[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 31: Fire Part 2

Between the twelfth and thirteenth floor, there was another massive switch in the design of the Dungeon. Where the twelfth was much like the tenth and eleventh, just with even thicker mist, on the thirteenth the grassy plains gave way to bedrock. The ground, walls, and ceiling with all made of rough stone and the light of the Dungeon dimmed, making it harder while on the already uneven footing. Worse, at seemingly random parts of the floor there were large holes leading directly down to even deeper levels.

Despite that, I personally felt it was an improvement on the floors above. While visibility wasn't great by any means, it was significantly better than the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth floors had been, lacking the thick concealing mist of those floors. Even better, the smaller creatures that inhabited those floors and harried adventurers trying to make their way through the mist were now gone, for the most part. In their place, there were greater quantities of the Large-Category monsters from the upper floors and several other holdovers, on top of the newer, more powerful monsters that began appearing on the thirteenth floor. Between Eina's lectures and simple experience, I recognized them all with ease.

First, and most importantly, were the Hellhounds. I'd been a little worried when I first heard the name, but frankly, they were nothing like the Hellhounds I remembered, to say nothing of Mrs. O'Leary. They were large for normal dogs, with vicious claws and fangs, but compared to my friend, they looked like newborn puppies. Still, they were Level 2 monsters and the reason the twelfth floor was generally considered the stopping point for Level 1s. They combined greater strength and speed with the ability to breath fire, making them dangerous in their own way.

Of course, knowing that, we'd come prepared. On top of the Undine Silk I'd made, including the one I'd sown for Lili beforehand, I'd followed Eina's advice and bought us all some Salamander Wool clothes as well. The two materials were blessed by spirits of water and fire respectively, so I was confident they'd protect us from the Hellhound's flames, and seeing as I was already pretty resistant to fire to begin with, I considered myself fairly safe.

Topping it all off was the new armor Welf had made me a couple of days before. I wasn't certain about all the details, but it was fancier than the previous models, with odd markings over my vitals. From what Welf had told me, while he said he was saving most of it for when he gained Blacksmith, he'd used parts of the Minotaur Horns and other drops I'd gathered for him—or rather, the adamantite contained within them. Now, I wasn't sure what adamantite was, but it made me think of Wolverine, so I assumed it was a really cool metal or something. Welf had said it had a slight fire element because of...something, so that was even better. With an Undine Silk shirt beneath it, a Salamander Wool coat above it, and my natural resistance, I was pretty sure I didn't need to worry about any Hellhounds.

With all that and Riptide, I was playing offense. Normally, I'd allow Welf that role, primarily acting to make sure he wasn't overwhelmed while still allowing him to gain experience. Things would inevitably breakdown despite my best efforts and we'd be surrounded by monsters, but it was always worth a shot. This time, however, Welf was playing defense with Lili as our, well, supporter, simply because of the risks if he engaged any Level 2 monsters directly. Instead, he was helping me with his spell, Will-o-Wisp, brutally shutting down any Hellhound that tried to breath fire at us. Sometimes he merely interfered with and distracted them, other times he caused something he called an 'Ignis Fatuus,' which basically meant their magic blew up in their faces.

Speaking of which...

"Are you doing okay there, Welf?" I asked even as I kept my eye on the monsters in front of us. He was sweating and panting heavily despite the Undine Silk shirt he wore, because being protected from heat wasn't the same as being protected from exhaustion. Lili was right about one thing; Welf didn't get many chances to use his magic on the upper floors; he'd confessed that despite having the spell for several years, his Magic stat was still I. This was probably the most times he'd ever used it in a row and in order to keep him from suffering a 'Mind Down', we were keeping him supplied with Magic Potions. We'd been on the thirteenth for less an hour and he was already on his sixth.

Not that it really mattered. The cost of a magic potion was a fair bit less than a Hellhound's magic stone. Even if every shot wasn't an instant kill, Welf could still manage ten to fifteen in a row before needing a potion and we were no doubt making more than we lost. Given that it gave him the chance to practice his magic and gain excilia, I didn't see any problem with it. Since I used so much magic myself, I had Lili carry a fairly large store of them and if we ran out, we'd just head up to buy more.

"Fine," Welf said, left eye twitching as a drop of sweat rolled near it. "Just sad. Hellhounds, I can handle—but bunnies are evidently my weakness."

I nodded slightly.

As he said, the second most noteworthy monster on the thirteenth floor was the Almiraj. Put simply, they were bunny rabbits. Big, cute bunny rabbits with white fur and horns who walked on their hind legs.

...I think it said a lot about my life that the first time I'd seen them, I'd instantly been put on guard and had accepted them as enemies. But despite any concerns I had about the continued deterioration of my sense of normality, it was probably for the best. Despite how they looked, they were fierce fighters that worked fairly well together and the Dungeon regularly provided them with Landform stone axes. Combining surprising strength with some of the greatest speed I'd encountered in the Dungeon thus far, they weren't to be taken lightly. I was certain that many adventurers had died for underestimating them.

I was also certain that a lot of adventurers had been embarrassed after defeating them, though. I'm sure someone had a good laugh about them.

Despite being generally considered a fair bit weaker than Hellhounds, they may have been the more dangerous to us, simply because Welf couldn't blow them up with a well-aimed shot and couldn't hold them back the conventional way. When it came to them, I was forced to handle things by myself while shielding Welf and Lili, and they'd been coming in increasingly large numbers alongside the growing packs of Hellhounds, Orcs, Silverbacks, and Hard Armoreds. I prioritized them while Welf kept other things off of me and Lili assisted when necessary.

There was also a third new monster on this floor—the Dungeon Worm. As the name implied, it was a giant, eyeless worm with a mouth full of rows and rows and rows of teeth. Honestly, they weren't all that dangerous by themselves, but they had a tendency to burst from the ground beneath or beside you and attack. I hadn't seen any of them since we'd gotten here, concerning enough, but I assumed they were plotting against me. I wasn't too worried because I was pretty good at guessing when and where they'd pop up, though whether that was an adventurer thing, a demigod thing, or a Son of the god of Earthquakes thing, I had no idea.

"Same as before?" I said, eyeing the approaching group. Welf nodded silently and I took off, cutting the distance between us in half with a single bound. By the time I landed, the monsters had already begun a charge of their own, and I let my eyes dart about, noting the locations of key monsters. Almiraj, Almiraj, Hellhound, Almiraj—it went on and on. Turning slightly, I let stone axe sweep by me before bringing down Riptide to cut it in half. Another flick of the blade sent the first Almiraj's head flying, its blood already staining its fur, but four of its companions had already closed in and surrounded me.

One came at me low, intending to stab my leg with its horn, while another came from the left, lunging from the side. The third came from my right with a pair of stone axes while I felt the last jump at my from behind, planning to bring an axe down on the back of my head if I was hearing it right. I glanced at each of the three I could see in turn and then moved. I swept Riptide in a mighty arc from right to left, shattering stone and splitting flesh. As the rightmost rabbit fell, I began to turn, bringing up my left arm to shield bash the Almiraj behind me, smashing it out of the air with enough force that I heard its neck break. Bringing my left hand back and lifting my right foot, I grasped the horn of one of the remaining rabbits and stepped on the other, forcing one up and the other down. Barely giving the one I held in the air time to struggle, I slide Riptide right through its guts, pulled it off, and then tossed it aside before twirling my sword once and bringing it point first down on the last one's neck.

Done with them, I looked around for my next opponent and saw a Hellhound gathering fire in its maw to my left, but I paid attention to it only long enough to notice another light shining in my periphery. Turning away from it as Welf's spell struck, I cut the legs out from under a Silverback, absently ducking underneath a swing of its arms. As it hit the ground, I stomped on its neck to finish it and then stepped over its corpse. A Hard Armored had curled into a ball and started rolling towards me with surprising speed, but I simple fell into a baseball player's stance, swung, and cut it clean in two.

—There, I thought, seeing another Almiraj. Unlike the others, it had tried to sneak by me and head for my friends, but I caught up from behind and grabbed it by the horn, lifting and swinging it with enough force that it broke off in my grasp, sending the monster flying back into the fray. Welf stood in a shooter's stance, one arm extended and the other keeping it steady, aiming carefully into the crowd to strike at specific targets. I watched him for a minute before lowering my gaze to the floor beneath him with a frown and tensing.

A moment later, stone cracked once and then exploded by his feet, a serpentine shape bursting from the ground and rising towards his face. Its mouth opened wide enough to fit Welf's head inside, countless teeth glistening. Welf reacted fast, though, turning towards it with his hand outstretched—

Fire burst over it a moment before I came down from above, stabbing it hard enough to nail it to the ground. Planting a foot on it to keep it in place, I flicked my wrist to finish it off. Only then did I lift my gaze to look at Lili and the oddly shaped sword she held in her hand.

"Is that a...?" I paused to look towards Welf before finishing, raising an eyebrow to ask for confirmation.

"I didn't know you had a magic sword, Lili," Welf said, nodding towards me.

"Ah, this is...something that came into Lili's possession some time ago," She replied, following our gaze towards it. "Since we were going to the thirteenth floor, Lili thought it best to take it with her."

"Sorry," I told her. "It must have been expensive—I didn't mean to make you waste a shot. Those things break after you use them a certain number of times, right?"

Lili just shook her head.

"Do not worry, Mr. Percy," She said. "Lili came prepared to use its full power today. If it's for keeping Mr. Percy and Mr. Welf safe, then it's not a waste."

"Ahaha," Welf laughed, turning partially away from her so he could better keep an eye on the monsters in front of us. They'd slowed to a halt for the moment, probably because most of the Level 2s among them had come down with a strange case of death. Seeing that, Welf reached up to unclasp something on his chest and then handed it back towards Lili. "That's good to hear. But if you thought you needed something like that, you should have just said so."

Lili caught the bag that was thrown towards her with wide eyes as if she couldn't believe it. Her entire body went still and her hands shook slightly while she held it, as if it hurt just to touch. I hadn't given it much thought since Welf had started carrying it around, but...that was his magic sword, wasn't it?

"Mr. Welf," Lili whispered, head bowed low enough to hide her eyes. "You shouldn't give such a valuable thing to Lili..."

"Eh," He said, shrugging dismissively. "It's fine if it's you, Lili. To be honest, I don't feel right carrying one around. But if you're worried, why don't you hold onto it? Watch our backs, Lili."

Lili was silent, head remaining down as she held the bag in her hands—but I only had a moment to think about it because the monsters where getting over their fear and readying themselves for another charge.

"Do you need another potion, Welf?" I asked, taking several steps forward.

"No, I'm still okay, I think," He said. "There are quite a few monsters on this floor though, aren't there?"

"Yeah," I agreed, cracking my neck. "Maybe I should use some magic, too."

Taking a deep breath, I raised a hand and focused on the monsters, feeling a tug in my gut. The moist air seemed to react, swirling in the midst of their ranks before growing into a whirling storm—a miniature hurricane focused not on me, but conjured right on top of them. I guided it, sending it sweeping over them and tossing them about, destroying any semblance of organization they had and sending them scrambling in confusion. Releasing my breath with a gasp, I let the storm dissipate and then lifted Riptide.

"That's a new trick!" Welf noted, drawing his own sword with a smile and moving to run alongside me.

"I've been practicing," I said back, matching his smile as we prepared to descend on the scattered monsters.

And then an arrow flew right between us and planted itself in the ground, making me pull to a stop reflexively. Something on it glittering in the light, drawing my attention, but...

"What's this?" Welf asked, leaning down to grab it and pull it free. A key was wrapped tightly around the arrows shaft.

"It's the key to a gnomish storage unit in Orario's Eastern Ward," Lili said, sounding like she was far away. Looking back at the sound of her voice, I noticed she was far away, far enough down the hall that normal ears probably would have heard her. That explains it.

...Wait, no, it doesn't.

"Lili..." I said slowly, as if I were trying to talk someone out of jumping off a bridge. Maybe I was. "What are you doing?"

"It's not much compared to the value of something like this, but—it's everything Lili has," She continued. "Lili exchanged all her money for gnome jewels to keep them safe. Everything else is in the bag Lili left behind."

"Lili, you're not making any sense," I said, not even looking to see where said bag was. As I spoke, though, I took several steps towards her without thinking—and all around us, the Dungeon's walls began to crack around us. I stopped even before Lili raised her hand.

"Lili knows how the Dungeon reacts to Mr. Percy," She said. "It should make following Lili difficult, but Lili doesn't think Mr. Welf and Mr. Percy will have any trouble escaping. Lili has no right to ask anything else now, but...please don't follow Lili."

"Why?" Welf asked her, the simple word containing a world of questions, none of which she answered.

"Mr. Welf, Mr. Percy...Lili's sorry, but this is goodbye," She said. "But Lili does not think we will meet again in this life. If it had been possible, Lili would have liked to stay with you forever, but—"

If she said anything else, the words were swallowed by the howls of emerging monsters and in moments, Lili vanished down the shadowed halls of the Dungeon.