(Monday, 26/10/1058)
(Dungeon, 1st floor)
(3rd person PoV)
The party was walking down the Beginning Road when Ais noticed how sluggish Henryk's movements felt compared to before. It was such a small difference that Shira hasn't noticed it, yet. With her keen and honed senses, however, Ais noticed the slight difference in his gait.
"Ais" Henryk called her while walking at the front of the group, cutting off her thoughts. "When is the next expedition?"
"In ten days" Ais said. She then tentatively asked him. "More sparring?"
"Not like before, however" Henryk said, making her slump her shoulders a bit.
Her growth rate remained the same, but her parameters grew much more efficiently compared to the time it takes to reach monsters of appropriate strength and get back to the surface to rest.
'I want to get stronger' Ais thought. She believed that sparring with him all day might just take her to the upper realm with how fast she would grow.
"Wait! Sparring?! With whom?!" Shira freaked out. She got a very bad feeling about Henryk sparring with Ais. The strength difference, along with what she heard of Ais's infamy as an airhead, was too great to ignore.
"Me sparring with her/him" Henryk and Ais said while pointing at each other. They were nearly out of Beginning Road by then.
"I want to increase my parameters against impossible odds" Henryk said. "That's bound to produce better results"
"What about taking turns?" Ais fumbled and failed to explain that she wanted to spar a loop of her being affected by his magic then a spar without, then looping back from the start in a never-ending cycle.
"Taking turns on what? On you being subject to my magic?" Henryk said. Ais nodded. "Then we can do it your way every other day. How about that? We spend the entire day sparring under the effect of my magic for a day then without the next, then looping back"
"Thank you" Ais nodded in thanks as her senses kept scanning the surroundings.
They walked through the entirety of the 1st floor and either found nothing or other people were already there. The 2nd floor was much of the same, except one fight with a trio of goblins. Kob was instructed on how to fight them and was successful in slaughtering all three with his claws alone.
"Good job, Kob" Henryk patted Kob's head, noting how dog-like Kob's reaction was. 'He's still a dog deep down, it seems'
Ais looked, her mind undergoing a lot of different thoughts. She was persistent in asking to be assigned to his party today, to accompany him and make sure of his safety for one, but to also monitor the monster he dared call a friend. In her view, monsters could not be befriended. If it was not because both Loki and Ganesha allowed it, then Ais may have killed Kob without a shred of guilt and showing "it" no mercy.
'But this... this kobold looks more like a bipedal, domesticated dog instead of a monster...' She watched in confusion as Kob followed every command to fight, mostly alone, and reveled in the rewards he was given in praise, headpats and cheerful smiles.
Fey, on the other hand, was jealous. She wanted to be praised as well. Fey thought that her papa was neglecting her right now. Fey huffed and puffed repeatedly until Henryk noticed and started paying attention to her again. Once that happened, she was back to normal like nothing changed at all.
Ais was amazed at the rapid change in attitude.
'Maybe his monsters are special' A toothy grin from mini-Ais pushed her to tighten her resolve. Ais internalized that she should leave Henryk's monsters alone going forward. Other monsters are still out of luck.
(Dungeon, 5th floor)
Henryk started taking on most fights from the 3rd floor onward. That allowed Ais to note how especially weak he seems compared to when he sparred with her.
'Is he holding back?' She thought in confusion. When going against monsters, one showed absolutely no mercy and killed the monsters as fast as possible. That was Ais's rule, one she saw most other adventurers abide by. You could imagine the confusion when she saw Henryk fighting with less strength than he used with her. 'He isn't tired...' Her thoughts trailed off as she subconsciously scanned the area.
"So, we will remain here, on the 5th" Henryk said while taking a rest. He took almost as many rests as he had fights.
'He is definitely sick' Ais thought, mini-Ais nodded in agreement with her.
"You shouldn't come to the dungeon when you are sick, Henryk" Ais said with a tilt to her head. She recited one of Riveria's life lessons. Having often rushed into the dungeon when she was sick as a child, Riveria had to drag her out and make sure to restrain her as she nursed an eight-year-old Ais.
'Do I look sick to her?' Henryk looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
As opposed to his calmness, the others, especially Shira and Fey, were on the cusp of forcefully dragging him out of the dungeon no matter how much he would struggle.
"Henry?" Shira said with a scared voice.
"Papa, lets go home~?" Fey said, hopping all around him and nudging him all over to urge him.
"I'm not sick" Henryk said, freezing Ais. She did not expect that. "I used my magic to limit myself, in a way. That ought to make me grow faster"
"You should have said that!" Shira groaned as she facepalmed.
"Riveria says not to limit oneself when fighting a monster. You could die if you underestimate them" Ais said while nodding sagely.
'If Bell's a bunny, then what is she?' Henryk thought. 'Even at her age, she's childishly cute. They fit each other quite well'
"That's why I have all the party with me today" Henryk said, gesturing with his open palm towards Shira, Fey and the wolves. "Should we start heading to the 6th?" Seeing the worry in their eyes, Henryk had to compromise. "I won't take on any fights alone, promise" He raised his hands in defeat.
While Henryk fought with the help of the party occasionally, he fought more than half his battles solo up until then. He had to relent if he wanted to go down further.
'I need to push myself over the absolute limit. So long as I don't die, no matter how injured I am, the gains outweigh the losses' Henryk thought. He internally argued that he could simply reform any lost limbs and regenerate any tissue into healthy tissue instead of scar tissue. The important part is that he did not lose either his life or voice.
'I hope no killer ants ascended from the 7th today' Henryk was filled with a sense of dread.
(Dungeon, 6th floor)
Henryk's luck hit rock bottom as the first monster he saw on the floor was a killer ant.
"Scorched earth policy on these ants it is!" He said as he threw the Arrow of Orion, disintegrating the ant before it could call for help. "Can I assume a second killer ant invasion of the 6th floor?" He said while looking at Ais. "I mean, we already saw some war shadows on the 4th today, and I saw another swarm of killer ants on the 5th the day we returned with Kob"
Shira filed something for later nagging.
"Possible" From her years of experience, monsters moving one floor above or below could happen daily if no adventurer crossed their path. "Good response" Ais praised Henryk's decisiveness in dealing with the killer ant. She paid special attention to the power behind that throw.
"Thanks" Henryk said as he could finally recall the Arrow of Orion. After testing it the day before, he discovered that he was only able to recall it into his hand while it was unmoving. If it was sailing through the air, it was impossible to recall as it did not reach its goal.
"Wait! Wait!" Shira interjected as she started jumping between them. "A second killer ant invasion?" She said with a grave tone. "You're telling me there're more of those?" Her fur and hair stood on end.
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention how many bug monsters there are, and how many infested floors there are" Henryk deadpanned at his own mistake. He knew that Shira was disgusted by bugs, especially the big ones. Now that there are bug monsters as large as a person, or even larger, she was bound to not like them.
"Let's bring fire the next time we come down here" Henryk saw Shira say with a determined grimace.
"Only if flame throwers existed here" He sighed before the thought gave him a metaphorical slap on the face. 'I could... make a makeshift organic flamethrower' Henryk started losing himself in thought, squinting his eyes and frowning as he cupped his chin. 'While it's something that wouldn't happen via evolution in my world, nor in this one apparently, I could force my genes to make one somewhere on my person'
"Hey!" Shira has been waving her hands in front of his face for some time now, to no avail. She pinched his arm, successfully pulling him out of his thoughts. "This isn't the place to be this deep in thought" While knowing that Henryk already knew this fact, she still reaffirmed it to him.
"Roger that" Henryk said as he started walking around, searching for their next prey.
They had to kill a few more killer ants, and some other monsters, before they were somewhat deep into the floor. That was when they were met with a group of five killer ants gathered together around another adventurer, one who was alive and very visibly shaken. Behind her, there was a bleeding party member who she was defending and another who was tending to her wounds.
'Now, judging by their struggle with the ants, they are weaker than I am' Henryk scrutinized them warily. 'The wolves would be able to defend us if those adventurers tried anything funny'
"Fey, Futura, take care of these five killer ants" Henryk said while turning his back away, readying his mace and shield. The Arrow of Orion was also readied so that he could easily switch to it should he need to.
"Yay~! Prey for Fey~!" Fey announced jovially as she swooped in, picking up one ant and chomping its head off. She threw the corpse away before swooping in to grab a second. Futura and Shira killed two of them already, leaving her to take the one that was further away from the adventurers while the adventurer killed the other. Fey dug into the ants' thorax, eating their magic stones. Shira handed the adventuring party a couple potion vials, which they thanked her for. She then turned around and pulled out some arrows.
'Prata, stay by Shira's side and watch the adventurers. They are still starngers with unknown intentions' Henryk said.
'Understood' Prata said.
'Platina and Ouros, you two watch out for any ants that get close. Ouros, you are allowed to get some steps away to dispose of an ant, while Platina, you will guard Shira by her side at all times' Henryk said.
'Understood, Henryk' Ouros said while Platina simply nodded.
'Fey and Futura, you two will accompany me at the front' Henryk said.
'Aye' Futura said.
Fey's answer was to start crushing a daring ant that got closer from one tunnel.
Henryk knew how hard it would have been to convince Shira to keep the adventurers in her sight at all times, implying that he could not trust them not to attack her. As a result, he had Prata watch them while the other wolves kept monsters from approaching them.
'What about me?' Kob said.
'It's good to see him feeling like he wants to participate without being given orders to do so' Henryk thought to himself. He liked the way Kob acted at this moment.
'You have no weapon or strength to crack the shells of these ants' Henryk said, disappointing Kob, who acted every bit like a family dog right now. The droop of his ears told of his emotions. 'How about you relieve us of the clutter of corpses? Take any corpses and carve them for their magic stones while we slaughter the rest'
'I will do so with pleasure!' Kob said, some energy returning to his voice. He felt less neglected and left out when Henryk gave him some consideration, a role in this trying time.
"Ais, let us try and hold our ground first. We will try to repel the oncoming swarm by ourselves" Henryk said confidently.
"Alright" Ais stepped closer to the downed party members, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
As they were waiting, Henryk mumbled his chant to release the secondary lock on his strength. In an attempt to put himself through a trial, he altered his own brain to limit his strength from 60% to around 10%. The empowerment from his falna granted him the remaining strength to operate moderately above unblessed mortal levels of strength, just barely enough to fight the monsters on the first 5 or so floors. A party helped cover for the weaknesses brought by that limitation.
Once the chant was nearly over, Henryk held off finishing the chant. He left it on the part where he mentions what he wants. He took the measure so that he could get out of a tight situation but did not use it yet. 'This alone should net me a few hundred points across the board'
Henryk watched as a killer ant's antlers came from around a corner, then another, then another, until there were around a dozen ants. His grip on the mace tightened, his legs bent, ready to slam his mace and shield down on an ant's head.
When the first ant showed its mandibles, Henryk sprung to action, bashing its head as it was coming out from around the corner. He quickly retreated, avoiding a close encounter with a still-growing number of ants.
'It did not die outright' Henryk frowned at the sight before him. His hit did not outright kill the ant, although he somewhat appreciated the fact it left the ant dazed and out for the count, twitching on its back. Being that dazed, the ant failed to call for further reinforcements.
Shira tried shooting the downed killer ant with an arrow, landing a shot on its abdomen. The subsequent sting of pain the ant felt brought it back from its daze, urging it to produce pheromones, prompting the other ants to do the same.
"More excellia's on the way!" Henryk said excitedly, or so his voice sounded to others.
'Good attempt. Problem is that it made the situation more troublesome' Henryk thought with a grimace that Shira could not see.
"Come here! You lousy ants!" Henryk taunted them while striking the metal rim of his shield to make noise. He knew that the metallic noise is what will draw the attention of the ants, not his voice.
Answering his actions, the dozen ants drew closer. To his dismay and relief, Platina and Ouros were doing their job well, having dispatched a few ants already.
'We might need to pull them away from this fork soon' Henryk thought as he turned his focus back to the ants in front of him, just in time to bring down the mace on an ant that tried to bite his legs off.
Shira would have liked to help him, but she had to face the ants coming from the other tunnel. While they were approaching, and before they entered Ouros's range, she managed to fire many arrows. Some missed, but some lucky shots penetrated the heads or the thoraces of a few ants.
Back to Henryk, he watched as Fey went all out on the ants, picking them up individually and dismantling them alive on the fly, before coming back for the next one.
Futura, however, was not as eager. Henry had told her to let him challenge himself to some degree. As a result, Futura was always a few steps away from Henryk while he fought the ants himself.
Two ants led a charge on him. One was met with his mace introducing its brain to some air while the other one bit the shield instead of his leg. As he was still bent down, he swung the mace sideways from the first ant to the second, breaking off its right mandible. Another hit to the top of its head disposed of it.
Henryk looked up and was greeted by the sight of approaching ants.
'I should bring a fire mage next time or create an unnatural mutation in my body to produce fire' He thought as he got ready for five ants. 'Futura, no matter the number, make sure that I don't fight more than two or three ants at a time, your choice of numbers'
Futura quickly made a mess of two of the ants by stomping them with all of her weight focused on her paws. She avoided biting them since biting one presents her head and neck to the other.
Henryk, on the other hand, tensed up a little. He did not expect her to subject him to three ants from the start. He jumped and brought down his mace on the ant at the forefront of the charge. The other two pushed each other against his rounded shield, their mandibles coming around the sides sometimes.
He backed up with his shield still down low, close to the ground, and rushed back with a bash.
Thanfully, Henryk succeeded in throwing the two ants slightly off balance, allowing him to kill one while the other regained its own. He killed it by bashing it again just as it regained balance, striking its head with his mace to finish it off.
Henryk turned to an ant that was still with a head nearby and double-tapped its head just to make sure it died.
He turned back to look at Shira and found her safe, firing arrows from amidst the wolves' safeguard.
'Ouros, bring Shira's arrows back to her if she runs out' Henryk said to the golden wolf before turning around to look at the front.
Futura noticed this, allowing three more ants to get past her.
As they approached, Henryk noted how closer together they moved when compared to the ones before them. He knew that he could not escape some form of harm this time.
'So what? My DEF needs to go up, even if by a little' he thought, ignoring his labored breathing.
The amount of force he exerted each time he struck an ant took a toll on him. Having both his brain and falna limited, more than usual limit the brain naturally presents, and as a direct result of the previous battles on upper floors, he was left with barely any strength or stamina.
'I'll have to take a short break after this trio' He thought with determination, the determination to push himself so much that he puts the growth rate of OG Bell to shame. 'That'd require a lot of work, however. I may need as much as twice the time he spent in the dungeon. Liaris Freese is such a nonsensical skill, honestly'
Killing one with some difficulty, and blocking the next with his shield, the third ant got some room to bite his leg.
"..." Henryk clammed up, refusing to frighten Shira and break her focus with a pained grunt. He bottled his pain in as he watched Fey make a vertical descent on the ant biting his leg using her beak.
The force of Fey's strike, aided by the force of her weight, crushed the ant. In a last ditch effort, the ant's pain had it bite down harder, breaking Henryk's right leg and maiming his skin and some muscles underneath it. Fey then bit the head of the ant biting his shield.
Henryk almost forgot all his pain in amazement, watching as all of Fey's fierceness vanished as she looked at his leg worriedly.
While he was distracted by Fey fussing over him, his other leg gave out under him and he had to catch himself by the knee of the injured leg.
He looked back at Shira for a split second. She was busy shooting arrows at approaching ants.
'Thankfully, she doesn't seem to have seen the worst of it' Henryk was relieved. 'It's a relief seeing Prata and Platina still setting down' He thought.
He also glanced at Ais, who was almost stepping in after what she saw.
'No' Ais shook her head. 'He could grow a tail that did not exist the day before. Who says he could not regrow a limb?' Ais elected to simply ensure keeping him alive, not necessarily safe or uninjured. That judgement was further reinforced by him shushing her while ignoring the stabbing pain of his broken, maimed leg.
'The pain's gonna get to me sooner or later, and treating this leg now would be a tall order' Henryk took a deep breath. 'I'll keep on like this until I pass out'
Henryk's mind reminded him of how worried Shira was the last time he passed out. 'Yea, change of plans. I'll fight until I'm about to pass out'
'Futura, let the ants in only one ant at a time from now on' Henryk ordered.
'I didn't think I would receive such an order in a situation like this one' Futura scoffed, looking back at the time she was the one giving out orders. Yet, there she was, letting a killer ant get past her.
"Fey, let me fight this one" Henryk said, putting his hand on Fey's chest in a pushing motion but not putting any strength behind it.
"Fey'll stay with Papa" Fey's cheer and singing tone were now gone. Her crown feathers were fanning out to their utmost while her head darted at every corner.
It went like this for an extended period of time, with the dungeon sending more monsters the more they killed. At some point, there was a bunch of war shadows that Ais had to dispatch since the killer ants of the entire 7th floor came flooding in. That kept all of the party's focus.
"Ais!" Henryk called with a strained voice. He had to take a breath right after. "We're done! Kill them all!"
Ais looked at him, seeing him wheezing for air, supporting himself on the shield and anchoring his balance on the mace.
'He reached his limit for today' Ais thought. It was her time to interfere.
After Ais was done, the party thanked them profusely and handed them all the magic stones they had from that day's dive to compensate Henryk's broken leg. They quit dungeon diving for the day and exited the dungeon.
(Line Break)
Their monster hunting trip went on until dusk.
After that unfortunate encounter with the ants, Henryk insisted he could fight again after bracing his leg and accelerating his healing around the fractured bone. He had to bite into a piece of cloth to deal with the sharp heat that seared his nerves, but he could walk again on that leg, and he still had a few hours before dusk at that time.
Ais observed and had to consciously keep her mouth from falling when Henryk fed around a dozen magic stones to each of Fey and the wolves throughout their dungeon dive. He then gave Kob a few after they came out.
Ais wanted to argue against the action, but between them, she believed that the familia's resident tamer knew better. 'It doesn't look like the first time' She thought while witnessing how they did not change in the slightest after eating the magic stones.