"Goddess you have to run..." said a woman as she was holding her bleeding side in pain, while leaning against a tree.

"NO!" Shouted Artemis staring at her last remaining child that was barely clinging onto life.

Both of them then heard a loud roar from Antares who was slowly catching up to them, with his minions following him.

"Please goddess... get to Orario and ask for help.. don't let our sacrifice be in vain... and please find your Orion and find love along with happiness" she said forcing herself to her feet and held her spear out.

Artemis looked down and let tears run down her face before she turned and fled, racing to Orario while carrying her arrow.

"Thank you..." she said not taking her eyes off the monsters as she heared her goddess run away "now... I'm gonna take as many of you with me as I can". She then let out a scream and charged into the fray.

For Artemis she ran through a clearing and just reached the next tree line, when her heart exploded in pain as she felt her final child die.

"No...." said Artemis as tears ran down her face, but forced the pain down and continued to run, heading towards Orario to get help killing this monster and avenge her Familia.

___

"I still can't believe you found 4 jackbirds on floor 1.." said Lily staring at Bell who's luck kicked in on that floor and allowed him to kill said monsters with his new bow.

"Hehe... I didn't even know what they were until you told me" said Bell.

"Still, that's 4 million valis in one day... we technically could've just gone home after that" said Welf.

"Well that would've made some sense, but we also have to get as much experience as possible... also Bell are you sure the eggs are secure in your bag?" Asked Lily.

"Mhm" he said, he hated lying but he didn't want to tell them about his infinity purse yet... that thing alone could start a war, hence why he's extremely careful with it and only put the eggs in it, when neither Welf or Lily were looking.

All three of them continued to walk for a little while longer, before they finally arrived at the 13th floor.

"Wow.. so these are the middle floors" said Bell looking at the 13th floor while Welf and Lily were both behind him, looking as well. It was even more of a cave down here, with the walls and light being darker and the air just felt different from the upper floors.

"Yes, things are a lot more dangerous down here and monsters spawn more frequently" said Lily who then pulled out a map she managed to snag off a drunk adventurer "I have a lay out of the 13-14th floor so we should be fine for a while until we eventually go deeper. But I think it'd be smarter to stay on the 13th until we are all used to it".

"Yeah I have to agree with Lil bit here, Hephaestus and Tsubaki mentioned that these floors have extremely high casualty rates for adventurers who finally make it this deep" said Welf.

"That reminds me of what Ms Ryuu said, she told me that the dungeon waits till we are at our weakest until it shows its true fangs" said Bell.

They were about to continue but they then heard a noise and they all turned and saw a group of white rabbits staring at them.

"...Bell I didn't know you had family down here" said Welf staring at the monsters.

"I-I'm not related to them!!".

The Almiraj's eyes glowed before they all pulled out tiny axes and charged.

"Bell please calm down" said Lily.

"Uh-oh we made Bell angry" said Welf.

"THEY ARE ALMIRAJ'S" Yelled Bell before he pulled out his sword and charged at them, killing them instantly.

"Bell I can't believe you'd hurt your own kind" said Welf.

"I'M NOT RELATED TO THEM!!!!!!!".

"Grrrr" they all turned and saw a group of hellhounds along with a lone Crystal Mantis staring at them.

"Oh great Bell, you made your families neighbors angry" said Lily.

"I give up..." said Bell in a depressed tone, no matter how hard he tried, everyone compared him to a rabbit.

"Ok, Welf focus on the Hellhounds while Bell, you try to take out the Crystal Mantis, they rely on speed and are resistant to most magic attacks" said Lily.

"Right!" Bell then shot off in surprising speeds and met the mantis half way before his sword clashed with its arms, blocking it and surprising Bell given it was fast. But for Bell he was still much faster.

Quickly pulling out Ushiwakamaru, he slashed at its exposed upper body, making it yell at in pain and back off, to only get its right arm cut off. Screaming in both anger and pain, it swung it's left arm to try and kill Bell, but he dodged it with ease, then with a single slash to the throat and stab to the magic stone in its chest, it died instantly.

Bell smiled then quickly turned to help his comrades.

Lily jumped back and pulled out the spear that Welf made her, instead of having to order one from the Goibniu Familia.

The spear was longer than she was tall, it was a light blue in color and had a silver spear tip with a black trimming along with blades edge itself.

Taking it in her hands, she moved to the side of the Hellhound that jumped at her and stabbed its side, but it didn't even pierce its hide, given her strength state wasn't high enough. But it did allow Bell enough time to jump in and kill the hound.

"Are you ok Lily?" He asked her quickly.

"Yes... just wish my strength Stat was high enough for me to injure it" she said, angry at herself.

"Don't worry in time and plenty of training, it will be" he said with a smile, before running to help Welf who was fighting two Hellhounds.

"Thank you Bell" she said with a blush since he believed in her and encouraged her to get stronger.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So Apollo and Soma have signed an alliance stating that if either goes to a war game, then the other will join them to help them" said Hermes as he walking down the streets of Orario with Asfi following him.

"Yes and like you asked, we also looked more into Bell and the woman he's dating is called Rose Fannet who works for the guild, regardless of the guilds rules about them not being allowed to date adventurers. Since according to Royman it'll interrupt work" said Asfi.

"Hmhmhm says the man who turns a blind eye to Somas illegal activities since the captain of his Familia provides him with money and wine that only the Familia can drink" said Hermes as ideas began to dance in his head on how to get Bell to take him down to make even Ouranos acknowledge Bell and thank him. Or even better, be slightly Indebted to him given he saved the guilds reputation and from it being corrupt because of one greedy fat elf.

"I still don't understand why your working so hard to make sure everyone sees Bell as a hero, his grandfather told you to just watch out for him" said Asfi vaguely remembering the times she was dragged with Hermes who saw said man and even met a young Bell only one time.

"Bell wants to be a hero and everyone, even us gods are looking for one, besides I promised the old man I'd watch out for him and that's what I intend to do and make sure he forfills his dream" said Hermes.

"...just don't turn him into a pervert like you and his grandfather are" said Asfi.

"Hahaha... I tried once and that's when Bells teacher was with him.... she beat me up and taught Bell to do the same... those punches hurt" said Hermes going white as he remembered the last time... Not even his Arcanum could heal his balls for a whole week and that was before he got a blessing of a God.

Asfi let out a tiny smile, Beatrix did straight up teach him how to punch a God in a way that not even Arcanum could heal it. And Hermes ended up being the test subject.

"Ah here we are" said Hermes looking at the Hostess Of Fertility, he went and walked inside and was immediately greeted by Chole and Syr.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mikoto and the others of her Familia were all running while Ouka carried a injured Chigusa on his back, she looked behind them and saw lots of Almiraj racing towards them.

Stopping, Mikoto placed a hand on her katana and waited till the monsters got closer, before she made two quick slashes and killed both Almiraj instantly, she then turned and caught back up with the others.

"I'm so sorry Ouka... if I didn't let my personal problems and feelings cloud my judgement then this wouldn't have happened" Mikoto said in self hatred since she allowed the pain in her heart to cloud her judgment.

"No it's my fault, I forced us to come down here when we all weren't ready, especially given recent events" Ouka said not trying to harsh against Mikoto.

"...what will we do now? They are still chasing us" she asked.

"I don't know we will.." Ouka stopped talking when he heard fighting up ahead, they all entered a opening and saw 3 adventures surrounded by monsters and were fighting them off. "We will have to pass them".

"What!? We can't do that, th-" "I'm much more worried about ourselves then some strangers, so you can yell at me later, now come on" said Ouka as he began to run again.

Mikoto looked down in anger but followed her Familia.

With Bell, he slashed a Hellhound in half, before rolling out of the way and shooting two firebolts, killing 3 Almiraj from the spell. He stood up to continue fighting when he saw a group of adventurers run past them.

"Huh?".

"They pass paraded us!" Yelled Lilly in anger.

Bell looked around quickly and saw a exit for them to take "guys come on, follow me!! ThunderBolt!!!".

A bolt of lightning shot out and killed a Hellhound, allowing Bell to run forward, with the others following him as the monsters began to chase them down said tunnel.

With Mikoto, she saw this and felt her heart squeeze in pain at this.

___

Bell was now behind both of them, so if the monsters got close, then he'd be the one who'd get attacked and not the others.

He heard the monsters getting closer and knew he had to give them more time "Welf, Lily keep running!" He said, spinning on his heel and charging a firebolt in his right hand.

"NO BELL!" Yelled Lily in horror.

"FIREBOLT!!" The spell shot off and smashed into the closest Hellhounds, killing them instantly, but more ran through the fire, making Bell quickly pull out his sword and cut them down.

But as soon as he did, two of them past him while he was immediately attacked by a crystal mantis, keeping him away from his comrades.

The other two Hellhounds attacked both Welf and Lily, with Welf getting a nasty bite, before he managed to kill it, while Lily managed to jam her spear into the Hounds open mouth and killed it, with its own body weight.

Bell stabbed the mantis in its magic stone, then he turned and rejoined the others while they were immediately surrounded on all sides by monsters.

For Bell he was debating on trying to use his curse to kill the monsters, but before he could consider it, the ceiling began to crack and the words that Ryuu spoke to him rang in his ears.

"And then... when your at your weakest and your will is about to crumble, does the dungeon show its true fangs" said Ryuu.

The ceiling gave and multiple monsters fell ontop of them with a Hellhound, releasing a blast of fire.

"So these are the middle floors..".

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hestia was walking with Takemikazuchi out of the tower and near the guild receptionist area, outside the dungeon to help the logistics of the guild. Both gods just got done talking with Hephaestus about some stuff and they were both about to head to work when Takemikazuchis Familia appeared.

"Ouka? What's going on" said Takemikazuchi curiously, before his eyes spotted Chigusa "what happened?".

"We got overwhelmed and ran away while..." Ouka fell silent as he recognized the woman next to his God and he remembered hearing about her child... the very same man he pass paraded.

"We pass paraded Goddess Hestias child" said Mikoto in remorse.

They then heard something clatter on the ground and saw a red headed werewolf staring at them wide eyed "what did you do to my mate?...".

A new wave of guilt hit them all, even more and it hurt so much more.

"Indeed what did you all do to Bell?" Said Hermes appearing with a frown on his face that all but promised pain.

___

"So not only did you abandon those in need of help, but you used them as bait to allow you to escape, instead of joining with them and fighting off the monsters with more numbers" said Takemikazuchi with a glare.

"Even if you were desperate, you shouldn't have done that, it goes against everything I know Take taught you" said Miach, before his eyes went to Naza who was trying to comfort Rose.

Hephaestus narrowed her eye a bit at the children, if they made Zidril sad or heaven forbid got Welf killed...

"If Bell doesn't survive... I will never forgive you for as long as I live.." said Hestia... "and I know Rose won't either".

The guilt ate at them even more now.

"So what do you want to do now Hestia" said Miach.

"Save Bell please" said Rose standing up with tears in her eyes.

Hestia looked at her, before looking at the children who abandoned her child and spoke "will you help me save my child... Rose's mate" said Hestia.

All the capable members of the Takemikazuchi Familia got on a knee and bowed before Hestia showing that they will "we will not fail you Goddess Hestia".

"Hahaha then it's settled, but given they are in the middle floors, we should send other adventurers to help" said Hermes.

"My captain is in the dungeon with the Loki Familia while my co captain, Zidril is currently in the tower so I can lend her for help" said Hephaestus knowing that Zidril would more than happily agree.

"I'd like to help too, but Naza won't go to the dungeon... so how about I give all of you some potions to help.. this is the least I could do, even after Bell learned that we watered-down our potions for a while... he still kept shopping with us" said Miach.

"Haha great, then I'll lend my dear sweet Asfi here and get one more person to join" said Hermes.

"What!?" She yelled looking at him in shock and anger.

"Oh come on this is a great way for us to learn, more what Bell is capable of" he whispered.

"Ugh..... fine".

"I want to come too" said Rose standing up, she may be terrified to enter the dungeon, but.... her mate was in that dungeon and she needed to make sure he was alive and safe.

"That wouldn't be a good idea, you don't have falna and your a guild employee, your not allowed in the dungeon and we'd get in serious trouble if we let you in" said Hephaestus.

Rose looked down and tightened her fists in anger.

"I'm sorry Rose but you can't go, it'd be far to dangerous for you, plus then the Guild might go after Bell since he unintentionally made a guild employee who isn't allowed to date adventurers, go into the dungeon" said Hermes.

Rose looked down in anger as her fists clenched, she absolutely hated that rule about not dating adventurers and the only reason why she hasn't yet gotten in trouble is since the morning/afternoon shift won't rat her out. Plus Royman won't listen to a bunch of adventurers who saw it, unless they were pure blooded elves that have proven themselves or the gods themselves.

"Now if you all need me, I'll he going to go and get our final member, meet me at the tower in a hour tops" said Hermes as he walked off with a smile.

"I still think this isn't a smart idea, bringing the Takemikazuchi Familia with us, sure they have a level 2 and someone else who's about to become one, but it's gonna be hard to guard all those level 1's" said Asfi.

"Don't worry, it'll be ok, we will have you, Zidril from Hephaestus, plus if I can get her to join us, another level 4, we'll be safest we could be unless we got a level 5 or 6 to come" said Hermes as he continued to walk back to the Hostess Of Fertility to get Ryuu. "Besides I'm coming to, so that should motivate you to do your best".

"Ugh..." she just couldn't win against him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I... can't believe we fell two entire floors.." said Welf with a arm over Bells shoulder, giving his broken leg, as they were slowly walking through the 15th floor now.

"We can't do anything now but try to escape.." said Lily a couple steps ahead of them hoping they were getting near a tunnel that will lead them to the stairs for the 14th floor.

They continued to walk for a couple more minutes, before they stopped as a new wave of despair hit them all.

They arrived to another dead end.

"DAMNIT!" Shouted Welf in anger as he clenched his fist in anger.

"Should we back track?" Asked Bell looking at Lily.

"That'd take a long time... I do have another idea but it's more dangerous, but means less walking" said Lily making them both look at her. "We go to the 18th floor".

"What? Why!?" Snapped Welf not understanding why they'd do something that stupid, like going deeper into the dungeon "monsters will only get stronger! It's already bad enough we had to kill 7 minotaurs and 3 Ligerfangs on our way here!!".

"I know that but the 18th is a safe zone and we'd have to only go through 3 floors to get to it, instead of climbing all the way back to the surface while injured. Plus if we make it to the 18th, then after we rest, we can join another party returning to the surface for extra safety" said Lily. "Also we should just make it past the Goliath, since the Loki Familia killed it while they were heading down for the expedition".

"...well Bell?" Asked Welf.

"Your the leader of this party, what do you want to do?" Asked Lily.

"...... I say we go down, it may be more dangerous, but we might be able to make it if we move fast" said Bell.

"Right" said Lily as she looked through her bag for some monster repellent since the monsters were gonna be to numerous and strong for them to handle now.

After a couple more seconds, she pulled out a horrible smelling bag that will repel any monsters until they go past the 18th floor.

"Alright, let's go guys" said Bell before the all walked to one of the holes and jumped down, heading down to the next floor.

___

Meanwhile on the surface was the Takemikazuchi Familia, Zidril, Asfi, Ryuu and Hermes who had a cloak to hide himself from the others.

"Ok this is all the potions I could get on this short of a notice, but it should be enough for all of you" said Miach handing Ouka the bag full of health, stamina and magic potions.

"Thank you Lord Miach, we shall do our best" he said putting the bag, into his backpack.

"Please bring Bell back" said Rose with a sad expression, with tears in her eyes while Eina was next to her, comforting her.

"Please.. I couldn't bear to loose another adventurer who I promised to help him on his journey" said Eina.

Ryuu looked at them and decided to be blunt but hopeful "I can't guarantee anything, but I do promise we shall do our best, plus... I've trained him well so he should be ok" she said with an almost unnoticeable blush on her cheeks that was mostly hidden by her hood.

Rose saw it but decided against saying anything... for now and just nodded her head understanding what she said.

"Alright everyone let's go and save Bell" said Zidril as they all began walking to the entrance of the dungeon.

Rose watched them and prayed to the gods that Bell was ok and come back to her soon.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I heard that monster repellent, repels monsters but... I didn't think it smelled this bad.." said Welf.

"I agree..." said Bell.

"It's not like I enjoy it either!" Snapped Lily since she was the one who had to hold it infront of her.

"We didn't say that... just didn't think it smelled that bad.." said Welf.

"Well how else will it repel the monsters Welf?" She snapped again

"I don't know! I'm just stating a fact since i didnt know they smelled bad, only repelled monsters!!".

"Guys calm down.. we can't let our frustration get to us while we are down here.." said Bell.

"Grml" Lily just kept walking while silently pouting and Welf only sighed.

"Lily I don't mean this in a offensive way, but do you know where the next drop is so we can get to the 17th?" Said Bell.

"Sadly I don't, we just have to keep following this, but if I do remember, their are some drops that would directly take us to that floor instead of deeper parts of the 16th" she said.

"Ok well that's at least good to know... hopefully we'll find it soon" said Bell.

"I hope so too" she said.

They were about to pass a small cave at the side, when they heard growling and saw a Hellhound who started to charge up a blast of flames.

"Hang on I got this" said Welf quickly as he raised his right arm towards it "Will Of The Wisp!".

A clear blast of what looked like wind shot out of his hand and forced the fire back into the Hellhounds body, before it exploded, killing it instantly.

"That was great Welf.." said Bell in awe of a magic spell like that.

"Thanks.. but it does drain my mind down quickly if I use to much... wish I wasn't the one who had the extra magic and stamina potions" he said remembering that when he fell, they all broke.

"That's in the past and we are doing fine now, come on" said Bell helping him up.

The minutes went by as the kept going down through the dungeon, until they finally reached a point which Lily was dreading.

The monster repellent ran out.

"Shit... what will.. you've got to be kidding me... this isn't fucking funny anymore!" Yelled Welf looking at what was coming towards them in fear.

It was several Minotaurs, a couple Ligerfangs and behind them all was a lone Wyvern which was only supposed to spawn rarely.

Bell gritted his teeth and put Welf down before he drew his sword and knife, then charged forward towards the monsters.

"BELL! Yelled Lily.

The first Minotaur roared and charged at him, but Bell easily ducked under its swing and cut off its left arm like nothing, he then jumped back towards the wall. Then he pushed off it and slashed at the minotaurs stomach, before spinning on his heel and jamming the sword right into its head, killing it instantly.

Hearing running, he sheathed his blades and picked up the weapon the minotaur was carrying and it began to glow white as blue and white sparkles hovered around it.

*ching ching*

The sounds of small bells were heard before with one mighty swing, Bell swung the weapon and destroyed the entire area before them was gone, along with all the monsters.

Once all the smoke disappeared, all that was left was rubble and magic stones from the monsters that were killed.

"Holy shit..." said Welf staring at Bell who was panting from exhaustion given he isn't used to using Argonaut.

Bell slowly forced himself off the ground as he felt his back burn as his skill activated and he felt all his exhaustion left his body.

"Come on we need to keep going" he said looking at them, before he started to pick up the magic stones.

"Bell we can't carry those, they'd weigh us down" said Lily.

He looked at her and smiled "Don't worry I can... I got something that belonged to my father.. it's called a infinity purse" he said gesturing to his valis pouch.

Both of them went wide eyed at that, only 30 of them were ever made and for how valuable those things are... Bell would never have to work another day in his life nor would his kids or grandkids and down about 6 more generations.

Given how valuable they are, nations guard them and no single person can own one unless they are strong enough... and yet here was Bell who had one.

"Wait if you have that then... why would you want to have Lily with you" she said not understanding why he'd want someone so useless like her.

"Because, your friendship is more important to me than having something that would make it so I dont need a supporter" he said with a smile.

Despite the entire situation they were in, Lily couldn't help but blush a bit as her fake tail began to wag, which reminded him of Rose when she was really happy.

They then heard growling and saw the rubble move before the Wyvern pulled itself out of the collapsed area, heavily injured.

Bell pulled out his bow on his back and grabbed an arrow from the quiver, he then drew it back as he focused on the Wyvern.

*ching*

For a moment, the bow glowed for a second, before he released the arrow and the force of it, went straight through the Wyverns head and shattered against the wall.

The Wyvern let out a growl noise before it exploded in smoke, revealing a larger magic stone.

"Lily remind me to never piss him off enough that he thinks of hurting me" said Welf to her quietly.

She just nodded her head.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In a large chamber on a large throne surrounded by pillars that held flames on them, was Lord Ouranos, the head of the guild and technical God of the city, given all the gods follow the rules he set.

He continued to send his prayers into the dungeon when he was interrupted by the clicking of a beak.

Opening his eyes, he looked up and saw a larger than average Golden Eagle sitting on the opening that Fels used to send his owl.

Seeing that it got his attention, the eagle flew down and landed on the throne before it raised its right leg, showing a scroll wrapped around it.

Taking the scroll, he unrolled it and began to read It.

'Hello Ouranos, it's been a while and I don't have much time to right this since Hera has found out about her technical grandson and she's currently on a war path to find me for not telling her'.

Ouranos Stopped for a second and let himself shiver at that thought before he sent a prayer for Zeus to survive.. Hera may forgive him for lots of things... but he's pretty sure, she'll beat him up for this one send him to heaven if he doesn't play his cards right.

'Anyways before I have to go back on the run, I want you to give Bell Cranel everything that me and my Familia owned, my Familia home and all the assets we had that I know, you kept guarded, this also includes his aunty Alfia, at the bottom of this I placed her seal which she gave me years ago when she met Bell for a short period of time, before.. well you know.

Anyways, I want you to give him all of this once he proves himself to the entire city and does something truly heroic or to show he's strong enough.

'PS I'll be sending a letter to Hephaestus sometime in the future'.

Z.

Ouranos took a deep breath through his nose before he looked at the eagle and nodded his head "very well".

The eagle gave a light bow, before it turned and flew off, heading back to its master.

Ouranos let out a sigh and wondered if what Zeus and Hermes told him were true... if Bell would rise up to be the hero, the world desperately needed and will kill the one eyed black dragon.

He was about to go back to praying, when his eyes caught sight of something else.

A bird with black feathers flew off, leaving the chamber.

"So... your interested in this boy as well..." he said to himself with his lips just slightly twitching upwards.

___

"This is where we ran past them" said Mikoto who felt two glares aimed at her from both Zidril and Ryuu, but Zidrils was longer, while Ryuus was more oppressive.

But just as fast as she felt them, they immediately disappeared.

"They went this way" said Ryuu showing signs of a large pack of monsters going down one tunnel.

The others nodded and started to follow the path, while Hermes did his best to make small talk with everyone and crack jokes to try and ease the tension.

As they continued to walk for a short while, they soon arrived at a part of the dungeon that was slowly healing.

Ryuu moved in first and looked around for any signs on what happened, when her eyes caught sight of a almost completely sealed hole in the ground.

"I think they fell through" said Ryuu pointing out the hole.

"So in other words, they went further down..." said Zidril.

"Yes and we have to keep going now" said Ryuu, ignoring the others as she started to head down again, to find and make sure Bell was ok... for Rose and Syrs sake.. at least that's what she told herself. It definitely wasn't because she was starting to get worried about it; it most certainly wasn't that.

"How far do you think they could've gone?" Said Mikoto curiously.

"Depends really, some holes in the dungeon can fall 2 or 3 entire floors or rare ones that that deep dungeon adventurers, know about, they can just jump from the 13, to the 16th floor in one go, but those are only used by high level adventurers" said Asfi.

"It's hard to believe that the dungeon has things like that" said Chigusa.

"Even deeper floors have areas that you can fall from heights that only someone level 4 and up could survive, even then, they'd need incredible luck" said Zidril.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"W-will Of The Wisp!" Shouted Welf, killing another Hellhound, before his legs finally gave out on him.

"Welf!" Shouted Bell, running towards him and trying to pick him up "Lily do you have anything to wake hi- LILY!".

She to collapsed from exhaustion, leaving Bell all alone.

"I... I won't leave either of you" said Bell lifting Welf up and dragging him towards Lily, before he took off her massive backpack and was about to leave it, until an idea popped into his head.

Taking his infinity purse, he tried to put the massive backpack in it and it surprisingly worked and made it dissappear.

"Thank goddess that worked" he said not caring about the magic stones on the ground and picked up both Welf and Lily before he began to drag them through the remainder of the 16th floor, heading to the 17th.

"I will save them.. just keep moving" he said as he felt his back burn more from his skills along with curse. His muscles grew slightly, then his canines elongated a bit and lastly he started to walk faster as his friends were lighter now.

If it wasn't for his skill Indomitable Will, improving to force the curse to submit, as long as his will was strong, then they would've gotten in serious trouble a long time ago.

Pushing further, he arrived at the entrance for floor 17.. once he jumps down here, then theirs no turning back.

Taking a deep breath, he jumped down and did his best to keep his comrades close, as he took the fall.

They all smashed into the ground with a painful thud, before Bell stood back up and picked them up again "keep going..". Moving forward, he stopped as he realized what he was staring at "it's... the Great Wall of Lamentation'.." he said looking towards the boss spawning area of the 17th floor.

He began to run slightly faster as the words that Lily said, rang in his head, reminding him that if he doesn't get to the 18th fast enough, the Goliath will spawn.

Now half way across the room, he heard cracking and his head whipped up towards the massive wall, seeing it crack as the Goliath was starting to come out of the wall.

"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAHHHHHHH!!!".

It let out a massive roar as it pulled itself out of the wall, causing massive chunks of it to fall towards the ground and almost crush Bell, but he managed to dodge them all as he kept running as fast as he could.

"Come on faster!!" He said as his back burned more, making him move faster.

The Goliath slowly turned its head towards Bell and once it saw him, it let out another roar and tried to take a swipe at him, but once again Bell dodged it.

"FASTER FASTER!! DONT STOP!" He shouted, seeing the entrance of the 18th floor.

*Gong*

This time the sound of large bells were heard instead of the usual tiny ones, he hurled Welf over to the hole, where he rolled near it and Bell turned around seeing that the Goliath was too close for him to run.

"THUNDERBOLT!!!!!!".

Electric blue lightning arched around his hand and in the flash of a second, it became an even more brilliant white and blue, before it shot forward, hitting the Goliath right in his eye.

"GRROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!" It pulled its head back in pain as it's right eye was gone, along with the right side of its face and it even took a step back.

Seeing this as his last chance, he sprinted as fast as he could and grabbed Welf, before jumping down the hole, where his head smashed into something, from trying to protect Welf and Lily.

Slowly loosing consciousness, he felt his body come to a stop and realized he was laying on grass and someone was standing infront of him.

"M-my friends... help them.." he said before he blacked out from the head wound.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ugh... what happened.." Bell said slowly waking up as he opened his eyes and felt like his head was on something incredibly soft.

"Good morning" said Ais looking down at him while she continued to pet his hair, with his head in her lap.

"M-Ms Ais.." he said with embarrassment as his face started to get very red.

Doing something he's never seen her do, she puffed her cheeks a tiny bit and her emotionless mask cracked a bit, showing her pouting.

"It's just Ais, not Ms" she said.

"W-what are you doing" he said still embarrassed.

"Giving you a lap pillow to help you wake up faster, I tried to get Riveria to join but she said no, I couldn't find Tiona anywhere and I couldn't ask Alicia since she's injured and resting" said Ais.

He was about to say something, when he remembered something since his embarrassment died down "wait where are my friends" he said trying to sit up, but she held him down.

She wasn't going to let the bunny escape now.

"They are resting, Lefiya finished healing them, so they should be up and about in a hour or two and will only have to rest" she said as she kept petting his hair.

"That's good.. and what happened to Ms Alicia?" He said looking at Ais.

"We... got into a very bloody fight on floor 59 and she got injured while trying to protect Riveria from a magic blast" she said with her eyes being a bit downcast since she wasn't strong enough to protect her.

"Is she ok?" He asked.

"She'll be ok, we sent Bete to the surface to get more healing and antidote potions for her and others that were injured" Ais said before she remembered something "Oh right, Finn, Gareth and Riveria wanted to talk to you".

Bell looked at her curiously, wondering what about.

___

"Thank you for helping me and my friends" said Bell bowing respectfully towards them.

"It's no problem Cranel, we did what any good adventurer would've done" said Finn "though I'm curious what happened to make you come to the 18th and not head to the surface".

"We got pass paraded, then we were attacked by a bunch of Hellhounds, which caused the floor to cave in under us and we fell two entire floors" said Bell remembering it.

"I see.. well feel free to rest here, we are waiting for Bete to come with healing and antidote potions to help our injured" said Finn.

"I'd recommend not buying anything from the town if you go to it Bell" said Riveria.

"Huh? Why is that?" He said.

"Things are extremely over priced, so most lads just camp outside of the town" said Gareth.

"I see and thank you all" he said before bowing one more time and leaving.

"Level 2 in a little over a month, killed a Wyvern and a Minotaur single handedly... that kid is gonna change the world" said Finn.

The other two couldn't disagree with that, if Bell continued on this path and didn't slow down at all.

For Bell he left the tent and was about to head back to his, when he was stopped by Ais.

"Would you like me to show you around?" She asked looking at him.

"Um.. if possible I'd like to see the town when my friends are up and around" said Bell.

"That's ok, I can show you something else" she said.

"Argonaut-kun" said Tiona walking towards him.

"O-oh Ms Tiona" he said looking at her and blushing a bit given her revealing clothes that her sister also had.

"Can't believe you made it all the way down here~ so tell me what did you do huh?" Tiona said, suddenly appearing and holding his arm while rubbing her chest against it.

Bells face went nuclear.

"AN AMAZON AS WELL!? BELL MY BOY I TAUGHT YOU SO WELL!!!!" Yelled the voice of his grandfather.

"W-w-well on our way down here, we killed lots of monsters when the monster repellent ran out and when it did, I killed several Minotaurs, a couple Ligerfangs and a Wyvern" he said.

Now if the girls were impressed before, they definitely were now.

"You really are like Argonaut~ your my hero" Tiona said with a smile, hugging him tighter.

"I have to admit, being a level 2 and doing all of that is incredibly impressive" said Tione with a smile as she leaned forward a bit, to make her already large breats look bigger.

Somehow, Bells face got redder than before.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I can't believe we survived that..." said Bell sitting on the ledge of a cliff overlooking floor 18, it was near where Ais took to and showed him a better view of the crystals that made the floor almost as bright as the surface.

He finished packing his pipe and proceeded to light it and took a deep breath of it, before exhaling the smoke.

After everything him and Welf along with Lily went through, he felt like he needed something to calm down.

Taking another slow drag, he enjoyed the flavor before he blew out the smoke and continued to stare down at the 18th floor.

"So this is where you retreated to" said Riveria, walking up to him "also I didn't take you for a smoker".

"Hehe I'm not really a smoker, I only do it when I'm really stressed, also I just wanted a place of peace and quiet for a moment" he said.

She let a tiny smile form on her face, she could completely understand that "do you mind if I join you then?" She said "I forgot my own pipe and the smell is actually quite relaxing".

Bell patted the ground near him, which she smiled at and walked over and sat near him as they both just enjoyed the silence.

After a couple of minutes of sitting and enjoying each others company, Bell noticed that she had bags under her eyes which didn't suit her at all, it showed how tired she was.

"Um Riveria are you tired?" He asked her.

"Huh? Oh yes.. I do have to admit I am quite tired, from traveling all the way to the 59th floor along with fighting lots of monsters and finally fighting that creature on said floor. Healing a very injured Alicia and then heading all the way back up here while still help keep order of everything, I am tired" she said finding it easy to just... let go of her vice captain self around Bell and speak her mind.

"Um.. if you want, you can take a nap and I'll keep watch" he said.

She looked at him and stared into his crimson eyes for a long moment to see if he had any hidden agendas, yet she saw absolutely none. He was just being genuine.

"I guess I could take you up on that offer and just remember, I'm a level 6, so if you try anything, I'll feel it" she said.

"D-don't worry I won't, I know how sensitive Elves are to touch and it wouldn't feel right to try and do that without your permission" he said hoping to calm her down.

Smiling lightly, she nodded her head and closed her eyes to take a 10 minute nap, just enough for her to last the rest of the day.

Bell was amazed at how fast she fell asleep and couldn't help but admire just how beautiful she really was, especially her long green hair and long elven ears that were longer, showing she was a high elf.

He of course new his master Beatrix was a high elf, but she didn't have the green hair, since she told him that it was more common with pure blooded high elves and royalty.

Smiling lightly at the memory, he noticed his pipe was empty, so he emptied it and refilled it. Once he relit it, he felt something that made him jump.

Riveria ended up falling over and was now sleeping on his lap, making him really see just how big the bags under her eyes were.

He of course wanted to panic given elves don't like to be touched and he didn't want to get hit for touching a high elf. He also didn't know that his luck skill played in part with this. But he took a deep breath and decided to let her sleep, since she looked very comfortable.

___

(3 hours later).

Riveria slowly started to come to from her nap and she felt much better after that nap, it still wasn't on the level of actually getting a full night's.

She was about to get up, when she realized she was laying on her side and her head was on something that was very comfortable and warm. Slowly cracking her eyes open, she saw that she was laying on Bells legs.

A wave of embarrassment and anger filled her, but she then realized he wasn't touching her anywhere else, it was her head on his lap which made her think that maybe she fell over in her sleep, which she has done in the past when very tired. But never on someone else's lap.

Bell took another drag from his pipe which he's been absent-mindedly smoking from every once and a while during Riverias nap, when he felt movement and saw Riveria slowly sit up.

"U-um good morning Riveria" he said a little scared since he didn't know how she was gonna react.

Riveria looked at him and had a blush on her face, before she spoke "d-did I fall over in my sleep?".

Bell just nodded his head.

She felt a new wave of embarrassment, but it then grew even more when she realized something else. She lightly drooled, given the corner of her mouth was wet.

Her embarrassment reached even greater heights at that and she needed something to calm herself down, when she spotted his pipe that he was smoking.

Before Bell could even react, she snatched it from him and took a large drag from it and held it for a second, before exhaling the smoke.

"Ahh that feels better" she said feeling the nicotine already hit her thanks to her elven genetics making her less resistant to things like nicotine and alcohol.

She took another drag from it, before looking at Bell and noticing his bright red face and wondering why he was blushing so much, until it hit her.

This was his pipe and she just indirectly kissed him.

Steam shot out of her ears and it looked like her brain was cooking as her face and ears got as red as his own.

"H-here.." she said meekly handing him the pipe before standing up and bowing "I'm so sorry, I'll make it up to you one day" she then turned and ran off, far to embarrassed to be around Bell since she first laid her head on his lap and slept, then indirectly kissed him.

Bell sat where he was trying to process what just happened, he then took a drag from his pipe before the exact same thing happened to him.

Steam shot out of his ears as his face got red from now also indirectly kissing Riveria.

"R-rose will never drop this when she learns of this" he said to himself.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ais was sitting next to Bell near the fire, when she noticed something a while ago, Riveria was blushing a lot and would gently touch her lips, before blushing like crazy and start shaking her head. It only got worse if Bell was nearby and it made her really curious what was going on.

She then looked at Bell who was blushing lightly as he ate the stew that was offered to him.

"Bell" she said getting his attention "tomorrow I'd like to take you around Rivira".

Lily heard this and a jealous scowl immediately appeared on her face.

"If Welf and Lily are feeling good enough then I'll join you" he said while wanting to include his friends, even though he would indeed like to join her alone.

She nodded her head, before remembering something and grabbed something next to her, before handing it to him.

"What's this?" He asked looking at the strange fruit looking thing.

"It's dungeon fruit" she said.

Bell looked at it, a second later before he took a bite of it and immediately recoiled "Ugh it's too sweet for me" he said.

Up in heaven, Bells mother was crying since Bell couldn't seem to understand how great sweets were.

"Oh Bell I'll have it, if you don't want it" Lily said, since she loved sweets.

Bell held it out for her and she was about to bite it, but Welf took the whole thing and ate it.

"Man this thing really is sweet" said Welf.

"Grrr" Lily then stood up and began to kick his back in her anger, while he just ignored it and went back to his curry.

"Argonaut-kun" said Tiona sitting on Bells left side where Ais was sitting "You've gotta tell us how you managed to get your abilities so high while only being a level 2 for a short time".

"Yeah come on Cranel, tell us" said Tione sitting on the other side, since she personally wanted to tease him.

Bell looked a bit nervous, but then he saw Ais looking at him with a tiny scowl and pulled some of her hair over her ear.

He was about to say something, when he saw movement and saw Alicia sitting down near Riveria, which was decently close to him.

She looked a little pale and she had a bunch of bandages on her body, from whatever they fought down on the 59th floor.

Feeling a gaze on her, she looked over and saw Bell, who she was told earlier, came down here after a pass parade.

"Do you need something?" She asked curiously.

"U-um no, I'm just glad your ok and I hope that once your completely healed, we can go back to your archery lessons, since they helped me down in the dungeon today" he said.

Blinking in surprise at that, she let a tiny smile form on her face "I'd like to keep training you" she said while the very tips of her ears went red, from embarrassment, since she did indeed like training Bell.

"Bell" said a voice he wasn't expecting to hear.

He turned his head over and saw Ryuu standing near him, with Zidril behind her while behind them both was a big group of people coming.

"Ms Ryuu, what are you doing here?" He said looking at her shocked.

"I was tasked to make sure your safe and bring you to the surface" she said with a warm smile "but I am very glad your ok".

"And I came down to make sure my possible future boyfriend is ok" said Zidril bluntly.

The entire camp went dead silent at the dark elfs blunt statement, while near Gareth, Tsubaki bursted out laughing and fell off her chair for how hard she was laughing.

"Possible?" Said Ryuu with slightly narrowed eyes as a mixture of emotions welled up in her chest. One was since Syr liked Bell and she wanted to make sure they got together and the other emotions... she wasn't sure what to make of them, but she felt.. jealous and angry?.

Ais narrowed her eyes and felt a different wave of emotions fill her chest.

Before the entire camp, especially the Loki executives, they all saw lightning go off between a level 6 and two level 4's, for a boys attention and affection, if what they heared was right.

Riveria sighed at seeing this, while ignoring the twisted feeling in her chest that only grew after... earlier today.

Ryuu walked forward and sat next to Bell on his right side, pushing Tione away. She then reached into her small pouch and pulled out a small wrapped lunch.

"I figured you might be hungry so I made some food just in case" she said looking at him.

Before he could respond, he felt movement on his right side and saw Ais now directly next to him, holding a bowl of stew.

"I helped cut up the meat and vegetables" she said.

Lightning shot off between the two and everyone in the vicinity, scooted away, not even the level 6's wanted to get involved.

Some men or woman might've been jealous... but not even they were that jealous to get in between that.

Zidril pouted since she wasn't a cook, but then she remembered something she could do and walked over and sat behind Bell.

"If your back hurts I can massage it" she said.

After she said those words, the air got deathly cold as lightning now shot between the 3 again even more intensly, with Bell right in the middle of it all.

___

"Oh? So it seems young Bell has the affection of multiple woman, I must admit, his grandfather would be proud" said Hermes with a smile, before he looked around to see if any other girls were interested.

He saw Lily openly glaring in jealousy, he then saw Tiona laughing at the whole scene with her sister giggling. Alicia had a look of confusion on her face with an almost unnoticeable pout since she had to admit, Bell was growing on her.

His eyes then spotted someone he wasn't expecting and he couldn't stop from smiling.

Riveria had a slightly jealous look on her face, without her knowing and in her chest, that weird feeling tightened.

"Hehehe oh Bell, don't worry I'll help you out with this" he said with a smile.