Chapter 17: Xenos Village

Arthur Leywin:

We walked up, ignoring the freezing temperature of the floor, and the first thing that greeted me was the view of ice covering the whole area.

If I didn't go through the assimilation process for my Beast Will, using fire mana wouldn't be enough. Thankfully I did, and now it was just slightly cold, but I don't want to stay here longer than necessary.

Remi guided me towards the next floors while I observed the monsters this floor spawned.

From monsters completely made out of ice to creatures like the giant ice bear that could manipulate ice as a weapon and shield, reminding me of my Mana Sword and Ice Armor spells.

Their Ice Armor consisted of multiple smaller parts that quickly restored themselves after being destroyed, unlike my Ice Armor spell consisted of a few parts that, when broken, caused me to reform the whole part from scratch. This was one reason that I didn't use it often, and the other was that I kinda forgot about it...

But if I recreated it out of smaller parts, then I could use pure mana, which is stronger but harder to use than ice, but with smaller parts, it would be more effective.

I continued thinking about how to make the spell while we made out way through the floors.

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The coldness started fading as we walked up the stairs. But, even if the cold was bearable due to my magic, I still didn't want to return there without warm clothes.

We walked into a large rectangular room made out of graphite, and inside were lots of ten-meter-tall red dragons standing on both their legs.

Remi shielded me from the incoming fire breath, and we quickly started killing them, with Remi just being the Juggernaut and me using my sword and ice attacks.

I didn't know if they were more effective but considering they are using fire, ice should be a good option.

The next floor changed and became a labyrinth consisting of many corners. The walls, ground, and ceiling were flat, making the structure seem carefully measured and just enough for Remi to fit through.

"Hey, Remi, what can you tell me about this floor?" Thankfully Remi was like a walking encyclopedia for the dungeon, so I could ask her about everything I didn't know.

She seemed to think for a second before answering.

"As you can see, this and the next eight floors are a labyrinth consisting of monsters like Cadmus, Vigras, Venom Scorpions, Thunder Snakes, and others. The dragons we just fought were Valgang Dragons. The floors are also called the Dragon's Vase, as starting from the 52nd floor, the Valgang Dragons on the 58th floor lock onto adventurer's positions and fire flares through multiple floors." She said as if reciting it from a book.

How does she even know that? I know she lives down here, but to know the things about everything and what they are called by adventurers... Maybe it's another perk of being a Juggernaut?

"We are almost there, my lo... Art." She said and continued to guide me.

"Almost where?" I asked, not knowing what she was talking about as we just entered the floor.

"I'm going to show you to all my family and friends, and there is a shortcut to the village on this floor." She said, and I could hear the excitement in her tone.

Village? I started thinking before remembering that the Xenos have a secret village.

Wait! Is she bringing me there? Actually, this could be good. If I remember correctly, the village should be located around the 20th floor, and I could have access to the shortcut in the future.

Making our way through the floor, taking a few turns, we made were met by a dead end.

Noticing my confused look, Remi decided to explain.

"This is a secret passage that was discovered a few years ago that leads straight to our village." After she said that, she started tapping on different parts of the wall.

At first, nothing happened, but after a while, the wall started to separate, but it wasn't big enough for Remi to pass through.

As I was to point that out to her, I was blinded by a glow from her, similar to how Sylvie changed her form, but what I saw made me stop.

Instead of a big scary-looking Juggernaut, I saw the cute little version of it. She was the same size as me, but she didn't just shrink.

The two horns she had changed shape into what almost looked like a crown, and the color of her skin changed to more of a navy blue color. But before I could ask her about the transformation, she spoke.

"No time to wait, adventuerers could show up at anytime here." I couldn't say anything, so I just nodded and felt she reminded me of someone, but I couldn't figure out who.

After we passed, the wall started to close again, and I considered entering Realmheart how this was made, but I could do it another time.

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The walk took us around twenty minutes before we entered the village.

As we entered, I could feel tens of different gazes on me from the surrounding Xenos, some out of hostility and some out of curiosity.

I decided to ignore them and take and followed Remi to the center of the village, where we met a Lizardman Xenos wearing a full set of armor and wielding a scimitar and a longsword.

After observing me for a while, he decided to speak. "You must be Arthur Leywin, right?"

I was surprised he knew my name, and it clearly showed because he decided to explain it.

"After your disappearance, Fels asked us to report to him if we found a young boy with white hair and lavender eyes."

Fels asked? I didn't meet him or Ouranos after the whole Evilus thing, so I thought they wouldn't even notice my disappearance.

"I see..." I replied awkwardly, still feeling all of them staring at me in the distance.

"Ah... I haven't introduced myself, I'm Lyd." He said, putting his hand forward for a handshake while scratching the back of his head with the other.

"Arthur Leywin, but I guess you already knew that..." I said while shaking his hand.

We talked for a while around a fire, and after some time, most of the Xenos returned to doing what they were doing before we arrived here, and Remi went to talk to a Harpy Xenos.

"I'm surprised you are so calm. Most adventurers would have been scared or even attacked us." Lyd said

"Well, I have spent some time with Remi now, and seeing other intelligent monsters isn't surprising anymore." I said with a chuckle.

"Haha... You are right. She can look scary, but she's a nice girl. She was even the first to look after you when Fels asked us."

"Yeah, we have some history..." I said while scratching the back of my head.

"Ahhh, so that's it." Lyd said while nodding his head, but for some reason, I think he misunderstood what I meant.

We continued to talk, and some other Xenos approached me, asking me about the surface, and I answered their questions the best way I could before he showed me the exit from the village, while the other Xenos kept Remi busy so she wouldn't know that I had left, which I appreciated. Having spent some time with her, I had a feeling that if she knew I was leaving, she would follow me.

With a last handshake, I left, and I could finally return. I don't even know how long I was gone.

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Authors Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter.

Remi 'human form', anyone?

Oh, and if you haven't read my new fan-fic where the MC is reincarnated with the Legacy Powers in TBATE, check it out I update it once a week at the same time as this fan-fic.

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