With the huge annoyances gone, and out of the city, Hathor familia, and all their allies dove even further into their training, though, there was the notable exception for the young pups to get a proper amount of dotting on them from the numerous aunts they had. The four of them were just irresistibly adorable.
Of everyone, the ones most interested in the young pups were Ais, Bell, Meda, Tiona, and Tione. Each of them looked with a great deal of interest. It was cute seeing how they acted, Zald would chuckle every time he saw it. One of these moments, he stopped and spoke with Shurry.
"It's like I'm watching how you and the others acted when Meda was born. It's a refreshing sight for sure."
"It's a great feeling. I love all of them. My pups." Shurry smiled, wagging his tail watching over the scene like a protector ready to pounce if the need arose.
"I know you've wanted this for a while now, and I shouldn't have to remind you…" Zald said, sighed and then stopped… "Nevermind, I'll just say this, I want to level up as well. Do you think you can help push me to it?"
"That's hard to say, Uncle… I don't know much about this level as it is. Hell, you probably know more about being a level 9 than I do." Shurry explained, keeping his smile. "However, it's not like I won't try to help you achieve it. The stronger you are, the better it is for all of us. We'll begin doing dives again once my pups have had their first hunt. Until then, I refuse to leave their side."
"Heh, I understand, Maxim had a similar thought process. We just had more riding on us at the time. I'll do what I can to get everyone up to speed before we head down again."
"Make sure Vidar familia understands what they need to do if they want to come with us." Shurry noted, with a slight narrowing of his eyes.
"From what I've seen they're far better than I expected. They'll grow stronger, Orba too. I wish you could have got to him sooner. He has a ton of potential. More than I thought he would have."
"That's good. The more, the merrier. That is, aside from those despicable bastards in the Loki and Freya familia."
"Agreed, Meteria's finally been able to relax without the aid of drugs or magic. She really wanted to kill those guys."
"So did I, but that's a burden Bell must bear. It is his choice to let them live or not."
Time continued passing, and while they were his children, they did not manage their first transformation until they were around 7 months old. Shurry took them out on a hunt in the woods, a hunt where the four puppies hunted in the ways only a puppy could. Making what would usually be a gruesome affair, into a cute scene.
…
Several days later, Shurry managed to convince his four pups to stay with their grandmas for a while. That meant, Astraea, Hathor, Hera, and Idunn. As occasionally Hephaestus would walk around carrying Tsubaki's kid.
It had been a while since Shurry went back into the dungeon. But now, he stood to lead another expedition. One where many members were prepared for the worst. There were many new faces along with many usual ones. Anakitty, Raul, Ais, Orba, Bete, Selenia, and a host of other new people…
"It's been a while since I last did an expedition like this. We have more new members in our strike team today, than we've had in the past. They might have a hard time keeping up, but they are determined, so help them as you would help each other. The goal of our expedition is to advance all of our abilities through rigorous training. Something to note, there will likely be some major differences since the last time we went down there together… I sort of… had to go a bit wild the last couple times I was down deep." Shurry spoke, chuckling lightly towards the end. "For those of you who don't know, we will not be returning to the surface until everyone here has earned the right to level up. Now, I've just had four pups recently, and I'd much like to spend as much time with them as possible."
"I want to come back quickly, too! Those are my nieces and my nephew!" Alise cheerfully added, standing there proud as could be.
"Without further delay, we shall descend the depths of the dungeon, explore, fight, and grow."
And so, the utterly gargantuan raid group left the surface behind, Astraea, and the other goddesses held Shurry's pups as they all waved goodbye and safe travels. The wolves left behind to guard the surface howled out their own wishes, and statements they would keep the princesses and Prince safe from harm, even at the cost of their own lives.
"Grandma, Hathor, how long will mommies and daddy be gone?" Hati asked, tilting her head in curiosity.
"The last time, it took them two months before they came back. They'll be back before your first birthday. Until then, we get you cuties all to ourselves!"
Hathor nuzzled Hati, both giggling as they did…
"Maybe we could give them their own falna now?"
"No, Shurry was adamant about waiting until they were at least 1 year old. He doesn't want them to live with a similar strife that he had to live with. And there's no need to worry, here, there are these noble wolves ready to protect us without hesitation." Hathor smiled.
"Fine… I guess letting them stay all cute and cuddly is for the best anyway." Astraea smiled.
…
It took a full week to reach the 66th floor, not as bad as Shurry thought it would take, but still slower than usual. Ultimately, it didn't matter, because with them all set up, the training began. No one was safe from it, they were to push through regardless. It was some of the most intense training they'd ever gone through. While they waited for the dungeon to respawn the monster rexes, everyone would fight a mock battle against Shurry, one where they were meant to go all out until they collapsed, no excuses, for anyone.