MysticHater420
Know what you're doing yet?
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I doubt anyone is gonna want a potion that makes their aging process retarded
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Like a Dungeon Crawler (Yakuza/Danmachi, Celestial Grimoire)
- Thread starter Ebiris
- Start date
The Dude
Verified Not Jeff Bridges
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Honestly, this is an incredibly Heroic use for this kind of power.
Giving the unexpectedly deceased one final day to tie up lose ends, say goodbye, and/or name their killers is the kind of thing you expect from good-aligned Clerics who can't/won't just resurrect them.
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Ebiris
Making the rounds.
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Yeah, I'm kind of glad the undead raising spells have that timer on them, it makes them feel a lot less problematic.
Though I did toy with the idea of adding an undead hero to the party, bringing back someone like Alise or Alfia would surely have consequences, but once you start doing that where do you stop? It being a much more time-limited ability helps keep it more focused. Also I'm working off the assumption that in Danmachi metaphysics, you can't make an intelligent undead out of a corpse who's soul has already been reincarnated (I also think this is what stops Fels' resurrection spell from ever working in canon other than that one time with Weine where it was shortly after her death and outside of the Dungeon which presumably would've recycled her soul immediately if she were there).
Chapter 16
New
Ebiris
Making the rounds.
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"I still can't get over what she said back there."
"Huh?" Ichiban glanced over at Rina. The group were making their way down into the Dungeon, finding it surprisingly quiet. No monsters had spawned on them, nor had they seen any while traversing the first few floors. It felt like the Dungeon was resting after the stampede to breach the exit… he wondered if it felt grateful to them for dealing with the threat posed by that 'dragon of death'.
"Filvis," Rina gestured vaguely with her free hand, axe resting over her shoulder and held by the other. "About Lord Dionysus crying and being told to get back to work. It's like… I'm trying to imagine Lady Ishtar as an office worker and my brain's rejecting it."
Naaza nodded to herself. "I can't picture it either. Would she be wearing a uniform like the Guild employees?" she asked, her tone disbelieving of those things fitting together.
That drew a laugh from Rina. "Oh wow, imagine her in one of those cute little waistcoats and bow ties… imagine Lord Miach in that!"
They all kept walking a few paces before they realised Naaza had stopped dead in her tracks. "Uh, you okay back there, Naaza?" Ichiban turned to look at the dog-girl staring slack-jawed into space, her tail wagging behind her.
She shook off whatever mental image had her so fascinated and hurried to catch up. "We need uniforms for the pharmacy," she declared with sudden resolve. "Something professional, so the Dian Cecht familia can't call us scruffy looking any longer."
"I didn't really understand the fuss at first," Pearl opined as she lumbered ahead of them. "But honestly this thing's really grown on me. Put a cat in its proper place!" she tugged at the fearsome leonine mane covering up her… well, between the size and the green hue there was an obvious word to use, but Ichiban studiously drew his brain away from thinking about a pigeon turned chimeric abomination in those terms.
"What about you Ichiban, you like a uniform?" Rina asked, the casual conversation continuing with the complete lack of any monsters to fight.
He thought about it. Certainly he'd seen enough of prison guard uniforms, but a childhood memory bubbled up and he smiled at the nostalgic feelings that came with it. "Actually, there was one I really liked when I was a kid. The workers at the arcade wore these really colourful uniforms with bright red and blue shirts, with yellow collars and green pockets… it was so loud, you'd never see anything like it these days, but I always thought it'd be cool to be able to wear that outfit and play around with the arcade games all day, helping people with the UFO catcher…" he trailed off, realising he'd probably have to explain a few terms now.
"That sounds incredibly garish," Naaza didn't even ask what a UFO catcher was, she just fixed right in on how bad that uniform must look.
"It sounds like the kind of thing a kid would like," Rina added. "You're older than any of us, but you're really immature, aren't you Ichiban?"
That's what he gets for being sentimental. He should have just said something about pencil skirts. "Ahhh, gimme a break," he groaned, "A girl looks best when she's wearing something that expresses her personality, not just a set uniform!"
"Oh, now that feels like something a dad would say," Rina teased, showing that he just couldn't win.
"We weren't even talking about girls. Dirty-minded old man," Naaza seconded, narrowing her eyes at him.
He prayed that the Dungeon would send some monsters at them if only to escape from this awkward conversation, but once more it proved its evilness by leaving him to suffer the teasing of a pair of younger women. He didn't even have Yankimaru around to offer his typical silent but unwavering support!
When they finally made it to Rivira they found they weren't the first ones to have made it down, as other adventurers had been concerned over how the Under Resort had weathered the Dungeon uprising and booked it down there without the same casual pace they were making along with Pearl's large but lumbering strides.
It had taken a few attacks but the monsters had mostly been concerned with getting further up rather than besieging the settlement, though understandably its population was freaked out by the whole mess. Not so freaked out they didn't try to charge an arm and a leg for room and board, but since they were all pretty flush with cash right now the cost was easily borne.
Pearl still had to sleep outside the gates like she'd done last time, and while Yankimaru wasn't there to guard her by now Ichiban was pretty confident she'd be fine. She missed out on dinner, but she'd been snacking on all the magic stones they'd found around the tenth floor presumably where the death aura had seeped into the Dungeon, so she was fine.
"I wonder how Filvis is doing," Naaza mused as the three of them sat down to eat. "It must be strange, knowing exactly how long you have, and knowing exactly what it's like on the other side."
"Yeah. Heaven is a waiting room, huh? I'd say it's weird to know that much, but I guess you've had gods hanging around and telling you all that stuff for years?" Ichiban asked.
Rina nodded as she cut up her steak, "People used to have no idea, but the gods didn't really hide anything after they came down so it's just something everyone takes for granted. You die, the gods recognise the deeds that went into your life, and then they send you on to be reborn in another life. Still sounded, um… a bit more grandiose than a waiting room and an office. Like Lady Ishtar says she has a grand temple, but I wonder if that's the same as saying you have a nice house over there?"
As they talked, Ichiban felt a new ability make itself known. He wasn't going to run out of his not-pokeballs now, something that apparently would apply to any kind of weaponised consumable. Sadly not healing potions, little as he really needed them. A way to duplicate those regeneration potions Naaza had created would've been really nice though.
He put it aside to focus more on the conversation. "Honestly I kind of expected Dionysus to get in more trouble than just being told to get back to work, he basically tried to end the world, didn't he?"
"Maybe they didn't realise what he'd done? If they were two weeks behind on processing souls it sounds like they'd be out of touch… although I bet when Thanatos returned he would've kicked up a stink," Naaza said, a slight smile on her face as she imagined the troublesome 'evil gods' appealing to uncaring bureaucratic supervisors.
"Forget about them," Rina gestured with her knife at the pair of them, "Thinking about Filvis again, what would you do if you knew for sure you only had until the next day to live?" she looked back and forth quizzically for their thoughts on this topic.
Ichiban looked down at his bowl of meat and dumplings and smiled as he remembered his last meal before prison. "Dying's probably different, you'd want to tell everyone you care about how you love them and not to miss you, but I remember when I agreed to go to prison for the family and I had a little bit of free time before I turned myself in. Went and stuffed my face with beef bowl. You've got to enjoy good food while you can," he concluded with authority. "I'd want to eat all my favourites before I go."
Naaza looked off, expression even more distant than usual. "I thought about it when I lost my arm in the Dungeon, I wasn't sure if we'd even make it out. I just wanted to see Lord Miach one last time and thank him for everything."
Both of them looked expectantly at Rina now for her thoughts on the subject she'd brought up, seeing that she'd slumped a bit in her chair. "Too serious. I was going to say how I'd spend it being pampered by oiled up men with big muscles." Sighing she cut into her steak and held up a chunk of meat on her fork. "I guess good food would go with it," she added, biting into her morsel.
He wondered if she had anyone she loved that she'd want to spend her last moments with. It was kind of sad to think about, though he noticed Naaza was giving her a far more scathing look. "Maybe Pearl would be more on your level," she suggested, clearly not thinking much of the amazon's self-indulgent last wish.
"You know," she waggled her fork back at Naaza, undeterred by the put-down, "That pigeon's probably seen more friends die than any of us, I wouldn't discount her opinions. I bet she already lives every day like it's going to be her last. So long as she can gorge on nuts or magic stones she'll be happy. It really does come down to filling your belly, doesn't it?"
"That's what I'm saying. And what's better than eating with friends, right?" Ichiban smiled at the pair of them to try and liven the mood. "We should think about where we want to take the xenos tomorrow too, let them try some fine dining."
"That'll be a fright for the wait staff!" Rina laughed. "Are we really just going to drag them around Orario like tourists?"
"Well yeah," he chuckled, more imagining the reactions of the xenos to the outside world than the reactions they'd get from the public. "Get people used to seeing them doing normal stuff around town. I figure in a world with cat people and dog people, someone like Ray is basically just a bird person. It'll be rougher for the ones that can't talk or look more frightening, but that's why we'll start off with a group. Let the more personable ones take the lead and it'll help the rest by association."
Naaza hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe if they complete some quests it'll help people see them working to benefit Orario. They'll need to earn money after all," she suggested.
"Oh yeah, you already gave them a quest. How much you paying for that again?" Rina asked with a catty smile.
The dog-girl gave her a dully unimpressed look back. "I paid them in advance with a lot of magic stones, it's a good deal for both sides," she insisted.
"I guess we'll see tomorrow who got their money's worth…" the amazon pondered as the three finished their meals and went to bed.
Mercifully there were no murders or monster attacks or other drama when they got up the next day, leaving with Pearl who'd spent her time not singing for the wonder and amusement of others, but instead lecturing the guys near the gates on how people need to be really careful where they walk because even if you're not planning on stepping on someone it can look like that and it's a pain to have to fly away and then come back to where you were hanging out.
She then nearly knocked down the gate with her tail when she turned around to stomp along towards the stairs with Ichiban and his party. Honestly he was amazed she hadn't caused more property damage in Orario just by walking around.
The nineteenth floor when they reached it was of course another testament to the kind of devastation Pearl could unleash. Scrubby plant-life was beginning to poke back out of the charred ground probably faster than it would in nature, but it was still a ruin compared to the profusion of flora it had been when they first arrived.
This didn't stop monsters from attacking them, though without foliage to hide in they were far more easily seen, and sniped off with a combination of magic and arrows before more than a few could close into melee, opportunities Ichiban used to practice with his force-fields.
He hadn't used them much against the Black Amphisbaena, as he was stuck in the mindset that they wouldn't really hold back anything serious. However he hadn't really been considering the fact that his magic got stronger the deeper he got in the Dungeon, and so there was no reason for them not to remain useful against stronger monsters so long as he kept going deeper himself. A battle boar could charge full-on into a force-field and barely leave a crack in it despite having a lot more mass and momentum than Yankimaru's hammer which would shatter one back when he first got the ability.
But even that gave him an idea to make the force-field flex on impact, which when tested proved able to withstand a similar charge without any visible damage. He could make flat planes as well as curves, so why not transition between the two in order to better roll with big hits?
It also reminded him of the trick he'd used back with the killer ants of electrifying his force-fields to stun whatever struck them. He hadn't really used that since, it was the problem of having so many abilities keeping track of them to use them most efficiently was a pain in the ass. Real life wasn't like an RPG where you could pick through your menu of attacks and abilities at leisure to pick the best one, but that was all the more reason for him to pull his head out of his ass and use what he had to its full potential.
He was pretty sure he must have picked up some kind of blessing that made him learn faster though, because he was coming up with new ways to use force-fields through this practice that he'd considered and stumbled at back when they were one of his only abilities. It actually was possible to move them despite what he'd initially thought, and the flexing trick was the first step. It took a bit of focus to control, and was something like a half-way step between just dropping one and making a new one, but it was possible to 'stutter' a force-field in place to shift its position or orientation.
Probably would've been hard to manage before he picked up those knight's battle skills which came with a knack for using magic in combat, but thanks to those he could actually move and fight even while repositioning and adjusting force-fields on the fly. The monsters they fought through the nineteenth and then twentieth floors all provided lots of good stress-testing for it, and he was feeling a lot better about his ability to work them back into his fighting style when they managed to find the path back to the xenos hidden village.
A red-haired and red-feathered harpy met them outside, Fear's face lighting up happily as she spotted the group and flew down into view. "Pearl!" naturally she greeted her fellow monster first and with the most enthusiasm, but she was smiling at everyone as she bobbed on taloned feet, "Welcome, we were all waiting for you to come back after we heard from Ray and the others what happened!"
"Yo, yeah I bet they had a story to tell," Ichiban waved with a grin as they were led into the cavern where the peaceful xenos made their home. There were plenty of familiar faces inside all crowding around to say hello, and regardless of how they looked like many of the same monsters he'd been fighting he couldn't help but feel safe and welcome around them.
Maybe his perspective was different because he hadn't grown up with the reality of monsters, but he couldn't feel threatened by them. Not even Gros who was scowling with his already ugly gargoyle mug as he stomped over. "Hmph, wasn't sure we'd see you again after you vanished like that," he said in a voice as gravelly as expected for someone of his rock-like hide.
Surprisingly it was Naaza who stepped forward and spoke up. "Of course we'd come back. We had a deal," she said firmly, her purple eyes looking around with purpose.
Her gaze then landed on Let who was already bringing over a sack which he opened up to show was full of frilly plant parts of the same type Naaza had been collecting previously. "Here you are, Miss Naaza. Everyone helped gather the flowers you were interested in!" he said proudly as Naaza rewarded him with an imperious nod and a happy tail wag.
"Good. I'll pay more magic stones for you to keep providing these for me every time I come down here," Naaza said, handing out her share of magic stones from their trip down this far. Ichiban had no idea how the two compared monetarily, but the xenos seemed happy with the deal so who was he to judge?
"Is Ray around?" Ichiban asked over the jarring sound of magic stones being crunched down on, which as usual had prompted Pearl to bug Naaza into letting her have her share early too. "We were thinking of taking some of you up to Orario – now they're getting used to Pearl being around up there I wanted to bring more of you up to be seen, get people used to you."
"She went down to the other village, we move around to stay in contact with each other," Gros answered gruffly, crossing his arms and glaring at him. "All of us want to see the sky, but before that I want to know what you're doing for our comrades that Ikelos sold to Eluria."
He glanced at Rina who took that as her cue to speak up. "We're working on it! Eluria's far away from Orario so it'll take time, but my familia's working with the Hermes familia to sneak in and rescue anyone they can find," she explained. "Captain Phryne isn't very nice, but she's stronger than anyone Eluria should have, and the other berbera going are no slouches. Plus the Hermes familia's good at this kind of work, so if you just have a little patience I'm sure they'll come back with good news!"
The way she cutely held her fingers together and winked was probably unnecessary, but it did in fact make Gros back off with a grunt. "Fine. I'll hold you to that," he grumbled.
"So yeah, where's this other village?" Ichiban stepped back in after that reassurance. "I kind of wanted to bring Ray up on the first trip since I think she's the kind of xenos people in Orario will like, and if there's another village there might be other xenos that are good for giving a good first impression. Plus I can give anyone there chakra that needs it."
Gros looked conflicted about telling them what was probably dangerous information as far as the safety of his comrades was concerned, but all the same he shrugged and answered. "It's at the bottom of the Water City, the flooded floors we fought the Black Amphisbaena on. I can guide you there, but it's a hard trip if you can't fly."
"Heh, you just let me handle that," Ichiban grinned and poked his own chest with his thumb. All that practice with force-fields would definitely come in handy for getting around.
In the end they left with Gros, Let, and Fear. The latter two were definitely personable and photogenic, as for Gros… well, his appearance might be softened by having the others around, and he was insistent that he be there to keep the others safe. Having seen him fight Ichiban couldn't argue with that, which actually gave him an idea.
"Here, you want to wrap these around your forearms," he handed him the bracers that had appeared while they were in Knossos. "You need to wear some kind of clothing so people can tell you apart from the regular kind of monster, and these are magic. They'll make you better at fighting, when it's necessary."
The gargoyle had seemed dubious, and his forearms were so bulky that the leather bands barely fit around his wrists, but Let and Fear were both very pleased with the new fashion and he could tell the grumpy xenos was enjoying their reactions.
He didn't really get much of a chance to test them out as they set off through the Large Tree Labyrinth, a swarm of gun libellula trying to bombard them being fended off with force-fields and shot down by a combination of arrows, spells, and razor-sharp feathers that Fear flung out with deadly accuracy, proving she was no slouch despite not having been among the xenos sent on the attack against the Ikelos familia.
"Barrier set!"
"What the hell was that?!"
The second voice was Rina, interrupting her Lightning spell to glance at the source of the first voice. A deep foreign sounding voice that spoke what Ichiban was pretty sure was English and came from his wand after he put up a force-field to block the barbed projectiles being shot at them from the giant monstrous insects.
"Uh, I dunno, figure it out after!" Ichiban answered, trying to cast a spell now and finding it seemed to work just like it should as the wand automated the casting for him. "Eat this!" he yelled, swinging the wand upwards and it spoke again as the lightning manifested.
"Caelus Hildr!"
Okay that was definitely the spell name, announced as a swarm of lightning bolts shot through each of the remaining monsters, causing them to evaporate and drop magic stones to the ground. "What the hell, you can talk now?" he looked curiously at the long rod of magical bronze metal.
"Yes, my Master!"
Okay he definitely understood 'yes' in there. Why was it talking in English? "Can you speak Japanese?" he asked more hopefully.
"Yes, my Master."
It sounded less enthusiastic, but at least he could understand it now. Most of the others were split between looking on curiously at this development and keeping an eye out for more monsters, though Pearl was already gathering up the magic stones. At least she shared them rather than cramming them all in her mouth.
"Why can you talk now?" he asked, staring at the magical implement in his grasp.
"To help my Master," it answered, the voice just coming out of the metal despite the lack of any speakers.
Well, he supposed it made it less lonely, though he already had a party to talk to. Though when Yankimaru rejoined them wouldn't it basically be like speaking for him? He wondered if this would make the robot able to fight more intelligently. "Okay, well… I don't mind you talking so long as you keep helping me with my spells. What about Yankimaru, are you still linked to him?"
"Combat platform Yankimaru currently inoperable," it answered. Did it sound disappointed, or was that just how it spoke when using Japanese? Well it made sense, Tsubaki had to basically dismantle him to plug in the new magic power core and weld on the orichalcum armour plating, but it still sounded like they were connected which was promising for when Yankimaru got back in action.
"Okay, cool," he nodded then looked at everyone else with a shrug. "So yeah, my wand talks now. I guess we'll see how this works in the next few fights, still got a trip ahead of us, right?"
As it turned out however, the now talking wand was a boon for more than just moral support. Previously Ichiban hadn't used it for creating force-fields – they were basically so quick and easy to make just by thinking about it that the wand didn't really add anything to the equation. Now however it was keen to, "Barrier set!" as it liked to say in English and take over the creation and positioning of force-fields working off the same mental link that allowed it to cast spells according to his desires. While by itself this didn't matter much because Ichiban was already quite capable of creating them even while busy with other aspects of battle, both he and the wand could create their own separate force-fields, doubling the amount that could be formed at once.
Given his near bottomless reserves of mana which he hadn't come close to tapping out except when turning Pearl into a dragon, there was really no reason for him not to take advantage, and soon attacking monsters found themselves smashed between moving walls of lightning-imbued magical force as he further experimented and pushed the limits of what he was capable of with what was one of the first magics he'd been gifted since arriving here.
He did let up on the lightning once they reached the Water City, traversing a stairway this time rather than plummeting down a collapsing floor into a boss fight. It was quite a view as they stepped out onto a huge chamber met with the sound of roaring water, a mass of foaming waterfalls plummeting down into the cast cavern stretching below to a lake far below.
"That's where the Amphisbaena usually spawns," Rina pointed down from the edge, blue-grey rock lit by glowing crystal formations. "Down on the twenty seventh floor. With its fire breath it's a threat from a distance, and if it's not killed soon after spawning it'll start roaming around the whole area so it can be a real hazard. As if these floors weren't filled with enough nasty monsters."
Currently they were on the twenty fifth floor, so seeing how Ray would've been able to simply fly down and skip two floors made clear the convenience of flight, which otherwise wasn't given much chance to shine in the Dungeon. Pearl spent most of her time just walking around, as even tunnels big enough for her to comfortably walk through really weren't spaced to allow easy flight at her scale.
Now however? There was loads of room… in fact they probably could've ridden on Pearl's back to fly down to the bottom. But Ichiban hadn't spent all this time developing mobile force-fields for nothing, and he created a horizontal plane big enough for all of them to step on. "C'mon, climb aboard the Ichiban Express," he encouraged with a grin as he hopped onto the force-field.
"I've seen the kind of punishment these can take, but I still feel really nervous about standing on something I can see through the bottom of," Rina said, but she still gamely climbed aboard.
"I'm going to hold onto Pearl, just in case," Naaza declared as she waited for the dragon centaur thing to climb on, which did in fact cause the force-field to glow a bit under her feet from the sheer weight she was applying. Naaza wasn't kidding as she firmly grabbed onto a leg.
The xenos at least showed no fear, though considering two of them could fly they had less reason to be concerned than most. Then with everyone aboard, he lifted the force-field up and flew it slowly and carefully over the chasm the waterfall descended into.
Of course the Dungeon wasn't about to let them get an easy win, and they'd made it maybe halfway down before trouble manifested. "Look out, light quartz!" Fear yelled, taking flight and launching her deadly feathers at some purple crystals clinging to the wall which lit up and fired lasers at them!
Pearl squawked in outrage as several burned against her scales, turning around to face the threat with dangerously thudding footsteps and forcing Let to grab onto her tail for dear life before it knocked him off the platform.
"Pearl, hold still!" he yelled in alarm, creating a second force-field under where Let was dangling over the side while hanging onto the dragon's tail, a retaliatory plasma breath from Pearl burning through more of the turret-like monsters. They were only the first wave unfortunately as a group of screeching sirens less dressed and less personable than Ray came swooping out of a cavern on the twenty sixth floor, swarming towards Fear who had to break off and evade before Gros launched himself at them to join the aerial melee.
Naaza had wisely scrambled up onto Pearl's back just as soon as she started moving and was firing arrows at the remaining light quartz while Rina was providing her own support by buffing up Fear with a Haste spell, which flowed onto all of them through the power of their bond.
For his own contribution, Ichiban passed over control of their platform to his wand so it could continue overseeing their descent while he cast a straightforward lightning bolt up at the sirens, watching it chain off the first one struck to impact the others. It wasn't enough to kill them outright as it had done with bad bats previously, despite his magic being stronger this far down, but it did cause them to seize up both ending their distracting shrieks and causing them to plummet.
Gros went after them, while Fear helped attack the crystalline monsters which released another barrage of laser beams at Pearl. "Barrier Set!" his wand called out, back in English for some reason, and caught the blasts before they could strike. He was pretty sure Pearl would shrug them off, but why give her more reason to be mad?
It was only his automatic reflexes that saved him, as he certainly didn't see or hear anything coming himself but all the same chakra flooded his limbs and he jerked out of the way as something shot past him and smashed into Pearl's side with enough force to actually blow out several of her scales, a crater formed in her flank far worse than the burns scored by the light quartz.
She let out a shrieking roar of pain, head twisting around to look at what had injured her even as her insides were already reforming and pushing back out to generate fresh scales with the same fearsome regenerative ability she'd shown against the Black Amphisbaena. A new ability briefly distracted Ichiban, the sudden mastery of geokinetic kung fu undoubtedly cool but less than useful in an aerial battle suspended on a plane of magical force. He still heard the whistling sound now of more high speed projectiles that his body instinctively dodged even while his mind was catching up.
"Iguazu! Ichiban, put up another force-field!" Rina yelled, already ducking closer to Pearl as if to use her for shelter against these new monsters.
Luckily he only needed to be told once, and with a call of, "Barrier set!" from his wand a lightning-imbued field sprung into place, too late to stop the two he'd already dodged one of which slammed into Pearl and the other struck the force-field underfoot hard enough to crack it. The remainder of the monsters however impacted the force-field like birds flying into the side of a glass-fronted high-rise.
Well, birds if they were flung with the velocity of sniper bullets. He got to see them briefly as they struck, red swallow-like birds, as small and unassuming as natural avians but clearly fast and possessed of murderous intent. Intent that was smothered as they impacted hard enough to end their own lives, evaporating into black smoke and dropping magic stones down to the water below.
Fortunately it seemed that was the last of it, the other monsters having been defeated while he was focused on these new threats and his new magical arts style. He might gripe about the immediate uselessness, but honestly it was a style probably tailor made for fighting in an underground Dungeon, and he was looking forward to testing it out once he got his feet on solid ground.
"Whew! Good shortcut, but still not good to be caught by iguazu out in the open, those force-fields are life savers!" Rina said as she stepped away from Pearl, the force-field under their feet beginning to smooth out the cracks as it continued its stately descent.
"I'd rather not repeat that if it's all the same to the rest of you," a rather more shaken Let said, now keeping a wary eye on Pearl's tail at all times.
"Just hang on, we're nearly there. I'll try and speed it up a bit," Ichiban promised them, the lake at the bottom drawing ever closer. "Which side should we land at?"
Fear landed and gestured with a wing towards the rocky shoreline at one edge. "Over there. That was my first time fighting with magic, it felt really good!"
"I felt the difference with these bracers too," Gros grunted as he flew back up to rejoin them after having finished off the sirens, flexing his large clawed hands and looking down at them. "It's not bad fighting alongside humans."
Rina laughed merrily at that, reaching over and slapping his shoulder just below the spiky part, "Glad you're coming around, big guy! Having magic's new to me, but it's a blast to play with."
Ichiban nodded, bringing their platform in against the shore so they could finally disembark. "It's like having a new toy to play with. Speaking of, I just picked up some kind of earth-based martial arts I want to try on the next monsters we fight," he warned everyone to be prepared for what he'd be showing off soon as he stepped off. And as soon as his feet touched solid ground a brand new sense opened up to him. It wasn't as immediately disorienting as his ability to sense magical energy had been, instead it felt comfortably familiar despite its newness. A spreading awareness that passed through the rock and up through his feet.
He could immediately discern the layout of the caves all around him, the steep drop and shelf under the water, a sunken tunnel stretching off below while two caves ahead of them on the surface he could tell branched off in different directions with the left one having an additional split within his range of sensing. It was a fuzzy sense though, and he knew why. His shoes were in the way, this whole power was built on having a connection to the earth and anything between him and it interfered with that connection.
It would have been a harder choice if he had some cool magic boots, but all he had on was a regular pair he'd bought in Orario so he stopped to take them off without any hesitation.
"Is this part of your new martial arts?" Naaza asked skeptically as everyone else got onto solid ground with him.
"He's joining the barefoot club!" Rina observed in a more gleeful tone, taking a moment to look around before she focused fully on Naaza. "You and Let are the only two non-members around right now!"
He chuckled as he stood back up, his sensation of the earth around him now coming through more crisply, and far enough that he could actually sense the roof of the floor beneath this one, if just directly below. It stretched further through the tunnels of the Water City, and he could detect many-legged monsters that had to be some kind of insects or crabs moving around down one of the tunnels, as well as spiny urchin-like monsters stuck to the rock beneath the water. "Actually yeah, it works best if I'm connected to the ground. Like this I can sense movement through the earth, I can tell there's some monsters up ahead down that tunnel," he pointed to the right-side tunnel.
"That's the way we're going anyway," Gros said, taking a step forward. And Ichiban could sense every minute adjustment of his foot before it lifted off the ground, his sense similarly taking in the way everyone else moved as well as those monsters up ahead, and even something crawling around on the ceiling of the floor below.
Like his energy sense being able to tell when someone was casting a spell several floors away in the Dungeon, it wasn't overwhelming, his brain could handle it all, but he still had to choose to filter out stuff that wasn't particularly useful for him in the moment.
Knowing how all his party, and all the monsters nearby, were moving? That was useful and worth constantly paying attention to. Interestingly, he was getting more feedback from Gros and Pearl, both of whom had stone-like bodies. In fact as he focused on them, he was able to identify a crystal formation embedded in their chests which matched what he and Naaza were both carrying. Their magic stones.
Having identified those through the easy mode of rock-based monsters, and with the help of his magical senses, it was easy enough to subsequently identify the same crystals inside Fear and Let, as well as the many-legged monsters up ahead that he was increasingly sure were giant crabs based on their sideways scuttling movements.
Targeting the magic stone was a sure kill against a monster, though destroying the stone eliminated the potential profit or the food and power growth for their monster friends who could eat them. It was good to know however, as it'd be useful against something like the Black Amphisbaena where it wouldn't die easily or if they were just completely overwhelmed.
He took all that in while walking barefoot over the ground with everyone else. It was slightly uncomfortable for someone used to wearing shoes outside, but if Rina could make it all the way down into the Dungeon on her bare feet he wasn't about to complain especially when he'd chosen this. The benefits would be clear soon enough.
The monsters must have heard them coming though. Not hard with Pearl's lumbering stride, and they shifted to start scuttling their way, chitinous movement soon audible even without the advantage of his seismic sense. "Here they come, let me handle this at first," he stepped forward, eager to test things out.
The first of the blue crabs rounded the bend, one huge claw raised threateningly as beady black eyes fixed on them with murderous intent. Ichiban stamped a bare foot down and a ripple passed through the rock before a huge clump of earth shot up under the crab's feet with enough force to slam it into the ceiling. The shell cracked and it landed badly, injured but not dead. More were right behind it however, a total of eight that Ichiban had identified, seeming to flinch in sympathy with the first he'd struck but still advancing.
He stepped back, a chunk of rock the size of his torso ripping itself out of the ground before he punched forward. It wasn't a chakra-infused punch which he well knew would send it flying off like a rocket if he struck it, but his command of the earth was similarly enough to send the rock rushing forward without his fist actually touching it, slamming into a crab and shattering over its main claw, leaving the appendage hanging unnaturally but the crustacean itself was mostly intact and still ready to fight.
If he just ran into the middle of them and let chakra and reflexes take over he'd probably have killed them all in as much time. Or bombarded them with one of the big spells he'd learned from adventurers here. But he was just getting started with this new ability, his progress with force-fields today already made clear there was plenty of room for improvement with powers he was granted. To say nothing of if this form of martial arts could combine with how chakra boosted his body.
Still, the crabs were massing and getting closer even after he'd injured two. The others didn't seem too worried, letting him handle this for now, but soon they'd have to fight just to defend themselves, so Ichiban charged forward to meet the crabs halfway. Pincers snapped at him, but chakra flowed through his limbs without even thinking about it to see him dodging with ease, while a stamp saw another surge of earth rocket one crab into the air and straight at his fist which punched right through the shell. A combination attack worked better. Then, rather than dodging the attack of another one he pulled a shard of stone up from underneath to act as a shield.
An actual force-field might have done better, the crab broke through the stone with a heavy clubbing swing of its main pincer, but it gave Ichiban time to pull down a spike from the ceiling that penetrated right through the shell of a crab on his other flank. The shell gave way under the weight of earth pressing down and that one evaporated into black mist.
It honestly felt weirdly peaceful and relaxing. The mass of the Dungeon, all that weight of earth between him and the sky, it no longer felt threatening or foreboding. He was in his element, possibly literally, as he weaved between the snapping lunges of crabs that probably could've broken his limbs off if they managed to connect, but they never did. His internal energies flowed through his body to move him at a level only Orario's toughest adventurers could match, acting on pure instinct that let him deliberate over his control over external earth and use it to his advantage.
Dragging his big toe against the ground before jumping back, he watched as the solid stone around that spot turned to fine tumbling quicksand which two of the crabs immediately slipped into, struggling to find purchase while Ichiban summoned up another slab of stone. This time he merged techniques, striking it directly with a chakra infused punch that flowed with the style of his earth-based martial arts, actively solidifying and reinforcing the rock so it didn't simply shatter from his strike but stayed whole as it shot off with a loud boom and cored through two more crabs, killing them instantly.
"Alright!" he cheered, starting to see this stuff come together. A hop back from one crab still trying to bowl him over and as his feet hit the ground he channelled his energy through it to solidify the quicksand around the two that had mostly sunk. Despite how the Dungeon obligingly cracked to release monsters from its walls when they spawned, it seemed that was a one-time bonus as those two were now quite thoroughly stuck in place and unable to do anything as Ichiban finished off the remainder with more sudden sharp eruptions of rock slamming into them or coring through them until at last all the monsters were dead.
"Heh, sorry that took a while. Thanks for being patient while I tested this stuff out," he gave an embarrassed grin to everyone else who'd politely stood back, though their reactions were mixed.
"Don't apologise, that was great!" Rina cheered. "Can you teach that like chakra martial arts?"
"I don't see why you get to test your silly rock things but you won't let me use my magic," Pearl huffed. "One meteor swarm would have sorted them out just fine."
"Don't think I can teach it, it's its own kind of magic like the force-fields," he apologised to Rina. "And, uh… I'll let you cast your spells when we get to deeper floors where no one friendly might be around," he added to Pearl. He couldn't deny being kind of interested to see what else she had on the scale of that fire storm, but he didn't want to risk her wiping out friendly xenos or adventurers that might be around on this floor.
Magic stones were collected and off they went. Despite having taken a shortcut to skip most of the Water City, it didn't change the fact that the twenty seventh floor was huge just by itself, so they had to navigate plenty of tunnels and wide flooded chambers that necessitated more flying force-field trips to avoid getting wet. It felt strange when his feet left the ground and he suddenly lost contact with such a huge source of information on his surroundings, and he couldn't deny his relief when back on solid ground again.
It let them get the drop on monsters every time. Even when they spawned out of the rock, previously he was lucky if he just heard the initial cracking of rock or felt the concentration of magical energy, but now he could sense them being formed inside the walls, which took several seconds and gave everyone plenty of time to position themselves and cast buff spells so the newly arrived monsters were eviscerated before their feet could even hit the ground.
"Aren't you worried one of them could be like you?" Naaza had asked the xenos after they'd slaughtered several lamia that burst out of the walls at them, hissing fury meaning little in the face of a prepared defence.
"All of us were alone in our first memories," Fear shook her head. "And we quickly learned other monsters would kill us if they could. Even if one of us was born as part of a group like this, they wouldn't survive."
"It's possible that does happen," Let picked up, "But I think our mother chooses to create us separately. Even if the other monsters hate us, the Dungeon that created us doesn't wish us harm. She made us safe places like our villages where nothing ever spawns, with food and water to live on. I don't think she would birth us just to see us killed again in our first moments."
"Huh. You guys really think of the Dungeon like a mother?" Ichiban asked, that being quite a contrast from how everyone else felt about it, and the murderous hostility he experienced. Between that monster party when his light magic failed, and the reaction to both Pearl's roar of challenge and Ikelos's unleashing of his divinity, he didn't have any doubt that there was some active intelligence behind the Dungeon. But that was the first time he'd heard any benevolence ascribed to it.
Then again, it had safe floors like the eighteenth where even humans could build a village. Who's to say what it really thought about anything?
"It's the best word for something that brought us into the world," Let answered, looking around, "Even if the world within the Dungeon is all we know. Isn't it the same for humans, that you wish to grow up and go out into the world beyond?" he asked, looking curiously between him and the two female adventurers.
"I mean my mom sold me when I was a kid, so I guess I can see how the Dungeon would compare," Rina answered with forced casualness.
"Mine was an adventurer, she died in this Dungeon when I was young," Naaza gave her own answer, her expression as blank as it ever was.
Damn, this was a real downer. He wished he could provide a better example of motherhood but with everyone else sharing, "I never knew mine, she worked at a soapland and left after I was born. But you know, everyone else there took great care of me, the owner of the soapland even gave me his name. Jiro Kasuga… he died when I was fifteen, but that man was like a father to me. Took good care of me so I never felt bad about where I came from," he concluded with a nod, giving Let a big smile.
He felt like Let really needed it as he seemed discomfited by the knowledge he'd just gotten about three mothers who for various reasons had not been there at all for their children. "Fels made mothers sound a lot nicer when they talked about them…" he admitted almost sheepishly.
"Well hey, when we get up in Orario you can ask other people, they might have better stories," Ichiban suggested while grappling with a new ability. He really did seem to pick these up more quickly in the Dungeon, and this one was a whopper. Not so much for him, it in fact didn't help him directly at all. It did however make all of his allies far stronger, like a buff spell way past even Ariel or Laurus Hildr… though there was nothing to stop him using those as well. Not that he'd needed to on any of the fights they'd had today, but the Dungeon was only going to get nastier the deeper they went, motherly qualities towards xenos or no.
"Hey, I'm gonna try something new, let me know how this feels?" he asked, holding his wand to help focus the mana that then pulsed out from him in a wave that travelled out through the Dungeon to a radius far beyond what would be necessary for boosting a single party.
"Domain of the Monarch!" that English voice of his wand announced grandiosely to go with it.
Everyone reacted, jolting as energy surged through their bodies before looking around warily as if afraid they might break something. Fear was the first to experiment, flapping her wing and sending a single feather loose which flew off like a bullet and embedded itself fully into the cavern wall. "What kind of power is this?" she asked, wide-eyed.
And he felt it himself. It wasn't an ability meant to improve himself, he knew straight away it was solely meant for supporting his allies. But they fought as a team, and that combined purpose meant much like Rina's earlier haste spell or the Laurus Hildr used against the Black Amphisbaena, what strengthened one strengthened all. His senses sharpened, his grasp of the earth stretched out more than doubling its reach across this floor of the Dungeon and the surrounding ones.
With his magical sensing ability he could estimate power levels, and for a fairly modest expense of his own energy he'd more than doubled the strength of the party. Naaza could hang with elite adventurers like Shakti or Tsubaki. Rina would probably be able to beat Filvis one on one.
Pearl was approaching the realm of gods.
"This is like that spell you used when we fought the Black Amphisbaena?" Gros asked, flexing his clawed hands and then shadow-boxing a few jabs that cracked the air with each punch.
"Haha, yeah kinda," he laughed, a bit overwhelmed by the stark difference this one power made for everyone. "Next fight I'll hang back so you can all test out the new power? It's something like a doubling." It was only fair after they'd let him have his fun with his geokinetic martial arts, even if he kind of wanted to test out the increase in his own parameters. Actually shouldn't this have looped on itself? He makes everyone stronger, then he becomes stronger, and that causes everyone to become even stronger, so he becomes even stronger?
That would basically be infinite power, wouldn't it? Probably makes sense that it stops after one loop then.
Rina let out a strained laugh of her own. "Let me just…" she looked around briefly before shrugging and bringing her fist down to the ground. He could tell she put her all into it, chakra cycling through her arm, her recently levelled up strength magnified by the belt she wore and the power he'd just applied.
Last time she'd made a crater big enough to sit in. This time she caused a no-shit earthquake, the Dungeon shaking around them as a huge fissure cracked into the stone spreading towards the wall on one side and the underground river on the other, the ground lurching as it split from her single prodigious strike.
He could sense monsters in surrounding tunnels and even on the surrounding floors panicking in response, water sloshing in waves that rose up over previously steady shorelines, the Dungeon rocked from power surpassing the strongest adventurers or monsters he'd seen so far.
"Ichiban, it might be the god-like feeling of power I'm high on right now, but I think I love you," the amazon said, staring at her fist and the crack in the Dungeon she'd created. Another couple of those and she'd probably make a short-cut down to the twenty eighth floor.
"That was v-very impressive, Miss Rina," Let spoke up, sounding a bit spooked, "But we're not far from the hidden village, they probably felt it there so we should hurry and reassure everyone that nothing bad's happening."
Before that however they were surprised – legitimately because Ichiban's seismic sense hadn't warned him at all, when a group of monsters burst out of the water to attack them, perhaps roused by the destruction just now. They looked kind of humanoid with arms and legs, but their scaly blue skin was adorned with fins and their faces looked like mutant fish-heads. They were also armed, with rocky pikes held, and one of them was notably larger than the others.
Three of them were perforated with arrows before their feet even touched the ground, Naaza having been quickest on the uptake and moving with unreal speed as she drew and fired her bow like it was an automatic weapon. The others weren't far behind though, Rina and Let both chopping mermen in half with their axes like the tough monsters were made of paper, while Fear took flight and launched razor sharp feathers with less speed than Naaza's arrows but she made up for it by firing them off in groups to achieve a similar volume of fire. Gros simply grabbed the head of the largest one and closed his fist, pulping it in his grasp.
Pearl had been the slowest to respond, though she didn't seem to mind that the fight was over as soon as it started, and Ichiban hadn't needed to do anything himself. They'd been handling monsters around here easily enough anyway, the power boost was perhaps overkill, but it definitely worked.
"I was actually starting to worry about falling behind," Naaza admitted as she took on the role of gathering magic stones afterwards, a small smile on her face. "Even after ranking up there's only so deep I can safely go. But my lowest floor seems farther off now."
"And you know it's just gonna keep getting better!" Ichiban encouraged as they set off, already sensing what he was pretty sure was the xenos village further ahead with his expanded range. The layout felt similar to the one on the twentieth floor, and there was a wide variety of different individual monster types around, compared to how they usually clustered in groups of the same kind elsewhere in the Dungeon.
They managed to avoid any further monsters on the way there, and nothing spawned out of the walls to bother them. Probably the Dungeon was busy regenerating from the damage of Rina's punch to have the energy for monster spawning around here for a while. Gros took the lead into the village found via a few difficult to reach and visually obscured paths, and despite his grumpy demeanour he was greeted warmly by the other xenos before they all reacted with surprise and excitement to seeing the rest of the group.
Ray was there, seeming jittery but relieved to see them. Interestingly he could tell she'd had her power magnified by his 'Domain of the Monarch' as she'd been well within its range when he activated it. He hadn't really been thinking about anyone beyond the party he was with, but was it because they were allies and had previously fought together? Was it strengthening the xenos back up in the Large Tree Labyrinth? What about adventurers he'd partied with before? Were Mord and his friends being boosted while they fought around the middle floors? The Loki familia members who'd fought with him in Knossos? The Takemikazuchi ones who'd held the Dungeon entrance with him before that?
What if it wasn't having fought together but just having a positive association? That would apply for basically every adventurer and xenos he'd met! Were gods like Miach having their power doubled, leashed as it was? He wasn't sure on the precise range of the ability, but it was somewhere around 'huge' to 'vast'. Actually maybe the wand could calculate it?
He'd ask in a minute, for now he was busy greeting all the friendly monsters who were all crowding around much like they had at the other village, asking questions about the shaking sensation and the strange power Ray had felt.
"Haha, that was me!" Rina giggled when the earthquake came up. "I got a big power boost and had to try it out. But I'm not the only one, huh?" she peered at Ray who nodded jerkily.
"All of a sudden I felt all this energy surging through me, it was like the first time I ate a really good magic stone!" she said, bouncing lightly on her taloned feet which carved gouges in the rock beneath her as they flexed while she held her wings around her chest in a nervous manner. "Do you know where it came from?"
Obviously all eyes turned to Ichiban and he could only shrug. "Yeah, so that ability is a lot more wide-ranging than I thought it was," he admitted. "Um, but hey lot of new faces here! Everyone's heard about chakra and stuff from Ray, right? If you want I can hook all of you up as well."
Naturally everyone was interested, and he had to go down to the water's edge where a flooded section connected the hidden area to the waterways of the rest of the floor, where several aquatic xenos preferred to stay but were still happy to meet him and be given the gift of chakra.
And that basically seemed to seal it. The mutual regard and recognition that came with the act of Ichiban pushing chakra into their bodies and being introduced was enough for them to be considered allies, as far as his power cared. Every xenos got both chakra and the doubling in power from being within his 'domain'.
Obviously this didn't go unnoticed and he was getting some intense looks from Rina and Naaza, so as he finished up by giving chakra to a girl with a spider's lower body, he held up the Hero Mage's Wand which now had a rudimentary AI or something. "Hey, do you know the range on that, uh, what did you call it?" he knew what it was called, he was just embarrassed by the grandiose name, "Domain of the Monarch?" Actually why not change it, "Just call it Domain of the Hero from now on?" Maybe that was still a bit presumptuous as well, but monarch had a stuffy tone to it that just didn't fit for Ichiban Kasuga.
"Yes, my Master!" it answered in needless English. "New designation: Domain of the Hero accepted. Radius: Four hundred and seventy two thousand five hundred and nine metres."
Ichiban wasn't great at English but he knew numbers, and he actually felt briefly impressed with himself for managing to remember what 'thousand' was, somehow dredging that up from ancient middle school classes. Then his jaw dropped as he actually absorbed the figure he'd just mentally translated.
"That's nearly five hundred kilometres!" he blurted out, drawing startled reactions from Rina and Naaza who both looked up at the ceiling.
"So everyone else, like the xenos…?" Naaza asked, staring and perhaps imagining the chaos that must be ensuing from everyone having their power basically doubled without warning.
"I think so, yeah. I don't really have control over it, it's too widespread compared to an actual spell. I think it just counts if I like you and you like me, then you get the boost," he said, trying to wrap his head around the precise mechanics. What if two people he liked fought each other and he wasn't around to pick a side? Would the magic 'know' which one he'd prefer, or just leave it on both of them?
"Oh…" Rina looked disappointed, "So Ottar's twice as strong now as well?" Then she rubbed her chin, "Actually maybe that's for the best, Lady Ishtar probably would've made me fight him if only I had this kind of boost."
"You'd lose," Naaza said flatly. "Even with that kind of power, he has experience on you."
"Hey, it's a lot of power!" Rina put her hands on her hips and glared at Naaza. "You've got to at least give me a chance!"
The xenos were mostly looking bemused by the argument, but Ichiban had to step in, "Hey, you don't need to fight Ottar or anyone else like that. He's not done anything wrong. I'm giving people all this stuff so they can overcome the Dungeon, not so they can fight each other. It's probably best if everyone's getting the same deal, just like with chakra and those scrolls."
Which reminded him. Part of the whole point of bringing the xenos up wasn't just to help them be seen as nice and unthreatening, it was so they could have a look at those scrolls too. Though they'd have to work out something special for the aquatic ones that were confined to these floors, they could figure that out later.
The final line-up joining them for the trip was of course Gros, Fear, and Let, but now joined by Ray and a lizardman named Lyd. Seeing Lyd and Gros together next to Fear and Ray had a weird vibe about the sexual dimorphism of monsters, but while Lyd had a similar kind of monstrous build and reptilian face like Gros, his attitude was basically the opposite being open-minded and friendly. There was a wholesome enthusiasm being shown for his first trip to the surface that Ichiban could absolutely get behind.
Plus Let was there to show everyone that male monsters could look cute too.
"Alright, every gather round?" he felt a bit bad he couldn't stick around to properly teach these xenos how to use chakra, but at least Ray had explained some of it when she'd arrived ahead of him so they wouldn't be working completely blind, and the power boost they were operating on should be enough to keep them safe until he stopped by on his next trip down this way. For now however, it was time to show the xenos off to Orario, and hope things hadn't gotten too out of control with the deployment of the Domain of the Hero.
"Teleport!"
"Huh?" Ichiban glanced over at Rina. The group were making their way down into the Dungeon, finding it surprisingly quiet. No monsters had spawned on them, nor had they seen any while traversing the first few floors. It felt like the Dungeon was resting after the stampede to breach the exit… he wondered if it felt grateful to them for dealing with the threat posed by that 'dragon of death'.
"Filvis," Rina gestured vaguely with her free hand, axe resting over her shoulder and held by the other. "About Lord Dionysus crying and being told to get back to work. It's like… I'm trying to imagine Lady Ishtar as an office worker and my brain's rejecting it."
Naaza nodded to herself. "I can't picture it either. Would she be wearing a uniform like the Guild employees?" she asked, her tone disbelieving of those things fitting together.
That drew a laugh from Rina. "Oh wow, imagine her in one of those cute little waistcoats and bow ties… imagine Lord Miach in that!"
They all kept walking a few paces before they realised Naaza had stopped dead in her tracks. "Uh, you okay back there, Naaza?" Ichiban turned to look at the dog-girl staring slack-jawed into space, her tail wagging behind her.
She shook off whatever mental image had her so fascinated and hurried to catch up. "We need uniforms for the pharmacy," she declared with sudden resolve. "Something professional, so the Dian Cecht familia can't call us scruffy looking any longer."
"I didn't really understand the fuss at first," Pearl opined as she lumbered ahead of them. "But honestly this thing's really grown on me. Put a cat in its proper place!" she tugged at the fearsome leonine mane covering up her… well, between the size and the green hue there was an obvious word to use, but Ichiban studiously drew his brain away from thinking about a pigeon turned chimeric abomination in those terms.
"What about you Ichiban, you like a uniform?" Rina asked, the casual conversation continuing with the complete lack of any monsters to fight.
He thought about it. Certainly he'd seen enough of prison guard uniforms, but a childhood memory bubbled up and he smiled at the nostalgic feelings that came with it. "Actually, there was one I really liked when I was a kid. The workers at the arcade wore these really colourful uniforms with bright red and blue shirts, with yellow collars and green pockets… it was so loud, you'd never see anything like it these days, but I always thought it'd be cool to be able to wear that outfit and play around with the arcade games all day, helping people with the UFO catcher…" he trailed off, realising he'd probably have to explain a few terms now.
"That sounds incredibly garish," Naaza didn't even ask what a UFO catcher was, she just fixed right in on how bad that uniform must look.
"It sounds like the kind of thing a kid would like," Rina added. "You're older than any of us, but you're really immature, aren't you Ichiban?"
That's what he gets for being sentimental. He should have just said something about pencil skirts. "Ahhh, gimme a break," he groaned, "A girl looks best when she's wearing something that expresses her personality, not just a set uniform!"
"Oh, now that feels like something a dad would say," Rina teased, showing that he just couldn't win.
"We weren't even talking about girls. Dirty-minded old man," Naaza seconded, narrowing her eyes at him.
He prayed that the Dungeon would send some monsters at them if only to escape from this awkward conversation, but once more it proved its evilness by leaving him to suffer the teasing of a pair of younger women. He didn't even have Yankimaru around to offer his typical silent but unwavering support!
When they finally made it to Rivira they found they weren't the first ones to have made it down, as other adventurers had been concerned over how the Under Resort had weathered the Dungeon uprising and booked it down there without the same casual pace they were making along with Pearl's large but lumbering strides.
It had taken a few attacks but the monsters had mostly been concerned with getting further up rather than besieging the settlement, though understandably its population was freaked out by the whole mess. Not so freaked out they didn't try to charge an arm and a leg for room and board, but since they were all pretty flush with cash right now the cost was easily borne.
Pearl still had to sleep outside the gates like she'd done last time, and while Yankimaru wasn't there to guard her by now Ichiban was pretty confident she'd be fine. She missed out on dinner, but she'd been snacking on all the magic stones they'd found around the tenth floor presumably where the death aura had seeped into the Dungeon, so she was fine.
"I wonder how Filvis is doing," Naaza mused as the three of them sat down to eat. "It must be strange, knowing exactly how long you have, and knowing exactly what it's like on the other side."
"Yeah. Heaven is a waiting room, huh? I'd say it's weird to know that much, but I guess you've had gods hanging around and telling you all that stuff for years?" Ichiban asked.
Rina nodded as she cut up her steak, "People used to have no idea, but the gods didn't really hide anything after they came down so it's just something everyone takes for granted. You die, the gods recognise the deeds that went into your life, and then they send you on to be reborn in another life. Still sounded, um… a bit more grandiose than a waiting room and an office. Like Lady Ishtar says she has a grand temple, but I wonder if that's the same as saying you have a nice house over there?"
200 – My Kit Don't Quit
The Old Republic
Normal soldiers have to worry about running out of bullets. You don't. As long as you packed at least one of any given expendable weapon or weapon-related item, you can always pull another one out of your pocket, given time. Larger, rarer, and more expensive items take longer to replenish, and you have an innate sense of how often you can freely use any valid item in your possession. Regardless, you always have another eventually, so there's no need to worry about using your last thermal detonator. Never run out of cartridges, shells, stripper clips, ammo magazines, weapon power packs, flamer fuel, marbles, grenades, rockets, mines, satchel charges, hornets, sling-stones, throwing knives, darts, javelins, arrows, cannonballs, whetstones, weapon resins, Onmyo talismans, shuriken, bolas, harpoons, or any other type of expendable offensive resource ever again!
The Old Republic
Normal soldiers have to worry about running out of bullets. You don't. As long as you packed at least one of any given expendable weapon or weapon-related item, you can always pull another one out of your pocket, given time. Larger, rarer, and more expensive items take longer to replenish, and you have an innate sense of how often you can freely use any valid item in your possession. Regardless, you always have another eventually, so there's no need to worry about using your last thermal detonator. Never run out of cartridges, shells, stripper clips, ammo magazines, weapon power packs, flamer fuel, marbles, grenades, rockets, mines, satchel charges, hornets, sling-stones, throwing knives, darts, javelins, arrows, cannonballs, whetstones, weapon resins, Onmyo talismans, shuriken, bolas, harpoons, or any other type of expendable offensive resource ever again!
As they talked, Ichiban felt a new ability make itself known. He wasn't going to run out of his not-pokeballs now, something that apparently would apply to any kind of weaponised consumable. Sadly not healing potions, little as he really needed them. A way to duplicate those regeneration potions Naaza had created would've been really nice though.
He put it aside to focus more on the conversation. "Honestly I kind of expected Dionysus to get in more trouble than just being told to get back to work, he basically tried to end the world, didn't he?"
"Maybe they didn't realise what he'd done? If they were two weeks behind on processing souls it sounds like they'd be out of touch… although I bet when Thanatos returned he would've kicked up a stink," Naaza said, a slight smile on her face as she imagined the troublesome 'evil gods' appealing to uncaring bureaucratic supervisors.
"Forget about them," Rina gestured with her knife at the pair of them, "Thinking about Filvis again, what would you do if you knew for sure you only had until the next day to live?" she looked back and forth quizzically for their thoughts on this topic.
Ichiban looked down at his bowl of meat and dumplings and smiled as he remembered his last meal before prison. "Dying's probably different, you'd want to tell everyone you care about how you love them and not to miss you, but I remember when I agreed to go to prison for the family and I had a little bit of free time before I turned myself in. Went and stuffed my face with beef bowl. You've got to enjoy good food while you can," he concluded with authority. "I'd want to eat all my favourites before I go."
Naaza looked off, expression even more distant than usual. "I thought about it when I lost my arm in the Dungeon, I wasn't sure if we'd even make it out. I just wanted to see Lord Miach one last time and thank him for everything."
Both of them looked expectantly at Rina now for her thoughts on the subject she'd brought up, seeing that she'd slumped a bit in her chair. "Too serious. I was going to say how I'd spend it being pampered by oiled up men with big muscles." Sighing she cut into her steak and held up a chunk of meat on her fork. "I guess good food would go with it," she added, biting into her morsel.
He wondered if she had anyone she loved that she'd want to spend her last moments with. It was kind of sad to think about, though he noticed Naaza was giving her a far more scathing look. "Maybe Pearl would be more on your level," she suggested, clearly not thinking much of the amazon's self-indulgent last wish.
"You know," she waggled her fork back at Naaza, undeterred by the put-down, "That pigeon's probably seen more friends die than any of us, I wouldn't discount her opinions. I bet she already lives every day like it's going to be her last. So long as she can gorge on nuts or magic stones she'll be happy. It really does come down to filling your belly, doesn't it?"
"That's what I'm saying. And what's better than eating with friends, right?" Ichiban smiled at the pair of them to try and liven the mood. "We should think about where we want to take the xenos tomorrow too, let them try some fine dining."
"That'll be a fright for the wait staff!" Rina laughed. "Are we really just going to drag them around Orario like tourists?"
"Well yeah," he chuckled, more imagining the reactions of the xenos to the outside world than the reactions they'd get from the public. "Get people used to seeing them doing normal stuff around town. I figure in a world with cat people and dog people, someone like Ray is basically just a bird person. It'll be rougher for the ones that can't talk or look more frightening, but that's why we'll start off with a group. Let the more personable ones take the lead and it'll help the rest by association."
Naaza hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe if they complete some quests it'll help people see them working to benefit Orario. They'll need to earn money after all," she suggested.
"Oh yeah, you already gave them a quest. How much you paying for that again?" Rina asked with a catty smile.
The dog-girl gave her a dully unimpressed look back. "I paid them in advance with a lot of magic stones, it's a good deal for both sides," she insisted.
"I guess we'll see tomorrow who got their money's worth…" the amazon pondered as the three finished their meals and went to bed.
Mercifully there were no murders or monster attacks or other drama when they got up the next day, leaving with Pearl who'd spent her time not singing for the wonder and amusement of others, but instead lecturing the guys near the gates on how people need to be really careful where they walk because even if you're not planning on stepping on someone it can look like that and it's a pain to have to fly away and then come back to where you were hanging out.
She then nearly knocked down the gate with her tail when she turned around to stomp along towards the stairs with Ichiban and his party. Honestly he was amazed she hadn't caused more property damage in Orario just by walking around.
The nineteenth floor when they reached it was of course another testament to the kind of devastation Pearl could unleash. Scrubby plant-life was beginning to poke back out of the charred ground probably faster than it would in nature, but it was still a ruin compared to the profusion of flora it had been when they first arrived.
This didn't stop monsters from attacking them, though without foliage to hide in they were far more easily seen, and sniped off with a combination of magic and arrows before more than a few could close into melee, opportunities Ichiban used to practice with his force-fields.
He hadn't used them much against the Black Amphisbaena, as he was stuck in the mindset that they wouldn't really hold back anything serious. However he hadn't really been considering the fact that his magic got stronger the deeper he got in the Dungeon, and so there was no reason for them not to remain useful against stronger monsters so long as he kept going deeper himself. A battle boar could charge full-on into a force-field and barely leave a crack in it despite having a lot more mass and momentum than Yankimaru's hammer which would shatter one back when he first got the ability.
But even that gave him an idea to make the force-field flex on impact, which when tested proved able to withstand a similar charge without any visible damage. He could make flat planes as well as curves, so why not transition between the two in order to better roll with big hits?
It also reminded him of the trick he'd used back with the killer ants of electrifying his force-fields to stun whatever struck them. He hadn't really used that since, it was the problem of having so many abilities keeping track of them to use them most efficiently was a pain in the ass. Real life wasn't like an RPG where you could pick through your menu of attacks and abilities at leisure to pick the best one, but that was all the more reason for him to pull his head out of his ass and use what he had to its full potential.
He was pretty sure he must have picked up some kind of blessing that made him learn faster though, because he was coming up with new ways to use force-fields through this practice that he'd considered and stumbled at back when they were one of his only abilities. It actually was possible to move them despite what he'd initially thought, and the flexing trick was the first step. It took a bit of focus to control, and was something like a half-way step between just dropping one and making a new one, but it was possible to 'stutter' a force-field in place to shift its position or orientation.
Probably would've been hard to manage before he picked up those knight's battle skills which came with a knack for using magic in combat, but thanks to those he could actually move and fight even while repositioning and adjusting force-fields on the fly. The monsters they fought through the nineteenth and then twentieth floors all provided lots of good stress-testing for it, and he was feeling a lot better about his ability to work them back into his fighting style when they managed to find the path back to the xenos hidden village.
A red-haired and red-feathered harpy met them outside, Fear's face lighting up happily as she spotted the group and flew down into view. "Pearl!" naturally she greeted her fellow monster first and with the most enthusiasm, but she was smiling at everyone as she bobbed on taloned feet, "Welcome, we were all waiting for you to come back after we heard from Ray and the others what happened!"
"Yo, yeah I bet they had a story to tell," Ichiban waved with a grin as they were led into the cavern where the peaceful xenos made their home. There were plenty of familiar faces inside all crowding around to say hello, and regardless of how they looked like many of the same monsters he'd been fighting he couldn't help but feel safe and welcome around them.
Maybe his perspective was different because he hadn't grown up with the reality of monsters, but he couldn't feel threatened by them. Not even Gros who was scowling with his already ugly gargoyle mug as he stomped over. "Hmph, wasn't sure we'd see you again after you vanished like that," he said in a voice as gravelly as expected for someone of his rock-like hide.
Surprisingly it was Naaza who stepped forward and spoke up. "Of course we'd come back. We had a deal," she said firmly, her purple eyes looking around with purpose.
Her gaze then landed on Let who was already bringing over a sack which he opened up to show was full of frilly plant parts of the same type Naaza had been collecting previously. "Here you are, Miss Naaza. Everyone helped gather the flowers you were interested in!" he said proudly as Naaza rewarded him with an imperious nod and a happy tail wag.
"Good. I'll pay more magic stones for you to keep providing these for me every time I come down here," Naaza said, handing out her share of magic stones from their trip down this far. Ichiban had no idea how the two compared monetarily, but the xenos seemed happy with the deal so who was he to judge?
"Is Ray around?" Ichiban asked over the jarring sound of magic stones being crunched down on, which as usual had prompted Pearl to bug Naaza into letting her have her share early too. "We were thinking of taking some of you up to Orario – now they're getting used to Pearl being around up there I wanted to bring more of you up to be seen, get people used to you."
"She went down to the other village, we move around to stay in contact with each other," Gros answered gruffly, crossing his arms and glaring at him. "All of us want to see the sky, but before that I want to know what you're doing for our comrades that Ikelos sold to Eluria."
free – Basic
Lyrical Nanoha
...It's probably only polite to refer to this as 'intelligence'. While it's a bit doubtful as to whether it can even say anything other than the names of you attacks, it's also capable of relaying received electronic messages when telepathy isn't available. Other than that, it might as well be an inert piece of metal. (CG Note: Requires Device - Lyrical Nanoha first.)
Lyrical Nanoha
...It's probably only polite to refer to this as 'intelligence'. While it's a bit doubtful as to whether it can even say anything other than the names of you attacks, it's also capable of relaying received electronic messages when telepathy isn't available. Other than that, it might as well be an inert piece of metal. (CG Note: Requires Device - Lyrical Nanoha first.)
He glanced at Rina who took that as her cue to speak up. "We're working on it! Eluria's far away from Orario so it'll take time, but my familia's working with the Hermes familia to sneak in and rescue anyone they can find," she explained. "Captain Phryne isn't very nice, but she's stronger than anyone Eluria should have, and the other berbera going are no slouches. Plus the Hermes familia's good at this kind of work, so if you just have a little patience I'm sure they'll come back with good news!"
The way she cutely held her fingers together and winked was probably unnecessary, but it did in fact make Gros back off with a grunt. "Fine. I'll hold you to that," he grumbled.
"So yeah, where's this other village?" Ichiban stepped back in after that reassurance. "I kind of wanted to bring Ray up on the first trip since I think she's the kind of xenos people in Orario will like, and if there's another village there might be other xenos that are good for giving a good first impression. Plus I can give anyone there chakra that needs it."
Gros looked conflicted about telling them what was probably dangerous information as far as the safety of his comrades was concerned, but all the same he shrugged and answered. "It's at the bottom of the Water City, the flooded floors we fought the Black Amphisbaena on. I can guide you there, but it's a hard trip if you can't fly."
"Heh, you just let me handle that," Ichiban grinned and poked his own chest with his thumb. All that practice with force-fields would definitely come in handy for getting around.
In the end they left with Gros, Let, and Fear. The latter two were definitely personable and photogenic, as for Gros… well, his appearance might be softened by having the others around, and he was insistent that he be there to keep the others safe. Having seen him fight Ichiban couldn't argue with that, which actually gave him an idea.
"Here, you want to wrap these around your forearms," he handed him the bracers that had appeared while they were in Knossos. "You need to wear some kind of clothing so people can tell you apart from the regular kind of monster, and these are magic. They'll make you better at fighting, when it's necessary."
The gargoyle had seemed dubious, and his forearms were so bulky that the leather bands barely fit around his wrists, but Let and Fear were both very pleased with the new fashion and he could tell the grumpy xenos was enjoying their reactions.
He didn't really get much of a chance to test them out as they set off through the Large Tree Labyrinth, a swarm of gun libellula trying to bombard them being fended off with force-fields and shot down by a combination of arrows, spells, and razor-sharp feathers that Fear flung out with deadly accuracy, proving she was no slouch despite not having been among the xenos sent on the attack against the Ikelos familia.
"Barrier set!"
"What the hell was that?!"
The second voice was Rina, interrupting her Lightning spell to glance at the source of the first voice. A deep foreign sounding voice that spoke what Ichiban was pretty sure was English and came from his wand after he put up a force-field to block the barbed projectiles being shot at them from the giant monstrous insects.
"Uh, I dunno, figure it out after!" Ichiban answered, trying to cast a spell now and finding it seemed to work just like it should as the wand automated the casting for him. "Eat this!" he yelled, swinging the wand upwards and it spoke again as the lightning manifested.
"Caelus Hildr!"
Okay that was definitely the spell name, announced as a swarm of lightning bolts shot through each of the remaining monsters, causing them to evaporate and drop magic stones to the ground. "What the hell, you can talk now?" he looked curiously at the long rod of magical bronze metal.
"Yes, my Master!"
Okay he definitely understood 'yes' in there. Why was it talking in English? "Can you speak Japanese?" he asked more hopefully.
"Yes, my Master."
It sounded less enthusiastic, but at least he could understand it now. Most of the others were split between looking on curiously at this development and keeping an eye out for more monsters, though Pearl was already gathering up the magic stones. At least she shared them rather than cramming them all in her mouth.
"Why can you talk now?" he asked, staring at the magical implement in his grasp.
"To help my Master," it answered, the voice just coming out of the metal despite the lack of any speakers.
Well, he supposed it made it less lonely, though he already had a party to talk to. Though when Yankimaru rejoined them wouldn't it basically be like speaking for him? He wondered if this would make the robot able to fight more intelligently. "Okay, well… I don't mind you talking so long as you keep helping me with my spells. What about Yankimaru, are you still linked to him?"
"Combat platform Yankimaru currently inoperable," it answered. Did it sound disappointed, or was that just how it spoke when using Japanese? Well it made sense, Tsubaki had to basically dismantle him to plug in the new magic power core and weld on the orichalcum armour plating, but it still sounded like they were connected which was promising for when Yankimaru got back in action.
"Okay, cool," he nodded then looked at everyone else with a shrug. "So yeah, my wand talks now. I guess we'll see how this works in the next few fights, still got a trip ahead of us, right?"
200 – Elite Wallflower Tactics
Fate/Stay Night
Somehow everyone seems to forget the basic rule 'Don't Judge a Book by its Cover' when they're dealing with you. You're constantly underestimated and overlooked, even when the opponent really should know better. You just don't look that scary, unless you're actually trying to be. Enemy combatants don't take you seriously or pass you over to focus on other fighters, even if you're an 8 foot mountain of muscle and metal. You can easily pass through all but the most alert of checkpoints without being singled out, even if you were a wanted criminal. Why, if you just wanted to avoid all those annoying friendly people at a party, you could just sit down somewhere and be assured of some uninterrupted peace and quiet. People catch on eventually though, so I wouldn't recommend using it more than a few times on the same guy.
Fate/Stay Night
Somehow everyone seems to forget the basic rule 'Don't Judge a Book by its Cover' when they're dealing with you. You're constantly underestimated and overlooked, even when the opponent really should know better. You just don't look that scary, unless you're actually trying to be. Enemy combatants don't take you seriously or pass you over to focus on other fighters, even if you're an 8 foot mountain of muscle and metal. You can easily pass through all but the most alert of checkpoints without being singled out, even if you were a wanted criminal. Why, if you just wanted to avoid all those annoying friendly people at a party, you could just sit down somewhere and be assured of some uninterrupted peace and quiet. People catch on eventually though, so I wouldn't recommend using it more than a few times on the same guy.
As it turned out however, the now talking wand was a boon for more than just moral support. Previously Ichiban hadn't used it for creating force-fields – they were basically so quick and easy to make just by thinking about it that the wand didn't really add anything to the equation. Now however it was keen to, "Barrier set!" as it liked to say in English and take over the creation and positioning of force-fields working off the same mental link that allowed it to cast spells according to his desires. While by itself this didn't matter much because Ichiban was already quite capable of creating them even while busy with other aspects of battle, both he and the wand could create their own separate force-fields, doubling the amount that could be formed at once.
Given his near bottomless reserves of mana which he hadn't come close to tapping out except when turning Pearl into a dragon, there was really no reason for him not to take advantage, and soon attacking monsters found themselves smashed between moving walls of lightning-imbued magical force as he further experimented and pushed the limits of what he was capable of with what was one of the first magics he'd been gifted since arriving here.
He did let up on the lightning once they reached the Water City, traversing a stairway this time rather than plummeting down a collapsing floor into a boss fight. It was quite a view as they stepped out onto a huge chamber met with the sound of roaring water, a mass of foaming waterfalls plummeting down into the cast cavern stretching below to a lake far below.
"That's where the Amphisbaena usually spawns," Rina pointed down from the edge, blue-grey rock lit by glowing crystal formations. "Down on the twenty seventh floor. With its fire breath it's a threat from a distance, and if it's not killed soon after spawning it'll start roaming around the whole area so it can be a real hazard. As if these floors weren't filled with enough nasty monsters."
Currently they were on the twenty fifth floor, so seeing how Ray would've been able to simply fly down and skip two floors made clear the convenience of flight, which otherwise wasn't given much chance to shine in the Dungeon. Pearl spent most of her time just walking around, as even tunnels big enough for her to comfortably walk through really weren't spaced to allow easy flight at her scale.
Now however? There was loads of room… in fact they probably could've ridden on Pearl's back to fly down to the bottom. But Ichiban hadn't spent all this time developing mobile force-fields for nothing, and he created a horizontal plane big enough for all of them to step on. "C'mon, climb aboard the Ichiban Express," he encouraged with a grin as he hopped onto the force-field.
"I've seen the kind of punishment these can take, but I still feel really nervous about standing on something I can see through the bottom of," Rina said, but she still gamely climbed aboard.
"I'm going to hold onto Pearl, just in case," Naaza declared as she waited for the dragon centaur thing to climb on, which did in fact cause the force-field to glow a bit under her feet from the sheer weight she was applying. Naaza wasn't kidding as she firmly grabbed onto a leg.
The xenos at least showed no fear, though considering two of them could fly they had less reason to be concerned than most. Then with everyone aboard, he lifted the force-field up and flew it slowly and carefully over the chasm the waterfall descended into.
Of course the Dungeon wasn't about to let them get an easy win, and they'd made it maybe halfway down before trouble manifested. "Look out, light quartz!" Fear yelled, taking flight and launching her deadly feathers at some purple crystals clinging to the wall which lit up and fired lasers at them!
Pearl squawked in outrage as several burned against her scales, turning around to face the threat with dangerously thudding footsteps and forcing Let to grab onto her tail for dear life before it knocked him off the platform.
"Pearl, hold still!" he yelled in alarm, creating a second force-field under where Let was dangling over the side while hanging onto the dragon's tail, a retaliatory plasma breath from Pearl burning through more of the turret-like monsters. They were only the first wave unfortunately as a group of screeching sirens less dressed and less personable than Ray came swooping out of a cavern on the twenty sixth floor, swarming towards Fear who had to break off and evade before Gros launched himself at them to join the aerial melee.
Naaza had wisely scrambled up onto Pearl's back just as soon as she started moving and was firing arrows at the remaining light quartz while Rina was providing her own support by buffing up Fear with a Haste spell, which flowed onto all of them through the power of their bond.
For his own contribution, Ichiban passed over control of their platform to his wand so it could continue overseeing their descent while he cast a straightforward lightning bolt up at the sirens, watching it chain off the first one struck to impact the others. It wasn't enough to kill them outright as it had done with bad bats previously, despite his magic being stronger this far down, but it did cause them to seize up both ending their distracting shrieks and causing them to plummet.
Gros went after them, while Fear helped attack the crystalline monsters which released another barrage of laser beams at Pearl. "Barrier Set!" his wand called out, back in English for some reason, and caught the blasts before they could strike. He was pretty sure Pearl would shrug them off, but why give her more reason to be mad?
It was only his automatic reflexes that saved him, as he certainly didn't see or hear anything coming himself but all the same chakra flooded his limbs and he jerked out of the way as something shot past him and smashed into Pearl's side with enough force to actually blow out several of her scales, a crater formed in her flank far worse than the burns scored by the light quartz.
100 – Seismic Sense
Avatar: The Legend Of Korra
This skill allows earthbenders to detect vibrations in the ground to perceive objects, people, and other aspects of their environment, essentially acting as sonar through earth and metal.
Requires Bender(Earth) to Purchase
100 – Bender(Earth)
Avatar: The Legend Of Korra
You've been born with the ability to bend the natural element of your nation, and you have a lifetime worth of experience with bending. In order to harness your powers you have to be able to move, most of your bending will be conducted through a unique set of movements and gestures, but some feats can be accomplished with something as simple as waving your hand. All other bending abilities require you to have this.
Avatar: The Legend Of Korra
This skill allows earthbenders to detect vibrations in the ground to perceive objects, people, and other aspects of their environment, essentially acting as sonar through earth and metal.
Requires Bender(Earth) to Purchase
100 – Bender(Earth)
Avatar: The Legend Of Korra
You've been born with the ability to bend the natural element of your nation, and you have a lifetime worth of experience with bending. In order to harness your powers you have to be able to move, most of your bending will be conducted through a unique set of movements and gestures, but some feats can be accomplished with something as simple as waving your hand. All other bending abilities require you to have this.
She let out a shrieking roar of pain, head twisting around to look at what had injured her even as her insides were already reforming and pushing back out to generate fresh scales with the same fearsome regenerative ability she'd shown against the Black Amphisbaena. A new ability briefly distracted Ichiban, the sudden mastery of geokinetic kung fu undoubtedly cool but less than useful in an aerial battle suspended on a plane of magical force. He still heard the whistling sound now of more high speed projectiles that his body instinctively dodged even while his mind was catching up.
"Iguazu! Ichiban, put up another force-field!" Rina yelled, already ducking closer to Pearl as if to use her for shelter against these new monsters.
Luckily he only needed to be told once, and with a call of, "Barrier set!" from his wand a lightning-imbued field sprung into place, too late to stop the two he'd already dodged one of which slammed into Pearl and the other struck the force-field underfoot hard enough to crack it. The remainder of the monsters however impacted the force-field like birds flying into the side of a glass-fronted high-rise.
Well, birds if they were flung with the velocity of sniper bullets. He got to see them briefly as they struck, red swallow-like birds, as small and unassuming as natural avians but clearly fast and possessed of murderous intent. Intent that was smothered as they impacted hard enough to end their own lives, evaporating into black smoke and dropping magic stones down to the water below.
Fortunately it seemed that was the last of it, the other monsters having been defeated while he was focused on these new threats and his new magical arts style. He might gripe about the immediate uselessness, but honestly it was a style probably tailor made for fighting in an underground Dungeon, and he was looking forward to testing it out once he got his feet on solid ground.
"Whew! Good shortcut, but still not good to be caught by iguazu out in the open, those force-fields are life savers!" Rina said as she stepped away from Pearl, the force-field under their feet beginning to smooth out the cracks as it continued its stately descent.
"I'd rather not repeat that if it's all the same to the rest of you," a rather more shaken Let said, now keeping a wary eye on Pearl's tail at all times.
"Just hang on, we're nearly there. I'll try and speed it up a bit," Ichiban promised them, the lake at the bottom drawing ever closer. "Which side should we land at?"
Fear landed and gestured with a wing towards the rocky shoreline at one edge. "Over there. That was my first time fighting with magic, it felt really good!"
"I felt the difference with these bracers too," Gros grunted as he flew back up to rejoin them after having finished off the sirens, flexing his large clawed hands and looking down at them. "It's not bad fighting alongside humans."
Rina laughed merrily at that, reaching over and slapping his shoulder just below the spiky part, "Glad you're coming around, big guy! Having magic's new to me, but it's a blast to play with."
Ichiban nodded, bringing their platform in against the shore so they could finally disembark. "It's like having a new toy to play with. Speaking of, I just picked up some kind of earth-based martial arts I want to try on the next monsters we fight," he warned everyone to be prepared for what he'd be showing off soon as he stepped off. And as soon as his feet touched solid ground a brand new sense opened up to him. It wasn't as immediately disorienting as his ability to sense magical energy had been, instead it felt comfortably familiar despite its newness. A spreading awareness that passed through the rock and up through his feet.
He could immediately discern the layout of the caves all around him, the steep drop and shelf under the water, a sunken tunnel stretching off below while two caves ahead of them on the surface he could tell branched off in different directions with the left one having an additional split within his range of sensing. It was a fuzzy sense though, and he knew why. His shoes were in the way, this whole power was built on having a connection to the earth and anything between him and it interfered with that connection.
It would have been a harder choice if he had some cool magic boots, but all he had on was a regular pair he'd bought in Orario so he stopped to take them off without any hesitation.
"Is this part of your new martial arts?" Naaza asked skeptically as everyone else got onto solid ground with him.
"He's joining the barefoot club!" Rina observed in a more gleeful tone, taking a moment to look around before she focused fully on Naaza. "You and Let are the only two non-members around right now!"
He chuckled as he stood back up, his sensation of the earth around him now coming through more crisply, and far enough that he could actually sense the roof of the floor beneath this one, if just directly below. It stretched further through the tunnels of the Water City, and he could detect many-legged monsters that had to be some kind of insects or crabs moving around down one of the tunnels, as well as spiny urchin-like monsters stuck to the rock beneath the water. "Actually yeah, it works best if I'm connected to the ground. Like this I can sense movement through the earth, I can tell there's some monsters up ahead down that tunnel," he pointed to the right-side tunnel.
"That's the way we're going anyway," Gros said, taking a step forward. And Ichiban could sense every minute adjustment of his foot before it lifted off the ground, his sense similarly taking in the way everyone else moved as well as those monsters up ahead, and even something crawling around on the ceiling of the floor below.
Like his energy sense being able to tell when someone was casting a spell several floors away in the Dungeon, it wasn't overwhelming, his brain could handle it all, but he still had to choose to filter out stuff that wasn't particularly useful for him in the moment.
Knowing how all his party, and all the monsters nearby, were moving? That was useful and worth constantly paying attention to. Interestingly, he was getting more feedback from Gros and Pearl, both of whom had stone-like bodies. In fact as he focused on them, he was able to identify a crystal formation embedded in their chests which matched what he and Naaza were both carrying. Their magic stones.
Having identified those through the easy mode of rock-based monsters, and with the help of his magical senses, it was easy enough to subsequently identify the same crystals inside Fear and Let, as well as the many-legged monsters up ahead that he was increasingly sure were giant crabs based on their sideways scuttling movements.
Targeting the magic stone was a sure kill against a monster, though destroying the stone eliminated the potential profit or the food and power growth for their monster friends who could eat them. It was good to know however, as it'd be useful against something like the Black Amphisbaena where it wouldn't die easily or if they were just completely overwhelmed.
He took all that in while walking barefoot over the ground with everyone else. It was slightly uncomfortable for someone used to wearing shoes outside, but if Rina could make it all the way down into the Dungeon on her bare feet he wasn't about to complain especially when he'd chosen this. The benefits would be clear soon enough.
The monsters must have heard them coming though. Not hard with Pearl's lumbering stride, and they shifted to start scuttling their way, chitinous movement soon audible even without the advantage of his seismic sense. "Here they come, let me handle this at first," he stepped forward, eager to test things out.
The first of the blue crabs rounded the bend, one huge claw raised threateningly as beady black eyes fixed on them with murderous intent. Ichiban stamped a bare foot down and a ripple passed through the rock before a huge clump of earth shot up under the crab's feet with enough force to slam it into the ceiling. The shell cracked and it landed badly, injured but not dead. More were right behind it however, a total of eight that Ichiban had identified, seeming to flinch in sympathy with the first he'd struck but still advancing.
He stepped back, a chunk of rock the size of his torso ripping itself out of the ground before he punched forward. It wasn't a chakra-infused punch which he well knew would send it flying off like a rocket if he struck it, but his command of the earth was similarly enough to send the rock rushing forward without his fist actually touching it, slamming into a crab and shattering over its main claw, leaving the appendage hanging unnaturally but the crustacean itself was mostly intact and still ready to fight.
If he just ran into the middle of them and let chakra and reflexes take over he'd probably have killed them all in as much time. Or bombarded them with one of the big spells he'd learned from adventurers here. But he was just getting started with this new ability, his progress with force-fields today already made clear there was plenty of room for improvement with powers he was granted. To say nothing of if this form of martial arts could combine with how chakra boosted his body.
Still, the crabs were massing and getting closer even after he'd injured two. The others didn't seem too worried, letting him handle this for now, but soon they'd have to fight just to defend themselves, so Ichiban charged forward to meet the crabs halfway. Pincers snapped at him, but chakra flowed through his limbs without even thinking about it to see him dodging with ease, while a stamp saw another surge of earth rocket one crab into the air and straight at his fist which punched right through the shell. A combination attack worked better. Then, rather than dodging the attack of another one he pulled a shard of stone up from underneath to act as a shield.
An actual force-field might have done better, the crab broke through the stone with a heavy clubbing swing of its main pincer, but it gave Ichiban time to pull down a spike from the ceiling that penetrated right through the shell of a crab on his other flank. The shell gave way under the weight of earth pressing down and that one evaporated into black mist.
It honestly felt weirdly peaceful and relaxing. The mass of the Dungeon, all that weight of earth between him and the sky, it no longer felt threatening or foreboding. He was in his element, possibly literally, as he weaved between the snapping lunges of crabs that probably could've broken his limbs off if they managed to connect, but they never did. His internal energies flowed through his body to move him at a level only Orario's toughest adventurers could match, acting on pure instinct that let him deliberate over his control over external earth and use it to his advantage.
Dragging his big toe against the ground before jumping back, he watched as the solid stone around that spot turned to fine tumbling quicksand which two of the crabs immediately slipped into, struggling to find purchase while Ichiban summoned up another slab of stone. This time he merged techniques, striking it directly with a chakra infused punch that flowed with the style of his earth-based martial arts, actively solidifying and reinforcing the rock so it didn't simply shatter from his strike but stayed whole as it shot off with a loud boom and cored through two more crabs, killing them instantly.
"Alright!" he cheered, starting to see this stuff come together. A hop back from one crab still trying to bowl him over and as his feet hit the ground he channelled his energy through it to solidify the quicksand around the two that had mostly sunk. Despite how the Dungeon obligingly cracked to release monsters from its walls when they spawned, it seemed that was a one-time bonus as those two were now quite thoroughly stuck in place and unable to do anything as Ichiban finished off the remainder with more sudden sharp eruptions of rock slamming into them or coring through them until at last all the monsters were dead.
"Heh, sorry that took a while. Thanks for being patient while I tested this stuff out," he gave an embarrassed grin to everyone else who'd politely stood back, though their reactions were mixed.
"Don't apologise, that was great!" Rina cheered. "Can you teach that like chakra martial arts?"
"I don't see why you get to test your silly rock things but you won't let me use my magic," Pearl huffed. "One meteor swarm would have sorted them out just fine."
"Don't think I can teach it, it's its own kind of magic like the force-fields," he apologised to Rina. "And, uh… I'll let you cast your spells when we get to deeper floors where no one friendly might be around," he added to Pearl. He couldn't deny being kind of interested to see what else she had on the scale of that fire storm, but he didn't want to risk her wiping out friendly xenos or adventurers that might be around on this floor.
Magic stones were collected and off they went. Despite having taken a shortcut to skip most of the Water City, it didn't change the fact that the twenty seventh floor was huge just by itself, so they had to navigate plenty of tunnels and wide flooded chambers that necessitated more flying force-field trips to avoid getting wet. It felt strange when his feet left the ground and he suddenly lost contact with such a huge source of information on his surroundings, and he couldn't deny his relief when back on solid ground again.
It let them get the drop on monsters every time. Even when they spawned out of the rock, previously he was lucky if he just heard the initial cracking of rock or felt the concentration of magical energy, but now he could sense them being formed inside the walls, which took several seconds and gave everyone plenty of time to position themselves and cast buff spells so the newly arrived monsters were eviscerated before their feet could even hit the ground.
"Aren't you worried one of them could be like you?" Naaza had asked the xenos after they'd slaughtered several lamia that burst out of the walls at them, hissing fury meaning little in the face of a prepared defence.
"All of us were alone in our first memories," Fear shook her head. "And we quickly learned other monsters would kill us if they could. Even if one of us was born as part of a group like this, they wouldn't survive."
"It's possible that does happen," Let picked up, "But I think our mother chooses to create us separately. Even if the other monsters hate us, the Dungeon that created us doesn't wish us harm. She made us safe places like our villages where nothing ever spawns, with food and water to live on. I don't think she would birth us just to see us killed again in our first moments."
"Huh. You guys really think of the Dungeon like a mother?" Ichiban asked, that being quite a contrast from how everyone else felt about it, and the murderous hostility he experienced. Between that monster party when his light magic failed, and the reaction to both Pearl's roar of challenge and Ikelos's unleashing of his divinity, he didn't have any doubt that there was some active intelligence behind the Dungeon. But that was the first time he'd heard any benevolence ascribed to it.
Then again, it had safe floors like the eighteenth where even humans could build a village. Who's to say what it really thought about anything?
"It's the best word for something that brought us into the world," Let answered, looking around, "Even if the world within the Dungeon is all we know. Isn't it the same for humans, that you wish to grow up and go out into the world beyond?" he asked, looking curiously between him and the two female adventurers.
"I mean my mom sold me when I was a kid, so I guess I can see how the Dungeon would compare," Rina answered with forced casualness.
"Mine was an adventurer, she died in this Dungeon when I was young," Naaza gave her own answer, her expression as blank as it ever was.
Damn, this was a real downer. He wished he could provide a better example of motherhood but with everyone else sharing, "I never knew mine, she worked at a soapland and left after I was born. But you know, everyone else there took great care of me, the owner of the soapland even gave me his name. Jiro Kasuga… he died when I was fifteen, but that man was like a father to me. Took good care of me so I never felt bad about where I came from," he concluded with a nod, giving Let a big smile.
He felt like Let really needed it as he seemed discomfited by the knowledge he'd just gotten about three mothers who for various reasons had not been there at all for their children. "Fels made mothers sound a lot nicer when they talked about them…" he admitted almost sheepishly.
400 – Domain of the Jumper
Solo Leveling
A good leadership not only allows one's subordinates to perform better under a skillful direction, but the presence of a superior figure of authority can also help to raise and maintain the morality of the troops, allowing them a better performance and achieving feats that would otherwise be thought of as impossible as they surpass their previous limits.
Those fighting under you seem to go way beyond that. Similar to the skill that some Monarchs seem to possess, where they release their mana into area through a skill called the 'Domain of the Monarch' that severely increases the stats and morale of their descendant troops, you too can apply your mana to your surrounding area create this field.
After activating this ability, your troops will increase their stats by at least a fifty percent regardless of your power, but this bonus will increase the stronger you are. A National-Rank Hunter would be able to get a one hundred percent increase, and a Monarch could get a two hundred percent increase. The more powerful you are, the larger the area this ability will cover. For someone like the Shadow Monarch or the Monarch of Destruction, it could extend as far as all North America in a single release.
Solo Leveling
A good leadership not only allows one's subordinates to perform better under a skillful direction, but the presence of a superior figure of authority can also help to raise and maintain the morality of the troops, allowing them a better performance and achieving feats that would otherwise be thought of as impossible as they surpass their previous limits.
Those fighting under you seem to go way beyond that. Similar to the skill that some Monarchs seem to possess, where they release their mana into area through a skill called the 'Domain of the Monarch' that severely increases the stats and morale of their descendant troops, you too can apply your mana to your surrounding area create this field.
After activating this ability, your troops will increase their stats by at least a fifty percent regardless of your power, but this bonus will increase the stronger you are. A National-Rank Hunter would be able to get a one hundred percent increase, and a Monarch could get a two hundred percent increase. The more powerful you are, the larger the area this ability will cover. For someone like the Shadow Monarch or the Monarch of Destruction, it could extend as far as all North America in a single release.
"Well hey, when we get up in Orario you can ask other people, they might have better stories," Ichiban suggested while grappling with a new ability. He really did seem to pick these up more quickly in the Dungeon, and this one was a whopper. Not so much for him, it in fact didn't help him directly at all. It did however make all of his allies far stronger, like a buff spell way past even Ariel or Laurus Hildr… though there was nothing to stop him using those as well. Not that he'd needed to on any of the fights they'd had today, but the Dungeon was only going to get nastier the deeper they went, motherly qualities towards xenos or no.
"Hey, I'm gonna try something new, let me know how this feels?" he asked, holding his wand to help focus the mana that then pulsed out from him in a wave that travelled out through the Dungeon to a radius far beyond what would be necessary for boosting a single party.
"Domain of the Monarch!" that English voice of his wand announced grandiosely to go with it.
Everyone reacted, jolting as energy surged through their bodies before looking around warily as if afraid they might break something. Fear was the first to experiment, flapping her wing and sending a single feather loose which flew off like a bullet and embedded itself fully into the cavern wall. "What kind of power is this?" she asked, wide-eyed.
And he felt it himself. It wasn't an ability meant to improve himself, he knew straight away it was solely meant for supporting his allies. But they fought as a team, and that combined purpose meant much like Rina's earlier haste spell or the Laurus Hildr used against the Black Amphisbaena, what strengthened one strengthened all. His senses sharpened, his grasp of the earth stretched out more than doubling its reach across this floor of the Dungeon and the surrounding ones.
With his magical sensing ability he could estimate power levels, and for a fairly modest expense of his own energy he'd more than doubled the strength of the party. Naaza could hang with elite adventurers like Shakti or Tsubaki. Rina would probably be able to beat Filvis one on one.
Pearl was approaching the realm of gods.
"This is like that spell you used when we fought the Black Amphisbaena?" Gros asked, flexing his clawed hands and then shadow-boxing a few jabs that cracked the air with each punch.
"Haha, yeah kinda," he laughed, a bit overwhelmed by the stark difference this one power made for everyone. "Next fight I'll hang back so you can all test out the new power? It's something like a doubling." It was only fair after they'd let him have his fun with his geokinetic martial arts, even if he kind of wanted to test out the increase in his own parameters. Actually shouldn't this have looped on itself? He makes everyone stronger, then he becomes stronger, and that causes everyone to become even stronger, so he becomes even stronger?
That would basically be infinite power, wouldn't it? Probably makes sense that it stops after one loop then.
Rina let out a strained laugh of her own. "Let me just…" she looked around briefly before shrugging and bringing her fist down to the ground. He could tell she put her all into it, chakra cycling through her arm, her recently levelled up strength magnified by the belt she wore and the power he'd just applied.
Last time she'd made a crater big enough to sit in. This time she caused a no-shit earthquake, the Dungeon shaking around them as a huge fissure cracked into the stone spreading towards the wall on one side and the underground river on the other, the ground lurching as it split from her single prodigious strike.
He could sense monsters in surrounding tunnels and even on the surrounding floors panicking in response, water sloshing in waves that rose up over previously steady shorelines, the Dungeon rocked from power surpassing the strongest adventurers or monsters he'd seen so far.
"Ichiban, it might be the god-like feeling of power I'm high on right now, but I think I love you," the amazon said, staring at her fist and the crack in the Dungeon she'd created. Another couple of those and she'd probably make a short-cut down to the twenty eighth floor.
"That was v-very impressive, Miss Rina," Let spoke up, sounding a bit spooked, "But we're not far from the hidden village, they probably felt it there so we should hurry and reassure everyone that nothing bad's happening."
Before that however they were surprised – legitimately because Ichiban's seismic sense hadn't warned him at all, when a group of monsters burst out of the water to attack them, perhaps roused by the destruction just now. They looked kind of humanoid with arms and legs, but their scaly blue skin was adorned with fins and their faces looked like mutant fish-heads. They were also armed, with rocky pikes held, and one of them was notably larger than the others.
Three of them were perforated with arrows before their feet even touched the ground, Naaza having been quickest on the uptake and moving with unreal speed as she drew and fired her bow like it was an automatic weapon. The others weren't far behind though, Rina and Let both chopping mermen in half with their axes like the tough monsters were made of paper, while Fear took flight and launched razor sharp feathers with less speed than Naaza's arrows but she made up for it by firing them off in groups to achieve a similar volume of fire. Gros simply grabbed the head of the largest one and closed his fist, pulping it in his grasp.
Pearl had been the slowest to respond, though she didn't seem to mind that the fight was over as soon as it started, and Ichiban hadn't needed to do anything himself. They'd been handling monsters around here easily enough anyway, the power boost was perhaps overkill, but it definitely worked.
"I was actually starting to worry about falling behind," Naaza admitted as she took on the role of gathering magic stones afterwards, a small smile on her face. "Even after ranking up there's only so deep I can safely go. But my lowest floor seems farther off now."
"And you know it's just gonna keep getting better!" Ichiban encouraged as they set off, already sensing what he was pretty sure was the xenos village further ahead with his expanded range. The layout felt similar to the one on the twentieth floor, and there was a wide variety of different individual monster types around, compared to how they usually clustered in groups of the same kind elsewhere in the Dungeon.
They managed to avoid any further monsters on the way there, and nothing spawned out of the walls to bother them. Probably the Dungeon was busy regenerating from the damage of Rina's punch to have the energy for monster spawning around here for a while. Gros took the lead into the village found via a few difficult to reach and visually obscured paths, and despite his grumpy demeanour he was greeted warmly by the other xenos before they all reacted with surprise and excitement to seeing the rest of the group.
Ray was there, seeming jittery but relieved to see them. Interestingly he could tell she'd had her power magnified by his 'Domain of the Monarch' as she'd been well within its range when he activated it. He hadn't really been thinking about anyone beyond the party he was with, but was it because they were allies and had previously fought together? Was it strengthening the xenos back up in the Large Tree Labyrinth? What about adventurers he'd partied with before? Were Mord and his friends being boosted while they fought around the middle floors? The Loki familia members who'd fought with him in Knossos? The Takemikazuchi ones who'd held the Dungeon entrance with him before that?
What if it wasn't having fought together but just having a positive association? That would apply for basically every adventurer and xenos he'd met! Were gods like Miach having their power doubled, leashed as it was? He wasn't sure on the precise range of the ability, but it was somewhere around 'huge' to 'vast'. Actually maybe the wand could calculate it?
He'd ask in a minute, for now he was busy greeting all the friendly monsters who were all crowding around much like they had at the other village, asking questions about the shaking sensation and the strange power Ray had felt.
"Haha, that was me!" Rina giggled when the earthquake came up. "I got a big power boost and had to try it out. But I'm not the only one, huh?" she peered at Ray who nodded jerkily.
"All of a sudden I felt all this energy surging through me, it was like the first time I ate a really good magic stone!" she said, bouncing lightly on her taloned feet which carved gouges in the rock beneath her as they flexed while she held her wings around her chest in a nervous manner. "Do you know where it came from?"
Obviously all eyes turned to Ichiban and he could only shrug. "Yeah, so that ability is a lot more wide-ranging than I thought it was," he admitted. "Um, but hey lot of new faces here! Everyone's heard about chakra and stuff from Ray, right? If you want I can hook all of you up as well."
Naturally everyone was interested, and he had to go down to the water's edge where a flooded section connected the hidden area to the waterways of the rest of the floor, where several aquatic xenos preferred to stay but were still happy to meet him and be given the gift of chakra.
And that basically seemed to seal it. The mutual regard and recognition that came with the act of Ichiban pushing chakra into their bodies and being introduced was enough for them to be considered allies, as far as his power cared. Every xenos got both chakra and the doubling in power from being within his 'domain'.
Obviously this didn't go unnoticed and he was getting some intense looks from Rina and Naaza, so as he finished up by giving chakra to a girl with a spider's lower body, he held up the Hero Mage's Wand which now had a rudimentary AI or something. "Hey, do you know the range on that, uh, what did you call it?" he knew what it was called, he was just embarrassed by the grandiose name, "Domain of the Monarch?" Actually why not change it, "Just call it Domain of the Hero from now on?" Maybe that was still a bit presumptuous as well, but monarch had a stuffy tone to it that just didn't fit for Ichiban Kasuga.
"Yes, my Master!" it answered in needless English. "New designation: Domain of the Hero accepted. Radius: Four hundred and seventy two thousand five hundred and nine metres."
Ichiban wasn't great at English but he knew numbers, and he actually felt briefly impressed with himself for managing to remember what 'thousand' was, somehow dredging that up from ancient middle school classes. Then his jaw dropped as he actually absorbed the figure he'd just mentally translated.
"That's nearly five hundred kilometres!" he blurted out, drawing startled reactions from Rina and Naaza who both looked up at the ceiling.
"So everyone else, like the xenos…?" Naaza asked, staring and perhaps imagining the chaos that must be ensuing from everyone having their power basically doubled without warning.
"I think so, yeah. I don't really have control over it, it's too widespread compared to an actual spell. I think it just counts if I like you and you like me, then you get the boost," he said, trying to wrap his head around the precise mechanics. What if two people he liked fought each other and he wasn't around to pick a side? Would the magic 'know' which one he'd prefer, or just leave it on both of them?
"Oh…" Rina looked disappointed, "So Ottar's twice as strong now as well?" Then she rubbed her chin, "Actually maybe that's for the best, Lady Ishtar probably would've made me fight him if only I had this kind of boost."
"You'd lose," Naaza said flatly. "Even with that kind of power, he has experience on you."
"Hey, it's a lot of power!" Rina put her hands on her hips and glared at Naaza. "You've got to at least give me a chance!"
The xenos were mostly looking bemused by the argument, but Ichiban had to step in, "Hey, you don't need to fight Ottar or anyone else like that. He's not done anything wrong. I'm giving people all this stuff so they can overcome the Dungeon, not so they can fight each other. It's probably best if everyone's getting the same deal, just like with chakra and those scrolls."
Which reminded him. Part of the whole point of bringing the xenos up wasn't just to help them be seen as nice and unthreatening, it was so they could have a look at those scrolls too. Though they'd have to work out something special for the aquatic ones that were confined to these floors, they could figure that out later.
The final line-up joining them for the trip was of course Gros, Fear, and Let, but now joined by Ray and a lizardman named Lyd. Seeing Lyd and Gros together next to Fear and Ray had a weird vibe about the sexual dimorphism of monsters, but while Lyd had a similar kind of monstrous build and reptilian face like Gros, his attitude was basically the opposite being open-minded and friendly. There was a wholesome enthusiasm being shown for his first trip to the surface that Ichiban could absolutely get behind.
Plus Let was there to show everyone that male monsters could look cute too.
"Alright, every gather round?" he felt a bit bad he couldn't stick around to properly teach these xenos how to use chakra, but at least Ray had explained some of it when she'd arrived ahead of him so they wouldn't be working completely blind, and the power boost they were operating on should be enough to keep them safe until he stopped by on his next trip down this way. For now however, it was time to show the xenos off to Orario, and hope things hadn't gotten too out of control with the deployment of the Domain of the Hero.
"Teleport!"
Author's Notes said:
fuddler
Making the rounds.
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Damn what a crazy power-up this chapter has been. Just the earth-sense is amazing, but Domain more than doubling all his abilities, with potential to triple them, is insane, and Wallflower means he could basically always get the first attack, even targeting the magic stone if he feels like it.
Is there any monster down to floor 60 that wouldn't get one-shot if Ichiban used an all-out sneak attack targeting the stone? It feels like even bosses would get dusted instantly
Is there any monster down to floor 60 that wouldn't get one-shot if Ichiban used an all-out sneak attack targeting the stone? It feels like even bosses would get dusted instantly
Ebiris
Making the rounds.
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I genuinely can't think of anything.
The Demi Spirit on floor 59 is basically Pearl but without chakra/final fantasy spells, and while it can absolutely regenerate a lot of stuff it's still gonna die from a good hit to the magic stone like that, or just a body evaporating hit (we saw Ottar actually get to demonstrate his spell on screen in the most recent episode of the anime and I feel I might've undersold its effect when Ichiban used it on the Black Amphisbaena a few chapters ago).
We're basically on the home stretch. The Dungeon's ability to challenge Ichiban's party has been reliant on non-standard stuff like the Black Amphisbaena or the Juggernaut for a while now, but even they're gonna get pasted by the level of power they're at now and that's with Ichiban being the kind of guy who's willing to 'let the enemy have a turn' now and then.
Iridesce
Experienced.
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Yeah, the Dungeon scales to Danmachi adventurers, and Danmachi adventurers don't scale all that high in comparison to a lot of other settings. Even with how bullshit some of the rolls Ichiban has been getting it still isn't that crazy. There are multiple cases of free godhood in the Grimoire, a free Planeswalker Spark, a free 20 times physical boost and many more. It gets worse when you start including perks that actually cost something and perk combos. Even though the Grimoire doesn't have a Sailor Senshi perk in it, even though there basically is one in the jumpdoc used, there's a combo that lets you make anyone a slightly weaker senshi and give someone the ability to make you a senshi. Doesn't sound that crazy until you realize that Sailor Moon punched someone into orbit in the first arc.
OverReactionGuy
The only Sane one left
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I wouldn't count the dungeon out yet. That thing is anti god for a reason. If he gets too strong he gets the big guns and can't explore the dungeon anymore at the risk of every other adventurer dieing while the dungeon goes for all out trying to kill him.
Like infinite spawning irregular wanting to kill him.
In fact he's fucked on that as soon as he rolls a godhood.
Like infinite spawning irregular wanting to kill him.
In fact he's fucked on that as soon as he rolls a godhood.
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Iridesce
Experienced.
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I think we also don't know how many floors it has. How scary would a floor 100 monster be for example?
OverReactionGuy
The only Sane one left
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Personally I think the dungeon actually has infinite floors like an abyss. Each floor getting more eldrich as things go on. But authors can cap it out.
I think it would take multiple gods to deal with it using their full power.
There's a reason why that one god is making it sleep. So every one else is basically dealing with its unconscious lashing out instead of its directed hate.
But gods can wake it up briefly if they flex in the dungeon.
Asdercol
The Last Jedi also had "Themes", Gege!
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The dungeon has been stated to have less than 100 floors. Was between 76 and 86 from what I recall. Probably 84ish.
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Doctor Blood
The horror! The horror!
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I don't visit SFW Creative Writing very often and almost missed this story. Ichiban has been a great protagonist for this kind of crazy power, and Nazaa and Rina complement him well. I appreciate that he's trying to raise everyone up with the powers he's getting. Looking forward to the next chapter!
WhiteWizardIan
Making the rounds.
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I kinda hope they had Lord of the Rings in his world. The Pallums could do with a story of how some people like them were the deciding factor in their quest to save the world.
FarJackal
Behold my Radiance
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Yeah but Pallums are treated terribly here though unfortunately. Reason why Finn is trying to make his people look good even if he's failing.
WhiteWizardIan
Making the rounds.
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Yeah, just hoping if he was able to spread the story, it would be an inspiration to the Pallums.
Roroman
Making the Rounds
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Honestly this has been my experience with this fic as well, I'm glad I found it, it's funny to me how I found this fic after watching a video on it.
Thanks for the chapter and looking forward to more
Chapter 17
New
Ebiris
Making the rounds.
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Whooosh!
The teleport deposited the full squad in front of Babel like usual, and Orario wasn't burning down nor was everyone running around like a headless chicken. It was mid-afternoon, when most adventurers would still be down in the Dungeon, and the plaza around Babel was filled more with regular people coming and going through the city's central intersection or visiting the shops up in the tower.
They certainly got attention for their arrival, but Pearl at least was well known enough by now that her presence created a positive association with the other xenos who were looking around in wonder and staring up at the sky. Fear and Ray were both flexing their wings and rustling their features, clearly about to take off.
"Hang on a second, lets introduce you a little first," Ichiban said to the two bird-like xenos before he waved his arms and raised his voice. "Hey everyone! Brought some new friends up from the Dungeon – these ones are like Pearl, they're friendly so don't be shy if you want to come and say hi!"
Ray could probably kill another concert, but that wouldn't really be fair to the other xenos, and amidst murmurings from the gathering crowd people started to press in closer.
"Wow, that's cool armour! Are you like, a monster adventurer?" a little amazon girl was brave enough to step closer first while looking up at Lyd. Given his armour was basically one kneepad, pauldrons, bracers, and a plate covering just half of his chest, it made sense an amazon would consider his armour to be 'cool'.
The big red lizardman seemed delighted with the attention though, his face inhuman but still emotive enough to radiate pleasure as he smiled a big toothy grin and stood up straight.
"That's right! I wear this stuff to help protect my friends from the bad monsters – it's dangerous for all of us down there," he answered, the proof of another talking monster besides Pearl drawing more mutters but the tone wasn't exactly negative and more people started to venture closer to ask questions or comment on their appearances. "My name's Lyd. You know, us xenos are born the same size we are now, but I heard it's different for people on the surface and you get bigger as you get older. How old are you?" Lyd went on with the kid he was talking, crouching down to be more at her eye level.
The amazon girl proudly answered that she was eight and she was going to be an adventurer like 'big sis' over there and pointed at Rina while other people started to ask questions and draw introductions from the other xenos.
About as expected, Ray and Fear seemed to get the most positive attention, they were cute and exotic girls after all, but Lyd breaking the ice meant he drew plenty of attention, and Let's 'pretty-boy' looks put enough focus on him. Only Gros seemed the odd one out, though he seemed to like it that way as he stood menacingly with his arms folded, his new wrist-guards shown prominently.
Still, even Gros being grumpy and standoffish set him apart from ravenous bloodthirsty monsters people might otherwise expect, so it wasn't bad to show they had all kinds of different personalities like people had.
Ichiban just hung back with Naaza and Rina to let people talk with the xenos, who all seemed excited to be meeting friendly faces on the surface. A group of adventurers appeared nearby, having teleported out of the Dungeon themselves, one wincing and casting cure on himself afterwards while the rest looked warily at the xenos before taking in Ichiban and Pearl's presence and clearly deciding not to make anything of it. Everyone knew who'd made spells like that available, and so Ichiban's supportive presence around the xenos counted for a lot.
He never expected to be leading societal changes like that, but he had personal influence in Orario on par with the leaders of the big familias. And that was before everyone knew he was doubling the power of every adventurer in the city and beyond, though he wouldn't be surprised if people already suspected it was him. Who else could be pulling out such nonsense at this point, after all?
"Hey, uh, Mister Ichiban, sir?" one of those adventurers was actually coming closer, ignoring the xenos to address him directly. It was a dwarf guy, stout and wearing heavy armour, his power marking him as a level one adventurer. "Me and the boys," he gestured at his fellows, a human, chienthrope, and pallum, all of whom were laden down with bulging bags of drop items and magic stones, "We suddenly felt ourselves get a lot stronger earlier. Is that something chakra does?"
"It's not chakra, but yeah that was me. It's a new spell, it basically boosts up everyone in the city. I'm still figuring it out, but so long as we're on the same side – us against the Dungeon, really, you get your abilities doubled," he explained, loud enough for plenty to overhear and get distracted from chatting up the xenos.
"Wait, what about me?" the little amazon girl turned away from trying to bug Gros into showing off his fangs, "I wanna be an adventurer, can I get it too?"
Why the hell not? And basically as soon as he thought that, there was an immediate reaction as not just the little girl but basically everyone else in the crowd suddenly felt their abilities expanded. It wasn't just a matter of being stronger or faster. Senses sharpened, memory cleared, thoughts came faster – he was pretty sure that was helping him understand his wand despite its determined insistence on speaking English.
"Woah!" the girl leaped into the air on newly strengthened legs, getting some impressive clearance and back-flipping before she landed in a performance that would have shamed an Olympic gymnast back home. "Is this what having falna is like? Are you a god, Mister? Can I join your familia?" she asked rapid-fire after landing.
The expectation in her eyes and smile, it reminded him of another amazon he'd met on his first day here. He wasn't a clueless idiot this time at least, but he was still struggling to work out the exact mechanics behind Domain of the Hero. "Haha, I'm just a guy, kid," he grinned back at her, "This isn't really a familia thing, it's for everyone. So long as you're not an asshole, if you and me are able to get along, then you can benefit from this magic. It'll help you out when you do become a proper adventurer."
She seemed happy enough with that, though everyone was pretty blown away by the heroic increase in their statistics they were dealing with, so Ichiban saw it as a good time to get a move on. "Pearl can you wait out here a bit? We're gonna take Gros and the others upstairs to look at the magic scrolls, we won't be long," he asked the oversized chimera to wait at what was her usual stomping grounds anyway before pulling the xenos away from their fans and into Babel.
It took multiple elevator trips because Lyd and Gros were both so bulky and basically filled a car by themselves. The attendants were real champs about it, though he had to make sure there was one of him or Naaza or Rina both above and below so no xenos were ever unattended and people up ahead were warned of who was coming.
It felt a bit like that old puzzle about getting a fox, a goose, and grain across a river safely.
Still, they soon had everyone up in the room set aside for hosting the scrolls. Rose had made a reasonable safety objection to his idea of turning trained guard dogs into dragons as they made for a fire hazard, but the place was still being watched over by two first class adventurers, today being two of the pallum quadruplets from the Freya familia.
"Ah! It was you!" one of them blurted out as soon as Ichiban stepped off the elevator, lifting up the visor of his helmet and pointing, his yellow eyes wide.
"Huh? Me?" Ichiban stopped in place before quickly scooting aside to let Lyd and Let step out.
Dvalinn ignored the xenos, Rina had already come up with Ray and Fear after all, instead the pallum pointed right at Ichiban. "The magic that's everywhere and making us stronger, it's coming off of you. I knew it," he nodded in smug vindication towards his green-eyed brother who'd similarly lifted up his visor to talk.
"I didn't even argue, of course it was going to be him. Who else could it have been?" the other pallum said in an annoyed voice.
Well, he was happy to explain things, it gave him something to do while the xenos picked their spells. "Yeah, that's me. So you can sense magic too?" he asked, just glossing over the fact he didn't know the guy's name. He knew collectively they were the Gulliver brothers, and kind of a big deal, but he didn't know which one was which even though he'd met them all to hand out chakra.
"Too? This guy…" one brother looked at the other and shrugged. "Yeah, and it's gotten sharper with everything else. How long is this going to last?"
"Well it might have to stop when I sleep?" Ichiban honestly wasn't sure. He summoned his wand and asked, "Hey, can you maintain the Domain of the Hero while I'm sleeping?"
"Yes, my Master!" it responded with its default bark of agreement. "Blaster Mode unlocked!"
What?
"Who said anything about blaster mode? What's that?" he asked, staring at the suddenly talkative slab of metal in his hand. It started to explain but at a level way beyond Ichiban's grasp of English even with his improved memory of middle school classes. "In Japanese!" he gave it a frustrated shake.
Once more it somehow sounded sullen about it, but it did answer in a language he could understand. "Blaster One instantly casts Master's spells with no delay. Blaster Two enhances the power of Master's spells by fifty percent. Blaster Three multiplies the power of Master's spells by ten. Warning: Blaster One and Two cause overheating to device and damage to Master's circulatory system. Blaster Three causes physical damage to device and traumatic bone fractures to Master."
Wow. That sounded intense! But wait, couldn't he just use the auto-repair and a healing spell after a times ten multiplied spell? Or just pay for it with magic stones like he did when handling backlash like from teleport or that cursed spear?
He felt everyone staring at him and with a flick of his wrist the wand – or device as it now liked to be called, vanished. "Look, I'm not doing this on purpose, all this stuff keeps just getting dropped on me. But uh, yeah. The power doubling's here to stay as long as I'm around."
"Somehow it's comforting that this is all just as shocking for the rest of you as it is for us," Ray said with a gentle laugh. "A lot has changed in a very short time, but it's all been for the better."
"Well I'm just glad this'll still be going next time I fight something," one of the pallums said, his brother picking up smoothly with a knowing nod.
"It would have been a waste to have all this strength just on guard duty. No one's even tried anything so far."
That fact seemed to plainly relieve the uniformed Guild staff that were around more as attendants than guards and likely to be collateral damage in the event a fight did break out here. Then again they could still cast buffs on the guards and debuffs on intruders, that was the good thing about everyone having magic.
Soon the xenos all had their new roster of spells selected and they went back downstairs to rejoin Pearl who was waiting patiently surrounded by and being perched on by pigeons, a fact she seemed rather happy about. He just hoped none of them crapped on her like she did Yankimaru that time.
"So lets head to the Pantheon, cash in our magic stones so you can all get some spending money?" he suggested next, the group starting to head down the street with a flurry of pigeons taking flight, people making way for the monster heavy procession but not causing any trouble.
"So, uh, Ichiban," Rina leaned close as they walked. "You can cast that same fire storm spell that Pearl did, and make it ten times bigger?"
He had actually been trying not to think about possibilities like that. The spell on its own was already a weapon of mass destruction. Using Blaster Three on it would be like some kind of sci-fi nuke. "I mean, yes, but I'm not gonna. That one's overkill," he answered nervously.
"What about Domain of the Hero?" Naaza asked, stepping closer as well so he was now flanked by the two of them. "Couldn't you cast it with the boost to make it even stronger?"
Ten times stronger. Would that be a times twenty boost? Make Naaza equivalent to a level sixty adventurer? He remembered that punch Rina had caused an earthquake in the Water City with. What kind of havoc would be caused in a city where even the lowest rank adventurer suddenly became stronger than that?
"I'm not gonna test it," he said firmly, "That's just too much. Besides, if it's an ongoing spell it'd probably keep doing damage to me the whole time it's running rather than just when it's cast like for an attack, so I couldn't keep it up anyway." So he assumed, but any assumption he could use to justify holding back such an insane indiscriminate boost was good for him.
"Ugh, those are the words a guy always says when you're about to be disappointed," Rina spread her arms and let out a huff. "I'll just have to make do with… oh, you want the belt back now, right?" she asked, suddenly remembering. "It might actually be safe to keep with Phryne out of the city and me reaching level four."
He didn't really care, he gave the belt to Rina for her to use and only agreed to take it back because she was worried about it being taken from her. "Sure, it's yours to keep, just take good care of it," he said without minding. The Pantheon was coming up, Pearl once more having to wait outside but Gros and Lyd were just able to fit themselves through the doors as they entered. Ichiban went in first so no one would be frightened by the sudden arrival of monsters, and he found the place busier than usual for this time in the afternoon as people came in to crowd around the notice-board or ask the advisors what was going on with the power up everyone had.
"Yo!" he raised his voice and his arm. "If anyone's wondering about the power boost, that's me," he patted his hand against his chest and smiled widely, looking around to catch people's eyes. "You're welcome!"
Predictably this meant he was immediately bombarded with so many questions even the presence of the xenos fell by the wayside. He did his best to answer them much as he had already – yes it would affect you anywhere in the city or the Dungeon, no he wasn't asking for anything for it, no it wasn't going to wear off any time soon, just don't be a dick, all that kind of stuff. It got the message across well enough for him to pull away and navigate his group towards the desk of his favourite office bureaucrat.
"Mr. Kasuga," Rose greeted him with polite indifference as her eyes tracked over the rest of his ensemble. "As ever your party continues to grow in astounding ways."
Lyd grinned wide as he leaned closer, showing an enormous mouth full of sharp teeth but still managing to emote a guileless friendliness as he spoke, "It's nice to meet you! My name's Lyd, the surface has been a lot friendlier than I expected!"
"All thanks to Mr. Kasuga's efforts," there was some of that hard-won praise she was so careful about dishing out! "And Lord Ganesha's, the impact of your arrival just after a successful Monster Feria can't be underestimated."
"Yeah, Ganesha's been great. Little bit weird, but he's a good guy," Ichiban nodded happily. "So yeah, we've got a bunch of stones to drop off, get these guys some money so they can do some shopping while they're up here."
"Fels usually helps us with getting things like clothes from the surface, but it always feels like we're imposing," Ray spoke up with a beatific smile. "Being able to do things for ourselves peacefully on the surface, it feels like a dream."
Despite the pureness radiating off of her, Rose simply nodded in a brisk and professional manner as she gave her official answer, "The Guild exists to support adventurers in overcoming the dangers of the Dungeon, however the xenos could be considered allies in this so we are at your disposal. Perhaps you might turn your attention to the quest board, as there maybe quests your talents are uniquely suited to fulfilling," she suggested before taking out her scales to begin quantifying their haul of magic stones.
Fear and Let took the hint, going over to investigate while the other three lingered to watch Rose work. They were effectively giving up their meals here, as eating magic stones slowly but steadily increased their power such that every xenos was far beyond a typical monster of the same type in power. But money made the world go round, and it was interesting to watch Rose work. He'd seen it before, but she was clearly faster and more coordinated now, her efficiency boosted in the same way as Rina's punching power was. Domain of the Hero was just an all around improvement that everyone benefitted from.
They'd gotten their money and were set to leave when an excited Fear waved a wing and called over, "Hey! Ray, come quick! There's a quest for you!"
Everyone looked surprised and hurried over to the quest board where a notice was posted up.
An echoing song in the Large Tree Labyrinth
I want you to find and stop the source of the song which can be heard in the lower levels. It's not a monster's cry! I don't know if it's a person or a monster or the Dungeon itself, but this lovely voice that you'd fall in love just from hearing… I can't sleep because of it! Please put an end to it and give me back my restful nights!
Reward: 50,000 valis.
Ray had started to read it with a smile (Fels or someone must have taught the monsters how to read, and Ichiban was relieved he was no longer illiterate himself or it would have been a shameful comparison), her cheeks even turning pink as she got halfway through before her feathers fluffed up in outrage.
"Why does he want me to stop if he likes it?!" she squawked, avian nature really coming to the fore with that outburst.
Let peered up curiously at the note himself and asked, "Where does it say it's a he?" in an oblivious tone.
A sweep of Ray's wing knocked the notice off the board and she trampled it under her feet, talons rending the paper. "This quest is banned!"
Looking upset at the defacement of Guild property, an office worker raised her hand as if to protest before she grimaced and lowered it, clearly thinking better of it. "We… we'll mark that one down as expired, Miss Ray," she said meekly.
"Okay, we're gonna head off now," Ichiban decided to head off further upsets, chivvying everyone back out. "C'mon, that's enough looking at quests, still got lots more to see and do!"
And indeed the next stop wasn't that far as they left the Pantheon and took a walk around to the Blue Pharmacy. And again Pearl had to be left outside on the street, too big to even fit in the alley that led down to the shop's entrance where Ichiban had started his whole adventure in Orario bleeding out to be found by Naaza and Miach.
"Lord Miach, I'm home!" Naaza announced as the door opened and the bell jingled and she led the way inside, finding not Miach but instead Orin Redleaf of all people, the bespectacled blond elf at the counter helping bag up some potions for a wrinkled older man.
Said elf and man both looked wide-eyed at the monstrous figures herding into the shop behind Naaza, while Miach stepped out from the curtained off backroom himself with a smile undimmed by seeing the xenos who he'd surely already heard about from Naaza in detail.
"Hello Naaza, are these your friends? This is Orin, he's from the Hestia familia and I've hired him to help part-time around the store while you're taking on these deeper Dungeon expeditions," he explained, gesturing to the elf who gave a stilted wave.
Naaza just gave him a quick look before nodding briskly. "That's right, we need to get a uniform for pharmacy staff. I'll take care of that," she declared in a tone that brooked no opposition, yesterday's conversation about gods in office attire clearly not having been forgotten. "These are my xenos friends, Ray, Let, Fear, Gros, and Lyd. They helped gather a lot of ingredients we can use to make mind potions," she held up her bag overflowing with ingredients.
"Don't forget that weird potion I got in Knossos," Ichiban reminded her, wanting to see if she could figure out what it did. If it was a potion and not an ingredient like the healthy water.
"I'll check on that too. Are any of you interested in alchemy?" she asked the monsters as several of them wound up crowding into the back room to watch Naaza stock up the ingredients and then start analyzing the contents of the mysterious bottle.
Considering they had ready access to all the ingredients down there, the xenos opening up a potion shop down in the Dungeon might do some great business for adventurers looking to stock up on a long expedition.
Lyd meanwhile had cornered the old guy who'd just been in to buy a potion that helped with his joint pain, the effusive lizardman talking his ear off and talking about how Gryuu the dragon that looked after one of their villages complained about stiff joints too. The old guy had seemed bemused and a little frightened at first, but that little bit of commonality seemed to warm him up and soon he and the monster were chatting up a storm together.
Ichiban wandered over to Orin behind the counter who was staring wide-eyed at Gros, the gargoyle doing his best statue impression in the corner. "Yo, so you got a part time job? That's helping out both Hestia and Miach, good going buddy!" he said encouragingly.
"I-I-Ichiban!" he stuttered out, vibrating in place. "Those are real monsters!"
"Haha, yeah!" he grinned, glancing over at Lyd and Gros, Let and the two bird-girls having gone through the back with Naaza and Miach. "Bet you never thought you'd see them in real life, huh?"
"That's a lizardman!" he pointed at Lyd. "They spawn between the nineteenth and twenty fourth floors! They're known for their intelligence using coordinated tactics and making use of landform weapons grown from plants in the Large Tree Labyrinth. Physically their abilities are weaker than Cave Labyrinth monsters like the minotaur, but their ability to use swords and shields makes them an equal threat and a challenge for adventurers!" he rattled off some facts from his research, causing Lyd to look over and grin.
"He's right, I've always been good with a sword, other xenos that use weapons had to learn but I had a knack right from the first time I picked up a blade," he declared proudly.
"Waaaah!" Orin yelped in startled surprise at having his lore confirmed straight from the source. "This is incredible! And, and… a gargoyle too! A deep floor monster from the White Palace is looking at me…" he trailed off with a squeak in his voice at the sight of Gros's intimidating glare and moved to hide himself more behind Ichiban. "A gargoyle is looking at me! I'm going to die!"
Gros made a tongue-clicking noise and lifted his chin in apparent dismissal.
"You're not gonna die, man!" Ichiban had to grab Orin's shoulders and steady him back on his feet. "That's just Gros, he's a good guy, just one of those tough silent types."
"We even have loud chatterbox types among our kind," the gargoyle muttered in a voice like rocks grinding together.
"He's fine, don't worry about it," Ichiban reassured as Naaza came back out to the front of the shop and held up a now half empty bottle of red liquid.
"Ichiban, it's some kind of magically potent blood. I'll have to experiment with it as an ingredient but it doesn't keep going like the water bottle," she said, now quite frivolously discussing the thing she once told him to keep secret in case someone tried to kill him for it.
Looking at it, Ichiban got a faint bubbling sensation like he did from the potions that refilled themselves over-night. "I think it'll refill after a while, so just go nuts with it and keep the bottle safe," he suggested, more than happy to leave it in the hands of an expert. Though speaking of, he handed her the water bottle so she could refill her home supply of the good stuff.
"So are we gonna be here a while?" Rina asked as Naaza disappeared through the back again. "Normally I'd be happy to stick around and look at Lord Miach, but it's busy enough back there with the birds crowding him."
Speaking of Miach, his power felt the same as it ever did to Ichiban, no doubling in evidence. Were gods just exempt? Was it because their power was chained down, but his 'human-limited' abilities were being doubled like Rose's were? It probably wouldn't matter unless he got into a scuffle like Loki did with Dionysus.
"Lets give Naaza a little bit to get all her stuff put away and then see about getting everyone a meal somewhere?" he answered Rina. "There's this boat restaurant I tried back on my first day that Pearl could eat at if she stood on the dock and we got a table right by the edge." He was feeling pretty bad about Pearl constantly having to wait outside, it was bad enough for stuff like this bug ditching her while everyone else had a nice dinner really didn't sit right with him.
It took Naaza a little while to finish her business at home, although with Orin here to mind the shop she was able to convince Miach to come and join them as well. No weed soup for his familia, now they were on stable financial footing they could dine out in style!
Given how Ray and Fear kept looking at him, it was clear he'd picked up another couple of admirers as well, though both were keen to talk about potions and medicine as well, giving them a leg up on Rina's more shallow appreciation for the handsome god.
"Life's going to be a lot easier now some of us have healing magic," Fear said as she bobbed along on her taloned feet. "Fels and Marie are the only ones that can help with that normally but Fels isn't around much and Marie can't go far from the water."
"Marie was the mermaid, right?" Naaza asked. "She gives up her blood to heal other xenos?" at a confirming nod she looked thoughtful. "Mermaid blood's a rare and valuable drop item. Getting a stable supply from a friendly one… I'll have to talk to her next time we go down that far."
If nothing else, Naaza was trailblazing the financial incentives for friendly dealings with the xenos. If bloodletting could be called friendly, anyway.
Fortunately the Spoon Aqua, as the floating restaurant was called, didn't have a 'no shoes no shirt no service' policy, as doing so would surely have eliminated Orario's substantial amazon population, so Ichiban had no problem boarding on his bare feet. It was still kind of weird stepping on the wooden gangplank and suddenly losing his sense of the surrounding area through the ground, but it had been similarly difficult going up the elevator in Babel. It was an amazing sense to have in the Dungeon, but in the city there were a lot of times it just got cut off.
Didn't stop him enjoying a nice meal with his new friends, the staff having been startled but obliging when it came to giving them a table where Pearl was able to prop herself up against the side of the boat and lean over the railing to actually join in the meal and be included.
"I want something small I can eat all at once, I don't like having to chew," she declared, sounding very much like an old lady. Though perhaps it came from having spent most of her life as a bird with no teeth.
There were other problems too, as there were no chairs suitable for Lyd and Gros to sit on so they ended up having to crouch on the floor by the table, while Fear and Ray were completely unable to use utensils due to their lack of hands.
"Wait, how do you get dressed?" Rina asked bluntly while they waited for their orders to come in, the two avian monsters currently drinking beverages through straws and seeming quite happy about it.
"I just get someone to help me. Last time it was Ranye – she's really good with clothes, she makes them out of her own silk," Ray explained, sitting primly next to Ichiban. He could see Naaza mentally taking notes and no doubt seeing another commercial avenue for working with the xenos.
"We all have to help each other, for little things as well as big things," Fear added, smiling winsomely at Miach next to her and asking, "You'll help me with this strange surface food, won't you Lord Miach?"
Miach chuckled agreeably and Ichiban saw Naaza's eyes narrow, but before he could try defusing that landmine he felt a feathered limb brush against his arm and Ray said, "I hope I can count on you, Ichiban. I'm very excited to have my first meal in a restaurant!"
He could feel Rina and Naaza's eyes on him as if ready to make hay over him hand-feeding a beautiful woman, but he just nodded and gave Ray a grin. "You bet. Back home the young master of my family had trouble getting around so a lot of the time I had the job of helping him out. I get where you're coming from," he said reassuringly.
That seemed to do a good job of defusing any potential teasing, and even had Naaza looking more relaxed about Fear's bugging of Miach. Considering her own recent disability he figured she'd be understanding of needing to make accommodations. Whether for prodigious size, non-standard limbs, or even an inability to talk, dealing with the xenos was going to require an open mind and a willingness to adapt. It was nice to see how excited and happy the xenos were just being able to walk around Orario and take part in everyday life that most people took for granted, and he was keen to see nothing spoiled that for them.
"You know, when you first talked about getting to the bottom of the Dungeon, I was just humouring you," Rina admitted, picking another conversational topic. "But it's actually looking like it might be possible now… what are you going to do if it doesn't have a way back home to your family down there?"
What could he do? He'd been pinning everything on that, after all. His abilities seemed to come fastest and strongest when he was making progress towards the Dungeon, it definitely felt like he was being directed there. What if he got to the bottom and it was just the bottom, or just some monster king that had nothing to do with travel between worlds?
"I don't know," he admitted, "Maybe find some other mystery that might be hiding something? Explore the rest of this world? Or try and figure out a way back with my own magic?" he hadn't really been thinking about it, those were just off-the-cuff answers because he was pinning everything on the bottom of the Dungeon holding the answers.
"It's strange to think you could be gone just as quickly as you appeared, having caused such changes in the world," Miach spoke up. "But whether you find what you seek in the Dungeon or not, you'll always have friends here in Orario."
"Hah, damn right," Ichiban grinned back at him before looking around the table. Monsters, a god, a woman who'd scared the crap out of him and another who'd healed him, and a pigeon who'd come a long, long way. "I don't think I did anything to deserve all these weird powers, and I dunno who or what's behind it, but I'm glad I got to be here with all of you because of them. And that's worth celebrating."
And celebrate they did, everyone enjoying some of Orario's fine dining before the sun began to descend and they went their separate ways. Naaza had a lot of potion brewing to catch up on, and the xenos were already thinking of making the trip back into the Dungeon to reunite with their fellows. Now several of them knew Teleport they'd be able to bring others up conveniently to see Orario and take advantage of the spell scrolls, though before they could properly split up Rina interrupted with a suggestion of her own.
"Why don't we swing by the Entertainment District?" she gave Ichiban a smile that was part over-played innocence and part guilty recognition, "Nothing bad! I was thinking it'd be nice if we took some pictures with our new friends, both to put up around here and for them to take down and show the other xenos."
Put like that it was a hard offer to refuse. Anything that made the xenos seem more normal and comfortable on the surface was worth doing in Ichiban's mind, and so they redirected to Orario's red light district with a bunch of clueless tourists enjoying their first day in the city. It was practically a rite of passage!
Given how strong the xenos were, at least it probably wouldn't end like Ichiban's first time there.
The sun hadn't quite gone down when they made it there, though the place was clearly warming up for business. Amazon guards at the gate met them with friendly smiles and approving comments over the wardrobes of Ray, Fear, and Lyd. Gros maybe was a bit too under-dressed even for an amazon's sensibilities, while Let was over-dressed but absolutely got a positive reception.
"How is he so cute?!" "Goblins are meant to be creepy pot-bellied ugly things!" "I love his little red hat!"
Let seemed embarrassed over the fawning attention but the other xenos (besides Gros) were clearly loving it. "Come on Let, they're complimenting you, you should be polite and return it," Fear teased, holding a wing over her smirking mouth.
"Ahh, y-yes. Thank you, I like the hat too," the goblin got a bit tongue-tied, adjusting his floppy red cap and clearly trying to think of a safe way to compliment the clothing of several scantily-clad amazon girls. "Your, um, I like those baggy pants. They look comfortable and easy to move in!" he said to the girl wearing a pair of diaphanous purple pants that were voluminous but also nearly see-through.
The statuesque amazon leaned forward so her cleavage was level with Let's face and said in a husky tone, "If you want to see how I look without them come by the Honey Hive after the sun goes down, I'll be dancing there when it gets late."
"Dancing? That sounds fun! We should definitely check that out!" Ray spoke up, all innocent enthusiasm.
This place was gonna eat these guys alive.
"Alright c'mon, lets just head in for now?" Ichiban spoke up to try and give at least Let a break. "Got lots of pictures to take and memories to make!"
Luckily Rina took charge of directing them once they were past the gate, having had her fun sitting back to let the other berbera tease the xenos. "Come on, it's this way. We've got a studio in Belit Babili which we've been using for taking pictures," she explained, leading the way through the night-life district with Pearl stomping along and bringing up the rear.
With one of the elite berbera leading the way they could basically go where they wanted, no one getting in Rina's way even without considering how potentially scary the monsters making up most of their group were, and she took them towards the big tower in the centre of the district.
The inside was as palatial as Ganesha's home, with a sort of middle eastern ambience to Ichiban's untrained eye. The big chunky pillars rising out of square blocks and an overall colour scheme of reds and purples gave it the feeling of a sultan's pleasure palace or something like that. Pearl did sadly have to wait outside once more, though she took it in good cheer which only added to Ichiban's guilt of constantly having to ditch her to go inside places.
"Yes Lady Ishtar, like that. Now arch your back for me… that's perfect! Now give me a good pout!"
They heard the voice and the clicking and whirring of a camera just as Rina opened the door to take them into what was clearly a photography studio, with magical lights focused onto a small stage with a plain white backdrop. There was Ishtar who he'd last seen at the big meeting after he'd offered to hand out chakra, a little gold tiara on her dark purple hair and wearing what could only be called a school uniform. A black sailor blouse and a long pleated skirt, it showed off her cleavage as she posed bent forward with a hand on her knee, and looked like the kind of thing you saw delinquent girls wearing in old TV dramas.
A blonde-haired girl with a fluffy tail and animal ears which he could confidently identify as a renard was holding the very same camera he'd thoughtlessly tossed aside during his escape from this district, a red kimono worn over her short-statured body. "That came out beautifully, Lady Ishtar," she enthused, tail wagging as she held the photo spat out by the camera. "Do you want to try the maid cosplay next?"
Rina had stopped short, everyone else doing likewise, including Ichiban who was now absorbing a buffet of ninja techniques that were very much on the flashy anime spectrum rather than the stealthy assassin type. "Oh, Lady Ishtar… and Haruhime! I didn't realise you'd be here!" Rina managed as the xenos all looked on curiously at the scene.
Ishtar drew herself up with confident poise in her attire that honestly wasn't out of place for a red light district while Haruhime turned and let out a squeak at the sight of the xenos.
"This child has turned out to be surprisingly good at taking pictures," Ishtar said in a voice that was almost a purr, gesturing carelessly at her photographer while her narrowed eyes raked over the group. It reminded Ichiban a bit of how he'd been so scared of potentially meeting her back on that first night, but having already met her around a bunch of other gods, and dealt with the worst Ikelos and Dionysus had, he didn't feel nearly so nervous around her so he just gave a grin back when their eyes met.
"Yo," he spoke up, "Didn't expect to see anyone in a sailor dress around here."
"Oh? You like this kind of thing, Ichiban?" she stepped towards him with a roll of her hips, toying with the midriff-baring bottom of her top. "It's very popular among gods of culture, and people from the far east." He could see Haruhime nodding out of the corner of his eye but most of his attention was on Ishtar as she trailed a long purple-painted nail up his chest while she looked into his eyes. "Why don't you and I retire somewh-" her eyes momentarily seemed to glow and then she recoiled as if struck, stepping back and grabbing at her head. "Ow! What the-" she winced and it suddenly reminded him of how Dix had acted when his curse had touched Ichiban.
He must have some kind of defence that protects his thoughts from tampering, whether from the rage curse of Dix or whatever Ishtar just tried.
"Hey, did you just try and… brainwash me or something?" he asked. It wasn't like what Ikelos had done, his whole body had glowed when he did that, but he definitely saw a flash of something lighting up her eyes.
The xenos were all looking on with building wariness while Rina and Haruhime were doing their best statue impressions as Ishtar struggled to compose herself, a twitching around an eye signifying the migraine she must be experiencing. "Of… of course not, that would be absurd," she said, her voice more strained sounding now but starting to recover in forcefulness. "I'm a goddess of beauty! My presence can't help but arouse! But you… you're somehow made of sterner stuff than most men, and you turned it back on me. Aha… hahaha!" she barked out a stressed laugh while Rina and Haruhime looked at each other with helpless gazes clearly wondering if they were supposed to laugh along with their goddess at a time like this.
The whole situation had rapidly turned awkward and kind of sad. "Listen, uh, Ishtar, you're a good looking woman. You shouldn't need to use tricks like that," he said, wondering how this would've played out if Rina had managed to drag him in front of her that first night.
"Good looking woman?!" she repeated incredulously, "I'm the most beautiful woman in the world! Men have killed for the chance to lick my toes!"
He glanced down automatically. Yep, another paid-up member of the barefoot club, although to be fair her feet were considerably cleaner looking than his or Rina's. No doubt she hadn't stepped on anything but soft carpet or polished floor all day. "Well, all the more reason you shouldn't need to mess around with that kind of forced charm," he looked back up at her scowling face. "It looked like you and Haruhime were having fun when we came in just now, that was a more beautiful side of you than what's going on with you now."
She glared at him in response to the platitude before reaching over and snatching the camera out of Haruhime's hands with a startled squeak from the younger girl. "This has been an interesting diversion. And we have you to thank for it, something you just tossed aside without even thinking. It's trivial compared to the power you keep close to your chest, isn't it?" She held the camera up and snapped a picture of Haruhime, a whirr as it spat out a photograph showing a cringing fox-girl. "Look at yourself, girl! At least smile when your picture is taken!" she waved the picture in front of Haruhime who continued to cringe but forced an awkward smile onto her lips.
"I-I'm sorry Lady Ishtar! I'd rather be taking the pictures than appearing in them!" the girl protested meekly.
"This is why you never get any customers. Too afraid to put yourself out there," Ishtar huffed, handing the camera back to Haruhime who held it close to her chest while the goddess refocused on Ichiban. "I know about the other things you've given my little Rina, she's been getting special treatment beyond what you throw out so carelessly for the masses. I want my familia to benefit like that, I want you to favour us whether it's a big earner like Rina or a hopeless charity case like Haruhime," the impromptu candid shot of the startled renard got pressed against his chest as Ishtar made her case, at least speaking bluntly rather than trying to wheedle him with a magical seduction.
"I've been helping Rina because she helps me, making her stronger means she can watch my back better in the Dungeon," he pointed out. "That's why I'm helping everyone else the same too, it doesn't matter if it's your familia or the Ganesha familia, so long as people are getting further in the Dungeon that helps me too, and I'm happy to do anything that improves people's chances. In fact, hey, Haruhime. You don't have chakra, right? Want it?" he held out a hand to her.
She looked surprised to be put on the spot and turned to Ishtar first for permission, the goddess all but rolling her eyes and giving a dismissive nod. "Er, I don't feel worthy, but…" slowly she extended a delicate hand out towards him. Giving her a reassuring smile, he reached over to clasp it, pushing chakra into her system… and watching as her eyes rolled up and she fainted with a feminine gasp.
"Wow that really does happen every time, doesn't it?" Rina broke her silence as Ichiban caught the swooning renard.
"No it doesn't, that's the first time this has ever happened!" he protested, lifting Haruhime up and settling her on a nearby sofa that was probably being used as a prop for photography.
"Not you," Rina clarified. "Haruhime, she always faints around guys. It's why she's so terrible at her job."
Rina talking also seemed to push the xenos out of passively observing, although Fear's whisper of, "This feels really awkward, should we even be here?" felt on point.
"She even seemed to be doing better today, but even a doubled constitution isn't saving that girl," Ishtar muttered as Ray shushed Fear. "But if you like helpless girls that need saving, my familia has them just as much as it has strong girls who can push deep into the Dungeon like Rina. And you like the xenos? My girls are the ones going to Eluria to rescue the ones Ikelos sold off," her voice picked up as she stared down Ichiban, now without any glowy-eyed nonsense. "So just think about who you're helping whenever you favour us with your blessings and artifacts. We'll make it worth your while in turn."
"Look, I've got nothing against your familia," Ichiban countered, shaking his head. "And I probably should after what happened my first night here. But Rina's been a big help, everyone else has been nice. So you'll get the same help I give anyone else – you getting strong enough to pick a fight with Freya or Loki doesn't help me. I'm not about that."
"Hmph," she made a dismissive noise and stepped back. "I've had enough modelling for now. You came to take pictures of the xenos? Go ahead, Haruhime's got a good eye for it when she wakes up." Then without a shred of shame, she lifted her sailor blouse up over her head and dropped it to the side. Of course Ichiban's eyes dipped down, he's not made of stone, but it was only for a second and he quickly brought them back up to Ishtar's face, resolutely holding eye contact even as she dropped her skirt next.
He could hear murmurs from the xenos and a swish of shifting feathers, but he didn't look away from Ishtar's haughty gaze as the goddess stood bare before him, whether in temptation or power play. "You won't find any door barred to you in my Entertainment District," she promised before turning to give a view of her backside as she went and slid into her even more skimpy harem-girl type attire that she usually wore, strutting off out of the studio while Ichiban could see Ray and Fear were both using their wings to cover up the eyes of the male xenos.
He wasn't sure how it was possible but even Gros and Lyd had pink glowing on their cheeks in the wake of the goddess of beauty's flashy and flashing departure.
"Whew… sorry about that, I didn't expect her to actually be in here," Rina let out a gusty exhalation when the coast was clear.
"No kidding, she's real intense isn't she?" Ichiban agreed, letting out a breath of his own. It definitely would've gone differently if he'd met her on his first night here. Now though, he had a position of strength in the city that would draw reaction from the other factions if he blatantly took a side, and Ishtar was down a lot of her own heavy hitters with the mission to Eluria. He hadn't really meant that as anything other than a way to lower the heat from Ikelos and make Rina's life easier, but it had probably paid off here too.
"Is Miss Haruhime going to be okay?" Let asked, now able to see past Fear's wing.
Rina went over to where the blonde was conked out on the couch. "Should be, she does this all the time, it's actually a real pain. Although…" she thought a second and then cast, "Life!"
"Uwah!" Haruhime's eyes shot open and she swung into an upright position with a sudden jerky motion as the spell restored her to consciousness as advertised. She looked around and brought a baggy-sleeved arm up over her reddening face. "Lady Rina, my sincerest apologies! I've embarrassed the familia in front of your honoured guests!" As if that wasn't apology enough she slid off the couch and bowed on all fours with her head touching the ground.
The amazon just looked even more embarrassed by that. "It's a far eastern thing," she said awkwardly as if Ichiban hadn't seen men take exactly that pose when apologising to the boss for a screw-up. He'd done it himself!
"It's fine, no one's bothered, Haruhime," he said, glancing at the xenos who all quickly gave their own agreement that there was no hard feelings over something as innocuous as a fainting spell.
Mercifully she got to her feet after that, "Still, I'm embarrassed. Your touch and then the strange feeling coursing through me, it surprised me is all," she explained, her eyes crossing a bit as she started obviously focusing on her newly given chakra.
"Yeah, I know it can be a shock at first. We can give you a few tips on how to handle it since we've all been using it longer, but we actually came here to take some pictures of our friends," Ichiban replied with a gesture over the xenos who at least were seeming more relaxed since Ishtar had left.
"In that case please let me offer my most humble assistance!" Haruhime perked right up, retrieving the dropped camera and bowing once more. "We have a selection of outfits for costume play, as well as different backdrops so it can seem like you're at the beach, in the Dungeon, in a forest, or in the city," she rattled off the studio options, some of the same confidence he'd heard when she was directing Ishtar's posing earlier returning to her voice.
"You've really taken to this, huh, Haruhime? When did that start?" Rina asked, sounding a little impressed.
"It was Lady Aisha's idea, with her and Lady Samira going on the expedition to Eluria she suggested I try helping in the studio," Haruhime answered, a gentle smile on her face, "And I discovered I liked it. Different clothing, different poses, all captured in a preserved moment… something about it speaks to me, Lady Rina." Then she lowered her voice, "And Lady Ishtar is much nicer when she's posing for pictures."
Ichiban grinned at that and nodded his head, "Yeah, we heard when we came in, she was taking your directions real well."
"Ahh, I wouldn't say that I was d-directing Lady Ishtar," some of Haruhime's nervousness returned when it was pointed out so bluntly, "Only helping her express her beauty for the camera. She said I have a good eye for it."
However she wanted to justify it, either way Ichiban gestured at the xenos. "Well, how about helping express these guy's beauty some too?" he suggested. "Although if you don't mind going outside, we can include Pearl too that way."
Besides, the cosplay outfits probably wouldn't fit their bodies, and pictures taken outside under the open sky would make better mementos for their trip to the surface.
Haruhime was more than happy to accommodate their needs, and she even took in Pearl's appearance without missing a beat once they got outside. "Honoured Lady Pearl, please allow this humble one to assist in capturing your beauty for the ages," she'd said with an obsequious bow, which had Pearl happily flaring her wings and grinning at finding someone both polite and with a good eye.
Of course for the xenos who didn't have any mirrors down in the Dungeon, seeing their own faces on the first few pictures taken had them excitedly scrutinising them in detail for the kind of close attention you wouldn't really get looking at water or a lustrous crystal where they normally lived, and soon they were posing for all sorts of pictures while Haruhime scampered around them to find flattering angles.
From simple portrait shots to dynamic poses like Ray fanning her wings in the air before the setting sun or Let holding his axe in a pose rather similar to Rina's level up announcement picture, they got their money's worth out of the endless camera's film stock. Ichiban even posed for a few pictures himself, getting in on it and figuring if he did find a way home at the bottom of the Dungeon then these might be the last recorded evidence of his presence left in this world.
"Now everyone up on Lady Pearl's back. Lady Fear up at the front, then Lord Lyd then Lord Gros then Lady Ray and then Lord Let," Haruhime instructed, by now quite confident ordering the xenos around to pose for her, and the xenos being more than happy to oblige as they clambered onto Pearl who was resting low to the ground like a big cat. "Everyone smile – yes, even you, Lord Gros! And no blinking, please," she was very polite but also very firm when she was in her element, standing back to catch everyone in shot with the last rays of the setting sun being cast over Orario.
Everyone hopped off Pearl's back and crowded around to see the picture which Haruhime showed off before it was handed to Rina who had the job of keeping the expansive stack of photographs they'd produced.
"No one's going to believe we had such an adventure on the surface, but the proof is right here!" Lyd said joyously. "Although we should have a picture with our new friend as well. Lady Haruhime," he'd adopted her own excessive formality and turned it right back on her, "Would you let us take a picture with you among us?"
Immediately the confidence she'd shown as a photographer evaporated, her face reddening as she leaned back, "Oh, n-no I couldn't, I wouldn't be worthy to appear…" her voice got quieter and quieter as she tried to refuse the honour she was being shown.
"Come on, lets take a picture with everyone," Ichiban spoke up, and before anyone could question who'd be the one to take the picture in that case, he did a little ninja hand-sign and said, "Kage no bunshin!" which enveloped him in a puff of smoke and then there were two Ichibans.
Everyone else was staring, wide-eyed and jaws slack as Ichiban turned to look at Ichiban. "Hey, I'm looking good!" he said with a laugh, pointing at himself. "Here, give me the camera?" he took it from Haruhime's limp hand and stepped back while his other body went over to Pearl and gestured everyone over. "Come on, before the sun goes all the way down, this'll be our last one!"
The prospect of it at least being the last one was enough for Haruhime to go with the flow, and the helpful renard photographer found herself standing below Pearl's upper body with Ray and Fear flanking her, Ichiban and Rina on the side past Ray while Gros and Lyd stood with Let in front of them at Fear's side. The fox girl gave a shy peace sign as the last rays of the setting sun bathed the group in warm golden light and the click of a shutter immortalised the scene onto film, proof that such an unlikely group of people and monsters had met and becomes friends this day.
The teleport deposited the full squad in front of Babel like usual, and Orario wasn't burning down nor was everyone running around like a headless chicken. It was mid-afternoon, when most adventurers would still be down in the Dungeon, and the plaza around Babel was filled more with regular people coming and going through the city's central intersection or visiting the shops up in the tower.
They certainly got attention for their arrival, but Pearl at least was well known enough by now that her presence created a positive association with the other xenos who were looking around in wonder and staring up at the sky. Fear and Ray were both flexing their wings and rustling their features, clearly about to take off.
"Hang on a second, lets introduce you a little first," Ichiban said to the two bird-like xenos before he waved his arms and raised his voice. "Hey everyone! Brought some new friends up from the Dungeon – these ones are like Pearl, they're friendly so don't be shy if you want to come and say hi!"
Ray could probably kill another concert, but that wouldn't really be fair to the other xenos, and amidst murmurings from the gathering crowd people started to press in closer.
"Wow, that's cool armour! Are you like, a monster adventurer?" a little amazon girl was brave enough to step closer first while looking up at Lyd. Given his armour was basically one kneepad, pauldrons, bracers, and a plate covering just half of his chest, it made sense an amazon would consider his armour to be 'cool'.
The big red lizardman seemed delighted with the attention though, his face inhuman but still emotive enough to radiate pleasure as he smiled a big toothy grin and stood up straight.
"That's right! I wear this stuff to help protect my friends from the bad monsters – it's dangerous for all of us down there," he answered, the proof of another talking monster besides Pearl drawing more mutters but the tone wasn't exactly negative and more people started to venture closer to ask questions or comment on their appearances. "My name's Lyd. You know, us xenos are born the same size we are now, but I heard it's different for people on the surface and you get bigger as you get older. How old are you?" Lyd went on with the kid he was talking, crouching down to be more at her eye level.
The amazon girl proudly answered that she was eight and she was going to be an adventurer like 'big sis' over there and pointed at Rina while other people started to ask questions and draw introductions from the other xenos.
About as expected, Ray and Fear seemed to get the most positive attention, they were cute and exotic girls after all, but Lyd breaking the ice meant he drew plenty of attention, and Let's 'pretty-boy' looks put enough focus on him. Only Gros seemed the odd one out, though he seemed to like it that way as he stood menacingly with his arms folded, his new wrist-guards shown prominently.
250 – Blaster System
Lyrical Nanoha
Coming from the same roots as the Fulldrive mode on some Devices, the Blaster System is designed to increase the power available to a Mage in combat. However, unlike the Fulldrive mode, the Blaster System does not only disengage the performance limiters on the Device, it also directly sacrifices the user's life for power. When a Blaster System is in use, the Mage receives direct, physical damage to themselves relative to whichever one of the three Blaster levels they are using, along with backlash damage to the Device itself. It is analogous to overclocking the Device with power, rather than simply letting it perform at its maximum specifications, as with Fulldrive.
Blaster One and Two are both relatively safe if only used in short bursts, being able to instantly charge nearly any spell, or push its power to the class above it. The tradeoff is the immediate overheating of the Device, along with burns, cuts and ruptured blood vessels on any flesh in contact with the Device during operation. Blaster Three, on the other hand, causes immediate damage and warping to the Device, along with potentially breaking the operator's bones and causing the same damage from Blaster One and Two all over their body. In exchange, the power of spells are massively multiplied, completely bypassing even the most potent Anti-Magic Fields and still coming out with extra power.
It should be noted that in some cases, the damage caused by a Blaster System can in fact be preferable to the damage potentially caused by Fulldrive. The simple truth of the matter is that it's faster and easier to treat blunt trauma such a broken bones and cuts compared to the internal damage caused by Fulldrive, which has a tendency to 'add up' before it's noticed. (CG Note: Requires Device - Lyrical Nanoha first. )
Lyrical Nanoha
Coming from the same roots as the Fulldrive mode on some Devices, the Blaster System is designed to increase the power available to a Mage in combat. However, unlike the Fulldrive mode, the Blaster System does not only disengage the performance limiters on the Device, it also directly sacrifices the user's life for power. When a Blaster System is in use, the Mage receives direct, physical damage to themselves relative to whichever one of the three Blaster levels they are using, along with backlash damage to the Device itself. It is analogous to overclocking the Device with power, rather than simply letting it perform at its maximum specifications, as with Fulldrive.
Blaster One and Two are both relatively safe if only used in short bursts, being able to instantly charge nearly any spell, or push its power to the class above it. The tradeoff is the immediate overheating of the Device, along with burns, cuts and ruptured blood vessels on any flesh in contact with the Device during operation. Blaster Three, on the other hand, causes immediate damage and warping to the Device, along with potentially breaking the operator's bones and causing the same damage from Blaster One and Two all over their body. In exchange, the power of spells are massively multiplied, completely bypassing even the most potent Anti-Magic Fields and still coming out with extra power.
It should be noted that in some cases, the damage caused by a Blaster System can in fact be preferable to the damage potentially caused by Fulldrive. The simple truth of the matter is that it's faster and easier to treat blunt trauma such a broken bones and cuts compared to the internal damage caused by Fulldrive, which has a tendency to 'add up' before it's noticed. (CG Note: Requires Device - Lyrical Nanoha first. )
Still, even Gros being grumpy and standoffish set him apart from ravenous bloodthirsty monsters people might otherwise expect, so it wasn't bad to show they had all kinds of different personalities like people had.
Ichiban just hung back with Naaza and Rina to let people talk with the xenos, who all seemed excited to be meeting friendly faces on the surface. A group of adventurers appeared nearby, having teleported out of the Dungeon themselves, one wincing and casting cure on himself afterwards while the rest looked warily at the xenos before taking in Ichiban and Pearl's presence and clearly deciding not to make anything of it. Everyone knew who'd made spells like that available, and so Ichiban's supportive presence around the xenos counted for a lot.
He never expected to be leading societal changes like that, but he had personal influence in Orario on par with the leaders of the big familias. And that was before everyone knew he was doubling the power of every adventurer in the city and beyond, though he wouldn't be surprised if people already suspected it was him. Who else could be pulling out such nonsense at this point, after all?
"Hey, uh, Mister Ichiban, sir?" one of those adventurers was actually coming closer, ignoring the xenos to address him directly. It was a dwarf guy, stout and wearing heavy armour, his power marking him as a level one adventurer. "Me and the boys," he gestured at his fellows, a human, chienthrope, and pallum, all of whom were laden down with bulging bags of drop items and magic stones, "We suddenly felt ourselves get a lot stronger earlier. Is that something chakra does?"
"It's not chakra, but yeah that was me. It's a new spell, it basically boosts up everyone in the city. I'm still figuring it out, but so long as we're on the same side – us against the Dungeon, really, you get your abilities doubled," he explained, loud enough for plenty to overhear and get distracted from chatting up the xenos.
"Wait, what about me?" the little amazon girl turned away from trying to bug Gros into showing off his fangs, "I wanna be an adventurer, can I get it too?"
Why the hell not? And basically as soon as he thought that, there was an immediate reaction as not just the little girl but basically everyone else in the crowd suddenly felt their abilities expanded. It wasn't just a matter of being stronger or faster. Senses sharpened, memory cleared, thoughts came faster – he was pretty sure that was helping him understand his wand despite its determined insistence on speaking English.
"Woah!" the girl leaped into the air on newly strengthened legs, getting some impressive clearance and back-flipping before she landed in a performance that would have shamed an Olympic gymnast back home. "Is this what having falna is like? Are you a god, Mister? Can I join your familia?" she asked rapid-fire after landing.
The expectation in her eyes and smile, it reminded him of another amazon he'd met on his first day here. He wasn't a clueless idiot this time at least, but he was still struggling to work out the exact mechanics behind Domain of the Hero. "Haha, I'm just a guy, kid," he grinned back at her, "This isn't really a familia thing, it's for everyone. So long as you're not an asshole, if you and me are able to get along, then you can benefit from this magic. It'll help you out when you do become a proper adventurer."
She seemed happy enough with that, though everyone was pretty blown away by the heroic increase in their statistics they were dealing with, so Ichiban saw it as a good time to get a move on. "Pearl can you wait out here a bit? We're gonna take Gros and the others upstairs to look at the magic scrolls, we won't be long," he asked the oversized chimera to wait at what was her usual stomping grounds anyway before pulling the xenos away from their fans and into Babel.
It took multiple elevator trips because Lyd and Gros were both so bulky and basically filled a car by themselves. The attendants were real champs about it, though he had to make sure there was one of him or Naaza or Rina both above and below so no xenos were ever unattended and people up ahead were warned of who was coming.
It felt a bit like that old puzzle about getting a fox, a goose, and grain across a river safely.
Still, they soon had everyone up in the room set aside for hosting the scrolls. Rose had made a reasonable safety objection to his idea of turning trained guard dogs into dragons as they made for a fire hazard, but the place was still being watched over by two first class adventurers, today being two of the pallum quadruplets from the Freya familia.
"Ah! It was you!" one of them blurted out as soon as Ichiban stepped off the elevator, lifting up the visor of his helmet and pointing, his yellow eyes wide.
"Huh? Me?" Ichiban stopped in place before quickly scooting aside to let Lyd and Let step out.
Dvalinn ignored the xenos, Rina had already come up with Ray and Fear after all, instead the pallum pointed right at Ichiban. "The magic that's everywhere and making us stronger, it's coming off of you. I knew it," he nodded in smug vindication towards his green-eyed brother who'd similarly lifted up his visor to talk.
"I didn't even argue, of course it was going to be him. Who else could it have been?" the other pallum said in an annoyed voice.
Well, he was happy to explain things, it gave him something to do while the xenos picked their spells. "Yeah, that's me. So you can sense magic too?" he asked, just glossing over the fact he didn't know the guy's name. He knew collectively they were the Gulliver brothers, and kind of a big deal, but he didn't know which one was which even though he'd met them all to hand out chakra.
"Too? This guy…" one brother looked at the other and shrugged. "Yeah, and it's gotten sharper with everything else. How long is this going to last?"
"Well it might have to stop when I sleep?" Ichiban honestly wasn't sure. He summoned his wand and asked, "Hey, can you maintain the Domain of the Hero while I'm sleeping?"
"Yes, my Master!" it responded with its default bark of agreement. "Blaster Mode unlocked!"
What?
"Who said anything about blaster mode? What's that?" he asked, staring at the suddenly talkative slab of metal in his hand. It started to explain but at a level way beyond Ichiban's grasp of English even with his improved memory of middle school classes. "In Japanese!" he gave it a frustrated shake.
Once more it somehow sounded sullen about it, but it did answer in a language he could understand. "Blaster One instantly casts Master's spells with no delay. Blaster Two enhances the power of Master's spells by fifty percent. Blaster Three multiplies the power of Master's spells by ten. Warning: Blaster One and Two cause overheating to device and damage to Master's circulatory system. Blaster Three causes physical damage to device and traumatic bone fractures to Master."
Wow. That sounded intense! But wait, couldn't he just use the auto-repair and a healing spell after a times ten multiplied spell? Or just pay for it with magic stones like he did when handling backlash like from teleport or that cursed spear?
He felt everyone staring at him and with a flick of his wrist the wand – or device as it now liked to be called, vanished. "Look, I'm not doing this on purpose, all this stuff keeps just getting dropped on me. But uh, yeah. The power doubling's here to stay as long as I'm around."
"Somehow it's comforting that this is all just as shocking for the rest of you as it is for us," Ray said with a gentle laugh. "A lot has changed in a very short time, but it's all been for the better."
"Well I'm just glad this'll still be going next time I fight something," one of the pallums said, his brother picking up smoothly with a knowing nod.
"It would have been a waste to have all this strength just on guard duty. No one's even tried anything so far."
That fact seemed to plainly relieve the uniformed Guild staff that were around more as attendants than guards and likely to be collateral damage in the event a fight did break out here. Then again they could still cast buffs on the guards and debuffs on intruders, that was the good thing about everyone having magic.
Soon the xenos all had their new roster of spells selected and they went back downstairs to rejoin Pearl who was waiting patiently surrounded by and being perched on by pigeons, a fact she seemed rather happy about. He just hoped none of them crapped on her like she did Yankimaru that time.
"So lets head to the Pantheon, cash in our magic stones so you can all get some spending money?" he suggested next, the group starting to head down the street with a flurry of pigeons taking flight, people making way for the monster heavy procession but not causing any trouble.
"So, uh, Ichiban," Rina leaned close as they walked. "You can cast that same fire storm spell that Pearl did, and make it ten times bigger?"
He had actually been trying not to think about possibilities like that. The spell on its own was already a weapon of mass destruction. Using Blaster Three on it would be like some kind of sci-fi nuke. "I mean, yes, but I'm not gonna. That one's overkill," he answered nervously.
"What about Domain of the Hero?" Naaza asked, stepping closer as well so he was now flanked by the two of them. "Couldn't you cast it with the boost to make it even stronger?"
Ten times stronger. Would that be a times twenty boost? Make Naaza equivalent to a level sixty adventurer? He remembered that punch Rina had caused an earthquake in the Water City with. What kind of havoc would be caused in a city where even the lowest rank adventurer suddenly became stronger than that?
"I'm not gonna test it," he said firmly, "That's just too much. Besides, if it's an ongoing spell it'd probably keep doing damage to me the whole time it's running rather than just when it's cast like for an attack, so I couldn't keep it up anyway." So he assumed, but any assumption he could use to justify holding back such an insane indiscriminate boost was good for him.
"Ugh, those are the words a guy always says when you're about to be disappointed," Rina spread her arms and let out a huff. "I'll just have to make do with… oh, you want the belt back now, right?" she asked, suddenly remembering. "It might actually be safe to keep with Phryne out of the city and me reaching level four."
He didn't really care, he gave the belt to Rina for her to use and only agreed to take it back because she was worried about it being taken from her. "Sure, it's yours to keep, just take good care of it," he said without minding. The Pantheon was coming up, Pearl once more having to wait outside but Gros and Lyd were just able to fit themselves through the doors as they entered. Ichiban went in first so no one would be frightened by the sudden arrival of monsters, and he found the place busier than usual for this time in the afternoon as people came in to crowd around the notice-board or ask the advisors what was going on with the power up everyone had.
"Yo!" he raised his voice and his arm. "If anyone's wondering about the power boost, that's me," he patted his hand against his chest and smiled widely, looking around to catch people's eyes. "You're welcome!"
Predictably this meant he was immediately bombarded with so many questions even the presence of the xenos fell by the wayside. He did his best to answer them much as he had already – yes it would affect you anywhere in the city or the Dungeon, no he wasn't asking for anything for it, no it wasn't going to wear off any time soon, just don't be a dick, all that kind of stuff. It got the message across well enough for him to pull away and navigate his group towards the desk of his favourite office bureaucrat.
"Mr. Kasuga," Rose greeted him with polite indifference as her eyes tracked over the rest of his ensemble. "As ever your party continues to grow in astounding ways."
Lyd grinned wide as he leaned closer, showing an enormous mouth full of sharp teeth but still managing to emote a guileless friendliness as he spoke, "It's nice to meet you! My name's Lyd, the surface has been a lot friendlier than I expected!"
"All thanks to Mr. Kasuga's efforts," there was some of that hard-won praise she was so careful about dishing out! "And Lord Ganesha's, the impact of your arrival just after a successful Monster Feria can't be underestimated."
"Yeah, Ganesha's been great. Little bit weird, but he's a good guy," Ichiban nodded happily. "So yeah, we've got a bunch of stones to drop off, get these guys some money so they can do some shopping while they're up here."
"Fels usually helps us with getting things like clothes from the surface, but it always feels like we're imposing," Ray spoke up with a beatific smile. "Being able to do things for ourselves peacefully on the surface, it feels like a dream."
Despite the pureness radiating off of her, Rose simply nodded in a brisk and professional manner as she gave her official answer, "The Guild exists to support adventurers in overcoming the dangers of the Dungeon, however the xenos could be considered allies in this so we are at your disposal. Perhaps you might turn your attention to the quest board, as there maybe quests your talents are uniquely suited to fulfilling," she suggested before taking out her scales to begin quantifying their haul of magic stones.
Fear and Let took the hint, going over to investigate while the other three lingered to watch Rose work. They were effectively giving up their meals here, as eating magic stones slowly but steadily increased their power such that every xenos was far beyond a typical monster of the same type in power. But money made the world go round, and it was interesting to watch Rose work. He'd seen it before, but she was clearly faster and more coordinated now, her efficiency boosted in the same way as Rina's punching power was. Domain of the Hero was just an all around improvement that everyone benefitted from.
They'd gotten their money and were set to leave when an excited Fear waved a wing and called over, "Hey! Ray, come quick! There's a quest for you!"
Everyone looked surprised and hurried over to the quest board where a notice was posted up.
An echoing song in the Large Tree Labyrinth
I want you to find and stop the source of the song which can be heard in the lower levels. It's not a monster's cry! I don't know if it's a person or a monster or the Dungeon itself, but this lovely voice that you'd fall in love just from hearing… I can't sleep because of it! Please put an end to it and give me back my restful nights!
Reward: 50,000 valis.
Ray had started to read it with a smile (Fels or someone must have taught the monsters how to read, and Ichiban was relieved he was no longer illiterate himself or it would have been a shameful comparison), her cheeks even turning pink as she got halfway through before her feathers fluffed up in outrage.
"Why does he want me to stop if he likes it?!" she squawked, avian nature really coming to the fore with that outburst.
Let peered up curiously at the note himself and asked, "Where does it say it's a he?" in an oblivious tone.
A sweep of Ray's wing knocked the notice off the board and she trampled it under her feet, talons rending the paper. "This quest is banned!"
Looking upset at the defacement of Guild property, an office worker raised her hand as if to protest before she grimaced and lowered it, clearly thinking better of it. "We… we'll mark that one down as expired, Miss Ray," she said meekly.
"Okay, we're gonna head off now," Ichiban decided to head off further upsets, chivvying everyone back out. "C'mon, that's enough looking at quests, still got lots more to see and do!"
And indeed the next stop wasn't that far as they left the Pantheon and took a walk around to the Blue Pharmacy. And again Pearl had to be left outside on the street, too big to even fit in the alley that led down to the shop's entrance where Ichiban had started his whole adventure in Orario bleeding out to be found by Naaza and Miach.
"Lord Miach, I'm home!" Naaza announced as the door opened and the bell jingled and she led the way inside, finding not Miach but instead Orin Redleaf of all people, the bespectacled blond elf at the counter helping bag up some potions for a wrinkled older man.
Said elf and man both looked wide-eyed at the monstrous figures herding into the shop behind Naaza, while Miach stepped out from the curtained off backroom himself with a smile undimmed by seeing the xenos who he'd surely already heard about from Naaza in detail.
"Hello Naaza, are these your friends? This is Orin, he's from the Hestia familia and I've hired him to help part-time around the store while you're taking on these deeper Dungeon expeditions," he explained, gesturing to the elf who gave a stilted wave.
Naaza just gave him a quick look before nodding briskly. "That's right, we need to get a uniform for pharmacy staff. I'll take care of that," she declared in a tone that brooked no opposition, yesterday's conversation about gods in office attire clearly not having been forgotten. "These are my xenos friends, Ray, Let, Fear, Gros, and Lyd. They helped gather a lot of ingredients we can use to make mind potions," she held up her bag overflowing with ingredients.
"Don't forget that weird potion I got in Knossos," Ichiban reminded her, wanting to see if she could figure out what it did. If it was a potion and not an ingredient like the healthy water.
"I'll check on that too. Are any of you interested in alchemy?" she asked the monsters as several of them wound up crowding into the back room to watch Naaza stock up the ingredients and then start analyzing the contents of the mysterious bottle.
Considering they had ready access to all the ingredients down there, the xenos opening up a potion shop down in the Dungeon might do some great business for adventurers looking to stock up on a long expedition.
Lyd meanwhile had cornered the old guy who'd just been in to buy a potion that helped with his joint pain, the effusive lizardman talking his ear off and talking about how Gryuu the dragon that looked after one of their villages complained about stiff joints too. The old guy had seemed bemused and a little frightened at first, but that little bit of commonality seemed to warm him up and soon he and the monster were chatting up a storm together.
Ichiban wandered over to Orin behind the counter who was staring wide-eyed at Gros, the gargoyle doing his best statue impression in the corner. "Yo, so you got a part time job? That's helping out both Hestia and Miach, good going buddy!" he said encouragingly.
"I-I-Ichiban!" he stuttered out, vibrating in place. "Those are real monsters!"
"Haha, yeah!" he grinned, glancing over at Lyd and Gros, Let and the two bird-girls having gone through the back with Naaza and Miach. "Bet you never thought you'd see them in real life, huh?"
"That's a lizardman!" he pointed at Lyd. "They spawn between the nineteenth and twenty fourth floors! They're known for their intelligence using coordinated tactics and making use of landform weapons grown from plants in the Large Tree Labyrinth. Physically their abilities are weaker than Cave Labyrinth monsters like the minotaur, but their ability to use swords and shields makes them an equal threat and a challenge for adventurers!" he rattled off some facts from his research, causing Lyd to look over and grin.
"He's right, I've always been good with a sword, other xenos that use weapons had to learn but I had a knack right from the first time I picked up a blade," he declared proudly.
"Waaaah!" Orin yelped in startled surprise at having his lore confirmed straight from the source. "This is incredible! And, and… a gargoyle too! A deep floor monster from the White Palace is looking at me…" he trailed off with a squeak in his voice at the sight of Gros's intimidating glare and moved to hide himself more behind Ichiban. "A gargoyle is looking at me! I'm going to die!"
Gros made a tongue-clicking noise and lifted his chin in apparent dismissal.
"You're not gonna die, man!" Ichiban had to grab Orin's shoulders and steady him back on his feet. "That's just Gros, he's a good guy, just one of those tough silent types."
"We even have loud chatterbox types among our kind," the gargoyle muttered in a voice like rocks grinding together.
"He's fine, don't worry about it," Ichiban reassured as Naaza came back out to the front of the shop and held up a now half empty bottle of red liquid.
"Ichiban, it's some kind of magically potent blood. I'll have to experiment with it as an ingredient but it doesn't keep going like the water bottle," she said, now quite frivolously discussing the thing she once told him to keep secret in case someone tried to kill him for it.
Looking at it, Ichiban got a faint bubbling sensation like he did from the potions that refilled themselves over-night. "I think it'll refill after a while, so just go nuts with it and keep the bottle safe," he suggested, more than happy to leave it in the hands of an expert. Though speaking of, he handed her the water bottle so she could refill her home supply of the good stuff.
"So are we gonna be here a while?" Rina asked as Naaza disappeared through the back again. "Normally I'd be happy to stick around and look at Lord Miach, but it's busy enough back there with the birds crowding him."
Speaking of Miach, his power felt the same as it ever did to Ichiban, no doubling in evidence. Were gods just exempt? Was it because their power was chained down, but his 'human-limited' abilities were being doubled like Rose's were? It probably wouldn't matter unless he got into a scuffle like Loki did with Dionysus.
"Lets give Naaza a little bit to get all her stuff put away and then see about getting everyone a meal somewhere?" he answered Rina. "There's this boat restaurant I tried back on my first day that Pearl could eat at if she stood on the dock and we got a table right by the edge." He was feeling pretty bad about Pearl constantly having to wait outside, it was bad enough for stuff like this bug ditching her while everyone else had a nice dinner really didn't sit right with him.
It took Naaza a little while to finish her business at home, although with Orin here to mind the shop she was able to convince Miach to come and join them as well. No weed soup for his familia, now they were on stable financial footing they could dine out in style!
Given how Ray and Fear kept looking at him, it was clear he'd picked up another couple of admirers as well, though both were keen to talk about potions and medicine as well, giving them a leg up on Rina's more shallow appreciation for the handsome god.
"Life's going to be a lot easier now some of us have healing magic," Fear said as she bobbed along on her taloned feet. "Fels and Marie are the only ones that can help with that normally but Fels isn't around much and Marie can't go far from the water."
"Marie was the mermaid, right?" Naaza asked. "She gives up her blood to heal other xenos?" at a confirming nod she looked thoughtful. "Mermaid blood's a rare and valuable drop item. Getting a stable supply from a friendly one… I'll have to talk to her next time we go down that far."
If nothing else, Naaza was trailblazing the financial incentives for friendly dealings with the xenos. If bloodletting could be called friendly, anyway.
Fortunately the Spoon Aqua, as the floating restaurant was called, didn't have a 'no shoes no shirt no service' policy, as doing so would surely have eliminated Orario's substantial amazon population, so Ichiban had no problem boarding on his bare feet. It was still kind of weird stepping on the wooden gangplank and suddenly losing his sense of the surrounding area through the ground, but it had been similarly difficult going up the elevator in Babel. It was an amazing sense to have in the Dungeon, but in the city there were a lot of times it just got cut off.
Didn't stop him enjoying a nice meal with his new friends, the staff having been startled but obliging when it came to giving them a table where Pearl was able to prop herself up against the side of the boat and lean over the railing to actually join in the meal and be included.
"I want something small I can eat all at once, I don't like having to chew," she declared, sounding very much like an old lady. Though perhaps it came from having spent most of her life as a bird with no teeth.
There were other problems too, as there were no chairs suitable for Lyd and Gros to sit on so they ended up having to crouch on the floor by the table, while Fear and Ray were completely unable to use utensils due to their lack of hands.
"Wait, how do you get dressed?" Rina asked bluntly while they waited for their orders to come in, the two avian monsters currently drinking beverages through straws and seeming quite happy about it.
"I just get someone to help me. Last time it was Ranye – she's really good with clothes, she makes them out of her own silk," Ray explained, sitting primly next to Ichiban. He could see Naaza mentally taking notes and no doubt seeing another commercial avenue for working with the xenos.
"We all have to help each other, for little things as well as big things," Fear added, smiling winsomely at Miach next to her and asking, "You'll help me with this strange surface food, won't you Lord Miach?"
Miach chuckled agreeably and Ichiban saw Naaza's eyes narrow, but before he could try defusing that landmine he felt a feathered limb brush against his arm and Ray said, "I hope I can count on you, Ichiban. I'm very excited to have my first meal in a restaurant!"
He could feel Rina and Naaza's eyes on him as if ready to make hay over him hand-feeding a beautiful woman, but he just nodded and gave Ray a grin. "You bet. Back home the young master of my family had trouble getting around so a lot of the time I had the job of helping him out. I get where you're coming from," he said reassuringly.
That seemed to do a good job of defusing any potential teasing, and even had Naaza looking more relaxed about Fear's bugging of Miach. Considering her own recent disability he figured she'd be understanding of needing to make accommodations. Whether for prodigious size, non-standard limbs, or even an inability to talk, dealing with the xenos was going to require an open mind and a willingness to adapt. It was nice to see how excited and happy the xenos were just being able to walk around Orario and take part in everyday life that most people took for granted, and he was keen to see nothing spoiled that for them.
"You know, when you first talked about getting to the bottom of the Dungeon, I was just humouring you," Rina admitted, picking another conversational topic. "But it's actually looking like it might be possible now… what are you going to do if it doesn't have a way back home to your family down there?"
What could he do? He'd been pinning everything on that, after all. His abilities seemed to come fastest and strongest when he was making progress towards the Dungeon, it definitely felt like he was being directed there. What if he got to the bottom and it was just the bottom, or just some monster king that had nothing to do with travel between worlds?
"I don't know," he admitted, "Maybe find some other mystery that might be hiding something? Explore the rest of this world? Or try and figure out a way back with my own magic?" he hadn't really been thinking about it, those were just off-the-cuff answers because he was pinning everything on the bottom of the Dungeon holding the answers.
"It's strange to think you could be gone just as quickly as you appeared, having caused such changes in the world," Miach spoke up. "But whether you find what you seek in the Dungeon or not, you'll always have friends here in Orario."
"Hah, damn right," Ichiban grinned back at him before looking around the table. Monsters, a god, a woman who'd scared the crap out of him and another who'd healed him, and a pigeon who'd come a long, long way. "I don't think I did anything to deserve all these weird powers, and I dunno who or what's behind it, but I'm glad I got to be here with all of you because of them. And that's worth celebrating."
And celebrate they did, everyone enjoying some of Orario's fine dining before the sun began to descend and they went their separate ways. Naaza had a lot of potion brewing to catch up on, and the xenos were already thinking of making the trip back into the Dungeon to reunite with their fellows. Now several of them knew Teleport they'd be able to bring others up conveniently to see Orario and take advantage of the spell scrolls, though before they could properly split up Rina interrupted with a suggestion of her own.
"Why don't we swing by the Entertainment District?" she gave Ichiban a smile that was part over-played innocence and part guilty recognition, "Nothing bad! I was thinking it'd be nice if we took some pictures with our new friends, both to put up around here and for them to take down and show the other xenos."
Put like that it was a hard offer to refuse. Anything that made the xenos seem more normal and comfortable on the surface was worth doing in Ichiban's mind, and so they redirected to Orario's red light district with a bunch of clueless tourists enjoying their first day in the city. It was practically a rite of passage!
Given how strong the xenos were, at least it probably wouldn't end like Ichiban's first time there.
The sun hadn't quite gone down when they made it there, though the place was clearly warming up for business. Amazon guards at the gate met them with friendly smiles and approving comments over the wardrobes of Ray, Fear, and Lyd. Gros maybe was a bit too under-dressed even for an amazon's sensibilities, while Let was over-dressed but absolutely got a positive reception.
"How is he so cute?!" "Goblins are meant to be creepy pot-bellied ugly things!" "I love his little red hat!"
Let seemed embarrassed over the fawning attention but the other xenos (besides Gros) were clearly loving it. "Come on Let, they're complimenting you, you should be polite and return it," Fear teased, holding a wing over her smirking mouth.
"Ahh, y-yes. Thank you, I like the hat too," the goblin got a bit tongue-tied, adjusting his floppy red cap and clearly trying to think of a safe way to compliment the clothing of several scantily-clad amazon girls. "Your, um, I like those baggy pants. They look comfortable and easy to move in!" he said to the girl wearing a pair of diaphanous purple pants that were voluminous but also nearly see-through.
The statuesque amazon leaned forward so her cleavage was level with Let's face and said in a husky tone, "If you want to see how I look without them come by the Honey Hive after the sun goes down, I'll be dancing there when it gets late."
"Dancing? That sounds fun! We should definitely check that out!" Ray spoke up, all innocent enthusiasm.
This place was gonna eat these guys alive.
"Alright c'mon, lets just head in for now?" Ichiban spoke up to try and give at least Let a break. "Got lots of pictures to take and memories to make!"
Luckily Rina took charge of directing them once they were past the gate, having had her fun sitting back to let the other berbera tease the xenos. "Come on, it's this way. We've got a studio in Belit Babili which we've been using for taking pictures," she explained, leading the way through the night-life district with Pearl stomping along and bringing up the rear.
With one of the elite berbera leading the way they could basically go where they wanted, no one getting in Rina's way even without considering how potentially scary the monsters making up most of their group were, and she took them towards the big tower in the centre of the district.
The inside was as palatial as Ganesha's home, with a sort of middle eastern ambience to Ichiban's untrained eye. The big chunky pillars rising out of square blocks and an overall colour scheme of reds and purples gave it the feeling of a sultan's pleasure palace or something like that. Pearl did sadly have to wait outside once more, though she took it in good cheer which only added to Ichiban's guilt of constantly having to ditch her to go inside places.
"Yes Lady Ishtar, like that. Now arch your back for me… that's perfect! Now give me a good pout!"
They heard the voice and the clicking and whirring of a camera just as Rina opened the door to take them into what was clearly a photography studio, with magical lights focused onto a small stage with a plain white backdrop. There was Ishtar who he'd last seen at the big meeting after he'd offered to hand out chakra, a little gold tiara on her dark purple hair and wearing what could only be called a school uniform. A black sailor blouse and a long pleated skirt, it showed off her cleavage as she posed bent forward with a hand on her knee, and looked like the kind of thing you saw delinquent girls wearing in old TV dramas.
A blonde-haired girl with a fluffy tail and animal ears which he could confidently identify as a renard was holding the very same camera he'd thoughtlessly tossed aside during his escape from this district, a red kimono worn over her short-statured body. "That came out beautifully, Lady Ishtar," she enthused, tail wagging as she held the photo spat out by the camera. "Do you want to try the maid cosplay next?"
600- Saber Ninpo
Fate/Legends - Servant Universe
A lifetime of adventure has taught you only one thing. The victor of any match is the more mysterious Saber. What could be more mysterious than a ninja? However you attained the skills, you're able to conceal your presence from even exceptionally observant Servants and use assassination techniques to greatly enhance your lethality in combat. Even if you're holding a greatsword, it's as swift and precise as a stiletto in your hands. But the true arts of the ninja are the secret jutsu you grasped, magical techniques available only to those of exceptional mystery. The many mythical feats of ninja are turned into real and powerful techniques in your hand, such as splitting yourself into numerous equally powerful clones, walking on water or disappearing into a puff of smoke. Oddly, the ninja arts often guide you to techniques that enhance the most Saber-like actions you can take, jutsu that increase the power of holy sword blasts or make any lance charge ghost through obstacles. What kind of ninja has all this knightly stuff, anyway?
Fate/Legends - Servant Universe
A lifetime of adventure has taught you only one thing. The victor of any match is the more mysterious Saber. What could be more mysterious than a ninja? However you attained the skills, you're able to conceal your presence from even exceptionally observant Servants and use assassination techniques to greatly enhance your lethality in combat. Even if you're holding a greatsword, it's as swift and precise as a stiletto in your hands. But the true arts of the ninja are the secret jutsu you grasped, magical techniques available only to those of exceptional mystery. The many mythical feats of ninja are turned into real and powerful techniques in your hand, such as splitting yourself into numerous equally powerful clones, walking on water or disappearing into a puff of smoke. Oddly, the ninja arts often guide you to techniques that enhance the most Saber-like actions you can take, jutsu that increase the power of holy sword blasts or make any lance charge ghost through obstacles. What kind of ninja has all this knightly stuff, anyway?
Rina had stopped short, everyone else doing likewise, including Ichiban who was now absorbing a buffet of ninja techniques that were very much on the flashy anime spectrum rather than the stealthy assassin type. "Oh, Lady Ishtar… and Haruhime! I didn't realise you'd be here!" Rina managed as the xenos all looked on curiously at the scene.
Ishtar drew herself up with confident poise in her attire that honestly wasn't out of place for a red light district while Haruhime turned and let out a squeak at the sight of the xenos.
"This child has turned out to be surprisingly good at taking pictures," Ishtar said in a voice that was almost a purr, gesturing carelessly at her photographer while her narrowed eyes raked over the group. It reminded Ichiban a bit of how he'd been so scared of potentially meeting her back on that first night, but having already met her around a bunch of other gods, and dealt with the worst Ikelos and Dionysus had, he didn't feel nearly so nervous around her so he just gave a grin back when their eyes met.
"Yo," he spoke up, "Didn't expect to see anyone in a sailor dress around here."
"Oh? You like this kind of thing, Ichiban?" she stepped towards him with a roll of her hips, toying with the midriff-baring bottom of her top. "It's very popular among gods of culture, and people from the far east." He could see Haruhime nodding out of the corner of his eye but most of his attention was on Ishtar as she trailed a long purple-painted nail up his chest while she looked into his eyes. "Why don't you and I retire somewh-" her eyes momentarily seemed to glow and then she recoiled as if struck, stepping back and grabbing at her head. "Ow! What the-" she winced and it suddenly reminded him of how Dix had acted when his curse had touched Ichiban.
He must have some kind of defence that protects his thoughts from tampering, whether from the rage curse of Dix or whatever Ishtar just tried.
"Hey, did you just try and… brainwash me or something?" he asked. It wasn't like what Ikelos had done, his whole body had glowed when he did that, but he definitely saw a flash of something lighting up her eyes.
The xenos were all looking on with building wariness while Rina and Haruhime were doing their best statue impressions as Ishtar struggled to compose herself, a twitching around an eye signifying the migraine she must be experiencing. "Of… of course not, that would be absurd," she said, her voice more strained sounding now but starting to recover in forcefulness. "I'm a goddess of beauty! My presence can't help but arouse! But you… you're somehow made of sterner stuff than most men, and you turned it back on me. Aha… hahaha!" she barked out a stressed laugh while Rina and Haruhime looked at each other with helpless gazes clearly wondering if they were supposed to laugh along with their goddess at a time like this.
The whole situation had rapidly turned awkward and kind of sad. "Listen, uh, Ishtar, you're a good looking woman. You shouldn't need to use tricks like that," he said, wondering how this would've played out if Rina had managed to drag him in front of her that first night.
"Good looking woman?!" she repeated incredulously, "I'm the most beautiful woman in the world! Men have killed for the chance to lick my toes!"
He glanced down automatically. Yep, another paid-up member of the barefoot club, although to be fair her feet were considerably cleaner looking than his or Rina's. No doubt she hadn't stepped on anything but soft carpet or polished floor all day. "Well, all the more reason you shouldn't need to mess around with that kind of forced charm," he looked back up at her scowling face. "It looked like you and Haruhime were having fun when we came in just now, that was a more beautiful side of you than what's going on with you now."
She glared at him in response to the platitude before reaching over and snatching the camera out of Haruhime's hands with a startled squeak from the younger girl. "This has been an interesting diversion. And we have you to thank for it, something you just tossed aside without even thinking. It's trivial compared to the power you keep close to your chest, isn't it?" She held the camera up and snapped a picture of Haruhime, a whirr as it spat out a photograph showing a cringing fox-girl. "Look at yourself, girl! At least smile when your picture is taken!" she waved the picture in front of Haruhime who continued to cringe but forced an awkward smile onto her lips.
"I-I'm sorry Lady Ishtar! I'd rather be taking the pictures than appearing in them!" the girl protested meekly.
"This is why you never get any customers. Too afraid to put yourself out there," Ishtar huffed, handing the camera back to Haruhime who held it close to her chest while the goddess refocused on Ichiban. "I know about the other things you've given my little Rina, she's been getting special treatment beyond what you throw out so carelessly for the masses. I want my familia to benefit like that, I want you to favour us whether it's a big earner like Rina or a hopeless charity case like Haruhime," the impromptu candid shot of the startled renard got pressed against his chest as Ishtar made her case, at least speaking bluntly rather than trying to wheedle him with a magical seduction.
"I've been helping Rina because she helps me, making her stronger means she can watch my back better in the Dungeon," he pointed out. "That's why I'm helping everyone else the same too, it doesn't matter if it's your familia or the Ganesha familia, so long as people are getting further in the Dungeon that helps me too, and I'm happy to do anything that improves people's chances. In fact, hey, Haruhime. You don't have chakra, right? Want it?" he held out a hand to her.
50 – Auto-Guard
Lyrical Nanoha
Generally, while Devices may provide warnings, advice and analysis for their mages, it is unusual for them to cast spells on their own. One common modification is, however, a system that can be set to automatically cast an active protection spell, intended to supplement the existing passive defense of a Barrier Jacket. As the casting is handled entirely by the Device's intelligence, without consulting it's user, it can react far faster than a human, with the caveat that it can only be used for defensive spells. Since Devices are essentially 'always on', an Auto-Guard system can also respond to more mundane attacks, protecting its master from debris or other environmental hazards even outside of combat. (CG Note: Requires Device - Lyrical Nanoha first.)
Lyrical Nanoha
Generally, while Devices may provide warnings, advice and analysis for their mages, it is unusual for them to cast spells on their own. One common modification is, however, a system that can be set to automatically cast an active protection spell, intended to supplement the existing passive defense of a Barrier Jacket. As the casting is handled entirely by the Device's intelligence, without consulting it's user, it can react far faster than a human, with the caveat that it can only be used for defensive spells. Since Devices are essentially 'always on', an Auto-Guard system can also respond to more mundane attacks, protecting its master from debris or other environmental hazards even outside of combat. (CG Note: Requires Device - Lyrical Nanoha first.)
She looked surprised to be put on the spot and turned to Ishtar first for permission, the goddess all but rolling her eyes and giving a dismissive nod. "Er, I don't feel worthy, but…" slowly she extended a delicate hand out towards him. Giving her a reassuring smile, he reached over to clasp it, pushing chakra into her system… and watching as her eyes rolled up and she fainted with a feminine gasp.
"Wow that really does happen every time, doesn't it?" Rina broke her silence as Ichiban caught the swooning renard.
"No it doesn't, that's the first time this has ever happened!" he protested, lifting Haruhime up and settling her on a nearby sofa that was probably being used as a prop for photography.
"Not you," Rina clarified. "Haruhime, she always faints around guys. It's why she's so terrible at her job."
Rina talking also seemed to push the xenos out of passively observing, although Fear's whisper of, "This feels really awkward, should we even be here?" felt on point.
"She even seemed to be doing better today, but even a doubled constitution isn't saving that girl," Ishtar muttered as Ray shushed Fear. "But if you like helpless girls that need saving, my familia has them just as much as it has strong girls who can push deep into the Dungeon like Rina. And you like the xenos? My girls are the ones going to Eluria to rescue the ones Ikelos sold off," her voice picked up as she stared down Ichiban, now without any glowy-eyed nonsense. "So just think about who you're helping whenever you favour us with your blessings and artifacts. We'll make it worth your while in turn."
"Look, I've got nothing against your familia," Ichiban countered, shaking his head. "And I probably should after what happened my first night here. But Rina's been a big help, everyone else has been nice. So you'll get the same help I give anyone else – you getting strong enough to pick a fight with Freya or Loki doesn't help me. I'm not about that."
"Hmph," she made a dismissive noise and stepped back. "I've had enough modelling for now. You came to take pictures of the xenos? Go ahead, Haruhime's got a good eye for it when she wakes up." Then without a shred of shame, she lifted her sailor blouse up over her head and dropped it to the side. Of course Ichiban's eyes dipped down, he's not made of stone, but it was only for a second and he quickly brought them back up to Ishtar's face, resolutely holding eye contact even as she dropped her skirt next.
He could hear murmurs from the xenos and a swish of shifting feathers, but he didn't look away from Ishtar's haughty gaze as the goddess stood bare before him, whether in temptation or power play. "You won't find any door barred to you in my Entertainment District," she promised before turning to give a view of her backside as she went and slid into her even more skimpy harem-girl type attire that she usually wore, strutting off out of the studio while Ichiban could see Ray and Fear were both using their wings to cover up the eyes of the male xenos.
He wasn't sure how it was possible but even Gros and Lyd had pink glowing on their cheeks in the wake of the goddess of beauty's flashy and flashing departure.
"Whew… sorry about that, I didn't expect her to actually be in here," Rina let out a gusty exhalation when the coast was clear.
"No kidding, she's real intense isn't she?" Ichiban agreed, letting out a breath of his own. It definitely would've gone differently if he'd met her on his first night here. Now though, he had a position of strength in the city that would draw reaction from the other factions if he blatantly took a side, and Ishtar was down a lot of her own heavy hitters with the mission to Eluria. He hadn't really meant that as anything other than a way to lower the heat from Ikelos and make Rina's life easier, but it had probably paid off here too.
"Is Miss Haruhime going to be okay?" Let asked, now able to see past Fear's wing.
Rina went over to where the blonde was conked out on the couch. "Should be, she does this all the time, it's actually a real pain. Although…" she thought a second and then cast, "Life!"
"Uwah!" Haruhime's eyes shot open and she swung into an upright position with a sudden jerky motion as the spell restored her to consciousness as advertised. She looked around and brought a baggy-sleeved arm up over her reddening face. "Lady Rina, my sincerest apologies! I've embarrassed the familia in front of your honoured guests!" As if that wasn't apology enough she slid off the couch and bowed on all fours with her head touching the ground.
The amazon just looked even more embarrassed by that. "It's a far eastern thing," she said awkwardly as if Ichiban hadn't seen men take exactly that pose when apologising to the boss for a screw-up. He'd done it himself!
"It's fine, no one's bothered, Haruhime," he said, glancing at the xenos who all quickly gave their own agreement that there was no hard feelings over something as innocuous as a fainting spell.
Mercifully she got to her feet after that, "Still, I'm embarrassed. Your touch and then the strange feeling coursing through me, it surprised me is all," she explained, her eyes crossing a bit as she started obviously focusing on her newly given chakra.
"Yeah, I know it can be a shock at first. We can give you a few tips on how to handle it since we've all been using it longer, but we actually came here to take some pictures of our friends," Ichiban replied with a gesture over the xenos who at least were seeming more relaxed since Ishtar had left.
"In that case please let me offer my most humble assistance!" Haruhime perked right up, retrieving the dropped camera and bowing once more. "We have a selection of outfits for costume play, as well as different backdrops so it can seem like you're at the beach, in the Dungeon, in a forest, or in the city," she rattled off the studio options, some of the same confidence he'd heard when she was directing Ishtar's posing earlier returning to her voice.
"You've really taken to this, huh, Haruhime? When did that start?" Rina asked, sounding a little impressed.
"It was Lady Aisha's idea, with her and Lady Samira going on the expedition to Eluria she suggested I try helping in the studio," Haruhime answered, a gentle smile on her face, "And I discovered I liked it. Different clothing, different poses, all captured in a preserved moment… something about it speaks to me, Lady Rina." Then she lowered her voice, "And Lady Ishtar is much nicer when she's posing for pictures."
Ichiban grinned at that and nodded his head, "Yeah, we heard when we came in, she was taking your directions real well."
"Ahh, I wouldn't say that I was d-directing Lady Ishtar," some of Haruhime's nervousness returned when it was pointed out so bluntly, "Only helping her express her beauty for the camera. She said I have a good eye for it."
However she wanted to justify it, either way Ichiban gestured at the xenos. "Well, how about helping express these guy's beauty some too?" he suggested. "Although if you don't mind going outside, we can include Pearl too that way."
Besides, the cosplay outfits probably wouldn't fit their bodies, and pictures taken outside under the open sky would make better mementos for their trip to the surface.
Haruhime was more than happy to accommodate their needs, and she even took in Pearl's appearance without missing a beat once they got outside. "Honoured Lady Pearl, please allow this humble one to assist in capturing your beauty for the ages," she'd said with an obsequious bow, which had Pearl happily flaring her wings and grinning at finding someone both polite and with a good eye.
Of course for the xenos who didn't have any mirrors down in the Dungeon, seeing their own faces on the first few pictures taken had them excitedly scrutinising them in detail for the kind of close attention you wouldn't really get looking at water or a lustrous crystal where they normally lived, and soon they were posing for all sorts of pictures while Haruhime scampered around them to find flattering angles.
From simple portrait shots to dynamic poses like Ray fanning her wings in the air before the setting sun or Let holding his axe in a pose rather similar to Rina's level up announcement picture, they got their money's worth out of the endless camera's film stock. Ichiban even posed for a few pictures himself, getting in on it and figuring if he did find a way home at the bottom of the Dungeon then these might be the last recorded evidence of his presence left in this world.
"Now everyone up on Lady Pearl's back. Lady Fear up at the front, then Lord Lyd then Lord Gros then Lady Ray and then Lord Let," Haruhime instructed, by now quite confident ordering the xenos around to pose for her, and the xenos being more than happy to oblige as they clambered onto Pearl who was resting low to the ground like a big cat. "Everyone smile – yes, even you, Lord Gros! And no blinking, please," she was very polite but also very firm when she was in her element, standing back to catch everyone in shot with the last rays of the setting sun being cast over Orario.
Everyone hopped off Pearl's back and crowded around to see the picture which Haruhime showed off before it was handed to Rina who had the job of keeping the expansive stack of photographs they'd produced.
"No one's going to believe we had such an adventure on the surface, but the proof is right here!" Lyd said joyously. "Although we should have a picture with our new friend as well. Lady Haruhime," he'd adopted her own excessive formality and turned it right back on her, "Would you let us take a picture with you among us?"
Immediately the confidence she'd shown as a photographer evaporated, her face reddening as she leaned back, "Oh, n-no I couldn't, I wouldn't be worthy to appear…" her voice got quieter and quieter as she tried to refuse the honour she was being shown.
"Come on, lets take a picture with everyone," Ichiban spoke up, and before anyone could question who'd be the one to take the picture in that case, he did a little ninja hand-sign and said, "Kage no bunshin!" which enveloped him in a puff of smoke and then there were two Ichibans.
Everyone else was staring, wide-eyed and jaws slack as Ichiban turned to look at Ichiban. "Hey, I'm looking good!" he said with a laugh, pointing at himself. "Here, give me the camera?" he took it from Haruhime's limp hand and stepped back while his other body went over to Pearl and gestured everyone over. "Come on, before the sun goes all the way down, this'll be our last one!"
The prospect of it at least being the last one was enough for Haruhime to go with the flow, and the helpful renard photographer found herself standing below Pearl's upper body with Ray and Fear flanking her, Ichiban and Rina on the side past Ray while Gros and Lyd stood with Let in front of them at Fear's side. The fox girl gave a shy peace sign as the last rays of the setting sun bathed the group in warm golden light and the click of a shutter immortalised the scene onto film, proof that such an unlikely group of people and monsters had met and becomes friends this day.
Author's Notes said:
OverReactionGuy
The only Sane one left
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Ishtar you brat you will be corrected.
The Dude
Verified Not Jeff Bridges
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And now I'm picturing the Castle Anthrax scene from MP&THG. This calls for a spanking!
Roroman
Making the Rounds
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Thanks for the chapter, I'm glad you decided to explore what happened to haruhime, fics that take an alternative approach to solve a character's problem are interesting even if I do appreciate the regular ways as well.
manuelhwang99
Not too sore, are you?
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... that does remind me, where the hell is lili lol
Ebiris
Making the rounds.
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She has actually appeared twice! Once she was with the adventuring party that Ichiban walked past on his first Dungeon trip when the lion cloak appeared on him, and then she was the one getting chakra when he got the bow he gave to Naaza.
The value of a supporter is going to go way up when they can cast buff spells as well as collect drops, but this being Danmachi she's still going to be stuck with assholes that mistreat her until she teams up with Bell, it's that just that story is pretty well off-screen from Ichiban's stuff.
I do feel bad Welf has gotten zero screen time and only disparaging mentions from people bitter about his magic sword skill. At least his spell came in clutch against Filvis so he has contributed!
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