DanMachi: A Day In The Dungeon

The Easy Start

It grew quiet after his entrance, almost silent. He ventured onward, descending each staircase to more dangerous floors that could provide a proper challenge and greater reward.

A familiar growl met his ears, a lone Hellhound, emerging from the shadows. It approached it's quarry cautiously, letting out a chilling howl to call forth the rest of the pack. Several more appeared, numbering in a total of seven. They circled around their foe slowly, blackened fur covering each of their bodies while pure flame was shown within their eyes and mouth.

One lunged to tear into the fighter, meeting it's end by the red, heated dagger lodging into the skull. His main dagger, Hestia Knife, found the blade embedded into the same beast's torso. He lifted the corpse over his head and threw it to another, knocking it off its feet. "Firebolt!" The young adventurer shouted, a burst of fire shot from his palm and peirced through the fallen hound's chest, killing it as well as ensuring damage to a third from the explosion.

He cartwheeled to the side to avoid a fire spell cast from the unscathed four, returning the favor with his own. The blast knocked three away and killed two, leaving only three alive. The remaining hell dogs formed a wall, side by side. The outer hounds lunged forward, charging the boy while the center one prepared its spell.

The attacking creatures crossed over each other before performing a final lunge to pin the white haired warrior to the stone pillar behind him, but to no avail. He leapt into the air and kicked one into the other, being upside down as his Firebolt met the spell delivered by the final Hellhound. With a flip, Bell stuck the landing and stood up straight, the corpses disappearing in a dust cloud and leaving behind a purple crystal.

He pocketed each one before continuing to the twelfth floor, wiping sweat from his forehead as he pushed on. Each step was quieter than before, lighter than a feather. He took simple movements, but seemed like a War Shadow due to his agility.

Coincidentally, the thin, black figures seeped out through cracks in the walls, screaming in anger as their single, blood red eyes spotted their prey. As quickly as they came, they multiplied, each one splitting themselves in two. The result was a small platoon of twenty that surrounded Bell, closing in with a crooked grin which stretched across each face as they prepared for a fight.

Three attempted a tackle, only to crash into each other when the boy jumped into the air, executing the phantoms with a single Firebolt. The flames spread outwards, covering a small area with enough heat to scorch the surrounding Shadows and reduce them to their stone cold center. Another two perished to the cinders that erupted, and an extra six shook hands with Death when kicked and stabbed into each other by the deadly daggers weilded by the teen.

When the next four tagged in, their end came quickly due to more brutal cuts and stabs. The leftover five scrambled to regroup, one weary enough to catch a blade to the temple. It's corpse slapped into the ethereal torso of its comrades, then burned just like them. Marking Bell's victory, each ancient demon vanished into nothing, many more numerous shards entrapping their already lost souls. All of them found their way to his bag, stored for the end of his day.

Only moments passed before he arrived on the next floor and was greeted with two grey werewolves who where enjoying a meal on a less fortunate adventurer. Bell silently crept around the wolves, crossing his blades and almost immediately sweeping them through their necks, then placed their stones in his bag.

A few strides brought him to a stairwell, leading to another floor of the neverending spire's challenges. What he walked onto was complete silence, almost deafening to the quiet corridor.

Suddenly, a long, slimy tongue slid around the adventurer's waistline and pulled him into a giant one eyed bullfrog's mouth. It tried to swallow him whole, and would succeed, if the tip of a dagger hadn't pierced through the singular eye and filled the socket with blood and dissipated the creature, releasing Bell from its grasp.

Surprisingly, there was nothing else to fight on the current floor, but they were a lot stronger than expected. He had fought much more deadly monsters before, but something was off about these ones. Something different. They were supposed to appear no further than floor five. These had survived past and had been strengthened greatly, which concerned him plenty. The only threat he knew as a normal adversary on the current floor would be the Hellhounds.

Nonetheless, he guided each soul stone to his bag before sitting down and bringing the packed lunch to his lap to eat. He sheathed his weapons, unwrapped the box, and opened it, displaying a few pieces of sushi and crackers. On the side was a small flask filled with water, providing as a drink for him. He seemed to loosen up a bit as he ate. Bite after bite, the food and drink disappeared to the depths of his stomach.