Donning my new armor, I tightened the leather straps, ensuring the armor was tight yet comfortable before summoning Zartha and Trina from my body and holstering the criss-cross on my back. Once outfitted in my armor, I left my room, walking down the hall and taking the stairs down before exiting the manor from the front door.
Stepping outside onto the front porch, I looked at my party members: Yuki, Lazuli, Vanye, Jasmine, and Talis. They were all donned in their armor and wielding their weapons, ready for the dungeon dive we were about to partake.
"Heh, I'm excited! It's been months since I've done anything violent!" Grinning ear-to-ear, Yuki rubbed her hands together while Vanye nodded in agreement. "My blade is eager to taste blood again, even if it's from those disgusting monsters." With the two sporting bloodthirsty expressions, I wryly smiled. 'Never realized they were so bloodthirsty.'
"Alright, guys, ready for our act as the Apostles for nearly a year?" Slapping Jasmine's butt, causing her to squeal in surprise, I stepped to the front, eyeing my party, who all nodded, Yuki and Vanye practically itching to move. "Good. Our goal is the 30th floor!" Turning on my heel, I walked down the stone pathway, heading to the gate while the others followed.
"The 30th floor? Are you not expecting us to clear the 30th-floor guardian? Are you?" I snapped my fingers and pointed at Jasmine, who had hit the nail on the head. "That's the plan." "Sounds good to me!" "I'll make it bleed." Yuki and Vanye quickly agreed, Lazuli and Talis didn't seem to care either way, only Jasmine seemed to be slightly worried at the idea.
"Um, you sure that's a good idea, Alex? When we fought the 25th-floor guardian, it was a pretty tough fight, not to mention we're currently rusty. Maybe we should take it easy?" While Jasmine's idea was sound, it's not like we've been stagnant; I've grown stronger, and since we were all in a party, so have they.
'Still, Jasmine is speaking sense.' "Alright then, we'll take our time to rid ourselves of the rust, then we'll head straight for the 30th floor!" "Eh, n-no, that's not what I mean, Alex!" "Haha, I can't wait!" "They will fear my blade!" "Oi, wait for me!"
As Yuki and Vanye ran ahead, I clicked my tongue and chased after them, prompting the trio to trail from behind.
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3rd POV / Daemon Continent
With a few days having passed since Mavis had given Marston his ultimatum, he was now returning to her office, walking through the manor, which was noticeably emptier. Servants could be seen cleaning splotches of blood and collecting severed limbs from the ground to be thrown away.
Approaching Mavis's office, Marston knocked a few times before entering; stepping over strewn books and broken furniture, Marston deeply bowed before Mavis. "Mistress… We've discovered where Alexander lives." Standing upright, he takes a few steps back, while Mavis slowly raises her head, her dark red eyes staring through her streaks of white hair.
"Where?" Her hoarse voice rang out, resounding throughout the office. "We've located him in the Kingdom of Roswald. It was a Northern Kingdom, so it took a while to reach it… Alexander seems to be a somewhat prominent figure. After entering the Kingdom, he was easy to find, it seems—" As Marston intended to give a full report to Mavis, she interrupted him, her voice hoarse yet carrying a chilling tone.
"Where is he?" Nervously gulping, Marston quickly bowed. "H-He is in Cassandra, Mistress." Remaining bowed, Mavis slowly stood up, her body creaking like old furniture as she walked past Marston, her hair gently swaying. "Take me to him." "Mistress, that isn't needed, just me and some elites will be more than en–" This time, Mavis didn't interrupt Marston, no, he was just unable to speak as a blood-tendril tightly wrapped around his neck and lifted him from the floor.
"I-I understand, M-Mistress. I-I will prepare a ship!" After managing to barely squeak out such words, Mavis released him, causing him to drop to the floor, gasping for air.
"Do it now." Without even giving him a single look, Mavis exited the office, slowly walking down the hall, while Marston rubbed his neck, sighing before leaving.
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Alexander POV
As per my promise to Jasmine, we took our time on the first twenty floors, spending roughly three days as we slowly progressed, letting ourselves get back into the habit of fighting together. After defeating the twentieth-floor guardian, we proceed to pick up the pace, charging through the next ten floors with complete confidence.
The twenty-fifth floor, which had been very troublesome last time, went down significantly more easily; granted, it was still a bit challenging, but we had everything under control.
The next five floors were actually a little problematic, as it was like a desert, where we had to deal with heavily armored monsters, including giant worms that would swim through the sand, ambushing us from underneath.
"Argh! Fuck you, disgusting thing!" Using [Void Slash], cutting the worm in half, I spit on it and kicked its body, watching as it slowly dissolved back into the dungeon.
"Alex, it's already gone. You're just kicking the sand." As Vanye grabbed my shoulder, stopping me, I snorted, giving the spot where I'd killed the worm a hard look before turning around, joining the party, trailing them as I protected the flank while we followed Yuki.
"Lazuli, can you spray Alex with some water? Ever since that swallowed him, he's stunk terribly." Listening as Jasmine tried to whisper to Lazuli, I gnashed my teeth, using [Heroes Gaze] to maximum capacity, eagerly waiting for another worm to find us. However, while walking, I was hit by a stream of water from Lazuli, which lasted for five whole seconds before she finally stopped.
"Hmm, the smell remains. Perhaps I should do it for 30 seconds." "Just stop, Lazuli, the smell won't go away." Sighing in defeat, Lazuli nodded, ignoring me while Jasmine kept a distant, clearly not wanting my stench to spread to her.
After a couple more hours of walking and a few more monster encounters, we found a cave leading downwards, causing us to sigh in relief as we quickly took it. Once we got a good distance inside, we all dropped our guards and plopped down, delighted to finally reach the end of the thirty-ninth floor.
"So, beyond here is the 40th floor?" "Yep, so everyone should recuperate." Nodding, I stretched slightly before grabbing my newly bought space pouch, which was nearly a whole platinum coin; it was five cubic meters of space, so it was high-quality.
"Anyone hungry?" "Me! Me, me, me, me!" Shouting like a kid, Yuki waved her hands, her muffled voice echoing within her helmet as she stared at me, causing me to nod. "Anyone else?" "I could eat." "This queen wouldn't mind a meal." "Please, Alexander."
With the three others nodding, I reached into my space pouch, grabbing a portable grill as well as slabs of steak; cooking them, I only added basic seasoning, salt, and pepper before serving them once I finished an hour later.
"Mhm, so juicy." "I'm not a fan of meat, but I wouldn't mind eating this every day." "Flavor just explodes in my mouth." "That's what she said. Hehe." Chuckling while Jasmine gave me a blank look, I handed the final plate to Talis, who ate enthusiastically.
"You don't want any, Lazuli?" Similar to me, Lazuli didn't require food, just water; even though there was always plenty of food, she tended to refrain from eating during dungeon dives. "I am content." Nodding, I cooled off the portable grill before storing it in the space pouch.
Sitting beside Lazuli, time slowly passed as we took a break, the others falling asleep while the two of us kept watch. "You should sleep too; you may not need to eat, but you still need sleep every once in a while." Rubbing Lazuli's head, I pushed her onto my lap, causing her to look at me as if she were staring into my soul.
"So do you, Alex." "I know. But I'm the leader, so I sleep last. Now sleep." Pinching her nose, she nodded and closed her eyes, the faint hum of her heart quieting down as she entered sleep mode.
Since we were decently deep inside the dungeon, we remained undisturbed for the next few hours, without encountering fellow adventurers or anything of the sort.
When the others started to come to, we checked on our armor and weapons, not that I needed to, so with the latter, before we headed for the fortieth floor.
"Hopefully, this floor-guardian is on the weaker side." "Boo! Why do you want things to be easy, Jasmine? It's only fun if it's violent and dangerous!" "Well, sorry, not all of us love fighting." "Well, I agree with Jasmine." "Wow, isn't that surprising?" "Why did that sound sarcastic?"
Shooting Jasmine a suspicious look, I furrowed my brows, focusing as we stepped into the empty fortieth floor; yet, before anyone could question why it was empty, the ground shook and a giant work, dwarfing the other ones we'd fought, appeared, causing me to sigh. "Why is it always worms? It couldn't have been like a snake or scorpion?" All I got was a loud roar that caused me to sigh once more.