Roars that were strong enough to shake the rock under their feet echoed throughout the Floor. There was enough power behind the howls to make the average adventurer run out of their boots in fright.
The monsters started to appear. Their thick arms and meaty shoulders were illuminated by the lights far above the passageways. Then, sturdy, hoofed feet emerged from under them, cracking against the ground as they came closer. They each sported rusty brown fur that covered their entire bodies.
"M-Minotaurs!" Linne quickly shouted out, moving to the back to the other supporters as every scrambled together.
"See? They came to shut you up." Tiona elbowed Bete
"Yea right, dimwit. Tch, sure are a lot of them, though."
More Minotaurs kept coming into the room from each exit leading in every second and formed a ring around the forward group of adventurers.
Their bloodshot eyes flicked from person to person, chests heaving with excitement, but the moment they eyed Yuji, they paused.
"GUUooooOOOOOooooAAaaa!!"
The Minotaurs howled out with even more fervor once they spotted him, earning a quirked eyebrow from the very man.
"Did I do something to piss them off?"
"Unlikely. Maybe it's their instincts again, like a certain dog in our party." Riveria said, strolling up to his side after having noticed the fixed gazes the Minotaurs had on Yuji.
"Riveria, there's a lot of them, more than usual, so can we join in?"
Tione asked, stretching her arms as she walked forward.
"Yes, that's fine. Raul, take command for this battle. Finn believes you are ready to gain some experience. Take note that they seem to be fixated on our guest."
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
"You don't want me to step in?"
Yuji asked, dropping the backpack he was carrying down to the ground, seeing Riveria shake her head.
"No. These monsters are rated by the Guild as the strongest and most dangerous of the Dungeon's middle levels. However, Loki Familia's higher class adventurers can deal with this group with no issue. Compared to the deeper floors, the relatively shallow Floors of the middle layer are reserved for our lower level adventurers to gain excelia. Aiz and the others are usually asked to stay back and watch over them."
Riveria explained to Yuji, who could see the logic behind them.
'This is literally just grinding low level mobs so the weaker party members can gain xp…'
"Supporters, fall back! Stay in tight formation and conserve remaining supplies as much as possible! Also, Tione-san! Tiona-san!! Bete-san!!! The middle levels are for lower ranking members to gain experience. That's the rule! Don't go breaking it."
Raul gave out his orders, turning towards the three people he individually addressed with a nervous but tense stare.
"Heeheehee, no prob!"
Heehee, I know that!"
"A fist fight, eh? Better give them a handicap."
Tione, Tiona and Bete slowly moved forward, cracking their knuckles and stretching their bodies, with no one holding a weapon. As long as they didn't kill the Minotaurs, all was fair game.
"Mrooo?"
One of the Minotaurs at the front looked confused, but then paused as they sensed the ominous intent flowing from the three strolling towards them.
"UooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!"
The Minotaurs all squeaked out and began to run off, each beast taking off in all directions at the same time.
"WHAAAT?! No way! They're running?!"
Tiona complained as she was choking out a Minotaur in her left arm, lifting another up into the air with her right.
"O-Oi?! You call yourselves monsters?!" Bete tugged on the fur of a Minotaur he had beat down, slamming its head against the floor as it lay with a heavily bruised face.
Aiz's golden eyes widened as she watched in disbelief, while Yuji himself wasn't sure what was happening.
"After them, all of you!! There's no telling what panicking monsters will do!" Riveria's shrill voice cut through the chaos.
The first class adventurers were frozen in place for only a moment before launching themselves in pursuit of the Minotaurs.
"And we were almost home!"
"Um, I'm not good with hand to hand combat…!"
"Just whack them really hard with that stick you got, got it?!"
Tione clenched her fist and took off. Bete snapped at Lefiya, not one of them had the same look of joy or calm they were sporting just seconds prior.
"I think I can interfere now, since it's come to this." Yuji stepped forward and put his palms together, pointing the ends of his fingers towarsd the Minotaurs.
Senketsu (Piercing Blood)
Red beams of condensed blood shot out at unfathomable speeds, slicing through the air and weaving their way between the adventurers. The beams struck the fleeing Minotaurs, but a large group of Minotaurs started running down to the passageway leading to the sixteenth floor.
Guiding his beam, Yuji was about to pierce through the group, but the wall behind him burst apart, as 5 Minotaurs howled and charged towards him.
Turning back, he quickly swiped his hand in a slicing motion behind him.
A beat of silence lingered, before each of the Minotaurs lost its head, a large gash forming off the wall behind their dissolving bodies.
Aiz quickly took off, rushing towards the direction of the Minotaurs that were running down to the lower floors.
"Tsk, I'll head down as well-"
Yuji was interrupted as along the walls, more and more Minotaurs ripped themselves and charged him, all aiming and scrambling towards him, frothing at the mouths as a frenzy overtook their minds.
Hundreds of Minotaurs swarmed through the room again, giving everyone pause, especially Aiz and the others as they were pursuing the wayward Minotaurs.
"Go, leave this floor to me. There might be adventurers in danger if they keep running up" Yuji looked at the group, who all nodded back and continued their pursuit.
"Form a circle, buy us time for casting!" Riveria quickly coordinated with the rest of the adventurers, but Yuji patted her shoulder.
"You guys need this 'excelia', right? I assume they need to deal the final blow."
"Yes, that's correct, but I don't think that matters no-"
"Kai" (Dismantle)
*SPLAT*
"UuoooooOOOOooOOOOOAAaaaa!!"
The Minotaurs all howled as they crumpled to the ground, their legs and arms all cut off and laying limp on the ground beneath them.
All a hundred plus Minotaurs groaned and writhed pathetically, still trying to crawl towards Yuji's direction, blood pooling along the ground and seeping in the floor beneath them.
Yuji walked up to one of the Minotaurs, who stared up and bared its rotten teeth at him.
"There. Some free xp, freshly delivered to us by the lovely Dungeon." Yuji raised his foot, and tapped the tip of his shoe against the Minotaur's snout. The monster in question was then cleaved apart into tiny meaty cubes, including its magic stone, before promptly turning to black ash.
"...It doesn't exactly work like that. Falna is a blessing granted by the Gods and Goddesses, it would be easy for it to identify the merit and actions behind the person."
Yuji paused before scratching the back of his head, "Well, I didn't know that. Whoops?"
She shook her head, "It's fine. This was more than what we could've handled in a safe manner either way."
Yuji shrugged, still feeling a bit put off by his slight blunder. The Minotaurs were all succinctly decapitated all at once.
For low level adventures, the excelia they can gain from something like a Minotaur is a huge boost to their current stats, but it still had to be done through their own efforts.
"Thank you, still. You were thinking about them when you didn't have to." Riveria said quietly, looking on as the adventurers all relaxed the tension in their shoulders, giving Yuji looks of gratitude.
(A/N: Made a big mistake before and had to correct it, originally I had Yuji chop off the minotaurs legs and arms but people pointed out that Falna is a lot more balanced than this and after some thinking they're right, otherwise low levels could just be carried and boosted by high level adventurers.)
The sight would've been heart warming, if the blood from the Minotaurs didn't pool the ground around them.
"Don't mention it. I don't have this Falna thing you guys got, so I just thought it would've been better for you guys to get some without much effort."
Yuji turned towards the direction the others ran off to pursue the wayward Minotaurs, up to Floor 16.
"How bad would the repercussions be if they don't manage to catch them?"
"*Sigh* Very. Most adventurers in the Middle Levels are nowhere near as strong as Loki Familia's First Class Adventurers. Seeing a stampede of Minotaurs would be their worst nightmare." Riveria shook her head, seeing the second group lagging behind them slowly making their way to meet up.
"Should even one adventurer be unable to return home due to the Minotaurs that we let escape, the Guild and other Familias would be quick to find out and levy penalties against us." Riveria walked away, intending to meet with Finn halfway and explain the situation. But she left behind one last sentence. "The worst punishment would be losing our sleep from the guilt."
Yuji watched as she walked away, looking down at the blood one the ground that pooled towards his shoes, reflecting his face staring back up at him.
"You get used to it..."
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Authors Note:
Really appreciate the reception from you guys on this fic, glad you all enjoy the beginning chapters so far. I'm surprised by how fast its gained traction with how I've only started publushing this story like 3 days ago.
I'll do my best to keep up to this current standard of writing but it may slip up here and there since my brain might be fried with how much brainstorming, planning and writing that goes on up here (reverse cursed technique aint fixing this brain damage)
Be sure to leave some stones behind and a review if you really like the story. Tell your cat and turtle too to read it