'Real' Adventuring

A.N. Longest chapter in this story yet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyze grunted as he crossed blades with a Lizardman, the creature snarling as its forked togue flicked out and lapped his cheek. The boy coated his fist in the Flame before uppercutting the monster right in the jaw making it bite its tongue off while giving it a whiplash as its head snapped back. Lyze then span on his feet and back-slashed with Excalibur, slicing open the monster's abdomen as he simultaneously kicked the place of injury, sending the Lizardman Elite sprawling as it tried to find ground by sticking its own sword into the Earth.

Lyze ran up to it, leapt and double kicked it in the face before flipping and landing on the other side so he could attack from behind. But the monster's large tail flicked out and clipped the boy on his crossed elbows, making him skid back in the dirt. The Lizardman jumped to its feet and tried to attack by sweeping its stone blade upwards, but Lyze bent sideways, the monster only managing to clip a few strands of hair and shaving off some skin on the boy's ear.

Lyze span again but this time clipped the sharp edge of Excalibur with the hilt of the stone sword. Metal naturally sank into the stone and the monster suddenly found itself wrestling with the boy, a fight over who could claim it. But before it could conclude, Lyze leapt up in the air, hooked his legs around its neck and then swung himself upwards to sit on the monster's shoulders while pulling his sword arm towards him so the monster's sword was pulled up too, still hooked by Excalibur. 

Once on top Lyze slipped Geranos from his belt and began viciously stabbing the brute around the shoulder area and in its skull as it screeched, trying desperately to pull him off with its free arm. This only prompted Lyze to fold his legs around the monster's throat even more, capturing it in a chokehold. It struggled for a moment between trying to unclamp the boy's legs from his neck while also trying to free his sword and avoid the dagger.

When its vision began to blur as a result of a lack of oxygen going to its brain, Lyze reached down with Geranos and stabbed it in the approximate area where its heart was supposed to be and pulled the knife upwards, tearing open skin and muscle as it exposed the ribs and now deflated heart as a geyser of blood spewed out. 

A Barbarian rose up from behind the Lizardman so it could smash a rock on Lyze's head. But using his legs, Lyze forced the Lizardman to turn on his feet so the spewing blood blinded the other monster by filling its face with blood. Lyze held a hand out and concentrated as hard as he could on the water content of the blood. The blood that smeared the Barbarians face rippled then quickly began to sink into the monster head through its eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils as it joined its own bloodstream, which connected Lyze through his magic to the Barbarian's blood supply.

Using that connection, Lyze forced the blood to travel to the Barbarians skull and its face began to swell as it head ballooned from an abnormally large amount of blood entering its skull. Lyze leapt off the shoulders of the collapsing Lizardman and stuck Geranos into its eye, making it scream as blood started spurting out again but from his own supply. It tried to grab at the boy, but Lyze dropped down and slid through its legs, slashing its calves with Excalibur to make it fall to its knees.

The boy then snapped his fingers as the dagger left behind in the monster's eye began to burn with silver fire, the monster screaming as it scrabbled at its face to pull the knife out. But it was no use as magical fire entered its brain and in response to the finger snap made the monsters skull explode in a shower of blood and fading wisps of fire. Lyze looked ahead of him, not even pausing for a breather as he stamped his feet, the ground cracking under him as the impact of his foot flipped another monster in the air and the boy ran forwards, bisecting it with Excalibur held above him.

All three dead monsters turned into dust as Lyze held out a hand, calling his dagger to him as well as the monster cores. After tossing the cores into his hammer-space, he then noticed an object on the ground. Walking closer towards it, he found that it was a Barbarian Kidney, a drop item left behind. Humming with satisfaction, he picked it up and slipped it into one of his pouches. He watched various members of his Familia battling other monsters around, all fighting just as vigorously as he.

It was a glorious feeling, to be in the middle of all this carnage as blood and sparks flew everywhere from the clash of man and monster. He watched with marvel as Finn ran forwards and skewered three Spartoi on his spear with one rush before he swung them around violently, their skulls detaching from their bodies as they remained on his spear while the bodies flew into other monsters group and knocked them over.

Noir was sweeping between monsters with his sword, decapitating heads as he went by and Gareth was grabbing monster heads and crushing them in his powerful hands. A horrible bleat brought Lyze's attention to the ridge they were fighting under. On top of the overlook stood a flock of Skull Sheep as the poised to punce on adventurers below. 

Lyze cupped his hands together as a storm of lightning began to brew in his palms, quickly forming a ball of pulsating energy that made the hairs of others nearby stand on end. Lyze released his condensed ball of lighting and blew it towards the cliff-face. The lightning ball impacted the rock face as it burst into dozens of arcs of lightning spewing out all over the wall. The whole thing crumbled as boulders and rocks were dislodged and giant cracks ran up the face towards the Skull Sheep who found themselves robbed of their footing as the ground disappeared beneath them and they tumbled down the ridge.

Tsubaki who happened to be near that area caught sight of this and she span her naginata as she leapt up the cliff face. Evading the tendrils of lightning still very much worming everywhere, she leapt between every falling rock, travelling upwards as she reached the falling sheep. She leapt off of one boulder towards the monsters, twisted her body and opening her legs as another arc of lightning missed her and she spiked every Skull Sheep with her weapon, turning them to dust.

She allowed herself to free fall back to the ground, lazily waving her weapon above hear head as she split any rocks and debris still falling towards her. She looked over to him and gave him a thumbs up before she armed her naginata again and joined the skirmish. Lyze sheathed Excalibur and coated his fists in the Flame as he clenched them, opting for a fist fight this time.

A Loup Garou descended came up behind Ais as it held a cudgel above its head, ready to smite her. The best way to describe this monster was to compare it to a Lycan, because there was little difference to be found. The girl could only opt to try and dodge as she could not parry nor block this attack. She successfully managed to roll out of the way as the heavy weapon thudded into the ground next to her. She swirled Desperate around and thrust at its shoulder, but found that she could not pierce the skin, even with a Durandal weapon as she just did not have the physical strength necessary to do it. 

The monster rose and opened it jaws to bite her head as she retreated, trying to get away from the long row of sharp teeth but a thunderous punch from Lyze's fist smashed every single one of those pearly whites out as the Loup Garou's tongue lolled and its eyes rolled back as it went rolling across the ground. Silver flames licked the fur of its face as it tried to get up but stumbled as its soul received critical damage.

Lyze temporarily looked at Ais.

"The legs, Ais. For monsters like these, you have to go for the legs because you can't engage in direct combat." He advised.

"Yes Lyze." She nodded, and he smiled at her before returning his attention to the monster that tried to attack the girl he secretly loved.

He frowned though as where that monster was crouching, two more of his kin spawned out of the ground beside him. Lyze called upon the Flame of Origin and constructed an arrow with it as he drew it back like a bowstring and the shaft of the fire arrow extended while its tip became more defined. He released it and the silver arrow of Flame impaled the injured Garou in the chest as it yelped. But not for a fraction of a second later, the arrow exploded into a plume of silver flame which engulfed the other two monsters and roasted them to a crisp. A wave of heat washed over the battlefield but the Loki Familia shrugged it off as they pushed back against the large monster hoard in the Warrior's Room.

He knelt by Ais, taking a well deserved breather as sweat made his tunic cling to his skin and his hair dripped with monster blood. He didn't want to put his hand up there to pull the black mess back because whenever his hair was like this, it was always very sticky to the touch, not to mention the metallic smell was gagging.

"Are you injured anywhere?" He asked her.

"Yes." She said as she lifted her torn blue shirt up, exposing her tummy to him as she revealed a nasty gash above her belly button. "I got caught on a Skull Sheep's horn."

"...Be careful." Lyze stressed as he put his hand to her stomach and began healing the wound. "That could have gone wrong in any number of ways."

"I'm okay." She said as blushed a little at his touch but soaked in the comforting feeling that his magic provided. The gash closed, leaving not even a scar behind as her tummy tingled with warmth. Lyze removed his hand and stood up, quickly looking around their immediate area to catch any monster that may try to jump them.

"Damn I'm thirsty." Lyze said as he rubbed under his chin. "We've been at it for forty minutes and we've only just about managed to push our way into the Warrior Room."

"I know." The little girl replied as she stood too and braced herself for another imminent attack. "This is a very large monster horde."

"A nice reception for our first time in the Deep Floors." Lyze said as another Skull Sheep locked onto him.

With blitzing speed, it crossed the distance of about 20 metres in a flash as opened its flesh-less jaws to take a bite out of him. The Flame flared around Lyze's fist as he pushed Ais aside to get her out of their way, and grabbed its horns as its momentum dragged the boy backwards, the soles of his boots eroding from the friction of rock and dirt scraping along them as his legs sunk deeper and deeper into the rock.

The skull sheep snapped its jaws open and closed as it tried to nip off his chin. The cloak around its body billowed as it fought back against the boy who slowly came to a halt. Lyze wrestled with the sheep as it turned its head to and fro, hatred burning in its glowing red eyes. But Lyze held on and began repeated slamming his fist into its face, the skull showing signs of cracking.

The sheep began to flail in panic before it then resorted to its secondary ability. The cloak on its back looked like it began to bubble, before bony spikes launched out of those bubble as projectile. One slicked Lyze's earlobe right off even as he tilted his head to avoid it piercing his eye-socket. The other however sunk into his right shoulder, which was of the arm he was using to punch the monster. He yelled and grit his teeth, his gums bleeding from the several beatings he'd taken in this battle royale.

"You bleating git!" The boy swore as he swung the sheep around to throw it away. "Now you've done it!"

The skull sheep twisted in the air as it landed upright and prepared more projectiles.

The silver flames began to cover the full lengths of Lyze's arms as he ripped out the spike from his shoulder. He then clenched every voluntary muscle in his body as the Flame covered him in a silver aura

"{CRATUS}!" He roared as his skill came to life, his muscles all bulging to twice their normal size as a pillar of silver flames erupted from his body, a crater forming around Lyze as the flames licked the ceiling.

With another battle roar, he began running towards the sheep even as it released it projectiles again. Lyze simply punched each of them as they reached him into fragments before he blitzed in front of the sheep just as it did earlier, where he began landing fearsome punches which could be heard even by Riveria who was up on the ridge trying to push back monsters that were trying to come down.

With her Magna Alfs, she batted a Garou off the side and looked down towards the boy as he punched the Skull Sheep's head one more time before shattering its head completely and the monster turned to dust. The buffed up boy then began running towards more monsters, leaving a trail of silver fire in his wake as he ambushed a spawned Barbarian.

He began trading punches with the Barbarian, parrying its bigger fists while pounding his own into the monsters flesh. Iron hide and steel muscles all folded under the force of Lyze's fist as his blows sent ripples throughout the Barbarian's body and he began a flurry of combinations as his blows knocked its head from side to side. Lyze jumped and clipped its jaw with one of his punches, then flipped the monster over as he body slammed it hard enough to stun it.

He then grabbed it by the head and snapped its neck, before rolling backwards as a cudgel tried to flatten him. He rolled back into a crouch and then smashed another Flame powered fist into the Garou's side as he heard the audible sound of ribs cracking and pressed forwards even more to make sure that sharp fragments were driven deeper into vital organs. The Garou howled as it swept its cudgel to the side and take Lyze of his feet.

Lyze however stopped the thing in place by grabbing it at the blunt end, then smashed his elbow down on the wrist joint to make the monster let go of its weapon. The force of his elbow pulled the lycan monster forwards whereby Lyze brought the very same cudgel in an over-head arc down in the middle of its eyes. Bones crunched and brain matter flew everywhere as Lyze's face was drenched in monster blood but he cared not as he stepped aside and let the monsters he'd killed turn to dust.

Standing for a moment he took a deep breath as the Flame performed its magic, siphoning the released life force of all the monsters he'd just killed as well as some from the monsters that the other adventurers were killing and absorbed it into his own body, revitalising him and making him feel ever stronger as Excelia rushed into his Falna. His innate power was such a cheat, better than what Liaris Freese could perform any day.

A scream from a few metres away brought his attention to Vira who was backing away from a Spartoi that got too close to her and found itself an easy target. She held up her staff and tried chanting, but she was far too inexperienced to even attempt Concurrent Chanting. The Spartoi slashed at her stomach with its sword, cutting open a part of the shawl and the shirt she was wearing right beneath her breasts as blood spilled from the wound and she tripped backwards.

Vira dropped her staff and held her hand in front of her protectively though in vain as the Spartoi raised its weapon once more to strike her down. She screamed almost seeing her life flash before her eyes, before a cudgel covered in silver flames completely shattered its skull as Lyze bull-dozed it with his teeth gritted and his hands flexed to the maximum as he exerted as much of his power as his 'Kratos state' afforded him.

Ribs, vertebrae and carpals all went flying as the monster became dust and Lyze stooped with an outstretched, blood-soaked hand.

"You okay?" He asked her.

Vira took a moment to stare at his hand, hesitant to take it. As much as she was friends with him, she was still an elf and therefore was a little iffy about touching a person of another race. But looking upon the pure concern written on his face for one of the few he could call a genuine friend, Vira clasped it a second later and he pulled her to her feet.

"I'm fine." She winced as she held the wound on her stomach. "It caught me...but I'm alive thanks to you."

Lyze said nothing at first as he put a hand on her wound just as he did with Ais, making her blush in shock as he so brazenly touched her even while being fully aware of her reservations. A warmth was excluded from his hand as the wound closed up and the pain disappeared.

"Stay in the middle of the mage team." Lyze told her. "And keep your eye out. You don't know when a monster might just sneak up on you." Just as he said that, a monster jumped them from the side but Lyze mere punched out again with a Flame covered fist and blew a hole right through its stomach, dislodging the stone and rendering the monster into dust. "Like so."

"I'll keep that in mind." She said as she quickly picked up her staff and retreated back into Kalos's unit. The older male elf looked at her with scrutiny and disappointment before then looking at Lyze. The two eyed each other before the elf relented and gave him a reluctant nod of thanks.

Lyze nodded in return, because as much as he didn't like Kalos, they were from the same Familia and each would choose the other to watch his back over a stranger. Lyze tossed the cudgel aside and charged up his fists again with the Flame and started running from monster to monster, landing punches that sounded like thunderclaps and grew stronger with each impact as he activated {Combo Star} behind {Cratus} to strengthen each blow further as he continued his angry rampage. Seven monsters cornered him between a boulder and the over look of another ridge.

Having accumulated so much raw strength already from his barrage of melee strikes, Lyze jumped in the air and as he came down, slammed both fists in the ground as silver flames roared to life. A five metre radius of a crater formed beneath him as a wave of silver flames incinerated the monsters while deep cracks stretched all the way to the feet of the other battling adventurers, the ground violently shaking from the impact turned several heads his way.

Many among the Loki Familia gazed at him in admiration. For even though his figure was littered with wounds, his hair dripping blood and sweat as his clothes clung to his skin while his tattered cloak fluttered in the draught, he looked a valiant fighter, a powerful and unyielding warrior on the battle field as he channelled his rage and his drive onto the monsters and pushed back against the waves that were spilling out from the Colosseum up ahead. It fuelled the drive of the adventurers both young and old as they saw exactly what it was that made their renowned prodigy so famous and so quick in his progress.

His potential was terrifying, that much was still acknowledged by the masses. But seeing him cross a distance of progress in just a few weeks when it took other adventurers YEARS to do the same, only served to stoke a righteous jealousy in them as they refused to be outdone by him and fought even harder against their adversaries. Most profound of all these was Ais, as she looked at the boy she loved with hero worship in her eyes.

Her new and unknown skill {Lionors} flared to life, filling her with a fire proportionate to the feelings she had for him and she was instantly invigorated to fight even harder against the monsters despite them being a level or two above her and that she was having great difficulty. But she persevered, because the one she cared about, the one she looked up to never gave up. If he didn't, why should she? And so her sword became faster and more precise as she landed slashes on the hides of the monsters she was facing with blinding speed.

...

Riveria looked on at Lyze with a smile as she incinerated a few more monsters and Bara landed next to her in a brawler's crouch as the Amazon also gave her own smirk of approval to the boy.

"Isn't it scary how quick he's adapted and how strong he's become in just an hour alone?" Bara asked Riveria.

"Yes." The elf replied as she twirled her staff and tripped up a Barbarian and sending him over the edge of the side into the abyss below, the moat of endless nothingness that surrounded the Colosseum. "When we entered this floor, he struggled against a singular Barbarian, despite bringing it down eventually. Now he just kills them with a single punch."

"We took in one crazy kid." Bara chuckled as she grabbed a Garou by the throat and looked into its fearful eyes with a demented smile as she strangled it to death. "It PISSES me off that he's a brat and not a fully grown man!"

"I didn't think you had it in you anymore to chase after men." Riveria jibed. 

"Only because all the good ones are just so spineless these days." Bara complained as she roughly shook the Garou about and then snapped his neck. "The one time somebody comes along who has hot blood running through his veins and he embraces the wild side that comes naturally in men, it had to be a boy still in his knickers!" Bara caught the stone in her hand before back handing a Skull Sheep into the abyss. "And now little Ais has put a claim on him. I seem to have just run out of luck these days."

"Yes." Riveria murmured as she peppered some Barbarians with shards of ice. "I didn't realise that she'd discovered her feelings so quickly."

"Ever since he showed up, our little Ais has just grown up faster." Bara said. "They'll be wrestling before you know it!"

"I'd appreciate it if you did not speak of children in such a way." Riveria turned to the Amazon. "Let them keep their innocence until they are at an appropriate age for us to teach them that stuff."

"What do you think I am?" Bara put a hand on her hip.

"A sexually deprived Amazon who cannot sublimate her passions even when circumstances such as battle demand her to do so." Riveria said bluntly.

"...Well you got me there." Bara said before she looked past Riveria and her eyes widened.

"What?" Riveria wondered before she followed Bara's line of sight and then gaped at what she was seeing. 

The majority of the Loki Familia were fighting on a platform of solid rock that hung over the abyss, at an even lower level than the bridges to the Colosseum. That area of flat land was surrounded by cliff faces that had several ridges etched out on the cliff-faces that acted as pathways to get around. 

But up on the very top of the cliffs were assembled dozens upon dozens of Skull Sheep as they surrounded the Loki Familia from above and their backs began bubbling as spiky protrusions of bones starting to emerge, ready to launch at any given moment.

"How did they get by us?!" Riveria exclaimed.

"They must have gone through another one of the Colosseum's gates and taken another bridge, then come all the way around while these fuckers down here exhausted us. Once they were in place and we were tired, then they could skewer us with an avalanche." Bara spat. "When did these bastards become so crafty?!"

"That's the difference with the Deep Floors. The monsters here are much smarter." Riveria muttered before she waved and called for Lyze. Finn was much too far away and from the Pallum's angle, he wouldn't be able to see the Skull Sheep above.

The boy took one look at her and then looked to where she was pointing. With his Chaos vision, he saw the whole thing pan out as the Sheep got ready to fire. Lyze quickly transmitted the image to Finn, and the Pallum paused for a moment as the little purple spark of magic entered his brain and he surveyed the picture Lyze had given him. 

Using his {Command Howl}, the Pallum ordered the Loki Familia to raise all protective items over their heads, just as as storm of boned spikes rained down upon them. Lyze however did not obey to everybody's surprise. He ran up Gareth's shield and jumped towards the hail of projectiles, being the first to greet them.

Many of his comrades called out to him in alarm, especially as he had still not healed from being impaled by one of these very same spikes. But he took no heed as he pulled Excalibur out of its sheath, the blade coming to life with an aura of silver flames. When the spikes were just a couple of metres away from putting holes in him, he slashed out and a very sharp bell sound rang over the entire cavern.

"{FULL COUNTER}!"

There was a very noticeable change in air pressure as all the spikes froze for a moment in the air, each one lighting up with the Flame of Origin as Lyze had passed it along through his Full Counter.

They then turned around mid-air and returned to the Skull sheep with over twice the speed and power, and Riveria saw explosions of silver fire cover the Skull Sheep mob as they were covered by this onslaught, as explosions bigger than landmines rocked the entire area they were in.

Lyze felt himself absorb the life-forces of all the Skull Sheep up there as his comrades cheered him for his quick save and Gareth gave him a hearty grin and a furious nod of approval. Another dwarf clapped his hand on his back and congratulated him for saving them and their equipment before they all went back to focusing on the small remnant of monsters left on the battle-field.

"That power of his is so useful." Bara said before she raised here eyebrow. "I thought he could only reflect one attack though?"

"I guess there are even more things he's keeping from us." Riveria said. "Come on, let's finish up. Once we're done here, we can move on. The sooner we're out of this hoard, the sooner we can rest up."

"Why are there so many though?" Bara questioned as she looked at the Colosseum. "It would be understandable if they were all coming from there, but dozens of monsters have also been spawning left right and centre that we've had to go almost all out to get rid of them. Even Gareth is using his skill."

Riveria looked down to see Gareth activate his {Dvergr Enhance) and punch a monster so hard that its body exploded into mist. With the same strength he shield bashed a Garou away into three other monsters with such force that all of them were disfigured beyond repair, as if somebody had chewed them up and spat them out.

"It's been happening all throughout this trip." Riveria said. "I've never seen so many monsters in a single expedition from all the previous floors to down here."

"It's weird." Bara emphasised as she slapped a monster away. "It's almost like the Dungeon is aggravated by something amongst us, and its trying its hardest to kill us off."

Riveria's eyes monetarily trailed over to Lyze as he started blasting punches at monsters again with force that rivalled Gareth's in both strength and ferocity. Before she could ponder more however, she was caught off guard by a monster trying to claw her face and so she stuck the pointy end of her staff down its throat.

---

"Is something the matter Lord Ouranos?"

Fels looked upon the god he served, whose brows were scrunched up in confusion, frustration and worry.

"Something is wrong Fels." The Primordial said to his aide. "The Dungeon's anger is growing. Day by day it ignores my prayers more and more. Powerful monsters are spawning in the masses and attacking adventurers from all sides. I cannot simply figure out why."

"You said before that the Dungeon was wary, afraid even." The skeleton remarked. "Perhaps there is something within her that is dangerous to her, or something that rouses her anger."

"The only time this has happened is when a god had entered the Dungeon." Ouranos said. "Fels, go have a look around. Make sure every registered god is accounted for and that they're not in any place they shouldn't be. Inform our contacts to be on the lookout as well. If any god is down there, we must swiftly extract them before the Dungeon decides to release its anger."

Fels bowed his head and swiftly left through the side-entrance hidden behind the wall. Ouranos sat back calmly...or as calm as he could be at the moment. Nothing that anybody said or did placated his worries. For the Dungeon to be so defiant, he could not be reminded of anything except the Early Days, when the Labyrinth city was new and the Dungeon very much untamed. 

Centuries worth of prayers and negotiating with the Dungeon had convinced the monster creating entity to sublimate her fury until an appointed time where she would engage both the gods and their children in one all out battle. But even so, it went unsaid that it had a bad temper and Ouranos thoroughly kept it in check to the point where monsters did not spawn as regularly as they did in the old days.

Monster types were now restricted to certain parts of the Dungeon, depending on difficulty level, whereas before they could spawn almost anywhere based on the Dungeon's preferences. He could not help but feel all his hard work was being undone by SOMETHING he just could not see nor isolate. There was something or someone in the Dungeon that it did not like and based on the pattern he'd mapped out, that thing was going into deeper and deeper levels.

The only thing that could correlate with this trend was the predicted movement of the Loki Familia, although based on their record, they could not have gotten that deep already. Perhaps they'd levelled up?

No, that would be city-wide news before they went in. But assuming that it was the Loki Familia on the Floor where the Dungeon's anger was so concentrated, they had never ever been able to vex it this much before...unless...

...was there someone amongst them that was aggravating the Dungeon? A new adventurer?

As Ouranos contemplated this stray thought, he had his eyes closed as he was ever concentrated on what was happening in the Dungeon and seeing it to the best of his ability. He drew a sharp breath however as something...POWERFUL just entered the Dungeon.

So heavy and powerful this presence that its aura filled the Dungeon right from its mouth to its deepest recesses...and with his ancient senses, Ouranos suddenly felt the Laws that governed their entire reality began to shake violently as this new power all too quickly usurped ABSOLUTE authority over their world.

...

The gods on the surface and those in heaven very momentarily felt light-headed as their Domains were swiftly stolen from them, yet in the same moment given back with a new, yet unnoticeable signature on them that took complete control.

And thus their world became the heart of this new 'corruption', as from their planet, this Authority spread and filled every corner of their universe, violently ripping away the control from every 'Divine' being in every world as a force older and greater than it was appropriate of being call 'primordial' assumed complete Dominion.

But of all the gods out there, Ouranos was the only one who was allowed a few extra seconds to register this, and he very quickly tried to activate his Arcanum to repel the control that this power tried to exert over him. But even his divine power refused to obey, instead abandoning him completely and scurrying away into the farthest corner of heaven to escape the new 'ruler'.

The only things in that entire reality that was not affected at all by this authority was the Dungeon and the mortals, as this new power allowed Free Will to still exist. And before Ouranos's mind was taken over, in his mind's eye there stared at him a pair of eyes from the Dungeon as a voice filled his head.

"My apologies you old bag. But I'll be commandeering this game board for now..."

That was the last thing the Primordial heard before all memories of this event vanished from his head and he went back to brooding and worrying, and continuing his old thoughts as if the past few seconds had not happened whatsoever.

---

Lyze shoved a Lizardman Elite against the cliff wall and began smashing deadly punches into its gut, one after another as blood spewed out of its mouth and it weakly swiped at him. He grabbed the arm and harshly twisted it in an awkward way, dislocating it at the elbow before burying his fist once again into its gut where he assumed its liver to be.

Lyze drew out Excalibur and prepared to to impale it through the forehead as it swayed on its legs before the cliff wall started shake with a booming rumble as both monsters and the Loki Familia stared at the pair to see what was going on. 

Before Lyze could deliver the final blow, a giant red arm with biceps bigger than Lyze's chest width punched out of the rock and grabbed the Lizardman by the skull. A quick clench of its hand crushed the reptile monster's head like an orange before a leg broke out of the rock and kicked Lyze hard in the stomach making him cough up blood.

The boy was launched away, flipping in the air as he tried to bear with the pain and rolled to his feet with Excalibur poised, ready to throw down with this new bastard that had surprise attacked him. The Loki Familia and the suddenly terrified monsters stopped as the red limbs forcefully ripped out the fully body from the cliff face before the Dungeon could properly let it through.

Drooling from its mouth and breathing heavily, a ten foot tall beast lugged out a giant stone greatsword from the wall too as its glowing yellow eyes fixed upon the boy. He then looked around as his crimson skin heaved and tightened around the bulging muscles on every part of its body, which were so pronounced that even through its tough hide could the striations be perceived.

It let out a deafening roar that stunned all the lower tier monsters, sonic shockwaves rattling the area as all monsters whimpered and scampered away from this new Alpha that had revealed itself.

"A red Barbarian." Finn murmured as he lowered his hands from his ears.

"That's definitely a level five monster." Noir said. "I think you should call the other two and tag team it. There's no way the rest of us will be able to take it on."

"Wait." Finn said as he narrowed his eyes. "Why is it not attacking anyone?"

The huge monster started lumbering towards Lyze, its footsteps shaking the floor and making pebbles rattle even near Riveria's feet even though she was dozens of metres away. Ais started panicking as her heart reached out for the boy but she was too scared to go near this large abomination that had spawned out of nowhere.

"Lyze! Get out of there!" She yelled.

But Lyze ignored her, standing straight and defiant as it became clear to everyone that the monster was focused upon him only. The beast itself saw no-one else but the boy, as instructed to him by the one that birthed him. The boy was to be his quarry...and once he was done with him, only then could he attack the others.

The giant Barbarian came to a stop in front of Lyze as it levelled the point of its sword at the boy's face and growled, blowing steam from its nostrils. Lyze tilted his head as he understood this message, and sheathed Excalibur as he deemed it no longer an appropriate sword for this fight.

"Lyze!" Finn warned.

"This is my fight Finn!" Lyze said. "I invoke my right to claim this monster Finn. It attacked me first and it has issued a challenge. I implore you to stay out of it until one of us falls."

Gareth lowered his axe and raised an eyebrow. "Kid, that thing is on my level. You can't contend with it!"

"It's made its intent clear Gareth. I am not just an adventurer, I am a warrior too." Lyze said. "It shows enough intelligence to wait until I give him a definitive answer and not just attack me right away. Will you not respect that at least?"

The executives shared looks between one another as Finn thought over this scenario deeply. A part of him really wanted to end this before it had even a chance to begin...but it was a fundamental rule that an adventurer could not take the quarry of another even within the Familia. Plus all the near-death encounters Lyze was having here and there, to allow him to fight in such conditions again was improbable.

And yet...

...something told Finn that he should just let it happen. For every time he thought to intervene, his thumb began throbbing to the point it threatened to fall off. And when he thought to let the duel commence, the throbbing went away.

Finn straightened himself and whispered to his eldest friends. "Be ready and keep your weapons up. The moment we think that Lyze is about to go down, we move in. You especially Gareth. If anybody can match its physical strength, it's you."

"Hmm." Gareth nodded as he dropped his shield so he could carry his axe with both hands. "I sure hope the lad knows what he's doing."

"Lyze has powers that we can't even comprehend, which he has demonstrated thus far." Noir said. "I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve."

That subject brought Finn back to some days earlier where he had seen Lyze oozing with a dark magical power which even Finn struggled against, and that was before the boy levelled up again. That realization brought a lot of Finn's worries down as he 'guessed' Lyze's plan.

"Be ready all the same." Finn said as he visibly walked backwards, away from the designated area of the fight to take place in. The Loki Familia mirrored their captain and lowered their weapons as they too stepped back to respect the boundaries of the duel. Finn gave a nod of approval to Lyze, and Riveria's hands tightened around her staff. Finn's word was final but it did not mean she had to like it.

Oh would she be giving the boy an earful when this was over!

Lyze gratefully nodded back before looking straight up at the monster. From his hammer-space, he withdrew a blade that had not been seen for some time yet. The red sheen of Grigor glinted with the Barbarian's reflection in it, as the Red Minotaur Greatsword promised retribution.

Tsubaki took a deep breath, feeling somewhat honoured that Lyze was using her creation for this fight, a duel that had never been seen or recorded ever in the history of adventuring. But a strong part of her suspected that this was perhaps the last bit of action it would see.

Lyze shifted the blade as he took an appropriate stance and breathed out as he calmed his racing heart, confirming his acceptance of the challenge.

The Barbarian grunted, sneering at seeing its wish come true before it bellowed and swung its own weapon down. Lyze held up Grigor to block the oncoming blade and found his elbows and shoulders jerk as he was forced to a knee under the heavy attack. It was like a house had fallen on him, and the ground cracked beneath them in a wide radius as the boy grit his bleeding teeth and strained.

His skills were on a cool down at the moment, so he was without his strength boosts. The boy looked up and snarled at the wickedness in the sadistically smiling monster's eyes.

He would show this impudent beast, exactly who he was.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment and Review!

Discord: https://discord.gg/Vs4CUFBH

Read ahead on my Patreon:

Patreon/ Vulkizaro_Zoromi

For commissions:

Ko-Fi/ vulkizarozoromi