Level Up <2>
A young man with blue could be seen walking across the streets of Orario, the young man in question was Zephyr Bladehart, The Loki Familia's rookie and he was out for something very important.
BREAKFAST!
Breakfast, the staple of everyone's life, the most important meal of the day. Aside from the Dungeon, Food was of utmost importance for Zephyr.
As he searched for a good looking restaurant, a smell attracted him. "This smell.." *Sniff Sniff* He followed the enticing smell of something familiar, but he didn't remember where he had smelled it before.
He stopped at a stall that sells.. "Potato Croquettes?!" Zephyr gasped in astonishment.
"Potato what? These are called Jagamarukan kiddo. Want one?" The Stall owner asked him.
'Huh? What even are potato croquetted?' Zephyr was confused, the word suddenly crossed his mind when he smelled and saw the food the stall owner was selling.
"Yeah, let me try one." Zephyr asked the stall owner for one.
"Gotcha, one hot and fresh Jagamarukan coming right up!" The owner revved the fryer up. The smell of potatoes and spices filled the stall.
Zephyr was practically drooling.
The owner handed him the still smoking Jagamarukan. Without waiting, Zephyr took a bite out of the Jagamarukan. The texture was crunchy, a heavenly crunch resounded out as Zephyr took the first bite, an explosion of flavor and the umami of the potato assulted Zephyr's taste buds.
Zephyr put his head down. A shadow covered his face.
"So, what do you think kiddo?" The stall owner asked for Zephyr's opinion.
"2 no, 3 more." Zephyr's voice sounded serious, this was the most serious moment of his life. More serious than the wyvern attack from earlier on his life.
"O-oh sure.." A bullet of sweat formed on the owner's face. 'Was it that good?'
Just then a young girl's voice sounded out besides Zephyr.
"3 please." The voice lacked emotion, as if the one possessing the voice was a doll. An empty voice.
Zephyr and the young girl's eyes met. The orbs of blue and gold stared at one another. "You're.." Zephyr spoke first but the stall owner interrupted him.
"Oh, Sword Princess you're here again! You said you wanted 3 orders right? Coming right up, after I give the other fellow here his order."
Ais just continued to stare at Zephyr, the atmosphere was tense, both children not speaking a word.
"So you like Jagamarukan as well, Ais Wallenstein." Zephyr finally decided to speak up.
The golden haired girl merely nodded, as she switched her focus to the stall owner making their Jagamarukan.
"Their delicious aren't they? I just had my first one earlier, and safe to say I'm probably addicted." Zephyr continued, a small smile on his face.
"Um.." Her voice was meek, but it was progress.
"Here you go!" The stall owner handed them both their food.
"I'll see you around, Sword Princess." Zephyr took his food and walked away.
Ais watched his back as she also got her food, her small golden eyes gazed at his sword. A determined glint flew across her eyes before also walking away.
Their interaction was short, but it was a start. Atleast that's what Zephyr thought, now he needed to go to the Dungeon. The Grind never stops.
———————
An arc of blue light flew across the foggy dungeon as Zephyr felled an Orc, he was currently on the 11th floor, this time his goal was to reach the safe zone on the 18th floor.
"I knew it would be lonely, but I didn't think it would be this lonely." Zephyr grumbled, the Dungeon was silent, to Zephyr utter surprise, he hasn't encountered a single party.
The only ones he encountered were some newbies that went with him on the elevator that descended Adventurers from Babel to the Dungeon, but they were probably still in Beginner Road.
Zephyr sighed, 'Should I invite Tiona? It would surely be more fun than just solo play.' As Zephyr was talking to himself a peculiar sight caught his eye.
It was a monster that had sleek orange skin, it's eyes focused on Zephyr, the monster towered over Zephyr but he wasn't afraid of it.
"An Infant Dragon? On my second day? I must be lucky." Zephyr mumbles before he coated his fists in Aura.
The Infant Dragon roared as Zephyr at it. It spewed blazing orange flames to try and repel Zephyr away but he merely dodged them.
Zephyr delivered a one-two combo to the dragon's face, knocking it back, and thus staggering it. "You're scales are hard, my fists barely caved your face in."
The monster looked at Zephyr as if he was a demon, the dragon staggered away trying to escape but Zephyr had already unsheathed his blade.
A line of blue briefly appeared on the Dragon's neck before it's head plopped to the ground, exploding into a cloud of ash.
Zephyr whistled as he picked the Magic Stone that the Infant Dragon dropped, it was fairly big. About 1.5x bigger than his fist, it would fetch him quite a bit of valis, more money = more food and better swords.
—————
The journey to floor 17 was luckluster to say the least, the monsters were too weak for Zephyr to enjoy fighting, he was basically bulldozing through them. He hoped to find stronger enemies when he reached later floors. [A/N: Wish granted.]
Zephyr reached the end of the long hallway, ending in a giant room with an exit across. This was the boss room of floor 17.
The Great Wall of Sorrow
Zephyr looked around the giant room, it looked trippy with the amount of colors that were visible in the room. The reflected colors made it look like what a person high on magic mushrooms would see.
As Zephyr was happily strolling around the room, making his way halfway the room. The wall suddenly started shaking.
"Eh? It's spawning? Has it already been 2 weeks?" Zephyr readied his sword, a burst of aura enveloped him and his weapon. He wouldn't run away from this fight, it would be a shame to run away. A grin formed on Zephyr's face as the crumbling wall exposed the face of the creature.
The wall crumbled as the being inside the wall escaped it's embrace, a terrifying roar resounded from the Creature. The roar shook the room as it stood up, standing at a mighty 7 meters tall The Goliath, the floor boss of the 17th Floor, has spawned.
———[Chapter End]———
A/N: Double chapter