Chapter 24 – Expedition Start and Rivira
"Three Hellhounds on the right, Sirius."
"On it."
Separating from our small unit, I enchanted my legs with stellar magic, swiftly appearing before the small group of Hellhounds.
Having spun during my leap, I added the additional force from my rotational motion to carve off two Hellhound heads in one clean swing.
As it turns out, anime-inspired spin slashes and dashes actually have a use when you are powered by fantasy-type things such as magic and a falna.
Facing the last Hellhound, I easily dodge its fire magic attack thanks to my newly increased Magic Sense ability, using the moment of vulnerability to pierce through its throat, ending the last of the monsters.
Fighting in a group is much easier than fighting alone, though I value the training being a lone wolf brings me.
With the expedition force being focused on speed rather than hunting on these lower floors, and with the reassurance of having my strong Familia members ready to jump in when needed, I was able to attempt a more efficient, although reckless, style of fighting.
And for these lower floors, it works great!
Surprise the enemy with a quick slash, kill whatever is left with a swift counter, and if there are more enemies, jump back and do it again, or have my fellow Familia members finish off the beast.
Being in a group with Alise, Ryuu, and Celty, all with exceptional long-range magic attacks, I was able to show off and get into the groove of things with these floors.
Hurriedly picking up the magic stones and returning to the group, I'm met by the impressed expressions of the three girls.
Continuing our sprint, Alise looks back with a wide grin on her face.
"Great job, though at this point it's to be expected. You're practically made for adventuring! And look, even that dog and the rest of his Familia are impressed!"
Looking over my shoulder toward the center of the group, I see the 'dog' in question, Bete Loga. His face wearing an expression of surprise, guilt, and, envy?
Why envy? He's stronger than me, isn't he? Oh well, not my problem, he's still an asshole.
As for the rest of the Familia, the 'top four' of Finn, Riveria, Gareth, and Ais are all staring at me intently, intrigue and curiosity radiating off the three veterans and Ais only showing an emotion I can think of as hunger.
Scary. What a scary child.
I'm broken out of my thoughts by Ryuu.
"Sirius, we're coming toward the 16th floor. The new monsters that show up are Lamia Mormos and Wyvern, be careful and watch how others fight them before engaging, got that?"
I show a small smile at the Elf's stern words filled with kindness.
"Of course. Anything of note coming up?"
"You will be guarding the team attacking the Goliath so they don't get surrounded, after the 17th floor we will be fighting as a group more than now where you are essentially the only fighter."
"All right."
Now, as I stated before, I love my lone-wolf approach to the dungeon, but thinking of fighting with these girls, finally having barely enough strength to be in a team, fills me with intense joy.
Disregarding the warmth spreading through my chest, I focus my attention on my surroundings.
The 17th floor is unfamiliar territory, with new monsters, landmasses, and tactics. A completely foreign experience is what lies ahead.
And unlike my usual approach where I systematically find the best ways to defeat each monster, map out the landmass, and slowly but surely become adept at clearing the floor, this time I have no time for such a methodical approach.
So I have to learn, and do so fast, ensuring that I do not endanger myself or slow down the group.
Leaving the staircase, I'm met with a vast rocky plain with numerous small hills, quite an amazing sight to see.
Although the terrain is essentially the same for the entire cave labyrinth area of the dungeon, this floor does not have nearly as many large hills and mountains, making the floor's visibility immense.
Due to this new landscape, the expedition force can now take a direct route to the next floor, making much faster progress and not fighting as many monsters.
After a couple of minutes of running, I eventually spot monsters up ahead, close enough to the expedition's path to need to be taken out.
Pointing out the monsters to Ryuu, and receiving a nod in response, I break off from the expedition group to defeat the threat.
My opponents this time are two Minotaurs and a Wyvern, although it's rare to see groups of multiple monster species, it does happen.
The Minotaurs are no problem to deal with, their slow, strength-focused build is easy to manage and I have ample experience against them.
No, the problem is the Wyvern.
An equal level of strength and speed, using its sharp claws and large maw to deal attacks, those in themselves are of no consequence.
The big issue is its ability to fly.
Although Celty, Ryuu, and Alise all have long-range attacks that make this monster's flight ability nothing but a cool trick, I want to defeat it myself, and I can't defeat the monster once it gets in the air.
Solution?
Kill it before it can make a single flap of its wings.
This being my first encounter with a Wyvern, I can't rely on hearsay or I might underestimate the monster, I can only trust what I have experienced myself.
So going for a one-shot kill is not the way to go, after all, I do not know its durability or weak points.
Though I can still make it unable to fly by targeting its wings.
Willing stellar magic into my legs, I launch myself toward the enemy.
Before it could understand the situation, the Wyvern had already lost one of its wings.
Hearing the monster cry out in pain, or maybe anger? I circle its back, using its body as cover to ambush the Minotaurs.
Finding my target, I step forward, aiming my sword toward the first Minotaurs neck, taking off its head and killing it instantly.
The second Minotaur, now staring at me, won't be so easy without the element of surprise, but still won't be a problem. After all, I've taken out a bunch of these guys on the 15th floor.
Dodging its punch, I slash through its leg in return, making it topple forward in its unbalanced state.
Not giving the monster time to recover, I race toward its head, piercing my sword through its skull, leaving only ash and a magic stone behind.
Facing the Wyvern, I see what I can only describe as anger in its eyes.
How odd, could this be the increased intelligence in some monsters the deeper you go in the dungeon?
Breaking me out of my thoughts, the Wyvern jumps forward with its jaw wide open, attempting to take me out with one vicious bite.
Deftly dodging the attack, I take advantage of the opportunity given on a silver platter and slash its neck, decapitating the beast.
It seems that the neck and wing are weak points for Wyverns, not great for the monster since it attacks with its head and uses flight to get the upper hand.
Taking the magic stones, I run to catch up with the expedition force, my group waiting for me near the back, ready to support me if needed.
Once back in formation, Alise compliments my battle.
"Nice job Sirius, especially with that Wyvern, I was sure we would need to kill it for you but you took out its wing right away!"
"Thanks, Alise, I didn't want to rely on you guys until after the 18th floor."
Ryuu then turns to me with a small smile. Man, sometimes I forget just how beautiful she is.
"You're doing great, Sirius. With your constant progress, I don't doubt you will have a more active role on our next expedition."
Ah, not only attractive in appearance but in heart as well, yup, I'm definitely in love.
"Thanks, Ryuu."
----- 2 Hours Later -----
"Finish it Ais!"
Hearing the order, I look back to see the Sword Princess deal the final blow to the Goliath, using what appears to be a wind enchantment to deal a fatal slash to its neck.
The 16th and 17th floors were dealt with swiftly at a constant agile pace through the rocky plains until we arrived at the stairs to the 18th floor, which also happens to be the Goliath's lair, the monster rex of the 17th floor that must be killed to continue through the dungeon.
While some level 3's of the Loki Familia battled the monster in hopes of levelling up, the Astraea Familia, including me, defended the group from being surrounded, killing all the monsters that attempted to join in the fight.
Unsurprisingly, there weren't many that tried to interrupt, after all a group fighting the level 4 Goliath would have no problem dealing with the level 2 monsters that roam the 17th floor.
Though it seemed that the level 3's weren't able to finish the job alone, hence Ais' participation, or maybe the battle-hungry girl was just tired of waiting around, from what I remember she likes killing monsters, like, a lot.
Seeing that the battle has ended, I turn to Alise, who is currently stretching her hips.
Wow, fantasy girls are really something else.
No! Bad Sirius! You have Ryuu! Well, almost, but calm thine libido!
"Ahem, captain, what are we doing now?"
"Hmm? Well, once we get to the 18th floor a couple of people will notify Rivira that we killed the Goliath while the rest will start setting up camp."
"Ok, so the people in Rivira will then notify the guild?"
"Yeah, that's one part of it, the other people who get notified are adventurers who can get to the 18th floor or beyond but can't kill the Goliath, they're essentially trapped here until someone stronger clears it."
That makes sense. After all, adventurers can get through the middle floors at level 2, in groups of course, but you need at least a strong level 4 or multiple levels 3's to kill the Goliath.
It goes to show how important it is to plan your dungeon dives with monster rex spawns, they can seriously mess up your plans.
Ryuu steps forward while sheathing her sword.
"While the 18th floor is not the worst place to get trapped, the city is really expensive, so it is best to bring camping equipment once you begin exploring past the 17th floor."
"Ah, I see."
After the combatants heal any injuries, the expedition force then makes their way toward the stairs at a much more leisurely pace than before, now without the threat of monsters.
Exiting the stairs, I am greeted by quite an amazing sight.
A large dome surrounds the 18th floor, with an extremely high ceiling filled with dazzling crystals shining light onto the floor, a group of white crystals near the center and blue crystals surrounding it, resembling a clear sky.
From what I've read, at night the lights from the crystals fade to only show several illuminated crystals, simulating a day and night cycle that coincides with above ground.
Large forests and lakes cover the floor, with hills and grasslands dotting the land. Blue crystals of various sizes pervade the forests, reflecting the light from above and giving the woods a mystical pale blue glow.
In the center of the floor stands a ginormous tree, reaching high into the imitated sky.
At the base of this great tree, wooden walls surround the dungeon city of Rivira.
Rivira is a town operated by adventurers and not managed by the guild, where many item trades, both legal and illegal, take place.
It houses a few residents and multiple inns and bars, all being extremely expensive, mostly due to how costly it is to transport materials down this deep in the dungeon.
"Pretty, isn't it?"
I glance to my side where Alise is looking over the floor with an expression of excitement and wonder, I'm curious if I'm wearing a similar face.
"It is. Are you going to Rivira?"
"Nah, Braver is gonna deal with that, it's an uncomfortable place for us with all the shady dealings going on, and they don't like us that much, you know, Orario's police force and all."
"Yeah, I get that."
"Good! Now, let's get camping, we girls wanna take a bath and it's hard to set up in the night."
And so, we made camp for the night, although we set up near the Loki Familia, there was a clear distinction between the two camps.
I, of course, had my own personal tent, while the other girls had bigger tents that housed four each, one per team.
While finished the preparations, we also went over the guard duties. In the dungeon, you must always be guarding the camp, even though we are only camping in safe zones.
While monsters don't spawn on these floors, they can move from the floor above, though that happens rarely.
The biggest threat is other adventurers, while there are many adventurers like Astraea, Ganesha, and Loki Familias that use their blessed powers for good, there is an equal amount that uses them for evil.
The girls eventually start to discuss who will take a bath first, I offer to watch the camp and get started on dinner so they can all go together.
Watching them all excitedly grab their toiletries and head into the forest, I light the campfire while wondering what I will do for my hygiene, I guess I'll have to wait for the girls to finish up and ask where I can bathe.
----- Ryuu POV -----
Done washing my legs, I quickly lower my body into the water, covering my breasts.
In my homeland of Ryumilua, a woman isn't meant to show their naked body to anyone but their husband, even fellow women.
Although I have long since forsaken such outdated thinking, it is still embarrassing to brazenly show off my body like Alise and Kaguya so easily do, and god forbid a man sees me in such a state.
A rustle of leaves immediately sends me on edge.
Is it an attacker? A pervert peeping on us? But who would know we were bathing here?
N-No! Sirius?
My entire body heats up as I think of his seeing me, no, us like this. Followed by a wave of anger.
Of course, it seems the man has finally succumbed to his carnal desires, taking our collective moment of weakness to spy on our exposed selves. Despicable!
Before I could spiral further into my thoughts, I see the source of the disturbance come into view in the form of Nine Hells Riveria of the Loki Familia along with her fellow Familia members.
"Astraea Familia, I hope you don't mind our intrusion."
Alise responds.
"Ah! It's you guys! Of course, there's plenty of room!"
Oh, so it wasn't Sirius. Good, I would have needed to punish him otherwise.
The girls of the Loki Familia then make their way into the lake, with Alise once again sparking conversation with her loveable personality.
She really is amazing, how she can light up a room with her words, thinking of all the times she's brought me out of despair always sends a warmth through my chest.
"So these are the Amazon twins I've heard so much about! Getting to level 4 at that age is amazing!"
With that, Alise starts talking with the members of the Loki Familia, one of the Amazoness twins showing a similar cheerful nature to our captain.
It seems that the girl, Tiona, is it? Is also interested in Iska. Makes sense, considering that there are not many Amazoness adventurers in Orario, if you exclude the Ishtar Familia that is.
Time passes and conversation continues as I try to relax, savouring what will likely be the last bath until we return from the battle with Balor.
That is until I overhear some words of interest.
"Speaking of new members, Sirius is quite impressive."
Where is Riveria going with this? If she's trying to poach him I'll need to put a stop to that.
"Yep! He's pretty amazing. To think he hasn't been adventuring for even a year and he's already dominating the 15th floor, he didn't even look out of place on the 17th floor either."
It seems Alise has a lot of praise for Sirius. Thinking about that, an odd feeling arises in my stomach, a feeling of unease and emptiness, as a pout unconsciously forms on my face.
"Yes, once again I'm extremely sorry for Bete's words. He, has his reasons for being so angry, though that isn't an excuse for what he said."
"Ehh, it's fine. It motivated Sirius pretty well and I think Bete understands that he's anything but 'weak'."
"Indeed, though I have to ask, isn't your Familia only female? For what reason did you allow Sirius to join you?"
"Ehm, we trust him, unlike most male adventurers he isn't vulgar or anything, and we know he truly cares about us like family."
I then see Alise looking over at me. Once our eyes meet, a large grin begins adorning her face.
No! That's her teasing grin!
"In fact, even Ryuu is fond of him. I still remember how she got drunk one night and-"
"Stop!"
Before she can finish I jumped towards her and covered her mouth.
How dare she expose my most shameful moment!
"M-My apologies, Riveria, but we must take our leave, we still have dinner to make."
Ignoring the tingling sensation of feeling Alise struggle in my grasp, I drag her to the edge of the lake as the rest of the girls finish their baths.
I then feel a hot and wet sensation on my palm, startling me to let go of Alise.
"Eep!"
"Hahaha, Ryuu, you must really not want to share your special night with anyone, do you?"
The memories flash through my consciousness, followed by an intense wave of shame.
"S-S-Shut up, Alise!"
""Hahaha.""
Hearing a chorus of chuckles, I look up to see the entire Familia laughing at my plight.
In humiliation, I turn away and sink into the water enough to cover my face, hiding away from the world.
"How embarrassing."