"Also please keep an eye out for a jackbird as well as the baby dragon since the drops and cores of those two monsters are worth a huge amount of money." weiss reminded to group diligently. the group nodded before heading down into the thirteen floor. this area was merely a long cave with many branching paths that all lead to the next floor. it should be noted that there were holes in the floor that allowed people to skip entire floors while heading down. the group didn't take those however since they wanted to get used to the new area.
Alex took the lead with ruby and blake on either of his sides an weiss with tsunade behind him while yang brought up the rear. this was the most optimal formation for their team since alex had the most ability to act as the main tank thanks to his various kekkai genkai. ruby and blake both acted as forward attackers thanks to their specialties while tsunade and weiss were long range spell casters normally. yang served as the secondary tank as well as the rear guard thanks to her penetrative strike and sheer stopping power making it well suited for her to ensure they always have a retreat option.
The first monsters they came across was four hell hounds and a single minotaur. the hell hounds spat fire and looked like large black dogs with red glowing eyes , while the minotaur was more bull than human looking but it did have a large stone sword it drug behind it as it walked. alex nailed the group of monsters with earth spikes killing them in burst of black smoke leaving only the drops. the group was lucky and managed to get a minotaur horn which could be used by the smiths to create things.
The rest of the middle floors weren't much different minus how there was far more minotaurs than any other kind of monster the further down they went. after reaching the end of the sixteenth floor the group headed back. once back to miach's the group discussed the groupings. it was decided that two groups of three was the optimal size until it was time to kill the goliath. the new groups consisted of alex , blake and weiss , ruby , yang and tsunade. a few weeks after the first dive to the middle floors alex got a sealing commission from the freya familia.
The information about how freya worked was fairly common knowledge in orario so if she showed any interest in someone she wasn't so indirect about it. none the less she was a whimsical individual prone to flights of fancy so if acted on such a whim while alex was there things could get ugly fast. the main reason for this was thanks to alex's apparent immunity to her divine charm. he discovered this when she was out in the city at one point and while everyone else seemed drawn to her alex felt nothing at all.
What alex didn't realize was that the reason for this was that with his aura active freya's charm bounced off of his shield since it was similar in function to a semblance. freya also hadn't noticed this since she had not seen alex when he saw her. after much discussing it was decided that alex would see what the familia wanted before deciding whether or not to go through with the request. the next day alex took the stairs up the stone tower of babel to the thirtieth floor which was the freya familia's territory.
The guards to the area verified that he was who he claimed to be before sending him up to meet freya herself on the top floor. he was watched the entire way up to the top floor of babel where the only level seven in orario ottar himself brought alex in. the man was a good seven feet and a half tall which dwarfed even alex by about half a foot. he seemed dead to the world at first glance but his eyes showed the caution he had as the person at the top of the world.
Freya sat on a plush couch with a glass of wine in one hand while she had a book surprisingly enough in the other. like usual she wad her hair braided at the front but loose at the back and wearing a black and red dress that left little to the imagination. "the black writer is here" ottar said his voice deep and rich. freya leisurely grabbed a silk ribbon from nearby and draped it over the book marking her place before setting the book down and turning to look at alex. astonishment showed on her face however when she saw that alex was unaffected by her.