22 Chapter 22
It wasn't long before the whole expedition party moved out. Hundreds of citizens surrounded the square and cheered as the adventurers made their way into the entrance of the dungeon. There were even a few people throwing flower petals over the adventurers in the expedition. Hidden away amongst the pocket of members from the Hephaestus familia, I didn't have a good view of the crowds, but I was impressed nevertheless. In hindsight, it made sense that the citizens of Orario would have a vested interest in the clearing of the dungeon since it was still a threat to their existence.
Soon, we entered Babel and made our way to the circular staircase that led to the first floor of the dungeon. There were dozens of adventurers milling about, but they all got out of the way when they caught sight of the banners emblazoned with the symbol of the Loki familia. With the path cleared we made much better time than I initially expected. The members of the Hephaestus familia were expected to stay near the center of the formation alongside the dozens of supports who lugged the supplies needed to sustain this many people for weeks.
Despite her assigned location, Tsubaki dragged me along to the front of the procession where Finn, Ais, Tione, and Riveria stood, acting as the vanguard of the group. I got some strange looks from everybody except for Finn as we fell into place alongside the elites of the Loki familia. Tsubaki had a large blade held confidently, which told me that she would have left her assigned spot even if I weren't there. She was too driven to test every new weapon that she crafted to stay with the non-combatants for the majority of the journey at least.
"I was wondering when you would break rank and come up here," Finn said casually, showing an understanding of Tsubaki's character forged from working together on expeditions for years.
"I have to show out new recruits why I'm the captain after all," she said, elbowing me in the side affectionately.
"A little late, don't you think?" I replied.
Tsubaki turned to me seriously, her one eye gleaming, "It's never too late to show you who is boss." she said with a maniacal laugh.
Faced with her powertrip, I only had one option left before me, "I'm telling Hepheastus that you are bullying me," I said, pulling every ounce of little sibling energy I had left in me from my old life.
"What-" Tsubaki asked, but I cut her off.
"It's too late," I said solemnly, "It's too late to beg for mercy. I'll say that you have been verbally and emotionally manipulative."
Tsubaki opened her mouth and failed to speak several times, visibly trying to process the curveball I had just thrown her, "But-"
"I have witnesses, too," I said, shaking my head and crossing my arms, "They saw you harassing me about spending time in my room when you knew I was still adjusting to the familia."
While Tsubaki and I bickered back and forth, the members of the Loki familia looked on with a mix of amusement and curiosity. Amusement about the topic of the conversation and curiosity about why a mere level 1 new recruit was able to speak so openly and even harass the captain of the familia. It was clear that the dynamic between us wasn't so usual, but they were left to wonder since asking openly would be too noisy on their part.
"You brat, I would throttle you if the goddess didn't like you so much," she said, a tick mark appearing on her forehead as I continued to push her.
"Hmm," I mumbled, losing interest in the conversation as we continued through the floors quickly.
With this timing, it wouldn't be long until we reached the tenth floor, so I mentally prepared myself. Any monster that appeared before us was swiftly taken care of with a single swing of Finn's spear or Ais's sword. There seemed to be fewer monsters than usual appearing in front of us, but I guessed that the scouts in front of us took care of monsters so that the rest of the group could pass by with less difficulty. As we closed in on the tenth floor, Tsubaki spoke more seriously, and I listened without making any jokes.
"Have you been to the tenth floor yet, Augustus?" she asked.
"No, but I am confident that I'll do fine," I replied.
"Since you rely on magic, don't let the Bad Bats hit you with their sonic waves. It can disrupt your magic. Also, don't let the Orcs hit you directly. They have enough strength to kill level 2s if they get a good shot on you." she said, clearly worrying about me.
"Don't worry so much, I'll just blast them," I said, even though my plan was to try and dodge by as little as possible instead of using my magic offensively.
"Are you sure that your magic will work on them?" she asked.
"We'll see, Mom," I said, a bit annoyed, but, on the other hand, it was nice to have her care about me so openly, "I have the sword in case I'm in trouble too,"
That really earned me a look of appraisal from the Loki family members. I was growing more mysterious by the moment to them, no doubt.
"Hmm," it was Tsubaki's turn to go silent as she contemplated my statement.
"We can wait long enough to see him kill one Orc," Finn said after a while.
"No need to stop the exhibition on our account," she said immediately, "If I'm worried, I can always watch and then quickly catch up. We're camping at Rivira anyway. I can make it down there with my eyes closed."
"It's no problem," Finn insisted, "The first day of the exhibition is meant to be a nice easy warm-up. Plus, it won't be too long."
Tsubaki had nothing to say to that logic, so she remained silent. I watched as she eyed Finn slightly suspiciously for a moment before glancing at me. I chuckled and nodded, indicating that I was on the same page as her. We were both under the impression that Finn wanted to see me in action with my magic. Me and Tsubaki's conversation, along with my clear status as one of Hephestus's favored children, undoubtedly had him interested. I didn't mind demonstrating just my electricity, but anything more than that was off-limits to use in front of other people. I am still too weak to properly defend myself if I get too much attention put on me by outsiders.
Finally, we reached the tenth floor, and we continued to move through the floor until we saw an Orc loom out of the mind nearby. Finn ordered a short break, so everybody got out canteens of water, though there was little need to rehydrate this soon. Many people walked up to the front of the line to question why they were taking a break so soon, but my focus was on the Orc. I didn't think I would have a problem with it, so I moved forward confidently as Tsubaki and Riveria paid the closest attention to me.
Tsubaki, in case I needed to be saved, and Riveria was just interested in what magic I would use. Since I was in front of so many people, I decided to be a bit theatrical as the Orc noticed me and ripped one of the bare certified trees out of the ground and began to lumber toward me. It would have been child's play to project electricity from my finger or in the form of ball lightning hovering around me, but that was too simple for this situation.
I also wanted to go a bit over the top to show Tsubaki that I would be perfectly fine and that there was no reason to worry about me when she was on the expedition. If she were worrying about me, then that would distract her from what she needs to be doing there.
As the Orc got into range, I noticed that many people from the group behind me were watching me with a bit of interest. I shook my head to clear it before drawing in power from the Warp. The air around me suddenly felt full of energy as sent a massive amount of power through my nervous system before extending both hands toward the Orc and angling my face to fully face the beast.
Just before I released the stored electricity in my body, I heard Riveria say, "Does this magic have no chan-"
Before she could finish, lightning ripped out of my eyes, nose, mouth, and outstretched arms. It arced violently through the air before being drawn to the Orc. The creature didn't even get the chance to let out a sound before its flesh was torn apart, and its magic stone clattered to the ground as its body. Once the creature was dead, the storm of lightning stopped as suddenly as it had begun. As I went to pick up the stone, a small group of Imps lunged from the mists around me to attack.
Normally I would have used Warp Speed to fistfight the Imps, but since I was only able to show off my lightning publically, I just pointed a finger and sent a bolt of chain lightning ripping through their ranks. Every Imp was blasted apart in an instant.
Turning, I found a group of dozens of stunned adventurers looking at me slack-jawed.
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Reminder that it was Hephaestus who told him only to use electricity in front of other people
