Dungeon Menagerie 36

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRei

Dungeon Menagerie

Chapter 36

-VB-

Their trek back to the surface took half the time it took for them to descend the same way. 

Lili and Bell rode on Chauky while she rode on Mori. 

While there still were monsters who tried to get in their path and kill them, Mori always made quick work of them, and when there was too much, Vel’Koz did the same but in a much more flashy manner. 

It’s hard to be flashier than purple not-flames burning things alive, ground breaking up in a straight line with those same not-flames roaring out of the split fissure, and entire areas just bursting with concussive blasts made out of the same not-flames. 

Unlike the not-flames that can fly, split the ground, and explode like a bomb, Mori’s black ropes hanging anything with a next and then disappearing within the same minute was far humbler and subtler. 

Not that it wasn’t any less efficient - because it was very efficient - but it didn’t send that “don’t mess with me” message like Vel’Koz’s not-flames did across the entire floor, not just to whoever was on-site to eyewitness mass execution by hanging. The latter was much more traumatizing, though.

The blank look in Lili’s eyes said as much. 

Vanessa took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, ignoring the magic stones littering the dungeon floor as Mori and Chauky passed on by. She knew that she was probably passing up on tens of thousands of valis right there, but if she stuck around to collect every single magic stone, or even just the ones that stood out, then she would slow down her team and that was counter to why she was down here. 

She had enough (she prayed she had enough). 

“Hey, Vanessa?”

She looked over her shoulder as Mori’s body gently swayed from side to side in line with his steps. 

“Yeah?” she asked him.

“... You are going to keep dungeon diving, right? Not going to stop adventuring?”

“Of course,” she snorted. Even if she wanted to, her familia’s income depended solely on her. And she doubted that other adventurers would let her Friends go on their own adventures. 

No, even if she puts on a collar, clothes, or whatever other identifiers on her Friends, there will be assholes like the ones she had to kill …

… She tried not to think about it. About the deaths she caused. About the blood and bones.

… Anyways, there were assholes who would accost her Friends simply because they can. Hell, there were adventurers who went after other adventurers, too, so them coming after her Friends was a guarantee! 

That didn’t include the deities and whatever else they wanted. Her Friends were too shiny, new, and fun to not mess with her.

Some of them might try to kidnap and smuggle her Friends to claim “ownership.”

Because people and gods weren’t so different. 

“... Would you like to party up with us? Or can we party up with you?” 

Ah, it was an age-old question, huh? 

Last time, she said no.

But this time, he came out and helped her. Even if his and his familia’s impact was small compared to hers and Mori’s, he helped.

And that mattered. 

Could she keep saying no when he extended a helping hand, not having expected any kind of reward? 

… She wasn’t sure if she could. After all, her primary reason for distancing herself from Bell had been to keep herself safe from the entire shenanigans surrounding him because he was the protagonist. 

However, she had more or less become involved with him too deeply to pull out there. Whoever it was that Mori and Vel’Koz fought deeper in the dungeon (because she refused to believe it was a monster of that floor, not with the entire floor hearing their earth-shattering battle), there was someone out there already after her, if not after Bell. 

It was too late to pull out.

She let out a chuckle. “Sure. You finally get that party you wanted, Bell.”

His eyes lit up.

Lili, on the other hand, looked disappointed and sullen. She didn’t even bother to hide her distaste. 

Vanessa gave the supporter a wide-eyed shrug. She knew why Lili didn’t like her (probably). 

The girl probably thought that Vanessa was going to snatch up Bell for a lover or something.

HAH! 

No, she liked someone who was at least a little bigger than her. Strong arms were a given. 

Bell… Bell was a wittle boy. Sure, a teenager, yes. Adventurer, yes. Strong, yes. 

But he just didn’t fill in a single criteria of her type! 

Well, maybe aside from the strong arm bit. 

So when Bell looked away while Lili kept looking, she moved her lips.

‘He’s all yours.’

Lili started, blinked, and then blushed. 

“I don’t-!” And then she shut her mouth quickly. 

“Lili? What’s wrong?” Bell asked as he put his hands on her shoulder and looked forward. 

Lili quickly shrugged his hands off of her shoulder and grumbled quietly. 

Vanessa tittered at their interaction. 

Ah…! That was interesting to see, but Lili had a long way to go if she wanted to catch Bell’s attention as a woman. He had his sights on the Sword Princess. 

-VB-

Their travels went fairly quickly. 

13th Floor.

10th Floor. 

6th Floor.

It almost felt like they were cheating with how quickly they moved while not even being high level adventurers.

5th Floor.

3rd Floor.

2nd Floor. 

Bell knew that he would have better adventures if he stuck around Miss Vanessa. 

1st Floor. 

And then -.

Everyone came to a stop just after exiting the dungeon, because there was a group of adventurers standing in front of them, glaring. 

“Who are they?” Bell asked quietly to Lili, who was the most knowledgeable about the city that he knew. It took him a second to realize that she’d frozen. Her face was completely white. “Lili…?!” 

“F-Freya Familia…” she muttered. 

Bell looked up from Lili and at the dozen or so adventurers. They were all extremely well geared. 

Why were they glaring at them?

To his surprise, it was the new Friend, Vel’Koz, that step- floated forward.

“You have the same stench as the one we fought. Are you here to fight us?” it asked them.

Eh? 

Vel’Koz couldn’t mean…? 

That fight in the forest… Was it that? 

Bell’s eyes widened. 

Wait, who did Vel’Koz fight?! 

The glaring adventurers reluctantly backed up and parted wordlessly from their path. But they didn’t leave. 

“I wonder who you fought, Vel,” Vanessa hummed. “That they came rushing here to look at Level 2’s and 1’s.”

Bell didn’t know what was going on, but eventually, the Freya Familia adventurers turned away and left. 

Lili let out an explosive sigh of relief. 

Bell was still a little confused but realized that something big might have happened more than Vanessa and them killing Monster Rex as Level 2’s and 1’s. 

“Vanessa, what was that about…?” he asked his friend, and she glanced over her shoulder to meet his questioning gaze. 

“I think Vel here fought some crazy strong Freya adventurers in the Dungeon. Seeing as they came to greet us, it’s obvious that whoever it was survived to come back up from the Dungeon faster than we did.” 

They left the Tower of Babel after that, hurrying towards the Guild office, but they got a lot of stares on their way there. 

Probably because Mr. Vel’Koz was, uh, pretty big.