Difficulty Lies In The Eyes Of The Beholder

There was a conflicted expression on Tione's face as she led her party into Knossos. If it hadn't been for the importance of this mission, and for the responsibility that she was shouldering, then she would have wanted some time for herself to work through her emotions a little. However, that wasn't currently an option.

'I… I just killed a god…'

Recalling the angered and hate-filled visage of the helpless Sabaktes a moment before she had crushed both his heart and his head with her bare hands, the Amazoness instinctively shivered. It wasn't the act of killing another humanoid being that bothered her or the gruesomeness of this particular act, no. Even in some of her earliest memories, she had already been fighting and killing, so she had grown used to it to a degree. Still, killing a deity had been something that she had never even contemplated doing up until a few weeks ago. As an inhabitant of the Lower World, despite her frequent contact with gods and goddesses here in Orario, she had grown up to have an inherent reverence for those of divine origin. To overcome this mental obstacle and to slay a god's mortal vessel hadn't been as easy as she had made it seem.

Suddenly, a smile stole itself on her features.

'Finn has to be experiencing more or less the same feelings at the moment… so it could be said that this is an intimate experience that the two of us share!'

Her love for her familia's Captain was as pure as it could get, she had no doubt about that. Therefore, when she made use of it to delude herself into a romantic scenario in which the slaying of deities was merely the backdrop, many of her negative thoughts ceased almost in their entirety. In their place were familiar daydreams about a dashing, blonde Pallum who whispered sweet words into her ear…

"Hey, Tione! Get yourself together. We're about to make contact with the Dipsios Familia. They may have lost the majority of their strength, but we should still be careful."

A partially amused, but mostly stern voice caused Tione to snap out of her pleasant fantasies. Slightly disgruntled, the Amazoness turned to face the white-haired Elf who was walking next to her. Of course, she wasn't angry at her at all, she was merely mourning Imaginary Finn's embrace which had so abruptly ended.

"Ugh, I know, Chiffon, I know! We'll clear their base swiftly and smoothly, then we'll continue onwards according to our orders."

Although Tione was an Executive of the Loki Familia, she didn't usually find herself in a position of leadership, so a few moments of being distracted on the job couldn't be helped. Partially to support her, and also to build a solid command structure that was nearly identical throughout all seven Loki Familia parties that had nigh-simultaneously entered Knossos, the Amazoness' party had a vice-leader: Chiffon Verglacia. She was one of the more veteran Level 4's of the familia and usually led her own party during expeditions.

"As long as you understand."

Rolling her eyes, Chiffon smirked a little. She fastened her belt once more to make quadruply sure that everything was secure, then she grasped the hilt of her sword with both anticipation and nervousness apparent in her body language. The reminder that she had given the party leader also served to ready herself for what was to come.

"Only seventeen of them are currently lucid enough to have realized that their god has been returned to Heaven. They have started to hunker down in their base, seeking safety in numbers. Split up into three teams and cut off all of their paths of retreat. Also, prepare yourselves for quite an unpleasant sight."

Upon hearing Isaac's voice speaking to her as if he was standing right next to her, completely out of nowhere, Tione halted in her steps for a fraction of a second, before continuing onwards. The first time that he had spoken to her whilst not being physically present, she had anxiously searched her surroundings and had almost grown paranoid. Only once he had explained that he had been using magic to contact her like that had she calmed down. As for how exactly it worked? He had explained it to anyone who had wanted to know, but she hadn't understood it at all. Sound waves? Vibrations? What had he even been talking about at that point?!

Taking heed of his reminder, Tione took a deep breath, then her casual demeanour changed into an air of seriousness, akin to a warrior who had fought thousands of battles.

"Cynthia and Thyra, take your squads and approach from the western and eastern routes respectively. Chiffon and I will take the northern one. Be mentally prepared! Apparently, what we're about to see won't be pretty."

They had been briefed about their exact paths before they had set off, and each of the party leaders, party vice-leaders and squad leaders had been outfitted with detailed maps of the areas of Knossos that they would be responsible for. Their planned routes had a lot of detail put into them, accounting for even the most minute nooks and crannies.

Following their leader's commands, the party split up after confirming their exact paths of advance once more and proceeded to encircle the Dipsios Familia's territory swiftly and silently. Two minutes later, when they had all gotten in position, as if flawlessly directed by an unseen hand, they all advanced as one.

"Oh shit, enemies incoming!"

It didn't take long for them to get noticed - after all, they literally stepped through the three only paths that led to this place, which could be thought of as the front doors.

A somewhat chubby but muscular man with very pronounced, dark circles beneath his eyes had chosen to act as a sentry and spotted the intruders first. Hastily, he closed the adamantite door that would protect this underground complex… or rather, he tried to do so. For some reason, there seemed to be some resistance when he tried to force it shut, somewhat reminiscent of a strong gust of wind.

"Fuck! Why now?!"

His eyes widening in despair, he gave up on sealing off the entrance and jumped behind an impromptu barricade made from an assortment of furniture pieces. In one swift motion, he grasped his bow, nocked an arrow and pulled the string taut. He was accompanied by four of his fellow familia members, the same ones who had helped him to set up these defenses in a hurry.

Sadly, even though he tried his best, due to having lost nearly all of the powers that his Falna had bestowed upon him because of his god's demise, he could only helplessly stare as an Amazoness appeared in front of him before he could react. Despite how fast her movements appeared to him, she was carrying herself as if she was just taking a casual stroll.

Instantly disposing of three of the defending Dipsios Familia members with a few rapid movements, breaking their necks like dry twigs, Tione stepped over their still-twitching bodies with a disgusted frown on her lips. The accompanying Chiffon made short work of the two other defenders that had been in her way. Due to what they could already hear clearly now that they were this close, her cheeks had turned red - not so much due to embarrassment and shame, but due to rage.

"These bastards…!"

Moans of pain and pleasure assaulted them from all sides, as well as the stench of alcohol, bodily fluids, blood and some other smells that they weren't familiar with. This familia's base really lived up to their god's Divinity: Revelry.

The three parts of Tione's party faced nearly no resistance as they forced their way into this 'private property'. Honestly, even had their god still been in the Lower World, the Dipsios Familia couldn't have put up much of a fight. Their strongest member had been a Level 4, while this single party of the Loki Familia already contained four of those. It would have been a longer battle, yes, but the outcome would have been the same. All of that was discounting the presence of Tione, of course.

Once they swept through the various rooms, Tione's party was once more confronted with absolute depravity. They had already come across some in the Sabaktes Familia's home, but this was much worse. Not only were most of the Dipsios Familia members in an inebriated state - or even high - they were also happily ravishing the many men and women of all ages that they had imprisoned here. Some of their victims had been reduced to their base instincts by the drugs that had been fed to them, so those few didn't actively fight back, but most still had despair and hatred colouring their gazes as they were being abused in whichever way these people longed for.

In the process of rescuing them, the members of the Dipsios Familia were swiftly eliminated, whilst the victims were healed with Potions as well as Magics whenever necessary, and otherwise cared for. Some of them, however, had to be knocked out due to the delirious broken state that they still found themselves in.

Having expected this to have been the worst that this place had to offer, the party forged deeper and through a few laboratories that had been producing various drugs until recently - on a side note, the ones that had actively fought against them had been sober because they had been working here.

Finally, the party came across the center-most area, where those with weaker stomachs couldn't help but throw up.

Held in cages like wild animals, even more people had been imprisoned here. But whilst the previous ones had 'merely' been forced to endure the Dipsios Familia members' sexual desires, the ones here had been used as test subjects for various concoctions that were still in the planning stages. Some were in better shape than others, but a few had mutated or experienced severe growth of cancerous tissue. There were those that had little more than rotting bodies left, whilst it was unknown whether they had already crossed over to the other side.

The sheer variety of experiment outcomes was staggering, in more ways than one. The sickly-sweet stench of rot, paired with all of the other, disgusting smells, wasn't something that most people could handle.

Amidst those that they encountered here, many simply asked for a swift death, or were too far gone to ever recover, even if the best Magics were to be used to assist them. It was common knowledge that there was a limit to the effect of even the most outstanding healing Magics, after all.

"K-Kill me. Pl… ease."

In response to a wholly disfigured woman's request, Tione gave a solemn nod and pulled out one of her Zolas - a kukri-style knife made by the Goibniu Familia. Although she couldn't even fathom the original appearance of the person that had now turned into a mass of cysts and lumps, she showed no disrespect and gave her blessings.

"Rest well. May your next life be a happy one."

One incredibly swift and precise slash later, the woman's suffering had come to an end before she had even felt any of the pain.

For around twenty minutes, the entirety of Tione's party stayed in the Dipsios Familia's base and helped out the ones in need, then they left a few of their weaker members behind and assembled outside, ready to delve deeper.

"If that's only the first floor, how much worse will it be from here on out?"

Upon recalling what nightmarish scenes she had just been faced with, Tione couldn't help but utter these words out loud. Perhaps, many of the others were also thinking the exact same thing, so when their ears picked up her remark, they nodded along. Truthfully, the Amazoness had just been speaking to herself, so she hadn't expected a response - however…

"Depending on how you look at it, this could be considered the worst area. It will be more dangerous from now on, yes, but you shouldn't encounter anything even more repulsive than what you've already seen. My apologies for having burdened you with this place."

Out of thin air - actually, literally out of air - Isaac's voice addressed the entire party, catching them by surprise. Still, most eventually showed understanding smiles. There were some who wanted to condemn him for not taking care of this underground complex on his own, but they stayed silent. After all, he was currently the commander of this operation, and they were also aware that their complaints were purely selfish in nature.

"It's fine, someone had to do it. In a way, maybe this experience was even a blessing! It allowed us to open our eyes to true atrocities. If we overcome the shadows of this day, we'll definitely experience a huge increase in mental maturity."

Giving a thumbs up at a random wall, Cynthia showed a small grin. Admittedly, she wasn't feeling too great right now either - 'horrible' would be a more apt description - but wallowing in misery really wouldn't be of any use. As someone who had picked up quite a deal of worldly knowledge during the pursuit of her magical studies, she had an inkling of insight into the matters of the mind, and therefore successfully gave her fellow party members a morale boost.

Once their next target had been confirmed, they made their way down a staircase. No change had been made to the initial layout of their operations yet.

-----

Panting heavily, a Chienthrope man with a garish scar running across his neck bolted through the maze-like corridors of Knossos' second floor, hastily fleeing in one direction as fast as his legs could carry him. Originally, a few more people had been following in his footsteps, but they had long since disappeared - most likely, they were all dead.

Thinking back at the scene of his familia's Captain - a stout, powerful Amazoness who had reached Level 4 - being blown apart by a single kick of the Werewolf who had led the party of intruders that instantly overwhelmed their defenses, a cold shiver ran down his back.

"But if they are too powerful, make haste and escape into the dungeon!"

Those last instructions that his god had left him with had motivated him to surpass his limits time and time again. He was literally sweating blood at this point, sprinting away from his enemies as fast as he could.

'I'm… the only one left.'

Despite the despair that this knowledge brought him, he nonetheless only further increased the frequency of his steps. The most important thing on his mind was survival - nothing more, nothing less.

'Almost there!'

Spying an orichalcum gate in the distance, his eyes brightened up and he pulled out one of the spherical keys that his familia was in possession of, pouring his Mind into it. When he got close enough, he waited until there was just enough space for him to slip through, then he charged past and cut off his supply of Mind. In an instant, the gate snapped shut behind him.

"Phew… finally…"

Close to tears, the weakness slowly caught up to him. Spotting a comparatively comfortable spot along the wall, he attempted to take a few more steps forward, only to suddenly stumble backwards.

"What the…?!"

In utter disbelief, he rubbed his nose, feeling as if he had just run against a wall. But there was absolutely nothing in front of him!

This time more cautious, he extended his arm forward, only for his hand to touch an invisible barrier that felt as solid as metal despite only consisting of air. It was barely discernible to the naked eye and only appeared when he arrived at a certain distance from the gate that he had come through. He tested this by repeatedly reaching out with his hand and pulling it back again.

"I'm not hallucinating, am I?"

Rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake up from what he judged to be an exhaustion-induced nightmare, the man didn't acknowledge what was happening. Within his heart, however, panic had begun to appear. Finally, it fully erupted when he heard the gate behind him opening once more.

"Couldn't you have stopped him before he went through here? Because of you, I needed to waste some of my Mind just to get rid of a piece of trash. Come to think of it, why didn't you exterminate him yourself?!"

Glaring annoyedly into the empty air, the very Werewolf with scraggly grey hair that had left a traumatic experience in his mind made his way towards the escapee whose legs had already given out. The man's eyes were wide open in terror and disbelief as he stared at this madman who was talking to himself. But then, a voice that he hadn't heard before responded to the rude accusations, causing him to freeze entirely and pale even further.

"Yes, I could have easily done both of these things. Still, this is about principle. I agreed to stop anyone who escapes only once they get to a specific point, so I'm doing exactly that. I gave you ample information about what you were about to face, but you attacked on your own to 'overwhelm the weaklings in one fell swoop', letting many escape. The rest of your party managed to eliminate most of them, but I told them to leave this specific one just for you. Keep to the plan next time, understood? Despite how confident you might be in yourself, if you act out on your own for no reason, then dangerous variables can come into play. Your rashness could result in some of your allies coming to harm due to being implicated by your handiwork."

His face distorting into a visage of humiliation and annoyance, the Werewolf clenched his fists, cursing under his breath. There were many things that he wanted to say, but he kept them all bottled up inside. In retrospect, when he thought about what he had done once more, he couldn't help but agree with Isaac's words. No matter how annoying he was, the man certainly had a point…

Finally, with his mental struggles sorted out, he nodded.

"Alright, fine. I shouldn't underestimate this place."

Attempting to do what he had come here to accomplish as soon as possible to distract himself from the servile response that he had just given, Bete turned to face the man that he had been chasing, only to frown and furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"Wait, what's going on? Is he playing dead?"

As far as he could tell, the man in front of him didn't have a heartbeat any longer. He had also stopped breathing and moving, lying there as if a not-yet-cold corpse.

"Nope. He actually died - of fright, due to the combination of my ghostlike voice and your appearance. Additionally, he already had a foot in the grave before this, and would have needed many months to recover from his extreme exhaustion."

Once more having to listen to Isaac's voice, Bete instinctively wanted to swear, but he kept it down. Glaring at the dead body of the escapee, he spat on the ground and turned around, re-entering the depths of Knossos through the orichalcum gate.

"What a fucking waste of my time… He should have just keeled over earlier."

A minute or so later, despite knowing that everything that he said would still be heard by this operation's peculiar commander, he allowed himself to vent a little. With rapid steps, he moved to reconvene with his party.

While he had been gone, they had cleaned up all of the remnants of the Sabnac Familia that had been on the second floor, then they had eliminated the caged monsters to get rid of any potential trouble. Of course, there hadn't been any Xenos amongst these - otherwise, Isaac would have protected them.

Although the Loki Familia parties were rapidly advancing through Knossos' hallways and making them seem like child's play, even slipping past any antagonistic forces that weren't assigned to them without a sweat, this manmade labyrinth really lived up to its name. Most of it consisted of long and winding corridors, interspersed with various rooms of many different shapes and sizes. Some areas were designed to be living quarters, but they were extremely hard to reach due to the confusing layout.

Overall, the design was very reminiscent of the dungeon, but it wasn't exactly the same. It had been combined with areas that were clearly intended for human inhabitation, but it was still as bewildering to navigate. If one didn't have a map, if one didn't proceed carefully or didn't take any other precautions, then one could easily lose oneself in these halls for months on end. There were simply that many superfluous areas whose sole purpose was to perplex and slow down all intruders. Thankfully, due to Isaac's help, the Loki Familia parties didn't even need to bother with advancing step by step - they could directly charge at their intended targets like heat-seeking missiles.

"Are you okay? You aren't hurt anywhere?"

When Bete arrived at the spot where his party had been waiting for him, a bespectacled, black-haired young woman ran up to him, causing his heart to jump a beat. Obviously, that was only due to the mesmerizing motions that her chest underwent while she moved, nothing more. She couldn't possibly have touched him with her kindness. Not at all. That was definitely not it.

"Obviously, I'm okay! Do you think trash like that can even harm a single hair of mine?!"

Speaking loudly, Bete shoved his hands into his pockets and proceeded to moodily stare at Line, who was in the process of scrutinizing him carefully. Even though she was only a supporter, and only a Level 2 at that, she was also one of the few healers of the familia. Therefore, for her to inspect him like this was natural. Well, maybe she was overdoing it a little, because Eydis and Dom - two of the Level 4's of Bete's party - were stealthily grinning in their direction.

"Phew, I'm glad you're all good! If you get hurt anywhere, be sure to let me know immediately."

After ignoring his boisterous claims and making sure that he was fine, Line realized that she had gone a bit overboard and a blush stole itself on her cheeks. Regardless of her resulting anxiety, she didn't avoid the Werewolf's eyes and confidently made a request. However, her somewhat sporadic movements betrayed her actual state of mind.

"... sure."

His reply not as hostile as expected, Bete walked past her and towards his second in command, Arcs. He left behind a Line who was clenching her fists victoriously, as well as a couple of amused observers amongst his party. Today marked the first occasion during which he hadn't bothered to make too much of an ill-tempered scene and had seemingly somewhat accepted her good intentions. Progressing to this point had been anything but easy, but to her, the strenuous effort had been worth it.

For a couple of weeks now, the supporter had continuously tried to spend time with him, or to catch his attention. Outwardly, Bete seemed almost unaffected - except for the fact that he wasn't treating Line as excessively rudely as most others - but internally, he couldn't help but admit that she had grown on him. Ever since she had nursed him back to health, treating him carefully and never once making fun of his pathetic state during his recovery… maybe, just maybe, he had warmed up to her.

'This might not actually be a bad thing. Perhaps this time, no tragedy will occur…'

Hopeful thoughts like these snuck their way into his subconsciousness as he was being brought up to speed about how the Sabnac Familia had been dealt with, as well as when they would be ready to proceed further.

Today, one more secret had been added to the list of matters that Bete would silently take to his grave. Even if he was tortured to death, he would never admit to it!

The reason as to why he had so rashly charged in to overwhelm the opposition was to reduce the amount of danger that Line would be in. It had been an instinctive, spur-of-the-moment decision, and a stupid one in hindsight. As for what had motivated him? He never wanted to lose anyone that he considerably cared about ever again.