Concerning Norms

[AN: Holy shit, sun bros, have you any of you seen the Demon souls (PS5) trailer? It looks absolutely stunning]

[Staurday-11:00Am]

[Floor 7]

[3rd POV]

*Stwick*

The sounds of crossbow bolts piercing flesh accompanied the sounds of monsters being rent by steel. It had been two days since Lili had joined the Hestia Familia, and her first time in the dungeon alongside Bell and Alistair. She was a crack shot with the crossbow she calls little ballista, a special model made specifically for plums, which she had revealed herself as. It turns out she had a skill called [Cinder Ella], which allowed her to modify her appearance as long as its size was the same or less of her normal size, be it turning into a monster, or growing dog ears, as she had when Bell and Alistair first met her.

She also had a second skill, surprising since she was still level one and was a supporter. The second was named Artel Assist, and the skill helps compensate by increasing her strength when she carries heavy items or equipment. Alistair already had plans to abuse this by getting a set of custom armor made of heavy metals, and giving her a dragonslayer bow, if his ideas are correct, she would be able to draw the bow easily.

Soon the trio had pushed their way to the stairway to the eighth floor when they spotted a man and women tending to the wounds of a cat person, who looked as if their arm had been crushed to mush.

[Al POV]

'Gwyn's beard what happened to him?' I looked over the cat person whose arm was black as dirt and mush flat, what looked like ground beef, leaking from his fingertips. Deciding to do a good deed, I pulled a talisman from my box along with the great heal manuscript and began the chant, which took around 15 seconds. By the time I had finished the chant, the two adventurers trying to mend his wounds noticed my chanting and tried to confront me, but when the golden glow enveloped him and his bones snapped back into place, they calmed down. "What happened here?" I asked while a dull throbbing echoed in my brain, miracles were not only weaker in this world, but took more out of me it seemed.

"You wouldn't believe us..." The woman, a dog person it seems, said with a defeated expression, "We've told two other parties and they just went down, we could hear them scream from here..." She was shivering. "There are not many things in life that can surprise me, lass, tell me what's happening." She nodded and explained, "T-There's a variant minotaur and a variant troll, on the next floor, it killed two of our party and crushed Andre's arm like a twig. And Andre is a peak level three!"

My eyes widened slightly at that, if she's correct, this minotaur could be level 4 or even level 5, and on such an early floor, this could spell the doom of those unknowingly going down, or returning from the dungeon. "What about the troll lass, you mentioned one." She turned an even lighter shade a white at this. "H-Huge, its head nearly touched the ceiling, it never attacked us, it was like it was...directing the Minotaur around..." Shit, if there is one thing I've learned in the few weeks I've been here, it's that monsters aren't intelligent, and this troll is possibly intelligent. They need to be culled before they get a chance to move from floor 8. If they are intelligent, it's possible they will try to breach the surface.

"Bell, we are going down, you will not fight either of them, just tell people to evacuate the floor. Lili, go to the surface and tell Eina Tulle at the guild what is happening." I gave my commands in my no-bullshit voice, they knew to listen, even Lili who barely knew me. I received nods from both and Lili began her run to the surface, followed soon after by the trio of adventurers. Bell and I went in the other direction, down.

[Floor 8]

[Ottar POV]

I was staying near the two monsters as my Lady ordered, keeping them on this floor until the party containing Bell Cranel and Alistair arrived to face them. The training I had given them in the last few days was only multiplied due to them being variants, both pitch black in color with red eyes. They were both a level higher than normal when I found them, now, they were three above. I may have to step in to save them mid-fight.

[Al POV]

[Floor 8]

It only took us a few minutes to find the two monsters, as we just had to follow the mangled remains of adventurers that ran into it. There were also some other parties of adventurers following the trail to investigate, but after we told them just what had caused it, they ran. I don't blame them, they couldn't have been over level 2.

Big. That's how I would describe the Minotaur, he seemed to be a couple of feet taller than me, so around 7 or 8 feet tall, it had a sword in its right hand which looked like a giant meat cleaver. When it spotted us it raised the sword above its head and prepared to charge us, but the troll behind it, clearly over 16ft tall, smacked its weapon against the ground, and the minotaur cowered and made a defensive posture.

The troll had the same black coloration as the Minotaur, with the glowing red eyes to match as well. Its weapon however was different. Instead of a sword, the troll had a square hunk of metal attached to a sword hilt. The metal 'blade' was around 10ft long, and probably weighed thousands of pounds.

Seeing their huge size, I assumed that their agility would be lacking, so, I quickly equipped my reinforced dark leather set and lightning infused Estoc. Looking to Bell I remarked, "The Minotaur will slow but hit hard, just dodge around it, save energy while you do. I need to take out the troll first, or it could easily kill us while we fight the bull." He gave a determined nod, he had mentioned many times he wanted to fight a minotaur to get rid of his shame from being saved by Ais Wallenstein. Truly since that day, he had been growing leaps and bounds stronger, faster than I thought possible.

Bringing myself out of my thoughts, I raised my Estoc to a thrusting position and began stepping towards the Troll. The Minotaur prepared to intercept me but was hit by a black firebomb that Bell had on his belt. The minotaur gave a roar of rage and charged him, but Bell easily dodge it, his smaller frame and naturally high agility proving too high for the bull, I could only hope Bell's stamina lasted till I was done.

Soon I was within stabbing distance of the troll, but it had not yet made any move, just silently watching me, studying me. I didn't attack yet as I didn't want to give it an opening to attack me, though I could probably dodge, something kept making me hesitate. Something wasn't right. The troll was standing tall with the tip of its 'sword' in the ground, in front of its foot. As I circled it I kept wondering what it was waiting for, as I circled in front of the weapon I learned its plan as it reared its leg back and kicked the weapon, causing it to fly towards me, covering the five or so feet distance instantly. I felt my chest cave in as the four foot wide pice of Iron connected with me, sending me flying across the room, smacking the wall with enough force to leave an outline.

I heard Bell yell something, over the ringing caused by the shockwave of the attack, and glanced up just to see him get hit with the flat of the minotaurs blade, being his arm at the elbow unnaturally. Looking back to the troll, it had its weapon on its shoulder, and I thought I saw it smiling. I probably would have coughed up blood if my lungs weren't collapsed and pierce by my ribs. Pulling my Estus flask off my belt I took two swigs of it and felt my body reconstructing itself, by the time I was on my feet again, I was back to pre-fight health. But this time, I didn't intend to get hit. Pulling out my talisman and my strongest attack miracle, a Great Lightning Spear.

I went through the two lines of text and the paper dissolved into light as lighting coated my right arm, and I knew I could send three Great Lightning Spears before it ran out. Deciding that this still wasn't enough firepower, I ignited my Pyromancy flame on my left arm. The troll's smirk faded and it lowered its weapon till it was holding the middle of the 'blade' with its left hand and began walking in my direction, but I wouldn't let it get close.

I reared my right arm back, letting the lighting for a lightning bolt around 5 feet long, before lobbing it at the Troll. It raised its Iron 'sword' to block it, but the electricity just traveled along and spilled around the weapon, causing the beast's muscles to spasm and fall over. Seconds after, a glob of fire 15 feet in diameter slammed into its prone form, causing the beast to shriek in pain. I knew not to let up, however, as the regeneration and vitality of a troll is what make it so much harder to fight than an orc. So I charged in and began stabbing it with my Lighting Estoc, to keep it paralyzed, before placing my right hand, still covered in lighting, on its face. A second sun bloomed in the dungeon that day, behind the eyes of the troll as two lightning spears worth of lighting fried the brain of the beast, causing the light to come out its eyes, nose, and mouth like a ghastly lighthouse.

The beast finally died and dissolved into dust. From the strength of its attack, it must have been peak of level 5, and from the amount of damage it took to kill it, its variation must have increased its regeneration. The beast left behind a large black monster stone which I quickly boxed before rushing towards Bell, before stopping and processing what was happening. I could see the Minotaurs right arm hanging loosely while the shards of its former weapon were embedded in its body from head to toe. Bell was standing in front of it, his left arm hanging limply, and turned around the wrong way, while his shortsword pinned the beast's left hand to the ground. Bell had his right hand on a wound on its abdomen while screaming "Firebolt!" and launching a magic I had yet to see inside its body, causing it to bloat while making a sound like a tea kettle, before finally, exploding in a shower of burnt gore and viscera, covering Bell in chunks of the beast and drenched in blood, some of it got on me as well. The crowd that had unknowingly formed to watch the fight were also hit, but that didn't stop them from cheering.

Meanwhile, Bell was passed out standing up