Capítulo 7: Chapter 7: Divergence
(This chapter was uploaded on Tuesday 17/September/2024 3:00 PM, timezone GMT+3)
('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the chapter's footnotes.
"..." small moment of silence.
"Talking"
[Different Language Dialogue (Different from the language of the PoV)] (What language it is: Accent if necessary)
"He-" Someone was interrupted.
'Inner Dialogue'
{Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names}
(PoV)
(Flashback, including the text)
Don't shy from commenting on typos and/or inconsistencies. That and/or suggesting a modification to certain things that didn't make sense to you.
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.
(Line Break)
(Day 18, mid-morning)
(3rd person PoV)
Henryk and Bell finished their lecture for the day, with Henryk catching up quickly by patching in parts he knew beforehand.
Afterwards, they went into the dungeon like Bell usually did during the last 2 weeks.
"How exciting!" Bell cheered and raised his arms celebratorily. "We will be adventuring together!" His eyes sparkled in anticipation. Anticipation of their first steps into a grand adventure.
"Sorry to bring your dreams down, but that isn't happening the way you think" Henryk said regretfully. 'I wouldn't catch most of your cute moments, rabbit. Count yourself lucky' He sighed.
Bell's arms fell dejectedly. He was downtrodden for but a moment before he returned full-force.
"Why?!" He asked Henryk with such enthusiasm that Henryk felt bad.
They both kept their eyes on others cautiously when they passed by. Some adventurers' eyes fell on Ouros, but they quickly lost interest as they saw a clothed creature carrying baggage. They thought that someone's skill transformed them into this thing, whatever it was. They later remembered it and slapped themself across the face, as no skill morphs its user that much just for them to be a packmule.
"You see, I have things I need to do alone. I'll come with you at least once a week, but that's debatable. There will come times when I can't come for weeks on end, going on my own adventure" Henryk's eyes glinted. He imagined the fantasies he abandoned because they relied on non-existent basis. Now that the basis exists, Henryk's fantasies were ignited once more. He strung his bow early in the morning and pulled out 2 arrows after entering the dungeon, keeping his guard up.
Bell thought that it was a letdown but bottled it up and got ready. They had walked far enough that stray monsters might just appear from behind a corner. And just on cue, a kobold appeared, dragging a goblin's corpse behind it.
"My advice to you is to use the knife as a slightly blunted short sword. Your height coupled with the blade's length makes it preferable compared to using it as a knife" Henryk said as he nocked an arrow in the bow. He did not pull the string yet, giving Bell some room to try first.
Bell followed through without uttering a word. He tried doing that some times, but was met with failure as he was too nervous to accomplish much. Now that he had someone covering his back, he felt safe enough to try new things. He rushed the kobold, who had turned their way when it heard Henryk talking.
"Grrr" The kobold growled at Bell before making a dash of its own.
Bell sidestepped its first slash and brought the knife down on its outstretched limb. Sadly, the kobold got off easy, only sustaining a shallow cut. Bell's swing was imprecise, as his edge alignment was off. He originally wanted to at least reach the bones, but failed in doing so and kept the swing going to cleave some flesh. That also failed, as the kobold got its hand out of the swing before it was too late. It lunged at Bell when committing to his swing fully left him vulnerable.
"Yip!!" It got shot with an arrow to the abdomen. It fell to the ground and skidded up to Bell's feet. He took the chance to stab its head with all he had. This time, the swing was more precise and the stab went through its brain. Bell quickly took the knife out and stepped back, avoiding the last attack the kobold made before dying.
"Bell, don't commit to your swings all the way through" Henryk said but did not elaborate. He waited until Bell asked all by himself. He wanted for Bell to question things, rather than be fed the information with no question from his part.
"Why? Wouldn't that make the swing stronger?" Bell asked.
"If you put all the force in the swing itself, then sure, it'll be devastating. But that makes you vulnerable, just like a moment ago. You always want to leave enough strength in you to pull back, to avoid incoming attacks or parry them if forced to. Avoiding attacks is preferable to parrying them in most cases. Remember that what I said relies on your fighting style more than it being a set rule" He noted as he carved the kobold for its magic stone.
"I wonder, Henryk. Who is this?" Bell finally asked the big question.
"This is Ouros, a kobold that I tamed. Treat him like a person, since he thinks like one" Henryk said as he handed the magic stone to Ouros to store in the bag. They brought a bag with them, one that they bought just this morning.
The morning went on as they killed some monsters down to the 4th floor. They took their leisure to examine the difference in their status, so they could better organize their teamwork before going deeper. Of course, Ouros participated in some fights. Henryk wanted to see him fight. He telepathically told Ouros to use his skill, which failed to activate. Henryk noted that down for later, writing a reminder to search his rank-up skills for one to claim un-owned lands, including the dungeon.
While they were at the entrance to the 5th floor, Bell's hairs stood on end. He assured himself repeatedly that Henryk would have also felt it if it was truly there. True to his thoughts, Henryk felt it. He was anticipating it since last night.
Bell's instincts, no matter how unpolished, picked up an incoming disaster. The party walked some of the way into the floor and hunted some frog shooters, kobolds and goblins. That was when Bell` felt the urge to run back up to the surface at full speed.
"U-Umm... Henryk? I-I thi-" His words were cut short.
"UUUUOOOOOOOGGGHHHHHH!!!" His instinctive fears were proven true when they heard the voice of a massive monster.
"That's the voice of a minotaur. What's that doing here?" Henryk said as he was getting ready to run away. "Bell, start running now. If we wait any longer, the thing might catch us. You never want one of these catching you so soon"
Bell had his legs frozen in fear. The minotaur's roar had a specific, extremely nasty effect. It planted fear in the hearts of those weaker than itself. And now that Bell froze for long enough, the minotaur saw them.
Correction, minotaurs. Five of them showed up.
'Why am I not affected by that trait, though?' Henryk asked himself. 'Tis no matter. Let's get him out of his stupor first. I'll have Fey kill them after he leaves, now that they've seen us'
"Bell!!" Henryk grabbed Bell's shoulder and jerked him hard. The force of the pull gave Bell some of his focus back. He looked at Henryk with a pale face. "Go, I'll deal with this one since I could"
"And leave you behind? I can't!" Bell, with shaking limbs and unsteady breath, stood his grounds.
"Haah... Ouros, leave the bag behind and grab him. Take him back to the surface safely if possible" Ouros faithfully executed the orders he was given without argument.
"NOOO!" Bell defiantly struggled as he watched Henryk's back grow smaller into the distance. He saw the heads of several minotaurs peeking from behind corners.
(Henryk's PoV)
'Now what? Fey can shred them to pieces in seconds. I should kill as many as possible if they come, as to not let them leak to him. As for me, I'll wait a safe distance behind Fey'
I did as I planned and watched as Fey decimated them. One unlucky bull tried to grab at me, only to end up under Fey's merciless talons as I ran away. I kept looking back, in case the dungeon wanted to play a prank and spawn a few monsters behind me. And it did. It was a sad attempt, really. I sniped their heads one by one before they even got the chance to walk. A war shadow dodged the first arrow but was felled with the next. I went out of my way to decapitate every last one while keeping some attention on the minotaurs.
"Fey, had your fill yet?" I asked my adorable glutton after I was done with collecting the materials. I left the minotaur she munched on intact.
'I'm once again reminded that this isn't the show's world. It takes some elements from here and there. I remember Norman saying that monster corpses in the novels remained on the ground until their magic stones were removed, which they randomly do and don't in the show. And what'd you know? They do here. And it seems like cutting some parts of their bodies makes them remain materialized permanently, which shouldn't be the case for either the show or its novels'
A realization hit me.
'If nobody relied on it that much, then it means that the drop items obtained through this method lose their magical properties after collecting them'
"Fey wants to eat some more ~" Fey continued to rip apart the minotaur's tough flesh.
'How does she like something that looks VERY chewy?' Animals were full of wonders. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
(Bell's PoV)
"Hic..." 'How could I leave him behind? Dangerous monsters appeared and I was taken away without him. I failed him' I blamed myself for my weakness. Henryk had to stay behind to buy me time to escape. I hated it. It felt like something was eating me from the inside, the shame of my situation eating at my conscience.
"Remain collected. My master is still alive and well. I know he is because of our connection" Ouros said to me. I knew he did it in an attempt to calm me down, even though we both knew that Henryk did not have the strength to face even one of them alone.
"UUUUUUOOOOOGGGHHHHH!!!" Another minotaur appeared in the main path. It blocked our path. And with it, it stepped on our hope, sinking it in a swamp of newfound despair.
"That path loops back! Go there and have it follow us in so we come out the other side with it behind us!" In an attempt to save my life, my brain wracked itself for ideas. It reminded me of the lessons we had about monster behavior. Monsters from the upper and middle floors had neither enough intelligence nor did they think much ahead. They sought immediate results without much thought on what comes with them. If it saw us go into a path, it will follow us blindly. That was especially so since it was unfamiliar with the floor's layout, as it was a middle-floor monster.
"OUU!! OOOUU!!!" Ouros did as asked without delay. And as expected, the minotaur followed us frantically.
I wept as I thought of Henryk's actions. Even if he came out alive, he might become crippled from injuries. 'And it was my fault that he was left behind! My legs froze at such a crucial moment! I am not fit to be an adventurer! Nor a hero!'
In my absentmindedness, I did not notice when we had to stop. We reached a dead end while I did not direct Ouros in the right path.
'And now it is all thrown to waste... Henryk's sacrifice is going to be wasted if we do not do anything to survive...'
"O-Ouros... Put me down..." I said with a shaking voice.
"Do you have a plan?" Ouros asked calmly as he put me down. He was firm in the face of an imminent danger. His calmness rubbed off on me and cleared some of the fog that has been obstructing my thoughts. I felt some small resolve form in my heart.
"Minotaurs are slow for monsters of their level. If taken into account, we could probably outflank it and target its joints. Its thick hide won't leave any other place vulnerable. Its horns bar us access to its eyes or ears. Ready yourself" Those were some of the points Henryk raised in today's lessons.
'Now that I think about it, why was he so fixated on minotaurs today?'
"Go to the side now!" I said as we barely were on its sides.
And then, it happened. I saw hope. A miracle.
(Henryk's PoV)
"Done yet?" I asked Fey. I sat down, reclined on the wall with my knife in hand. I yawned as Fey was almost done with the minotaur's meat. It was mostly bones and shredded skin now.
"Fey's full ~" Fey announced as she raised her bloodied head and spread her grey wings wide, stretching them to relieve some of their soreness.
"Flat amazon!"
"What did ya call me? You drunk puppy!"
"Not the time! Go and see if someone needs help down that path! Ais and I'll go further out!" As I was cleaning her beak and feathers, I saw a shadow come into the path we were occupying. When I looked up, I saw Tiona Hiryute, and promptly looked away.
'Damn amzonesses and their skimpy outfits. Though I can't deny them their cultural traditions and the clothing that's involved in it'
"Wha? All of them are dead?" She sounded almost disappointed.
"You could say that" I answered the obvious question as I pocketed the cloth that was in my hand.
"... What's that huge bird you're cleaning?" She let her curiousity win over her and approached Fey.
"Fey's Fey~!" Fey flaunted her clean, beautiful feathers. Her sudden jerk made me miss a bloody spot from her last meal, right under her beak.
"And you could even talk?!" Tiona clapped her hands, smiling.
"Fey wants to be friends~!" Fey shocked me by proposing a friendship with the killing machine of an amazon.
'Well, at least she mostly killed either other amazons in their arena or monsters. No innocent lives were taken by her hands'
"You wanna be friends?" Tiona gasped. "Let's be friends!" She threw her hands into the air in celebration of their newly-formed friendship.
"Yay! Fey made a friend!" Fey followed her cheerful take on the situation, completely forgetting how she just massacred 5 minotaurs and ate one of them, not forgetting its magic stone after being done with the flesh.
"That werewolf seemed in a hurry. Should we meet later, young miss?" I asked, hoping she'd just go for now.
"Then see ya! I need to go make sure no one else's in danger! You can find me in the twilight Manor later!" And as the storm, she went away as quickly as she came in.
"Fey, we'll go after them. We might find mister rabbit if we follow them" I said as I mounted her back. She was in the perfect size after fighting those measly minotaurs.
(Bell's PoV)
And then, it happened. I saw hope. A miracle.
We noticed a deep wound on its back. It was most likely the reason why we could escape it.
Taking note of the wound, I had a thought as we took turns taking the minotaurs attention away from each other, elevating its frustration.
"Ouros, do you have any spare weapons?" I asked. My idea was that after embedding Henryk's knife into the wound, I will be out of its reach and stuck on its back. With another weapon in hand, I might just be able to do something.
"Take it" Ouros threw the spare knife we used for carving to me. It was weak, but it was enough for me to anchor myself to the monster's back instead of using it to further the monster's injuries.
As for the monster, its focus was redirected at Ouros, who bit down on the leg to his side. The minotaur flung its leg hard while facing away from me. It was my chance.
'I need to get this right! It needs to be right! If I don't, then everything will end here! I must come out alive, so that I could make sure that Henryk's selfless sacrifice wouldn't be in vain!' I silently lunged at the wound, sinking the knife's blade into it. I didn't scream because that might get the minotaur to pay attention to me before I reached his back, spilling my doom.
"OOOUUUUAAA!!" The minotaur screamed in agony as it tried to reach me. Fortunately, its arms were short enough. Some simple maneuvers around its back took me out of their range.
As it went on, I made my best effort to slice its wound open, wider than it was at first. I struggled with the tough skin, and more when I redirected my efforts towards its exposed flesh. The flesh itself was also tougher than desirable. It was to my relief that the flesh was softer than the skin, enough to slice it with some arduous effort and with the help of the already existing wound. ('1)
During the struggle, the minotaur tried to throw me off at times, and tried crushing me against the wall some others. But still, I held onto my place on its back with both knives embedded into its open, profusely-bleeding wound. I knew that once I drop to the ground, death awaited me. I held onto it with all I had.
I kept stabbing into its wound and slicing the flesh inside it left and right until one of its hands reached me.
"OUA!!!" It yanked me, forcing me to grit my teeth for the impact of it slamming me to the ground or onto a wall. But that never came. I was, instead, harmlessly dropped to the ground as I felt the warm blood of the monster wash all over me, washing my own blood with that of the monster's and covering my injuries with it.
"Ugh..." I grunted as my body contorted in pain.
"Are you alright?" I heard the soft voice of an angel calling out to me. I opened my eyes in spite of the pain I felt all over my body.
When my eyes caught sight of her, my world was drained of its colors. She was the only color in my eyes at that brief moment, my eyes wandering over to the strand of golden hair, like sunshine itself, that she put behind her ear with a hand. She was holding out her other hand, trying to help me up, while her companion werewolf looked at me while taking out a potion.
"Take it, weakling. At least, you have more backbone than most other weaklings" He then went away, grumbling about something, after putting the potion on the ground before me.
It was for a split-moment, but that was enough to remind me of Henryk. If these adventurers could find and help him, then he may get out of it with less problems than otherwise.
"Before that, did you see a man with an eagle on your way here?" I asked, voice hoarse from the screaming I barely remember doing.
"I did! He and his eagle killed what looked to be-" "5 minotaurs. There were only 5 of them, and I'm loathe to see one pass by me and after you, Bell. Allow me to apologize for that undersight" Henryk came riding atop Fey. He looked fine, the same as when he was facing the minotaurs. His expression was bitter, and I felt that me being in mortal danger was not the only reason.
"By the way, your face might need another layer of red paint. I caught you ogling the sword princess just now" At his words, my mind went blank.
'What did he say I did again?'
I looked at the sword princess, her golden hair and still-concerned face captivated me yet again, for the second time today. And for the third time since seeing her on my first day in Orario. ('2)
Suddenly, the shame of it made my face go in flames as I rushed out of the scene without drinking the potion that was provided to me.
(Henryk's PoV)
And there he goes, screaming like a little girl.
"Fey, take this to him. He needs it" I handed my daughter the potion that was given to him by Bete Loga... Freakin' Bete Loga of all people!
'Don't reply with words'
"Aye aye ~ Captain!" Fey saluted before making an exit.
'I guess everyone and their mother'll know about the giant eagle, the giant, very talkative, eagle. Well, isn't that lovely?'
I mentally prepared myself to use absolute orders on Fey in case it was required to protect herself.
"What... was that?" I turned to the monotone voice owner to see a very confused blond, her eyes laced with apprehension at the sight.
'Did Fey's existence cause her an existential crisis already?' "That's my eagle daughter, Fey. She's my angel, one I raised myself since I helped her hatch 6 years ago" I said, fondly remembering Fey's goofy moments as a little chick with her off-white feathers.
"Not a monster?" She tilted her head.
"Do you need me to explain the obvious to you?" I deadpanned at her before I picked up the knife I gave Bell. In his flustered hurry, he left the knife behind by accident. I examined the blade and saw some scratches here and there but not any detrimental damage. That, however, was only apparent after wiping the blade clean of blood.
"..." As I was facing them, I saw Ais silently pointing at Ouros, tilting her head again. Tiona was silently judging if he was or not.
"A kobold that I was authorized to utilize by lord Ganesha himself. It's legal for me to use Ouros' help inside the dungeon" I said as I sheathed the damaged knife. 'I'll need to meet Welf ahead of canon at this rate. His naming sense sucks, but that doesn't take away from his skill as a smith'
'Ouros, we'll need to pick up the bag along the way. For today, we'll head down to the 6th floor' I suggested that knowing that my stats were more than enough to deal with war shadows and frog shooters. Even if killer ant appeared, I could simply outrun them. As for Ouros, he has the hind legs of a canine. He could display more speed than his stats suggest. That should be enough to let him run away along with me.
"Right! Ais! Bete went after the last minotaur! We should go back to the expedition now!" I heard Tiona cheerfully dragging Ais along. As they walked, Tiona purposefully slowed down when they got closer to us.
In response, I started running away from them, followed by Ouros, and these 2 sticky women.
"Get the message, woman. I have no more things to say to you" I snidely said before walking away again.
"Ow! And I wanted to know how come your monster is so docile! The normal thing for tamed monsters is to maintain the craze for blood the dungeon instills in them! How come this kobold's so lacking in his killing intent? He doesn't have any!" She exclaimed at the end.
"Now, wouldn't your captain be upset if you abandoned your duty of reporting to him right after you get your results?" I asked them. To my delight, they both panicked and ran deeper into the dungeon, fast. "I should use another excuse next time"
Ouros was looking at me as if he was looking at a conman.
"Let's go, Ouros. Time waits for no one" I gestured for him to follow me as we waded through the corridors of the 5th floor.
(End of Chapter)
Greetings, dear readers
Before anything is said, I should clarify something first. It is about Fey.
Our cute little Fey from before the rewrite was a fluke, a stroke of luck. The lack of cuteness you see here is caused by my lack of luck in portraying her as cutely as before. That doesn't mean I won't try to do it again. But keep in mind, it is going to be different.
Then, to the encounters.
How do you rate my attempt at Bell's PoV? Does it line up with his character?
How do you rate the Bell's fight against his first minotaur?
How do you rate my attempt to make Fey befriend Tiona in this timeline?
How do you rate the diversion of Bete's rating of Bell, considering that he didn't simply flee and fought the minotaur instead?
How natural do their interactions seem? (i.e. natural/moderately natural/not so natural, not natural at all/ any other evaluation you could have wanted to use)
Be well, ladies and gentlemen.
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