C81: Coliseum and the Monster Horde
Overall Word count = 1635 on 5/13/2024.
(2/3. 3rd chapter will come later today)
Finn Deimne soon ends his thoughts as he begins to ask a question to Axel.
"Has your group cleared out the Coliseum?"
Axel shakes his head and he points forward, "my goal is to fight Udeaus before continuing further. I hope you haven't killed it yet"
Finn shakes his head, "How hard is it to just want to fight Udeaus, it takes 3 months for it to come back each time. Before our expedition, we had learned that there was still at least 3 weeks before its next revival. Which means that by now there should be 1 week until it comes back."
"I see. Though I did double check this information before we entered and was told that it would show up in at least 2 more days. I have no problem with waiting until then" Axel responds about the information he was told. Uncaring if they were to try to kill-steal the monster Rex as that is impossible. Aisha alone is already worth at least 2-3 Loki Executives power, much less the others who are capable of fighting above their levels thanks to both Nen and their rings.
"Good to know but we are already heading back. We had reached the 42nd floor this time around. We are short on supplies."
"Why the need to tell me this? You want us to share our resources?"
"No need. I was wondering if you would help us clear out the Coliseum before we left this floor. We did this before but it's likely they have all come back by now as the spawn rate of monsters there is abnormally high as always."
"Oh sure, since we got time to spare I don't see why not. It will be good for everyone." With the agreement set, everyone in the Loki Familia finishes material gathering and follows Finn and the other executives along with Axel's group towards the third room which is the warriors room. Everyone takes a side path that leads to a tower stone structure. After a few good staircases, they all end up at the top which looks to be some sort of viewing area. Axel and the rest of his group are surprised by the events of the Coliseum. Hundreds of monsters fighting amongst themselves.
Spartoi, Barbarians, Lizardmen, Obsidian Soldiers, Peluda and Loup Garou fighting amongst each other. Finn nods as he sees this. "It seems to still be in the first cycle which means there are no strengthened species or core eaters."
"What are the different cycles? Never heard of this before" Bell asks as he watches in amazement. The others nod at his question.
Riviera Ljos Alf steps forward to answer as she states, "We only have 3 recorded cycles as anything more could spell grave danger to all adventurers. The first is what you see here, hundreds of monsters all fighting amongst each other. The second introduces variant monsters who sometimes have a few that begin to eat the various monster cores scattered around to increase their strength. By this point the monster's numbers have been reduced to around 100. The third stage culls this number further until there are roughly 20 variant monsters that have already gorged upon tons of cores. They devour any new monsters created. Their individual strength is quickly reaching the level of rex's. It is too much of a threat to allow them to grow further."
"Naruhodo, Naruhodo. Definitely sounds like an interesting place to be. I almost wish it would reach the 4th stage. Would be an interesting sight."
"Are you crazy? Did you not hear what vice Captain Riveria said, they are comparable to monster rexs. It's crazy to fight 20 of them at once." A new slightly higher pitched voice pitches in suddenly. Axel and co turn around to look at an elf girl wearing a white dress with a reddish-pink corset dress. She wears a silver barrette in her hair and she wields a staff called the Forest teardrop (Pre-Filvis fight as that part of Sword Orario hasn't happened yet)[1].
"Lefiya" Riviera harshly calls out to the girl. Meanwhile Axel just grins which puts everyone who sees it from the Loki familia into a somber mood as if facing a powerful beast.
"To answer your question, young lady. I am crazy. I fought the goliath by myself at level 2. Amphisbaena and Antares at level 3. Finished off Antares at level 4. Now I'm level 5 and Udeaus is next. I am not lacking in strength but in worthy challenges. Which is why I don't mind if there are more rexs. It sounds like fun." His words seem to terrify the young and naive elf as she witnesses what insanity is. She steps back to hide behind her teammates.
Riviera and Finn just shake their heads as they themselves learn that Axel is truly crazy but his strength and growth makes it possible for him to not be deterred by his own actions.
"Ok, ok. How do we get down? I doubt your level 2 members will survive a fall of this height" Aisha pitches in as she is excited to fight all these monsters. She can tell that Axel did something to accelerate their growth but no idea what. Regardless, her battle desire has been greatly sparked as she makes her desire known.
"This way" Ais Wallenstein states as she walks along the stadium wall before arriving at another set of stairs that leads to both an entrance and a staircase that leads deeper.
"The area below serves as a safe zone since no monsters spawn there and there is fresh water." Finn states as half his people go there to restock their water supply and rest while the other half prepares to fight the coliseum monsters.
Axel waves for his group to move in while he stays back to observe. The Loki executives and second string move forward as well under Finn's command. The two groups of people attract plenty of monster attention as they ignore their original opponents to chase after the two groups.
The obsidian soldiers are large misshapen golems made out of black rock which provides them high defense and resistance to magic but with few actual mages in the entire group, these creatures are steamrolled in every encounter.
Loup Garou are 10 ft tall humanoid monsters with wolf-like heads. They wield white stone daggers or giant stone clubs. They are also pack creatures which make them more of a danger. Aisha can defeat them one on one but struggles with anything more as they occupy her full attention as she holds back to not use her transformation. She at most uses her normal nen to boost her combat power by coating her sword in nen.
Welf and Ouka are working together to take down the various beasts with Ouka defending and Welf attacking. Mikoto uses her magic to control the battlefield as she weakens the various monsters or kills them under the gravity effect since her teammates are no longer in danger from her. Her sword which is also lined with gravity magic thanks to the lessons from Axel have proven to help her cut through the Garou and other monsters with greater ease.
The greatest threat here is the Paluda which is a sizable green dragon with porcupine-like poisonous spikes on its back that it can shoot out. These poisons can overpower the typical abnormal resistance Development ability which is why Finn Deimne himself went after one while Axel picked up a pebble and flicked it at the dragon. The rock shatters as it pierces through it's wings which cause it pain and to make it fall off the wall. This opens it up to Gareth Landrock to deliver the finishing blow upon it's neck. It takes a while but with the entire set of executives and second string along with Axel's team, they are finally able to end the entire threat of the Coliseum, for now.
Hundreds of monster cores are scattered around as the weaker members that hung back here begin to collect them while leaving the area where Axel's group fought alone for Lily to collect.
Both groups then move to an underground area to rest. Finn sends strange glances at Lily but makes no move. His motives split as on one hand he is ecstatic to see a powerful female Pallum as that means that they could be the right one to be his partner but on the other, he recognizes that she is constantly gushing over her 'Bell-sama' and thus is stuck on a standstill on how to proceed [2].
Axel himself has been laid back as he wants his team to become stronger first before he improves his own strength. The reason for that is that everyone will be able to continue on further and thus he won't have to be alone when he accelerates his own growth. Besides, he is confident that Udeaus would help him reach level 6 or at least close to it.
Based on his assumption, he should be around E level stats from all the monsters they have fought. He has been gaining stats due to the very same reason his team has also been growing quickly.
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[1] For those that don't know, Sword Orario at the very least begins after the 3rd season where the Xenos are showcased. If you have been paying attention then you would realize that I did make mention of the Ikelos familia hunting a Vouivre but to no avail. It's because the area where the Loki familia fights Filvis is in Knossos which means that it must be discovered first.
[2] Not to mention that technically they are brother and sister from their past lives.