Meeting The Group

//For some monsters, I lack descriptive information since I'm in the middle of reading the light novels. I'll be using my own creative spin on them until information pops up.

It shouldn't impact the story very much, so it's fine. That's all.

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It was odd.

Ever since Aamon had fully gained logical thought and reasoning, he had been plagued with a sense of danger, an immense feeling of trouble that resided within the base of his gut telling him that death was close at hand. Yet, even with that knowledge in mind, the young man didn't feel afraid or anxious. Even when the monstrous growls from unknown creatures rang through the forest and the environment erupted with an unwanted excitement, he felt unbothered. It wasn't as if he felt no emotion whatsoever, having felt some semblance of curiosity and other emotional alertness as time went on, but rather, his body simply held its ground instead of panicking.

He obviously knew nothing of why, but he didn't question it as he readied to defend himself.

The threat made itself known rather quickly.

Trees were shoved out of the way as an ugly looking behemoth stormed into view, its slightly glowing red eyes looking around for its prey. Standing up on two abnormally large feet, it was reptilian in nature with a head that matched its immense stature, possessing jagged yellowed teeth that could have used a good brushing. Due to Aamons in increase in senses, he could smell the beasts putrid breath, even from dozens of yards away. If he had to compare it to something, it was something akin to a Tyrannosaurus, of which he had a clear image in mind though it was quite a bit different from the one he was looking at.

This one was definitely smaller and far less menacing.

"A Bloodsaurus," Tiona commented, her voice casual as she moved to stand in front of Aamon. "They're pretty common on these floors. Just gotta give them a good wallop, and they go down easy."

(("A good wallop?")) Aamon questioned internally. (("It's a dozen times stronger than me."))

If the appearance of the beast called Bloodsaurus wasn't enough, a slew of other critters appeared from the treeline. These ones were smaller but still gave off the aura of being able to run over Aamon if given the opportunity, meaning that if the white-haired youth engaged them, he was as good as dead. Unlike the Bloodsaurus, these beasts moved directly towards Tiona and Aamon without a second to pause, as if they knew where the odd duo's location beforehand.

"Should we run?" Aamon questioned, weighing his options. Memory loss or not, he was still of the hunter and prey dynamic.

If you were weaker, then you find a way to win without dying. If dying was inevitable during combat, you run.

"Why would we do that?" Tiona asked cheerfully. "That would kill all the fun!!"

Lifting her abnormally large weapon, a double bladed sword with two rounded ends, the tanned girl charged towards the monsters with a joyous enthusiasm. It was hard to mistake Tiona's mood with anything but elated as the black haired individual spun her blade around, eliminating a large circle of critters with a single swipe. They didn't even have the chance to cry out before exploding into a mix of blood and black powder, a sight that greatly confused Aamon.

Shrieking in alarm, the other monsters immediately moved out of her range and ran directly past, racing towards the amnesiac with hurried steps.

Without missing a beat, Tiona flipped backward and landed in between the monsters and Aamon, a smile on her face. "That's not fair. You're supposed to be playing with me!!"

Swinging her blade, the woman ferociously hacked at her prey, sending each wave of beasts scattering with every swipe of her deadly weapon, killing dozens within seconds. Even when the Bloodsaurus finally locked eyes onto them and lumbered its way over, the tanned woman didn't even waste a breath dispatching it. Smiling, the young girl leaped into the air, far higher than Aamon expected, towering over the height of the foul-smelling dinosaur. Descending onto the great behemoth, Tiona drove one of the blades through the center of its head down to its two little arms, exploding the monster into a torrent of blood.

As it crumbled to the floor, Aamon just stood there, watching in awe. With his purple hues, he had barely been able to keep track of everything, the woman moving far too fast for him to fully keep up with.

Before, he hadn't known how strong they were since he hadn't felt any hostile intent from them, and thus no danger.

It turned out that the real one to watch out for was the ones who were helping him.

"Hmm, they were pretty weak," Tiona said as she swung her blade towards the ground, forcing the blood off. "Not entertaining enough sadly."

(("Weak?")) Aamon wasn't sure where he was, but he already knew he was at the bottom of the barrel. (("That'd make me an breath of hot air in comparison."))

"Come on then Belph!!" Tiona smiled at the youth as she passed by. "Let's catch up to the others before they get too far ahead."

"Umm, sure." Aamon stowed most of the questions he wanted to ask away for another time, freely following the girl as she jogged deeper into the forest. "What were those things?"

"You don't know? Even though you're in the dungeon?" Tiona sounded confused, glancing back at the youth. "Why?"

"I was kinda hoping you guys could tell me that," Aamon answered honestly. "I don't actually remember anything up until I woke up here. I know my name and some other bits of information, but that's it."

"You lost your memory? That sucks." Tiona slowed down after seeing that Aamon was having a hard time keeping up. "Maybe a healer can fix you up when we get to Rivira."

"Maybe," Aamon said, feeling slightly doubtful, not even bothering to question what Rivira was.

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The two of them eventually caught up the group Tiona had been talking about, or at least that's who Aamon figured they were since they all seemed to acknowledge the tanned woman's presence. It was confirmed when the youth managed to spot the jade haired woman from earlier, the one who had gone on ahead of them when they encountered the monsters. She was now in the middle of the pack, talking to a blonde haired girl and a female who looked oddly similar to Tiona.

When she saw the enthusiastic monster killer and Aamon making their way through the crowd of complete strangers, she immediately made her way over to them.

"Oh good, you two made it." The elven woman checked over Tiona and then eyed Aamon. "Come along this way. Let's just get this out of the way."

Without another word, she turned around and walked through the group of well armored figures, the lot of them freely parting ways if they happened to be in her path. Eventually, she led the following duo to a small group of three, of whom were casually conversing as they walked, not the least bit worried about where they were the beasts that happened to pop up around.

"Finn, I brought him here."

"Thanks, Riveria."

Riveria merely nodded before motioning the other two, mainly Aamon into the spot she had been standing in, dead center in front of the one she had called Finn. The white-haired youth scanned over the other two individuals before fully taking in the one Riveria had addressed so cordially.

"So, you're the one who was passed out," Finn mused, lightly blue eyes meeting Aamon's purple ones. "The one that Tiona found."

(("Tiona was the one to find me?")) Aamon questioned, turning his head slightly to glance at the girl in question.

Tiona didn't even seem to notice as she smiled brightly. "Yup! Nearly became monster chow but Riveria and I took care of it no problem."

"Good work Tiona," Finn acknowledged, turning his attention back onto Aamon moments later. "What's your name?"

"Aamon Belphegor."

Finn nodded. "Well Aamon, any idea where your familia is? Or did you come down here alone?"

"Familia?" The amnesiac tilted his head ever so slightly. "Not sure what you mean."

Tiona took that opportunity to jump in. "I think he hit his head. Can't remember a single thing."

Aamon didn't say anything as he watched Finn touch his hand to his chin, blue hues narrowed in thought. What the young looking man was thinking he hadn't a clue.

That was something he acknowledged as he awaited a response from the blonde haired male. The guy was rather short, or at least from his own perspective, standing at a whopping 119cm, a full 45cm shorter than he himself was. Had he not known that he was probably the weakest link within the entire group of travellers, he would've been inclined to think he was stronger than the small guy. Having already seen Tiona in action, though, he knew better than to judge anyone's battle prowess based off their looks alone. Even if he didn't feel any hostile intent, he could tell that fighting anyone there was a death sentence.

"It's fine," Finn said, interrupting Aamon's innter thoughts. "You can travel with us until we reach the surface. We can work something out when we get to Orario."

"Haha!! All he needs is a bit of a drink and he'll be right as rain!!" The figure next to Finn slapped Aamon on the back, nearly taking out his entire spine. "What say you lad?"

The white-haired youth glanced over the other guy before giving him some semblance of a smile, or at least the best he could make with his current condition. He still hadn't unlocked his full range of emotions, mainly feeling things like curiosity, reluctance, and caution.

The new guy was about 150cm with brown eyes and long brown hair along, with facial hair of the same color that was long enough to form a beard. He wore a battle cloth and boots in addition to a horned helmet and armor. Aamon later learned his name was Gareth Landrock.

"If you mean alcohol, I'll have to pass." Aamon waved his hand. "I'm not really one for drinking."