An Assassin's Adventure: The Great Conjunction

Chapter 27: Odyssey

Harsh sunrays blazed down onto the great tower of Babel, highlighting the complex intricacies of its design. An eery aura swept through the plaza, eliciting a sense of foreboding.

Most of the Loki familia's entire force traipsed about the courtyard, giving each other advice, and performed any final preparations. Higher level members focused on morale, whilst lower ranking adventurers oversaw large trolleys, containing the group's food supplies. The Hephaestus familia blacksmiths stood to the side, immense packs on their backs, supposedly full to the brim with crafting materials. One smith broke rank and marched up to someone, an annoyed expression on their face.

"Ugh, I thought I smelt something foul! Bete Loga, you're dead meat if you ruin your Flosvirt again!"

Tsubaki Collbrande stalked up to the wary werewolf and glared up at him. She showed her mischievous nature by getting awfully close to him, well aware that the man wanted nothing to do with her. "And right after I fixed it! Right?"

Expectedly, Bete twisted his body away from the woman and snarled. "I get the friggin' picture. NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY DAMN FACE!!!"

Further off, Hit turned towards the outcry and shook his head. 'Why are we still here wasting time? I could have been nearly there by now...'

It was 8 o'clock in the morning, quite late by Hit's standards. He wore a new trenchcoat, aesthetically the same, albeit lined with salamander wool, and Sylph cloth, each conferring resistance to fire and wind-based attacks, respectively. He had researched the monster rex of the 17th floor: Goliath. It was a seven-metre-tall humanoid with pale brown skin and walnut coloured hair. Apparently, it possessed a terrifying howl-based attack that was dangerous to even high level adventurers, if they suffered the full brunt of it. Hit was pretty sure that the titan could turn him into red paste quite easily, if it managed to catch him, but it was best to be safe.

Tiona noticed Hit was looking a little gloomy and skipped up to him. "Aww. Don't be too sad Hit. We'll all meet up on the 18th floor! Shame that most first-class adventurers ended up in group 1..."

Hit closed his eyes, attempting to shut off the growing noise around them. "How will I ever recover..."

'It's to pave a way for the lower-level members and provisions that follow them, you airheaded girl.'

Tiona reacted in a predictable manner. *bleh* "Meanie!"

The two had grown closer over the week, gaining a respect for each other's strength. Tiona had settled into believing that Hit's skill was short range teleportation, but still pestered him about the exact name. Heroes always needed snazzy names for their attacks and abilities!

The gathering seemed to quieten down as there was some commotion at the front. A lone pallum stood in front of three Loki familia emblem flags and addressed the gathering of epic proportions.

"Adventurers! The time has come for us to set off on our grand expedition! As usual, we'll be splitting into two groups, to prevent disturbing other divers on the upper floors. I will lead group 1, and Gareth group 2. We'll regroup on floor 18, then selected members will proceed straight to floor 50. Our destination is the mysterious uncharted ground of level 59. Expedition forces, LET'S MARCH!"

Bellows of agreement followed their captain's commands.

""""YEAH!!!""""

And so began the Loki familias latest delve into the mirky depths below...

...

Hit kicked a pebble into one of the glowing wall lights, as he followed behind Gareth and Lefiya on the 7th floor. The wait for their group to descend was excruciating.