Chapter Text
The 17th floor of the dungeon is a dark place. With no light from the sun above nor from various artificial sources, the winding tunnels and large caverns would render any average mortal blinded by the pitch-black blanket. Of course, the falna-bearing adventurers were a very different story. The levels given to them by their gods allowed them to be much more capable of searching through the underground labyrinth with ease, especially as their status got higher and higher. The adventurers of the Loki Familia were no different. The large group of adventurers varied in person, from stout dwarves to graceful elves, humans, and demi-humans alike.
The familia stood at the pinnacle of the dungeon city. Its adventurers were all at least above average amongst the children of the gods. Of course, this granted them the ability to delve deeper into the dark depths of the hell pit contained within Orario, where the monsters were darker and more powerful. Of course, with these monsters came more danger to the adventurers. These dangers had made themselves known to the Loki familia in a way they had not expected. Monsters had appeared, and while this itself was nothing significant, the monsters that had appeared were unknown to the adventurers. The monsters were insects in nature and colored brightly. They came in hordes, and their acid-filled bodies made them every swordsman’s worst dream. Having come upon them in hoards on the 50th floor. Despite being fended off, the acid had once again reared its ugly head, leaving large numbers of the Loki Familia's formation wounded and large scores of their equipment melted or mangled, thus forcing the familia to return to the surface.
And now, as the advanced party crossed the 17th floor, they showed their excitement about returning home was clearly in the air. Amongst this group of excitement was Tiona Hiryute. The girl was an Amazon and, as such, could be described with the trademarked wheat-colored skin. Her dark brown hair and dark brown eyes made her someone of considerate beauty amongst the populace of Orario, especially when combined with the typical apparel that Amazons tended to wear.
Tiona had long grown bored with the trek up the many floors. The dungeon seemed to have deemed that killing their party was not worth the effort. While this was good for the many weary and wounded, she couldn’t help but wish the dungeon would give it a shot. “Aghh, I didn’t even get to go on one rampage! And they destroyed my Urga! What gives with that damn monster!”
Tione, Tiona’s sister, who could be differentiated from the younger twin by a somewhat more mature aura, longer hair, and a larger bosom, sighed at Tiona’s antics while holding a small stone. “I think it's about time for you to stop. The best we can call it is an undiscovered monster.” Tiona recognized the small stone despite its discoloration. “Wait, is that its magic stone?”
Tione hummed a bit before looking back to her sister. “Yup, or at least I think so.” Tiona then snapped her fingers with a question. “Wait, how’d you get it? Weren’t those things exploding into acid when they died?” The older twin developed a devilish, angry look and an angrier voice, much to the nervousness of the nearby Lefiya. “I plunged my fist into its gut and tore it out.”
While the statement from the older Amazon gained an audible “ooh” from her younger sister, the aforementioned elf shuffled closer to her mentor, a mature green-haired elf named Riveria, who was at the head of the formation.
As the antics of the two Amazons carried on, the blond-haired swordswoman known as Ais Wallenstein began to lag behind, noticing one of her party’s supporters was not keeping up. The supporter’s name was Line Arshe. The poor girl had been carrying a large pack of supplies since they had reached the 20th floor and split the formation into several groups. Of course, the girl was an adventurer like the others in her party, though in the category of stats, she stood leaps and bounds below the four who led the group towards the surface.
“Do you need help, Line?” The girl looked up towards the sword princess before sputtering out an apology. “No, no! Don’t worry, I'm fine. Besides, how could I let a first-class adventurer like you carry luggage? That's my job…”
Ais wanted to refute her point but was stopped by the arrival of Bete, a werewolf. “Don’t bother with the trash, Ais.” He kicked the supporter forward before continuing. “Keep looking down on them. You are strong and that's all that matters.” The wolf continued forward. His short speech hadn’t been meant for much other than to keep the party together and moving; unfortunately, Ais Wallenstein was an airhead.
“Am I scary?” She mused to herself. Wondering if Bete, Line, or even both were scared of her. Tiona seemed to have caught on to her friend’s now worried face. Jumping in front of Bete, she began to shout at him. This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to see the two arguing. The two had wildly different personalities and, at least on a surface level, seemed to be unable to get along. Their arguments rarely ever went beyond vocal arguments, though they still caused Riveria a headache all the same.
The green-haired elf had been asked by her Captain to lead this group to the surface with Raul acting as a battle commander. She was flanked by her apprentice, Lefiya, who was also carrying a bag similar to Line's, though it was smaller. The golden blond-haired elf seemed to be nervously turning her head back and forth between her teacher and the two first-class adventurers arguing towards the rear of the party.
Tiona was now berating Bete. “Hey, stupid wolf, stop worrying, Ais!” Bete, for his own part, did not back down from the Amazon’s challenge. “Shut up, you annoying Amazon! She shouldn’t be worried about weak supporters!”
Unfortunately, their argument was cut short as the ground ahead of the party shuddered. Cracks began to form across the surface before breaking upward as large bipedal monsters broke outward and climbed to the solid ground. These monsters were minotaurs. These hulking beasts stood at least eight feet tall, their head were that of a bull with deadly pointed horns which extended past their snout. Their upper body was that of a muscular man with red-skinned, rippling muscles and powerful arms and hands, both of which could easily crush a person in their grip. Their lower body was once again that of a bull, even with a tail included. The Minotaur was a furious symbol on the middle floors, as many of the lower-class adventurers simply could not compete with such a beast.
Riveria shouted out to the party about the new monster’s presence before turning to Raul, while the voice of Tiona could be heard blaming Bete for the monsters in the background. “Finn wants you leading these battles, Raul. Take tactical command.” The Black-haired human stepped forward, ordering the supporters to the rear. “Bete, Tiona, Tione. Protocol is to let the lower-level members have priority on these levels!” The temporary commander then shuddered as he felt the aura of the three first-class adventurers.
Despite the prior argument, there was one thing they could all agree on. They loved a good fight. While Tione and Bete hadn’t been as open about it as Tiona, they were all bored. Bete spoke first, “I won't use weapons! That should be all the handicapping they need!” Tione simply replied with a dark “I know” while her sister sang in a similar tune, “No problem!” The trio moved towards the large group of minotaurs, unaware of the effect they were having on the party behind them. Despite their numbers and their normally fierce reputation, the minotaurs seemed to be suffering a similar effect under the murderous gaze of the three-level adventurers bearing down on them. In a rare display of self-preservation, the monsters turned and fled in a stampeding fashion toward the stairs that led to the floors above.
Riviera recognized their sudden issue first and shouted out to the other first-class adventurers, “Chase after them! Who knows how far they’ll go in this state!” The first-class adventurers tore after the stampede, breaching past the few stragglers who deemed the party worth the fight. Behind them, they could hear Raul and Riveria shouting orders to finish the straggling minotaurs quickly to join the first-class adventurers. The large stampede rapidly lost cohesion and began to break apart into groups rushing towards the upper floors.
True to their rank, the four adventurers had no issue with killing minotaurs; the true problem was catching and killing each and every one of them, especially as they climbed the floors. By now, the stragglers on the 17th floor had been cleared, and the rest of the party was rushing to join their comrades in the pursuit. By now, they had already crossed through the 11th floor, and still, a large number of minotaurs were running towards the surface.
As they got higher, the issue became more and more worrying. They had already crossed up to the tenth floor and were still climbing. “Put a group on every floor!” Riviera shouted before turning to the first-class adventurers, “One of you on cover each floor and as much ground as you can! The lower levels on these floors won't stand a chance against minotaurs! This was all they needed to hear; burst forward with impossible speed, the adventurer tore down the caverns of the dungeon. Ais had parked herself on the seventh floor while Bete went on a rampage across the sixth. Tione broke past her sister towards the fourth floor while Tiona remained on the fifth floor.
By now, few minotaurs were left, though it would only take one to cause a disaster. Tiona’s mind went into overdrive. She used her years of experience to guess where the minotaurs would run to and what caverns they could end up in. Worry appeared in the forefront of her mind, though she forced herself to smile and picked up her pace. Tiona’s senses alerted her to her first prey. The roars of two minotaurs could be heard below. Banking to her left, she broke forward in a powerful sprint through the tight caverns of the fifth floor.
A female elf, who had been soloing the fifth floor, had also heard the roars. Her body froze, and her mind screamed danger. Daring to turn around, her eyes widened in terror, and a scream escaped her mouth. The sight of two minotaurs rapidly closing in on her caused the poor girl to freeze up. While a sword mage, she was no match for such a beast, and there was no outrunning them in her tired state. Silently, the elf begged for someone to save her.
Suddenly, the forward minotaur was kicked to the side by a brown blur. Tiona had caught up to the two beasts. Normally, she would simply bisect the monsters with her dual-bladed buster sword, which she affectionately named Urga; unfortunately, the mystery monsters on the lower floors had reduced her poor Urga to a puddle of metal and acid. As such, her fists and feet would have to do.
Rather than focusing on the minotaur, which was currently embedded in the dungeon wall, Tiona performed a spin kick, slamming her foot against the other minotaur before it could get any closer to the elf. She heard the minotaur roar in pain and felt the beast’s leg bone snap at her heel’s contact as the leg bent in an unnatural shape. Tiona then delivered a second kick to its head. A sickening snap was heard, and the beast collapsed like a puppet without its strings.
Turning back towards the first minotaur, which was now free of the wall, she shot forward, slamming her fist into its torso, her hand easily blew through the monster’s chest as if it were a blade, forcing the beast to howl in agony. Tearing her hand out of the minotaur's chest, she then delivered two more powerful punches before the minotaur joined its comrade dead on the ground.
Tiona turned back towards the elf who had collapsed on the ground and was staring up at the Amazon. After giving her a quick once-over, Tiona determined that the elf was fine and flashed an apologetic smile at her. “Sorry about that! You can keep the stones if you want.”
Tiona did some quick mental math, counting out the minotaurs that she and her sister had chased. ‘Seven minotaurs in total, but four went towards the fourth floor, acknowledging that she still had one more to kill, Tiona broke into a sprint. Down the halls, searching for any sign of the rampaging beast. Stretching her falna-enhanced senses to the limit, she listened for any sounds that could indicate the location of the beast.
“Tiona!” The Amazon halted as she heard a familiar voice shout her name. Turning to her left, she saw her sister walking towards her. “I got mine before they could get onto the fourth floor. Found all yours yet?”
Tiona frantically shook her head. “There’s one more somewhere, but I can’t find it!” The older Amazon opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as she heard the sound of a party rushing their way. From the darkness of the dungeon, the party of three, all of whom seemed to be in a panic, emerged. The older Amazon, thinking quickly, grabbed hold of the lead human as he passed. “Hey! Did you see a minotaur anywhere?!” The human tried to break free of her grip, but his strength was massively outweighed by Tione’s. Recognizing that she wouldn’t let him leave without an answer, he spoke. “Y-yeah! It was chasing some kid!”
Tione’s voice and face got darker. “And you just left him?! Where is it?!” The adventurer, now fully terrified by the Amazon, pointed down the tunnel he came from. “What could we do! None of us are even level 2!” The Amazon let him get with a click of her tongue before turning towards Tiona, “Let's go!” Without a word, her younger sister broke forward, and Tione herself chased after her. Crossing through the tunnels, they arrived and began to notice signs of a chase. Not long after, the roar of a minotaur and the scream of an adventurer could be heard.
The two broke forward, running off into the tunnels to chase the scream. Turning down the winding tunnels, she could tell from the footprints that whoever had screamed was running from the pursuing minotaur. As they got closer to the source of the scream, the mental map the twins had developed over the years told them they were closing on a dead end. Sure enough, as they reached the end of the tunnels, they saw a minotaur aimed toward the cavern wall. They could make out the leg of an adventurer from behind the beast. Tiona shot forward, summoning all of her strength to cover the distance in a single leap. “Get over here, you stupid cow!” The girl slammed her foot against the back of the minotaur before it could slam its fist against the adventurer.
Unfortunately, throwing all of her strength into a strike against a minotaur was most certainly overkill. As soon as the kick connected with the beast’s back, the blunt force slammed through the body of the Minotaur. In a near instant, the beast’s front side swelled, then exploded forward against the unlucky adventurer and the wall against him, covering large portions of his upper body, face, and head in a bloody red paste. The monster's stone had been thrown loose from its body and embedded itself in the wall next to the adventurer.
Staring at the now blood-drenched boy, Tiona realized her mistake and gave a nervous chuckle. She heard her sister shout at her from behind. “You idiot! It didn’t need that much power to kill it!” Tiona couldn’t argue with Tione; even in her excitement, she knew Tione was right. Despite the boy’s blood-soaked head and body, she could make out specks of white hair and bright red eyes. She crouched down to the boy's level and gave him a toothy grin. “Sorry about that! Are you okay down there?”
A second passed, then a moment before the adventurer opened his mouth. Tiona tilted her head a bit, waiting for him to speak. Unfortunately for her ears, the boy, instead of speaking, yelled in what appeared to be terror before breaking from a sitting lean to a full sprint towards the upper levels, leaving the two Amazons flabbergasted. The boy shot past the junction behind the twins just as Bete and Ais, who had cleared their floors and worked up towards Tiona and Tione, reached it, watching the screaming, blood-covered boy shoot past them both.
The two new arrivals stared in surprise before turning to see Tiona and the bloody state of the wall behind her. Bete then broke into a heavy laugh. “Did you see that kid? You painted him like a tomato!” The wolf then doubled over in his laughter, much to the annoyance of the two Amazons.
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‘Run, run, run!’ The boy's thoughts were swirling faster than he thought possible. His name was Bell Cranel, a level-one adventurer from a new familia. His day had started out so normally. He woke up and did the morning rituals with his goddess before she went off to work, and he went off to the dungeon. Just as he always did, he stopped at the guild hall to beg Eina to let him go to the fifth floor. Like always, she would tell him no and then shoo him off towards the dungeon.
He had pushed all the way to the fourth killing various low-level monsters as he met them. After one fight had brought him close to the entrance to the fifth floor, the boy couldn’t help but look down into the next floor. His secret dream to become a hero got the better of him, and he pushed forward. At first, the dungeon seemed to ignore him. He was able to cross a large amount of ground in a short time. The mental map that Eina had nearly literally beaten into his head came in handy as he wandered the halls of the dungeon. Unfortunately, just as he became confident in his abilities on the floor, a deep roar could be heard, and the ground began to shake.
The white-haired boy froze before slowly turning his head in fright. From the darkness came a dark red beast with the face and lower body of a bull and the upper body of a man. ‘A minotaur!’ the goy thought to himself before screaming and breaking into a full sprint. The minotaur noticed him, recognizing easy prey, it roared and tore after him. The boy was deceptively quick for his level. He kept the minotaur at a distance as he tore through the halls. Turning a corner, he saw a party of two humans and a beast man.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, the boy shouted towards them, “Help!!” The party’s heads shot towards him, weapons raised, before their faces froze. They had been ready to help him until they had seen the foe. A minotaur was far above anything they could even hope to fight. And so with silent apologies to Bell, they ran in a different direction, leaving him on his own with the monster. The hope Bell felt drained away in an instant, but his desire to survive forced him to keep running.
As he continued to run, his breath grew ragged, and his memory of the floor’s layout grew distant as he turned corners and junctions in the pure hopes of trying to escape. Finally, his luck ran out, and he reached a dead end. Bell froze, hoping the minotaur had lost him. Unfortunately, a loud stomp behind him crushed his dreams. He slowly turned towards the beast, which was now glaring at him with what appeared to be a wicked smile. The boy fell backward in fright. ‘Goddess… Grandpa… Eina… I'm sorry’ He thought to himself as the beast closed in.
It raised its fist to crush him, and the Bell slammed his eyes shut. Then he heard an angry scream. “Get over here, you stupid cow!” before his body was slammed with what felt like liquid. Opening his eyes, it didn't take him long to realize it was blood. Looking up, he then saw his savior. His pupils dilated as he stared. Her wheat-colored skin and dark green eyes drew his gaze, and her short dark brown hair made his heart beat quicker. He heard someone speak from behind her, “You idiot! It didn’t need that much power to kill it!” The Amazon staring down at him seemed to adopt a nervous look.
She crouched down to his level with a nervous chuckle before giving him a toothy grin. “Sorry about that! Are you okay down there?” And just like that, Bell realized who she was. Of course, he knew who she was. She was Tiona Hiryute of the Loki Familia. Few wouldn’t know her. But her name wasn’t what bothered him. Her smile had been a shot through his heart, and in an instant, he had become madly attracted to her. So much so that he didn’t even notice her equally famous sister behind her. Finally, Bell snapped to his senses, and the young side of his brain took over. He had never had a crush before, much less been so close to one. As such, his body reacted on its own. He screamed, then jumped up and ran past her. What seemed like terror was more the social inability of a young boy. As he kept running, he didn’t even notice the Sword Princess and Vanargand, who were walking through a junction. All he cared about was reaching the surface.
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The streets of Orario were almost always busy. The dungeon city was filled to the brim with adventurers and non-adventurers alike. Normally, the streets were filled with crowds that were nearly impossible to break through. Today was not a normal day. The blood-covered boy had left a wake in the crowd as passersby jumped to avoid him for fear of getting blood on themselves. Bell couldn’t care less, his mind was racing with thoughts of the Amazon who saved his life. Sure, it wasn’t quite the dream he had. After all, he always imagined being the savior rather than the saved.
Despite the blood covering much of his body, Bell couldn’t help but smile with glee. He just couldn’t get her face out of his mind. As the guild hall closed in, his slightly enhanced level-one vision glimpsed Eina, who seemed to be carrying a stack of papers.
“Miss Eina! Hey, what do you know about Miss Tiona Hiryute?” The elf perked up when she heard her name, and she turned toward the boy who was rapidly closing on her position. Her eyes jumped wide with fright, and she yelped, dropping her papers upon noticing the state of her adventurer. Bell came to a stop in front of her with an excited smile, repeating his question to her. Whether Eina heard him, Bell couldn’t tell as the elf frantically checked him for any wounds.
Upon finding none, the elf let out a sigh before glaring at him. “Bell Cranel! Get yourself to the showers now!” The boy in question froze, finally realizing the state he was in. He gave a shy chuckle before walking over to the public shower room. Even in the shower, he couldn’t contain his excitement. Hoping to get an answer to his questions, he rushed his shower and threw on clothes that were loaned to him from the guild.
Upon reentering the guild hall, he b-lined to Eina’s desk. “Sorry, Miss Eina.” The elf looked up from her work, some of which now had some blood on it. The elf couldn’t stay mad at the adventurer, no matter how hard she tried. Eina sighed before speaking, “What had you in such a rush, Bell? Usually, you aren’t back on the surface for a few more hours.” The boy got excited again and shot off his question. “I was almost killed by a minotaur!” Unfortunately, Bell’s brain hadn’t quite caught up to his emotions.
The elf stared at the boy in deadpan for a moment before he realized his mistake and kept talking. “No, see some minotaurs ran up to the fifth floor! One almost caught me in a dead-end, but Miss Hiryute saved me! Please tell me everything about her, Miss Eina.”
The girl was somewhat surprised by the boy’s explanation but complied with his request. “I can only tell you public information you know. Her alias is Amazon; she’s a level 5 from the Loki Familia. She’s well known for her strength.” Bell knew about this; few adventurers didn’t know the Loki Familia and their exploits. “Any chance you know about her interests or hobbies…” He asked with some timidity.
Eina caught on immediately. “Oh? So it seems you’ve fallen in love, Bell?” The boy didn’t deny it, silently nodding with a small smile on his face. Eina felt some happiness seeing Bell in such a good mood. Unfortunately, as his advisor, she had to give him a dose of reality.
“You know, Bell, someone like you who got their falna shouldn’t be focused on girls. Especially not a higher-level adventurer from another familia.” Bell lost his smile. Eina was right. It was considered abnormal for adventurers from two different familias to have a relationship, and even less so when the level difference between the two was so high. Eina noticed the immediate drop in his mood and tried to give him some kind of pick-me-up. “You know, Bell, women like strong men whom they can depend on, Amazons especially. If you get stronger, she might just notice you.”
That was all Bell needed for his mood to recover. “Thanks, Miss Eina! I love you!” He shouted as he ran out of the guild hall. Leaving the elf to gasp and blush. She noticed her co-worker Misha giving her a “Misha look” and thus faceplamed. Eina just couldn’t help but wonder if she had done the right thing by giving him hope. Then a thought crossed her mind which made her jump with agitation. “Wait a minute, did he say the fifth floor?!