20 Chapter Twenty

"You know, Bell... You really are terrifying..."

Finn pointed out as we walked through the seventeenth floor. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity, backhanding a hellhound that was lunging at me.

Finn glanced back at our captive, still wrapped in my chains. She looked like she was no worse for wear, beside her missing arm, she looked fine, but her eyes spoke differently.

"She sin't even trying to run away... And the screams..."

He trailed off and I just shrugged. I doubt anyone has ever had pieces of sand, enhanced with Blaze digging into every inch of your skin... I had, once, it was not pleasant at all.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took in a breath, pushing away the memories that popped up of that day.

"My apologies..."

I apologized, and I didn't even know why I did, but it felt appropriate.

"It's... Fine. Though not my method, it got us what we needed."

Finn shook his head as others remained silent, the elf was not even looking at me anymore and Riveria was glancing at me while Ais silently walked on my other side.

"These "Violas" are apparently produced by that."

I point at the bag the little elf was carrying, indicating what was inside the bag.

"And the point is to destroy the city, or more precisely the tower of Babel so that the monsters can get out of the dungeon more easily..."

Finn nodded, putting a hand on his chin to think.

"That is indeed very troubling... Would you mind bringing your goddess to the twilight manner so we can discuss this further with Loki?"

I nodded, that could be done.

"We can see if she lied with our goddeses... But do you think it's wise to bring the seed to the surface?"

Finn sighed and shrugged.

"We don't really have much choice, we need to find out what it does."

I nodded again, that was true. The next moments were spent in silence as we walked until Riveria finally spoke up.

"That magic you used... What's it called?"

I glanced back at her and raised an eyebrow in interest. Before finally shaking my head.

"It would be wise to discuss that in a better place..."

I motioned to Revis, the name of the woman that we were bringing to the surface as a captive, and the high elf nodded in affirmation.

___

"You leveled up Bell!"

I remained silent and waited for Hestia to do her thing.

"You even got a new skill! My first child is amazing!"

I felt a paper on my back and a few seconds later, the glow died down and I was handed my paper. I looked over it and glanced at the new skill... Well, it was useful, at least...

_

Bell Cranel

Level: 3

•Strength: I-0.

•Endurance: I-0.

•Dexterity: I-0.

•Agility: I-0.

•Magic: I-0.

•Shadow Lurk: I.

•Assassin: I

Magic:

élenchos.

Blaze

Skill:

Black hole.

umbra.

_

Umbra, or shadow, is a good skill that helped me out many times, and it would help me out even now...

I got up from my kneeling position and activated Blaze, burning the paper.

"Are you ready to go to the meeting?"

I asked, pulling down my shirt and levitating my armor back on my body. Hestia nodded, though she looked displeased.

"Yeah, let's go to that washboard..."

I smirked, raising an amused eyebrow and stretching out my limbs over my head. Focusing my mana on the knots in my body, I applied pressure and felt immediate relief.

As we walked out of the church, I glanced at the rundown building for a moment, before humming.

"I think it's time we renovated the church... We have the money for it."

Hestia smiled and gained a skip in her step as we walked toward the twilight manner that was on the other side of the city.

"Also, please be civil with Loki."

She huffed in annoyance but in the end, sighed.

"Fine, only because you asked."

We walked in silence, as I looked around the street, keeping close attention to the alleyways just in case while walking behind her and slightly to the right.

The walk lasted forty minutes when it should have taken twenty-five, since Hestia wanted snacks. As we reached the gate of Twilight Manor, I looked at the guards first, then at the man in white who was leaning on one of the pillars, looking bored and annoyed at the same time.

His wolf ears twitched and he looked at me, gave me a once over, and pushed off the pillar with an annoyed grunt.

"Took ya long enough."

He waved the guards over and they opened the gate, allowing us to walk inside.

Two sets of footsteps echoed as I walked silently behind Hestia and the werewolf, finally reaching the stairs to enter the building.

This was going to take a while to nagotiate.