Chapter 5: chapter 5
In front of Babel, a crowd was gathering. More and more people came for the festivities, an impromptu festival about to start.
In the center of the crows was a group of adventurers numbering around forty, each from a different Familia except for one who did not have a familia, to begin with.
Wendel stood in front of the 'pack', a good ten meters ahead in fact. His face was determined as he kept muttering to himself the same thing that echoed in his mind since two days ago when he heard of the competition and accepted to participate in it.
"The longer I last, the more I gain. The longer I last, the more I gain. The lo-"
His mantra was one he was determined to keep to heart, as it was just that important for him.
He could still remember the rules for this honestly stupid event.
In simple terms, it was a 'hunting game' with him as prey and reward, all familias who wanted to participate would pay a fee for entry to the competition, each participating Familia only allowed a single Adventurer, and no outside help was permitted due to the divine contract everyone signed, otherwise, their win becomes invalid and they must relinquish all they earned through the competition.
The money from the entry fees would be spent for repairs of whatever is destroyed during the game and, the longer Wendel spent without being caught, the greater the share of the fee entries he would get.
That was no small amount, so Wendel was determined to not be caught for a long time.
Not only that, the betting pools were going crazy as many adventurers were betting small and large sums on who would capture Wendel. Wendel, of course, put his own bet that he would NOT be captured by any of the top 5 familias of Orario.
That bet may seem quite open, but most voted for any of the five so if he was 'captured' by someone else, he would earn a lot. He was also made to sign a divine contract to where he would not simply give himself up without a fight, for fairness's sake it seems.
Touching his Vassal Projectile weapon, Wendel felt confident that he would be able to make things at least not so easy for those coming for him, especially since he spent a lot of money to buy all sorts of miscellaneous materials and items from all over as well as some monster drops for Level 1 monsters whose weapon forms he could use.
Since the first few adventurers coming after Wendel were only Level 2s he had the leisure to test out his weapon and skills from Rishia instead of Wendy's greater power, save his magic energy to when it was more needed as well as more properly explore that side of his skills, especially since the power of the Vassal Weapon, if trained well and far enough, would not lose out in any way to those of a Dragon Slayer, if not completely suppress it.
As the announcer was hyping up the whole situation, Wendel just stood ready and took a deep breath. Even if they were only Level 2s, those of that level could still move much faster than regular humans, he should not let himself be caught by them.
"Are you ready?" The announcer, one of the members of the Ganesha Familia, questioned to which Wendel nodded his head.
Seeing that, the man nodded and shouted.
"The Dragon Hunting contest, START!"
Wendel darted ahead of the crowd, his speed not being particularly huge even as he used the wind to move to the ceiling of a nearby building and flicker away. Two minutes after he left, the Level 2s began moving. It would take 10 more minutes before it was time for the level 3s, then another 10 for the level 4s, and so on and so forth.
It was that sort of competition.
///---///
Ottar, who was standing behind Freya protectively, watched on with slight displeasure.
"What is wrong, Ottar, do you disagree with my decision?" Freya questioned as she watched the magic screen that would show where Wendel was at all times.
It was the same technology used when a War Game was happening, a necessity so the Gods could enjoy the spectacle.
"It is your decision on who is the most suitable, I will not dispute it." Ottar said sincerely, he did not care what she ordered as, in his mind, all her decisions were always right.
Freya smiled lightly, enjoying the sense of adoration from her precious child, even if she still sensed he was none too pleased about another of her Familia being the one to go capture Wendel.
Besides her own Familia the others lacked any Level 6s, even the Loki Familia members did not yet have a Level 6, even if three of them could turn into Level 6 at any time, not doing so mostly as to further raise their base stats and making their bases firmer. As for other Level 7 in Orario, there was one Familia like that, but Freya refused to acknowledge their existence due to how troublesome that bunch was.
Her petition to kick them out of Orario was still on hold due to Uranus, unfortunately.
Regardless of that eternal headache, Freya understood that, if it was Ottar that she sent, it would mean there would be twenty minutes between him moving out and the others. That time could be well enough for someone to capture Wendel and take him back to their base before Freya's children even had a chance of fulfilling her desire. As such, she sent out Allen Fromel, the vice-captain of the Familia and a strong Level 6 to compete.
"I am sure Allen will do fine." Freya said with a satisfied nod even as she could hear Ottar slightly grinding his teeth together at the confidence she put in Allen instead of her strongest child.
Everyone in the Freya Familia loved her, but they also were possessive and thus rather despised each other.
Ottar did not answer to that, not wanting to give another of the Familia any sort of positive comment. Instead, he looked up and spoke.
"It has started."
Freya quickly turned her gaze to the screen just in time to see the Level 2s advance.
///---///
in the end, the first to act was a member of the Miach Familia, Naaza.
Unlike what many may believe, even in a competition like this, there would be alliances taking effect, like in this case as Naaza jumped straight to the top of a high building and prepared her bow. However, instead of aiming for Wendel, she aimed at those who were getting closer to him and sniping them out as well as cleaning the way for her ally.
Many minor Gods screamed about this being illegal, but they never bothered with putting a rule about not harming each other during the competition, only some smarter ones putting about the 'no-killing' rule.
Sniping to incapacitate was entirely permitted.
As for her ally, since she was someone who specialized in speed and Wendel was not overly pushing himself she quickly got close enough, her sword aiming to slash at him when she finally reached him.
"Hey, hey, are you trying to kill me?" Wendel questions as he uses his Vassal Projectile in the form of a Kunai to block the strike.
"Do not worry, after you join us we will make sure to treat any injuries you may get with the help of Miach." Yamato Mikoto, a level 2 adventurer of the Takemikazuchi family said with a serious expression.
Wendel would have said more, but he was forced to avoid an arrow aiming for his leg. Taking advantage of his awkward position and lack of balance, Mikoto did not hesitate in striking again, trying to make him immobile so as to drag him back to the base.
Unfortunately for her, she was still rather inexperienced at the moment and she, like the others, did not yet fully comprehend how terrible Wendel truly was.
With a speed that was well beyond what anyone would expect when Wendel was not using his enchantments, he used his weapon to parry the sword strike and proceed to deliver a palm strike to Mikoto. Despite her armor not showing signs of any large damage she vomited blood as she got internal damage, instantly making her unable to fight any further. This was Henge Musou, the manipulation of Life Force from the body, it was a martial arts that could empower its user, their attacks, their weapons, their magic, anything really. That was also a martial arts that was able to completely ignore any sort of defense and attack from the inside, the only reason why Wendel did not use it when fighting Ais was that he was not yet used to it despite knowing what to do so he focused in the Dragon Slayer Magic instead.
The damage done to Mikoto was noticed by the stronger adventurers who understood that, whatever it was that he did, it bypassed armor to attack the softer inside. Burning desire burned in many upon seeing this, monsters in the lower levels of the dungeon tended to have tough hides or natural armors, if there was a skill, technique, or magic that could bypass it, then they all wanted that.
Naaza, seeing her ally fall in one strike, wanted to escape and find another chance, but would Wendel allow for such a thing?
"Hengen Muso Throwing Technique! Rolling Spin!"
The Kunai turned into a boomerang and was thrown at incredible speeds at Naaza, the woman jumping to avoid it, but the boomerang twisted in mid-air when returning to Wendel's hand and hitting her regardless, smashing her into the ground. Thinking fast, Wendel decided he might as well take some advantage of this situation, with a flick of his finger the stamp he had flew out and hit at least the one closest to him in the form of Mikoto. Shame that Naaza was a bit too far away and he did not have the time to go and search for where she might have ended up.
Wendel would feel happy he survived that rather well-coordinated attack as well as the stamping of one of the girls he liked most from this world, if not for more Level 2 adventurers approaching.
Deciding to 'thin the heard' a bit before the Level 3s showed up, Wendel extended his hand and the boomerang returned to his hand.
"Air strike throw! Second throw! Third Throw!"
At each new skill used a new wind throwing weapons of some kind was launched, circling those adventurers. Cautious, some stopped, some retreated, and others jumped ahead and out of the area around the air boomerangs.
Those in the center of it would not have a happy ending though.
"Tornado Throw!"
With that the three air throwing weapons accelerated and soon a tornado appeared, engulfing the area in ferocious winds and the Level 2s caught by the tornado did not have a happy ending.
That shocked those observing the fight, Hephaestus was all but salivating at the thought of examining that weapon that she was sure was what was responsible for such skills.
Feeling satisfied that the numbers were much smaller now, Wendel accelerated by using his Enchantments for the first time, moving fast away from the Level 2s still able to pursue.
///---///
On the stands, many admired and wondered just what else this 'kid wonder' had in store. The one most interested in it was none other than Ais who thought of the Henge Musou move Wendel did and wondered if it could penetrate any defenses.
If so it would also serve well as a weapon against the one-eyed dragon! She wanted to jump in and just drag him back to the Twilight Manor already, have him teach her everything he could, but she was not the one selected to participate in the hunt.
"Win." Ais said to the one chosen who actually snorted at the 'encouragement' from his companion.
"You are more excited than normal, Ais." Finn said, a serene and confident smile on his handsome face. "Did he impress you so much?"
Ais put on a thinking pose for a bit before nodding her head.
"Yes." She said in her usual monotone way. She really was quite terrible in social interactions.
Finn just accepted her simple words as facts, understanding how bad the girl was with interactions, and spoke up.
"I will do my best, but the competition seems hard." Finn admitted. He was not too worried about the Level 4 and lower adventurers, just with the skills Finn saw during the fight between Ais and Wendel it was enough to see that Wendel would not easily be captured by anyone below level 5.
But there WERE enough Level 5s in this competition, and they were the main competition in Finn's eyes.
First was Phryne from the Ishtar Familia. That ugly frog woman may be a weakling amongst Level 5s, but she was tricky and shameless, he could not just think he could ignore her as she might literally stab him in the back if given half the chance.
Second was Tsubaki, a MUCH stronger enemy and someone that Finn respected. She was on the top 5 best blacksmiths in Orario and a member and captain of the Hephaestus Familia, she might be a dwarf but her speed was no joke and she would try her best.
Third was Dix Perdix, the captain of the Ikelos Familia and a piece of shit. His familia was quite likely associated with Evilus and the man was the worst sort of slave trade scum who takes a sick pleasure in capturing others to sell into slavery, especially those who lost their Familias. Letting Wendel join the Ikelos Familia was something Finn would never, ever allow.
Fourth was Alise Lovel, captain of the nearly annihilated Astrea Familia. It was rather lucky that they survived and, thanks to that, all members who survived until the end of the fight against the Juggernaut leveled up. Finn was not certain how strong Alise would be now, but he knew that he should not underestimate her as she was a top existence amongst Level 4s before leveling up and those stats would show even if she just turned into a level 5.
And then there was Finn himself, the captain of the Loki Familia and a top adventurer even amongst Level 5s and had several stats at A or even S rank. Even if he had to face a Level 6, he would still be confident, he has already faced some of them anyway. As for Level 7s, only a single family besides the Freya Family had one and it was also the only Familia stupid enough to send someone who would need such a long time to start.
As for that level 7 in question, Finn and Orario in general preferred not to think of that Familia, it was less of a headache this way. That familia was wrong, not Evilus type of wrong, sure, but WRONG nonetheless.
Finn then looked at the projection as Wendel was approaching the slims of Orario while being followed by several Level 4s who spent their time between trying to catch him and fighting each other. It was almost funny, if there was anything even resembling teamwork in that group they would have decidedly captured Wendel, but instead, he was doing fine at avoiding them as they seemed to want to take each other out more than him.
Thinking for a bit, and seeing that they still had some time before the Level 5s were released, Finn decided to make a 'play' himself by approaching another of the participating Level 5s.
"Hey, Cyclops."
"What is up, shrimp?" Cyclops, or better known as Tsubaki, the captain of the Hephaestus Familia and one of the strongest level 5s, said as she reclined against a pillar nearby, her eyes barely glancing away from the projection on the screen.
Noticing this, Finn mentioned.
"Quite impressive, don't you agree."
"... I want to study that weapon." Tsubaki barely registered Finn's words as her eyes stayed focused on the Vassal Projectile as it changed forms into a throwing ax to take the brunt of a thunder strike, then it seemed to reappear at Wendel's hand and turn into a water shuriken he used to stop a fireball, the vapor was then blown against the user with a 'Sky Dragon Roar', hitting him and everyone around with steam.
Finn nodded, admiring the weapon immensely as well. That sort of versatility was nothing short of shocking.
"It is a magnificent weapon, but to study it you do not really need to have him in your Familia, wouldn't you agree?"
Tsubaki, with a lot of effort, took her eyes away from the screen and turned to Finn.
"What you want, exactly, Braver?" Tsubaki questions, calling Finn by his allies.
"What would you say of an alliance?"
///---///
On another part of the square, Aisha was not having the best of times.
She was one of the officers of the Ishtar Familia being a Level 3, but stronger than regular Level 3s, she was quite interested in this impromptu festival. She had seen the fight between Wendel and Ais and, even as she lost some money that was supposed to be used in a small mission from Ishtar to go and select some new girls from the slaver caravan near Orario, she was mostly alright with it.
Amazones like her were attracted by power and potential more than anything and, watching that fight, she felt like she was one step away from jumping in the arena and forcing Wendel's cock into her drooling pussy. It was just that bad a situation she was feeling and she knew for a fact that she was not the only one.
Her Goddess has also shown interest much like many other Amazones that watched that fight. The problem, however, came from the one that was selected to go capture the 'future communal fuck stick' (the exact words of Ishtar).
Aisha knew she had a problem in regards to wanting to get that shota, she knew that most of her companions had the same problem, but she also understood that Phryne, the captain of the Ishtar Familia, WAS a problem. The fat ugly frog of a woman was a well-known sadistic rapist who took special pleasure in mentally breaking males of all ages, taking special pleasure in doing so with small boys who were barely teenagers if not too young to even get an erection.
She was the main reason why there were many familias who believed that the Ishtar Familia might be related to Evilus, she was just that awful of a person. And now, just by standing near Phryne, Aisha felt like gagging from the stink her pussy juices were releasing as she watched what was happening.
"Hey, pretty stuff." An obnoxious voice said and Aisha had to fight all her instincts to not run the person approaching through with her great sword.
"Dix." Aisha said as if spitting the name.
This man may not be the worst person she has had the displeasure of meeting, but he was no less violent than Phryne in his own way, taking pleasure in all sorts of evil acts and it was known that one of the main reasons why he was not a member of Evilus was due to him not wanting to be close to his brother that WAS a key member of Evilus.
Aisha particularly hated him as he would sometimes come to the Red Light district and pay extra for the girls he would then abuse in such a way that the extra pay would be needed for the healing medicine. Aisha tried to speak about this to Ishtar and Phryne, but Ishtar did not care if a few clients get a bit violent and Phryne was getting a little extra on the side both in the form of money and young boys Dix provided, so Aisha's words fell in deaf ears and she could do nothing but try and help who she can.
"Hey, hey, no need for the hostility. Just wanted to speak with Phryne about something." Dix said while looking Aisha up and down in such a way that, despite being a whore, Aisha still felt disgusted by the leer he was giving her.
"Go right ahead, just follow the stench." Aisha said, moving away so as to not be too close to those two pieces of filth.
Dix did just that, not minding the smell all that much as the smells from the tortured Xenos he gets are much worse at times.
Fuck, he loves being an adventurer for a God who does not give a single shit about what he and his boys do. No matter what action they take, he won't care and just watch on, an ideal God in Dix's eyes.
"Hey, Phryne. Guess you want that boy too, huh." Dix said with a confident smirk and Phryne barely noticed what he was saying, but nodded her head.
Dix smirked at that and said.
"Well, I have a proposal for you. You can 'hire' me to help you get what you want." Dix said and he truly meant it.
He was personally not interested in the slightest in obtaining the boy, a new strong one in his crew may cause the order of things to change and that was a 'no-no' for Dix. He was only here to see if anyone would want to hire his help in getting the boy and, if that fails, he'd just be around to watch the show and, if push comes to shove, he'd capture the boy and sell him to Freya later.
He was quite sure the rich bimbo (his description of Freya) would be willing to pay a nice sum for him.
But that was a rather long shot so he would rather just work for somebody else, thus approaching the frog.
"Help me get him, and I will give you what you want." Phryne said and Dix smirked.
"Even if, among other things, I want that bitch, Aisha, as my new sex sleeve? As well as free pick from any girl I want in your familia?"
"Did I stutter, idiot." Phryne said, not a hint of care about what sort of fate her familia member would have in Dix's hands.
Dix smiled at that, glad Phryne was just as bad a person as he was. If he could get Phryne to deliver Aisha and a few other Amazones for him and his crew to enjoy, it would be a work well done. Making that bitch suck his cock would make him quite happy, that is for sure.
The thought of making that righteous whore into his sex pet was enough to make him hard, especially at making her go through the same experiences as the other 'playmates' he has had over the years.
Well, maybe hold off on the removal of all teeth for better blowjobs just yet, unless she proved inept at it, and, if so, she could just start to enjoy more creamy foods instead. She was not a Xenos, after all, she could get something resembling respect, Dix imagines.
As fantasies of all sorts of things he would do to Aisha runs through Dix's head, the man simply turned back to the screen to observe as once again Wendel avoided capture, this time by accelerating in a short burst of speed that was quite surprising.
"It will be a good hunt." Dix said with a predatorial smile while ignoring the big ugly frog behind him who was clearly in heat.
Soon, the Level 5s were released to hunt and the chaos increased by another notch.
///---///
Back in the guild hall the workers there were working tirelessly like usual... sorta.
Today, the guild was doing a completely different job. Instead of helping adventurers and whatnot, it was concentrated on calculating all the damage the town was suffering from the adventurers acting out throughout the place.
"Damn, why do so many magic casters think it is a good idea to throw fireballs around?" Eina, a beautiful half-elf employee of the guild, said as she continued accompanying what was going on and examining what was done because they were hunting Wendel, and what had nothing to do with the competition. It was just to be expected that some of the participating adventurers would take this chance to screw around, adventurers were not known for being overly rational or well-adjusted, after all, but the wanton destruction for shits and giggles was still a rather troublesome fact.
"Nothing we can do, just put what has nothing to do with the competition in the tabs for the familias of those who did wrong." Another guild member said as she watched just as Wendel was plummeted to the ground by a sneak attack from a member of the Demeter Familia.
It honestly looked like it should have ended the match, but when the girl tried to fully incapacitate him she was caught by other adventurers who attacked her so as to not let her get him, opening the space for Wendel to escape again.
Eina honestly felt bad for Wendel who was forced to stay in such an awful situation, but she still admired the simple fact that he was still managing to escape regardless of how many were after him. She hoped she would be his guild advisor when he came to register, and help him not do something as stupid as what he was currently doing, but Eina was sure that she would have competition over who would be his advisor.
Pretty much all the other advisors wanted him as well since they earned a small slice of what their adventurers earn and with his potential it could set their advisor for life.
"Hope it ends soon." Misha, another advisor and one of the best friends of Eina, said on the side.
"Yeah, with some luck it will end and Wendel won't have to suffer much longer." Eina said, noting the limp arm that Wendel was currently trying to heal while still running away. "With some luck, the Level 5s will capture him soon and end this."
Of course, Eina did not mention that she hoped that the Level 5 to get Wendel would not be from the Ishtar or Ikelos Familias, either option would be awful for him moving forward.
Misha, however, just spoke one thing.
"I hope it is so, or that the Level 6 of the Loki Familia manages to get him, otherwise THAT person will come out."
At the mention of THAT person, Eina shuddered. Her worries increased as she, like most of Orario, did not want anyone from that Familia to come out to do anything otherwise the problems they would cause would only be worse.
Thinking of that Familia Eina could still remember when one of the generals of the Demon King came to Orario, the Freya and Loki Familias were on an expedition at the time and the general could defeat anyone below Level 5 with ease and could comfortably face even several level 6 with the capacity to escape easily, add to him his hordes of undead and he risked overwhelming Orario.
It was precisely that Familia that defeated the general.
Not that it helped Oraio much considering that one of their Level 4s managed to flood 40% of Orario by herself and accidentally killed a few hundred people, only for another member to literally explode the said general with an Explosion spell that damaged 25% of the farmland around Orario, causing a famine in the city.
Then there was their Level 6 who, for some inexplicable reason, decided to throw a total of four meteors all around Orario and damaged their roads of commerce and causing the whole city to enter financial problems. His explanation was 'I just wanted to make sure there was no underground undead and that the general we defeated was not a fake. Or maybe it had some ability to send his consciousness to a secondary body, or the one we faced was just a part of a hive mind of sorts. One must not foolishly believe an enemy is defeated just because you think he is. I simply cleaned the surroundings to make sure there was no further attack at the moment before sending others to investigate if the enemy was truly defeated'.
All the billions of Valis they earned as a bounty from defeating that undead general was spent on reconstruction and the Familia was still three billion in debt even after years of them going into the dungeon.
Seriously, if not for their power and that they technically did not do anything intentionally against the few unspoken rules of Orario, they would have long since been kicked out.
They were THAT bad and, if Wendel was to fall in their grasp, who knows what would happen to him?
Eina, thinking thus, closed her eyes and prayed that this would not happen, even Ishtar Familia was better than that, just please don't let him join the-
Eris Familia.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone