C56: Returning to the dungeon, Pacing
Word count = 2466 on 3/24/2024
Starting to feel a bit better but I am still partially deaf in my left ear. Wrote all this today so im not feeling lethargic like last time at least. That was a one day incident.
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After all members of Axel's party gathered at his home, they sat down in the little backyard around a campfire[1]. Bell has a strange atmosphere about him but nobody really seems to notice except Axel. Welf on the other hand is curious as to why Axel just cut off contact for so long just after the siege. The chain-like markings are obvious on his forearms and martially visible on his neck but hard to actually make out.
Axel sits down with the group as he starts off by saying, "I apologize for not seeing anyone this past week. I had not been in a good condition."
"Was it because of Antares?" Mikoto asks but Axel shakes his head.
"I'm afraid the matter was more than that, I won't specify the exact nature of the issue but the end result is that I'm not nearly as strong as I was before. I can be considered to be closer to Bell's level now. Our LIttle Rookie." He says, teasing the white haired boy's title jokingly.
Their reactions are quite diverse but most of it is worried or confused while Welf and Bell are both angry about why Axel is weaker now.
"So what is with the new tattoos?" Ouka asks which calms the others down as they clearly remember that those didn't exist before.
"They are not tattoos. They are the chains which weaken me. And No, I currently do not possess the means to break them but I can assure you. I am still as hard to kill or defeat as before. I just have to be more creative in how I fight in the future. Bell, you have your knife on you?"
"Yes?" he answers nervously.
"Try to cut me" Axel holds out his arm to him.
"Huh, why?"
"Just do it, I want to reassure you all that I'm not just bluffing. We are safe here anyways so it's not like i'll be bleeding out or anything" He reassures him and Bell can only take out his Hestia Knife, the enchantments activating upon it being released from its hilt. Bell nervously pokes Axel's arm which produces a slight 'Ting' sound as if connecting with metal. This seems to reassure Bell as he slashes out only for a small cut to appear which quickly heals under everyone's eyes.
"There, you can all be happy now that everything shall remain the same. So what if a monster I previously beat now needs me to use a 2nd punch or finger flick. The water city was our limit before but only because we were pursuing Amphisbaena, we could have gone into the deep floors before but didn't. Not the Water city might be our limit but it's also a great place to train with it's variety of monsters."
"There is no change to our pacing at all but my own growth may slow down and Bell has a chance to surpass my speed, but we are still a team so that is not a bad thing. Or it might not change at all as I gained plenty of stats from Antares and my devouring ability has gotten even stronger. If Bell didn't kill-steal then It would have been better but I'm not going to complain about something that may happen by itself in the future." He gives a side eye to Bell who nervously gulps at that.
"So today will be our final rest day before we start a long term expedition to the water city. Prepare while you can. Welf and Bell. stick around if you could. I have some things to talk about with you both. If anyone else needs to talk then they are welcome to stick around for a bit as well" Axel says and roughly half the group leaves.
Mikoto says she wishes to have a review on gravity magic with him as well as another personal matter. Chigusa, Ouka, Lily and Daisy leave ahead of time. Granted Daisy hangs back until Welf also leaves.
"Welf, i wrote up a list of items that I hope you can help me get. It's for a personal project and not for the store but I am willing to pay for all of it myself." He hands over the list and Welf has a bit of a frown on his face. He mutters to himself.
"Several ores of mithril, Adamantite, Heroic Alloy, Damascus, Orichalcum, and Seiros. You really gave me a hefty shopping list. This will all also cost a lot, especially the Adamantite, Damascus and Orichalcum. Damascus itself isn't in Orario as it has to be actively purchased but the Hephaestus familia does have some contacts In Sharm[2]. While the other two are simply expensive due to their properties." Welf explains and Axel nods understanding and again clarifies that he will pay for it himself, he isn't poor afterall. Welf then takes his leave.
Mikoto steps forward next as there are only 3 of them left now. Her, Bell and Axel.
"I'll first speak about the other personal topic I wanted to discuss with you since you're both here and I'd like both of you to support me."
"I'll help" "Sure, I don't mind." Both Bell and Axel respond.
"Just before the Antares siege, I had learned that an old friend of mine from the Far East had showed up in Orario. She had reportedly been hanging around the Red light district of Orario. After the expedition, I'd like your help finding and getting into contact with her. I am unsure of how or why she is here and want to make sure she is safe."
"We will definitely find your friend" "Sounds simple enough. Go inside and wait for your lessons. The faster we finish our expedition, the faster we can find your friend" Their straightforward answers reassure Mikoto as she goes inside the house.
Bell has a determined expression on his face to help Mikoto when Axel wraps his arm around Bells neck and with a grin on his face he asks,
"Well Bell, how have things been going on between you and your goddess this past week? Did you take my advice?"
Bell breaks out of his grip and begins fidgeting like a startled rabbit, muttering all sort of nonsense before he finally calms down a bit. "I…I did. I told my goddess my feelings and she was happy. While you were away, we had gone on a date and…and..h..he…hel…held hands" He tries to sound confident but begins fidgeting out of nervousness as he finishes the sentence. Axel has a teasing smile on his face as he proclaims.
"Goodness Bell, hand holding on the first date, HOW LEWD. I'm not sure how your goddess can still retain the title of Virgin Goddess when you are so bold."
"EHHH. is it really that bad? Are we moving too fast?" Bell reacts with concern and slightly panics as Axel slightly raised his voice when he said 'how lewd'.
"Bell, she is already pregnant with your child, you should just go home and comfort her. Gods, I can't believe you've already gotten a god pregnant after not seeing you for a week." Axel keeps the train rolling by teasing him further that Bell becomes a mix of emotions and runs off. His face is a mix of Red and Blue with hints of black. Red due to the embarrassment of the topic, blue due to panic from the possibility of getting his goddess pregnant and black lines from the shock of it all. His speed gradually increases as his body slightly adjusts to keep up with his desires to return home.
"HA, HAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHA" Axel himself bursts out laughing as he couldn't keep a straight face anymore. Mikoto rushes out in a panic at what happened only to find Axel by himself and a dust cloud circling around the house.
It takes a few minutes for Axel to calm down as he has fallen over and rolled in the snow while laughing hysterically. Anyone would have assumed he was playing in the snow and having fun but the 6 foot stature of Axel makes that harder to tell.
"HAHA, HAH, ha, Ah, that was so funny. Bell is going to hate me later. But it was so necessary. " His words seem to explain enough of why Bell is gone so suddenly. "I'd like to start now please" Mikoto requests and Axel lets out a few more laughs as he follows Mikoto inside after knocking off the snow on him. He quickly changes his shirt so he isn't wet.
Soon enough the duo spend the next few hours reviewing gravity magic and a few realizations that Mikoto had gotten while in the dungeon before the siege. She reveals that she had gotten a skill after that which is called Gravity Magus. This skill essentially gives her more control over her existing gravity spell Futsunomitama so she no longer has to hurt her allies but is forced to still keep the pressure on herself. It's a small change but it's much better than before. Especially since its range and power has increased accordingly too.
After that, Axel finally got to test out his own strength and try out a few skills. He first learned that the range and compression of his gluttony has increased many times over. He plays around with it to create small 'spirit' animals but then focuses on turning it offensively and makes a long snake-like animal that is connected to him directly. Since its energy is not fully condensed into more physical matter, he cant outright smack something away but with the increased drain, he can easily kill monsters even better. [3]
Of course this doesnt mean that he is discarding his previous techniques like the cyclone or vortex punches. Those have also grown stronger and greater range but unlike the constructs, he doesnt get the full stats he should which is why he would retain the same range as before since that previous range was also originally too far for him but is not perfectly in range.
With his stats sealed but his limits not, he must maintain his diligence for when he can finally break the seal and unleash his true power. In the meantime, he must explore the full extent of what he can do with his powers and set up the Mantra inheritance ceremony. He only gave Welf the mineral based materials and will have to handle the rest himself or through other third parties.
The next day soon arrives as both Kaoruko and Raikou snuggle with him to show their support but also worry for him as he is still mortal by all technical standards and really should not have been sealed.
Before meeting up with his group, he drops by a popular dungeon material seller and gives them the other half of the list. He puts in a big order for it to be ready roughly when he should come out. He also left an advance payment when they gave him a total. He then ran off to meet up with his group.
They quickly enter the dungeon with people murmuring various things upon seeing Axel. Most of them are admiration. Granted with his armor on, they can't see the chain brand on him which is for the best. The group quickly bypasses the upper floors as Axel is not so weak that he falls behind this much. He is still level 4 afterall, and he was surprisingly able to absorb a small amount of stats from the stronger monsters there such as war shadows and killer ants but slightly more from the later upper floors like infant dragons, orcs and silverbacks.
They then proceeded to the middle floors on their way to Rivira. Axel's mind is not as vast as before. As such, they had to use most of the weaker monster cores to serve as the energy source for the campsite barrier which was the barrier type magic Axel used before during their journey to Amphisbaena. The group accepts this spendage except for Lily but Axel considers her a gremlin anyways so it is not considered a big deal anyways.
The early middle floors pass with relative ease. Their number does get a bit overwhelming since Axel does have to manage his shades a bit more and the fact that he is testing out his new gluttony techniques on the minotaurs, liger fangs and others.
His favorite apart from the spectral snake/dragon is the gluttonous mist which is where he loosely spreads out his gluttony aura around him or at least in a specific direction and then rapidly condenses it so that it attaches to anything or anyone within range. Rapidly absorbing their strength into gluttony clusters that he then absorbs back. This technique only works within range of his absorption and is slightly better than the vortex strikes.
A: because the vortex punch already has the twisting force and this makes it hard to concentrate on creating the clusters at the same time as there is a chance they would be broken apart anyways. B. Because the end point of the vortex strike has a tiny drop off point for absorption near the end. This means that it's is minorly less efficient than the clusters.
The group soon arrives at Rivira to rest up a bit before they continue onto the later middle layers.
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[1] So I messed up the environment a bit. A while ago when Axel went out on Antares quest it had started getting colder due to winter approaching and I had initially planned to have the first snowfall during the siege but forgor due to writing the fight scene. I'm sorry for weakening the story/atmosphere because of this.
As such, the first snow fell while Axel was asleep which is why they gathered around a campfire. They could have gone inside but where's the fun in that.
[2] Sharm is short for Steel Mining Country Sharm. A small country that only really sells Damascus for Blacksmiths. That is literally the only detail I have found on them unless there is more hidden in the various games and media of danmachi but i never played/watched them.
[3] For references on how the gluttony constructs might work. Look up either Dark Shadow from MHA or Dragon of Darkness Flame from Yu Yu Hakusho. Only application/design wise, does not have the exact same abilities. I think the dragon has some sort of soul or fire property, this is not that. Just gluttony reshaped for better concentration/power.