as Alcaeus and his party head to the middle floor's, they get their gear in order first, since Alcaeus's cloak was made with all material's to be able to withstand that element's, including Salamander Wool for handling fire, all he did was hide the Babylonia symbol on it with a magic spell and he was off, his wife got her replacement weapon's and armor with her medium breastplate and Tasset, her gauntlets and greaves with magic conducting gem's in them, and a light head guard, her weapon's were a bow, a set of twin short sword, a halberd, and a quarterstaff for her magecraft, instead of using magic circle's, her family use runes to cast spell's, while this is slightly weaker than magic circles, it's much faster to cast in comparison as the word's are on the air as she cast them, it also means she can use any spell so long as she has the runes in the right order.
Tamamo:" well, let's get going, can't wait forever, can we"
Welf:" easy for a level 4 to say"
Lily:" she is right though, we can't wait here forever"
Bell:" this is for the future of our progression, let's make it count"
as they head down, everything seems fine, as they were fighting, with a level 4 in their party, they were not to out of place and were making it fine, however, another party in the Takemikazuchi familia were running as a member of their's was injured, and were forced to do a pass parade on Alcaeus's party, though, the moment they reach the next floor, they are stopped by people wearing hood's and face mask with no clear indication of gender or race in front of them, they had the same kind of single edge hunting sword's as their main weapon's just like Alcaeus had, and were clearly angry.
Ouka:" who are you people- no nevermind that, can you help us"
Shadow:" help people who dumped monster's on innocent people moments before"
Ouka:"... we had-"
Shadow:" no choice, there's always a choice, you were just a bad leader"
Ouka:" listen, we need to get to the surface and-"
Shadow:" we're not done here, if you want to get past us, you either listen to us, or fight through us, and given we have a long talk, your friend might bleed out, and we're not to keen on healing her"
the shadow then moved in quickly to remove the axe and make more blood spill as Ouka's party started to panic.
Shadow:" now, what's it going to be"
Ouka was now left with little option's, he tried to charge after setting Chigusa down, but was met with a stab through his gut and being hit in the head to be knocked out instantly, Mikoto tried to fight, but her arm was shattered as a shadow squeezed it as she dropped her that instant and the rest of their party were forced to follow. in Alcaeus's party, thank's to both Tamamo and Alcaeus, the monster's were no trouble, but Alcaeus did get a cut on his arm and Lily got hit in the head, making Tamamo use healing on both of them. the shadows brought the party that abandoned their monster's on them and Alcaeus made his judgment.
Bell: I understand your party was desperate, however, that's no excuse for your action's, if you were the ones who were the victim's, wouldn't you be pissed as well"
Ouka:" I did what was best for my party-"
Bell:" best for your party, everyone was disgusted by your desition, you could see it in their eye's, a true leader would be able to tell what his soldier's feelings and act on their emotion's, they didn't want to do the pass parade and you knew it, ignoring their emotion's in something like this only show's how little you understand about leading men to battle, you make me sick"
Ouka turned his head as everyone agreed, they were still bleeding so he wanted to rush this, but still, he couldn't help but feel ashamed.
Ouka:" please, let us leave, or at least heal their wound's-"
Bell:" if that's on your mind, we could just kill these people here and now so I get your full attention, or you can shape up and listen"
Ouka jumped as he understood he was in no position to judge, he then focused and bit his lip.
Bell:"... alright, we'll heal your wounded, however, you are to report to the guild about what you have done today, and you are to make up for you deed's"
Ouka:" of course"
Bell:" also, as the god Takemikazuchi is a great god with high moral, respect, and asperation, you Ouka are not worthy of such a god by your action's today and have to now earn that right, you are to leave his familia, and you cannot see them as well"
everyone in the party was surprised, even Lily and Welf were somewhat sorry for him despite what happened, but, Ouka agreed.
Ouka:" this is my punishment, I... cannot complain, I failed to lead this party and familia, so I cannot put my pride before my friend's"
Bell:"... 6 month's, you will work on a farm with no day's off and no pay for 6 months, if you commit no more of these act's and do a good job on this farm, then you shall return, however, if we hear you are seeing them behind our back's from either side meeting either or, you get another month"
Ouka:"... alright"
Tamamo:" I don't particularly like this, but here's some healing to help"
after they were healed, Ouka was sent ahead to start his punishment, and the rest of the party was sent after to tell their god what happened, though since Alcaeus had a hood on, they can't remember his face, so it was a blur, but they knew what they did, Takemikazuchi wasn't to happy on either side.
Takemikazuchi:" on one hand, I don't like how Ouka was forced to leave for 6 month's, but on another, I understand why they did this and won't complain one bit, maybe he'll learn from this"
Mikoto:" does this mean-"
Takemikazuchi:" yes, we're leaving it be, we won't do anything but improve ourselves"
Chigusa:" this is all my fault"
Takemikazuchi:" this isn't anyone's fault, but I think we need a new way to solve this dilemma we're in now"
Mikoto:" he did give me one piece of advice, "get more member's", he said"
Takemikazuchi:"... I see, with more member's, we can cover our bases much better, I see what's he's saying... alright, for the next week, let's do our best to get more member's so we don't do this again"
after about a day, Hestia got worried and asked why Alcaeus was taking so long from one of the shadows who was assigned to watch her.
shadow:" our king has decided to go all the way to the 18th floor, or so the report goes last I heard, he wants to challenge himself and find any shortcut's he and this familia can take in the future"
Hestia:" I see, well, then it's fine I guess"
Hestia did have one question for them though before they left.
Hestia:" tell me, if you can... why does Alcaeus hate the god's so much"
Shadow:"... I see... let me clarify something goddess of the Hearth, you misunderstand our king completely, he doesn't hate any of the god's or goddesses... per se, in fact, he has a great deal of respect and admiration for them actually, as such with almost all the heroes of the past"
Hestia:" then why does he treat me and threaten me as he does now, if he respect's me, shouldn't he show me more love"
Shadow:" he has already shown you his love for you in his own way, you see, in his eyes, the gods are supposed to be divine being's more than capable to do their own task and not be to much of a hindrance on the mortal's they call their children, they are to be beings who guide and lead all who bid them to a path where they can achieve on their own without their interference without malicious intent or ulterior motives behind their actions and do no wrong to any innocent who have done them no harm or fouled their name, instead, he found many of then to be lazy, degenerate, selfish, and arrogant beings who expect good thing's to happen to them just for being gods in the first place, of as he said, " a mess of spoiled 5 year old's who do nothing but hump anything they see and drink till they blackout", basically put, he's only treating you like this since you act like that"
Hestia:"... he is putting god's on a pedestal, we may be divine being's who live forever and have wisdom, but that doesn't mean we're as he sees it, we like mortal's have many flaw's, some big, some small, and some are unintentional or a part of who we are, he's expecting to much from us, we're not perfect being's as he says, in a sense, we're mortal, but we cannot die"
Shadow:" the god's under his command are almost like as he depicted though, including a goddess named Artemis, you know her"
Hestia:" ARTEMIS, yes, we're close friend's, as fellow virgin goddesses that is"
Shadow:" I see, I have to return now, goodbye goddess"
as the shadow left, Hestia was thinking back and found out she was given many leisure's since Alcaeus took her in, and yet, despite his complaint's to her, still gave her these thing's, falling in love with him more. on the 15th floor, the party is advancing finely as they reach their goal.
Tamamo:" I know it's good to push yourself, but isn't this a little excessive"
Bell:" it's fine right, if we're in a pickle, I can get us out of it easily"
Welf:" to think you're the War king... I really need to improve my blacksmithing skills"
Bell:" if you want, I can have one of my best smith's give you lesson's for a while"
Welf:" isn't that a bit much"
Tamamo:" he has a few hundred at his disposal, I don't think one missing will cause that much of an uproar, but what about others around us"
Bell:" next time, Glepnar will bind them and we'll see the monster's devour their helpless bodies"
Welf:" that's a scary joke man"
Bell:"... joke"
Welf was silent as he remembered one of his titles was Merciless King, Welf put triple the effort not to hold them back, and as they are in the 17th floor, they wonder if the floor boss will turn up, then, as the walls were cracking, Alcaeus got a bow and a broken arrow and charged up its power and after the monster was out, he shot its chest, and the upper portion of its body was destroyed.
Bell:" let's move on"
Welf:"... did he one-shot a floor boss"
Lily:" try not to act surprised, this is a cakewalk for him with the right weapon"
Welf was now aware of their gap in ability, though, heading to the 18th floor, they meet with the Loki familia as they were camping on that floor.
Bell:" is that... oh, its Ais"
Ais noticed Bell and rushed over, along with Tiona and Tione as they wanted to talk, after Ais was done talking to Bell about her spar's with Fiona, she left, then Tiona and Tione jumped in to talk to him.
Tiona:" it's you, Mr Argonaut"
Bell:" Argonaut"
Tamamo:" you mean like the hero's gathered be Jason for the golden flees"
Tione:" yeah, she's been calling you that since she can't remember your real name"
Bell:" anyway, I know it's not my business, but why are the Loki familia still on this floor, taking your expedition time, shouldn't you be gone by now"
Tione:" some of our member's got poisoned so we're staying here"
Bell:" Oh, that's all, let me see a moment"
as Alcaeus saw the, he got out his scythe and let the chain sink into someone.
Lefiya:" WHAT IS HE-"
then Alcaeus pulled out an orb and the person woke up fine.
Bell:" their, cured"
Tione:" did you just remove the poison"
Bell:" yep, this chain here can steal anything, including soul's and poison, let me see them and I'll cure them all"
as they were all cured after Alcaeus connected the chain through all of them, he destroyed the orb containing the poison and meet with Finn as a result.
Finn:" I can't thank you enough for curing our people of the poison, though, now the people we sent are going to be pissed when their efforts were for nothing"
Bell:" let them be mad I say"
Finn:" also, I have a question for you Bell Cranel, who are you really"
Bell:"... can you be a bit more specific, what do you mean"
Gareth:" the Freya familia is destroyed after making a stunt at you, and looking into record's, the moment you arrived, by coincidence, there are many Babylonian soldier's and forces here, and also your weapons, they're clearly not normal, so who are you really"
Bell:"... alright fine... so Rivaria, you can tell them now if you want"
Finn:" tell us what"
Riveria:" (exhaling) his real name is Alcaeus Achilles Lycaon, the king of Babylonia and the man who's won 10,000 war fronts, before coming here, he asked me to keep y mouth shut unless I was allowed to, and here we are now"
Finn and Gareth were frozen with both shock and fear as THE War King was right in front of them, especially Finn who's aware of how much Babylonia is helping the Prum Kingdom right now"
Finn:" We apologize for our rudeness your majesty"
Bell:" I'll pardon it... for now at least, your familia hasn't made any mistake's in the dungeon to affect other's... have they"
Gareth: we've made sure that they behave"
Bell:"... tell your familia about me if you want, I'll rest for now"
Finn:" shall we prepare a tent for you"
as Alcaeus walked outside their came and then used his magic, he showed the camp his Gate and made a mansion right there as he walked in with his party.
Bell:" WE'RE FINE HERE, CONTINUE ON WITH YOUR BUSINESS FINN"
as he shut the door, every member asked what happened and they were told WHO Bell Cranel really was, Ais wasn't sure who he was though.
Riveria:"... I knew you were dim to things outside adventuring, but surely you've heard of him before"
Ais:" no... I don't think so"
Tiona:" Come on Ais, even me and Tione know about him, the War King, the man who's won 10,000 wars"
Ais:"... no"
Riveria:"... what about the man who singlehandedly slew the one eyed black dragon"
Ais:"... the one eyed black dragon... is dead"
Riveria:" wait, did you not hear about that"
Ais:"... it's dead"
Finn:"... I'm more concerned about Ais's awareness of the world now"
Gareth:" we'll make her read up on this later, but what about the king, what do we do"
Tiona:" do we tell people"
Finn:" no, he told us as a warning, after the Freya familia, we're the strongest familia in Oranio, if they can beat the Freya familia like this in a day, what will happen to us"
Riveria:" I'd also be in trouble since my kingdom's allies with Babylonia, everyone, let's make sure not to cause trouble"
Anakitty:" my king, I-... I-..."
Raul:" Aki"
Anakitty:" I DON'T BELIEVE IT, my king, right here, I am honored to be in his presence, YOUR MAJESTY"
as many people who wanted to meet the king came knocking, they were let in to meet Alcaeus, and everyone was in a riot, the Loki Familia agreed to not tell anyone about him since they were given warning's on curtesy of Alcaeus.