An unknown location.
"—And those were Bell Cranel's words."
Hermes recounted his encounter, his head bowed low within the shadowy chamber.
"Hm. 'If all the gods deny me my freedom, then all the gods will die.'"
A god with white hair and blue eyes sat upon a raised throne. Clad in a white robe and a black hooded cloak, he wore sandals, his expression unreadable.
Clank. Clank.
The rhythmic tapping of his finger against the throne echoed across his surroundings.
Ouranos was silent for a long time.
"How deep does he go?" he asked finally.
"Past the eighteenth floor. Alone."
The finger stopped tapping.
"...I see."
Hermes kept his head down, awaiting the verdict.
"Very well... We cannot allow another being like the One-Eyed Black Dragon to grow right under our noses." His voice was resolute; the decision had been made.
"Listen well, Hermes. And Fels. Contact Evilus. Tell them... we can cooperate with them, just this once. Bell Cranel is, after all... more dangerous to them than to us." The god's voice carried weight of eons.
"Let them take the lead and bear the blame. We will merely aid Evilus from the shadows. Let the world curse them while we achieve our own agenda."
"We will follow your verdict." Hermes said, adjusting his hat, a complex glint in his eyes.
"As you wish. It shall be done... Ouranos." An androgynous voice echoed from the darkness surrounding the throne.
In moments, both Fels and Hermes were gone, leaving only the ancient God of the Sky behind.
Ouranos closed his eyes.
A silent rumble of regret escaped his lips.
...
..
.
Home.
Goddess Astraea was tending to her plants at home when a sudden, unreasonable anxiety regarding Bell began to sprout within her heart.
She had never felt something like this before. Her hand rose to rest on her chest, her heart rate increasing for no apparent reason.
The trowel slipped from her fingers as strength left her limbs, a premonition of something grave befalling Bell flashing across her mind.
Her hand reached out in the direction of the dungeon, her voice distressed and agitated.
"Bell..."
"My Bell..."
...
..
.
BOOOM!
Goliath was sent reeling by the force of his blow. Bell didn't care. He landed lightly and took a step toward the monster.
[Instinct] surged. The world dissolved into golden pathways, stretching from the ceiling of the floor down to its base.
[Gusgam] ignited, and a massive Zweihänder manifested in his grip.
The invisible wheel above him spun.
Clunk.
His thermal resistance skyrocketed. His heat shock proteins reinforced. His grip strength climbed.
He swung the Zweihänder at Goliath. It roared in response, raising a massive palm to squash him like an insect.
Flame met stone.
Clang.
His flaming Zweihänder buckled under pressure as Goliath's palm descended, intent on crushing the very space he occupied.
The monster's palm collided with the dungeon floor, yet... he was no longer there.
Air was shattered apart as Bell attacked Goliath from its side. He sliced diagonally across the monster, leaving a searing gash on its calf.
ROOOAAR!
BOOOM!
Goliath's roar was drowned out by relentless tearing of the sound barrier. Vapor cones formed and vanished in an instant as the monster was buried under a savage barrage of speed and fire.
Hundreds of flaming cuts carved into Goliath's flesh, yet the wounds knit closed just as quickly.
Dungeon fed it mana, fueling its regeneration.
The wheel whirred in response.
Clunk.
His vision shifted; he could now see the flow of mana surging from the Dungeon into Goliath's legs, weaving through its form to mend its injuries.
Bell appeared near its legs and launched himself upward, reaching its chin. His fist drew back.
BOOM!
A brutal uppercut rattled the monster's skull, sending its colossal body flying into air.
The Zweihänder dissolved, reforming into a bow of pure flame. His other hand pulled back on an invisible string.
"Fuga..."
His whisper was followed by a flash of pure heat and light, igniting the very air of 17th Floor.
WHOOOSH
Goliath was launched even higher. Terrifying temperature of the flames melted Goliath's stone skin, and its regeneration faltered as the mana supply from Dungeon was severed mid-air.
The bow of flames flattened and expanded, transforming into spiraling torrents of fire that bombarded Goliath above without mercy.
"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade."
His voice was the last thing it heard. Spiraling torrents cooked its body and organs mid-air.
Bell walked forward as the charred corpse of Goliath crashed back down, lifeless.
His hands extracted the magic core from Goliath's dissolving corpse and stashed it inside his pouch, tucking it safely within his pocket.
He continued on his way, diving even deeper into the Dungeon.
18th Floor, Rivira, was skipped entirely. His steps carried him downward.
19th Floor.
Bell tore through monster after monster, from Battle Boars to Lizardmen to even Firebirds.
Carnage trailed in his wake as he beelined straight for the 20th Floor.
20th Floor.
Injuries began to accumulate across his body as he pushed on, his steps not halting for even a moment.
However, all the injuries he sustained were knitting themselves together at an accelerated rate, courtesy of [Super Regeneration].
Mad Beetles, Mammoth Fools, and Dark Fungi were charred to a crisp for blocking his path.
21st Floor.
His dive continued. Golden pathways to victory revealed the way to win, even while he was surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of monsters on all sides.
He nevertheless continued to slaughter monster after monster. Blood coated his entire body, his clothes tattered and torn.
Sword Stags, Deadly Hornets, Vouivres, and Gun Libellulas surrounded him from every side.
Bell was about to continue the massacre when...
The floor beneath his feet began to tremble imperceptibly.
It increased in intensity with each passing moment.
Everything in his surroundings had now started to quake.
[Instinct] went from issuing a low warning to screaming desperately in his mind. The golden pathways to victory in his vision dissolved faster than they had even when he was facing the King.
He barely held his footing when tremendous explosions erupted in his surroundings, damaging the very foundations of the Dungeon.
BOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOM!
Bell froze as the ground beneath him gave way. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling above as...
The sky fell upon him.
The 19th and 20th floors were collapsing toward him from above, his footing plunging downward as well.
A cataclysm shook the entire Dungeon, all the way from the 21st floor to the surface, Its quaking even reaching as deep as the 50th floor.
Bell did not have a chance to react as...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Everything went white.
...
..
.
The Dungeon went mad in response to the damage inflicted on its very structure.
A sentinel was coming to hunt...
One more dangerous than any other.
The Juggernaut.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Author's Thoughts]
Shit hit the fan faster than any of us expected.
I'm cooking. Guess where it'll go from here?
And... can any of you guess how they pinpointed Bell's live location to set up an ambush before he even arrived?
...
The trap was basically to destroy the whole floors from 19th to the 21st. Even if he somehow survived, the Juggernaut would get the work done for them anyway.