Author:
This is the last chapter for season 1. So starting from episode 9 in the season 1 of the anime, we'll rush the event all the way to until episode 13. As a compensation for the rushed content, this chapter is around 15k+ words.
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1 Month and 3 Days Since the MS Begins
∆∆∆∆
Somewhere probably in Babel.
The Denatus—the semi-annual gathering of the gods to brag, bicker, and assign embarrassing nicknames to their children.
But today, the air felt different. It felt like a powder keg.
"SHE'S CHEATING!"
Loki's voice shattered the dignified atmosphere, her finger pointing accusedly to a certain goddess. Her face was a vibrant shade of beet-red, her teeth bared in a snarl that would have terrified a lesser deity. "SHE'S USING DIVINE HACKS! EXPLOITS! SHE'S BREAKING THE GAME!"
Hestia sat across from her, her arms crossed beneath her chest, leaning back with a look of such concentrated smugness that it was practically radiating light.
"Oh? Is the 'Sword Princess' record feeling a little... dusty?" Hestia asked, her voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Is a month and a half too fast for you, Loki? I suppose not everyone can have a once-in-an-epoch genius in their Familia."
"One month! ONE MONTH!" Loki slammed her hands on the table, making the wine glasses rattle. "It took my Ais a whole year! You can't just drop some brat into the Dungeon and have him emerge as a Level 2! It's statistically impossible! It's a glitch in the Falna!"
"Actually," Hermes chimed in from the side, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he flipped through the Guild's official reports. "It's not just the boy, is it? Look at the second report for the Hestia Familia. The 'Silver Knight,' Yuuya Mitsukuji."
The instant his name was mentioned, the gods in the room started chattering to one another.
But a particular kind of opinion was heard more clearly than the rest—to Loki even more so.
"Hey do you know?" A god from the side whispered to another. "Just a few days ago, a friend of my child said they just witness that guy Yuuya bring down Ottar to his knees!"
"Yes I know. It's basically the talk of the town right now." The god whispered back.
Unfortunately for them, Loki's ear caught that particular exchange in the sea of noise in the room.
"You." Said Loki, looking at the god. "What did you say again?"
"Uhh, that guy Yuuya brought Ottar to his knees?" Replied the god. "It's been going on for a while now, haven't you heard?"
Maybe because she is always drunk, thus asleep or hangovered, such talk from the past few days have entered her ear, go past her drunken brain, not register it, and go out of her other ear.
In simpler words, she has been unaware of such rumor.
Then, as if in sync, every other god in the room turned their heads towards Freya who was just enjoying the drama.
They all want the truth.
"Freya please," Loki wheezes. "Tell me those aren't true, please I need this to be confirmed a myth."
"Ah...! well... haha...." Freya laughed nervously because she knows the answer she'll give to Loki isn't what Loki hoped for. "I've asked Ottar about this just recently and as much as it hurts my pride to have my King brought down to his knees..."
Freya then looked at Loki with a mix of sympathy, apology, and perhaps the most painful of them all, pity.
"The rumors are true."
The room went silent the instant those words left Freya's mouth. It was no longer just a rumor or a mere myth, it was now the truth. You could even see Loki's soul escaping from her mouth from the sheer absurdity of it all.
What followed was Loki's screech which is so high-pitched it likely shattered windows in the neighboring sectors of Orario. She was standing on her chair, pointing a trembling finger at the official status reports lying in the center of the round table she had reviewed just earlier.
Bell levelling up in a month and half is absurd. Yuuya levelling up from level 2 into 3—which is significantly harder—in two months was even more absurd. But bringing down Ottar to his knees? It's basically like a giant middle finger to everything they've known and believed so far.
"Shorty, I know you're desperate for attention!" Loki's eyes were practically bugging out. "But injecting your kids with divine ichor is against the rules! There is no way—no way—a Level 1 turns into a Level 2, and a Level 2 jumps to a Level 3 in the time it takes me to finish a bottle of Soma!"
Hestia didn't even look up from her cup of tea—which no one knows where it even came from. She took a slow, deliberate sip, then let out a long, satisfied sigh.
"It's called 'parenting,' Loki. You should try it sometime." Hestia said, her voice dripping with the kind of smugness that could fuel a city. "Maybe if you spent less time harassing your daughters and more time actually encouraging them, they'd grow as fast as my Bell and Yuuya."
"PARENTING?!" Loki looked like she was about to breathe fire.
"Yes parenting. Plus, it's not my fault your kids spend their time drinking in pubs while mine are busy making history! It's called efficiency! It's called talent!"
Loki then lunges at Hestia, grabbed her by the ribbons of her dress and started shaking her like a maraca.
"Parenting my chest—!
"Where!?"
"YOU FUC—Tell me right now! Where is the secret lab?! Are you brewing illicit 'Level-Up Juice' in that church basement?!"
"Get off me, you red-haired scarecrow!" Hestia shrieked, batting Loki's hands away.
"Talent is leveling up in a year!" Loki roared, turning to the other gods who were watching the spectacle with varying degrees of amusement. "A month and half?! And that tin-can knight of yours? He went from 'Who is he?' to 'He just made Ottar eat the floor' in record time! That's not a character progression, that's not just talent, that's a skip to end game button! It's ridiculous!"
Hephaestus leaned forward, her single eye sharp and serious. "Hestia... the reports from the 9th floor were... specific. They said Yuuya Mitsukuji utilized a sound based magic that bypassed physical durability. Magic that hasn't been seen since the era of that witch of Silence."
The mere mention of said name made every god in the room present, especially those who are there during the age of the Zeus and Hera familia, shudder.
They know that name. And most importantly, the attitude and personality of the person behind that name.
To be frank, the person behind that nickname doesn't really have the best personality so to speak.
"Witch of Silence? Whose witch?" Said Hestia curiously.
"Ah, I forgot you just recently descended." Said Hephaestus.
Riding the flow of Hestia's confusement, Ganesha decided to speak. Since a topic from seven years ago isn't really the best one there is.
"I AM GANESHA!" Ganesha boomed, striking a pose that nearly knocked over a vase. "AND I AGREE! THAT SILVER KNIGHT HAS A VERY IMPRESSIVE VIBRATION! PERHAPS HE SHOULD BE CALLED 'THE SHAKING GANESHA!'"
"NO!" every god in the room screamed in unison.
Luckily for Yuuya and Hestia, almost, if not everyone, still believes that Yuuya just have
a sound based magic that's a bit similar to that person.
Since possessing a sound based, type of spell, isn't entirely impossible thanks to the falna.
"Enough!" Ouranos's voice boomed, vibrating through the floor and restoring order in the room. "We are here to grant titles. The world must know what to call these anomalies."
The gods immediately shifted to their favorite form of bullying: Giving embarrassing nicknames.
"I agree. We need a name for the anomaly." Hermes said, his eyes twinkling. "Something that captures the fact that he's basically a walking sound cannon in silver plating."
"The Resonant Ruin!" suggested a minor god.
"Too long!" Loki snapped. "Sounds like a bad tavern name."
"The Silver Shiver!" Apollo chirped.
"No, that sounds like he's caught a cold." Hestia pouted. "He's cool! He's mysterious! He's... he's..."
"He's a pain in the neck." Loki muttered. She squinted at the reports, specifically the part about his sound magic. She started experimenting with other languages, trying to find something that sounded 'elite' enough to annoy Hestia but cool enough to satisfy her own aesthetic.
"How about something Latin?" suggested Hephaestus. "Argentum... for the silver."
"Argentum Vox?" Hestia tried it out. "Silver Voice? No, sounds like he's in a choir."
"Silens Vox?" (Silent Voice).
"He's not silent! He's loud! He's a vibration hazard!" Loki argued. She suddenly snapped her fingers. "Wait. I've got it. It rhymes, it's punchy, and it describes exactly what he does to people's internal organs."
She grabbed the quill and wrote in big, jagged letters.
One of the god present who volunteered stepped forward to announce the final decisions.
"For the Level 2 rookie, Bell Cranel [ Little Rookie ]."
Hestia sighed. "Fine. I'll take it. It's cute."
"And for the Level 3 anomaly, Yuuya Mitsukuji..." The god paused, looking at Loki's messy handwriting. "...By unanimous (and mostly forced) decision by the Loki Familia... your alias shall be..."
"[ The Argent Fragment ]?" The god tried.
"NO!" Loki kicked the table. "I changed it! Look at the bottom!"
The god cleared his throat. "Ahem. The alias is: [ Argentum Hum ]."
The room went silent.
"Argentum Hum?" Hestia blinked. "Silver... Hum?"
"Think about it!" Loki cackled. "He's silver. He hums. It rhymes with scum, which is what he is for hitting my Bete! Though Bete is the one at fault, just go along with me for now. And it rhymes with drum, which is what he did to Ottar's chest! Argentum Hum! It's snappy! It's rhythmic! It's annoying!"
"I hate it!" Hestia yelled. "It makes him sound like a faulty refrigerator!"
"Too late!" Loki danced a jig around the table. "The ink is dry, Shorty! Orario's newest terror is officially a Silver Hum! He sounds like a background noise! It's perfect!"
"Wait! Wait!" Hestia scrambled. "If we're doing the foreign thing, let's use the Far East language! A place where he came from!
She scribbled furiously. "How about... [ Gin-Kyo ]!" (Silver Resonance).
Silver resonance. She was supposed to say that but apparently, her Far East language isn't exactly the best. So it came out differently.
Loki stopped dancing. She looked at the name. "Gin-Kyo? Like the tree? The Ginkgo tree?"
"No! Resonance!"
"Ginkgo! Ginkgo!" The gods started chanting, led by Ganesha.
"IT'S NOT A TREE!" Hestia wailed.
Final Decision:
>Bell Cranel: [ Little Rookie ]
> Yuuya Mitsukuji:[ Argentum Vox ] (Officially registered, but forever mocked by Loki as The Ginkgo or The Silver Hum.
(Author: I tried my best alright, me and my bad naming sense really did. I was thinking of settling with something plain and simple at first like "Anomaly" but it was too simple. Though I can change it into "Anomaly" if you people prefer that better.)
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It was already past afternoon by the time Hestia returned home to the abandoned church. Inside, Bell was polishing Elucidator, while Yuuya was sitting on a crate and staring at the wall, doing absolutely nothing. Probably thinking about Tenkai who knows what.
Then, the doors burst open with the force of a small explosion.
"I'M HOME! AND THE WORLD IS CRUEL!" Hestia wailed, stumbling into the room like a war veteran returning from a lost campaign. She was clutching a bundle of official Guild scrolls to her chest as if they were the last pieces of bread on earth.
Bell jumped three feet into the air. "Goddess! Are you okay? Did something happen at the Denatus?"
"Loki happened!" Hestia sobbed, throwing herself onto the sofa. "That flat chested scarecrow! That... that alcoholic menace! She has no respect for the sanctity of divine naming! She tried to turn our family into a joke!"
Yuuya looked up, his eyes narrowing.
"Did I get a bad name? If it's something like 'The Shiny Tin-Can,' I'm joining the Ganesha Familia tomorrow."
Hestia sniffled, unrolling the first scroll. "Bell... my poor, sweet Bell. They gave you Little Rookie."
Bell blinked.
"Little Rookie? It's... well, it's better than 'Tomato Boy,' I guess." He gave a weak, optimistic thumbs up. He definitely expected something along the line of Burning Fighting Fighter.
Hestia muffled a sob into a cushion.
"You're [Little Rookie], Bell. It's... it's fine. It's safe. It's humble. But Yuuya..." She sat up, her eyes wide with lingering trauma. "The Guild registered him as [Argentum Vox]. The Silver Voice. It sounds like a legend, right? It sounds prestigious!"
Yuuya paused. He let the name sink in. Argentum Vox. Latin. Prestigious. A bit mysterious. It reflected the nature or rather, the origin and physical characteristics of the owner of his magic without being too literal.
"Okay," Yuuya said, relaxing slightly. "That's actually... surprisingly fine. I was expecting worse. I can live with that. It's clean. It's Latin. What's the catch?"
"The catch," Hestia hissed, pulling out a crumpled piece of parchment, "is what Loki called you for three hours straight in front of every god in Orario."
Hestia's lower lip trembled. She looked at him with genuine pity. "The official title registered in the Guild archives is Argentum Vox. The Silver Sound."
(Author: for those who are wondering why silver, it's because of his armor and the similarity of his magic to Alfia who have, well, silver hair.)
"AND THAT'S BECAUSE THAT WAS THE COMPROMISE!" Hestia screamed, slamming a second, unofficial piece of paper onto the table. "Look at what she actually suggested! Look at what she tried to lobby the other gods for!"
Yuuya leaned in. Bell and Lili—the latter who had just arrived from her errands—crowded around to see the list of names Loki had presented to the assembly.
Loki's Official "Knighty-Boy" Suggestions:
1. Argentum Hum (The Silver Hum) – "Because he sounds like a faulty lightbulb."
2. The Noisy Refrigerator – "Self-explanatory."
3. The Ginkgo Tree – "Hestia tried to say 'Silver Resonance' in Far East tongue, but she messed up. He is now a tree."
4. The Vibrating Menace – "Bete's personal favorite."
5. Tin-Canned Headache – "Because his magic makes my ears bleed the last time he used it in Mia's pub to make Bete eat shyt."
The silence in the room was deafening.
Yuuya's eye twitched from annoyance.
Lili let out a tiny, stifled snort. Bell looked like he was trying to solve a very difficult math problem in his head to avoid laughing.
"That insufferable cutting board..." Yuuya whispered, his voice dangerously low.
"She got the whole hall to chant it, Yuuya!" Hestia wailed. "Even Ganesha was doing it! He struck a pose and yelled, 'I AM GANESHA! AND I AM SHAKING THE TREE!'"
That day, Yuuya promised that the next time he sees Loki, he'll blast her through the wall. Just like what a certain woman does to anyone whom she finds annoying or noisy regardless of gender and social standing years ago.
Anyways, after that, a few days have passed. Because of Bell's armor being destroyed against his fight with the cow, he needed a new replacement.
Yuuya went along with Bell because of two things: first is that he wants to personally meet Welf and lastly, to request for an armor.
The meeting went as expected just like in the original. They found Welf in the middle of bickering with the shop owner and all.
When they get into talking, Welf is absolutely into the moon. The two most famous people in Orario currently, the Little Rookie and Argentum Vox, are now a potential client.
After the meeting, Welf took the two into his forge or workshop. There, Welf forges a new weapon for Bell made from the minotaur horn he got.
A backup weapon for Bell in case he lost his sword.
After a few more exchanges, like Welf's personal take or beliefs on weapons, he finally asked Bell and Yuuya for a contract.
Which happened smoothly. After all, the only thing Yuuya is not allowed to do is have another smith take a look at his weapon due to his contract with Hephaestus. But if it's other things like armor? Yuuya concluded it's probably fine.
Talking about armor, it was the other reason why he goes along with Bell.
Personally, Yuuya likes the design of the pyochinki armor series that Welf made. It's simple, light, covers the important parts of the body like the joints, chest, and neck among other things.
It just so happens that when there is one at stock, the only stock is the one Bell is using. Making him settle into his knight like armor.
But now? When Welf handed Ushiwakamaru to Bell and the contract was agreed upon, Yuuya immediately get straight into the point.
"Welf." Said Yuuya as he places a hand on Welf's shoulder. "Since you are now my smith, I want to place an order."
"Wha—that fast? Like right now?" Replied Welf.
"Yes."
Then out of nowhere, Yuuya took a bag of valis from his storage and let it fall the table.
"Make me an armor. Exactly like the one Bell just bought. Money doesn't matter."
"You mean pyochinki mk III?"
"Yes."
"Okay okay, by the way, is that valis—"
"Yes, 200k valis to be exact—"
"Pfft—" Welf started coughing upon hearing the amount.
Seriously, that's just way too much. Welf tried to refuse at first, saying he cannot take that much. That Yuuya can just pay the original amount.
But Yuuya is more adamant, saying it's nothing that he can actually give more to Welf if he wants to.
Upon hearing Yuuya can give him more, Welf gave up. Fearing that Yuuya will indeed give him more if he refuses any further.
After that, Welf immediately took Yuuya's measurements for the armor to make sure it was a snug fit.
While they were at it, Yuuya described how he wants his armor to look like.
He didn't changed much except for the color.
First is that the color of his armor is obsidian black, unlike Bell's which is mainly silver white. Additionally, the red outline in the armor that you can find in Bell's armor, in Yuuya's version, those are the one turned into silver.
(Author: for easier reference, imagine Bell's armor. The white parts are swapped with obsidian black.
While the red parts are swapped with silver.)
While Yuuya was describing it, his eyes were sparkling and his voice is so full of optimism that Welf actually felt obligated to immediately make the armor.
"Is he... Is he always like this?" Asked Welf to Bell.
"No. To be completely honest, it's my first time seeing him like that too. Just go along with it." Said Bell.
Yuuya really, really wanted to get rid of any silver in him that Loki can use to insult him.
After that, Yuuya and Bell have left. Yuuya wished he could put a commission on the Goliath scarf as well, but Welf still doesn't have the blacksmith development ability during the time so he have to be patient for a little longer.
∆∆∆∆
1 Month and 13 Days Since the MS Begins
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It was now finally the fated day that Bell, Welf, and Lili face their first ever challenge in the dungeon as a party.
The damp, oppressive air of the Dungeon's 13th floor was usually enough to make any adventurer's skin crawl, but today, the mood in the Hestia Familia party was oddly... domestic.
"He's gone, isn't he?" Lili asked, squinting into the darkness of the forward tunnel where a faint blur had vanished seconds ago.
"Yeah." Welf grunted, readjusting the straps on his broad shoulders. "He said, and I quote: 'You guys look like you're getting complacent, so I'm going to go find something that actually challenges me. Try not to get eaten by Bell's cousin—sorry I mean almiraj or something.' Then he just... vibrated out of existence. I didn't even know a human could move that fast without a magic circle."
Bell sighed, leaning on his knees and catching his breath.
"Yuuya-bro has been pushing us pretty hard. I guess he figured we can handle the 13th floor on our own now." He looked at his new armor, the white plate gleaming even in the dim light. "I mean, we are a Level 2 and a high spec smith with a genius supporter. We've got this!"
"Famous last words, Master Bell." Lili muttered, checking her quiver. "Every time you say 'we've got this,' the Dungeon decides to take that as a personal challenge."
For about five minutes, unlike in the original where they are surrounded, the Dungeon was suspiciously quiet.
No Hellhounds, no Hard Armored, not even a stray Almiraj. It was peaceful. It was tranquil. It was the kind of silence that usually preceded a divine intervention or a natural disaster.
Then, the ground began to tremble.
Thump. Thump.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
"What... What is that?" Bell asked, hopeful for a moment. "Is Yuuya-bro coming back?"
Welf listened closely, his face going pale as the moments passed.
"That's not Yuuya, Bell. That's a stampede. A big one."
From the darkness of a connecting tunnel, a group of figures burst into view. They were wearing the familiar, Eastern style gear of the Takemikazuchi Familia.
Leading the pack was Kashima Ouka, his face a mask of sweating, desperate agony and on his back is the injured Chigusa, they are then followed closely by Mikoto and the others.
They weren't just running; they were sprinting for their literal souls.
"Oh, hey, they look like they need help." Bell waved, his kind instinct kicking in. "Do you guys need—"
Ouka didn't stop. He didn't even slow down. He looked at Bell with eyes that held the haunted depths of a man who had seen the afterlife and found it lacking.
"SORRY!" Ouka bellowed, his voice cracking as he surged past them. "I AM SO, SO SORRY! PLEASE LIVE!"
"Wait, sorry for wha—" Bell's sentence died in his throat.
Emerging from the tunnel behind the Takemikazuchi Familia was a literal wall of screaming, snapping, foaming at the mouth monsters. Hellhounds, Hard Armoreds, and almiraj were packed so tightly together they were practically a single, multi headed organism of pure spite. It was a Pass Parade of legendary proportions.
The monsters, seeing a fresh, non-exhausted target, skidded to a collective halt, turned their heads ninety degrees toward Bell, and let out a roar that shook the stalactites.
Dungeon: ayo, yo said you guys got this? Run it back right now bitch.
Bell stood there, the silence stretching for a single, agonizing second. His eyes twitched. His grip tightened on Elucidator. The pure, innocent Little Rookie everyone knew and loved seemed to fracture for a moment under the sheer, unmitigated weight of the bullshit he was witnessing.
"Are you..." Bell started, his voice a low tremble. "Are you kidding me? Right after he leaves? Right now?"
"Bell?" Welf asked, backing up slowly. "You okay, pal?"
"THOSE ABSOLUTE SON OF A BITCHES!" Bell suddenly roared, the sheer frustration of a month's worth of training, near-death experiences, and divine bickering boiling over into a single, uncharacteristic explosion of profanity. "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY PASS PARADING US RIGHT NOW?! WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU ARE ONE TOTAL ASSHOLE!"
(Author: Alfia would be proud if she heard this.)
Lili's jaw hit the floor. "Master Bell! Your language!"
"I don't care, Lili! Look at them! There's like fifty of them! And Yuuya is probably five floors down laughing his ass off because he knew this would happen!" Bell gripped his sword so hard the hilt groaned. "GOD DAMN IT!"
"Well..." Welf said, drawing his greatsword with a grim smirk. "On the bright side, you finally sound like a real adventurer, Bell. Nothing like a near-death experience to make a man find his inner sailor."
"If I ever see that man who was carrying that injured person again, I'll blast him through the wall with a firebolt." Bell hissed, his face red—partly from the impending battle, partly from losing character, and partly from the shame of cussing in front of a girl.
The lead Hellhound lunged, its jaws snapping inches from Bell's face.
"NOT TODAY, YOU OVERGROWN FLEA BAG!" Bell screamed, kicking the monster square in the snout with enough force to send it flying back into the pile. "WELF! LILI! WE'RE NOT DYING IN A GOD DAMNED PASS PARADE!"
"Right behind you, Master Bell!" Lili shouted, though she was already looking for a hole to hide in. "But for the record, I'm telling Goddess Hestia you said a bad word!"
"TELL HER! I'LL SAY IT AGAIN!" Bell yelled, diving into the fray like a white blur of pure, spite and vengeance.
Somewhere, three floors deeper, Yuuya paused, his head tilting as a faint, muffled scream echoed through the ceiling.
[Just like you guessed, yes, Bell and the others are currently fighting for their dear lives.] Said the system.
A small, satisfied smirk crossed Yuuya's face.
"Right on time." Yuuya whispered to himself, his hand resting on the hilt of his vibrating blade. "Good luck, Little Rookie. Nothing builds character like a little betrayal and a lot of swearing."
∆∆∆∆
1 Month and 14 Days Later Since the MS Begins.
∆∆∆∆
The day quickly passes on after that particular encounter.
The atmosphere in the abandoned church was less of a divine sanctuary and more like pressure cooker on the verge of exploding.
Hestia was currently pacing a trench into the stone floor, her pigtails twitching with every frantic step. It had been over a day since Bell, Lili, and Welf were supposed to return from the middle floors.
In adventurer terms, a day late usually meant one of two things: a very lucrative detour or a very expensive funeral.
"Twenty six hours." Hestia muttered, her eyes wide and bloodshot. "They've been gone for more than a day. My Bell is out there, probably cold, hungry, and being chased by things with too many teeth!"
Now, she can still feel her blessing in Bell's back so that's some pressure off her shoulder. Still, time is of the essence.
"Now, now, Hestia." Miach said, hovering nearby with a bottle of calming tea that she was pointedly ignoring. "Bell is a Level 2 now. He's resilient. Plus, he has Welf and Lili with him."
"That's the problem!" Hestia shrieked, spinning on her heel. "Welf is a magnet for trouble and Lili is... well, she's tiny! They're probably all huddled in a damp corner somewhere!"
Speaking of damp corner.
Somewhere in the 16th floor, Bell and the other two is indeed huddled in a small space.
They took refuge there for the time being and since it's narrow, the monsters cannot reach them. The twist? They are kinda stuck.
"How long have we been in here?" Asked Welf.
"I don't know, I lost time." Replied Bell.
"We've been here for so long. We can't move since we are stuck in this place." Said Lili grimly. "My feet are beginning to go numb from lack of circulation. I'm starting to think we won't make it out of here alive."
Dungeon: Fuck you might not even make it out of there dead.
"What?" Said Lili.
Dungeon: My spawns on this floor can't fit through there. My minotaurs also cannot smash through to make an opening.
"O—oh then find another one who can!"
Dungeon: What you want me to call the slim minotaur—there's only one fixed size for a minotaur dumbass.
"Oh fuck you!"
Dungeon: Oh go die in a hole.
"We're trying—"
Anyways, back to the abandoned church.
Hestia turned her gaze toward the corner of the room, where Kashima Ouka, Chigusa, Mikoto, and two others were standing in a row.
Ouka looked like he wanted to phase through the wall and vanish into the Earth's crust. The guilt radiating off him was so thick you could have carved it with a knife.
"And you," Hestia hissed, pointing a finger at Ouka. "You pass paraded them! You turned a routine stroll into a monster mosh pit!"
"I am so incredibly sorry!" Ouka bowed so low his forehead hit the floor with a dull thud. "It was a split second survival instinct! I didn't think—I mean, I thought they were—"
"You thought they were a convenient meat shield!" Hestia finished for him.
"In Ouka-sama's defense," Chigusa whispered, trembling, "we were all about to die..."
"Excuses!" Hestia wailed. She then paused, clutching her head as a thought struck her. "Wait... what about Yuuya? He was down there too! He's a Level 3! He's basically a walking disaster for anything with a monster core! Why hasn't he brought them back yet?"
The room went silent. Everyone considered the enigma that was Yuuya Mitsukuji.
"Knowing that guy..." Hephaestus muttered. "He probably saw the pass parade, did a quick power level calculation, decided it was 'good training' for Bell, and then kept walking toward the 20th floor because he heard the stones were shinier down there."
Hestia's face turned a shade of purple that shouldn't be possible for a goddess.
"That... that sounds exactly like something he would do. He's probably sitting on a pile of monster ashes right now, debating whether a shiny stone he found is worth taking while Bell is fighting for his life!"
"It is a possibility." Miach added solemnly. "If Yuuya is exactly what you described him to be, he does possess a rather... singular focus when it comes to the Dungeon. He views struggle necessary for... Character development...'"
Hestia sighed.
"Anyways, he's our last hope! If he meets them halfway, he could carry all three of them out of there like sacks of flour! But no, he's probably taking his sweet ass time exploring some obscure corner because of some damn stones !"
Just then, the door creaked open, and Hermes stepped in, wearing a hat that looked far too cheerful for the current mood.
"Bad news, everyone!" Hermes chirped, immediately sensing the death glare from Hestia. "Or, well, urgent news. The Guild hasn't seen hide nor hair of them. And I sent a scout to look for your obsidian plated anomaly, Hestia. Apparently, Yuuya was last spotted on the 18th floor before going deeper."
Hestia stared at him.
"He went further? My Bell is missing, and Yuuya went shopping for stronger monsters?!"
"To be fair," Hermes chuckled, leaning against the wall, "Yuuya probably assumes Bell is fine. He has a lot of faith in that kid. Or he's just really, really distracted by his own training."
Hestia let out a sound that was half-sob, half-growl. "That's it. We're forming a rescue party. Right now! We're going down there, we're finding Bell, and then I am going to find Yuuya and I'm going to use his own armor as a dinner bell!"
"I'm coming too!" Ouka shouted, standing straight with renewed vigor. "I have to atone for the Pass Parade!"
"You're coming because you're the one who knows exactly where you left them to die!" Hestia snapped. She grabbed her cloak, her eyes blazing with divine (and very sleep-deprived) fury. "Yuuya Mitsukuji... you better hope you've at least shared a snack with them, or I'm revoking your church basement privileges for a month! You will sleep outside!"
As the ragtag rescue party scrambled to gather supplies, Hestia glared on the wall, her mind thinking about the dungeon.
Somewhere down there, her Little Rookie was in trouble, and her Argentum Vox was probably busy being the most inconveniently talented person in Orario.
"Taking his sweet time..." Hestia grumbled, kicking a loose stone. "I swear, that man's sense of priority is entirely located in his sword-arm."
∆∆∆∆
1 Month and 15 Days Later Since the MS Begins.
∆∆∆∆
The humidity of the 17th floor was thick enough to swallow a man whole, and currently, it was doing a very good job of swallowing the remains of Bell's sanity.
"I HATE EVERYTHING!" Bell screamed, his voice cracking as he swung Elucidator with the desperation of a man who hadn't slept in forty eight hours.
A Minotaur—not the fancy one he'd fought for his level-up, but a regular, garden variety wall of muscle—snorted and tried to gore him. Bell sidestepped it, his legs feeling like they were made of lead filled jelly.
His brand new white armor was currently covered in monster blood, soot, agony, despair, and everything unfair.
"Bell! Move your ass!" Welf roared, swinging his greatsword to parry a strike from a Ligerfang.
Welf looked like he'd been dragged through a coal mine and then pelted with rocks. His hair was a matted mess of sweat and grime, and he was currently missing a boot. As for the details of how, a hellhound ate it.
"If we don't hit the 18th floor entrance in the next ten minutes, I'm going to start using Lili as a projectile!"
"Lili is not a projectile!" the supporter shrieked from underneath her massive backpack. She was currently crawling over a pile of rubble, her face so covered in dirt that only her terrified, blinking eyes were visible.
"And for the record, Master Bell, you said another bad word! That's three 'damns' and one 'hell' since we left the 15th floor!"
"DAMN RIGHT I DID!" Bell yelled, ducking under a club. "That guy and his stupid face! This is all his fault! I'm going to find him and I'm going to take his knee cap so hard his ancestors feel it!"
They were dying. Not the poetic, heroic kind of dying, but the exhausted, smelly, and tired of being chewed on kind of dying. They were at the absolute limit of human endurance, stumbling toward the light of the Under Resort like three zombies looking for a spa day.
Meanwhile, roughly seventeen floors deeper, the atmosphere was... significantly different.
Yuuya stood in the middle of a massive cavern on the 34th floor. Around him lay the dissolving remains of a group of monsters that usually need a party to subjugate. Yet, Yuuya didn't have a scratch on him.
He was currently holding a small, crumpled piece of paper, squinting at it in the dim light of a glowing crystal.
"Let's see..." Yuuya muttered to himself. "Hestia said we were out of the good tea leaves. And Bell mentioned he wanted those specific honey biscuits from the Northwest district. I should probably head back soon."
A giant, worm burst from the wall behind him—a Lambton—its mouth a whirlpool of jagged teeth. It let out a roar that would have paralyzed a normal adventurer with pure primal fear.
Yuuya didn't even turn around, he simply spoke.
•Gospel•
Just like that, the Lambton and its internal organs became a smoothie before bursting into dust.
"Too loud." Yuuya complained, dusting off his shoulder. "Why is everything on this floor so noisy? It's hard to focus on the shopping list."
He checked his system clock.
"Hmm. It's been about a day and a half. Bell and the others are probably chilling at the 18th floor by now. They've probably got their feet up, drinking some juice and laughing about that little Pass Parade." He tucked the list away and started walking deeper into the 35th floor, looking for a specific type of stone he'd heard made for a good paperweight.
"I'll give them another day," Yuuya decided. "No point in rushing back and ruining their vacation. Bell needs to learn how to relax without me hovering over him all the time. He's probably having the time of his life."
"I'M GOING TO DIE!" Bell sobbed, desperately running as the Goliath tries to turn them into mash potatoes. "I'M GOING TO DIE AND MY LAST MEAL WAS A STALE RATION BAR! YUUYA, YOU JERK! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"Save your breath, Bell!" Welf panted, who is also running for dear life. "He's probably halfway to the surface by now, eating a steak and wondering why we're taking so long!"
"I'm going to bite him!" Lili screamed. "The moment I see that armor, I'm biting his leg!"
As the trio finally saw the glowing entrance to the 18th floor—the promised land of safety and actual beds—they immediately let their selves slide down and let gravity do the rest.
When they finally reached the 18th floor, they looked like a collection of trash bags that had been discarded by a particularly angry giant, before passing out
Meanwhile, miles below them, Yuuya found a particularly nice looking rock and spent ten minutes debating if it would look better on the kitchen table or the mantlepiece.
∆∆∆∆
1 Month and 16 Days Later Since the MS Begins.
∆∆∆∆
Another day has passed and Yuuya has finally decided to climb back up.
As of now, he is currently at the 27th floor, also known as the Water Capital, and it was breathtaking.
Crystal clear waterfalls cascaded into massive, glowing lakes, and the air lacked the suffocating heat of the floors above. For Yuuya, it was the perfect place for a brainstorm.
He was currently strolling along a stone walkway, looking far too relaxed for someone on that floor. Which is bound to bite him the rear sooner or later.
"Alright, here's the play." Yuuya muttered, tapping his chin. "Tomorrow is the day. The 18th floor is going to turn into a mosh pit when that Black Goliath spawns. If I can just catch Finn and the Loki Familia before they pack up their camp, I can convince them to hang around for sixty minutes. We jump the boss, I get some bonus excelia, Bell gets a front row seat to an elite raid, and we all get home in time for Hestia's dinner. I'm a genius."
[Genius my ass. You've been in the dark too long, Yuuya. The lack of oxygen is making you delusional. You really think Finn 'The Braver'—a man who literally breathes tactical formations—is going to take advice from a Level 3 rookie who smells like wet dog and arrogance?]
"It's not arrogance if I'm right, you glorified calculator." Yuuya snapped back, though there was no one else around to hear him. "It's called planning. Plus, Finn likes competence. I'll just vibrate a few rocks, show him a bit of my magic, some facts about me,and he'll be putty in my hands."
[Putty in your hands. Right. I'll be sure to put that on your gravestone. 'Here lies Yuuya. He thought he could out talk a Pallum. He was wrong.' Also, I'm not a calculator, I'm your only friend. Show some respect.]
"Whatever. The plan is airtight. Man, it sure is kinda fun being an anomaly sometimes. The Loki Familia cleared the Amphisbaena on their way down, so the path is—"
Dungeon: Did I... Did I just catch having fun? On my watch? On my turf?
Suddenly, the ground didn't just shake—it shuddered.
The massive waterfalls of the 27th floor suddenly went silent, the water pressure dropping as if the Dungeon itself had just taken a deep, jagged breath. A low, grinding sound, like tectonic plates screaming in agony, erupted from the lake in front of him.
Yuuya froze. His smirk didn't just disappear; it disintegrated.
[...You really just have to say you're having fun aren't you? Because I'm pretty sure the Dungeon heard you talking about airtight plans, let that one pass, but then it heard you are having fun and decided to take that one personally.]
"No..." Yuuya whispered, his hand slowly creeping toward the hilt of his black blade. "No, no, no, wait, wait, wait! You did not just do that. Loki's familia killed the floor boss on their way down! It takes a month to respawn. The math doesn't work!"
[Since when does the Dungeon care about your math, Yuuya? Look at the lake. Look at the very large, very angry, very much NOT DEAD lake.]
The water exploded.
A massive, twin-headed serpent erupted from the depths, its scales mixed with some terrifying, sickly shade of semi-translucent black. It wasn't the standard Amphisbaena.
This thing was darker, meaner, and pulsing with a pure utter spite from the dungeon.
One head let out a screech that shakes the entire room, while the other began to glow with a deep, volcanic red light.
"Oh for the love of Loki's non-existent chest, a semi-black variant." Yuuya hissed, his combat instincts finally overriding his shock. "It's not a full black variant, but it's definitely not a standard boss."
[Well, genius strategist, there goes your stroll to the 18th floor. You wanted a challenge? Here it is. It's big, it's slimy, and it's currently looking at you like you're a snack. Oh, and before you ask—no, I don't have a 'delete dragon' button. You're on your own for this one.]
"You're remarkably unhelpful when my life is on the line!" Yuuya yelled, drawing his blade as the first head lunged at him.
While Yuuya dodged the other head who breathed a blast of fire that burns whatever it comes into contact with.
"Change of plans!" Yuuya shouted over the roar of the twin heads. "I'm killing this thing, and then I'm charging Loki double for cleaning up her mess!"
Meanwhile, the air in Rivira was pleasantly cool, smelling faintly of crystal light and roasting meat. For the first time in what felt like a literal lifetime, Bell was sitting on a soft chair, his newly dented white armor cast aside.
He took a massive bite out of a hot, heavily buttered pastry, tears of pure, unadulterated joy streaming down his face.
"I'm alive." Bell sobbed happily, chewing with the enthusiasm of a starving man. "It's not a stale ration bar. It's actual food. I love the 18th floor."
"Eat up, Master Bell." Lili said, happily counting a stack of valis they had managed to secure. She was finally clean, having washed off the layers of monster grime. "You earned it after that horrible pass parade."
Welf was leaning back on a wooden bench, looking like he had just conquered the world. Even Hestia and the rescue party—Ryuu, Asfi, Mikoto, and the others—were relaxing around the table, the tension of the middle floors completely washed away.
"I still can't believe we made it." Chigusa whispered, holding a warm cup of tea.
"Well, you're safe now!" Hestia cheered, though she was still pouting slightly. She crossed her arms and looked toward the ceiling of the cavern. "Though I do wonder where that obsidian-plated headache is. Yuuya has been down there for a while."
"Knowing Yuuya-bro?" Bell swallowed his bite of pastry, a relaxed smile on his face. "He's probably having a peaceful walk. He always says the deep floors are refreshing. I bet he's just strolling around, taking in the sights, and maybe doing some light stretching."
"Yeah." Welf chuckled. "He's probably bullying a couple of stray monsters for their lunch money and taking a nap. The guy doesn't sweat."
"I AM SWEATING! I AM SWEATING SO MUCH MY ARMOR IS BECOMING A SOUP KITCHEN!" Yuuya slammed face first into a massive stone pillar, shattering it into a thousand glowing pieces. He tumbled across the wet stone walkway, skipping like a rock before finally digging his black blade into the ground to stop his momentum.
Things have turned out unlike what Yuuya and the system predicted.
A normal Amphisbaena is usually a level 5 in strength and rivals that of a level 6, especially in water. But since this one is a semi-black variant, it's safe to say it's output is that of a level 6 and that of level 7 in water.
And with this development, Yuuya was kicked out of focus or caught off guard, and it was now his turn to dodge and run for dear life.
[Get up, get up, get up! Left head is charging!]
Yuuya didn't even have time to curse. He threw himself to the side just as a torrent of blinding blue fire washed over the spot he had been occupying. The flames didn't just scorch the stone; they spread across the surface of the lake, burning violently on top of the water itself.
"This is fine!" Yuuya gasped, his lungs burning as he scrambled to his feet. "This is totally fair! A Level 6 boss just casually dropping by to say hello!"
Towering over twenty meters high, the Amphisbaena looked less like a dragon and more like a moving natural disaster. Its scales were a sickly, semi-translucent black, pulsing with raw, stolen dungeon energy.
Its left head—the one with glowing blue eyes—snapped its jaws, leaving trails of blue fire in the air. Its right head—the one with piercing red eyes—was exhaling a thick, crimson mist that covered the battlefield.
[Correction, buddy. It WAS a Level 6 on land. But look down. It's in the water now. That makes it a Level 7. And you, my friend, are a Level 3.]
"I have over four thousand points in every stat!" Yuuya yelled, deflecting a massive wave of displaced water with a high-frequency vibration from his blade. "I hit like a maxed out level 4 and that of a Level 5!"
[Congratulations! You're still two levels lower than the giant, two-headed death snake! Would you like a participation trophy before it eats you?]
"I want you to be quiet and analyze its attack pattern!" Yuuya roared.
Yuuya dashed forward, his boots cracking the stone beneath him. If this were a normal fight, his absurd, limit broken stats would have allowed him to slice the boss into ribbons. But the Amphisbaena wasn't just strong; thanks to the dungeon, it became absurd just like him.
The right head lunged forward like a striking viper. Yuuya brought his blade up, the metal humming violently as he cast a gospel on it earlier.
But the moment the blade touched the thick crimson mist surrounding the beast, the intense vibration of his magic simply sputtered and died.
"Wait, what?" Yuuya blinked.
[Surprise! That crimson mist diffuses magic! Your vibrating blade is just a regular, very sharp piece of metal right now. Good luck!]
The massive, heavy snout of the right head slammed directly into Yuuya's chest plate.
The impact was like getting hit by a speeding train carrying a cargo of anvils. Yuuya was launched backward, flying through the air and skipping across the burning surface of the lake before crashing into the opposite shoreline.
He groaned, rolling onto his back. His bones felt like they had been put through a meat grinder. His obsidian armor, usually pristine, was covered in dents.
"Okay..." Yuuya wheezed, staring up at the ceiling of the 27th floor as the giant monster prepared to dive underwater for a sneak attack. "Okay. No magic. No plan. Just a Level 7 water dragon and a lot of pain."
[Look on the bright side! At least Bell isn't here to see you get used as a chew toy.]
Meanwhile on the 18th floor, the sun—or whatever celestial light passed for it in the 18th floor ceiling—was shining beautifully. Bell was finally starting to feel like a human being again instead of a monster's chew toy.
"Bell-kun! My boy! My favorite white-haired hero!" Hermes draped an arm around Bell's shoulder, his eyes gleaming with the kind of mischief that usually ended in a divine smiting.
"H-Hermes-sama?" Bell stuttered, holding a basket of fruit. "Is something wrong? Hestia-sama said I should stay close to the camp."
"Nonsense! Life is about exploration! I've discovered a... unique natural phenomenon! A rare sighting of, uh, mountain lilies by the river! Very rare! Very educational!"
Bell's eyes widened.
"Really? Maybe I should bring some back for Goddess!"
"That's the spirit! Let's go, just you and me! A little guy talk, a little botany, and absolutely zero ulterior motives!" Hermes hurried Bell toward the dense forest near the river, a wicked grin hidden beneath his hat.
Back to Yuuya, the Amphisbaena has decided to play a rather cruel game. It stopped playing passive and started using ambush tactics.
What I mean by that is diving underwater and then bursting back up.
[DODGE! TO THE LEFT! NO, YOUR OTHER LEFT! THE ONE THAT DOESN'T HAVE A GIANT BLUE FLAMETHROWER POINTED AT IT! MOVE YOUR ASS, YUUYA!]
"I AM MOVING!" Yuuya roared, his boots skidding across the slick stone as a jet of blue fire incinerated the air where his head had been a microsecond ago.
The Amphisbaena was cheating. That was the only explanation. The Dungeon had literally grown massive, jagged walls over every single exit. Yuuya was trapped in a giant, watery cage with a Level 7 prehistoric nightmare that looked like it had been dipped in spite.
"Alright, enough of this! You want to play with frequencies? Let's see how you like a two stage Satanas Verion!"
Since the magic diffusing mist is gone for the moment, Yuuya decided to use that opening.
He stretches his right arm and pointed it at the Amphisbaena. Intending to use the same magic that subjugated the Black Goliath.
•Gos—pel!•
Upon unleashing the spell, Yuuya was thrown back a little bit. But unlike last time where he dislocated his entire arm, this time, he can manage the recoil a lot better.
The spell connected. Resulting in massive shockwave erupted, ripples tearing through the lake—and then... nothing.
In fact, it bounced off and ricochets. Hitting a poor mermaid a few feet away who's watching the battle. Instantly turning the poor monster into dust.
It was as if Yuuya's spell said 'nah I ain't built for this boss' and then locks on to the mermaid instead.
As for the Amphisbaena, it didn't even flinch. It just blinked its red eyes at him, looking almost bored.
[OH, COOL. GREAT PLAN, GENIUS. IT DID NOTHING. LITERALLY ZERO PERCENT DAMAGE. IT'S LIKE YOU JUST TICKLED IT WITH A TUNING FORK. DID YOU FORGET THE DUNGEON HATES YOU? IT ADAPTED! IT BUILT A FIREWALL AGAINST YOUR SHINY NOISE MAGIC!]
"IT ADAPTED?!" Yuuya screamed, narrowly parrying a massive tail swipe that sent him skipping across the water. "SINCE WHEN DOES THE DUNGEON GET PATCH NOTES?!"
[SINCE YOU EMBARRASSED IT WITH THAT BLACK GOLIATH! IT'S OUT FOR BLOOD, YUUYA! RUN! RUN LIKE A LITTLE BUNNY! IT'S REPEATING THE ATTACK! UP, UP, GO UP!]
Yuuya leaped onto a floating crystal shard just as the blue-eyed head bit the air where his legs had been. "I have 1400 in Agility! Why is this thing still faster than me?!"
[BECAUSE IT'S TWENTY METERS TALL AND HAS THE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE! STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE STATS AND START NOT DYING! LOOK OUT! CRIMSON MIST! IT'S GOING TO BLIND YOU!"]
"STOP SCREAMING I CANNOT FOCUS!" Said Yuuya even though he himself is screaming.
Back on the 18th floor...
"Wait, Hermes-sama," Bell whispered, crouching in the bushes. "I don't see any lilies. I just hear... splashing? And is that Ais's voice!?"
"Shh! Bell! Look through the leaves! It's the secret beauty of the lower world! The Divine Bathing Ritual!" Hermes was practically drooling, his binoculars out.
Bell's face turned a shade of red that rivaled the Amphisbaena's eyes.
"H-Hermes-sama! This is peeking! This is a crime! Goddess will kill us! Yuuya-bro would... Yuuya-bro would actually vibrate us into the stratosphere!"
"Yuuya isn't here, Bell! Relax! Embrace the adventure!"
Speaking of Yuuya.
"I AM GOING TO VIBRATE THE ENTIRE OCEAN INTO STEAM!" Yuuya yelled, his armor now missing a shoulder plate.
[LESS TALKING, MORE SPRINTING! THE WATER! IT'S GOING UNDERWATER! IT'S GOING TO COME UP UNDER YOU LIKE A JUMP SCARE! YUUYA, MOVE! I'M TOO YOUNG TO HAVE MY HOST TURNED INTO A TURTLE SNACK!]
"YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A PHYSICAL FORM!" Yuuya dove into the freezing water, narrowly avoiding a fire breath that refuses to extinguish even when doused in water.
He swam desperately toward a pillar, his lungs burning. He looked up just in time to see both heads looking down at him through the water, their eyes glowing with predatory joy, making Yuuya swim more desperately.
"HASHIRE HASIRE UMAMUSUMEEEEE!!!" Yuuya really lost it now, he event started singing to just retain his sanity. "HONMEI ANA UMA KAKIWAKETEEEE!!!"
[WHERE THE HELL DID YOU EVEN GET THAT FROM????]
"I DON'T KNOW I JUST HEARD IT ONCE IN THE INTERNET AND EVER SINCE THEN, IT NEVER LEFT MY HEAD THANKS TO MY PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY!" Replied Yuuya as he swam desperately.
[YUUYA. I SAY THIS WITH LOVE. WE ARE SO SCREWED. IF YOU SURVIVE THIS, I'M NEVER LETTING YOU PLAN A STROLL AGAIN!]
"THAT IS SO GAY, DON'T TELL LOVE TO ME WITH MY OWN VOICE! IT FELT WEIRD AND ILLEGAL. JUST SHUT UP AND FIND ME A WEAK POINT!"
∆∆∆∆
The 27th floor had become a graveyard of shattered crystal and boiling mist.
Ever since the battle began, Yuuya have lost track of time. But one things for sure, he is gradually losing and be needs to do something.
No more playing around now, he doesn't have the luxury of one anymore.
Yuuya stood on a narrow ledge of jagged rock, his breath coming in ragged, shallow hitches. His mana pool, once a vast reservoir, is now half drained. Additionally, the burning in his muscles was no longer just fatigue—it was starting to fail him.
[You're at 55% mana. You've used every potion. If we don't end this soon, I'm afraid we aren't leaving this floor alive.]
"I know." Yuuya rasped, spitting a glob of blood into the water. "Shut up and help me focus."
It was a difficult fight, probably even harder than when he fought the Black Goliath. Because not only does he struggle from the disparity in stats, the environment is also yet another factor. The Amphisbaena is basically camping at the water and Yuuya is forced to fight strategically. Since fighting the Amphisbaena in water with no foothold is suicide.
The Amphisbaena circled him, its massive twin heads weaving through the water like cobras. It was playing a war of attrition. Every time Yuuya landed a significant blow, the creature simply retreated into the depths to heal.
Yuuya lunged. He pushed his agility to its absolute capacity, turning into a blur that defied the heavy atmosphere of the deep floors. He leaped from a falling pillar, his black blade Kurotsuki held in a reverse grip.
•Gospel•
It wasn't a two stage—the Dungeon had adapted to that. Instead, Yuuya funneled the raw, destructive energy of Satanas Verion into the physical weight of the strike. The space around the katana rippled.
He collided with the left head. The blade sank deep into the semi-black scales, carving a massive, three meter gash across the dragon's neck. It's blood sprayed into the air, hitting Yuuya's armor.
"Now! Die!" Yuuya roared, twisting the blade to shear through the spine.
But the Amphisbaena didn't scream. It didn't recoil. Instead, the right head lunged simultaneously, not at Yuuya, but at the ground beneath him. The dragon slammed its snout into the pillar Yuuya was using for leverage, shattering it instantly.
Yuuya lost his footing. The opening was gone.
The dragon surged backward, sinking its wounded neck beneath the surface of the lake. Yuuya watched in grim silence as the dark, pulsing energy of the semi-black variant flared underwater. The jagged wound he had just carved began to knit back together, the scales hardening and closing before his very eyes.
[It's doing it again. It won't let you trade blows, Yuuya. It's smarter than a regular Monster Rex. It's playing for the clock.]
Yuuya didn't wait for it to fully heal. He plunged into the water, swimming with a desperate, heavy stroke toward the submerged beast.
Under the surface, the blue flames of the left head illuminated the dark water like a haunting neon nightmare.
He saw the twin necks thrashing. Yuuya kicked off a submerged ruin, his hand gripping Kurotsuki so hard his knuckles whitened.
'If I can't shake you apart." Yuuya hissed underwater, bubbles escaping his lips, 'I'll burn you from the inside out.'
He unleashed a burst of Satanas Verion directly from his palm, using the recoil to rocket himself toward the dragon's chest. He drove the katana into the soft tissue where the two necks met.
The monster let out a muffled, underwater roar that sent a shockwave through Yuuya's entire body, nearly bursting his eardrums.
He held on, dragging the blade through the meat, desperate to reach the core.
But the Amphisbaena was a Level 7 in this water. It twisted its massive body with a fluid, terrifying grace, slamming its long tail into Yuuya's ribs. The sound of his armor buckling was audible even underwater.
Yuuya was launched out of the water like a ragdoll, crashing onto a stone platform. He coughed, blood painting the gray stone. He tried to stand, but his left leg buckled.
[Multiple bone fractures detected. Mana at 30%. The target has retreated to the center of the lake again. It's 80% healed. We... we can't keep doing this. The stalemate is killing you.]
Yuuya looked up. The twin heads rose from the water, their eyes glowing with a hateful, intelligent light. They weren't attacking. They were waiting. They knew he was running out of time. The exits were still sealed.
"I'm not... dying in a sewer." Yuuya whispered, his fingers trembling as he gripped his katana. He looked at the blade—the living weapon that grew with him. Despite the situation, it was still humming with a faint, defiant life.
With that, Yuuya stood up.
The air on the 27th floor didn't just vibrate anymore—it began to scream.
Yuuya's posture shifted. The exhaustion was still there, carving deep lines into his face, but his eyes had gone cold and vacant, glowing with a terrifying, pearlescent light.
He has entered < Limit Off > again, boosting his stats.
[Going for the one shot are we?]
"Yeah." Yuuya rasped, his voice sounding like grinding tectonic plates. "If it won't come to us, then let's just give it a reason to do so."
He planted his feet, gripping Kurotsuki with both hands. The Amphisbaena sensed the shift. The semi-black dragon didn't retreat this time; it can feel the shift in mana in the air. It can feel that Yuuya is about to do something, and it won't let Yuuya do that easily.
It then swiped its head, sending stones and crystals towards Yuuya.
Yuuya didn't falter and instead, he took a step forward. As he did, he unleashed a flurry of strikes to parry the barrage of stone and crystal shards launched by the left head. All the while, his lips moved in a rhythmic, haunting cadence. He is currently doing concurrent chanting.
•Blessing of the root of evil, curse of birth...•
The blue fire erupted. Yuuya didn't dodge. He slashed through the flames, the sheer physical force of his movement parting the heat. The skin on his forearms began to blister, but he didn't stop.
•My original sin that devoured half of my body. It's not hard...•
The right head lunged, trying to crush him into the stone. Yuuya spun, the flat of his blade catching the snout of the dragon. The impact sent a shockwave through his teeth, but the chant continued, unbroken, echoing even through the roar of the monster.
•There is no purification. There is no salvation...•
[Front! It combines its breath!] Warned the system.
Yuuya's agility flared. He leaped into the air, the crimson mist trying to choke the magic out of his lungs as a desperate attempt to stop his spell, but the < Limit Off > state forced the mana to flow through sheer, stubborn will. He kicked off a falling boulder, mid-air, while slicing a tail swipe that tried to hit him.
•The resonance of this heavenly sound is my sin...•
A massive wave of water slammed into the platform, trying to drag him into the depths where the Level 7 stats would drown him. Yuuya stabbed his katana into the ground, anchoring himself as the water rushed past his waist.
•The trumpet of gods, the lyre of spirits...•
The Amphisbaena was frantic now. It sensed the build up. The air around Yuuya was turning into a physical weight, a heavenly sound that felt like a funeral dirge for the Dungeon itself.
The monster have instincts. It knows that if it doesn't manage to stop Yuuya, even its own regenerative ability won't be able to stop the impending erasure.
Both heads reared back, their eyes glowing with a blinding, desperate light. The red head is surrounding itself with it's magic diffusing breath as a final fail safe. While the blue head was preparing a maximum output blast to silence the voice once and for all.
•The melody of light, that is, the mark of my sins...•
[Yuuya! Halfway there! The dragon is committed! It's all or nothing! Don't you dare stop! If that chant breaks, the backlash will turn us both into a memory!]
As the chant crossed the threshold, there it appears. Above Yuuya's head, the space itself warped and groaned.
Massive, ethereal chains of translucent mana snapped into existence, anchoring a terrifying structure that manifested out of thin air.
It was a gigantic silver-grey bell, its surface etched with weeping angels and jagged, jagged thorns. It loomed over him, a cold, divine monument.
And as if in sync, the Amphisbaena unleashed its own attack. A cataclysmic spiral of blue incineration roared toward Yuuya's current position. It was a wave of pure erasure designed to scrub him from the face of the Dungeon.
[Now! Finish it!]
Yuuya ignored the searing heat of the dragon's breath. There was still a bit of distance away from him, but the flames were searing hot.
And yet, he didn't blink. He didn't breathe. He simply raised his left hand and released the final weight of his soul into the air.
•Loved by the miniature garden, my destiny is shattered. I hate you. The compensation is here. Destroy everything with the proof of my sin. Cry, holy bell tower!•
He then brought down his left hand and released the tolling of destruction.
•GENOS ANGELUS•
The world went silent. For a heartbeat, even the waterfalls of the 27th floor ceased to flow.
Then, the massive silver-grey bell swayed.
The heavy, metallic tolling didn't just make a sound—it redefined the concept of pressure. It wasn't a hum or an echo. It was a physical wall of celestial condemnation.
As the bell struck its core, a circular wave of silver-grey energy exploded outward from Yuuya, moving with the terrifying speed of a supernova, rippling the air as it traveled. As one after another follows it in its wake as a relentless barrage.
The Amphisbaena's attack, which is just about to incinerate Yuuya, didn't just fail; it was eaten. The flames which are supposed to turn him into ash are extinguished the instant it meets the shockwave.
The shockwave hit the Amphisbaena like the fist of a god. The 20 meter tall dragon didn't have time to roar. Its scales, its muscles, its bones—everything was caught in the evisceration.
In a 100 meter radius, the water of the lake was instantly vaporized into a fine mist. The massive crystal pillars turned to dust. The stone walkways were ground into sand. It's own protective magic diffusing mist that it was so proud of, simply disappeared in the face of Yuuya's spell.
The semi-black variant, with its regeneration and it's level 7 arrogant durability, was simply unmade. Its two heads were stripped to the bone almost instantly, and then the bone itself turned to white powder.
Its massive magic core shattered into a million useless glimmers before it could even think of healing.
For ten seconds, the tolling didn't stop. Destroying everything even beyond the 100 meter radius.
The silver-grey manifestation vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The 100-meter crater where the Water Capital used to be was now a silent, steaming wasteland.
Yuuya stood in the center of the destruction.
Even after it stopped, the sound of the tolling bell lingered, a haunting, mournful ring that seemed to vibrate in the very marrow of the Dungeon's walls.
His katana, Kurotsuki, was smoking, the blade glowing a dull, angry red. His armor was shattered, his cloak was gone, and he was covered from head to toe in the dust of the monster he had just deleted.
[You still in there? Or did you accidentally delete your personality along with the lake?]
Yuuya didn't answer immediately. He took one shaking step, then another, before his knees finally gave out. He collapsed into the steaming mud, his mana bar flashing a hollow, empty black.
"Did I... get it?" he rasped, his voice barely a whisper.
[Get it? Yuuya, there isn't even a drop of water left within three city blocks of you. You didn't just kill it. You evicted it from reality. But hey, look on the bright side...]
The System paused, its voice turning back into its usual, bickering self.
[...The Dungeon was so shocked it forgot to keep the doors locked. The exit to the 18th floor is wide open. You might want to crawl through it before the Dungeon realizes it just got bullied by a Level 3—oh sorry, a former level 3.]
"What do you mean former?"
[Well the fight pushed all your stats into its maximum. Just get Hestia to take a look at your falna and you're a level 4.]
"Oh... Oh gods... She's gonna kill me... Eina's gonna kill me..." Yuuya let out a weak, pained chuckle, coughing up a bit of dust. He is totally spent and in desperate need for rest.
The air on the 27th floor was finally beginning to settle, the fine mist of the vaporized lake falling back to the earth like a ghostly rain.
Yuuya lay in the center of the devastation, his chest heaving, his body feeling less like flesh and more like a collection of shattered glass.
He doesn't even have the energy to celebrate his level up.
[Hey. Wake up. Don't fall asleep now. Your passive < Regen > is screaming at me. It's working so hard in overtime I think it's about to unionize. We need to move.]
Yuuya doesn't need to be told twice. He got up and started limping his way back up. Luckily enough for him, no more monsters met him in his way.
Every passing moment, his complexion gets better and better thanks to his < Regen >. By the time he reached the 22nd floor, he was walking normally again but his body was still sore.
"System... time check. How long was that stalemate?"
[Longer than you think. You started that dance with that overgrown lizard at nightfall. It's already the next morning.]
Yuuya's eyes snapped open, bloodshot and sharp. "Morning? You mean..."
[Yeah. A month and 17 days since Bell started his journey. The timeline moved without you, hero. If the records are right, the 18th floor isn't a resort anymore. It's a slaughterhouse. The Black Goliath should be descending right about...]
As if on cue, the Dungeon didn't just shake—it groaned in a way that felt different from a monster's birth. It was a deep, structural vibration that echoed from the ceiling. But this time, it wasn't centered on Yuuya.
The floor he was in remained still, but the tremors were traveling upward.
Yuuya looked toward the ceiling, his jaw tightening.
"That wasn't for me. The Dungeon isn't looking at me anymore."
[It found a new target. Or rather, it's delivering the Divine Punishment for a Goddess being present on the 18th floor. Hestia is in danger, Yuuya. And based on how much time has passed... The Loki Familia expedition has already moved on. They're likely heading toward the surface. They aren't there to save them.]
"Damn it!" Yuuya snarled. He started quickening his pace, ignoring the soreness of his body. Every nerve ending in his body fired a warning shot of pure agony, but he ignored it. "I wasted too much time on that lizard."
It was now a race against the clock. If the Black Goliath is indeed a level 6 just like he predicated instead of that of a level 5, then it's pretty much a guarantee that more than a dozen body bags will be returning to the surface.
Yuuya didn't just run; he threw himself into a reckless, high speed dash toward path up to the next floor. His < Regen > skill was frantically trying to repair his legs while he was still using them, leading to a nauseating cycle of tearing and healing with every step.
[Left! Jump the gap! If you fall into the lower ravines now, I'm not helping you climb out!]
"Shut it and map the shortest route!" Yuuya commanded, his voice a guttural growl.
[Shortest route involves the vertical shafts. It's dangerous, it's steep, and you'll probably break another three ribs. Interested?]
"Do I look like I'm in the mood for a scenic tour?!"
Yuuya leaped into a vertical crevice, his fingers digging into the stone as he practically ran up the walls. His breath was coming in ragged gasps, his vision blurring at the edges.
[Heads up! I'm picking up massive energy spikes from the 18th floor. The boss is active. I hear screaming, Yuuya. A lot of it. And none of it sounds like victory.]
"Hang on, Bell," Yuuya whispered through gritted teeth, his agility pushing past the beyond it's limit as he ignored his aching body. "If you die before I get to bully you about that Little Rookie nickname, I'm going to follow you in Tenkai and drag you back!"
[That's the spirit! Use that pettiness to fuel your legs! We're hitting the 20th floor! Almost there!]
The Argentum Vox was no longer a beautiful melody. As Yuuya raced upward, he was a discordant, violent storm of desperation, cutting a path through the Dungeon to reach the one place where his family was about to face a nightmare alone.
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Author: Had to turn this into two parts since the chapter is too long, webnovel cannot handle the word count lol.