Expedition Begins, Denatus is open

I finished slipping on the gift given to me by Tsubaki, it was a skintight black bodysuit made out of an inner layer of moisture-wicking fabric and an outer layer of salamander leather, which is near fire-proof, and would come in handy against the Hellhounds. She had also made me a new Surcoat for my Elite knight set since it was quite tattered. The new Surcoat had the Hestia Familia crest, a roaring flame behind a large shield, and a bell above it mid-ring. Hestia had chosen it since Bell and I were the first members of the Familia. The Surcoat was the color of the fire with golden yellow trim, with fire-warding heraldic symbols surrounding the symbol, giving it, even more, fire defense. In fact, the armor had near the same fire defense of my Black Iron set. Alongside my lightning enchanted Zwei Hander and Artorias' Great Shield, I was hopefully prepared for anything the dungeon could throw at me from floor 1 to 59 and back.

I glanced over at Tsubaki who was wearing her Eastern style armor with the Titanite Naginata on her back, hanging by a specially made clamp, and an Uchigatana and Iaito on her left hip. Both gifts from me in case she loses her Naginata, they were as reinforced as I could make them, but without an elemental enchantment. Tsubaki glanced up at me as well, seeming to notice my gaze, and asked, "Can you tighten the strap on my back? I can't really reach it." I gave a nod and went about tightening it while I heard the group of around 300 people beginning to murmur, looking towards the disturbance I noticed Finn and Gareth walking onto a stage that had been constructed in Babel Plaza. Once up ontop Finn raised his arms, and the crowd settled down before he began speaking.

"One month ago, we were pushed out of the dungeon before we even reached the Goliath monster rex, the huge influx of Variants overwhelmed us, but the Loki Familia doesn't back down from a challenge! Now we will head back into the dungeon, a hundred souls larger, with the purpose of reaching the 59th floor and documenting the new Variants and their strengths and weaknesses! As always, you are entitled to 10% of the magic stones you collect, while those level 4 and above will get 5% of the total amount! Now, say your farewells and get ready to move! We head out in 15 minutes!" At the end of his speech, the crowd cheered and many smacked their shields causing a loud racket to sound out. Reminding me of my time in the Order when we were sent out to hunt down bandits...

"Al! Tsubaki! It took forever to find you two!" I heard a females voice from behind me and turned to see Hestia. Lili and Bell walking up to us, many similar scenes playing out, mainly lovers and family of the Loki Familia members. "Sorry Hestia-Sama, we got here early and got surrounded." Tsubaki said with a chuckle and I nodded and commented, "Indeed, I am glad you all managed to find us, It would have pained me to go off for such a long time without seeing you all again." The three smiled at that and we all exchanged words of support and such for a few minutes before the sound of a bell rung out, time to move it seems, "Hestia, can you make sure the construction Familia doesn't move or do anything to the fire I built? It is extremely important that it isn't messed with, and I'll explain why when I return." I asked her, she seemed a bit confused but nodded and assured me she would let them know. I shared a hug with my Familia and Tsubaki got a hug from Hestia, since they were close. And we began to follow the surge of people entering the dungeon.

Hestia watched us go, waving until we were out of sight, and then turned to the rest of her children, "Alright! I've got to go and get the constructing Familia's rules laid out and then rush to the Donatus! You two be safe!" Before she hugged Bell and Lili and ran off to do her own thing. Bell looked to Lili and asked, "Want to go get some breakfast before we head into the dungeon? The floors will be wiped clean this early thanks to the expedition." She bobbed her head and said, "Of course Bell-Sama! It's a date!" Bell barked a laugh and walked off hand in hand with the Pallum that was only a head shorter than him.

[A couple of hours later]

[Al POV]

[11th floor]

I sidestepped the swing of a Variant Orc with red skin, before smacking the knee of the monster with my great shield, making it fall to head level with me, and I swung my Zwei Hander sideways, decapitating the beast, making blood spray into the air, some landing on me. It then exploded into ash, leaving a bigger than usual Magic Stone and around 40 souls rushed into me, rejuvenating me. I didn't bother to pick it up and turned to the next Variant, this one with orange skin that was rushing towards me.

I had noticed that nearly as soon as I entered the dungeon that nearly 30% of every monster group we encountered tried to fight me only, tunnel-visioned if you will. Gareth even joked that someone must have stuck monster bait in my pouches, after a few more floors I actually checked. While it didn't bother me much and the fights were very easy, it was annoying since the lower leveled members of the Expedition were supposed to be killing them to help them level up, and me killing them took away a good amount of their kills. Before long we reached the stairway to the next floor.

[1 hour later]

[Al POV]

[16th floor]

I was talking with Tsubaki and Riveria as we walked. "The Variant ratio is up nearly 600%, something is happening in the dungeon, it's almost like a God is in the dungeon, causing it to launch a defensive effort. But before we went on this expedition, I looked into every Gods whereabouts in the last two months, and not only do they all have backed evidence of their locations there hasn't even been a God that entered Orario from the outside in that time, meaning that its all local Gods in the city right now." The green-haired Elf gave a sigh of expiration before continuing, "Thankfully the majority of Variations so far are limited to increased defense or speed, meaning that low-level adventures can continue fighting in the same areas, and even level up and get more Valis due to the Variant cores, though the value will drop due to the sheer amount of variants, for a while at least, there will be an economic boom."

I nodded as I listened to her, though it seemed she was talking to herself more than me and Tsubaki, "Adversity will always be the best stone to sharpen your skills on, I look forward to the increase of adventures leveling up, perhaps in our lifetime the dungeon will be conquered." I commented and it drew a glance from Riveria and Tsubaki. Tsubaki sighed as well and agreed, "We can only hope. I might lose my job, but it's better than seeing kids die here daily." The three of us couldn't help but nod to that. That was the biggest difference I had noticed between low-level and high-level adventurers, Most low-level and a small number of high-level adventures were defensive when I mentioned the conquering of the dungeon. While the majority of high level and some low-level adventurers supported my wish of it being conquered.

It seems that zeal outweighs the logic of the younger generation, they're willing to run to their deaths just for a few Valis, and if they're lucky, they end up a high level, but most die off or get stuck at level 3, and it is, quite sad. If anyone understood the wish to end meaningless conflict, it was me, I had enough to last a lifetime.

[17th Floor]

[Al POV]

The Expedition came to a halt as we entered the 17th floor, without commands the members that were level 4 and above came forwards, leaving a group of around 25 people, including myself. Finn looked around our small group and began to assign roles, when he got to me, I switched out my armor and shield for the Havel set along with his dragon tooth and preceded his words with my own, "I shall take the vanguard, out of everyone here I have the strongest defense, not one attack will get past me." This quick transformation drew the attention of most of the expedition and there were murmurs, Finn sighed and nodded and Gareth laughed and commented, "you've got to tell me how you do that." I gave a laugh of my own and commented loudly, "Then, all that is left is for us to march forward! In Jolly Co-operation!" Before walking forwards, my steps causing a slight rumble around me. Before long the group was in formation near the Wall of Grief, archers, and mages at the back, fighters like Tsubaki in the middle, and those with high defense behind me, just in case. I was at the very front with a black firebomb in hand. When I got a nod from Finn, I tossed the ball of volatile liquid at the wall, it exploded in a large ball of fire and cracked the translucent glass.

A scene similar to a group of souls flying around, appeared in the Wall of Grief before they coalesced into the form of a humanoid, bone-white skin and piercing red eyes, the monster rex also had a bone-like carapace on its weak points. I gave a loud yell since I was closest and could see it clearly, "Variant! It has armor!" At my words, the group stiffened, and the Goliath swung its fist, making the Wall of Grief explode outwards, a huge chunk heading for the group, which I intercepted. I slammed my shield into the bedrock floor and braced myself before the giant hunk of crystal impacted my shield with the strength of a Taurus Demons charge. I slid back a few feet, dragging a trench with my shield. I saw the monster preparing to jump over me and into the backline, so I pulled out another firebomb and threw it at the monster's ugly face, causing the right side to be charred black, contrasting with its bone-white skin, giving it an almost demonic look.

"Come hither you ugly abomination! I am your opponent!" I yelled while smacking my shield with my gauntleted hand, eliciting a roar from the beast as it reared its leg back to hit me. I felt my skill [Bulwark] kick in as my body seemed to stick to the ground as the foot approached, it smacked into my shield, and I stayed stationary, while the beast screeched loud enough to make eardrums ring, its foot bending in a wrong direction, though it quickly healed. "Regeneration!" I informed my allies, before I myself rushed forward, Dragon Tooth in hand.

From behind me, the rest of my allies also began their attack, mages firing spells, archers aiming at the beast's face, hoping to blind it, while our melee fighters rushed in to attack its legs and bring it down, shield bearers preparing to intercept its attacks. I, however, was the first to reach it and swung my weapon at its left shin, impacting it with a sickening crack, while the mouth of the beast unhinged like a snake as it screeched in pain.[Think AoT titans screaming]

While the beast fell down on its left knee, I prepared to hit its knee joint and bring it down further, but it swung its left fist towards me, and I got ready with my shield, Bulwark kicking in again, however this time it grabbed me, negating my Bulwark once the attack wasn't heading in my direction. And threw me towards the opposite wall like an armored ball, I impacted the wall hard, thankfully the armor absorbed the majority of the damage, and I felt only around 10% of my Vitality was taken from the impact. I slid down the wall and landed on my feet. With my current weight, I would take around 10 seconds to return to the fight, and seeing it wind its arm back in a sweeping motion, I decided to stop it. I pulled out my dragonslayer bow, and instead of a normal spear for ammo, I pulled out Ornstein's spear, its lightning enchantment flickering. I drew the bow back, causing it to make a sound similar to rocks being dropped on ice, resound throughout the cavern, drawing many curious glances, which quickly turned to shock seeing the weapon.

As my fingers slipped off the string made of the sinew of a dragon, the spear launched towards the mid-center of the beasts chest, coincidently catching the arm of the beast mid-swing, pinning it to its own chest, and it howled in pain once again as the lighting enchantment constantly flared, making its bones visible for split seconds. I decided to end it here, and loaded another spear, normal this time, and took aim at its open maw, the sound echoed once again before I released the spear, it soared true, hitting the back of the maw of the beast, pinning its head to the now regenerated wall. From there, it was as simple as loading another spear and hitting it between the eyes, destroying its brain, causing it to explode in ash, leaving a giant black monster core, along with thirty thousand souls rushing into my body, along with,

[Soul of the Armored Goliath]

I gave a boisterous laugh at this, before switching back to my previous loadout and saying to Gareth, who had approached me, "If I knew it would be that easy I would have done that from the beginning." He gave a laugh of his own before smacking me on the shoulder and saying, "That bow of yours was gigantic! How in the Gods' names do you even draw it, and were those spears you used as arrows?!" I just laughed again and said, "We shall speak of this later, my friend, for now, let us collect the spoils and continue on!" A cheer rang out from the group and most of the expedition, I noticed the werewolf man, named Bete, was giving me an angry glare. Perhaps he was mad I killed it so fast. Bah! No matter, if anything I kept him from getting slapped by the beast.

And so I walked over and regrouped with the rest of the group as we continued on our trek down.

[AN: The noise the Bow made can be heard by looking up, "Dropping Ice down a hole in the artic" I thought it sounded cool so I made that the sound, lol. Next chapter, the Denatus, campsite gossip, and a short Bell POV]