Chapter 11: Determination

"Lady Freya, I have come to report." The man wearing a cloak said while kneeling behind a chair.

It was a luxurious room decorated in the colour of red and gold. And right infront of the chair was a giant opening. And from this position you can overlook all of Orario.

"Now, what is it. It better be good." A voice came from behind the seat. The person spoke in a seductive tone, that can charm any man if heard. But the cloaked man kept his cool and offered a crystal ball to the person.

"I have recorded the actions of the person that had to be monitored while he was in the dungeon." He spoke.

"hmm, Ottar. Give it to me." after the voice spoke. A muscular man with animal ears came out of the shadows and approached the cloaked man. Then he retrieved the crystal orb and delivered it to the person who requested it.

The man was known as Ottar. He is a Boaz and is known in Orario as 'The King'. He is the most powerful adventurer as the only level 7 in Orario.

And the person who requested the recording was Freya. The goddess of the Freya Familia, the strongest familia in Orario.

"Let's see what you've been doing. Miquella!"

.

'Well, testing 'Basquias' in the dungeon was fun. I got a lot of magic stones too.' Miquella thought while beginning to get ready to go to the guild.

'It's already been a day since the incident. I went to work yesterday and Mama Mia was super angry with me that I couldn't come the day before but forgave me and told me I should be more careful. Everyone else was also worried. It's a nice feeling that someone cares about you.'

'Anyway, I have 2 days worth of cores with me so I hope I can get some money.'

Then Miquella finally arrived at the guild and went inside.

And just when he was about to enter, he bumped into a certain white haired boy.

And Because of the collision, both party's fell to the ground

"Hey, watch where you going." Miquella said without even looking at the person as he was trying to get up.

"Ohh, so sorry." The rabbit said while trying to get up. But then a blonde beauty jumped over him and landed right in front of the rabbit with her face facing Miquella.

But the person didn't stop his ascension as he didn't notice her yet and collided with her but.

...

Then there was silence for a moment between the trio as they were trying to comprehend what was happening.

And Miquella was first to speak.

"Hmm? Hello miss Wallenstein." Miquella greeted her.

"Oh, You're Miquella right?" She asked.

"Yes, I am. It's an honour that you remembered my name miss."

"Oh, there are no need for honourifics. Ais is just fine." She responded.

"Alright Ais." Miquella did a 180 in character from formal to informal that even Ais was a little surprised, but she didn't comment it.

Then they heard a scream.

"AAARGHH" It was Bell, and he finally removed himself from the rear of Ais and was trying to crawl the other way. But Eina blocked his advance.

Then she whispered to him."BELL! What the heck has gotten into you! It's not very nice of you to just run away."

"AAGH, I'm sorry but I- Why is she? Why?? UGHH" He said anxiously while looking at Ais.

"Uhm? Lady Wallenstein would like to speak with you Bell." Eina asked but then Miquella came into the discussion.

"Oh, hello there Miss Eina, I would like to trade in my magic stones if it isn't a problem. But it seems you're busy. Mind if I join the discussion." Miquella asked.

"Uhm well-" She said while looking at Ais.

"Sure, I don't mind." Ais said.

"Alright, come with me."

.

So the discussion was about the recent incident. It seems Bell went to the tenth floor and was ambushed by another monster rush and Ais saved him.

Then she apologised because of another incident and everything went well.

Then Miquella commented.

"Well they look nice together." And if a certain goddess heard him, she would rip Miquella apart a thousand times over.

"Yeah, they really do." He heard Eina comment right next to him.

"Already done?" Miquella asked in disbelief.

"Yes, here you go. 81 600 valis."

"Wow, That's... a lot." Miquella grabbed the bag and put it on his waist.

"Well thank you Miss Eina. Until next time." Miquella waved goodbye before leaving the guild

"Going already, and not even thanking me." She said with a pout.

But then Miquella's head peaked out of the door and he screamed at Eina.

"OH, And thank you for what you did the other day!!" And then he left for real.

"Haa, honestly. That guy." She said to herself before going back to work.

.

"Ha, Finally. The tenth floor."

'It's been a week from the conversation between Ais and Bell. And it seems that Ais is training him as well. And I can't slack off either.' Miquella thought to himself with firm determination.

'The 8th and 9th floors were hard as my stats were too low for it. But now I'm ready for the next step.

My stats now are...

.

STR: H 162

END: G 202

DEX: G 291

AGI: F 312

MAG: B 724

.

'It also seems that tomorrow, the Loki familia will go on a new expedition. And the manor will then be practically empty.'

When Miquella entered, he noticed one particular thing.

'Hmm? Mist? That's interesting.' He thought before continuing onward.

Then he noticed that landmarks started to appear. They looked like withered trees.

Then he heard stomping.

*Thud*

*Thud*

He turned to where the sound originated and saw his first monster of the 10th floor.

"An orc." Miquella said as he got a little excited to fight him.

[a/n image here]

"{Come forth, Basquias}"

Then a magnificent spear came into existence.

But Miquella wasn't done yet.

"{Modify, blood}" The spear turned into a bloody colour, eliminating all gold element from it.

The orc saw the spear and began to look anxious the moment he saw it, but he brushed it off and grabbed a nearby tree. Pulled it out and started marching towards Miquella.

"So, it can use a landmark as a tool... Interesting. But no matter. Behead it, Basquias." Miquella commanded and the spear flew towards the orc while spinning.

And when it got in range, the orc slammed the tree towards the spinning spear. But it didn't work as the tree was cut. But the spear didn't stop there and headed towards the head of the orc.

He looked shocked that his makeshift weapon failed him so easily and had no time to dodge. Ultimately, his head rolled on the ground and Miquella was trying to find his magic stone.

"Ah, here it is." He said out loud, and the next moment, the corpse turned to ash and was absorbed back into the dungeon.

"Well, Let's go in deeper."

On the way, he found a couple of monsters.

A group of imps that he disposed off with Basquias's increase.

[a/n image here]

A few orcs that he quickly dealt with.

.

*slash*

*spurt*

*swoosh*

And right at this moment, Miquella was in a pinch.

'Fuck, where did all those monsters come from?!' He thought while throwing another disc.

Right now, he was surrounded by a group of orcs, imps and bad bats.

[a/n image here]

"AAAH!!" Then Miquella threw three rings of light at a group of imps. Killing them in one go.

But a group of bad bats flew towards him without his knowing and fired their signature sound wave attack, successfully hitting Miquella and he fell to his knee.

In his rage, swung his left hand and a red line came into being and approached the bats. Hitting and killing them.

'Fuck, I can't go on like this.' He thought while looking around him.

He saw that Basquias was dealing with a group of orcs behind him so he didn't pay any attention to that.

'I need an attack that will deal damage in an area.' And right when he ended his thoughts, a group of imps rushed him from all sides.

'Oh, I also have dad's spell!!' Then he hit himself. 'Dumbass, how could you forget'

Then he put both arms in front of him, in a vertical position and after that a ring of light appeared around Miquella.

'A little closer.' He waited patiently before the imps were in range and then...

"NOW!!"

He pushed his arms away from in and the ring expanded around him, killing the imps that came in contact with it.

The next moment, the spear came back to Miquella as it was done with dealing with the orcs.

"{Basquias, increase}"

And the spear split itself into daggers.

"Take out the rest." He said and the daggers started to trash around and slaughtering the little mobs.

'If it wasn't for the orcs, I would have dealt it with ease.' He thought while walking back to the exit.

He didn't care about the stones as he was way too tired to grab them all.

after a while, Basquias returned. Signifying that the mobs have been dealt with.

"Great, let's go."

.

"Hmm. you did something stupid again." Odin commented.

"How so?"

"Your magic stat has increased significantly... again. Were you stormed by monsters again?" Odin asked.

"Uhh, maybe?"

"That's the 5th time this week. No wonder you increase your stats so rapidly. You really have bad luck" Odin exclaimed while looking at the sheet.

'But 5 times... someone has to be messing with him. But I don't know why.'

.

NAME: Miquella

LVL 1

STR: H 198

END: F 301

DEX: F 362

AGI: F 390

MAG: A 848

.

"You're almost at S in magic. You just need to do a feat that would impress the gods and you can level up." Odin said.

"Yeah, just a little more." Miquella muttered.

"Alright, I gotta go to the pub. see you later." Miquella bid Odin farewell.

"Stay safe." Odin waved goodbye.

.

In the Hostess of fertility.

"Oh, runt. You're back again." Mama Mia said.

"Good to see you again, Miq." Ryuu greeted Miquella.

He greeted the other workers and he noticed.

"Hmm? Where is Syr?"

"Oh, Syr took a day off for two days so you need to work extra hard. Got that runt." Mama Mia

"Yes, mama!" He said and then got to work.

.

Today is the day the Loki familia start their expedition. And Miquella was there with them.

'Well, I will just go with them until the 10th floor tho.'

He already talked to Finn about this and he agreed so there was no problem.

And at the moment...

"We will now begin our deep expedition into the dungeon!"

Finn was giving his moral speech before entering the dungeon.

'It's amazing how many people there are. And not only Loki's but also Hephaestus's familia is joining the expedition.'

"We'll meet on the 18th floor. From there, we'll head directly to the 50th floor.

Our goal is nothing less than the previously unexplored 59th floor."

'Well that is overly ambitious, but they are one of the strongest familia's so I guess you need the ambition to get staying motivated and become stronger. And the capitalism you get from deep floor items is not cheap either I think.'

Then the whole raid party started to move towards the dungeon.

'Another day, another dive. hehe.'

.

'Well... this is troublesome.' Miquella thought while looking at the injured adventurers in front of him.

"You say a minotaur appeared?" The wolf named Bete said in disbelief

[a/n btw I fking love the JP va of Bete, it's the same one as accelerator from Index and it sounds soo evil HAHA! And fking love the laugh too.]

"Y-yeah, I'm positive. There was a minotaur with a huge sword on the ninth floor."

'Minotaur with a sword?? On the 9th floor? What the hell?'

"Could it be a survivor from the last expedition?" An amazoness asked.

"I doubt it. It's been a month, and there have been no minotaur sightings since then." Riveria analysed.

"Either way, I'm glad you guys are safe." Finn said and then he continued.

"What about other adventurers?"

"There's one under attack in a chamber that's pretty far back." He said with clear pain in his voice.

"It's that white haired kid. I-"

But by then Miquella didn't listen anymore.

'WHA-White hair!!? That! That's Bell no doubt!' He was starting to panic.

'If he's fighting a minotaur then...'

Then he remembered a conversation he had with Odin.

.

| Flashback start |

"So, yesterday an adventurer named Bell dropped you off here. Don't forget to thank him. And also our advisor from the guild. She helped Bell by giving the address."

"Oh sure, I'll do that." Miquella said.

"Oh, and another matter. What's your relationship with Bell?" Odin asked.

"Bell, well I'm his friend I think? I helped him a few times too."

"Hmm? Helped him how?" Odin asked as something piqued his interest.

"Well, this one time he lost his dagger and I found it. And then the other was just yesterday." Miquella explained.

'I see, I'm gonna hold these over Zeus's head later heheh.' Odin thought with an evil smirk for a second before returning to the neutral one.

"Anyway, take care of him. If he is your friend of course. If you want... at least don't let him die."

'If he dies, I'm not gonna hear the end of it from Zeus.' He thought.

"Sure...But why do you ask me of this. This isn't like you" Miquella asked as his suspicion rose, not off Odin but of Bell.

"Let's just say... That Bell is quite special and that I'm friends with his grandparent."

'That's so vague... But he has no evil intentions so I guess it's fine. And Bell is quite interesting too so...' Miquella's train of thought ended and then responded.

"Sure, I'll do it."

| Flashback end |

.

Then he saw Ais starting to turn and sprinting into the dungeon.

'So, she also figured it out... I need to go too'

"{Come forth, Basquias}" Then Basquias appeared, hovering right above ground and Miquella jumped on it.

After mounting the spear, he flew away.

"Wha- Ais!! Miquella!!" He heard Bete shouting behind him, but he ignored the wolf completely.

'You better stay alive, braindead rabbit.'

.

When Miquella arrived at the scene, he saw Bell on the ground, bleeding. And Ais infront of him. Defending him from the minotaur.

And when the bull tried to attack Ais...

He intercepted it.

"Go, Basquias" He commanded it while jumping off the spear.

It speeded up and clashed against its horn.

'It's strong' He thought '... too bad, Basquias is stronger' He thought before the red bull was pushed back a few meters away from Ais and Bell.

Then the other members of the Loki familia arrived.

"There you are, Ais!" The Amazoness said.

"What are you up to now?" Bete asked.

Then everyone looked at Bell to check his condition... and they were shocked to see that Bell stood up again.

'WHA-' But Miquella couldn't continue his thought as Bell grabbed Ais's arm.

"I can't." Bell said weakly.

"I can't let Ais Wallenstein save me again!

I just CAN'T" He said with more power.

Everyone was dazed at the sheer determination the boy exuded.

It was the determination to become stronger.

Then he picked up his weapons he previously dropped and walked up to the minotaur.

And in the middle of the room, the two were facing each other.

A stare-down.

It was now just...

'Today, for the first time...'

Rabbit against Bull.

'I'm going to go on an adventure.'

.

.

a/n

2641 words!!

BIG BIG BIG CHAP

btw guys, I need aliasses for Miquella for when he levels up.

And if you think I've rushed his stat progression, then yes. I did. I had too. As in the lore, a Denatus takes place every 3 months. And if we don't use this Denatus that Bell used than the next one won't be until the xenos arc. And even that Denatus was postponed bec of the monster invasion, so yk where I'm getting at right? GREAT!

Thx for reading, hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment and review. Drop some stones.

CYAO CYAO