saigo no Dai Kuesuto
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Saigo no Dai Kuesuto
The air was thick, but eased as the party ate and drank, speaking politely or not at all. After all, this event was somewhat unprecedented. The banquets held by the gods were one thing; even then, it was usually only a single god or goddess and one adventurer from their familia in attendance. This gathering was mostly adventurers, and all of the top class of Orario, to boot, minus some errant level 4's. Hestia sat to the side, along with the other divines as their children gathered around the table they were seated at, save for the greater part of Hestia Familia, who were standing or sitting around their goddess and the others.
"Alright, it seems like everyone is ready now, if I may, captain?" Haroeris spoke up, and with a nod from Bell, the attention of the room focused on him.
"Some of you already know why we're here, but I still want to thank everyone for coming to hear me out; I have gotten the permission of goddess Hestia and my captain for this, so I am trying to gather the strength needed to complete the last Grand Quest. Plainly speaking, our goal will be to slay the One-Eyed Black Dragon; you can leave now if this isn't agreeable to you" he looked around, but nobody moved. Vito had a smile on his face, though it was fake, and the cat-girl that came with Mia looked slightly uncomfortable, but didn't budge, "Alright, that's good. Now I know Ouranos will not allow all of us to leave the city at once to fight the monster; some will need to remain behind in case there is an emergency with the Dungeon, but the details will be handled later. For now, I want to reveal my plans and move forward"
"Now why the hell should we be takin' anything from you, huh? Planning or otherwise, we need a reason to follow along with that kind of request" Allen stated, though his calm demeanor suggested it was mostly rhetorical, at least for him.
"I am formerly Zeus Familia, and was responsible for training the best adventurers of many past generations; if you listen to me, I will take you as far as I can in the same training I gave them"
"You're level 7 though, right? If we really wanted to grow so bad, we could just gang up and attack Ottar, and he's level 8" one of the pallum brothers of Freya Familia grunted, referencing something that they actually did semi-regularly.
"Well, it's probably good that I got permission for this, too then" Haroeris sighed, putting a piece of parchment down on the table.
"What's that?" Allen asked, not bothering to look at it without an explanation. Finn though, had no such reservations, and his eyes bulged as he read the first lines.
"Is that your status!?"
In a moment, a small measure of chaos gripped the room before it was brought back under control by Aedan, "Yes, it is. I can show you my back if you doubt it, though I don't think that will be necessary. Needless to say, this information leaves this room in no way; I doubt Ouranos will ever allow it to be revealed to the public.
"Impossible!" Allen groaned, yet it didn't seem like an accusation as much as him simply cursing to himself. The others- even Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, who knew from their goddess of the Guild's obfuscation- were similarly gob smacked. His status, along with the offer to allow them to view it directly, showed something far beyond many of their imaginations in what was possible with falna, and beyond their expectations for his level of trust in them.
"Now that you all are aware of that, know that I still need help to challenge the dragon, loads of it. That's why I haven't just asked for you to aid me; I will first make you even stronger than you are already, then we will challenge it when we have mustered all the power we can"
"How far can we all go, Horus, and will it really be enough?" Ottar spoke seriously.
The man paused to survey the room, "At most, I can take you all one to two levels above where you are now; though my captain may be able to grow more than that. What's more, I will make you all able to battle beyond the limit of your status. This will be the first step, while you are training with my guidance, I will travel to recruit more aid from abroad, and bring our strength to its maximum"
"Strength from abroad; where are you going to find power to match us outside of Orario?" Hedin asked. Hermes smiled, but said nothing.
"There is a surprising amount of powerful groups and individuals in the world, outside of Orario. It's almost as if the Fates have guided them to allow us a chance at victory. I will go south first, to Telskyura, and circle the world from there: the Dizara region, the Far East, Altena, the Empire, the Alf's Royal Forest, Rakia, as well as Odin and Frigg Familia at the entrance to the Dragon Valley; not just for personnel, but also items, equipment, and techniques which may aid us. I also intend to seek out the locations of the remaining Harbingers, which we will take down for excellia, and to make the final battle easier"
"Hold on, what are Harbingers, and what have they got to do with anything?" Bete groaned.
"They are unique monsters, capable of wielding Arcanum, if they capture a divine or are able to find and wield a Divine Artefact" his statement shot fear into even their veins, as something able to use Arcanum was extremely dangerous, exponentially so if it was a monster, "Two have been slain: Antares and Regulus. Ten remain: Hamal, Aldebaran, Castor, Pollux, Praesepe, Spica, Deneb Algedi, the Pistol Star, Sadalsuud, and Alpherg. In terms of power, each should be considered Rexes above the level of Balor, with some being well above it. Spica is the strongest, and might be considered a threat on the same level as a floor boss of level 11 power" his statement drew only silence, so he continued, "We will also find any Divine Artefacts to use for ourselves if we can; it isn't something to spend too much time on, and they will be useless unless the artefacts happen to choose to be wielded by one of us, but they are worth looking for while we work to gather our strength"
"Alright, so once we have done all of this, slain the Harbingers, collected allies, and found whatever artefacts we can, then we go to fight?" Aiz asked, clearly the most invested of the room, though now their attention was properly captured.
"No, there are two other steps. The first is to consolidate our ability to work together, and improve our power still further as we do; for that, we will all go down into the Dungeon together, and I will lead us to the lowest level: the 100th floor" Some gasps and strained faces responded him- Lefiya had gone white in the face- but he continued, "After we return, we will depart with all that are able to the Dragon Valley, where we will undergo one final phase of training, only then will we confront the Dragon"
"… This is a heavy task" Finn finally said, sighing, "If we fail, it will doom the world to be at the Dragon's mercy" His words sat heavy in the room for only a moment before he answered them.
"If" focus turned back to him, "Failure isn't an option. We will succeed in this, using everything the world has at its disposal to conquer the challenge, and making use of the lessons from Zeus and Hera to avoid the fate the befell their Familia"
"What lessons specifically? Accounts of those who survived the battle and shared their story must be scarce" Riveria commented.
"Hmmm… we should not think of the dragon as a simple monster rex; rather, it would be better to imagine it as a particularly malicious and exceptionally powerful adventurer" disbelief met him as he went on, "I mean that it is fiercely intelligent, capable of magic, weaving words against its foes in any language spoken on this earth in any era. It will attack with brutal assaults, and silent, deadly traps. It will seek to turn us against each other, use illusions and mirages to confuse us, and strike when we are at our weakest. Moreover though, is a theory that I have developed that I believe sound.
"Given that I think everyone here either knows or has some inkling of the intelligent monsters known as Xenos, know that I think the Dragon is a rogue Xenos, probably the first. With this in mind, I also think it follows that it has the ability to grow stronger over time; even if we attack it before it recovers from the battle with Zeus and Hera's children, we must treat the beast as though it is the most powerful it has ever been"
"It seems like an awful lot of trouble, and with so few assurances, and stakes too many to count" Hogni muttered, looking almost blue in his face himself.
Aedan gave him a kind look, "I realize it is daunting. None of you are held to join this quest, so long as you keep my status quiet, you can do as you please. Whether you choose to continue with us or not, we must attempt the last Grand Quest before the monster is too powerful to challenge at all; then we will have no choice but to throw ourselves down in subjugation to it, and the era of the gods will be ended"
"The so-called 'Promised Time'?" Ottar mused.
"I believe so. If the Dragon conquers the world, it will banish all the divines back to Heaven, and make its dominion over the world complete. If our way of life is to continue, we must bring it down"
His words seemed to make their decision for them; whether it was pride, a sense of duty, or a dreadful acceptance that no one else was suited to the task, the whole group present agreed to join the Quest.
"Excellent!" his booming cheer made some of the party jump in their seats, but he continued as if it hadn't happened, "Then I would like to assign your training menus without any further delay" his words shot a current through the room, after he had been played up as a trainer by the strongest adventurers in the city, expectations were high, "Even though I won't be able to personally direct training until I return from abroad, this regimen will be sufficient for the time-being, should you stick to it.
"We'll start with the most experienced of you: Ottar, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth; as soon as you are able, arrange to make for the 65th floor of the Dungeon, and make camp at the safe zone there. The floor below it births a monster rex, the next after Balor. You will investigate it, and battle it. Do not return until each of you has landed a killing blow against it. That's all I will tell you. Those of you remaining at level 5 and 6, you will band together and make an outpost camp on the 50th floor; partly, you will be acting as support should the other four need anything, but you also have your own goal: venture into the Dragon's Vase regularly, and make the Dungeon feel guilt for birthing those Valgang Dragons into existence. By the time Ottar, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth complete their goal, you will each have no less than 200 magic stones each from Valgang Dragons.
"Finally, those who are level 4 will join Hestia Familia as they continue their mapping work; make your way down from the 28th floor safety zone and render a complete map of the Dungeon up to the entrance of the 38th floor. Each of you- save for Lili- will collect 60 stones of each type of monster that appears on each floor, with the exception of Udaeus. However, before I return, I expect you to have already become capable of taking him down without Bell and Ryu, or any other first class adventurers, of course.
"That reminds me: Ryu will be with the group camped on the 50th floor, but I actually want you to go between groups, Bell" Haroeris focused on his captain.
"Me!?"
"Yes, you. You will be the liaison to the group beyond the Dragon's Vase, should they need anything. Spend time with both the mapping group and the group tasked against the dragons. This is the most dangerous task, given your experience. I will provide you a direct map of the fastest route to the 65th floor from the 50th. Any trip you make: I want you to stick to the path, and be faster than lightning, understand?" Aedan hated to give such a task to Bell; and frankly would have settle for him going back and forth between the mapping group and the one on the 50th floor, but to challenge him, this much needed to be done.
"Well, I can go with him when he goes deep to the others" the surprising addition from Freya Familia's vice-captain took hold of the room.
"What? If you think he's fast enough to blitz through those deep levels, then we are the only ones who make sense to go back and forth; guess I'll stay on the 50th otherwise, since going back higher would be a waste of time for me, though"
"Very well" he agreed, sensing no malignant intention from the man in his suggestion, and it would perhaps challenge Bell even more than if he were to go alone, "I shouldn't expect my work will take longer to complete than what I've assigned to you all, but if you get ahead of me, I want you to move up the chain of assignments. The Dragon's Vase group will move onto the 65th, and be coached by the others on taking down the rex on the floor beyond. The mapping group should move to conquer further floors up to the Dragon's Vase; however, none of you are to go beyond the 66th floor and it's rex until my return"
"Why is that? Even if we conquer it and can advance to the 67th floor together?" Riveria asked.
"It's simple: from that point on, I would like to give you more thorough details about what to expect beyond each floor as we come to it, and be with you should the Dungeon employ any of its peculiar devices. Be warned that despite having multiple adventurers at level 7 and above, with three of them being able to fight at the combat power of a level 9, not even Zeus and Hera braved deeper than the 71st floor in their personal records. When I went below with Alfia deeper than that point, we lived only by a hairsbreadth, skulking through the shadows like rats at the best of times, and in a seemingly endless battle of life and death at each second through weeks at a time at the worst. Even then, the Dungeon paid us little mind, perhaps because it was only the two of us, but a large group venturing so low will surely draw the attention and ire of the Dungeon; I would be with you before we continue into that abyss"
"… well, some things never change at least; you're still clearly the same deranged slave-driver you always were" Finn sighed, though was visibly sweating at the scope of what he'd agreed to.
"I said I would make you strong, and I mean to; we are now all of us allies on this quest, with hopefully yet more to come" he smiled, "Having said that, I will depart immediately. There is no time to waste now that things are in motion" and stood and collected some packages from an alcove, "I have crafted one of these for each of you to have, for your part in the quest, and to keep ever after; it is a void satchel, to alleviate your lack of support on your upcoming training. They are powered by minute amounts of your Mind, but be aware of it all the same. You will be able to store a literal countless amount of items in each, so long as they fit the opening; but be careful as retrieving a specific item would be… tricky.
"Captain, for you" he handed Bell a large, wax-sealed envelope, which he took carefully, "See to it at your soonest and private convenience. Alfia, hopefully more allies will be arriving soon, as I send them this way; please direct them to the appropriate group for further training based on what they tell you" the woman hummed in response, "Well then, I'll see you all as soon as I can. Goddess, Captain" he bowed to the pair, "Everyone, good hunting" in a sudden gust, the room was nearly turned over before calm was restored immediately, and the still image of Aedan standing still faded. Mia, to her surprise, had felt a paper tucked into her apron pocket, and surreptitiously glancing at it revealed what appeared to be a hastily scribbled note.