be it abruptly turned towards me and blocked my blade with one of its scythe like front limbs.

It was as fast as me. For now.

I abruptly cancelled my attack and tried to make some distance only for the spider to follow me right to the boundary. I thrust forward and stabbed into its carapace covered front legs but my sword didn't pierce properly.

My thrust had been uneven. I wasted momentum. With a swing of its entire body the spider shook me and my sword off, I let myself be flung away and spun through the air trying to get a visual on the other spiders.

The other two had also taken notice of me and were heading here with all haste though I had a few seconds before I had to worry about them.

Good. I shook of my backpack slung it onto my arm.

The moment my legs touched the ground I dropped my heavy backpack onto the ground. That should speed me back up.

I pushed off again heading directly towards the deformis spider.

It anticipated my move and raised its forelegs threateningly. I let myself fly towards it regardless and prepared myself for it to strike.

A swing came from the left leg, and I deflected it into the ground with my sword making a horrible screeching noise. Using its own limbs as a stepping stone I bashed its head in with a kick breaking its fangs and cracking the front carapace.

I kept kicking over and over again until the damned thing stopped moving. I heard the clack of eight legs on stone and barely managed to jump off, even then it nicked the side of my chest.

The razor-sharp limb cut straight through my surcoat and padded shirt and slashed through my flesh. Ignoring the pain I kicked the other coming limb away and sheathed my sword as I flew.

Kill it

Fine then, best not get too fancy with these bastards. I drew my nanothorn knife and flicked it on. It made a concerning noise and took a second longer than usual for the cloud to form but it was ready before the other spiders' rush reached me.

I stood my ground and waited for the first one to get close. The moment it was in range it screeched and tried to jump on to me.

Devour it

I breathed in deep and swung the knife straight through with a dash forward. The spider's exoskeleton split like water the moment the cloud touched it. I kept going until the spider was evenly split into two.

The halves flew away showering me in their gore only to turn to dust the second they touched the ground. Leaving me drenched in spider ichor. I hope I hadn't destroyed the silk gland.

I saw the last spider strike at me with its fangs but without my heavy backpack weighing me down and hindering my movements it was more than easy to dodge backwards and to the side. My knife flashed by and all four of its right limbs were cut off unceremoniously.

The spider fell to the ground unceremoniously struggling to move.

Hahaha! Crush!

My right foot came up.

And down.

Up.

And down.

Shaking the ground with each stomp until the entire front body of the spider was nothing but paste.

More! More!

I reached in and tore the magic stone out the corpse leaving it to turn to dust. I bit down on the palm sized magic stone and licked up some of the ichor over my fingers whilst I waited for the ash to disappear.

There. A silk gland. I picked it up and got back to my backpack and the remains of the first spider.

Tossing the silk gland into the backpack I ripped out the other magic stone as well. Feasting on it shortly after. I shouldered my backpack again as I licked my fingers clean of ichor.

Finally time to go back. Something felt off though.

I couldn't tell what. I licked another splotch of ichor off my hands.

Let's see the brilliant sky again

Ais Wallenstein the Black Flame Wind

"Etesien!"

Winds smashed into the errant breath of fire granting me another moment to breathe.

I kept shouting out the names Loki had given my techniques, but they didn't seem to be improving. Or maybe I was just too weak for the improvements to be noticeable.

The green Dragon was right in front of me, but my slashes and cuts did nothing against its hide, level three wasn't enough. I still couldn't gather enough Wind quickly enough to pierce its scales. If things went on like this…!

No! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

I had to kill it, no one else could do it for me! No one will help me! I have to be strong, I have to be strong enough to be my own hero!

"Hmph!" I vocalised as I dodged into the monster's guard desperately avoiding getting nicked by the green scale covered talons. But it left me open to a strike from its maws.

"RAGGH!" A war cry tore itself from my throat, of the types Riveria would call unsightly and Gareth would often laugh at.

My sword whipped about scraping against the jaw of the Dragon. Sparks flew off but the sword did little damage, thankfully I managed to shut the jaw closed.

"Pelér!" I intoned again and kicked just like Finn taught me to, by spinning around my other foot and coiling my leg back to thrust it forward. A technique that gave up reach for power, developed for his own fierce fighting style.

Passed down onto me so I wouldn't get myself killed. But this wasn't merely the imitation of Finn's technique, my mother's Wind followed in the wake of my foot drilling into the throat of the beast.

Finally blood spilled a portion of the scales around the throat were shorn out and a cut in the thick skin of the monster appeared. Not deep enough to reach the magic stone inside the throat. But a start.

However just as Finn had warned me it left me open. I saw the tail before it hit me and managed to get my arm in its way and call upon Ariel to shield me before it hit.

"TEMPEST!"

It was barely enough. The Dragon said to be on par with a level four hit just as if not harder than the strongest level four. I was sent flying like a ragdoll with my left arm almost useless.

I screamed in pain but kept my eyes on the monster as it spread its wings and took off. Before I even landed, I could see it coming back around for a dive attack. Flames spilled out of its eager snout.

I felt myself sneering the black flame inside of me roared. I felt fury infuse every cell of my body.

That accursed skill on my back, Avenger burned bright. It's dark flames tinting my mother's Winds grey.

I roared in response to the Dragon. I WILL KILL ALL EVIL!

My certainly broken left arm stretched back to give me balance. And then my left leg traced a line on the rough wooden floor.

I had one technique I had developed just recently It would tear apart my body if I used it, Riveria had forbade me from using it until I mastered my own Wind for that specific reason.

But even if I still only used Wind borrowed from my mother, even if those Winds scratched and battered at my frail body, they still had power! Power enough to overcome this thing!

Even if my disgusting Avenger tainted them grey the still could rip at this thing.

The Dragon flapped its wing once again gaining yet more speed, it had almost become an indistinct green blur to me vision, but my right arm trembled in fear and excitement as it drifted towards where I should attack.

Finally the beast wrapped its wings around its torso and stretched its talons towards me. It gained one final burst of speed, and I finally uttered my technique's name.

"Lil Rafaga!"

Wind roared around me wrapping in its crushing embrace cutting at my limbs and squeezing my organs before it blasted me towards the Dragon in tandem with all the strength my body could muster.

My blade honed by my obsession burst forth at speed greater than even my enemy's speed. It was abnormal.

An attack that surpassed my level.

I aimed it right at the beast's throat where I could punch through the weakened spot.

We both roared at each other as our blades neared. I was faster, I knew I would be able to avoid the talons and strike at its throat.

…

That would've been the reality had I been fighting anything other than a Dragon.

I saw it lift only one of its wings slightly making its entire body spin rapidly. A talon crashed into my sword and the Wind blocking their path continuing to spin it dragged me along and launched me away.

I couldn't do anything in my shock. It was then that I remembered.

I wasn't fighting any other monster. I was fighting a Dragon. The greatest and most terrible type of monster. Not merely the strongest type, but also some of the smartest.

Smart enough to recognize techniques and adapt to battlefield conditions rapidly.

I'm a fool. I knew I couldn't be a Hero… but I guess I couldn't even be a proper warrior.

My back hit a tree and blasted through it.

Then another. And another. And then another dozen.

I cried out in pain as tears filled my eyes. Once my back finally hit the solid ground, I forced myself to stand and bear my sword against the apex predator of the Large Tree Labyrinth.

I saw it coming towards me to make another pass. I directed my sword at it fiercely only to notice that it didn't extend beyond the hilt.

My eyes widened as I saw the snapped blade of my borrowed weapon.

I seethed in anger. "Tempest!" I called upon the wind again; my mind was running out. I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up, but I needed to finish this even if my body was broken and everything hurt beyond reason!

The wind formed into a blade at my command, and I raised it defiantly staring at the beast's intelligent and malicious eyes.

Sorry mom, I don't think you daughter is strong enough to save you. But I'd rather die trying than waste away waiting for a Hero that won't come!

I swung at the incoming Dragon, the Wind extended beyond the blade's original reach and tried to saw into the incoming form of the Dragon.

It wasn't enough.

The scales held and my enemy didn't even slow down.

I see. I'm sorry Riveria, Gareth, Finn, Loki… I wasted the opportunity you gave me.

I continued staring defiantly at the beast knowing that I was milliseconds away from death.

I gulped down one last breath.

The talons descended towards my defenceless form…

But right in that second a shape appeared. Indistinct and blurry because of its sheer speed it crashed into the Dragon sending it flying away.

I saw it crash through the forest just as I had knocking down trees on the way and finally causing dust and wood splinters to fly everywhere with its impact.

The blurry figure finally cleared up enough for me to see as it fell down next to me.

Black curly hair, brown eyes with a deep-seated tiredness in them, a wide mouth set into a soft frown. A thin frame corded with athletic muscle revealed from cuts in her battle clothes.

My eyes widened in recognition.

An arm was missing, and she was covered head to toe in monster blood, but it was without a doubt her!

"Khepera!" I shouted out her name, and her head almost snapped directly at me.

There was a horrified and confused look in her eyes. Combined with…bloodlust?

"Khepera!" I heard the girls shout and it made me snap my eyes directly to her.

That name…

The one the woman with the hat had called me.

How did she know it?

No that woman had called me "Khepri". Close but not exactly the same. Who the hell did this girl mean then?

I had no time to ponder that question as something much more concerning locked onto the girl.

The girl and the wind gathering around her.

Aria!

It's Aria!

Aria!

The Wind!

Oh Aria!

She's here!

She can join me in my rot!

In my misery!

In my corruption!

The voice hammered constantly I bit into my tongue to keep myself centred.

Bring her to me!

"Ughn!" A choaked noise came from my throat.

My head hurt like someone had hit it with a hammer a dozen times.

I realised my hand was reaching towards the girl.

Like Hell!

With fury I bit off my tongue.

The taste of blood in my mouth and the pain of it gave me control for another moment.

The girl looked at me with confusion and hope in her eyes.

"It's you isn't it, Khepera!?"

The girl repeated.

The voice in my head cried out.

Fulfil my Wish!

Bring Aria to me!

Damn it girl, just get away! Please!

The girl, who must've been at most eleven years old glanced between me and the dragon that was starting to get up.

Her sword was broken, I noticed that. Yet for some reason she seemed determined to keep fighting.

If I could focus on fighting the dragon I could get away from the girl. I needed to move.

I tried to force my hand towards my sword still sheathed on my hip, but I couldn't get it away from the child.

Bring her to me!

I chewed through my cheeks and tongue, so much so that blood filled the entirety of my mouth.

The girl nodded her head as if she realised something.

"Khepera, you saved me. But I need to be stronger… If I ever want to save my mother, I need to be strong enough to destroy everything myself. I can't wait for a Hero like you to save me. So could you please leave this fight to me?"

Aria?

What the idiotic girl was saying shocked me so much I broke out of the state for a moment.

I stared into her little determined eyes, filled with a deep darkness. A darkness I remembered partaking in only once. A darkness called revenge.

She was insane, no other way to say it. Obsessed with something I couldn't understand. She began turning towards the dragon with her broken sword in hand.

I spat out a mouthful of blood to the girl's silent shock and finally managed to say something.

"T-take it." I managed to force out as I presented her with my sword. A shaky hand offered it to her hilt first.

The voice in my head screamed its heart out. But I suppressed it deep into my mind. I couldn't fight to keep her safe as I fought of the Master effect. So this was all I could do right now.

I continued to grind my teeth as I waited for her to take the sword.

She glanced worriedly at my face before nodding and taking my unique thrusting sword.

The little child stumbled towards the great green dragon with my blade looking massive in her tiny hands. I had to watch unable to do anything lest I end up delivering her to a fate worse than anything that dragon could do.

ARIA!

NO!

BRING HER TO ME!

Shut up. It's all because of you that that girl is in danger. Can't you see, she isn't the one you're looking for? She's barely eleven years old.

Ais Wallenstein Spirit Child

Step after step. My feet carried me forwards towards battle. The cuts along my body, crushed flesh, raw skin, splinters stabbed into my wounds…

All forgotten. All burned to ashes underneath the Black Flame.

I raised the sword I got from Khepera up to my face. Its sinister black surface shined with barely contained malice. I could swear I heard whispers coming from it.

I examined its unusual shape. It consisted of a central spike with two supporting edges to the usually flat sides of a sword. It could still be used to cut, and it would be quite effective simply due to the quality of the blade, but this weapon was made to thrust.

A weapon of elegant painless kills. It fit with Khepera, my mother's old friend… Who had disappeared in the Dungeon long before the Black Dragon came for us.

I had few memories of her, but I remember dad and mom always speaking fondly of her. I even remember them leaving me in her care for a few days when they had business to take care of.

She was cynical in a way that mom and dad weren't, cynical and realistic but determined to guide along anybody who would listen to her.

…

That blood coming from her mouth. I had no doubt that had it not been for whatever condition was affecting her she would've killed the Dragon in front of us herself. But no matter how much it worried me right now it was to my advantage.

I'll show her!

I'll show her that even if no Hero will come to help me, I can become strong enough to help myself!

"Awaken, Tempest." I murmured the chant of my spell.

Raging winds blossomed around me.

The beast finally rose to its feet and roared in challenge. Its wings were broken and the kick from Khepera had crushed the side of its torso.

I roared back and dashed forth.

I saw the swipe coming and jumped.

"Heyup!" I intoned as my feet landed on the talon. I stabbed into the limb with the malicious sword and the tainted Wind piercing through the scales easily. Blood spilled forth from the found coating my body with its warmth.

Avenger roared more and more as the battle went on. My strength was increasing.

I back stepped from an incoming bite and continued to harry the monster with probing thrusts.

I needed to target the throat. Knicks and cuts could only do so much.

I dashed back in avoiding first the claw and then the jaws trying to clench down on me. I roared inside my mind and dashed further into its guard to stab at the portion of the throat already stripped of scales.

Right as I thrust the onyx sword forward a telltale whistling noise warned me. I spun on one foot and pushed myself away only for the tail to clip me on my already wounded left arm.

I cried out as I spun but I bit the pain back and steadied myself. In that moment I saw talons heading my way. It was too close! I wouldn't be able to block or deflect so I needed to dodge forward.

I began dashing in towards the maws of the Dragon. Yet in that moment I heard something. A whistling noise.

A silver blur swung by my head and batted the talons away.

It was Khepera with that silver club that had been strapped to her thigh grasped firmly in her hand.

Grimacing I took advantage of the opening Khepera created with another technique.

"Levante!"

I thrust the whispering sword forward into the Dragon's jaw coiling the wind around it and then causing the wind to explode once it pierced through the scales sending the beast careening back.

"I don't know where you got this notion, that you had to fight all by yourself to win." Khepera began.

My eyes darted to her taking in the faraway look in her eyes. Blood still spilled from her mouth like an unceasing river dropping onto the wooden ground.

"But! No matter what you're talking about if you push everyone away! If you let yourself fall into that trap of isolation! You won't accomplish anything! There has never been a hero who achieved anything of note all by their lonesome!"

The strained voice of Khepera was haunted, as if she feared isolation. As if she had realised, she was also speaking from experience.

It sent me into memories.

"Ais… someday you'll have to fight for yourself. It might not be today; it might not be for dozens of years… But when that day comes, remember that there has never been anyone who achieved anything of note all by their lonesome!" Dad…

Dad had told me that when he had first read me the story of Argonaut. He'd told me that very story had been his greatest inspiration, the first light in his life.

In those tired, haunted look inside Khepera's eyes I thought I saw my dad for a second.

…I see.

"Then…" I began but stopped.

I let out a breath. I still needed to do this myself, even if it was with help.

"Then make me an opening." I finally managed to force out.

Khepera nodded resolutely.

"Tempest." I chanted once again, and Winds came stronger than ever.

I might've imagined it but even though Avenger was roaring with full force the Winds were a slightly lighter shade of grey.

The enemy roared once again and breathed flame at us. Khepera and I scattered into two different directions. The Dragon kept breathing after me but a ground shaking step later its mouth was forced shut curtesy of Khepera's plated boots.

She whizzed by without even slowing down for a second expertly avoiding a swipe from the monster. I didn't let the opportunity go to waste.

"Etesien!" I called out and sent a wave of wind towards the overextended form of the Dragon blowing apart its guard.

I dashed forward eager to take advantage of the opening, but a silent whistling noise stopped me. But this time I knew what it was.

I jumped over the lightning-fast tail swipe and let the ominous sword in my hands lash out at it. The malice filled sword pierced straight through and with a thought I made winds blossom from that point blowing apart the tail.

The Dragon roared in pain and threshed around spewing fire everywhere.

I saw my chance and began taking the necessary stance for my final blow even though I knew the monster wouldn't give me the chance.

I simply let Khepera give me the opportunity she promised.

A barely intact left talon began speeding up my way only to be batted away by a silver baton, milliseconds before it could hit me.

I knew it.

"LIL RAFAGA!" I shouted out as the Winds intensified once more. I let them wrap around me in full and poured every little bit of my strength into the thrust.

I impacted the throat with shockwaves following after my trail. Yet my strike still didn't thrust completely.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"

I cried out as my Winds intensified pushing me forward inch by inch. It wouldn't be enough.

"TEMPEST!" I called for the Wind once again surging it forward. And finally in that one moment that swung between victory and defeat the flesh of the monster gave way. Corded muscle, bone and skin were all pierced straight through until my blade reached the magic stone and shattered it.

The monster exploded into ash immediately. I let myself fly through the sky with my momentum. In that moment I caught a glimpse of an incredulous smile on Khepera's face.

I did it, I thought as I fell into unconsciousness. But not before I felt myself be caught in the singular arm of Khepera.

An:

I am back with another chapter! This one has many set ups for future chapters along with a long series of battle scenes most of which were written to the back drop of Argo's theme.

Also Poor Astrea familia they just can't catch a break. As if the girls and their goddess don't have enough on their plates already now the Guild is getting on their ass.

But enough of that! For now Taylor adds another mistaken back story to her metaphorical Infinity Gauntlet. With her newest mistaken identity being the Great Spirit sent by Khepri to the mortal realm.

Also... Sorry Riveria you got butterflied into getting more grey hair.