Hidden Quest

At the end of the day, Kisuke had managed to finish a slew of Magic Items, not just for Yoruichi and Kuroka's use, but also for his own.

From simple stuff like Flashbangs, to items with complicated formations like Gravity Magic, Kisuke created various things in anticipation of many different scenarios.

The next morning, the three suited up and prepared themselves to dive into the Dungeon, "Our target will be the strange room on the 47th floor.", explained Yoruichi.

"It's amazing that you really found one.", commented an impressed Kisuke.

"We didn't think that we'd find one as well, nyaa. When you asked us to look for a spot where strange energy gathered, I thought you were just guessing."

"I wasn't so sure either. I only came up with the idea after noting strange points within the Dungeon. I also tried searching for it when we were still in Orario, but I wasn't able to find it.", Kisuke replied to Kuroka.

"But you didn't give up and sent us here... Why is that?", asked Yoruichi.

"I can't divulge my full line of thinking now, but I thought that it was because of the existence of a certain someone."

Yoruichi thought for a bit before guessing, "Ais Wallenstein?"

Kuroka was surprised and looked towards the smiling Kisuke, "Correct~! More specifically, the connection she has with the last remaining 'World Quest'."

Yoruichi then rubbed her chin and muttered, "If the written records are correct, the Black Dragon also came from that hole in Orario."

"It also has something to do with that.", Kisuke then stood up from his seat and urged the two, "Let's go~."

Yoruichi and Kuroka looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders. Both of them knew that he was still hiding something, but they also knew that he was just being careful. Following him, the three departed towards the Mercenary Guild.

Since they were going to the Dungeon, it would really be extremely suspicious if they were to just go in without taking any quests that could be the large majority of their income. Arriving at the Guild, Kisuke immediately went towards the deserted counter and yelled, "Good day, Varka-san! I see that you're as sour as ever!"

Hearing his voice, Varka immediately clicked his tongue and his frown deepened, "There are other counters open."

Placing his elbows on the counter, Kisuke replied, "Hey now. Don't just shoo me away. We're good friends, remember?"

"No.", Varka immediately retorted with a disgusted expression.

Not minding his reaction, Kisuke continued, "We're going to the Dungeon today. Any exciting things for me?"

Varka looked at him silently for a moment before opening the drawer beside him. It was the drawer that contained high-level missions that weren't posted on the general board, "For how long will you be staying."

"We've got enough supplies to last us for at least a month."

Varka then started sorting out the missions he thought they could do. After a few minutes, Varka was able to get a few suitable ones, until his eyes landed on a paper that had been gathering dust for a long time. After a few moments of hesitation, Varka grabbed said paper while thinking, 'I'm just giving him the options here.'

Laying it all in front of Kisuke, Yoruichi and Kuroka, Varka just simply said, "Choose one or two from this."

Kisuke, Yoruichi and Kuroka looked over and one of them instantly got their attention.

[Material Gathering: Surtr's Horn. Reward: 1,000,320,000 Valis]

Kisuke pointed to it and asked in a low voice, "Who's asking for this?"

"...The Mercenary Guild.", answered Varka after a small pause in the beginning.

Kisuke, Yoruichi and Kuroka guessed that it couldn't be revealed after getting an answer like that. Kisuke, however, was happy with this and asked again, "Then I guess you can keep a secret for us if we were to pick this up?"

Varka's eyes widened for a bit before returning to normal and replying, "I can. But only for the general public."

Kisuke then grabbed the paper and rolled it before placing it inside his vest, "That's good enough."

"It's not my responsibility if you were to die, alright?", reminded Varka as they left.

Waving his hand, Kisuke replied with a chuckle, "Relax. No one is gonna blame you for our deaths."

When they left the building, Varka immediately cleaned up his counter and put the missions back in his drawer as he felt an annoying presence come close. Camilla's voice rang behind him, "What sort of mission did they take?"

Varka didn't turn around but replied, "I was asked to keep it secret to avoid annoyances. You know the women beside him. They tend to gather random flies."

"Ehhh~? But I'm curious."

"Just wait for them to return and you'll know about it."

"Hmmm... Fine...", Camilla turned around, losing her interest. Thanks to how Varka worded it, she thought it was just some random mission that others could easily reach and disturb them.

Seeing her leave, Varka sighed in relief, 'I wonder if they can really do it? The first in history... It's going to be extremely noisy if they were to succeed.'

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.

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"What kind of monster is this Surtr?", asked Kisuke suddenly as they made their way towards the shore.

"So you really picked it up without knowing.", Yoruichi sighed.

"Why not? Look at this gigantic bounty! We'll be set for a while~!"

Kuroka did a facepalm and said, "If anyone were to hear you right now, they would be mocking you to no end, nyaa."

"Why's that?"

"Those who wish to complete this mission don't care about the reward. They only wanted the honor of getting it first, nyaa."

Yoruichi then added, "Surtr is a Monster Rex and currently known as the strongest monster inside the Dungeon. Surtr is a flaming giant that wields a giant flaming sword. Aside from being able to emit extremely high-temperature flames, each swing of its sword would also create a line of lava, making it almost impossible to tank any of its attacks."

"But due to its obvious flame attribute, it's actually possible to defeat this monster without any losses, for the top Familias, at least. The main method of defeating it is amassing a large number of Mages capable of Water Magic and Ice Magic to flood and cool down the boss room. Once it has reached a certain temperature, its movements would be extremely slow and its defense would become brittle, giving the attackers a large window of opportunity to defeat it before it regains its flames."

"And? What makes this Surtr's Horn special?"

This time, it was Kuroka's time to explain, "If you can defeat Surtr, there are actually three possible drops from it, nyaa. Its Magic Stone, very rarely, the flaming sword, and finally, its horns. However, no one has actually been able to get the last and most precious drop, the horns."

"In fact, it was only 20 years ago when a Mage with an unknown Skill, Development Ability and Magic said that a third drop is possible,but only after a certain procedure was achieved. The Gods confirmed that she wasn't lying, nyaa. To get Surtr's Horn, one has to first sever it from Surtr before it's defeated, or else it would just disappear along with its body. The problem, however, is that its horn is actually a lot harder than its flaming sword, nyaa."

"It was so hard that the most damage that was done to it was years ago. An Adventurer gave the horn a very small nick, but in exchange for a Top-Tier sword being broken in half. As such, its reward of 1 billion Valis is quite small compared to the difficulty of acquiring it, so most people think that this is more for honor than its reward, nyaa. If I recall correctly, the one who still has a request for Surtr's Horn is the Poseidon Familia, with the others having already withdrawn theirs, thinking that no one, aside from the Captain of the Poseidon Familia, has any chance of completing this mission, nyaa."

Even after all of that, Kisuke's answer was only, "Who cares. Money is money. Anyway, where is this Monster Rex?"

Yoruichi chuckled and replied, "Our destination, the 47th Floor."