DanMachi Universe, Lower World, Dungeon, 9th Floor.
Five days had passed since Tatsuo reached the Eighth Floor, and he had finally decided to head down to the Ninth Floor yesterday. However, he had not spent much time down there.
But today, he decided that he would rush down to the Ninth Floor as soon as he could after entering the Dungeon.
Unfortunately, just because Tatsuo got used to the flow of battle on the Eighth Floor did not mean he was ready for the increased spawn rate on the Ninth Floor.
Going back about half an hour, as soon as Tatsuo had his first monster encounter—a group consisting of two Goblins, a Dungeon Lizard, a Purple Moth, and a War Shadow—he became very aware of the difference between the two floors.
After defeating the five monsters, Tatsuo wanted to take a few moments to replenish the small amount of Mind he had used. However, before he could even start, the walls began to crack.
At first, Tatsuo thought he was going to be caught in an Irregular Situation. But when he looked around, that did not seem to be the case, as there were only five cracks in the walls. Four Killer Ants and a Blue Papilio spawned from those cracks.
The new monsters were no issue for Tatsuo, either. With experience dealing with all these monsters, he handled them rather quickly. Then, having learned from the previous battle, he quickly picked up the drops and hurried out of the room.
To be honest, Tatsuo considered leaving one of the Killer Ants alive so that it would call for backup. But he thought better of it. Being so close to the path up to the Eighth Floor, he did not want to be interrupted by any Adventurers who came down from above. So, he decided he would find a more secluded room to fight continuously.
And that was where things started to get out of control...
*Screech!*
*Bang!*
{Pic}
*Poof!*
"Damn it!" Tatsuo shouted as he slammed his right foot into a Killer Ant's head, killing it. "How the hell are they still managing to call for backup even when I [Blink] to the last one? This is the fourth time since I got into this room."
After finding a secluded room, Tatsuo dealt with the monsters inside. Then, he waited for the monsters to respawn, which did not take too long. He dealt with that wave of monsters without issue, as well. Yet, there were no Killer Ants among them.
A few waves later, three Killer Ants spawned, and Tatsuo decided to leave one alive so it would call for more of its kind. Unfortunately, that was where things went wrong. After finally getting his fill of the Killer Ants, he wanted to quickly kill off all the reinforcements. Yet, no matter how quickly he dealt with them, one would always be able to let out a cry for more reinforcements before it died.
DanMachi Universe, Lower World, Dungeon, Seventh Floor.
*Clang!* *Swish!*
*Poof!*
Meanwhile, on the Seventh Floor, Elicia, Sakura, and Momo were finishing a battle with a group of Killer Ants and a Blue Papilio. Just like Tatsuo, they found it difficult to land the last blow before the last surviving Killer Ant could call for backup.
On top of that, with the Blue Papilio healing the Killer Ants, the battle took much longer than it would have otherwise.
Luckily, Elicia's throwing needles made taking care of the Blue Papilio easier than it would have been if the group consisted of only melee fighters. On top of that, if Sakura were not concerned about her Mind reserves, she could deal with every monster on the floor by herself if she wanted to.
Of course, she would never do that. If she did, her teammates would not be able to grow. The only way she would consider doing that was if things looked really bad and she needed to kill everything to keep everyone safe.
But since that was not necessary, Sakura only smiled at Momo, who used her shield to block a charge from a Killer Ant before cutting its head off with her longsword.
{Pic}
"Good job, Momo," Elicia said while swiping a lock of hair out of her face. "You've improved a lot over the last six days."
"*Pant* *Pant* I still don't feel like I should be on this floor," Momo said between ragged breaths. "It's like I've been pushed to my limits in every fight we've had since we came down to the Sixth Floor."
"Well, that's probably a good thing," Elicia replied with a shrug. "I mean, the monsters down here are definitely stronger than you."
"Besides, you should have greater growth because of that," Sakura added. "I'm sure your stats will be high enough to go down to the next section once we get our Falna updated tonight, Momo-chan."
"I hope so," Momo said while tightening her grip around her longsword's hilt. "The feeling of being the only one who didn't grow enough last week was mortifying."
"Let's not think about that right now," Elicia said with a smile. "For now, let's just keep going. We should try to get as much out of this trip into the Dungeon as we can before we have to go back. Sakura, would you mind doing the honors?"
"Of course," Sakura replied while expanding her shadow to cover all the magic stones on the floor before letting them fall into her [Shadow Space]. Then, she looked toward the passage leading down to the Eighth Floor and spoke quietly. "I hope Tatsu-Kun is all right on his own."
Once all the magic stones were collected, the trio headed toward the next room to continue collecting Excelia, magic stones, and drop items from any monsters unlucky enough to get in their way.
At the same time, Alfonzo, Violet, and Aletia were also hunting monsters in another area on the Seventh Floor.
*Zap!*
*Clang!*
*Swish!*
Surrounded by War Shadows, Goblins, and Kobolds, Alfonzo used his [Corpus Fulmineum] spell to dart between enemies while dispatching them with his twin short swords. Meanwhile, Violet took up a defensive position around Aletia, who sent out dragons of every element to thin the horde of monsters as quickly as possible.
{Pic}
"Damn… this isn't an Irregular Situation, but it sure as shit is close," Alfonzo muttered while zipping around the area, cloaked in [Lightning Magic]. "As soon as we finish picking up the magic stones, more monsters just keep popping out of the walls."
"And it's only going to get worse as we go deeper," Violet said as she blocked a Goblin lunging at Aletia.
"Talk less," Aletia said as she controlled a [Wind Dragon] to devour a pair of Kobolds, causing them to be shredded by the wind blades making up its body. "More killing."
"*Sigh* If it's like this for us, I can only imagine what T is going through," Alfonzo muttered while decapitating a pair of War Shadows.
At the same time, in yet another area of the Seventh Floor, James, Akatsuki, and Zelretch were also facing off against a group of monsters. In the room they found themselves in, Needle Rabbits seemed to be spawning as soon as one was killed.
"We need to do something about this," James said while cutting off a Needle Rabbit's head after dodging its charge.
"Agreed," Zelretch replied after throwing out a handful of gemstones. The spells loaded into them caused a group of Needle Rabbits to freeze in place. "But how are we supposed to do that?"
"Try destroying the walls," Akatsuki said as she appeared behind the monsters Zelretch had immobilized.
"Right, I forgot about that," James said after cutting down another Needle Rabbit. He then raised one of his katanas, placing it vertically in front of his face before chanting a spell. "[Scatter, Senbonzakura]."
In the next instant, the sword James held in front of him began breaking down from the tip. Then, the broken pieces floated away in the form of a thousand cherry blossom-shaped blades glowing dusky pink. Finally, with only the katana's hilt left in his hand, he swung his arm backward, sending the petal blades soaring behind him toward the wall and mincing every Needle Rabbit unlucky enough to be in the spell's path.
*Swish!*
*Scrape!*
*Crack!*
{Pic}
A moment later, hundreds, if not thousands, of gashes had been cut into the walls of the chamber where the trio fought. As time passed, they noticed that no more Needle Rabbits spawned after they killed one. Instead, the Dungeon was focusing its energy on repairing the chamber's walls.
Before long, all the Needle Rabbits had been killed, leaving behind piles of ash, magic stones, and drop items: Needle Rabbit tusks.
"*Sigh* That was exhausting," James muttered as the blade of the katana he had used to cast [Senbonzakura] reconstituted itself.
"It would have gone a lot faster if you had used [Senbonzakura] earlier," Akatsuki said while rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, I know," James replied with a shrug as he sheathed his two katanas. "But that's a bad habit I picked up after training with Master. She doesn't like me relying on my bloodline power too much. Otherwise, it would make my other skills stagnate."
"Although that's not bad advice, I think she would understand if you used it more, given our current circumstances," Zelretch said with a chuckle. "If she's anything like the Scáthach from my world, she values efficiency above all else in combat."
"*Sigh* I know you're right about that, too," James said in a tired tone. "Man… If this ever gets back to her, she's gonna put me through hell in training."
"Oh?" Akatsuki asked, raising an eyebrow and wearing a mischievous smile. "Well then, you'd better not say too much perverted stuff for the rest of our time here. Otherwise, I might have to take a trip to your world and accidentally let it slip while talking to your Master."
"Are you serious?" James asked, looking at Akatsuki with an aghast expression. "That's dirty as shit, Akatsuki."
However, Akatsuki did not respond. Instead, after smiling at James for a moment, she turned around and started picking up magic stones and drops. Meanwhile, Zelretch, wearing a playful expression, merely patted James on the shoulder before going to help Akatsuki collect the loot.
"Damn… Y'all are cold-blooded," James muttered as he, too, moved to pick up the drops.
Several hours later, as the sun set over the western horizon, the members of the Aislynn Familia emerged from the Dungeon, then left Babel Tower and headed to the Pantheon to trade in their spoils.
{Pic}
"So, how was everyone's dive?" Elicia asked with a smile.
"Annoying," Tatsuo replied in an annoyed tone.
"Killer Ants?" Sakura asked.
"Killer Ants," Tatsuo replied.
"Really?" Elicia asked in surprise. "They didn't seem that bad to me, especially when Momo used her Skill to create daggers to throw at them whenever they looked like they were going to call for help."
"If you watch them, it's not hard to miss the signs," Momo said modestly.
"Oh, I know that very well," Tatsuo said in a disgruntled tone. "Sakura-chan and I were the ones who told you all about that, after all."
"Then what was the problem?" Elicia asked, genuinely finding it hard to understand.
"Probably because he was alone," Alfonzo pointed out. "He didn't have anyone to watch the Killer Ants while he was killing the other monsters."
"Add to that the fact that he was on the Eighth and Ninth Floors, where the monsters are stronger, and that probably didn't help either," Akatsuki added.
"Plus, you guys didn't have Lici saying the wrong things in the Dungeon, right?" James said with a shit-eating grin. "Otherwise, you would probably have had it even harder than Tatsuo did."
"Ah! All your points make a lot of sense," Momo said, nodding seriously.
"No!" Elicia exclaimed. "Fonzie and Akatsuki made a lot of sense."
Reaching that point, Elicia stepped forward and pointed an accusing finger at James.
"But him?" Elicia asked aggressively. "He's just talking nonsense."
No one replied to Elicia for fear of setting her off and causing her to raise another flag. Still, the way they all looked at her let Elicia know what they thought of her claim. That caused the Magic Seamstress to pout while looking at everyone with a betrayed expression.
"Why won't anyone take my side?" Elicia muttered as she fell back into step with everyone.
The group continued to chat and joke around until they reached the Pantheon. By then, Elicia's aggrieved mood had completely dissipated. Just before they stepped inside, Elicia turned to Sakura with an excited expression on her face.
"Hey, Sakura," Elicia said excitedly. "Can you take out the thing I gave you this morning?"
"Okay," Sakura replied before quietly chanting the incantation for [Kage Sosa].
However, unlike every other time she chanted the spell, Sakura's shadow did not expand. Though anyone sensitive to magic power could tell that it was saturated with Sakura's Magic. Then, she bent down, reached her hand into the shadow, and pulled out a notebook.
"Here you go," Sakura said as she stood up and handed the notebook to Elicia.
Elicia accepted the notebook happily. When Tatsuo saw it, he recognized it immediately.
"You finished it, huh?" Tatsuo asked curiously.
"Yup!" Elicia chirped happily. "So, while you guys trade in the loot, I'll go turn this in at the quest counter."
"Are you really sure this is a good idea?" Zelretch asked apprehensively. "We all know how talented you are. When Freya sees this, she will definitely choose it right away. Then that will shorten the time it takes for her to come visit the Dragon's Nest."
"Aislynn said it was fine," Elicia said, waving away Zelretch's concerns. "All we have to do is trust her. She won't let anything happen to us."
"Lici's right," Alfonzo said with a smile. "If Aislynn couldn't do anything about Freya, there's no way she would have waited as long as she has, right?"
"I suppose," Zelretch replied while stroking his beard nervously.
With that, the group of ten entered the Pantheon to complete their own tasks. Then, once they had finished what they needed to do, they all headed back to the Dragon's Nest for the evening.