4

Ziggy stood at the entrance to the dungeon waiting in line for the entrance desk. Arriving at the front, the desk clerk asks, "Name and Familia?"

"Siegfried Solomon. Xuannu Familia."

"Number and names of all party members?"

"None."

"Levels you'll be descending?"

"First through fourth."

"Length of dive?"

"Four to six hours... maybe eight if I get a good rhythm," Ziggy says.

"Through the door and down the stairs," the clerk says blandly. Ziggy was told what to expect when he first enters the dungeon. The guild likes to keep track of the comings and going within the dungeon. It makes it easier to tell if someone is overdue and if a party should be sent to find them.

He wasn't planning to stay a terribly long time since it was his first run here, but he wanted to leave himself some leeway. Ouka was pretty confident that he'd be fine, and if he was being honest with himself, so was he.

However, this is going to be a new experience for him. He'd never killed anything other than some bugs. Now, he was planning on waging wholesale slaughter on monsters. That thought was bad enough, but he had a worse one. What about those scum that kill and rob within the dungeon? If he ran into people like them, he would have to kill humans and their ilk. It was a bit strange thinking about it as a modern Earth person.

Ziggy rolls that idea around in his head, trying to come to terms with it. 'If I hesitate at the wrong time, I'm fucked.I'm not going to become a cold-blooded killer, but I need to remind myself that this is not my safe old life,' he thinks.

Pfft. he snorts. "Safe enough to die like an idiot."

But that was an accident, a stupid accident, that showed him just how fragile life could be, but still an accident. Here, the danger was all around him, and it was malicious. The change in the atmosphere brings him quickly out of his reverie, and he straightens himself up, drawing his sword.

The first level is easy to pass through if that's what you wanted to do, pretty much a straight shot entrance to exit, the so-called Beginning Road, but there was much more to the floor for those that choose to see it. Twisting corridors and hidden alcoves hide the first of the dungeon's monsters, waiting for hapless rookie adventurers to get too cocky. The citizens of Orario would be shocked by how many would-be adventurers never make it past these early floors.

Ziggy stops at the first intersection and watches the adventures pass, heading for the lower floors. Taking a deep breath, he turns to the right and heads into the side passages of the first floor. The light blue walls emit a pale luminescence, just enough light for a normal human to see and not enough to see well. Ziggy has an advantage there since his abilities improve his senses and awareness.

Ziggy finds himself struggling to maintain his calm breathing. It doesn't really surprise him; he's been nervous this whole time, and waiting in line did not help relieve his anxiety. At first, he was excited about being in this world and all the top-tier hotties that he could see, and he still is, but coming to the dungeon made him realize something. It really is, kill or be killed, and he's never killed anything larger than a mouse, and that was with a mousetrap.

He almost considered putting this off for a few more days of practice, but how much more was practice going to help him in these low levels. His comprehension and awareness were so high, and his physique was so strong that even without advancing his Falna, he was already able to match more experienced adventurers in the few days he'd been here. Despite the relatively short amount of time, he had a solid base and knowledge. The only thing he lacked was experience, and the only way to get it was in battle.

So, Ziggy just breaths for a moment, centers his thoughts, and calms his nerves. 'Breath, asshole. It's going to be goblins or maybe a kobold. The likelihood of them even having a weapon is nearly zero. It should be easy as long as you stay focused and don't let them surround you. Maybe I should have grabbed a shield? Yeah, like a round shield and complete the whole Viking motif I seem to have adopted. How the hell did I end up in the Familia of an Eastern war and sex goddess... with a couple of other sex goddess aunties?'

Crack.

A rush of cold adrenalin runs through Ziggy's veins, and all extraneous thoughts and movement stop. That's how it always was for Ziggy in his old life too. The waiting was the worst part. One minute his anxiety feels like he'll have a panic attack, and the next, he's acing an exam or crossing the finish line in a race and feels fine, excited even. And that's how he feels right now. Excited.

Turning towards the sound, he sees the dungeon wall fall away, and the diminutive form of his first monster pushed out. Ziggy had always wondered why people didn't attack them right as they were being pushed out of the walls, but Ouka told him that the dungeon protects them for the first couple of seconds until they were ready to act. A film surrounds the body of the little green monster and only starts to dissipate once it stands up stretches out.

This is the most dangerous moment as the monster can act, but the dungeon's protection still applies. A split second later, it is fully active and on its own. Attacking a monster in that state just gives them the advantage since they're nigh-invulnerable.

Ziggy watches, waiting for that moment when the goblin will be vulnerable. 'When it takes its first step, that should be enough time,' he thinks.

The ugly little monster pulls itself upright and shakes its body before letting out a guttural wail that's half a shriek and half a disharmonic howl. It flexes its spindly-fingered hand with thick black claw-like nails. 'The goblins looked a little dopey with bulbous lumpy heads in the anime. This thing looks much scarier, like a real monster.'

The claws were only the start. It also has a wiry, muscular frame, with disproportionately long arms, a thick brow ridge with soulless red eyes underneath, wide flared nostrils, and a gash of a mouth with a double row of jagged teeth set in a thickly muscled jaw.

'And these are the starter monsters.' Ziggy thinks as the beast finally seems ready. 'Oh? It looks like we're ready.'

The goblin, foaming at the mouth, shrieks in rage and charges at Ziggy with claws and fangs. Ziggy frowns and raises his sword catching the goblin squarely in the mouth, impaling it on the blade penetrating through the back of its skull. It hangs from the blade for a split second until the body dies and explodes in a puff of dungeon dust.

"That was it?" he asks out loud. "That felt... anti-climactic. Bell was always jumping around like a chicken with its head cut off. This thing just ran itself onto my blade. I mean, I get that they're starter monsters, but shouldn't they have at least a smidgen of self-preservation? The spars with Take's Familia is more rewarding than that was."

A soft patter catches Ziggy's attention, and he turns to another of the side corridors and closes his eyes. 'One-no, Two? I think. They're walking pretty slow,' he thinks.

Reaching down, he picks up a sliver of a monster core and deposits it in a pouch. 'That one didn't count. I have to assume that the first goblin was still confused from his recent 'birth' or was just an idiot. This time I can fight straight up.'

The two hunched figures of the goblins come round the corner sniffing the air with sloppy snorts like a pig with a head cold. Soulless red eyes scan for any adventurer they can find. One spots Ziggy, shrieks, and charges drawing the second one's echoing response.

'Alright, here we go,' Ziggy thinks. He steps into the charge and slightly to the side of the fast-approaching monsters aligning the two, lashing out with a long leg catching the first goblin with a heel straight in the chest, halting the momentum and sending the smaller creature bodily into its companion.

Like Suwa and Katori in his sparring practice, the two goblins crash together and fall in a tangle of limbs. Stepping forward, Ziggy slashes his sword through the head of the first goblin as it tries to rise. The goblin bursts into dust before the blade can get stuck in the skull. Ziggy was aiming for the neck, but the goblin dropped slightly when the other tried to roll out from under the first.

Ziggy stabs down as the second tries to push itself to its feet, driving the blade between the ugly creature's shoulders and ending its current incarnation. Ziggy looks down at the two glittering slivers of purple crystal and sighs.

"They're just weak monsters," he says and picks up the two crystals. "This floor is only useful as practice for getting used to killing things and collecting some pocket change."

He sighs. "I don't think I'll get much Excelia out of these things, but I should at least do a circuit through the level just to familiarize myself with the layout. Who knows, maybe I'll get stupid lucky and that Jack Bird will wander into me. I could use a million valis."

Sadly, the Jack Bird did not wander into him, but a different enemy did. Turning down another hall, Ziggy comes face to snout with a dog-headed beastie, a kobold. It charges towards Ziggy, jaws dripping with slobber as it alternates between two and four feet, striking the floor.

Ziggy swings his sword, but the kobold drops low, changes direction, shoots itself towards the wall, and then kicks off to launch itself at Ziggy's, whose blade is out of position. Ziggy ducks the claws and spins, slicing through the area where the kobold landed, but the kobold once more dives back out of reach before lunging back in.

'Nimble little fuck isn't it. At least this feels like a fight,' Ziggy thinks before dodging the claws once more. This time, however, he's ready, and instead of swinging the sword, he slams the heavy pommel down on the kobold's head—the kobold yelps in pain.

"Bad dog! Sit," he says as the kobold drops flat to the ground. Ziggy stabs down, driving the tip of the blade through the dazed kobold's neck. Killing it in a poof of dust. "Drop dead."

Picking up a slightly larger magic stone from the dispatched kobold, Ziggy looks it over with an appraising eye. "Hm. Not bad. Better practice than the goblins."

As he starts to walk away, his eye catches on something on the ground. Picking it up, Ziggy sees that it's a kobold claw. A drop item, used as an ingredient in making items. "Well, alright. It's no Golden Egg, but I'll take it," he says, dropping the claw into the pouch.

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Ziggy ducks the slashing claws of the kobold and thrusts forward to the second kobold lunging low, stabbing it deep through the shoulder but not deep enough to kill it. Dropping his sword and slamming a foot down onto the grip to pin the partially skewered kobold, Ziggy tears his dirk from its sheath. Spinning on the ball of his foot, he jams the long dagger through the eye of the first kobold returning for a second strike.

Ripping the dirk free and letting the kobold drop into a poof of dust, Ziggy spins back, reversing his grip on the dirk and slams it down through the back of the pinned kobold. As the dust clears, there are four magic crystals on the ground around him. Taking a cleansing breath and a slow exhale, Ziggy calms his breathing.

"This is a bit better," he says, picking up the crystals. This was the third group of monsters Ziggy had killed since setting foot on the fourth floor. "Not a challenge, so much as it is a workout. The goblins are at least getting harder. They don't throw themselves on my sword anymore, and their berzerk charge is more effective with more of them."

Ziggy tosses the crystals in a pouch. The second one of this journey since he filled one to a comfortable capacity while he was on the third floor. Ziggy frowns. Something feels wrong in the air. Diving to the right, he rolls up onto his feet, dirk clutched in his fist as a nearly two-meter long lizard drops from the ceiling to where he had just been bent over, gathering his spoils.

At first, he only sees one but walking down the hall are two more, one on the wall the other on the floor. He lets out a sigh. "I must be getting tired," he says, staring past the dungeon lizard to where his sword lay. "Well, no point crying over spilled milk."

Tossing the dirk into his off-hand, Ziggy pulls a kunai and whips it at the monster in front of him, hoping to distract it enough that he can get the quick kill and collect his sword before the other two get to him.

The kunai skips off the lizard's skin and clatters to the ground. Still, Ziggy is already moving forward, slamming the dirk into the side of the lizard's neck and using his forward momentum to roll over the smell monster and reach his sword, picking it up just in time to catch the lizard spin on him and swing the blade.

Ziggy's slash is caught short in the lizard's mouth without enough momentum to cut entirely through. Seeing the other rapidly approaching monsters Ziggy grabs the sword by the guard and, wrenching hard with his full weight, tears through the monster's jaw and throat, killing it. A muffled clang follows the resulting poof as the dirk that had been lodged in the lizard's neck drops to the ground.

The other two monsters leap at Ziggy, trying to overbear him to the ground. He manages to stab through one with his sword, but it is torn from his grip before the impaled monster dies.

Wrestling with the second of the remaining monsters stuck under it, Ziggy manages to get his hands on another kunai and, like a prison shank, rapidly stabs the lizard in its back and sides. The lizard squirms and flails, allowing Ziggy to reverse their positions and pin the monster's mouth shut with one hand and repeatedly stabbing the beast in the exposed neck and chest until finally it stops moving and bursts into a cloud of dust.

Ziggy immediately scrambles to pick up his sword and dirk before pausing to listen to the dungeon. It's quiet now, and he figures he has a few minutes before another few monsters make their appearance. Collecting his weapons first, Ziggy looks at the kunai that he'd skipped off the lizard's leathery skin.

"I need more practice with these," he says, breathing heavily. "Maybe I'll take a day and work on my ranged attacks. I should get a blade with a slightly longer guard to use it two-handed when I need to. It would be nice to get some swift-strike magic like Bell got."

He collects the magic crystals from the lizards and the other two from the kobolds that he hadn't gotten before. "You know what," he says to himself, looking around at the dungeon. "I've been here eight hours, and it's only my first dive. I think it's good enough for today. Let's go see my sexy Guild advisor and then go home."

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"Twenty-one thousand nine hundred valis," the cashier says, pushing the drawer with a pouch of coins in it to the man on the other side.

"Thanks. Have a nice day," Ziggy responds, taking the pouch.

Ziggy walks over to reception to see if Rose is here so he can let her know he's still alive, but he doesn't see her. However, a certain half-elf is finishing up with her line, so Ziggy walks over to say hi.

"Hello, miss Eina," he says with a smile.

"Ziggy," she says with a smile. "You just missed Rose. Her shift ended fifteen minutes ago."

Tsk. "I was hoping to see her, too. Oh, well, I guess I'll stop by tomorrow to see her."

Eina's smile brightens. "So, how was your first dungeon crawl?" she asks.

Ziggy holds up the pouch of valis he just got. "Lucrative," he says with a smile.

Eina is taken aback. "Th-that's impressive. How many monsters did you slay?"

"Somewhere north of sixty, and I got a couple of item drops as well," he says, his smile becoming a smirk. "Overall, it was a pretty good first run, I think."

"Pretty good!" Eina says in shock. "Most small parties don't make that much in the early levels, and you pulled it in on your first day. How far down did you go?"

"Oh, I barely got into the fourth floor. I felt tired and thought it was best to call it there. I don't want to make a mistake because I'm not aware enough," he says.

"Still, it's astonishing that you made it so far on your first day," she says. "And I'm glad to hear you know not to push yourself to distraction."

"Well, my combat instincts aren't that sharp yet, so I feel no need to push my luck," Ziggy says with a nod. "Well, I should head back to my Familia now. If you see Rose before I do, let her know I was cautious and came back alive."

"Alright, it was nice to see you," Eina says with a wave as Ziggy starts away. "Congratulations on your first successful dive."

Ziggy smiles and waves back. "Thanks. I'll see you soon."

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"Please, I just need a chance," a voice says from down an ally Ziggy is crossing.

Looking over, he sees a small white-haired boy with red eyes in a brown leather coat and a look of despair on his face trying desperately to hold on to a door.

"Look, kid, we aren't a charity. You're too scrawny to be of any use to us. Try somewhere else," a gruff voice says before a large man shoves the kid to the ground and slams the door.

Ziggy walks over to the kid and holds out a hand. The kid looks up, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. After a moment of staring at the offered hand, he takes it and is pulled to his feet.

"Thank you very much," the kid says.

"You're welcome," Ziggy says, wondering how much canon he wants to fuck with. "I'm Siegfried, but you can call me Ziggy."

"Bell," the kid says. "Bell Cranel."

"Nice to meet you, Bell. I see you're looking to join a Familia. Would you mind a little advice?" Ziggy asks.

"Give up?" Bell asks.

"Just the opposite," Ziggy says. "Don't give up. Think of this as a test of your determination. You will find your goddess. It'll take a little time and perseverance. Also, avoid the larger Familias. They won't nurture you the way you'll need to be. Despite their ample resources, the larger Familia, you won't grow as quickly unless you're an officer. You want a Familia you can grow with and goddess who see you."

"Hello, young man," a sweet voice says, causing both Bell and ZIggy to look over at the pint-sized big-breasted loli in white with the famous boob ribbon.

"Well, that was faster than I thought," Ziggy mumbles to himself.

"Are you looking for a Familia?" she asks with a smile.