CHAPTER 176(Siege Preperations)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

"But I still don't get it," Lefiya says in a hushed voice.

On floor twenty-four walking at the very back of the last convoy with her mentor, both elves took extra effort in ensuring their conversations weren't overheard.

"What's not to get, it's rather simple really," Riveria says.

"Well, I get the deal but, why'd you refuse?" Lefiya turns to look at Riveria. "That deal is literally everything you wanted, right?"

The elven princess blushes slightly as she responds, "yes, but a deal with the devil often is. She was giving me everything I wanted but there must have been a catch."

"What if there wasn't a catch?"

"There was, there always is with people like her."

"But everything she said makes sense. Plus he's already seen you," Lefiya leans in closer and whispers to her mentor," naked." Riveria turns to her student and gives her a harsh chop on the head with the side of her hand.

"Don't say that out loud unless we're in my room, I'm still an Elf, and the princess no less, I have my honor to maintain," she says.

"Sorry," Lefiya pouts and rubs her head, "it won't happen again..."

"Good, but even if he's already fully aware of how I appear now and doesn't seem to care, there was still an obvious catch, I'm disappointed in you that you haven't seen it yet."

"Hmmm," Lefiya thinks long and hard for a minute before coming up blank. "It still just seems like a perfect deal to me where everyone wins, what's the catch."

"He doesn't know," Riveria simply says.

"Huh?"

"She's trying to make this happen without him knowing, why else would she send him out of the room with Finn."

"Ohh, now I get it. That makes sense. But her reasoning made sense, she's right about how you---" Lefiya is silenced by a harsh glare from her teacher, she immediately swallows her words.

"Yes, I'm aware that she was right about everything. That's what made it so difficult to refuse, I almost accepted right then and there, but there had to be some trick. I needed time away from that situation to process it and that's when I realized that he doesn't know. Atleast at the time, I'd imagine now he does, that meeting was eleven days ago after all..."

"I would have said yes," Lefiya shamelessly admits. "You can't pass on a chance for everything you want just being handed to you, right?"

"Sometimes you have to, at least until you understand the full game," Riveria says.

"Hmm, I guess I've still got a lot to learn..."

After walking in silence for a bit Lefiya decides to ask something a bit more relevant to their current situation.

"Do we need to be here?"

"What do you mean?" Riveria turns to her with a concerned look, "are you scared of the monster?"

"Well, a little. But we have three hundred magic swords right? Why do we need mages?"

"Well for the first issue, we have front lines to protect us so we don't need to worry about the monster getting to us in the back where we cast spells from. And secondly, no magic sword can ever replace an artillery mage, that's why we will always be necessary..."

Hours later arriving at floor twenty-five, the top layer of the Water Palace. With small lakes surrounding them and steep cliffs, waterfalls leading all the way down to the pools of floor twenty-seven below, Lefiya and Riveria walk to the edge of the cliff.

The young girl remains a few steps behind her mentor as the woman approaches Finn, Ottar, Hedin, Asfi, and Shakti. Standing above the eight hundred meters drop down to the plunge pool where everyone's least favorite monster-rex, Amphisbaena was currently trudging about in.

From this point, all the leaders of this massive hunting party could see the entire Water Palace.

They currently stood on the top layer, floor twenty-five. With the smallest lakes of the entire palace. Taking the tunnels or connected underwater caverns down to the middle section would get them to floor twenty-six. From there the same process would take them to the final area floor twenty-seven.

The Great Fall was a one-thousand meters tall waterfall, hundreds of meters wide. Unlike many waterfalls there was no area at the top of it, it simply started from a part of the wall and fell all the way down to the pool where the monster-rex resides. Acting as a highway for the two-headed dragon to swim up and down freely to traverse these floors.

The entire Water Palance was shaped like steps, with the lowest step being half the size of Orario, the middle being a third the size and the top only being a quarter the size of the city. Many first-class adventurers could simply forgo the caves and pathways by simply dropping down to the next step if their stats were high enough.

"Is that everyone?" Finn asks as Riveria's group, the last group, finally arrives.

"Yes, no losses of life or cargo on the way down," she says.

"Good, that means we haven't lost anything at all in any party, now we need to set up camp," he turns to face Shakti. "If we're gonna be camping on monster-infested floors we need security, that's where Ganesha familia comes in."

"Of course," Shakti responds." I brought over fifty level-threes to run security for the smaller monsters on these floors while we prepare for the main fight. Just let me know where you want the camp and I'll have them begin."

"Find Tione and Raul, they can get you started on that immediately, the sooner we have medical and food tents ready the better."

"Of course," she gives him a serious nod and walks off to do her duties.

"Riveria, I need you to go round up anyone with an Ice or Lightning spell and take note of their effective range and power output. Take them somewhere on the floor and have them show you the spell if necessary. We need as much info as possible before we position them," Finn says. "And take Lefiya with you, she may see a spell she'd like to hold onto."

"We'll go right now," Riveria turns around to see the young girl nervously staring at Ottar, "Lefiya, let's go."

"How come he doesn't talk much?" the girl asks as they're walking away.

"He prefers to let his actions speak for themself," Riveria explains.

Back at the small meeting, Finn is pointing down to floor twenty-seven, "We need to set up the kill box there," he directs their eyes to the entrance to floor twenty-eight. At the lead-up to the tunnel is a massive open grassy area with layers upon layers of cliffs and ledges. Deep enough to easily hide a person and numerous enough to fit their mages. "Hedin, what do you think?" he asks the second-best strategist in Orario for his opinion.

"Hmm, that will have to work, the main alternative would be casting spells from up here but I doubt those magic swords can clear hundreds of meters."

"True, alright the battlefield is decided. Asfi, that just leaves you. I need you to prepare those Heat Rods BEFORE you inspect them. If you do anything that causes any of them to not be functional, I assure you, you'll regret it, understand?"

Seeing the murderous glare in his eyes the blue-haired woman only quietly nods.

"Good," his gaze shifts from Asfi down to Amphisbaena. The two-headed white dragon was roaming about the shallow water of the plunge pool below them, "now that just leaves tasking a team to---"

Before he can even finish his sentence Ottar jumps over the edge. As he's falling hundreds of meters he draws the Supreme Black Sword from his back, face unchanging the entire fall.

All the adventurers above move to better vantage spots to try to get a look at the fight, most of them are forced to hop down ledges to get to floor twenty-six to be close enough, their senses not sharp enough to properly observe from the very top.

Landing in the ankle-deep shallows Ottar barely bends his knees to soften his fall. His three hundred and twenty pounds of pure muscle, before the weight of his gear, cracked the stone lakebed under his boots.

Hearing his arrival the monster releases a deafening roar. Watching from high above, the lower-level adventurers feel their bones rattle and stomaches drop at the sound. A cold chill runs down their spines as the roar washes over them.

Completely unphased Ottar stares down both heads of the monster. The glowing blue eyes do not shake his will even as bright blue flames begin to build in one of the heads.

Wearing red full plate armor with the sigil of his beloved Lady Freya on his breastplate, he would never back down and besmirch her honor, for he is her champion.

With his massive black blade in hand he takes slow steps forward, a cone of blue flames begins washing over him. He feels his skin stinging as he raises his sword only to protect his eyes, still walking through the flames. Looking at his exposed hands he sees the skin just barely being burnt away, and just as fast as it burns it completely heals.

This was his skill, Stortus Ottar. Brought forth by his love for his goddess and his desire to never fail her. Stortus Ottar manifested as a skill to always keep him standing. Bleed him out, burn his flesh, it does not matter. Before Yang Shen and Thalie, this skill was completely unique, now it can only really be compared with some of their skills.

Stortus Ottar much like Thalie's Champion's Body skill is an amalgamation of multiple skills. Spirit Healing allows constant regeneration at an accelerated rate, Healing Power which amplifies the effect of all healing used by and on the holder of this skill. This allows not only his own skills to heal him more than twice as effectively but also potions and other adventurers' magic spells as well.

And lastly, Stortus Ottar gives a dramatic boost to all Skills and Development Abilities. Further doubling his insane self-healing.

This is one of Ottar's two skills, because of it he has no need for skills that increase his offensive power and therefore never developed any. Much like Gareth his Falna is only focused on defense and he relies on his raw Strength Stat to do the heavy lifting when he has to deal damage. For this reason, of all level-sevens in Orario, his offense is the weakest even when compared to the two newest. But his Endurance far surpassed them, climbing to an extent that only Yang Shen, of all people in this world, can be considered in the same league as him.

As the crowd silently stared at the silhouette of the massive figure strolling through the flames those witnessing Ottar's greatness for the first time felt a whirlwind of emotions.

Fear, this man acts at the champion and right hand to who their gods always name as one of the most petty, cruel, and vindictive women in heaven.

Pride, to be standing side by side with this man against a common enemy was an accomplishment in itself.

And awe, they wouldn't say it but from the glances dozens of people were stealing to look away from Ottar and toward Finn, their thoughts were obvious. First Yang Shen did what was literally named impossibly for over a thousand years, he broke Durandal. Now this impossible display from Ottar.

They looked to Finn with one simple question, 'are all level sevens monsters like them?'

Staring at the battle, Finn was in his own head, he couldn't help but feel something was off. Something simply felt, missing. He has numerous skills, he couldn't know this but he had the most skills of any Falna in the entire world. He even had enhancement magic, but from watching Yang and now looking at Ottar, standing on the same level as them in his Falna made something very clear, there was something they were doing that he wasn't, that Allen wasn't.

He and Allen still appeared as men, but if he didn't know better Ottar and Yang were gods in the flesh.

As Ottar takes a few more steps through the blue flames the dragon finally relents, realizing it was getting nowhere with flames that would incinerate most men. It stops breathing out to take a greedy gulp of air, and that's when the battle ended.

Endurance-based combat meant Ottar would usually do this. Take the hits and heal, wait for an opportunity then strike.

As the dragon took a breath he disappeared from his spot, using his raw strength he left a crater in the ground, waves of water move back from his position as he slashes at the base of the monster's two necks.

His massive black blade makes one clean horizontal slash before he lands behind the monster with his blade sunk into the stone floor, still holding the composed stoic expression on his face.

The battlefield is silent until the blood begins dripping. Slowly a thin ring of red forms around the base of both necks as they separate from the main body.

One swing, two heads roll.

Ottar swings his sword once toward the main body, shattering the crystal and turning the corpse to ash before shaking the blood off his sword and hooking it back onto his back. His body was completely unbothered by the flames he braved and the monster he fought.

Looking down at his hands he can't see a single burn as it quickly heals, 'so how hot were you burning?' he can't help but ask, memories of their failed expedition resurfacing.

"Well that takes care of that," Finn says with a satisfied nod, "still on a completely different level huh Ottar," he mutters to himself before turning to Hedin. "Let's go set up the kill box, best get to work while we can..."

---Four Days Later...

On a high plateau at the far end of the designated battlefield, at least thirty meters, two busses, off the ground Finn stands beside Asfi as she delivers a report on the Heat Rods. With two teams of Ganesha Familia adventurers stationed on this plateau to protect the rods that were staked into the ground he once more observes the sleek black design.

Ten feet long and a foot wide, three cylinders safely stuck into the ground to keep them steady. Smooth black metal with the only engravings being the name of the smith who created them, his team, and his familia.

"Have you solved these yet?" he asks the woman.

"Well, I'm the greatest item maker in Orario you know, there isn't anything I can't figure out with enough time and resources," she says. "Except this," she hangs her head in shame, "this isn't fair."

Seeing the sudden change in attitude Finn isn't quite sure what she's talking about, "what isn't fair."

"This," she points at the Heat Rods, "do you know I've been studying item making with the Mystery Ability for 9 years?"

"Uh, no I wasn't aware, where are you going with this?"

"Well do you know how long Welf Crozzo has had it?"

"Fiver year---"

"Less than one year! In less than one year he's left me in the dust, this is bullshit! So no I can't figure out what the hell he did to make these things, I can barely even tell you what they're made of," she admits in defeat.

"Is he really that advanced," Finn asks in disbelief. It was difficult to accept Yang's growth rate on its own, the fact that evidence is stacking to show that Hephaestus assembled three of these monsters, well, now he at least knew why they chose the name Trifecta.

"Maybe, just maybe if it was only Mystery I could have had some kind of a chance," she points at the rods, "but this is way more. This is a combination of skills like I've never seen. He's mixing Mystery, Enchanting, Metalworking, Blacksmith and something I can't recognize, probably whatever makes his swords so special," she explains.

"Five skills at least, that's insane, each of those skills require complete focus or what you're making won't work..." Finn gapes at the items.

"All he's missing is Hexing and Mixing, then he can have it all," she says bitterly.

"Hmm, makes me wonder what that sword of his, Mosoka, can really do."

"I got curious for those three weeks I was helping him understand Mystery and took a good look at it," Asfi says.

Finn's head immediately snaps to her, "what was it like?"

"Looked like a black tuning fork, nothing special at a glance, then I tried to use it and nothing happened, only works for his team but mainly him. He said it amplifies and resonates with his Crozzo Blood. I couldn't make any sense of how it was made, it was way beyond me, even further ahead than these," she gestures to the Heat Rods. "I can't confidently say I'll ever be able to make something like that," she admits.

Finn could hear the heartbreak in her voice, more dreams crushed in the wake of their adventure, but adventuring by nature is competitive, everyone knows the risk of chasing dreams.

---The Following Day...

Standing on the plateau with the rods Finn has Riveria, Asfi, Lefiya, and Hedin at his back.

He can feel the ground shaking, the humidity in the air drying out, the tension on the battlefield.

Down in the kill box were their strongest adventurers, Ganesha's level 5s who weren't mages or healers as well as all other Freya and Loki executives.

On the ledges to the left and right of the battlefield were over a hundred adventurers at varying heights greatly spaced out. At over thirty meters, two busses above the ground, they had all the casters and people with magic swords behind them. All the people who were too frail to enter the direct fight were instructed to fire the magic swords when they receive the signal and only send down items when requested. They were all at the far back against the wall in order to prevent the monster from seeing them, or at least focusing on them.

In the middle of the battlefield are Ottar and Gareth, with the highest defense stats here they were perfect for taking the focus of the monster so Allen, Finn, and Ais could bring in the heavy damage.

As the shaking continues and the heat begins to build more and more, Finn gives Asfi the signal.

Not far behind them she walks and activates the first pillar. It immediately begins glowing red and she can see the air shimmering slightly as if pulls the excess heat into it.

Riveria, Lefiya, and Hedin were positioned here because not only does their magic take the longest to chant but Riveria has the best defensive spell in Orario, and Lefiya is able to use all of Riveria's spells. Their jobs are protecting the pillars and doing damage, but should they have to decide they've been instructed to protect the pillars at all costs.

"Here it comes, be ready," Finn says, his Command Howl ability allowing his orders to reach the entirety of any battlefield his voice touches. "Remember, it's just another monster!" a bold but necessary lie.

A moment later the tunnel leading to floor twenty-eight began glowing red hot. Solid stone became liquid, flowing easily as water as the monster pushed its way through.

Accompanied by the sounds of claws cracking the stone floor, the grass on the ground drys up, becoming brown, then black, then simple crumbles to dust. Heat that was bearable for adventurers but by no means pleasant.

As the wall finally gives, all but a brave few take a step back. As if they were paying reverence to The Mother Goddess Of Gold nobody spoke a word as she silently towered over them, staring down at these little creatures she'd never seen before, golden eyes observing them carefully.

With her head resting comfortably at fifteen meters and her entire body from nose to the tip of her gold coat coming in at forty-five meters, three busses, Kulve Taroth is a mesmerizing and intimidating monster to say the very least. Her appearance alone would make her fit as the queen of all Elder Dragons if there were any, shimmering gold all over her body and a regal posture.

With chunks of gold on all her limbs, the thick coat running from the back of her neck all the way past the tip of her tail, acting as armor for her real body. And her crown, like all Elder Dragons she has unique horns. Shaped similarly to ram horns, curled and curved. Massive and gold plated with their tips pointing down toward the ground, made for controlling metal as the primary function.

As Finn is still analyzing this monster, eyes roaming to her claws and teeth, he sees bits of... silver? No, Adamantite, Mythril, precious metals from the dungeon.

While he is observing both Ottar and Gareth share a look, both warriors nod in agreement, it was up to them to kick things off and they were going to do just that.

Attack to horns and keep her anger directed to them, simple plan.

"RAAAAHHH!" Gareth cries out for both of them as they leap forward. In a blur of movement they take the monster by complete surprise, she'd never fought things like this before, this was all new, but she was just another monster to these adventurers.

As Gareth's axe and Ottar's sword are brought down on the horn, Kulve's head buckles.

"RAGRHHH!" she roars out, her head dips before she tilts and pushes back up.

The force completely catches them off-guard as does the heat, washing over the faces as if it were a blazing forge. At her feet the ground becomes molten, pushing against them she knocks them both to the side with ease. Gareth and Ottar both find themselves stuck in the wall below the adventurers waiting with the magic swords.

As they're about to pull themselves free Kulve wastes no time, she wasn't here to play, she was here to get to the surface and make her new city of gold.

A blazing golden claw punches out directly toward them only for something to slam into the side of her head, mid-strike.

It knocked her head to the left, a great hammer blow to the face. As she's confused by the sudden hit the object rockets past again, the force slams right into her nose and shifts her head slightly, her attention is completely fixed on it. The other adventurers are wailing away, she can't feel most of them, she feels Allen, Ais, and Tiona, the others are negligible, but this annoyance is in her face.

On the third hit, to the astonishment and horror of everyone watching. As Ottar and Gareth pry themselves out of the wall it's Dvalinn, of the Bringar, the four Pallum brothers who serves as part of Freya's royal guard.

As he swings his hammer once more Kulve Taroth tracks his level five movements with her bare golden eyes and leans back. Showing incredible instinctual combat intelligence. The Pallum and dragon lock eyes long enough for her to almost peer into his soul as he misses and flies past her face, long enough for him to know that this was it.

Lunging forward she opens her mouth and snaps it shut over him, his final scream can't even be heard by the best ears over the sound of his Adamantite hammer shattering, along with his armor and bones.

Blood and flesh fall to the ground, much of it becoming red mist wafting out of the white-hot forge Kulve Taroth calls a mouth.

The first of her many victims.

Swinging her heavy coat about the monster pushes everyone away, forcing them to give her space as she back up to get away from the wall, centering herself once more to start the fight properly.

Releasing an ear-splitting roar the weaker members among the expedition force find themselves paralyzed and almost two dozen are completely unconscious, her sheer presence is too much for weak wills and minds.

In a few short seconds, the tone completely changed, shattered expectations of a hunt they were prepared for becoming the terrifying reality that this was a battle between them and the monster.

No, this was a war to survive.

But even as everyone sprung back into action, Finn didn't feel worried. He was sad that someone had died already, but he knew they'd win, looking down at his left hand his thumb wasn't aching at all. That could only mean with the resources they had, this battle was guaranteed victory...

END CHAPTER---

And so the siege begins :)