Lovely morning/ afternoon or evening my dear readers! It's been a while since I've updated the story, and I'd like to apologize for that, workload in college is hell, we just got back and now we're swamped with projects and homework, talk about a pain in the ass. I'll be frank now and say that you might be disappointed with the progression of this battle since I'm writing as much as I can during my free time, which eventually results in my stories seeming to unnecessarily drag on, but it's the best I got for now, apparently, writing action and fight scenes kinda takes a lot out of me so I'll try not to make them too dramatic, I'll write them Gintama style, short but decisive fights, but with not as much blood and gore, only what's sufficient. I'd also like to take a moment to reply to those who've taken the time to comment on the last chapter:

The Quotable Patella: Thanks for pointing that out, and I've also noticed a small error with what I wrote in the last chapter, so I fixed that, it's supposed to be three syllables, not two haha, I can't count. As for your other question, where you ask me how can Finn talk with them during battle, I have two answers for that, one is that they're currently away from the action and second is because why not? Haha. Anyway, thanks my dude for leaving your reviews on my story, you're always taking the time to comment, and I genuinely appreciate that, I appreciate you.

saintsmanjack: I'm glad you think that. I'll go ahead and tell you that there may be chapters I release in the future that will seem like drags and asspulls, where the contents will seem dull just for the sake of publishing a new chapter, and I won't hold it against you if you drop the story at some point, but I'll try my best to live up to the hype this story has made for itself, so you can rest easy for the time being. Thanks for taking the time to read my humble story and commenting your thoughts, I truly appreciate it, my guy.

SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: I'm sorry to hear you think that, I'll try not to get too immersed in the exposition aspect of my story and actually try to make the plot compelling, it's a tendency I keep falling into to needlessly over-explain scenes and things while neglecting to make it meaningful. I'll try to kick that habit, but I can't make any promises. For the second concern you have about the speed and direction of this story, I'll go ahead and tell you not to worry as it's still a story about Bell and Lefiya, I'm just trying to make it as close to the source material as I can, with Bell still holding Ais in deep admiration and probably love(Debatable with what happened after the Xenos arc, I'm not yet caught up with the light novels), and that the story will seem to be quite a drag in the beginning, but will pick up steam in the later chapters, Bell will have more interactions with Lefiya and the pairing will become more apparent, but for now, they're still allies and no more. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read my story and leaving your thoughts on the matter, I appreciate it, truly!

Now with that being said, onwards to battle!

I do not own Danmachi

Chapter IX: Freak

Third Person POV:

Relatively deep within the cruel and enigmatic labyrinth that is the dungeon, more specifically down on its eighteenth floor, a great battle is ongoing. The Loki Familia, with their allies from the Hephaestus and Hestia Familias, had set out for their expedition, to reach and explore uncharted territory so that it may be mapped and conquered, subjugated even if they will, a great enterprise into the unknown. Since leaving yesterday, they had made substantial progress, reaching the first major safety point and location of interest for the campsite of their less-seasoned members, the eighteenth floor, in less than half a day. Had things proceeded as planned, they would have roused and continued their trek at first light, with only the more seasoned adventurers on tow, but things were quick to get complicated, which spiraled out of control. One thing led to another, and now here we are, at the clearing beside the thick, dark, and eerie forest, with thick pillars of smoke rising toward the ceiling of the floor, as dark and oppressive as the feeling of hopelessness inflicted within the adventurers scrambling to regain their bearings after such a devastating attack they had received earlier.

But all was not yet lost

For they may be dealing with an unknown and difficult foe, but the main players were yet to be taken out of the game...

"I'll leave it to you, Bell Cranel"

The miniature captain of the Loki Familia nodded at the boy behind him, agreeing with the plan he suggested, which was a long shot but wouldn't hurt to try

"Yes Mr. Finn, I'll shout when I'm ready so you all have time to get away"

The boy responded, eager to prove himself useful to them

"Tch, this better work, rabbit boy!"

Bete grunted of to the side, giving no explicit verbal agreement, but readied himself to jump back into the action, but not before turning his head back to look at the albino one more time

"Oi, think you could give me some of that fire of yours?"

He pointed down to his legs, more specifically to his trusty brothers-in-arms, or legs... Flosvert, made of mithril, which granted it great durability and offensive capability, hugging his legs like a glove. Its best feature was that it could absorb any type of magic directed at it, harnessing it to greatly amplify the destructive potential of its already ruthless wielder. This was done through the use of two, special magic orbs, one embedded in each boot.

Ignorant of such knowledge, Bell raised an eyebrow at him, implying he wasn't sure about what the wolf was talking about

Noticing the boy's confused look, as if he had grown another head, Bete briefed him about his weapon's ability, which left the boy in awe

"Oh! I see"

He responded in glee

"Make sure to aim it exactly at the orbs or your dumbass'll light me on fire"

The wolf joked with a smirk, which Bell reciprocated

Raising his palm and pointing it toward the werewolf's left boot, he spoke his no-chant spell's iconic name and a powerful burst of hellishly hot energy burst forth, which was hungrily siphoned by the magic crystal in his left boot, igniting it like it was a firecracker about to detonate

Promptly doing the same process for his right boot, Bell stepped back as the wolf's legs were now encompassed by such vigorous flames, aching to be released.

The ground slightly collapsing by the force the werewolf now held, he arrogantly smirked at the boy

"It's hotter and more powerful than I expected, but nothing I can't handle!!!"

With his last syllable uttered, he pushed himself off of the ground with such a large amount of force that the ground surrounding the boy and the captain of the Loki Familia cracked, surprising them

"RAGHHHH!!!!"

Reaching his target's personal space in less than two seconds despite their initial distance, Bete unleashed a powerful roundhouse kick, greatly denting its outermost metallic defense, but failed to produce any meaningful or extensive damage, although it did result in the monster letting out a high pitched pulse, as if it were in pain

Other than that, it also achieved some surprised reactions from the two adventurers currently engaging it

"Bete!"

Ais wore a substantially surprised look, a very rare occurrence for her

"'Bout time you woke up from your doggy-nap mutt!"

Tiona greeted him with a grin, glad that he came to lend a hand

"Hmph! Less talking more hitting things!"

He curtly closed any further attempts at casual conversation and followed up his entrance attack with a tornado kick, pivoting his body sharply and adeptly to give his kick as much force as possible.

"TAKE THIS!!!"

Successfully connecting his significantly strengthened kick at the monster's armor, metal meeting metal which resulted in an awful groan being emitted due to the materials experiencing stress from the vigorous blow.

The monster emitting another high-pitched sound, perhaps in annoyance this time, raised a few of its many, nearby wings at the ferocious adventurer, ready to slap him off harder this time.

"Not on my watch!"

Ais came to his rescue, swiftly and efficiently slicing off many of its wings that were aimed at the wolf

"I owe you one, Ais!"

The werewolf smirked at the blonde sword-wielder, who nodded at him as a response

"DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT ME, DID YA?!?!"

Following up was Tiona, swirling her Urga with both her arms above her head, she promptly and adeptly delivered a powerful blow at the monster's previously dented outermost shell, this time cracking it from the accumulation of damage and sending the monster recoiling a few meters back from the blow.

Its metallic fortifications groaning from the stress of the attack it received, it let out a low pulse-like sound, evidently in pain.

"Good one, Tiona"

Ais nodded at her comrade's follow-up attack while Bete simply huffed

The three Loki Familia adventurers stood still and defiant, carefully scrutinizing their foe for even the slightest movement, it was yet to take the fight seriously as of now based on how easily they were overwhelming it.

But seeing as things weren't sustainable should the monster continue to not take these pests seriously, it gladly responded in kind

Emitting a loud, guttural noise akin to the horrid screeching of metal under extreme stress, all that was around the horrid creature felt their knees buckle from the vibrations it sent through their body.

Its war cry would be heard throughout the eighteenth floor, reverberating again and again as the horrid sound bounced off the walls of the floor many times, producing echoes of long intervals.

At the same time, numerous clusters of light began to appear in the sky around the creature, as numerous as the number of stars in the sky seen on a clear and beautiful night, an uncountable amount. So much so that the sky was dazzling, as bright as when the monster had first made its presence known to all.

"That's probably bad..."

Tiona was starting to panic

"You think?!"

Bete rebutted in disbelief at both the amazoness and at what he was currently witnessing

"Should we run?!"

Tiona turned to Ais, who was fixating a deep, heated glare at the monster, watching closely for signs of danger, which her intuition as a seasoned warrior would surely alarm her, having yet to fail her. Silence was the answer she gave to her comrade, who let out an uneasy sigh and also turned her gaze back to the light show in the sky.

A second later, all went back to normal, the numerous clusters of light scattered across the sky dimmed significantly, now indiscernible from the glimmering crystal ceiling softly reflecting any light it encountered.

But all was not normal, for now the monster was no longer alone

Accompanying it were numerous grotesque winged creatures which were a cross between a human infant, a goblin, and a demon. Fluttering in the sky and emitting their own soft little glows, which gave off an aura of serenity, a sharp contrast to their deeply unsettling features.

Letting out a pleased hum, the metallic monstrosity prepared another beam of pure destruction, its energy gathering into a small, super-concentrated sphere, becoming ever more bright and unstable, ready to be released.

Alarmed at the development, the three rushed to interfere with the beast's attempt to release another devastating attack.

But it wasn't going to be as easy as that, as the many, many sinister spawns of the beast now charged at them, eager to prevent them from accomplishing their goal, letting out numerous high-pitched screeches that resonated into a single ear-piercing shriek they charged in the hundreds, a large mass of aerial demons approaching them fast.

"Bete, clea-"

"OUT OF THE WAY!!!!"

Ais' command was interrupted by the familiar loud, booming voice of Gareth, in a dead sprint, gaining ever more velocity as he quickly approached them from behind

The three registering his command, they split and moved out of the way, providing the dwarf a direct path toward the disgusting cluster of mass

"RAAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!!!"

With all the vigor his level seven dwarven body allowed him, the unstoppable force that was Gareth Landrock violently crashed with the wall of enemies, killing many of the creatures he had directly collided with and displacing the rest, sending them splashing in all directions.

Not stopping his charge, he continued pummeling through the enemy's defensive cannon fodder, cutting down many with his axe.

Despite having managed to take out at least a few hundred enemies, more just kept spawning and eventually the dwarf found himself surrounded from all sides.

Grinning maniacally, the grotesque creatures opened their mouth disturbingly wide, each producing a fireball within its mouth, ready to be shot at its target

"Hmph! You'll have to try better than that!"

Clutching his battle-axe firmly with both hands in a firm grip, he started rotating on his axis, slowly gathering more and more momentum.

Not about to let their enemy break free, the demonic spawns all released their own charged fireballs, more than a hundred were now heading in the direction of the spinning dwarf.

Gaining sufficient speed, the force of the wind generated by the Loki Familia veteran not only served to protect him from the vicious, numerous attacks but also served to siphon the flames, molding and forcing them to spin into a fiercely rotating vortex, which grew even larger as he sped up, generating even more devastation.

A tornado of searing hot flames had now begun to engulf the numerous creatures around him, burning them all to a crisp.

Not even their cries were heard as the storm grew so violent it overshadowed any pained cries its numerous victims might have released

Eventually, the firenado grew so large and violent that it broke through the spherical mass of demonic creatures surrounding it, which would have been no easy feat for lesser adventurers since the number of these creatures was now in the thousands by now and growing, wherever they were coming from, they just kept coming.

"Woah! The old man's crazy!"

Bete backed off as the flames grew larger and the surrounding air became hotter

"Heck yeah! Gareth's got this!"

Tiona cheered for her superior's ruthless display of battle prowess, while Ais silently stared in awe

As more and more of its underlings fell to the spinning vortex of inferno, the monster deemed it the ideal moment to unleash its stored energy, directly at the fiery hurricane.

Not anticipating the incoming attack as he was too preoccupied with his own, Gareth was left woefully wide open, with his only defense being the force he had generated from his attack.

Then, concentrated energy of pure, unfettered destruction met the fiery hurricane

The collision of the two great forces unleashed a moderately powerful explosion, causing widespread damage to the vicinity and rocking the entire area with a powerful tremor, which created fissures and openings in the ground due to the energy.

Those who were unfortunate enough to be near ground zero, but far enough to avoid being completely disintegrated by the explosion itself, found themselves launched into the distance, which included Ais, Bete, and Tiona.

Also sent flying was Gareth, his unconscious, stout body shooting into the forest at the speed of a bullet, mostly naked from his armor and clothes not having been spared by the direct hit, had he been any less durable than he was now, he surely would have died.

.

"GARETH!!!"

Tiona shouted out in a distressed tone, wearing an expression of a mix of shock, scared, and worry, a foreign expression, considering her usually vivacious character.

With nothing but the earth to catch their fall, the three made a rough landing as their bodies took the impact, but due to their vastly superior attributes, they didn't suffer much damage.

"Tch...! The old man got cocky"

Bete muttered to himself in a low tone of voice as he forced himself to get up

Ais dusted off the dirt that clung to her clothes and body, then glanced at her comrades

"So, what's the plan now?"

She was unsure as to how to proceed with taking down the beast, it had proven that it would be much more troublesome than they thought.

"Same as before, we'll have to keep it occupied until Riveria and the oth-"

Bete reminded her but wasn't able to finish his sentence as the monster was immediately right in front of them, appearing at such a close range without them noticing.

His entire body suffering the painful blow of being rammed by a rapidly moving and dense object, Bete rag-dolled into the distance, crashing pathetically onto the floor

"Bete!!"

Tiona shouted before she too, was knocked away by a quick swipe of one of the beast's wings that were near her, sending her shooting toward the direction of Ais, who caught her by reflex

"Oof, sorry about that Ais!"

Tiona cringed at her sore shoulder where she received the monster's unexpectedly powerful blow, giving a small smile at the blonde girl behind her

Before Ais could respond, her astute sense of hearing detected the faintest sound of buzzing, which was rapidly getting louder.

"!!!"

Noticing just in time, she managed to shove Tiona away to safety, but as a result, was barely able to defend herself from the onslaught of four rapidly rotating rings of death.

Sustaining a pretty bad cut on her arm, she mustered all of her agility in deflecting the projectiles, which just kept coming back after being knocked away.

"Ais!!!"

Seeing her friend getting hurt because of her, Tiona rushed in to help her but was rudely interrupted by the monster giving her the same treatment it gave their werewolf comrade earlier, ramming into her at full speed.

Crashing violently onto the ground beside Bete some meters away, Ais was left all by herself in a vulnerable state, constantly fending off multiple incoming projectiles at every angle.

But what made it worse was when the many, many minions of the creature who were sitting idly by, started to charge up for a synergistic attack, aimed directly at her two barely-conscious comrades.

Alarmed by what they were about to do, she tried to force her way out of the constant barrage which kept her on the defensive.

But the speed of the deadly discs was just barely faster than what she could react to, and as a result, she eventually had slip-ups and received wounds here and there, further encumbering her.

The situation could not go on like this, she needed to stop them now

"Ngh!! AWAKEN TEMPEST!"

With her emotions running high, Tempest awakened with an explosion of powerful wind magic, sending the pesky, incoming discs shooting off into the distance, clearing the path for her.

She rushed toward the mass of grotesque minions who were all still charging their attack, but the discs just didn't seem to give up and rushed her again.

This activation of tempest proved itself unusually much more powerful than it usually was, as the discs, regardless of how fast they shot toward the distressed blonde girl, were deflected harmlessly by her wind as if they were mere flies being swatted away, her magic forming a powerful, defensive dome of wind moving at a very high speed.

Pushing herself off of the ground, her magic went into overdrive

"LIL RAFAGA!!!"

Her form encapsulated by a large, rapidly rotating light green aura of wind forming the shape of a spearhead, rocketed toward the concentrated mass of minions ready to fire their projectiles.

"HAAAA-!!!"

Ready to rip them to shreds with her magic, Ais charged onward but was rudely intercepted by the monster's energy attack shot directly toward her, exploding upon contact with her as she was sent crashing some meters away.

"Ngh..."

Severely weakened by the direct hit, she could only watch as the monster's minions all unleashed their charged magic attacks at once, the numerous fireballs congregating into a single, synergistic wall of flames, shooting directly toward her two comrades, who were also still on the ground.

They could only watch in horror as the torrent of flames rapidly drew closer to them, unable to escape its path due to the injuries they sustained.

"No...!!!"

She weakly tried to reach out her hand toward her two doomed comrades in some vain attempt to save them, as the torrent of flames completely engulfed their form.

"Tiona... Bete...!"

Unable to believe what she had just witnessed, she choked back the tears that threatened to burst out, resolving to avenge her comrades and mourn for them later.

Her eyes filled with hate, she focused a most hateful glare at the monster some distance away, who let out another pleased, triumphant hum as it had with its defeat of the pesky dwarf earlier.

"N-No...!"

Her breathing became erratic as her eyes fell downcast, clouding with hate and her thoughts overcome with swirling fantasies of vengeance, all mixing into a hodgepodge of rage.

Clutching her chest as it throbbed in pain at the thought of her two comrades, she glared at the monster with the most profound, hateful glare she had ever managed.

Her Temptest flared wildly and erratically as its color turned black, its aura dancing around her enraged form like a hungry flame ready to consume all.

"AHHHHH!!!!"

With a distressed shout, she threw herself at the monster, who was caught unprepared for her sudden reappearance.

Giving it no time to react to her, Ais unleashed a powerful swing of her sword, Desperate slamming into its second to last line of metallic defense, which gyrated and rotated much faster than usual to make up for the excess space that the absence of the other metallic discs.

Her powerful attack managed to dent its disc, which made it let out a low hum in pain. It attempted to swipe the pest off with its numerous wings, but Ais, being the hurricane of fury and hate that she currently was, decimated its many wings, with speeds imperceptible to the eye, sliced it all to bloody ribbons.

Following up her attack, she blitzed around the monster, moving at such high speeds that all that could be seen was the dark trail of her aura briefly before the monster felt another blow land. Each of her attacks slightly damaged and dented its disc, which would have been enough to break through its other weaker discs.

Deciding that the pest was becoming too presumptuous for her good, the monster commanded its many minions to rush her, but just as quickly as they came, they were cut down in the dozens by the hurricane of fury.

Its second to last disc starting to accumulate stress and cracks, it decided that enough was enough.

Unleashing a high screech, loud enough to blow Ais a few meters back, then, from its body, a powerful pulse was released.

Once Ais made contact with the pulse, she found herself unable to attempt even the slightest movement.

"Ngh...!"

The best she could manage was a scowl on her face, she was left vulnerable to the four, rapidly approaching discs of death.

Unable to defend herself, she closed her eyes as she waited for her end to come.

But instead of feeling the numerous discs' cold, metallic surface tear her apart, she heard a few loud clangs, surprising her.

"AIS!!"

Opening her eyes, she met her savior's eyes

"Tione!"

Her lips grew into a small smile but quickly disappeared as soon as it had appeared, remembering how she was unable to save her sister and friend.

"T-Tione... I...!"

She weakly tried to speak, but Tione silenced her with a gentle smile

"It's alright"

Hearing the monster's battle cry in the form of a high-pitched screech, the two women turned back to find their foe rapidly approaching them, much too close for them to avoid.

"Crap!"

Tione positioned herself in front of the immobilized sword princess in a vain attempt to shield her from receiving the direct blow but thankfully was not required to take the blow herself when a formidable tank suddenly blitzed through them and intercepted the rushing beast, stopping it dead in its tracks.

"???"

Letting out a confused hum, its lone eye turned to look at the one who dared interrupt its attack

Taking note of his familiar features, albeit a little bit more on the burnt side with his armor removed as it was partially melted, and with his robust and extremely muscular upper body exposed, it recognized the familiar form of the dwarf that it had defeated earlier.

"Ya' missed me yet?"

With a toothy smile, Gareth held the beast firmly in place with his iron grip, managing to grab its rapidly gyrating outer disc and immobilize it, which would have made taking out its center much more convenient if not for the fact that it still had its inner disc, rotating at speeds that were a blur even to the dwarf's highly astute level seven senses.

With his superior strength, Gareth added significant pressure on the metallic surface he held, which groaned and creaked from the great stress it endured.

"RAAAAAGHHHHHH!!!!"

Gareth, with a loud and fierce cry, snapped its outer disc, bending the separate parts at an awkward angle.

The monster let out a high-pitched shriek of pain as the formidable dwarf continued to bend its snapped outer disc, rendering it mostly useless.

His relentless onslaught was interrupted when he felt a searing burn on his back, which forced him to let go of the monster.

"GARETH!"

Tione tried to deflect as many of the incoming fireballs as she could manage, but there were simply too numerous.

Had Ais been able to move, she would have made quick work of the energy blasts alongside its casters, but alas found herself woefully unable to lift even a finger to help her struggling comrades.

The monster, recovering from the pain it had endured at, quite literally, the hands of the dwarf, charged up another one of its infamous massive blasts, only this time, it seemed to be capable of much more damage than the ones it had unleashed earlier.

"Ack...!"

Still reeling from the searing wound he received, Gareth tried to stand up and stop the beast, but the beast was too far away to get to in time.

Thankfully, he didn't need to worry about that when a familiar spear rocketed past him and struck the beast right where its energy was being concentrated, detonating it prematurely as its explosion engulfed the beast.

"Close call if I do say so myself"

Finn appeared beside Gareth as he uncorked a health elixir and splashed its contents onto the dwarf's severely burnt back, alleviating his suffering.

"Captain!"

Tione ran up to her captain along with Ais, as the immobilization effect wore out, either from the monster being disoriented or its effects having worn out with time.

"Are you two alright?"

Finn asked them, Tione nodded readily but Ais seemed much more hesitant

"F-Finn... Tiona and Bete..."

She choked back a sob at the mention of her comrades, which Finn raised an eyebrow to

"What about them?"

He asked her to elaborate

She snapped her head up to respond, but quickly found herself stunned into silence when the two aforementioned persons appeared behind the blond prum, burnt and bruised, but alive nonetheless.

"Heya Ais! Sorry that we gave you all the trouble earlier!"

Tiona, with her usual cheerfulness, slapped her on the back, which made her wince and smile

"Tch, I won't go down so easily!"

Bete clicked his tongue as he splashed a health elixir on his burns.

Infinitely relieved to find her friends were alright, she let out a tired smile

"You guys..."

She started, but Finn's powerful voice interrupted her

"Listen up, there's a slight change of plans, I've told you all earlier that the plan was supposed to stall until Riveria and the rest come back and launch a final attack at the monster, but I was informed by a certain someone that they have quite a powerful ace up their sleeve that they'd lik-"

CLANG*

The Loki Familia Captain's briefing was cut off by the familiar, loud, and sudden clang of a grand bell tolling

Turning toward the source, they saw the distant and lone figure of Bell Cranel, his left arm softly glowing a gentle white. Imposing and defiant he stood, as if he were the hero arriving at the very last second to save the day.

The sight of the familiar boy in the distance charging up his special ability eased the worries of everybody present, except for Finn and Bete who already knew ahead of time.

CLANG*

Another toll reverberated through the vicinity, with each toll becoming more louder and imposing.

"As I was saying earlier, our mission, for now, is the same, but with a small change, we'll still be stalling for the others to get back, but for now, we'll be stalling for Bell Cranel to charge up his attack, should it prove insufficient to take out the monster, we'll continue stalling until the mages are here and ready"

A crude and straightforward plan, but frankly the best they got with a foreign and unpredictable opponent.

Nodding at the change of plans, they all readied themselves as the monster let out another high-pitched screech, indicating that it was through playing games.

"On your toes!"

Finn warned

And thus, the first half of the battle is concluded. Now, the second half is about to begin.

Aaaand, that's a wrap. Again, I'm sorry that I took longer than a week to post this chapter, I'm afraid that this'll be the new normal publishing frequency for the story, a chapter or two every two weeks depending on how swamped I am with college assignments. Sure it may not be as bad as other stories, but my concern is that it's still a relatively new story, so there's a certain pressure to publish chapters quickly until the story establishes itself properly, all I'm asking for is a bit more patience. Thanks for reading and I'll see you lovelies in the next one!