(Friday, 20/11/1058, early morning)
(Start of original timeline: D-1)
(Henryk's PoV)
We woke up, got ready, and did everything routinely. I mean, I enjoy the routine. Being cared for by Shira first thing in the morning was a blessing. I can also tell that she sees being cared for by me the same way.
Anyway, I went to meet Loki.
"Fox goddess, you free right now?" I said after knocking on the office door. Yes, Loki was surprisingly diligent in her duties when captain Finn wasn't around. Who would have guessed.
"I'm expensive, and my time is priceless, Henryk" Loki said absentmindedly as she flipped some paper. Well, that was what I heard from the other side. The sounds of pen and paper.
Everything came to a stop inside.
"Come in" Loki called me as I was about to leave.
"Don't mind if I do" I opened the door and came in. To see Loki in such a tired mess, surrounded by paperwork that she normally left for the captain to deal with, was a sight to be seen.
"Done admiring the beauty of this innocent maiden?" Loki said in a most serious tone, raising an eyebrow. It looked as if she meant it, or so the unfamiliar would feel. She was, in fact, cracking a joke. "It wasn't a joke" She said with an unimpressed face.
'Oh, she was seriously calling herself an innocent maiden?' I ignored her remark as I remained by the door.
"A brief few words, if you'd allow me" I said. She gestured for me to go on. "I wanted to tell you that should I ever achieve something today, don't proceed with the rank-up"
Loki didn't take long to realise what I was aiming for, not this time.
"You want to test how far beyond the limit you could go?" Loki said with an expectant look. "Growing as quickly as you do, I won't say no to that" She was as curious as I was.
"Thanks" I said as I made my exit, leaving my goddess to her lonesome, flipping through more paper than was healthy.
"Undo the parameter restraints!" I hear Loki's muffled voice through the door.
"I was planning to!" I informed her, still through a closed door.
(Line Break)
'Well, now, how to avoid Shira?'
I... may need to take some drastic measures. I wanted to just walk out normally. You know, through the front door. However, that proved impossible for one glaring reason.
Shira was standing there, waiting for me.
I know why she's doing this, partially at least. One of her reasons is to keep an eye on me, to make sure I don't endanger myself too much in the dungeon. That goes directly against today's objective. Today, I need to do something that transcends my limits, which's bound to endanger me.
'Oh, right. My armour should have been ready for a few days, along with my spear and shield'
I poked my head around the corner, seeing Shira paying attention to her nails, sharpening them against each other. For a moment, one of them shifted to be more like a large cat nail before returning to the shape of a human nail in a split second.
'Neat' A shiver went up and down my spine a few times as I walked away.
I went upstairs and looked for the closest window. I jumped from the 1st floor and onto a patch of grass. It did help in cushioning my fall, if only a bit. My status took care of the rest of the fall.
"Now, to go to Welf's forge and don my armour" I mumbled to myself.
(Line Break)
"Ultimate Steel Shell Mk I!" Welf said with sparkly eyes, glittering stars sparking to life around his excited self. It looked comedic, and he personally looked like a child showing a new toy to someone.
"Clunker suit" I said in contrast to his silly name.
"What's wrong with the name I picked?" Welf's entire demeanour changed in an instant. He went from his zeal over the armour he made into a defensive stance while hugging it, glaring at me with very dissatisfied eyes.
"Too long. Too flashy" I waved his protests off as I pulled the armour from his hands. He was holding onto it quite tightly, as I needed to pull with more strength than I originally meant so I could tear it off him.
Looking at the suit, it was perfect. It was the crystalisation of weeks of work on both sides. He made the armour, I gave feedback after testing its maneuverability, he made alterations.
"I'm honestly surprised" I said, admiring the piece of art in my hands. "I may just hang it on a wall and admire it instead of use it and ruin its perfect appearance"
Welf stiffened for a moment, rolled up a sleeve, held a hammer in the hand of that sleeve, then power-stepped over to me with the hammer raised, a vein popping on his forehead.
"You better use it or else!" He gritted his teeth with a maniac expression.
Without thinking, I took a cautionary step back. In that moment, something in him was truly frightening.
"Calm down, man. I'll use it" I said, making him stop mid-swing. "Help me put it on. I'm using it today"
Welf's face morphed into a happy and enthusiastic smile, making me question what I have just seen.
While donning the armour, Welf was holding the helmet while thinking about something very deeply.
"What's plaguing your mind, bro?" I said, stretching my open hand in his direction, asking him to give me the last piece I need to put on.
"I just don't get it" He sighed. "Most people want a helmet with a permanently open visor or forgo wearing a helmet at all" He looked at me while handing me the helmet.
"You are strange, but in a good way" He gave a soft, relieved smile. It almost looked like he finally saw something that pleased him after years of waiting.
"The others are just blinded by fame" I said, generalizing my view intentionally. If you want armour, protecting your brain and heart first is logical. The other parts, you could get replaced soon enough. The brain and the heart, however, were irreplaceable. If they were damaged in battle, you were done for. "Maybe by some other things, but definitely blind"
"Here, I contacted your familia to add in a cape with the familia's emblem" Welf raised the cape for me to see. I would've liked another thing on my cape, but the familia emblem'd do just fine.
I turned around and let him put it on my shoulders. It reached down to my ankles.
"Right, the spear and the shield are also ready. I pulled late nights to finish them" Welf said, looking proud of his creation and effort put into it.
"Thanks, that'll help, a lot" I said somberly.
"The way you said that, what are you fighting?" Welf raised an eyebrow, going to the back to bring me the spear and the shield.
"I want a minotaur at my feet, Welf" I said in all seriousness. I hear some loud cluttering.
"You serious?" Welf hollered from where he was, putting things back in place.
"Very" I said.
"You think it's possible?" Welf came back with a questioning look. It was also a worried look at the same time. He only had the spear in hands.
"Fret not, for I have this planned thoroughly" I grabbed the spear, noting the weight of the thing. Any other Lv.1 might just drop it after a few swings, picking up something lighter for prolonged combat. 'Not me, though. I want it to hit heavy'
With the shield, I was left very aware that I ran on a timer. I may need to return home in less than a day from now or risk being too tired to run from a monster or even try to fight.
"I have the wolves to protect me" I said, my voice being slightly muffled and warped by the helmet.
The armour suit was fitted snuggly, perfectly so. It restrained my movement, as all armour does, but it did so little in that regard. I still have what is needed for my fighting style. It also has a skirt, and the gauntlets and the leggings have tiny holes for my whiskers to be able to be out, to function as they're intended to. Nice.
Aesthetically, it was made of slightly black steel, a result of making it resistant to rust going by Welf's words. In fact, the spear and the tower shield were the same. I was more like a black knight than a white one, and I had no horse. Shira would have to settle for a black knight in gloomy armour and no horse.
The shield had an emblem that wasn't that of the Loki Familia; I insisted that Welf etched my paternal family's emblem on it. It was that of the family's founder and first head, and the one who elevated it into the status of knighthood. Someone whose real face was lost to time. He was covered from head to toe in armour, wielding a spear and a shield like I do now. I partially wanted this emblem to honour his memory. The other reason was that it became a tradition within the family, to have it etched on at least one piece of equipment on you.
(AN: Henryk's face is an exact copy of his ancestor's. Genes do wonders sometimes)
"Because of what I'm hunting, I'm gonna ask you to stay behind today" I said while flexing my joints to test it one last time. Honestly, though, it was more because the armour felt nice.
"Henryk, level 1 adventurers risk death going to the 13th, and you are going to the 15th? Did you hit your head somewhere?" Welf said while knocking on his own head.
"I assure you, I'm sound of mind and reason" I said. "I just know it, that I need to do something big to rank-up, especially so since I've defeated an infant dragon and didn't yet"
"Get a salamander wool, man" Welf sighed, turning around while scratching the back of his head.
(Line Break)
(3rd person PoV)
"Who might you be, sir?" A gate guard of the twilight Manor was shaking in his boots while the other was holding a shaky spear ready in Henryk's direction.
Henryk committed to the bit and changed his voice. He capitalized on the fact that they have not seen the emblem on his cape yet.
"I came to raid your armory for a salamander wool" Henryk said.
"Is this a provocation sent by the Freya familia? Is that it?" If anything, the guardsmen were shaking even more.
"Pfftt!" Henryk could not keep it in any longer. "Hahaha!" Henryk turned to them "Hahahahaha!" before laughing even more. He doubled over laughing, even wheezing at some point. It gave them the chance to see the emblem on his back. He looked back at them briefly, his visor raised. He laughed harder when he saw their frustration.
"You rascal!" Henryk was given a whack with their spears. He laughed some more as he walked in, ignoring their glares.
Henryk found a salamander wool that was close enough to his size. It left a good portion of his shins exposed, but that was not something crouching wouldn't solve.
(Line Break)
On his way back to the manor. and to the dungeon, Henryk was stared at by most people. It was that unusual to see someone covering their face for an adventurer. Not to mention, the size of his shield and the fact that both it and spear were made of solid metal was a spectacle to some.
He did not need to mind many of them, if any at all, because of the Loki Familia emblem on his cape.
(Line Break)
For the upper floors, the clumsiness of the monsters was a bummer for Henryk. Now that he could see them as well as feel them coming, they stood no danger. Nothing short of an infant dragon posed any threat to him, which he defeated without the wolves' interference this time. It was a 1 on 1 "duel", If you could even call it that.
(The 13th floor)
"This is getting bo~ring" Henryk whined, getting his spear dislodged from his last kill, the last hellhound of a pack.
'Be patient, Henryk' Futura sent him, getting up from her resting spot she took when the pack of hellhounds showed up.
"Getting to fight them one by one is a wonderful feeling. It gets them to take the fight a lot more seriously once they realise they're alone in it" Henryk said. He enjoyed the 1-on-1s way more, not that he did not know how to fight more than one enemy at once.
"Let me fight the next bunch on my own" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. It was a bunch of cute rabbit monsters, almirajs. "Cute monsters are unfair!" He complained to fate and was ignored.
'You reap what you sow' Futura smirked at him, something she did by pulling on the muscle to one side of her snout.
What started as a group of 7 almiraj quickly became a group of 6 excited, battle-hungry almirajs and a corpse.
'I heard they were battle-hungry, but I didn't expect them to be at this level' Henryk thought as he repositioned behind his shield, slamming it on the neck of one and blocking the horns of another.
(AN: Ah! I forgot to mention, all monsters in this verse have the appearance of the manga versions of them, as they have more menacing appearances as compared to the softened anime drawings. Take a look at how they massacred my boys, minotaur and Goliath!)
Supporting the lower half of the shaft with his side, while holding the middle of the shaft with his left hand, Henryk swung on an almiraj that jumped over the tower shield. He did not succeed in killing it, although he managed to swat it away.
"Come at me!" Henryk shouted at the monsters. The ruckus of their fight attracted another pack of patrolling hellhounds, which was dealt with by the wolves.
With another swing of his spear, Henryk killed an almiraj, hanging it on the crossguard, something Welf added to shift the balance closer to what it should have been. It was barely enough to get something as little and light as an almiraj stuck on it so easily.
As another leapt over the shield, an axe landform weapon raised, Henryk leaned back to pull the shield in front of it. Right as he felt the crisp sound of its weapon hitting his shield, he bashed its face in by raising the shield as quickly as he could.
Henryk ran forward, stomping the head of the twitching almiraj, bashing another with his shield. Turning to his right, an almiraj was already sailing through the air, aiming its horns at him. He let the shield's weight plant it into the ground and left the spear leaning on it, supporting each other. That freed his hands.
Henryk grabbed the almiraj by the head and slammed it to the ground, using such force he crushed it.
He had to quickly pull out his knife to deal with the almiraj his swatted a moment ago. Parrying it with the gauntlets, he stabbed its abdomen, pulling the knife to slice it open.
All that remained was one almiraj. That one alone, weak as almiraj were individually, was easy to deal with.
"That was kinda boring, in a way" Henryk said as he started carving for their magic stones. "I expected them to be more of a challenge since they're classified as Lv.2 in groups"
'Has anyone faced them in solid armor all over their body?' Futura retorted.
"If they did, then they died before reporting it back to the guild. Proper armor is the bane of almiraj groups, it seems" He finally pulled free the one stuck on his spear. "I should add the spear and shield to the report"
(The 14th floor)
Henryk fought until he had to rest a little. He was not exhausted yet, but he preferred going to the 15th a little less tired. He let the spear and the shield rest on the wall behind him as the wolves killed the monsters that either spawned in their area or wandered in from elsewhere.
(The 15th floor)
As soon as they entered the floor, they were ambushed by a crystal mantis. It was flying directly at Henryk, attracted to the beautifully worked metal of his gear.
Henryk has entered the floor ahead of the wolves, shield raised. That helped, as the shield absorbed most of the attack. The rest manifested in Henryk being pushed back.
He spun the spear so that the blunt butt would face the mantis, thrusting it at the monster. A crisp crack was heard as he struck one of its arms' blades, cracking it. Pulling the spear back, Henryk tried to bash the mantis with his shield to break the cracked blade.
The mantis flapped its wings, flying out of range. There, it remained out of range, watching.
"Kill it" Henryk lazily leaned on his shield for support as the wolves went to work. The mantis had no way of defeating as many as 4 oversized silver wolves, each with the strength of a level 2.
They had to walk a little while more, killing many hellhounds, bad bats and a few dungeon worms. There was one time they faced three ligerfangs, which they had to retreat to the 14th after. Henryk used his magic to mend their wounds, regrowing Prata's tail in the process.
Once they got back onto the 15th, they ran into two minotaurs.
"Use your speed against one of them, doing hit-and-run tactics" Henryk said, shield raised and spear hoisted. "I'll take the other one on my own"
'Be careful, Henryk' Platina said, followed by the others.
"You too" He said, prepared to block the landform axe swung at him.
"Ugh!" He grunted. The force of the blow was on another level. Even while he defended with one arm, however, he was attacking with the other.
Henryk drove the tip of the spearhead into the minotaur's side, using its own momentum against it. Blood was drawn. It was by no means a big wound, nor did it bleed as much as Henryk would have wanted it to, but it was not so negligible either.
"MUUU!!" The minotaur howled in pain and anger. It was slighted, feeling pain for the first time since it spawned minutes ago.
Henryk was glad he enhanced his mental fortitude, as this howl was attacking his mind. He soldiered through the howl, unmoved by its fear.
The minotaur raised its arms to swing again.
Seeing an opportunity, Henryk planted the spear where what he thought to be the minotaur's dominant arm would have descended.
As the arm came down, the spear was pushed into the ground a bit. The blow went through, with Henryk having to jump in an arc around the spear to avoid it. Blocking it would have cost him too much energy, energy that he needed to conserve for another part of the fight.
As he landed and firmly planted his feet into the ground, he kicked the butt of the spear as he pulled it from the ground with all of his strength, and out of minotaur's forearm. It left a gaping wound in the minotaur's forearm, a wound that bled as Henryk wanted it to this time. Also, the way the muscles were torn, the minotaur lost use of the arm as anything more than a battering ram.
"MUUUUU!!" The minotaur was enraged. It swung its axe down with its remaining arm.
Letting the shield stand on its own for a moment, he two-handed the spear. He deflected the attack, using its momentum to spin the spear harder in his hands, aiding the strength of the next swing of the spear. He aimed it at the neck.
The minotaur lowered its head, using its horn to parry the attack. The force of the parry blew Henryk's defense open, forcing him to jump away to avoid being gored by the horn, which the minotaur swung back at him right after.
Henryk went into a lower stance momentarily to absorb the momentum, skidding less as a result. He avoided that to leave the minotaur no room to charge at him like a bull, with both horns lowered at him.
In fact, he had to spring back into action before the minotaur took his shield for itself. He reached the shield just as the minotaur had its hands on the top of it. He thrusted with all his momentum behind the spear, holding a hand behind the butt-end of it to keep it from slipping from his hands after meeting the resistance of the monster's knee.
The thrust went through, putting the spear through the minotaur's knee.
"MUUUUUU!!!" The minotaur howled again, the excruciating pain forcing it to let go of the shield.
Seeing as the spear was stuck in its knee, Henryk let go of it and took up the shield. He stood back and watched as the minotaur tried to force the joint to move with the spear's shaft in it, starting to cry tears of pain while doing so.
'That's why I didn't want to thrust the spear too deep into its flesh. It'd get stuck easily, and getting it unstuck would be a challenge not worth attempting while the thing remains alive' Henryk thought.
'Platina, Ouros, push the spear from both sides, though into opposite directions' Henryk watched as the leaver the spear's shaft had become tear off the minotaur's leg, leaving it with one leg and a bleeding stump for a thigh.
With the way its leg was torn off, the minotaur was thrown onto the ground, catching itself with its remaining arm.
Even as injured as it was, the minotaur refused to die without killing its foe. It prepared for a final attack, a charge, an attack it wagered its final moment of life over. It has already lost a leg, and one of its arms was useless for holding things. Nevertheless, three limbs were enough to attempt the charge.
The minotaur leveled its horns, its torn leg moving as if the hoof was digging into the ground under it.
Henryk braced with his shield, having barely any time to be handed his spear back by Platina, who held onto it after the fact. He himself prepared to charge, spear level with the minotaur's head.
"HAA!!" Henryk started moving first.
"MUU!!" The minotaur responded in kind.
Even with a missing leg, the minotaur's charge was not to be taken lightly. The force behind it, as weakened as it was, still managed to break Henryk's forearm, upper arm and shoulder, through the shield and the armor.
As for the minotaur, the spear was now wedged in the groove of its shoulder, piercing through it and going for the minotaur's heart. It shortly reached its target with the last of the charge's momentum.
Henryk's other arm was also in rough shape after pushing the spear through the minotaur's rough skin and tough muscles without losing trajectory.
The minotaur's lifeless body fell on top of Henryk, who was suppressing the pain of his left arm's bones shattering and his right arm dislocating at the shoulder.
Henryk was grinning in spite of his situation.
Henryk heard steps approaching them, human steps, and many of them.
The wolves picked their scents, none of which they knew. The wolves circled around Henryk after moving the minotaur corpse away from him, growling at the approaching party.
The people who came by them were the Artemis familia members, exploring the dungeon for the first time in years. The group was headed by Rethusa, who came by the dungeon a few times every time they stayed in Orario.
"Captain Rethusa?" Henryk raised an eyebrow under his helmet.
'Stop growling. Those are my former familia' He sent to the wolves.
"And who might you be?" Rethusa did not recognise his voice at first, only remembering it after asking. "Could you be Henryk?"
"The one and only" Henryk said, getting back up with his arms limply hanging by his sides.
The rest of the group stared at him, the famed seducer of their beloved goddess.
"One moment, please" Henryk politely stood a bit away and cast his magic. The arms twitched and wriggled slightly as the bone fragments went back into place. Using some hasty bone repairs, He had the use of his arms back, even though weakened and at risk of injury. They were not fully mended.
He raised his visor.
"Once again, glad to see you again, captain Rethusa" Henryk stretched his hand for a handshake.
Rethusa was intrigued by him. She stared at his hand for a moment before shaking it.
"Congratulations on reaching level 2, Henryk" She said with a smile.
Henryk scratched the back of his helmet sheepishly as he gave out a nervous laugh, looking away.
Slowly, Rethusa, and more so Lante, were filled with dread.
"You faced a minotaur at level 1?!" Lante got into his face, frowning like hell burnt over again. "Don't do this again! Our lady's delicate heart wouldn't be able to handle the grief!"
"For someone who wrestled me into the ground, I can vouch for her being able to handle it" Henryk said with his right hand raised.
Lante was left stunned at the audacity.
"Also, I had plans" Henryk said, taking a glance at the wolves. "I wouldn't have died even if you wished for it"
Lante punched his sides, which prompted the wolves to surround her with their teeth bared, leaving her only one way to move, to step away from Henryk.
'Careful there. They aren't enemies' Henryk reminded the wolves.
"Are you capable of going back alone?" Rethusa asked, knowing that the wolves were probably enough. She wanted to make sure.
"I should be" Henryk said, showing them the Loki Familia's emblem. "This should make others think more than once before attacking me, not to mention the wolves. They're as strong as a level 2"
After exchanging a few more words, Rethusa led the others further into the floor as Henryk went back to the surface. He had accomplished his goal.
'Now, how do I explain this to Shira without distressing her too much?' Henryk thought to himself. He knew that she realized that he had made his way to the dungeon by now.
To his chagrin, one of the minotaurs dropped a minotaur hide. That was one evidence too many on his hands.
"Damn it!" The Artemis Familia members, having heard his frustrated cursing, looked between each other in confusion before moving on.
Henryk... Um... Uh... Let's end this chapter by saying that he got a deserved earful from multiple people. Shira also latched onto him for the remainder of the day and for a good portion of the next morning.
(End of Chapter and Henryk's Current Status)
Name: Henryk Williams
Familia: Loki Familia
Level: 1
STR: SSS1487 → SSS1591
STA: SSS1503 → SSS1684
DEF: SSS1612 → SSS1707
AGI: SSS1407 → SSS1475
MAG: SSS1784 → SSS1821
(AN: Henryk developed the thought that facing minotaurs would save him time in climbing to the extremes of his parameters)
Magic:
Incrementum Imperium
Skills:
Kefalés Tou Tyfóna
Yfirgangr