Chapter 19

I slowly awaken not to the sounds of battle but to the sounds of nature, I open my eyes seeing the camp in shambles with many people with injuries getting treated silently away from me. Let's see how much my Mind reserves increased.

What I felt shocked me, Mind almost tripled in quantity.

I soon got up and stretched and let out a huge yawn, that was some good sleep.

"What?! We're retreating! Even though we've come this far?" I heard Tiona yell, I started approaching the executives.

"We don't have a choice. We've suffered too many losses." Gareth replied. Tiona sighed cutely and Riveria continued.

"Besides, after that rockslide just walking through that passage could be dangerous" she said. I decided to interject now.

"Yeah I would have suggested we retreat, those caterpillars did a lot of damage to its structural integrity. It's kind of a miracle it didn't collapse on me, even before this rockslide." I pointed out.

"Cain!" Tiona shouted, "You're okay!?". I nodded.

"I thought you were gonna be out of it until we went back up!" She continued excitedly. The others agreed with her thoughts.

I was stunned that everyone agreed with Tiona on this one.

"Have you any faith!" I shouted.

…

On the 17th floor on our way back up to the surface we encounter the event that sets the main story of Danmachi in motion. A monster party of Minotaurs.

"What do we do about these? There's kind of a lot of them." Tione asks Finn.

"Right. Just get rid of them quickly" Finn replied.

"Now, you're talking!" Tiona replied happily.

I watched as Tiona and Tione both dispatched their Minotaurs. They got rid of them quickly and soon all of the Minotaurs started running straight to the upper floors.

…

Me and Ais were running on the 5th floor of the dungeon until we hit a crossroad wordlessly. I picked the left one and I heard Ais go to the right.

As I continue down my path I hear a girl screaming followed by smashes against the dungeon walls. I quickly catch up as the Minotaur corners our gender-bent protagonist, and in one singular slash, I dispatch it.

"Are you okay?" I ask the helpless girl who is shielding herself from view.

"Ah- Big Brother!" She shouts as she gets up hastily and runs over to hug me.

"Belle? What are you doing down on the 5th floor?" I say as I accept her hug, but as my words leave my mouth she freezes up, that tells me she wasn't supposed to be down here in the first place.

"Jeez, what would you do without me?" I say cheekily.

Her face just stays buried shyly into my chest.

"Were you able to find it, Cain?" Ais asked from behind, unable to see the magic stone but saw arms around me.

"Yup it was chasing Belle here" I pried Belle off of me so I could present her to Ais, but when I turned around her normally emotionless eyes seemed to bore into me demanding more of an explanation.

I continued anyway.

"Ais, Belle Cranel. Belle, Ais Wallenstein '' I said introducing the two of them. Belle bowed deeply to show respect whereas Ais only acknowledged her existence with a nod.

"Wow, Big Bro you know the Sword Princess!" Belle asked me.

"Of course, I know her, I know all of the strong people in the Loki Familia!" I say hitting my chest with my fist. Ais also seems to now understand my and Belle's relationship and is no longer giving me a sharp look.

"I'll escort her out of the dungeon, I'll meet you at the Twilight Manor." Ais nods in response.

On our way out of the dungeon, Belle eagerly asked me about my adventures in the depths of the dungeon, and I shared them until we finally arrived back on the surface. The world around us was coated with an orange-ish hue of a sunset. 

"This is where we part ways, for now, tell Hestia I'm back. See ya later!" I say as I separate from Belle and head to the Twilight Manor.

My journey to the Manor was short-lived as it barely took much time at all, and within a minute or so I was just outside of the Manor's gates where I saw the other Familia members about to enter.

I saw Finn asking the guard to open the gate, I silently joined my familia. Some didn't realize I had left some silently adjusted to my presence.

"WELCOME HOME!" Loki sprinted from the entrance of the Manor to the gates at a very fast speed.

"Didja make it back safe?!" Loki asks as she flings herself high into the air, not at the row of female adventurers but at myself, like the gracious familia member I am. I took it upon myself to save my comrades from having to deal with her.

I catch her in the air, and she instantly starts rubbing her cheek into my chest while giggling pervertedly and agilely using her hands to feel up the muscles on my back and my biceps and triceps. However I notice that slowly her hands start drifting downward. So I decide to put a stop to her perverted actions before anything bad happens.

"Hmm? Loki, have your boobs grown?" Loki detaches from me and strikes a sexy pose, using her arms to accentuate her cleavage by pressing them together, it doesn't work that well. Loki was about to speak, but I beat her to the punch.

"Never mind, maybe they even shrunk." I said in a monotone, accentuating my feigned disappointment, Loki seemed to utterly deflate at my comment, before Finn interjected.

"Loki, there were no casualties in this expedition. We weren't able to reach the deeper floors. I'll give you a full report later." Finn reported.

"Alright, time to prepare for dinner. We are all gonna have a feast tonight." Loki started rushing the others and myself to get inside the Manor.

…

After the feast we had for returning Loki started updating the status of the other adventurers of the familia in her private quarters. She said she'd start after the feast, meaning she should be starting soon.

I get up from my bed and use my bathroom in my room to privately have a shower, and get ready for my status update.

I made my way to in front of Loki's private quarters where I met Ais also trying to enter Loki's quarters for a status update.

"You can go first." I offer, she nods in response and enters Loki's quarters.

"Ah! Ais you're the first one to arrive again." Loki says before Ais closes the door. I no longer can hear anything past the door, So I wait in silence for Ais to finish her update.

…

When Ais comes out I can't help but feel like she is disappointed by the results of her status, I enter as she exits. Loki looked at the door opening after Ais left and looked surprised when I entered.

"Cain! You didn't need to come now, I would have updated your status before we slept." She told me.

"I just couldn't hold back, I am so curious about how much my status will improve." I told her.

I saw the stool in front of the bed and decided to sit there before taking my shirt off. With a sigh, Loki sat behind me.

"I like it better when you lie down." Loki says disappointedly.

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of other chances to be on top of me." After I say that Loki freezes uncharacteristically, I just wait for her to finish updating my status

Looking around the room trying to find something to make time go by faster I notice something on Loki's desk.

"How did you like the mini replica of me?" I asked curiously.

"It's good n' all…" Loki trailed off as she finished updating my status. Handing it off to me.

"But it's nothing compared to the real thing." She says as she starts re-feeling up my muscles like when we were outside the Manor. I looked at my status ignoring the actions of my goddess.

{Name: Cain

LvL: 2

Strength: EX2101

Endurance: SSS1742

Dexterity: EX2025

Agility: SSS1920

MAG: EX2519

Developmental Abilities:

Mage - D

Strong Body - C

Magic:

Fire Magic

Lightning Magic

Skills 

God's Child lvl. 2 - Increases excelia gain and removes the stat limit on levels

- lvl. 2: access to a status board to be viewed whenever sleep exponentially increases recovery

Incubus Constitution - increases all physical attributes immensely as well as looks

Demon Chorus - Increases the effect of mind and magic drastically.}