Unknown location.
"Old man... Why did you call for me right now? I was just about to send my children to take care of that nuisance, Ares." Loki spoke while looking up at the elevated platform where Ouranos sat.
Ouranos maintained his silence, looking down at Loki with a composed expression.
"So... Old man, what is it?" Loki grumbled, wrapping her arms around her chest in irritation.
Ouranos finally spoke.
"Loki... I have a mission for your Familia's executives. Outside of Orario."
Loki blinked once. Twice. Her eyes widened a fraction.
"Hah? Old man, have you finally lost it!? You want me to send my Familia away just as Ares is about to knock on Orario's doors with a fricking army?" Her voice had risen in octaves by the end.
Ouranos took in her reaction and gave an imperceptible nod.
"Have I been having too much Soma wine nowadays? I'm starting to have hallucinations." She brought a hand to her forehead.
"Loki, you are indeed sober." Ouranos spoke, looking at her without expression.
Loki's smile dropped. Her expression morphed into a serious one.
"Old man, I don't care about whatever you're cooking in that fossilised head of yours. But don't try to involve my children in it. If I send my executives away, who is going to protect my weaker children?" Her eyes were dead serious, no longer flippant.
"I have already notified Ganesha. Every single Level 5 of his Familia will protect Orario. No harm will come to your children; that is my word." Ouranos' words were credible, at least in the eyes of other gods.
"Remember your words, old man. If even a single one of my children suffers... there will be hell to pay later." Loki looked into Ouranos' eyes without breaking contact for several seconds.
"So... What is this mission you've got for my children?" She asked after a moment, her hands coming to rest at her sides.
"I want them to go to the port city of Melen and investigate a possible second entrance to the dungeon there. It has a high chance of being used by Evilus currently." Ouranos' words made her pause.
"Damn! Old man, I was about to send my own children there for an investigation. But now that you've prompted me... Is it really possible that a second entrance exists there and Evilus is using it?" Loki asked while rubbing her fingers against her scalp.
"It is a possibility." Ouranos neither affirmed nor denied.
"Guess... I'll send Finn, Gareth and Bete there to investigate." She thought out loud.
"Send the Crusher and Jormungand too." Ouranos spoke after a moment.
"Old man, you think two Level 6s and a Level 5 won't be enough?" Loki's brows furrowed.
"The Kali Familia seems to be involved." Ouranos replied.
She went silent at those words.
"Fine, I'll send them too." Her voice, when it came out, carried a tinge of conflict.
...
..
.
48 floor of the Dungeon.
An unending tide of monsters surged toward a group of Adventurers. It was a nightmare amalgamation of the Dungeon's deepest tiers.
Level 5 Flame Rocks and Lava Hounds tore through ahead, while Level 4 Fomoires snapped from their sides.
Overhead, Elite Red Wyverns and Flame Dragoons circled, cutting off the sky. Monsters upon monsters surrounded them from all sides.
Ottar swung his greatsword.
BOOM!
A line split the tide in half for meters upon meters. Yet, that space was soon filled by other monsters.
Another blur tore through that encroaching horde, zigzagging through countless monsters before coming to a stop beside Ottar.
It was a cat person with a spear.
Allen Formel. Vana Freya.
"Those Evilus dogs! How dare they trap us here, away from Lady Freya!" He spat, his grip tightening over his spear.
He had barely finished when hundreds of arrows forged from pure thunder rumbled to life. They vanished into the tide of monsters like falling stars.
Consecutive explosions rang out without stop, air thick with the smell of charred flesh as scores of Level 5 monsters were reduced to ash.
Clang.
A rhomphaia's tip collided against the floor as an elf walked over to Ottar's other side.
Hedin Selland. Hildrsleif.
"These Evilus rats have gotten smarter. They collapsed the whole forty-seventh and forty-sixth floors on us."
He adjusted his glasses with one hand. His other hand pulled the rhomphaia up, pointing it toward the tide.
A crimson sword tore a path through that tide a moment later, monsters being butchered like livestock.
Soon... it reached Ottar and others. A dark elf walked through, blood trailing in his wake.
Hogni Ragnar. Dainsleif.
"Ugh... to be separated from the Goddess is a despair worse than death. I miss Lady Freya already... the air feels heavy and suffocating without her presence."
He spoke while coming to stand beside Hedin, his grip crushing over his cursed sword.
Four more people—rather, pallums—walked toward them from Allen's side. They each wore sand-colored armour with full-face helmets.
Behind them were the carcasses of slaughtered monsters.
The Guilliver Brothers. Alfrigg. Dvalinn. Berling. Grer.
"Let's get back..." Alfrigg started.
"...to the surface..." Dvalinn continued.
"...Lady Freya... is waiting." Berling added.
"Yes, waiting." Grer finished.
They each stood at Allen's side.
The whole Freya Familia assembled and looked at the tide ahead of them.
"Hey, smartass elf, how long do you think it will take for us to wrap these monsters up?" Allen asked while glancing toward Hedin.
Hedin's eyes beneath the glasses flashed.
"Around a day, more or less."
Ottar's expression was calm.
"A day? Get it done in half a day." He spoke.
A pause.
"The surface will not remain calm for long. Our Goddess is up there... defenseless."
[Vana Arganture] ground awake. As boar ears sprouted from his head, a massive surge of strength buffed his body.
Both of his hands held onto his supreme black sword, hefting it up above his head.
Muscles tensed. Bones locked. Legs became levers.
His sword swung down.
Simple. Crude.
BOOOOOM!
Air screeched. Ground fractured. The tide of monsters was pushed back forcefully. Tremors shook the entire forty-eighth floor.
No other member of the Freya Familia was willing to be left behind.
Weapons flashed. Magic activated with abandon.
For an instant... it became hard to decipher who were the tide and who were being swept away.
...
..
.
Deep within the Dungeon floors.
"Isn't your trap going to be insufficient to hold the Freya Familia back?" A woman with short red hair and green eyes asked.
"Hehehehe... Freya Familia? What I've let them taste right now is merely a small part of our preparations. You think we don't know about their strength? No... we are merely letting them have a proper warm-up." A man with long white hair and green-yellow eyes spoke, his skin yellow-green from the waist down.
Evilus member. Olivas Act.
"Whatever. I'm going to the surface to find Aria. I'll see if there's a chance to kidnap her in the chaos that's about to happen above." The woman spoke while walking away.
"Sword Princess? Don't break her. 'She' needs her in one piece." Olivas Act's voice turned serious.
"I know. I know." The woman waved her hand, gesturing she understood.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
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[Authors Thoughts]
The net is closing in. Bell oh Bell. What will you do?
Freya Familia got the Bell treatment XD.
...
Another day. Another chapter.
May your day be productive, everyone!