You know the answer.
Enjoy!
9K+ words.
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/Step…/
/Step…/
Silver slowly went down the stairs to the first floor. Everywhere he looked, he could see several small groups of adventurers going up and down the swirling paths.
Eventually, the stairs narrowed to their limit, stopping down at a large, dark blue cave with only one passage… the famed, "Beginning Road".
(Image)
"It isn't as dark as I imagined… not even that gloomy."
'It's almost as if this place gaze a slight sense of adventure to me… it could be only me though. Some of the people around seem rather tense…'
"I should get going… this place is quite crowded."
As he walked the busy hallway, he thought about his teachings, 'The Upper Floors… 1st-12th floors are where most newbie adventurers around Level 1 would mingle. The stronger ones, around Level 2, would either spend their times at the lower limits of these floors or step into the next layer… the Middle Floors.'
'For the first floor, it's nothing out of the ordinary. I should've already faced 70% of everything that there's to find here on the surface… Kobolds, Goblins, Dungeon Lizards, and similarly weak creatures spawn, so there isn't much to worry about.'
'Even if they're stronger, it'll be a few if not one at best. There isn't much risk on the first floor. Now… the deeper you go, the more types appear, and the greater their numbers become… some dangerous creatures I might start to get on edge about.'
'Beyond that… other things start to happen as well…'
"First, I should get used to this environment… fighting here and on the surface are two different things."
'As long as I don't go too far down, it'll be fine… if I can find any monster that is.'
Silver kept walking, but no matter where he went, there was always a group of people hunting somewhere.
'I can't find a single spot without people… at this rate I might as well just go further down…'
/Kiii!/
"Oh?"
All of a sudden, a single goblin with a stone knife jumped from the shadows, piercing at his neck!
/Splurge/
/Poof!/
Without even looking, he stabbed the air and pierced the goblin's head.
"Their movements are pretty similar, but their skin is much thicker and their muscles are tougher. It felt like skewering another creature entirely…"
He looked at the goblin from afar, 'There's a lot of power condensed within that small frame… the wonders of magic… if only I could figure out how they do it…'
'Aside from that, these goblins have some other distinct features. Their fur is considerably denser and more elongated; their arms are more elongated and muscular, albeit not by much.'
'Their horns are more pronounced as well… They are like two different creatures.'
/SPLAT!/
Silver thought about leaving the corpse behind and sparing himself the trouble of collecting the loot, but he knew it was common courtesy not to leave corpses behind.
Monsters could eat the corpse, growing stronger. If someone was known to leave their game behind, the Guild might fine them quite a bit for lack of decency.
If nothing happened to the monster, its body would eventually be reabsorbed by the Dungeon.
"From what I know, the first floor isn't that big. Just about a few stadiums wide."
'The Dungeon grows like an inverted pyramid, so I wonder how wide its lowest point would be?'
He walked around for a few more minutes, "Hum… there isn't much action around here."
'Let's try the next floor.'
…
It didn't take long for him to find the entrance to the next floor. After about half an hour, he found a big hole in the wall with smooth stairs leading down. One of the many entrances to the next floor.
He could see a few people resting on the stairs, apart from the hidden rooms, stairs like these were the only safe places on the Upper Floors if not the entire Dungeon.
'Safe… that's a relative term. All of my grandparents told me the same thing… there are no absolutes in the Dungeon, only its will.'
'If the Dungeon feels like changing something, it will, no matter who tells it otherwise. You may be hunting in a safe area and all of a sudden the Dungeon cracks open the wall to another region, causing a crowd of monsters to swarm you… that is a far too common occurrence.'
'The Dungeon seems to grow the most active when you're at your worst condition… you can never be too careful...'
"Second floor, here I am."
…
The layout was exactly the same as the first floor, with the blue cave wall with the glowing moss at the top.
But now, instead of one or two monsters appearing at best, Silver saw small groups of three or more charge at him from the darkness.
Still, no matter their numbers… goblins would remain that.
/SLASH!/
He carved his way through the caverns to somewhere more desolate, where others wouldn't bother him…
...
/Half an hour later…/
/Swush!/
The last kobold of this small group lifted its claws and swiped them in Silver's direction!
He evaded to the side while using his feet to make it fall on the ground, piercing its head with his sword before its head could touch the ground, pinning its neck against the wall.
"This is getting boring…" He said as he shook his sword to clean the excess blood off it
But as he thought of that, he shook his head, "I can't think like this, these simple monsters aren't the only danger in a Dungeon."
'There could always be an Irregular or even a Strengthened Species… I'd rather never meet one of those.'
Strengthened Species was the term to when a monster overflows with strength from eating the Magic Stones of other deceased monsters, raising its stats, and eventually transforming into something new.
"Hm…"
He looked at his sword. It was slightly chipped, and its tip was bent faintly.
"Is this the limit of a second-hand steel sword?… I barely took down two dozen creatures…"
/Crack…/
"Hum!"
'This sound…'
/Crunk…/
/Shaaa…/
The walls cracked and opened, sending splinters and dust down onto the cold floor…
Several creatures fell from within the hollow spaces, crashing around him.
/KUKI! KUKI!/
From his upper right, a group of five kobolds spawned from the walls!
"Interesting… now, what do we have here?"
/KIUK!!/
The kobolds rushed at him without a moment of hesitation.
Silver smiled, "I thought as much."
/Snap!/
One of the kobolds clawed at his sword. He angled his blade in response, causing its claws to snap back as they were parried.
"One… two…" He said as he took a step to the side, angling his first swing
/SLASH!/
With a single swing, Silver decapitated two of them!
/Fwush!/
The other three attacked one after the other, the deaths of their compatriots irrelevant to them.
"Oh?"
'Is this cooperation or a fluke? I heard it was meant to only appear deeper down…'
/Swush/
"I guess it must be bad luck on my part…" Silver said as he kicked one kobold in the chest, pushing him against another
/SWIPE!/
Silver demonstrated his swordsmanship by parrying the third kobold, pushing him aside before stepping past it!
/Pierce!/
With a single thrust, he penetrated the heads of the two kobolds he had sent down moments before.
/SWIPE!/
The last one missed, tried to strike his head, but Silver merely ducked forward with a plain expression, taking this moment to strike as it was exposed in the air.
/Swush!/
He slashed the kobold sideways, cutting him in half with extreme precision.
/Puff!/
/Clink/
"Oho… I can't get enough of the sound these little crystals make when they fall on the rocky ground."
Some of the monsters dissipated due to excessive damage, but a few remained, waiting for their magic stones to be collected.
He looked down at their bodies with a bored expression, "I can't even bother to pick up this trash… maybe I should get a Supporter in the future."
'Let's wait until I join a Familia…'
…
About half an hour later, Silver grew bored with the second floor and descended to the third floor as soon as he found an entrance leading down.
He knew he was being arrogant and reckless, but he couldn't help it… he really wanted to try a bit more… to experience this surreal experience longer!
/Step…/
/Step…/
He was now walking on the third floor, looking at the glowing moss and beetles on the ceiling and walls when he realized a shocking fact…
"I can't hear anyone anymore… I'm finally alone."
He looked back at the beetles one last time before turning around, 'There are so many interesting creatures and items in the Dungeon… this place is not about the monsters themselves but the entire ecosystem within… I can only imagine how much of the surface's biosphere was affected by the Dungeon.'
'Perhaps all life as we know has in some way been affected by it? If we imagine the Dungeon only grows wide and wider, at some point, wouldn't it be as large as this entire world?'
"I'm thinking a bit too far into it…"
Silver searched for an alley, something you normally wouldn't do, and opened his pocket space by turning his arm into a mass of shadows...
/Shaaa…/
The ground before him was engulfed in shadows. Once they retracted into his arm, a full set of full plate armor was left before him.
"Perfect."
The armor was fully crimson, and it didn't have that many details, but it was obvious it was the work of a decent smith. Its most obvious detail was the white scarf around its neck.
As he crouched to look at the scarf, Silver grimaced.
"Those old farts… dumping their old issues on me to resolve…"
…
/The day Silver left on his journey…/
/CLANG!/
"… Gramps? What's this about?" Silver asked as he reached the edge of Guyrt Village
Before him, Saphos waited in medium armor, holding a thin sword Silver had seen many times resting above the campfire.
His expression was calm as he studied it, the morning sun reflecting on its lustrous surface.
According to him, the reason Saphos became a smith wasn't because he was interested in the vocation. He did it merely out of necessity.
To take care of his and Ullia's equipment after they retired, he grabbed the hammer and opened a forge in a vacant plot after they found somewhere to settle down.
By using the knowledge he caught here and there from seeing other smiths working, he eventually found his way and became a proper smith. After forty years doing so, he could say he had reached a significant level of mastery.
He couldn't be compared to the high-profile smiths in the city, but he was capable enough to work on his own equipment, something worth millions of Valis.
Without him knowing, the years passed as his son grew up, and by his own words, one day he realized he had become the village blacksmith. He passed on his small knowledge to him, and he did the same to Silver.
And just like Marcus many years ago… he was now subjecting Silver to the same trial…
"You're smart, boy. Don't try to talk your way out of this." He said as he lowered his blade, looking down at him from afar
"… Is this necessary? You know full well what I can do." Silver said as his eyes narrowed
"It's not about that. Whether you can or not, I couldn't give a damn… it's about what I want."
/Swoosh!/
He swung his sword in an arc with such speed Silver only realized it had moved when it was pointing at him again.
"You know this feeling, don't you, boy? You lived your whole life like this… doing whatever you felt like doing… I'm just doing the same."
"I wouldn't say I did whatever I wanted… my whole life was being dragged around by you lot." He said with a small smile as he thought about the past
"That was just because we too were being dragged by you, boy…" He said in a low tone as he closed his eyes, "These old bones of ours spent the last two decades pushing a boy forward in his childish fantasies… you're also responsible for the time we spent on you."
/SWING!/
He swung his sword in the blink of an eye, cutting a line on the ground.
"... and I'm not going to watch it all be squandered. I'm going to put some sense into that childish head of yours today."
/SWING!/
He swung his sword again, leaving a cut down on the ground… but the ground he cut was far too distant for him to reach… as if the sword had flown beyond the length of its edge.
"The deal is simple. I did this with your father, and now I shall do the same to you."
Silver grimaced, knowing full well what he was about to say.
"Defeat me! And the world beyond this line… is yours to tread."
"That's impossible." He replied plainly as he sighed
"Then turn around and leave your empty dreams behind."
Silver frowned, "You're being unreasonable. You know full well the scale of the impossibility you're asking of me."
"Am I? Boy, to become an adventurer, one must face such odds constantly. That is the song of the Dungeon, the eternal dance... Stepping aside now… would mean you're not ready to hear it."
"Time and time again, both I and your grandmother faced such unreliable odds. If you cannot face them now… then I cannot let you pass!"
Silver snickered, "Old fart! I've never heard of a mortal facing a Level 4 adventurer before and winning! Might as well put me against a Floor Boss!"
Saphos smiled, "Then make it possible."
"… What?"
"I said… make it possible!!"
"Stop being ridiculous!" He exclaimed as he swung his hand before him, "These aren't the ancient times! I don't see a Spirit lying around to bless me!"
"How am I supposed to face you when I can't even see you swinging that sword!" He pointed out as he clenched his teeth
"Then that's all you amount to, I'm afraid."
Silver kicked a stone on the ground in frustration, "#!!… Just say you don't want me to go…"
"I don't." He replied plainly… "The Dungeon… is not as magical a place as you think it is. There is no romance to be found there."
"Only death… and despair."
"…"
Silver did not retort… "Even so… I want to go."
"Then why are you talking? I'm waiting."
Silver frowned, "Hum… when faced with impossible odds…"
"You cannot run away!" Saphos screamed, causing the plains to rumble
Silver's cleaned his ears with some pain, "Well, damn."
"Stop being childish Silver. If you don't take this seriously, I'll turn around and not even give you the chance to face me."
"… You call me childish, but aren't you the one who's being unreasonable… besides… what's wrong with being childish?!"
/SNAP!/
"?!"
Silver snapped his fingers, causing Saphos' legs to shake as he fell onto his knees.
"You… you would poison your own grandfather?!" Saphos exclaimed in extreme wrath as his face reddened
"Funny you say that… you told me to make this possible, so this is my answer. I don't like this either, but it's the only thing I can do."
He looked at the village behind him, "Grandpa Lington taught me for over a decade. He always told me to be attentive, to keep my guard up… I've known of this for quite a while… not that I needed to know."
He sighed, "I figured that if you did this to my father, you would do the same to me… I can understand why you did it, though... father was being driven by narrow interest. You were right to shoot him down… but I'm different."
Silver's eyes were resolute, "I have something I want to find out there. And I will get it."
"…"
Silver continued, "Poisoning you was easy. I know adventurers have immense poison tolerance, especially if they have the right Development Ability, so I didn't go easy on you."
"Why do you think I've been participating in the making of every meal for the past month? I love working with grandma in the kitchen, but I couldn't bring myself to cook after the torture you had me go through… yet I did… because I knew this would happen."
"You told me not to fool you, yet you stood there listening to me. You know me best, don't you? I wasn't going to turn around without trying. All this time, I have been acting to get my plans going." He said as he raised his right arm, pulling his sleeves
His veins had grown dark as his skin dried like tree bark, Saphos knew what that meant...
"I've always taken your words serious gramps..."
Silver shook his head, pulling his sleeve down, "In any case, it's not anything serious. It's just meant to cause you to go numb. I know your limits old man, I've read your Status sheet."
"We've done this before, in the past, didn't we?"
"Urg…"
'My chest is heavy, I'm having difficulty breathing.'
Saphos was reminded of his time growing up with Silver. Of the many potions he was forced to eat whenever Silver and Misty did something together…
"Arrogant… brat… huff... this isn't over..." He said with difficulty as he pushed himself off the ground
"You're really impressive… but don't push yourself too hard, gramps. What I fed you yesterday was a small compound of my own making… about a drop of it."
"I call it… Carfentanil… don't worry though, you'll be fine. It's not my first time feeding that to you..."
'It's by far my strongest opioid… that I can currently make safely. Not that it makes me proud of what I'm doing.'
"Cough!… That old man… Lington taught you well… how to stab a knife in someone's back... especially family." He said deeply as his expression darkened
Silver's eyes also grew sharp, "… I'll do everything to survive. Isn't that what you wanted to see? This resolve?"
"…"
Saphos was sweating as he tried to remain steady, but after a few seconds, he collapsed again.
/Swuush!/
But this time, Silver was there to help him stand.
"Gramps…"
"Shut it, brat… you win…" He said as he looked away
He reached for his waist, pulling out a long white fabric hidden beneath his shirt…
"What is this?"
"Shut it for a moment… this is… your damn responsibility now… you damn reckless grandson of mine."
He ruminated as he looked away, "When we left our Familia… our god left behind something with us. He called it a gift, and at the time I thought the same… but I fear he knew more about what was to come."
"Not long after we left, our Familia dismantled as we lost our main raid party somewhere around the Deep Floors… but that's another story."
He looked at the fabric, "What you have in your hand… is an artifact of an age long past."
"What?"
"I said the same thing long ago when we first got our hands on it..." Saphos said with a small smile as he coughed faintly
"Long ago… I fear he knew it… of what would become of his children... So he gave this item to us, for safekeeping… to protect them from their own actions."
"I don't understand… what even is this unassuming piece of cloth?" Silver asked as he looked at it
"If I knew, things would've been simpler… but I don't… there's only one thing I know. Not long after our raid party fell, we were approached by the man we once called… our captain."
"It was an unfortunate thing, you see... Had we not retired… had he gone down with his team… then everyone would've been alive, and we would've been able to retire in peace."
"Yet this series of coincidences happened, leading to the shattering of our once successful Familia."
"The man I saw that day was a broken man clutching to false hope… he wanted to bring us back and rebuild… we refused, for we had something more important than us to take care of… so he changed topics… or rather, that was his reason for being there all along."
"He asked for the artifact given to us by our god… we refused… That day was the last time I saw him... but not the last I heard of him."
"What does has to do with anything?"
"He came back for it… many years later… you remember it, don't you?"
"… Don't tell me…"
"You do remember… annoyingly smart child with a god-awful strong memory…"
"Ahem... if there's so much trouble around this... why are you dumping this on me?!"
"Because its now your responsibility… our god left this artifact with us to protect it from the man our captain would become… I know not of his intentions, I know not of his character, but I know that our god left it with us for safe keep, and that's a promise I will keep."
His expression twisted, "But Silver… you're right… I'm an old man, weak enough to be defeated by my grandson who doesn't even know what the touch of a woman is…"
"You could've used some better words..." Silver added as he smiled awkwardly
"I cannot protect it anymore… so the duty falls on you."
"Still... why go to such lengths? Why not just give the item to him or just bury it away?! It's been too long for anything to even matter."
"Because I still blame myself for it… I pity him. I know how it feels to lose family… but I don't know how it feels to lose… a lover."
"…"
"I know that the moment I surrender the item to him, the future our god envisioned will come true. I know that the man I once trusted my life to… will truly cease to exist… and I don't want to see that happen… there are already enough regrets in my hands… our hands."
"But you said…"
"Yes, Silver… we weren't there, so it's not our fault… but the pain… the regret… remains. And seeing you grow… just makes me think how it would've been if they had been given the same chance."
"Being an adventurer is about enduring such losses… I'd rather see you remain here with Marcus, maybe witness your own child growing up… for you to not experience such… but that's just my egotistic desire."
"..."
"So I pass on this burden to you… I'm uncertain of what powers it holds, but I'm certain that whatever it does contain, it'll be of use for you out there… perhaps this was the god's intention all along, but if this was just a prank from fate or divine intervention, it doesn't matter anymore."
"… Once you leave, we plan to go on our way as well." He said with resolution after he took a deep breath
"What? Why?!"
"This place isn't safe for us anymore. I told you that we were old… our captain can wait, but we cannot… time is not gentle to our kind."
"I plan to lead us somewhere safe where no one will find us so we can spend our last few years in peace."
"Then what about me? How do I find you all? I don't mind changing places, but I have to know how to find you all!"
"We'll leave clues… things only you would understand… phew… this damn thing you fed me is making my head spin!" He said with a twisted expression as his grip over Silver's shoulder tightened
"… I'm amazed you can still talk... also, you're hurting me..."
"Humph!… Silver, listen to me… don't let them know you carry this item. Hold it close to you; bury it somewhere…"
"Why do you want me to bury after talking all this?! I might just do it you know?"
"Haha… I know you won't, you're just like us... albeit in another way."
"I just can't do it myself… it doesn't mean you can't… I… I just don't want to see you be dragged further than this…"
"A bit too late for that old man!"
"Fair enough… well... then why continue speaking?" He asked with a faint smile
"Keep it. Go figure out what it does! At Orario, where the best artisans and the deities gather, find someone who can interpret this ancient secret and figure out what our god's intentions truly were!" He exclaimed as he shook Silver left and right
"What if it's nothing important?" Silver asked as he raised an eyebrow
"That… would actually be… just like him to do…" Saphos said with a deep smile as he coughed a little
"If it means nothing, then its value may belong elsewhere… a symbol… so his child may not lose hope even in his most despairing moment… that would truly fit this distorted story... to leave such a burden to us."
"… We hail from the Ithas Familia. One of the many Familias around Orario with First Class adventurers… It was quite common at the time, everyone pushing themselves to face those two giants..."
"Your grandmother and I retired not long after we became Level 4, although as you know, after forty years of training and thousands of monsters and challenges in the mountains… we became a bit stronger… albeit just enough to offset a portion of our aging."
"But that's only what outsiders know… this must remain between the both of us… our god's true identity wasn't Ithas… he was once hailed, or rather, is known by another name."
"Prometheus!" He exclaimed as he pressed his chest, "Silver, you are a direct descendant of the Prometheus Familia!"
"This… is getting complicated... Prometheus? The deity who…"
"Cast down the divine fire… yes. The very same deity who was punished by Zeus for such a heretical act… albeit his actions and existence are almost seen as mythological, he exists… serving his sentence even a thousand years later."
"This fact came to our knowledge all those years ago when our captain tried to bring us back to the Familia he was trying to rebuild. I tell you this just… just because."
He seemed to smile mockingly... waiting for Silver's reaction.
"…"
"Hahaha… cough! Look at your face… what? You thought I had some greater reason to tell it to you? Why would I have such a thing? I just felt like it!"
"There's no reason behind it... just an old detail that matters little now... cough!"
"Now you know… you know it all. I suppose we were the only ones left to tell you their pasts… I can't believe I was beaten by that old man and crone…"
"Grandfather's Lington and Misty's pasts aren't exactly pretty either… why is my family all twisted?" Silver asked as a bead of sweat went down his forehead
"Hohoho… perhaps it's fate… I remember asking the same to your grandmother when Marcus asked Rubia in marriage. I just couldn't fathom my grandson would be burdened with such a past. But that's all history now."
"I guess it worked out... in its own twisted way, huh..."
"Kid… no… you're a man now. Silver, go on now… I've told you all I had to say. From here on out, you won't be able to come crying to me when you make a mistake."
"… I only did that when I was younger. Please do not use that as a reference for my current self." Silver replied as he sighed faintly
"Right? Maybe you should've stayed a child forever!"
"…"
Silver touched his grandfather's chest and helped him stabilize his condition... With a heavy expression, he took the scarf, "… Well… I'm going then. I imagine this is goodbye again."
"There's no need for it; you already said it to me before. I don't need to hear it again… I'm old, not deaf."
"Not yet."
/SMACK!/
Saphos turned into an afterimage, smashing Silver's head with a small smile on his face.
"ARG!!"
'I shouldn't have helped him recover!…'
"HOHOHO! This might be the last time I'll ever catch you like this. Once we meet again, don't let me hit you again. I'll do it even harder next time."
"As if!"
/Push!/
Saphos smacked Silver in the back and pushed him beyond the line on the ground, "Now then, go on. I have nothing else to tell you anymore. I'm tired... too old for these kinds of things."
"… See ya, gramps. Make sure to leave behind a way for me to find you all… I wouldn't want to go around the continent on a wild-goose chase."
"And you better do it, regardless! Else what would've been the point of training you so much if you didn't even do such a thing?!"
Silver smiled. This time, he turned around, not looking back.
"… yeah… go on, brat…"
'Go find the adventure you've been waiting for all your life.'
…
Silver looked at the scarf and frowned, "I hate this… what I mess I got myself into."
'I could complain about my family being abnormal, but I wonder how things would've been if I had been born elsewhere? To a certain point… this is the exact kind of family I should've been born into.'
Silver put the old piece of fabric down as he looked away from his armor.
'My weapon of choice after all these years was this super-large claymore. The reason for it is exactly that it's big. With my strength, the only way of dealing damage to monsters would be with an enormous chunk of iron.'
'I can use an axe and a hammer just the same. The only thing I know how to use best would be a standard short sword and above that, my own hands… the truth of why I chose it above all… is just because it looks cooler.'
"All of this equipment was made by me… I have no idea how good it is, but it should hold on the Upper Floors, at least for a while."
He looked at a strange-looking sword next to his armor, 'My trump card… the Mk3 Magic Sword.' while slowly using his powers to put on the armor.
Magic swords are items that enable the user to fire magic from the weapon. Only those with a large amount of experience can make them as they're deemed extremely dangerous.
Magic swords are known to shatter after being used a certain number of times and are also weaker than magic used by adventurers… like anything involving magic, Silver was fascinated by them, wishing to understand the principles behind them.
But without the knowledge and the means to make one, he had to do his own experiments from the ground up… and that was how he came up with his own magic weapon by using a principle akin to a gun. By processing the magic stone into a cylinder that can be loaded inside the sword, he can "fire magic" just like a magic sword.
Of course… that was just a flawed interpretation from hearing its name. It's in no way, shape, or form, akin to the real deal… still… Silver's greatest strength was concentrated within it.
'One of my goals here in Orario is to learn their magicraft… there are so many tales of everything they've made, I just can't wait to learn it all!'
'Magic Swords are just one of the many things I have my eyes on… for now though, I'll keep it inside my bag. If the need to use it appears, then it wouldn't be too late to take it out.'
As he finished putting on his armor, Silver frowned, "Hum… full-plate isn't recommended to beginners… in fact, I've rarely seen anyone use it."
'Armor in Orario seems to be tilted towards leaving as much mobility available as possible. And I can understand why… unless you have armor made of some very powerful metal or high enough stats to cover for it, then you're about the same as a sitting duck to a monster.'
'And in the Dungeon, if you can evade a blow, then you better do it… If that's not enough, then put a big tower shield between you and whatever's trying to hit you… if that doesn't work, heavy armor won't do the trick either.'
"I'll keep this on though… at least this time… because it looks cool." He muttered as he coughed faintly
"I won't be changing this though." He said with a faint smile as he looked at the sword, "Like Cruzz said, swords also can be a problem on upper floors because of their somewhat narrow corridors... a few meters of space to fight doesn't make things easy for a swordsman."
'But that's for a scrub with little experience… I have the right to be a little arrogant.'
"… I'll eat these words one day, won't I?" He said with a helpless smile as he held his blade
"Now, to finish this…"
After deciding what he would carry, Silver finished setting his equipment before stepping out of the alley, ready to fight!
…
/KIKI!!/
Just a few minutes after he put on his equipment, Silver saw a kobold rushing at him alone from the end of the hallway!
"Hm? Ha… good opportunity to test my craft."
'I haven't had the chance to test their strength…'
The kobold jumped into the air and struck down at Silver, "Wuuuf!"
/CLANG!/
He used his giant sword to block it, using the ground as support.
"Hum..."
'The impact was quite significant.'
/SWIPE!/
/CLANG!/
Silver blocked another strike by barely moving his sword, using it to keep the kobold away from him. 'I would say this kobold is at least two to three times stronger than the ones on the surface. No wonder they trained me so damn much.'
'Even if one cannot grow much without Falna, I'd say I'm already over the limit of strength a human should have!… Even if not yet comparable to that of a demi-human.'
'And I did experiment on my own body in the last year quite a bit with my…'
/Swush!/
/Poof!/
"… Plasmids…"
The poor kobold was cut in half by his sword attack. The poor thing couldn't even block it.
"Hm... Speed, ferocity, power… even intelligence… It is indeed considerably stronger."
'If this is the norm, then even the smallest of wyverns… I'd have to run away on sight unless I had a plan ready to be enacted. With preparation, I don't think hunting a Wyvern would be impossible, especially if I could poison it.'
'It's a shame to admit, but while many of my abilities have degraded, my capacity to produce dangerous compounds remains quite strong… some of them are so dangerous I fear even trying to produce them inside my body.'
"But if I solve everything with poison, I'll never grow stronger… that's not what I want."
He placed his hand on his chin as he thought, 'Should I go to the 5th floor? That's when the Upper Floors first change and stronger monsters begin to appear… or would that be too much?'
'I wanted to see the real form of the Killer Ants… There aren't any true killer ants on the surface because they were all wiped out several hundred years ago. There are some subspecies that look and some that are even called that, but I know none of those are the real deal.'
"From what I remember, the reason they were wiped out was because of how much of a pest they were. While they don't grow to such numbers in the Dungeon, a colony of thousands of ants the size of a full-grown man lying down isn't great for… anything, really."
'They were eventually taken down by the collective power of everyone being pissed off.'
…
/Time passed…/
Deeper down the Dungeon…
/Clang!/
/Clang!/
Somewhere on the Upper Floors, a rather unusual situation unfolded. A group of adventurers struggled for their lives, not against monsters, but against another group of adventurers.
/Clang!/
A man with piercings fought against a woman with clear brown hair, "It's over now; accept it! No one will come to save you! All the others left already!"
/Clang!/
"You should've just done what we asked!"
/Fwoosh!/
"Arg!!"
/Crack!/
The man struck her chest with his blade, its form so swift it was difficult to follow! It contained such power it sent the woman flying across the air into the walls of the Dungeon, cracking them!
"Wirs!" Another exclaimed at the sight of it
/Clang!/
Their captain, a tall girl of Elven blood, parried an attack while she looked at her fallen comrade.
The man with blue piercings cracked his neck, "With this, we got two, just three more!"
The elven lady pushed herself from the ground with her half-broken blade, spitting at him, "You won't get away from this, Park! Once you get to the surface…"
But he interjected, "Nothing will happen, because no one will find out! Now, would you kindly... die!! Gulios Lastro!"
/FWOOSH!/
A blue rope materialized in his hand! And as if alive, made its way to the other three remaining adventurers at high speeds.
It crossed a dozen meters in the blink of an eye, evading everyone that wasn't a target like a snake!
/Clap!/
With a clapping sound, the rope bound the three together with such force it pressed the air within their lungs out.
He smiled, swinging his weapon around, "Looks like we are finished here. Any last words, my old friend?"
/Spit!/
But she spat in his face.
The man didn't show much of a reaction, as if expecting this development, "Is this all? Alright then."
Before he could finish it, one of his companions injected, "Hey, Park. Dont you think we should have some fun before leaving?"
Park laughed loudly, "HAHA! If you are so horny, just wait until we get to the surface. It's not safe to play in the Dungeon… Keep it down when we're at work."
"Understood…"
/Step…/
At that moment, someone appeared from the corridor, "Such vulgarity."
Park's vision narrowed down, "!!"
'Someone's here?'
A knight clad in red armor stepped out of the dark hallway. His armor bore no distinctive traits aside from the white scarf around its neck.
On his shoulder, a massive red sword rested.
Seeing this, one of the goons laughed, "Keh! Look at this guy. Playing hero?… But what's Naro doing? He was supposed to watch the path exactly for this kind of situation…"
Seeing how the goons and Park were gathering around him, the Elven lady bit her lips, "... Please… Escape! They're not…"
It was difficult to reject help when not only you but your friends were in danger, but she knew what had to be done.
/DASH!/
"That's too late now!"
"Hm…"
The Knight, however, did nothing as he watched Park dash towards him…
/Slash/
"D-Dammit, no!"
The elven lady exclaimed in horror as Park's sword pierced straight through the knight's chest. And while her expression paled, Park's… twisted.
"No resistance?…"
'What's happening?'
Park was confused… but not for long.
/Splurge!/
A horrifying sound echoed in the cavern. As Park looked back, he saw the same red knight with his bloodied sword on the ground.
And his friend's unconscious body, his right arm cut off.
/Silence.../
The red knight rested his sword on the ground, "You asked me about your friend? Don't worry, you'll be joining him soon."
He pointed his hand forward, "Fall into confusion... Enrage."
/SHA!!/
"?!"
'Evade…'
/Burst!/
Red smoke formed above his hand and it turned into a twisting ball of fog like a stretched balloon. After fully forming, he threw it towards Park at an unbelievable speed, exploding into a red cloud even when he tried to evade it, covering the whole area!
And that… was the last thing Park remembered before he lost control.
The first thing he did was rush towards his closest companion!
"P-Par…"
/SLASH!/
/SPLAT!/
"What are you…"
/CUT!/
"AHH!"
Within a second, two members of the six remaining assailants were killed, with Park already running after the next one.
"...!"
One of them tried to open his mouth to convey orders, but no sound escaped from his lips.
He held onto his beck, confused, 'W-What's happening?!'
However, his confusion was destined to never be answered, /Slash!/
/Ploft…/ Another one fell to Park's enraged sword.
"!!"
'S-Shit! Park's gone nuts!! Just what was that spell?! And why is he only attacking us?!!'
He looked at the red knight, only to see him looking at them.
'Shit… shit?! I've never heard of this before! This isn't normal magic! Park is Level 2!! Just what did he d…'
/Slash!/
/SPLURGE!/
Of course, they didn't let themselves fall without a fight. Park's body was riddled with wounds, with two blades sticking out of his body, yet he kept moving, with his mouth fuming and eyes blazing red.
In but a few moment, Park let loose on his companions, killing another one. Leaving only himself and another man combat-ready…
/Drip…/
And from the looks of it, not for long…
Park approached the last soldier, his blade stained red.
…
"…"
While the last man despaired, Silver lost himself in thought.
'About half a minute has passed… yet he remains enraged. Excellent… I always wanted to try more Plasmids on humans since I couldn't try them on my family, much less the villagers.'
'I would like to keep playing… but I should end this.'
-Mind Shock-
"!"
Park's mind suddenly went blank as he fell onto the cold hard floor.
/STEP!/
But just when he was about to fall, Park stepped forward, keeping his balance.
"Oh?"
'As expected, from his movements, speed, strength… this man… is Level 2. He might've fallen under Enrage's effects, but he won't fall to a direct mental attack like this…'
/Splurg!/
After killing the last man, Park stopped moving… his bloodshot eyes were now aimed at Silver.
"A man like you… is better rid of this world."
'I've been observing their fight for quite a while… I gathered everything I needed to decide.'
'And my verdict is…'
"Return to cinders... Corpse Bomb." He whispered as he raised his left hand
'COUGH! I took it a bit too far this time…'
Deep inside, however, as soon as he said that, he grew embarrassed at his own lines…
/Snap.../
From the outside, Silver just snapped his fingers, but inside the armor, his right hand turned black and necrotic, with some parts of it glowing red as if his muscles underneath were about to explode.
/Booom!/
The corpse below Park exploded with violent potency! Sending him flying onto the ceiling like a rag-doll!
If he were still alive… then from the looks of his body's condition, it wouldn't be for long.
""…""
The three conscious adventurers, a young Pallum girl, a Catperson, and an Elf respectively, stared at this mysterious and scary knight.
/Shake…/
The Pallum even trembled a little.
...
/Sted…/
The elven girl watched warily as Silver approached her. With the rope binding them gone, they could now resist if necessary. Although none of them even tried.
"Is everyone alright?" He asked as he approached them
"Yes… No! Please! W-Wirs! Please check up on Wirs!" She exclaimed as she looked at the side
"Dont worry, he will be fine. He's already under the influence of my magic."
"W-What?"
'He-Healing spell?'
She tried to remember the fight... 'He started by vanishing after Park attacked him… his speed… Then he cast a… curse?… on Park.'
'For one second he lifted his hands and Park almost fell down... Lastly, he pointed towards his corpse and it exploded… That's already three magic spells!… Now he even healed Wirs??'
That said, despite her confusion, it was all but overshadowed by her grief.
The knight arrived just in time to save Wirs, but her other companion… was now beyond saving.
"R-Rubbert…" She said with extreme sadness as she looked at his motionless body on the side
Silver approached him, his eyes narrowing from inside the helmet, "His heart… was missed by a hair, but he lost too much blood."
'He won't survive… not without some magical intervention…'
/Shine…/
Pinkish light emanated from Silver's hands as something akin to a small glowing person entered Rubbert's body.
"This..."
'What is that?'
She gasped for a moment, confusion taking over her and everyone's eyes.
…
Just about half a minute later… "He isn't waking up…"
/Crackle…/
Sparks of energy jumped between Silver's fingers as he put his palm above his chest.
/THUD!/
Silver pressed down while he released the shock inside his chest.
""…""
They all watched in silence as Silver kept pushing against Rubbert's chest.
/Gasp!/
"Haa… haaa…"
Miraculously, Rubbert opened his eyes and took a deep breath. At that moment, the adventurer's immense resilience kicked in as he was soon able to look at his surroundings and speak:
"What… happened?"
But no one answered him… "Is there anyone else in need of healing?" Silver asked as he looked around
The first to reply, or rather, the only one able to reply, the Elven girl spoke, "N-No…"
"Excellent. Be careful on the way back. There is an unconscious man down the hall that can be detained if you feel like it… that man… Park was his name, he's also alive, albeit barely."
"I leave their fates in your hands as the victims of their actions." He added as he turned around to leave
"Wait!"
At that moment, the Elven girl tried to move, only to fall on her elbows.
She bit her lips, but she still tried to look at him.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"H-How can we… repay you?"
Silver shook his head, "I did this not for compensation. I already got what I came here to do… Just return safely, that will be enough to satisfy me."
Silver walked down the hallway, grabbing his sword on the way before resting it over his shoulder.
"Wait! At least your name!..."
/Silence…/
Alone in the deafening caverns, one of the girls couldn't help but blurt out… "That was… cool… "
The Pallum girl nodded with deep enthusiasm, "Uhum!"
Seeing this, the Elven girl sighed deeply, "Just what do I do with you two…"
She looked at the silent hallway, her thoughts soon drifting to her friends once more.
…
/Meanwhile…/
"What a good experience!"
'To think I would have the chance to use my Plasmids on others so soon… maybe I should've experimented on those bandits earlier, but I was in a hurry.'
'There isn't a point in limiting them, but if I were to draw a direct comparison, the Plasmids I used this time were… Invisibility and Decoy, Enrage… Sound Muffle… followed by Mind Shock and Corpse Bomb.'
'Invisibility differs from Chameleon. The latter is much more cost-effective, but it only works when I am still. Or rather, it takes time for it to reshape itself to the surroundings. And if someone has a potent enough vision, it would be enough to deter them from finding me.'
'Decoy is akin to a clone I can maintain... but it doesn't do much, nor does it have any autonomy. That's why it stayed still… I'm still far too incompetent to create a decent clone, and there are many layers to that.'
'I once tried to live longer by creating clones… I failed.'
'Enrage is all about making someone lose control of their reason, but there are limits to that. Strong enough adventurers should be able to resist it with their stats alone, much less if they have items and skills.'
'Will can also be a factor. I could have a father lose control, but he could hesitate to attack his family… I tested this on my grandparents… with their approval of course… they weren't affected but told me they felt a mild discomfort…'
'Sound Muffle removes sound within a certain area or at a surface. Mind Shock causes someone to lose consciousness. It doesn't do much aside from that… maybe it'll cause a headache on someone, but it can royally fuck a mage midway through casting.'
'If a mage loses focus, their spell can backfire and the magic power within will burst in a most spectacular explosion… the combination of both powers can cause a mage to burst their veins in anger. Or so I imagine…'
'Corpse Bomb launches a small, super-fast needle that turns a body into a bomb.'
'If someone dies while affected by the needle, they'll naturally fall under my control. And while I can choose when to detonate their flesh, if I take too long it'll happen on its own… I did use Telekinesis to protect everyone from the "debris" of the explosion… although it didn't seem like anyone noticed it.'
'As for Wirs… I merely fed him a potion with Telekinesis when no one was looking. As for Rubbert or whatever his name was, I used my Plasmids to close the wounds inside his body before stimulating his body for quickened blood production before I restarted his heart… in a rather unkind manner.'
'Adventurers can take it… after this though, I wager he'll be exhausted for many days and hungry as well.'
"... Phew..."
Stretching his back, Silver walked down the caverns as he yawned audibly, 'All of this made me quite tired. Should I continue or call it a day?'
"… who am I kidding?"
/SLURP!/
Silver drank a potion to recover his energy, 'Of course I'm moving on!'
…
About half an hour later, Silver could be seen taking a rest on the stairs of the sixth floor, pensive…
'Even now, I dont know if I should still refer to this power as a Plasmid… In two years of trials and tests, never once did I feel one of the common side effects from Plasmid overuse. Instead, I just feel tired or suffer from Mind overuse like any other mage.'
'Also, while my Plasmids are weaker in potency compared to what I would've been able to do, they are still relatively more flexible than they should've been.'
'After I took the "Ambrosia", the limitation of Plasmids was removed and I was free to use them as I wanted. But there were still some limits I couldn't surpass… physical limits I couldn't make a workaround for… like using two Plasmids at the same time.'
'If I could use them like that, compound multiple effects at once, I would've been able to live much longer… if I wanted to use more than one effect at once, I would've had to research something new.'
'With that in mind… this limit is not present here. The only things limiting my progress are my proficiency in this power and the amount of Mind I can use…'
'It's almost as if this world is telling me to level up… just level up and all those issues will go away… I don't quite like that… I don't want to resort to such mystical powers to supplement the infractions of my abilities.'
'I have nothing against it… it's just that I… I guess I'm still attached to my old life to some degree...'
Silver closed his eyes… "I'm tired, I already spent quite some Mind."
'The potion helped me recover a bit, but I think this is enough for now. No need to be hasty.'
He left the stairs before walking to a hidden alley.
He checked his surroundings, but there wasn't anyone around… "Let me see if this works."
/Crunk…/
Inside the armor, his hand turned purple as multiple carvings appeared on it, similar to those found in wooden doors.
The ground shifted, and a large door appeared.
"So far, so good."
'Manifesting it took almost nothing… but from now on…'
He grabbed the doorknob and pulled.
"URG?!"
An immense amount of mind was immediately drained from him, almost making him fall on the ground, but he barely persevered!
On the other side of the door was none other than one of the alleys he had passed by before!
He stepped over it with difficulty and crashed onto the wall as he gasped for air.
/Creaaaak!/
The door slowly closed, creaking a bit. It then disappeared as if it had never been there…
"Huff… huff…"
'I… I did it…'
"Now… to find a damn inn to stay the night… I think there's a good one around him… Tropical Mangos, right?"
'I should've… I should've just left on foot…'
He took off his armor with great difficulty, sweating cold as he tried to keep himself steady. After much work, he left the alley while drinking a potion, the orange sky casting a strange light onto the street as he crossed it.
He soon found it. From there, he didn't exactly remember how things went… when he realized it, he was already on bed and when he realized that… he fell asleep again.
…
/Meanwhile…/
One hour later at the Babel's plaza…
"Buwaaaaa…"
A beautiful tall lady cried loudly as she held two girls in her arms… This was the goddess of the Leto Familia, Leto!
In her arms were none other than the elven lady and the catgirl Silver previously saved.
Leto had green long green hair reaching all the way to her feet, where she tied it to her ankles. She wore a white apron with brown clothes underneath, giving others a slight, "motherly feel"…
"I thought… /Sniff/… That you guys had.../SNIFF!/… BUWAAA!"
"C-Calm down, Leto-Sama… we're fine…" The elven girl said in response as she looked around her
'People are watching us…'
"But…"
"We are all fine, and that is all that matters!"
/Sniff/
"Okay…"
The Pallum girl tapped her stomach, "Let's go home and eat something sweet! We can talk about this matter there… I want a shower now."
Leto looked at them and then at Babel… "TSK! That damned man! I will bring this up at the next Denatus!"
That said, the Elven girl couldn't help but look at the Dungeon again… seeing this, the catgirl smiled mischievous, poking her waist…
"?!"
"Nyahoum… Did someone get smitten?"
Her ears perked up as they reddened faintly…
"I-I only want to repay him, I don't like owing someone like this…"
"Is that so? Could it be that Yilfi the Elf has fallen in love with the hero who came at the last second to save her and her friends' lives only to disappear like smoke? Like in the fairy tales she heard from her mother?" The catgirl narrated dramatically as she went down the stairs of the inner portion of the plaza
"Stop it, Gvir!" Yilfi exclaimed as her face grew red, she ran after Gvir but couldn't catch her as she kept running
"I will admit that he was kind of cool, but what guarantees he is handsome behind that helmet?" Gvir pointed out as she stopped running
"That's not important… wait!"
"KIKIKIKIKI! I knew it! Yilfi is in lo~ve Yilfi is in lo~v… Guh!"
Gvir jumped around the Yilfi only to receive an elbow strike in the stomach.
The Goddess' ear perked up when she heard the Catgirl, "Ara? Yilfi, how about you explain that to me in finer detail?"
"I was already planning on doing that at home..."
"What do you like about him?" The Pallum girl asked all of a sudden as her eyes grew mischievous as well
"His voice and presence… H-HEY!"
"… Sigh…"
Rubbert shook his head… was he the only one suffering like this? But when his eyes met with Wirs… they both sighed together.
And so the happy and joyful Familia continued on their way down to their humble abode.
…
.
.
.
Notes
Peace!