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.
58: Calamity
=The 72nd floor=
Bell trudged through the open area of the dungeon, head spinning, from the heat as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, only for it to be replaced within seconds.
At this point, his injuries were all but healed apart from some burn wounds on the side of his face. His injured eye could stay open halfway and his ear seemed to be functioning.
Despite the good news, he could swear that the floors were getting warmer. The difference was barely noticeable, but he was definitely sweating more than before.
Either that or it's just the heat building up over time.
In the corner of his vision, once again, that woman he couldn't place appeared, smiling once again with those blue eyes, though it seemed more worried than loving this time around.
Turning his head, the visage disappeared as usual, making him shake his head. He really needed to stop letting it distract him. He knew it was hallucinations, but he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that he ought to remember her.
Almost as if…
Shaking his head, he sighed. As he had said to himself. Stop getting distracted, he can mull things over however much he wants once he's back with his family. He just hoped they were safe…
=The 50th Floor=
Wiene grunted as she narrowly dodged a swipe, the Chimera's tail just barely gracing her stomach as she sweatdropped at its speed.
At the same time, Elora blocked its claws from splitting her throat in half and Bache was wrapped around its back, her arms strangling her in a lock.
Just like last time, it didn't seem to want to go down. No matter how many times it was forced into the ground or lost limbs, it just healed or thrashed until they couldn't keep it down.
It gave off the feeling of limitless stamina while theirs just slowly drained and it slowly ate away at their confidence and hope at the situation.
Rei herself was at a loss for words as well. What she was seeing was something that she didn't think the dungeon was capable of. She even knew about the Juggernaut, though at Fel's discretion, and this thing made it look like a joke. At least it couldn't heal back the wounds it took or had a seemingly limitless arsenal and stamina.
At the moment the thought passed her mind, the Chimera screeched loud enough to cause the Siren to wobble in the air, almost falling to the ground as her senses were overwhelmed with the noise.
Carefully landing on a branch using her echolocation, she shook her head as she tried to throw off the disorientation caused from her hearing receiving that shock.
Wiene didn't seem much better, as her eyes were dazed as she lightly smacked the side of her head to try to correct it.
Thankfully, Elora and Bache seemed to only receive momentary pain, the elf for the most part as the Amazon just shrugged it off without so much as a reaction.
"Can. You. Shut. UP!" Bache screamed as she sent a flurry of punches and kicks, redirecting its blows at the same time.
Its throat gurgled as Bache sent a punch to the underside of its jaw before it opened its mouth wide and spat straight at the amazon, point blank.
Sputtering and staggering back from the poisonous and corrosive substance, Elora slammed her side into its arm, sending it swirling across the ground from the force.
"Get into the water, NOW!" Elora called out as Bache listened instantly, shooting straight to the pond and leaping into it.
As she resurfaced, her orange irises glared daggers at the monster, growling before shooting off towards the shore.
"You wanna play it like that, Huh!? FINE! Di Asla!" The poison coated her arms as without hesitation, she shot forward and appeared behind it before slamming both hands between its head as hard as she could.
A loud bang and crack echoed across the open space of the pond, before being replaced by a near silent hissing sound of skin and bone melting followed by its pain-filled screech.
"Elora! Magic!?" Bache suggested as the elf nodded. Before a blur of silver blue hair shot past her.
The Chimera on instinct slammed its large tigerlike hand into the ground where Wiene was, but the dragon-girl jumped and slipped between its fingers and impaled her claws through its back, hoisting it up, straining a bit from the resistance.
The next moment, Rei landed onto its chest, hard as Bache and Elora saw what they were doing and reacted, shooting forward and grabbing hold of its arms that thrashed to try to hit the siren off of it as Elora chanted.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Using her entire voice, Rei shot the highest pitch she could straight at its head. WIthin seconds, blood began spilling from its ears before blood began pouring from its eyes as well.
In a desperate attempt to free itself, its tail and legs began thrashing wildly before it landed on Elora's leg, pulling her away hard as its arm came free.
Within an instant, its claws sliced her shoulder almost completely open as Rei's attack stopped, replaced by a loud and painful caw like sound as she shot to the side using her other arm.
With more leverage, The Chimera used its arm to grab Bache's poisonous arms and threw her across from her and through the forest, knocking down several trees in the process.
Finally unable to hold onto it anymore, Wiene lost her stance as her claws came out of its back as it rolled onto its legs.
Without giving a single moment to react, it shot forward, claws on the ready as it headed straight for her chest-
"KAZUKI!" As if by intervention from a divine being, Wiene was saved as a torrent of flames completely engulfed the Chimera before sending it flying off into the forest.
"Are you alright, Wiene!?" Welf, with his magic sword hoisted on his shoulder, ran up to Wiene who nodded.
"Yeah, thanks for the save, Welf!" She smiled at him as he grinned in return.
"Seems you got into trouble, mom, auntie." Adrienne teased slightly as Bache and Elora rolled their eyes as a snort escaped the sand haired amazon.
"What can I say… Danger loves me?"
"Ladies, Perhaps we should focus on the task at hand?" Let suggested as they just looked at him for a moment.
"Alright… I was almost done with my chant, but that damn thing interrupted me" Elora said before looking behind her.
"Haruhime? Why are you here- LILI!?" Elora looked at the prum with astonished and dumbfounded eyes.
"Elora-sama… Lili needs to be here. Lili won't fight, but Lili needs to act as your commander. Last time, we had Bell-sama… but now…" Lili stopped for a second before shaking her head, her eyes burning with determination despite her weak state.
"We need everyone here if we want to survive this… so… please… trust Lili." She pleaded as a crack sounded behind them as Elora glanced at Bache's arms shaking in a grip with the Chimera's own.
Frowning, Elora nodded in silence before looking up.
"Alright, keep an eye on the battle and command us as you see fit:" Lili smiled and nodded in appreciation at the elf's decision.
"So… commander? How should we do this? Mom can't hold it forever." Adrienne asked as she walked up next to Elora, glancing back at the prum.
"The chimera seems smaller… Perhaps its fight with Bell-sama trained some of its reserves?" Lili hummed.
"It's also spitting poison now so that's new. It seems to have lost its ability to paralyse as well as losing the ability to twist its limbs."
"It lost some of its abilities? And Poison spit huh… does it still react to Bache-sama's poison attacks?" Elora nodded towards the amazon who twisted to the side before smashing her poison infused fist into its gut as it flew back through a couple of trees. On closer inspection, the poison was clearly burning away at its skin and muscles.
"Elora-sama, I need you to keep it occupied. I have to speak to Bache-sama!" Nodding, said elf shot forward, smashing straight into the surprised Chimera, creating some space between it and the two before saying something to the amazon.
With a nod, Bache retreated back before stopping in a crouched position, her body facing the chimera as she looked over her shoulder at Lili.
"You've got guts coming here like that… heh, can't say I don't approve. You got an idea about how to put that thing into the ground?" Lili nodded before she relayed what her idea entailed.
As the plan was laid out, everyone's eyes widened at what Lili had said as Bache hummed.
"I suppose it's possible… Erebus always said that nothing is infinite in the world… so that thing must have a limit." Bache's words only solidified Lili's plan as she nodded.
"Then Lili's plan might work!" She exclaimed, seemingly hopeful as MIkoto looked sceptical.
"Lili-dono… I don't know. It's quite the gamble…" She voiced her concern as the prum nodded, all eyes looking at her as Elora in the background grunted at the force the Chimera exerted, sending her flying back into a tree before shooting back into the fight.
"Mikoto-sama is right. It is a gamble, but we adventurers gamble with our lives everyday and every time we go on an adventure. That's just the way the dungeon is… sometimes it's gamble or die." Lili's response rang true as that was just the way it was.
The dungeon was something that can't be predicted. Their current situation is a perfect example of that.
"If that is our only option… then I'll follow your commands. You haven't led me astray yet." Mikoto finally caved as the prum nodded.
"Good, Jannor-sama, Adrienne-sama. I need you two to get ready in a pincer position. Aralaya-sama, heal Rei-sama before chanting thunder magic. Let-sama, try to distract the Chimera at critical moments to allow for easier critical blows." She threw out the first few commands as they all nodded in understanding at the role.
"Bache-sama, assist Elora in keeping it occupied and try to cause as much damage as possible. When the time we discussed comes, you know what to do." Bache nodded as well.
"Welf-sama, whenever you see an opportunity, use your magic sword to chip away at its stamina, no matter how little." The smith smiled at her, his grip on his sword tightening slightly.
"Wiene-sama, you can be on standby whenever Bache or Elora needs to be switched out. Your high agility should be good enough to hold it long enough for them to take a potion or two." Lili finally turned to the final three that needed addressing.
"Rei, when you are healed. Keep a bird's eye view and intercept whenever anything looks dangerous. Mikoto, you will stand on ready for when the time comes with your magic. Meanwhile, keep track of it with your skill. Lastly, Haruhime, your magic will play the largest role. Use it to level-boost everyone but Lili and the Xenos." Finally, having given all the instructions, everyone shot into action.
=The 50th floor=
The Chimera did not like the change in situation. Its hunt had begun a few cycles ago. It knew that the invaders it was hunting were powerful, especially that white haired human. His aura sent its instincts into full throttle the moment he laid eyes on him, even in his injured state.
Its entire purpose for its creation by its masters had been to be the perfect hunter. It prided itself with that fact and every hunter worth its power knew that knowing your prey can mean the difference between success and failure… and failure was unacceptable.
Thus, it had watched its prey for one cycle before they departed. At first, it had wanted to follow, but its masters had commanded it to stay, to wait for their inevitable return.
And as its master had instructed, it waited for another cycle before they returned. Once the prey finally returned, it had wanted to stalk and wait for the opportune moment, but that white haired human had spotted it, despite its perfect camouflage even hiding every hint of its presence.
This had forced it to make its move, and from the moment it saw the human move, it knew it would be tough. The human speed was something it was not accustomed to, far superior to its own, much like every other aspect of his power.
It was far beyond that of what the human aura suggested he was capable of and it took a while for it to acclimate itself with it. Things got even worse as the two other strong prey assisted him alongside the rest of his pack and almost managed to keep it down, but eventually, it managed to separate the human from the rest of his pack.
One by one, it tore them apart, relishing in the blood on its claws and feeling of success, only for that elf to interrupt its joy. It had planned to tear her apart, but somehow, that human returned and somehow stronger than before… much much stronger. Its anger spiked as it began feeling its body being torn apart time and time again as for the first time in its existence, it felt the meaning of fear.
It knew that if this kept up… it would die. As a last ditch effort, it had pulled the human down as deep as it could, ignoring the feeling of him hitting it time and time again.
As the floors passed by, its chances of success increased before the room with its large brethren appeared before its eyes.
It was at that moment, it had been hit by the human, sending it flying to the other side of the floor to recuperate.
The battle had taken more energy than it had liked… so it had to rest… to feed so that it could hunt again.
Two cycles is the time it took before it ascended again, certain its prey is torn apart by mother's children at that point.
All of this led it to the moment it hunted one of its prey, with an added bonus. During the two cycles, some of the misfit children of mother's who its masters wanted eradicated had joined its prey.
It had stalked, and pounced, confident in the amount of energy it had consumed. It should be more than enough to finish its hunt, even after the elf and Siren had joined in.
It had been so close to slaying that misfit vouivre, but the rest of the prey had intervened at the last possible moment… and now… now nothing was going to its desire.
Every tiny drop of its focus currently went towards the barrage of multitude of attacks from multiple directions. What made it worse for it was that every single time it thought it had one of them, that pesky misfit Siren intercepted.
It wanted to tear its feathers from its flesh piece by piece as it screamed in agony.
The misfit goblin was similarly vexing, he stayed in its blindspot and it couldn't focus on the misfit due to the elf and amazon.
Then there was the Vouivre. Every time either the elf or amazon seem to breathe heavier, she takes over for them.
Its prey were conserving their stamina while draining its own at a rapid pace. If this goes on…
Should it use that…? It knew it was a dangerous ability… one that if failed, would spell its own doom…
No… that is a last resort… it has to hunt, has to feed to stay alive… has to serve its master. It can't gamble before they get what they desire…
All it could do at the moment, is to try to weather it out… hope that they run out of stamina before it runs out of energy… after all, it fed a lot. Its energy should last a long time…
"God damnit… does… this… thing… EVER… TIRE!?" Bache complained as she sent a somersault kick into its cheek, snapping its head up with an audible Boom.
Leaning back under its tail, Elora back flipped over its claws as her feet planted themselves on its shoulder "I don't know… but-" Swiftly using the momentary confusion on its side of her whereabouts, she leaned forward and shot herself hard against the ground before kicking off the the air, changing directions and sliding underneath its feet, slicing the ankles.
Falling over, Bache took the opportunity to grab hold of its giant head, slamming it hard down into her knee right as Let swung his heavy axe straight into its shoulder.
"HOLD IT!" Responding to the words, Bache changed her grip into a hold, squeezing the air out of it, forcing it into the ground.
A second later, Wiene came forward, holding a god damn stick… Elora almost sputtered at the sight of the vouivre slamming it into the wound as it went all the way in.
The Chimera screeched as it managed to open its mouth before shooting straight down into the ground as Bache stumbled as everything caved in.
"SHIT! FORGOT ABOUT THIS!" The amazon managed to grab hold of the side of the hole dug by the monster, saving herself from falling down with it.
"REI! LOOK OUT!" Mikoto's voice rang out as the siren looked around confused before in a burst of speed, it came out of the ground like a bullet, the air around it whizzing and almost cracking.
A single flap of her wings was all Rei had time to do, as the Chimera shot past her and into the roof, disappearing into the terrain again.
"It can go that fast…?" Wiene asked, her eyes almost shaking in disbelieving shock.
"That's… almost as fast as Bell without scourge!" Elora breathed out before shaking her head.
"Mikoto! Where is it!?"
"Underneath Bache!" Slamming her feet against the ground, the bottom of the amazon's feet just grazed against its teeth as a few drops of blood were drawn.
'How did it get there so fast? Is it faster underground?' Bache questioned for herself as it finally landed back down, deciding not to go under again.
It took one step towards the group before stopping abruptly, its eyes glancing towards its shoulder, almost looking… confused.
"It's… injured? And not healing…?" Elora breathed out as she stared at the wound with the stick still stuck in it, though clearly shattered.
"Heh… well, guess that makes Lili's plan all the more likely to succeed." Bache grinned, a renewed hope of success sparking within her.
"Do I need to remind you I still don't know what the plan is?" Elora asked cheekily, just happy that something seemed to be working.
Without further words, the two continued the assault with the added assistance of Rei, Wiene and Let whenever needed.
Meanwhile Jannor and Adrienne had moved into two separate positions in the trees as the two waited for the right time.
Back with the others, Lili surveyed the battlefield as her eyes snapped up over Jannor and Aralaya. It was clear they were ready. Jannor's staff and Storm Rush spell makes him ideal for this as it combined with his skill allows him to basically be a pseudo mid-high level 4 like Adrienne. Their job alone is one of the most crucial, but also one of the least dangerous so it was perfect for them, though it would without a doubt be tough.
Turning her eyes back towards that of Haruhime, she couldn't help but smile at the display of her golden tails growing and swirling with the sound of bells in the air.
"-you who beat the wings like a bird, I shall allow the nine spirits to dwell in me. Echo, song of gold, sacred song of Tamamo. White face, golden fur, king of nine tails. Oh, tails of the auspicious beast, consume all-" Haruhime's chant was nothing if not divine in every sense of the words. It drew one's eyes not on her body, but just the absolute beauty of it all.
Forcing her eyes away, she looked towards Aralaya who, similarly to Haruhime, was chanting with her mage circle underneath her feet just like Haruhime.
"-remove those before me. Thunder Strike!" Just in time, Lili saw the thunder type magic attack shoot out of the staff half of her weapon, right over Elora's shoulder before it impacted the chimera, freezing it completely as its muscles spasmed, rendering it vulnerable.
"-Grow. That power and that vessel. Breadth of the wealth and breadth of wishes." Lili smiled at the chant connection, something Haruhime had become beyond just proficient with, she was practically a master. Her kit basically forced her to chant connect so it was only natural for her to become amazing at it.
"Until the bell tolls, bring forth glory and illusion. Grow. Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed from above. Into the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good fortune upon you. Grow. Uchide No Kozuchi!" Finishing her chant just as Bache and Elora committed to a joint grapple, forcing it down face first into the ground.
"Give it to Jannor and Aralaya now!" Lili commanded as Haruhime's tails lit up. Lifting her arms up gracefully, the fox's mouth parted as she let out the single word needed.
"Dance!" As the beams of light descended upon the two adventurers, Jannor finished mumbling out his own chant as his body began glowing with small streaks of electricity zapping over his clothes and skin. Adrienne similarly finished hers at the same time.
Meanwhile, Bache shot forward, twisting in the air as she kicked its legs before motioning to Elora with her hands moving towards herself. Understanding what Bache meant, the elf body slammed it just hard enough to send it onto its back.
Lili called out for Jannor and Aralaya to make their move. Jumping down, Jannor slammed his staff into its left forearm as Adrienne did the same with the other. Elora grabbed a hold of its throat, pushing its head up by the underside of the chin with one hand as she pushed it hard into the ground. At the same time, Wiene shot forward with Let as they did the same thing to its legs as Adrienne and Jannor did with its arms. Lastly, Rei smashed into the ground, digging her claws deep into it as she held tightly to the back of its tail, essentially anchoring it to the ground with all its limbs through spikes in the form of weapons and claws.
"Give level boost to Elora and Bache-sama!" Listening, the renard waved her hand as she uttered the designated word to send two level boosts from her tails, boosting the two adventurers to the next level.
Unable to move whatsoever and with its head pointing upwards with no way to dig, it was put in quite the predicament. It tried to think up a way to improve upon its situation before the visage of an amazon with poison arms jumped onto its chest.
"You liked poison so much? Well, here is some more!" Slamming her poison infused arms into its chest hard, she for once didn't just pummelled but instead focused as much of her mind power as she could into producing more and more poison.
Screeching, the monster trashed wildly as everyone holding it down struggled with the ground around them shaking and cracking from the force.
"HOW LONG SHOULD WE HOLD THIS!?" Elora called out, not privy to all the details.
"AS LONG AS YOU CAN!" Lili's voice came forth as the prum turned to Mikoto, nodding at the far easterner who understood what needed to be done. There was no room for hesitation whatsoever, even with the risks.
Getting into position, she closed her eyes taking a deep breath… before starting her chant, one that would hopefully help end it once and for all.
=The 72nd Floor=
It's been a few hours since Bell started seeing the visages of people around him again. At times, he even heard voices, whispering in his ear like that of Elora, his children, Hestia and sometimes even Ais. Then there were voices he didn't recognize, voices that, like the visages of that woman, was so sweet and caring, whispering encouragement to him.
Most of the time it was things like telling him she believed in him, that he could do it and survive this. Or that no matter what happens, she'd love him unconditionally. Despite the fact that he didn't know who she was, it was oddly soothing… like something in his very soul calmed down and almost glowed at the words.
Though there was this one time that he heard the voice of this woman, speaking in a manner that seemed refined yet almost insulting… and he had a pretty good idea who it was from just that fact.
Alfia.
How he was hearing her voice when he had never met her or even heard her voice was a mystery, and the first words he heard was of course, an insult in a way, yet he could hear deep in her voice that it was filled with care.
'You have that despicable vermin's eyes…' Those were the words he had first heard whispered to him from her before she continued.
'Yet you have the kindness and care of your mother…' Those were the last words he heard before the voice drifted apart with him only being able to pick apart a few words.
'Don't…Meteria...will grow…what…started…'
It had been wracking his mind as to what she could have meant. The words were almost incomprehensible with what it was trying to say, but it wasn't like he had the luxury to ponder on everything at the moment.
At this point, he had gone without food and water for nearly four days. The food was manageable, but it was the water that was truly starting to affect him. His stamina had already taken a huge hit. Even the lightest of exertion made his entire throat burn like molten lava was poured down it. He wouldn't survive another two days like this.
Thankfully, he entered the dark passageway that continued back towards the staircase up to the 71st floor. Once there, there were two more floors then he could actually drink by melting the ice.
Just the thought almost made him salviate, only stopping himself to preserve fluids.
He had to retain them as long as possible because he had truly started to feel some adverse effects of fluid deficiency. Dizziness was starting to make itself more and more known. He was having a harder time concentrating, he nearly fainted at times and he figured out that the change in heat may just be caused by it as well. After all, from one of the books Elora had him read, one of the effects of Fluid deficiency was lowered ability to regulate body temperature.
In this environment, that was a major issue as it would only speed up the process of him dehydrating like a drop of water in a bag of rice.
Out of all the side effects, he was definitely most concerned about his inability to concentrate. It affected so much in how he does the things he does. His fighting style required a lot of concentration to remain precise and effective on top of the fact that it compromised his ability to detect monsters around him without seeing them. He is solely relying on the strange sense of gazes he developed thanks to Freya.
Thinking about the goddess sent a wave of mixed feelings. On one side, anger, another pity. What Mia had told him about the goddess had without a doubt affected his view of her and it was… in one word, heartbreaking.
Sighing, he continued through the passage, shaking off a dizzying spell as he blinked away a visage of Hestia to his left.
He knew he had to be close to the next floor by now, he just hoped he didn't run into more of those wall monsters. He had no idea what to call them, but they were really a pain in the ass.
Turning the corner, Bell almost spun around in a victory dance at the sight of the staircase to the 71st floor, though his body was too worn out, injured and the situation was too dire for it to be an option.
It may only be two more floors, but if he doesn't do it right, it's more than two days…
Not wasting any time, he trekked and started to ascend the stairs towards the 71st floor. During the ascension, his mind drifted towards his family, hoping that something hadn't found them.
=The 50th Floor=
"-sword of suppression, sacred sword of conquest. It arrives here now by my order. Descend from heaven, rule the earth - Shinbu Tousei! Futsunomitama!" Mikoto finished her chant, slamming the magic down hard onto the Chimera, trapping it and everyone in its effect as groans and grunts sounded from their throats, resisting the gravitational effect to the best of their ability though nearly caving from the staring.
The two struggling the most being Jannor and Adrienne, they were practically slammed into the ground from the level 5 gravity magic, only their grip on their weapons allowing them to keep themselves on their feet.
It almost felt like someone dropped an entire mountain on them and they were holding it up with nothing but their own strength. It made the two teens remember the days Bell used to have them do impossible things such as their mountain tunnel.
"This… is… NOTHING COMPARED TO THAT!" Adrienne screamed out, more to motivate herself as Jannor similarly did the same.
As seconds passed, the effect of the gravity pushed Bache's poison hard onto the Chimera's skin, caving it in, allowing it to spread more easily into its entire system as its body almost flattened from the force without it being able to fight back.
The two effects combined put its body at an extreme staring, draining its energy at a rapid pace as it began to panic.
If this kept on going, it would use up all the energy it collected in no time. Without that energy, its body wouldn't be able to keep sustaining its form and it'd fall apart… and die.
Thrashing more wildly to try to create an opening to escape the gravity field and poison, everyone began struggling more as Adrienne winced as its hands and fingers began to flex, cutting her knee and elbow, only an inch away from being able to grab her.
"IT'S NOT WORKING!" Elora screamed over the ear piercing noise of the Chimera's constant screeching alongside the gravity field.
Back with Lili and the others, Mikoto struggled to keep the field up. With so much resistance from everyone, the amount of mindpower required to keep the magic up was hitting her hard.
She felt the ability to stay conscious starting to slip from the sheer amount of mind usage as she blinked, desperately trying to keep her eyes open.
"Hold it for just a bit longer, Mikoto-sama. The Chimera is panicking!"
"Please, Mikoto-sama… hold strong…" Haruhime whined before glancing at Lili.
"Lili-sama… I still have a level boost…" The prum contemplated it for a second before shaking her head.
"It won't help Haruhime-sama. Mikoto already changing the capacity for her mind through a level boost won't change the amount she currently has. The magic has already been cast so it won't make it stronger either…"
As the two talked, Aralaya stared helplessly at the entire scene. She knew that after Mikoto cast her magic, she'd have no role left to play and would be completely useless. She can't cast magic onto the Chimera as Mikoto's gravity field would just slam it into the ground. Joining in to help wont do anything either…
"Aralaya-sama… I don't know how long Mikoto-sama will be able to hold it so… whenever her magic collapses, either aid the rest with your magic or help them physically… Lili does not know which is more beneficial so I will leave the choice to you." The half-elven girl stared listened to the prums words as Mikoto feel to one knee, her arms shaking in the strain.
Jannor and Aralaya completely collapsed as their bodies slammed hard against the ground, their teeth clenching from the pain.
Rei struggled to even hold on to her position as it only allowed for one claw to hold the tail in place while the other stabilised her.
Let and Wiene were an inch from collapsing too from the strain as Elora and Bache, doing the best out of everyone.
Managing to keep herself up on one arm on its throat, though her entire body protesting at the struggle, Elora felt like as soon as the level boost wore out, she'd collapse. Mikoto's magic was truly no joke as a level 5.
Contemplating on her two choices, Aralaya spotted the arm next to the collapsed body of Adrienne and managed to slowly move it upwards along the shortsword, slowly pushing it out of the ground as Aralaya's eyes widened.
"I'm joining in!"
"Aralaya-sama, wait-!" Lili called out in vain as the girl entered the gravity field, her legs almost caving in by the force.
"Damn it… Haruhime, give her that level boost!" Nodding, the fox sent another level boost forward before it descended onto the mage girl who with the added strength, managed to take one step at a time forward towards the monster's slowly rising arm.
After what felt like an eternity, she managed to grab hold of its wrist and lean her body over it before letting her succumb to the strain of the magic, practically smashing her bodyweight alongside the gravity down onto the arm, slamming it back into the ground.
For a few more moments, the gravity and poison ate away at the monster before the field vanished, Mikoto's eyes rolling back into her head as she collapsed.
No one had even an instant to react before its arms shot up, launching Aralaya straight into a tree. Bache, having barely no time to react, blocked one hand's claws before the other impaled her abdomen as she gurgled up blood.
"F-ine!" Bache said, the thick red substance running down her mouth as she locked the claws in between her arms "THEN I'LL JUST TAKE IT!"
"BACHE!"
"MOM!"
"AUNTIE!" The rest of the group called out in worry as the amazon just grinned at them.
"KEEP AT IT! I'LL HOLD ITS ARMS!"
Reluctantly everyone followed along with her words, Elora hesitating for a moment before letting go of its throat and chin, started to hack away at every limb apart from the arms.
Moments later, Adrienne and Jannor, having gotten back up, joined in. The Xenos in the back struggled to hold its tail and legs in place, Wiene and Let almost being kicked and clawed at by its feet while Rei was an inch away from being launched in any random direction at supersonic speeds.
"Damn it…" Aralaya groaned out, her back aching like hell. Being thrown through multiple trees was not fun… not whatsoever.
Forcefully getting back up, she looked over at the situation. In the corner of the eye, she saw Lili in front of a collapsed Mikoto, Haruhime looking helpless. The prum looked like she had no idea what to do.
The plan had been to expend its energy as it had clearly grown somewhat weaker since their last encounter… The issue was they had no idea how much energy it had so their only option had been to gamble…
Now, that gamble had resulted in a situation where her aunt looked like a dead woman fighting, grinning like always like the battle junkie she was.
Elora was desperately trying to limit its movements by cutting important tendons to restrict its possible actions, Adrienne and Jannor were doing the same but more akin to severing its limbs. The Xenos were struggling as well…
"Oy, could I borrow some of your mind power?" The girl snapped out of her thoughts at the voice of the red haired smith.
Looking up, she saw him holding his unbreakable magic sword out for her to grab. Blinking, she looked up at him before smiling lightly, before nodding.
"Alright, let's combine our magic." She agreed as Welf grinned, impaling the sword into the ground as the half-elf grabbed onto the handle as well.
"Shikou… KAZUKI!" In an instant, Aralaya felt her mind power drain as if someone applied a sea of sponges to it.
"Guh!" Her world began spinning as she clinged onto her consciousness.
"Hold on a bit will ya!? It's almost ready…" Welf told her as she nodded.
"Don't… worry… I've endured… worse." She got out with clenched teeth, biting her own tongue so that the pain kept her awake.
"There… go to hell and BURN!" The ground cracked as molten lava formed from the amount of heat that was launched underneath it straight in the direction of the Chimera.
Once there, it encircled the monster before erupting like an overstuffed volcano, exploding in a sea of flamed and molten rocks, enveloping the monster and Bache at once, everyone else jumping away apart from Elora.
"LIKE I SAID! I'LL JUST TAKE IT!" The amazon's grin did nothing to diminish until she laid eyes on the elf, jumping into the fray, her clothes burning away as her skin singed and began burning.
"Wha- Elora! What the hell!?" The elf just smiled as she mumbled something under her breath, as her body began to glow.
Widening her eyes, Bache shook her head with a chuckle.
"You really are one crazy elf…" she muttered before letting go of the claws that instantly removed themselves from her abdomen, spurting blood everywhere before smashing her fists together.
"Di Asla… You really wanna do this loose canon of a combo? Here and now?" She asked, the flames burning away her skin piece by piece as the elf was no better. The only reason Elora's skin hadn't completely melted was due to her skill, Bel Thúl being used at its maximum effect, enhancing her endurance to that of a pseudo level 7.
"Yeah… this is all I have left… every ounce of my mind power." Elora smiled at Bache, the two just staring at each other before Elora looked out towards the rest of the group staring at their visage within the torrent of flames, standing on the screeching monsters.
"Alright… let's do it." Bache's grin returned, focusing her entire magic on a single fist and holding it out to her.
"As sisters." The words made Elora stop for a second before smiling the most sincere smile she had in a while before putting her hand holding her sword against Bache's, the sword painting straight down at the monster's chest.
Hissing at the combined effect of Bache's poison and flames burning away at her flesh, she shook her head at the pain.
"As sisters! Secatus Veti!" Finally letting the magic she'd prepared out, using all her mind together with Bache to combine their magic into one.
A barrage of enormous blades of poisoned wind shot straight down into the monster, slicing away at it over and over, infecting it with the poison to continue eating away at its body parts that tried to regenerate.
The monster's screech echoed across the entire floor, shaking the ground as the magic completely demolished the surroundings as a result of the impact it had on the ground.
Rei flew into the air, Grabbing Adrienne and Jannor, both yelping in shock as the ground they just stood on disappeared before splitting apart.
Aralaya and Welf were an inch from collapsing from the mind's usage before the ground around them exploded, sending them tumbling through the air in a desperate attempt to not get buried underneath the subsequent rubble.
Haruhime protected Lili and Mikoto with her own body as a mountain of rubble rained down on them before the ground underneath them collapsed as well, burying them alongside it.
As a result, from a distance the entire floor was buried within a cloud of dust as destruction never seen down at this depth reached and reverberated throughout the entire dungeon.
=The 71st Floor=
Why'd things have to get worse? Bell had no idea why his luck was on a coffee break… again! The moment he'd gotten onto the 71st floor, he'd first been attacked by a black asterion… a monster that was estimated to be level 7.
Then a group of Kelubars had decided to blow up the ground underneath him, sending him spiralling into what was his current position.
If what he had experienced in the canyons before which were all near the end of the floor where the monsters were least dense was nothing compared to this.
His entire body was bleeding at nearly every inch, his armour was virtually rendered useless and he had several new broken bones.
As the black scorpions were not giving him any room alongside the desert hyena's and desert wyrm's, the plethora of pernicons were bombarding every single exposed angle that was available while Kelubars were blowing apart every inch of the ground he was stepping on from above.
It didn't help that the monster he didn't recognize as before encountering the enigma had decided to finally make an appearance again at this exact moment.
Apparently, it could send tiny spikes similarly to the Peludas of the 37th floor but its poison was ten times worse. He finally saw the strategy of these floor monsters that make up part of why the floors have 'Hell' in its name.
While the Pernicon's poison wasn't that effective for the floor, it was effective in numbers to slowly chip away at the opponents abnormal resistance, keeping it occupied.
Then this monster disguising itself as rocks shot one of its spikes with its ridiculously effective poison to finish the job.
He'd already been hit once in the knee and he didn't even feel the leg anymore, just the burning pain from everything.
His ability to fight effectively was almost compromised due to that.
It was the reason that he was in a tight spot at the moment, grunting slightly as he bent unnaturally to avoid the stinger of a black scorpion before lightly pushing it to the side to block an incoming spike from the rock monster.
A single more hit from one of those spikes would probably render him as good as dead. The veins on his legs are already in an unnaturally black colouring. Whatever the poison it was, he'd better treat the wound soon.
Flinching as his muscles ached from the constant forceful bending that they should not be capable of for his level, he touched the ground with a finger before using an instant argonaut charge with a split second of scourge in a small amount, he shot himself into the air, his non-poisoned leg smashing straight into one of the kelubars temple, caving it in before it exploded, sending its grey matter flying in all directions.
Twisting in the air, Bell sheathed the spear of Orion and threw it straight down with all his might as the runes on the shaft glowed in response to the intent.
As it made impact, the monsters around were completely eviscerated alongside any stability the walls of the canyon had, collapsing them completely and burying everything around it in rubble.
As Bell's body stopped in the air and achieved zero g for a split second, he reached out, calling the spear back before beginning to descend, quickly approaching terminal velocity.
As the rubble shook, the spear shot out of it and headed straight for Bell's hand. As it reached it, instead of gripping the spear, he twisted his body and arm around, changing the directions of the spear before stopping the recall.
With the speed and force of the spear already having been applied, the weapon continued its path in the direction Bell had shifted it into, destroying the last Kelubars in the area.
Finally landing, Bell's leg caved in as he groaned out, clenching his teeth as the pain from his legs nearly overwhelmed every one of his senses.
"Come on… Not now…" he muttered, breaking a large rock in his vice grip before the spear landed straight in front of him.
'Did… Did I recall it?' He blinked, his surprise making the pain almost feel dull.
Staring at the divine weapon, its runed glowing as the indestructible cloth flapped in the wind, almost as if trying to tell him something.
Slowly reaching out, he grabbed the spear before dislodging it from the ground, he held it in front of him as he stared at it. It was definitely a weapon that was irreplaceable, but did it really recall itself or did he do it subconsciously?
Maybe he should test it out sometime if he manages to survive all of this… but he needs to address his leg as soon as possible.
Falling back onto his rear, he looked down at his armoured leg that had a small spike attached to it through the gaps in the armour made from how damaged it was. He could also see the blackened veins that had started to discolour his skin quite drastically, probably why it hurt so damn much.
Grabbing a hold of the spike, he clenched his teeth before pulling it out, screaming in pain as it felt like his veins spontaneously were filled with lava.
"-Numbing agent…!?" He hissed out before quickly ripping apart a long piece of his shirt. Wrapping it around his leg, he tightened it considerably to the point that blood flow was all but blocked. He couldn't let it spread so this was his only option.
The next thing was risky, and would hurt more than anything he had probably felt before… but it was his only choice.
He grabbed his knife before cutting two deep wounds into his legs before putting the handle in his mouth.
Grabbing hold of his leg with both hands, he took as deep of a breath as he could through his nose before mumbling through his open mouth the incantation of his spell.
"-hireolt." The word wasn't even discernible but the magic still activated at full blast as he poured as much mind as he could into it. The magic erupted from his hands at once burning his leg and entering his veins.
He didn't even register his throat screaming out louder than he had ever screamed before as pitch black gas flowed out of his leg… but it wasn't enough.
"Ah-hireolt!" Once again, the magic burned his legs both inside and out as another cloud of black smoke began pouring out of the wounds he had opened as he felt his consciousness almost slip from him.
"HIRHOLT!" The spell exploded around his legs, more powerful than before as his vision swirled in an unrecognisable array of colours and shapes, collapsing backwards onto the ground.
The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was those blue eyes, her lips whispering towards him words that would, despite the pain, put the most peaceful smile on his face.
'Please… my beautiful Bell… please survive… I can't bear to watch you suffer so much but know this… Even in these times, I and Alfia are watching over you… and we both love you, oh so very much.'
His entire body finally went limp just before the dungeon shook and a low deep rumbling echoed all around him, a sound that hadn't been heard since 20 years ago, the same day the Astrea Familia was massacred by an entity that was only described with a single word…
Calamity.
=The Hostess of Fertility=
A certain green haired elf held a tray with a couple plates of food and mugs of ale as she manoeuvred through the busy restaurant with a combination of graze and clumsiness, almost tripping at times but managing to salvage it with the use of graze.
As she neared the table of boisterous men that were clearly drunk, she prepared to put down the plates and mugs.
Putting the tray down, she grabbed a mug just as the sound she heard in her nightmares echoed, its origin from a single central location in the city.
Her entire body froze, her eyes widening as her pupils shook as memories of the slaughter of her familia flashed before her eyes.
Lyra… distracting it with her bombs, buying the time to act even as she had already been blinded before perishing by that monster's claws.
Kaguya… managing to immobilise it with her refined and deadly techniques, ultimately costing her own life as the claws of the monsters sliced her in half.
Finally, Alise… sacrificing herself in order to buy the last precious seconds for Ryuu to finish her magic, dying at the hands of her own reflected flames and Ryuu's magic.
No bones remained, all gobbled up by the dungeon before Ryuu could even find them… the swords and dust from the monster being the only thing that was brought to the place that would become their grave.
"Get it together Ryuu!" She was forcibly snapped out of her daze as Mia had grabbed hold of her shoulder with a light squeeze.
Everyone in the benevolent mistress were looking around in confusion apart from the higher levelled ones, all of them staring in the direction behind the wall where Babel tower stood.
"That sound…" Ryuu mumbled as the waitresses and Mia looked at her.
"It's the same as that day… calamity…" Her voice cracked as her heart rate skyrocketed in a fit of panic.
"Oy, Calm down Ryuu!"
"Ryuu, stop nya!"
"Oh come on, stop being a pain Ryuu!"
All the girls moved to restrain the panicking elf who just stared at them in horror.
"You don't understand! We need to evacuate! That thing will tear everything and anyone in its way! Everyone in the dungeon is in danger-!" Her rambling stopped her rambling as her heart stopped at the thought.
Wasn't… Cranel-san and his familia in the dungeon?
"No…" Collapsing on the ground in despair, hope slowly slipping away as the worst possible scenario began playing in her mind.
This can't be happening… not again. Please… not again…
=Orario=
Within the Twilight Manor, Ais and Fiona stared towards the dungeon, the low rumbling echoing across Orario.
"Auntie Ais… what… is that?" The black haired girl asked as the sword princess frowned.
"I… don't know… but I've heard it before."
Finn, Riveria, Gareth and Loki were staring out in the same direction from Finn's office, the goddesses eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"So… it's happening again." Loki muttered as Finn hummed.
"Indeed… the day that Astrea Familia was massacred is repeating itself."
Freya, atop the tower of Babel looked out the window with her eyes closed, listening to the noise she had heard only once before 20 years ago echo across Orario.
"Ottar…"
"Indeed milady. It is the same as that day… A Calamity has been called" The boaz responded as Allen stood by the door in the room, frowning at this accursed noise that sent his body into an alert state.
At the Archian Manor, Erebus and Fina both looked out the window, Marx crying. The two worried about whatever this noise entailed.
Underneath the guild, Ouranos looked down onto the ground in deep contemplation as his prayers failed, the sage and fool, Fels, looked nervous next to him.
"My prayers have failed… the calamity has been called to the 50th floor…" Ouranos finally said after a painfully long moment of silence.
"What? But that's a safety zone, it shouldn't be possible!" Fels exclaimed as the god contemplated for a second.
"Normally, that's true… but the 18th and 50th floors are unique. They are both individual regions in their own right. An entire region in a single floor. Enough damage to that floor and…" Ouranos trailed off as the skeleton gulped, realising what was being said.
"The Juggernaut will spawn…"
=The 50th Floor=
Rei stared down at the resulting destruction of the floor alongside Adrienne and Jannor. The entire forest and every hill around them had collapsed and cracked open. It'd take quite a long time for the dungeon to repair this amount of damage to the point she was surprised that it didn't do anythi-
As if the universe decided to spite her thoughts, a low rumbling echoed across the entire floor… maybe even the dungeon…
"What the-?" Adrienne muttered, her eyes snapping away from the destruction underneath to try to pinpoint the location of the sound.
"Where is it coming from?" Jannor asked before a large crack opened up by the western wall, a pair of red eyes staring straight at them.
A set of claws grabbed hold of both sides of the crack before shooting out into the dust cloud like a bullet, Rei and the kids unable to even see its form.
=Ouranos Chamber=
"The last time the calamity was spawned was on the 22nd floor, and even then it overpowered multiple level 4's. Ouranos-sama… how strong is it now?" Fels asked in fear, thinking of the familia that was down there on a mission at the moment.
"Perhaps strong enough to challenge even them…"
=The 50th floor=
Elora couldn't see anything as her entire body ached, her arm's muscles being visible. Clutching her upper arm to stabilise the twitching from the pain, she looked around as she could only spot Bache, who was in virtually no better state than her, down on her knees and clearly drained.
"Where is it?" Bache asked as Elora looked around again, unable to discern anything between all the rubble, felled trees and smoke
"I don't know… isn't this combination a bit much?" Elora asked, the amazon sweat dropping at the sheer destruction.
"Yeah… maybe, but what was that noise earlier?"
"Don't know… though… I've heard it before… wasn't it right befor-!" The elf stopped mid sentence, her eyes widening at the memory of Gale Wind returning alone from the dungeon, bloody with tears in her eyes, raving about some kind of calamity and evilus trap.
The same day the Astrea Familia was massacred.
"Bache… get ready!" She commanded in an instant as the amazon frowned for a split second before nodding, getting into a stance while ignoring her fatigue.
The next moment, something swished past their vision in the dust cloud at speeds that Bache barley was able to keep up with.
"What was tha-guh!" The amazon began asking before the thing slammed its claw right into her arm. She narrowly deflected it as she got a good look at the skeletal black body it possessed. Its red eyes staring down at it as its throat rumbled.
'Fuck, it's strong!' Bache thought as the force of the blow numbed her entire arm and some of her shoulder.
"Elora! Whatever this thing is, it's really strong!" She called out as it launched itself at them again through the cloud, using its head this time and ramming Bache straight into the ground as the Amazon screamed out with blood flying out of her wounds and mouth.
Elora, trying to intervene, moved the sword into her good hand before going in and slashing at it's leg, only for it's back leg to have deflected the blow.
Swiping it's tail, towards the elf, it cut straight through her injured arm as the world slowed to a standstill, her eyes wide as Bache looked at her in horror from her position on the ground.
A thud was heard behind her before her eyes looked at her hand… or where it should be… then the pain came.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Elora's scream echoed far enough to gain the attention of not only Bache but the rest of the party as it stirred everyone into action.
Lili and Haruhime managed to push the last bit of rubble off of them as Mikoto laid unconscious. Aralaya and Welf, not having been buried completely, shot forward towards the scream while Jannor and Adrienne panicked as Rei tried her best to move closer despite the struggling two teenagers.
"ELORA!" Bache screamed, forcing herself onto her feet before slamming her foot hard against the ground, jumping forward as she slammed into its arm, blocking its next attack aimed at the elf's throat.
Knocking the claw off course, the best tumbled before sliding across the ground, staring back at the two adventurers as Elora collapsed onto the ground, clutching her wrist as she shook violently.
"Shit… Elora, we need to get your hand, quick! Aralaya can reattach it!"
"MOM!" The Amazon snapped her head in the direction as they saw Rei land with Adrienne and Jannor, Welf and Aralaya running towards them behind them.
"ARALAYA! HEAL YOUR MOTHER! NOW!" Bache's voice boomed before she turned back towards the calamity that was an inch from her face and just in time for her to lean back and kick it in its chest, sending it flying into the air.
Without further hesitation, her feet slammed once again against the floor, shooting up towards the monster as her body slammed it further away, similarly to what Bell had done days prior to the Chimera.
"Mom… oh god… mom! Your hand!" Jannor sobbed as Adrienne was standing frozen in shock at seeing her aunt in such a state.
"Adrienne! The hand! Now! She's losing too much blood!" Aralaya screamed as she slid to a stop in front of her mother, grabbing the injured wrist and squeezing hard as Elora let out another scream as the blood slowed down from the blockage.
"Mom… please, take a deep breath." Aralaya begged, tears brimming in her eyes as Elora nodded, trying her best to stay calm.
"I… I'm trying but… shit it hurt… god damn it- it fucking hurts!" Her body began convulsing as Aralaya's eyes widened.
"Damn it! She's seizing! Help me cushion her head!" Rei moved forward as Jannor and Aralaya helped each other put their mother down as gently as possible with the seizure before Rei's feathers cushioned her from any possible injuries from the violent twitches from the level 6.
Near them, a few rocks moved near them, revealing the coughing forms of Let and Wiene.
"God damn it… what was that noise!?" Wiene coughed out before looking around, her amber eyes locking onto Elora seizing as Rei and the two kids tried desperately trying to mitigate the damage.
The two moved forward as they stared at the amount of blood on the ground as more booms echoed close by.
"Here!" Adrienne came back, clutching a whitening hand in her grip which Aralaya snatched as soon as she arrived.
"Wiene, please… hold her arm in place." Aralaya asked, looking up at the dragon-girl who nodded. Grabbing hold of the elfs arm, she held it as steady as possible as Aralaya carefully positioned the hand in the right way before closing her eyes.
"Body worn and tired, mend thy self, be made whole, and rise again. Balm Touch." The magic took its effect as the arm began to heal, Elora's body enveloping within the green glow of the magic.
"Is it working?" Jannor asked, unable to make out the details with the tears in his eyes.
"It appears so… the wound by the wrist is glowing after all…" Let said as he looked close.
"Let is right… Her seizing is calming down." Rei smiled as a sigh of relief came out of everyone present.
"Thank god… now what caused thi-" Wiene asked before a form flew past them and into the ground with a large boom.
"Woah!" Welf exclaimed as he prepared his sword, only for the dust to clear revealing a heavily injured and bleeding Bache who seemed to be having difficulty even standing.
"Bache!" He called out as he ran forward and leaned down to inspect her, Adrienne not far behind with her entire face showing how worried she was.
"Mom! What happened!?" She asked as the amazon groaned.
"A… calamity… worse than the Chimera…" She got out as she forced herself up into a standing position on shaking legs.
Rei looked towards the trio, truly worried now. Things didn't look good whatsoever. Lili, Haruhime and Mikoto were probably still buried or headed here. Their strongest two fighters were incapacitated or heavily injured within less than a minute…
A loud screech split apart the thinning dust cloud around them as everyone turned in the direction of the noise just as the calamity launched itself straight towards them, its claws aimed at the group huddled around Elora as their eyes widened at the speed.
'We can't dodge!' Rei said, unable to move a muscle as the claw inched closer and closer.
'Is this… How I will die?'
"MOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" Massive stomps shook the ground before a giant form smashed head first into the calamity, it's horns digging into the monsters chest before being rammed through piles and piles of rubble by what was an unstoppable force of nature.
"Holy crap! What was that!?" Jannor exclaimed, breathing heavily as fear, relief and most of all, confusion was visible on his face.
"Wiene… was that-?" Rei asked with a small smile, hope blossoming in her heart.
"Yeah… I think it was…"
"With him here, our survival is all but assured." Let chuckled as he shook his head, collapsing onto his back with a deep relieved sigh.
"Ehm… Who?" Aralaya asked the question everyone wanted to ask apart from Welf who just laughed lightly at the memory from 15 years ago.
The dust cloud around where the monster rammed into thinned out before a shockwave and a boom sounded and forced a wind to blow all their hair as the form of a giant black bull with red horns was clashing with the Calamity, its heavy armour protecting its vitals as it roared out in defiance that made everyone present, even Bache, fall to their knees at the sheer authority behind it.
"Our strongest kin. The bull of catastrophe." Wiene said with a smile, the name itching on her tongue.
"Asterius."
That's chapter 58 everyone! We do hope you enjoyed it. It's around 10k words, a size we are going to start aiming for as I (Eli) feel like it's a better overall chapter length, and before anyone says anything, yes I know the dungeon's rumbling only sounded in the region and not all the way up into Orario, but its a change I made for this story for reasons.
I also wanted to say something too. There might be an influx of chapters soon, but I'm not really sure yet as it all depends on how I feel. My Father passed away this monday, so it's a bit up and down but I'm the type of person who grieves by throwing myself into something.
It might also decrease the number of chapters as I may or may not throw myself into something else, so please, don't ask for new chapters as I grieve. It might just make me want to keep away more.
Anyway, enough with the dreary subject. I'll get straight into the reviews!
NinjaFang1331: Awesome job and Bell has to hurry up and get back to his family and friends
Author: Yeah… hehe, I don't know about that xD
Mistalenny: I'm making a prediction: Bell is going to encounter Asterius in the deeper floors and he is going to help Bell get back to the surface one way or another.
Love this story, looking forward to the next chapter!
Author: Well… perfect timing I suppose. I just read this review so nothing was intentional haha.
Stevenpiskunov2: If it's ideas you want (not sure if this counts) there is one story that I think you would like and maybe get some ideas from. It's called "A Trickster's Secret Rabbit", it was one of my favourite stories and it's a shame that it never got continued. They had a lot of references to the Norse Mythology God of War games which were my favourite part, and after God of War Ragnarok came out it only made me wish the story continued, but like I said it's a good read if you want to check it out.
Author: Thanks for the idea and yeah, I've read that story, but I don't really think that's what I meant. Me and Chalister are deciding on a story with Alfia as one of the main characters in it and as of the moment, it's leaning to either a story about Alfia's rise in power to the beginning of the Astraea Records story or something similar to Alfia taking care of Bell.
Otherwise, thanks for the idea! If you have any idea for a story with Alfia, we are all ears for suggestions. Concepts of course as we want to build our own story, not someone else's.
SentinalSlice: Bell just needs to charge up Argonaut for seven minutes and then throw his spear straight up. Maybe even with Scourge active. That should make a tunnel he can go back up through.
Author: Yeah, I don't know if that's a good idea at the moment…
Bluerose1937:You know. I can see how Bell'a family and the others are feeling despair but I don't think any of them or Bel have suffered enough yet. Maybe I'm the masochist but when I was reading volume 14 I felt in every other page how much despair Bell and Lyu were in as they were being hunted.
So far there's an obvious threat in the chimera but it just feels strong. I'm not feeling the despair or maybe how it's being conveyed. Elora did have her moment so I should mention that. Okay now quick theory time for Bell. Surely there's gonna be a floor boss or two on his way back up. But is he solo floor boss level in this state? Find out next time.
Okay final thing. I'm interested in the Alfia story. I like ones where she raises Bell and it's hard to imagine a setting for the story without most of the current day characters but I trust you'll be able to make it work if you go that route.
Author: Well, I guess this chapter kind of responded a bit. There is a lot more despair here for both Bell and the others with a tint of hope… Bell on the other hand… well, let's just say things are going to get a lot worse very soon muahahahaha!
As for the suggestions, it's actually something I've contemplated for a while. A story where Alfia takes care of Bell but I won't say anymore of the concept I've been contemplating. As I said earlier, it is either that or the story of her rise to power right all the way to right before Astraea Records.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestion! It might lean me slightly towards that but I'll ask for votes if I can't decide with Chalister xD.
Well, that's it for the reviews! I do hope you all enjoyed it all and to see you all next time!