The Fallen Argonaut
Rated; M (Blood/Gore)
Disclaimer; I do not own Danmachi or anything created by the author Fujino Ōmori, all rights go to him
Authors: Eli-er01 & ViceroyChalister
Summary: The will of a hero is strong, yet unwavering but all good things must come to an end, even at the cost of one's Heroic Will. Imprisoned and blamed for a crime he hadn't committed, Bell seeks a way out of his predicament so that he can live without fear of being hunted by the people he once looked up to.
57: Adaption
=The 50th Floor=
"How long until she wakes up?" A male voice sounded in the most violent echo Mikoto had ever heard.
The world was in complete disarray for one Yamato Mikoto. Her entire mind was in jumbles as she could barely string together coherent enough thoughts to figure out what was going on.
Where was she? Why couldn't she see anything? Who did those voices she keeps hearing belong to? What happened to her?
Questions that apparently didn't want to be answered.
Putting as much of her focus as she could to recall her last memory, she couldn't help but feel… helpless. Her muscles wouldn't move and her voice wouldn't respond.
What was the last thing she could remember?
Something… hurt. The last thing she could remember at all was… just pain. So much pain… in her head…
"It's hard to say… she took quite the hit." Another female voice… pubescent from the sounds of it, interrupting her thoughts yet confirming them at the same time.
Something had hit her… really hard... That's right… Harder than she had ever been hit before. She had never thought that kind of pain was possible but it apparently was.
Why had she been hit? Had she angered someone- no wait… something…
The monstrosity.
The memory began to reveal itself to her and she couldn't help but panic. Were everyone alright? Clearly someone… Welf or Bell-dono. She still couldn't place the voice but the thought eased her mind a bit.
A hand grabbed her wrist with two of its fingers pressing down onto her pulsepoint.
"Weird… her pulse is higher than before…" The pubescent voice said, whom she figured was Aralaya… she was the youngest healer in their party at the moment… Well, mage with healing magic.
"Body worn and tired, mend thy self, be made whole, and rise again. Balm Touch." Her entire body felt lighter as the pain in her head slowly went away. After a little while, a groan involuntarily escaped her mouth as she groggily opened her eyes.
She was instantly met with serene blonde hair and half-elven ears, a green light she was casting surrounding Mikoto's body.
"A…Aralaya?" She asked, wincing at how rough her voice sounded. The girl's eyes opened as a smile spread on her face.
"Good… I'm glad you're awake." She answered as she returned the smile, nodding the best she could without straining her neck.
"Well, would ya look at that. Sleeping beauty is back with the living" She wanted to laugh at the male voice that was now obviously Welf, her eyes shifting to him and that obvious grin on his face.
She wasn't prepared for the amount of bandages he had wrapped around his waist… or the fact that his entire arm was put up into a makeshift cast giving a clear indication of broken bones.
"I'm not that much to look at right now, am I? That damn Chimera gave me quite the beating. A single hit into my side and I was nearly a goner. Shit… just thinking' on it makes me shudder." She almost missed that grin as it disappeared, his face lowering as an almost haunted look entered his eyes.
"How… long?" Mikoto asked, turning towards Aralaya who tilted her head for a second before a tiny 'ah' came from her.
"It's been out for over a day. Would be two if you hadn't woken up until the morning." Mikoto nodded before carefully moving her arms, pushing herself up into a sitting position as Aralaya moved to help her.
Once comfortable, she looked around at her surroundings, taking notice of the cave she was in. By the exit to her left were their tents, clearly set up as a watchpost instead. Turning her head into the side to inspect the other side of herself and behind Welf were two bodies making her nearly freeze before registering the fact that their chests were rising and falling.
"Haruhime… Lili." she mumbled as Welf looked behind him with a sad look.
"They had it the worst… well apart from Jannor but he's up and kicking. Guess 'twin sis' here cares about some priorities." He joked as the half-elf sent him a glare.
"Hey! He may be annoying but he's still my brother… besides… he had been impaled." She mumbled the last part as Welf winced at the reminder. He had already been out for the count before it happened and it was understandable that she would have such a reaction.
Friends can become family with time but… family that's been there from birth… that's always stood by your side, especially a twin that took each major step alongside you will always be special. They are like half of your soul.
"Shit… sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate anything… anyway… These two have been going in and out of consciousness. Haruhime has been mostly confused while Lili won't stop asking for Bell." Welf said as Mikoto blinked.
"Bell-dono? What about him? Isn't he with the others?" Mikoto asked. She had figured that he was with Elora and Bache. Probably out on watch.
""..."" The silence was deafening as the worst possible scenario played in her mind.
"No… please… don't tell me he-" Her voice cracked and stopped working as she desperately clinged onto the last shreds of hope in her heart.
"We… we don' kn-"
"He's fine." Aralaya cut off Welf, quite loudly at that as the Smith glanced at her.
"Aralaya…" her first response to his tone was to shake her head before looking into his eyes, with a fire she had only seen in those unwilling to admit something.
"He's fine… knowing him, he's probably destroying his way through the dungeon trying to get back to us right now… most likely with no wounds at all." Trying to piece together the information she had just picked up, Mikoto looked down at her own lap.
Through the dungeon? Was he further below us? How did he get the- Right, the monster, or as Welf called it, Chimera.
"Is Bell-dono… down below?" She asked, wanting to confirm it.
"Yes… the thing… took him. How far? We don't know but… as far as we know… he could be just fine or…"
"No… he's fine." Now she understood. Aralaya was trying to cling to hope, hope that her father was alive.
In fact, she too would not doubt him. Until proven otherwise, she will believe that he is alive. Bell-dono has always done the impossible before, who's to say he can't do it again?
"Alright… are Elora and Bache outside? On watch?" She asked as Aralaya nodded.
"Yes, she is… well, Elora. Bache is sleeping in one of the tents alongside Adrienne and Rei." Aralaya answered as Mikoto's back straightened.
"Rei? As in… Xenos?" She asked as she nodded.
Without thinking, Mikoto jumped and pushed forward before quickly getting up and limping towards the tents, ignoring the pangs of pain that shot through her body, ignoring the worried calls from the smith and mage behind her.
As soon as she got to the tent Aralaya had motioned to, she opened it and peeked inside where she found two Amazon's and a very familiar Siren whose sharp eyes and beautiful features looked up at her in surprise.
"Rei-dono…" Mikoto mumbled as a smile spread on her face as the Siren quickly stood up with a wide smile.
"It's good to see you awake, Mikoto-san" Without hesitation, she limped inside and wrapped her arms around her, the siren reciprocating with her feathers enveloping Mikoto's body in return.
"It's wonderful to see you too, Rei-dono. What are you doing here?" She asked.
"We were searching for Asterius but his whereabouts have eluded us. All we know is that he was far into the deep levels and we happened to run into you all." Mikoto nodded at her answer before she noticed the siren's eyes looking past her.
Turning around, Aralaya looked at her with a disapproving look before shaking her head.
"You just got up and you're already straining your body!" She complained as Mikoto looked at Rei before turning back.
"I just desired to greet my friend," She answered back as if it made things better. A deep sigh exited the half-elf's lips as she shook her head in exasperation.
"Why do I even bother?" A few laughs were heard from that as Bache and Adrienne both woke up, greeting her too though quickly going back to sleep, clearly very tired.
"Hey, Adrienne?" Aralaya said after a moment before the amazonian opened her eyes again and turned to her sister.
"You do realize it was my turn to sleep, right?" she asked as the girl hummed, shrugging and going back to sleep, causing the wronged party to throw up their hands with a groan.
"Like I said, why do I even bother?" The group laughed at that before they decided to leave the two sleepy amazons while Rei decided to stay awake.
It didn't take long for Wiene to discover of Mikoto's return to consciousness and although she was ecstatic at the fact, she still felt somewhat down at the fact that Haruhime and Lili were still out for the count.
Elora, who had stayed outside as Wiene had headed inside, smiled at the group in the corner of her eyes while still keeping a lookout.
The elven woman couldn't help but want to be alone for the moment. After Jannor had truly woken up fully and eventually gotten more rest, her entire focus had shifted towards worrying for her husband.
Aralaya said that Haruhime and Lili will live with no permanent injuries, though they were incredibly lucky. Any more and they might have never woken up, or have been crippled for life.
The only unknown was Bell. She desperately hoped for his well being but the unknown was a frightening thing. How far had it taken him? The Glacier Territory? Not likely, he would have returned by now if that were the case.
The Scorched Hell? A possibility. It'd be a really bad situation, even for Bell to be solo on those floors from what information they had on those floors.
God forbid it took him into the floors numbering the 80's. The Oscillate zone was… it would be a disaster. Those floors were… well, if The Glacier Territory was Niffleheim and the Scorched Hell was… well, Helheim.
The Oscillate zone was both put into one, an amalgamation of the two mythological places.
Despite Bell's ridiculous power, that place was not somewhere a single person could survive on their own.
As her eyes turned to gaze out into the now dark nighttime floor, she couldn't help but pray for luck to be on their side.
=Floor 73=
The moment the rumbling subsided, panic set into his entire being. Without thinking, he sprinted forward, only to nearly trip as he stumbled over a rock.
Narrowly managing to stabilize himself, his remaining open eye closed as he labored his breathing.
'Panicking won't do anyone good here.' He reasoned to himself despite every instinct telling him to rush to his family's aid.
'What good will my aid do if I end up dead?' He asked himself bitterly before taking one large, deep breath.
He needs to calm down, reign in his emotions or he's without a doubt going to run into a trap set by the dungeon and end up as everyone else left stranded.
Dead.
Looking up, after a moment, he began limping forward again before trusting his senses completely.
As it turned out, those monsters on the walls were quite rare, but damn near impossible to spot. On his way through the passages, he encountered a grand total of two more of them, though due to him now knowing how they attacked, even with one eye and ear out of commission, he was able to dodge correctly to avoid the subsequent explosion and take them out.
Within what he guessed to be around ten minutes, the staircase to the next floor finally revealed itself to him.
It sent a sense of relief through him, knowing that he had one floor down for the count, but it wasn't lost to him that he was in fact in worse condition at the moment than he started. Sure, he could walk, but it was in a limp. His senses were partially compromised to a certain degree and he was thirsty as hell alongside a hunger pang or two.
Things were only going to get worse from here and he knew it.
'On the bright side… this should count as a great feat so…' He thought to himself, trying to lighten the mood without much success.
After all, what were the chances of him getting out of this alive?
Shaking his head, he began ascending the stairway towards the next floor.
Step after step, the sound echoed down the long staircase. The sound was almost deafening alongside the light breeze of scorching heat tickled his skin, trying with all its might to get past his skin.
As Bell found himself at the top of the staircase, Bell narrowed his eye in the darkness as he inspected the wide open floor. It was so close to complete darkness that he had true difficulty to make out even the smallest details.
If not for his enhanced eyesight, he would never have been able to find his way through this.
Lowering his head in thought, Bell couldn't help but ponder his options. Rest sounded divine right about now but… in all honesty, he didn't have the time or honestly option for it.
Although the dungeon was mystical and a malevolent entity, it had its similarities to the surface and mortals. One of them was the fact that the monster population dipped considerably during nighttime, similar to how at night, you don't see nearly as many people in Orario as in the middle of the day.
The monsters needed sleep as well after all, just like they needed to eat and drink.
So there were two paths set out towards him. One where he took the chance at resting but that came at the cost of lowering his chances of getting out alive due to dehydration or hunger.
Or he could take the chance at traversing the floor at night. The sun had just fallen judging by the fact that it hadn't been more than an hour or so since he entered the passageways so… it shouldn't be past 9PM.
Pondering for a moment, he almost cursed at the only viable option.
Looking forward, he began marching into the darkness, hoping that the chance he was taking panned out.
=Floor 50=
Things had calmed down after a while, Mikoto had gotten some food and had sat down next to Haruhime's unconscious form while slowly eating her fill. Elora could only smile in approval at her table manners even in a cave.
The only issue at the moment was her proximity to the tents. The ungodly sounds of snoring coming from someone (Bache) was making her head spin in annoyance.
Someone (Bache) just wouldn't admit that it was a problem and someone (Bache) was apparently incapable of listening to others sometimes.
Sighing at the next snore that she swore shook the ground around her, her amber eyes drifted outside into the dark floor.
"Elora?" The elf turned and looked at the dragon girl on the other side of the entrance with a smile.
"Is she always like this?" She asked as Elora nodded.
"That she is. Her snoring has been an issue for years and she just won't admit it." Elora's answer was followed up by another snore and another shake as Wiene turned and looked at the tent, a sweatdrop falling down her forehead.
"That's… alarming." Wiene's response was followed with a glance towards Bache's tent before another rumble was sounded, only without any noise apart from it.
Elora instantly snapped her head towards the woods, Wiene looking worriedly toward the elf.
"That… was not normal." Wiene mentioned as Elora shook her head, slowly getting to her feet, her hand on her sword's grip, ready to draw it at any time.
"Wiene, wake Bache. I'm going to get some higher ground." The dragon girl nodded, moving towards the tent as Elora quickly moved forward and began climbing the tree.
Once at the top, her eyes scanned the environment for abnormalities, locking onto a small patch of dust slowly dissipating maybe a few kilometers from their position.
"Elora." The elf looked down at the voice, meeting Bache's newly woken yet alert ones.
"There is something a few kilometers from here. There's a dust cloud that's not natural." The amazon nodded at the whisper.
"I'll move the others further back into the cave." As the words finished, the amazon disappeared before muffled voices from inside the cave were heard.
Looking back, Elora pondered her options. One, she could stay and defend, hoping whatever caused the dust cloud would pass them or she could investigate. Both had their merits but in all honesty… in their current state, it was probably more wise to wait it out.
Formulating her plan of action, she jumped down with graze before quickly moving inside the cave.
The entire place had come abuzz, Adrienne and Aralaya were helping Rei and Wiene move Haruhime and Lili alongside their sleeping bags they were laying on.
Welf, Bache and Let were packing up some supplies as Elora figured they were moving everything deeper.
"Bache, I'll get the tents. It's better to lessen the chances of whatever caused that dust cloud finding us, especially in our current condition." Elora told the amazon who nodded, seemingly agreeing with her reasoning.
"You're right, most of our party can't fight at the moment. Only you, me and the Xenos can put up any resistance." Let nodded alongside Bache's answer before Elora repeated the action, turning around and moving towards the tents.
"Something feels off…" Elora's ears twitched at Wiene's voice as she stopped, tilting her head to the side to listen in more.
"Yes… my feathers are standing on end… there is something not natural near us." Getting a bad feeling from the two's conversation doubled timed it and began disassembling the tents in record time.
Once done, she moved deeper into the cave which actually went a lot further than she had originally thought.
As she turned the final corner, everyone was huddled at the end of the cave, injured against the wall.
"How long should we be here?" Jannor asked, wincing slightly, his wounds healed but still hurting.
"Depends. Me, Bache and the Xenos will take turns to check the situation every two hours. We always go in teams of two, no one leaves alone." Elora answered as everyone nodded. After a moment, Aralaya moved up to Jannor who was holding his bandaged chest and allowed him to wrap his arm around her shoulder to support him.
"You need to be careful, your external wounds are well and healed, but not all the internal damage has." She gently chastised him as he smiled at his sister before glancing at Bache and Adrienne who both had similar looks as Elora.
"Okay… I'll try." he said as his sister huffed.
"You better."
Taking her eyes off her son, Elora looked at Bache who nodded at her before both turned towards the resident Siren.
"Rei, you said earlier that your feathers were standing on end?" The amazon asked as Rei looked a bit puzzled for a second before letting out a tiny sound of realization.
"Ah, that is right, and they still are. Whatever has arrived is not natural… if my instincts are serving me well, it's most likely an abomination" she answered as all awake mortal party members shared looks.
"Rei, Wiene, Let… I need you to listen to us. Do not under any circumstance engage that monster. If it's what I think it is…" Elora muttered as the rest of the party shuddered.
"What? Do you know wha-!" Wiene began asking before it hit her. Rei had always been much more alert than most other Xenos, which means she trusts her instincts without doubt. She described whatever has arrived on their floor as an abomination.
"Haruhime!" The sight of the blonde renard on the ground, bloody and looking like death itself caused something in her to nearly break.
"What Happened?" She heard Rei's voice as her sharp ears twitched in interest at whatever did this to her precious family. A red scaled face and a kind smile flashed in her mind.
"Some… Abomination…"
"Lili called it a Chimera."
"Chimera…" She breathed out as everyone nodded at the word uttered from her lips.
"... That's most likely what has arrived… but…" Elora flinched, turning her head to the side. Her fists went up to her chests as a horrible thought occurred to her.
"But?" Let asked as the elf ignored it. That thing was with Bell last… if it was here does that mean…?
The mere thought sent a violent sob barreling past her lips as Bache instantly rammed into her, enveloping her in a hug.
"Shh… Elora… don't think about that now. Like we said before, as far as we know, he's alive." The amazon tried to soothe the elf as the others seemed to pick up on what was going through the elf's mind.
"But…"
"No buts, he's fine. Unless we are proven otherwise with definitive proof, then he's alive." The conviction in Bache's voice was strong enough to calm Elora down as she nodded.
"Alright… he's alive… he's alive." They remained like that for a while before quickly getting comfortable.
This was going to be a long waiting game.
=Floor 72=
A common saying within the world for blind or deaf people was 'If one sense is lost, the rest try to compensate'.
It's something Bell is all too familiar with with the amount of reading he had done over the years. Plenty of books tried to explain the phenomenon with reason by asking the obvious question.
'How do our other senses improve when one is lost?'
The conscientious answer between the researchers of the world? Sensitivity.
Our senses are never at their peak performance at one time for a single reason. To not overstimulate our brain.
The brain can only take so much before it ends up just giving up and trying to 'reset'. This is the phenomenon known as mind down.
In a sense, our senses and magic may use two separate parts of our brain, but both still do the same thing at its base. Stimulating it.
Too much stimulation without a break or recuperation period will result in a 'mind down' and at the event of forcibly going past the limits due to a variety of factors such as adrenaline for example can result in a 'mind zero'. The extreme version of a mind down.
While the senses can't go that far, too much can still overstimulate and render one unconscious in a similar state to a mind down.
The issue arises when one of the senses disappears and creates a void in the available stimulation.
At that point, the rest of the senses try to compensate for the loss by increasing their output to use up that available limit of stimulation the senses are allowed to take up, leading to an increase in performance from our senses.
This is a phenomenon which Bell at the moment, wishes wasn't a thing.
With his heightened level 7 senses, this increase is monumental. Walking around in this darkness for nearly thirty minutes was a vicious repetition of paranoia for anything.
Every disturbance, every twitch or sound, even those ambient ones from the dungeon itself set him off.
The only reason he hadn't gone completely mad was due to him still being able to 'see' thanks to his ability to feel everything around him.
He had already passed several monsters that were sleeping, ranging between Desert Hyena's Kelubar's and Black Scorpions.
There had been maybe one or two awake monsters, but it seemed that their three dimensional awareness was without a doubt lacking. All he had to do was stay completely still and they'd walk right past him.
Their largest issue at the moment wasn't his wound, though still high up, but his sense of direction.
His senses could only see so far, meaning that when it came to navigating the dungeon, vision was without a doubt superior within this environment.
He had no idea if he was still heading in the right direction and only trusted his intuition and luck to lead the way.
It might not be the most trustworthy strategy, but it was the only one he had. After all, in his current situation, it was better than sitting in a cave and waiting the night out. Better use the lessened activity to his advantage.
He needed every single one he could get.
"Awoo…?" Bell froze as a shape on the ground next to him moved as his good eye snapped towards the location.
In the corner of the darkness, he could make out just a tiny bit of movement of what he guessed was the nose of a Desert Hyena.
He'd clearly been too immersed in his thoughts to notice the obvious heartbeat that was beating in its chest. The noise of it pounding in his ear alongside every twist of its muscles, every breath it took.
He entertained the thought of crushing it under his foot but quickly threw it out the window. That would make too much noise and attract all kinds of attention he didn't need… so instead he waited patiently as he felt its head looking around for the source of whatever noise he caused that disturbed it.
"Wooo…." It whined after a minute and laid its head back down on its paws. As Bell mentally sighed in relief.
Moving his foot forward, he carefully took one step at a time, making sure to make the least amount of noise he could.
Despite the near complete silence that emanated around him and the floor apart from the burning breeze, each step sounded like a giant's thundering movements in his ears.
God despite how useful his senses were, he really hated them at the moment.
One thing he was thankful for was the fact that he hadn't run into a canyon yet, which was just a stroke of luck and perhaps a bi-effect of his intuition working with it.
Everytime he even felt the slightest desire to change directions slightly, he did.
He could only hope his luck would stay that way.
=Floor 50, a few hours later=
Bache and Wiene silently walked out of the cave, looking for a moment before feeling content at the fact that nothing was watching them.
"I'll get a bird's eye view, why don't you make sure nothing surprises me?" Wiene asked the amazon who nodded in confirmation.
"That sounds good. Be careful though, it seems to be somewhat close by since I can feel its presence. It's without a doubt that damn monster we fought earlier." Bache suggested as the dragon-girl nodded, quickly using her claws to scale the tree faster than either the mortal first-class adventurers could hope to achieve.
Monsters in general focus their power differently than adventurers after all. They aren't locked to a specific set of increases to a single stat per level. Instead, a single monster's abilities might have difficulty even scratching a level 2, but its defense is impermeable to anyone below level 3.
Adventurers have the edge of 'Exponential growth'. Monsters have the edge of 'Specialization'.
Wiene's specialization? Agility and Dexterity.
While she might be a level 5-6 in estimated power, her speed and agility might match even that of a level 7 if not 8. For what she gained in speed and dexterity, she lost in strength and endurance.
Her claws allow her to do more damage than she should be able to do, but the fact remains. Due to her heavy specialization in Agility and Dexterity, a single hit from a level 6 or a few from a level 5 would without a doubt kill her.
As she reached the top of the tree, she focused her draconic eyes as their slits tightened together, making her sight incredibly sensitive to and hyper focused on the tiniest details around the morning lit floor.
Looking around, her entire body shuddered as she spotted the tiniest movements between the trees, perhaps a kilometer or so from their current position heading towards them.
From what she saw, it was the shape of something she had never seen before but the taiga trees and branches were blocking her view of it.
Deciding she had gotten the information she needed, she jumped down, slowing her fall just before she landed with her claws, she instantly turned to Bache.
"It's close. Maybe a Kilometer from us straight in that direction." Wiene reported as she pointed towards where she saw it.
"Okay, good. Anything else?"
"Yes, we might have to be more careful. It's getting close, and currently heading towards us. It might have picked up on our scent." A curse flew out of Bache's mouth at the news.
"Shit… Okay, we can't head back if that's the case. Let's try to lead it to a different location." Bache's suggestion made Wiene skeptical but despite that, she knew it was the most logical choice. If they headed back now, they might just lead them back to the others… including the injured Haruhime and Lili.
While Haruhime had awakened recently, although weak, Lili was still without a single sign of when that was the case for her.
"Okay, where?" Wiene asked as Bache hummed.
"Perhaps… There was a large pond on the western part of the floor that I discovered before we headed deeper. We might be able to lose it by taking a dip, masking our scent." That… actually sounded possible. By taking a dip, their scent will be temporarily overtaken with the smell of the water, allowing them to quickly lose whatever was following it.
Wiene should know, after all, it has happened to other Xenos who were following a scent before.
"That might actually work…" Wiene hummed as the amazon nodded.
"Well, if you don't have any better ideas, let's go!" The dragon-girl yelped as she felt the amazon grab her arm, hauling her along with her as she began sprinting in the direction she gathered was west.
Bache intentionally rubbed her arms and palms alongside trees here and there as they went to leave a clear trail of scent. What would be the worst scenario at the moment was losing it and instead picking up on the others.
=Floor 50, Cave=
"Haruhime, please, you have to drink." Aralaya complained as the renard tiredly leaned her head back with a tiny whine.
"B-but I already did…" Her voice was weak, clearly not having much strength in it.
"You barely took a single gulp. You haven't anything in a day. You need to get at least a few deciliters to compensate." The half elf pressed, pushing the water bottle closer to Haruhime's mouth, only serving to make the renard more avert to it.
"Haruhime-dono, please. If you don't drink, you won't recover as quickly. Down here, a quick recovery is key to survival." Mikoto chimed in, making the renard hum slightly before letting out a resigned whine.
"O-okay…" Slowly turning around and weakly reaching out and grabbing the bottle, she carefully put it to her mouth before taking slow gulps, almost puking every single time.
It took a minute, but eventually the entire bottle was empty as the bottle dropped to the ground while the blonde furred woman put a hand to her mouth, green to the face.
"Keep it down, Haruhime-dono. It's for your good!" Mikoto instantly jumped forward, trying to help her in any way, just not knowing how.
"If I may suggest?" The eyes of the three turned to Elora alongside the rest around watching the exchange.
"Close your eyes and focus on something else. Perhaps someone close to you? A loved one?" Aralaya and Adrienne instantly smiled as they knew what she was doing while the rest, especially Welf, looked completely lost at what she was trying to do.
Haruhime frowned for a second before suppressing a hurl, but relenting and closing her eyes.
Someone she cared about? A loved one?
Bell.
Without her consent, memories of the short time they spent together back before the banishment swirled through her mind, laughing and good times alongside the bad.
"Seems to me that you're feeling better." The words snapped her out of the memories as Haruhime's green irises turned up towards Elora who had moved closer and gotten down on her knees to the renard's sitting level.
Blinking, Haruhime looked down before realizing that the nausea was barely noticeable, only a slight itch in the back of her stomach.
"W-what… What happened?" She asked as Elora chuckled slightly.
"It's funnily enough something Bell taught me." The mention of the boy made everyone who didn't know the story alert. Rei's back straightened, Let's cap tilted upwards as his ears sharpened. Welf leaned forward slightly.
All eyes were on her as the elf smiled at the memory.
"It was back when I was pregnant. I felt like I was going to hurl every minute and I hated it. It felt like it would never end and naturally, I let my frustrations out on him." A snicker escaped Adrienne as Elora gave her a stink eye.
"I was very small then but… I still have a memory of you chewing him out after he brought you a remedy you asked for, saying something like-" The girl cleared her throat before straightening her back and putting on an angry scowl.
"Who said I wanted that! I didn't, so why did you bring it? Are you an imbecile!?" The words caused Elora's ears to burn bright red in embarrassment as Bache had pointed out earlier her mistake. She had honestly felt really bad about it.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group burst out laughing while Haruhime giggled in slight coughs.
"Anyway, I think he was getting enough of me complaining so he told me to close my eyes and to think of someone I loved. Of course, I thought of him and within a minute, the nausea calmed down and I felt… good. After that, I asked him why he didn't tell me about it earlier… turns out the lovable dork didn't know if it'd work or not due to it being his grandfather that taught him that." In a way, Elora could understand him. Zeus was most likely not the most trustworthy source in the world with all his spewing of a and she quotes:
'A MAN'S ROMAAAAAANCE!'
Yeah… that was not someone to take advice from. Thankfully, this was one of the times the man gave Bell good advice.
"It's quite the useful thing to have though…" Mikoto commented as Jannor nodded.
"Yes, it was really useful during our training." The boy responded, raising a few eyebrows in his direction.
"Ehm… what? What do you mean? What did he do now?" Welf asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"Well… there was this one time we had to swing this huge sword for the entire time without rest at a certain pace. Halfway through, I think Aralaya puked…" The girl glared at her brother with half baked venom.
"Do I need to remind you how I only did that because you covered me in yours?"
"Eh? I don't remember that part." The two just stared at each other as Adrienned hummed and thought about it.
"Wait here a second… wasn't this that day you both puked over each other at the same time?" That instantly shut them up as Welf burst out laughing.
"Wait, you puked on each other?" He asked as the two instantly went red in embarrassment, similar to how Elora had before.
""We blame dad!"" Both said at the same time as Adrienne instantly shuddered as if on command.
"Yeah… I agree with Adrienne… that is creepy." Welf said, his laughter dying instantly.
"Right!"
As the conversation continued, Elora glanced at the two Xenos smiling at the exchange before frowning. Turning around, she stared at the passage leading out of the cave.
"Hey… why can't I feel Bache's or Wiene's presence?" She asked. The entire cave went dead quiet as everyone instantly went alert.
"You're right…" Rei answered at the clearly missing presence. They weren't supposed to go too far so the fact that their presence was gone was alarming.
"Let… Can you keep watch?" She asked as the Xenos met her eyes and nodded.
"Rei, come with me. We're going out to look for them."
"Mom… Please come back..." As Rei moved to Elora's side, the elf looked at her son with a small sad smile.
"This is the dungeon, that's all we can do." She hated that she couldn't give him- no them a promise.
That was just the reality of the dungeon. You never knew what would happen or how dangerous it would be. Promising such a thing would only lead to broken words.
Jannor nodded before sitting down.
"Yeah… I figured that's the case…" He mumbled before looking back up at her, smiling at her the best way he could.
"But I believe in you… so… I believe you will come back, just like dad will." That smile, the confidence in the words uttered, oh how it reminded her of her husband.
She believed in him without a doubt… but she was somewhat of a realist. She knew the chances were miniscule… yet she couldn't help but be dragged in with his hope as her smile turned genuine with that small tiny hope catching aflame in her heart.
"Alright… everyone, protect each other." She finished as everyone nodded before Elora and Rei rushed off, leaving the rest of the group in the cave.
…
"Mmm…" All eyes instantly shifted towards Haruhime for a second, only to notice that her green irises were intently staring down to her side, eyes wide in surprise.
"Lili-sama?" The question from the renard seemed to stir her a little more as the prums head shifted to the side, her eyes squeezing time and time again before slowly, her eyelids opened.
The first thing that met her was Haruhime's tired face, smiling down at her.
"Haruhime-sama?" Her question sparked a nod from the Renard before the prum's drowsy eyes shifted to the side, seeing the others present.
"Let-sama?" She croaked out as she blinked, confused for a second before the Xenos nodded.
"That is correct, Lady Lily." He nodded towards her, causing a tiny sigh of relief out of the prum.
"What… happened?"
"The thi- no, Chimera as you called it crushed your inner organs. You were very lucky we were able to recover it all. If we'd been any slower at healing you or it had done even a little more damage…" Aralaya answered honestly while trailing off. The unsaid words hung in the air as Lili gulped.
So she'd have been dead if her deductions were correct. Either that or crippled in one way or another. It sent a chill down her spine she hadn't felt in a very long time, the feeling of helplessness, of weakness. The very same feeling she'd felt before Bell…
Closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, she tried to calm down without success. She hated this feeling… she truly and utterly abhorred it… but she couldn't deny that it was a wakeup call. For a long time, she'd felt somehow safe with going into the dungeon.
She has good friends, a good and capable party, gotten stronger and had a stable position. She'd allowed herself to get complacent and this is what it led too.
Herself in this pitiful position…
Her arm unconsciously moved to cover her face as tears pricked at her face, her teeth clattering together as she tried to fight back the urge to bawl her eyes out.
No one said a word as the silence stretched, the only sound being strained sobs as the mood in general took a nosedive. It had been something they all had thought subconsciously, but thrown into the back of their minds since they didn't want to confront it.
Lili's outbreak only forced those very thoughts to resurface in vengeance.
Moments passed before Adrienne opened her mouth, her voice escaping as all eyes turned to her.
"Maybe we sh-"
*BOOM!*
The entire cave shook as everyone moved to grab something, while Haruhime threw herself over Lili, not wanting her hurt after just awakening.
"What… in god's name was that!?" Jannor exclaimed, his ears twitching, trying to pinpoint any source of origin as every one of his senses were sent into overdrive.
"The origin seems to be outside." Mikoto said with a sweatdrop rolling down the side of her face.
"Lady Mikoto is right… and Lady Elora and Lady Rei just left… I do not like this." Let's words froze everyone as they glanced at one another.
One singular feeling went through the camp at once as they all cursed its very existence.
Indecision.
=Floor 72=
As the floor's lighting slowly got brighter, Bell silently cursed and thanked whatever existence decided to act.
Morning had arrived, marking his third day down in this aptly named hell, and it was without a doubt the worst possible way to start the day.
Surrounded by monsters after having falled down a damn canyon. He was positively sure this was the last time he would trust his luck and intuition to that degree. Well, to be honest, he had been using them as a crutch for the entire night. Sooner or later they would not be correct.
As a pernicon that had been stationed at the wall of the canyon made the first move, Bell leaned to the side as he put his hand up right as the pincer moved by it, redirecting the attack upwards slightly, just enough to impact straight into the leg of a Desert Hyena.
Without a single break, he pushed his right leg hard against the ground, forcing his body backwards, impacting the ground and sliding on his back right under a Black Scorpion.
Putting his good hand against the underside of its body before it could react, he pushed hard enough to send it flying before maneuvering onto his feet.
A screech was heard as his Intuition screamed at him.
Without thinking, he drew the spear of Orion and threw it hard as he turned around, impacting the flames of a Desert Wyrm, smashing through it before completely impaling and obliterating it and anything behind it.
"Alright… minimal movements… gotta preserve energy…" Bell mumbled to himself. Without having gotten any sleep, he knew that energy conservation was key for him to keep running.
Wait for the monsters to make the first move, use single movements to cleanly and efficiently take out one or more preferably, multiple opponents.
Twirling his body as he dodged a ball of white flame from a Kelubar, he quickly moved right behind a Desert Hyena as another ball of flame shot towards him.
Just before the magic hit, he moved out of the way as another Pernicon tried to use its pincer on his back, leading to it being engulfed in the Kelubars attack as well.
Lastly, if he can, turn the monster's attacks into his own advantage.
A small smile took its place on his face as he palmed the side off a black scorpion's stinger with his good hand, pushing it to his left side, intercepting a Kelubar's claw and subsequently poisoning it.
One kick later, Bell shot forward, leaping over the monsters before holding out his hand, recalling his spear just as he landed and letting the monsters get completely eviscerated as it flew right back into his hand, destroying anything in his path.
*Ching*
Bell flinched as he felt a slight sting on his right leg before shoving the shaft into the assaulting grasshopper monster, turning it into dust. Guess he missed one.
Shaking off the slight sluggish feeling from its paralytic poison, he glanced behind him, not even blinking at the demolished environment.
The spear of Orion truly does live up to its name as a divine weapon.
He'd say that the entire battle was a pass on his energy consumption. He didn't waste a lot, but there were definitely a few places he could have done better.
Perhaps-
Bell couldn't help but hum as an idea formed in his head as he looked at the spear in his hand.
What if he called the spear, but didn't actually grip it and instead let it keep its momentum? Wouldn't it just… keep going in the direction it was heading towards?
Keeping that thought for later use, he mulled over whether to collect the drop items and magic stones or leave them.
One one end, these drop items were something not seen since the time of Zeus and Hera familia's and thus worth a lot. That wasn't what was making him consider it. It was the fact that the purpose of them trying to go as deep as possible was to one, see how far they could go and two, build their reputation.
To do that, they needed proof, and what better proof than drop items from the Scorched Hell?
Contemplating it for a second, he decided it was for the better and walked back and began collecting.
At the end of it, he found one Desert Wyrm Scale, two Desert Hyena Fang's, one batch of Black Scorpion Venom and lastly, three Pernicon Pincers.
It didn't take more than a minute to collect it all and at the end of it, he had collected proof of his achieved floor.
Turning around, he began walking towards the wall and without hesitation began scaling it, careful not to use his still injured hand and to not strain any previous injury.
Better let it heal while he can.
As soon as he reached the top, he dusted himself off lightly before swiping away some sweat from the heat.
Taking a look around, he noticed a large open area ahead where the canyon's thinned out. A place that could only be the beginning of the open part of floor 72.
Humming, he couldn't help but take back what he had said about his luck and intuition. It had led him in the right direction, and even allowed him to gather proof.
Now he only had to survive to tell the tale.
Without further ado, he began the trek forward, wanting to finish the floor by the end of the day, wishing for no more surprises.
…
Far from his position, at the edge's of the 70th floor, the walls of the dungeon hummed, soon ready to unleash the true meaning of the Scorched Hell.
=Floor 50=
The moment Rei exited the cave with Elora, her feathers immediately stood on end like never before. Whatever that monster was, it was close…
Shooting up into the sky, she scanned the environment with her eyes that allowed her to detect even the tiniest of details.
This… Chimera was clearly very adept in blending in with its environments whenever it so desired, to a point of complete and utter camouflage.
It was something she had never seen before from any monster and she and the other Xenos had been as deep as the 80th floor. Whatever it was that allowed it to do such a thing, was probably from a monster even deeper. Perhaps the 90th floor or below?
The thought did not sit well with her. She was about to head back down before she picked up on some movement between the trees.
Focusing on the location, she spotted a blur of pale skin and long silver blue hair.
"Elora! I spotted Wiene to the west!" Rei called not too loudly as the elf's ears twitched at the noise.
"Got it, heading there now." Was the immediate response before she shot forward, Bell's sword, Lunastus drawn.
Similarly, Rei flapped her wings hard, pulling forward like a bullet to the wind. The Siren turned and shifted in the air as Elora followed along the Xenos.
Rei's eyes kept track of the movements Wiene took, getting a few glances of Bache in front of her here and there.
'Where are they headed?' Rei asked herself, before she spotted what was most likely their destination.
"A pond… are they-?" She mumbled as Elora hummed, the near silent noises still picked up by their sensitive hearing.
"How close?"
"Just a little more…"
Dodging a few trees and bushes, Elora finally came through the treeline revealing the pond that was mentioned, and at the edge.
Within a split second, a fist appeared before Elora's eyes as she instinctively shit her arm up, redirecting the attack straight to the side of her face as a small cut was made on her cheek from the force.
"Elora?"
"Bache?"
Silence stretched for a second before a sigh of relief came from the amazoness, Wiene looking somewhat disheartened.
"Sorry… we didn't know if it was you Elora…" The dragon girl apologized as the elf nodded.
"Don't worry, but why did you run here?" she asked, the question seemingly obvious but still making them turn and look at each other.
"The Chimera picked up our scent, we wanted to lose it through dipping ourselves real fast." Ah, that actually made some sense, the concept was a bit unorthodox but used by hunters fairly often to not attract predators or sneak up on prey.
"Oh, well at least it's good to know nothing really bad happened… Now, let's do that. I don't wa-!" Elora's entire body went rigid as a presence made itself known.
As if in slow motion, both her and Bache began tilting to the side, Wiene pulling herself low to the ground while Rei shot upwards right on time as the familiar body of a monstrosity shot past them, it's claws within an inch missed the Amazon and Elf's throats before skidding to a halt a dozen meters away.
"Shit! It's here!" Bache cursed as Elora hissed, touching her throat and feeling a bit of blood.
She hadn't been fast enough to completely dodge it… Has it gotten faster?
Eyes widening in realization… if it had eaten magic stones…
"I see what you mean… what even is that thing?" Wiene's voice snapped her back into focus as the Vouivre stood on the ready, her body low almost as if prepared to attack or dodge at once like an animal in danger.
"Yeah…"
Its throat hissed and growled at the same time, its tongue slipping out of its mouth as some kind of greenish liquid dripped from it. That's new… did it grow new limbs- no adaptation!?
"Careful, that might be poison. We don't know how strong." Elora hissed as she scanned its body.
It looked just like before, but… didn't it look smaller? Did it sacrifice size for speed?
She nodded at Bache before Both circled around it, standing on opposite ends as Rei remained on the ready in the air. Wiene seemed to be analyzing the opponent, watching for any sudden movements.
Just as Bache and Elora were about to make a move, it suddenly began disappearing, beginning from the center and spreading outwards like a wave before disappearing completely.
"Wha-!" Bache exclaimed before her arm moved up to the side as she felt a slight disturbance.
*Smack* The speed and force of the attack sent her gliding backwards into a tree, hissing as she felt a bruise already forming from the attack.
Was it invisible? Did it have this up its sleeve all along and never used it?
"Behind you Elora!" Rei called out as The elf vaulted forward, going so low to the ground that any closer and her face would be smashed into the dirt.
A swoosh went right over her as a disturbance in the light and air was picked up by her eyes and body.
'So… the camouflage doesn't work well at high speeds?' She concluded from that tiny face before pushing herself up with her hands right as the ground exploded from the force of another attack.
"Stay sharp! You can spot it if it moves too fast!" She called out.
"Already ahead of you!" Bache called out as her glove lit up as she smashed her feet off the ground.
A disturbance in the light appeared again as she flipped forward, pushing upwards with her other hand, her feet landing on a branch before using it as leverage, shooting down with as much force as she could muster and smashing her charged fist right into its chest as it screeched, the camouflage disappearing as the entire ground shook and broke around them.
*BOOM!*
"Bache, move!" Rei called out as she shot down straight towards the monster before using her left leg to cut off its leg and right to pull it's other one, dragging it into the air as it flailed and tried to whip her with its tail.
In response, Rei turned and shifted in the air expertly before throwing it hard, straight down as Wiene shot past it, cutting off its right arm a moment before it impacted on the floor.
"Everyone, regroup!" Within a moment, they all stood ready together, watching for any movements.
"It can regenerate!?" Wiene complained in a flabbergasted tone as the figure that stood up seemed to be growing its limbs back.
"Yes… it can. This is going to be tough…" Rei hissed as everyone stood prepared for the fight ahead, unknowing of how right they were.
That's chapter 57! Just a few more chapters of this arc and things are about to head up, both figuratively and literally!
Things have been interesting the past few weeks, but I'm trying not to overexert myself so I don't risk such a severe writer's block again.
Anyhow, I won't keep you and get straight into the reviews!
Shark: Peek has Returned
Author: Well thank you and I am taking measures to not end up in the same position as last time. Don't want to leave you all hanging again.
Voidborne II: I thought Meteria had blue eyes, not heterochromia. Or at least, that's what the wiki says.
Author: You're right, We just had the misconception that they were also heterochromic. Thank you for pointing it out and it's been fixed, after all, they're paternal twin sisters, not identical.
Stevenpiskunov2: Wait, you said the next story you might make might be based around Alfia? Would it be one of those stories where Alfia takes care of Bell? Or she survives the fight with Astrea familia and then takes care of him? Or would it be her story in Hera Familia and not feature Bell at all?
I think the creator of danmachi did a little short of what if Alfia and Zard took care of him. I don't know if you know about it.
And wasn't Alfia an lvl 7 at 24 years of age? Wouldn't she have had a skill or something similar to Bell? I don't know if it was explained or not in the novel.
Author: Yes, our next story will involve Alfia quite heavily. As we mentioned, the planning hasn't gotten very far, but it is in the works, if still in its conception.
We're still working on the plot we want, we want something unique but are unsure of what exactly as most has been done before and quite well too.
Thus, I'd like to ask you all for ideas that we can look over and think on. We do believe it's always for the better to involve the community to get a story concept that will be interesting.
Also, Alfia doesn't have a growth skill similar to Bell. She's not called the Incarnation of Talent for nothing. My guess is that she was very young when she became an adventurer and that's how she managed to reach level 7 by the age of 16/17 (24 minus 8 years since she's 24 in Astrea Records, 8 years after the fall of Zeus and Hera Familia).
TaiTheAvidReader: Ah, another wonderful chapter, thank you!
Ais is more mature now knowing that despite her family's betrayal which you hinted at in the beginning
She still loves them and would give them another chance
Bell sounds like a tired gamer
10/10
Author: Lol, we didn't mean for him to sound like a tired gamer but it just makes it funnier xD
PhantomReach6: I have to say that this is "the" Danmachi fanfic to read out there. It's to the point where I find myself preferring 'the fallen argonaut' over the series itself... Always looking forward to the future updates and keep up the amazing work
Author: Thank you, really, this means a lot to us. We've worked really hard on this story and to see it so well regarded alongside the high quality competition such as 'Heroes', 'Wandering Familia', 'Change of Fates' and many others is truly honoring.
We will try our utmost to not disappoint in the future and hope you all have happy readings!
Hope to see you next time, see you!