(Lido POV)
We were waiting in the cave just waiting as Bell said. We were all quiet, waiting for this "Trap,"
"Lido...I'm nervous," Wiene said quietly
"Don't worry, if it's Bell we're talking about everything will work out perfectly!"
It went quiet again, then Gros picked up his head a few moments later.
"Gros?" Rei asked but then she sensed it too, then I did.
'Another Bretheren?'
The cave started breaking in, everyone got their weapons ready, and in came a Harpy. Her breathing was ragged and she was covered in wounds.
Rei flew over to her to help her up and everyone swarmed her
"Are you alright?" I asked as I grabbed some bandages and potions we had. It was obvious that the answer was no, but the look on her face looked worse than her wounds.
"P-Please..." her voice was hoarse, "Save them..."
After we managed to patch her up and give her some water we asked her to explain it calmly.
"There were so many of us...In cages, I was being transported out but I was luckily able to get my handcuffs out. Once I did I killed the two guards just barely and I ran here since I remembered the schedule. But...The others all are like me-No, even worse,"
"He never was going to give us a choice was he?" Gros muttered so quietly that only me and Rei seemed to have heard.
He was right though, even if we declined the offer, or if Bell hadn't told us anything the result would have been the same. In a word, this was a forced move on our part that we couldn't change no matter what. After all, there was no way we would leave one of our brethren behind.
"Everyone..." I readied my weapons "We're not doing this only because Bell asked, we must fight for our brethren so do not be upset that we know that this is a trap,"
The harpies eyes widened at knowing this was a trap.
"WE WILL FIGHT!" I raised my weapons and screamed, following mine was the other monsters.
(Dix POV)
"Now we wait..."
Bell the prodigy, was a mysterious guy. But if he thinks that I'm just gonna let his plans go by as planned then he an idiot. My plan was once these guys were lured here I would capture them all.
Sucks though I had to give up the Harpy...Girls make loads more money. All the others were too hurt to even move through.
As I waited I reached for my book, only to realize it wasn't in my pocket.
"What?!" I quickly felt around my pockets and realized it wasn't there.
My glinted red eyes sparkled with anger.
"..."
'Hopefully losing that thing will end this shitty curse...'
Just then I heard footsteps running my way.
"Sir! Monsters are attacking Riveria!"
The person reporting must have been a new guy since I haven't seen him before.
"Alright, open the doors," I said with a smirk, trying to get my mind off my lost book.
"A-Are you sure sir?!"
"Do as I say, didn't they already teach you that?"
"Y-Yes!"
He ran off and I sat down and waited.
Around 10 minutes later monsters poured in, along with someone I'd been half expecting.
"Well, Bell Cranel. To think you'd betray me...Not that I can complain though. I was doing the same after all,"
(Bell POV)
I got word the monsters with weapons were attacking Riveria, I had been so busy these past few days I didn't even have time to rest. Hestia and everyone were worried after they hadn't seen me in a while but they had to wait for now.
I ran down the 18th floor and there I saw monsters attacking humans, the first monster I saw was a red-capped Goblin who showed me to Lido.
"Ready?" I asked him.
"Yes," he nodded affirmingly.
I waited at the door with Lido as the doors slowly opened.
'Took you long enough,'
The attack here had been going on for an hour and I got here 10 minutes ago. Dix must have been busy doing something else though.
We walked through and we eventually saw Dix sitting on top of a cage which led us to where we are now.
"Well, Bell Cranel. To think you'd betray me...Not that I can complain though. I was doing the same after all," Dix said as he jumped off the cage.
"Well, we both expected it so no harm done,"
"GET OUR BREATHERN OUT!" Lido yelled to the others with him.
Rei and a few others stayed behind on the 18th floor so we were not interrupted by other adventurers.
"I think you're underestimating me a bit..." Dix said as she took off his goggles.
He had bright red eyes in contrast to my Darker red
Then his eyes glowed and the mood shifted, I still kept my eyes locked right on him though.
"Are you sure you can be looking at me?" He asked with a smirk.
Then I felt a sword coming from right behind me and I raised my dagger to block it, still looking right at him.
I then moved my eyes and noticed it was Lido who now had some sort of crazy look in his eyes. He looked no different from a normal monster.
Then an arrow came out of nowhere and aimed right at my head, I quickly dodged it and it bounced off of Lido's scales as he ran to fight another monster.
Then other groups of people surrounded us, likely Dix's subordinates
"Gettem'" Was all Dix said as he turned around to leave.
The others all charged down to jump me but I didn't understand why they did. They just made it easier for me to get by them.
One would attempt to fight and I would bring them to a monster and when the monster would see them they would latch on.
Plus the chances of the Xenos dying here are practically 0 so long as they keep their strength. After all the monsters here with me currently are all level 2-5.
I walked up to Dix who was looking around for something.
"...Damn it," He muttered as he turned around. "I can't even fucking think straight without having that damned book with me..."
He pulled out his spear and turned it towards me.
"Maybe beating the shit out of you will help me calm down,"
I had no idea what he was talking about but I wasn't concerned. After putting out such a strong spell he was likely weakened considerably, not sure how much but calling him a level 5 would be a stretch.
'Worst-case scenario I go Killer Instinct,' I think as I get into a fighting stance with my knives.
He charges in first taking a stab at my heart with his spear, I dodge to the right and lift up his spear with my red knife, then using the Hestia Kinife I take a swing at his body which he dodges by jumping backward.
Using that time against him I moved in quickly and slashed horizontally with Hestia's knife which he parried with his spear.
Then a barrage of knife attacks came and he used his spear to parry them all.
While the fight would look one-sided the fact was still that in pure combat skill and speed alone, I beat Dix, in nearly everything else though he had me beat. After all, he wasn't even tired judging by his face.
He then quickly ducked one of my swings and went to sweep my legs and I jumped to avoid it to which he slammed his spear into my side, except it was with the blunt end since the sharp end was pointed away.
"ACK!" I let out a pitiful sound and let go of my red knife.
I then lifted one finger right before I hit the ground and the shadow of my knife went out but I couldn't see if it had hit or not since I hit the ground before I could see.
I got quickly up and Dix was holding his shoulder which was oozing blood.
"Quite cheeky huh brat?" He said in an angry tone as he readied his spear again.
"Cheeky or not I'm still gonna win this fight,"
I then charged in again with my one knife I swung which he bent backward to dodge, I then reached for my waist and acted like I was bringing another knife.
Dix excepting this jumped backward only to reveal that I had nothing, instead, I picked up my red knife and threw it right at him who was still in the air.
He deflected with his spear but he remembered the shadow spike and braced for it.
"Expecting something dumbass?" I asked as I ran right in front of him and socked him right in the jaw, sending him flying into the wall.
I looked behind me and the monsters were all still fighting the adventurers, the only casualties I see are that of the enemy.
I then start charging my skill, anticipating it'll take more than a punch to take him down.
However he wasn't getting back up, I waited but then I heard a laugh.
"SO THIS IS WHERE IT FUCKING WAS?! HOW THE HELL DID IT GET OVER HERE?!"
In his hands he held a book, it seemed old and worn out but he cherished it more than life itself it seemed.
He slipped it into his pocket.
"BELL CRANEL! LET'S RUN THIS AGAIN, FOR REAL THIS TIME!"
The sounds in the back stopped for a moment and when I turned around to look the monsters were back to normal, which meant-
Just then as I turned back around He was right in front of me and socked me right back in the jaw, this time sending me flying backward.
'Now that's a level 5,' I thought as I crashed into the wall
"STAND UP!" He yelled in his rein of supremacy.
I quickly set up a shadow spike to block the view of the Xenos, my charge ended since I got punched but I'm going to show him another trick I have. To set it up I used the overall darkness around me but it sapped tons of my magic to deploy.
The reason why I couldn't use the Shadows dungeon against is that, in the end, it is still a spike, meaning it has one pointy end. I could raise it up super higher to block a person's view like just now but they are more effectively used in combat as sneak attacks.
I then cracked my neck and stood up.
Just then my eyes seemed to perceive the world differently as numbers started flowing into my head.
(Lido POV)
'What happened?' I asked myself as the last adventurer attacking us was subdued. I turned around to the other battle and saw Bell get punched in the face.
I ran over to go try and help but a huge black wall incepted my view. Then in ten seconds, it came back down, with Bell standing and Dix knocked out on the ground, covered in wounds.
"Damn pain in my ass," He muttered as he rubbed his right shoulder "If I was at this level with Phyrne then there wouldn't have ever been a problem there in the first place,"
After saying that last part his face changed to one of frustration. I don't know what happened with this Phyrne person but it seemed she caused Bell some issues in the past, or maybe someone else did since it seemed like he wasn't mad at her but rather someone else.
Still, regardless of this, I smiled. "EVERYONE, GET EVERYONE ELSE IN THE DUNGEON AND ASSEMBLE THEM HERE!"
(Ryu POV)
'What...Is even happening,'
I ran into the dungeon disguised when I heard Bell had ran in, I hadn't seen him in a while, and plus the monsters were reported to be attacking the 18th floor. I wanted to help him, he was one of my best friends after all.
But to think...I would run into this...Monstrosity.
It was a black minotaur that was oozing bloodlust, it was about to slam down its heavy double-sided axe when a loud roar sounded.
Then...It just left, leaving me alive.
'Bell...What the hell is even happening?'
(Bell POV)
Dix was a bit of a challenge but compared to Phyrne he lacked the heavy-hitting prowess she had, and while he was fast, I was faster. Even more so in Killer Instinct. All it took was another barrage and he couldn't keep up, after all, I hit his weak spots that I knew he wouldn't be able to cover, even if it looked like he could.
I then looked around and found a lever next to a huge door. I pressed it down and it opened the huge door revealing sunlight and a set of stairs.
My face turned to a light smile for the first time in what felt like forever.
Most of the monsters had assembled including Wiene who was hidden on the 18th floor.
"RUN FOR THE SUNLIGHT!" Lido said with a huge smile.
All the monsters let out a roar of excitement and ran for the light up the stairs.
I on the other hand went for the book Dix was looking at.
I opened it and skimmed through it.
It seemed that this place we were in was called Knossos. It was made by Daedalus and handed down to his decadents.
I closed the book after understanding that. I was around halfway through it and decided to head upstairs to the surface as well.
I was in quite a happy mood considering that my plan was pulled off without a hitch this time. After the Xenos saw the sunlight all they had to do was run back in. Easy peasy.
When I reached the sunlight I saw all the monsters looking up and the sun with people screaming and running away. They likely hadn't seen me since they were so fixed on the monsters.
Some were crying and others were just in shock. My look of satisfaction changed really quickly when I noticed one particular Xenos wasn't there.
"Lido...LIDO!" I yelled to snap him out of his daydream. "WHERE THE HELL IS WIENE?!"
Somewhere there was a Vouvire girl happily running down the streets despite the screams to a mansion located on nearly the other side of Orario, and there was another person, a deity who tilted his hat over his eyes and smirked.