What up people? I'm sorry this took a bit to be released, it's just that I've been absolutely swamped with crap from school. Since the school year's about to end, they're throwing a crap ton of activities and projects at us, along with preparations for our final examination... yep, it makes me worry a bit that I'm writing this story instead of studying and/or doing my assigned tasks hehe. Anyway, I'll take a second to respond to a comment I've gotten:

OblivionKnight: Hey! Glad to hear that you're enjoying the story so far! I tried to make it as much fluff as I could to make up for the first part of the story being mostly action and having little Bell and Lefiya moments, but rest assured, things will pick up steam from here on out... or actually, once this current arc ends, which will probably be about four to five chapters away, not sure yet. But the stage is now set for Bell and Lefiya so you can look forward to it! Thank you for taking the time to read and share your thoughts! I appreciate it, my guy!

So I'll keep it short, enjoy the story, and happy reading!

I do not own Danmachi

Chapter XV: Teamwork is Dreamwork

Bell Cranel's POV:

"To your left, Master Bell!"

The shrill voice of Lili broke through the mayhem as she warned me of an imminent monster attack

Heeding her warning, I quickly turned to my left, and sure enough, my eyes found a growling Bloodsaurus that stood ready to pounce at me

Possessing the superior speed, all it took was one efficient arm motion from me as I quickly dispatched the monster before it could even react

"Good job Master Bell!"

Lili commended as she unleashed another hail of arrows from her crossbow, which precisely hit their targets without fail, incapacitating them for us to take them out

"Hah... Man, I'm kind of starting to wish we'd taken up a different quest..."

Welf panted as we stood back-to-back, we were both surrounded by a few more Bloodsaurus, circling around us in order to try and disorient us and find an opening to attack

"Same... I'm starting to think twice if this was worth being chased after by an entire horde of them..."

I replied with a bit of exasperation as I tried my best to stay on guard against the circling monsters

We had decided to take up an available quest from the guild to gather some Bloodsaurus eggs for five thousand valis each since we were running a bit dry financially. We originally planned to invite Miss Aisha and our friends from the Takemikazuchi Familia. But unfortunately, they were all unavailable with some things of their own. Hearing that we would be receiving no help, Lili had second thoughts about the quest but I insisted that it would be fine with my level, reasoning that it would be an easy pay-day, much to her exasperation though she ultimately agreed to proceed with the quest. The quest specified that a minimum of five eggs were needed, but also stated that we were welcome to as many as we wanted and that they'd happily pay for them. So we decided to gather as many as we could, and as of the moment, we currently have twenty

However, it would seem as if our choice of trying to acquire as many eggs as we could was; in retrospect, a bad choice, for we were currently being relentlessly chased after by many a horde of indignant and enraged Bloodsaurus, intent on tearing us into bloody bits for the crime of taking what was theirs

But oh well, no sense in crying over spilled milk they say, we'll just have to try our best in order to get out of this pickle as soon as possible

Now here we are, in the middle of a vast meadow on the twenty-ninth floor, doing our best to fight off a large horde of the creatures

"HAHH!"

With a cry, I brought down my Hestia Knife on a Bloodsaurus' forehead, instantly killing it as it exploded into a heap of excelia

Kicking another one in the snout to disorient it while I dispatch two more, I slash it across its torso, bisecting it

Having taken care of the ones in my immediate vicinity, I turned to look toward my red-haired partner, who was experiencing a bit of difficulty in pushing back one of the reptilian monsters

"Don't you underestimate me!"

With a fierce shout, Welf whacked the monster right in the snout with the blunt surface of his blade, then before the monster could retaliate, received a fatal slash through its torso, enough to kill it as it disappeared into nothing

"Nice going Welf!"

I tried to lift his spirits up a bit by praising his prowess, but he simply replied with a languid sigh

"Damn, I wish I was also a level six..."

I chuckled at his response as I took out another Bloodsaurus that got a bit too close for comfort while shooting a few Firebolts toward the ones a bit further out

"Master Welf! To your six!"

We heard Mikoto warn as she cut down three of the monsters that got much too close to her and Haruhime, who cowered at the sight of the bloodthirsty monsters

'Woah!"

The red-haired smith exclaimed in surprise at having his head nearly bitten off by the monster

Flashing her an appreciative smile, he unleashed a swift yet powerful swing at the monster that was still busy registering having failed to take out its prey, catching it off guard and killing it

"I owe ya one, Mikoto!"

He gave her a thumbs up, to which she simply nodded as she continued to deal with any approaching monster

"L-Lady Mikoto! A-Are you sure I don't need to use my magic?"

The Renard asked as she recoiled once more at the sight of the raven-haired samurai embedding her sword precisely on the chest of a Bloodsaurus, delivering a fatal blow

"We'll save it for when we need it the most Lady Haruhime! We can still manage for now"

The samurai replied, acknowledging that the time to use it might be soon, since the reptilian beasts just kept on coming, denying them their chance to flee

"A few more incoming!"

Lili announced to the others as she went ahead and unleashed a few rounds of arrows from her recently upgraded crossbow, hitting and successfully incapacitating the rest of the Bloodsaurus which allowed us to easily take care of them

Fortunately, that was the last of them. We had managed to fend off a relentless monster attack successfully, but celebrating the high feat was far from everybody's mind as we all took a minute to catch our breath and regroup

"Hah... let's not do that again... "

Lili suggested as she took a swig from a water canteen she had inside her cartoonishly large backpack, we all nodded in agreement

"Phew, think the coast's clear, let's get out of here while we can!"

Welf suggested as the rest of us unanimously agreed, relieved that all our struggles would be rewarded with a hefty amount of valis after cashing in our spoils

However, it seemed as if that would have to wait first as before we could leave the area, a veritable animalistic roar reverberated from the distance, beneath the vast line of trees. It was a roar befitting that of a true monster, an undisputed apex predator

We all nervously shared glances before we all acknowledged that we'd very much rather not confront whatever that was

"Oh boy... that doesn't sound good"

I nervously spoke up while we all stood motionless and fixated on the direction from where the sound originated from

Call it morbid curiosity, but it was as if our bodies wouldn't respond to our internal pleas to get moving, we could only stare in anticipation, demanding some sort of closure to our curiosity

And the closure eventually came

Emerging from the line of trees some hundreds of meters away was a single Bloodsaurus, which was identified to be an irregular one upon closer inspection. It was around three times larger than a regular Bloosaurus at least, and far better equipped to kill with much sharper claws and longer arms for a further reach, along with a full row set of painfully-sharp mincers on an incredibly powerful jaw, enabling a bite force that would crush the hardest of materials. Its reptilian skin as rough to the tough as sandpaper and as hard as steel, it was not only well-armed but well-armored. The perfect killing-machine

Also, said killing machine was heading directly toward them at a speed of several meters a second, which finally prompted them to get moving

"Crap! Run for the hills!!!"

Welf shouted as he quickly took off running as we quickly followed suit not a second later

Running as fast as we could, we tried to get away from the rapidly approaching beast, but it was all in vain as the monster gained more and more ground on us

'Crap! We're not going to make it at this rate!'

Gritting my teeth, I abruptly halted in my tracks and went blitzing off in the opposite direction, ready to confront the incoming monstrosity by myself

"GO!!! I'll buy time!"

I shouted over my shoulder as I readied the Hestia Knife in my hand

"Bell!!! What the hell are you doing!!!"

Welf shouted in disbelief at my suicidal endeavor as the rest shared the same reaction as him

"""Master/Sir Bell!! Come back!!!"""

Lili, Mikoto, and Haruhime all shouted at the same time, which quickly became a distant, incoherent mumble as I rushed to intercept the monster

"HAAHH!!"

Unleashing a powerful swing, my weapon met thin air as the monster evaded my charge and dug its muscular hind legs into the ground as it skidded to a halt behind me, aiming to attack

'It's intelligent!'

I couldn't help but think as I held out my left arm, unleashing a barrage of Firebolts, which didn't produce any meaningful damage

But I wasn't looking to damage the monster, as I very much knew that they were resistant to fire-based attacks. The detonations of the consecutive firebolts I unleashed released a sizable smoke enough to blind the beast momentarily as I rushed in to attack it once again

Barely able to make out its dazed figure in the smokescreen, I brought down my sword

The skin was as tough as I had expected, my attack not even so much as cutting it

'Oh boy... this will be a long fight...'

I sighed mentally as I ducked just in the nick of time to avoid a narrow swipe from the reptilian monster's tail, which I felt the force behind through the force from the wind it generated

"HAH!!!"

I took aim at one of its legs, one of the few parts that weren't heavily armored

Successfully dealing damage this time, the monster shrieked in surprise as I rolled off to the side

Its initial surprise quickly turned to anger, it gave me no time to rest as it quickly charged me

I was ready to inflict another disorienting blow until I suddenly felt something sharp wound my left abdomen, the furthest-point tips of the monster's claws were slicing my skin

Abandoning my attack, I surrendered my weight to the force of gravity to avoid a critical injury

Finding it failed to land a critical strike, the monster went in to capitalize on me being supine on the ground

Cocking back its arm to skewer me as if I were a kebab, I avoided that fate by quickly and awkwardly pivoting my body with my right leg outstretched, striking the monster right in its left eye as it growled in pain and threw out a defensive strike, which I, unfortunately, could not move my leg away from to evade in time

Feeling a painful sensation on my leg, I shouted in pain as I quickly moved my leg away, which was now bleeding from an extensive scratch mark, I quickly got up and put some distance between us to regain my bearings

.

Third Person POV:

"We need to help Master Bell! He won't be able to take it on by himself!!"

Mikoto exclaimed in distress as she rushed back to the battlefield

"Damn it! That idiot!"

Welf was all too eager to follow

"Master Lili, we too must help Sir Bell!"

Haruhime pleaded the prum as she bit the bottom of her lip

She was internally debating on whether to heed the albino boy's earlier words and leave, for she trusted that he'd be able to come back in one piece; as he always has... but at the same time, she couldn't just leave him to fend for himself

So she had already made up her mind, there was no way they'd leave him, his fight was their fight too

"We must not waste time Master Haruhime!"

She urged the Renard to hurry on toward the others as she closely followed behind

.

Bell Cranel's POV:

"YAHH!"

The irregular Bloodsaurus tried to trample me beneath its feet, it succeeded in knocking my weapon away from my hand earlier during a bit of struggle, so I had little choice but to momentarily fend off the wild monster while I tried to retrieve my weapon

Jumping up and slugging the monster right in the snout swiftly and powerfully, I left it dazed as I went to grab the weapon, but was stopped when I felt a painful swipe of its claws inflict damage on my back as the force sent me crashing a bit away

"Ack...!"

'I guess it's come to this...'

The iconic tolling of the grand bells could be heard as the palm of my hand started to glow white

With the situation becoming increasingly dire, I was forced to activate my skill in order to settle things before they got out of hand

The monster, as if realizing that it needed to end the fight before I could finish whatever it was I was doing, rushed toward me in a crazed fit, seeming much more rabid than it had been before as it opened its jaw wide, set on devouring me

I readied myself to evade but was surprised to find out that I didn't need to do that when the monster suddenly crashed to the ground, shrieking in an enraged fit at whatever it was that kept it from pushing itself from the ground. There was a magic circle that surrounded the beast, but I was thankfully out of its range and thus did not feel its crushing effects

I immediately turned my head to the side, and sure enough, a level-boosted Mikoto had her magic active in the distance, along with Lili, who unleashed a maelstrom of arrows at the downed beast as Welf took out one of the few backup magic swords that he had kept for emergencies and called forth its elemental prowess, encasing the monster in a large wall of ice

"Wha- Why'd you guys come back? I told you to run!"

I tried to scold but a smile couldn't help but creep up my face

"You idiot, you'd think we'd leave you to fight that monstrosity alone?"

Welf flicked me on the forehead after walking up to me

"Indeed, not only would it be a dishonorable act, but your fight is also our fight, sir Bell!"

Mikoto also walked over to us, along with a smiling Lili and Haruhime, who had deactivated her magic

"Well, how's about we get goi-"

My words were cut off when the large block of ice suddenly exploded, sending chunks of ice shooting and pelting us

"Agh...! Bastard won't stay down!"

Welf grits his teeth as he nurses a rapidly bruising spot on his cheek, he had been hit by one of the many ice chunks that were sent our way

"Ow ow ow... Lady Mikoto!!!"

Haruhime shouted out in distress for her friend, finding out she was currently down, having been hit the temple with a small chunk of ice, which opened a now bleeding wound and likely gave her a concussion

Lili, after recovering rushed toward the two, fumbling in her backpack for health potions

"Welf! We need to keep it occupied until they get to safety"

I staggered toward the hurt blacksmith as he sighed tiredly

"Man... I knew we fought an Irregular Amphisbaena before but this is ridiculous..."

Compared to the Irregular Amphisbaena from before, this particular monster seemed less of a handful but was evidently more powerful; though not by a large margin, it still was

Unleashing an indignant roar that shook the entire area, our ears were left ringing as the monster stalked around us once more, as if biding for the right time to strike

"Well... you don't have to tell me that! That's always the plan!"

Welf shouted as he picked up his sword and stood up as I followed suit

It was just the two of us against it for now, we needed to buy enough time for the others to regain their bearing and join in

"Sure you can manage without Miss Haruhime's level boost?"

Unable to resist the urge, I joked a bit as he scoffed

"What? Did hitting level six make you look down on lower-level adventurers already? For your information, I'm long halfway through level two!" (A.N.: I decided to bump up their stats a bit so that they can stay relevant in the action, I know that levels and stats aren't everything, but it just makes it easier to work with things.)

Welf shot back, earning a smirk from me

"Keep up the hard work and you might just get to my level"

I said a bit playfully as I tried to lighten the mood a bit

"Geh... arrogance doesn't really suit your character, Bell"

He and I both chuckled at our little spiel

"Anyway, we gots us a lizard to tame!"

We turned our attention back toward the monster, who now decided that it had enough of waiting and decided to make the first move

My argonaut skill was still active and was already well past the two-minute mark, I imbued it directly on the Hestia Knife so that it had more power behind it

I jumped ahead to create an opening for Welf to attack, unleashing three firebolts in rapid succession, I aimed them at the ground right in front of the monster as it threw up dirt and dust in front of it, blinding it as it roared in anger

Quickly capitalizing on the chance, I thrust my Hestia Knife with as much power as I could currently muster, right into its chest

It successfully pierced through the armor, but it wasn't enough to pierce through it deep enough to cause a fatal injury

With as much force as I could, I wrenched free my weapon but not before suffering another swipe from the monster, I was thankfully able to evade most of the damage, but I was still left with a long gash on my chest plate, which thankfully wasn't deep enough to cut my body

'Yikes! That was close!'

I shuddered before following up with a series of swift attacks, utilizing my great speed as a level six

The monster, having been disoriented from having dirt and dust thrown in its vision, along with my previous attack, was left utterly vulnerable to my stupid Rabbit Dash ability

Pushing my speed to overdrive, I hacked away at the monster, with Argonaut further increasing the power behind my blade and augmenting my hits, my attacks became more and more powerful but at great expense to my stamina

I was dealing meaningful damage to the monster, who now had several gashes and brittle spots on its rough skin where it received some of my strikes

I had it on the ropes, but I couldn't keep the pressure going as my body was starting to get heavy from the exertion

Sending out a powerful kick that connected with the monster's jaw; likely dislocating it, I retreated for the moment, providing Welf with the optimal opportunity to tag into the fight

"TAKE THIS!!!"

Unleashing his magic sword once more, he froze the Bloodsaurus' body up until its neck, leaving the head as it flailed around, trying to break free from its icy restraint

"Have at 'im!!"

Welf let out a battle cry as he and I charged the vulnerable monster at the same time

But it wouldn't be that easy now, would it? Of course, the monster had something up its sleeve

Its eyes began to glow a fiery red as its long, reptilian neck began to swell as if something were exerting great pressure on it, aching to be released

"Crap!!!"

Welf and I jumped out of the way as a massive torrent of flame suddenly shot out from the beast's mouth, shooting off into the distance, good thing we reacted in time or we would've been incinerated into nothing if the heat of the flame was anything to go by, I could feel my skin burning up just from the heat it generated

"Since when the hell did Bloodsaurus breathe fire?!"

Welf shouted to himself as we continued to run from the torrent of inferno closing in on us as the monster swept its head to home in on us

From what I know, they can't do such a thing, but I'll go ahead and guess that this one can because it's an irregular species

Eventually, we were able to reach an angle where the monster couldn't turn its head so the attack ceased following us

Fending us off for the time being, the monster directed the blast right into its frigid prison and used the remainder of its fire breath to melt its restraint, freeing it and allowing it to move once again

"We won't let you damn it!"

Welf sent out a few ice crescents toward the monster, who shrugged it off as if it were nothing due to its robust armor

The monster leaped into the air and crashed into the ground right in front of us, disorienting us as we quickly tried to regain our bearings after

"Welf!"

I called out but was answered by a pained and surprised shout

"ACK!!!"

Turning around, I witnessed Welf suffer an extensive wound to his torso, he had been unable to react in time and thus was left wide open to the monster's attacks

I could tell it wasn't fatal but the damage dealt; stretching from his lower abdomen up to his chest, was still serious as Welf writhed in agony on the ground while the irregular Bloodsaurus stalked ever closer to him, taking its time with its downed and defenseless prey

"NO!!!"

Gritting my teeth, I rushed the monster with renewed vigor

Relentlessly dishing out attacks left and right, I was able to push the monster back piecemeal

Dishing out a powerful haymaker, it landed right on the monster's eye socket as the force of the blow sent it crashing onto the ground and rolling far away. It also succeeded in slightly fracturing my arm, but I managed to work through the pain due to the adrenaline running high in my system

Taking out two health elixirs, I quickly rushed to the writhing Welf and poured its contents all over his wound, successfully stopping the profuse bleeding and closing up the wound as if it were never there at all, all that was left to serve as a testament was Welf's now mostly ripped shirt

Taking the second elixir, I uncorked it and drank its contents, I felt my entire body being rejuvenated by the magical compound, not only healing my broken arm but also giving me my spent stamina back

"Hell... that was way too close!!"

Welf was left in a stupefied state at the thought of having almost died

"Get it together Welf! It's heading back our way!"

Pulling him up to his feet, we were about to evade the incoming attack when I suddenly felt a newfound wave of power rush through my body, heightening my abilities to greater extents

Then I noticed that both Welf and myself were fully surrounded by a golden aura, which could only mean one thing...

'This is Miss Haruhime's Level Boost!'

But our surprise quickly turned back to alert when we saw the beast fast approaching

We were about to fend off the irregular Bloodsaurus when Mikoto's foot suddenly slammed into the monster's face, putting all of her strength into the attack. The monster roared in surprise and staggered back a bit, taken off guard by the sudden blow it received

"Mikoto! Are you alright?"

Welf called out in surprise after seeing the still-bleeding wound on her left temple

The samurai nodded at him, saying that it wasn't a big deal but I had insisted on handing her a health potion, not fully convinced by her words

"Please take it, Miss Mikoto!"

I extended the elixir to her, but she vehemently refused saying that it shouldn't be wasted for such a minor

We had a bit of back-and-forth until I firmly gave her an order as the captain of the Familia, so she could do nothing but give in with a sigh and accept the elixir from my outstretched hand

Working its magic, her wound closed up as if it had never been there in the first place, but the dried blood on her face was still a testament to the wound she had suffered

"Lili and Master Haruhime will provide their support from behind while the others take on the irregular"

We heard Lili call out from a distance while Haruhime, who had her boosting magic active, nodded in agreement

"Sounds like a plan. Alright! Let's put ugly down once and for all!"

It was about time we turned the tide of the battle in our favor, with all of us against it and receiving our full, undivided attention, we'll definitely be able to take it down!

"Fork it!"

Needing no other cue but that, the three of us rushed the monster in a three-pronged attack with myself charging straight toward it, while Welf and Miss Mikoto took to its left and right flank respectively

The monster seemed to give much more of its focus towards me, barely giving my two other teammates any mind, it could probably notice the difference in levels

Paying it no mind, I pushed myself to go faster and rocket right into the monster, creating an opening for Welf and Mikoto

I had the advantage over the monster, but it still proved to be a difficult opponent, using the momentum of our collision to roll around until it kicked me off

A bit dazed from the kick, I quickly recovered thanks to Miss Haruhime's level-boosting magic and re-engaged the monster in a vicious clash of weapons, my Hestia Knife against its claws

Despite its large body, it was agile on both its legs and its arms, it was barely able to keep up with my speed

But eventually, some of my attacks broke through its defense, and with the temporary level boost and my Argonaut ability fully charged, my blows began to deal a lot of damage against it, tearing off its robust skin and opening up wounds that started bleeding profusely

But I couldn't keep it up for long, my Argonaut ability was quickly draining my stamina and I needed them to tag along now

I jumped out of the way just before a hailstorm of arrows rained down on the monster, most of which precisely hit the vulnerable spots my attacks opened up, making the monster roar in agony at the feeling of countless projectiles being embedded in its freshly opened wounds

'Great going Lili!'

I smile to myself as I mentally praise my fellow teammate, the monster's knees went weak from all the damage it accumulated, it could barely defend itself from our attacks, now was the time to finish things

And indeed, the thought was shared as Welf and Mikoto came rushing into the scene, capitalizing on the chance before us as I quickly followed behind

The monster, seeing that we were taking advantage of its vulnerable predisposition, roared out and with newfound vigor, went wild

Stomping and thrashing around violently to keep us at bay

"Let's go!!!"

Mikoto rushed in ahead and deftly avoided all the aimless attacks that came in her; or more accurately, every direction, she aimed to embed her sword into the exposed chest of the monster, the area I stabbed earlier

But the monster sent its claws toward her, and though she tried to defend herself to the best of her abilities, she couldn't come out unscathed and was struck in the arm by its claws as she parried the attack to avoid a fatal blow, which tore through her smooth skin, drawing much blood

""Miss Mikoto/Mikoto!!!""

Welf and I shouted out in worry, we rushed in to save her

I rushed in and deflected every attack the monster threw while Welf went to grab Mikoto

"Ngh! Aim for the chest!! Now's our chance!!!"

She told us as she got off of him and went rushing back toward the monster, smearing her blood all over Welf's torso

"Ugh... gonna have to wipe this off later"

He sighed as he followed her lead

With my opening, they moved to find an angle to attack its chest, but the monster wouldn't make it that easy for them

It was about to use its legs to gain some distance when a barrage of arrows inundated its heels, severing the tendons that it used for locomotion

Crashing onto the ground and lying on its side, we moved in to secure the kill

Like a cornered rattle though, it wouldn't go down without one last strike though, with Mikoto and Welf taking point, they came face to face with a swift swipe of the monster's free right arm, so I pushed off of the ground, making use of my heightened speed and brought my sword down on its arm, slicing it off as blood showered the three of us

And with its other arm pinned by its own weight, the battle was decided

Both Welf and Mikoto firmly embedded their weapons into the vulnerable spot as the monster wailed in pain, and then nothing

The screaming and flailing had died down as the monster succumbed to the injuries it sustained during the battle, its head slowly drooping until it fell onto the grass with a loud thud, the irregular Bloodsaurus had vanquished

Exploding in a large and disorienting heap of excelia, all of us took a minute to process what we had just accomplished

We managed to take down a monster with a might comparable to that of an intermediate level-seven adventurer, it was a surreal feeling

And I definitely wasn't the only one feeling giddy, as Welf and Mikoto suddenly pulled me in for a group huddle as we all laughed merrily, with Lili and Haruhime coming over with proud smiles on their faces

Apparently, Hestia Familia was quite the force to be reckoned with

.

"Damn, that quest really took a while huh?"

Welf said to nobody in particular as we reached the surface and exchanged all of our loot, which easily surpassed the six-hundred thousand mark; making a certain supporter very happy. Noticing that the sun had already set some time ago, with the sky hardly illuminated by the numerous scintillating stars so far away

"Yeah, no kidding... we've pretty much spent the entire afternoon in the dungeon..."

I followed up on his observation, which made me wonder if Goddess had already eaten dinner

"Indeed, Goddess Hestia's going to be very mad at us"

Mikoto chuckled, thinking that she must be worried sick by now

"Lili's surprised she didn't run to the guild and post a find and rescue mission for us"

Our Prum familia member sighed as we all laughed, it wouldn't be unusual of her to do that, after all... it's only natural that she'd worry greatly for our safety for she saw us all as her own children

"I'll cook dinner for us when we get back!"

Miss Haruhime brightened up our evening, just the thought of her cooking was already enough to make my stomach impatient, for it had already been spoiled numerously by her cooking, and every single time it felt as if the Gods themselves had crafted such exquisite and homely cuisines

"Bell! I've been looking all over for you!"

A familiar voice suddenly called out my name, we turned to look from where the voice came from and we found Miss Eina looking a bit troubled, yet at the same time relieved

"Oh, Miss Tina! Sorry for whatever trouble you went through, the quest we took apparently demanded more of our time than we were expecting..."

I walked up to her as Welf and Mikoto oddly snickered to themselves, Haruhime looked down in a sad manner while Lili clicked her tongue and glanced in an annoyed fashion off to the side

Ignoring their weird behavior, I engage my dungeon advisor in a bit of a chat

"I thought you guys completed the quest hours ago, but here we are..."

She sighed as I simply chuckled nervously and scratched the back of my head

Though, she suddenly shifted the mood by taking on a worried expression, which had me concerned about what was troubling her

"But that's not the point... Bell, the reason I was actually looking for you is because I wanted to ask something of you"

She explained, which made me raise an eyebrow

"Go ahead, I'm all ears"

Shrugging, I resolved myself to carry out whatever this request of her would be, it seemed to matter greatly to her with how she was acting

"I know it's a selfish request, but they need your help... Orario needs your help"

She said, which confused me, it didn't look like Orario was in any sort of danger so I decided to ask her what she was talking about, but she beat me to it, expounding on her statement

"As of talking, most of Orario's best Familias are engaged in battle with the Rakian Invasion force..."

My eyes widen, but not for the reason you'd think

'Rakia's invading again? Why would they bring in some of the best Familias to fight them? From what I heard, Rakia only has level twos and a few level threes, or maybe even some level four mercenaries but certainly nothing to warrant a mobilization of such extent...'

As the confusion became evident on my face, Eina decided to clarify what exactly was troubling her

"From what I heard from the Ganesha Family, even level fours weren't enough to handle them. In fact, they got away from the fight, half-dead from all the wounds they acquired"

If I wasn't surprised by her words earlier, I definitely was now. Her words almost caused me to shout from sheer disbelief

"This... isn't normal, right?"

Voicing out my suspicions, she nodded solemnly

"Definitely not, not by a very large margin, they somehow closed the gap between their strength and Orario's, and thus, the city's at serious risk of being captured or maybe even besieged..."

She admitted, making my eyebrows furrow in frustration

'We also just got out from a hard-fought battle so we're all exhausted and hungry... that settles it!'

Refraining from answering Miss Tina, I turned around and walked toward my fellow Familia members, who were looking at me curiously, then that curiosity suddenly turned to alarm and immediately to panic as I told them about the events and what I intended to do

"You mustn't Master Bell! We just got back from an exhausting quest and fight with an Irregular Bloosaurus and the next thing on your mind is to rush into the battlefield again?! Lili believes the Loki and Freya Familias are more than capable of handling the situation"

Lili explained, but my resolve was firm

And besides, I couldn't just stand by if I had a chance to help somebody, it wouldn't feel right... I wanted to do my part, I needed to do it!

"I'm sorry Lili, but I've made up my mind and you can't stop me. I'm not asking you guys to come with me, just to let me do it"

I somehow managed to hold eye contact with everybody, making sure to give the message that this was not up for discussion

Welf looked troubled as he impatiently tapped his foot and grumbled to himself until he finally sighed deeply and wrapped his arm around me

"Well, we did say that your fight is also our fight..."

He reminded, making everybody except Lili nod with resolution

"That's right! We'll come with you, Sir Bell! We'll send them back from whence they came!"

Mikoto pumped her fist in the air, looking all fired up and ready to kick some Rakian behind

"Mhm!"

Haruhime nodded enthusiastically

The only one yet to respond was Lili, who looked terribly conflicted

But eventually, she gave in to the pressure

"Ahh! Fine, Lili gets it! Come on then! Let's get back to the mansion and make speedy preparations!"

Sighing in relief that the process didn't prove to be of much difficulty, we, along with Miss Tina, made our way toward the Mansion to make last-minute preparations before we went and bolstered Orario's bulwark against the Rakian Lion

So I've wanted to write this chapter mostly from Bell's POV because I figured the story could use more of that, and also... I've dropped the Japanese honorifics and will just go with addressing them with English titles. Damn I'm sleepy, it's now 12: 30 in the evening and my eyes feel like they'll close any second now, I'm not a night owl so I'm not used to being awake during such late hours. Anyway, I'm sorry that this chapter was mostly just filler before the story progresses, but I just wanted to shine the spotlight on the other members of the Hestia Familia, can't have Bell and the Loki Familia having all the glory, gotta give the others some love too ya know. Also, sorry for the rather awkward progression of the fight, but I guess it'll do for now as I'm not really trying to write the best fight scenes but rather just trying to progress the story forward while still dedicating some of the story to side-events such as these to add some quality to things. Anyway, that's all I have for now, please don't forget to leave any of your thoughts down in the comment section if you think I can do better next time, along with where and how I can do better next time, thanks a bunch for being patient guys and I'll see you in the next one!