7 Meet the Main Man

(Steve POV)

"Dammit Bathsheba!" I grumbled to my Warg as I pulled out a map. "I'm supposed to keep a low profile but on my first day of adventuring, I've already blown it in front of the Loki Familia!"

In my defence, I had no idea they were even there. I'd tempted out the monster rex in its normal form and I'd suddenly had a flashback to the scene where Ottar had kicked around a Minotaur so badly that it had evolved and become a red Irregular that was more powerful than normal.

I'd wanted to test if the same could be done to a monster rex so I'd just gone in and slapped Goliath up silly, always making sure to push him right to the brink of death and not going that extra bit further to kill him. It also made me more conscious of how physically strong I was. All I'd been doing was jumping around giving it weak little slaps which amounted to giant punches apparently.

The monster eventually began learning my attack patterns and how to keep conscious of my trajectory. It began to learn how to weave and doge between each of my divebombs and countered with well timed howls and punches of its own. It never could throw a punch I wasn't able to respond to with equal force though.

But that way it started to get better and better until eventually it adapted and grew 50% more of its size while its brown-grey skin became a hue of red. In this form it was definitely stronger and smarter but its increased size allowed for more blind spots. It was then I racked up my speed and really began attacking him, landing blows that was shaking the entire floor around us. I tried to go even further and see if I could evolve him into a Black Goliath for experiment's sake before it turned out that it was on its way to dying.

So after one particularly hard shove, I'd thrown him right through the stone doorway. Then flew forwards with almost the full speed I could muster, snapped its neck via a punch to the cheek, blasted a hole right through its stomach and took out its spine so it had no chance of righting itself then caved its skull in. On that last attack I'd exerted way too much force than I thought I would and the monster just exploded while I created something resemblant of a meteor crash site outside the boss room.

I'd still hadn't noticed they were there because I'd landed with my back to them and I'd been travelling at such speeds that everything I wasn't concentrated on blurred into the background. It was only when Bathsheba came up to me and told me that some people were there did I swing around and realize who had just seen me wreck the entire 17th floor and bulldoze its boss monster.

I panicked for a moment, unsure of what to do except to go and see if they were okay and why they were on the ground. I assumed that my landing had affected them or injured them but they seemed fine to me. So as quick thinking, I offered the Goliath stone as compensation. I didn't want it anyway as it would have appealed to me more being whole.

I didn't have a problem with the Loki Familia. In fact, they were among my favourite characters in the franchise and they were all round just cool people in my opinion. Not to mention that two of my 'favourite' favourite characters were amongst them.

No, the problem was that if there was anything negative to be said about the Loki Familia, it's that they were too damn curious for their own good.

And now that they had seen me, I wouldn't be able to repel them and they had connections everywhere so they would eventually find me if I tried to evade them in Orario. Oh well, its not like I had to say anything important. Besides, perhaps it was a chance to get to know them better and befriend them...

...if they weren't mad at me at least.

---

(General POV)

Ais slid to a halt at the bottom step and looked around for the mysterious adventurer. Her companions followed behind her a second later.

"Don't just run off like that Ais." Finn chided. "We're supposed to be a team."

"Forget that!" Bete said as he sniffed the area. "Where is the purple bastard?"

"Hey look!" Tiona pointed. "Isn't that his wolf over there?"

They followed her finger up a ridge that ran by one of the walls. It was a well visited spot as those who came down to the 18th floor for the first time would climb up there to get a goo view of the entire floor. Perched above the peak of the edge was the giant black wolf looking out over the expanse of the safe zone, as still as a figurehead.

"Well there's his animal." Finn said confusedly as they climbed up the ridge. "But where is he?"

Riveria who had been paying close attention to the wolf noticed that it's big blue eyes were looking upwards at something. Following its gaze, her eyes widened. "Up there!" She said, pointing her staff up the ceiling.

There they spotted the armoured adventurer, floating high in the air looking towards the adventurer's city with a large map in his hand. His cape flowed around him and if someone from Earth were to see him in this moment, they'd accuse him of trying to do a Superman impression, which he was pulling off rather well.

The Loki Familia could do nothing as they stared, trying to figure out how he was doing this. Lefiya theorized that it was through the use of magic items such as the winged sandals of the Captain of the Hermes Familia. But she could see no wings on the ankles of the adventurer's armoured boots.

It was just one more bizarre thing associated with this stranger. When they had approached the scene from a reasonable distance, the Warg whipped her head around and stared right at them, rumbling its throat a little. They were not scared of it as each one of them would have no problem killing her but the wolf conveyed her message well.

They stopped walking and stood still, keeping eye contact with the wolf for a few moments as they tried their best to project calm and peaceful intentions to the animal. Eventually, Bathsheba looked back to her master and barked twice at him.

They saw his helmet turn and look down at them over his shoulder before he rolled the map up and began slowly descending to the ground towards them. Tiona kept a closer eye on him, and her bookworm self squealed inside as his feet touched down on the ground perfectly without a single noise. He tucked the map somewhere behind his back (he actually placed it in another slot on his hotbar) and approached with his arms swinging back and forth casually.

This immediately made the Loki Familia concerned. They were famous and recognizable everywhere they went in Orario yet this adventurer was just walking up to a group of powerful adventurers with seemingly no caution nor a care in the world. Either he didn't know who they were, or he did know but didn't care enough about their power to approach them with caution.

Who wouldn't be at least a little unnerved at seeing the core members of the Loki Familia waiting to greet you alone?

This guy apparently. He strode straight up to them and stood there, observing. They watched as his eyes passed on from one face to another. The Loki Familia were ashamed. Because as powerful as they were, they could not forget the intoxicating power that this person emitted not a few minutes earlier. As such, they found themselves intimidated even if they could not feel anything from him now.

It didn't help that he stood taller than all of them at his height and his great wolf had slowly trotted over and sat right behind him in a position where it made clear she was going to attack if they made any suspicious movements. The tension built up in the air as he seemed to size them all up.

"Can I help you?" He asked in a very accommodating voice, which instantly dissolved much of the suspense. Now that they heard him again, they could tell a lot more about him. Not only was he young but he sounded quite friendly and just as curious as they were.

"Yes." Finn replied. "I am Finn Deimne, Level 6, Captain of the Loki Familia. I've never seen you before in Orario or in the dungeon."

"It would make sense." The adventurer replied. "I only arrived in the city yesterday, and today is my first time in the dungeon."

"Really?" Finn questioned before he looked around and then behind the adventurer to see if he could find anyone else. "Where is your party?"

"Don't have one." The adventurer replied before he reached behind him and scratched the wolf's chin. "Just me and this one here."

"May we know who you are then, stranger?" Riveria asked.

"Well..." the stranger replied. "...as the ones who are curious about my identity, does it not make sense for you to introduce yourselves first?"

'Reasonable.' Finn thought before nodding to his companions and one by one they introduced themselves. As Ais was closest, she jumped to introduce herself first.

"My name is Ais, Ais Wallenstein. Level 5." She said in her monotone voice although her eyes spoke of completely different emotions. "You're strong."

"I guess I am in my own right." The stranger said before nodding at the dwarf.

"Gareth Landrock. Level 6." Gareth said gruffly, not in an unfriendly way but more of a neutral tone that conveyed neither hostility nor any sign of peace just yet, like he was waiting for his own evaluation. The stranger nodded to him.

"Bete. Level 5" Bete said in a very different tone, trying to express that he couldn't care less while the truth was actually very different. Out of all the group, he was the one most put off as not only did this stranger not feel intimidated by them but the she-wolf was staring daggers right at him.

"Quite friendly aren't you?" The stranger said flatly before looking at the elves.

"Riveria Ljos Alf. Level 6." Riveria said in her usual quiet tone. "Vice captain."

"L-Lefiya Viridis s-sir. Level 3. " Lefiya said, unable to hide her unease unlike the rest.

The stranger slightly bowed but he suddenly had the urge to say something he couldn't help saying.

"Namárië. Riveria, Lefiya."

(A.N. Whoever can comment off the top of their head what this greeting is and where it's from, is a bloody legend in my books.)

Both their eyes widened to considerable degree, which made him confused as he didn't expect them to even recognise this word. Judging by their expression, it didn't seem like they were offended but just purely shocked at the language he spoke.

Somethings just didn't make sense sometimes.

The twins excitedly introduced themselves. Tione first put a hand on her chest as she came to a stop before him. It drew attraction to her assets by those around but she noticed that his eyes were completely fixed on hers.

"I'm Tione Hiryute. Level 5." She said. "I'm the older sister."

"And I'm the younger sister!" Tiona said as she bounded up excitedly and held out her hand. "Level 5, Tiona Hiryute!"

The stranger shook her hand, before a smile formed on his face and he pointed at her with his other.

"I like you." He said, causing the others to raise their brows at this sudden declaration. "You're cute and positive to boot."

"Ohhhh?" Tiona smiled. "Already declaring your love? You're a beast!" She dramatically threw an arm over her face as she leaned backwards, still holding his hand. Something she did notice though was that his hand was extremely heavy for some reason. If he wasn't holding it up, she would suppose that she would have a struggle trying to lift it.

"Not love per say." Steve pulled his hand back and shrugged. "I just find you attractive. If a guy finds a girl attractive, he should just say it. Then they can work on the relationship from there." He held a hand to his chest. "I hope we can be friends first though."

"Oh yeah?" Tiona smirked, although internally she was flipping. It was the first time someone had actually gone and said aloud they were interested in her before her sister. Already he had a high score in her books. "Well a good start would be telling me your name."

"Yes, of course." He said as he pulled on the wolf's chin again and she playfully licked his hand. "This big fuzzball here is Bathsheba. She's a Warg, a species of giant wolf." He then lifted a hand to his helmet and pulled it off, revealing his face completely. Dark locks fell out and the females found themselves taken aback for a moment.

His skin tone was only a tad darker than the twin's and he was extremely handsome. From his face, they guessed he was around their age and with the helmet gone, they could see a chiselled jaw with a youthful face, on top of a powerful neck. He looked more like a pampered noble than a terrifying warrior.

His face alone nearly made them forget exactly what he'd done earlier.

"And my name is Stephen Hewer. My friends however, call me Steve." He smiled a closed smile that stretched across his face, and Tiona found herself focusing on the dimples that had just the perfect depth to them. For a moment, they saw sunshine and flowers surround him because of his smile.

"Well met. Stephen." Riveria said. "Which Familia are you a part of at the moment?"

"And what level are you?" Tione put her hands on her hips. "You can't be a level one, that's for sure."

"I'm afraid I will have to refrain from sharing that information at the moment." Steve said with the smile still on his face.

'Suspicious.' Thought Finn. "Why so?"

"Because my respective patron is only just getting used to having a member like me. So for the time being they'd like to adapt to this new experience as they don't want any attention on them yet." Stephen said. "Under their instruction, I've been ordered to not reveal that part about myself for at least a week, just so they can settle."

Finn noticed how Steve didn't say 'god' or 'goddess', using 'they' as a pronoun, so as to protect the identity of their god even up to concealing what gender they were. A very subtle piece of linguistic manipulation which you wouldn't always catch onto if you hadn't been subject to this speech before.

Which meant this person was intelligent and wary of them as well.

He had encountered word patterns like these before, and while some people genuinely just wanted to be left alone, most of them were not good people. The exact kind of people he was thinking of had been defeated long ago although there was the possibility that there were some remnants left.

"So, I am assuming you're all here on an expedition." Steve said.

"Yes we are. How did you know?" Tiona asked, causing a couple of others to face-palm at this question.

"Well even if this is only my second day in Orario, the Loki Familia is still quite famous outside and I've done my homework." Steve looked over the group. "Now that I know who each of you are, I know that all of you are the core executives and if one of you wanted to make a quick bit of money down here, you could very well do it by yourself. You all will never be seen together except when you're on a deep-dive expedition."

"Well you are correct." Finn said. "Judging by your handiwork on the upper floor, I'm assuming that you too wish to go deeper?"

"Yes, basically." Steve replied. "I kind of got kicked out of the Familia home as well, for a bit. So while my patron is trying to come to their senses, I'm just going to be going deeper and deeper into the dungeon until I can't fight anymore and then I'm going to ascend again."

"Forget about that!" Bete said as he stepped up. "What's with your pet giving me the death glare?! Since when are personal monsters allowed in the dungeon?"

Bathsheba snarled at Bete while the werewolf just grit his teeth at her. Steve looked between the two, thinking that there must be some sort of instinctual conflict between the two, as they were both wolves. 

"First off, she's not my pet, she's my companion. And second..." Steve rolled out a piece of parchment in front of them that he suddenly procured from somewhere even though they didn't see any pockets on him. "I have a permit here, signed by the Guild Master himself."

Finn stepped forward and eyed the signature. Royman's signature on this paper looked legitimate.

"How deep are you going by the way?" Steve asked as he rolled up the parchment.

"As deep as the 54th." Finn said. "We're hoping that Cadmus will be the last monster we fight."

"Oh. Well perhaps I'll see you down there." Steve said as he pulled Bathsheba away by the snout from her staring contest with Bete.

"You sure you have the power to go that far by yourself lad?" Gareth gruffed. "I don't see any supplies on you either."

"I have my means." Steve waved behind at him. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Think you're tough enough to handle it, huh?" Bete said as he kicked a pebble towards him. It bounced of the face of the dragon on the cape with a metallic clang. Steve came to a stop without looking back as did Bathsheba. Bete however was not able to handle this. According to this stranger, this was his first time in the dungeon and he had just defeated an Irregular Goliath by himself, yeah that was true. But a feat like that paled in comparison to what lay in the Deep floors. And now this person had the audacity to say that they would go as far down as Bete's Familia had done in just that one dive?

You have to understand that it's an affront to an adventurer's pride when you say something like that so casually. But Steve was new to being around adventurers, which is why he didn't catch on but instantly became irritated since Bete was another character he just hated anyway regardless of his background. 

"A green adventurer like you is going to make it past Amphisbaena, Udaeus and Balor, and then have enough energy to take on Cadmus huh?" Bete continued. "Don't make me laugh. We've spent our entire lives trying to go down deeper into the dungeon and we've paid in blood and comrades. And now you just jump right into the mix and say you can do all of that by yourself?"

"Yes." Steve replied. "Because unlike most adventurers..." All of a sudden Steve disappeared from view. It was like they blinked and he just wasn't there anymore. "...I have complete faith in my abilities." He said, suddenly appearing on Bete's right side with a casual expression. The werewolf early jumped out o his skin as he didn't even see Steve coming.

"W-hat..wai-..when did you-"

"And if the monsters down there have reflexes and senses similar to all of yours, I should be fine." 

'I didn't even see him move!' Finn thought in alarm, even though there was still no hostility in Steve's approach. There wasn't even any trace that Steve had moved at all, no tracks nor any misplaced debris that indicated movement. It was like he just appeared in front of them.

Which was what he did because of a /tp command.

"Don't worry about me." Steve held his arms up. "I'll be fine I'm pretty sure."

"Are you making camp here Steve?" Finn asked hurriedly, an idea forming in his head.

"No actually. I was just going to move on, maybe stop in Rivira for a bit to do some sightseeing and then head on to the nineteenth floor."

"I tell you what, why don't you join us?" Finn offered, which surprised his Familia members, as well as please some of them. "You certainly seem like a capable and powerful adventurer and we know our way down the dungeon quicker and better than other Familia because we're always doing expeditions. It would benefit us all if you just tagged along with us, plus we could get to know each other better."

"I don't suppose this is something you offer every adventurer you see?" Steve asked.

"No. But I'm sure you're a special case." Finn replied honestly. "There aren't really any other adventurers like us in the city besides those in the Freya Familia. Yet I don't suppose you one of them?" Steve shook his head, and Finn crossed out that Familia in his head. "It's rare to find anybody as powerful as you outside of ours and that group. It would be nice to connect. Plus, with your help we could push through with greater ease. We could even split the earnings once we've returned to the surface."

"I mean it's not like I have anything against the idea." Steve said. "You have to admit that having one of the most prestigious Familia suddenly invite you along on one of their expeditions is a bit daunting."

"Sooo...is that a yes? Orrr...?" Tiona tilted her head.

"It's a yes." Steve chuckled.

"Great!" Tiona clapped her hands before wrapping her arms around one of his and putting her face all up in his. "I've got sooooo many questions for you. How are you so strong? Have you been in a Familia before? Where did you find your cute wolf over there? How did you kill that Goliath and why are you able to move that fast? Oh, and HOW were you flying just now? And..."

"Oh boy, Tiona's got the poor lad now." Gareth chuckled. "It's going to be a long day for him."

Riveria seized this opportunity to pull both him and Finn aside for a little talk amongst elders.

"What are you doing?" Riveria asked. "Why did you just invite him like that?"

"Think about it." Finn reasoned. "A powerful adventurer like that just appears out of the blue and is able to exert enough power to make entire floors shake. Then he says he just arrived in Orario and this is his first time in the dungeon. There's also the fact that he won't say what level he is or who his god is. Isn't that strange to you?"

"Yes. It is. Which is what makes him dangerous. Why are you just letting him near the kids?"

"So we can keep an eye on him." Finn said. "That force he was emitting earlier. Can any of you do the same?" He asked his two oldest friends. They both shook their heads. "There's a possible chance he's more powerful than any of us, perhaps on Ottar's level. I haven't been able to see Ottar's full power ever since he levelled up seven years ago when we drove 'them' back. What we just experienced is as close an estimate as we can get."

"And so?" Riveria asked. "Doesn't that just give more reason to stay away from him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because the lad is intelligent." Gareth answered, causing both to look at him. "You can see it in his eyes. He definitely knows a lot more than he lets on. I personally don't think he is any remnant of 'them'. He lacks the same air that they had. But if he is, he won't be free to do as he likes with us around. And if he does something, we'll catch on."

"You saw his speed." Riveria said. "He appeared right next to Bete and none of us saw him coming. US. The top most powerful members of the Familia. He can easily just give us the slip."

"And if he does, we'll know to make him an outcast." Finn said. "We'll take it to the guild, and they'll put out a warning about him. That document he showed us looked genuine so he must be on the guild register provided he told us the same name he gave them. And he isn't exactly hard to forget either. If he is up to something, we'll just make it harder for him to do so as he won't have the freedom he would need in Orario."

"Finn, my barrier broke because of a mere SHOCKWAVE he produced." Riveria emphasised. "Nobody felt that better than I did. Do you think you can take him on if he decides we're a liability in whatever he's planning?"

"Then we'll dogpile him." Gareth punched his fist into his palm. "He can't possibly take all of us. If he is Level 7, we can handle him."

"...If anyone gets hurt, it's on you." Riveria pointed at Finn.

"I'm Captain. Of course it's on me. It's all on me." Finn expressed, dryly. "That's why neither of you took this job. But don't worry. I'm sure it will be alright, no matter who he turns out to be."

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