36 Chapter 36: Sinking Feeling

Lars and co. went with the Astraea familia to the dungeon.

"Hey, you guys are really level 4's and 3?" Another amazon asked them.

"Un, we worked hard Iska." Tiona and Tione nodded at her.

They could talk to her a bit easier. Because she's an amazon like them.

"How about you, Kaguya. How is the far east like?" Lars asked. He was curious about the place's eastern countries.

And she was obviously japanese, her kimono says it all.

"The far east huh? It's in a bad spot really. Filled with strife, corruption, and crime." Kaguya frowned.

"Ohh." Lars thought that it must be in a time period like the warring period of japan.

"There are 9 families that govern the far east. They all try to fight each other for power." Ryuu explained.

"A power struggle huh... And let me guess, the emperor can't reel them in?" Lars sighed.

"You're pretty smart, how did you know that?" Alise was amazed by him.

"It was just a simple conjecture, Alise." He shrugged with a smile.

"You're making us look bad, Alise." A werewolf laughed and Alise pouted.

"Neze! You should respect the captain more!" Alise whined.

"Shh, let's focus on the task at hand." Kaguya shushed them, but she chuckled at their antics.

The other members looked to be enjoying their conversations. And they were pretty close.

"Kaguya's right, you're making Lion die of embarrassment." Lyra pointed at Ryuu who hid her face with her hood.

"We don't mind, we should be more relaxed before we get to the deeper floors. Or we'll just drain ourselves." Lars shrugged.

"He's right! Huhun, we should mess around a bit. The dungeon is already gloomy enough!" Alise had a smug smile on her face.

"I didn't say to mess around though." Lars smiled wryly at Alise's energy.

They then traveled towards the deeper floors with their expedition.

His group didn't use their normal equipment, so they just stayed at the middle of the formation.

"They have amazing coordination, no?" Airmid was in awe at the group's team work.

Everybody trusted everyone. And they were able to get rid of the monsters easily.

"I wanted to fight the Amphisbaena though, but the Freya familia got to them first." Lars pouted.

The monster rex of the 27th floor, the two headed dragon; Amphisbaena.

It's approximately level 5. But due to the watery terrain, it was put on a threat level of 6.

But when they reached the deeper floors, there were no signs of evilus targeting them.

"I guess this one's a dud." Lars shrugged and they agreed.

"Let's just continue in exploring the dungeon from time to time." Alise offered and Lars thought that would be a good idea.

'Especially because they're Astraea's children... They might just become unexpected allies.' Lars thought.

"How about we go to this place called the hostess of fertility?" Lars asked and they agreed.

"Ohh! Isn't that the place where Syr works?" Alise knew her.

"You already know it then?" Lars chuckled and Alise nodded.

"She has been a great help for me back then..." Alise looked a bit melancholic.

Everybody exited the dungeon and they went back to the surface.

They went to the restaurant/bar and everyone began to order.

"Alise-san! How are you doing?" Syr who saw the redhead smiled and Alise grinned.

"Yo! Doing good, Syr! How about you get our orders for now?" Alise called for her.

"Hello, Lars-san. Did you like the sandwiches I made?" Syr bowed at him.

Tione and Tiona immediately crane their neck towards him and stare.

"Ahh, it was good. Though it wasn't really enough, you know my appetite." Lars laughed and Syr chuckled.

"I'm sorry that it's so small, I will try to add more in the future." Syr smiled and the amazon twins raised a brow at her.

"Ohh, that won't be necessary. I don't want to make you go all that trouble." Lars waved it off and the twins nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. Do you know how much food this guy eats?" Tiona pointed at him.

"We will be responsible for his nutritional needs, thank you." Tione acted like a devoted wife.

"Hah, you guys don't even know how to cook." Airmid outed them and they froze.

"Kuhahaha! Anyways, this is our order." Alise reiterated their order and Syr noted it down.

"Muu! Are you even our ally, Airmid?" Tione pouted at her.

"I'm just stating the truth here, learn how to cook first. And burning meat on a spit doesn't count." Airmid snorted.

"Gah!" The twins received emotional damage and the Astraea familia chuckled.

"This reminds me how we were like back then." Alise remembered their start.

When they struggled a lot just to make through the day.

"Yeah, it was hard back then." An elf chuckled at them.

"But look at where we are today, Celty." Kaguya had a satisfied smile on her face.

"Let's continue protecting the populace of Orario, yeah?" A dwarf flexed her bicep.

"Asta understands what we should do! Cheers!" Alise raised her stein and they started drinking.

Though Lars' group was just drinking some juice.

"I wish we would expand more like this." Airmid looked at them warmly.

"Yeah, it looks fun to have more members." Tiona had a genuine smile on her face.

Not like the smile she always had to try and cheer everyone up.

"I don't particularly mind not expanding. But you guys are right, it does seem fun." Tione chuckled.

After celebrating their newfound friendship, everybody went into a routine of having expeditions every week.

Even though it wasn't for the express intent of dealing with evilus.

__Guild__

"Lars-kun, I shouldn't be saying this because you've been going to the deeper floors consistently..." Rose sighed.

"But shouldn't a level 1 be more careful and start on the upper floors?" The werewolf was exasperated.

"I'm our expedition group's supporter you see? I don't really fight much." Lars smiled.

Technically he wasn't lying. And his guild advisor, Rose. Was having a headache.

She has seen a lot of adventurers come and go. The dungeon isn't a pleasant place to be in.

And seeing a promising young man like him go to the deeper floors with a small group rubbed her the wrong way.

"I see, just be careful alright? Especially because evilus has targeted you guys once already." Rose sighed.

"Yeah, about that. Have you guys gotten a whiff of those people?" Lars squinted his eyes.

"No, not really. It's been a few months already. But there has been no sightings of evilus at all." Rose shrugged.

"Maybe they've given up and decided to go into hiding for the rest of their lives?" Rose sighed and she hoped that was the case.

"Hmm, weird. We've been going with the Astraea familia regularly to lure them out. But I guess a larger group will make them more reluctant." Lars sighed.

"Can you give the Astraea familia a message, Rose? Tell them that we shouldn't go together for now." Lars asked of her.

"That seems logical. They're all 2nd class adventurers anyways. They have more experience than you guys." Rose nodded at him.

"Yeah, they have a really good balance too. So they'll be safer. They even managed to dive as deep as the 41st floor you know?" He chuckled.

"Alright, I'll be more content if a level 1 isn't diving to the deeper floors too." Rose chortled.

"Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." Lars sighed.

"What man? You need a few more years to be one." Rose gave him a noogie.

"Hmph, just you wait. I'll definitely floof that fluffy tail of yours." Lars laughed as he made his escape.

"Geez, that boy." Rose scratched her head in worry.

__Twilight Manor__

"Hmm, I wish the girls are enjoying their little get together in Monstro." Lars smiled.

"Ahhh, who am I kidding. They must be getting their ass kicked by Alfia." Lars chuckled.

"Lars! You came." Ais opened up the gates of the Loki familia home.

"Hey, Ais. Ready to hang out once again?" Lars smiled at her.

"Un, I've been making great progress with Riveria. Our magic is much stronger now." Ais beamed at him.

"I see, then let's do our weekly yoga sessions." Lars patted her head and she looked at his left hand.

"You have your hand again?" She was surprised that he could grow it back.

"Umu, pretty cool right? I'm just like a lizard." Lars laughed.

"Un, it's useful." Ais nodded seriously as she analyzed its uses.

"Don't try to get your limb taken off now." Lars ruffled her hair.

"He's right, even if you can regenerate. Don't even try to get a limb taken off, Ais." Riveria warned her.

"I won't..." Ais pouted at them as they were making fun of her.

Once they got to Riveria's room, Lars put down mats on the ground.

Taking out a music box that Airmid made with mystery, he played some music for Nada Yoga.

"I've really come to like our sessions of this so-called yoga." Riveria breathed in rhythm with the music.

"I feel calm when we start as well." Ais had a serene smile on her face. And she got rid of her self destructive tendencies.

While they were having a pretty good session, Orario suddenly suffered an earthquake.

"Uhhh, is Orario under a fault line?" Lars asked and Riveria frowned.

"Orario doesn't experience earthquakes, at all..." Riveria frowned.

"Hmmm?" Lars looked towards Babel and he just had a bad feeling.

"Hey, I think I should go towards the dungeon. I just feel the need to." Lars furrowed his brows.

He stood up and Ais pulled on his sleeve. "Let me come too." She was a genuine level 3.

And her stats were almost at the maximum too. She took Lars' advice of maxing them out wholeheartedly.

She hasn't seen Airmid in action before, but the paladin of Demeter familia could keep up with level 4's due to her raw stats.

"Go then, I think it's important to listen to your instincts." Riveria nodded at them.

Lars jumped through the window and Ais followed him quickly.

"I also don't have a good feeling about this." Riveria looked at Babel.

__Dungeon__

Ais saw Lars don his battle attire, a hoodie made out of pure arachne silk. And it also had inlays of orichalum.

(Pic)

Putting his gauntlets on his hand, Ais could see the aura around him change.

"You feel... Really different." Ais couldn't help but comment.

"I'm getting serious, Ais." Lars cracked his neck and his eyes turned into slits.

Everything in front of him was sliced into pieces.

The claws of his weapon; ruinous decimation. Bathed in the blood of monsters.

And with his improved dynamic vision, he was able to step into the most efficient places.

Strike the monsters at their vitals without fail. And his momentum didn't slow down, one bit.

"I'm losing ground... Tempest!" Ais had to use Ariel in order to keep up with him.

He was too fast, too furious. "Something's clawing at me, I have to be quicker."

Lars furrowed his brows. They quickly made their way downwards.

The upper floors were a breeze, the middle floors gave him more speed with the amount of trees as footholds.

With his senses being more acute. He heard a chilling scream. And it didn't come from people.

"The dungeon is screaming?" Lars started to get anxious.

"Are you sure?" Ais who was besides him asked.

"I heard it... Let's move." Lars clicked his tongue. The water city was simply too damned huge.

And their speed lessened massively due to the terrain.

They ran at the water itself and dodged the monsters trying to hit them.

"Ais! Do you trust me?" Lars looked at her and she was shocked.

"Yes, I do..." Ais nodded at him and Lars grabbed her.

He then jumped at the waterfall basin. A gigantic waterall that was 400 meters wide. And almost a kilometer deep.

They quickly made their way towards the 27th floor. And what was waiting for them is the amphisbaena.

"Fuck! Move out of the way you shitty dragon!" Lars breathed in and Ais could feel the overwhelming amount of mana converging.

With a shockwave coming out of his mouth, a beam of heat struck the dragon and it roared in pain.

And while it was thrashing around violently, they went to the entrance of the 28th floor.

"I can hear it too... There's a terrible battle up ahead." Ais felt the wind change.

His ears twitched and he could hear it much more clearly.

"Wait for me!" Lars moved his mana to his legs and craters formed at his every step.

__

Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.