Dungeon Delving is Damn HARD (Danmachi / Sharingan)

[CapCaverna]

A/N: Heya. This is a repost of my fic on Spacebattles. I'll be posting chapter 1 and 2 today, then update once a day until I'm caught up

Also, until I'm caught up, all the links on my signature will point to pages on Spacebattles or Scribblehub.

Having been an antisocial nerd his entire life Roland Sinclair had just started getting out of his shell and having a little fun when his life came to a very sudden end, thankfully his death was amusing enough to atract the attention of a ROB and he got sent into the world of DanMachi.

With limited knowledge of the plot and setting but having read a lot about mythology he decides he'd best avoid sex ofenders, incestuous and often apocalipse bringing deities and spend his second chance at life exploring the dungeon and the wonders of magic he had always daydreamed about... now, if only he could manage his growing addrenaline addiction and the unwanted attention of a wine god, he may even survive long enought to enjoy it.

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Prologue

I was looking at my phone and trying to message my friend to know if he was already inside while waiting in line to enter the convention. I had been to one convention before but this was the first time I was actually doing cosplay so I was very excited.

Truth be told me and my friend had wanted to come as the main character from overlord, I wearing momon's armor and my friend in his skeleton robes but, as it was my first time, the armor had turned out so shitty I was too ashamed to wear it and my friend had similar trouble so we went with our second option, the fast option.

Cosplaying as Uchiha Shisui was incredibly easy, dark blue clothes a forehead protector some contact lens, sandals, a leather chest protector and a foam sword at my back and I was done, less than 3 days to get it all and extremely convenient since we were out of time, my friend's costume as Itachi was even easier with the large coat in place of the clothes, the bastard I bet it was cheaper than mine too.

Suddenly I noticed a loud noise coming from above so I looked up and stared directly at a burning piece of debris as it smashed right through my upper body pulverizing my head and chest, sending what remained of my body flying and on fire while leaving a two meters wide hole in the ground and pelting the bystanders with pieces of bone and asphalt.

Floating there above what little remained of my body, a hand, most of a forearm and two legs, I continued to stare stuned "Well… that just happened." I couldn't help but say, at least it had been so fast I didn't even have time to feel pain.

I was floating in the air a little above the crater, my body now transparent and without any strength, stuned I tried to touch one of the pieces of my body only to pass right through it, shit I was a ghost wasn't I?

Looking at everyone screaming in horror or running away from the scene I felt strangely detached, a fat guy trying to crawl away while screaming like a little bitch, two hot girls wearing Alliance of Legends costumes frozen in shock, a mother cradling a little boy in a darth Vader costume who had been hit by one of my bones… I wondered if anyone was gonna miss me.

Fuck, thinking about my life I never really did anything that I liked, always doing what others expected of me, always woried about how other would think, always trying to apear normal, always too afraid to step up, to do something, shit I had even died a virgin because I was too stupid to ask a girl out.

If I knew it was gonna end so soon I would have done things differently.

A Loud, guttural voice spoke from behind me it's words echoing in my very soul as it seemed to shake the world around me and I felt pain at my very core, filled with dread I noticed my extremities had started to dissipate in the air, almost unable to stop myself I turned and looked at the…thing that had spoken.

Eyes, eyes and mouths and too many limbs coming out of tentacles made from screaming heads, they were all looking at me, all starring as if I was a particularly interesting insect, then the tentacles shifted revealing what laid inside them and I screamed, I screamed as I tried to claw my eyes out, tried to rip out my own hearth or bash my skull until it caved in but my hands had dissolved and I couldn't even close my eyes, I screamed until my entire body had dissolved and I didn't have lungs anymore and then did it some more anyway.

I felt myself snap back into sanity as suddenly as I had died, I didn't feel my body recovering and couldn't speak anymore but the last thing I remembered was looking at something, and then darkness "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to appear like that but you were kind of a last minute addition and I was getting ready to leave"

Crouching In front of me was a young Steve Buscemi wearing a white shirt and jeans, he poked at me with mild interest and I wondered if this was the devil, I had always thought he would look like Al Pacino.

"I don't think you'll wanna see what I really look like again huh?" he commented before lifting me up in his hand and turning what remained of my soul from side to side "Don't worry it seems you're still salvageable, a bit more effort than what I was looking for but what can I do"

I didn't really remember what I had seen but I still shuddered, I did not want to go through that again, what now… do I go to Hell? I doubt I deserve heaven but I don't think I did anything bad enough to burn for all eternity.

"Well usually I tend to give you guys the illusion of choice, offer to let you go and all that but we all know you're all gonna take the reincarnation option in the end" the creature shrugged and swiped a strand of hair out of his eye "So let's see, where can I send you… nope, nope, already did that one… there! There's already a lot of them playing over there, no reason not to do it myself."

As for skills… yeah you don't have anywhere near enough good karma for something good, nope no broken system or inspect for you… hmm nope… ha, you'd like that wouldn't you… snort you really think we don't know when your kind is trying to game us by exploiting some 'weak' skill?"

The… creature continued answering questions before I had ever formulated them leaving me incredibly frustrated and confused as it kept me inside its hand then it focused back on me and sighed heavily

"Fine, I suppose it's kind of my fault for letting you look where you shouldn't and I'm not completely opposed to making someone OP every once in a while but you will only get the eyes not the entire body"

'What?' I wanted to ask him but the second I tried to speak I felt a wave of pain wash over what remained on my being.

"Tsk, don't try to speak" the creature chided me while bringing me closer to his face and poking me with a finger "now let me ask you, do you prefer a random rebirth or keeping your current body? Yeah, probably for the best since a medieval society, even one with magic, isn't the best place to be a baby, or a girl, or the poor, or… well you get it, plus there's already a neat spawning mechanic over there so I can even save some power when building your body, let me just fix you up a little and… done, well here you go"

Then the bastard squeezed his hand and everything went black.
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I Woke up in darkness, held in place by walls around me as if the thing had squeezed me inside a box, testing the limits of my box I felt the wall in front of me give a little so I braced myself against the back of the box and pressed my shoulder against it before pushing as hard as I could.

With the sound of breaking glass the wall shattered and I half fell out of the box into a forest, light coming from the ceiling as if it was illuminated by thousands of lamps, looking around myself I noticed I was a meter from the floor hanging from a dark gash on the wall so I put my arms around the rough stone and pulled myself free falling on all fours on the soft grass.

Taking a few seconds (alright it was quite a few minutes) to freak out I finally managed to gather my wits and take some deep breaths, then I pinched my arm to see if that would wake me up.

It didn't, I started hyperventilating again.

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Patting my clothes to get rid of the dirt and trying to use my hands to comb my short hair back into place I took stock of my situation once more while pretending I hadn't just had a panic attack, At first I thought I was still wearing my cosplay but, upon closer inspection I noticed my clothes had much better quality, they fit me better and even the leather armor in my chest was much harder and heavier with a layer of metal underneath it for some actual protection.

Grabbing at my back I pulled my foam sword to notice it had now became shining steel with a wicked edge, passing it lightly over my arm actually shaved off my hair better than a razor, using the sword's side I checked my reflection only to find two red eyes with three tomoe each staring right back at me.

Holy shit I had freaking sharingans!

Channeling power into my eyes happened almost on instinct and I saw the tomoe starting to rotate until they took the form of a pinwheel with a back dot on the center, turning towards a tree I tried to burn it with amaterasu but nothing happened, damn did I have to train it or something? What did that… thing say again? it was answering questions I hadn't even thought to ask so…

Of course, if I had to ask for one of those overpowered eyes I'd try for the greatest of them all, the one capable of Kotoamatsukami, I had Shisui's eyes and he never had amaterasu.

Eager to test it out I instead concentrated on the one ability common to all Uchiha, around myself a green flame appeared starting to condense into a single gigantic bone around my body, then the side effects hit me, I felt a terrifying pain, my eyes were killing me, grabbing at my face with both hands I felt them being covered in blood before exhaustion hit me and I passed out.

I woke up with a groan, my eyes were still hurting a little and I now had a killer headache to go with it, at least I wasn't face down on the floor anymore, instead I felt a straw bed under me, not exactly the most comfortable but the… creature had said I'd be in medieval times.

"Hey you survived!" Came a cheerful voice from the open door, it only drove another spike of pain on my head "We'd all thought you're gonna die since the banshee herself threw you into the inn but guess not"

Opening a single eye I glared at the man on the door, the guy wore an old green shirt and was completely average except for the pair of cat ears atop his head, he seemed somewhat amused at my predicament.

"Hey don't glare, it's not my fault you gave yourself a mind down" he entered the room and put a plate of soup on the table before helping me up into a sitting position and handing me a cup of water "anyways how the hell did a newbie like you make it all the way down here?"

"Here, where?" I asked while patting myself to see there was nothing missing besides my sword which I found hanging by a chair.

"Rivira of course, what other town did you think you'd find inside the dungeon?" he said and then noticed me looking for my things "yeah don't worry nobody dared touch anything since the Banshee paid for it herself and even Bors don't wanna mess with her, anyway what's your name?"

"Ugh, I'm Roland Sinclair" I was still disoriented by my headache but Dungeon, what the heck? "And I didn't even know I was inside a dungeon"

"I'm Villi by the way and damn, that's some vicious prank someone is playing on you" the cat man said and started walking away not really that curious, or just unwilling to get involved "anyway you're gonna be here for a while, the Goliath just spawned and you're gonna have to wait for some big shot to slay it before you could make it upside again, drink your soup when you're feeling better come down, I'm sure Bors will be able to figure things out"

He waved me away and I cradled my head once more, this reincarnation thing was already turning out worse than I thought, and what the heck was a mind down? Did I run out of chakra or something?

A few minutes later I managed to get out of the bed and sit at the table to start drinking my soup, it was thin and without spices but I was hungry enough it didn't matter right now so I devoured the entire thing and reclined back into the chair, the headache was still strong but no longer crippling.

Finally making my way downstairs I saw a plethora of different people wearing all kinds of classic adventure gear from full plates to mage robes and anything in between, some of them glanced my way with frowning looks but I ignored them until I saw the cat man waving me over towards a large, muscular man with an eyepatch.

"So you're the guy who dared go after the banshee huh!" the Eyepatch man said while grabbing my shoulder and invading my personal space "tell me your secret boy did you really tap that?"

"What?"

"the woman, did you tap that?" he embraced me and made a very lecherous face "I mean she terrifies me but I can't deny the elf is hot"

"I don't even know who you're talking about!" I protested and the guy forced me into the seat before his face became serious again.

"So how did a little newbie like you find yourself down here?" he asked while taking a huge drink from a wooden mug.

"I don't remember, I barely remember my name really" I told him and it wasn't exactly a lie, I didn't remember anything from this world.

"Well you don't have any head wounds but I guess the banshee could have healed you" Bors mussed and took another swing of his beer "anyway, from your disposition I'd guess you're a very new level 1 so you're stuck here until someone slays the Goliath and even then, if you don't manage to get a group, it's unlikely you'll make it to the surface by yourself"

"I… can't I just get someone to take me up then?" I asked while massaging my temple.

"Ha, do you have a lot of coins with you? because nobody will want to take care of a newbie in the middle floors unless you can make it worth the danger" Bors laid back and, seeing my look sighed "Look, your familia will probably come get you soon and, worst case you can probably return with the Loki or Ganesha familia expeditions, they're big and powerful enough not to mind a single newbie tagging along"

Wait, Loki familia? Dungeon? I started to connect the dots, I was in DanMachi wasn't I, home of the asshole gods and overpowered adventurers, shit I had only read the first few volumes of the manga, why couldn't I have been sent to Naruto or Avatar where I knew the entire plot?

Releasing a groan I let my forehead bang against the table in frustration, I was stuck deep inside the dungeon and didn't have any coin whatsoever, how was I gonna eat? Where would I sleep? From what I remember this was supposed to be a safe floor but monsters could still come from other floors so even foraging wasn't very safe much less sleeping outside the city, glancing at the muscular wannabe pirate I asked "You wouldn't know how I could get some coin would you?"

"Hmm, well your gear seems to be high quality so I could pay you some Valis for the sword and armor… let's say around 15 thousand for the set" Bors patted a pouch on his hip.

I didn't know how much my gear was worth but judging by the glint in the man's eye he was probably trying to cheat me, plus I'd be without a weapon, inside a dungeon, with murderous monsters, not something I was eager for.

"Ha, good joke, no seriously is there any way to earn some money around here?"

"Well there's a lot of adventures waiting for the Goliath to be slain so I could use some help in exchange for food and letting you crash at my room" said the cat man who was passing through their table before continuing to serve what seemed like dinner.

Noticing the frown on my face Bors smirked at me "You're an adventurer alright, don't like doing housework" Then the arrogant bastard took the time to pick at his nose dismissively before continuing "Tell you what nobody's gonna want a green rookie like you to delve into the Tree labyrinth but I could get you a job as a supporter, for a price"

"And what exactly would I have to do?" I asked suspiciously while narrowing my eyes at the man, his whole greedy face just screamed scammer.

"Wow don't you have some creepy eyes, don't worry I don't deal with shady things, plenty of money to be made the legal way if you know how to do it" he took another swing of his mug and wiped his mouth with his arm before releasing a burp "you just have to carry their gear, stay out of the way, keep yourself safe and harvest the monsters for drops and magic stones"

"And what's in it for you?"

"35% of what you get" I was about to protest but he leaned over the table and glared at me "Don't even try, a supporter won't be making all that much so it's just not worth my time for anything less, plus I'll be making sure you actually get paid and chose a more respectable group, no telling what can happen in the dungeon if you try to find a group by yourself"

Shit he was right, I didn't read the manga all that long but I know the tropes, there's bound to be a lot of assholes in the dungeon who wouldn't mind killing me just for the gear on my body even if they weren't that great.

Trying to ignore my headache I considered his offer, I didn't really know if I could trust the guy but he at least would have an interest in seeing me come back alive since I'd be paying him and, even if the pay was small, it would probably be worth more than my average equipment so I didn't really have to trust 'him' to find a good group but his greed, plus I'd get to observe some experienced adventurers with my sharingan and copy their moves "So I won't have to fight for them?"

"Well… it's the dungeon so there's always the chance of a monster party and ambushes, you'll have to at least survive long enough for them to finish everything off but nobody will be expecting you to kill anything"

"Alright I'm in" I agreed and almost banged my head against the table when the guy patted my back with the strength of an elephant.

"Great, you can rest and recover today and leave tomorrow with the party I found, I have a good feeling about you boy don't disappoint me too much"

Seeing as disappointing him probably meant I'd be dead again I'd try not to do it at all if I could help it, ready to go back to my room and try to sleep my headache away I started to push my chair back before remembering one last thing "hey Bors, this Banshee you guys keep mentioning saved me, who's she?"

"Filvis Challia from Dionysus familia" he told me with an unusually serious voice "She's a survivor from the nightmare on the 27th floor and since then everyone who gets into a party with her dies"

"She kills then?" I asked in surprise, I thought the guild kept things like that from happening in danmachi.

"Who the hell knows, plenty of adventurers die every week in the dungeon it could just be luck" he sighed and finished his beer "Personally I saw her when she returned from the nightmare, she spent weeks covered in blood, her hair all messed up and with a crazed look in her eyes, I think it broke her and now she just runs away whenever there's real danger but, no matter the truth, nobody wants to risk an unreliable fighter"

Yeah, thinking about it I know it's cruel but I probably wouldn't party up with someone like that either, an unreliable supporter wouldn't cause too much trouble but a fighter who ran away could probably mess with the entire formation

"Anyway I have money to make, see you tomorrow kid" Grabbing his mug he tied it wo his belt and got up before throwing a few coins to the table "Use it to pay for another night here I'll take it from your pay later, with interest of course"

Asshole, grabbing the coins I approached a busy Valli "hey, is this enough for another night?"

"Yeah, Bors left you just enough for it and a meal" the cat man told me while filling another plate with soup for his other costumes "Anything else I can do for you?"

"You got a mirror around here I could use?"

"Sure, I have a small one on the back" putting the plate down he took a second to search inside the kitchen and came back with a handheld mirror a little bigger than my hand, then continued serving his guests.

Going back to my room I locked the door and took off my shirt, the mirror was small but I managed to check out the faulna on my back for the first time, at first I thought I didn't have one but then I remembered gods had to use blood to activate it, cutting one of my fingers with the sword I let a drop fall over my shoulder finally revealing my status.

it looked like a huge eye surrounded by tentacles with the information written in english between the spaces

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – I - 0
Endurance – I - 0
Dexterity – I - 0
Agility – I - 0
Magic – I - 15
Skills:
- Chosen of an Outer God : Since your god cannot physically manifest into the world without risk of destroying it he has chosen you to act as his avatar allowing you to modify your own falna.
- Mangekyou Sharingan: Can never forget what one has seen, after study can read muscular tension to predict how one will move in the future, makes it easier to learn techniques one has seen, greatly increase ability to track fast moving objects, can see the amount of magic a target has and if it is being affected by any mind altering spells.
Grants the spell: Lesser illusion (capable of applying lesser illusions simply by looking at a target, the illusion's quality depends on how much concentration is put into it, affects two senses but can be easily broken if noticed)
Grants the spell: Greater visual illusion (Capable of applying strong illusions when meeting the eyes of the target, which are harder to resist, more difficult to notice and can affect stronger targets)
Grants the spell: Izanagi (Can turn reality into ilusion to completely heal the user even from death at the cost of an eye)
Grants the spell: Izanami (Can trap an enemy into an inescapable illusion of repeated actions regardless of level leaving the target frozen in place until said target fully accepts the consequences of his actions at the cost of an eye)
Grants the spell: Kotoamatsukami (Can enter a target's mind and implant false memories changing their actions while making them believe it's from their own will regardless of level, uses an enormous amount of mind, causes severe damage to vision and requires a long recovery period)
Grants the spell: Susanoo (Can manifest a magical construct around the user in the form of a giant warrior equal to a Monster Rex a level above the user that has enormous endurance and strength but costs a large amount of mind and causes severe damage to vision)

With an effort of will my fauna disappeared once again and I was left thinking, so I didn't have chakra, the being who sent me here had modified my skills into working with mana instead and, from the looks of it I had a normal sharingan without the uchiha bloodline meaning I'd have to be very careful when using the mangekyo unless I wanted to go completely blind.

The greatest question for me was Kotoamatsukami. would I have to wait ten years to use the spell once again like that crow in naruto? From what I understood of Danmachi levels are steps towards divinity and even a level 1 adventurer was better than an average human in every way so did my fauna act like Danzo's hashirama cells allowing me to recover faster?

With my mind filled with questions. I laid my head on the pillow, then exhaustion hit me like a truck and I was sleeping in less than a minute.

 

[CapCaverna]

The next day after waking up and eating breakfast Bors handed me a huge backpack and told me to follow him, almost dragging me away from the inn and leading me into a small gathering of rough looking men.

The first guy was about my size but build like a wardrobe with wide shoulders and bulging muscles wearing some fur and a single sword at his hip, the second was much taller had even more muscle, either that or they were more evident since he didn't wear a shirt, had a huge shield at his back with a mace by his hip, the last man looked like a classic rogue thin and with only a long dagger as a weapon but holding several pouches by his hip.

"Yoh Bors this the newbie you were telling us about" asked the first guy with his hands at his hip.

"Yep, this is Roland Synclar, Roland thats Mord Latro the party leader" Bors pushed me away from him and waved "Well I'm done here good luck"

"So you're the newbie the bossman was telling us about huh" Mord looked me over with a critical eye then snorted "I suppose if you're not fighting it could work but we're not waiting for you if we have to run"

Looking at my out of shape and slightly overweight body I blushed causing the three of them to burst out laughing, the skinny guy shook his head and waved me over "Ha, don't worry kid we weren't like this when we started too, anyway I'm Scott Olds and that's Guile India over there"

"yeah, yeah, now he're how this is gonna work" Mord told me with a serious expression "We're not going much deeper only to the 19th floor and we'll avoid the more dangerous monsters, our goal is to hunt Battle boars for Boar meat so things are gonna get heavy for you, just stay out of our way and try not to lag too far behind, if we find a monster party drop everything and run away Understand?"

"Understood" I nodded, quite happy with the instructions even if I'd prefer a lighter load than meat. At least the party leader seemed more or less competent.

My initial load turned out to be an extra bag with potions and antidotes, a few meters of rope, some rations, three thick spears, an extra sword and mace and two sets of extra throwing knives for Scott in case they were needed leaving the adventurers with as little extra weight as possible so they could fight better.

We left Rivia behind us and made our way towards one of the walls while making some small talk "So, how did you turn up down here alone anyway newbie, did your party die on the way down?"

"Shut up Mord what if that really happened" chided Scott

"Heh, he's an adventurer if he can't take it he shouldn't even be in the dungeon" the man boasted "And it's not like one can't make a living outside Oratio, my cousin is only level 1 and he lives quite comfortable, I hear he only has to fight monsters once a month in his city"

"No, I didn't lose my team" I told them and thought about it a little before deciding to play along with Villi's idea, it was as good an explanation as any "My familia played a prank on me, they dumped me down here on the safe floor while recovering from a night of drinking"

"Assholes" Mord said and the other two nodded before he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "If you put on some muscle you can come find me later, Ogma is a great god."

"Thanks"

Soon we arrived at a huge, uneven hole in the ground where I could see the lower floor almost 30 meters down "alright guys you know what to do, Guile goes first and secures the landing while the newbie jumps last"

Then they proceeded to make their way down the edges of the hole taking care not to slip on the rocks until they stood ten meters from the ground floor and just let themselves drop down, I followed them as best as I could then looked at the party searching for enemies down on the ground and towards the walls, shit that's a long drop.

Taking as much care as I could I found some holds at the edge of the wall and lowered myself letting my body dangle down in the air, glancing down again I gulped and let myself drop, the ground hit me hard sending a jolt of pain up my knees and I forcing me to bend them until I lost footing and fell on my ass but it was nowhere near as painful as I thought it would be, shit I didn't think I could make this jump before without breaking some bones.

Giving me a hand Guile pulled me to my feet before pulling out his mace and started to walk in front of our little party.

The 19th floor was filled with strange trees and everything around was made from wood covered in a glowing blue moss or green foliage making it hard to see too far away from our location and leaving large shadows growing towards the ceiling, suddenly my eyes caught movement to our right and, before I could shout a warning, Mord turned towards the right and swung his sword in a devastating doward blow cleaving a centipede like monster in two and all hell broke loose.

From above us in the trees a dozen clawed centipedes started revealing themselves, their carapaces had acted as camouflage but now they pounced down on us with two sickle like from legs, Guile lifted his shield and bated the first four aside with a mighty swing before smashing another against a tree with his mace, Mord acted like a brute swinging his sword with all his strength but not completely without skill parring a blow aside before cleaving a second monster's head and dodging yet a third one.

Of the three Scott was the most skilled, his reflexes were top notch as he pulled two daggers and threw then lodging the projectiles on the pouncing centipede's unprotected bellies causing them to screech like mad, then he jumped up and kicked a monster towards Guile and bounced off a tree to slam on top of another pinning it down against the tree with his dagger between the joint of its carapace.

My eyes caught it all at the same time but my reaction felt slow and heavy I barely managed to pull out my sword and block two sickles from piercing my head, the monster released a screech in my face and used its superior strength to push me down to my knees and slowly overcome my arm's resistance until one of the sickles drew blood from my cheek, gritting my teeth I released a scream and put as much strength as I could manage to push the beast to the left while throwing my body to the right, the roll dislodged most of the extra weapons I carried at my back but allowed me to survive.

Acting on instinct I slashed at the beast only for my sword to bounce of its carapace and almost fall off my numb hands as the impact left them trembling, my eyes caught the second monster attacking me but it was just too fast, with my arms still a little numb I couldn't block the blow and barely managed to dodge one of its sickles before the second one hit me right in the heart, the armor managed to save my life but it drove all the air out of my lungs and sent me thumbing through the ground, thankfully away from any of the attackers.

The distance gave me just enough time to recover my breath and get back on my feet even if my chest was still hurting like hell, coughing a couple of times I looked at the two giant insects coming towards me, their black eyes glinting and sharp mandibles clicking in eagerness at an easy meal, shit I could die here, I could really die and not the immediate painless death of my previous life but I could actually get eaten alive piece by piece.

Breathing hard I stopped being stupid, stoped trying to copy my companions or study the beasts and focused entirely on what was important, surviving against a monster who completely beat me in status.

A kind of calm state feel over me as my eyes focused on the monster's movements and my mind started working overtime, in the few seconds I had I did my best to regain my breath and come up with a plan of action, after that single exchange I knew there was no way I was gonna kill any of the creatures by myself they were so far above my level it wasn't even a contest but at least they weren't so fast as to become blurs to my new eyes, my heart started beating harder against my chest as excitement filled me and I moved.

Running to the left I put the monsters behind each other so that they would come one at a time and observed them as close as I could, my body couldn't compete with their speed but my eyes caught their every movement noticing the second one of the beasts lifted its front from the ground and attacked, twisting aside I parried one of its sickles trying to slash at me and kicked its head away from me causing it to lose balance and smash into a tree then I rolled under the second beast's pounce as it smashed the wood on the ground.

I still wasn't fast enough and one of its blades nicked my leg leaving a gash the size of my hand but I managed to get at the creature's back and turned away to run back towards my party, not my best decision since the beast swung its body back bludgeoning me with its carapace and sending me flying before twisting around and spewing liquid towards me.

Covering my head I did my best to let the liquid fall on the backpack while desperately trying to find the second beast, thankfully it had gotten its sickles stuck to a tree and was still trying to pull it out, turning back to the immediate treat I moved the second I saw it's attack start and managed to parry another two sickle blows aside before my hands became too numb from the cheer strength of them and the monster managed to beat the sword out of them with the third hit then it flew forward to bite me opening its mouth wide, I knew I was done, it was just too fast.

A throwing knife flew over my shoulder and buried itself deep in the monster mouth causing it to hear back in pain and splashing me with green ichor then Mord was there cutting of the creature's head with a single blow before kicking the second so hard it was flattened against the tree it had been stuck into, he took the time to get his sword point between its carapace and pierced it until it stopped moving "Good job keeping two of the things occupied newbie but try to stay a little closer next time"

As I stood there breathing hard Mord cleaned his sword on a piece of cloth tied to his waist and snorted "Come on get harvesting already we don't have all day"

Still recovering from the scare, I took a few seconds to regain my breath before slowly lifting my hand to my face and wiping the ichor away from my mouth… Strange, why was I smiling? I took one last glance around before grabbing my sword and looking it over, it didn't have any ichor so I put it at my back and straightened myself "fuck so that's the diference between a level 1 and level 2"

"Level two, what're you talking about, those things are all level 1" Mord kicked a centipede over rolling on its back "Sure they're a little strong but nowhere near a level 2 monster, if we find a group of those we're running away"

"Shit", taking a few more breaths I managed to find the smaller dagger Bors had lent me and pull it out before looking at the centipede "shit where's the magic stone in this one again?"

"The chest newbie, it's always the chest"

"Right… shit" taking the first magic stone out was complicated and took me nearly a minute of cutting at the things belly but it became much easier after that and in a few seconds I had 13 magic stones and two centipede carapaces on my bag, Mord saying there was no sense leaving drops even if they weren't what we were waiting for and the carapaces were light enough.

Things weren't so hard after that, we didn't get ambushed by any more large groups and Scott managed to find most other mobs before they were even close allowing Guile to tank them much easier to the point I only had to defend myself when a firebird showed up and tried to fry me from range, thankfully my eyes noticed the gathering of mana, acting fast I managed to hide behind a tree when the bird washed my location with a breath of fire in the shape of an arrow and Scott managed to snipe its wing with a throwing knife, he lost the knife but we got three fire feathers in exchange.

Once we had to hide from a group of four bugbears, giant bears capable of walking on two legs and far too agile for their large bodies but the party had some herbs to mask our scent and our scout saw them from far enough away we had time to hide, we still stayed in place for almost ten minutes after they passed us just to make sure before Mord patted me on the shoulder "Lucky you, we'd probably get away but no way could you outrun those things if we got into a fight"

Then we finally made our way outside the forest and I saw a large stretch of land with wooden corridors running all over the place forming cliffs covered in glowing blue moss and a large carpet of hip high grass, without the trees to block vision we were immediately noticed by a group of seven lizardman wielding metallic flowers, four of them had long spears made from rose stalks, their blades a sharp red rose bud while another two had large wooden clubs and the last one had a blooming flower as a shield and a large sword.

After a second of hesitation the lizardman with a shield released a loud roar and they all charged us in a mad rush, Scott threw a few daggers at him but the lizard blocked them all with ease so he changed targets and managed to hit the eye of a spear wielder causing it to stumble and slow the others down giving our tank time to get ready, when they were very close Guile hid his head behind his shield and released a counter charge, exploding into movement so fast even my eyes couldn't keep up he smashed straight into one of them like a bowling ball while sending two others sprawling the blow so hard he broke the one he had aimed for leaving it twitching into the ground.

Mord dashed ahead of the group and engaged the shield wielder in single combat while Scott finished off one of the fallen lizards before they could recover and engaged another dancing around its stabs he used the dagger to parry the spear letting it pass his side before grabbing the shaft and getting in close with the beast, the Lizard dropped the spear and attempted to bite him but it was too late his dagger piercing right through the beast's neck.

Guile started trading blows with a club wielding lizard when the last one managed to flank him, remembering everything I had seen from both blade wielders I pulled my sword out of my back and corrected my grip then used Scott's footword to dash across the field and release a devastating downward slash on the Lizard's lifted arm, the blow was perfect cutting deep into the lizard's biceps to the point I felt it's bones breaking but not cutting all the way through, the beast reacted faster than I thought possible twisting around to claw at me and yanking my sword out of my hands, with a sore wrist I avoided a new scar by millimeters as I kicked away from the lizard and found two of Scott's throwing daggers on my belt.

My sharingan had watched the man throw the things more than a hundred times by now so I let instinct take over not thinking about my actions, swinging both arms the daggers flew towards the irate lizard one of them hitting it in the snout and bouncing away as I didn't have enough strength to pierce its hide but the other pierced its eye causing it to thrash and scream in pain then start running away.

"hey!" I screamed seeing my sword still stuck on its arm, thankfully Guile had managed to finish his opponent, dropping his shield the nearly nacked man dashed after the beast and pounced, using both hands he swung his mace and pulverized the lizard's knee actually sending its leg flying then caving it's head in when it fell down.

Grabbing the dead Lizard by its remaining leg Guile happily waved at me and dragged the corpse through the grass leaving a large train of blood behind him, then he grabbed the sword and pulled it loose before throwing it to me "Thanks for the save newbie, careful with your weapon, its from average materials but well made"

"Thanks" putting the sword away I picked my knife and started digging for the magic stone, cutting at an humanoid's chest left me with a queasy feeling in my stomach, they were a little too close to humans for my liking but I ignored it and by the third one it barely affected me, turning to the resting Guile by my side I asked "why're we after Battle boars anyway, if we want money wouldn't any monster do?"

"Usually yeah" the barbarian said and spilled some cold water over his head to refresh himself "but with the Goliath holding up the way for the last two days Rivira is bound to run out of food soon and Battle Boars are one of the few beasts to drop meat"

"Hey Newbie, less talking, more harvesting!" Screamed Mord from the shade of a tree while Scott kept an eye out for new threats "Come on I could do a better job!"

"Asshole" I cursed again but I was already starting to get the impression the bastard just liked messing with people.

"Don't mind the boss he's a softy inside" Guile confessed while I gathered a few Lizardman's nails that had dropped and kept them in the bag, "Come on our goal is just ahead"

Another two lizardman parties latter and we reached our target, a large wooden clif wall with a dozen ropes hanging from it, before reaching the top there were two small huts hanging halfway off the cliff like bird's nests with large spikes in a circular position protecting the base, the spikes were made from tree trunks and positioned with just enough space between them for a human to pass comfortably, some of the spikes were rotted and one had fallen down and started to be decomposed by the blue moss while vines were trying to claim the suspended houses with the wall itself seeming to eat at the structures.

"Yeah it seems we're gonna have to tell Bors to put some new spikes in, come on newbie get cutting" Mord shouted and all four of us started to clear the place of vines and check that everything was alright "Damn dungeon keeps trying to fix the terrain so Bors has to fix things every week of two but monster farms like this are how the city is still standing"

I could see it, despite the decrepit look the location had been giving me. I could see how three to five people could hold this location against a lot of monsters if there were not too many flying ones "Aren't the fire birds a problem?"

"All wood on the 19 floor is fire resistance and we treat the covers making them almost impossible to burn so, as long as we kill the birds fast they aren't a threat" Scott answered while Guile and Mord picked the spears from my pack laying one of the ground at their backs and hold one each, then Scott shouted from one of the houses "Come on kid climb in"

Pulling myself up with one of the ropes I used my dagger to clear the vines from the second house and saw the wall was really eating the little building, slowly dragging the structure inside itself. It'd probably take another month but the house would eventually be consumed by the wooden clif.

Inside the house was a small bag with two small potions and a large crossbow with a lot of bolts spread on the floor, some of them were even engulfed by the wall already, gathering the mess of ammunition I pilled them all against the window and turned towards my companion watching him load the crossbow just by pulling it's string, shaking my head I lowered the crossbow and used my entire body to arm it not wanting to tire myself out trying to imitate the level 2.

"Everything ready boss?"

"Ready!" Mord shouted back while stretching his arm and I watched as he pulled one of his pouches off his belt and threw it behind the two warriors, it immediately started smoking and, soon after I started hearing roars "Aha here they come!"

Turning my head towards the horizon my increased vision soon caught sight of the monsters, they were spread out and in small groups but there were a lot of them running our way, at least 40 lizardman were leading the charge but they soon got outpaced by a group of large Bugbears and at least 20 Battle Boars, the swines were almost two meters tall with tusks the size of swords and must have weighed almost a ton, then came the centipedes and other insects.

The dragonfly's made it to our spot first, large and with long bodies only a little smaller than a man there were 10 of them and they started pelting our position making Guile raise his shield for protection, Scott immediately started sniping them down taking out two of the things before they even noticed but I didn't feel comfortable wasting ammunition on the things since they were too thing and agile, then the first bolt of fire hit his position making him duck down as three Firebirds took turns bombarding his position.

Lifting my own crossbow I aimed at one of the birds flying lazily in the air and shoot hitting it squarely in the chest, my sharingan making the feat easy, the other two birds scattered and, while I took my time reloading, Scott took out a second and another two dragonflies.

I missed the second shoot since every enemy had started flying as fast as it could but at least they had started focusing on us allowing the two on the ground to focus on receiving the first charge, Battle Boars and Bugbears reached first, their large and fast bodies punishing the ground when a battle boar got one of its legs stuck in a hole and flipped, I could hear the sound of it's leg breaking even a kilometer away and then a bugbear hit his fallen body sending them both sprawling.

Another five of the large monsters fell in the small holes while two bugbears actually got impaled in large spike traps on the ground, the wooden spikes weren't enough to immediately kill the muscled beasts but they were quickly stomped to death by those behind them.

The first Bugbear to reach the circle triet to jump over the spikes but choose one of the better ones and it didn't snap under the beast's weight, the monster was stuck there trying to climb up long enough that I just took my time and used my third shoot to pierce one of it's large eyes, the crossbow having enough strength to drive the bolt right into its brain.

The spike circle funneled the beasts right to the only opening being guarded by the two warriors and they braced themselves receiving the first two battle boars right on their spears and killing the monsters instantly, kicking their bodies away they had time to receive a second charge killing another bugbear and wounding a battle boar before one of their spears snapped and they had to retreat a little, Mord picked up the second spear and the fight truly started as the warriors fought to keep too many monsters from entering the protected circle.

Scott finally took out the last firebird and I actually managed to clip a dragonfly's wing causing it to fall down on top of some monster, the first centipedes started arriving and climbing over the larger beasts to get to the humans inside forcing Guile to exchange his own spear for the mace and keep the bugs away while his party leader killed the larger monsters.

With only a few dragonflies still alive I had the time to look at the wave of monsters, there were still quite a few bugbears trying to destroy the spikes and having some success with the more deteriorated ones but, without the room for a charge, the battle boars were less than effective, unfortunately the lizards had started arriving now and they could fit between spikes if they could get through the rest of the monsters.

Deciding to experiment I concentrated into one of the more effective bugbears and tried to send it an illusion of a human by his side, casting lesser ilusion took a little effort and I felt some energy leave me but was kind of instinctive, unfortunatly I saw no effect, I also saw no fluctuation on the things magic with my eyes, I was concentrating on the beast for almost 40 seconds when I finished arming my crossbow and shot it in the neck not killing it but wounding it enough that other beasts forced it away.

Then I saw another bugbear looking at me, its face filled with rage and changed tactics, meeting its eyes I cast Major Visual Illusion instead feeling a large drain on my magic and having to grab the edge of the window to steady myself, I made the thing see and smell every monster around itself as a human, the effect was instant, I saw some of my mana entering the beast's body from its eyes and almost… infecting it before it went absolutely feral killing three bugs and even caving another bugbear's head in before the other monsters noticed and turned against it.

Scott was mostly ignoring the four remaining dragonflies now and instead aiming for the lizardman squeezing through the spikes and keeping them from succeeding, monsters and bug corpses were starting to act as obstacles to the lizardman and a few were even killed by mistake by the larger monsters.

Noticing how effective my little sharingan trick had been I started looking for another beast to trick catching the eyes of another bugbear and a wounded battle boar the result was… impressive even if it left me panting in exhaustion, the first bugbear had just been killed when the second one went insane, as for the battle boar it had been forced back and allowed to retreat building space to gather a strong charge so, even wounded it came back moving at 60 km/h, using its tusks it gored the first bugbear it hit while simply stomping on six lizardman and a few bugs continuing to attack everything in a straight line until it was stopped by the cheer amount of corpses in its way, then it proceed to stomp or try to gore anything that came even close.

Stumbling away I put my back against the wall and cradled my head almost falling down from the headache, I could feel myself being just short of a mind down, shit I had gotten cocky and almost fucked up.

Pushing myself away from the wall I grabbed my discarded crossbow and tried to arm it again but my arms were shaking from the effort, I didn't even notice my own sharingans had deactivated so, when a blur flew through the window and hit me in the leg with a shot I was caught completely by surprise and released a scream of pain.

Looking at my tight I saw the dragonfly's projectile piercing me almost all the way through and nearly pulled it out before remembering blood loss was a thing, with some effort and a lot of gritted teeth I managed to ignore the pain and load another bolt before looking at the fight bellow, without my sharingan for help I could barely make out what was happening in the confusion so I just aimed at the mass of monsters and shoot hoping to hit something, then another dragonfly almost took my head off and I just ducked down.

A minute later I remembered the small bag of potions and found the health one, pulling the projectile off I splashed the potion on my tight and saw it knitting back together at enormous speed, a few minutes later I was completely healed and the noise from fighting had disappeared.

"Hey… huff, hufff… you alive there newbie?" came Mord's voice from below so I gathered myself and answered.

"More or less!" noticing my headache getting better and my sharingan reactivating I released a breath of relief "had to use a potion"

"Eh what can you do, they're cheap ones anyways, come down here, time to get harvesting!" With a sight I managed to push myself back on my feet to see Mord posing above the body of a large bugbear and giving a roar of triumph "take that you overgrown rug who's your boss now huh!"

Scott just palmed his face while Guile was sitting down and laughing loudly, covering a large claw mark on his chest with bandages

Using one of the remaining ropes hanging from the safehouse I lowered myself back to the ground and looked around at the massacre, blood painted the floor completely red and there were literal piles of monster corpses where they had tried to climb over each other to get to the warriors, seeing as nobody else was moving I pulled my dagger and resigned myself to harvesting everything by myself, still a little shaken I had to ask "Shit wasn't this too dangerous?"

"Naa, it was a little harder than usual but that's just because some of the things went berserk and Mord took the opportunity to save some Valis" Scott told me with a smile while I ripped a magic stone from a crushed centipede.

Finishing the easier monsters I gathered the dropped items in a spot without blood or ichor and approached my first bugbear, getting to the muscular beast's magic stone was a pain in the ass leaving me elbow deep in its gut, thank the gods the monsters dissolved into dust after I took the stone away making my job easier with each one I finished "What do you mean?"

"Heh, this isn't the first time we do this newbie" Mord bragged, then kicked the body of a lizardman away and cleaned a spot for himself to sit "we must have done this what, a hundred times before we dared even try with only three people"

"A hundred and fifteen" Scott corrected "then we did it another five times with an extra party looking over to save our asses in case we messed up"

"Yeah that seems about right, pass me the water Guile" Grabbing the bag of water Mord took a long drink and sighed in happiness "sure Rivira lost some adventurers when it first started doing this but we got it down to a routine"

Looking around I couldn't see how the warriors would have survived without my illusions driving monsters insane, the lizardman or centipedes would have eventually gotten into the clearing and overcome them with numbers.

Releasing a laugh Mord decided to explain "You don't really think we usually fight everything here do you? Let me tell you newbie the secret to surviving the dungeon is to work smarter not harder, you saw how the battle boars and bugbears were the first to arrive and blocked the patch for the others right?"

"Yeah, they were pretty disorganized"

"Well this won't work on the deeper floors but here we just have to survive long enough to get the biggest amount of monsters in a small area then Scott there start throwing two or three magic bombs to kill most of them, after that we just have to finish off the stragglers, groups with a powerful mage have it even easier since they can chant without interruption inside the safehouse"

Turning towards the rogue I saw him patting one of his larger pouches at his waist, thinking about what I had seen I nodded, yeah I could see it working, the larger monsters get funneled into a smaller area trying to get to the warriors while the smaller ones are forced to climb over or squeeze between them, when they were as concentrated as the party could manage someone just blows them all up.

"Worst case scenario the explosions buy us enough time to climb the ropes to safety" nodded Guile while pointing at the cliff with his thumb.

"Wouldn't that be a little too… easy?" I questioned, from what I remembered Adventurers only gained levels when they went through challenges

"Well… not easy, it took a lot of training" Mord told me and grabbed a piece of ration "newbie let me tell you a secret, not everything has to be about gaining levels, sometimes it's alright to just make a living, sure I'd get more excelia if I was constantly putting my life at risk but, the thing with taking risks is that sometimes they don't pay off and, if it's your life on the line…"

"Yep" said Scott sitting besides his party members and taking the water from Mord's hand "they say Oratio is the city of adventurers but a better name would be the city of the corpses, for every Sword Princess or King there are tens of thousands who die"

Continuing to harvest crystals and drops I spent the next hour and a half just slashing open monsters and watching them decompose into dust, when I was finally done my arms were aching and my back was killing me from having to lean over so many corpses but we had three pouches full of magic stones, a nice pile of smaller monster drops and almost 70 kilos of boar meat, it would have to be washed and cooked at the town but would feed us for a few days.

"Great, that should be enough, we're going back before it gets too dark" Mord told the group as I finished putting everything inside the giant backpack.

Carrying everything was hard and left me huffing and puffing to the point I had to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other or risk falling down but, surprisingly, I made it all the way, the bonus from being a level 1 being impressive, thankfully we only got into another two small fights and I didn't have to engage since the dungeon hadn't spawned things back yet.

We reached the town when the lights were almost gone and the party decided to celebrate the delve in the pub but I was just too tired, my entire body was aching and my back was killing me, I didn't even know how I hadn't fallen down yet so I just handed the entire haul of drops to Bors for safekeeping and distribution, handed the magic stone pouches to Mord and ignored everything else until I saw a bed in front of me, then I fell on top of it and passed out.


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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy and High Priest of Torga for supporting my work!
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If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

A/N: So, chapter 2... As I said, I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm fully caught up, I'm also writing a new chapter this week.

If you want to read ahead, every chapter is free on my patreon.

Also, found out how to threadmark the first post... I just started posting here, so I had some trouble with that.


Ah... right, this came up on one of my other fics, but I crosspost on a lot of other sites, usualy, my name is some variation of CapitãoCaverna, but I created this account with a different name, and I haven't found a way to change that yet, it didn't really come up before yesterday, when I finally started posting something.

Dungeon Delving is on Royalroadl, Webnovel, Spacebattles, Scribblehub and Archive of our Own... yeah, I kinda post everywhere... shame on me... Still, more readers, more feedback, more chances to attrack patreons... there's really no drawback.

In truth, my brother once had one of his stories stolen and posted on other sites, so I decided to do it myself, people can't post my story on other sites if I'm everywhere.

Someone still managed to copy my stories and turn them into an AI read audibook on youtube but... what can you do? At least they point out I'm the author.

Also, some of the accounts bellong to my brother. He decided to help me out by reposting it on other sites, but they all go to the same Patreon: CaptaoCav...


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Getting up from bed the next day turned out to be a harder feat than expected. Not only had I slept in my gear, my muscles were also aching and rigid from an entire day of activity. For someone who had spent most of the previous year without physical activity even the increase in physique from my Faulna wasn't enough to heal completely in only a single night.

With a groan of pain I managed to push myself away from the bed, my entire body stiff like an old man's, and sat down at the wooden chair, slowly moving my muscles to heat them up I started thinking about my first dungeon dive, the danger, the heavy smell of blood, the different monsters and flora, I couldn't help myself I started to laugh, this was what I had been missing, this was the kind of thing I had always wanted to do.

Well I could do with less pain but it was a small price to pay.

Pulling the mirror I had borrowed yesterday I let a drop of blood from my finger fall on my back and used it to read my new faulna

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – I - 11
Endurance – I - 8
Dexterity – I - 12
Agility – I - 13
Magic – I - 55
Skills:
- Chosen of an Outer God.
- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).

Hmm, it was a fairly large growth for a single day of work, I had no delusions that I could match Bell's rate of growth so the large increase must have come from surviving the 19th floor and several level 2 monsters on my first try

Taking some time to recover I slowly walk down the stairs towards the ground floor with a newfound resolution, no more conforming myself to other expectations, I'd been given a new lease on life, time to live it as I want.

"Aw, aw, aw" I said after each step and glared at the snickering Villy looking up at me, I never had an impressive glare in my previous life but glowing red eyes were great for intimidation.

I had just sat down in front of Villi when Mord poked his head on the door and smirked at my rigid body "there you are come on!" he waved me over with a bag filled with coins.

Releasing another groan I swore in my mind, couldn't the damn guy have waited a little to show up? grabbing at my chair I sighed and pushed myself back up "aw, aw, aw"

"Come on stop being a pussy" Mord called from outside, gritting my teeth I increased my pace as my muscles finally started to come loose from my movements.

Getting out of the building I almost jumped as a trunk like arm wrapped itself around my neck and pulled me closer "Hurry up newbie drinks are on me" Mord said at my ear forcing me to try and push the bastard away from my face with another groan at the physical strain, the asshole didn't even budge.

"The hell, why the sudden generosity?"

"Heh, it's not every day we make such a killing newbie" he laughed and let me finally break free from his arm, starting to lead me towards the only pub in the town "Not having to use the magic bombs let us earn far more than usual"

"How much?"

"For you? about 9 000 valis" he threw a little pouch at my chest which I almost didn't catch "For us, almost a week of work in the upper floors"

"Ugh, at least I can pay for my stay until someone kills the damn Goliath" I said and let the man lead me inside the pub, the place was almost empty so early in the day but Scott and Guile were already seated on a table with two extra mugs of beer.

"Ah don't worry, if someone doesn't kill it in about a week Bors will probably form a party to hunt it down" Scott said from the table "He just doesn't want to have to pay people to do it"

"Yep that's Bors alright, always looking out for number one" Mord laughed and sat down, I took a little more time before I managed to lower myself to the chair and take a swing of the beer, it was terrible.

"Ugh what is this shit?" I asked when I managed to swallow the horrible thing

"It is shit." Scott said with a perfectly serious face, then burst out laughing when I spit it out on the floor and tried to wipe my mouth clean. "Just kidding, we all know it tastes terrible but with the path to the surface cut off the pub can't resupply so people start getting… creative"

Looking at the ale in my hand I frowned "Ugh, do I wanna know where this comes from?"

"No, you really don't" Guile told me with a resigned voice before taking another swing of the mystery liquid.

I continued to look at the thing at my hand with suspicious, it didn't exactly taste like piss but it was close, what the hell it's free I'll drink it anyway, taking another swing to the cheers of my companions I swallowed and stretched my back before asking "So why have I received so little coin?"

"What, you expected equal share?" Mord mocked then started enumerating things on his fingers "first we had to pay Bors for using his monster farm, then we had to pay for the supplies and everything we used, then Bors take a share from the remaining and THEN you get your 10%"

"Well, you also had to pay Bors his finders fee and for lending you gear so…" Said Scott with a laugh "In Rivira the elder always wins"

All three of them took lifted their mugs and sighed at the same time "Greedy bastard"

"Why don't you just… use the spot?"

"Several reasons really, want some meat?" Mord told me and flagged a servant over to order breakfast when I shook my head "first, someone has to maintain the farming spots and Bors make you pay ten times if he finds out you used it without his say so, then a lot of the gear we used, especially the monster bait, isn't exactly legal so it's hard to aquire"

"Plus its expensive" Scott added with a sigh while Mord ordered some bread "Bors gives us all the equipment we need and takes his cut when we return, in the off chance we don't break even he takes the loss instead of us"

"Ugh" i said and finished my beer "I guess that's fair"

"You think Bors' is gonna send us out again?" Asked Guile with his mouth full when the breakfast finally arrived.

"Well probably one other time, his usual adventure parties are stuck on the middle floors so he doesn't have many options" Mord said and released a huge belch before slamming his mug on the table "Ah, getting stuck here may turn out to be very lucky for us"

"So, you guys still need a supporter?" I asked knowing that even with my eyes I wouldn't survive an encounter with even a single monster on the 19th floor much less the large groups we often meet

"What the hell sure, you weren't a complete waste of space like our last two supporters" throwing some valis on the table Mord laid back and relaxed "We're planning on a shorter delve later after lunch you can tag along for the usual 10% if you want"

Finishing my bread with eggs I nodded my head, not like I was gonna miss another chance to grow and watch level 2 adventurers to steal their moves, plus I hadn't had that much fun in… ever. Leaving the pub with the three of them I asked "Is there a place to wash myself here?"

"Take the town's northern exit. There's a small lake there that's not too close to any of the entrances to the 19th floor so it's mostly safe" Scott pointed out to me.

Tying my new fortune to my waits I thanked them and followed the directions, when I woke up I hadn't noticed but, after sweating so much while fighting and sleeping in my clothes I had started to smell.

Looking around as I walked I saw dozens of adventurers walking around with a variety of gear from full plate to barely any clothes, most were humans but there were a few pallum and animal people all around, all of them looking annoyed and some even fighting on the streets, thankfully I managed to sneak away without grabbing any attention.

Outside the small town there were quite a few people guarding or putting up tents to wait for the Goliath to be slain, in truth there was nothing stopping people from trying to sneak through the monster rex or run away from it but most didn't want to risk it, as Mord had explained yesterday while hunting, the beast wasn't the fastest but had enough power that a single bad hit could kill a fleeing level two adventurer so people who could afford it prefered to wait.

I reached the small lake to see there were nobody around so I spent 15 minutes making sure there weren't any monsters close by before taking off my clothes and washing myself as best as I could without soap, I managed to get myself clean and get rid of most of the blood on my gear before another party joined me making me hurry up since I didn't trust the others to keep their hands away from my gear.

Wearing wet but clean clothes I started exploring the safe floor making sure to keep an eye out for anything I couldn't handle.

The Dungeon really was a marvel, this floor's ceiling must have been at least half a kilometer high and the colorful glowing crystals made for a relaxing atmosphere almost making me forget how dangerous this place was, thankfully movement at the edge of my vision quickly snapped me out of it and I ducked as a stone hatchet flew over my head to bury itself on a tree.

With a loud 'squee' a large bipedal rabbit with red eyes tried to headbut me with its small horns, on pure reflex I managed to kick the little bastard away and took some distance until it recovered.

Twisting my head I smiled, the bloodthirsty little thing looked really cute as it crouched down and grabbed at the ground then pulled a second stone ax and puffing itself up to appear more threatening.

"You know what, you'll make for a great test subject" I told the monster as it tried to hack at my leg.

From what I remembered from the show Almiraj were somewhat weak level 1 monsters and my eyes gave me a huge advantage over the beast even if it was a little faster than me, pulling out the hard sheat of my sword I waited for the little beast to attack again before dodging aside and delivering a strong blow against its side sending it thumbling away.

The little guy recovered fast grabbing it's ax it used it's powerful legs to jump at me preparing for an overhead swing, lifting my weapon I tried to block the blow with a single hand but it had far more strength than I thought possible blowing right through my block and making me desperately jump back to avoid getting hacked in half, my heart beating hard against my chest at the excitement I started to smile, it seems the beast was a middle floor monster after all.

Reading myself for a fight I narrowed my eyes at the rabbit, I swore it was sneering at me for getting pushed back while pulling a second stone ax from the ground to hold in his left hand "Why you little… you know what, why the hell am I even fighting you right now?"

Staring at its smug little eyes I quickly composed an illusion and then took a few steps back to watch its effects, with an angry squeak the rabbit attacked the ground where I had been standing then took a large leap away before releasing a gasp of pain and dropping his right ax.

Looking around himself in confusion the almiraj moved it's intact arm before grabbing its weapon back and screeching in anger, its red eyes shining with rage at me before it launched the ax, it was far enough away that I managed to sidestep without problem, my second ilusion was better composed, in it I charged the rabbit and completely ignored any attack before grabbing it by the face and smashing it into the ground, I used the pain from getting smashed by the centipede as a base for the monster and it was much, MUCH more effective than just hitting it with a stick leaving it keening on the ground.

I had to confess watching a monster angrily swinging at empty air before falling to the ground by itself was amusing but the lament of pain made me feel bad for the little thing.

The monster took long enough to recover that I looked around and, seeing no other adventurer, decided to start testing things out with my illusions, I didn't pull out the mangekyou so I wouldn't risk my eyesight but there were plenty of things to test with illusions before I could really use them in a fight.

Good thing too since it turns out using illusions was hard, much harder than it seemed in naruto.

Creating an illusion didn't happen instantly like when I had watched anime, no I had to be able to picture in my mind what I wanted to project as perfectly as I could and anything I wasn't able to imagine was missing from the ilusion making it easier to break out of.

Projecting a single static picture for a few seconds was easy and barely took any effort or mind. I could make the almiraj see me standing around him without moving for hours but a more intelligent opponent would easily see through the illusion and ignore it.

Another thing to note was that the more senses I tried to fool the harder it became, creating visual illusions was made extremely easy by my sharingan since I was able to perfectly remember anything I had seen but the second I tried to project something I hadn't seen or worse, affect scent, hearing and tact, it became a thousand times harder and more expensive.

Creating the best and longest illusion I could I made the little rabbit start running in circles after a screaming copy of me, hitting the copy would feel like hitting a wall and it smelled mostly like me, then I stopped to consider, yeah I could make a stupid monster confused and helpless but another adventurer would never fall for it.

Despite my best efforts I had failed to consider a lot of things, the effect of wind on the clothes, some of the shades, the way my clothes looked from the back which I hadn't seen with the sharingan, the footprints I left in my path, how I'd sweat after running so much… there were thousands of little mistakes which could give the game away against a more cunning being.

Thankfully it seemed I could train my illusions, the more I tried to project something the faster and better I could do it, not because of the simple repetition but because I could remember it better, correct things that were missing as if I were creating a picture inside my mind and every time I remembered it I could put on a little more detail, make it a little closer to reality.

It seems like big and fantastical illusions could work very well on monsters but I'd have to rely more on subterfuge against human opponents.

Taking out my sword I walked towards the tired rabbit who had finally given up on following my illusion I sent it a vision of the dungeon without me in it so, although the beast turned around when it heard me approach and started sniffing at the air in confusion it remained in place as I grabbed my sword with both hands and split its head in half with an overhead swing.

Cleaning my blade I pocketed its crystal and sighed, my head was already aching from using too much mind and I'd have to support Mord's party in another two hours so I just went back to the town.

"Hey newbie! good work yesterday" Bors waved at me as I was entering the town, by his side was a redhead amazoness in real life bikini armor.

Thank you ROB for giving me the sharingan so I may never forget this view.

I mean, the adventurer woman I had already seen in Rivira were hot but they were mostly wearing full armor so I hadn't been able to truly enjoy the view, the woman had the body of a fitness model and an extremely cute face, she had a six pack together with visible muscles in her arms and legs but was still completely feminine, without the bulk of a bodybuilder.

Yep that confirms it, the gods were perverts and falna actively made people hotter, damn I used to live in a tropical country so I wasn't exactly a stranger to women wearing very little clothes but I had never seen anyone with a better body even on TV.

Bors seemed to almost be trying to escape from the amazon as he quickly finished his talk and hurried over to me, he kept glancing over his shoulder until the woman left the town completely and only then relaxed throwing himself on my shoulders and almost causing me to fall.

"Phew! How I hate first class adventurers" he said with a tired voice "Always wanting discounts and I can't even pressure them"

I facepalmed at his sheer shamelessness before curiosity got the best of me and I started to talk "So, who was she?"

Bors raised an eyebrow at me "Ah look at you, barely an adventurer and already trying to pick up women, I'm so proud!" he mocked "Farna's too much for you though, she's the vice captain of the Ganesha familia, they're bringing up a strong beast and wanted to know the Goliath situation" he finally allowed me to push his large body away and righted himself before smiling widely "I managed to get them to kill the damn thing and even pay for support from our strongest adventurers"

"Hmm, You think I can hitch a hide to the surface?"

"Probably, hell Ganesha is the god of the masses so they may even do it for free if you don't piss them off" He slapped my back twice and smirked "anyways congratulations newbie, you didn't die good job, Mord said you did alright"

"You're just happy cuz you got your 30%" I accused and had to dodge another painful slap to the back as Bors smirked.

"Heh, I can't really deny that's part of it" The large man said while we walked back towards the center of the little town "So… wanna watch the goliath fight? Since you saved me from that harpy I can find someone to protect you for only 5 thousand"

"Fuck off" I gave him the middle finger but he just messed up my hair and walked away, probably to try and scam someone else.

A nap later and my mind was mostly recovered, my muscles were back to giving me trouble though so I waited for Mord's party at the town's entrance while stretching and moving my limbs to try and get rid of their rigidness.

I waved Guile over when I caught sight of him carrying a large backpack and soon all three of them were waiting for me to put everything on my back and start walking again, I was thinking about ways to maximize my ilusion's effects when I noticed we weren't on the same patch "hey aren't we going the wrong way?"

"Nope, we're going to the 19th floor the proper way this time, the shortcut we took yesterday was great to reach Bors farm but if we aren't after that it has too much risk of getting us caught in a monster party" explained Scott by my side, the skinny man seemed to be the tactician of the party.

"Catch" said Mord without warning and I almost missed the small, square leather bag he threw my way, opening it I saw two small red vials and four green ones nested safely between some kind of foam "the green ones are weak antidotes, yesterday we avoided them but the 19th floor is full of poisonous things so it's better that everyone has at least four of those things before going down"

"Thanks"

"Oh you're giving those back when we return, don't worry about that newbie" he said and we finally reached the entrance to the next floor, a huge cave leading down illuminated by a mixture of crystals and moss.

Midway down we faced a bugbear and, later, a mad beetle, the beetle was the first single monster to give the party some trouble, mainly because the tunnel wasn't large and the creature had an extremely hard carapace, I kept my distance since I could barely see the movement of its arms even with my eyes, Scott finally had to take one of the spears and pierce its magic crystal when Mord got a deep slash to his tight, at least the thing dropped an antenna as a consolation prize.

The entrance to the large tree labyrinth looked like a jungle for giants, roots taller than me spread through the wooden floor and maxive trees climbed towards the ceiling with limbs spread over our heads in twisting paths so large they could easily support a battle boar on top of them and everything illuminated by the strange moss leaving almost no shadows anywhere.

Our first encounter was a group of lizardman, six of them without weapons charged at us jumping over a root but, without defenses or weapons they were easily picked off, three falling to guile's daggers before even reaching us and the rest getting cut down or clubbed to death by Mord and Guile.

I can't say I'll ever get used to the sight of smashed brains all over the floor when harvesting the lizardman but I did manage not to throw up and, I guess it did incentivise me to work faster so they would dissolve into dust.

The man sized fire birds were harder to take down but we only found one that Guile had to lure down while Scott and Mord climbed trees to ambush it.

Together the party had to take some large detours to avoid any bright colored or too large flower unwilling to risk getting poisoned but we were all forced to drink antidotes after dozens of small, bipedal mushrooms burst out of the ground all around us, thankfully the little nuisances were very weak level 1 monsters and even I managed to kill them with ease but we all grew more and more sluggish with every one killed, our blows losing strength until, by the end of the fight I couldn't hold my own weapon and was barely keeping myself up with Scott and Guile only a little better.

Thankfully no other monster attacked at the same time and we all recovered after taking the antidote and waiting 10 minutes, wrapping some clothes over my face I put on some gloves and harvested their crystals while trying to hold my breath and it either worked or they were no longer releasing poison because I didn't have to use another dose.

A few hours later I noticed I had started to see faint shadows over the movements of the lizardman and centipedes, by far the most common monsters we fought.

"Hey Mord, can I try to fight one of the lizards next time?" I suddenly asked as I was harvesting another bugbear, this one pretty badly hurt since Mord and Guile had gone to town on it after it had thrown Scott at a tree and made him pass out.

"You sure? they're far weaker than minotaurs but they're still considered a level 2 monster you know"

"Yeah but that's because of the weapons isn't it? they don't seem as fast as the other level 2 I have seen" I told him unable to mask the eagerness in my voice "If one shows up without weapons again can I fight him?"

"You know what, sure, try and not lose a limb or something and you should have made enough to buy a better healing potion" he said as I tied up another full pouch to my bag and got up from the bugbear's dust "Scott can you spot the little madman?"

"Sure, I'm fast enough to keep him from dying immediately"

Seeing all three of them agree I smiled "Thanks, I have been watching them and think I can handle one if I don't have to worry about other things"

Then we heard the screaming, we looked at each other for a second before everyone turned to Mord, a second scream of pain started and didn't stop as some unlucky adventurer started to suffer, Mord swallowed before meeting each of our eyes and sighing.

"Alright we're gonna check it out but safely! If it's a monster party or an irregular we're not gonna be able to help you understand?" When I nodded he motioned for Scott to scout ahead while we followed as fast as we could without making much noise with me copying their movements, walking besides Guile we traded amused glances as we both were able to hear Mord's soft grumbling voice "Godsdamnit my soft heart, you don't run towards the screaming Mord, never run towards the screaming…"

Nearly a minute latter the screaming stopped and I heard a loud roar of rage take its place almost causing me to stumble, the closer we came to our target the more we started to hear of the struggle as something large smashed against the trees, then Scott dropped from a tree near Mord and we all stopped.

"get the fucking spears out, we're fighting it" he told everyone and hurried towards me as I took of my bag and took out his bow before stringing it.

"what is it?" Mord asked as he dropped any extra weight he held and readied himself.

"A Vouivre"

Another loud roar with a distinctly feminine tone rattled the trees around us and sent a shiver down my spine.

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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga and James Williams for supporting my work!
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[CapCaverna]

Alright, had a case of food poisoning and couldn't really post, or even write for some time, but I'm back... still not at 100%, but recovering.

I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

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"Shit!" Mord almost didn't manage to stop his own scream as he lost all color on his face. "Shit, can we take it?"

"It's wounded and some of the previous party fighting it may still be alive." Scott told us while tying a quiver to his waist and pulling out a stamina potion.

"Shit." Mord cursed again before downing his own stamina potion. "We can't let this chance pass us by."

"What's a Vouivre?"

"A draconic female monster, like a lamia from the middle floors, but far bigger and stronger." Mord explained while everyone got ready. "Thing is, it's really fucking rare and always has a lot of drops. If we kill it, we can earn enough for half a year of work."

"It's also really fucking strong, it's like a mini boss monster. Kinda like the infant dragon on the upper floors." warned Scott while patting me in the shoulder.

Looking at the three of them, I only saw small valis in place of their eyes. There was no stopping it now.

Considering my options, I dropped everything I was carrying and sighed. At every encounter we had, I had been training my illusions, I was almost out of mind to cast and I wouldn't make it back without them. "Any of you guys have a mind potion?"

"I have one." said Guile. "It's from some annoying mage we partied with two months ago, I just never got rid of it."

"Ha! I knew the fights were a little too easy." Mord said in triumph. "You got some kind of daze or confuse spell you've been chanting?"

"I can create crude illusions." I confessed a little of what I could do while taking the small blue vial from Guile's hand and downing it in a single gulp. "It's much harder to use against stronger monsters and works best when there are more than one, but I can probably make it miss some blows or leave itself open a couple of times."

"Will it work on this monster?"

"Fuck if I know, I could use it on the bugbears…" I trailed off and shrugged.

"Fine, try to create openings for us if you can, but we won't be counting on it." Mord nodded at me and took a deep breath. "Alright, we're gonna try and get the jump on this thing. Kid, you just stay away from the fighting and watch out for other monsters, Scott, keep your distance and harass with arrows, if Guile and I die, just run and try to get the kid back to Rivira alright?"

"Sure Boss." Scott lied and squeezed his bow harder, making the wood creek.

We approached the Vouivre's location as carefully as we could, using one of Scott's scent masking herbs and making sure to avoid stepping on anything and cause noise. Thankfully, there weren't any dried leaves or twigs in the ground.
We made good time towards the monster, before all of us crouched under a root and I got my first look of the draconic monster.

It was large, larger than a bugbear by far. Mord was right when he said the thing was like a lamia, it had a large reptilian tail that was much thicker than those depicted in stories, looking heavy and with a round ending.

The woman part had bluish skin, with hard brown scales covering its privates, a large pair of wings sprouted from its back, with massive thin claws at the end of muscular arms, too large for its body, it's hair was long and it had needle like fangs all over its mouth. It was also covered in blood and eating the flesh of a dismembered woman.

I was frozen as I stared at the towering beast.

It must have ripped off the woman's limbs right where her body had fallen before attacking the torso itself, because there were trails of blood in four directions.

Entrails were pulled out and spread over the moss on the floor. The beast had broken her ribs and pulled them open like a door to get access to the heart and lungs that it was currently chewing on.

Another man was pinned by the stomach to a root by what must have been his own spear, his arms and legs flapping bonelessly and some of his intestines hanging out of his belly, the trails of blood told me he had struggled to pull himself free before dying.

A third man had his legs cut off and was laying face down a few meters away, with yet a fourth laying against another root, blood all over its clothes.

I crouched there and my eyes took it all in, every speck of blood and gore, every piece of this horror hit me like a punch to the stomach and I knew I'd never be able to forget it for the rest of my life. No wonder the Uchiha went mad.

Taking my time to register everything around the large beast, I managed to keep myself from throwing up and spent almost a full minute just trying to hear and see everything about the situation.

Almost trembling from just the presence of the beast, I knew I couldn't afford to take it easy.

I activated the mangekyou, immediately feeling a aching sensation in my eyes and, unable to catch it's eyes, threw the best lesser illusion I could at the beast. I showed it the location as it was before anyone moved in, then nodded towards Guile.

The large man stood slowly, making as little noise as he could and released a very slow, very deliberate, sigh of relief when the Vuivre didn't react.

We had planned it before arriving, I'd mask their view and try to mask their noise, before both melee fighters approached.

I wasn't sure I could do scent as well, so I decided to focus on the other two senses and allow both melee fighters to get a devastating first blow against the dragonkin while it didn't know they were there. With some hope, all the blood would mask their approach.

Thankfully, the beast was already relaxed enough after the fight that the illusion took hold.

Mord and Guile made their way towards the beast, Guile in front with his shield and spear at the ready. Once, they had to freeze as the Vouivre smelled them on the air and lifted it's head to look around but, not seeing anything, the creature dismissed its concerns and continued to eat.

From his place up on a branch, Scott pulled out an arrow and started testing if he could get a good enough footing to draw it, the branch was wide enough that he soon found a comfortable position and waited while both warriors flanked the beast and prepared their blows.

Unsheathing my sword and crouching between some roots where I could still keep an eye on the beast I watched as Mord and Guile took their positions one in the front and another at the creature's back then stabbed with their spears aiming for the monster's crystal to end the fight early.

Mord's spear pierced all the way through the vouivre's torso but somehow missed her crystal, the beast reacted with serpentine reflex twisting away, Guile's spear leaving a deep gash on its chest but failing to pierce it.

With a loud roar of pain it whipped its tail around and hit Guile's shield, sending the man stumbling back while striking blindly behind itself forcing Mord to retreat then it lifted its head and opened its wings wide, releasing another roar of rage so loud I had to cover my ears.

I felt my ilusion break as the beast's magic was roused and tried to send another one, something hastily put together that would only leave static copies of adventurers I had seen laying around the beast, hopefully confusing it a little but it didn't take hold, the Vouivre in too much pain and rage to be fooled by a lesser ilusion.

Guile threw his spear like a javelin but the beast batted it aside with an arm and took the time to break the shaft of the one piercing its body, pull it out and throw it away.

Then it reeled away with a screech of pain as an arrow sprouted from its left eye, Mord and Guile didn't waste the chance.

They struck as one Mord jumping up to try and get to the beast head while guile delivered a powerful blow to it's chest caving in some of the creature's scales, the beast twisted around with a wide sweep of its arm and Mord was forced to block with his sword or be disemboweled by its claws.

A second arrow nicked its neck and it roared again, its wings retracting to protect its head before its eyes focused on Guile and it was all the warrior could do to survive the fury of blows it released.

Claw swipes dug deep gashed in Guile's shield forcing the man to retreat while the beast keep Mord away with tail strikes which hit the ground with so much strength it sent wood flying like shrapnel, another two arrows hit it in the chest and tail but the Vuivre just ignored them and continued it's assault.

I kept trying to catch it in another Illusion but it was too strong for me and I was left feeling useless as the group fought for its life.

Mord finally managed to dodge the creature's tail and, blocking the shrapnel from reaching his face with an arm delivered a deep cut to the vuivre's waist, the beast twisted around once again delivering a devastating tail strike against Guile's shield and sending him flying through the air.

Ducking under another arrow the female dragonkin focused on Mord and delivered strike after strike even as blood flew everywhere from the deep gash on her waist.

Mord was overwhelmed, with only his sword he wasn't able to fully block its claws and was scratched again and again making his armor look more like rags and leaving his arms trembling from the strain, in desperation he took a claw swipe to the chest armor in order to focus fully on a new strike.

With a scream he delivered a full powered chop towards the beast's limbs somehow managing to sever both of them just below the elbow, the creature was beyond caring thought and just struck like a snake biting down on his neck and riding him to the ground.

Scott frantically shot arrow after arrow but the beast curled her tail around Mord like a snake and let the arrows pierce her strong muscular coils while she savaged Mord's neck.

Looking around I noticed Guile finally getting up but his shield arm was hanging limply by his side and he had clearly hurt his leg since he was limping as fast as he could towards the two fighters.

"Crap he won't make it" I didn't even notice I had spoken out loud, I was afraid, no, terrified, our party was losing and, although the vouivre was deeply hurt it still seemed strong enough to finish off Guile and face Scott alone.

I knew what I should do now, there was no shame in retreating from an enemy vastly more powerful than myself, we had even discussed it, Guile was too hurt to escape so he would draw the monster's attention and Scott and I would escape to live another day.

Fuck, I knew Scott wasn't gonna abandon them of his own accord but if I ran first he may follow, I could be saving his life even.

Even if he didn't follow me, I could be careful and use my illusions well enough to have a chance of making it up to the 18th floor, certainly more of a chance than if I faced the powerful monster as a level 1 with all my attributes below three digits.

The hell, for all I knew those guys could have been planning to kill me after dealing with the Vouivre to avoid paying my 10%, we only had a professional relationship where they were paying for me to act as a supporter it's not like we were a permanent party and the money from such big haul could be enough for them to turn against me, I even vaguely remember Mord acting like an asshole towards Bell on the Danmachi anime.

With trembling legs and my heart threatening to burst out of my chest from fear I ran.

My first throwing dagger hit the Vouivre on the shoulder and the second dug into its neck as I circled the beast to get a better angle, it wasn't enough to get it to release the limp form of Mord from it's coils but its remaining eye glared my way as the beast took another bite of the man.

The sheer amount of rage there, seeing the boiling hate on its eye, I knew even visual contact enhanced by the mangekyo wouldn't be enough to affect it so, more or less on instinct, I activated my trump card, Kotoamatsukami.

In an instant I felt myself being drawn into its eye, felt myself fall into an abyss of darkness only sometimes illuminated by scenes of blood and carnage, the only feelings this creature felt were rage and a very muted amount of pain, it didn't even take pleasure on it's kills, not really.

Grasping at its consciousness I desperately tried to find a way to influence it, to change the rage it felt, every time I tried a wave of red hot hate washed over my work tainting it back into incoerent, bestial madness, there was something controling the beast, a sinister influence permeating its mind and filling it with the irrational desire to eliminate every intruder.

Feeling a mind down coming and knowing Mord didn't have enough life left on him for me to take my time I flailed around desperately.

Wielding my power more like a hammer than the delicate instrument it was supposed to be, I felt something give, the influence inside its mind snapped, breaking the connection it had with the creature but the backlash disrupted my technique and I didn't have enough mind to fight back.

In desperation, my only thoughts to shift the beast's attention from its current prey, I managed to send it two imperatives, the first telling it that Mord wasn't important and the second that I was.

I came back to myself with a scream of pain, I had the worst headache of my life and I felt like my right eye was about to explode as a flood of blood ran down my face but it worked, the draconic woman released Mord's body and lifted itself up to stretch its wings.

Blocking another arrow with the stump of an arm the beast found me standing there and narrowed its eye.

"Oh crap" I said as I cursed myself for my stupidity, why the hell didn't I just make it ignore me too.

The beast would then have turned towards Guile or Scott, both of which are far more likely to survive it's attacks, but nooo I had to be the hero and now I was gonna get murdered by a half dead monster.

Stumbling once from the pain I managed to get my feet under me and ran towards Guile's discarded spear as the Vouivre released another roar that shook me to my core and charged.

Dropping my sword I ran as if my life depended on it, I ran with everything I had expecting the creature to bite me in half with every step I took.

I reached the spear and slid down on the moss grabbing for it's shaft, turning around I briefly registered Scott's body thumbling away from the monster holding one of its amputated wings, making sure I planted the butt of the spear on the ground like I had seen the warriors do yesterday I braced myself to receive the beast's charge.

Unfortunately a Vouivre was not a boar, seeing the spear pointed its way the monster twisted aside flowing around the spear with ease, only the fact my mangekyo were open saved me as I managed to follow its lightning fast movements.

Releasing the spear I cried out and tried to protect my head and neck with my arms.

It hit me like a truck, its hook like fangs biting down on my forearm and crushing my bones before its body slammed into me and drove my back into the ground for several meters, then it trashed its head wrenching my arm out of its sockets and lifting my feet off the ground and slamming me back down driving the air out of my lungs.

Opening its mouth the beast released my arm only to bite into my shoulders sending another wave of pain through my body.

I screamed in fear and, with a desperate drive to survive, I managed to grab its face with my left hand. The beast ignored me until I dug my thumb into its eye sockets.

Screeching in pain the Vouivre pulled its face away from me before striking blindly at my arm biting off my pinky and ring finger together with some of my hand, it pulled its head back to finish me off.

Opening its mouth impossibly wide to show a row of bloody fangs the Vuivre reared back for a new strike, looking at it I saw my death bearing down on me in slow motion.

The large mace hit it on the side of the head with all the strength Guile's arms could muster sending the creature's entire body away from me, releasing a whimper of relief I managed to turn my head enough to see the vouivre's serpentine body twisting uselessly at the ground.

Even blind and with half its head caved in the monster still seemed to be trying to get to me until Guile laid a boot at its back and used his mace to pulverize its head against the wooden floor ending it once and for all.

Laying there on the floor with a pool of blood starting to spread from my wounds I could only stare at the dead monster, the tip of its tail still twitching about before I burst out laughing.

I had survived, despite the incredible stupidity of what I had done I survived, then the adrenaline started leaving my system and the pain hit me.

Sucking in a breath I dared look down at my shoulder to see a large piece of it just missing with bite marks left on my exposed bone, I couldn't move my arm and was barely hanging on to my consciousness as the pain continued to increase.

I wanted nothing more than to give up and pass out, the only thing keeping my eyes open was the fear I wouldn't wake up if I did so I focused my sight on Guile and watched as he released his mace and walked towards me.

"Stupid kid…. haaa…. haaa…" he said as he approached me his shoulders dropping from exhaustion "Should have ran"

"I… argh! I'm telling myself the same thing" I confessed.

Kneeling down besides me Guile took out several vials from the pouch at his side and opened the first pouring it down on top of my shoulder, my muscles contracted as the potion felt like alcohol being thrown on my exposed wound but the bleeding immediately stopped, throwing the vial away he opened another and poured it at my arm with the same result.

"Ugh… so tell me doctor… huff… will I live?" I tried to joke but it came out with far too much truth to be funny, I had lost a lot of blood.

"It's not gonna be pretty… haaa…. and you're gonna have to see a specialist to fix this mess on Oratio but you're gonna make it" the large man said still trying to recover his breath "Hopefully we're all gonna make enough that we won't be in debt after this"

Guile Helped me drink a third potion vial, I felt my wounds all close leaving me with an odd tingling sensation over them so, of course the headache from overusing my eyes came back in full and even the potions couldn't stop the bleeding from my right eye.

Turning my head away from Guile I closed both eyes to see if the pain would go down but it was no use.

For a few minutes I laid there breathing hard while Guile ripped my shirt and used it to wrap my arm against my body then he got up and kicked my leg lightly "Come on get up, we don't want to tempt the dungeon into sending a monster party after us"

Remembering the place I was laying on was actually a semi sentient thing hellbent on killing me I opened my eyes wide and pushed myself up as fast as I could, it was not a good idea as Guile had to hold me up until the world stopped spinning and I regained my footing.

Note to self, blood loss and exhaustion did not allow for fast movement.

Finally managing to look at my surroundings I saw that Mord was actually alive if in an even worse situation than me, he was sitting against a tree pale like a corpse and with a chunk of his neck missing and one of his legs bent into an odd angle while his armor had to be discarded, his shirt absolutely soaked with blood.

Surprisingly there was an elf laying beside him with a pair of amputated legs by his side, the male wasn't awake but his chest was moving and his stumps were already healed.

Finally I found Scott forcing a potion down the throat of the elf woman leaning against a root as she tried to wave him away to check on her remaining companions, she didn't seem ready for a fight as she constantly missed his hands or fell back down as if drunk.

He finally lifted her in a princess carry and laid her back down besides her companion before coming to stand with Guile and me.

"So they were alive after all" Guile commented as Scott came closer "what's up with them?"

"They're Loki familia, it was their leader's first time leading them on the lower floors and as far as I could find out from the girl they had shitty luck" Scott explained before turning to me and looking over my limp arm "You alright? think you can continue walking?"

"I won't be fighting anything but I think I can make it back to the town if we stop to rest once or twice" I gave him my best guess, it wasn't the time to act proud since our lives were still on the line.

"Good… good" he trailed off while looking towards our wounded, all three of them didn't look like they were gonna be walking anytime soon "Alright Guile you carry Mord, I think I can carry the crippled elf without much trouble and you newbie watch the girl, she hit her head but is mostly alright you just have to keep her awake and walking"

"You sure?" asked Guile with a lifted eyebrow

"Shit I don't want to just leave them here man" Scott sighed and covered his face with his hands while releasing a long sight "Look if we travel carefully the both of us should have enough time to lay them down and kill any monster we can't avoid but if things look bad we abandon the elves and ran for it alright?"

Without a better idea we both nodded and got into action.





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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga and James Williams for supporting my work!
.

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

Alright, here's chapter 4.

For personal reasons, I'll skip posting tomorrow, but you guys can still find my content for free on my patreon if you want to read ahead.

I'll be back with chapter 5 on wednesday. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

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Truth be told, we weren't exactly ready to make our way back to Rivira, but we had to, at the very least, get away from the clearing where we fought.

I still wasn't thinking clearly, but I managed to get one of the elf's arms over my shoulder and, with Scott guiding me, hobbled away from the blood filled place.

We must have made for a sorry lot. Guile and Scott were carrying two cripples like backpacks, while I and my elf companion stumbled around like a couple of drunks.

I must have lost some time then because, next thing I knew, Scott was guiding me into a spot between tree roots where Mord and the elf male were already lying down.

It was a collection of roots from different trees that had twisted around each other and then dug into the wooden floor before spreading apart, leaving a hollow spot between them, almost like an underground cave.

My companion just mumbled incoherently as I guided her path towards our temporary resting place. With another groan, she collapsed against the root, her eyes unfocused.

Lying against the wood of the ground, I wasn't much better. My head was still killing me, my right eye was aching and I was having trouble breathing.

Shit, I wasn't certain I could focus enough to fight a 10 years old right now, much less cast illusions, and my shoulder was still dislocated. The bites on my arm and shoulder were also starting to hurt again despite the healing potions having closed the wounds.

"You alright there?" asked Scott as he crouched over my body and looked at my wounds.

"Perfect." I lied and stared at my limp arm. "Can't you at least put my arm back in place?"

"Well, I can try, if you really want me to…" He looked over my arm again and shook his head. "But, I really don't recommend it. Even if I do it right and don't make it worse, your arm is still broken. The cheap potions we used aren't that effective."

"Ugh…" I groaned and considered it, but decided not to take the risk. "Fine, you wouldn't have another mind potion you were hiding for later then?"

"No, never needed it." He patted me on the leg and got up to check on Guile who was breathing hard and massaging his wounded leg.

Putting my good arm over my eyes, I tried to take deep breaths and relax my muscles to alleviate the pain. It wasn't all that effective.

I hadn't really noticed before, what with the life or death situation and the tension of just getting away from that clearing, but I was utterly exhausted, my body felt like I had just ran a marathon; every muscle was aching and complaining after each breath.

A few seconds later, I just passed out.

Mord was the one who woke me up. He did so by throwing a roll of bandages on my face, making me jerk upward and jolting my wounded arm, causing my head to explode with pain once again.

"Fuuuuuck!" I groaned as I cradled my head with my good hand and tried not to throw up.

"Shit, sorry newbie." Came Mord's weak voice, with at least some amount of regret.

Taking another couple of deep breaths, I finally managed to open a single eye and glare at the pale party leader. He didn't look good.

Pieces of his neck and shoulder were still missing and he was pale like a corpse. Mord seemed barely awake, his body resting against the tree and his eyes struggling to focus on me, so I decided to drop it.

Taking stock of the situation, I noticed some ichor from a centipede at the entrance of our little resting place, and the fact that Guile and Scott were nowhere to be seen.

My heart skipped a beat for a second, causing me to hold my breath, but I saw most of their gear resting against the tree at Mord's side, with the Vouivre's drops poking out from inside the bag. At least they hadn't abandoned us.

"What… happened?" Mord finally asked while trying to focus enough to look at my wounds, his voice was extremely worried, despite the sheer exhaustion. "Where's everyone else?"

"We killed the thing." I answered before registering what he was really asking about and smiling. "Everyone is alive."

"Thank fuck… ugh, always knew greed would do me in." Either that was enough to satisfy his curiosity or Mord was just too tired to continue talking, because he let his head hang down on his chest and closed his eyes.

Damn bastard, going right back to sleep after waking me up.

I continued to look around, the elf woman was also missing from the cave, but her companion was left laying at another corner, wrapped in a cape, his chest slowly moving up and down with his breathing.

I snorted in amusement, legless the elf was still alive it seemed.

Pushing myself fully into a sitting position, I finally wiped the blood from under my right eye. Trying to open it caused me a lot of pain, so I grabbed for Mord's thrown bandages and wrapped them around my head until it was completely covered.

I tried to send some power into my eyes, the left eye was working alright, but I felt some kind of blockage against my right one. Some instinctual understanding told me I wouldn't be able to activate the mangekyou on that eye for at least a few days, and the Kotoamatsukami seemed to be permanently beyond it now.

Fuck, not even a week into this world and one of my greatest strengths was already gone.

Why the fuck didn't I let Scott handle the Vouivre? He'd probably be only a few seconds slower than me at reaching the beast anyway.

Searching my own backpack, I found another stamina potion and drank it down before gathering my courage to stand up. Even with the medicine, my body still felt heavy with exhaustion.

The temptation to just lie down and take a proper nap was strong, but I just knew something worse would turn up if I closed my eyes again, probably a wild floor boss or something. I just had that kind of luck.

Another few minutes and I had finally recovered enough to push myself up, even if I had to use the tree as support. Making sure I still had a few throwing knives in my pants, I grabbed one of the extra spears and used it like a cane to walk towards the entrance.

Looking outside, I saw the moss on the floor was covered with spilled blood and ichor in various spots, but there were no corpses or any signs of the rest of the party.

Lowering my head, I walked through the entrance as carefully as I could manage, only relaxing when I saw Scot, Guile and the elf woman sitting around a small fire, some kind of large plant burning on top of it.

Holding on to my spear/cane tightly, I made my way towards the three of them. "What's going on?"

"Hey you're awake!" Greeted Scott, while the other two just nodded. "Come, sit."

A few more steps, a loud groaning and some amount of pain later, I was sitting besides Guile, while the large man slowly threw yellow leaves inside the fire. "Why are we just sitting here again?"

"Saelus and your party leader need rest." Answered the elf woman, speaking for the first time since I had seen her. She actually looked both embarrassed and annoyed to do it.

Looking at her eyes, I saw a small amount of distaste for all three of us in her face. Damn, I forgot elves were kinda racist here.

"This is Remilia." Scott introduced while fanning the flames. "She has some medical training and was able to help Mord and her own companion, but we have to let them rest while the potions work or risk them dying."

"It's the least any adventurer should know when delving." She mumbled while stealing a glance towards the root cave and biting down on her nails. "We should give them another hour at least."

"Excuse us if we're not from a first class familia." Guile grumbled and threw another leaf.

A sudden noise to the right caused me to jump up, my spear held tightly. The sudden movement gave me a bout of vertigo and I almost fell down as my vision went white. A second later, I managed to refocus and see all three of my companions relax and sit back down.

Looking towards the noise, I saw an arm sized branch lying on the floor, signs of blunt force damage where it had broken from the tree.

"Ha, even burning so much monster repellent, we're all still jumping in fear like rookies." Scott mocked and received a venomous glare from Remilia.

"If you haven't noticed, we had to fight at least three times since we stopped." The Elf commented while finally releasing her weapon, a short and thin sword.

"Come on, sit back down Roland." Guile pulled at my clothes and I relaxed, letting him help me sit down.

"Alright, what's the plan now?" I finally asked after a minute of silence.

Scott looked at the Elf, but she didn't even open her eyes to acknowledge the question so he shrugged and answered.

"We guard the cave for another hour or so before Mord and the Elf can take another dose of healing." He said while poking at the fire with the tip of one of his long knives. "With me and Remilia back in fighting shape, and Guile protecting the wounded, our chances are much better."

Scott didn't seem to be lying, so I sighed in relief and felt a weight I didn't know I was carrying lift from my shoulders.

I had a sudden impulse to laugh out loud but, looking at the stern figure of the Elf sitting straight like I ruller, I decided to hold myself back. I doubt she'd appreciate my good humor after losing most of her party.

"Here." said Guile as he threw me a water pouch and some kind of meat ration. "You better eat something before we make for the village."

"Thanks." I nodded his way and bit into the meat. It had the texture of rubber and tasted even worse.

I made a face at ugly thing but, after the first bite hit my stomach, I finally noticed just how hungry I was, so I forced myself to continue eating before washing it all down with big gulps of water.

"Don't worry newbie, after getting to Rivira, we're gonna feast like kings.'' Scott leaned towards me and patted my shoulder while laughing at my distress. "We've got the full loot from a Vouivre and the gratitude of the Loki familia, we're set for… HEY!"

The rogue was fast enough to jump back as I almost spewed water all over his face. My face had gone white and I had to force myself to release my spear once again. "Coff… coff… which familia did you just say?"

"Do you have a problem with the Loki familia, Supporter?" Asked the Elven woman while looking to see if any water had hit her armor, utter disgust in her face.

"Nope… no problem at all!" I quickly denied. "Just to be certain, you're talking about Norse god Loki right, son of Odin?"

"I don't know what the Norse are, but Loki-sama is one of Odin's daughters, yes." The elf answered looking at me suspiciously.

I was hoping that wasn't the case. Damn I knew it would be impossible to not get involved with some god or another, but did it have to be one of the worst ones out there?

I mean, I had only watched Danmachi up to season 2, so I knew very little about the Loki familia besides the fact they were strong and had Ais but, if they aren't some kind of evil mastermind last boss, I would eat my shoe.

Come on their head was Loki, shapeshifter god of lies and fire. The guy, or girl here I guess, was the father/mother of the worst monsters in Norse mythology and the one to cause Ragnarok. There's just no way he/she wasn't planning to destroy Orario behind everyone's back… or worse.

I mean, in the anime, Loki seemed like just a mischievous god, but I didn't trust that at all. Gods, in nearly every mythology, were considered arrogant assholes. Even the ones that weren't really evil usually considered humans as beneath them.

Well, danmachi was an adaptation, so it wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility that their Loki was a good guy/girl, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Noticing all three of my companions were now giving me odd looks, I gave them my best innocent smile. "Yeah, when you guys go talk to the Loki familia for a reward can you, maybe, not mention my name?"

"Why?" Asked the elf, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

Before I could answer, Scott jumped up from his sitting position sending us all into alert. "Who's there!"

Oh, thank god, a distraction!

Everyone went quiet for a few seconds as we waited for an answer, or a monster to rush in.

The silence lasted long enough that I was about to try and change the conversation when the answer finally came.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Said an arrogant voice from between the trees, it seemed to be slightly disappointed.

I briefly let myself relax when everyone turned away from me, then I noticed the way they had all straightened and were holding on to their weapons and swallowed hard.

Grabbing the shaft of my spear, I took stock of my situation. My head was still pounding and my right arm was useless, but I felt better after eating something. Nowhere near fighting shape, but mobile at least.

From the forest, I saw three men walking towards us. They were large and built like Guile, massive and filled with muscle, but also wearing thick, cloth armor that made them look even bigger.

"Greetings." Said Scott. He got up and looked up in the trees behind the men, searching for something. "We're just taking a rest before making our way back to Rivira, our friend got hurt early on, so we did not have much luck this delve."

Seeing as Guile and Remilia followed Scott's example, I tried my best to get up without showing just how wounded I was. No need to show more weakness than what was already obvious.

"Really?" Said the one in the center while scratching at a thick beard. "Interesting, because my friend here just heard something about a Vouivre, a very rare monster isn't that right?"

We all traded glances, then Guile slowly put himself in front of our party while Scott and Remilia attempted to shield the cave from the newcomer's sight.

My heart started beating hard against my chest, while bile rose into my throat. I did not like the way this conversation was going.

"Indeed." Guile said slowly. "Damn strong too, we barely escaped the thing with our lives."

"Yeah, the damn thing almost killed my friend over there before we managed to stun it and run away." Scott nodded, but his eyes never left the trees and his hands slowly loosened his throwing knives.

The three newcomers briefly looked at each other and laughed mockingly before the leader focused back on Guile and gave him a smirk. "Somehow, I don't think I believe you."

Shit! Sending a small amount of power into my good eye, I ignored the pain as it hit me and activated the mangekyou once again.

I wouldn't be able to use any believable illusions right now, but the increased visual power and prediction ability would be the only thing allowing me to survive a fight and even a second distraction was enough to save my life.

Fuck, could I kill a human? Monsters were one thing, but I had never gotten into a serious fight before, spars and play fighting yes, but I had never thrown a punch and really meant to hurt somebody.

All three men unsheathed their swords and started advancing and Remilia shouted, trying one last time to avoid the fight.

"We're from the Loki familia!" She cried out, lifting some emblem up into the air with one hand while squeezing a beautiful dagger on the other. "The monster's loot isn't worth that much to us, we can just give it to you but, if you fight us now, the Loki familia will never forgive you!"

The men paused when the leader lifted a closed fist, his eyes showing amusement. "Hmmm… a good proposal, and what's to stop you from hunting us down anyway after reuniting with your familia?"

"I swear in my name as Remilia Forestwind, I and my companions won't even mention your existence." She said and I had some hope that we wouldn't have to fight. "We don't even know your names."

Lifting his large sword to rest on his shoulders, the bearded man laughed out loud. "Well, I do like earning money without doing any of the work after all, why not?!"

Ramilia and I both relaxed when the man's companions lowered their weapons, getting robbed of our well earned loot sucked, but it beat getting murdered for it.

Everything happened in an instant. The bandit leader went from relaxed and friendly to grinning like a maniac and delivering an all out strike towards Guile's head at the same instant that Scott kicked my legs out from under me and jumped towards the elf.

My fall was sudden and painful, it also saved my life as I felt something sailing right where my neck used to be, the air whistling at its passage.

My companions weren't fooled by the man's words and had been ready. Scott had saved Remilia from another two arrows by smashing into her with his shoulder causing both her emblem and dagger to fly away from her hands.

At the same time, Guile acted fast, lifting his arm, he used his shield to receive the blow and struck one of the others.

The second man had lowered his guard in order to sell their ruse and would have received a killing blow to the head had Guile been in perfect condition. Unfortunately, his leg was still wounded and had faltered upon receiving the leader's strike.

The mace's blow struck the man's shoulder instead, causing him to stumble back with a cry of pain and temporarily taking him out of the fight, but I lost sight of the battle soon after.

A fourth Bandit rushed in under some kind of camouflage skill, attempting to stab Scott on the back. The bandit seemed almost invisible, his body changed colors with the background, but my improved eyesight caught the minute differences in the air.

"Watch out!" I screamed at the same time that I lifted my spear and stabbed the center of the bandit.

The second I struck, I knew I had made a mistake. A combination of using my non-dominant hand and hesitation at hurting another person made my stab far weaker than it should have been. It pierced the first layer of cloth armor the bandit was wearing, but barely drew blood and got stuck into his gambeson.

The short man turned around, almost wrenching the spear out of my hand, and struck at my fallen form, but I was already rolling into my good side, dodging his blow. I'd still have been cut, if one of Scott's knives didn't pierce the man's arm, causing him to swear.

His skill disrupted and opportunity lost, the man jumped back as Remilia rushed him and delivered a series of slashes with her sword, forcing him to retreat constantly or risk dying.

Even the single glance I took of her fight was enough to know, the only reason the man survived was that she was still tired and hurt. Her technique was far better than even Scott and Guile together.

Finally pushing myself up, I decided she had the rogue well in hand and rushed the three warriors in front.

Scott and Guile were fighting fiercely; their combined might and my help were enough to reach a stalemate with the bandits.

Wounded as I was, I wasn't much better than a distraction in the fight and, even if I had the speed to get past any of the bandits guard, which I didn't, I also didn't have the strength to deliver a telling blow, but I still used my spear's reach to threaten them like an annoying wasp.

They may suspect how weak I was, but nobody wanted to risk ignoring me and finding out.

Despite the danger, I smiled, things were going our way and, soon, Remilia would deal with the rogue and come help us, those bastards had chosen poorly.

Of course that's when everything went wrong. I felt the impact before I could react, a crossbow bolt hitting my armor with the strength of a sledgehammer, piercing its metal and my chest at the same time.

I stumbled aside, the pain making me lose sight of the fighting for a few seconds as I stared at the large feathers sprouting from my chest armor with a strange fascination. I had forgotten about the… crossbowmen.

Grabbing at the bolt, my first instinct was to pull it out. I grabbed the shaft and it sent a jolt of pain through my body, snapping me out of my daze and back into the present.

What the hell was I doing? Looking around and trying to get my bearings, I saw the guy Guile had wounded rushing me, his eyes filled with anger at their failed ambush.

With no time to think, I stabbed at his face with my spear, but he parried it aside with his longsword and stepped inside my guard before stomping me, aiming for my wounded arm with a cruel smile.

I tried to dodge it, but the man was just too fast, clearly a level two adventurer, even if barely. The kick hit me with such strength I lost my footing and went flying. With how much pain I was feeling in my arm, I didn't even register falling on the moss covered floor.

I knew I had to move if I wanted to live, but I couldn't, the pain was just too much. Curling up into a fetal position, I threw up on the floor and felt hot tears soak the bandage over my eye.

The damn bandit took his sweet time, the fact he wasn't worried about my companions made me even more afraid and I finally managed to slightly push myself up. Looking around, I saw my spear lying just beyond my grasp and tried to crawl towards it.

Putting one foot on my wounded arm the bandit pushed me away from the spear, flipping me over to fall back on my back.

"Tenacious little fuck, aren't you?" He mocked before stepping on my chest and pushing me down, giving a twist of his wounded shoulder, he asked. "Any last words?"

I took a deep breath and then pulled one of my throwing knives from under my pants, stabbing him on the back of the leg as hard as I could.

His greaves only protected the front of his legs, so my dagger pierced deep into his flesh. With a scream of pain, the man lifted his foot at the same time as he swung his sword towards my head.

I rolled towards his good leg, causing him to completely lose his footing and fall over my own body.

"Goddamnit!" The guy screamed as I grabbed at his body to stop him from getting up. "My leg, you stabbed my leg, you motherfucker!"

Ignoring the pain of my broken arm, I hugged the man's arms, desperately trying to stop him from killing me, fear and leverage giving me the strength to resist him, even if he was far stronger than me.

Without the room to swing the weapon, he started hitting my head with the pommel again and again. We struggled like that for a few seconds, my face getting covered with blood and sweat.

When he pulled his hand back for another hit, I managed to knee him between the legs, causing him to finally drop the sword.

With a roar of rage, the bandit grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head away from his armor. My burst of adrenaline fuelled strength had finally run out.

I could barely resist as the man rolled us aside, putting my back against the floor and squeezing my neck with both hands. His face a mask of incoherent rage, he leaned in and screamed at me, finally meeting my eye.

Bleeding, exhausted, almost completely out of mind and slowly getting the life squeezed out of me, I still smiled and used 'greater visual illusion'. In an instant, I sent the man an illusion of the only thing I could think about right now, pain.

His roar of rage turned into a whimper and he released my neck to cradle his arm against his chest. Grabbing a second dagger, I screamed and jammed it up into his neck, and then I did it again, and again.

I continued to scream and stab him in the face even as he fell on top of me, forgetting everything else but my need to survive.

A clap of thunder snapped me out of my stabbing, letting the dagger fall from my numb hands. I tried to wipe the blood away from my face, turning my face aside. I started dry heaving until a second bolt of lightning filled my vision.

Following the path of the lightning, I found Ramilia on her knees, one hand holding her shoulder where a bolt had pierced her and a second holding the ornate dagger she had dropped at the beginning of the fight.

Another swing of her dagger released a third bolt towards the trees. I watched as she swung the dagger another two times before it crumpled to dust in her hand and she collapsed back, apparently spent.

Without the strength to even move, I turned my face away from the dead man on top of me and waited to see if one of the bastards had survived to come kill me.

After a few minutes, when nothing happened, I managed to gather enough strength to push the body aside and crawl away.

"hey… haaa… you're alive." Guile said from above, causing me to look up.

He looked like crap, his face was covered in cuts, his nose and lips were busted and it looked like he was gonna lose an eye while his other one was as red as my own. It was already starting to swell up too, making it look twice its usual size.

"You… coff, cof… you look like crap." I said, too tired to even care.

"Thanks, you too." Bending down, the large man grabbed my good arm and pulled me up, and onto his back.

My legs felt like jelly and I couldn't find purchase into the floor no matter how much I tried, so I was forced to just let them drag on the floor as he carried me towards the cave.

"Sowy fho noth healing yoh." He said with a swollen lip. "Ran outh pothions outh here."

Doing my best to keep my wounded arm and the crossbow bolt still sticking out of my body from banging against anything, I didn't say anything. I had nothing to say, really.

Guile dragged me inside the cave and carefully laid me down on my back. Watching the entrance, I saw Ramilia still pressing down on the bolt at her shoulder to stop the bleeding, followed by Scott.

This time, he hadn't escaped unharmed. He was missing his left arm from just below his shoulder and had tied some cloths around it to stop the bleeding; he also had a large sword gash on his chest.

"What. Happened?" asked Mord, having finally woken up again.

"Thieves." Said Scott, as if that answered everything.

"Fuck."

Yeah, fuck was about right.

Eventually, Ramilia bent over me and carefully poked at the bolt on my side. Her own bolt was still stuck on her shoulder, held in place by bandages so it wouldn't shake.

"Roland, right?" She asked, but didn't wait for me to answer before looking me over, she cleaned the cuts I had and bandaged them, but left the bolt alone. "We don't have enough potions to heal you if we pull it out, so you're gonna have to take it until we reach Rivira."

"OK." I was so tired of this delve I had gone monosilabic. I just wanted to be done with it as fast as we could.

After that, I just went numb, losing track of things and barely managing to follow instructions as we made our way back towards the village.

I think we stopped to fight the dungeon spawns another two times, but I didn't even see which monster it was. My eye refused to really focus before we finally reached Rivira. The second I caught sight of the entrance filled with adventurers, I felt my body give out.

Everything went black.


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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga and James Williams for supporting my work!
.

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

Heya, here's the next chapter.

Again, I'll skip tomorrow and post the next chapter in two days, I hope you guys enjoy it.

___________________________________________

The Beast's needle-like teeth sank into my flesh with incredible ease, biting off my entire arm and swallowing it in a single gulp.

With its sharp claws, it grabbed me by the shoulder and lifted my body up until I could stare into its glowing red eyes.

"Persistent little shit, aren't you?" The beast told me as its claws ripped out my belly, spilling blood all over its shirt.

In front of my eyes, the creature shifted, it's snout retreated while its claws turned into daggers until all that was left was a large man holding me by the throat and frowning.

With a roar of rage, the man drove his dagger under my neck once, twice, three times, then he smashed me against the ground and continued to stab me over and over and over…

I woke up with a scream, my face was covered in sweat and I was completely out of breath, for a few seconds, I searched aimlessly for my phone to see what time it was until I remembered just where I was and sighed.

At least I HAD woken up.

Looking around, I noticed I was resting on the floor of a tent. If I squinted my one good eye, I could see Rivira from the gap on my tent's opening. Letting myself relax once again, I dropped my head back on the pillow and wiped my face with the covers.

Taking stock of my situation, I saw that my wounded arm was in a cast. I no longer had a crossbow bolt sticking out of me and my wounded eye was properly bandaged, even better, my headache was gone and I felt… good. I was also incredibly hungry.

All in all, it was not perfect, my arm was still aching and my muscles were all protesting any movement I made, but I was well rested and not in immense pain, so it was a huge improvement.

When no one came to check on my scream I sighed, my gear laid beside me but there was nothing else on my tent and I desperately needed a little food.
I managed to push myself into a sitting position, then grabbed the pole in the middle of the tent and pulled myself back on my feet, I didn't even lose balance.

Stretching my back I briefly considered looking for a cane but decided I didn't need it and walked out of the tent on my own two feet. My first steps were careful and uncertain but I quickly gained confidence and was walking normally by the time I stepped outside.

It was still night at the 18 floor of the dungeon but some of the white crystals in the ceiling were already starting to shine down on the city, giving me a great view of the giant tree in the middle of the floor.

I was just starting to smile while staring when the desperate face of the man flashed into my mind, filled with fear and pain as I stabbed his neck with my dagger until there wasn't even blood anymore.

Falling to my knees I started dry heaving while trying to banish the image from my mind.

In my eyes I could see every drop of sweat on the man's face, every twitch of his flesh as my dagger cut it, the way the blood sprayed out from his veins, my sharingan had recorded it all and made absolutely sure I'd never be able to forget it.

I must have stood there for an entire minute before I was able to think straight, the panic and desperation of the memory finally left me and I started to really think about my actions at that time.

I had never killed a man, no I had never even thought I'd have to kill a man before coming here. It was both harder and easier than I had thought.

Harder in the sense that I didn't want to do it, my body itself had fought against the action pulling my blows, making them weaker than I knew was needed, slower too, until I was so desperate to survive that I acted on pure instinct.

It was also easier, my dagger punched through his skin with barely any resistance, humans were far more fragile than even the weakest of monsters, their blood flowed freely from any wound, pumped out by their own beating heart.

Regaining control of my body I spit to the side and wiped my mouth with my arm, slowly my breathing started to return to normal and I got up before spitting once more to get rid of the foul taste in my mouth.

I still felt a little guilty about the act but it had been a matter of life and death and, surprisingly, I knew I'd do it all over again if it was needed, I wasn't about to become a mass murder or something but, if pressed, I knew I wouldn't hesitate again.

I didn't know if that was a good thing or not, I had been raised religiously and, while I had distanced myself from any church after growing up and didn't exactly follow the bible, I had taken the 'thou shall not kill' part of it seriously.

"Hey, you're up" came Mord's voice from inside another tent, pushing my musings to the side I turned towards him.

Mord wasn't looking great, his shoulder was still wrapped in bandages and he looked white as a ghost but he was walking around normally and seemed to be in high spirits.

"Morning, you're looking happy" I grumbled while grabbing at the sling on my arm.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He said and patted me on the back with far less strength than usual "We survived newbie, not only that but we also made a killing, what more do you want from a delve?"

I suppose he was right, pinching the bridge of my nose I sighed "Alright what now?"

"Now we make our way to the medical tent, Zenobi said he wanted to see you again after you awoke" he said and turned me towards a small tent with a red cross in front of it "the kid's a hard worker so he should be awake already"

"What about you?" I asked, looking him over he didn't look all that well.

"Ahh, he already looked me over, turns out I'm fine but healing potions aren't the best at treating blood loss" Mord coughed into his hand "You on the other hand, you've been asleep for three days now, we were starting to get worried"

"What?" I asked dumbfounded at the same time as I felt my stomach grumble loudly "Shit, you think I can eat something first?"

"You know what, I'll leave you with the guy and grab some breakfast for us alright?" Mord smiled as he guided me towards the medic "I heard you saved me… thanks I owe you one"

"I didn't really think about it" I confessed embarrassed, I hadn't fought the Vouivre to save Mord, or at least not only to save Mord.

Even now I didn't understand why I had charged the monster like that but at least I knew being a hero was only a very small part of it, I barely knew Mord and, while I liked him, we weren't even friends yet, not really.

Pushing the tent flaps aside, Mord poked his head inside and shouted "Hey Zenobi, the newbie finally woke up!"

"It's Modaka, Mo. Da. Ka." A frustrated male voice said from inside the tent. "Get him inside them"

Being pushed inside the small tent I saw a short, young guy sitting behind a desk, his chest was mostly bare with only a strap over one shoulder holding his shorts up, he had huge bags under his eyes and seemed incredibly tired.

"Good luck, I'll find something for us to eat" Mord closed the flap and shouted, already walking away.

"So you're the medic?" I asked while lifting an eyebrow.

"Not really" Modaka sighed while scratching at his eyes with both hands "but I'm the closest thing to one down here, of course they made it my job"

Getting up from behind the desk the guy took out my bandages and looked inside my eyes before checking my arm.

"As I said I'm not really a healer but your companions wanted me to have a look at you anyway" He told me as he handed me a green potion to drink "you're gonna have to check with someone up there in Orario but you seem ok, I'd say you were just suffering from overusing your <mind>"

"I see" I drank the potion, a warm feeling filling my throat before both my muscles and my wounded arm stopped aching, scratching at an itch inside my cast. I frowned "why am I in a cast? Shouldn't potions have dealt with it."

"Sure, if you were willing to pay 120 thousand valis" he told me while sitting back down "it's cheaper to just put it in a cast and drink a common potion a day, should take about two weeks to completely heal"

It made sense, in the show any potion used had healed just about everything and yet, potion tiers were still mentioned, there were still elixirs worth millions and other medicines and treatments.

"Thanks Modaka" I said when it became clear the man couldn't do all that much, three days without eating had left me ravenous and I was eager to see if Mord had found some food.

"What did you just call me?" he asked, almost jumping out of his chair, his eyes shining like stars.

"Ah, Modaka?" I said while taking a few steps back, the guy looked like he wanted to jump me and I had no desire to feel his bare chest against me.

"Thank you! Thank you!" he buried his face against an arm and actually started crying "You don't know how much this means to me!"

"Riiiight, you sure you don't need to rest or something?" I suggested, the guy looked exhausted and was clearly having some kind of mental breakdown.

"No, no, I need to finish this paperwork for the monsterphilia but thanks for asking" I gave him a nod and hurried out of the tent to search for some food "ugh, why can't Farna-sama do those things, it's always me"

Back outside I didn't see Mord anywhere, my stomach was rumbling again so I started walking towards the city, walking through the camp I saw drawings of an elephant mask everywhere.

On the patch to Rivira was a clearing without any tents, instead there were dozens of steel cages filled with monsters and guarded by adventurers in similar gear to Modaka.

Looking at them I recognized a cage with four lizardmen and another with a mad beetle but there were also small green humanoids that were probably goblins, metal rabbits, harpies and even a huge cage with a giant green snake curled up inside it.

Passing the cages several of the guards gave me suspicious stares but I just nodded at them and moved on, too hungry to even watch the beasts.

I caught Mord just as he was leaving the Inn, he waved me over and I attacked the bag he was holding devouring everything without even looking while shoving him back inside, there was no way a single bag would be enough.

An hour and almost six hundred valis later I pushed my chair back finally satisfied, Scott and Guile had turned up for breakfast earlier and thanked me for the help with the Vouivre but had already left to pack up their things.

Apparently the Ganesha familia had killed the Goliath yesterday while I was still asleep and the party had managed to convince the familia to hire them for help leaving the dungeon.

Usually Ganesha's adventurers were more than enough for middle and upper floors but, with almost a hundred monsters being carried in cages, they needed all the help they could get and Mord's party were mostly competent even wounded as they were.

Good thing I woke up when I did or they'd have to pay for someone to carry me up.

"Damn just where did you put it all"

"Shut up, it's been three days alright I was hungry" I glared at him even as I tried to adjust my pants so they weren't so tight.

"Anyway that's about it, Dorlia is probably gonna want to meet with you before they depart but we should be back in Orario a little after midnight"

"Good, I think I need some time to rest and recover before I come back here" I told him, the dungeon was beautiful and all but I needed some time to deal with everything.

"Don't we all? At least you'll have you'll part of the lot" Mord grumbled angrily before draining the rest of his beer and slamming the mug down, frustrated he let his head bang against the table "Fucking asshole thieves"

"What do you mean?"

"Even with all three of our savings I don't think we have enough to fix Scott's arm" He confessed with a sigh while waving the bartender for another refill.

"Can't you guys reattach his arm somehow? I though that's why we were carrying that elf's legs with us"

"Well we managed to recover his arm but, with the Goliath still up and Rivira without supplies there wasn't any potion or healer strong enough down here and it's too late now" pushing himself back into a sitting position Mord scratched at his eyes "Getting something to restore the limb after so long would cost us more than we have ever made but we can probably get him a prosthetic if we take a loan"

"Shit" Looking at my immobilized arm I thought about my own missing fingers and grimaced. It seems I'm not getting those back anytime soon "What happened with those bastards anyway, did we get them all?"

"The elf got their leader and one of the snipers with her magic weapon and Scott managed to kill the other fighter but at least one of them escaped" he confessed "Ramilia was sure she had hit one more guy with her last thunderbolt but the weapon was already crumbling and we never found a body"

I closing my eyes I had to squeeze the edge of the table to keep my hand from trembling, one of the guys who tried to kill me was still alive, a thief and murderer with reason to take revenge on me was still out there.

"Goddamn poachers, with how many wounded we had we couldn't even risk bringing one of their bodies to find out from which familia they belonged to"

"There's nothing we can do?"

"Well if I recognize the guy in the street I'll certainly petition Ogma to deal with him but, those things happen in the dungeon" finally getting his refill he looked down at his beer for a second before giving a bitter smile "At least Freya, Ganesha and Loki manage to keep things mostly civil in the surface but down here? All that matters is strength"

I gritted my teeth in a sudden bout of impotent anger, it's not that I wanted everyone death for daring to attack me but, the fact that they could just attack someone without provocation and escape without repercussion left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Don't worry about it newbie, get your share of the money, have some fun, life's too short to focus on every shitty thing that happens" pushing his chair back Mord grabbed his full mug and stretched his back "You know what, I'll even bring you to the entertainment district after you take off that cast, a level one fighting a Vouivre in melee range and surviving? The amazons are gonna love you there"

Can't really say I was against that, I wonder what kind of entertainment a fantasy world would have.

"Well, I have to finish packing my things, I'll meet you in two hours at the entrance to the 17 floor alright?"

I waved him away and finished my own beer, the good kind now that Rivira could resupply from Orario "Hey Villy, is my room still free?"

The cat eared innkeeper looked my way while cleaning a table and nodded "Yeah, with the Goliath down and one of the big familia's camping outside very few people stay here. Why, want to rent it again?"

"Not really but, can I use it for an hour or two?"

"You know what, sure" he told me and was about to continue with his work before he thought of something "but no funny business you hear me! No leaving suspicious stains all over my room, if I have to clean it after you left I'm blacklisting you"

Ugh, now I'm gonna keep imagining white stains everywhere.

Entering the room I found the mirror right where I had left it, closing the door I sat on the bed and lifted my shirt up, it was awkward with my cast but I eventually managed to expose my back and smear a drop of blood on it.

Roland Synclair – level 1

Strength – I - 72

Endurance – I - 98

Dexterity – I - 64

Agility – I - 58

Magic – H - 199

Skills:

- Chosen of an Outer God.

- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).


I felt a warm sensation fill my body as my falna was updated, every attribute had a significant improvement and magic had almost tripled after using my eyes so much.

It wasn't really worth the loss of a kotoamatsukami but at least it took a little bit of the sting off.

With the increased attributes I felt even better, the soreness of my body was almost entirely gone and I felt strong despite having an arm out of commission, no wonder adventurers continued to risk their lives in the dungeon, the feeling of improvement was almost addicting.

Hiding my falna again I took a deep breath and just tried to relax, there was nothing trying to kill me right now, no danger I had to watch out for, no pressure.

I could almost feel the tension leaving my body but, before I knew it, the face of the man I killed flashed in my mind, as detailed as the moment I had killed him, I remembered every pore on his skin, every drop of…

Jumping out of the bed I shook my head and made myself busy creating illusions.

Thinking about my experiences it was clear that every illusion I had created took time and effort to make but it also got better, more detailed and realistic after each use.

I suppose the ninja in Naruto had generations to optimize their genjutsu, to make them as complicated as they could and realistic enough to even fool other ninja but I was starting from scratch.

It was the difference between doing complex calculations from scratch and having a known formula for it, the same result could be achieved but the first would take far more time and effort while being far more likely to make mistakes.

At least the sharingan helped me tremendously when casting visual illusions.

I started simple, the first illusion in my repertoire would be something I wouldn't even need to think about, I'd simply fill my enemy's vision with darkness, robbing them of sight.

Monsters could make do with other senses and adventurers would quickly realize something was wrong and break the illusion but it would earn me a few precious seconds of confusion until I could create a better illusion, probably more than enough to finish an opponent.

The second illusion served the same goal, I concentrated on the pain I had felt in my fights and made it into an illusion that would last a few seconds, if the Almiraj I had killed was any indication it would be very effective against monsters and I was sure any adventurer would at least flinch away.

Thinking about it, do monsters even feel pain like humans or was it just muted, every monster the party had fought on the 19 floor had continued fighting while ignoring any wound they received but the Almiraj had became almost incapacitated when I made it feel pain with an illusion, interesting.

Both illusions didn't really require much preparation or complexity but it was good to have then ready, to think about them as if they were skills I had access to instead of having to come up with solutions on the spot, I'd have to train until casting them became an instinctual response in a fight but, for now, they were good enough.

Then I started building my first complicated illusion, using everything I had seen I started making something able to fool even an experienced adventurer, slowly the image started to form in my mind.

The illusion would start very simple. I used the mirror to look at myself from every angle until I could replicate the look of my own body perfectly, I included everything I could think of, the sound, the smell, the wind, I put everything I could into a couple of seconds of action.

When cast my enemy wouldn't lose sight of me or anything, instead the illusion would start at the exact same spot as me and act exactly as I would, it would be capable of dodging a single attack before striking with an overhead blow with my sword.

My own body would be hidden from the targets sight so I could act freely while he dealt with my illusion, hopefully whatever I was fighting would try to block my overhead strike and open up its chest for a quick kill but I could also use the time to escape, buy myself some space or just keep an enemy occupied for a few seconds.

It took me a little over an hour to make the skill and keep it in my memory, not bad for something I was doing for the first time and, coupled with the mangekyou the illusion is good enough to fool even a level 3 adventurer for a few seconds.

At least I think it is, hopefully, I'd have to test it out.

I was also pretty sure I could use the experience I gained to create something similar in about half the time now.

Unwilling to risk missing the meeting I grabbed my things and left the inn with a wave towards Villy, it was finally time to enter Orario.

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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

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[CapCaverna]

Yo, here's the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it.

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The Ganesha Familia was still getting ready when I arrived at the entrance to the 17 floor. About 60 adventurers were working hard putting monster cages on top of wagons.

Giving a brief nod to Guile and Mord who were busy pushing the Mad Beetle's, I approached Scott who was resting by a wagon filled with Lizardman and Hobgoblins, at least I think they are hogboglins.

"Good to see you up, we were beginning to think you we'd have to pay for someone to carry you to Orario" Said Scott sounding incredibly tired, his remaining arm holding on to his stump with a tight grip "you sure you don't want to rest another day?"

"I thought I'd need help to get to Orario alive?"

"Well yes but there's no need to rush it anymore" He said and laid a hand on my shoulder "You've got the money from the Vouivre now and it's not like we're gonna leave you down here after what you did for Mord, it's fine if you need another day or two of rest"

I thought about it, truth was I'd have been very tempted to take him up on the offer when I woke up but, after updating my falna, I was feeling much better and I wanted to see finally see Orario.

"I'm fine" I said and immediately felt an irrational amount of guilt, looking at my trembling hand I sighed "Well, not completely fine but my body is good enough"

"First time killing someone?" He guessed while motioning for me to sit beside him on the wagon

"First time in a real fight actually" I confessed and squeezed my hand in a fist to stop the shaking "I grew up in a fairly safe place"

"Well, I know it won't make this easier but you did the right thing killing that man" looking up Scott seemed to get lost in thought "I remember when I first became an adventurer, assholes like them were everywhere. It used to be you couldn't trust anybody even up there in Orario much less down here"

"I take it that's not the case anymore?"

"Things are kept in order pretty well nowadays but you never know, a single mistake is all it takes for something like Evilus to come back" he sighed and scratched at his stump again "That's why you have to kill those bastards as soon as you can, those kind of people never stop unless you make them"

Fuck, I'd much rather people get judged and sent to jail or something but I could understand his point of view, in such might makes right society killing bandits before they could cause damage or grow too strong was probably the best I could hope for.

Still didn't make me feel better about killing someone though.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for helping Mord, we all owe you one"

"I wasn't really thinking about him at the time" I confessed embarrassed, I still didn't know why I had attacked the Vouivre like that but saving Mord had only been a minor consideration, It was more that I couldn't help myself.

Everything had been happening so fast. All the blood fear and excitement of the fight had gotten to my head and I couldn't bring myself to do the logical thing.

Scott gave me a strange look but eventually shook his head "No matter the reason you saved my friend and that's all I care about"

I suppose I too wouldn't care about why someone saved me as long as I got to live.

After that we just watched as the adventurers worked around us as fast as they could, I thought about helping out but, with only one good arm and no idea what I was supposed to do I'd probably just get in the way.

Soon all seven wagons were filled with cages and the caravan started going up, I watched as Guile was made to help pull one of the wagons and Mord was put to work fighting monsters ahead of us.

Without an arm both Scott and I were left closer to the wagons so we could deal with any wounded monster that got away from the fighters without having to stop the wagons or raise the alarm in case of something we couldn't deal with.

A tall man in full plate constantly walked around out caravan making sure everything was in order or yelling at everyone involved when a wagon had to stop but we were still advancing fast for people completely on foot going up two floors in four hours.

"Why did they hire more people" I asked Scott as I retrieved one of his daggers from a dead lamia mormos, all around me I could see idle adventurers talking and joking with each other.

It looked like the Ganesha familia could do this with half those people.

"From what I understand Ganesha called most of his adventurers back for something" He said wiping the dagger with a cloth before putting it back in place "Hashana was the only powerhouse left to deal with the monsters so they had to hire a few people just to make sure, don't want to risk monsters spawning all around and ruining everything"

We soon reached another open space and Hashana Dorlia, the huge man in full plate, called for a full stop while casually stomping on the head of a minotaur.

We sat down in a circle, and waited until Mord came back from monster extermination to start eating, the man was covered in sweat and panting hard, still not completely recovered from the bloodloss.

"Are we really gonna reach Orario today?" I asked, it was already midday and we were still in the middle of the 15th floor.

"Ah don't worry about it, the upper floors are much smaller and the monsters are hardly a challenge, after the 10th floor it'll only take us 2 to 3 hours to reach Orario at most"

That made sense, the place we were in was an oppressive cave system made from bare rock and filled with dark corridors, the air was humid and shadows flickered everywhere, if I didn't have my eye I was sure it would be very easy to become lost.

Worse yet, I had to stay alert to avoid any stray level 2 monster least they spawn on top of me or rush the carts before I could avoid them but, from what I remember from the anime, the upper floors are much better illuminated and had human sized monsters at most.

"Yo Mord, good to see you're alive!" came the strong male voice as Hashana himself dropped besides me and took off his helmet "Who's the new guy? A little too skinny for Ogma don't you think?"

"I resent that" mumbled Scott while biting on a piece of jerky but everyone just ignored him.

"He's a level 1 we found on Rivira, got abandoned by his party down there when the Goliath spawned and needed some money so we hired him as a porter for a little while" Mord answered while shaking the man's hand "He's a good one, actually own him my life you know?"

"Really? Which familia are you from anyway?"

"Yeah about that…." I scratched at my neck trying to think of something but decided some of the truth was good enough "My god is… strange, he never actually told me his name"

"Hmm, odd" he said while scratching at his chin "then again my own god spent all our money transforming our home into a huge statue of himself with the entrance at his crotch so I can't really judge"

"Ogma is mostly okay but he does have his oddities" Mord shrugged while laying down on the floor for a rest

"Not telling you his name… seems like the kind of thing Loki would find amusing" Hashana mused then put a hand on his own chest and made some grabbing motions "You sure it wasn't a petite woman? Loki's straight as a door, she could pass as a man if she tried"

"Pretty sure it wasn't Loki" I answered and decided it was best to change the subject "Why do you guys go to all this trouble to get dungeon monsters anyway?"

"Cuz Ganesha finds it amusing… mostly" Taking a sip from his water bag Hashana stretched his arms and sighed "I mean pretty much everything that happens in Orario is because one god or another finds it amusing but the monster Feria does give us a good amount of money, a lot of people pay to see the monsters outside the dungeon"

"Plus the chance to practice taming without having to worry about other monsters or having backup is good" said Scott "Adventurers can't keep monsters on the city and there's always a risk when trying to tame something in the dungeon"

"How does tamming even work anyway?" I asked Scott now genuinely curious.

"Hey don't look at me, he's from the taming family" he said pointing to Hashana.

"Fine, let your uncle Dorlia enlighten you! I'm not a tamer myself but, as I understand it, the dungeon creates monsters with set instructions" he says while using the handle of his axe to draw a little goblin on the floor "A newly spawned monster will always follow that set of instructions to the letter. A goblin will always try to jump at you and stab you in the face, a firebird will always pause in the air and spew flames, it gets really predictable after a while.

The longer the monster has been alive the more it learns, it adapts and grows, a tamer takes advantage of that to teach the monster to obey, the best way is to show it how futile fighting is and make it fear getting punished.

Every dungeon monster hates adventurers so it may take some time and practice to make it fear more than it hates but, after you have done it to the same kind of monster enough, you learn how to do it faster. Plus you'll probably get a skill"

"Could you tame a monster like a normal animal? Using rewards and kindness I mean."

"Theoretically? It is possible but I have never seen it work, I once heard Shakti say I'd just take too long to overcome the instinctual hate" Hashana told me and then smirked "Doesn't stop some fool from trying every year, very amusing"

Patting my shoulder Hashana put his helmet back on and pushed himself back to his feet "Anyway I'd better make sure Murita has everything in order for us to move on, hey Murita!" He shouted towards a sweating Modaka and left us.

"Thinking about trying your hand at taming?"

"Maybe" I told him while lost in thought "It sounds interesting enough"

Could I use illusions to make taming faster? In Naruto there were genjutsu that messed with an enemy's sense of time, could I make something like that.

Soon we were moving again and I had to kill a wounded Hellhound as it tried to spew flames at me, after what Hashana had told me I made sure to watch the monsters closely and quickly found a pattern to their movements.

It made predicting them with the sharingan much, much easier.

Six hours later we finally reached the 10 floor and the caravan started to pick up the pace, Hashana himself grabbed the wagon with the most monster and pulled it alone while the adventurers took care of the small fry and, in only 2 hours, we were pulling the wagons through the dungeon entrance.

My first look of Orario was… underwhelming, Babel itself was impressive I admit but I had lived in a modern city my entire life, the tower was wider than anything I had seen but it didn't seem all that much taller than a skyscraper.

The city itself was huge, probably larger than any medieval city of my world and much better build, the streets were clean and the buildings looked both new and well built but, again, it didn't reach the level of a modern city or have any wondrous aspect I had come to expect from a fantasy world.

No floating islands, no clearly magical castle, no spells flying everywhere, Orario most resembled a well preserved historical city sparsely dotted with modern houses and mansions.

"Come on, it's the Ganesha familia problem now" said Mord as he pushed me away from the entrance "Let's go sell our lot to the guild so we can get your money"

Seeing us leaving Hashana waved at us "See you at Ishtar's place later tonight?"

Mord looked at Scott's missing arm and sighed "Can't, we're gonna have to save money from now on"

Reaching the guild Mord quickly found a mature redhead with wolf-like ears on top of her head "Rose-chan marry me!"

The werewolf? Wolf beastking? I didn't really remember the name of her race… Rose gave Mord an unamused glare before her eyes flashed to my own cast and Scott's missing arm "I see you're still being greedy mister Latro, how many times have I told you not to delve too deep without a bigger group?"

"Come on Rose don't be like that"

"Enough, if you're not gonna hear my advice the least you could do is not waste my time" she snorted but there was a glint of pain on her eyes that said she cared far more than she was showing "And who's the new party member, I have never seen him before?"

"Roland Synclair miss and I'm not really registered with the guild yet" I told her earning some odd looks from all four of them.

"I see, I see" she said and I swear I saw a vein pulsating on her forehead, she calmly rolled the documents on her hand into a tight cylinder and wiped her arm around hitting Mord in the face with her new weapon "What the hell are you doing bringing an unregistered adventurer in the dungeon!"

"I had nothing to do with it!" Mord protested as he tried to shield himself from the enraged receptionist "We found him already in Rivira and just gave him a ride to the surface!"

"And you, what were you doing down there" her cold eyes froze me in place, damn she was hot.

"My Familia was playing a prank on me" Thank god I remembered the excuse I had used before, it had worked well enough and no way was I telling them I sprouted from the dungeon like some kind of humanoid monster.

It was my turn to get hit with her rolled up papers "If you're not gonna tell the truth at least make up a better lie!"

I scratched at the place she hit me and looked at the party with confusion but they just shrugged "Yeah we didn't buy the prank thing too but, as long as you did your job as a porter we weren't going to pry"

Great it seems I'm a terrible liar.

"Here" Rose told me as she handed me a sheet of paper "Fill this up, get your god to sign it and bring it back to me tomorrow"

"Ah, is the god's signature really necessary?"

Rose gave me another glare and shook her head in exasperation when she saw I was being serious "Yes, just so you know the guild can't stop you from entering the dungeon but we won't buy any lot from you or give you any quests if you aren't registered, I highly suggest you fill that up"

Half an hour later I left the guild 65 thousand valis richer, Mord and his party were going to sell the Vouivre's drops apart but they had enough money to pay my 10% out of their own pockets.

Night had started to fall on Orario, the party invited me to stay with them at the Ogma familia's house but I declined, I had never heard of Ogma before but as a god he was probably some kind of asshole.

Orario was well illuminated at night, there was light coming from inside almost every house and the streets were filled with tall lamps which used monster cores instead of electricity to generate light.

The sky still wasn't pitch black yet and I kept to the wider streets filled with adventurers so I didn't have any problems and people were relaxed, walking around without any worries, it seems like things really were kept safe.

They weren't even watching their coin pouch.

Looking around I briefly wondered if Bell was already in the city, had I arrived years before the start of the story? Years later?

Reaching one of Orario's main streets I had a clear view of the giant wall that encircled the city, second only to Babel itself the wall rose above the city making me fell like a titan would soon start bashing his body against it.

Not completely impossible with the dungeon here but very unlikely.

My stomach gave a growl of protest causing the few people walking around me to give me strange looks, I had been eating frequently but, with all the healing potions in my body I was burning energy at an alarming rate and it left me starving.

Asking around, it turns out the Hostess of fertility was actually the closest place to grab a meal, I made sure to ask various people to make sure but everyone I talked to said it was a little expensive but had good food and drink.

Plus, if Ryuu was already working there I could find out at what point in the timeline I arrived without being too suspicious.

It was also a good place to ask for somewhere to stay the night, I didn't really like that someone would know where I was staying and, from what I remember, the girls there were too strong to bother with a lone level 1.

The pub seemed to be bursting with activity, it's lights were on and I could hear loud laugher from inside with a constant stream of clients walking in and out of the building looking satisfied and not too drunk.

Pushing the doors open I stepped into the room and looked around for a table or corner I could sit, the pub was almost full but there was an entire empty table by a corner and a few spots at the counter.

It left me feeling a little too open but, since I was alone, I sat down at the bar and gave a polite smile to the waitress in front of me, a human girl with bluish grey hair who seemed to be staring at me with an expression that seemed both baffled and… a little afraid?.

"Do you have a menu or something?" I asked after a second or two when her stare started to make me uncomfortable.

A shiver ran down my spine and I suddenly felt like a mouse being starred at by an entire clowder of cats.

Briefly glancing back I saw two cat girls frowning at me from across the room, their eyes narrowed to slits and shinning with a predatory light, one of them was even gently caressing a kitchen knife.

A mug hit the counter in front of me with unnecessary force splashing me with ale and almost making me jump, turning around I saw a huge dwarf woman glaring , her arm bigger than my tight.

"You're new around here" she said while handing me a menu and putting an arm around the waitress, her bulging muscles clear for all to see "How do you know dear Syr?"

"I don't?" I swallowed and said, my voice full of confusion, a drop of sweat slowly running down my face.

"Hrumph, back to work with you now" The dwarf snorted and pushed her employee away from me, I tried to open the menu but she swiped it out of my hand "I'll get you a soup, you seen like you need a soup"

I watched as she walked back to the kitchen, I wanted to tell her I didn't like soup but I had started to feel yet another glare at my back and didn't dare open my mouth.

What the hell was that, I had never been in Orario before, fuck I had never been in this world before there's no way a random girl recognized me.

If I remember correctly the waitresses at the pub were all fairly strong former adventurer, did she have some kind of skill that triggered when looking at me? And why the hell would it cause such reaction?

Wait, in norse mythology Loki could shapeshift, had I already gotten his attention after saving those elves? But then why the fear?

Shaking my head again I looked at the mug of ale and shrugged before starting to drink. Before long a green haired elf brought me my soup her eyes narrowed in suspiciousness as she served me.

Ryuu Lion looked exactly as I thought she would, she was a petite woman with delicate but sharp features, her skin was pale but it didn't look unhealthy.

"Thanks" I sighed as I tried to avoid her angry eyes.

Didn't Ryuu kill a lot of people before retiring?

Swallowing hard I forced myself to take a sip of the soup, I was surprised when it actually tasted pretty good, diving into my food I lost track of things around me as I satiated my growing hunger.

"Hey I want a refill here!" I was almost finished with my meal when a tall man hit my cast with an elbow and shouted in my ear.

Ugh, this is why I prefer to sit with my back against a wall.

Turning to glare at the drunken idiot I meet the eyes of the grey haired werewolf and spewed soup all over his tattooed face.

Face soaking wet Bete Loga stared at me in confusion for a second before what happened truly registered, loud laughter burst out from the Loki familia's table as I saw a vein starting to throb on Bete's forehead.

Fuck I forgot they came here often to party! Goddamnit had the waitress called them?

"Why you…" Bete growled almost beyond words, grabbing me by the shirt I couldn't resist his strength as he lifted me up with one hand "How dared a weakling like… gha!"

In my defense I wasn't really thinking straight, despite my best efforts I was still feeling on edge from fighting in the dungeon and meeting the Loki familia was an unexpected and unwelcome surprise.

Worse, as Bete's lifted me up and started shouting into my face my mind flashed back to the man chocking me and shouting inside the dungeon

Our eyes meet for a brief moment, then my own eye spun into the mangekyou on instinct and I sent him the pain illusion I had crafter earlier while trying to grab for my sword.

The illusion broke almost instantaneously, his level far too high for it to last even a full second but it still had an effect.

Grabbing at his face Bete grunted in surprise and threw me away sending my body flying through the pub, hitting my head against the wooden wall I blacked out.

_______________________________________________

A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

Chapter 7 is here, hope you guys enjoy it, next chapter is an interlude showing some of what's going on behind the scenes.

_______________________________________________


"I think you killed him, Bete." Said a highly amused female voice somewhere above me.

"Yep, wonder what punishment the guild is going to give you?" A second woman wondered. This one seemed to be a little too cheerful for the situation.

"Damnit, it's not my problem he was such pathetic weakling!"

Bastard, it's not like he started life as a level 6 for fuck's sake, damn asshole.

I tried to push myself up and tell him just that but even my lips weren't working right, I only managed to squirm on the soft bed and mumble a little.

"Hey! I think he's alive!" Said the first voice and I felt someone bending over my body to check "Yep, seems pretty alive to me, you guys think his god is gonna want to cause trouble for this?"

"Che… not likely, he's probably from some two bit familia anyway" said Bete with disdain and I heard him stomp away from me.

"Pity, everything's been so boring nowadays I could use a war game"

"Loki-sama, even if he did die I don't think anyone would challenge us to a war game in Orario" said yet a third female voice.

"Ahhhh Line-chan, so respectful!" Loki herself shouted and jumped out of the bed sending a jolt of pain running through my body.

Shit, how the hell did I end up in the same room as Loki himself? For fuck's sake if I knew it would turn out this way I'd have stayed in the dungeon a while longer, at least monsters are open about their intentions.

Unable to move my body I started to panic, what if I was inside his secret dungeon? What if he found out I wasn't from this world? What kind of powers did the gods of this world even have?

When I started to hear chanting coming from beside me I finally managed to open my tired eyes.

Standing there and carefully chanting some kind of spell was a young human with straight black hair and glasses, one of her hands was open and pointing at me while her other tried to fend off a very petite Loki who was trying to push his face against her breasts.

At the door was one of the amazoness sisters and a perfectly average guy about my age fidgeting with a sword at his waist.

In desperation I tried to push myself away from whatever spell they were trying to cast but my limbs didn't want to move and I couldn't even feel my legs, then a green light washed over me making me fell warm all over, the last thing I saw was Loki's pensive gaze as she stared at my face.





I woke up feeling much better, taking stock of the situation I saw that I was still laying on the same bed but my clothes had been changed, there were no metal bars around the windows and door or any chains locking my limbs, even better, my arm seemed to be healed.

Just how long had they kept me sleeping in here?

Pushing myself into a sitting position I touched my face to see they had also healed my eye somehow, pushing a little bit of magic I felt I could even activate the mangekyou from both eyes again thought using Kotoamatsukami from the one that had been wounded was still decades beyond me.

I was utterly confused, with my mind clear once again I could admit I had massively overreacted by attacking Bete, I wouldn't be surprised if they left me to my own luck or even finished me off, so why heal me?

Well I suppose Loki had to appear benevolent to convince everyone he was a good guy until his sudden and inevitable betrayal.

Opening the door the same human girl walked inside carrying a tray of food, "Ah, you're awake" laying the tray besides my bed the girl bowed at the waist until she reached a 90º angle "I'm really sorry!"

"What?"

"I know Bete-sama acts rude but he was really worried about having hurt you"

Riiiiiiight, the asshole brutal werewolf who threw me into a wall was worried about hurting me sure, let's pretend I believe that.

"Ugh, where am I?"

"Well, at first Finn-sama was just going to pay for a room at the Dian Cecht familia's pharmacy but, once Ramilia told us you were one of the guys who saved her, Loki decided to bring you into the house" she fidgeted with her dress "She wanted to apologize personally"

My eyes briefly glanced at the windows and I wondered if we were on the ground floor and how much I'd hurt if it turned out we weren't but sighed and accepted my fate, it seems like I'd be meeting Loki himself despite everything.

Why the hell did the god of a major familia want to meet with a level 1 adventurer anyway, was he just that bored?

"How long was I out of it? I was told it'd take at least a week to heal my arm?" I asked and waved my perfectly healthy arm for her to see.

"Ah don't worry, you didn't lose that much time!" she hurried to say and blushed "It's only been two days but, since it had been Bete-sama who hurt you I have been casting a healing spell at least three times a day on your body, you should be perfectly fine"

Well, at least it seems I had gotten free healing out of the entire thing, it only took getting thrown into a wall by an angry werewolf and being forced to meet one of the worst gods I had ever read about… yay.

"Can't I just… leave without meeting Loki? I'm sure your god is a busy person there's no need for him to bother with such lowly adventurer" I knew it was a thin hope but I had to try anyway "I didn't even do that much after all"

"Well… ah, you see…" she fidgeted once again before bowing once again and finally answering "I'm sorry but Loki-sama insists on meeting you"

"Fuck" I mumbled causing the girl to look up

"I'm sorry what?"

"I said, when can I meet him anyway?"

"I'm going to tell her you're awake right away!" turning around the girl almost ran out of the room before stopping by the door "Once again, sorry for Bete's actions"

She left me alone on the room and I once again considered just getting up and running, there wasn't anyone guarding the door and, looking from the windows, the courtyard seemed empty.

Ugh, from what I remembered the familia was filled with level 6 and 5's, I wouldn't make it two blocks away from the mansion before they caught me anyway, plus there was still the chance that they really just wanted to apologize.

From what I remember Loki did have a good reputation in Orario, it was possible this was all just an act to make them look even better for the rest of the city.

Looking at the tray of food left besides my bed I picked a croissant from it and gave it a sniff, it was unlikely they'd poison it but you never know.

Ugh, since when had I become this paranoid, next thing I knew I'd only drink from my own flask and start yelling CONSTANT VIGILANCE at random people.

I mean it was a good motto live by but I didn't want to look too crazy.

Deciding to take a risk I ate the damn croissant and then proceeded to devour the rest of the food, poison be dammed I was starving again and it tasted good, if I was going to die I'd do it on a full stomach.

I had finished everything and was putting all my gear on when the girl came to get me and lead me into Loki's study itself, just before we entered she laid a hand on my shoulder and whispered.

"Just a warning, Loki-sama has a little problem with her lack of… chest but she's very much a woman alright?" the girl warned me with a very serious voice "please don't call her a 'him' to her face"

I nodded, I briefly wondered if Loki was really female here or if it was just a phase for the shapeshifting god of lies, well if she wanted to be treated as a woman I could oblige no matter the truth.

The room was huge with a planning table behind which sat Finn and Loki, with Gareth and Riveria behind them. Despite the hopeless situation my eyes still glanced around trying to find escape routes before they settled on a map spread in front of the four of them.

"You're here, good" said Finn as he got up from his chair, it didn't make a huge difference in his height

Glancing from the map to his face once again I said "I'm sorry, if I'm interrupting something I can go?" then I saw Loki's face, she had her crimson eyes open and I could glimpse the intelligence and cunning behind her façade for a moment.

It sent a shiver down my spine but then it was gone leaving me to wonder if I had even seen it after all.

"Nonsense!" said the norse god as she slammed her hands down on the table and smiled "You're the one who saved dear Remilia's breasts of course we can make some time for you!"

"Ahem… despite Loki's outburst we really wanted to apologize personally" said Finn before he slightly bowed his head "Despite the help you provided for a member of our familia Bete Loga still hurt you, I apologize, is there anything we can do for you to make up for it?"

Finn only bowed his head for a second but it was still an apology from a level 6 adventurer, I really doubt I'd receive another in my stay in this world unless I reach level 7 myself.

"Ah, there's really no need, I did overreact when he hit me at the hostess of fertility so it's kind of my fault"

"I insist" said Loki as she walked around the table and aproached me, I tried not to flinch when she stared at my face.

She walked around me and almost touched me once or twice causing a drop of sweat to run down my stiff face before nodding to herself as if coming to a decision

"Yep, as I thought you're not my type" Oh thank the gods "Pity or I'd offer you a spot on my familia, still you deserve a compensation"

Looking at Loki's top executives I saw both Riveria and Finn covering their faces in shame at their god's actions but Gareth seemed to agree with her.

"Yep you're still a little too green to join the Loki familia, too little muscles, too much fat" he nodded while caressing his beard.

Damn I didn't want to be anywhere near Loki and having them be indebted to me was better than the other way around it was still an unwanted connection, taking a moment to think about it I caught sight of my missing fingers and decided to try my luck.

"Would asking for help with my hand be too much?" I asked hoping they'd think it was enough to even the scores.

All three turned to Riveria while the tall elf thought about it and nodded.

"Any potion capable of regrowing pieces of a body, even just the fingers, is too expensive but, if you're willing to accept a prosthetic from Dian Cecht… something for just your fingers wouldn't be above what we're willing to finance"

"There you have it!" Loki shouted and suddenly grabbed my hand almost causing me to strike out, she looked at my missing fingers and gave an exaggerated sigh "It pains me to say Remilia's breasts are only worth two fingers but that old bastard's prosthetics really are expensive"

"Good, we'll make an order to Dian Cecht tomorrow" Finn said as he made a note on some document "you'll just have to go to their pharmacy for a fitting then"

"I also imagine Remilia and Kalos will want to thank you themselves some time later but Remilia is out and re-attaching his legs has left Kalos extremely tired" Gareth told me "then again they're elves so what do I know"

Riveria gave him a glare but even I could see there was no anger there.

That settled Finn waved me away and they returned to discussing the map spread over the table, as the doors to the studio were about to fully close I swear I saw Loki open her eyes again and smirk as she starred at me from inside.

Fuck that gave me the creeps.

Line helped me navigate through Loki's twilight manor and even gave me some tips for where to find an inn, of course I wouldn't follow then, no need to let anyone know where I'd be staying, but it was nice of her to make small talk.

A few moments later I was finally back into the streets of Orario and feeling like I had just dodged a bullet, I couldn't decide if Loki had really just been doing a publicity stunt or had some sinister plan but, for the moment I was out of her sights and free, that had to be enough.

I hurried away from the house, walking as fast as I could without appearing to run away and only stopping when I was almost back inside the tower and couldn't even see the building

Finding an inn inside the city turned out to be much easier than I thought, Orario was filled with travelers, merchants and other wandering adventurers and every there was an Inn for every single one of them.

From a flea filled hospital full of comunal rooms for those with nothing to their names to luxurious rooms inside the tower itself and anything in between.

I choose a small house just beside the city's walls, it looked clean and had reasonable rooms, each one big enough for a single bed, a footlocker to keep clothes and other equipments on, a table with two chairs and there was even a small fireplace where I could heat up some tea.

It worked by consuming a magic stone, what they called the monster cores outside of the dungeon, so there was no chance of burning down the building.

The owner, a tall woman who was missing a leg, wanted 800 valis a day but I managed to get her down to 500 for the entire month by paying in advance. It would be a pain in the ass if I had to ditch the place before the month was over but I could afford it.

Especially after getting free healing and a replacement for my fingers from Loki's familia.

Looking at my hand I briefly considered not going to the Dian Cecht pharmacy for the damn fitting but decided it would be far too suspicious… plus I really couldn't resist the chance to regain full use of the hand.

Just finding the right place had taken me most of the day so I just spent some time checking the room, making sure the door was locked and spent some time perfecting my illusions. I couldn't actually practice them without a target but I could start building new ones while trying to remember some from Naruto.


Taking off most of my clothes I made sure I kept a dagger easily accessible bellow my pillow and some pants on, it wouldn't do to have to fight naked if I was attacked while sleeping, then I laid down on the unexpectedly soft bed and started thinking about my new life.

How the hell would I register at the guild without a proper god to sign those papers? I could certainly forge them but would that even work? Didn't the gods of Orario have to participate in some kind of meeting from time to time?

Plus, Gods could tell if someone was lying it would only take a single one asking me about it and I was fucked.

I could use my last Kotoamatsukami to convince a god he had taken me in but… would that even work? The anime never made it clear just how powerful the Gods were or how limited they became when down here in the mortal world.

Were they just playing around and the only reason they didn't start using their divine might was because it would make things boring or were their powers actually sealed and they were little better than mortals?

Letting my head rest against the pillow, I sighed, I just didn't know enough, I suppose I didn't really need to register to be an adventurer, the guild may have a monopoly on magic stones but I could live just by selling the monster drops.

Looking over my own body I pinched my belly and sighed, I wasn't fat but I had been a little out of shape when I died and the creature hadn't changed that when it reincarnated me, my new Falna made me far stronger than an average man but it wouldn't hurt to get back into shape before finally starting to dungeon delve again.

Plus, it would give me time to create more illusions and copy the fighting stiles of adventurers with the sharingan.

Yes I'd take my time and prepare, there was no hurry after all, the world wasn't about to end tomorrow and I hadn't made any enemies that wanted to kill me yet. Closing my eyes I went to sleep.

Waking up the next morning I made sure to start a new routine, I had never been to an academy before but I figured it wouldn't hurt to start by emulating Saitama himself.

Even with my Falna I couldn't immediately do one hundred sit-ups, push-ups and squats but I managed to do half that and a 10 kilometer jog in the first day before going to Dian Cecht for a fitting, it seems Loki was true to her word and they informed me my prosthetics would be ready in a little over a month.

On a whim I asked how much it would cost for a personal health consultation with the god and they informed me the old man wouldn't move for anything less than 200 thousand valis but I could get half an hour of Airmid's for only 20 thousand if I was willing to get into a waiting list.

Bernadette, the nurse who was taking my hand's measurements, warned me that her Captain got very angry when someone wasted her time with nothing to treat but I figured it was worth a shot and got myself a consultation in three weeks.

Who knows how magic granted by the gods would affect the damage done by the use of the sharingan, maybe with enough money I wouldn't even have to worry about going blind.

In the afternoon I went to the coliseum to watch the adventurers sparing with each other, most of the place was filled with Ganesha Falimia members preparing everything for the monsterphilia but there were still two or three pairs working out on the sand and I eagerly copied their every move.

I still needed to practice the moves if I wanted to make them my own but, one of the advantages of being in Orario is that nobody looked at me oddly if I started waving my sword around as long as I didn't threaten anyone while doing so.

Without a TV or computer to grab my attention I spent the entire day working hard arriving at the Inn soaked in sweat, took a quick shower and spent a few hours working on the visualization of my illusions.

I still didn't feel all that safe inside my room, always keeping at least a dagger close by and always felt like there was someone watching me, I even activated the mangekyou every once in a while but never caught anyone following me.

From time to time I meet up with Mord or Scott as I ran in the morning but they were always busy trying to raise money and didn't have time to talk, they too had asked the Loki familia for help buying a new arm for Scott.

Unfortunately, turns out an entire working arm was FAR more complex and thus expensive than just a few fingers so they still had to make up the difference with their own money.

As the days went by my body improved, I quickly managed to hit and overcome my goal of a hundred repetitions on the exercises and found my ability with the sword increasing at an impressive speed but the odd sense of something observing me never really left making me constantly on edge.

Barely two weeks later I let a drop of blood run down my back and checked the state of my falna.

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – H - 107
Endurance – H - 114
Dexterity – I - 98
Agility – I - 92
Magic – G - 205
Skills:
- Chosen of an Outer God.
- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).

It was far from Bell's level of growth but I felt it was good enough for someone who hadn't killed a single monster for two weeks.

Taking the time to sharpen my sword with a newly bought whetstone I tested the edge against the hairs on my arm and nodded when it shaved them better than any razor I had ever used.

I knew I should really wait for my prosthetic to be ready or at least for my consult with Airmid but I really needed to let out some steam and, after two weeks of training, my missing fingers barely affected my fighting.

Sheathing my sword, I smiled. Ready or not, I would be going back into the dungeon today.

_______________________________________________

A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

heya, first interlude here, a little look at what's going on behind the scenes.

Next chapter in about 2 days

_____________________

LOKI

"Should we have someone watch him?" Asked Gareth as he scratched his beard, the dwarf didn't particularly believe it was needed, but it was always better to be cautious.

"No, I think he was just intimidated by us." Voiced Finn, the Loki familia captain had considered having the boy followed, but decided against it.

True, there was a chance the boy had been a mole from the attacking bandits, and his obvious fear was suspicious but, from what Ramillia had said, he had fought with his life on the line and the enemies hadn't even hinted at his involvement.

He also hadn't tried to curry favor with their familia, or even seem interested in the fake map they had been using to draw his attention so, even if he had been a mole, their activities didn't seem to be his target.

Plus, Finn wasn't above giving someone a second chance if they earned it, and it seemed like the boy had.

"He wasn't afraid of you guys." Said Loki herself with a serious voice. "Well, he was, but it wasn't really about you guys."

"Then why?"

"He was absolutely terrified of me!" She said with barely contained laughter, her red eyes shining in interest. "How amusing, he was in a room with 3 level six adventurers and the one that made him shake was little old me."

Riveria sighed and made a brief prayer for the poor adventurer. Let the other gods have mercy on his soul because Loki certainly wouldn't.

"Loki-sama, you have a lot of work to do." She said to try and distract her god.

"Come on Riveria-chan, did you see the way he shook every time I moved?" Jumping on top of the table, Loki put both hands behind her head and gave a wide, predatory smile. "Where else will I find such a perfect toy?"

Well… in the end, she didn't try very hard, a bored Loki was annoying and, if it took a traumatized adventurer to satisfy her, it was a sacrifice Riveria was willing to make.

"I guess we're getting someone to follow him after all?" Asked Finn as he looked at his goddess, he didn't really need her approval to make decisions for the familia, but he liked to accommodate her whims, it was better for everyone involved.

"No, no I'll be watching him personally… I wonder how far he'd jump if I suddenly appeared behind him?"

Incredibly happy with her discovery, Loki pushed herself up and fled the room before Riveria could grab her, leaving a mountain of paperwork behind.

"Poor guy." All three of them signed at the same time, then they started spreading the real dungeon map over the table so they could finally start to plan their next delve.

"Get a team to protect Loki anyway." Finn said as he grabbed a stack of notes from their previous expedition. "I don't think the boy will be dangerous, but we better make sure."

"Any preferences?"

"Use people Loki won't feel tempted to harass, no need to get our female members mad at us."

"Good thinking." Nodded Gareth, the dwarf patted Finn on the back and opened the door to shout for someone to follow Loki before the goddess started a riot on the streets.

"Ugh, why do I feel this is gonna be trouble?"

"Because it's Loki, anything that grabs her attention leads to trouble."

All three leaders of Loki familia briefly traded glances and sighed, over the years, they had learned to love Loki, but they still couldn't help but wish she were more like Hephestos.



FREYA

At the very top of Babel tower, an elegant woman sat looking down over the city of Orario, all around her laid plucked rose petals spread all over the floor.

Freya's eyes searched the city for a long time before she found her target and watched him look around in worry, her body gave a little shudder and she grabbed another rose from a vase beside her chair.

Slowly, her delicate fingers plucked a petal and released it to drift down to the floor.

"Should I do it…"

"What is the problem, my goddess?" Asked Ottar from behind her, the giant boaz always willing to hear her musings.

"Do you feel fear Ottar?" she mused in a calm tone. "I don't think I ever asked you about it but, when facing a new monster or some impossible odds in the dungeon, are you afraid?"

"Yes." He answered simply, even as one of his hands found the handle of his sword and squeezed.

"I had never felt fear before, you know." She confessed and pulled another petal out, throwing it over the edge of the tower. "That shiver down my spine, the feeling of helplessness and oppression, as if something has grabbed my heart and is slowly squeezing…"

With a flushed face, Freya squeezed her legs together and her whole body shook with pleasure.

"His aura should have been so uninteresting, incredibly damaged, yes, but it was only a light green color filled with sports of red." Sighing again, she let her body sprawl over her chair as she saw him ducking under an alley and away from her gaze.

"A perfectly ordinary aura, were it not for the lines of deep purple running across it, they grabbed at his colors, holding then together and tainting them as if they would consume him, as if it would consume me just by looking, it's even causing my divine origin to shake."

"What's the name of the one I should kill?" Ottar asked with barely contained rage, how dare a lowly adventurer threaten his goddess!

"Oh, stop it Ottar. Nobody is gonna kill him if I can help it."

"I see…" The giant forced his hand to release the weapon and sighed, his goddess did like to play with danger.

"Come now." Freya laughed as she pulled another petal out of the rose and threw it in his face. "Would you deny me this excitement, Ottar? You, who throws himself in the dungeon over and over again, facing danger every day would deny me the chance to do the same?"

"Of course not, my goddess."

"Besides, he may have that strange aura clinging to him, and those eyes that feel so close to the divine, but he's barely a level 1." Freya sighed and finally relaxed. "I doubt he has more than a single status over H."

Ottar didn't say anything else, but Freya was sure he understood, he was the child who was closest to her after all.

Freya looked down on Orario once again and sighed when she couldn't find him, he was always so quickly to sense her gaze.

Truth be told, she had the urge to send Ottar down there and slay the kid once and for all, she had a familia to protect and her promises to keep, she really shouldn't risk her life like this but… she couldn't go against her nature.

Freya had always loved collecting heroes, those who shone the brightest or had the most beautiful colors would always find a place amongst her children, but she had never encountered something like this before.

For all intends, the adventurer had been a weakling, she could see it had been barely a month since he received a falna and, while his growth was impressive, it wasn't impossible so.

Still, that deep purple color she couldn't see through, that little bit of aura holding his own soul in place and slowly spreading its tentacles over the rest, mixing with it, changing it.

It had left her heart beating madly against her chest.

Even before incarnating in the mortal world, she had hardly felt such danger, such power… and such allure.

Freya had taken dangerous lovers before, she had taken risks and gotten involved with those capable of hurting her but, even then, the most they could do was send her back to heaven.

There was just something different about courting something fully capable of ending her very existence… could he truly kill a god? Could she afford to find out?

"Should I not…" She mumbled as she plucked the last petal on her current rose without coming to a decision.

She let the rose fall from her fingers and quickly found her own hands tracing her body until one of them was squeezing her chest and the other found its way inside her tight pants.

Should she end the treat before it affected her familia? Should she help it grow until it could? She couldn't decide, and the roses weren't helping.

Even without the strange purple on his aura, the adventurer still had those eyes, she could see they were deteriorated, but their origin had been something great.

Not divine, no, but something equally powerful, was he a descendant from some mighty spirit? How much of their former power would those eyes regain if he grew stronger?

So many questions…

No, for now, she would wait without interfering, she would see if those purple strings would continue to grow and consume him or fade away after his wounded aura healed, leaving him an ordinary man.

She really hoped she could find out quickly, before she was unable to stop herself.




DIX PERDIX

Perdix poked at the creature in the cage with his cursed spear and laughed as it desperately tried to avoid him.

He really wanted to kill the damn thing, to drive his spear through its core and watch as it dissolved in front of its friends, to savor their fear and helplessness as he did it to them too.

The headache hit him suddenly, making him grab at his cursed eye and scream in defiance even as he pulled the spear back and left the lizardman alone.

It seemed he had been killing far too many of them lately, the curse wouldn't let him continue.

Sometimes, Perdix though it would be better to be like his brother, so lost into the curse he couldn't care about anything else but growing the damn labyrinth.

But no, he was the money man, the curse needed his brother to work on the walls and doors, to sculpt the labyrinth as that bastard had envisioned it, but it also needed him to gather the necessary money and materials.

Sometimes, Perdix wondered what he would have become if the curse didn't force him to gather money, to desperately fight for every single magic stone and valy he could get his hands on, just so he could buy more Orichalcum to complete the damn place.

Truth be told, he hadn't even taken pleasure at tormenting and killing the monsters, well… Not in the beginning.

It had just been an act of rebellion, a way to deny his curse the money they'd bring by devaluing or even destroying their bodies.

"Perdix-sama, it seems they have failed to kill the adventurer."

"What?" He asked and jumped down from the monster's cage to fall before the bald man. "How the hell did they fail to kill a single level 1 adventurer?"

He wasn't really mad about it, the fuck did he care if Enyo wanted some poor SOB dead after all, more like, he was baffled that his own familia was so incompetent as to fail on such simple task.

The tattooed bald man grabbed the surviving crossbowman and forced him down to his knees in front of Perdix.

"He wasn't alone." Gran said as he laid his huge great sword against the floor and shook the man. "Explain what happened again."

Hearing the explanation didn't make Perdix feel that much better, sure, losing to a party, even a heavily wounded party, was better than losing to a single level 1, but not by much.

"Did you guys at least find out his name or something?"

"Roland Perdix-sama." Answered the kneeling man as he tried to wipe cold sweat from his forehead. "In Riviera, he said his name was Roland Sinclair."

"And which familia he's from?"

"He never told anyone."

Grabbing at his spear, Dix imagined piercing the man through his chest and throwing him to the monsters, but a new spike of pain changed his mind.

Even família members were resources and, without the payment from Enyo, his curse was being even more insistent.

Godsdamnit, why did that damn shady god had to have such odd tastes? Every once in a while they'd get some completely random request to murder an adventurer or party and, for the life of him, Perdix couldn't find out why.

Wiping his arm around, Perdix smashed his spear into the cage, sending sparks flying all over the floor and scaring both monsters and adventurers.

"Alright, alright, I'm calm." Taking a deep breath, he rubbed the spot above his eyes and hoped his damn curse would stop demanding more resources. "Find out where this asshole is, take a level three or four and end him!"

Another spike of pain hit him, causing him to stumble in place, he should have known it wouldn't do to test his curse, but he just couldn't help trying to sabotage it's efforts.

"Tsk… wait, just monitor him for now, wait until the guy steps into the dungeon before acting." deciding to give up for the day, Perdix twisted his spear and let it rest quietly at his back. " Try to use a monster train to kill him, make it looks like an accident or something, it wouldn't do for someone to get suspicious."

"What about the Loki familia?"

"They didn't capture anyone alive did they?"

"No Perdix-sama."

"Then they shouldn't be able to find out anything, that's why I said to make it look like an accident!" He pressed two finger to the idiot's forehead and poked it repeatedly. "Two attacks against a level 1 would be suspicious, but a dungeon related accident…"

Sometimes, he wondered why he even bothered to train those idiots anyway.

Then he remembered that, without them to bring in the money, the curse would probably force him to hunt in the dungeon 24/7 and sighed.

"Having trouble with your subordinates?" Asked the tall god with amusement as he inspected a small goblin trembling inside one of the cages.

"Just some idiots messing up one of Enyo's little assassinations, Thanatos." He greeted the god.

At least Thanatos was bearable, the way he played with his own delusional familia without even having to trick them was incredibly amusing.

"Hmm, perhaps I should get some of my own people looking into it?"

Perdix smirked, he couldn't order his own familia to cause a mess and lose him money but, if Thanatos wanted to do it for him…

Like him, Thanatos didn't really need their plans to succeed, he wanted to win sure but, far more importantly, he wanted to have fun doing it.

He wondered how much trouble the god's little fanatics would cause this time.





OURANOS

In a closed off room bellow the guild, a lone god sat upon a stone throne, his expression was serious as he looked down upon the dungeon in concern.

Was it trying to find a way around their deal already?

"Fels!"

"You called, Ouranos-sama?" Asked a tall robed figure as it seemed to materialize from the shadows.

"Something escaped from the dungeon." Ouranos told his only familia member.

"Hmmm, did it use a different exit? No, you wouldn't have felt it them but, how did it overcome your prayers?"

Ouranos himself frowned, that was a question he had been asking himself for a few days already.

"I felt it was born from the dungeon but… not, I am certain it wasn't a monster at least." He tapped a single finger against the armrest of his throne, trying to find an answer.

"A Xenos then?"

"No, this creature is something new." Ouranos said, his once impassive face growing concerned.

"Hmmm, first the Xenos, then those odd movements in the deep floors, now this… the dungeon is changing fast."

"Whatever escaped the dungeon is free in Orario, find it Fels."

"And what should I do once it's found?" The robed man asked, a metal gauntlet rising from under the dark robes to scratch at his hidden face.

"Whatever you find necessary."

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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

New chapter is out, you can still read ahead on my patreon, and a new chapter is coming out tomorrow.

I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, next one in two days.

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The entrance of the dungeon laid open for anyone to climb down, an enormous hole into the ground, ten meters wide and with only a small narrow path leading down into the depths of the dungeon.

The day before, I had bought a set of potions from the Dian Cecht familia. Six health potions, three stamina potions and one mind potion rested safely inside a small padded leather pouch resting at my waist. It had cost me 10 thousand valis in total, but I thought it was a worthy investment.

Who knows, I may not even need to use them.

I didn't feel myself being watched right now, but I still took some time to look around and make sure nobody was following me.

A party of higher level adventurers was going down the dungeon entrance before me. The six scantily clad amazonesses barely spared me a glance before actually ignoring the winding path and jumping down the hole like agile cats. I gave them some time to clear the way and, when nobody else came, started walking down.

Unsheathing my sword, I finally stepped into the first floor of the dungeon alone. The party before me was long gone, leaving the corpses of four goblins laying around, their heads crushed from a single blow.

Shrugging my shoulders, I took only a minute to harvest their magic stones and a single goblin fang, putting them in separate pouches in my backpack.

The first floor of the dungeon was a cave environment with wide hallways and light blue walls, the light coming from a myriad of small shining spots on the walls.

Turning a corner, a small dog-headed humanoid screeched and charged towards me, fur covered its back and privates. Opening its arms wide, he telegraphed a wide swing with his claws.

The beast was only slightly faster than an average human and had no skill; better yet, since the kobold was mostly humanoid, my eyes could already predict its every movement.

Not seeing any other monster around, I became complacent, lazily stepping away from the patch of his swing. What I didn't consider was that the Kobold would have time to react to my movements, twisting his body and striking at my face.

My heart skipped a beat as I desperately ducked under its claws and struck with a rising blow as fast as I could, severing its entire arm, some blood sprayed into my face, but I immediately reversed the swing and decapitated the creature.

Taking a second to recover my breath, I wiped the blood from my face and looked down at the creature. "Fuck, gotta remember this isn't actually a video game, the monsters won't keep to their neat little patterns after I dodged them."

Continuing exploring the dungeon, I killed another two lone kobolds before a group of three goblins rushed at me. With a brief glance, I sent a wave of pain to the first goblin, causing it to release a pitiful scream and fall to the floor grabbing at his head. The second goblin stumbled on his body and was sent sprawling, but the third one had enough time to jump over their bodies.

Adjusting my posture, I grabbed my sword with both hands and delivered a powerful wrath strike, using my reach to cut the monster in half before it could strike me. Seeing as the second monster had started to get up, I lunged, thrusting the tip of my blade all the way through his head.

The first monster was still twisting around on the ground and crying out, despite using a lesser illusion, the goblin was still too weak to get rid of my influence, so I just pierced its heart and watched it dissolve into dust and leave behind a second goblin fang.

Shit, I forgot I shouldn't hit their magic crystals.

Retrieving my blade, I flicked it aside to get rid of the blood and harvested the other two corpses, getting another two intact magic crystals but no lot drop.

Half an hour later, I found the entrance to the second floor and went down.

I barely took a dozen steps on the second floor before I had to jump back as a giant lizard fell from the ceiling and attempted to bite me. The beast was almost the size of an adult man, with leathery skin and feet like a frog's.

Twisting around, it tried to hit me with its tail and I was forced to retreat in a hurry. With a different musculature and shape, my eyes were still unable to predict the beast's movements so I looked around and, seeing no other monster, spent twenty minutes fighting the creature.

It was slightly slower than me and, despite being unable to predict then, I could still see its movements as if they were in slow motion, so I had no trouble fighting the beast until I started to see the shadow of its movements.

By the time I was done, it was already exhausted and bleeding out so I just cut off its head and harvested its crystal.

Monster spawning in the first floors seemed sporadic at best and I saw a few other new adventurers fighting alone or in pairs, so I made my way down to the fourth floor where the corridors were wider.

There were more adventurers hunting here, but the floor itself was several times bigger and I started encountering groups of monsters fairly often, goblins and kobolds attacked me in groups of three or four monsters, but they had no coordination or pack instinct and got in each other's way as often as not.

Fighting more than one enemy was still much harder, but the hallways weren't wide enough for them to make full use of it, and I always kept them ahead of me.

At first I was forced to use my illusions to take one or two monsters off the fight, but I soon grew used to their fighting and fought around them with ease, using illusions just to improve them and grow my attributes.

Almost bored, I sidestepped a goblin but couldn't strike it down before one of his companions tried to grab me. I was fighting in an intersection and found two groups at the same time, being forced to fight seven of the creatures.

Waving my sword in a wide arc, I forced the goblins back and started walking sideways until I managed to put one goblin at the front so that the others had to come through it to attack me.

I took a deep breath. After such a long time fighting, I had started to get a headache and was unwilling to spend any more mind if I didn't have to. I didn't want to be caught without mind by something like the Vouivre or a monster wave.

Considering my options, I knew I had to eliminate a few goblins before they surrounded me and made it impossible to fight.

We looked at each other for a few seconds and, seeing their muscles start to tense, I lunged before they could react, my sword pierced the neck of the first goblin to the hilt and I drove my shoulder on his chest, lifting his small green body up and using it as a shield as I charged the others.

The goblin spewed blood at the back of my armor as it received several scratches from its friends. I managed to skewer a second goblin and break through their ranks, leaving the crossing and entering one of the hallways.

With a kick, I pushed both goblins out of my sword and twisted around, finally managing to put my back against the wall, the remaining five monsters were already charging at me.

Waiting for the last second, I sidestepped the first monster and cut off its neck. With a single wide blow, I cut a second goblin in two and carved halfway through the skull of another before my sword got stuck on his bones.

"Fuck!" Unable to pull the sword out in time, I kicked out, stomping on the chest of another and sending him flying back.

I was forced to release my hilt to roll under the last goblin's blow; before it recovered from the pounce, I pulled out my throwing knives and sent them flying, burying them in his neck.

With my last dagger I approached the goblin I had kicked, my blow had driven the air out of its lungs and it was still trying to recover its breath when I stomped on its arms and drove the point of the dagger into its eyes.

Patting myself down to get rid of the dust, I was left breathing hard and sweating but with a huge smile on my face, damn, that had been fun.

Harvesting their magic crystals and gathering my throwing daggers I sighed. I really should have used my illusions on the goblins, seven of them were a little too much to safely fight and I still didn't have the kind of stats capable of shrugging off a strong blow.

Even a single claw or strike at the wrong place could leave me unable to recover or dead, but the illusions just made things a little too easy.

Leaning on the wall, I took a few minutes of rest and saw another dungeon lizard trying to sneak his way through the ceiling in order to ambush me, a flick of my arm and a dagger buried itself on the creature's large eye, causing it to drop on its back screeching.

Damn, I got pretty good at this.

Opening my pouch, I pulled out a stamina potion and looked at it, feeling a little bit of pain gripping my heart. They're so small, but each one costs over 1000 valis. Pulling the cork off, I drank it.

Short rests just weren't helping all that much anymore and I didn't want to risk getting caught in an even bigger fight.

Washing my hands with some of my water supply, I pulled out a piece of jerky and started walking while eating, searching for another group of monsters.

Turning another corner, I finally saw the cave leading to a lower floor and stopped. Floor 5 was a different beast and I didn't know if I could take it.

Fuck it, I had only used a single stamina potion in this entire delve and my headache was already gone away.

Plus, continuing to fight kobolds and goblins would be boring, I already memorized their attack patterns and, unless I found two or three groups at the same time, I wouldn't even need to use my magic.

Going down to the fifth floor, I saw another adventurer coming up, his shirt was covered in blood, but he just looked tired. Tightening the grip on my sword, I gave him a wide berth.

The fifth floor looked different. The walls had a light green color and looked a little more natural instead of the almost manmade feel of the first four, the hallways were wider and I soon found myself in a huge room with a bigger ceiling and three entrances.

The room itself was filled with boulders and gaps from where monsters could ambush me. The second I stepped inside, a large Kobold caught sight of me and howled before five of the creatures charged me.

Pulling out three daggers, I threw them, hitting one of the creatures on the neck and chest and a second on the arm but, because of their thick fur, it didn't kill them.

Waving around the beast, I cut them, my sword flashing around and leaving arcs of blood as I carved through their flesh, cutting off limbs and slashing their exposed chests.

Even dying, one of the kobolds managed to bite down on my sword arm, forcing me to retreat while trying to open his jaw. Something hit me from the back, ridding my body to the ground and trying to bite my neck.

My armor blocked the dungeon lizard's fangs and I rolled aside, causing it to fall off my back. I jumped to my feet before the lizard could recover and looked around for my sword. It had fallen on the other side of the creature and there was already one last Kobold rushing me.

Dodging its claw swipe, I punched the creature in the throat and then smashed my elbow on its temple before kicking its body towards the lizard, making it busy enough I could recover my weapon and finish it off.

Looking at the bleeding bite marks on my arm, I shook my head… So much for not using potions, another 700 valis down the drain.

The second room I found was actually big enough that I spent almost an hour clearing it of monsters. There were seven goblin parties and two Kobold packs, as well as several lizards hidden between cracks and even under boulders.

I wasn't stupid enough to go very deep, only keeping to the rooms and hallways around the entrance, but I was still fighting far more often than on the previous floors and needed to take a second stamina potion.

I barely had the chance to catch my breath before another kobold pack rushed me in the hallway; one of the creatures even had a large stone club on his hand.

Taking a deep breath, I got up and waited for them to arrive, my stance relaxed to conserve energy. The moment they got into range, I struck.

My eyes had adjusted so much to their movements I could predict every step they took, letting me kill them with a single slash or thrust. Flicking the blood aside, I put my sword away and stretched my back.

My backpack was almost full and it was probably around the time to get back. I had seen another five adventurers going up the floor already and I didn't want to get caught in a wave of returning delvers.

Who knows if one of them wouldn't turn out to be an asshole and lay an ambush to try and rob me?

Looking towards the next room, I briefly considered continuing. I had wanted to see a war shadow or killer ant, but there had been none so close to the entrance of the fourth floor.

Stretching my limbs, I already saw a goblin breaking out of the wall to my left, the dungeon working hard to spawn new mobs and try to kill me. The creature was far enough that I couldn't hit it with a dagger, so I just retreated and started making my way back.

I still had to be careful so I wouldn't be ambushed by those damn dungeon lizards who kept appearing when I least expected.

Who knew giant geckos could be so sneaky? Even the sharingan had trouble making them out when I was distracted.

Finally taking the stairs out of the dungeon, I started to holster my sword but thought better of it and kept it in my hand until I finally stepped out into the streets and people started giving me angry looks.

Cleaning the blade with a piece of cloth, I put it away and pulled out another piece of jerky to snack on.

I had just bitten off another piece when I froze, a shiver went down my spine filling my entire body with goosebumps. With slow and stiff movements, I turned my head and saw it.

Sitting there, sucking on a tall glass from a wooden straw, her feet on top of the table and her crimson eyes staring right through my soul was Loki.

Her mouth opened in a wide smirk as she gave me a little wave.

"Argh… coff…coff…coff." I choked on my jerky, tears filling my eyes and I started to panic until I finally managed to spit it out. "Why me?"

Avoiding her eyes, I lowered my head and immediately turned around to dash away, I smashed right into something hard and bounced back a few steps.

"Ne, ne, newbie-kun, good to see you survived the dungeon alone!"

A small hand patted my shoulder in congratulations, making me focus on the girl in front of me. Tiona, like most amazoness, wore little clothes, her chest was bound by a single piece of cloth that could be called a sports bra and she had a yellow skirt that showed her bare legs.

I stared for quite a few seconds to take in the tanned level 5 adventurer, she was petite and extremely fit, with a hint of a six pack on her abs… Despite her muscles, she still looked cute. Damn, the anime's simple drawing really didn't do her justice.

"Come on newbie-kun, Loki wants to talk with you."

"Can I say… no?" I asked while looking down at Tiona's smiling face.

"Sure." She said and put a finger against her mouth in thought. "Hmmm, I don't think Loki would be happy though."

Well… fuck me then.

With a sight, I followed Tiona back to the shop where Loki was still waiving, her eyes almost closed in amusement and her pupils barely visible.

Loki took her boots off the table and I put my bag down in order to free my hands before sitting with the amazoness, my body completely stiff and my hand gripping my sword as hard as I could.

Why the hell was Loki after me, for fuck's sake, what did I do to catch her attention?

Putting both elbows on the table, she crossed her fingers in front of her face and just stared at me, making humming noises and only causing my tension to grow.

Just as I was about to force myself into relaxing, Loki's eyes opened wide at something behind me and she violently pushed her chair back to escape.

Turning around, I activated the mangekyou and jumped off my chair drawing my sword out for a parry.

"Fast for a level one aren't you?" Loki said in amusement. "Got a lot of kills too."

Did this bitch just trick me with a 'behind you'?

Swallowing my wounded pride, I sat back down and turned to see Loki searching my backpack. Turning to Tiona, she just shrugged in sympathy but actually started to lean over to get a look too.

"Hey you got a lot of lizard tails." Loki shouted happily and pulled out a bag with twelve of the item drops. "My kids never drop them anymore since everyone hunts further down, thanks, I love the taste."

"Can I have those back?" I calmly asked, doing my best to not show how annoyed she was making me.

"Nope, they're mine now." Pushing the backpack back, Loki kept the lizard drops for herself and threw me a bag of valis. "Relax newbie, order something, I'm paying, have to thank you for saving my cute kids after all."

Loki probably wouldn't have me killed right in front of the dungeon entrance, there's no way even her familia could escape the repercussions… I hope.

Alright, I just have to keep myself from agreeing with anything and I'd probably be fine.

Finally relaxing a little, I ordered an ice coffee and forced myself to release my sword. Tiona too laid back on her chair and put her hands behind her head.

"Hmm, Hmmmm, Hmmmmmmmmm" Loki twisted her head from side to side, looking me over, a finger tapping at her chin. "You're a really new adventurer aren't you? I can see you're still a little out of shape and, from your lot, you stopped around the fifth floor right?"

"I heard monsters are stronger in the dungeon, I was just testing that today so there was no need to delve too deep." I told her, trying to make it seem like I had been an adventurer for longer.

"Heh, you do remember I can tell when you're lying right?" she said, sounding almost disappointed.

Shit, I was so tense I had forgotten!

"Fine, it's only been a month or two." I grumbled, a servant finally arrived and laid a glass with my coffee in front of me, it looked surprisingly modern for a sword and sorcery world, it even had a good amount of cream on top and a little spade.

"Say, what's the name of your god again? I didn't think anyone still in the city was the type to give someone a falna and just dump them on the 18th floor." Loki asked, leaning over the table.

"He never told me his name." I answered and moved my chair as discreetly as I could away from her.

"How odd, the gods usually like to brag." Tiona commented without much care, her body leaning back in her chair.

"Say, since your god is such an asshole, what do you think about becoming a member of my familia?" Loki offered casually. "I don't feel like a few fingers are enough to pay you back for one of my kid's lives and you're amusing enough."

I felt a cold drop of sweat running down my face as I tried to find a reason to refuse her without lying or making her feel insulted, come on, think Roland, think!

"I thought both deities had to agree to that?" I almost shouted when the answer came to me.

"Tsk, that's true I suppose." Grabbing my coffee, Loki took a sip of it and released a little sigh of surprise. "Huh, I never really liked coffee, but this is surprisingly good."

"Really? Let me try."

I watched as both girls enjoyed my Ice coffee, Tiona taking a big bite out of the cream before her eyes shone with light and she shamelessly stole the entire cup.

Seeing as Tiona showed no sign of wanting to give it back, I sighed and ordered another.

"I could always talk with him, you know." Loki said as she cleaned her mouth with a napkin. "Very few gods can deny me when I really want something."

A menacing aura started leaking from the petite woman as she grabbed the table with both hands and gave me a very creepy smile.

"That'd be hard." I said, relieved I had an excuse for that too. "After he gave me my falna, I haven't met him again."

"I see, I see." Loki suddenly opened her crimson eyes causing me to flinch. "So how did your falna get updated? A level 1 with 0 stats couldn't have gotten so many magical crystals in a day… not as out of shape as you were."

Shit. Fuck. Goddamnit why did gods have to be able to sense lies.

I started to panic; do I tell her I can update my own falna? I had never heard of any other adventurer capable of something like that but there were some ridiculous skills in danmachi, but wasn't the falna manipulation exclusive to gods?

"Hehe, you should see the look on your face." Loki finally said and looked away from me. "Forget it, it would be more interesting to find out on my own."

'Fuck, stop messing with me woman!' Is what I didn't scream in her face, no matter how hard I wanted to.

"But I still feel like a few prosthetic fingers aren't enough to pay you back for Remilia-chan and Kevin-chan's lives, even your share of the Vouivre's lot could pay for it, maybe."

"You really don't have to pay me back Loki-sama, I barely did anything."

"Lying again!" she said in a singsong voice. "I know, why don't you at least stay in the Twilight Manor until you can get a more permanent place?"

For fuck's sake, I was just trying to be humble. Speaking no lies when you're trying to hide things is so hard.

"I respectfully decline." I bowed my head low and prayed it was enough.

No way am I staying in shouting distance of Loki if I can help it, no matter how rude I have to be.

Wait, I have been cursing in the name of god and praying for things all the time… can the danmachi gods hear it?

"Haaaaaaa, you're no fun." She said and, despite not being a god, even I could see she was lying. "At least let me offer you some training, without a god you won't even be able to get a guide from the guild."

I'm sad to say I truly considered it, the anime only showed Bell sparring as training, but didn't have anything about the working of the dungeon or what gear I should bring.

"Hey Tiona, you up for a few spars to teach newbie here how to fight?"

"Huh?" Tiona asked in confusion, her face finally lifting from my glass of ice coffee with a cream mustache.

"Come on, it would be fun." Said Loki, getting behind the amazoness and grabbing her shoulders before leaning over her ears. "He'd be your apprentice, you could train him and even pit him against other adventurers to see who's stronger!"

What the hell did she think I was, a pokemon?

"Mou, I guess it could be fun." Tiona shrugged and looked me over. "You know I'm bad at holding back, you sure he wouldn't die from a single kick?"

You're a level 5 woman! I'd die. If you kicked me for real I'd definitely die!

Despite her ominous words and the fact she was working for Loki, I couldn't help myself. The chance to learn from a first class adventurer, to copy her moves and skills, it was just too tempting.

Plus I'm pretty sure Loki wouldn't give up, and who knows what her next offer would be. "Alright, I accept."

The fact Tiona was hot and barely wore any clothes had nothing to do with my decision, nope.

"Great, it's a date then!" Loki laughed and grabbed Tiona by the arm, dragging her away.

I finally took a sip of my ice coffee, wondering just why I hadn't just ran away from the city, oh yeah I refuse to live my life in fear.

I felt as if escaping Orario would be taking a step back and I didn't dare do that, I knew myself, if I started retreating from fear of what would happen it wouldn't end well for me.

Before long, I'd become the same zombie in human skin, going through the motions of everyday life, but too afraid of both failure and success to do anything.

Until now, I had managed to force myself to keep moving but, if I lost my momentum…

I let my body fall, sprawling on top of the table and banging my forehead against the wood in frustration.

Ugh, living was hard.

.

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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

Well, took me a little longer to post the new chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy it.

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I ducked under a blow from the Kobold's leader and slashed open his back, severing his spine before grabbing the landform weapon he dropped and throwing it at the dungeon lizard trying to ambush me from the ceiling.

The stone mace smashed into the creature's head, causing it to lose its footing and fall belly up on the floor where I could slash its neck open.

After three days of dungeon delving, I had gotten pretty good at spotting the things, to the point they no longer provided any danger.

Looking towards the ceiling, I thought about what awaited me up there in Orario and sighed. Since meeting Loki three days ago I had managed to avoid encountering anyone from her familia again.

Loki hadn't really given me a time or a place to receive training, and I wasn't about to march willingly into the Twilight Manor if I could help it, but I swear the little imp had been keeping an eye on me. I could even feel her stare from time to time while walking through the streets.

I knew she'd eventually track me down again, but I was really not looking forward to it.

A chitering noise came from the hallway leading deeper into the fifth floor and made me focus back on the dungeon.

Rushing straight at me was what I could only assume was a killer ant, the insect was the size of a large dog, with a reddish carapace and wicked sharp mandibles.

I smiled. Facing a new monster would be interesting.

Making sure I was ready to receive its charge, I considered just how I was going to kill the thing, aiming for an eye didn't seem like it would kill the thing and its exoskeleton looked tough enough to be armor.

Also, weren't ants able to lift 50 times their own weight or something? The creature rushing me seemed to be at least 20 kilos.

The ant attacked, its sword-like mandibles snapping closed on thin air as I dodged out of the way and struck at its head.

My sword hit its armor and actually bounced back, my hands becoming numb from the impact and almost making me drop the weapon.

Taking a few steps back, I saw the ant stumble in confusion from the blow, a small dent in its head but otherwise perfectly okay.

Passing my sword from one hand to the other, I shook my arms to stop the numbness and saw a large dent on my sword's edge which made me grimace.

Sharpening my weapon had turned out to be a pain and I never quite managed to make it as good as it had been on the first day, a dent like that would take me hours to fix.

The ant fully recovered and attacked again, my eyes were still unable to predict its movements and it was fast enough I had to work to dodge its lunges.

Stepping to its side, I stomped on one of the creature's legs with all my strength and it snapped like a twig, but didn't affect its movements all that much, damn insect.

I'd probably have to break at least four of its limbs to fully disable the thing.

On the next attack, I wasn't fast enough and the ant clamped its jaws around my ankle, almost breaking my bones. With a twist of its head, the monster pulled me off my feet and I couldn't resist as it dragged me through the floor before sending me flying.

I managed to keep my hold on the sword and, as the ant tried to bite down on my neck, twisted aside and shoved the tip at its neck, digging deep on the gap between its head and chest.

Putting one foot at the creature's side, I twisted the sword with all my strength, using it as a lever to cut off its head and sending it sprawling to the floor.

The insect's body continued to move without a head, flailing about and stumbling as if drunk while its head continued to open and close its huge jaws.

Getting to my feet, I relaxed for a few seconds and then remembered those creatures actually called out for help if they weren't properly finished off.

Stomping on its head did nothing, so I grabbed my sword in a reverse grip and delivered a murder stroke with all of my strength. The edge cut deeply into my hand, but my pommel broke through the creature's armor and pulped its brain.

"Fuck!" I screamed as my hands bleed all over the sword.

Pulling out a health potion, I drank it and watched the cuts close, then I heard the chittering. Seems like I had taken too long to kill the damn thing.

From two different hallways, I saw five ants rushing me, their mandibles snapping hungrily in the air.

Looking around in desperation, I saw the Landform weapon from the Kobold I just killed had yet to dissolve, so I hushed towards it, my eyes already spinning into the mangekyou in order to better see their movements.

Focusing on the hallway with three ants, I kept them all in my vision and cast my illusion.

My first instinct was to try and make them see each other as humans, but it did nothing to the monsters, it seems they could sense each other in some way and the difference was enough to immediately break my minor illusions.

I didn't dare use my pain illusion lest they start calling for help again, so I tried something new, taking over their sense of touch and vision. I imagined pillars of stone rising from the floor like spikes and piercing right through their bellies, lifting them and making them stop.

In a second, the ants stopped and their limbs started flailing in the air as if they were trying to grip at something but finding no purchase.

Turning towards the two remaining monsters, I lifted the stone mace and smashed it on top of the first ant with both hands, causing it's carapace to break like an egg, then I twisted aside and broke every leg on the second's right side, it still tried to crawl towards me but, with only one side working, I just squashed it.

From behind me, two of the ants broke my illusions, they looked around for a brief moment of confusion and then rushed me.

With a snort, I met one of their eyes and used a greater Illusion to activate a new ability I had been working on. I turned off the monster's perception of its own body.

For the time my illusion was in effect, I tricked the monster's mind into thinking it had already sent its orders, I tricked the monster into thinking it was already moving.

The result was the ant flopping to the ground as if a puppet with its strings cut as it saw itself moving.

Used against a human, I'd have to be good enough to predict his moves well enough he wouldn't be suspicious but, against a mindless ant, I could leave it there for an hour and it wouldn't regain its movements.

I quickly smashed all three remaining ants, killing them before they could call for help and sighed. Yep, the sharingan kind of made it all boring again.

Without the illusions, I'd probably have been overwhelmed by the insects and forced to run but, with the sharingan, they weren't even a challenge.

Ugh, I hate that I'm almost hoping I find something like a Vouivre again, who knew killing monsters would get so... repetitive.

Harvesting the creatures, I watched their bodies dissolve into dust and decided to call it a day. I had already used three health potions and it should be getting dark anyway.

By the time I finished climbing the floors, the sun had already set so I made my way back to my room and spent half an hour separating whatever loot I had.

The item drops all went into my backpack so I could sell them to the tower tomorrow morning, while the magic crystals were separated by type of monster and put into pouches, I'd have to find a way to sell those too before long. I had already gathered so many I was almost running out of room for it.

Another hour was spent trying to get rid of my swords' damage. I had been using it a little too carelessly and it had started to accumulate, another week and I'd probably have to get a new one from one of the blacksmith familias.

Hephaestus was the biggest and most well-known, but I had seen their prices and, even now, I could barely afford them.

Using the Inn's bathroom, I took a quick bath and called it a day.

.

.

.

.

"How very rude of you."

I woke up with a startle, there was someone in my room!

Grabbing my dagger from under my pillow, I wiped my arm towards the voice on instinct and only then realized I just threw away my only weapon!

My heart hammering in my chest, I rolled in the bed and threw myself towards my sword in a vain hope that I could get to it before whoever invaded my bedroom had time to kill me.

I made it! Unsheathing my weapon, I twisted around, my mangekyou already active and ready to fight.

Loki sat backyards on a chair inside my room, her arms crossed on top of its back and an amused smile on her face, by her side Tiona held my dagger between her fingers.

"You know, I was kind of mad you were avoiding me, but now I think it was worth the wait." Slowly, the god started clapping. "And your eyes can even change shape, is that some kind of skill?"

Adrenaline leaving my body, I collapsed against the wall, godda... no, just damn it!

"Loki, why are you in my room?"

"Well you did accept my offer of training… I got worried when you never showed up!"

"You never set a time or place." I said and pushed myself up, my chest still hurting from how hard my heart had been beating.

"Hmmm... anyways, get up. We're going to the wall."

"Can I have a moment?" I released the sword and covered my face with my hand. "I need to get dressed."

"You already had three days, come on, up, up!"

With another groan, I managed to put on a shirt and some boots before Tiona physically dragged me out of the room and grabbed her signature weapon

"Come on Newbie-kun, I'll make you into a hero in no time!" The strange fire in her eyes gave me a very cold feeling.

Nobody raised an eyebrow as a tiny amazoness eagerly dragged me through the streets of Orario followed by a whistling god.

"Just what did you say to her?" I asked Loki, there's only so much you can be scared of someone before you get used to it.

"Tiona always liked hero stories." Loki fake whispered, her voice loud enough for everyone around to hear. "So I suggested she try making one, heroes always have strong mentors after all."

Well, at least the girl would be serious about training me.

Halfway to the wall, Loki Jumped at my back and wrapped an arm around my neck. "Ahhh... I'm tired from all this walking and searching for you, carry me!"

The thought of carrying one of the Norse gods at my back made me swallow and try to drop her, but the petite woman seemed to have become an octopus, her arms and legs wrapping around my body and holding on for dear life.

She's not going to backstab you in the streets Roland, endure it, endure it.

Reaching the top of the wall, the little god finally jumped down and went to sit on the edge eating some kind of snack.

Turning to my new trainer, I saw her pierce the ground with the tip of her double-bladed sword into and start to stretch her arms and legs.

I took only a second to appreciate her form before my eyes went to her weapon and I gulped, a description from berserk came to mind.

Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron... times two for maximum edginess.

"Ah... how exactly are you going to train me?"

"Fighting!" Tiona said with eagerness. "I always learned best when fighting."

Then she lifted the piece of metal heavier than me from the wall, dragging pieces of stone up and spun it over her head, causing it to whistle as it cut through the air before she got into a ready position.

"Wait!" I shouted, my eyes never leaving the giant thing. "Maybe we can start with hand to hand?"

"Eh?" Tiona asked, turning her head sideways and pouting. "Fine, I guess, but you have to know your weapons if you want to beat a floor boss alone."

Woman, do you really want to kill me that much? Though I do have the sharingan so it may be interesting to try… in a level or two.

Tiona gave one last sigh and dropped her weapon, causing the ground to shake from its weight before she got into a fighting position.

Shaking my head, I adjusted my stance and faced the girl.

"Alright can I start now?"

"Yes."

Then she kicked me in the face.

I mean, there was no shadow to predict her movements, no sudden tension in her muscles, one moment she was standing five meters in front of me and the next I felt her feet kicking me in the head for a brief second before I went flying.

Bouncing off the floor twice, I flopped like a broken doll, my head ringing.

"PFFFFFF! ahahahahahahahahahha!" From the top of the wall Loki burst out laughing.

It took me a full minute to regain my bearings enough I could push myself up in a sitting position. "What... what happened?"

"Ah, newbie-kun you're alive!" Don't sound so damn surprised! "Sorry, I did say I was bad at holding back."

Tiona scratched the back of her head sheepishly and avoided looking me in the eye.

"Here." Loki opened a huge backpack, absolutely filled with rows upon rows of health potions and threw me a vial, it was far darker than the ones I used. "I made sure I was ready before coming to get you."

Drinking the entire thing, I felt a wave of relief wash over my body, with a groan I pushed myself up and tested my limbs to see if nothing was broken, then I eyed the nearly full backpack.

So, Loki had gotten a lot of high-quality potions… Why didn't that fill me with relief.

"Alright, I'll make sure to take it a little easier this time."

"No wa..." I tried to say, but Tiona was already attacking, her kick aimed at the same spot.

Her speed had gone from 'Teleportation' to merely 'blindingly fast' even to my vision and I only just managed to lift my arms before her kick hit, smashing into my forearms and sending me stumbling back.

A blur was my only warning as Tiona appeared at my side and punched me in the kidney before jumping up and delivering a hammer kick. I had just enough time to tilt my head out of the way when her heel hit my shoulder.

CRACK!

I managed to keep myself from screaming... Somehow. My arm hung limply by my side and Tiona jumped back, allowing me enough room to breathe.

"Great! You held on for 2 seconds!"

Yes, great.

Loki snickered at my fate and threw me another potion.

Drinking it, I felt a warm feeling covering my arm and, not even a minute later my bones were mended. "Ugh, just how many of those can I take?"

"Oh, don't worry, those are high quality potions, you can take about fifty of them before they start losing their effect."

Ahhh, it was going to be a long day.

Later, I dragged myself into the Hibachitei bar and flopped bonelessly on top of Mord's table, every inch of my body was hurting and I didn't think there was a single bone in my body that hadn't at least cracked.

"Well, you're looking chipper today." The large man said as he watched me.

Scott and Guille were also looking at my sorry form and almost managing to keep from laughing, almost.

"Well Roland, I didn't know you liked that kind of thing." Scott said. "And to be so bold as to come out like this, mad respect man."

"What are you talking about?"

Without a word, Guile got up and found a portable mirror I could look into.

It seems the last potions I used had already started losing their effects and hadn't been able to heal everything, right there in my face was a huge purple bruise covering my nose and both of my eyes, perfectly in the shape of Tiona's foot.

"Damn amazoness, did she have to keep aiming for my head?"

"So, you like getting stepped on, is it, and by an amazoness too, kinky."

"Shut up." I groaned. "Loki wanted to thank me for saving some of her familia and, since my god's not present, she offered me some training."

"Wow, personal training from Loki familia, even with the number of bruises you're sporting, I'm kinda jealous." Mord ordered a drink for me and laid back. "So, which one was it?"

"Tiona, the younger level 5 amazoness."

"Ah.... so close, and to think that, by one letter, it could have been the older sister." Flushing, Mord made some obscene movements with his hands in front of his chest. "I bet you'd like some personal time with Tione, huh?"

"Shut up." Scott slapped the back of his head. "Small breasts are justice!"

Ah, perhaps I should rethink my association with those guys.

They traded a few blows before Guile punched both of their heads and they sat back down. "Anyway, you wanted to speak with us?"

"Yeah, you know I have been delving every day since the week started, right?"

"We noticed"

"Well, my god still didn't get in contact with me, so the magic crystals have started to accumulate."

"Hmmm." Mord scratched his beard. "Do you want a contact in the black market?"

"No, no, I just thought we could get to an agreement." I said and finally pushed myself up from the table, my arms screaming in pain. "Nobody would think it weird if you guys were to sell one level 1's share of magic crystals to the guild."

"Ah, I guess we can do that, gonna cost you 20% though."

"Seriously?

"You know we're not a charity." Mord sighed. "And, with Scotts arm the way it is, we need all we can get."

"Fine, 10%." I argued.

"18." Scott leaned over. "You're still delving on the upper floors, anything less and it would not even be worth time used to count the crystals"

"15%, come on, I have almost 20k in crystals rotting in my room and, with training from Loki, I should be able to get more every day."

"Fine, but just because we like you."

We shook on it and I started drinking the ale. I had never really liked beer, but Orario's ale was completely different, it tasted slightly of honey and was deceptively light, making it far too easy to get drunk if I wasn't paying attention.

With the money from the magic crystals coming in, I'd be able to buy some better gear before going back to the dungeon and, who knows, I may even get a porter myself.

Even porters were able to choose their teams, and it would be hard to show enough of my skills to attract a somewhat trustworthy one while also keeping enough hidden I could easily defeat him in case he did decide to backstab me.

Fucking Loki, coming into my room like that, now I'd have to pack my things and find somewhere else to stay.


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[CapCaverna]

Yep, finally finished looking over chapter 10, here it is.

There's only a few more chapters ready, and I'll be writing a new one this week, so I hope you guys enjoy it!

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There were two main craftsman familia in Orario, the Hephaestus and the Goibniu familia.

From what I understood, Hephaestus familia specialized in mass produced goods. Each one would still be worked on by a master smith, but they'd fill a set of requirements and nothing more, if you wanted 20 swords of the same model, you went to Hephaestus.

Unfortunately, that meant that, if you wanted only one item, it was going to be far more expensive since you wouldn't get any discount.

The other side of the equation was the Goibniu familia. Instead of competing with Hephaestus, Goibniu focused on single, custom made gear which was also incredibly expensive.

That's not to say that a blacksmith from Hephaestus couldn't take a personal request for unique weapons, or that one from Goibniu couldn't make 100 sets of the same armor, just that it was not their familia specialty.

Unfortunately, that meant that I barely had enough money to buy equipment made as training for their apprentice smiths, and those were always second or even third rate and prone to failure.

Approaching Babel, I started thinking about what kind of weapon I should buy. A sword was cool and provided a balanced way of fighting, but it was not necessarily the best thing to use against large or armored monsters.

If there was one thing I learned when delving into the dungeon and watching other adventurers, it is that swords were made to fight humanoids.

More specifically, unarmored humanoids.

My own sword had done a wonderful job until now, but I was already starting to feel it reaching its limits. Although it wasn't deteriorating inside the dungeon, it just didn't have the weight or the strength necessary to deal with killer ants.

The ideal would be to have a weapon for every situation, a polearm for the longer range, a mace or spike for armored foes, a ranged option and a sword to carry around in the city without much trouble.

From what I had seen, usually, an adventurer would choose a weapon and then spend the time and effort necessary to train with it until he could overcome such difficulties and have allies to fill in when needed.

They just didn't have the time to get good with every weapon, so they'd become such good swordsmen or have such sharp swords that they could overcome any problem.

I had a major advantage over them. My eyes made acquiring the skills necessary to use them all a possibility.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a convenient inventory system to carry it all. Or the money to buy them now that I thought about it.

Wait, was Welf already in Orario? I had no idea when he came to the city, but damn if I wasn't gonna try one of his products.

He may still be low level, but his gear should still be of higher quality and trustworthy enough.

Walking inside Babel, I browsed the shops a little, but everything they put on display was far too expensive for me, or looked far too ridiculous.

I mean, a sword made from monster bone filled with spikes and bigger than me was cool in a game, but it was terrible to use, the handle would hurt my hand and would require a dozen times the usual skill just to keep one of the spikes from piercing the user when waving it around.

Damn, I had long since left my mall ninja phase, I refuse to wield such ridiculous gear.

The Hephaestus familia's shop was on the eighth floor of Babel. Entering the shop, I noticed there were many higher level adventurers browsing it.

Most of the gear on display was far more conservative than in other shops, armor and swords that wouldn't be out of place in medieval times in my original world, instead of chainmail bikinis and overblown edgy weapons.

Seeing as every clerk was currently busy, I approached a well made but average looking sword, it was a beautiful piece with a damascus-like pattern and I almost couldn't stop myself from touching it, then I saw the price and sucked in a breath.

12 million valis for a durandal enhanced arming sword. It was also the cheapest sword there.

29 million for gauntlets that caused small explosions on impact, 75 millions for a halberd capable of channeling the user's magic into a wind edge.

"Can I help you?" A cute pallum clerk asked me.

"Ah, I'm starting to think not." I grimaced and sighed.

"Ah, I see. Don't worry, the weapons on display in front of the shop are usually our best work and reserved for first class adventurers." The little pallum led me further inside the shop. "We have MUCH better prices for level 1 and 2 gear inside."

"Thanks." I nodded and then decided to ask. "Say, is Welf Crozzo part of Hephaestus familia?"

"Crozzo, Ah the familia does have a Crozzo, but he's still just an apprentice blacksmith sir, his crafting still hasn't hit the level of quality required to be sold in the shop, just a moment." The girl quickly checked something behind the counter and returned. "Crozzo-san is currently working on the smithy if you wish to speak with him, sir."

"I see, I think I'm gonna browse some of the lower level gears before, if that's fine?"

"As you wish."

Walking inside the giant shop, I quickly found a far less fancy part of the store filled with average gear of all shapes and sizes. Everything still looked great, but it no longer had any enhancement and seemed to have lost some kind of its shine.

"The weapons here are mostly made from normal metals, with just enough dungeon material to withstand the dungeon inside. Don't worry, they're all made by a blacksmith of at least level 2, if you like anything, just bring it over to the counter." With that, the clerk bowed to me and started to return to the front entrance.

"Thanks."

Most gear here ranged from 10k to 20k valis and still looked absolutely beautiful, I couldn't help but touch a few of the weapons. While my own sword and armor looked mass produced, each piece of equipment here was clearly worked on by hand and most had patterns on the metal made from creating the alloy necessary to survive the dungeon influence.

Finding the smithy was easy, I just needed to follow the sound of hammers hitting metal. Welf himself was also pretty easy to find, the youngest smith currently working, he was also one of the tallest, despite looking much younger than even me.

I caught him as he was using the forge to create metal ingots, I watched him pour the molten metal into a mold and wipe his sweating forehead with an arm without interrupting.

"Hey, are you Welf Crozzo?" I waved and tried to catch his attention.

The guy just frowned at me and threw his equipment on top of a table. "Tsk, No."

"What?"

"No, I won't be making any magic swords, get out."

Ah damn, I guess he'd think that since I was a total stranger actually looking for him. Still, his ranting at me did piss me off a little.

"Look, I just..."

"Godsdamnit, I keep telling you guys, I don't make magic swords!" He punched the table, rattling everything on top of it and hitting the still hot blacksmith tongs sending them flying towards me. "I don't make them, I don't sell them, I definitely don't use them, leave me alone."

Jumping aside as the sizzling metal hit the floor, I felt a vein starting to throb at my forehead. "Shut up! I'm not here for magic swords damn it."

"…Ah"

A few seconds later, Welf had managed to lock up everything away and let the ingot cool down. Sitting at a corner of the smithy, he scratched at the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that, it's just that some assholes have been bothering me lately and I lost my temper."

I was still kind of annoyed at the guy, but what the hell, he was one of the few people from danmachi I was fairly sure was trustworthy, plus he was still fairly young, about 16, so I'd give him a break.

Not that I was a grizzly veteran, mind you, but I was a young adult, and I felt like I should be more mature. "No, it's fine."

"So, what do you want? If it's not about those damn magic swords, very few people actually come looking for me."

"Alright kid, I'm new to the city and kind of need help from a good blacksmith, someone told me you're trustworthy, so I came to take a look. I have no interest in a magic sword right now." I stopped, that wasn't exactly right, having a magic sword would be awesome, so I amended. "Mostly, that's because I'm pretty sure I don't have that kind of money, I confess."

"Heh… kinda old to become a new adventurer aren't you?"

"Shut up brat, I'll have you know this is a perfectly reasonable age to start risking my life, thank you very much" What was up with people starting to adventure at 14 or younger? Nineteen was a perfectly good time to do it!

"Alright then, I finished my quota of ingots anyway, what do you need?"

"I'm looking to buy a good spear for larger monsters and a hammer to fight against armor. I also want a blacksmith to look at my sword and armor since they have started to accumulate damage and I don't really know how to maintain them."

"Hmmm, and you came to me to work this out? I'm just a level 1 apprentice you know, I can't even put the Hephaestus seal on my products." He asked me suspiciously.

"Who else, you think a master blacksmith is gonna take time to help me choose some good weapons or teach me how to take care of them? I'm willing to pay you."

"Right, hmmmm, you know what, how about we make a deal?" He scratched at his chin and took a peek at my sheathed sword. "I'll look at your armor and sword and also teach you to do their maintenance; in exchange you start buying the weapons from me."

I thought about it, in less than two years, Welf would probably become a good blacksmith, but there was no way to know how good he was right now.

"Look, I know I'm still an apprentice and Hephaestus doesn't allow me to sell my gear in her store yet, but I'll charge almost half what you'd have to pay in the store and my gear is good, I promise you."

"You need money or something kid?"

"Ah, well, Hephaestus-sama is getting annoyed with the amount of materials I use for smiting without selling anything." He confessed, scratching at his cheek a little embarrassed. "It's not that my gear is low quality, but nobody comes to Hephaestus to buy from a level one, and other shops keep asking for magic swords you know?"

"Look, I'm not asking for an exclusivity contract or something, it's just a simple exchange of favors and money and, if you like my work, you can come back for more later alright?"

It was about what I wanted anyway, so I had no reason to deny it, we shook on it and Welf immediately started looking at my sword and armor.

I had done my best to maintain the edge of my sword but, in the end, I wasn't a blacksmith and all I had sharpened before were kitchen knives. Welf showed me how to properly use a sharpening stone and finish with a leather belt, while keeping an eye on the cutting edge and making sure to polish it later.


He left my sword and all my knives sharp enough to shave with, before getting rid of the dents in my armor.

I paid him 20 thousand and he let me choose a spear and hammer from a pile of weapons he had already made, but had yet to trade with any store because of the whole magic swords thing.

My new spear had a dark brown shaft, it was only a little taller than me with a steel blade half the size of my sword as the tip. There was a red cloth tied around the base of the spear and, just below, two metal wings that curved upwards in order to stop a monster from bulldozing the wielder. Welf had taken the time to carve flame patterns in the metal, making it a beauty despite not having any enhancement.

The hammer was a simple one handed weapon, smaller than my sword, it had far more metal on the head than something from my world, but still didn't look anywhere near as bulky as a mallet. On the other side of the hammer, there was a large, curved spike. Welf had also put a spiral pattern around the shaft, but the handle was made from a dark wood that felt perfect in my hand.

My plan was to use the sword when I wasn't going to enter the dungeon, but the spear and hammer would be my main weapons when dealing with monsters and such.

I considered buying a halberd instead but… well, the spear just looked much better.

Buying a leather strap for my spear, I put it at my back while securing the hammer to my waist beside the sword. I'd still have to find a ranged option, but really, by the time it becomes a true necessity, I'd probably have found at least one companion to fill the place.

Leaving Babel, I gave a long gaze towards the dungeon and sighed before finally turning away. It was about time to face that hellish training again, dealing with murderous monsters was far less exhausting.

The next morning, I woke up feeling slightly better. Either Tiona got better at holding back or I was growing at an astonishing pace, because she only knocked me out a single time in our spar and didn't even break any bones.

Stretching, I took the time to see all my bruises were already gone before I started running, having a Falna and keeping a steady routine of exercises was doing wonders for my body. I had already lost the pouch on my belly and my muscles were beginning to show, another month of this and I'd probably end up as ripped as most other adventurers.

Taking a quick bath, I made my way towards the Dian Cecht clinic for my consultation with Airmid. I was received by a well dressed nurse and quickly led inside the clinic towards a large room in the back.

Airmid herself was a very short woman with silver hair and purple eyes; she was using some liquid to clean her medical instruments when I entered the room.

"Good evening, you must be Roland?" she asked with a polite smile while searching for my name on some documents. "You're getting a finger prosthetic next week right? Do you need something else?"

"I need you to look at my eyes and body for any adverse effects or curses." I said. Telling a stranger about my skill rubbed me the wrong way, but the danger was worth it to get a consultation with Orario's best healer.

"I see, please sit down." She waited until I was sitting in front of her. Taking a magnifying glass, she sat in front of me. "Let's start with a physical exam, please open your eyes."

I did as instructed and watched as she looked at both my eyes, then used a wand to touch me and finally drew some blood from one vein, using some magic device to analyze it.

Everything took half an hour of work and left me kind of bored as the healer worked.

"Well, mister Roland, it seems you were right. From what I understood, you have a skill constantly active on your eyes, the drain on your magic is negligible, but it's still causing a strain on your body, nothing that a healing potion can't deal with, but I still suggest you deactivate the skill's constant use until you reach at least level two."

"More worrying is the state of your eyes, your right eye should already be showing signs of diminished vision, but even your left one shows some minor damage. Worse, your right eye seems to be suffering from the effects of a curse or something similar. Do you know if you were hit by something or is this a side effect of your skill?"

Ha, so using the mangekyou is already doing damage, I'll have to keep its use at a minimum. "It's a side effect."

"I see, with your permission, I'll try casting my magic at you, it's able to heal a lot and overcome most curses."

"Do I have to pay extra? I don't have a lot of valis."

"Don't worry, It's covered by the price of the consultation this time."

"Go ahead them." I told her, but still got ready to attack in case it was a trick. Unlikely, but you never know.

The short woman started chanting with her hand pointing at me until a white aura covered her body.

"DIA FRATEL." She finished and a light spread from her body, covering the entire room and making me feel far better than before.

My hopes were high with the best mortal healer in the world casting magic at me, but she frowned when looking in my eyes and grumbled in annoyance.

"Hmmm, may I cast my spell on you again Mister Roland?"

"Well, sure, who am I to deny free healing."

This time she picked up a large magic staff and a white, diamond shaped magic circle appeared at her feet as she cast the spell, causing a much brighter light to fill the room. "DIA FRATEL!!"

Looking at my eyes a third time, Airmid seemed really annoyed, which squashed any hope I had of solving the mangekyou problem.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, not really." She sighed, then released the magic staff. "It just hurts my pride as a healer to leave a patient without complete health."

"It didn't work then?"

"No it worked, just not as well as I had hoped. The damage seems highly resistant to healing, but it still shows minor signs of improvement." She leaned back and started cleaning her equipment again, almost mumbling. "It's just very small."

"But it can be healed?" I asked in eagerness, anything that extended the usefulness of my cheat was good news in my book.

"Slowly, I'd say it would take me 10 castings of my magic to completely heal the damage done to your healthier eye and a couple dozens to heal the other one, and my magic is equal to an elixir." She sat back down and released her staff. "Worse, the damage can be mitigated with the use of potions, even if it would be very expensive, but the effects of the curse barely improved and no potion can disperse it."

"It's there nothing I can do?"

"Again, I recommend leveling up if you can; every level will decrease the strain of the skill and may provide the right development ability to fight it off."

"It would be ideal to use at least a weak potion every twelve hours and avoid using your skill as much as you can. Working with Dian Cecht, it is possible I could create something to dispel the curse completely, but it would cost at least 100 million valis, probably more, and he may not be interested."

Hmmm, seeing as it was only on one eye, the 'curse' was probably what stopped me from using kotoamatsukami again, and the damage was caused by using the mangekyou.

I made up my mind to only activate the improved eye ability in case my life was at risk and stop using it to keep up with Tiona; I probably didn't need it to stay alive anymore.

I hope.

"Right, thanks for the help anyway." I said and got up stretching, I actually towered over the small healer, but she wasn't intimidated in the least.

Grabbing my new spear, I left the building. Instantly, I stumbled as I felt someone's gaze on me, I looked around to see dozens of high level adventurers coming to the clinic to buy potions or get a consultation.

I quickly walked away from the place and tried my best to get rid of the feeling, but I just couldn't manage it for at least 10 minutes, I still spent an hour wandering around just in case.

Finally, I decided to find somewhere else to sleep.

It would be a pain to lose the advanced deposit and I had started to trust Loki not to just kill me, but finding her at the foot of my bed again would probably give me a heart attack or something, and I did have some extra valis.

I found a small little inn close to the entertainment district which had a minuscule bedroom, but a fairly comfortable bed and warm showers, so I paid for the day and went up the stairs.

Making sure to put a dagger under the pillow, I put my spear beside the bed together with the sword for easy access, and took off my shirt.

A few days ago, I got myself a good mirror to do this, so I laid it against the wall and dropped some blood on my skin revealing and updating my falna. I wasn't entirely certain this was the right choice, what with Loki already suspicious, but the Dungeon was extremely dangerous, and it would be idiotic to try and avoid her attention, just to die to a surprise monster because I didn't have the attributes to fight it off.

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – H – 152
Endurance – H – 149
Dexterity – H – 140
Agility – H – 138
Magic – G – 292
Skills:
- Chosen of and Outer God
- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).

Hmm, a good growth, nowhere near what I achieved after risking my life against stronger monsters, but still larger than just working out for two weeks.

Despite me not using many illusions while fighting, my magic still grew faster than every other stats, then again, after talking with Airmid, it became clear that my sharingan was always active and using a small amount of mind, so it wasn't a surprise.

Concentrating, I tried hard to cut off the flow of magic and deactivate the eyes, but nothing worked, no matter how much I tried to keep my magic in place or stop it from flowing into my eyes, it just didn't obey me.

"Damn it, work!" I tried to force the issue, grimacing as I did everything I could to stop my magic.

A spike of pain hit me and caused me to wince while grabbing at my head, but the sharingan didn't deactivate.

Damn, I wasn't an Uchiha, just like Kakashi, I couldn't stop my sharingan from working and sucking on my magic. Thankfully, it didn't seem to draw too much from me, but it was still doing damage to my body.

Throwing myself in bed, I sighed, it seems I'd have to invest in stronger potions to counter this effect lest it build up and cause permanent damage.

At least I could let Tiona hit me on 'accident' and get a high grade potion out of it sometimes, just had to make sure the strike only broke one bone, not all of them.


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[CapCaverna]

Heya, chapter 11 here. I hope you guys enjoy it.


As for the damage of Kotoamatsukami. The eyes were changed to work with mana, and a healer analisis of them recognizes the problem with Kotoamatsukami as a curse, even if that isn't exactly right.

Repeatedly castings of healing spells, or even use of potions, can help with that damage, but the 'curse' can't be dispelled with potions.

Roland can become more resistant with a level up, diminishing the recharge of Kotoamatsukami, because leveling up will increase his vitality and act in the same way as Hashirama cells.

The reason Airmid's spell helps with the Kotoamatsukami curse (Not being able to use it for years.) Is because her spell isn't only healing, but also especifically dispells curses. A normal healing spell or potion won't do anything about the cooldown, and be far less effective on healing the eye. To really heal it, you can't just deal with the damage, you have to heal the curse too.

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Waking up, I did my morning exercises and stretches while thinking about my new situation. If I continued to only use low grade potions, it was likely the damage to my body would continue to accumulate until it became permanent.

I could still afford two potions a day with what I got from the dungeon, but it would mean I couldn't take days off and would have to keep spending just on the most basic necessities.

Leveling up would probably help a lot, but I was still far from achieving rank D in any stats and I wouldn't want to level up with only the bare minimum.

Damn it, I want to be powerful, if I leveled up with only a single stat at D rank I'd permanently handicap myself… Well, going to level 2 with subpar stats probably wouldn't be that crippling, but I'd really like to achieve a strong level up.

What I really needed was a healing spell of my own or, barring that, a healer. Unfortunately, I didn't have the kind of money necessary to buy a spell book and I'd probably need to level up to have even a chance of receiving a healing spell.

Did adventurers even get spells at level up? I wasn't certain, I only remember Bell learning firebolt from a book and I really doubt I'd be so lucky as to find an unused one just lying around.

So, finding a healer it is.

Ideally, I'd join a familia with a powerful healer or convince one to join mine but, once again, not having a god was going to fuck me over.

And what god would I even join? Of the Greek gods, the only ones I'd trust were Hestia and, maybe, Hephaestus, the others were all terrible people in mythology.

Hell, even in danmachi, the Greeks were assholes as far as I knew.

Norse gods were only a slight improvement and I don't think the other pantheons would be any better.

Speaking of Greek gods, didn't Apollo have a powerful healer he forced into his familia? Maybe I could help her escape him in exchange for healing? The only problem was, how?

I sighed, every solution I found was impossible to implement as I was right now.

In the end, I had only three options if I wanted to continue being an adventurer.

One, rush level two and handicap myself with low stats for the rest of my life.

Two, try and make do with health potions, it would probably keep me from buying good equipment and food, but I could probably do it and, after some time and growth, I'd be able to face stronger monsters for a bigger payout.

Three, kotoamatsukami.

It was kind of counterproductive to waste my only remaining use of the skill, but I was leaning more and more towards this option.

I had a single use of the skill, what was I going to do with it? Save it for an emergency while my body deteriorates or I starve?

No, it was better to use it now and acquire a significant advantage right from the beginning. From what Airmid had said, the cooldown for its use would decrease with every healing spell cast at me anyway and increasing my level would also help.

Could I find myself in a situation where the skill was needed the very next day I used it? Yes, but I could also die from a freak accident I had no way of avoiding. It had happened once already, after all.

The only question was, who should I use it on?

Airmid would be the obvious answer, not only was she only a single level above me, but she also had the spells and influence to benefit me greatly only… I was not an asshole.

I really didn't want to just brainwash people who didn't deserve that, damn it, I had my limits!

I could just make a small change, nothing that would damage her or change her life too much. Just having her have the urge to cast her healing spell every time she saw me, I could even justify it as the best healer in the world wanting to beat my curse.

However, once again, that felt like I'd be wasting the skill for something so minor, Kotoamatsukami was just too useful to not try and get as big an advantage as I could from it.

Finishing my workout, I put my sword at my waist and considered my other weapons. No, I didn't need to bring everything, I wasn't going to the dungeon in the morning.

Starting to make my way to the wall for my morning training with Tiona, I continued to think, would the skill work on a god?

I guess that depends on how the gods kept a hold of their powers, were they as powerful here and they were in heaven and just didn't use the power or had they actually sealed themselves and came down here in mortal bodies with mortal limitations?

Really, I was almost certain a god could overcome Kotoamatsukami if they wanted to, but they came down to play, to have new experiences, it was entirely possible that they left themselves vulnerable to such things.

I remember Hestia leaking her divinity to stop Bell from getting hurt and causing the Black Goliath to spawn, so they clearly could use their powers if they wanted to but most gods in the show seemed weak and fragile.

Could I catch a god with his guard down and ensnare him with kotoamatsukami? I had no doubt they could break the brainwash if they used their true power but, what if I made it so they didn't want to?

Once again, I ran into the problem of who I would brainwash and not feel like an absolute asshole for doing so? I thought of the gods as assholes because of their mythology but, if I was being honest, I didn't know that for sure.

Heh, who knew I'd one day have to give serious thought to the ethics of mind control?

"Hey newbie-kun, over here!" Tiona called me from the top of the wall. One hand waving furiously she used the other to lift a cup with ice coffee and suck on it with a straw.

I really shouldn't have introduced the beverage to her, she was already filled with energy, there was no need to increase it with caffeine.

"Morning." I looked around, but didn't see a certain goddess anywhere near. "You're alone today?"

"Yeah, Finn managed to catch Loki when she was trying to sneak out." The amazon said with a laugh. "She's going to be filling forms for a while."

Good to know Loki was weak to paperwork.

Leaning down, Tiona touched her toes with a hand and started stretching her body before our spare. "Hey, wanna use weapons today?" She asked, eagerly looking at my sword.

"Not with you using that monstrosity." I eyed urga and said.

"Alright, but I'm bringing a normal weapon next time so you can't escape it!"

"A wooden weapon." I countered.

"Fiiine." She stomped her feet. "How are you going to become a hero if you don't take any risks?"

"Taking risks is fine, being stupid isn't." I laid my gear beside the wall and turned to my partner. She already almost killed me with her bare hands, no way was I going to let her use that thing.

"Alright, let's go!"

Kicking the floor, Tiona pounced on me. Without activating the mangekyou, her movements were a blur and I barely had enough time to register the shadows predicting her movements before she caught up with them.

Leaning back from her punch, I dodged it by an inch and retreated as she delivered a series of blows towards my head, she was still too strong to block completely, so I had to either dodge her attacks or parry them away, leaving my arms stinging.

I managed to trade blows with her for almost a minute, always retreating at her aggressive attack and barely managing to attack five times while losing count of how many blows she delivered.

The back of my foot hit the wall and I knew I couldn't retreat anymore. In a hurry, I ducked, letting a kick pass right where my head was supposed to be. Tiona's miss exposed her back and I attempted to punch her away in order to gain some space, but she just continued the rotation and threw a backhand.

I lifted both arms and blocked the blow, it lifted me off my feet and sent me tumbling sideways. I recovered fast, turning my fall into a roll and springing to my feet as soon as I could.

Tiona was already there, a giant smile on her face as she laughed. Jumping up, she dropped with the heel of her leg aiming right for my head. "Come on, Newbie-kun, faster!"

I moved faster, stepping aside with movements copied from hundreds of adventurers. I saw her strike hit the floor and break a few bricks, but I didn't have time to think about it.

Despite the danger, I couldn't help but smile. Fighting with such a strong adventurer was much more fun than slaughtering weak monsters, probably more dangerous too, and I wasn't completely certain the first wasn't just a result of the later.

Before she could continue attacking, I threw my own kick, a perfect copy of her earlier one. It caught her as she was recovering and almost hit her in the face, but she managed to block with an arm at the very last second and I wasn't strong enough to blow through it.

"Tsk!" I cursed, I swear I had her.

Before I could recover, Tiona's block became a grab as she locked my feet between her arm and body. Out of position, I couldn't block as she stepped inside my guard and punched me in the chest.

"Off." I coughed and folded as the blow drove the air out of me, then she grabbed my calf with her punching hand and swung me around, throwing me against the wall, hard. "Ugh."

I lay there, trying to recover my breath as Tiona slowly made her way towards me. Looking at my fallen form, she crouched over me and patted me in the forehead.

"Good job Newbie-kun, almost had me there." Turning her head sideways, she wondered. "So, do you know what you did wrong there?"

"Tried to… hit back against, ugh… a first class adventurer?"

"Nope, you stopped, when hitting, you can't just stay in place like that, either pull back and regroup or follow through with another attack as fast as you can!" Lifting both arms in front of her face, Tiona punched out, her hand snapping forwards in a flash and retreating to its guard in one fluid motion almost faster than I could register. "like a whip, you don't punch or kick out and stay with your limb extended for longer than necessary."

"Got… it." I managed to breathe out.

"Heh, you really learn fast, I swear even Ais-chan didn't improve so fast, if only you were a few levels higher, you could really stand a chance." Letting herself fall back, Tiona sat beside me. "Tomorrow, we're definitely using weapons!"

My training partner let me rest for a whole 5 minutes before we were back to trying to hit each other.

Despite not using the improved vision of the mangekyou, I managed to last a few extra hits every time, and even had enough room to strike back a few times, making sure I didn't let myself overextend.

Most spars ended the same way, Tiona overcoming my guard and laying me out cold, but every time it was because of another mistake I had made.

She'd help me up and try to correct me before letting me rest a little and we'd start again. Only once did I make the same mistake twice, and she was far more brutal, her speed increasing so much I couldn't even see what had hit me.

Two hours later, I was panting on the ground, my shirt absolutely soaked with sweat and my muscles trembling like jelly. I hadn't needed to take any potions, none of my bones were actually broken since Tiona hadn't really hurt me all that much. It had left me both exhausted and filled with pain from the many smaller wounds.

Circling around my fallen form, Tiona poked me with a toe, sending a wave of pain; my bruises had bruises. "Ugh."

She poked me again. "Want a healing potion?"

"Yes, please."

She poured the red liquid right down my throat, only spilling a little and I felt the pain start to fade from my body as my skin healed from being dozens of shades of purple and yellow into a normal human color.

Without the pain, exhaustion settled in and I could barely drag myself into a sitting position while leaning against the wall.

Tiona poked me again, and I saw the overworked muscles on my calf shake. "Will you stop that already!"

"Mou, Loki was right, you really are fun to tease."

She sat in front of me until I recovered enough to get up, then grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. Despite the pain and how tired I was, I felt… great, the high grade potion had healed any wound and, despite how much trouble I had with starting, I had always liked working out. Plus, the thrill from risking severe injury was exciting.

Damn, was I becoming an adrenaline junkie?

"Say Tiona, do you know anything that can enhance the power of a skill?"

"Sure, there's lots of things like that, what kind of skill?"

I thought about how to say this, I trusted the girl far more than I trusted Loki, but I wasn't going to reveal how my cheat worked to anyone unless we were in a permanent party, why handicap myself like that?

"I have this skill that uses my 'mind' attribute to disrupt a monster's vision and I wanted something to increase its potency." Not technically a lie, illusions can disrupt vision and I had quite a few specifically to mess with that.

"Ah, you'd want something for magic then; I only know where they put enchantments on weapon, I guess I'll have to ask Riveria where she goes to buy her staffs."

"Thanks, but make sure to ask for a beginner staff, I don't think I'll have enough valis to buy something Riveria could use anytime soon."

I finally got enough movement back to start stretching and Tiona helped me by pushing my back or pulling my hands. I opened my legs as I stretched my arms forwards and felt the Amazon put both hands on my back and push.

"Ah, hopefully I won't be too stiff in the evening, I'm still going into the dungeon."

"Wow, you're working hard!"

"Well, someone broke into my bedroom and made me abandon my previous house deposit, so I don't really have a choice." I glared at her, that room had been expensive.

"Ahem, just remember not to work too much, even Ais-chan takes a break from time to time."

"What do you even do when you're on break anyway?"

"Well, everyone usually goes out to celebrate with the rest of the familia, or eat out at the Hostess of Fertility." She said, getting up and grabbing her huge sword before patting it against the wall to get rid of any dust. "Plus, I really like to read hero tales at the library."

"Wait, there's a library in Orario?"

"Yeah, the main library is taken care of by gnomes, so I'm always going there, do you like to read?"

"I love it." Damn, I didn't have a computer anymore but, since I mostly used the internet to read free light novels anyway, a library would do. "I mostly read fiction, fantasy stories and such."

"Really? Do you read hero stories too?"

"Well, yeah." I said taken aback as the Amazon invaded my personal space, her eyes wide and staring into my own. "I guess you can call them heroes."

I didn't know she was a hero nut like Bell. Hmmm, I wonder if mythology and story books from Danmachi will read like light novels?

"Say, what's your favorite story?" Her overeager face was almost pressed against my own. "Have you ever read about the Argonaut?"

"Sorry Tiona, but I really don't think you're gonna recognize most of the stories I read and, while I have read about an Argonaut, I really doubt it is the same one."

"Hrumph!" She pouted, her cheeks filling with air as she finally pushed herself away from me. "That's it, we're taking tomorrow off and going to the library!"

Well, while I needed to make more money, it wasn't exactly an emergency, and taking a day off from using the sharingan in a fight would probably be good for my body. Plus, I wanted to get back to reading damn it, it's been about a month since I last read anything interesting and I used to be addicted to it!

"Sure, that sounds good." I nodded and watched her pout morph back into a smile almost instantly.

"Great, don't forget to turn up early tomorrow!" Grabbing the bag with the remaining health potions, she swung it at her back and over her sword before waving at me. "See you."

The petite Amazon moved faster than ever despite the weight she had at her back, jumping up into the roof of a building, she dashed away towards the twilight manor before I could even ask anything else.

Damn, and I wanted to probe her for information about healers too.

I briefly went back to my room and had a meal and a bath there, the healing potion had really done a great job and, after a quick half hour nap, I felt ready to face at least the first levels of the dungeon for some spare change.

I wouldn't risk pushing deeper, or even hunting for war shadows, but I could stay on floor 4 and test out my new weapons while gathering some monster drops.

Reaching the fourth floor of the dungeon was easy; while the geography of the place changed every day, it did so slowly.

In a year, every stone, room and hallway of the first floor would be completely different but, from one day to another, the changes weren't enough to fool the Sharingan.

Despite the health potion and all the stretching I had done, I still wasn't feeling at my best so I decided to stay on the fourth floor today and not risk going deeper.

The temptation to try and find a war shadow to fight was great, but I had gotten my share of excitement for the day.

Fighting monsters with my new spear went even easier than the sword. Usually, I managed to eliminate a kobold or goblin with every stab of the weapon, the tip piercing through head, chest or neck with ease and retreating fast enough none of the monsters could even approach me.

If the monsters had any instinct besides charging at me like berserkers and trying to cause damage, things could be much harder but, as it was, I barely started to sweat before finding a good spot between rooms where I could attract monsters from either place as soon as they spawned.

The lot from the monster's started accumulating at my side while I killed them with minimal effort and I sighed once again, I really did need a supporter.

Then an idea hit me and I started experimenting.

The first monster I found was a dungeon lizard trying to sneak towards me on the ceiling, a common tactic for the annoying geckos.

Catching its eyes, I sent it an illusion of the ceiling catching fire and it dropped straight down with a squeak.

Before it recovered, I was on top of the thing. Grabbing its head, I managed to tie the mouth close with a rope from my backpack in case I committed any mistakes and jumped away.

I briefly watched the creature struggle to break the rope or scratch it off with a paw, but its limbs did not turn right and it was unable to reach the rope.

Taking a few steps back, I finished creating the illusion and caught its eyes again.

From my talk with Dorlia from the Ganesha familia, I had learned how to tame monsters but, would my illusions work to achieve the same thing?

The illusion was a fragile thing, I didn't have the time to make anything incredibly long and elaborate, and it would break as soon as the target noticed its body wasn't moving as it wished.

Fortunately, the creature was both too simple and too young to even notice it.

Inside the illusion, the beast would try to attack me with its claws and I would utterly demolish it with my spear, stabbing it over and over again and sending flashes of pain with every hole I made in its body.

The entire thing would take two or three minutes if I were to actually do it in real life but, in an illusion, it only took 20 seconds.

Damn, look at me trying to copy tsukuyomi.

This illusion I created would never be able to achieve the level of Itachi's mangekyou ability; while the illusion could stretch the sensation of time, I already knew it would never be able to make a single second feel like days.

I also didn't have the means to restrain my target or stop him from breaking free once he noticed it wasn't real.

"Stay!" I ordered the lizard once the illusion ended, but it just went berserk trying to kill me. I cast the illusion again.

While the monster was suffering inside its own head, a group of kobolds rushed me, a wave of my spear forced them back and allowed me to stab one of them in the eye.

The other two took the opportunity to try and rush me again, but I still managed to stab another through the chest before the third got inside my guard.

Using the spear at this range was too awkward, but I had been fighting Tiona in hand to hand. Compared to that, the kobold looked like a slow child flailing about.

Grabbing at its wrist as it tried to claw at me, I pulled it off balance and drove my elbow into its temple, cracking its skull.

Turning around, I saw my lizard trying to run away, no, that wouldn't do at all.

It took another nine casts of my illusion before the creature started to listen to me, it wasn't able to understand my words, but I could make it stay or follow with gestures.

Using the same rope I had tied its mouth, I put my backpack and all the loot on its back and fixed it in place nodding.

Yeah, it's much easier this way.

I kind of felt bad about making the creature suffer but, considering it had been trying to kill me not even an hour earlier, not that bad.

I'd have to refine my illusion a lot in order to decrease the time it took to tame something, but it was a great way to carry equipment down here and leave my body free to act as I wished.

Perhaps I'd even try my hand at taming something without the pain? I had been told it was technically possible after all, and a well made illusion could decrease the time needed by a lot.

The lizard tried to attack me twice while fighting monsters and, when that didn't work, tried running away another three times.

Every time, I created a painful illusion as punishment until, during the last two hours, it behaved perfectly.

When I was about to leave the dungeon, I was faced with another choice. I really wanted to bring the lizard up, but the only time I had seen a monster on the surface was on the monsterphilia.

I was certain I'd need at least some kind of permit if I wanted to bring it with me and not get punished, and I was already in trouble with the guild for not registering.

Just releasing the lizard also wasn't an option. Yes it was a very weak monster all things considered and, odds are, it would get easily killed, but it was still the first floor and a newbie adventurer could get killed by it since they would not expect the thing on this floor.

With a sigh and some regret, I put the monster under a calming illusion and killed it as painlessly as I could manage.

Leaving the dungeon, I wondered how the other tamers dealt with this, did they have to spend hours taming something every time they delved or did they have some kind of skill for it?

On the walk back home, I started considering what to do tomorrow. I was eager to relax at the library and read a good book but, far more, I wanted to get my hands on something capable of boosting my magic.

I'd still have to find a god that would both benefit me and I wouldn't feel very guilty about brainwashing to target, but I was sure there were a lot of those around.

They were gods after all.


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If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.


Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams, Michael Neal, Felrook and RavenCore for supporting my work!

 

[CapCaverna]

Heya, sorry for the delay, as I said in my other stories, I was away from my own PC and I forgot the password for the site.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

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"I'm sorry, how much?" I asked in an incredulous voice. What the gnome just told me couldn't be right, I was sure if it.

"One hundred thousand valis for a day entry, no haggling," the old gnome told me in a bored voice from behind the counter.

"What's wrong, Newbie-kun?" Tiona asked, already inside the library.

I scratched the back of my head in both embarrassment and confusion, what did I ever do to this gnome dude?

I mean, I know things are more expensive in Orario, but that's just ridiculous.

"Sorry Tiona, but I just don't have this kind of money. One hundred thousand valis is more than I could make in a month."

"What, how much?" She asked in a surprised voice.

Ha, I knew the damn midget had to have been fucking with me. I narrowed my eyes at him and prepared myself to argue,

"I just pay their annual fees, so I never knew how much their day pass was," she said as she came back to talk with us. "I didn't think it was that cheap."

Or maybe not, fuck.

The gnome suddenly did a one eighty and became much more respectful. "Greetings my lady, gathering and caring for all our books in Orario is a very expensive endeavor so we must charge according."

"Ah, don't worry about that, I'll just pay his entry today then. Come on inside Newbie-kun!"

Noooooooo! Can't you just give me that money instead, damn it? That's more than I made even with the vouivre!

"But…but," I was speechless, despite watching the anime I had forgotten how ridiculous a first class adventurer could be.

"Oh, don't worry newbie-kun, that's nothing to me, now comes on, let's go."

That's not the fucking point, damn woman!

Unable to argue, I let the Amazon drag me inside the library. From behind me, I heard the gnome waving in a cheerful voice. "Have a nice day, dear customer."

"You know, I'd really have preferred you just give me that money instead."

"Don't be silly; what kind of hero would you be if I just gave you money?" Tiona asked in a confused voice. "No, you've got to gather your own money for adventuring; it's in the hero's journey."

"The mentor also dies in that, if you'll remember."

"That's only if they're an old man Newbie-kun. You've got to read more books."

Well damn, she had me there. But still… so much money.

Grabbing me by the arm, Tiona led me through the building and between the hundreds of book cases until we stopped at the border between the history and fiction sections.

She proceeded to grab books off the shelves one after another and pile them in front of me, acting with as much enthusiasm as when she was fighting.

"You've got to read this one, and here, the story of the hero Yulia, this one too, the legend of Galmuza!"

She kept putting book after book on top of the table, to the point I had to raise an eyebrow; did she think I could read it all today? Hundreds of books in a day were too much even for a bookworm like me.

Well, with the sharingan, I bet I actually could, but I didn't want to force my eyes like that, and I liked to enjoy my books, not go through them as fast as I could.

Also, if they charged so much just for a day pass, how much would I have to pay to take one of those books home?

"Tiona, I don't think I can read so much in a single day."

The Amazon froze, a devastated look on her face. With an exaggerated sigh and many longing glances at every book, she started taking books back to their places.

After a few moments, the mountain had been reduced to only a dozen books and Tiona reduced to biting at her nails in utter indecision. Every once in a while she'd take a book, look at the cover, and lay it back on the table, unable to eliminate it too.

Her pout as she glared at the books was quite cute. Finally, I decided to help her.

"How about this, show me your favorite first?" I asked with an amused smile.

"Alright!" her frown disappeared as soon as it had come and she picked up a single book from the pile, presenting it to me as if it was some kind of treasure. "The legend of the Argonaut, you've got to read it!"

The book had a simple leather cover with golden letters in front, I still wondered how I could read Koine without ever having learned the language, but I wasn't looking a gifted horse in the mouth.

If my asshole of a ROB wanted to make life a little easier by giving me knowledge of a different language, good for me, even if I did think it was pretty suspicious when he hadn't taken the effort to even create my own body from scratch.

When I first found out the thing had put new knowledge inside my mind, I had freaked the hell out, but there was just far too much to worry about without wondering if I'm even still myself or just a collection of memories created by a bored eldritch being.

It made life much easier for me if I didn't even consider it.

"Thanks," I said and took the book.

Putting both hands behind her back, Tiona bent forward and just… stared at me with huge eyes filled with expectation, her head tilting from one side to the other as I opened the book and looked it over.

"You do know I won't be able to read this entire thing in one sitting right?"

"Mou, I know that, but you have to tell me about it next time we meet alright?" Tiona sat down on the table with her own book, but she didn't open it and continued to stare at me.

It was making me uncomfortable.

With a sigh, I pulled the chair right beside me closer and offered. "Do you want to read it with me?"

"YES!" jumping up, the Amazon winced when she received a glare from one of the gnome librarians.

Sitting by my side, the girl pulled her chair closer and leaned over my body to look at the book. Adjusting my position, I made myself comfortable and started reading the book.

Reading with the sharingan was simultaneously incredibly easy and incredibly frustrating. If I looked at the page in its entirety for even a single second I'd be able to remember every word writing in it, it made my reading speed incredibly fast.

It didn't mean I'd be able to make sense of all the words I read instantly, it still took a few seconds for my mind to process and understand everything I had read, but I wouldn't even need the book for that.

Still, with Tiona reading by my side, I'd have to wait until she was done too before turning the page.

Eventually, I found a compromise by focusing on one line at a time and taking my time digesting what I'd read before moving on. It was hard at first, but Tiona was a fun companion and it was funny to watch her reactions as she read.

Almost an hour later, we had read the first eleven chapters and I decided to take a break. Marking the page I had stopped at, I stretched my limbs and got up.

"So, so, tell me, what do you think of it?" she asked as she eagerly poked at my shoulder with a finger.

"I like it, can't say it's an epic masterpiece, but it's very enjoyable and funny."

The Argonaut's story wasn't something like 'Lord of The Rings' or other epic works; it was more like the comedic light novel you read to relax. Still, that didn't mean it was bad, quite the contrary.

"Right! Right! The Great Ballad is much better written, but I can't help but love the Argonaut's story more," she nodded with a huge smile on her face.

I looked from her face to the book and smiled, it had been a very relaxing hour and I hadn't realized how much I needed to take a break like this since arriving in this world.

I did love fighting in the dungeon, but staying so tense all the time was taking its toll on me.

Damn, now that I thought about it, I really had been acting a little off since coming here, too eager to throw myself at danger while also too afraid of the gods.

In hindsight, taking what I knew of mythology as truth for a manga that was only loosely based on it is a very stupid thing to do. Heck, it was quite possible most of what we knew of Norse mythology in the modern age was wrong too.

Most of the old religions were passed through oral tradition, and only later were the stories written, most of the time by people that weren't worshipers but just researchers or even catholic priests.

I blame the ROB, the first being I ever meet that could be called divine had almost destroyed my very soul by being careless, then thrown to the 18 floor of the dungeon as a level 1, was it any wonder I thought the worst of other gods?

Not that I'd change my approach completely, that would be stupid, but maybe I could tone down my fear and aversion, at least a little bit.

Still don't want anything to do with Freya and Apollo though; those two were assholes in the anime too from what I remember.

Cracking my neck, I looked around and had an idea.

"Say, how about we continue to read the book together?" Tiona looked at me in confusion and I explained. "I doubt I'd get enough money to rent it anytime soon, but if you do it, we could read it together, I think I'd be more fun this way too."

"Really? That'd be great!" She grabbed the book, making sure not to mess up with the page marking. "I'll go rent this right away!"

"Wait, do you mind if we stay in the Library a little bit longer?" I asked feeling a little bit guilty, but she had paid for my entrance because she had wanted to, not because I asked. It would be pretty stupid not to take advantage. "I want to look at some other books while we're here if that's okay."

"Sure, I was planning on staying until lunch anyway," she happily waved at me and dashed towards the front entrance, receiving a few more glares along the way.

I sighed and consoled myself, I had never asked for it, it wasn't like I was manipulating her for personal gain, there was nothing to feel guilty about. Personal gains were just a happy side effect, not something I had been going for.

Nodding to myself, I hurried to the nearest Librarian and asked the little Gnome. "Hey, do you guys have books on the Dungeon, its monsters or magic? Ah, and do you have books on Orario's current familias?"

"We obviously cannot lend or rent any grimoires, but we do have many books on magical theory and the Dungeon."

"Alright, could you guide me to some of the beginning level explanations, and maybe a bestiary too?"

The Gnome lowered the little clipboard he had been using and gave a frustrated sigh, with a practiced and professional voice he motioned for me to sit down. "Of course dear costumer, if you could wait a moment I'll bring the book directly to your table."

"Right, thanks," I nodded and sat back down.

While waiting, I took a few of Tiona's chosen books and started reading their first chapters to see what they were all about, marking three as interesting before the Amazon arrived back.

"Did you like anything else?"

"Yeah, I think I already know which one I want to read after finishing Argonaut's," I told her and she peeked at the books I had selected, then nodded in approval.

Tiona herself decided to browse the library looking for a new story to devour. Twenty minutes later, the Gnome arrived with almost two dozen books and put them in front of me.

"Those are the most accurate books on magical theory, the Dungeon and its monsters and Orario's situation," he finished pilled them up at my side with a tired voice. "Please, leave all books on the table when you're done and don't try to put them in the shelves out of order."

"Right, thanks a lot," I tried to be polite to the grumpy little man.

"It was my pleasure costumer," he said between his gritted teeth and fled before I could ask anything else.

I just shrugged and picked up the first book, 'introduction to acquired magic', turning to the next books they read 'introduction to congenital magic' and 'A complete guide to dungeon monsters: Upper floors bestiary'. With a wide smile and holding on an evil laugh, I opened it on the first page and started reading.

Damn, I loved the sharingan.

It took only a few seconds to look at a page and forever remember it with the sharingan. I'd still have to take my time comprehending the books contents later, but I wouldn't need to return to the library to do so, I'd already remember every word.

Almost three hours later, I finished memorizing all twenty two books, my eyes were killing me, I had a headache and my brain felt like it was swelling with too much knowledge inside my skull, but I could remember everything I had read.

I felt like I'd need another health potion as soon as I left the library, but saving the one hundred thousand valis needed for another day entry was probably worth overusing my eyes once.

I stumbled out of the Library, almost carried by Tiona. The Amazon was giving me an odd look but, after I had dismissed her concerns, she didn't ask me about it again.

Soon, I managed to find a quiet, grassy spot and rested myself against a small tree, a piece of cloth covering my eyes to prevent further use while Tiona decided to get some street food for us. I wasn't complaining.

I took deep, even breaths as I downed a health potion and hoped it was enough to alleviate my sharingan overuse, maybe I shouldn't have read all 22 books, half of them wouldn't even be useful at the moment.

Still, I now knew far more about the things around me and, while reviewing the information still sent spikes of pain through my brain, I had no doubt I'd recover in a day or two and learn even more.

"Here," Tiona said and I felt something hot and greasy touch my cheek.

Without opening my eyes I lifted my hand until she put the treat in my grasp.

"What is it?" I asked as I bit into the thing, its texture was strange and there was some meat inside, or was it fish? I couldn't tell, at least it wasn't bad.

"Nobody knows, we just call it U.F.O's, unidentifiable fried object," I almost did a spit take at the name, but managed to swallow. "The auntie who prepares it refuses to explain, saying it's a secret recipe or something."

"It's tasty enough I guess," I said and relaxed further against the tree.

No longer hungry and with a potion working overtime, I was already starting to feel better... if I didn't try to think about all the information I gained anyway.

I wonder, would a true Uchiha feel the same way if they did something like this?

"Newbie-kun, you still want to visit the magic shop today?" she asked as she sat down by my side and bit into her own food.

"Yeah…" I said as I finished swallowing. "I'm feeling better already and I don't want to lose another day shopping. Did you ask Riveria about it?"

"Yup, she says she does her staff maintenance at the Witch's Secret House," she said and started messing with something, lifting a corner of the cloth in front of my eyes I saw her pulling out a map from inside a pocket. "Here, it's like, very close to the Pantheon."

"The Guild's headquarters?" I asked, not remembering any shops around the place, then again, it was called 'Secret House' so… "Help me up?"

Turns out the Witch's Secret House was, surprise, surprise, very well hidden.

We had to go down a very narrow stairwell leading to a basement that ended in a single, thick wooden door with nothing to say it was a shop.

Tiona walked ahead of me, making sure I didn't fall since I still didn't feel at my best, then she knocked hard on the door and opened it.

The shop itself was more spacious, a wider room with enough space for almost twenty people, its walls completely covered with shelves or small drawers, there were also several complicated grimoires held behind glass walls, strange runes marking the edge of the glasses.

I made the mistake of glancing at one of the grimoires, a small green book with complicated, vine like patterns and a six star drawing on its cover that rested on top of a small red pillow, reading it's pricing I winced.

155 million valis was far, far too much to even think about.

Making sure I avoided touching anything and risk damaging it, I looked at the rest of the store and saw a beautiful elf, she was looking at a white wooden staff resting on the counter with intricate carvings along its shaft.

Even smaller than Tiona, the elf had straight, raven black hair, pale skin and red eyes, she also wore a white dress with light blue details that covered her body from the neck down, leaving only her face exposed.

When we approached the counter, the woman only gave a brief glance our way before turning away, but I still caught the slight widening of her eyes when she looked at me.

What? I was pretty certain I hadn't spoken with any elf beside Remilia; most of them were racist assholes anyway.

Soon, the witchiest witch that ever witched came back from inside the shop holding a white wand in her hand.

She was dressed in a black robe, with the traditional pointy hat, had sharp nails, a huge pointy nose filled with warts and her wrinkles had wrinkles.

I half expected the woman to crackle like mad and fly off on top of a broom at any moment. Instead, she handed the wand back to the elf and received a bag filled with money.

"I finished repairing the spell stones; try not to ruin them as soon this time," the old woman said and received a nod in return.

Receiving her wand, the elf turned around and looked at me one more time before ignoring us as she left the shop.

"Who's she?" I asked in curiosity, I didn't recognize her and, with the sharingan, that was saying something.

"Dunno," Tiona shrugged.

"Filvis Challia, a good costumer, but what brings you here young man?" the shop owner said as she sat behind the counter and in front of a large cauldron.

I raised an eyebrow and looked after the retreating elf, already turning the corner after having climbed the stairs.

I wanted to follow her out of the shop, but I didn't feel up to running after her, I was too likely to stumble and fall on my face, so I just committed her face to memory.

I'd find her later, when I wasn't feeling so shitty, and properly thank her for saving my life in the dungeon.

"Right," I said and glanced again at the bag filled with valis, a lot of valis. "I do hope you don't just deal with large purchases."

"Don't worry, most of my stock is made for at least second class adventurers, but I do have a lot of gear aimed at beginners, what do you need?"

"Do you have anything to help lower an enemy's magic resistance?" I asked as I looked around the shop in curiosity.

"Hmmm, I do have something like that yes, but I don't think they're in your price range," She mumbled and smirked at me. "Cursed weapons and items are expensive you know?"

"Does it have to be a curse?"

"Perhaps if you explain why you need it I can come up with an alternative," she said, leaning over the counter, her eyes showing interest. "New spells are always interesting to me."

I thought about it, I didn't want to reveal my ability to anyone, that'd be stupid, but I could give the woman a rough description without revealing too much if it would help me improve.

Mord's team already knew it anyway and, while I didn't think they'd try to come after me, I had no confidence they wouldn't tell anyone while drunk.

"I have a spell capable of casting illusions against a monster, it's extremely useful, but it can't affect monsters much stronger than me and the illusion breaks easily if the creature realizes something is wrong."

"Interesting…" the old woman lifted an eyebrow and looked at me with a shine in her eyes. Tapping at her chin with a long, sharp nail, she thought about the situation. "And how much is your budged?"

"Fifteen thousand valis?" I tried to sound the woman out while considering things.

That'd leave me with only 5 thousand in reserve, but I was quickly improving my ability in the dungeon and I expected a large improvement in killing monsters after I went through the information on Dungeon Monsters I had gotten.

The witch snorted, then started snickering at me with amusement, just as I was about to walk out she motioned for me to stop and gathered herself.

"Ah… don't mind me, sometimes I forget how it is to just start out," she wiped a tear of amusement from her eye and leaned back. "For the record, expect any magical tool to be at least 100 thousand, there's a few things cheaper, but they're trinkets that won't help you in the dungeon."

"I see, I guess I'm just wasting your time then."

"I didn't say that, I said I'm interested in new magic and illusions magic is very rare," she said as she pulled a piece of parchment from bellow the counter. "How about we make a deal?"

"What kind?" I asked suspiciously, if she asked to sign in blood I was out of here.

"Usually, something like this would be a waste of my time, but I'm willing to make you a very cheap wand, something around forty thousand and with only a single spell stone, if you agree to come back to tell me what effect it had on your spell."

I thought about it, then I looked at her. "I still don't have that kind of money right now."

"You can pay ten thousand now and the remaining valis when you come back," she offered, a glint in her eyes as she sensed my interest.

I was feeling highly suspicious, I couldn't see what advantage she could get from the deal and it left me feeling uneasy. "And what exactly will this wand do?"

"I'm thinking I'll make something simple, concentrate your mana when you channel the spell from your hand."

"That… won't work; I don't use my hands for the spell."

"Oh, even more interesting!" the challenge only seemed to make the witch happier, "Hmmmm, how about this then, instead of a wand for targeting, I can just make you a ring. With enough control, you can channel your mana through the ring, concentrating it and then draw it out when you want to use it."

"Is there any detriment to doing it that way? And how long is that gonna take."

"Sure, the spell stones will deteriorate twice as fast and it will take longer to use the skills, but its cheap equipment anyway," she waved her hand dismissing his concerns. "It'll only take me 4 days."

I looked towards Tiona and sighed when I saw she wasn't even paying attention anymore. Making any of my illusions slower to cast seemed like a huge setback, but it could be exactly what I needed when facing a stronger monster.

"Alright, I agree," I nodded and shook the witch's hand.

I left the shop together with Tiona, when we were finally back in Orario's streets the Amazon turned my way. "So, what's up with this Filvis?"

"She saved my life in the dungeon," I confessed as I avoided Tiona's eyes in shame. "I had a mind down and she carried me into safety before a monster could kill me."

"Eh, and I thought she'd be one of those elves who look down on us," she said while putting both hands behind her head. "Don't forget to pay her back; you're my apprentice now, you can't go making me look bad!"

"I won't."

Tiona walked me towards the center of Orario and the sky started changing as night arrived, she talked about things on Loki familia and I asked questions.

Eventually, the fact that she had spent so much money on me started bothering me and I sighed. "Thanks a lot for today Tiona, I really needed it, how can I pay you back?"

"You know what? How about you tell me one of your stories then?" she asked with eagerness.

"Alright, you have a deal," I smiled, it wasn't really enough to pay her back, but I doubt there was anything I could really do for a first class adventurer, at least not right now.

Feeling lighter than I had since coming here, I watched as she went back to Loki's home and returned to my room, eager to take a shower and close my eyes, maybe then the last of this headache would be gone.


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[CapCaverna]

Again, got busy with some IRL stuff here, then I was distracted with a sudden influx of ideas I just had to put into "paper", sorry for taking so long to update.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

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I let my body drop to the floor, copious amounts of sweat running down my face. Turning my head up, I took huge gasps as I tried to regain my breath. Damn I didn't even need to use a potion.

"Good job Newbie-kun! Ne, ne, can we start using weapons now?" Tiona asked. The damn Amazon wasn't tired at all.

I took a glance at her giant double headed sword and gulped… still, I nodded. It was about time I really started to train with my spear. Hey, maybe I could even survive a few blows now!

Grabbing at the water skin I drank a few gulps and poured some on top of my head to help me cool down. With a grunt, I threw the water pouch towards Tiona and couldn't help but stare when she did the same.

Why? She wasn't even sweating! Still, I decided to stay quiet. The view was amazing after all.

Opening my pack, I pulled out my new eyepatch, a black piece of cloth that covered one of my eyes and completely blocked its vision. Today I was wearing it on my right eye.

While the Sharingan wasn't really doing much outside battle, using the eyepatch halved the amount of mind it used just by being active. I was also hoping it would be enough to stop the damage it was doing, or allow the potions to fully heal it.

Plus… well it looked good. Tiona approved!

"Great, I can't wait to start training you with my Urga. Using weapons is far more fun than just my hands!" She crouched in front of my tired body and poked at my eyepatch. "Hey, do you think I should wear one too? It looks soo cool!"

I tried to think of Tiona wearing an eyepatch. "Somehow, I think it would look cute on you."

"Really, you think so?" She asked. Her face far too close to my own. "Let me try!"

"Hey, get your own!" I pinched her hand when she tried to steal my eyepatch causing her to pull back.

Tiona briefly pretended to lose interest, but even with only one sharingan I wasn't fooled and managed to block her second grab, then the third. With a glint on her eyes, the Amazon attacked with both arms and it was all I could do to keep her from grabbing the piece of cloth.

"Mou! Now I really want to take it!" She grumbled as I struggled to keep her fingers away from my head.

"Ha, now I really don't want you to!" I answered and continued to struggle.

Using my legs, I finally managed to push against the ground and slip aside while jumping to my feet. Panting hard, I adjusted my clothes and smugly lifted my head high. I won.

Glancing back, I caught the glint on Tiona's eyes and shouted. "I still have to go to the dungeon, see you!" then scrambled away as fast as I could.

"Bye newbie-kun!" She waved with a smile on her face. "Remember, I have a mission outside the city tomorrow so I won't be able to train you, but don't you dare slack off!"

"Don't worry; I'll probably spend the day in the dungeon then!" I shouted back and waved at the Amazon.

I took a very quick bath and ate something on my way to the dungeon. I had just gotten my magic ring yesterday and had yet to test its effects on any monster. I also had to pay the Witch and, while delving mainly on the fifth floor for half a day had been enough for now, it wasn't gonna let me gather enough funds.

It was about time I push further into the dungeon.

Taking off the eyepatch again, I put it into my backpack and entered the dungeon at full strength. While blocking one eye didn't really affect my daily life, I wasn't about to risk facing monsters without my depth perception.

Kobolds and Goblins weren't even a threat anymore. I dispatched them with contemptuous ease as I rushed through the first three floors, only having to watch out for dungeon lizards. They could still surprise me if I wasn't paying attention.

Reaching an empty room on the fourth floor, I found one of the Lizards sneaking through the ceiling for an ambush and decided to use it as a test subject.

Using my spear, I blocked its first attack and used the shaft to slam it into the ground, then pressed it down. The beast struggled to free itself, but my strength had grown enough that, with leverage, I could keep it pinned with no trouble.

Finding out how to channel my mana into the ring took some time. I was far too used to channeling it into my eyes passively, guiding it towards somewhere else wasn't easy, but I eventually figured it out.

The ring absorbed my power for three seconds before I felt it was full. Pulling the mana back was actually uncomfortable, it felt slower and thicker, but not to the point that it hurt.

Still, when I stared at the Lizard's eye and sent it an illusion of darkness. I immediately knew it had worked. The skill felt almost as powerful as if I had used the mangekyou to cast and the lizard took nearly three times as long to break free.

A few more tries and I was sure. Using the ring took me four seconds, instead of being an instant cast, but it more than tripled the power of my illusion and I suspected that even a lesser illusion could affect a level 2 target, if for a short amount of time.

That gave me ideas. Unfortunately, the ring could only hold a small amount of mana, and I didn't have the skill to constantly be using it, so I couldn't walk around with a charge ready.

Still, it was a great improvement, and made me feel much better about risking delving lower floors.

Opening my small leather bag I checked my potions and noticed it wasn't full, I had been forced to use four health potions and two stamina potions this week. I sighed.

I quickly decided to break through the fifth floor tomorrow. I'd refill my potions today… and maybe buy another bag to keep in the backpack. Tomorrow, with my supplies full, I'd have the entire day to explore the lower floors.

I could continue to hunt today, but the drops would probably pale in comparison to tomorrow and the monsters were no longer a threat. It was better to continue experimenting.

Well, time to improve my monster taming abilities.

Jumping up from the Lizard's back I used the butt of my spear as a lever to flick it away. The beast flew through the air and fell in a heap, giving me enough time to charge the ring and catch it into another greater illusion.

I assumed the lizard would continue to blindly attack me for a while, and that it wasn't smart enough to figure out when something was wrong. So I just put it into a loop where it would charge me, bite my arm and then experience debilitating pain.

The creature stayed immobile as my illusion played out, after only 7 seconds it lost control of its limps, twitching in place like a fish out of water for a full second and stopping again.

The same 8 seconds loop played out in the creature's mind twelve times before it finally broke out of the illusion… either that or the spell just lost power.

Lying with my back against a wall, I watched curiously as the beast gathered itself; it got up and finally found me. The lizard actually growled at me and hesitated, but still tried to attack.

I put it into another illusory loop. In this one it wouldn't just suffer pain when it bit me, but I'd actually resist and stab it through the eye. Then it would feel the pain.

The creature learned fast, it stopped trying to attack me after only twelve minutes and tried to desperately run away.

Thankfully, with the ring charged, I managed to catch it in lesser illusion powerful enough to dissuade it from running. The dungeon lizard just lay on the floor and gave a pitiful whine.

Damn, now I felt really bad. I know it was a murderous beast hell-bent on killing any and all humans, but torturing it until it obeyed me felt far too much like animal cruelty. There had to be a better way.

With a sigh, I stepped away from the beast and it didn't try to escape again. Finding a large boulder I sat on top of it and started creating new illusions, those ones were ways to teach the lizard to obey commands.

I spent nearly half an hour teaching it how to 'follow', 'hold', 'attack', and 'run' by showing it an illusion of what I wanted and sending a pleasant feeling whenever it obeyed.

It helped that Dungeon Lizards were ugly as fuck, so I didn't feel as bad about brainwashing it. I don't think I could have done it to a whimpering Almiraj.

Wandering around with the lizard following me by walking through the ceiling, I quickly found a group of three goblins. They hadn't noticed me so I quickly pointed and shouted. "Dungeon lizard, I choose you. Attack!"

My monster dropped on top of a goblin and bit down on the creature's head, crushing its skull. The other two goblins seemed extremely confused at the lizard's attack, giving me enough time to dispatch one with a thrown dagger to the back of the neck.

The last one finally caught sight of me and screeched, but my loyal companion wasn't done. Twisting around, it delivered a tail swipe to the monster, smashing it into the wall before tearing out its throat.

I quickly channeled mana into my ring and sent it a sense of accomplishment, as well as some pleasure. I harvested the goblin's magic stones and sighed as there was no loot drop.

Looking from my bag of magic stones to my new lizard companion, I considered things. Pulling one of the smaller ones out, I threw it to the beast. The lizard's tongue darted out and it scented the air, but didn't seem interested in the stone.

A quick lesser illusion of it eating the thing changed that and the monster consumed the stone, it seemed to shake a little as the stone dissolved into its mouth, but wasn't really changed.

I was probably gonna regret this, but I so wanted to see what would happen.

Composing an illusion of the creature attacking a different human and getting the same pain. I sent it and hoped it would cause the beast to focus mainly on other monsters instead of adventurers.

Together, we continued to explore the fourth floor; I constantly sent it after other monsters, feeding it one in every four stones we got. After two hours of this, the monster had consumed nearly twenty magic stones and grown capable of killing four goblins by itself.

Still, the other dungeon monsters seemed completely oblivious to my little pet, only turning to attack it after it had initiated an attack and never before. It allowed the lizard to always kill at least one monster before the others turned on it.

The little guy actually seemed to get a taste for Kobold's magic stones and started guiding me through the dungeon while hunting them. Made for a much more effective delve.

Eventually, I noticed a lone adventurer coming up from the deeper floors and took some distance from my pet.

"Hold." I told the beast and turned a corner. I wanted to see what it would do when faced with another human… or whatever race it was. Almost forgot Danmachi had more than humans.

I still kept an illusion ready, just in case the lizard got the jump on the adventurer, but it wasn't needed.

"Ugh. Another one of those." The man said and laid his backpack on the ground before pulling out a sword. My lizard hissed at him and took a step back, causing the man to pause in confusion. "What the…"

The dwarf advanced towards my lizard, the creature held its place until the last second, hissing and pawing at the ground until the dwarf was nearly upon it. With one last hiss the lizard decided that avoiding a human was worth more than obeying my command and ran back towards me.

Waving between my legs the lizard hid behind me, its tongue nervously darting out in quick jabs. I laughed and rewarded it with another illusion, trying to cement the behavior with positive feedback. I also feed it another two stones.

The dwarf turned the corner at a sprint and nearly didn't manage to stop when he saw our position. His eyes quickly looked from the hiding monster to my satisfied smile and he grunted. "Huh, guess you tamed it."

It wasn't really a question, but I nodded anyway. "Yep, this guy's turning out to be quite capable."

"Humph. Bit of a waste if you ask me. Spending time taming such weak monsters, that is." He said and sheathed his sword. The dwarf still kept his distance and maintained a wary eye on the both of us. "Impressive taming ability though."

"Thanks, I'm just practicing before trying it on stronger monsters." I answered and stepped aside, letting the dwarf continue his way up.

"Good delve." He nodded and passed me by, his hand still gripping the handle of his sword. I nodded back.

Wandering some more, I choose a room that was completely out of the path from one floor to the other and, after eliminating the monsters inside, sat down.

By this point, my lizard had learned to dig into the monster's chest to fish out their stones by itself, so I watched it consume the three kobolds that had been on the room and settle down by my feet.

I considered eliminating the thing to avoid causing some unlucky adventurer trouble, but the creature had avoided confrontation with other adventurers quite well and… well, I really didn't want to kill it.

So, I spent another hour or so bombarding the thing with illusions, trying to teach it to run away from any adventurer, be it human, dwarf, pallum or whatever. I also instilled in it a sense that this room was its home, so I'd know where to find it on my next delves.

I knew what I was doing was dangerous, but the dungeon lizard was a fairly weak creature and I was pretty sure it wasn't developing a resistance to my illusions anytime soon.

I had also observed the rate at which it grew during the day and it wasn't going to become a problem anytime soon. It could eat the entire floor several times over and it still wouldn't be a match for a level 2 monster.

Eventually, I left the lizard on the room and made my way back up in record time, my backpack holding only half my usual loot.

Putting my eyepatch back on, I made my way to the market and sold all my loot drops before restocking my potions, leaving me with only a thousand valis or so. Hopefully, I'd be able to get far more loot tomorrow.

Getting home, I counted the magic stones I had gotten today and threw them inside my locker. I had made a little over eighteen thousand valis in stones in the last five days, but fifteen percent of that was gonna go to Mord and the rest was only enough for me to live for another week or so.

Waking up the next day, I dropped some blood on my back and checked my current status:

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – G – 202
Endurance – H – 194
Dexterity – H – 199
Agility – H – 187
Magic – E – 401
Skills:
- Chosen of and Outer God
- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).

Hey, I had grown about 50 points in every status! From what I had read, my growth was still far above the normal, but my magic was just ridiculous. To think I haven't been on Orario for even two months and it was already E rank.

I suspected it would slow down eventually, but I could enjoy the fast improvement while it lasted.

Since I was going directly to the Dungeon today I didn't bother with the eyepatch. With one last check to see if everything was in order, it was, I made my way towards the dungeon.

I actually smiled when I found my lizard resting under a rock on the same room I left him. "Alright, since you've actually survived the day, how about I name you?" I asked the creature as it trailed behind me, carrying my backpack on its back.

The beast just stuck its tongue out at me.

"Alright, I'm gonna call you Yoshi. Now come on." I smiled as I passed by a girl giving me a strange look while she harvested some Kobold. "Come on, let's go."

It seems like a high level team had descended just a few minutes ahead of me, a few of their kills still lying on the floor unharvested. Yoshi quickly darted forward and bit down on a goblin's chest, pulling out its magic stone and swallowing it in a single bite.

I shook my head and harvested the remaining before the glutton had a chance, then made my way forward.

Killer ant's proved to be Yoshi's bane. The lizard's mouth wasn't strong enough to bite trough their hard shell and it didn't really have claws to try and pry them open. It quickly learned to leave the things to me and focus on the other monsters.

I slaughtered my way down to the sixth floor with no problem. My days of sparring with Tiona had made me far more skilled, to the point that I could face groups of goblins or kobolds without even using my illusions and my hammer was making quick work of the ants, smashing through their shells and crushing them.

I stepped into the sixth floor and immediately had to duck down as a tongue flew through the space my head had been, it struck the wall with surprisingly strength, sending pieces of stone flying. Pulling out a dagger almost on instinct, I cut up and severed the frog shooter's tongue before it could recover, then sent my dagger flying and pierced through its single large eye.

The thing jumped back, blood flying all over the place, but I didn't have the chance to attack again before two tongues flew towards my body. I managed to dodge one while the second hit me square in the chest and was blocked by the armor.

The tongue stuck to my armor and the frog tried to pull me in, instead of resisting I charged. Wrapping my arm around the slimy appendage I pulled it to the side and caused the creature to stumble, leaving it wide open for me to drive my spear all the way through the creature.

I had aimed right for the frog's middle and, with the sharingan. It was easy to pierce it through the magic stone, causing the frog to dissolve into dust. Losing a stone was a pity, but it got rid of the sticky tongue and freed my spear at the same time.

Pulling my spear back I was ready to face the other frogs when I saw my lizard tangling with the only remaining one, the first having died from blood loss.

Well damn, seems like I didn't need to destroy the stone after all.

In close combat, the frog couldn't use its tongue as a projectile and died under Yoshi's bites, as a reward, I let him ate the stone and only harvested one. Thankfully, the one I had destroyed actually dropped a frog leg.

After killing twelve ants and another seven frogs, I was feeling quite confident in my strength when something new caught me by surprise. A dark patch darted from behind a large rock and rushed me.

Compared to Tiona, the creature still seemed slow, but it was actually much faster than me and I almost didn't manage to block its first lunge. Its three large claws left a dent on my armguard.

The war shadow attempted to smash into me, but I lifted the butt of my spear and struck its triangular head, causing it to stumble back, with a downwards slash with the tip of my spear I opened a gash on its chest.

I was just about to finish it off with a stab when a second war shadow forced me to retreat in order to keep it from backstabbing me.

The healthy monster was just about to charge me when I decided to attack. The tip of my spear flew towards its head and the beast proved why it was the strongest monster on the floor by dodging back and attempting to use its long arms to slash at my head.

Stepping back I attacked again, my spear sliding through my hand in a flurry of consecutive stabs. The thing was much faster than me and, despite my superior skill; it managed to dodge every one of them.

The wounded war shadow had recovered when I wasn't looking and nearly took my head off while I was focusing on the second one, cutting three lines of blood on my cheek when I desperately jumped back. Alright that's enough, time to use my skills.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done, the war shadows had an orb in front of their faces, but it didn't really seem to be their eye as I couldn't cast greater illusion, and they were too strong to be snared with a lesser one while in a fight.

I tried to channel mana into my ring, but it required concentration, something I just couldn't afford with two of them attacking me.

My spear flew through the air as I used the shaft to block or bat aside dozens of strikes. The wounded shadow attempted to attack the spear itself, but it paid for the mistake with a stab through the shoulder that destroyed its arm.

Suddenly, my lizard dropped right on top of the wounded monster and bit down on its orb. It cracked as if made from glass and the shadow dropped on its knees. A second bite ended its life before it could really hurt the lizard.

Even with only one enemy I still struggled, the creature was fast as lightning and, like me, it seemed able to follow my every movement and dodge my attacks perfectly.

Fuck, I'd have to be tricky then.

Taking some distance, I struck. Lowering my position I lunged, feinting a stab towards its right leg and, when it stepped back to dodge, my spear changed course directly towards its chest.

The war shadow reacted with a burst of speed, it twisted it's body sideways and my stab only pierced though it's left collarbone, leaving me wide open for a strike from its right arm.

I ducked and felt the rush of air as its claws passed above my head, ruffling my hair. Grabbing its extended limb with my left arm I punched its arm with my right hand as hard as I could.

The arm broke like a tree branch, the war shadow didn't seem to have bones, but its arm splintered into hundreds of pieces and hung useless from its body. Putting my shoulder on its chest I pushed the beast away from me and pulled out my hammer.

The war shadow tried to attack me with its wounded arm anyway, but the damage made it far slower and clumsier, I just ducked under the blow once again and pulverized its leg with my hammer. The war shadow fell to one knee, leaving its head at just the right height to be crushed by my returning swing.

Breathing hard, I stepped away from the dead monster and laughed. "Damn that was fun!"

Finally, I dropped my hammer on top of the dead beast and looked at my hand. I had put far too much strength on that punch and the war shadow had been far harder than I though. Two of my fingers were bent the wrong way.

Then the pain hit me. Fuck did it hurt!

With my left hand, I pulled a healing potion from my pouch and was just about to drink it when I remembered how Tiona usually aligned my bones back whenever I had needed it. When I protested, Loki had laughed and informed me it could heal wrong.

Fuck. Pulling out a dagger I bit down on its handle and gently touched the fingers. Talking a deep breath I squeezed my eyes and moved.

"God fucking motherfucker!" I spit out the dagger and cursed, then drank the damn potion and felt its effects. My pain immediately lessened, but didn't go away.

Cradling my hand against my chest I harvested both war shadows with my left hand and sat down, deciding to take a small rest while my hand healed. Quickly, I poured the potion on a wooden cup and soaked my fingers inside it.

Pulling out a piece of jerky, I ate it while waiting. Thankfully, with such small area to work in, and with my endurance having almost reached G rank, the potion should be effective enough.

While waiting, I saw an elf glance into the room I was occupying, but he quickly changed directions when he noticed me and moved on. Then a robed man stepped inside and caught sight of me.

The guy wore a large, white robe that covered his entire body, but that wasn't all, he also wore a white cowl and a piece of fabric in front of his face that covered his mouth and nose, leaving only his eyes uncovered.

I briefly considered how the guy fought covered with so much cloth, but he carried a large sword and didn't really seem worried so I just shrugged. He had survived until here.

Really, with how unique his clothes were, I was half considering if he wasn't some secret badass in hiding. The guy actually entered my resting room, causing me to tense and Yoshi to get up, hissing at him.

Pulling my hand from the cup I tested my fingers and noticed they had already mostly healed so I grabbed my spear, but didn't lift it.

"Greetings. I see you're taking a rest. Having trouble with the floor?" The guy asked in a conversational voice.

"Not really, got a little tired fighting three War Shadows at the same time, so I decided to have a bite before exploring some more." I lied. I didn't want the guy thinking he had a chance fighting me.

If he was much stronger, he probably wouldn't be interested in the loot of someone who delved around this floor and, if not, he'd probably avoid fighting someone who could beat three of the things without injury.

Still, I kept my ring charged and was ready to use the mangekyou at the first sign of aggression.

"Hmm, impressive, those things are a real nightmare to fight, and it's rare to find more than one at the same time too." He nodded. Glancing at the dungeon lizard at my side he lifted an eyebrow. "A tamer are you?"

"I can tame, yes. Why?"

"Just curious, I have never seen you around here before. It's still early in the day, are you gonna Delve much deeper?" The Masked man asked and stepped closer, causing my grip on the spear to tighten. "Since you're able to kill three War Shadows alone, it won't be much risk going one or two floors deeper. You can clearly hunt on floor eighth or ninth."

"I don't see how that's any of your business." I growled. It was like this guy was fishing for information and I didn't like it.

The man's eyes went to my grip on the spear and he lifted a hand to placate me. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to worry you. Just wanted to meet a new face is all."

"Well, trying or not you're bothering me." I said truthfully, and smiled when Yoshi hissed at the man.

"I see, I apologize." He stepped away and lowered his hand. "I guess I'll leave you alone then."

I shook my head as the strange man left. In truth, the meting made me want to leave the dungeon immediately. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Still, I wandered the sixth floor with Yoshi, killing killer ants and frog shooters. The loot droop seemed unusually high today, with one in every five monsters dropping something, so I decided to stay the entire day anyway.

I faced another two War Shadows, The first time I had the chance to charge my ring and managed to catch it in a lesser illusion. I made the shadow see me rushing straight at it, it caused the beast to attack a point a meter ahead of me with both arms and leaving it wide open for a simple lunge with my spear that ended the fight without much trouble. It left me feeling highly unsatisfied.

The second one caught me just as I was turning a corner and left three deep gashes on my armor. It was already too close for me to use the spear and the hammer was too heavy, it made me too slow to react in close combat with such beast.

It meant that I fought it with only my daggers, and it was almost as bad as fighting Tiona.

I ducked and waved under its claws, using my armguards to parry its knife-like claws more than once. I tried to grapple it several times but, with both arms fully active, the thing was too fast. I couldn't lock one of its arms without suffering a deadly blow from the other and the cuts I was leaving with my daggers just weren't doing enough damage.

I tried to retreat, but the thing was following me close, its strikes hitting the ground or the walls with terrifying strength. My heart beat hard on my chest and a smile made its way into my face despite myself.

The beast actually seemed angry when I started smiling, its movements becoming more and more frenetic. Lifting both arms in the air it prepared to deliver a huge blow, but paid for it with a thrown dagger to the leg that sent its strike of course and allowed me to wave aside.

Its blow hit the grown and sent shards of stone flying up. I spun away from the attack and drove my dagger into its exposed neck. One of the war shadow's claws recovered fast enough to swing at my head and I laughed as I leaned back, then stomped on the dagger embedded into its neck and drove it all the way through, pinning the creature to the wall.

The beast struggled despite its wounds and it gave me enough time to put some distance between us before I picked up my spear. With a mighty effort, it pulled itself free of the wall, aggravating the neck wound and showering the ground with blood.

It turned and stumbled towards me, but it was already too late. My spear caught it on its already mangled neck and actually decapitated the beast, the creature had already lost so much blood it didn't even spray me.

Putting the butt of my spear on the ground I leaned on it and looked down at the creature. Damn that had been fun.

Before I could react, Yoshi fell on top of the war shadow and stole its magic stone in a single bite. "Hey! What the hell, you damn glutton, see if I give you another!" Watching the war shadow dissolve, I smiled when I saw a war shadow finger blade appearing from the ashes. Those things were expensive!

It was still barely past midday so I decided to pull out a stamina potion. I chugged it and considered my option, it had been two hours since I met the strange dude and nothing had happened.

I hadn't even noticed anyone watching me and, with the sharingan, that was saying something.

From the books I read, floor seven wasn't much different from this one, and even floors eight and nine only had stronger versions of goblins, kobolds and dungeon lizards, war shadows were the strongest thing around here and they were nothing I couldn't deal with.

I could always use charge my ring to cast illusions on the thing and, even if I didn't have the time, there was still the Mangekyou. It was probably enough to catch one of them in a lesser illusion.

I nodded to myself. "Come on Yoshi, we're going deeper!"

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[CapCaverna]

Alright, this isn't my proudest chapter, it kinda ran away from me and, coupled with the previous chapter, ended up becoming a little too much fighting.

Still, I hope you guys can enjoy it anyway.

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Yoshi followed me through the ceiling, my backpack hanging from his back from the straps tied to his waist. Taming the beast really had been a good idea. Not having to carry all that loot was Very convenient.

Stepping out from the stairs I brandished my spear and fell into a fighting position, quickly looking around for any enemies but, this time, there wasn't an ambush waiting for me, instead, I found two pallum adventurers giving me odd looks.

"Got ambushed when coming down to floor 6." I tried to explain, my face flushed from embarrassment.

One of the pallum just shrugged and went back to harvesting a needle rabbit; the other actually snickered at me and continued to guard his friend.

From behind him on the wall, Yoshi hissed, causing the small adventurer to desperately jump away, his sword flashing into a block. Yoshi hissed again and then crawled back to the ceiling and towards me.

This time, it was the harvesting pallum who snickered, his scared friend just frowned. I stared at him and, eventually, he gave an exasperated sigh and nodded at me.

Unwilling to turn my back towards them, I took a side entrance and advanced through the seventh floor, Yoshi following me, but never escaping my sight.

I had started to like the little lizard, but I wasn't stupid. It was carrying most of my loot and I really didn't want to risk it attacking me or, worse, actually escape.

My spear pierced through the throat of a lone war shadow and struck the stone wall behind it, sending a jolt of pain through my hands as the shaft reverberated from the impact.

War shadow dead, I released my spear and shook both hands in the air, trying to get rid of the numbness, hitting stone with all my strength was far from a pleasant sensation.

Using a dagger, I dug out the Magic Stone and moved on, arriving in a large open room. Three killer ants immediately started coming for me and I dropped the spear, pulling out my hammer instead.

Yoshi jumped on top of the last one, his bulk, combined with all my lot, momentarily nailed the ant to the ground, allowing him to bite its head repeatedly, but without much success.

Left with only two ants, I rushed the first one and delivered a devastating overhead strike to its head. The ant tried to block with her mandibles, but I was faster, my hammer hitting its head and pulping it.

Shards of carapace flew everywhere as I jumped back and avoided an attack from the second one. Suddenly, I saw some purple dust falling around me, resting on top of my head and shoulders.

Breaking two of the ant's legs, I took a chance to glance up and saw a large purple moth floating above me, poisonous dust falling from its wings.

Jumping back, I pulled out a throwing dagger and nailed the moth in the head. The monster was sent tumbling to fall on its side, its wings flapping uselessly, purple poison starting to accumulate around itself.

Dodging another bite, I smashed the ant's thorax and, when it collapsed, finished it off by smashing its head.

To the side, Yoshi had actually managed to bite through the ant's neck, separating its head from the rest of the body.

In a hurry, I was just about to rush his position and finish off the ant before it could signal for reinforcement when the lizard dug out the magic crystal and ate it, causing the ant to dissolve into black dust.

The purple moth had finally died, its wings stopped moving. Standing in front of the creature, I considered my options.

Should I harvest its magic crystal myself? From what I understood, its poison would continue to be active days after it was dead, and there was a lot of poison there.

Grabbing an empty bottle from Yoshi's pack, I used a dagger to move the dust, filling the bottle completely before harvesting the core.

The little poison that had gotten into my shoulders didn't seem to have succeeded in poisoning me, so I moved on, killing nine other killer ants, four Frog Shooters, two war shadows and two purple moths before meeting a new monster.

It was a rabbit, a horned rabbit… Well, they were called needle rabbits, but that's semantics. It was also incredibly cute.

Standing there, with my spear pointed at the little critter. I couldn't bring myself to kill the thing. It didn't help that the rabbit wasn't attacking, just standing there, its little pink nose sniffing at me.

Suddenly, Yoshi fell on top of it, swallowing its body whole and making the point moot. Well, that just happened.

Shaking my head, I moved on and, an hour and a half later, found the entrance to the eighth floor. Looking at the stairs going down, I frowned.

I had found the entrance far too soon, more than that, there had been even fewer monsters here than on the sixth floor.

From everything I had read, the amount of monsters only increased with every floor, yet I had only fought a few groups here… perhaps there were more adventurers hunting on this floor, but I had only seen the two pallum at the entrance. How strange.

Still, needle rabbits were even weaker than goblins and kobolds and, while Purple moths were annoying, keeping their distance and trying to poison the air, they were also extremely fragile, dying to a single thrown dagger.

Even Yoshi could kill them easily.

It made for a more diverse amount of monsters, requiring different approaches to defeat, but they were actually easier to kill.

Looking at Yoshi's pack, I thought about what to do. Hunting at this floor wasn't going to increase my loot all that much, and I still had about half a day to stay here.

Also, I know that there were more powerful monsters on the eighth floor, but I was pretty sure I could handle slightly stronger goblins and kobolds. Hell, even stronger war shadows wouldn't be a problem with my illusions.

Carefully, I stepped down to the eighth floor, my spear ready to attack or defend in a second. A white blur flew towards my face and I waved my weapon, hitting it with the spear shaft and smashing it against the wall.

The needle rabbit fell to the ground, wounded and dazed but, surprisingly, still alive, before I could finish it off, Yoshi ate it.

With a frown, I used the butt of my spear to boink the lizard in the head, damn greedy bastard. It seems to have developed a taste for rabbit, immediately attacking any that appeared and swallowing them whole.

In truth, I didn't really mind all that much, it was just a pity that I wasn't getting any loot drops from the things.

Looking around myself, I took note of the differences on this floor.

The ceiling was nearly twice as high, with stalactites hanging down, covered with yellow rocks that glowed like a sun and the brown walls were covered with a thick layer of moss. The floor was covered with short grass and surprisingly even, the only difference were some large rocks sprouting from time to time.

The first room was also wide, almost three times the size of the ones above, with almost a dozen openings leading to different hallways. All in all, it gave me a completely different feeling from the floors above.

Up to the seventh floor, I could see pairs of adventurers working well together, but anything more would only get in each other's way. Here, a party of five could easily hunt together without much problem.

It probably meant that there were also larger groups of monsters, I'd have to be careful and test out just how much stronger the monsters were here, but I didn't foresee any problems, not unless the monsters more than doubled in power.

Looking around the large room, I quickly located a group of Kobolds that hadn't seen me yet. They were slightly taller and more muscular than their higher floor counterparts, but not by that much, there were also eleven of them, with two purple moths flying close by.

Right now, I just wanted to test how much stronger they were, so there was no need to engage so many of them at once.

Looking at one of the kobolds, I snared it into an illusion, making it see two of his companions as adventurers instead of monsters.

The creature snapped to attention instantly, releasing a low growl that raised the hackles on the entire pack, lowering his hand to the floor. The kobold actually drew a large stone club from the dungeon and rushed one of his companions, smashing its head in a single blow.

Quickly, I caught a second Kobold in an illusion and the pack descended into infighting. Six of the creatures died before one of them even located me.

Pulling out a dagger, I threw it at the frontline fighter, but it managed to dodge aside, causing me to raise an eyebrow at its speed. Still, I managed to kill it with a single lunge of my spear.

Of the last four, one was already wounded. I engaged the three healthy ones, blocking a blow of their landform weapon with the spear shaft before stomping on his chest and slashing at a second.

Each kobold was nearly as strong as me, but the most telling was their skill and speed. Instead of continuing to rush me, the creatures started using pack tactics, attacking and retreating while trying to encircle me. Their reaction speed was enough that I couldn't easily kill one without opening myself for an attack from another.

Still, the fight was fast, barely thirty seconds later and the small wounds I was leaving them started to accumulate, they also started tiring.

Having gotten what I wanted, I decided to increase my speed. From my right, a kobold tried to rush me and I presented the tip of my spear, causing him to stop. A second kobold took the chance to attack my spear shaft with his stone club, trying to break it.

Acting deftly, I slid my spear back, causing the kobold to hit air before stabbing twice, piercing its neck and belly, then rushing a second, slashing in a wide arc. The kobold actually ducked under the slash, but I continued the movement, hitting his head with the back of the spear and breaking his skull.

Behind me, Yoshi tried to fall from the ceiling, but he actually missed his prey, dropping heavily to the ground behind the Kobold and releasing a hiss of pain.

Both remaining Kobolds whirled around on the dungeon lizard and I took the chance to stab one on the back while it was distracted. Alone, the last Kobold was quickly rushed by Yoshi. After consuming so many magic crystals, the lizard was actually quite a bit stronger, bulling it over and biting off its face with no trouble.

Harvesting their cores, I sat down on top of a rock and observed the purple moths, despite the fight, I hadn't aggroed them.

Pulling some supplies from Yoshi's back, I drank some water and ate a little, replenishing my strength for the fight on this floor. The monsters were stronger here, in nearly all aspects really, but they weren't beyond me.

After my spars with Tiona, I was pretty sure I could have taken all eleven of them, even without my illusions. If the war shadows were only this much stronger, they too wouldn't be a problem.

At my side, Yoshi kept staring at the ceiling and hissing, causing me to laugh at the poor lizard. With the ceiling doubling in height, the beast was having trouble aiming, and its fall also caused it some pain.

Also, the room was so big that Yoshi couldn't count on climbing a wall every time, making his preferred tactic very… inconvenient and situational.

Laughing, I scratched the ugly little thing's jaw, causing its back leg to hit the ground repeatedly.

Squinting my eyes, I thought I saw someone peeking from one of the many hallways leaving this room. Still, even with the sharingan, it was far enough away, and had been fast enough, that I wasn't really sure.

Finishing my mean, I killed both purple months and a trio of needle rabbits that had spawned before turning towards a different hallway. On the opposite side of where I thought I had seen something.

.
.
.

With a shout, I drove the spike on my hammer right through the leg of the war shadow, then used my shoulder to push it away and threw three daggers at its head, two of them bounced off its eye, but the third lodged right below it, where its mouth should have been.

"HA!" I screamed, dodging a claw strike. Twisting my body around, I stomped on the dagger, driving it all the way through the beast's head, the war shadow stumbled back two steps, then fell down to the ground, dead.

Laughing like a maniac, I pulled my spear from a second war shadow and approached a still living goblin; it was crawling in the ground, using its arms to drag itself towards me while its hips and legs were destroyed.

The creature tried to pounce on me but, with only its arms working, I managed to intercept it midair and pin it to the ground before stabbing it on the back of the neck.

I had been fighting a pack of the little bastards when the two war shadows approached. On this floor, they were actually more challenging than before but, tricking some of the goblins into fighting them, they had been defeated without causing me a lot of damage.

The amount of monsters on the eighth floor had drastically increased, and I was forced to kill them fairly fast lest they attract even more. It made for far more satisfying fights, where even my illusions were necessary, not just convenient.

The two war shadows I just faced were faster, stronger and had actual martial arts skills, coupled with my inability to snare them with strong illusions, the fight actually left me very tired.

Using the wall to support my body, I let Yoshi consume one of their cores and smiled when I saw another finger blade on its ashes.

Opening the pouch at my waist, I pulled out a stamina potion and drank it in a single gulp, feeling the liquid going down my throat and reinvigorating my entire body. Giving it a minute or so, I also drank a health potion, watching as the scratches along my arms and legs healed.

Nothing on this floor had been able to truly hurt me, but the small scraps had been accumulating for a while now, and I still had a lot of potions left.

Five minutes later, I felt well enough to continue advancing, leaving the hallway and entering a new room, the largest I had seen on this floor, and I had seen a lot.

On this floor, the majority of the space was composed of large rooms, there were still hallways connecting them, but they were wider and shorter than on the previous floors, and there were rarely any monsters wandering them.

Entering the room, I killed nine killer ants and a purple month, then I saw an adventurer party of three fighting in the center of the room, facing against a pack of thirteen kobolds and four frog shooters.

Glancing at them for a few seconds, I decided they didn't need any help, their tank was well equipped and skilled, and the other two were strong fighters.

Keeping them in my view, I walked along the wall towards a new exit. Just as I was about to enter the new hallway, I heard the sound of running feet coming from inside and frowned.

With a sigh, I turned towards a new hallway and saw nine killer ants pouring out of the entrance. I also saw a fucking ant head laying there on the ground.

Immediately snapping to full attention, I turned back towards the exit I had heard running, concentrating, I started to hear the faint sound of a stampede coming behind the human steps.

"FUCK!" Without wasting time, I turned towards the hallway I had come from and started running, Yoshi following close behind. Turning towards the still fighting party, I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Monster train! Monster Train!"

The party had managed to kill most of its enemies while I was circling them, and one of the archers had enough free space to glance at me. His eyes widened as he saw me desperately run towards the exit.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw a man wearing the same costume as the one who had spoken to me on the previous floors, the same white robe and cowl, with a piece of cloth covering his face.

His eyes met mine and I saw the determination there, and the aggression. I still wouldn't have done anything if I didn't see the damn motherfucker dropping an ant head on the floor and increasing his speed far beyond what it had been before.

What the fuck? WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK!? This utter asshole was drawing a monster train after me on fucking purpose!

My mangekyou immediately activated, and I met his goddamned eyes, immediately casting the strongest visual illusion I could. The motherfucker stumbled, falling to the ground as I made him lose his balance, rolling with his momentum.

Still, he was a strong adventurer and managed to roll to his feet in less than two seconds. Taking stock of his position, he ignored me and ran… straight towards the hallway he had just come from.

Not only had I messed with his balance, I had also inverted his sense of direction, the illusion had been messy and easily discoverable but, with the adrenaline going through his body, he hadn't discovered it.

Still, I continued running. A few seconds later, I heard screaming coming from behind me, then a very loud explosion, glancing back once again; I saw a few killer ants pouring out of the exit, followed closely by a cloud of dust.

What I had just done hit me hard, but I swallowed the bile that rose into my mouth and continued running. Behind me, the party had finally realized how serious the situation was and started running after me.

I entered into the hallway running like mad, my feet stomping on the floor with surprising strength and digging tufts of grass out with every step. Yoshi started falling behind, but I couldn't care about the loot, much less the monster right now.

Only a few seconds later, I heard the party entering the hallway, followed closely behind by the surviving Kobolds.

I took the latest turn on the hallway at breakneck speeds, smashing my shoulder on the wall before I could stop myself and seeing the exit only a hundred meters in front of me.

It wouldn't make me safe, but it was a start.

Exiting the tunnel I froze. In front of me, all around the room, I saw dozens of monsters coming from each entrance. Killer ants, war shadows, goblins, kobolds and everything else were pouring into the room like an unstoppable torrent.

Yoshi ran between my legs and stopped in front of me, hissing. He was followed closely behind by the three adventurers. The tank stopped slightly ahead of me, falling to his knees.

My mangekyou eyes looked at the entire room, trying to find a safe path, or at least one without too many monsters. Instead, I saw several white robed individuals looking at me on a path at the other side of the room.

Before I could do anything, they turned their backs to me and walked further into the only empty hallway, disappearing into the corner. Behind them, the entrance to the hallway exploded with devastating speed, collapsing the ceiling in front of it and blocking the path so nobody could follow.

"Motherfuckers." The archer woman said from right beside me, her hands trembling at her side.

The explosion only served to drive the monsters further into a frenzy and, only a second later, what were dozens became hundreds, all of them converging upon us.

Looking at everything around me, I felt the overwhelming sense of panic starting to close in. "Well… fuck."

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If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Travis cox, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams, Michael Neal, Felrook, RavenCore, kenzie, GrumpyJustGrumpy, NotableRonin and Josh Orton for supporting my work!

 

[CapCaverna]

Yeah, someone mentioned that last chapter was kinda... just fighting, and I... agree.

In hindsigh, I tried to do something with last chapter, but it was a mistake, and it would have been better to adapt it, joining it with chapter 13 and this one. Unfortunately, I'm not gonna do that... perhaps in another 15 chapters, I'll feel like rewriting this entire piece, cutting off some fights and developing things better.

Yeah, those last three chapters had too many fights and not enough... everything else, I'll improve that on next chapters.
I hope you, my readers, still enjoy this one!

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I stared at the collapsing hallway at the other side of the room. The bomb seemed to have temporarily attracted the attention of every monster in the room and they swarmed towards the falling rocks but, once they noticed they couldn't pass, the wave of monsters would quickly turn back towards us.

Looking at the hundreds of killer ants, I licked my lips. For a second, I had the bad, stupid, idiotic, not good at all urge to charge them, engage them in battle… it would certainly fulfill my desire for a challenge.

I'd probably die, no, scratch that, I'd definitely die -there were just far, far too many of them- but…

Snapping out of my daze, I considered the situation. Every exit from the room was swarming with monsters and I only had three allies with me, allies that would probably happily sacrifice me if it came to it.

By my side, I saw the tank falling to the floor, his armored knees hitting the ground with a loud 'clank'. "By the gods," he whispered.

The Amazon fighter at his side gave him a disgusted look before glancing my way and dismissing me. "Aww, I bet this was just because I snuck into the dungeon."

I met her eyes for a brief second, she seemed sad, but not distraught. Quickly, I refocused on the room. Did I have anything capable of dealing with this?

Well, Susanoo could make short work of it but, last time I tried to use it, I had passed out from a mind down in less than two seconds. I could probably last longer now that my attributes were much higher, but probably not long enough to eliminate everything.

A single devastating blow wouldn't help me if I passed out after it. There were just far too many. Looking from side to side like a madman, I made my decision.

Turning around, I grabbed the Tank's arm and dragged him with me back towards the hallway we had just left, the man didn't even complain, still too shocked by what was happening.

Both women gave me a look, and the amazoness was about to say something, but the archer considered my determined face and shook her head before following me inside.

Considering how fast the ants moved, I had about a minute before the ones following after us arrived, and a little less than that before the ones in the room reached the hallway we were in.

The tank finally recovered and snatched his arm away from me. Stumbling forwards, he yelled. "By the gods, what're you doing?!"

"Saving our lives, maybe," waving my arms, I motioned for the women to walk ahead of me and, when we were 10 meters inside the tunnel, stopped.

"You do know we only have about a minute or two, right?" The older woman asked. "If you're just gonna pray, at least warn me so I can use you as bait."

Ignoring her, I briefly closed my eyes and channeled power into my ring, filling it with as much magic as it would hold. Finally, I drew the power out and opened them again to reveal the shape of my mangekyou sharingan. Around me, a malicious air started manifesting, turning into a green flame.

A second later, my body was completely enveloped by this flame, concentrating hard, I forced the shape to form around me, three ribs started forming at my right side, but I channeled all my magic further away, and the right arm started manifesting.

I felt the blood leaking from both my eyes and my magic draining at a prodigious speed, before the arm had even fully formed, I started pulling out a mana potion from my pouch. At the same time, I punched up.

The still misformed bone of my Susanoo's arm dug into the ceiling with tremendous strength, causing the entire hallway to shake as I collapsed an entire part of the cave.

"Holy shit!" The older woman yelled and stepped away, but I ignored her.

A sharp spike of pain went through my head, but the entrance wasn't completely closed yet, so I chugged the potion and punched it again, and again. Almost falling to my knees, I caught myself and noticed that the skeletal arm had finally fully formed, so I dug its fingers into the ceiling and ripped out a huge rock, using it to fully block the path.

Finally, I knew I couldn't hold on anymore. It had been barely eight seconds, but I knew that I'd pass out if I used it anymore. Panting hard, I righted myself and dispersed the Susanno before blinking away the mangekyou.

Behind me, I could hear the chattering sound of insectile legs rushing towards my location, but the entrance in front of me was completely blocked.

Wiping the blood away from my cheeks, I slowly pushed myself back to my feet and turned around.

My mouth felt dry and I knew that my eyes were probably redder than usual, but I couldn't help smiling at the awed look on my three makeshift companion's faces. "Now, ugh… Now, we'll only have to worry about attacks from one direction."

If I had more mana, I could have probably formed Susanoo's form faster, and maintained it for much longer but, right now, that was nearly my limit, a few seconds more and I'd have a mind down.

"Fuck me." The young amazoness said, her scimitar lowered towards the floor. "Right here, I need to have your babies!"

"Shut up Lena." The human archer snapped and gave her a slap to the back of the head. "Great, now we only have to fight half an army of monsters. Shit, I'm not even supposed to be here."

There was still a few seconds before the monsters following us arrived, so I took a quick glance at my most recent allies.

The tank was not much older than me, around 24 or so, and he seemed to still be a little out of it, but his equipment looked both expensive and effective, he wore full plate and had a large heater shield with a dangerous mace. At his waist, there were three ornate daggers I thought were probably magic weapons.

The older woman was probably around 30 and wielded a large bow. She had a quiver filled with a little over two dozen arrows at her waist and another two quivers at her back, but they were covered and I couldn't see if there were any arrows inside. She wore a plate chest over her gambeson, but didn't have any leg or arm protections.

The third girl looked even younger up close, probably around fifteen or so, her lack of clothes was typical for an amazoness, but she had an arm protector to act as a shield and a large scimitar.

I… didn't have a lot of trust in the party. They had acted as a competent team before, but the man collapsed in fear and the girls weren't looking very confident at all. "So, I guess none of you are level three? What about level two?"

They all shook their heads and I sighed, it would be too much to ask, wouldn't it?

"Forget that, can you do that arm again?" The man finally shook himself and asked, but his eagerness faded when he looked at me.

I just shook my head. "I can probably do it once more, in five or ten minutes, after the mana potion recovers my mind."

"Shit, shit." Patting himself, the man started looking around desperately, trying to look for an exit. "This was supposed to be easy, only war shadows at most."

"Fuck, I'm not even a real delver." The older woman shook her head and glared at the Amazon. "Damn Lena, why did you have to keep begging me."

"But Layla, none of the others wanted to come!" The young girl pouted and stomped her feet. "I'll never become a level 2 if I don't delve! How can I catch a male if I can't beat the others off?"

I shivered, and gave her a wary glance. She was far too young to be saying anything like that.

"You use charm Lena, like everyone else that's not a berbera." The Archer patted the other girl's head in a maternal way. "How do you think I got Jaine here to help follow us in the dungeon?"

I traded a glance with the tank, but he just blushed under the helmet, too embarrassed to say anything about that.

"Does anyone have any other ideas? Any useful equipment?" I asked while drinking a health and stamina potion.

The tunnel we were on was wide, too wide. Enough that I could easily wield my spear in it, but the monsters could also easily surround us. The ceiling was lower than on the rooms, at only 5 meters, and the walls were uneven, filled with protruding rocks covered in moss.

For a second, I considered trying to activate Susanoo a second time and collapsing some of the wall, making the hallway narrower, but I really couldn't do that yet. Mana potion didn't work immediately, needing at least a few minutes to refill my reserves.

Thankfully, illusions took so little mana that I could use them freely and still regenerate mana from the potion, it would only take time.

"I do." The tank said, untying a pouch from his waist, he poured a potion inside it, then tied it closed and palmed the bag in his weapon's hand. For a second, he seemed unwilling to trust anyone, but eventually handed it to me. "Throw it as far away from us and towards the monsters, it will explode, hopefully killing a lot of them and blunting their advance."

I nodded, "Thanks, I'll try not to get as many of them as I can." From just behind the corner, the noise from the approaching wave of monster grew louder and louder, killer ants leading the charge, their pincers clicking.

The Tank also unbuckled one of his many belts and threw it towards the older woman, this one held his three daggers. She just gave him a nod. "They're not new, so be carefull."

The woman looked at the three daggers, then wrapped the belt around her chest and adjusted it for ease of drawing the blades. "Who the hell does this, it's the damn upper floors for god's sake!" She complained to herself and shook her head. "War shadows are supposed to be the strongest thing here, not crazy adventurers creating ambushes."

The first monster turned the corner, followed closely by a wave of ants, there were so many they started crawling over each other and the walls, I also saw a war shadow managed to get into the first wave. There must have been at least a hundred monsters just where I could see.

Fuck, I was gonna die here, wasn't I?

I waited until the wave started approaching, then I threw the bag over their heads and towards one of the monster covered walls. The explosion was… loud, echoing around the hallway. It made me wince and left my ears ringing, but also devastated the first wave and collapsed part of the wall, narrowing the path that the monsters could approach us. The sheer amount of noise left me deaf and dazed for some time.

When I recovered, the survivors of the first wave were almost all dead and the second wave was arriving, funneled into smaller amounts by the collapsed wall creating a bottleneck.

"Goibniu bless you, that was good aim." The tank patted me on the shoulders quickly and pulled out his weapon.

At my side, Yoshi gave a hiss and started climbing on the wall towards the ceiling, unwilling to abandon me, but too afraid to face the monsters head on.

An arrow flew over my shoulder, piercing through the first war shadow that appeared, breaking its glass-like face and causing it to collapse to the ground, getting quickly covered with ants.

Beside me, the tank yelled and charged, his mace flashed forward and crushed an ant while his large shield blocked another two from moving.

Having recovered a little, I lunged forward, skewing a rushing kobold before dodging a bite and watching the ant get crushed by a shield strike. Taking a chance, I activated the mangekyou again and started casting illusion, turning the ants against each other and causing pandemonium on their charge.

My eyes were still stinging, and I deactivated the mangekyou as fast as I could, even casting a dozen illusions caused my head to seem to want to explode. With the new bottleneck, and our team working well together, we started killing the monsters one after another.

Despite being the youngest, the amazoness was acting the most recklessly, she was actually a little faster and stronger than me, but was full of flaws and, soon, she was covered in blood from bites and scratches she couldn't dodge.

"Damn, you're really good!" The man complimented me with a smile, even as his mace smashed another killer ant.

"You're surprisingly good too." I said, even if I earned a glare from him in turn.

The archer had stayed back and aimed almost exclusively at war shadows, or any monster that was about to seriously hurt us but, not even five minutes in, I saw her joining the fight in melee range, her arrows having run out.

Our tank was doing a good job of blocking the blunt of their charge, positioning himself just after the bottleneck on the hallway, his armor was getting dented to hell, but he wasn't faltering like I thought he would.

I acted as a second gatekeeper, using my spear to fight war shadows and other, more fragile monsters while letting the killer ants be eliminated by the overeager amazoness or the former archer.

After the second wave, the monster's advance started slowing, not as many killer ants were arriving, and the diversity of the monsters increased.

With the unharvested bodies accumulating in the ground, only so many creatures could come at us at the same time and, if we killed them fast enough, we had a chance.

"By Ishtar, we're gonna make it." I hear the human woman say as she waved between the claws of two kobolds, sweat starting to accumulate on her gambeson.

We fought, we fought and fought until I felt the sweat and blood running down my forehead, my head was hurting like hell from all the illusions I was casting and my underclothes clung to my body, soaked as if I had been underwater.

My blows weren't coming as fast, my dodges slower and my strikes weaker as exhaustion settled in. By the gods, fighting like this had really shown me why it was important to have a team. I had forgotten how many times one of the girls had saved my life, or how many times I had saved them.

"That's… huff… it, don't… falter now!" The tank said, but even he was exhausted and had to take a breath between words.

The man dragged his feet forward and blocked a tongue from a frog shooter with his shield. The blow had been coming for me, and I hadn't been able to react fast enough, too tired and too preoccupied with the monsters around me to pay dodge.

With another lunge, I pierced the chest of a wounded war shadow, but my blow lacked strength and didn't kill the beast. I tried to strike again, but moved too slow and the creature managed to deliver another scratch to my spear shaft, breaking it completely and sending the blade flying aside.

My tired brain took a second to register it, and it was enough for a goblin to scratch my leg, drawing three deep gouges out of my flesh. The war shadow tried to take off my head, but the pain had finally snapped me out of my funk and refocused me, and I smashed it's head with my hammer.

Stumbling back, I nearly fell on my ass as my leg couldn't support my entire weight. Thankfully, there were so many corpses around us that they were getting in the way of the monsters, slowing down their advance.

Pulling out a new health potion, I drank it and searched for another stamina one, but I couldn't find any.

I heard a cry of pain to my left and saw a kobold bite into the shoulder of the amazoness, trying to take her to the ground. Meeting its eye, I made it turn towards its companion, then got hit on the chest by a landform weapon, denting my armor, but not causing me a lot of damage.

Still, the blow and the wounded leg finally caused me to fall, and the monsters took advantage of that.

A needle rabbit aimed a horn strike at my neck, but I managed to put my arm in the way and only got a glancing scratch, then a goblin struck me in the chest again, driving the air out of me, I felt something grab my good leg, and another monster tried to bite my face, but I managed to dodge that too.

Yoshi dropped from the ceiling, biting down on the needle rabbit when it tried to attack me again and swallowing it whole before engaging with a couple of Kobolds, keeping them away from me.

With a scream of rage, I briefly activated my Susanoo again, the green flames surged around me, manifesting one rib around myself that pushed the monsters away. Before it truly started draining me, I dispelled the construct, only using it for a second this time.

I had made use of it during the fight before, using it to block a blow that I couldn't dodge, but I knew this battle wouldn't be solved by one devastating blow, at least not one that I could manage, there were just too many monsters for that, and I couldn't risk passing out. This fight wouldn't be won by firepower but resistance.

Rolling to my feet, I saw that I had gotten a little space from that trick, I knew I had almost died, but by the gods… dying in a blaze of glory was surprisingly fun. Dodging another strike from the damn war shadow, I finally decapitated it with one of my daggers.

I heard someone laughing over the battle, a distant sound of amusement that should have unnerved me, but only gave me strength. From behind me, I saw one last wave of ice cause spikes to rise from the ground, skewering a lot of monsters, but I also saw the last magic weapon break into tiny shards and fall to the ground.

"Fuck." The older woman yelled, her voice filled with pain, I didn't have the room to look at her.

The attack thinned out the monsters once again, but it also destroyed a lot of monster cores, diminishing the amount of corpses around.

The woman yelled one last time, and I finally managed to glance back, seeing the needle rabbit that managed to pierce her chest. Having jumped from right beneath her, the vicious creature had actually gotten its horn under her plate and pierced through her gambeson.

The amazoness slashed the creature, causing it to dissolve, but it was too late for the older woman, the horn had opened her belly, and the fabric of her gambeson was getting soaked in blood. Finally, I noticed that the one laughing was me, but I didn't stop, I couldn't.

Looking around, I killed another two goblins and saw the tank actually lose his entire shield arm to a war shadow, a frog shooter also managed to hit his weapon away with a well aimed tongue strike.

Bleeding out from the missing arm and in incredible pain, the guy screamed and stumbled back. We were so close. there were no longer any ants around us, and there were only a few other monsters around, less than a hundred. We should win, we had to win!

With a roar of rage, I jumped on the war shadow, its claws tried to pierce my chest, but I angled it just right that my armor deflected the blade-like fingers and I pierced its core with a dagger before throwing a second one in the eye of the frog shooter.

"Thank you. Oh gods, thank… huff… you." The man huffed out, his clumsy hands opening one last belt around his armor. "We'll survive, it's only the upper floors, we'll survive." He kept repeating himself, but his eyes weren't focused on me anymore.

The man was on his knees, his free hand holding tightly to his missing arm, his dented helmet fell off his head and he was crying, his armor was probably a total loss, and his body must have been a huge bruise. He tried to cut off the bleeding on his wounded arm by tying it with the belt, but he couldn't do it, his fingers were broken from the frog shooter.

I met his desperate eyes, swallowing hard and feeling something stuck in my throat, I made my eyes spin, activating the mangekyou once again. I refused to die here, not after all of this.

With newfound strength, the man tightened the belt in one fluid motion, ignoring his broken fingers. Or more like, he could no longer feel them, or any pain, he could only feel rage.

With a roar of utter madness, the tank got up and charged at the nearest kobold, tackling the beast and grabbing its head with his broken fingers, smashing it against the floor before punching it to death with his wounded arm.

Almost casually, I leaned back, letting a needle rabbit fly by me before sending a dagger after it. I felt utterly exhausted.

Stumbling towards a group of three goblins, I knew I didn't have the strength to really cut them down, but my eyes showed me their movements with perfect precision.

I threw the dagger on my left hand towards the first goblin. The projectile didn't have much strength, but it still caused it to flinch and abort its pounce, the second monster stumbled into him and they sprawled to the ground. The third goblin jumped over them and right into my second dagger waiting for him.

The creature tried to dodge in midair, but it only meant it was no longer trying to slash me as my dagger pierced its core and it dissolved as it hit my body. Meeting the two remaining goblin's eyes, I gleefully watched as they killed each other.

Looking back, I stared right in the eye of the older woman. She had fallen against the wall and almost bleed out from the disemboweling blow, her eyes were almost fully closed but, suddenly, they snapped open filled with furry, her pain and weakness forgotten.

That didn't mean she wasn't weak, her body could barely support her and she only had a few minutes left to live, perhaps less, but she still stumbled up and tried to scream, only spewing more blood from her mouth before stumbling towards some wary Kobolds.

Fishing in my pouch, I dropped three health potions before managing to drink a fourth one, then drank another magic potion. The amount of potion was too much, I immediately felt like throwing up, and my stomach rebelled against me and I felt that their effect was greatly diminished.

Should I use Izanagi? No, I refused to sacrifice anything else to those assholes, I'll get out of here, and I'll fucking kill them all.

Despite myself, I smiled. The entire hallway was filled with monster corpses, the remains of spells cast by the three magical daggers and debris from both collapses, the metallic scent of blood finally registered in my nose, and I almost dropped my last dagger from my trembling hands.

Still, when I saw a dungeon lizard finally bite the tank's head, I took the opportunity to send my dagger flying with enough strength to pierce its brain. Unfortunately, the lizard's bite had pierced the man's skull and he was fully dead.

The potions had healed my wounded leg, either that or I was feeling completely numb, because I managed to walk towards the tank's mace and grab it, but no monster attacked me. We had killed too many, resisted for too long, even their dungeon aggression couldn't overcome the fear we put into them.

A little to my side, the archer used the wall to pull herself back to her feet and continued to stumble towards a new target, not feeling any pain and driven entirely by the anger I had put into her mind.

She took a step forward, and the monsters took two steps back, she took another step, then fell on her face, finally dead from the bloodloss.

Looking at the remaining monsters, I saw a dozen goblins, five Kobolds and a war shadow missing one arm. They looked at the dead woman, then towards me with fear. I couldn't help myself, I started laughing. The situation wasn't funny, not at all, but I laughed anyway.

The monsters seemed to be struggling with themselves, the influence of the dungeon driving them to attack me despite their fear. Poor dungeon monsters.

Widening my eyes, I had recovered enough mana to stare at them with my bleeding eye, in a second, a green ribcage started forming around me and, a second later, a Yin-Yang symbol appeared in the middle of the ribcage, just over my heart.

Ugh, my eyes were killing me, glancing at my mace, I frowned when I noticed it was too heavy for me to lift right now. With annoyance, I grabbed at my face with my left hand and tried to squeeze it to see if the pain would stop before glancing at the monster between my fingers. "Fuck it, if you aren't going to attack then just die!"

From the Yin-yang symbol, five large needles the size of javellings flew towards the monsters, flying faster than most arrows. The goblins almost exploded when the needles hit them, limbs and heads flying from the impact. The survivors finally ran, unwilling to fight anymore.

Standing straight, the green flames of my Susanno disappearing around me, I dropped the mace and snorted, now I just had to find those suicidal assholes who lured this monster train, this shit felt personal.

Then I fell straight on top of a dead frog shooter and the world went dark.

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If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.

Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Travis cox, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams, Michael Neal, Felrook, RavenCore, kenzie, GrumpyJustGrumpy, NotableRonin and Josh Orton for supporting my work!

 

[CapCaverna]

Alright people, only a single other chapter ready. It's unfortunate, but we're almost caugh up here.

Next week, updates will slow down a lot, like once every three weeks to a month. I'm giving you guys some warning so you don't think I just stopped writing it.

I'm not abandoning this fic, but I'm busy with IRL stuff, my other two fics and I have some other ideas in my mind I really want to explore, as a result, I had to prioritize something, and my 'Reincarnated as Supergirl' fic just gets far more engagement and support than the others. So I'll be cutting down on this fic and 'Reincarnated into H'.

I do like writing this, probably as much as I like writing the other stories, so the choice really came down to what was having the most sucess, if I had the time, I'd probably update Dungeon Delving twice a week or so, but I just don't, unfortunately.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
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The rusty scent of blood hit me first; the pain hit me shortly after. With a groan, I almost panicked when I couldn't open my eyes, but then the dried blood sealing my eyelids broke and I forced my eyes open to see the mountain of corpses lying all around me. My body was still aching and my headache was… tolerable, but far from gone.

Another groan and I managed to push myself into a sitting position, my back resting against the tunnel wall. Scratching the trail of blood from my face, I closed my eyes again for a few moments and finally started to take stock of my situation.

There were still a lot of corpses around me, but they were far less than I expected, only less than a hundred, when I was expecting a thousand or more. Movement to my right immediately drew my attention and I grabbed for my missing weapons, only finding one last throwing dagger.

Suddenly, a war shadow body in the bottom of a pile dissolved into dust, causing the entire thing to collapse forward and revealing the… dungeon lizard? The creature was nearly twice the size of a normal dungeon lizard, with black stripes along its body and muscle filled limbs, it actually looked more like a leathery crocodile than a gecko.

"Yep, it's been doing that for a few hours now," said the female voice from my side, drawing my attention to the Amazon sitting in front of a few dead killer ants. "I was gonna kill it too, but I kinda felt bad since it helped out so much."

Looking at the young Amazon, I considered my options, the girl looked to be only 15 or so, with an innocent look on her face despite the blood on her clothes, but she had seen me use just about every trump card I had, and had watched me control two adventurers, forcing them to fight until they collapsed dead.

Speaking of the adventurers, both of their bodies were laid on the girl's side, their eyes closed and their remaining arms crossed in front of their chests. They were horribly mangled and just looking at them gave me a bad taste in my mouth.

At the time, I did what I thought necessary, but it didn't mean I liked it. Could they have survived if I had let them rest? Or maybe if I had sacrificed an eye to regain my strength? No, it had already been too late to activate it by then.

Resting my head against the wall for a second, I asked. "How long was I out?"

"Only four hours or so, I'd have woken you up soon anyway," the amazoness said while hugging her knees close to her chest. "I think I heard someone checking up on the collapsed tunnel from the other side."

So, it was already night time then, and the daily delvers were probably already back on Orario for rest, that meant anybody still in the dungeon was probably up to no good… or just late.

"Fuck, you think it's those assholes that caused this?" I grunted, trying to push myself back to my feet. "What's your name anyway?"

From the side, Yoshi hissed at me, but I really didn't feel like dealing with a rebellious monster right now. Turning towards him, I fixed him with a glare, my sharingan almost shining with magic.

Yoshi quickly lowered his head and whimpered, so I turned back towards the Amazon.

"Lena Tally. Are you gonna try to kill me now?" She asked, tilting her head sideways and staring at me.

"Why'd I kill you? Better yet, if you thought I was gonna kill you, why the heck didn't you finish me off before I woke up?" I asked, honestly curious.

I don't know if I could have killed a helpless person, but I wasn't really born in this world, and I would certainly consider it the right choice.

"Didn't think I could make it out of here alone, and the dungeon lizard would probably attack me too," she answered honestly. Pushing herself to her feet, she grabbed her scimitar from the ground and lifted it to her shoulder. "So, are you gonna try to kill me? I promise to make it up for you later if you don't!"

I shuddered, imagining the FBI bursting through the door at my current home. The girl was beautiful, but far too young, even if her breasts looked fully grown.

NO! Bad Roland! I mean, it wasn't like I was too much older than her, and Tiona herself was probably only a year or two older, but ugh, there was a huge difference between 14~15 and 16~17 in my mind, and even the later was kind of pushing it.

"No, just… no," looking at the devastated hallway, I had to ask. "Did Yoshi eat all the magic crystals?"

"Nope," She lowered the scimitar and sheathed it, "I gave you one of your potions, then took one myself and rested a little before starting to harvest them. Made a killing too."

Staring at her smile, I almost fell for it, but my sharingan caught the signs easily. She was clearly forcing herself to act natural, but her eyes kept glancing at her dead companion, and they were slightly red from crying.

With a sigh, I pushed myself to my feet and looked around for my weapons. My spear was fucked, but I still tied it to Yoshi's back, and also grabbed my hammer. With some hesitation, I also picked up the Tank's mace and shield; they were battered, but still functional.

Lena approached me carrying her friend's bow and I nodded, letting her tie it to Yoshi's back with the rest of the loot.

"So, what's 'your' name?" the girl asked after she was done. "I told you mine, but I still don't know yours."

"Roland Synclair," I answered, taking one last look at the whole mess. "So, do you think they're waiting for us in the next room?"

I'd like to loot everything else but, if some of those assholes were already coming over to check on things, it was best we didn't waste any more time. Using my illusions right, I could probably take a single level two if he wasn't too strong, maybe.

Well, Bell couldn't really deal with one, even after he defeated a fucking minotaur but, even if I was much weaker, I only really needed a single moment of distraction, and I could probably follow their movements with my eyes.

Unfortunately, fighting more than one at the same time, or even just one after the other, probably wouldn't end up well for me.

"I don't think so, wait," opening her bag, the girl searched for a small piece of parchment amongst a dozen, then spread it in the air. Staring at it, I took the chance to memorize the floor's map, even if it did cause me a spike of pain. "I guess they could have more than one party but, if not, the next room isn't really connected to the previous one by any nearby hallways."

"Yes, I see it. They'd need to go through at least five rooms to reach it," I nodded. Now I just had to decide what to do from here. "We're going to go towards the entrance to the next floor, then we turn back and use the outer path to circle this spot. I don't want to risk them catching us on the way back if we try for a shorter path."

"You sure? I don't think we can fight that many more monsters," Lena said, digging a hole on the floor with her toes.

"Well, I prefer to fight the monsters than risk a level two adventurer," I didn't really know if our ambushers had any, but level two wasn't as uncommon here in Orario. "You think the dungeon already managed to replenish all the monsters we killed?"

In truth, I was considering taking the time to update my falna right here in the dungeon, but I had already revealed so much to the girl… Fuck, I could justify the skill; I bet such powerful skill was rare, but not unheard of, not after thousands of years and probably millions of adventurers. But being capable of updating a Falna by myself?

"No way, we must have emptied half the floor, it's gonna take a day at least," she answered, looking back at her friend once again.

I followed her gaze, seeing the bloodied woman resting against the floor. She had a calm expression now, but I remember her dying with a snarl on her face, still trying to crawl towards more enemies.

Swallowing hard, I turned my head away and ordered Yoshi to walk ahead of me. The large dungeon lizard licked its lips, bit off one last magic crystal from a frog shooter and walked by us, a few pouches filled with our loot tied to its back.

The next room really was empty. In the distance, I saw a Kobold breaking out from the ground, but the creature was far away and alone, the room was still completely depopulated.

"So, what was that hand?" Lena caught up with me. "Because that sent shivers down my spine, it was so hot! I didn't think level 1 adventurers had skills like that."

"Well, some do," I answered, remembering Bell's growth cheat.

"Really…?" The girl trailed off, kicking a rock up, she grabbed it in her hand and measured its weight, then threw it when we approached the Kobold and it noticed us. The poor beast was hit in the head and fell forward, causing Yoshi to dart ahead and kill it with a well aimed bite. "You know, I won't tell anyone if you go out with me."

I stumbled; then glared at her with my red eyes, causing her to catch her breath. "Really, after what you saw me do to your friend?"

"It's the dungeon… and I'm kinda used to death, I'm an Amazon born outside Orario you know?" she answered, catching up to me and walking at my side towards the next corridor. "Hey, hey, wanna hold my hand?"

"No, no, I don't want to have one of my hands occupied inside the dungeon- while being hunted by some maniacal assholes, mind you- Now, stay quiet least those assholes find us," I glared at her again, but it only caused her to shiver a little and blush, ugh, what was wrong with this girl?

The next two rooms were almost empty, but I found the remains of a dead adventurer on the third. The poor guy was more than half eaten and there was almost nothing there to recognize him, but I grabbed his sword, and a half chewed collar some monster had spit out. Someone in the guild could probably recognize him and tell his family, or at least his familia.

Eventually, the silence started bothering me, so I couldn't help starting a conversation. "Why would being born outside Orario cause you to be used to death? Honestly, I'd think it was the other way around."

"Well, I'm an Amazon, being strong is pretty important for us, you know?" She said, eager to start talking again. "I was born far from the dungeon, so we didn't have, like, a lot of strong monsters there. Instead, sometimes, we did it like in Telskyura and fought each other to get stronger."

"How does that translate to being used to death?" I lifted an eyebrow glancing at her.

"Well, you don't get a lot of attributes if there's no danger, and getting stronger requires like, risking your life," she shrugged as if that explained everything. "Plus, fighting other adventurers is far more dangerous than fighting monsters, so it's better for leveling up!"

In a way, I guess it did explain. Despite what had just happened, I was just unused to whole countries accepting death like that. Once again I had to remind myself that I wasn't in a modern society; life just didn't have the same value here.

Still, I didn't expect such a dark turn for the world. I was under the impression that even asshole gods somewhat valued their familias, how foolish.

"So, you left to escape from there?"

"Nope, I wasn't even a member of a familia, and I was getting old, so I had to leave to find a man. Then Ishtar-sama offered to take me with her and I accepted."

Ugh, if this was an anime, there would be a huge sweatdrop on my forehead right now. Leaning back, I watched a frog shooter's tongue fly by my face, before it could retract, my wrist flashed and I cut it off with the sword.

With a screech of pain, the creature jumped away from me, followed closely behind by a hissing Yoshi. Having a strong tamed beast was so convenient.

"So, what else do you want to know?" the girl happily said as she jumped on my back and hugged my neck. "I'm so happy you're interested in me, Roland Synclair."

"First, just call me Roland," I said, prying an arm from around my throat. With my free hand, I grabbed her mouth and forced her face away from mine when she attempted to steal a kiss, "second, what about Ishtar? She's some kind of sex goddess right?"

I didn't remember much about Mesopotamian gods, but Ishtar was pretty well known.

"Ishtar-sama is a goddess of beauty. She rules the red-light district, so I get a lot of chances to catch a strong man," she nodded, as she managed to get free from my grab, "but the Berbera were always ahead of me, and I didn't want any of the leftovers. Still, now I have Roland, so I don't care anymore."

I had to pause at that, imagining a bunch of muscle-bound prostitutes kidnapping men to have their way with them. Ugh, thank the perverted gods that Falna seemed to make people hotter.

As we walked, Lena talked about the Ishtar familia, and I liked it less and less, it seemed much worse than even the Apollo familia from the anime. Did Bell have to deal with them in later seasons?

As she talked, the only thing I could think of was: Ishtar seemed like a perfect target to get mindfucked. One that wouldn't leave me feeling any guilt.

"So, she forces her familia to be prostitutes?" I questioned again, just to make sure I had heard it right.

"Well, they're mostly already prostitutes, and the Berbera are Amazons, but I guess there are a few slaves she buys that can't fight," Lena shrugs, as if it was normal. "Kinda feel bad for them, but Aisha does her best to take care of them. Hey, there's even this one who's still a virgin, she, likes, faints when she sees a man!"

"I see…" I said, gripping my new sword tightly. Feeling my muscles aching, I start limping again, the gash on my leg still not completely healed. "Say, do you think I can get a meeting with Ishtar, preferably alone?"

I wouldn't call myself a saint, but I drew the line at forced prostitution and slavery… that line used to include murder but, well, shit happens. Still, there was probably no better use for mind control than trying to stop such abuse while getting control of a powerful familia.

Really, I'm kinda ashamed to say my focus was more on getting access to the powerful familia, doing a little good being only a secondary concern.

I really needed some support in Orario, some way of registering in the guild and getting a party for delving, but I kinda felt bad about mindcontroling just anybody. Ishtar seemed like a perfect target, rich, powerful, connected and enough of a bitch that I wouldn't feel guilty.

"Hey! No fair, you shouldn't be going after Ishtar with me here!" she pouted, then dashed ahead and jumped over the head of a goblin, slashing it open with a swing of her scimitar before piercing a second one with its tip. "Still, I guess… Ishtar-sama is pretty demanding on who she takes to bed."

She gave me a strange look and I almost blushed when I realized it was because I was still a little out of shape. Not fat, not anymore, but I didn't have the usual well cultivated muscles every level two had.

Noticing my discomfort, she quickly tried to cheer me up. "Don't worry; I'm sure that, if I tell her about how strong your skill is, she'd be interested!"

"Ah, how about no?" I shook my head and glared at the girl, only making her blush harder. "I'd REALLY prefer to keep my skill quiet."

Lena just shrugged again, causing me to sigh. Damn, now that I got a good look at her fighting, I couldn't help being surprised. Despite her young age, she seemed stronger, status wise, than me, I bet she was gonna be leveling up once we got out of here.

"Then I don- wait, I think I heard something," The girl gripped her scimitar, causing me to frown and concentrate on the noise.

A glance at Yoshi let me send it a quick illusion telling it what to do. Without a noise, the large lizard found a rock to hide behind, leaving Lena and me alone and without any tempting loot for possible thieves.

Finally, I heard running steps coming from the left hallway, taking a chance, I choose another rock to hide behind, and the damn Amazon took advantage of the situation to squeeze her body with mine,

I tried to push her away, but the three men burst into the room soon after, taking a quick look around before dashing towards the place we had come from. I kept my head down for some time, but finally peeked at their backs.

The three men weren't wearing the same strange clothes as our attackers, and they didn't have anything to indicate they were the ones responsible, but changing clothes was easy, and running towards where they had lured the monsters was a pretty big indication.

When I finally stopped hearing their steps, I pulled the girl by the arm and whispered a call to Yoshi before dashing away as fast as I could, my leg still hurting like a motherfucker.

"So you did want to hold my hand!" Lena smirked after we had left the men behind, causing me to release her arm, but she continued following by my side. "Say, want another health potion? I don't think it will be very effective after you took so many, but it's better than nothing?"

"Can I even drink another one?" I asked, trying hard to remember some of the books I had read. While I had them all in my visual memory and could remember every page, it was so much information that it still gave me a headache.

"Dunno, never had to use so many," she handed me one of the last two health potions and closed her pouch.

I did my best to try and remember what I had read about the subject. Using the sharingan was complicated. With a single glance, I could copy a movement, but I still had to train in order to make sure to execute it right, truly making it mine.

By the same token, I could read something with a single glance of the sharingan, but I still had to think and process what I read to truly make the information inside the pages mine.

Damn, potion usage was a very complicated subject but, without rest and food, it was dangerous to use too many potions one after another, even more so when you mixed different effects.

Potions worked mostly on magic, but they did use some energy from the body they restored, potions of higher quality used less and had better effects, but even then, there was still a limit.

Still, I decided to take the risk and uncorked the vial, drinking it entirely, immediately feeling it start working on my body once again. The pain on my leg lessened, but a quick glance there told me it was less than a quarter as effective.

We reached the room right before the entrance to the next floor and circled back, taking the left path and continuing to hurry. A few monsters blocked our way, but Lena and Yoshi took care of them fairly quickly.

The Amazon did her best to appear on top form, but I could see the exhaustion in her movements, and the way she almost stumbled while fighting a kobold, her arm shaking just from holding her weapon.

Her fighting style was too mobile, like a fast dance, it was beautiful to watch, and very effective, but it also took a lot out of her. It was probably better for duels than a long delve into the dungeon, where stamina was necessary. At least until she reached a higher level and it became a moot point.

I heard some talking from ahead of us in the hallway, so I changed direction and took a small detour before hurrying on. It was a pity that Yoshi was still too small for me to ride on, even if he was already strong enough to support me.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we arrived at the entrance to the upper floor. Feeling relief flooding me, I almost dashed towards the entrance.

"Hey, friend, I see you're late too," said a thin man as he got up from a rock he had been sitting on.

Fuck, how the fuck did I miss him? Of course they'd be watching the exit of the motherfucking floor. Turning towards my companions, I thanked my luck that Yoshi wasn't visible, I had dashed ahead of him when seeing the entrance, and he had decided to remain hidden when he noticed the adventurer.

"Lena, do you recognize the voice?" I quickly whispered, trying to see if the man was just an adventurer or one of our enemies. In front of me, the guy continued talking.

"Got held up in a fight on the 12th floor, so I'm taking a break here before going back to Orario," the man commented while patting down his clothes and cracking his fingers, acting as if there was nothing wrong.

"No," She whispered, making sure to grab at her scimitar.

"I guess it's about time I move on, want to finish climbing together? It should make things faster," the man commented, motioning towards the entrance with his neck. "Gods, I'm hungry from staying down here so long. I'd take anything that made this faster."

Pretending that everything was fine, I couldn't help but glance back at the hallway behind me. Would some of those bastards still be following us? How long did we have before they arrived?

Relaxing my posture, I smiled at the man and considered him. He was a skinny but well defined guy, with tiger ears on top of his head and a tail swirling behind his back, his clothes had nothing that indicated he was part of the ambush earlier.

Approaching him slowly, I did my best to appear calm. There really was nothing differentiating him from a normal adventurer, if I didn't have the sharingan that is.

With my eyes, I never forgot anything I had seen and, while he didn't have anything identifying him, I had stared at his eyes before, when he and his friends had trapped us in the monster train.

The asshole smiled at me, but I could see the signs of derision hidden behind it. When we were just a few steps away from each other, I activated the mangekyou and met his eyes, then attacked.

The asshole was much faster than me, his movements felt almost like Tiona's while she was training with me, for a second, my heart froze as I thought of him being a match for my level 5 trainer, but I still attacked.

With almost contemptuous ease, the man lifted his sword and blocked an upward swing coming from his left… and the tip of my sword started piercing his chest right where his heart should be, my lunge hidden behind the illusion of a slash.

The pain, the lack of sensation as he clashed with my illusion or just his higher stats immediately caused my image to shatter, and the man reacted with lightning fast reflexes, twisting aside and kicking out.

Instead of his heart, my sword slashed open his chest, the wound deepening before piercing him all the way. His kick sent me flying back and forced me to release my weapon, leaving it sticking halfway out of his shoulder.

I hit the floor and rolled on my back, having some trouble drawing a breath as his kick almost smashed through my armor.

The man himself stumbled back with a roar of pain, his own sword dropping from his fingers and clattering to the ground as he lost the use of his arm. Using his left hand, he pulled the sword from his shoulders and actually roared at me.

Lena took the chance to attack him, but I hadn't recovered enough to send another illusion, and the man was clearly far stronger than us. Even with only one hand, he managed to overpower the young girl and almost killed her in the first exchange, only her golden arm protector saved her life as he sent her flying back as well.

Rolling to my feet, I ignored everything else and focused fully on the weretiger in front of us. "So, what level do you think he is?" I asked my companion.

She gave me a strange look, but still answered. "He's level two, anything higher and he'd have probably killed us already, how exciting!"

Ugh, I guess that made sense, he wasn't moving much faster than Tiona did in our spars, but she was clearly holding back, a whole fucking lot. I had probably never really seen Tiona's real speed.

Taking a few steps back from us, the weretiger looked over our shoulders towards the hallway we had come from, and I was afraid the ones following us would arrive, but I didn't dare look, and I still couldn't hear anything. Fuck, we had to do this fast.

Slowly, the man lowered his working hand to his waist and used a finger to pull out a red vial.

Oh, no you don't! You bastard don't get to heal in the middle of a fucking fight. With a snarl on my face, I gave the order, and the fight was on.

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[CapCaverna]

Alright guys, you've caught up with the content I have. As I said, I'll continue posting this, but it will slow down a lot from now on.

The simple fact is that I have a lot of IRL things to do, a lot of ideas in my mind, and I'm writing four stories at the moment, (Supergirl, Dungeon Delving, Reincarnated into H, and an original novel I've yet to post.) I realised that I had to cut down on some of my stories to explore new ideas. Maybe those ideas won't turn out all that well, I do tend to write things that die in three to five chapters, but I have to try.

Between all my stories, I wasn't going to slow down the original one and I felt I could confortably continue with a single other, that being Supergirl, for the simple reason that I have more readers for Supergirl, and most of my patrons support me because of it.

Again, I'm not dropping this, but next chapter should come in three or four weeks.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

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Grabbing at my vest, I threw my last dagger at the bottle, but he managed to pull the potion out of the way. Kicking against the ground, I rushed the tiger man, my hand grabbing the hammer at my waist. At my side, Lena attacked, rushing ahead of me to engage him first.

Unfortunately, the asshole was actually faster than us, and he backtracked as fast as he could, buying time so he could drink the potion before fighting. With practiced ease, he managed to pop the cork off with a thumb and I knew we weren't going to make it.

Staring at him with my mangekyou, I couldn't meet his eyes and I knew he'd be able to break any lesser illusion I sent, so I just used pain, a lot of pain. As expected, he broke out of the illusion almost instantly, but the pain made him flinch and stumble, splashing half of the potion on the floor and allowing Lena to reach him.

The amazoness pounced, her scimitar cutting at his throat, he leaned back and away from the blow, but she managed to kick the potion on his hand, shattering the bottle. With dance-like movements, she twisted in the air and cut at him again, scoring a shallow slash at his chest while he kicked her to the right and grabbed his sword once again.

I arrived immediately after, using only one hand to extend my reach, I struck with my mace towards his still extended leg. The weapon smashed him just below his knee, sending his leg back and causing him to stumble.

I capitalized on it, grabbing my hammer with both hands and delivering an upwards swing with the spike towards his chest.

Unfortunately, a combination of exhaustion, using only one hand, and him being a level two, meant that my first hit hadn't broken any bones, only leaving a painful bruise on his leg. As his foot touched the ground, he still managed to put weight on the limb, using it to retreat once again and avoid my blow while delivering a slash at my weapon shaft, aiming right at my hand.

I saw it and managed to release my grip so the sword hit the shaft instead. With incredible reflexes, the man still managed to hook his sword on the curved spike and used his increased strength to pull me closer. I tried to resist, but I wasn't even close to a level 2's strength, even a newly upgraded one.

Pulled out of position, I saw the man opening his mouth, revealing impressive sharp fangs, the fucker was actually gonna try to bite my face off! Fuck, either I dropped the weapon or he'd continue to pull me closer!

With no option, I released the hammer entirely and kicked away from him, watching my weapon fly away and his fangs close down right where I was supposed to be, he'd probably have followed up on the attack, but Lena slashed at him from the side.

The first of Lena's slashes forced him away from me, and I was satisfied to see his leg almost fail -so the hammer blow wasn't entirely useless- the second slash was parried aside and, in the third, the adventurer started gaining the advantage, his superior strength and speed showing.

Fuck, I didn't have any other weapon on me, all the rest of my gear was held on Yoshi's back. In desperation, I sent another wave of pain towards the man, allowing Lena to regain the advantage, but it was clear that, even with only one arm and a wounded leg, the man was just better than her.

My first instinct was to charge the ring and catch him in a stronger illusion but, when I started doing it, the man nearly cut off Lena's head and I had to drop my concentration to distract him with another wave of illusory pain.

Worse, my vision told me he was getting used to the damn interruptions, getting hit with such strong pain, even if only for less than a second, was still distracting, but now he was braced for it, flinching less and recovering faster, even if only a little bit.

Lena and the man's weapons clashed again and again, the blades sending sparks flying at the speed they were hitting each other. For a brief moment, they got into a bind and I saw my chance.

Feeling fear gripping me, the sensation sending shivers down my back and a strangely weightless feeling in my belly, I charged him, aiming a punch to the man's head. He pushed Lena away and slashed at me, but I had been expecting that, aborting the motion and stomping on his wounded leg instead.

The tiger man roared in pain, dropping to his knees for a second but still slashing down at me, I twisted aside, pivoting on my feet and striking out with an elbow to his head. The blow smashed his face, sending a fang flying, but only rattling him a little. It felt like hitting a wall, his much higher resistance showing.

For a brief moment, I thought that was it, his sword turning towards me and I just knew I wouldn't be fast enough to dodge the slash, heck, I didn't even have time to form a part of Susanoo to block it.

Instead of ending me, he roared in frustration and pushed himself back, rolling away and letting Lena's weapon strike the ground, sending broken stones flying all around.

Standing beside a panting Lena, I felt my heart slowing down after the scare and almost burst out in laughter again, damn that had been close. Giving her a brief nod, I finally managed to catch a breath on the fight, immediately starting to charge the ring.

Looking at the man, I saw his wounded leg slightly lifted from the ground and his arm hanging uselessly at his side. He could still use the leg, but putting any weight on it caused him pain.

"You damn weaklings, why won't you just die already!" As we stared each other down, the man finally met my eyes and I used my skill. "Argh, again with this damn pain skill, I'm going to…"

He didn't get to finish, while I had also sent the pain illusion, visual contact had allowed me to cast a greater visual illusion, one backed up by the magic in the ring. Better still, the man being in the same place, even if briefly, had finally allowed Yoshi the perfect target.

I could have gone for something complicated, but I didn't want to risk it. Instead, I just hid Yoshi's vision, noise and scent from the man's perception and, even as strong and alert as he was, he didn't break the illusion in time.

The Dungeon Lizard fell on top of his head, his weight and strength empowered by several monster cores, as well as all the gear he was carrying. Even as a level two, the man couldn't defend against that, and his wounded leg failed him, driving him to the floor with Yoshi biting down on his head.

The man released a yell of pain, but neither Lena nor I wanted to risk it, so we rushed him. Despite his wounds, he managed to throw Yoshi away and tried to get up, but Lena was there, delivering a slash to his chest that left a wide gash and must have broken several bones.

I arrived right after, grabbing his bleeding and mauled head and delivering a knee into his nose as hard as I could with all my momentum, I felt his nose breaking under my blow, and even his skull caving, his body actually went flying from the impact, falling two meters away and creating a pool of blood from Lena's slash.

Looking for a second, I saw the man still trying to get up, but he didn't have the strength, blood bubbling from his mouth as he couldn't even breathe right, his nose, and most of his face, completely destroyed.

Collapsing to my knees, I crashed from the adrenaline, feeling all my limbs trembling and losing strength. At my side, Yoshi was still hissing and circling the man, but didn't attack.

Fuck, I hadn't even been sure he'd attack once; I had gone to a lot of trouble to teach him not to attack adventurers, so I didn't know if he would even fight, but I had hoped when I saw him positioning himself on the ceiling.

We could have still won that fight without him… probably… maybe, but it would probably take more time, and have cost us some more wounds.

Speaking of time, I spit to the side and glanced back where we had come from. How long until someone caught up with us? Wiping my mouth with a sleeve, I got to my feet.

"Shit, let's get out of here, fast," I said, looking on as the adventurer tried to grab something on his chest, probably another health potion to try and save himself, before he could complete the motion, Lena finished him off by stabbing his heart. With a hand motion, I tried to calm Yoshi, but he took a few steps away from me and hissed my way. "Ah, fuck, that's just my luck."

Considering the mutated Dungeon Lizard, I saw it looking between me and the dead adventurer and considering things, it had attacked an adventurer and hadn't felt the usual pain of my illusions.

Damn, would it attack me? Did I have enough in me to kill it right now? Did I ever want to? I owed it my life more than once, and it had been growing on me. Taking the time while the Lizard hissed and backed up to charge my ring, I thought about what to do.

Fucking hell, would it continue hunting adventurers now that it learned it could kill them without repercussion?

"That. Was. So. HOT!" Lena jumped into my back, causing Yoshi to flinch as she hugged me. "That last knee to the face! So brutal! Roland Synclair, ravish me!"

Reacting on instinct, I drove an elbow back and turned, ready to defend my life. Instead, I found her on the floor, clutching her belly. Crap, did I hurt her? I didn't mean to.

"Hehe… hehe, you gave me something good in my stomach…" The amazoness said, her face flushed and her eyes turning into little hearts as her entire body trembled. "I'm definitely getting pregnant!"

This girl… Holy fuck, this girl was definitely bad news!

Shivering, I turned back to Yoshi and decided to give it one last try. If he refused to follow me, I'd leave him here. Hopefully, he'd kill a few more of those freaks and I'd ask for help from Mord or something to hunt him down another day.

Meeting his eye, I sent it a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of approval as well as the sense that he should trust me, that we were partners. That done, I finally deactivated the mangekyou, feeling relief as the skill no longer strained my vision.

"Come on, let's get out of here," I breathed out, feeling tired and eager to get away before I'd have to fight again.

"Right, we're still getting hunted," Lena said, finally pushing herself to her feet with a smile on her face and following me towards the stairs. "What about the lizard?"

"He ate too many cores, and I'm not really feeling well enough to tame him again," I said honestly. "Not when we don't have the time. Hopefully, he'll kill or at least delay some of our pursuers if he decides to stay."

"Huh, what a pity, he was pretty neat,"

Looting a sword and grabbing my hammer back, I couldn't find my dagger fast enough, and I didn't want to waste any more time than necessary. With one last glance at Yoshi, all our loot still on its back, I sighed, but started climbing up.

We were almost up to the next floor when I heard something behind and turned, seeing the lizard following from a distance. "YES!" I gave a little shout, causing Lena to glance back and smile as she too saw the lizard.

"Seems like he decided to come," She commented happily. "So, what're you gonna do now?"

"You think they have anybody watching the exit?" I asked back, "Should we try to break through or hide in the upper floors until morning?"

"Hmmmm, I'd really like to spend the night in the dungeon, just the two of us, hehe!" Lena said, her face getting an eager look, after a second, she became serious again. "Still, the upper floors are just too small; I don't think we can hide for too long."

Yeah, I kind of agreed, I had no way of knowing how many were looking, or why the hell didn't they just attack people instead of doing the monster train… unless they only had a single level 2?

Heck, were they even hunting us? I had assumed they were after me but, in hindsight, that was kind of arrogant, I didn't think I had attracted that much attention yet, and how many had that monster train killed just to take me out?

No, odds are they were just doing it to kill everyone, not me in particular. They could be a small team of level 1's led by a single level 2. The monster train… or, well, I guess they called it parade pass here? It could be used to wipe out a floor, and the level 2 would stay on the entrance to make sure nobody escaped.

Or, heck, I wouldn't usually consider it a possibility, but it could be some god's idea of fun. High level people pulling monster trains happened in video games, and the gods did come down here to have fun, I imagine it would feel like a game to them.

Together, Lena and I killed another pack of kobolds, but we didn't stop to loot them, moving on without losing too much time. Still, monster attacks kept delaying us.

Suddenly, Yoshi turned back and hissed, causing me to pause and focus, trying to hear anything.

"Fuck… Killed… can't…" I caught the faint sounds coming from far behind us. "… Hurt… far…"

Trading a look with Lena, the both of us immediately started running. Exhausted, wounded and lacking sleep, we weren't as fast as we could be, and I even stumbled on some rocks.

A goblin attack forced me to pause and kill the small humanoid, allowing me to hear the steps running towards me. Fuck, there's got to be at least four of them! I don't think we could handle four, not right now!

Starting to breathe hard, I smashed into the ramp to another floor right behind Lena, sending a wave of pain into my shoulder. The ramp up caused both of us to slow down even more, to the point that, as we were about to enter the first hallway, I glanced back and saw the five adventurers climbing up into the floor with us.

We weren't going to make it, as fresh as they looked; they'd catch up in only a minute or two. The realization hit me and I turned… could I get them all with Susanoo?

"Finally, you bastards are not escaping anymore?" One of the adventurers said, his voice filled with confidence. Pulling out my sword, I readied myself for a fight, there was little chance that we could kill them all, but I'd certainly take a few with me. "Really, you should have just died with the others, it would have been easier."

Suddenly, from behind me, I felt a gust of wind that caused me to stumble forward and nearly fall, a second later; there was another gust as a blur jumped over me.

Looking ahead, I saw one of the men fly off to smash into the wall so hard his back exploded as if he was a water balloon, a second was suddenly cut at the waist, his upper body flying off while a third was crushed into paste against the ground.

Then the second blur arrived and cut a man in half and I finally saw it was a tall amazoness with a curved greatsword. The last man was grabbed by the throat and the Amazoness just held him up.

"Yo, Newbie-kun!" The first arrival said, causing me to look at Tiona, a huge smile on her face while she flicked the giant, double headed greatsword as if it didn't weigh anything to get rid of the blood on it. "I knew you'd be alive!"

Pausing, Tiona and the new amazoness looked at each other, the taller woman lifting an eyebrow at seeing Tiona's larger weapon and how easy she had used it.

Lifting her own greatsword, the older woman nodded and then glared at Lena. "You're in trouble, you little goblin! Do you know how worried I was? I told you not to go into the dungeon alone!" Looking around a little, her smile disappeared as she didn't see anyone else with us. Dragging the man behind her as she came closer, she asked. "Where's Layla? What exactly happened?"

Finally relaxing my posture, I motioned for Yoshi to rest and, together with Lena, walked towards our rescue. Tiona seemed both faster and stronger than the newcomer, so I actually felt somewhat safe.

Damn, I hadn't realized how exhausting it has been, to have to be on constant alert while in the dungeon, and then having to be hunted. Satisfying, I won't deny that, but exhausting.

"Layla didn't make it… sorry Aisha," Lena said, throwing herself at the older woman and hugging her waist. "I-I just wanted to get to level two…"

With a sigh and a tired face, Aisha put a hand over Lena's head and consoled her.

Suddenly, I saw the captured adventurer messing with something on his chest, the motion immediately reminded me of what the level 2 adventurer had been doing and I started paying closer attention to him. A second later, I saw the bastard's face turning into a satisfied and happy smile.

"Loria, I'm finally coming to join you," he whispered and my eyes widened as I saw several pouches of what looked VERY suspiciously like bars of dynamite tied to his chest.

"TIONA!" I screamed while jumping away and doing my best to delay him.

The fastest illusion I could use was the pain one since it was one of the most useful, the most used and the most well made at my current level, unfortunately, it didn't disable him completely and his hand still pulled a string on his chest, causing the charges to ignite, their wick very small.

Fortunately, it was enough for Tiona. At her level, two seconds was more than enough for her to grab the man and hurl him away as hard as she could.

The adventurer flew through the air at prodigious speeds and, only a second later, the explosion destroyed a part of the ramp down, sending a wave of hot air that hit me like a light punch, but was far enough away to not do any damage.

"Well, that was unexpected," Aisha commented, still staring at the explosion as she combed her long hair back into place. "What the heck was that all about?"

"I… have absolutely no idea," I commented, still feeling stunned. What the fuck? Since when were there suicide bombers in Danmachi?

For a second, all four of us stared at the destruction, and my eyes were drawn to the death adventurers, did they also have bombs?

"So, Newbie-kun, what actually happened?" Tiona shrugged and asked as she looked me over, noticing my exhaustion and all the wounds. "You look good for someone who spent almost an entire day in the dungeon."

"There was someone doing a pass parade on the seventh floor," I explained, remembering the correct term now that I wasn't running for my life. "Fuck, I barely survived. Wait, how did you know to search for me?"

"Ah, yeah, Loki kinda has some of our younger members watching your movements," Tiona revealed, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.

"What!? Why the fuck…?" I trailed off, utterly baffled.

"Well, she wanted to know how long it would take you to find them. Plus, she thought it was funny when you acted all paranoid," the girl revealed, causing me to grind my teeth. "You know, I wasn't actually gonna come in. As a hero, you're supposed to deal with things by yourself, but then I saw Aisha entering the dungeon at night and decided to follow her, it's the mentor's job to interfere when someone too powerful gets involved after all."

Watching Tiona nodding to herself, I couldn't help cursing in my mind. Good fucking damns it! Did I waste all that money finding a new place for nothing?

Damn, usually, I'd call that reason bullshit but, with Loki, there was no way of knowing. The bitch was just crazy enough to waste everyone's time for a prank. It actually made it worse, since it made me both worried that I was being watched and annoyed that I was being pranked.

Was that why I sometimes felt someone's gaze on me while walking in Orario?

"Say, Tiona, can I kill your god? Just a little bit? Please?"

"Nope," she immediately denied. Licking a finger, she used it to wipe my face, cleaning a trail of dried blood from my eye and then helped me straighten my back. "There, now you look properly heroic. Mou, I wish I could have seen it, was it fun?"

Fuck, now that I was no longer in danger, the weight of what I had done was starting to hit me. I had killed again. More than that, I had forced two people to fight to the death.

Could they have survived if I had let them rest? If I hadn't forced them to continue fighting? Could I have fought the rest of the monsters off? There weren't so many left when I had forced them to continue fighting.

"Fun? People died, I nearly died!" I tried to yell, but the words lacked proper bite, I was too exhausted to be angry. "It was terrifying."

"Well, I mean, I don't like when people die too, it always hurts, but it doesn't make the fight any less fun," Tiona shrugged and then gave me a small hug, looking at me as if she could see through me. "I'm glad to see you can still smile, you've got to smile for those who can't, smile so it can mean something."

Was I smiling? Yes, yes I was. For a moment, I was hit with shame, I don't think I was smiling for the same reason Tiona did… then I took in her words in and shook my head. No, she was right, what use were my actions if I kept blaming myself for it?

I forced them to fight so I could live, so I could have a chance, what use was it if I kept blaming myself for it? It wouldn't erase anything. It would only make it worse, to have, maybe, caused their deaths just so I could live in misery.

"Noooo!" Lena yelled, glomping me and pulling me away from Tiona while pressing her breasts against my arm. Despite her age, they were already surprisingly big. "Roland Synclair is mine!!"

Again, my instinct was to push the girl away, but her stats were actually higher than mine, and I didn't want to use force. I'd like to say it was because she was a woman but, in truth, it was mostly because I was pretty sure she'd like it.

For a second, I saw Tiona freeze, almost mechanically, her eyes looking at the weaker Amazon pressing herself against me and then down towards her own chest.

Tiona's smile grew even wider, but it was no longer bright, and I swore there was a throbbing vein on her forehead, their eyes met and I felt my hair lifting up at the electric discharge between the both of them.

Looking down at the young girl, I met her eyes and sent her a quick illusion, my arm suddenly burst into flames and, in reflex; she released me and jumped away.

I probably shouldn't have done that, but she had already seen a lot of what I could do with my eyes and, to Aisha and Tiona, it probably looked like she just jumped away after meeting my frown.

"Hmm, how interesting!" Aisha said, putting a finger on her chin and looking at me with a glint in her eyes.

I chose to ignore the woman, no matter how incredibly hot she was. It just wasn't the time. "Ah, hey, Tiona, maybe you should lower your weapon?"

"Huh? I thought I had sensed a little frog shooter spawning." She said, tilting her head sideways in confusion. "Anyways, newbie-kun, as your master, I demand that you tell me the whole story! It wouldn't do if I didn't hear about your first heroic trial!"

"Can we just get out of here first? I really need a bath," I replied, starting to feel all the blood and grime that had accumulated.

Both newcomers barely lifted an eyebrow at Yoshi as I approached it and, meeting his eyes, used my illusions to tell it to return to his room on the third floor and wait for me.

After that, with both Aisha and Tiona, we had absolutely no trouble getting out of the dungeon. They absolutely obliterated any monster in the way until I finally stepped out of the dungeon, feeling the first rays of the sunrise hitting my eyes.

I was finally safe! Or, well, at least as safe as I could be in Orario.



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If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon and Ko-Fi. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

So, I ended up finishing a new chapter of this one.

The chapter was writen on the phone so there may be mistakes in it, but I did my best to go over everything a few times and catch any of the biggest ones.

I'll probably post a new chapter sooner this time, since I already have chapter 19 halfway done, probably a little over two weeks.

Also, I have a new fanfic everyone seems to like, it's called "Will of the Force" and it's a Worm / Star Wars fanfic I'll be posting weekly with 5 chapters out here and another one coming Friday. Do take a look at it if you have the time.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

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Finally, I slammed the door to my room closed and collapsed on top of the bed. I had taken the time to wash myself from all the blood and grime of the dungeon but, in truth, my body was moving on auto-pilot right now.

Falna or not, I had been awake for more than a day now —passing out didn't count as resting— and a large part of that day had been fighting. Even when I wasn't killing something, the sheer tension of the last hours had taken a heavy toll on me.

After getting out of the dungeon, there had been some talks about how to divide the loot and Lena had initially refused part from me without at least some reassurance we'd meet again.

Still, Aisha and Tiona had seemed to come to an arrangement, the loot would stay with the Ishtar familia, allowing them to prove what had happened to their goddess and Tiona would guarantee I'd be getting my share later.

Lena was eager to accept the deal as it forced me to meet her again and I was content on letting them sell the monster cores since I currently couldn't… as long as Tiona agreed to act in my interest that is.

Eventually, the older Amazoness just grabbed her younger familia member by the scruff of the neck and carried her away like an unruly cat, lifting a hand to wave goodbye while walking back towards the entertainment district.

At that point, I had been beyond caring, just going along with their decision and making my way back to my room, Tiona more or less leading me since, despite all my efforts, she already knew where I lived.

My teacher had been happy to do it, pestering me to tell her about my fights but, once she saw I wasn't really capable of paying attention to her words, she gave me a pat on the head, got me a tub filled with warm water and left to deal with familia things.

I honestly couldn't say how I had taken a bath by myself, only that I was clean, safe and in a bed. Unfortunately, my brain wasn't helping me fall asleep, a sense of unease at having my location known by fucking Loki filling me.

With a groan of pain, I pushed myself up and grabbed a mirror. Since I hadn't immediately fallen asleep, I wasn't willing to wait to update my own falna, having already made that mistake once.

Checking to make sure both the door and window were closed, I grabbed the broken spear blade and drew some blood from my thumb, smearing it on my back, the substance spreading to form letters and numbers, ones far different from those of only a few days ago.


Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – F – 356
Endurance – E – 424
Dexterity – F – 365
Agility – F – 336
Magic – C – 641
Skills:
- Chosen of an Outer God
- Mangekyou Sharingan (shisui).
- Deadly Resolve: Allows one to ignore the limits of the body and continue fighting as if in top condition as long as you maintain your resolve.
LEVEL UP AVAILABLE!


For a second, I just stared at the final lines in my falna, drawn in large bloody letters. Damn, I think I had beaten Bell to level one; it had been a little less than a month and a half since I got in the world and that's how long I remember it taking him.

The offer was tempting, particularly with my body hurting as it was. I just bet I'd recover much faster if I did increase my level immediately. It also wouldn't be the worst level up in history, even if it was not ideal.

This single delving in the dungeon had nearly doubled every single one of my stats; it was a much larger increase than when fighting the Vouivre and the bandits after that.

In truth, I had barely done anything to the Vouivre, the only real contribution was casting an illusion, wasting Kotoamatsukami and surviving a second or two until the monster was killed. Compared with this time…

Really, I was kind of glad that the battle against the Vouivre and, later, the thieves hadn't given me such a large increase. In my mind, I knew it had almost been a miracle I had survived, but it had been such a poor showing… such ugly scramble for survival…

Compared to what I had done today, it would have just felt cheap if I had gotten a large increase from the Vouivre. Today, I had stretched myself to my limits. I had used everything I had learned with Tiona, fought for hours against more monsters than I could count.

Granted, none of them were even close to the draconic woman but, against her, I hadn't done anything, my survival more a result of luck than anything I did.

It was the same thing with the murderous adventurer. The first man I killed had simply been completely underestimating me. I had gotten lucky with a cheap shot I took on desperation and just flailed at him until he died.

The ones I killed today… I hate to say it, but I kind of felt proud about it. Not about killing them —that still left a really bad taste in my mouth and made me want to puke— but about overcoming them. I had WON those fights, ME, with skill and planning, not luck or chance. I'd even say luck was against me and I still won.

…In the end, I decided not to level up. I wanted to be strong, to be able to fight against things that would give even the protagonist trouble.

From the anime, I remember Bell killing the Black Goliath as a level two... I didn't know if I could do that. No, I was pretty sure I couldn't —that had to have been some bullshit protagonist thing— but heck, I REALLY wanted to try.

Forcing my falna to disappear again, I pulled myself back into the bed and laid on my back, my right hand squeezing into a fist as I thought about how strong I had to be to be able to fight something like that, how dangerous it would be, how exciting.

.
.
.
.

I woke up at night, my muscles aching from overworking them earlier. With a groan, I pushed myself to a sitting position on the bed, noting that my joints were stiff, my movement restricted to the bare minimum unless I wanted to feel a world of pain.

My head wasn't killing me, but I still had a low level headache from abusing my eyes during fights. For a few minutes, I just stayed there, looking at my body… Now that I wasn't exhausted, I almost couldn't believe I was alive, I had come so close to death so many times.

Tiona had been right, despite the terror, the disgust at what I had done, how hard it had been… It had been incredibly fun, an experience unlike anything I had ever felt in my life.

Perhaps seeing the Vouivre barreling down on me, her mouth opened wide to bite off my head had been just as scary and surviving it just as relieving, but I hadn't done it, it had lacked the sense of accomplishment I felt today.

My rational mind was telling me I should take it easy, to think about the future and really consider if I even continue in Orario. Heck, I had gotten a good haul, probably enough to pay off the witch and live comfortably for a time, even longer outside the city.

Still, the smile on my face told me I wouldn't, I didn't want to.

Finally, a growl from my stomach got me moving, the hunger finally forcing me out of the bed. With almost robotic movements, I pushed myself to my feet.

Drawing a breath, I tried to stretch, my body complaining the entire time until I was forced to give up. I briefly considered drinking a potion, I had some spare ones in the room, but I didn't know if I should after ingesting so many during the fight.

Grabbing my sword, the only piece of gear that was clean since I hadn't used it in the dungeon, I fixed it to my waist and tied the eyepatch into place over my right eye, blocking its vision and letting that sharingan continue to rest. I considered grabbing the spear shaft to use as a walking cane, but that felt like too much.

Slowly, I made my way down to the first floor, releasing little grunts with every step I took on the stairs. I was hoping I'd still be able to get some dinner despite the time and wouldn't have to go out.

I got lucky, about time really, the owner had already put away most of the food, but the soup was still on the table and there was some leftover meat I convinced her to heat up using the magic stone stove.

Pulling out a chair, I prepared to sit when it happened.

The slap reverberated through the building, the hand was small and there was very little force behind it, but it got me in the middle of the back, sending a wave of fire through every single one of my aching, stiff, overworked muscles.

Grabbing the chair for support, I glared at the damn midget that was smirking in amusement at me. She had been hiding in my blind spot and I hadn't been alert up here in the city. "So, I heard that a certain adventurer now owes their life to one of my dear children, oh, how the tables have turned."

"Loki."

"Roland," she answered, throwing herself at the chair beside mine. "So, how are you going to pay me back?"

"What?" I asked, my eyes narrowing even further.

"Well, I did provide you a First Class adventurer to teach you as payment for saving some of my children," Loki only smirked, stealing from my place before I could put an arm around it. "A life debt is pretty important, you know? I expect compensation! Or are you just gonna take advantage of poor Tiona? Huh?!"

Suddenly, a huge hand delivered a head chop on Loki, causing her to crouch down and lift both arms to rub her head. From behind, an extremely large dwarf appeared.

"Let the boy eat in peace," the dwarf spoke with a tired voice. Giving me a smile, he sat on the opposite side of the table and dropped a huge jug of alcohol on top. "Come boy, I heard about what you did in the dungeon, have a drink!"

Dropping three mugs on the table, the dwarf filled them all and slid one to me. Putting a hand in front of my plate, I stopped the mug from hitting it and finally sat down.

"Hey Gareth! Where's mine?" Loki complained and got her own mug which she promptly drank, getting a foam mustache. "Now, as for you, why'd you have to go and get in trouble like that? Ruined a perfectly good prank I tell you! I really wanted to see your face when you found out about everyone following you."

Back on Earth there was a saying, 'Don't feed the trolls', I kinda felt like I had already failed that lesson, but it was never too late to start acting smart and ignore the… goddess, at least when she was clearly baiting me.

Closing my eyes, I took a sip of the beer and felt it go down my throat, causing both my eyebrows to climb into my hairline. I wasn't exactly a fan of beer, but this one tasted so much better than anything else I had experienced in this world.

"Good? Hah, it's not every day you survive such a good fight boy, enjoy it!" Gareth laughed, drinking half his own mug into a single swing before wiping his mouth. "How was it? Been a long time since I last got into such a good scrap myself, I miss it."

"It was intense, exhausting… terrifying," I couldn't help being truthful as I started eating, too hungry to care about the guests.

"The best ones usually are. You'll have to tell me the entire story later," he laughed, noting the smile on my face despite my words. "After you speak with Tiona, she wouldn't forgive me if I heard it all before her."

"I suppose I ca- Gah!" I screamed as a second spike of pain went through my body, this time coming from my leg where Loki was poking it with the handle of a dagger.

"Don't ignore me!" she pouted, her eyes open and staring up at me.

"Enough already," I complained and moved away as the damn imp tried to poke me again, only to feel even more uncomfortable as my whole body moved. Grabbing the table for support, I considered using Kotoamatsukami right here. Surely, getting rid of her was worth it? "Fine, what do you really want?"

Sitting back on her chair, Loki crossed her legs and took a larger drink from her mug. "Sooooo, tell me about those guys that attacked you."

"Why?" I asked, narrowing my single eye at the god.

"Cuz I want to hear about them. Come on, it's not every day I learn about adventurers pulling such things on the upper floors," Loki finished her beer and threw the mug towards Gateth for more. "Not for what? Was it five years?"

"Four," the dwarf corrected, filling his own mug before Loki's, his voice far more serious than before. "Such things started slowing down five years ago, but it only stopped a year later."

Lowering my spoon, I considered both of them with a frown on my face. I had assumed such attacks were uncommon, but not by that much. I supposed it could be that there just weren't any survivors before, but I had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't be the case.

"Why do you even care? It's not like something like this would affect your familia, you're too strong for that."

"Boy, Loki familia does have its share of first level recruits," Gareth answered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "And, well, while this kind of thing is more Ganesha familia's job, you can say we have some personal interest in this case."

"Yep, I don't usually care about catching criminals, but those kinds of adventurers are like vermin, if you leave them alone for too long, they tend to breed," Loki said in a calm voice, but her smile was unnerving, sending a shiver down my spine. "Orario is kind of my home now and nobody likes finding rats in their home."

Damn, I had almost forgotten who I was dealing with. Loki may be playing around most of the time, but she's still capable of making me feel cold inside.

Taking another spoonful of soup, I shook myself. Hadn't I decided to stop acting like Loki was the devil without any proof? Looking back, I asked. "Somehow, I doubt that's your only reason…"

"Well, it could also be that they messed with my new toy and I want to know whose greedy hand I have to slap," she smirked, putting a finger against her mouth in feigned thought. "Either one of those."

Right, if I had to bet, I'd definitely be picking the latter reason. With a sigh, I finished my first mug of beer as well. "Fine, it's not like I want to protect those assholes. I'm also pretty sure we didn't kill all of them."

Digging my spoon on the soup again, I told them about the bastards that caused the parade pass. I didn't talk about the fight itself —I kind of wanted to share with Tiona first— but I told Loki and the dwarf everything I had seen about the suicide bombers, from their clothes and stile of fighting, to their build, hair color and even a few scars.

In the middle of the dungeon, I hadn't thought much about such things but, with my eyes, I couldn't forget the details even if I wanted to.

While their large, baggy clothes did a good job of hiding many things, small details on the parts of the skin that were uncovered or even faint shades below their clothes were as clear to me as if the bastards were decorating them with glitter.

Finally, I released my spoon on the empty plate and bit into the last piece of meat, realizing that I was also done reporting every single adventurer I had seen on that floor, including the dead ones.

"So, was that the only reason you came?" I asked, draining a second mug of beer and trying to push myself up, but my legs had cooled down from staying still too long and stiffened up again.

"Nope," Loki cheerfully replied and then poked me in the thigh again, right where I had gotten hit by a landform weapon and there was a huge purple spot.

"Goddamnit!" I yelled, reacting on instinct to move away from her and almost falling when the leg started to cramp.

"Why would I?" Loki laughed and I saw Gareth palming his face. "Anyways, it seems like you got your Falna updated but decided not to level up. Good."

"What?"

"Yeah, there was no way you weren't getting a level up after what happened and, from what Tiona reported of your training, you wouldn't be awake yet if you hadn't increased your stats drastically, but you also wouldn't be so stiff and hurting if you had leveled up."

I just… had she been poking me just to find out about my stats and level?

With a groan, I grabbed my plate and took it back to the owner who was giving me a pitying look. Did Loki even have to poke me three times or had she found out on the first slap?

"Say, Gareth, can I kill your god, just a little bit?"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, can't have that," the dwarf laughed, putting a cork on his jar of alcohol. "Here, keep the rest as an apology."

"Really?"

"You can also consider it an early gift for the achievement," Gareth nodded. "Surviving that kind of thing does deserve praise. I'd give you a tap on the back but…"

"Yeah, thanks for not doing that," I snorted. Snatching the jar from the table and keeping it by my side.

Loki too got out of her chair, throwing her empty mug at Gareth and a small vial at me. "Here, this should help relax your muscles, since you owe us so much now, don't you dare skip training tomorrow."

Looking down at the potion, I didn't recognize the color. "Just how expensive was this?"

"Not as much as you're expecting, don't worry. It's just not as useful inside the dungeon, so most people don't make or sell them, but we have a cache for training," Gareth tied all three mugs to his waist while saying.

I watched as the two of them started leaving the building but, just as Loki was about to walk out, she stopped.

"You know, my kids weren't the only ones watching you, but the others didn't appear again after you left the dungeon earlier today," the little imp looked back at me, an amused look on her face. "I knew you'd be interesting when I first picked you up."

Well, fuck. Looking down at the small vial, I considered not drinking it, but it wasn't as if I hadn't taken a lot from the goddess before. Popping off the cork, I chugged it and felt a terrible taste in my mouth, the potion burning worse than whiskey as it went down my throat.

There wasn't an immediate effect but, as I washed away the terrible feeling with another drink of the beer, I felt my muscles relaxing a little bit.

Before, I had been considering going out a little tonight, even if only for a slow walk to pass the time until I got sleepy again, take some air and enjoy being alive outside the dungeon, but, with her warning…

I had once read something about 'Once being happenstance, twice coincidence and three times enemy action' but, if there had been strangers watching me for a while now and they disappeared after my return, I don't think I was willing to wait for a third attack.

Who the hell did I piss off? Or was this some kind of amusement for my ROB?

Everyone told me bandits were rare in the dungeon, but I got attacked by a team the second time I left the safe zone. Gareth said organized Parade Passes hadn't happened in more than four years and yet, only a little over a month had passed and I got targeted by one.

Going back to my room, I put the sword beside my bed, close at hand in case I needed it and lay down. I really couldn't think of anyone that wanted me dead, I hadn't pissed off anyone and I no longer thought it was Loki.

The entire thing was made even worse because of how stupid it was. I was a level one, there were hundreds, even thousands of level twos in Orario that could beat me in a fight.

Even easier, as a level one, numbers still worked on me, they could just have a dozen level ones attack me and, while I would take a few with me, I was realistic enough to know I wouldn't survive.

This was some god with too much time in his hands wasn't it? Things just didn't make sense otherwise. But who? I had barely met anyone in the city.

Laying my head against the pillow, I groaned as my body fully relaxed. It seems like I'd have to hurry up with finding a familia and party if I wanted to stay alive. Thankfully, I think I have a plan for how to test illusions on gods, it wasn't a guarantee but, if it worked…



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Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Lynx of Chaos, Comics, Davvy chappie, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, GrumpyJustGrumpy, Travis cox, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, Michael Neal, Felrook, NotableRonin, Josh Orton, stanley seymour, AjiTae, danxzn, Louis Kasser, Joseph, JVR, Mike Bellavoir and Vegetables for supporting my work!


If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon and Ko-Fi. You can support me for a single dollar.

 

[CapCaverna]

So, I'm NOT back, sorry.

I was having trouble with some of my other fics and decided to finish this chapter since a reader posted some comments a few days ago, but I'm not coming back to regular updates.

The truth is, Supergirl and Will of The Force have far more readers and Patreon subscribers so, while I really like writing this, I usually write for one of those two when I'm not trying to make something original.

I do like writing all of my fanfics but, when my time is limited I have to choose on which to focus and, to be perfectly honest, money talks.

By the way, if you like this one, do try out Will of The Force, I think it's my best fanfic right now and a LOT of people seem to think it's REALLY great.


So, yeah, probably taking another month or three for chapter 20 unless someone pays me to do it. Sorry, it's just the truth.
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"Hurry up, newbie-kun," Tiona said, grabbing my arm and almost carrying me out of the building. "Mou, you already missed a day, I won't let you get complacent!"

Doing my best to ignore my still aching muscles, I followed after the Amazoness as she led me towards the city's wall. Out of nowhere, she dragged me to the side, taking a narrow side street instead of the usual path.

The pain from my last trip into the dungeon was almost gone, Loki's potion having worked wonders, to the point that a good stretch would have me moving normally, but the girl seemed intent on not giving me time.

Reaching the end of the street, Tiona put a hand on my chest to stop me and poked her head through the side of the building, looking around with narrowed eyes before starting to walk again.

Looking around, I did my best to search for any watchers, but I didn't even feel the usual gaze on me. As far as I knew, the people keeping tabs on me were gone. Still, she was a first-rank adventurer, I wouldn't think my senses were better than her's even with the Sharingan.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nada, everything's fine, why?" she hurriedly said but didn't slow down or stop acting like we were being followed.

"Because you're acting like we're gonna be attacked at any time," I said, my hand gripping the sword at my waist.

"What? Nope, I just don't want a certain nuisance following us," she pouted, releasing my arm and avoiding my eyes. "If you're gonna keep getting into fights like that, I have to increase your training, no need for annoying distractions. Hurry up, I want to see how much you've grown!"

Shaking my head in amusement, I continued to follow her as she tried to sneak her way toward the wall. Tiona had no talent for being a rogue so we attracted far more attention than if we walked normally, getting quite a few amused looks thrown our way.

"Here, Newbie-kun," she said when we finally arrived, extending a large purse toward me. "I talked with Aisha, this is half the loot from your last delve."

"I thought it would take more time…" I wondered. Grabbing the heavy bag, I stored the money in my backpack without counting. "Wait, were you just trying to avoid Lena?"

"Humph, she already went on one heroic adventure with you, no need to intrude on our sparing as well."

"Are you… jealous?"

"Mou, no fair! I want to go on an adventure as well!" the Amazon almost shouted, her arms lifted in the air. "The last delve was fun, but we only managed to push two floors and nothing unexpected happened, no new and unknown monsters, no dastardly plots."

That… wasn't exactly what I had asked, but I didn't think she was lying either. Well, I hadn't been dungeon delving for long, but I could definitely see how it could become routine.

Starting to stretch, I thought about what I'd do in the same situation. My own delves had been fairly eventful but, even at my level, I could probably earn a comfortable amount of money without facing much danger if I didn't push myself, taking my time to grow stronger.

I didn't NEED to be like Bell, most adventurers weren't after all, taking years for each level and being content as a level 2 or 3.

I hate to admit it, but I had never felt more alive, or more accomplished, than after I survived the last attack and left the dungeon. It had been terrifying and stressful, yes, but the adrenaline…

Yeah, I could definitely see things becoming boring if nothing unexpected was happening for a long time after that.

"Alright, Ready?"

"Tiona, why are your eyes shining?" I asked, taking a step back as I saw my teacher lifting her two-handed sword over her shoulders. "Also, why does it seem you're going to use Urga?"

"I told you, didn't I? I want to see how much you've grown!" twirling the weapon over her head as if it didn't weigh anything, she got into a fighting position. "There's no use running away Newbie-kun! Show me what you've got!"

Throwing my eyepatch down, I barely had any time as the woman charged me, a heavy downward blow aimed at my shoulder. Unsheathing my sword, I sidestepped, hitting the side of her blade and parrying it away, then it was on.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes of uninterrupted sparring was what it took to satisfy the Amazoness. Back in my world, I always thought fights lasted longer, but Ten. Freaking. Minutes. Of full power sparring against a first-class adventurer felt like an eternity even with my improved Falna.

Tiona hadn't let me breathe, every time I took a step back she was right there, in my face, trying to kick me out or, worse, weaving that huge piece of metal faster than I could move my small sword.

Still, I didn't have a single broken bone and had lasted until she stopped, a smile on her face as she dropped Urga point first into the ground and, even with its dulled edge, the sheer weight of the blade drove it twenty centimeters into the wall.

Collapsing back, sweat dripping all over my forehead, I let my back hit the floor, the sword clattering to my side. "Was that strictly necessary?"

"Yep, I wanted to see how much you've grown," she nodded, a huge smile on her face as she sat down beside me, her legs crossed. Extending a hand, she happily tussled my already messy hair. "Good job, Loki was right, you really learn fast, just like a hero. I don't even think Ais learned faster."

"Where… huff… where is your gremlin of a god anyway?"

"Dunno, she wanted to come, but Riveria dragged her away for a meeting."

I wondered what that was about, did something else happen or was she dealing with those people I faced in the dungeon already?

Slowly, I pushed my body back up. My shirt was plastered to my chest and I was still out of breath, but my body seemed to be recovering much faster than before, two hundred points in endurance had made a huge difference.

"Ready for round two?" Tiona asked, a glint in her eye.

"Ugh!" I complained, but already got to my feet, the sword in my hand. Looking at Tiona's amused smile, I couldn't help teasing. "This is because Lena has bigger breasts isn't it?"

"Gah! Leave the boobs out of it!"

In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have teased the vastly stronger adventurer just before sparring with her. Live and learn.

An hour and a half later, I drank the expensive healing potion, feeling the effects spreading through my battered body. Still, it was the first one I had consumed and, again, I hadn't broken anything. Its effects were immediate, leaving me tired but healthy.

Tiona was standing on top of the wall, balancing on the edge as she waited for me to recover and push myself up, Urga leaning safely on my side of the battlements. Turning around, I put my arms over the defenses and took a deep breath.

Damn, being able to move this fast, trade blows with someone at that level, it was so cool.

Poking my shoulder with a toe, Tiona crouched down and sat, legs hanging freely over the edge. "So, tell me about the fight, how was it?"

I thought about it but didn't speak. I had a better idea. "Come here," I said and pulled her back.

Tiona let me lower her down on top of the wall walk, sitting opposite me on the floor. "Alright, can you not resist? I want to see if I can show you something."

"Sure!"

Closing my eyes, I concentrated a little and opened them again, staring straight at Tiona's eyes and sending a visual illusion. Unfortunately, even with her permission, it didn't stick.

Tiona simply tilted her head sideways, her eyes wide as they continued to look at me in puzzlement. "What was that?"

"My skill, did you resist?"

"Not really?" she shrugged, then shook her body and relaxed her muscles even more. "Come on, try again!"

Sending my mind to the ring on my finger, I filled it to the brim with power before drawing the empowered mana and trying again, if it didn't work I'd just talk normally. No need to waste the mangekyou on this.

Either because it was enough or, much more likely, because Tiona had unconsciously broken my skill before and had fully opened herself this time. I felt the illusion take hold.

I had spent a night composing this one, it was the biggest illusion I had made but, since I had seen everything with the Sharingan, it was so integrated into my brain as to make things… far more convenient.

I remembered every monster. Damn, I remembered every stray hair ON the monsters as if it happened only a few seconds ago. Turning that vision into an illusion had been pretty easy, most of the time had actually been spent trying to include sound and feel to what I remembered happening.

It helped that I had already been trying for something like this, trying to replicate Lord of The Rings with my illusions was MUCH harder since I hadn't watched the movie with the sharingan.

I felt the drain on my mind attribute, more than half of my power was gone in an instant. Still, in front of me, Tiona's eyes went distant as she watched things from my perspective.

I didn't put everything in it, I didn't want to stay here for an hour, but I included all the important bits.

"What is this?" Tiona asked, her eyes still not focusing on me.

Eventually, I wanted to be good enough to watch the illusion with her or have a true conversation but, for now, I couldn't manage that. Still, I hadn't blocked her senses and could answer here. Hopefully, the illusion wouldn't break if she didn't try to break out of it.

"Don't try to resist," I warned, watching as her body remained relaxed. "If you do, even a little bit, I'm pretty sure you're gonna break the skill and I'm not strong enough to use it again anytime soon. I thought you'd like to watch the fight, not just hear about it."

She didn't resist, trusting me enough to simply let the illusion run its course. Like with Yoshi, I had accelerated the time inside the skill, but it still took 15 minutes for her to watch everything.

Well, not everything, I hadn't included some of the worst parts… or my use of Susanoo, but almost everything, including the majority of the fighting.

"Newbie-kun! What WAS that!" she finally snapped out of my illusion, jumping to her feet with wide eyes.

"My fight, at least what I remember of it."

"SO COOL!" She yelled. "Is that what your red eyes do? I thought they just let you see better."

"I didn't think you'd be this excited, it's not like I was fighting level 5 monsters," I said, a little embarrassed by the praise.

"No way, I don't think I was that good as a level 1!!" grabbing for her weapon, she copied some of my moves when fighting in the dungeon, only much more skillfully, clearly excited by what she had seen. "That knee to the face! So cool!"

I couldn't help smiling at her, yeah, that knee had been epic. I still felt a little uncomfortable at having killed the man —No, a LOT uncomfortable— but that flying knee with all my speed had felt… very satisfying to use.

Revealing some of my eye's abilities hadn't been an easy decision, but I trusted Tiona, and she should have already guessed many of them after our spars.

Also, Lena already knew about even more of them anyway.

Better yet, having a willing partner that could give me feedback would help improve my skill, there was only so much I could achieve without an intelligent test subject.

In truth, I was hoping to tempt Loki into asking for it. Trying to trick the God of trickery wasn't exactly smart, so I wasn't gonna do anything underhanded TO her, but I wanted to test if illusions worked on gods and this was a good way of doing it without repercussions.

If I couldn't snare her in an illusion at all or, like Tiona, she had to lower her defenses to accept it, there would be zero chance of using kotoamatsukami against any god.

But if I could snare her easily unless she actively resisted…

Yeah, Loki would probably see through me, knowing I had ulterior motives for using her, but I doubt she'd refuse anyways and she also shouldn't know about kotoamatsukami. Heck, even if she could guess I was plotting something or what that was, I think she was willing to let me do it for amusement.

It was the difference between trying to play a prank on her and pranking someone with her help. No matter if she was really the good guy she portrayed here in Orario or the asshole from mythology, she should be able to help out with tricking someone else.

"Tsk, you've been holding back on me Newbie-kun!" she pinched my waist. "Why didn't you use this in our spares?"

"As I said, it's not exactly something I can use freely. Besides, you're too strong, my skill is weaker against those higher level than me. The only reason it worked on you was because you let it."

"Very well, I forgive you."

I snorted, letting her pull me to my feet. "Also, I wanted to be able to do something like this first," I confessed. "Remember how I promised to tell you some of my stories? I wanted to be able to show them to you too."

"That's it! You're now my favorite student!"

"I'm your only student."

"Yes, but as a new heroic teacher, I'm obviously gonna have more than one apprentice, like the god Quiron," she said, nodding. "You're gonna be my favorite then."

I just shook my head, grabbing the pouch of water, I threw it over my head, getting rid of most of the sweat still clinging to my skin. I had to take a bath after this, but I already felt refreshed… even if the sparring had left me exhausted again.

"By the way, do you know if I can take a tamed monster out of the Dungeon?"

"Huh? Well, none of us use tamed monsters… hmmm, I think the guild only lets you bring them out during the monsterphilia."

"Do you know anyone who would know?"

"Well, Ganesha familia do have a lot of tammers," she said, then puffed her chest. "I can ask around if you want?"

"Thanks, I don't want to lose my lizard if someone finds and tries to kill him."

Grabbing Urga from the wall, Tiona tied it to her back and cracked her neck. "Ack, it's almost midday. Sorry Newbie-Kun but I gotta go. Are you gonna delve today?"

"No," I had no desire to tempt fate by entering the dungeon again so soon. "I need to resupply and fix a lot of my equipment, only my sword is ready for use."

"Good, even heroes need a break. See ya!"

Tiona didn't wait for me, jumping down from the wall to fall on top of a house. It seems she wasn't losing any time because she dashed away as if weightless. With a groan —I had stopped moving for too long and my muscles had gotten cold— I swung my bag over my back and adjusted the sword on my waist, taking the long way down the wall.

Later that night, I downed a full mug of beer on the Hibachitei, the bar was filled with adventurers laughing and partying, with Scott, Guile, and Mord leading a half-drunk chant around the window.

Consuming alcohol as an adventurer was strange. Even as a level one, my stomach simply wasn't big enough for me to drink enough normal beer to fully overcome my endurance. As a result, Adventurers had to either consume VERY expensive special brews or simply be happy with a light buzz.

For me it was great. I both didn't like and wouldn't dare to get truly drunk, but drinking enough to keep a light buzz was cheap and left me with only a small disadvantage that would pass after a minute or two without the drink.

It was still a risk with people after me, but only a very small one.

"To being alive!" Mord yelled, dropping on the seat beside me and almost spilling his mug.

"To being alive!" I said, sharing the feeling. "Damn monster train."

"I have to say, you have one shitty luck," Scott sat down. "Who'd have thought you'd be caught on such a large fuck up like this?"

In hindsight, I was basically an isekai protagonist, I really should have expected something like this to happen.

"So, any more cores for us from that little tussle?" Mord cracked his neck.

"Sorry, I got the other survivor to sell them," I said, not sorry at all. 15% for selling my cores was fair but that didn't mean I was gonna just give it to them when I didn't need to. "Got my share today."

"Smart," Guile nodded, still shirtless despite the cold of the night. "At least if you had a way of guaranteeing they would pay you back?"

"Tiona offered to guarantee it."

"Well, that would do it, nothing like waving a first-class adventurer about to make people honest," Mord took another swig. "I bet they were really thankful when you trusted them with all the lot."

"So, you're paying then?" Scott joked. "No way you didn't get a huge boost after what you told us."

Again, I hadn't told them anything but the rough outline of things, but a parade pass was a parade pass, lots of monsters, lots of loot and growth if you beat it. Not that anyone would want to if they could escape.

"One round," I offered, "I have to fix all my gear and pay back the witch for a magic item she sold me."

"Didn't know the old bat sold on credit." Scott lifted an eyebrow at me.

"She found the project interesting or something like that," I said, getting a nod in return. "Say, what can you guys tell me about Ishtar?"

"Ah, my friend, finally feeling up for some fun huh," Mord laughed, putting an arm over my shoulders. "Wanting some stress relief?"

"Something like that."

"Well, her girls are expensive, but the service is first class, I tell you," Mord said, getting a thumbs up from Guile and a shake of the head from Scott. "The Berbera are another thing, if you catch one of their attention, expect to be drained dry for a week."

"Talking from experience?" I said.

"Couldn't even delve for the first three days," Mord nodded, a dreamy look on his face. "But oh, it was worth it! So worth it."

"Wouldn't shut up about it for the week too," Scott mocked.

"Ha, You're just jealous she didn't choose you!" Mord said.

To that, Scott had no answer.

"What about the goddess herself, she ever sees anyone?"

"You dream big don't you?" Mord just looked at him with respect.

"She does," Guile answered. "Seen it happen once."

"Really?" I asked, leaning forward.

"Yep," It was Scott who continued. "But she's not exactly hurting for choice you know? She usually accepts a first or second-rank Adventurer… when she's not with one of the other gods. Ishtar doesn't have a problem with prostitution, but that doesn't mean she'd spare someone like us the time of day."

"Well, if you start to make a name for yourself, she may want to have a try," Mord said, asking for another mug. "Until then, want to visit the pleasure district tomorrow?"

"I thought you weren't going there for a while?" I asked. "What with your debt and all?"

"I can only work so much, you know?" Mord said, his voice absolutely serious. "Gotta relax sometimes too if I want to stay productive."

Around the table, both Scott and Guile nodded, their faces very serious as they agreed with their leader. Right, paying for sex was essential for keeping productivity… right.

Well, I had no desire to pay for sex, mostly because I wanted it to mean something… but to each their own I guess. Still, it was as good an excuse as any to get closer to Ishtar.

I had to test illusions with Loki before trying anything, but it would look less suspicious if I "joined" Ishtar familia after visiting their bordels a few times instead of just… out of the blue.

"Sure," I said. "I do have an unexpected couple of thousand valis burning a hole in my pouch."



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Thanks for my patrons : Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust) Comics, WanderingDaemon, GrumpyJustGrumpy, Travis cox, camarada fugu, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, Michael Neal, Felrook, NotableRonin, AjiTae, khepri, Louis Kasser, JVR, Joseph, Vegetables, Nisiris, Flashycow, Ryuda, Commander Miggs, Kaleb, Awais, Ty Tuttle, LordChoto, Allison Jolley, Phillip Webster, Glitched Knights, Robolo42, Zistrum, IrishxButter, Journeyman_Mike, Jason Langford, W01F, janember, AlthePal, Elia , Matthew D, rome33, Jesper Samso Birch, Austin, Pedro Belonia, Danny York, Joe Foreman, Duke, Kraxus, Invernos and Kristoffer for supporting my work!


If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon and Ko-Fi. You can support me for a single dollar.