A few hours had passed since Yuji's ascent of the dungeon. He didn't know how many floors he had gone up by now, but the environment kept on changing which was extremely confusing to him.
The moment he left the room with the big ass monster and the hoard of goats, he thought he was somehow trapped inside of a volcano. The walls, ground and ceiling are all colored burning red with distorted rocks strewn across the floor. The walls bore black cracks, making it seem to have been carbonized as a faint red light shown from between the cracks giving off an eerie presence.
"Probably lava flowing between the walls. Did someone really bury me beneath a volcano?" Yuji couldn't help but complain to no one but himself. Even as he kept ascending, different types of monsters kept appearing, a particular type of rock monster covered in fire.
One simple Dismantle was enough to dispatch the monsters the moment they appeared. After killing them, each dropped the same rock he had seen.
However, he had noticed he was seeing less and less of these monsters. He even spotted a cluster of them scurrying off away from him at some point, but made no effort to chase them down.
"I'm almost expecting Jogo to pop his head out at some point..." Yuji muttered to himself as he kicked aside one of the glowing rocks.
It almost seemed like he wasn't making any progress with how long he's been walking. At least he wasn't completely alone, as the rockmonsters kept appearing from behind corners to try and ambush him.
Rounding a corner, Yuji paused and lifted an eyebrow, seeing a crumpled leather bag on the ground which he could spot as a dried patch of blood under it, some staining the very same leather bag it sat on.
Walking over, he kicked the bag over, knocking it down onto its side as the flap swung open. A few of those glowing rocks rolled out onto the ground, along with some stale looking food, what he assumed to be a canteen of water judging by its shape and size, as well as a piece of rolled up paper.
Crouching down, he picked up the roll of paper first, noticing how it was brown and rough compared to the normal smooth white pieces of paper he was used to.
Unfurling it, he frowned as he glanced over the unfamiliar text scribbled onto the paper.
"It… Sort of looks like English? But not at the same time… *Sigh* I really should've learnt more languages besides Japanese and English…" Yuji muttered as he rolled the paper back up, putting it back into the bag as he lifted the whole thing up by its strap.
Slinging the strap over his shoulder, he reached in and grabbed the canteen of water, shaking it around.
"Seems like less than half is left in this." Taking the lid off, he smelled the canteen first, and not noticing anything took a sip.
'Yea, just water, lucky me.'
Taking two generous gulps, he sealed the canteen and put it back into the bag, leaving just a little bit of water left for another drink.
Just as he was about to continue on, he froze, his ears twitching slightly as the faint yells of people shouting entered his ears, followed by the sounds of weapons clashing against something.
"A friend of yours?" Yuji asked the dried pile of blood on the floor before making his way towards the commotion. "Let's scope things out first…"
His body stuck close to the sides of the walls as he hid himself in the shadows.
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"Stay together!! Dammit Bete, stop charging off to the side by yourself!"
"You think I have a choice?! These Flame Rocks keep swarming towards us!"
"Move the injured back, let Riveria heal them!"
"Captain, there's more- ARGH!!"
Utter chaos could be described to the scene that was playing out right now. One moment, the Loki Familia were on an expedition towards the lower floors, helping the lower leveled in their party to gain more experience with prolonged expeditions. But then they were charged by what could be described as a tidal wave of Flame Rocks swarming them.
The goal of their expedition was to trailblaze unexplored areas of the dungeons, but before pushing beyond floor 50 and towards floor 59, they had a quest to complete.
It was one issued by the Dian Cecht Familia to collect a large amount of water from the Cadmus Springs on floor 51.
Yet, they were already being halted on floor 44 by the absurd wave of Flame Rocks.
Finn, a Pallum and the Captain of the Loki Familia and the one in charge of this expedition gritted his teeth as he quickly thrust his spear into the Flame Rock that had crushed the legs of one of their frontline members.
"I got him!" Gareth shouted out, a heavily built dwarf and top executive of the Loki Familia, reached out and grabbed the injured man, pulling him back as another frontliner took his place with a heavy shield, blocking another Flame Rock from charging forward.
Everyone was fighting, whether they wanted to or not as the Flame Rocks numbered in the hundreds, filling out the tight corridor and cavern with their large, flaming bodies.
"Captain! There's too many of them!" Tione shouted as she kicked back a Flame Rock and stuck close to Finn.
"Hah! It doesn't matter, we'll just cut them down!" Tiona swung her large double bladed sword around, slicing apart the monsters as they tried to climb over one another.
"At least she isn't going off on her own…" Finn tiredly muttered, looking to the side and seeing Aiz staying back, killing each monster that tried to get past her.
Usually this wave of monsters wouldn't have been an issue for them, but the swarm of monsters never stopped for three hours straight. Ever since they stepped onto this floor, they kept coming up and running into the Loki Familia like a never ending flood.
Each member of the Loki Familia was strong, especially the higher level members, but even these people needed rest after hours of constant fighting.
"Riveria!" Finn turned and shouted to his high elf vice-captain and the few mages next to her, "We need another barrage!"
"W-We can… only handle another… before mind down hits us…" A mage next to Riveria uttered out, his robe tattered and covered with dirt with splotches of blood.
"I-I can do it… Maybe…' Lefiya meekly spoke out, breathing out heavily as the exhaustion was slowly building up on her body and mind.
Riviera bit her lip, "Buy us some time for our chant." She held her staff up, the other mages nearby looking unsure but quickly steeling themselves as they began concentrating alongside her.
"You heard her, buy her some time!" Finn ordered out.
Bete, Tione, Tiona and Aiz each quickly took the initiative to charge forward, cutting and smashing down each of the monsters in front of them, pushing them back slightly.
However for every monster killed, another quickly piled in and took its place.
"Tsk, annoying damn bugs!" Bete swung his arm up, launching a Flame Rock over and across the length of the corridor.
"These are rocks, actually!" Gareth shouted and joined in from behind, swinging his sword and sending four of the monsters flying back, watching as they turned into black ash midair.
'Good, we might just buy enough time… but my thumb has been tingling more and more these past few minutes…' Finn thought to himself as he saw the rest of his party slowly push the hoard of monsters back to give time for Riveria and the mages to set up their chant.
However, his thoughts were cut short when the wall behind them burst apart and more Flame Rocks appeared.
"Dammit, watch out!" Finn shouted towards Riveria and the mages, jumping back past them and quickly swinging his spear to cut down the new monsters.
*CRASH*
Another wall broke down right next to Finn, causing him to sidestep out of the way as dozens more Flame Rocks poured out.
'What's going on, why is the dungeon being so aggressive?! I've never seen them swarm out of the walls or rush out like an unending tide!'
Gripping his spear tightly, he stayed calm and analyzed the situation as Gareth moved back to help support his Captain, holding the back from swarming towards Riveria and the mages.
"You ready yet?!" Gareth shouted as he used his body to push back the new swarm of monsters from reaching their mages.
Opening her eyes, Riveria lifted her staff up as the mages followed suit. Her lips parted as she began to shout out… before being interrupted.
Senketsu (Piercing Blood)
A sense of dread filled Riveria as her enhanced senses picked up on something sharp careening towards their group.
"Watch out!!" Her eyes full of panic, the chant of magic being interrupted as it fizzled out, the other mages failing to uphold their own as they turned to her in confusion and alertness from her words.
Finn glanced back and saw the look in her eyes, but before he could react, the sound of flesh and rock being pierced filled his ears.
Numerous thin, but thick, red beams with a tip shaped like an arrow flew through the monsters and between the members of the Loki Familia.
A hole the size of a Finns fist would be left behind each time the beams pierced one of the Flame Rocks.
Each monster pierced would seize for a moment, before completely dissipating into black ash
Then, one by one, they all disappeared into a puff of smoke, their bodies leaving behind countless magic stones clattering onto the ground and the odd numbered Kaenseki item here and there.
(Kaenseki: A crimson colored drop item from the monster Flame Rock that can explode when exposed to fire)
"W-What… What happened?" Gareth muttered, still holding his weapon up, his eyes slowly looking around at the magic stones on the ground, towards the other members of his party, and then towards Finn.
"That wasn't you, was it?" Bete said, oddly staying calm but his tense expression betraying him as the switch from pure fighting chaos into still calmness threw him off.
Tione and Tiona turned to Riveria, with Aiz sporting an odd yet apprehensive look on her face, also wanting some answers as they slowly walked back to the rest of their party.
"R-Riveria…" Lefiya muttered out, unsure of what to make of the situation.
"No… No it was not. I'm not sure what it was but, magic of this scale is…" Her brows tightened as she turned to look down the end of the corridor, clutching her staff tightly in her hand. "And it came from that direction."
The rest noticed and turned, their weapons up and ready as the rest of the expedition reorganized themself quickly without needing the command from Finn.
The sound of footsteps slowly creeped towards them, as the figure of a man wearing strange clothing gradually appeared and approached them, his hands in his pockets.
Finn narrowed his eyes, pushing his way to the front of the group slightly as Riveria followed next to him.
Her next words made him flinch.
"I don't sense anything from him…"
"...Nothing?"
"Nothing…"
He nodded back and coughed to clear his throat, causing the man approaching them to stop a fair distance away. With the faint lighting throughout the dungeons floor, they couldn't make out the appearance of this person, especially with the hood covering his head.
"I presume we have you to thank for clearing out the hoard of Flame Rocks. The Loki Familia will be sure to reward and compensate you for your assistance." Finn spoke out towards the man standing still in front of them.
However, the man didn't reply back, merely looking at their group.
From the man's perspective, Yuji was left with even more confusion than answers.
He expected to find people fighting, sure. Fighting these monsters was also another point he expected. But that all changed when he saw the blond child order the others about while fighting.
There was the literal wolfman standing among the group, sporting what he assumed to be dog ears and a tail.
The stocky man with the beard also looked like a dwarf from the movies he'd seen.
There were even elves among the group, as he noticed their ears and appearance. Elves did have the stereotype of being beautiful/handsome afterall.
There was also the fact that they all fought at varying levels of skills and prowess, with some having more finesse and power behind their attacks and others more reckless and swinging left and right.
Not only that, he could actually understand what they were saying, since they were speaking Japanese.
(AN: I activate my binding vow, lazy writing! I aint dealing with that bs. I watched danmachi with japanese voice acting, so they speak japanese, easy peasy.)
He was roused out of his thoughts as the child and the green haired elf stepped forward once more.
"I'm Finn Diemne, Captain of the Loki Familia. This is Riveria, my Vice-Captain, also belonging to the Loki Familia. Could you tell us your name?" The child, Finn, spoke towards him, but from the look he could see in his eyes, Yuji could tell he was far more mature than what his appearance was letting on.
"... Yuji Itadori."
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Authors Note:
Didn't want to drag out the chapters of Yuji just stumbling through the dungeon by himself for too long, as I felt that would be pretty boring and sap my own motivation to write those parts on.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Remember to vote and leave a review.
Feel free to leave suggestions on what you want to see in the story, its still quite open ended and could go in any direction really. The main premise will still be Yuji's character and his development in a new world.
I know people are going to ask what Familia he's going to join or if he'll get Falna or not. Imma be straight up, Falna I doubt he would ever get one, mainly because of the strings attached to them and the expectations he would have to carry once again. As for Familia, well, I'll leave that up for you guys to figure out.