Chapter 7: Days of Searching

(This chapter was uploaded on Tuesday 14/November/2023 8:45 PM, timezone GMT+3) 

('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the notes at the end of the chapter. 

"..." small moment of silence 

"Talking" 

"He-" Someone was interrupted. 

'Thinking' 

[Skills' names, chanting and spells' names] 

Don't shy from commenting on typos and/or inconsistencies. That and/or suggesting a modification to certain things that didn't make sense to you. 

I hope you enjoy reading this chapter. 

(Line Break) 

(Day 5 of Nephelont's arrival) 

"Captain Cranel, we are done searching floors from the 19th to the 24th. The newly discovered areas have been documented and a copy of the files is being transported to the manor, strait to your office. Of course, sir, we put a lock on it so no one else could read the details" A skeleton wearing a rope and holding a scepter as a walking stick reported to Bell. He was one of Henryk's children. 

"Good job, Rapha" His name was intended as a cruel joke from Norman, but Rapha liked the meaning, 'god who heals', and accepted the name. 

"So, did you find anything peculiar or out of place?" 

"Yes, sir. We found a treasure tree without its guardian green dragon. It was most likely his tree" Rapha said. 

"We should go to water city next! Tell the others that they should come rest on the 24th while we clear water city off of any monsters!" Bell ordered them. 

"I will, sir" 

'It is a relief that the xenos evacuated before we came down' 

"Dali, you will start detecting monsters hiding in water and in the walls and ceilings!" Bell said. 

"I will gladly do that, sir" Dali, from the detection team, replied. 

They descended the stairs while leaving ten Lv.7 personnel behind. As Bell said at the start of this search the day prior, they will help kill most monsters and keep the area safe enough to search. 

They went at the task with a safety-focused method. They separated every few floors as a set and searched them. 

They applied this method even to the upper and middle floors to familiarize themselves with how it is done. 

"Ais, tell Welf and Lia to grab the kids and come with us" 

"Un" Ais went to where Eucleia and her children were exploring. 

In spite of everyone's refusal, the little four kits threatened to band together to search for their father alone if they were not allowed to join in on this expedition. 

They were allowed to join on the condition that they always remain within Eucleia's reach, just in case the dungeon tried something funny again. 

"When're we gonna find the escapee?" 

"Agni! Our dad isn't an escapee!" Thumper gave a good impression of a 'Bell thing' while telling Agni that she was wrong. 

"Nuh huh! He fled away from adventurers!" 

Agni ran around with Thumper hot on her tail. He was waving his arms around, trying to grab her. His eyes were barely open enough to see in front of him. 

"Agni, Thuu, stop playing! We are going to water city now!" Eucleia called them to move to the next few floors. 

"Coming, mom!" Agni never stopped running, and instead ran towards the 25th's entrance. 

"That girl. We should run to keep up with her" Eucleia and the remaining three kits ran after an impatient Agni. If Ais, Bell and Eucleia were not the most impatient about meeting Nephelont, it would have been Agni. 

(Line Break) 

"How long would it be before the amphisbaena respawns?" Bell inquired. 

"It should be either today or tomorrow" 

"We will need to wait for it to spawn first then kill it" Bell muttered to himself. Some of the members were still level three. Those will find it difficult to fight the amphisbaena, should it choose to target weaker teams. 

"Tell the level three and below members to retreat to the 24th until it is dead!" Bell commanded everyone who heard it. 

(Line Break. Hours later) 

"But gramps! I wanna fight it!" Agni was acting like a brat her age. She was insisting on doing what she wanted without considering anyone's comfort. 

"You just became level 5 a month ago. I cannot allow you to fight it alone" Bell denied her request. 

"Sir!" They were interrupted by one of the search teams' leaders. 

"Yes? What is it you have to say?" Agni let them have the freedom to talk. It might help find Nephelont sooner. 

"Sir, we found a suspicious person who was sneaking around. We captured him and put him under paralysis after he eyed one of us. What should we do with him?" 

"Bring him here" Bell wanted to judge him after seeing the person for himself. 

The team leader who came to inform Bell went to grab the suspicious person. 

'I have a bad feeling about this' Eucleia's instincts were screaming at her to get away. 

"UNHAND ME! THIS GREAT FREDERICK ISN"T SOMEONE WHO SHOULD BE HANDLED LIKE THIS!" The screams of the tied-up man-child reached them just as he was around the corner. 

Eucleia excused herself with a pale face. The voice triggered a memory that could have become a trauma if it was not for her family. 

'Frederick?' Bell was surprised he would see Frederick of all people here. He thought Frederick died that damned day six years ago. 

"Bring him to me!" Bell ordered them. This man killed Eucleia, resulting in Nephelont sacrificing his life to return hers. Although Bell valued both of their lives equally, he always wanted to take revenge for his son. This was his chance. 

"To think we will meet again, Frederick" 

"Heh! To think I will be the reason the hero of Orario suffers! Bell Cranel!" Frederick had a crazed expression on him that Bell recognized. 

'That expression... So, there are still evilus members alive, huh? Truly... what a pity. To think one of my son's childhood friends would turn to one of those crazed murderers' Bell beheaded Frederick without any further exchange of words between them. 

"Be careful! Everyone! Be wary of every person you do not know!" Bell did not directly say it himself. It would have brought chaos among their ranks should he tell them evilus still exists. 

"Gramps... that thing was..." Agni was disgusted. She remembers seeing it in her dreams, the day her parents were separated. She remembers hating the guy and was losing her smile and excitement really fast. She was greatly displeased to know he was still alive for six years when her father was not. 

"That was something you did not need to see, Agni" Bell said as he wiped his blade as if he was wiping filth off it. He signaled for some of the supporters to deal with the corpse. 

"No. If it wasn't for you, I'd have tortured him till he died" It unnerved Bell how calm and lifeless Agni was in comparison to her hyperactive and playful self. 

Her three siblings were sporting similar expressions. Bell knew why. They could see fragments of their parents' memories and inherit their knowledge through them. 

That means the poor children would not have a normal childhood like most children deserve. 

"Gramps, let's forget about this insignificant thing and continue searching. I want to meet my dad, if it was him we will see later" Agni brought it up again. 

"We can hasten up the search after the amphisbaena gets defeated" Bell replied as he started looking around. 

"Grandfather, we want to fight the amphisbaena alongside Agni. We will support her. You can oversee the process yourself" Augustus stepped forward. He wanted his sister to vent and get rid of that annoying feeling. 

"I can allow that" 

"I will be waiting until then" Agni, uncharacteristic of her, sat down and waited silently with a grim expression that she barely ever made before. 

Eucleia returned and saw how Agni looked now. She sat down beside her and sat her in her lap. It had a comforting effect on her four children. 

(Line Break. Day 6 of Nephelont's arrival) 

"Has she returned to her usual self?" Bell came back to check on Agni. 

"She went to play with her brothers and sister" Eucleia ushered him to the corner the four children were playing in. 

Bell felt relief after he saw the four of them play chase with Ais. An unfortunate aqua serpent tried to approach them. 

"Hey! We can use this monster as a rope to play tug of war!" It was met with the misfortune of being used as a rope in a game of tug of war. 

"Will it attack us?" Thumper asked timidly. 

"Man up!" Clementina and Agni grabbed his hands and put them on the head of the serpent, pinning that down. 

"Owawawawa!" While Thumper was freaking out and getting lost on what to do, the other three grabbed other parts near the head while Ais grabbed the tail's end. 

"SHAAAA?!!" The aqua serpent received looks of pity and a wish for a better next life from Bell. 

"SHAAAAA!!" It was stretched beyond what was comfortable. It was a miracle that it remained alive through the entire ordeal. 

"SIR! WHERE ARE YOU? SIR!" One of the members appointed to report the amphisbaena's whereabouts came running and calling for Bell. 

"I am here! Mathew!" Bell called his name to grab his attention more successfully. 

"The amphisbaena... hah... was seen respawning.... hah... just an hour ago... hah... in the 25th..." Mathew was gasping for breath. He ran two whole floors down to catch up to Bell's party. 

"Go, Bell. I will oversee the search personally in your place" Alfia offered to her nephew. 

"Yeah, you can go, little Bell!" Meteria practically pushed him. 

"Mom! Do not call me that! I am not a kid anymore!" It was something Meteria called him whenever she wanted to see his cute blushing face. 

"Yes! You are! Now go! My little rabbit!" 

Ais sneaked up on him and muffled his cries of denials with one hand and kidnapped him with the other. 

"Mfff! MMFFFFF!! MMMMFFFFFFF!!" 

"I sometimes wonder if he was really over forty..." One of the bystanders felt awkward while seeing how the captain of the famous Hestia familia was being treated by his direct family. He looked like his teenage years right now. 

"LET'S GO!" Agni took on her dragon form and flew up the great waterfall. 

She took the poor aqua serpent with her. Her siblings alongside Ais were still holding onto the aqua serpent and were dragged along. Ais was waving Bell in goodbye as she flew away on Agni express. 

"Sigh~ Good thing I prepared some spare clothes for them" Eucleia said as she was running after them. 

Eucleia was rolling her eyes at Agni. When one of them transforms, their clothes cannot handle the transformation and get ripped to shreds. 

To deal with this problem, they had one of Henryk's children enchant a magic tool to store the clothes in while transformed. The problem with this tool is that they feared a side effect appearing if the children used it often before their bodies stabilized. Their race-changed bodies were expected to completely stabilize by the age of ten. They need to wait four years and three months until then. 

Agni ignored that little tidbit no matter how many times they tried reminding her. 

"Dad, should we follow them?" Raya 

(Line Break) 

"Should we start?" Agni impatiently asked the other three. 

Thumper, Clementina and Augustus have already found a corner where they could hide, take their clothes off then transform. 

"Should we wait for you to need help?" Augustus asked before acting. He knew that Agni wanted to fight alone. 

"I'd rather not need help!" She announced her presence to the monster rex. 

"Be careful, Agni" 

"Oh~ Look at our youngest rabbit~" 

"I'm... older... than you..." Thumper's voice got quieter as he talked. 

With her size now, in her dragon form, she was around one and a half times Ottar's height. 

Agni flew around above the amphisbaena and observed it. She waited for an opportunity to make a good surprise attack. 

The amphisbaena was moving through the water and looking around. Once the right head looked to the right and the left head looked left, its necks were exposed. 

'Jackpot!' Agni found the opportunity she wanted. She brandished her claws and dived at the right head's neck at full speed. 

Once Agni got close enough, she used her momentum to make wounds with her ten claws along the right neck, where its throat was. She effectively disabled its anti-magic mist attack. 

Agni flew to a safe distance away from the amphisbaena after doing that. 

"ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!" The left head roared. 

As for the right head, it was bleeding where its throat was. It was gurgling in its own blood. Blood started pouring into the amphisbaena's lungs, suffocating it. The amphisbaena knew that it had a limited time starting now. 

In a disparate measure, it tried to burn Agni. But alas, Agni was resistant to fire to some extent. And as a level five, she very well was able to dodge most of the amphisbaena's fire breath. 

Agni did not want to get near it when the right head was still moving. And as such, she used her tail. 

While playing with her siblings at that one time, she got frustrated with Augustus. Typical of them. She chased him as he flew away. 

In an instinctive way, she flicked her tail in the direction Augustus was going to go. 

Then it happened. Agni's tail launched most of its scales at him. They embedded themselves in his body and made him forcefully land down from the pain. 

Eucleia had to interfere to help remove the embedded scales and apply potions to Augustus. 

From then on, that move was prohibited when playing. But this is not playing. This is fighting to kill. 

Agni flicked her tail and launched her scales into the left head's eyes. The head tried getting away, but the number of scales and their spray meant that some would land. 

And as expected, some scales reached the head. Only one or two landed in one eye while the other was unharmed. 

"Tsk" Agni clicked her tongue. She used all the scales on her tail with that last flick. She cannot make the same move again. 

The amphisbaena dived underwater and waited for Agni to ambush her. 

In response, Agni used all the fire she could to boil the water around where the amphisbaena dived. 

After a few minutes and many fire breathes, the amphisbaena resurfaced to relieve itself from the heat and to take a breath as it could not breath underwater. 

By now, the right head was dead. The left head was not any better. It looked tired and out of breath. Its lungs were now full of water as well. It only had time to make one final move and disappear. 

"GRRRR!!" It wanted to roar only to spew out water mixed with blood. It shook its head to get rid of the feeling. 

"Raya, do you think we should step in now?" Ludwig asked his sister. 

"Nah, Ludi. We should leave her to feel the thrill of her fight. And remember? Her siblings are there to help should she need it" Raya was bored because of how anticlimactic this fight was. And to think they were standing here to keep that little menace safe. 

"At least, she can meet the bigger menace" Ludwig commented on Raya's thoughts. He knew that she was thinking of Agni as a little menace. 

"Oh! You!" Raya gave him a playful punch to his shoulder. 

Seeing as it could not do much, the amphisbaena spent the last of its energy to try and burn Agni. 

"[O, sacred flames of Olympus, protect me. Hestia's armor]" A layer of flames was cast upon her body. 

[Hestia's armor] is a spell that covered the target in the sacred flames Hestia herself tended to in the upper world. It granted the target immunity to flames of any kind and put them out no matter the source of the opposing flames. 

It had an additional effect when cast on one of Hestia's familia members. The member gets an all-round buff to every parameter as if they gained around 100 points more, regardless of parameter limits. 

It lasted for a single minute before the immunity was gone. The parameter buff gradually dissipates over another minute. 

As a result, she just hovered in the path of the amphisbaena's fire breath. It did not faze her one bit. 

"And that there is the moment the great amphisbaena, the monster rex of water city, got defeated by a rabbit who pretends to be a fellow mighty dragon!" Raya raised her voice so Agni heard her. 

"Don't call me that! Aunty flatty!" 

"Come down here and see if I don't show you who is this flatty!" A vein was about to pop on Raya's forehead. 

Agni took her frustration on the poor dying amphisbaena. She glided in and dragged all of her ten claws on its back while it was gurgling its blood in pain. The amphisbaena's body finally had no more energy and blew up into a giant cloud of whitish-grey ash. 

"Hah! The liver's there too!" Agni swooped in to grab her prizes. She then flew to where Eucleia stood watch. 

"Congratulations! Agni! You can kill an amphisbaena all on your own! You are truly your father's daughter!" Eucleia gave her a hug and congratulated her. 

"Did dad also kill it at level 5?!" Agni was getting fired up. 

"Yes, he did. He dragged me here once we became level five and had me watch him kill it. He was a little uneasy about your grandparents getting worried, so he did it without them knowing. He was a naughty rabbit" Eucleia's smile was warm. She was remembering what Nephelont considered his right of passage as a level five. 

All the while, Ais was patting Agni's head. Agni silently enjoyed it. 

'I guess I will forgive you, Agni' Raya forgave her niece as she saw unfit ruining this triumphant moment of hers. 

"Hmm?" Agni felt Ais' hand leaving her head. 

Ais was holding Desparate's handle in a tight grip. She was getting stressed over finding Nephelont. 

"Mom, I think we should move on. Dad may be waiting for us to find him right now" Agni got out of the hug and held Eucleia's hand to walk with her to where Ais felt Nephelont be. 

Ais has trained her ability to sense her descendants through the link between their souls, as all of them were part spirit. It was mandatory to ensure the kids' safety. As a result, she knew that Nephelont was on a far lower floor. 

It was a little inaccurate, as she did not know what floor or how far down it was. She just felt that it was far down. 

She did not rush there to where he was because it may have disrupted the unity of the search operation's participants. 

"Let's go! Grandma!" Agni held Ais' empty hand in her other hand. 

"Oh" Ais was a little moved. She complied and walked with the two of them. 

(Line Break) 

"Bell, we should go further down, faster and more than the others. I sense Nephelont in a much lower floor" 

"Right after finishing the search of water city. Is that okay?" 

"It is okay. But I cannot wait any longer than that, Bell" 

"We are about to finish searching the first floor of water city. Bringing the others from the floors above will make it go faster" 

Bell ordered a member to go inform the ones waiting above to come down and help after Agni dealt with the monster rex of water city. 

 (End of Chapter)

If you felt that Agni's fight with amphisbaena was anticlimactic, then know you are right. It started by an ambush from a level five dragon. Amphisbaena itself is a level five monster, considered to be level six if it utilized the water it lives in. An ambush from a similar-leveled adventurer might have killed it, which would eventually happen from the excessive bleeding Agni inflicted on one of its necks, and the one she subsequently inflicted on its back.

Now, as promised, I will go write a chapter or two in my other fic and return her to write and edit a few more chapters.

Have a nice time until then, ladies and gentlemen.