The Silver Vine was a semi-high-end restaurant in the northern districts of Orario, carrying a relaxed but chattery vibe. Hosting the wealthier class of the city's residents, the dull clinking of glasses and easy laughter were common alongside the soothing restaurant music.
At a corner table, two beautiful young women were deep into their third glass of wine. Their cheeks were reddening, a slow airheadedness building as they vented about the exhaustion that the city of Adventurers provided.
"I'm telling you, Laura, you should have just listened to your mother," the Guild employee sighed, sipping the red liquid in her glass. She was short in stature but had a pretty face framed by soft pink hair, her expression lazy in her drunken state. "You should have just studied harder, aimed for the School District, and gotten into the Guild. That way, I could have dumped all my paperwork on your desk."
Her friend Laura, a striking dark haired girl wearing a stylish, casual off-duty attire of the Ganesha Familia, laughed and leaned back in her chair. "Boo-hoo poor Misha thinks she has it rough. Imagine how I feel! You just stamp papers. I have to manage logistics for a Familia full of meatheads who think 'taming' means wrestling a silverback barehanded. You have it on easy mode."
Misha playfully kicked her friend under the table while giggling. "Shut up. At least your Familia pays you well enough to afford this place."
Two tables away, completely ignored by the giggling women, sat Toji Fushiguro and Shiu Kong.
Toji was leaning back in his chair, a half eaten plate of steak pushed to the side. He was staring blankly at the ceiling, looking entirely out of place among the dressed-up merchants and high ranking Adventurers.
Kong, dressed in his usual sharp suit, checked his surroundings before leaning in close.
"The Monsterphilia job was flawless, Fushiguro. The client was ecstatic," Kong murmured while taking a slow sip of his drink. "Because of that, the big whale has offered another contract. But if you're not interested in any more heavy jobs just yet, I have a second option. Much easier and a good payout."
"Spit it out," Toji grunted, his eyes tracking a red haired, flat chested woman who was looking at him funny as she passed by, eventually sitting down across from a blonde man in overly formal attire.
It was Loki, the Trickster. She swore the man with the lip scar looked oddly familiar for a second, but she shrugged it off before turning her attention to her table.
"Ah, Loki, thank you for accepting my request. I've been itching to have this talk with you," Dionysus said, seated across from her with a soft smile.
"Can't say I'm thrilled to see you, wine boy. I like Soma's drink more, yours just isn't hitting the spot Dio," Loki said with a carefree chuckle, utterly unaware of Dionysus's true intentions behind the meeting.
Meanwhile, at Toji's table, Kong began explaining the jobs to the bored assassin.
"The easy one," Kong said, holding up one finger. "The Guild and the Ganesha Familia have been rapidly altering their patrol routes and garrison points. It's severely hindering a...let's call it a monster sheltering organization. The client will pay handsomely for anyone who can slip out an authentic copy of the new routes from the Guild's private records."
Kong held up a second finger. "The harder one. A retrieval and assassination job."
Toji's eyes slowly slid away from the ceiling and locked onto Kong, his mouth twitching upward into a smirk. His first actual killing contract since dropping into this shitty world.
"Target is a man named Hashana Dorlia," Kong explained softly. "Level 4 from the Ganesha Familia, as far as I was told. He recently confiscated a very unique, highly sought after crystal orb item from the Dungeon. The client urgently wants it back and they want Hashana silenced before he can deliver it or talk. The pay is enormous."
Toji sat in silence for a moment, his thumb tracing the tip of his glass. His sharp senses, passively filtering the noise of the restaurant, caught the faint gossip of the Guild employee and the Ganesha girl.
His eyes drifted over to the table two spots down. He looked at the pink haired Guild girl and the Ganesha girl, drunk enough to be approached without turning him away instantly.
Bingo.
"I'll take both," Toji said flatly.
Kong blinked, momentarily taken back. He opened his mouth to tell the assassin to pace himself and not bite off more than he could chew. But looking into Toji's confident eyes, Kong just chuckled.
"Fuck it, let's do it!" Kong smirked. "But do the routes first. I don't want you getting killed before I get my broker's fee on the maps."
"Bold of you to assume I'll be kicking the bucket anytime soon. I'll have the papers by tomorrow morning," Toji said, standing up. "Then I'll start tracking the elephant. I need a little more intel on him first though."
"I can poke around if you need," Kong offered.
"No need," Toji answered. His lazy, bored posture suddenly vanished, replaced by an easy swagger. He ran a hand through his dark hair and moved directly toward the two women's table.
Kong watched in silent amusement as Toji leaned against the edge of their table, saying something low.
Whatever it was he said with that smooth voice and rugged smirk caused both women to freeze. Within seconds, their drunken complaints were gone, replaced by wide eyes, nervous giggling and cheeks flushing even deeper than they already were by the alcohol. His unapologetic masculinity and silver tongue were completely irresistible to the opposite gender.
"Show off," Kong chuckled as Toji flashed him a brief peace sign behind his back before sitting down next to the Guild girl, throwing an arm casually over the back of her chair.
Kong just took a sip of his drink. "Professional to the bone, heh."
"Look at that bastard easily pulling those chicks!" Loki gritted her teeth with jealousy as her eyes tracked to where Toji was seducing the two women. "Ah, little Misha and that Ganesha girl... if only I had that luck!"
"Ahem..." Dionysus was taken aback but did not let Loki's outburst falter his plans. "I have heard that your Familia encountered monsters possessing...these, right?"
He offered a yellow-colored magic stone, instantly catching Loki's full attention.
"Where did you get this?" Loki asked, her face turning dead serious as her voice dropped low.
Dionysus smiled internally. While he was taking a risky gamble, there was no evidence to raise even a bit of suspicion from Loki toward himself. "A-Among my children's corpses," he replied, faking a small hiccup.
Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer, as they say.
༻❁༺
The morning sun filtered through the curtains of a cozy apartment located in the northeastern district.
The bed in the main bedroom was a mess of tangled white sheets. Toji sat up smoothly, his muscles shifting in the morning light. On his left, Misha the Guild employee was out cold, clutching a pillow with a blissfully exhausted smile on her face. On his right, Laura the Ganesha executive was sound asleep, her arm thrown over Toji's waist.
Toji gently lifted her arm and slid out of the bed, his bare feet making absolutely zero sound on the wooden floor.
He stretched his neck. Last night had been easy work. It was almost pathetic how quickly they had spilled their guts once the heavy alcohol and the foreplay started.
Toji mentally sifted through the pillow talk. When he had casually mentioned seeing his "good old friend Hashana" and inquired about his well being, Laura had happily chirped up everything she knew about her Familia executive.
'High Level 4. Urgently left for the Dungeon on a special quest. Commissioned a high-end magic sword-axe from the Hephaestus Familia right before he left.'
Toji rubbed his chin. A high-end magic weapon meant massive, indiscriminate area-of-effect damage. It would cause him some trouble if the element stored inside the weapon hit him directly.
Magic swords were almost like the cursed tools of this world. While actual cursed tools existed here, they dwarfed in raw destructive power of the magic swords. The high-end variants were supposedly able to take down a Dungeon Floor Boss if used tactically, as far as he had heard.
The only downside was that magic swords shattered after a certain amount of usage.
Toji assumed that Hashana had likely already pushed his luck and broken his magic axe. Even if that wasn't the case, it wouldn't be a big problem for him.
With the Hashana intel secured, Toji began quietly moving around the room. He walked over to the desk where Misha had dumped her work bag the night before. His hands moved fast as he slipped the leather straps open and pulled out a stack of papers.
He flipped through the boring administrative logs until he found it: a sealed memo detailing the new garrison positions and street patrols for the next month.
"Jackpot," Toji whispered.
He carefully folded the documents and slipped them into his cursed inventory worm. He then reorganized the bag perfectly, ensuring Misha wouldn't notice the missing memo until she was already sitting at her desk hours from now.
Toji doubted she would actually realize they were gone, the girl was a bit...slow and lazy.
He grabbed his clothes off the floor, getting dressed in the dim light then slipped out the window, dropping three stories down into the alleyway like a falling leaf.
When the two girls finally woke up to an empty bed...it was safe to assume they decided not to talk about how easily they had been seduced by a man who took complete advantage of their drunken state. The sheer embarrassment of it was too much for the two to bear.
More so when this was actually their first time...
Later, Toji dropped the stolen documents into a hollowed out loose brick behind an old tavern. It was the designated dead drop for Kong. The smugglers would have their routes and Toji would have a fat stack of Valis delivered to his bank account.
But that was just the appetizer.
Toji turned his gaze toward the center of the city where Babel pierced the morning sky.
The hunt had just begun.
༻❁༺
The air on the 20th floor was thick with the stench of burned greenery and monster remains.
Hashana wiped a streak of sweat and monster blood from his forehead, his breath coming in exhausted pants. Surrounding him were the dissolving remains of a large pack of Bugbears. His right hand was wrapped tightly around the leather grip of a massive battle axe.
"Tsubaki really outdid herself," Hashana muttered, staring at the weapon.
Kaminari Ikazuchimaru. A high-tier magic sword-axe, imbued with a powerful storm magic. Theoretically, it was a Level 6 equivalent spell locked in steel. It had cost a massive fortune but considering the payout and the difficulty of this quest, it was worth every Valis.
He glanced over his shoulder. The heavy, bizarrely shaped orb was secured tightly in his bag. He just needed to reach Rivira, pass the cargo off to the courier, and his part in this shadowy mission would be over.
"Ghrreerrr!" More monsters emerged from the suffocating jungle of the Great Tree Labyrinth, drawn in by the sounds of destruction.
Hashana sighed. He was too tired to fight effectively, but the axe made sure he wouldn't have to do much.
With a single swing, the monsters were incinerated to ash, the localized storm violently cracking even the magic stones inside their bodies.
High above him, completely obscured by the gloom and the dense moisture of the jungle, a pair of cold eyes watched his every move.
"That thunder looks annoying." Toji Fushiguro crouched on a cliff, observing his prey with a predator's gaze. His focus locked entirely onto the axe in Hashana's hand.
Slowly, his mind began devising a counter to the plate wearing Adventurer.
༻❁༺
In the disgusting atmosphere of a low-end tavern in the 18th Floor town of Rivira, Hashana slid the wrapped orb across the wooden counter to his left, keeping his eyes locked straight ahead.
Lulune Louie, a Chienthrope from the Hermes Familia, caught it nervously, her dog ears twitching against the noise of the bar.
"This is it?" she whispered, looking around with paranoia.
"That's it," Hashana replied professionally, keeping his voice low. "I don't know what it is, and I don't care. The hooded figure who set up the quest said you take it to the surface from here. Don't open it. Don't drop it. And don't hand it to anyone who isn't the contact."
Lulune swallowed nervously, stuffing the heavy package into her backpack. "Right. Got it. I'll head up first thing in the morning."
Hashana nodded, downing the rest of his drink. His posture finally relaxed now that his mission was done. All that was left was to get a decent night's sleep in a real bed and head back to the surface.
Maybe he'd be able to get a fine gal to spend the night with...Nah. There is no need.
He'd have plenty of clean options in the Pleasure Quarter once he was out of this shithole. The fat check he was getting for this job would be enough for him to even buy Ishtar herself for a night!
༻❁༺
The next morning, Hashana stepped outside the borders of Rivira, stretching his sore shoulders as he prepared for the long journey back to the surface.
Moving along the empty dirt road, he allowed himself to take in the crisp air of the 18th floor and the beauty of the crystalline ceiling. It was hard to believe something so breathtaking could exist inside the monstrous Dungeon.
It almost made him relax...
"What the—!" A sudden, sharp buzzing filled the air.
From the bushes, Hashana saw deadly hornets dart forward with aggressive speed. Their stingers pierced through the gaps in his armor plating, sparks igniting as he was quickly surrounded by the flying swarm.
"Damn pests, how did they get here?" Hashana grunted but he wasn't particularly worried. As a Level 4, these were just a nuisance, and his abnormal resistance was high enough that their poison was practically just water to him.
He drew a standard broadsword with his left hand, keeping his right firmly gripped on his magic axe just in case, and leaped into the fray. He cleaved through half of the hornets in a single spin, his raw stats easily overpowering the flying insects.
He raised his sword again to swing at the rest of the swarm—
Hashana's sharp eyes caught the glimpse of a smirk and the flash of a blade.
There was no pain, only a sudden coldness in his right wrist. Hashana watched in absolute shock as his hand, still tightly gripping the Tsubaki forged magic axe, simply detached from his arm and began falling toward the dirt.
Before the severed limb could even hit the ground, a hand snatched the magic axe out of the air, leaving the ruined wrist behind.
Hashana didn't even have time to retaliate or scream in pain. A blurry boot slammed into his chest with the force of a charging Bloodsaurus, followed instantly by a spinning heel hook to his jaw. The double kick sent the Level 4 Adventurer tumbling backward, crashing violently through the thick trees.
"Damn it!" As Hashana desperately tried to recover his momentum, a kunai attached to a long chain hooked flawlessly onto the straps of his backpack while the man was still airborne. With a casual yank, the unseen attacker ripped the bag clean off his shoulders.
Hashana slammed into the dirt, coughing up a mouthful of blood and clutching the bloody stump of his wrist.
Standing ten feet away was Toji Fushiguro, the hilt of the Split Soul Katana resting lazily in the mouth of his invisible Inventory Curse.
Toji didn't even look at Hashana. He crouched down, casually unzipping the stolen backpack, tossing rations and spare potions into the dirt.
"Nothing," Toji sighed, tossing the empty bag aside with building annoyance. He looked up at the bleeding Adventurer. "You gave it to the dog girl in the tavern, didn't you?"
Hashana, fighting through the agonizing pain, forced himself up onto one knee. He drew his spare sword with his left hand, his face twisted into a bloody sneer. "So what if I did...? You're too late assassin. The job's done!" Hashana laughed. "You failed!"
Toji just stared at him, utterly unimpressed. "Don't worry about my job. I still have the fat bounty on your head to take care of, elephant."
Hashana gritted his bloody teeth, a wild smirk growing. "I'll wear your head as a mask—!"
He didn't have the time to finish his threat.
Toji's superhuman instincts flared. He instantly bounded backward, blurring out of the way just as a shadow dropped from the crystalline ceiling at terminal velocity.
CRACK!
The impact cratered the ground, sending shockwaves through the dirt and snapping the surrounding trees like twigs. A massive cloud of dust and blood plumed into the air.
Toji lowered his arm, his eyes narrowing.
Standing in the center of the crater was a woman with fiery red hair and a pale, emotionless face. Beneath her boots, Hashana was completely gone. The Level 4 Adventurer had been literally crushed into a bloody paste of shattered bone and ruined armor.
Revis slowly turned her head, her cold, predatory eyes locking onto Toji.
"I was told that the human mercenary would ensure the return of the fetus," Revis said, her voice devoid of even a hint of emotion. She glanced down at the gore beneath her boots. "But it seems you failed miserably. What excuse do you have, worm? Maybe bow down like a dog and I might consider sparing your worthless life."
Toji looked from the bloody smear that used to be his target, then to the woman who had just stolen his kill, then he let out a dry chuckle. "Sorry skank, but I don't swing that way," he said, scratching the back of his head. "By the way, mind if I take the credit for that kill? I need the money."
Revis's eyes narrowed. "A greedy human insect. Then die."
She exploded forward, the ground cracking under her feet.
'She's fast!' Toji's eyes widened a fraction of a millisecond. Her speed completely eclipsed Hashana's, she was moving at the level of a Special Grade Sorcerer.
Revis threw a devastating straight punch aimed right at Toji's chest. Toji twisted his body, the punch grazing his shirt and cracking a rib or two, the sheer air pressure lightly ripping his skin. He smoothly brought the Split Soul Katana down to sever her extended arm.
But Revis reacted with inhuman reflexes, turning on her front foot and throwing a vicious roundhouse kick that forced Toji to abandon the strike and block with his forearm. The impact sent Toji sliding back several feet, his boots carving trenches in the dirt. His arm hurt like hell.
'She's close to me...no, maybe even a tiny bit stronger,' Toji analyzed with grim realization. Her sheer speed and raw strength were a big problem. 'I can't defeat her without suffering injuries, and this damn fight won't be getting me any money.' He hated fighting for free.
Toji sighed, slipping the katana back into the Inventory Curse. "Guess I'm wasting millions of Valis."
He pulled out the massive magic axe he had stolen from Hashana. He didn't know exactly how it worked, but as far as he knew, you just swung it with all your might and it released magic depending on the swing's strength. He carefully cracked one of the enchantments and safety runes off to ensure the full strength release of the weapon.
The axe glowed with a blinding blue light, its core slowly destabilizing.
Revis charged again, drawing a massive broadsword.
Toji grinned fiercely and swung the axe with all his monstrous physical strength.
KRAAAAK!
A localized hurricane of raging lightning and wind erupted from the blade. The blast was so violent it shook the ceiling of the 18th floor. The weapon shattered into glittering dust from releasing all its energy at once, but the payload hit Revis dead center.
The red haired creature shrieked as a torrent of high-voltage lightning engulfed her, frying her insides and blasting her backward through a series of massive crystal pillars that had fallen from the skies.
The sound of the storm echoed across the entire floor, a deafening thunderclap that immediately caught the attention of everyone in Rivira.
Including a party of high level Adventurers who had just entered the town.
Ais looked at the massive thunderstorm consuming a sizable portion of the floor in the distance. Why was anyone using such a huge attack here of all places?
"Sheesh, what is that?" Tione spoke up, surprised by the sudden storm.
"It's a magic sword," Riveria replied, her sharpened senses picking up the violent release of magic behind it.
"Someone used their trump card on the peaceful 18th floor?" Lefiya said with a stunned look. Magic swords weren't cheap enough to be used so carelessly.
"Unless it wasn't so peaceful for them," Finn theorized. His intuition was picking up on a danger that didn't take a genius to figure out came from the storm's direction.
"Should we check it out?" Tiona suggested, itching to use her newly crafted Urga on live targets.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the storm.
Toji didn't wait for the smoke to clear. He charged into the dust cloud, drawing the Inverted Spear of Heaven in one hand and a standard combat knife in the other.
Revis was on her knees, her flesh smoking and muscles spasming wildly from the electrical shock. She looked up just in time to see Toji descend upon her.
What followed was a brutal one-sided beating. Toji's martial arts were flawless.
He deflected her desperate, sluggish sword swings with the Inverted Spear, parrying her blade into the dirt before stepping inside her guard and delivering a savage combination of knife slashes, stabs, and knee strikes to her ribs and joints, carving her up like a Thanksgiving turkey.
The regular combat knife bent easily against her tough skin after a few uses, but the Inverted Spear managed to hold itself together with minimum wear down. Toji made a mental note to repair the Special Grade Tool when he was done with this skank.
Infuriated, in pain, and desperate, Revis lashed out. But she didn't aim for Toji. Her eyes locked onto the purple worm wrapped around his shoulder.
'She can see it?!' Toji thought in surprised. He assumed only those self-proclaimed gods could see his cursed spirit.
"Gheee!" Revis's hand shot out, her fingers digging violently into the flesh of the Inventory Curse, attempting to crush the source of Toji's weapons. The curse let out a pained squeal.
"Don't touch my storage space, bitch," Toji growled.
He dropped his center of gravity and delivered a double front kick directly into Revis's face. The blow shattered her nose and launched her backward like a ragdoll. She tumbled violently across the dirt, coming to a halt just inches away from Hashana's bloody remains.
Before Toji could follow up and finish the job, the sound of rapid footsteps flooded the clearing.
First to arrive was a flash of blonde hair.
Toji rolled his eyes, petting his worm lightly to make sure it was alright. "You into me or something, doll face?" he asked lazily. His dark eyes caught the golden ones of Ais Wallenstein. What was with this girl being everywhere he went?
"Don't move," the Sword Princess ordered tensely, her blade leveled at Toji. Her eyes darted from his lazy face to the twitching red haired woman, and then to the bloody remains of the Adventurer.
"Surround him! Secure the area!" a commanding voice echoed.
Breaking through the treeline was the rest of the Loki Familia. The executives had decided back in Rivira to check on the source of the storm and arrived to see a massive crater, the gruesome pulverized remains of an Adventurer, a severely beaten, smoking red haired woman on the ground, and standing over it all, Toji Fushiguro with a strange looking dagger.
Ais's golden eyes narrowed in careful observation. Why did she and this man cross paths so regularly, and always in bizarre situations like this?
"You! What have you done here!?" Tione yelled, aiming her daggers, her eyes flashing with wariness at the sight of the dead Adventurer. Tiona mirrored her sister, both Level 5 Amazons tensing to strike the suspected assassin.
Toji paused and took in the assembled heavy hitters with a careful eye. Two mages and four close quarter fighters.
Outnumbered and out-bladed. Toji realized this was a fight he couldn't win without thorough preparation, which he currently lacked.
He slipped his weapons back into the curse, stunning the onlookers who assumed the blades had just vanished into thin air. Among them, only Ais was capable of seeing the inventory worm, and the girl just assumed everyone else could see it as well.
"Relax," Toji raised both hands lazily in a gesture of peace. "I was just having a friendly spar with the Ganesha guy. The red headed freak crashed the party, squashed him into paste, and attacked me. Honest to gods or whatever."
It was mostly the truth.
Mostly.
Finn looked at him like he was insane. "You expect us to believe you were just having a 'spar' before an explosion that shook the whole floor?"
"I hit hard, kid. Don't know what to tell you," Toji shrugged.
"Huh!? Don't call Captain a kid!" Tione exploded in anger, though she didn't charge the infuriating man just yet.
Finn stood silent, his sharp eyes analyzing Toji's relaxed posture. Suddenly, his intuition flared up, screaming at him. He didn't know if Toji was lying, but his analytical mind realized the warning wasn't about Toji. It was about the bleeding woman on the ground.
Riveria, acting out of her noble elven nature, had stepped past the Amazons and was kneeling toward Revis, her staff glowing with healing magic. "She needs medical attention first, Finn. We can interrogate him after—"
"Riveria! Get back!" Finn shouted.
Revis's eyes snapped open. Moving with a speed that defied her injuries, she whipped her broadsword in a vicious upward slash aimed directly at the High Elf's neck.
Riveria's Level 6 agility was the only thing that saved her pretty neck. She threw herself backward, but the tip of Revis's blade caught her cheek, slicing a neat line that immediately welled with blood.
"Riveria!" Ais gasped, drawing Desperate away from Toji and aiming it toward the recovering Revis in an instant, their blades clashing briefly.
"Focus on the redhead!" Finn commanded, realizing he had almost miscalculated the true threat. "Take her down!"
Tione and Tiona abandoned Toji instantly, roaring as they charged Revis.
Revis sneered, kicking the Sword Princess away and spitting a mouthful of blood. She knew she couldn't fight all these elite Adventurers in her current weakened state. So she slammed her hand onto the dirt, channeling her connection to the monsters beneath the floor.
The ground violently shook. Massive, thick green vines erupted from the soil all around them. Dozens of Violas, the man-eating flower monsters, screeched to life, their maws snapping wildly.
"Plant monsters?!" Lefiya shrieked, her foot catching on a vine, sending her tumbling to the ground in shock.
Absolute chaos descended on the battlefield. The Violas attacked indiscriminately. Tiona and Tione were forced to hack through thick vines to protect Lefiya. Finn barked orders, his spear a blur as he tore through the monsters, while Riveria, ignoring her bleeding cheek, tried to force an opening to channel a spell.
A massive Viola lunged directly at Toji, its jaws opening wide to snap him in half.
Toji let out an annoyed sigh. In a flash that could not be seen by the naked eye, the Split Soul Katana materialized in his hand. He stepped smoothly into the monster's attack, cutting it into multiple pieces with ease, then sheathed the blade back in his cursed worm in one continuous motion.
"This place sucks," Toji muttered.
With the Loki Familia entirely occupied by the sudden monster outbreak, and Ais chasing a retreating Revis into the depths of the floor's forest, nobody noticed the assassin simply fading into the shadows of the trees and walking away.
The sounds of explosions and magical onslaught echoed distantly from Rivira as Toji strolled casually toward the tunnels leading back up to the 17th floor.
As he navigated a rocky bend, his heightened hearing picked up the sound of frantic, panicked hyperventilating.
"Now what do we have here?" Toji smiled as he peeked behind a large boulder. There, huddled in a ball and practically vibrating with terror, was Lulune Louie.
The dog girl had heard the commotion caused by Toji and Hashana's fight and had tried to investigate, only to see Revis turn Hashana into a bloody crater.
"Shit, shit, shit! I'm gonna die!" Lulune was clutching her package to her chest, tears streaming down her face, quietly cursing the hooded man for giving her such a dangerous quest.
"Looks like you're holding something heavy." Toji stepped out from behind the rock, his footsteps perfectly silent.
"Ahhh!!! Don't kill me!" Lulune shrieked, scrambling away like a frightened crab. She bolted into the woods, never turning back.
She left the package behind in her terrified state. From the way she ran, she probably hadn't even caught his face.
Toji blinked. Well, that was easy. "Don't mind if I do."
Toji picked the package up, unwrapping the cloth to check if it was the item he was looking for. "Huh? You're like a cursed womb," Toji muttered, eyeing the strange, fetus-like orb. Inside, a little monster silhouette was sleeping in a state of suspended stasis.
"I have a feeling you'll be a pain to deal with," Toji said, wrapping the fetus up again. "But you won't be my problem."
With Hashana dead and the orb retrieved, the job was officially done.
And so Toji continued up the Dungeon, whistling to himself all the way. When he reached a quiet entry point to the 15th floor, he stopped.
Waiting for him against the dungeon wall was a single Viola monster. It wasn't aggressive or moving, its maw was resting wide open on the stone floor.
Resting inside the creature's mouth, completely unharmed by the digestive acids, were multiple thick leather pouches jingling with coins alongside a small, folded piece of paper.
Toji raised an eyebrow. He reached into the monster's mouth, picked up the pouches and the note and flicked the paper open.
"Impeccable work. Leave the cargo inside."
Toji snorted. "Monster drive thru. Next time, have a burger ready for me you overgrown weed."
He untied the heavy cloth, briefly exposing the cursed womb-like orb again. "We part ways now, little shit."
Before Toji placed the orb inside, he pulled a pen from his curse and scrawled a message over the piece of paper:
"Keep the red bitch on a leash or else."
He then casually dropped both the paper and the orb inside the Viola's open mouth.
The plant monster snapped its jaws shut with a sickening crunch. It slowly slithered backward, sliding into a large crack in the dungeon wall until it disappeared, taking one of the catalysts for Orario's destruction with it.
"Time to hit the casino." Toji tossed the pouches of Valis into his curse with a satisfied smirk.
He loved being rich.
༻❁༺
The 18th floor was burning.
The town of Rivira had fallen into a chaotic warzone. The Violas, driven into a frenzy by Revis's command, tore through the wooden buildings like paper, wiping out a large portion of the town as their jaws snapped at anything that moved.
"Get out of the way!" Tiona Hiryute roared, her voice echoing over the screams of fleeing Adventurers. She spun her massive double bladed Urga like a lethal helicopter, crashing into a cluster of Violas and cleaving them into a shower of green gore.
Elsewhere, Tione was tearing a monster apart with her bare hands, her Amazonian blood boiling hot. "Die, you overgrown weeds! Die!"
"The flame will soon be released. Creeping war, unavoidable destruction..." Riveria was casting a spell from atop a high cliff, concentrating on radiating as much magical energy as she possibly could.
The sheer density of her magic acted like a beacon, instantly attracting the attention of a massive number of plant monsters in the vicinity, their natural instincts driving them to target the magic. They snapped their jaws, instantly switching their focus toward the High Elf.
"Ghraaakk!"
The Violas violently attacked the base of the cliff, collapsing the unstable ground. But Riveria had anticipated the structural failure. Utilizing concurrent chanting, she leaped from the falling debris and sprinted along the cliffside with her Level 6 agility. She had become the perfect bait, dragging the suffocating swarm of plant monsters directly behind her.
"Lefiya! Now!" Finn Deimne shouted to the nervous elf, who was quietly channeling her own spell from a safe distance. The Pallum's grip on his spear tightened at the risk of this gamble.
Lefiya Viridis did not stammer. She raised her staff, her mind racing as she filtered through her immense magical buildup before releasing the payload.
"Fusillade Fallarica!"
Riveria instantly canceled her chant. The Violas suddenly lost their interest and began to scatter toward the second massive source of magic.
However, it was too late. A barrage of radiant explosive arrows erupted from Lefiya's magic circle, homing in on the Violas rapidly approaching her position. The magic pierced their hides and began incinerating their cores with pinpoint accuracy, wiping out the swarm in a blinding flash of fire.
"Good job, Lefiya!" Tiona called out with a massive smile and a thumbs-up as the monster threat was vaporized.
The elf just smiled exhaustedly. She herself couldn't quite believe the maneuver had actually worked.
"That was a close call," Finn muttered, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. The sudden appearance of the plant monster army had certainly taken the Captain by surprise. "Where did that man go? The one with the lip scar?" he asked as Riveria approached his location.
The High Elf simply shrugged. "Left amidst the chaos, or died. I highly doubt it's the later." Her hand went to her cheek, where the cut from that redhead had stopped bleeding, before her eyes widened in realization. "Ais went after that woman. We should track her now!"
Finn raised a hand to stop her. "Don't panic. I'll go. You stay here, help organize the survivors in the town and heal the wounded."
Riveria nodded, immediately turning to go assist the wounded. "Make sure she's alright!"
Deep within the forest of the 18th floor, the true battle was brief but intense.
Ais Wallenstein was an arrow of silver and gold. Her rapier, Desperate, clashed violently against the massive, grotesque sword wielded by Revis. Sparks illuminated their faces in the woods as the two women traded blindingly fast blows.
Ais's golden eyes narrowed. She could feel the monstrous, unnatural strength behind the red haired woman's strikes, a raw power that easily rivaled a Level 5 or higher. Yet, Revis's movements were sluggish. Her flesh was covered in severe, smoking burns, and her muscles violently spasmed every time she put weight on her left leg, where multiple stab wounds from Toji's Inverted Spear of Heaven continued to bleed freely.
'She's heavily injured, I can win this.' Ais realized, recalling the deafening electrical explosion that had shaken the floor earlier.
"You smell familiar!" Revis snarled, parrying a heavy thrust from the Sword Princess. "Is that you? Aria, was it?"
Ais's steps faltered for a fraction of a second at the mention of that name. Then, her golden eyes darkened with absolute, cold anger.
Revis knew she was running out of time. The lightning payload from the magic sword had fried her nervous system, and the savage beating Toji had delivered immediately afterward with that inverted dagger had severely messed with her regenerative factor. If she stayed to fight the furious Sword Princess now, she would surely die.
Revis slammed her foot into the ground, causing the earth to crack wide open. Massive chunks of bedrock and dirt exploded upward, covering the area in a thick cloud of debris. Ais was forced to leap backward to avoid being caught off guard, slicing a falling boulder in half.
By the time the dust cleared, the red haired woman had vanished, likely having slipped past the smoke and escaped into the nearby lake.
"Ais!" Finn arrived a second later, his spear raised and ready. "Did she escape?"
Ais gritted her teeth but nodded silently. She sheathed her sword, a deep frown marring her features.
That woman had called her Aria. Who was she? And how did she know that name!?
...
Maybe that scarred man knew something...?
༻❁༺
Far beneath the 18th floor, in the dark suffocating depths of the Dungeon, the splash of water from a subterranean lake broke the silence.
Revis dragged herself onto the rocky shoreline, her breathing ragged. She collapsed onto her back, staring blankly up at the dark cave ceiling.
Every muscle in her body screamed in agony. With a trembling arm, she lifted her hands to her face. The deep cuts and stab wounds inflicted by the human mercenary were still bleeding.
Her monstrous regeneration, which should have sealed the wounds in seconds, was struggling to knit the flesh together. Whatever that inverted dagger was, it had severely messed with her innate healing.
Revis gritted her teeth, a primal snarl ripping from her throat. Because of that human worm, she had been too weakened. She wasn't able to secure Aria.
"Can you stand?"
Revis's eyes darted to the side. A figure clad in dark robes and a mask had stepped seamlessly out of the shadows.
She tried to push herself up, but her arms gave out, dropping her back against the cold stone.
"Do not worry yourself," the masked man said, his voice smooth and entirely unbothered by her pitiful state. "The fetus has been safely recovered. However...you should not have attacked our mercenary friend."
Revis glared at him, her eyes burning with real emotion: pure hatred.
"He is a highly valuable asset to our cause," the masked man continued, stepping closer.
"If I get my hands on him again," Revis spat as blood dripped from her chin, "I'll rip his heart out."
The masked man chuckled. "Looking at your current condition, I can certainly see why you would say that. He did quite a number on you. But he has his uses, and he brings outstanding results for money. There is absolutely no need to dispose of someone so valuable just yet."
He turned away, looking deeper into the labyrinth.
"I recommend that you rest and recover, Revis," the man suggested. "We will initiate the birth soon, and we need you in top condition when it starts."
Revis could only snarl into the darkness.
༻❁༺
Yes reader, Toji having a threesome and deflowering Misha is very important to the plot (it's not)
Dionysus approaching Loki without being forced like canon is almost 100% possible
Why?
Dionysus thrives in chaos and deception. Despite being a suspect in Loki's eyes, he gained immense advantage over the Loki Familia through Filvis and other factors and managed to lead them astray and setting traps etc
So yeah, with this version being clean I can see him doing even more damage…maybe
Writing Toji dog walking Revis was fun
Who would win if they faced one another fairly, Toji or Revis?
Toji of course. While Revis is probably stronger and might even have more experience, Toji's arsenal is her—and everyone else—biggest counter
The Split Soul Katana and the Inverted Spear of Heaven being deadly examples
Btw since Revis was so pathetically weakened by Toji, Ais did not notice the power differences between them enough to make her feel helpless
This is a divergent point which PROBABLY will make Ais less insecure about her strength and cause her to not solo Udaeus which was the reason she was able to level up
Maybe? I'm not sure myself tbh I would have to think about it
Now that we are done...I place Toji in this story to be officially equal to a level 5, I won't say fresh level 5 or high level 5, just that he is equal to a level 5
Why? Idk, I just think it's accurate and because I want him to have some troubles with the higher level adventurers
But since he's a level 1, one level up and he's throwing hands with level 6s equally
Hope you enjoyed this
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