"Lili, you feeling okay?" I asked, spotting the smaller girl as I walked up to the central plaza, the dark sky hanging overhead. Even in the low light, the moment Lili turned to look at me, I saw something was wrong. She looked absolutely haggard like she stayed up all night for the second day in a row. Dark bags hung underneath her eyes, her light brown eyes were bloodshot and her face was pale. Practically bloodless.
Even still, Lili nodded, looking as chipper as ever. "Lili is fine! Lili just stayed up a little too late past her bedtime, is all," she said, beaming joy and happiness out of every pore.
I frowned at her, not believing that in the slightest. "I'm serious, are you feeling okay? Do you think you're up for going into the Dungeon?"
Again, Lili nodded, undeterred by my tone. "Lili won't slow Mr. Jericho down at all, she promises-"
"I'm not asking because I think you'll slow me down. I don't want you getting hurt or push yourself when you're ill. Lili, you look absolutely exhausted." I observed, wishing that her coat didn't cover so much of her so I could find more symptoms. She looked awful.
Lili blinked, my concern catching her off guard, but she shook her head a moment later. "Lili isn't sick. She...just hasn't been sleeping really well," she admitted, looking down so I couldn't see her face. "Lili's familia dues are coming up, and she has rent too. Lili has been stressing out a whole bunch because she doesn't think she can afford both."
That was a lie. I'm ninety-nine point nine percent sure of it. In the canon timeline, Lili avoided paying her dues for months to stockpile funds to buy her way out of the Soma familia. I guess it wasn't any real surprise that she didn't trust me enough to not tell me the real reason, but I had my suspicions.
"...Are you absolutely positive that you're okay to go into the Dungeon," I pressed, making Lili look up at me as she gave another nod. I didn't believe her in the slightest, but she seemed determined to come with me into the Dungeon. Did that mean there was a trap, or was she that eager to impress her cash cow? Did she think that I would just find another supporter? "Because if you can't, then I'll go in alone. You can take the day off and we'll just pick up tomorrow."
Still, Lili shook her head, "Thank you for the offer, Mr. Jericho, but Lili is certain that she can keep up. Please, don't worry about her." She insisted, still smiling at me but when she looked as ill as she did, then it looked that much more out of place.
"Then...at least take this then," I said, pulling out a stamina potion that I passed over to her. "I don't know how much it should help, but at the very least then it should keep you going for a bit," I said, watching her as she popped the cork and drained the potion. "And, I want you to tell me if you don't think you can go on. None of that toughing it out, crap, okay?"
This time, Lili's smile seemed a little more genuine, "that's a little hypocritical coming from Mr. Jericho," she commented, her tone light and teasing.
Well, she had me there. "Do as I say, not as I do," I quoted to cover up my hypocrisy. I learned that tidbit from my dad. "So, what will you do if you feel like you can't continue?"
"Lili will tell Mr. Jericho that she needs a break," Lili said, her tone serious, seeming a little more alive now that she had an endurance potion in her. I guess those were the energy drinks of the fantasy world. Ah, I just reminded myself of coffee. I really needed to look into if there was any of that lovely beverage in this world.
"Exactly," I said, gesturing for us to go on our way. Lili happily nodded as we made our way up the steps. Again, there was no Eina or Misha to be found, so we were able to march our way into the Dungeon without any complications. We blew through the first six floors in no time -- with my greatly improved Strength and Endurance. I could sprint all the way down, barely winded by the time I reached the seventh floor.
I gripped my sword in one hand as we stalked down the halls. Unlike all the times before, we weren't immediately besieged by monsters as soon as we stepped onto the seventh floor. We walked down the tunnels, and not so much as a single killer ant. Another few minutes later, there was still nothing. That told me one of two things -- either the monsters were floating around somewhere else, already spawned, or someone got here first and already killed them so they were on cooldown.
If it was the second, then that sucked but oh well. If it was the first, that meant there could be a swarm of killer ants somewhere in the halls. With that thought in mind, I summoned upon my map to make sure we had a simple path back to the surface, and to make sure we didn't go near large open spaces or pantries.
Minutes passed as we walked through the halls, only the occasional monster appearing. Without constantly fighting, it made exploring the Dungeon exceptionally faster. I did my best to avoid open areas, but as we consistently found nothing, the more it looked like someone had cleared out this floor before heading down.
Which raised some questions. How high of a level were they if they could solo a floor? Or was it a group? Either way, for the past twenty minutes, I only had a hundred exp to show for it and, usually, by this time I had closer to five hundred. At this rate, I was better off going back up to the sixth floor.
"Perhaps we should go down to the eighth floor?" Lili suggested in my ear, her grip tight but already I heard the beginnings of labored breathing. She really wasn't doing too hot, was she? Though, I considered her words for a moment, feeling...uneasy about the proposal.
The recommended stats for the eight floor and below were E. Most of my physical stats were D, so technically I could go down there.
But...it was a bit odd that Lili was suggesting that we go down there. To be blunt, I didn't think she was trying to get me killed. Why would she? I was making her a crap ton of money, but there was something about this that raised red flags. Or, was I just overthinking it? It wasn't like Lili didn't know I seemed to make some incredible gains each day. I went from being able to barely carry her for more than a few minutes, to being able to sprint for thirty minutes and barely breaking a sweat.
She wouldn't need to know my stats to know that I made some pretty big jumps. She could be assuming that I was strong enough to at least hang around the entrance. Not to mention, if things did go bad, then there wasn't much on this floor that would try to ambush us. Actually, this was probably my best shot to test the waters of the eighth floor.
"Good thinking," I praised as I started to make my way towards the entrance of the eighth floor. We were already kinda close, so it didn't take very long to reach there. Especially when the only monsters we came across were a few purple moths, and that was it. The entrance to the eighth floor looked similar to the seventh, only it stood out less. If I didn't know it was the entrance, then I would have assumed that it was another tunnel.
The man-made feeling was gone from the Dungeon. The steps were uneven while some were a lot bigger than others. Like it was trying to look man-made, but it was crafted by a drunk toddler that only knew what stairs were because an equally drunk toddler described them.
Slowly, I made my way down to the eighth floor, trying to spot the differences. Walking down, I stepped onto the eighth floor for the first time.
It looked...pretty much exactly the same as the seventh floor. Maybe a little bigger, the ceiling was higher, but the tunnels looked to be about the same size. I waited a moment, waiting for the sound of monsters erupting from the walls, only for nothing to happen for a moment. A deep frown tugged at my lips as I walked a few more steps. Still nothing.
"What's going on?" I muttered to myself, not expecting an answer.
"Maybe another familia came down here on a money gathering run?" Lili answered me, sounding just as thoughtful. That caught my attention.
"Money gathering?" I asked, starting to walk down the tunnels, slowly mapping out the floor since Eina hadn't given me one. I don't think she expected me to get to this floor any time soon. Oh, man, she was going to be so pissed when she found out.
"It's where a familia brings out all their members to gather as much money as they can. It's a more common tactic for adventurers going to the middle floors, but if a familia doesn't have any members that are level 2, then they're forced to do it on the upper floors." Lili explained, sounding just as annoyed about this as I was. Which was surprising. And reassuring.
"So they don't bother with the first six floors because the monster stones aren't worth it?" I hazarded a guess, walking through the tunnels with growing confidence. This one seemed to be even emptier than the seventh.
"Exactly. Depending on the familia, it could be like this all the way down to the twelfth floor," Lili confirmed with a nod of her head. That was extremely frustrating.
"Do you know who it could be?" I asked, picking up the pace a little bit to jog through the tunnels. If there was nothing here, then I might as well map as much of it as I can. I sincerely doubt that Eina was going to be handing over any maps to this floor when she found out I was on it. Or, maybe she would, but either way, there would be a whole lot of yelling involved.
Lili shook her head, "Lili doesn't know. Doing money farming on the upper floors is usually frowned upon since most adventurers can't go into the middle floors, so the rest of the city won't make as much money. Lili is sure she'll learn who it is later today when everyone starts bad-mouthing that familia."
Well...that freakin sucks. I was kinda pumped for taking on the eighth floor, not to mention that today was a complete loss in terms of exp and stats.
"Should we go back up to the sixth floor?" Lili questioned, sounding like she wanted something for waking up this early. I couldn't blame her there.
"Could you tell me where the entrance for the ninth floor is- I'm not going down, but so I can map it out in my head when we come back down here," I hastily explained, hearing Lili suck in a breath to tell me that was a horrible idea. "And we know this floor is practically empty for the next couple of hours, so we should be fine. What do you think?"
Lili didn't say anything for a moment before I felt her nod. "So long as Mr. Jericho promises to run away when it looks like were put in a tight spot and not leave Lili behind," she requested, forcing me to swallow a sigh.
"I promise I won't leave you behind," I swore, feeling awful that I had to promise that in the first place. It seems that she still didn't trust me.
With Lili directing me, it didn't take long to find the entrance to the ninth floor. There were only a handful of monsters crawling about, the Dungeon offering minimal resistance as I delved deeper into it. The entrance looked nearly the exact same as the entrance to the eighth, and when I stepped down the stairs, I saw that it looked similar to.
Everything was just getting a little bit bigger. As I glanced up at the ceiling, I frowned since I doubt I'd be able to jump and get the purple moths and other flying critters now. And since everything was bigger, the shadows the minimal light cast were longer and darker. Not so dark that I couldn't peer through the darkness, but just dark enough to hide something if I didn't pay attention.
My musing was cut short when I heard the sounds of the Dungeon walls crumbling. My hearing was so sharp at this point, I guessed that three monsters were spawned. Glancing over to my right, I saw that I was correct. Three killer ants pulled themselves from the walls -- instantly, I noticed the difference between the ones I was killing on the seventh floor.
These were bigger. The head was almost twice as big, its legs were thicker as they spread out more for stability. The mandibles were nearly the same size as a short sword, twitching as they seemed to be imagining ripping me apart with them. The ants earlier were the size of Lili, but these came all the way up to my stomach.
They were creepy looking as all hell. Their exoskeleton was darker, almost black in some places -- these must be soldier ants.
Wasting no time, I rushed towards them, Lili dropping off my back so I could fight this new enemy unimpeded. I gripped my sword with both hands, angling it so the tip was even with the closest killer ant before I thrust my sword forward. Immediately, I felt the difference as my sword plunged into the monster's skull. The exoskeleton was thicker. Worse, since its head was so big, I think I missed the brain.
The killer ant threw its head back, nearly ripping my sword from my hands, as the other two moved to flank me. I backpedaled, yanking my sword free. The action was so sudden that I should have fallen on my butt, instead, I deftly dodged out of the way as an ant lunged at me. I guess Graceful did what it said on the tin.
Seeing an opening, I brought my sword down on the ant's neck. Its thorax seemed too small in comparison to its head and abdomen. Snarling, I cut my way through the tough exoskeleton, beheading the monster. Even as its head flew free, the other two monsters pressed the attack, one of them gushing bug juice from its head.
They climbed over the body, delaying them just enough that I could rear back my sword and unleash a slash at their heads. Swinging with all my strength behind it, I cleaved through the fist killer ants skull but the second was spared of any serious damage. With my sword out of position, it lunged again, its mandibles going for my neck. I dodged to the side, the monster sailing by. I couldn't kill it, but I slashed at its legs, they served with far greater ease.
The monster collapsed in a heap, lashing out in agony before I put it down with another stab in the head.
"So, that was new," I commented, checking the tunnels to see that they were still empty. Lili wasted no time going to the corpses to dig out the monster stones. Out of the three I killed, one of them dropped a large mandible that Lili dropped into her bag. Hopefully, that trend would continue while we were down-
I heard more stone clatter to the floor, not as many this time. A lone killer ant emerged from the wall. I darted forward, killing the monster before it could fully escape, cutting it in half at the thorax.
"Mr. Jericho sure is strong," Lili commented as she retrieved another magic stone. No mandible. That quest reward would be mine! "Usually, only veteran adventurers can cut through the exoskeletons of soldier ants. And Mr. Jericho moved really well just now for being in heavy armor."
I nodded, feeling pleased with myself. I had my worries about not getting that extra five percent exp boost for Dexterity, but I think it was the right move. I didn't really notice it when I was walking around or carrying Lili, but when I was fighting, it was easy to see the difference in how I moved. My movements felt smoother, more...reactive to what I wanted.
Yeah, I think I made the right choice.
"Thanks, but these things feel a lot tougher than the killer ants before. I doubt I could have managed it with my old swords." I replied, keeping an ever-vigilant eye on our surroundings. Once I got used to fighting them, they wouldn't be an issue, but for now, they seemed to be a pretty big threat. "Do they only spawn this floor? I know things change a lot on the tenth floor."
That's when large monsters started to spawn like orcs. Landform weapons became a thing. Smaller monsters got stronger and faster.
"They do," Lili confirmed with a nod of her head as we slowly moved away from the entrance. "Soldier ants are why the guild recommends having stats that are at least E to come to this floor."
I glanced over at the entrance before turning the corner, before turning my attention back ahead. We still had a clear shot back. This floor didn't seem to be completely cleared out like the others, but so long as we hovered around the entrance, I didn't see any problems with exploring a bit. Neither did Lili since she didn't say anything about it.
As I jogged through the tunnels, killing the occasional monster, I heard a sound behind us. The sound of footsteps, of metal tapping against metal. For a long while, I figured that it was something in Lili's bag, but the sound was never consistent. As minutes turned to hours, for a time, I thought I had imagined it.
I sidestepped a soldier ant before I cut it in half, eyeing the horned menace that lurked in the shadows. The horned rabbit launched itself at me like a speeding bullet, its horn aimed at the back of my knee. I turned sharply so the horn hit the knee guard of my armor, breaking the horn. Before the monster could flee, I stomped on the rabbit, crushing it.
Whipping my head around, I looked behind us. To my surprise, I saw someone peeking out of the corner to watch the fight. They jerked their heads back, but it was too late. Someone had been following us.
"Come out," I hollered at the person, turning around to face them. Lili glanced at me, then at the direction that I was facing. She pulled out her crossbow and pointed it at the corner. For a moment, the only sounds on the ninth floor were the hushed voices of whoever was behind the corner -- meaning, there was at least two.
I gripped my sword tighter, ready to shout the demand one more time before they stepped out with confidence. And they should feel confident. There were five of them, three of them were decked out in armor while another two hung back, wearing leather armor with bows in their hands. All of them were men, the tallest of them was the one at the center that carried a sword and shield.
The three warriors spread out, making it difficult to run by them. The one on the left carried a broadsword, a handsome man if it weren't for three long scars that dragged down half of his face. On the right was a smaller elf, two twin daggers in his hands, his hair a deep blue while his golden eyes burned with greed.
My gaze swept over them, taking a step forward as I pushed Lili behind me. My gaze lingered on the two in the back, humans holding bows aimed at me. Brothers, if I had to guess.
"Well then. It's like that, is it?" I spoke, keeping my voice calm, my gaze landing on the emblem emblazoned on the guy's shoulder pad. Soma's emblem. These were the guys that tried to rob me yesterday. And...I just put Lili behind me. Had I just surrounded myself?
Was this a trap? Because this looked like a trap. She nudged me to come down here, now these guys appear? Were these the guys that cleared out two floors? Because if that was the case, then I was fucked.
"Lili didn't know," Lili spoke, her voice desperate as the men chuckled at my question. "Lili didn't know! Please believe Lili, Mr. Jericho!" I...didn't entirely believe her, but, at the moment, it didn't look like I was about to get a bolt to the back of the head. That was good enough for me, at the moment.
"Lili, I want you to take off your bag and get ready to run," I spoke quietly, glaring at the man that stood front and center. A plan formed in my mind because there was no way that this was going to end well.
"Ah, yeah, it's like that," the leader said, raising his shield as Lili dropped her bag. "We were hoping for a big payday before familia dues, but we barely have anything. I don't suppose you've had more luck?" He asked, a knowing grin on his face. His sandy blonde hair was cut short, revealing the face of a young man.
So, they didn't clear the floors. That was better. It was still five to one, but it was better.
"No, I don't think I have anything for you," I said, my tone nowhere near as friendly. I was going to have to kill them. There were too many of them. They were going to kill me if I didn't hand over everything that I had. I doubt they would stop at monster stones -- they would take my sword, armor, and potions too. They would leave me with nothing, forcing me to start from scratch.
"Don't be like that! We've been watching you, you know. You're so generous with that girl behind you. Why can't you throw a little of that generosity our way?" He asked, taking a confident step forward as the other two moved up with him in sync.
I should have seen this coming. I was a huge guy, and it wasn't like it was a secret at this point that I was a rookie. And most days I came back up with around fifty thousand valis.
"How about this -- you hand over your magic stones and send...Lili, was it? Send her to collect whatever you have saved up. And we'll let you live." He said, throwing me a smile filled with white teeth. "And, maybe, you let us in on that generosity from now on? Nothing crazy, but maybe you toss us half of what you make down here?"
Yeah, this was only going to end one way.
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A/N— I'll try to post daily. Powerstones and comments would help, it would mean alot and give me the motivation to continue the story. In fact two chapters a day wouldn't be impossible either.
I'll post an extra chapter every 500ps power stones, no limit!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Ps. You can also read ahead at my Patreon to support the story and help me write more. Patrons get two chapters a day and 30 chapters ahead for just a couple bucks :)
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