Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Kuroka reached the shore where a sizable port was constructed. However, this port was neither for fishermen nor for traders. It was an outpost for the Mercenaries wanting to reach the Dungeon.
Similar to a large market, the area was bustling with people. Some were doing small or personal trades, some were arranging their supplies and others were leaving the area, either by returning to one of the cities around or in specially crafted sailboats towards the spot where the entrance to the Dungeon was located.
"There are five entrances to the Dungeon and the nearest entrance is the southern entrance, located around two kilometers away from here. We'll be taking the next entrance which is around five kilometers from here since it has a network of tunnels that leads directly to the lower floors.", explained Yoruichi as they walked around, trying to find a sailboat that they could ride on.
A few minutes later, they found a sailboat that had just docked after returning some Mercenaries to the land, Yoruichi immediately approached him and said, "We'd like to go to the central entrance."
The relatively old man with a wide conical straw hat to fend off direct sunlight looked at them and replied, "A thousand Valis for each person. If you want to leave immediately, three thousand each."
The three of them immediately hopped on and Yoruichi said, "Let's go now."
The old man tipped his hat and quietly operated the sailboat, leaving the dock, along with the other sailboats that had Mercenaries in them.
Kisuke, Yoruichi and Kuroka didn't say anything throughout the entire journey and that was also the same for the operator. Along the way, they encountered several attacks from the Sea Goblins but the old man dispatched each one of them.
More than an hour later, they reached their destination. Although there weren't any landmarks in the area and all one could see was the vastness of the ocean, the entrance to the Dungeon was very easy to spot due to the steady stream of Magic Power coming from below and the number of sailboats that were also in the area.
Looking around, Kisuke saw how the Mercenaries who'd just arrived from land would dive down and were replaced by other Mercenaries who were done with their exploration, taking the sailboats that became free.
Yoruichi stood up and passed a bag of Valis to the old man. After waiting for him to count the coins, the old man nodded, "I've received it. Thank you for your patronage. Have a safe exploration."
"Good luck to you too, old man.", replied Yoruichi before jumping down directly to the water with Kisuke and Kuroka immediately following after her.
As soon as they went beyond a certain depth, the water became so clear that they were able to see the entrance to the Dungeon.
Instead of a large hole in the ocean floor like Kisuke was expecting, it looked like a gigantic anthill with several hundred holes, spanning almost a kilometer wide. Each hole was three to ten meters wide and they were randomly placed along the mountain.
While each group of Mercenaries was taking a tunnel of their own, various monsters also came out from them. This was the reason why there were so many monsters on the surface within the Dizara Region and nobody had the resources to block these holes, not to mention that this was only one of the five entrances which were all on the ocean floor.
Yoruichi already had a target entrance, but because he'd failed to control one of his kicks, Kisuke was suddenly shot forward in an unintended direction, entering a tunnel.
Immediately following him, Yoruichi and Kuroka traveled through the same tunnel, reaching the room beyond it that was devoid of seawater because it was being kept out by an invisible force.
Chuckling, Kuroka commented on Kisuke who was laying on the ground, "I just knew that would happen, nyaa~!"
Kisuke stood up before throwing his dummy backpack towards Kuroka, "How do others go to this place? Normally, you would have to swim for about ten minutes and you still have to deal with the monsters that come after you."
Yoruichi also threw her dummy backpack towards Kuroka so that she could keep it in her inventory and used Magic to dry everyone and remove the mud from Kisuke while also simultaneously fixing the tears in his clothes, "There's a potion that allows one to stay for long periods of time underwater and equipment that makes it easier to move with all the pressure."
"So what's the plan?", asked Kisuke after stretching his limbs.
"The next respawn of the Surtr will be three weeks from now and it was announced that the Astarte Familia would be killing it this time. Let's go straight to the 47th floor and make a camp there. It'll be up to you what you want to do next."
Kisuke contemplated for a bit before deciding, "I guess I'm going to divide that time between investigation, combat practice and spell practice. I want at least to release my Shikai before it respawns."
The difficulty of the first floor was similar to that of the 13th floor of the Dungeon in Orario. Due to that, only Level 2 and above could actually start exploring the Dungeon and those who were Level 1 would have to settle for those monsters escaping to the surface.
After reaching the 6th floor, the halls became taller and wider, allowing multiple paths to meet. With large cloaks, Kisuke, Yoruichi and Kuroka passed through several groups without garnering much attention until they reached the 9th floor, a safe zone.
More than half of the safety points were covered by water and there are several waterfalls that led to the lower floors. Of course, there were proper staircases, but there was only one and it was located at the west end of the floor.
Like the 18th floor of the Orario Dungeon, the ceiling of the 9th floor was also covered by innumerable shining crystals, giving light to everything. But unlike the former, there wasn't a big settlement similar to Rivira. Instead, there were various camps erected on the islands.
Not stopping, Yoruichi led the way towards one of the waterfalls and the group directly jumped down. Some Mercenaries saw them but weren't able to identify them. They were very curious about their identities as the only people who would take the path directly leading to the 33rd floor were the top fighters of the top Familias.
As they fell through the waterfall, the temperature kept dropping considerably until around 5 minutes later when they finally saw the light below. Kuroka immediately used her Magic to slow their descent and carried everyone away from the lake where the water dropped.
Thanks to that long drop, Yoruichi and Kuroka were able to clearly feel the space of the Dungeon warping around them, signifying that some sort of space laws were used to make the Dungeon expand beyond common sense. Since Kisuke's senses aside from the normal ones were busted, he couldn't feel a thing about it, though he already knew of this fact way before.
Right now, the temperature was already way below the freezing point such that if any weak normal people without the blessing of the Falna were to stand here, they'd be frozen to death within just a few seconds.
Kisuke looked around and noted that everything was covered in ice.
"Beyond this is the room of the Monster Rex, Kuraokami, an Ice Dragon.", explained Yoruichi as she and Kuroka got ready to fight.
Editors:
28th00: Underwater waterfalls, must be pretty. Time to a training timeskip soon, that means I get more Phis-chama Adventures Feat: Claire! Maybe with Bestia and Artemis going “Why is our scariest child, the actual child who has no Falna?” as Ophis and Claire walk around with Ophis giving people incredibly blunt and offensive, but surprisingly accurate and true, nicknames. Hell, even Green Crusader: Gigolo Master (Why?!) is called “Mr. Hat”, and she actually likes him! I wonder if Ophis will find anything ‘broken’ to ‘fix’? She hasn’t been to the Red Light district… yet.
I can’t wait for someone to try something or Ophis to detect (never doubt her senses) slavery of a Xenos or something. I pity the fool if they’re a dragonkin too! Ophis takes her job as Dragon God of Infinity pretty seriously, ya know! Wait, they’re the 2nd Trio with the addition of Ophis’ adoption, the loli trio shall be feared far and wide!
Alexander
After choosing a path and walking through the long luminescent ice tunnel, they came out in an enormous chamber of glistening ice. In the middle of it was a hill of opaque ice, before it started shaking and cracking.
A few seconds later, the hill of ice exploded into many pieces with some of them flying in the group's direction, prompting them to dodge in different directions. In the spot where the ice hill was before, a large blue western dragon with blood-red eyes slowly emerged and roared to the sky, "Of all monsters that I've seen within the Dungeon, that certainly is the coolest thing. Literally and figuratively.", commented Kisuke lightheartedly.
The clear blue scales that reflected the light, the beautiful curve of its dark blue horns, the slender body and graceful wings that screamed majesticness. Just from its appearance alone, any man who had ever dreamed of fantasy would admire it.
However, Yoruichi wasn't a person like that as she immediately dashed under its belly, throwing her palm upwards, "Haah!!!"
Kuraokami's belly caved in as it was launched upwards and it screamed in pain.
The Ice Dragon immediately spread its wings out and stabilized itself in midair before looking towards Yoruichi with eyes filled with madness. But before it could even roar, it felt a thin line wrapping around its neck.
Switching its attention towards the culprit, it saw Kuroka, who was holding her black whip sword. Using a Magic Circle as a stepping platform, Kuroka jumped back as she pulled back her sword.
The blade of her sword immediately dug deep into the Dragon's neck, creating a large wound all around its neck before it returned to its master.
The incredible pain it felt from Kuroka's attack immediately attracted all of its rage and it forgot about the opponent who'd sent it flying.
Kuroka then saw how it inhaled deeply and immediately controlled her whip sword to form a spiral in front of her. The next moment, her ears and tails lit up with black flames and a striking blue tattoo appeared on her face.
From the gaps in her blade, the same black flames were ejected out, forming a solid circular shield in front of her.
The next second, Kuraokami opened its mouth wide and released a blue beam which contained an extremely freezing Magic Power towards Kuroka. However, even before it could land on her shield, the beam was dispersed in multiple directions, not doing any damage to its target.
At this sight, the Monster Rex became confused but it didn't have time to think as it felt a presence on the back of its neck, "Tesshou (Iron Palm)!"
Hitting just above the large, profusely bleeding cut, Yoruichi severed the Dragon's head, immediately turning it into a cloud of ash, leaving behind its undamaged Magic Stone and a few claws.
After immediately picking up the loot and placing it in her inventory, Yoruichi urged Kisuke, "Let's go. Before the others reach this place."
"Oh, right. That roar just should have alerted the people in the safe zone.", mumbled Kisuke as he ran after the girls towards the 34th floor.
More than 10 minutes after they left, splashing sounds could be heard from the room where they'd come from earlier. Soon after, four groups of people hurriedly entered the Kuraokami's ice chamber, only to be met with an empty place and piles of ashes.
"What's this? Wasn't it agreed upon that we'll take care of the two Monster Rex's this time? Who did this?" Fenia, one of the people who came down, asked in confusion and slight anger.
Not far from her, however, she heard a mocking snort, "Hmph! Stop this ploy, will ya? It's pretty obvious that you wanted to take the next respawn, too, by slaying this monster secretly. Too bad for you, we won't give up our right as the next one in line."
Fenia glared at the man who just spoke, "I could also say the same as you! This could have been your group's doing, thinking that you could get away with it!"
The man, a Weretiger glared back at Fenia, "Huh!? And where's your evidence!?"
The man is one of the Vice Captains of the Aruna Familia, Todd Bunce, a Level 6. But from the way he acted, he looked like a low-level ruffian.
The other man who came down with him, one of the executives of the Aruna Familia, Salvatore Borne, who was a Human and a Level 5, grabbed his shoulder in an attempt to remind him that they were at a disadvantage due to the fact that their Captain hadn't appeared in public for a month now.
And indeed, Fenia sneered at them and used that fact, "I could ask the same, but I'll ask this instead. Where's your Captain? The people who are capable of this are all accounted for, except for your Captain. He could have come down here to do this and considering your reputation, it isn't a farfetched possibility."
Todd gritted his teeth as that didn't come to his mind at all. But before he could say anything, Salvatore spoke up first, "In the name of Aruna-sama, I can assure you that Captain Hadrian is within Zitta as we speak."
"Tsk.", Fenia immediately clicked her tongue and looked at others who were investigating the chamber, "So who did it?"
Not being able to contain himself, Todd immediately answered, "It's obviously your Astarte Familia! Your members are recently very active within the Dungeon and we have no way of knowing what they're up to once they're inside!"
But instead of Fenia, it was the Captain of the Amphitrite Familia who retorted at him, "Shut your loud mouth! Even if it was your Captain along with some other people, they couldn't have done this!"
Todd immediately turned to the Elf called Lelalia, the Captain of Amphitrite Familia and a Level 7, "What was that, hag!? Are you saying my Captain is so weak that he couldn't defeat Kuraokami!?"
Instead of Lelalia, it was Fenia's companion who answered him, "Take a look around. Aside from the small pothole in the middle, there are no other signs of battle. Considering that neither the Rex nor the people who killed it were here when we arrived, it's safe to assume that it was instantly killed and without much effort from its assailants."
The Elf, Yenna Lightwing, an executive of the Astarte Familia and a Level 5, then turned her head towards Todd and continued, "For everyone's sake, please don't go to an investigation if you're only going to run your mouth around and not use your head. You're only suitable for grunt work and you should just stick to that."
Editors:
28th00: That was fast. Kuroka has a battle-form too? Serafall will love that transformations have spread even more now I bet! The Aruna Familia seems to be mostly made of thugs, huh? It’s kinda amazing they’re that high level with that sorta mentality…
Alexander: Come on, Yoruichi. There should’ve been enough time to make at least a group photo. You have to take the time to appreciate the romance of fantasy.
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