On the surface, Hedin and Hogni had received their orders to go talk to Loki familia about what they had seen down on the 30th floor. They were sent because of Riveria, sort of like beseeching their royal princess. However, in their haste they forgot to keep the idea that Finn was the actual captain in their minds. And, there was another problem…
"Hedin, I trust your intuition. I understand your worries. So, you'll have to forgive me, but I don't know how what you say could possibly be the truth." Finn said, his thumb didn't ache after all, so clearly it wasn't something to worry about. "Unless Hogni can confirm what you saw?"
"No, Heith and Allen were with me." Hedin said, barely managing to hold it together. "First there was the memory of a monster, as if the floor couldn't forget its presence. This is what Heith managed to draw from what she saw." He placed a drawing on the table between them.
Loki reacted at the sight of it. "Impossible… That thing spawned?"
"You know what that thing is?" Hogni asked.
"Lady Freya had the same reaction when she saw the picture." Hedin clicked his glasses. "I should note that Heith has been acting a little strange after seeing it. She even tried to attack the image of it when we were down there."
"Did you see this thing yourself?" Finn asked, as a slight throb started.
"No, neither Allen nor myself saw it. I suspect that it must be something to do with how strong we were in comparison." Hedin said, sipping the tea proper. "If that's the case, it can show up like a phantom, likely to all people of lesser strength than itself. So it was level 5, maybe towards the higher end."
"No, there's nothing simple about this thing." Finn said, passing the picture to Gareth, and eventually Riveria. "That thing was strong enough to completely petrify the Astraea familia. It's entirely possible that there is some other factor at play, perhaps even a few more."
"Hmm, like women are sensitive to it?"
"Perhaps. In a case like that, this monster… is Level 7." Finn pointed out.
"What led you to that idea?"
"For starters, remember who faced down Alfia? That was Astraea familia, 2 years ago. I doubt after facing someone like her, they'd struggle against anything less. A confirmation of this can be found in the fact they have reached the 42nd floor, and even successfully tackled Udaeus once before, even if they had a helping hand at the time it was mostly them. A level 6 monster rex was conquered… Level 7 is the next possibility."
"You make a fine point, but I find it hard to believe the dungeon would spawn such a strong monster on such an early floor. So perhaps my initial estimation was correct. And instead there's an aura of fear around it, like dread induction? How Minotaurs are against those at level 1."
"Hmm…"
"Hmm…"
The paper had finally reached Riveria's hands… She looked at it, and it blinked at her. She dropped the picture right away. A reaction that escaped none of the other's attention.
"Riveria? You alright?"
"It blinked at me."
"What?"
"I was looking at it, and I swear it blinked at me." She was completely pale. "Even pictures of it are dreadful. No wonder Heith is acting so weird. She saw the thing's body. Astraea familia must have been rooted in place with fear. It's almost like it was testing my resolve… Maybe, I'd have to see one in person."
"Do you have any other information? Perhaps how this thing came to spawn?"
"You're crazy. Even if I had that information I'd burn it."
Loki sighed, stood up, and walked over to a store of alcohol. Opening it up she grabbed 5 large bottles, and then returned to her seat, and started guzzling. Once she was able to hiccup without any effort, she spoke up…
"You children are always so cute in how you act together." She paused for a few hiccups, guzzling some more. "Ya know, that thing's a juggernaut, right? It's not too strong on higher floors, but much, much worse the lower you get." She hiccuped again. "It was in Zeus familia's records, though, I'd made a promise to keep information on it away from everyone, so I removed it." She continued hiccuping… "Now that you've discovered enough I feel you might as well know… Do not spawn it… I don't want to have any unnecessary funerals."
"You mean that thing lives solely to destroy?"
"That's no different than other monsters."
"No, no, no. That's not it at all. It's created to end threats to the dungeon. It kills everything that moves. Claws so sharp, it feels impossible. That monster could have cleared Astraea's girls before they knew what was going on." Loki explained in a drunken rant.
"In that case, these two people you saw, I suspect they might be the ones who rescued Astraea familia. Though who are they? We have no names…" Finn started…
Finn and Hedin seemingly shared a moment of realization. Broken only by Hogni who was clueless.
"What's wrong with you two smarty pants strategist guys?" Hogni demanded.
"We thought that Alfia, and Zald were the last remnants of the Zeus and Hera familias…" Finn started…
Riveria stood up, thankful to get a chance to walk off the fear she'd been subjected to… She grabbed a book with reports on the Zeus and Hera familia members. Then started flipping through it.
"How old do you think they were, Hedin?"
"They looked to be late teens, or young adults."
"Alright, then 10 years ago… They would have been around Ais, or younger. Race?"
"Humans, both of them."
"Hmm?" … "EH?" … "Wait…" She stopped, as if experiencing a midlife crisis several times over in the span of a few seconds. "Ceraunius, thought to be a son sired by Zald, or maybe Maxim… And Gamelia, known to be the daughter of one of Hera familia's level 8s."
Loki's drunken state vanished when she heard those names. "Are you serious!? They're here?! Tsk." she groaned.
"What's wrong?"
"They have had 8 years of dedicated training at the hands of Alfia, and Zald." Loki answered, keeping some other secrets to herself this time.
"Either way, their familias were banished from the city. They're in violation of this, we must confront them on this."
…