C44: Great Forest Labyrinth, Reaching The Water City
Word count = 1410 on 2/29/2024
(Sorry for the late chappy again. Getting easily distracted lately)
Axel swings out his gluttonous vortex punches a few more times to clear up the next few waves of monsters that come charging in as the random adventurers of Rivira as well as the lower caste members of the Loki Familia clear up. It is around this time that Ais Wallenstein and her team which includes Bete Loga as well as the Hyrule sisters who were deeper in the cave charges out and rejoins their familia to rest a bit and give their report.
Finn Deimne explains how Axel and his group came to the towns rescue as they were starting to be overrun, granted he himself had not made a move yet but he doesnt mention that. They give their thanks but only really Tiona speaks out.
"Neh, Neh, titan. You're strong aren't you? Wanna spar for a bit." she proposes to Axel before her sister starts dragging her away, "didn't you just hear, they just got down here and didn't even have a chance to rest before they saved our bacon" "I want bacon" Tiona's actions let everyone relax a bit with some laughter.
Axel's group stays in Rivira for a day to rest up properly as well as help with the garrison, Bell and Ais also had a chance to spar with each other at some point, granted he admits nothing under the groups interrogation for him disappearing for roughly 2 hours and coming back bruised and covered in dirt.
Axel himself had also sparred with Tiona like she wanted and while the match ended in a draw, Tiona had obviously not gone all out and all the Loki members could tell that she wanted to simply fight another person who also fought with their fists. The two martial artists showcased how destructive power they had as the nearby forest is broken down into a crater since Axel gets stronger the more his hits connect while Tiona gets stronger the more she gets hit. Her power scaling is not as heavy as Axels' but his skill is a development berserk skill while her's is a proper skill. Which means her scaling is better but she has a limit unlike Axel who really doesnt, except that he started with a lower starting base since he is still level 3 while Tiona is level 5.
Axel had also not used his asuran arms for the fight which nobody told her about except Finn but only after the group had left to finally go deeper into the dungeon. Tiona would stomp her feet in annoyance for the day as she proclaimed she would have a rematch later.
Axel's group began to break through the great tree labyrinth and naturally encountered more bugbears, battle boars and lizardmen with the most annoying for the group being the mad beetle because only Axel could outright defeat it while others had their weapons bounce off. Only Bell could scratch it with his special knife. Everyone had to rely more on Axel's pre-provided magic rings to sometimes break through enclosures.
Axels has had more chances to test out his skills and created another 2. The first is the gluttonous cloud where Axel disperses his gluttony aura loosely in a sort of bubble then throws that at a monster where it will stick onto it until it dies.
The other technique is the grave buster, he taps the floor through any part of his body, typically his foot and he spreads out through the ground like shadows before stabbing upwards in blade like appendages. This is a clever usage of parasyte and gluttony as he can now share their properties though only small bits like sharpness, flexibility and form changing from parasyte. Draining and aura like state from gluttony. Shockwaves and overlapping from shades.
Then finally enhanced power for all forms from the asuran state. The asuran state itself acts as a multiplier for parasytes limbs which means more spears/stabby thingies from grave buster. Coupled with elf shades, each individual limb can create shockwaves which ultimately makes 'grave buster' Axel's new monster horde clearing move as it's fairly simple in actuality, but complex in mind expenditure. Axel barely breaks even from absorbing everything from monsters and has to exert a bit more mind as they go further down since the monsters are quite a bit stronger.
20th floor and new monsters once again show up here. Creatures that typically show up on the 22st or lower floors are making their appearance which includes Sword stags, and Deadly Hornets. The room also opens up more so Mammoth Fools can now show up properly as due to their size, they are one of the few monsters not able to enter Rivira due to their large size. They also have to be more careful as Dark Fungus are lying about and one of the few monsters who isn't rushing around like the others. Perhaps they are able to draw more strength by embedding themselves into the forest-like terrain of the current dungeon zone.
21st floor, Nothing new here, just more monsters for Axel and team to take down. Lilly is complaining again about not getting rest after so many fights. Calling Axel a Tyrant. Not at all paying her any mind, he allows the group to rest anyways but only due to Welf getting injured by a sword stag. He sets up another temporary safe zone just like last time. As they force Welf to chug down a potion and bandages on his arm which got a cut a few inches deep that they could almost see bone. Luckily it didn't hit any major nerve or vein otherwise Axel would have to unveil Illya's talismans. Axel had to extend their rest time to properly let the arm heal and he did that by leaving the bubble area and just spamming the grave buster or the vortex punch a few times to absorb mind. More so vortex punch since it's much less mind intensive.
They rested there for a few hours until Welf could finally recover. They had to use a greater potion which was luckily enough to heal the final damage to the arm but axel was about to slap Welf with the talisman if it didn't work.
They finally entered the 22nd and then 23rd floor with little changes to their fights. With the fear his teammates would get injured again, he settled for using his shades more to protect his team more. The parasyte shade being one of the better defenders after it receives a buff from the asura shade.
When they reached the 24th floor, the gang got surrounded by bee monsters created by the bloody hive that shoots out deadly hornets in droves. The gang had to retreat with Axel handling the nest by himself as the hornets can't touch him. Bell serves as the main agile defender of the group with Welf and Ouka managing the shield business to protect everyone else In the stairway up.
The bloody nest has been heavily strengthened by Antares' presence that Axel is getting annoyed and is just sending out flame waves one after the other until he kills the surrounding Hornets so that he can finally destroy the nest. He tells his group to book it as they all sprint over to the next floor which is the last of the great tree labyrinth.
They luckily didn't encounter another bloody hive but there were a few random swarms of Hornets so those had to be taken care off. The group is using their fire rings more often even though that can serve as a hazard if the forest catches on fire. Granted everyone is tired of the forest already. They encounter a few Moss Hughs', metal rabbits, and hobgoblins throughout the 25th floor. Which is strange since they are typically on the 24th but none were seen then.
The group finally reaches the 26th floor and collapse as they see the water city. The giant waterfalls are the indicator of the next zone. There is a complete lack of people here as it was hell just getting here which would naturally make anyone not be able to make it except them. As such, they take the brief new break they can to rest up in shifts as they have a long climb down to hopefully reach Axel's goal for this adventure. Amphisbaena.