"—And the fifth to the sixth floor is where monsters start to spawn in bigger packs. You are not ready for it, so don't you go and dive there behind my back, alright?"
The elf lectured the white-haired boy standing before her with a stern expression, emerald eyes flashing with warning and concern.
The boy shook his head hurriedly, flustered, as if he had been caught red-handed. "N-No, of course I won't!" he replied with a nervous stutter, deliberately avoiding her sharp gaze.
The elf sighed, rubbing her temple. "Bell, you are a fresh egg in the basket. Don't do anything reckless that will prevent you from hatching."
"Don't worry, Miss Eina. Your teachings help me a lot, and I won't go against them at all." Bell Cranel, fresh member of the newly formed Hestia Familia, said with an earnest smile, promising his guild advisor that he wouldn't risk it all in a suicidal charge against the man-eating hole that was the Dungeon.
Eina Tulle, respected Guild receptionist, bureaucrat, and advisor, smiled at his answer. "Now get up! You have a big dive awaiting you. As a little quest from me, try getting twenty goblin cores!"
The boy stood up at once, excitement bubbling over as he rushed toward the Guild exit, waving enthusiastically back at Eina.
Before he made it out, Eina called to him one last time. "Remember, Bell!"
Her words instantly triggered the phrase she had hammered into his head countless times. "Adventurers don't go on adventures!" he replied with a wide grin.
Judging from the smile Eina returned, it was the right answer.
That smile, however, vanished the moment she noticed what Bell was heading straight toward.
"Ouch!"
Bell's back slammed into something solid. Pain exploded through him as he fell hard onto the floor.
"What—?" Confusion lingered as he looked up, eyes widening at the towering figure looming over him. The stranger was clad in rusty junk plates bolted together into crude armor, a massive bag slung over his back. A helmet crowned his head, and atop that helmet sat a blade meant to be used as an extra punch when headbutting opponents.
"Graah! Strong will eat you for that. Little rabbit!"
Bell might have been intrigued by the strange armor under different circumstances, but the twisted, green features beneath the rusted plates made the white-haired boy shiver.
"I-I'm sorry, sir!" Bell scrambled to his feet, bowing deeply and apologizing in fright, convinced he had just offended a high-level adventurer with… a very unique appearance.
Strong, as he had proclaimed himself, clearly didn't find the apology sufficient. "Strong not want apology. Strong want your guts!"
That comment drained the color from Bell's face. "M-M-My guts!?"
"Whoa, whoa! What in Tartarus do you think you're doing!? He just bumped into you!" Eina rushed in, placing a protective hand on Bell's shaking shoulder. "Or are you saying he's so strong that he hurt you with a bump?" She raised an eyebrow, as if she had seen or dealt with this exact situation before.
"Bah! Little lady talk too much! Stay back!" Strong spat, visible anger flaring as his massive arms reached for a glowing green hammer.
The ruckus drew attention fast. Adventurers and Guild employees alike turned to watch, eyes fixed on the scene of a trembling newbie being threatened with being gutted like a fish.
Bell's hands hovered near his knife.
If it came to it, he would be forced to fight this… green gentleman, and he would almost certainly lose.
But even so, he couldn't let that hammer swing with Miss Eina standing so close.
"See you later, Rosey~"
A lone man stepped away from a Guild clerk, waving lazily to the annoyed animal-eared redhead woman behind the counter.
He wore a helmet that fully concealed his face except for a broken lens, through which fiery blue eyes were visible.
His apparel was… unique. Light plates protected his vitals, each piece clearly from a different armor set, mismatched yet efficient.
What caught Bell's attention were the weapons: a blade sheathed at one side, a dagger at the other, and a third strange wooden club strapped across his back.
"Hopefully not with that smell," Rose Fannett muttered back, annoyance barely masking her relief at being rid of him.
As the man approached the exit, his gaze shifted, landing on the confrontation unfolding near the doors.
"Again?" the masked man said, disappointment heavy in his tone. "What did I tell you about picking fights?"
Strong grumbled, frustration evident. "Leader says wait. Strong hates waiting!"
Nevertheless, the super mutant obeyed, sheathing his hammer—Atom's Judgment—and stomping quietly out the door.
Just like that, everything calmed.
Adventurers and clerks returned to their business, the possibility of seeing a rabbit face off against a behemoth fading into disappointment.
Bell let out a shaky breath, his hands still trembling.
"Are you okay, Bell?" Eina asked gently.
He nodded.
"Hey, sorry about that, Strong's a bit of a… fight-oholic?" the masked man said casually, giving Bell a reassuring pat on the shoulder, completely ignoring the glare Eina shot him.
"No hard feelings," the stranger added easily. "We're all just trying to earn a living here, eh?"
Bell nodded, dumbfounded.
The man chuckled at his reaction, then turned and headed for the exit, giving a casual wave before disappearing from the Guild headquarters.
A brief silence followed between Bell and Eina.
"What… who was that?" Bell finally asked the million Valis question.
His advisor shrugged.
"A new Familia in town."
Oh.
That made sense.
…Probably.
Now that his guts were safe and secure, Bell Cranel finally exited the Guild, saying his goodbyes to Eina, heading toward the Tower of Babel, its majestic shadow stretching across large swathes of the greatest city in the world.
As he passed through the Dungeon's entrance, Bell's thoughts weren't on the strange encounter back at the Guild.
They were on adventuring.
On slaying monsters.
And maybe... trying to pick up girls in the Dungeon as well.
---
The bell rang out, and through the entrance Bell Cranel emerged, his attire visibly dirty from a long day in the Dungeon. Dust clung to his boots, faint scratches marked his one piece armor, but his smile was brighter than ever.
"Ah, Bell, welcome." Miach welcomed warmly from behind the counter. Beside him stood Naaza Erisuis, his only remaining child, gazing at the boy with her usual neutral expression, her sharp eyes quietly assessing his condition.
"Miach-sama!" Bell rushed forward, pulling a dozen claws and fangs from his small bag and placing them carefully on the counter. "I got so many drop items today!"
Miach blinked in surprise. "This many from one dive? How did you do it?"
Bell laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head with a shy chuckle. "I kind of found them scattered around the Dungeon… no one was searching for them, so I figured they were unwanted."
He had made it through the third floor when he came across a trail of both magic stones and drop items. One might even say it was the luckiest find in the whole world for him, as if the Dungeon itself had decided to smile upon him.
Before Miach could reply, the bell at the entrance rang again, signaling that a new customer had just entered the Blue Pharmacy.
"You came back," it was Naaza who greeted the customer first, her voice low, though the familiarity in her tone was unmistakable.
"Ah, Nate, you're back just in time, we were running low on potions." Miach greeted warmly, clearly pleased to see his new supplier.
Bell turned toward the customer, his eyes widening slightly in recognition.
"Hello again… how's the market?"
It was the stranger from the Guild.
"Strong is hungry…"
Behind him stood Strong, his massive frame nearly filling the doorway, his voice low after a long day of smashing monsters in the Dungeon.
Bell quickly averted his gaze in slight panic, doing his best to pretend that the large green thing simply did not exist.
"I'd better go store these," Miach said, gathering the drop items. "I'll get your payment afterward. Wait here, Bell."
With that, the god disappeared into the back of the shop.
"Do you have something new?" Naaza asked while gazing at Nate, tilting her head slightly in curiosity.
Nate let out a chuckle. "Hell yeah," he replied, pulling out a few strange-looking red potion. "I call it Jet. You won't believe me, but… it speeds up your thought processing to the point where it feels like time has slowed down."
Bell doubted the existence of such a potion, but the man was holding one up as proof.
Naaza looked genuinely surprised. "And any side effects?" she asked cautiously, unwilling to repeat past mistakes.
She had been buying these strange drugs from him for at least a month now.
Many of them had terrible addiction side effects that left customers desperate for more.
If the Guild had launched an investigation, their property would have been confiscated without question. That was why Miach had strictly ordered her not to stock any addictive items.
"Well…" Nate replied with a shrug, his tone honest, "there is always the slight chance of terrible addiction."
'Who will buy that?' Bell thought dryly. Getting addicted didn't sound fun at all.
Naaza shook her head firmly. "Not even getting close to the shelves," she said with finality. "Do you have more Overdrives? It's the best-selling."
Nate hummed thoughtfully. "It's the hardest to make too, without Nuka-Cola," he muttered, but nonetheless pulled out a bundle of syringes and placed them on the counter.
Bell watched silently, curiosity stirring within him. He decided he would ask about it later.
The dog-girl carefully inspected the syringes, checking their quality and contents with a practiced eye.
"Now, as for my payment of caps," Nate said, eagerness creeping into his masked expression.
"Not so fast," Naaza replied, a hint of greed flickering in her eyes. "I want to discuss prices again."
"No chance, lady. I'm already limiting my profits by selling only to your shop—"
As the two began discussing prices, Bell grew increasingly nervous as he waited for his payment, hoping to escape the green one's attention as soon as possible.
'Come on, Miach-sama, what's taking you so long?' he thought anxiously. How much time did it really take to store drop items?
A loud sniffing sound suddenly came from behind him, making his hair stand on end.
"Strong smells little rabbit."
'Oh shit,' Bell thought in alarm.
"Strong wants to eat little rabbit."
The super mutant's imagination began running wild, and his charge was far too busy arguing prices to keep a proper leash on his companion.
So—
"Food is scared."
When there was the inevitability of being eaten by a fellow adventurer—
"Scared food is tastier."
Turning tail wasn't cowardice. It was a tactical retreat.
Strong's arms were already reaching for the white-haired adventurer, massive hands ready to grab and bite—
"Ahh!"
Bell didn't hesitate. He rolled out of the mutant's reach and, with impressive agility for a Level One, sprinted out of the pharmacy in blind panic.
Naaza and Nate stared after him in utter confusion.
"Tricky food," Strong said in disappointment. "It ran."
"Here you go, Bell—"
Miach returned with the payment, only to find no Bell in sight—just Naaza and the strange duo.
Oh well. He would give it to him tomorrow.
---
The soft glow of the Falna update overshadowed the lantern's light, illuminating the face of the twin-tailed goddess of the hearth as divine script shimmered across Bell's back.
"Oh~ you seem to have run around a lot today, Bell-kun. Lots of excelia in Agility!" the goddess teased cheerfully as she pressed the parchment against his bare back, the updated status being imprinted for the young adventurer to see. "Don't worry, no one will judge you for biting off more than you can chew!"
"Yeah…" Bell trailed off, clearly not eager to talk about it. That man and his companion were at the same places as him, seemingly following him today. At least, that's what it felt like but was likely not the case.
Hestia noticed his conflicted mood, mistaking it for disappointment over the Falna results. "Don't be mad, my Bell-kun! You're progressing very fast compared to a fresh newbie!" she said warmly, trying to lift his spirits.
"Oh… umm, yeah. Thanks, Goddess," Bell replied awkwardly. He wasn't upset about his progress at all. He was just a little exhausted, the image of that green man and his words about eating him refusing to leave his mind.
He did not want to be eaten.
If that was a possibility, then he should work harder. Get stronger. Strong enough that it wouldn't even be an option.
You can't eat what you can't beat.
…Or something like that.
He wasn't entirely sure why he was so concerned, if he was being honest with himself.
Hestia could tell something was still bothering her new child, even after her reassurance. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, her mind racing as she searched for a way to improve his mood.
Then it clicked.
"Tell you what, Bell-kun! Tomorrow, come by the jagamarukun stall when you return from the Dungeon."
"What for, Goddess?" Bell asked curiously, tilting his head in a way that was far too innocent for her heart to handle.
Aaaa! her child was so cute and pure!
"It's a surprise!" Translation: it's a date.
Bell simply shrugged. "Okay," he agreed without a second thought, trusting his goddess completely.
A sleepy sigh escaped him moments later. "I need to sleep if I want to wake up early. Good night, Goddess," he said as he headed toward the couch.
"Good night, Bell-kun!" Hestia replied with enthusiasm, already looking forward to tomorrow.
Bell slept well that night, eager for the day ahead and confident that with his new status, he would finally be able to reach the fifth floor.
---
He ducked beneath the snapping jaws just in time, sharp kobold fangs barely missing his neck. The monster's momentum carried it past the white-haired rookie, creating a brief opening.
Bell was forced to abandon that opening almost immediately, twisting his body to deflect a goblin's crude club instead. The sudden, fast counter caught the goblin completely off guard, its footing slipping as it staggered sideways.
Bell didn't waste the opportunity.
He placed his palm firmly over the back of the loaned knife from the Guild's starter kit and drove it forward with everything he had, plunging the blade deep into the goblin's chest, steel pierced flesh, then crystal, killing the goblin instantly.
"GRRRA!"
The kobold had recovered, lunging once more at the albino adventurer, feral eyes filled with killing intent as it leapt to tear him apart without hesitation.
The kobold crashed into Bell's body, and the two tumbled to the ground in a mess of limbs and dust.
For a split second, Bell froze—
Then he realized the kobold wasn't moving.
A moment later, its body began to disintegrate, crumbling into dust as its form lost cohesion entirely.
"Phew… that was close," Bell muttered as he rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his clothes with shaky hands. He had managed to land his knife at just the right angle of his magic stone, letting the kobold's own attack drive it straight into the blade, turning its momentum against itself.
Bell quickly set to work extracting all the monster cores, the remaining bodies dissolving fully now that their source of life was gone.
Fourth floor.
He was on the fourth floor—and he still had his head intact, along with plenty of stamina left.
His gaze drifted forward, lingering on the tunnel ahead, the path that led deeper.
Toward the fifth floor.
Ready to be ventured into…
Maybe he should—
'No!'
He snapped himself out of it before temptation took root. He had promised Miss Eina he wouldn't go deeper like an idiot.
…
But technically, if he just scouted the entrance of the fifth floor, that would count as preparation. A smart move. Information for future dives, when he was actually ready.
Yeah. That was smart.
Eina would probably agree with that logic!
With that carefully constructed excuse firmly in mind, the enthusiastic newbie decided to go against his advisor's strict warning and venture into unknown, dangerous territory, floors meant for adventurers more experienced than him.
But really…
What was the worst that could happen?
---
"Roaghh!!!"
Ais shredded down the minotaur that had escaped into the upper floors, the urgency in her steps leaving the Adventurers she had just saved no time to thank her.
She rushed from floor to floor, killing the minotaurs without a flicker of second thought, desperate in trying to correct her Familia's fault.
If someone got hurt by one of those minotaurs, it would both be a heavy toll on her conscience and a deep stain on her Familia's reputation.
She rushed toward a pantry on the eighth floor, her hearing picking up the sounds of a violent struggle.
Her heart tightened.
She rushed inside with all her might, wind flickering ahead of her from sheer speed.
She fixed her eyes on the source of the heavy stomping, expecting to see a minotaur cornering a helpless newbie—!
"RAGE! RAGE!"
What she saw was not one but multiple minotaurs, but they were fortunately not grinding helpless adventurers into paste.
"Bleed! Bleed and die, Brahmins!"
It was a huge, green adventurer clad in rusty plates, grinding the minotaurs down with a glowing green hammer, all the while taunting them relentlessly.
"Raaagg!" One minotaur roared with all its might, but Ais was certain that it was not a roar of rage.
Its skin was beginning to twist and melt. Green residue left by the hammer strike clung to its flesh, eating away at it unnaturally fast, the damage far too odd compared to anything Ais had seen from magic weapons.
The green adventurer lifted his hammer high in proclamation.
"I am a Super Mutant! I am unstoppable! Hahahahaha!"
The hammer came crashing down onto another minotaur's face, killing it with one blow.
"Super... mutant?" she quietly muttered to herself, taken aback by both the sight and the words spoken.
"If you want to keep watching the show, I would have to charge you caps for it."
Ais turned instantly, alarm flashing through her as she realized someone had managed to approach this close without her sensing them at all.
"Easy there, sugar. I don't bite."
The masked man said with a non-threatening wave of his metal cylinder in hand, his relaxed posture and tone made Ais ease up as well.
"Strong will kill you! Then Strong gonna eat you!"
Strong roared again, bashing the final minotaur over and over. The creature was dead by now, but its body had yet to dissolve.
"Your friend is… Strong," Ais commented quietly, not intending the pun, still taken aback by the appearance of the so-called super mutant.
Was that his race? She had never heard of them if that was the case.
"Yeah, these Brahmin are no match for him."
The stranger chuckled at her reaction, wiping his cylinder weapon with a cloth.
This was the first time she had heard someone call a minotaur a Brahmin, which made the Sword Princess curious as to why these two were calling them that.
"I remember him killing a deathclaw all by himself once. It was quite the feast afterward."
"Death…claw?" Ais repeated, unfamiliar with the monster being mentioned, the name alone sounding ominous.
"Forgot you don't have those here," the stranger muttered under his breath.
Ais caught the words anyway, her confusion deepening.
"As you can see we are busy killing Brahmins here, were you in need of something? Why are you here?"
The stranger changed the topic quickly, his tone casual but the question genuine.
Why was she here?
To stop the minotaurs, of course!
Her eyes widened.
She had wasted too much time here!
Like the wind itself, she vanished just as suddenly as she had appeared, the shockwave of her departure causing Nate to stumble slightly from the force alone.
"So that was the Sword Princess," he whispered to himself, the descriptions matching perfectly.
The rumors weren't exaggerations.
He hadn't even seen her move.
Definitely going on Orario's mental "don't fuck with" list.
…
That list was getting far too long for his liking.
Maybe it was time to return to the Kaios Desert.
"Strong! We're leaving!"
---
"Roaaah!" roared the minotaur, a hulking bull monster that normally spawned in the middle floors, but today, impossibly, it rampaged through the fifth floor, chasing a white-haired adventurer with murderous intent.
"Ahhh!!!" Bell Cranel ran with all his might, screaming in raw terror as the monster showed no sign of slowing its pursuit.
He couldn't believe what he was experiencing.
A minotaur… all the way down on the fifth floor!?
How was that even possible!?
"Raghh!!"
The minotaur was getting closer, each thunderous step shaking the Dungeon itself, eager to crush him into nothing more than paste against the stone.
Bell sprinted down a tunnel he thought was the route he'd entered from, legs burning and lungs screaming, but in his panic, he failed to realize it was nothing like the original path. Instead, it led him even deeper into the fifth floor.
The rookie realized his grave mistake only when he skidded to a halt at a dead end.
The minotaur roared again, its massive shadow stretching across the stone as it cornered its prey.
Bell spun frantically, eyes darting in every direction, desperately searching for an escape that didn't exist. The fear of death squeezed his chest tight.
The minotaur approached slowly now, savoring the moment, thick arms flexing as it prepared to turn him into a bloody mess.
Bell had no courage left in him to fight a monster like this.
But even so, his trembling hands still unsheathed his knife.
"Ragh!"
The minotaur charged, its speed utterly surpassing the rookie's. Its sheer strength tore a trail of dust and shattered stone behind it as it lunged forward!
Bell swallowed his fear for only a moment and ran toward the attack instead of away from it.
His charge was a feint.
His strength and knife had no chance against a minotaur.
Just before the monster's crushing blow could land, Bell dropped to his knees, narrowly avoiding the impact. He aimed to dive through the brief opening beneath the minotaur's left side before he could be crushed beneath its legs.
"Raghh!"
But no matter how quick or clever the rookie was, his agility was still far outmatched.
The minotaur's horn tore into the fabric of his clothes, then into flesh. The beast shook its head violently—
Bell felt his shoulder snap.
"Ahhh!!"
The scream tore from his throat unrestrained, tears spilling freely as the minotaur hurled him into the stone wall of the dead end. His right arm hung uselessly, blood soaking through his sleeve, fingers numb and unresponsive.
Reality set in.
He wasn't surviving this.
The minotaur grinned cruelly, nostrils flaring as the scent of fresh blood filled the air, delight twisting its monstrous expression.
This was it.
No heroic final stand.
No triumph.
No grand adventure.
Only death, standing at his doorstep.
If only he had listened to Miss Eina…
Now he would never see Hestia again, the goddess who had welcomed him when no one else had.
'I'm sorry, Goddess… I can't keep my promise,' he thought bitterly, accepting the inevitability.
The minotaur raised its arm high, fist clenched, ready to deliver judgment upon the helpless adventurer.
Then—
A blur of silver and gold flanked the monster from behind.
A violent wind followed, screaming through the corridor, and in a single instant, the minotaur was shredded apart.
Limbs, torso, head—cut so cleanly and so fast that the monster couldn't even realize it was already dead.
Blood erupted a second later, spraying outward, splashing over the awestruck rookie where he stood frozen.
The blur that had taken the beast out resolved into a girl.
Bell stared up at his savior, breath hitching in his throat.
Golden hair shone like sunlight in the Dungeon's dim glow. Her slender, elegant frame beneath light armor carried no impurity, it made his chest feel strange.
'An angel…'
He thought with the utmost certainty.
The figure before him was an angel in his eyes, descended at the very moment death had reached out for him.
"Are you alright?" she asked gently, tilting her head to the side as her golden eyes scanned over his battered frame, calm and sincere.
That was all it took.
Bell couldn't contain it anymore; the pathetic sight he was in before this girl made the boy embarrassed to his very core.
So—
The rookie simply scrambled to his feet and ran away, sobbing openly as he fled down the corridor, tears mixing with both his own and minotaur blood as he disappeared from sight.
Ais's eyes widened, then subtly morphed with hurt, the moment catching her completely off guard.
She stood there, frozen, wondering if it was something she had done or something she had said.
She glanced at the path where the red-soaked adventurer had run through, her mind racing for an answer far more complicated than simple fear of her.
What if she was late?
What if the boy was already injured because of that?
What if—
Who was she kidding.
She was a monster.
That was what everyone saw, something to fear, to admire, to stay away from.
"Hahaha!"
Before she could rationalize an excuse for the fragile knot tightening in her chest, mocking laughter echoed across the dungeon floor.
It was Bete.
The werewolf was laughing uncontrollably for reasons known only to himself.
"Hahaha! Ais! Did you see that tomato boy tail away!? That was hilarious!"
Ais's eye twitched at the werewolf's choice of humor, irritation briefly piercing through her gloom.
But she didn't voice her thoughts.
She simply turned away, silent as ever.
Meanwhile, the rabbit could only run.
He ran from his own stupidity, from his failure to stand up and kill that minotaur.
He ran from the shame of being so powerless—of the fear, the helplessness, the way he had fled like a coward before his savior.
He ran—
Until his legs finally gave out.
Bell collapsed on the third floor, his injured shoulder hanging limp and bleeding heavily, the steady loss of blood making the rookie's vision blur and his thoughts scatter into incoherent fragments.
"Ghrre!" The sound tore weakly from his throat.
The scent of his blood spread through the floor, attracting unwanted company.
Monsters began to pour in, drawn by it, eager to feast upon the wounded adventurer.
Bell couldn't do anything about it.
His knife had been flung away by the minotaur.
He had no strength left in his legs to run from the danger.
No breath left to even scream for help.
Maybe if he had stayed behind, the Angel would have saved him again…
But this was better.
This was better than that crushing shame he had felt standing before her, broken and pathetic, unable to even look her in the eyes.
Kobolds and goblins clustered closer, eyes gleaming with monstrous cruelty. Bell forced his back against the cold cave wall, barely able to remain upright as he waited either for his consciousness to finally slip away, or for the monsters to tear into him.
"Grahhh!"
It was the latter that occurred first.
A kobold lunged toward the injured boy, fangs bared and ready to feast on his flesh.
Bell squeezed his eyes shut.
It was the end, all over again.
The Angel had saved him for nothing.
His stupidity had only made him prey once more—!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Six continuous, deafening blasts echoed through the Dungeon like a chain of explosions.
Monsters exploded in gore.
The kobold's head vanished in a spray of blood, splattering the stone floor red alongside several others caught in the storm of bullets.
The remaining monsters recoiled in alarm, shrieking as they turned toward the source of the thunderous noise.
Bell did the same.
"I hope it's not too late to join the party," muttered the masked man, reloading his revolver with impressive speed before taking aim again and firing, fingers pulling the trigger so fast that a normal mortal wouldn't even be able to see them move.
Beside him, a green-skinned giant glanced at the terrified Bell, lips curling into a familiar, unsettling smirk.
"Hah! It's little rabbit!"
Bell's eyes widened even further.
He recognized the duo.
He recognized the voice.
Whatever fear Bell had left inside him multiplied tenfold at the green skin's presence.
But fortunately—
His consciousness slipped away before his heart could decide it had endured enough.
"You're one charming mutant," Nate jabbed dryly at his companion's words, then unleashed six more bullets into the remaining monsters, clearing the corridor before glancing down at the unconscious boy.
The boy couldn't be older than thirteen or fourteen.
His son would have been the same age as him…
Nate quickly shook his head, burying the thought before it could dig any deeper.
He refocused on the teenager lying before him, a kid who had willingly entered this death pot, risking everything for something that was probably stupid.
He sighed.
Nate couldn't blame the young and stupid for their desires for wealth and power. He had been young and stupid himself once.
No, he blamed their inhuman contractors instead. The ones who sent children to die alone in a hellhole, armed with false promises of wealth, power, and importance.
"Strong wants to feast on this one, leader! Punny human will not make it!" The super mutant took the opportunity to loom closer, eyeing the unconscious boy hungrily. He hadn't eaten in a while.
Nate glanced at the boy's shoulder. Painful, but recoverable. Nothing too severe. Most of the blood soaking his body didn't even seem to be his own.
If he left him here, more monsters would spawn—or smell the blood.
Then it would be the end for the boy.
If he let Strong have his feast…
No.
Too risky.
"Not this one," Nate raised a hand, eyes lingering on the boy's unconscious features. "We might get something off his Familia if we save him."
Getting a reward would be nice.
---
The End
---
Yo
I've had this sitting in my drafts for a few months, so I figured why not post it for fun
If you're a reader from my other fics and you're disappointed that this isn't the story you were expecting to get updated, relax and don't worry
I'm just a bit tired and wanted to do something new. Since I already had this in draft laying around, I decided to flesh it out into a full chapter and post it
I'm going to start writing the newest chapter for "The Emperor's Justice" fic soon, and I've got some crazy stuff planned that blends a lot of things together
Anyway, for new readers: this isn't a one-shot. It's just a fun project I've been developing on the side. I've been playing Fallout 4 a lot recently, and I ended up really liking the game
Confession: Fallout 4 is my first Fallout game, and I'm genuinely enjoying it despite the hate it gets from its own fans lol
Yeah, the story is a bit meh and the game is glitchy as fuck, but it's a Bethesda game bro
The glitches are part of the experience
Anyway, here's Nate's sheet
Notes: I'm using my own in-game character and my choices with some tweaking
---
Name: Nate Winters
S.P.E.C.I.A.L: All maxed out
STRENGTH PERKS:
Iron Fist, Big Leagues, Armour, Blacksmith, Strong Back, Steady Aim, Basher
PERCEPTION PERKS:
Pickpocket, Rifleman, Awareness, Locksmith, Sniper, Penetrator, Concentrated Fire
ENDURANCE PERKS:
Toughness, Lead Belly, Life Giver, Chem Resistant, Rad Resistance, Adamantium Skeleton, Cannibal
CHARISMA PERKS:
Cap Collector, Lady Killer, Wasteland Whisperer, Intimidation
INTELLIGENCE PERKS:
V.A.N.S, Medic, Gun Nut, Scraper, Science, Chemist
AGILITY PERKS:
Gunslinger, Commando, Sneak, Moving Target, Ninja
LUCK PERKS:
Fortune Finder, Bloody Mess, Mysterious Stranger, Idiot Savant, Better Criticals, Critical Banker
(We won't be mentioning perk levels. We'll just assume he's slightly expert at everything and call it a day to keep things simple)
COMPANION SPECIAL PERK:
Berserker
(No more, because this is already a lot of perks)
Pretty cool, right?
These might translate really well into a Danmachi Falna
These perks are the most OP in my opinion:
Wasteland Whisperer, Fortune Finder, Idiot Savant and Mysterious Stranger
Wasteland Whisperer will allow him to tame monsters
Fortune Finder is self-explanatory
Idiot Savant would let the Sole Survivor level up faster than average in Orario
Bro doesn't even need to prove himself in some epic life-or-death battle like other adventurers to meet level-up requirements
He could eat a Jagurmakum and still hit the requirementst
And the Stranger… yeah, I'm definitely nerfing him, lol
Good fic premise no?
One day it'll be finished… but not today
Hope you enjoyed this, stranger.