yosei

Chapter Fourteen: Yōsei

"Haroeris? Those weirdos sure do have a strange sense of humor" Aedan grumbled. Internally, he wasn't sure how to feel about it, given that he had held Horus as a title for so long, and it was given to him by his first God, whom he still thought well of after all this time. The new one wasn't that bad, and was a throwback to his previous one, but a bit too flashy.

'Once more to be pulled around by the will of the gods'

Still, his Familia was supportive, so it wasn't a bad thing; what was bad was all of the attention they were now getting compared to before. It didn't really matter, it was just bothersome.

"Hey, that's them, Hestia Familia; that mean he's the one?"

"I can't believe someone came outta nowhere and got on the King's level; I've never heard o' that guy before!"

"Wonder which one of 'em is stronger?"

"Shouldn't it be Goddess Freya's Warlord? He's been a level 7 for years now"

Luckily, they were quick to go down into the Dungeon, which allowed them to focus on their tasks. He took the girls down quickly straight to floor 14, taking note on their formation, how they moved, and when monsters attacked, how they responded. Once they arrived at their destination, he turned to them, "Alright young 'uns, I'm going to leave you to do your thing for a while and observe. Treat this like any other day here in the Dungeon; I'll stop you later when we're good to continue to the next step" they nodded as Emma took charge, probably out of habit. Still, they effectively worked their way through the floor, showing little trouble with most of the monsters of the floor, with only the larger packs of hellhounds giving them any trouble.

He let them carry on for two hours before calling their attention, "That's good everyone, we'll take a break now. Follow me" he led them to a room with a single entrance, "Damage the walls and rest here for a bit. I'll guard the way; when you've recovered, I'll explain what's next" he left them to refresh themselves for a short while until Emma came out of the room after thirty minutes or so.

"We're ready, Haroeris" they had really taken a heavy solemnity toward him after Bell's news. The Guild announcement had shocked them since he hadn't specified his level, but at least they were taking him seriously.

"Good, I have some things for us to work on before we do anything else. Your formation is fine for working in the Dungeon, but not optimal for training to grow quickly together. So I suggest these changes: leave Oriana at the front, to play to her strength and push her while the rest of you grow. Move Karen from the vanguard to the rearguard; her skill will be maximized and she will still get plenty of experience since we're on the middle floors. When weaker monsters present themselves, allow Primo to engage them with two others; both to give her Mind a break from magic use, but also to develop her faster in non-magic areas. Make sure to rotate the pair of supporters so that you aren't growing too disproportionately, too.

"Tomorrow, I will introduce you and Gina on the use of throwing knives for range, and I would like Iris, Gita, and Love to rotate in using a bow, too. Finally, if we see any tough monsters, I want you to let Leo try to face them alone; if she needs support, give it of course. You can have Primo ready to cast her magic and some of the others ready to assist while the rest keep other monsters away"

"All right, I understand! So where will we go from here?"

"Well, we're in the middle floors, which means we won't have any shortage of monsters once we find some; here's the deal, we will leave once you have each collected fifty magic stone cores. Of course, you have to be the one to kill the monster it came from to count it" she gaped at him for a moment before collecting herself and nodding firmly. She went back to explain the plan to the others and they emerged raring to get started again.

"We're ready"

"Good, let's get going"

Meanwhile, a few floors above them, Bell and the others had continued mapping on the eleventh floor, now with Mikoto watching over Lili as Welf fought with Haruhime on the front. Alfia continued her support work as Bell took the rear; he was equipped with a shorter variant of a pike this time, but was currently armed with a bow and arrows. Their progress was even better than yesterday, but given the greater extent of the floor, it was taking more time. They had already found and mapped two different forests of landform trees, several cresting hills and dales, plenty of rooms and passages around the edges of the open floor, and of course more monster nests. As with the previous day, they discovered that the further off the beaten path they went, the greater presence monsters had. When they stopped for their first break, they already had gathered many stones.

"Since master Haroeris said being in the Dungeon gives more excellia, Lili saved the maps the floor 10 so she can compile them now. Master Bell, will you and Miss Mikoto keep guard while we rest?"

"Sure Lili" Bell smiled. They had stopped on a higher hill than the surrounding ones, giving them a decent line of sight despite the foggy mist covering the area. He and Mikoto went to opposite ends of the hilltop and mirrored each other as they walked around where the others were taking their break in the center. Lili continued to work, finishing up with the material she had on floor 10 before taking a short break herself. Near the end of their rest, Bell finally spotted another monster lumbering into his sight after they had mostly cleared out the area.

'An Infant Dragon!' he pulled out his pike on instinct but stopped himself; the Infant Dragon was a rare monster, and practically regarded as the monster rex of the upper floors, challenging to large parties of level 1's and even solo level 2 adventurers. He hadn't known it before his fight with the Minotaur, but it was a popular target for those wishing to level up before facing the middle levels properly. Keeping it in his sight, he quickly got the others' attention while remaining undetected. When they joined him, they realized what the situation was, but were a bit surprised when he whispered to her.

"Haruhime, if you can, I want you to kill that Infant Dragon, and I want you to support her in case she needs it, Mikoto" the girls looked at him with a bit of shock for a moment, then realized what he was doing. Haruhime was the only one among them still at level 1, and while she could level up, it was the case that her stats needed to rise. Given the possibility of such high quality excellia from fighting an Infant Dragon on her own, it was a good chance to overcharge her excellia.

Haruhime felt nerves grip her, despite their recent training and success over the past several days, she had still played a supporting role. Welf had taken the brunt of the fighting, even though she had plenty for herself. Still, Bell was asking- no- he was expecting this of her. He wasn't pushing it on her; she knew that if she refused, he would accept it and the others would kill the dragon. Still, she wanted this. It was a chance to shine in his eyes, even just a little bit. She didn't want to hold everyone back, and Mr. Aedan told them he wanted them to get to level 3 in a year; if she didn't make haste and greater effort, she could fall behind the others easily.

"I understand master Bell; Mikoto, are you ready?" her friend looked at her approvingly before nodding. There wasn't too much to worry about after all; her friends wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

"Alright everyone, let's make sure they don't have any surprises" Bell said as they moved into position.

Their usual days before in the Dungeon were fairly productive. They would work and cash in about fifty-five thousand vallis worth of magic stones and drop items and repeat another day.

Today was different.

They had toiled what seemed like an endless amount of time- ages, even- some of them far-exceeding the fifty stone requirement set by their chaperone. The trick was in each of them getting to that point. Primo- for example- didn't have the Mind to kill fifty monsters with just her magic, so she had to engage them up close; only the weaker monsters, of course. They couldn't go up floors for her, but they could isolate an Almiraj or Dungeon Worm for her to fight, or even just land the killing blow. As a result of how things ended up, the count was as follows:

Emma- 63

Oriana- 65

Iris- 57

Love- 58

Gita- 48

Gina- 49

Karen- 67

Primo- 35

Lucia- 64

Leo- 33

Only a few still had to hit the target, and they were all feeling tired, so they called a break to catch their breath. They needed to focus so Primo and Leo could attain their goal, and by then, everyone else should be good to go, too.

Normally, Leo would have already made the cut, but they were following their training and leaving the toughest monsters for her to fight solo, which meant she didn't have the energy to also battle large numbers of the weaker monsters. All of her stones were from Wyverns, Crystal Mantis, and Greater Lamia. As the tired girl rested, Primo reached for a mind potion, but was stopped by Haroeris.

"Hold on, young miss; for now, I want you to save that potion for an emergency. You might need it later. I'll show you some breathing techniques to restore your mind while we rest"

"But, mister, aren't you on guard?" Emma asked, concerned about their protection.

"I am, trust me; I will detect any monster long before they can spot us" she accepted his answer, but resolved to keep her eye out just in case while he demonstrated to Primo a basic meditative practice to restore her mind. It wasn't as effective as a potion, and took longer, but would have none of the drawbacks. It also boosted her excellia gain over when she would have used a potion, "Young Leo, come join us; this will also help rejuvenate your body so that your future battles will not lack focus" After being in the Dungeon for over five hours, the girls prepared to try and close the day out in their next spurt, taking as much advantage of the rest as they could.

"Hyah!" Haruhime's thrust claimed one of the dragon's eyes before it recoiled, turning its body about to strike her with its tail. She managed to dodge it, but was hit on the back swipe and sent hurtling back into the ground. Mikoto pulled her to her feet quickly in time for them to jump out of the way as the enraged monster spewed fire at them. The battle had been short but brutal, with Haruhime not needing anyone to step in to help her fight yet, though her friend had needed to assist her in recovering or avoiding the dragon's flame attacks. After the first one, Bell had shouted for her to look at its chest when it did so, as it would reveal a weak point. She hadn't been able to that time, so she decided to attack once more.

Getting close, she rolled to the side as the monster's jaws snapped around where she had been standing the moment before. She crushed the butt of her spear into its throat, mostly dodging a swipe of its claws in retaliation, but still coming away with three prominent gashes. Still, her effort paid off, the dragon shook its head and prepared to use its fire again, and she saw it. On the chest, a patch between the protective scales glowed like a star. There, it was as weak as its soft underbelly. With zero hesitation, she charged and thrust her spear home, sinking it right into the glowing spot.

The dragon hacked and hissed for a moment before smoke poured out of its mouth. Bell called for her to get down, so she threw herself flat on the ground, covering up with the Goliath Robe as a massive explosion detonated behind her as the Infant Dragon perished. The blast forced her body to roll a few times, and battered her a bit, but the tough Goliath Robe could stand up to monsters in the lower floors; it held and protected her. A cheer went up from her allies as they rushed in to help Mikoto pull her to her feet. She allowed herself to enjoy the strong hug that Bell pulled her into, despite a bit of tired embarrassment, before the others joined in.

If she didn't know better, she would say they had killed every monster on the 14th floor. They had lost track of time a long way back, and were solely focused on finishing the mission. Primo had just gotten the last three stones she needed after taking a potion, now nearly dead on her feet. They needed one more: Leo had a single stone she needed, so whatever they ran into next would do. None of them noticed though, that they had approached the entrance to the fifteenth floor as they stopped, until an ominous thudding alerted them. Unsure, they looked around until Oriana noticed the stairs leading down, just as a bull's head made its way out and up to the area they were gathered in.

"M-Minotaur!" her shout alerted everyone and for a moment, they sent a look at Leo before looking at the man training them. She was exhausted! Could she really fight a monster like that; they had never battled them before!

"This is a good chance" he said out loud, "I'm lifting the solo requirement, but Leo, you must still land the final blow. Work together and bring it down; I'll make sure you don't have anything else to worry about"

'Anything else!?' they all screamed in their heads, as if a Minotaur wasn't enough to worry about!

Still, Oriana shot forward, baiting the monster to attack her before tripping it up, nearly falling over herself in the process but managing. Karen moved in while it was down, landing a furious flurry of attacks to weaken it, but it seemed to have little effect as it struck out at her. She managed to dodge enough for it to be a glancing blow, but it still sent her flying, and Oriana engaged with the monster again. While she kept it occupied, Gina, Gita, and Love harried it in hit-and-run bursts, but they quickly ran out of energy between their attacks and avoiding the Minotaur's own. That left Emma and Iris to step in, since Lucia was supporting Primo, who was trying to collect enough Mind to cast an attack.

Emma came from the left, Iris from the right and they managed to land some solid strikes and were able to hamstring it before they backed off. Lucia called out for them to move away as Primo chanted her magic, hitting the monster with most of her light beams as they barely managed to get away in time. Lucia caught the young elf as the magic took its toll and she suffered a Mind Down.

Still, the Minotaur was alive, and attempting to stand, so with a desperate shout, Leo rushed in, holding her two-handed sword low. The Minotaur saw her coming, and grasped both hands over its head, swinging them down in a hammer-blow that she rolled forward and to the side to avoid; the attack landed on the floor, kicking up stone and chunks of dirt as she crouched and slashed at the bull's exposed side, scoring a good hit. But it wasn't enough, and it swung its head around in retaliation. She blocked the horn with her sword, avoiding being gored, but was still sent flying across the ground, accumulating numerous less grievous- but still painful- wounds.

Deciding that standing was not an option, the Minotaur crouched on its good leg and hands, preparing to charge, which caused Leo to stand quickly to respond in kind. With matching roars, they rushed toward each other, causing Aedan to tense in preparation.

As they neared, Leo screamed, "Just dieeeee!!!!!" swinging down with the flat of her blade, she brained the Minotaur between its horns; this didn't do more than mildly stun it, but did also force its head down as Leo rolled onto the flat of her own blade and over the monster's head. The move pushed it down into the ground and Leo latched on until it slid to a stop; she scrambled to stand before it got up, driving her blade point down into the Minotaur's back with a final, wordless shout.

For a moment, everything went still.

After what felt like an hour, the Minotaur slumped down with a groan, dead. Unable to remove her blade at that moment, Leo stumbled off its body.

"We… we actually did it; we killed a Minotaur" Emma muttered, aware of how tough the monsters were. Before the Goliath, they were supposed to be the most powerful individual monsters to come across, on par with the Infant Dragons, but made more dangerous by virtue of them spawning in great numbers.

"Very good work, girls. With that impressive job, we'll call it a day" Aedan clapped as a few of them laughed in relief. Lucia had transferred Primo to Emma and went to collect the Minotaur stone. Just after she extracted it, the body turned to dust, then… a sound.

"ooOOOOOOoooo"

The groan set them all on edge again, before a flood of Hellhounds and Almiraj poured out from the paths leading back into the 14th floor proper, and over a dozen Crystal Mantis came up from the 15th floor the way the Minotaur had.

"Th-there's no way… a monster party? We can't handle it now" Oriana groaned, but prepared herself despite her words.

"Stay back and group together girls; you've all done enough already, so I'll take care of the rest from now until we get back" Haroeris spoke easily. They did as he said, not doubting his strength, but given their own experience, they were still worried.

None of them had ever seen a second-class adventurer fight, let alone a first class, so they had no real concept of what someone on the level of the King could do. What they did know was that they had never faced a monster party like had been dropped on them by the Dungeon. Several packs of dozens of Hellhounds and Almiraj each, with more still coming, and another dozen tough Crystal Mantis coming from the opposite side of a large group of Lamia Mormos.

They watched him for a moment until he blurred out of sight, and they didn't catch a glimpse of him again until every single monster was slaughtered; nearly a hundred in less than a minute. He gathered the stones just as quickly, and his demeanor almost made the sight anticlimactic, but they simply had to accept that this is what the person now training them was capable of.

"Let's head back everyone, and give our Goddess a nice surprise when she updates you all"

Lili was still hard at work mapping when Aedan and the girls emerged into the 11th floor's main path; the girls all looked like they had spent days training vigorously in the Dungeon, and the other members of Hestia Familia felt a premonition of what lay in their own futures.

"I see you're the same slave driver as usual; good to know you haven't gotten soft over the years" Alfia spoke directly to the man, who smiled.

"I don't know what you mean, Alfia, but they sure did a great job. I didn't even have to step in until the end, but that couldn't be helped; are you all nearly finished here?"

"Close" Bell came up to them smiling, "It's good to hear that you all did so well. We're heading back on the last trip now, getting the measurements and observations Lili still needs. Why don't you stay with us? It will be a bit slower, but since we're all tired, it will be safer to stick together" he got no complaints as they accommodated the return of the others. Everyone was fairly exhausted, but some swapping of stories was had while they slowly advanced back up through the Dungeon.