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Surprise!
🕑 Added 2022-07-02 20:29:54 +0000 UTC.
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'Gros led Silver to an open area that was like an arena.'
'As soon as they arrived, Lyd opened his mouth to say:'
"This is where we usually train, even though we hide most of the time, we still need to protect ourselves from monsters."
"Although not everyone is capable of fighting, most of us are, and when we aren't out there doing missions we are here training."
'Silver nodded, and then he said:'
"There's something I would like to ask… I already know all of you are strengthened species, however, I am surprised that you all…"
"Aren't as strong as you'd expected, right?" Lyd asked as he interrupted Silver
'Silver nodded.'
"You'd think that deeming our long history and the fact that we live within the Dungeon, we would be strong, or at least, just as strong as those on the surface, right?"
"To sustain ourselves, we eat the magic stones left behind by other monsters, and to grow stronger we also consume them…"
"However, not everyone can grow stronger, to grow further than the strength they were born with since we are mostly limited by our counterparts."
"Although it's true that sometimes we can go well beyond that, like me, that isn't a common thing."
"With each increase in strength past our limit, it becomes harder and harder to increase it, to the point it becomes a shore to seek more power." Lyd said while he shook his head
"At most, on your terms, a Level 2 can grow to become Level 3 before hitting his limit."
"There wasn't a single moment where I didn't train, but even so, my strength is at most compared to a Level 5 adventurer, I can still grow more, but how long will it take?"
"Other Lizardman are at most Level 2, but I'm already well past that… So where does my limit lie?"
"There is also the limit of how much I can eat in a short period of time…"
"It's embarrassing to admit it but if I eat too many magic stones I'll start feeling bad…" Lyd said as he scratched the back of his head
"Enough talking!" Gros said as he interrupted the two
"You're going to regret this kid!" He said loudly
"Humph, look at him, he was all grumpy at the start and now he's excited." Said a Harpy Xenos from the back
"Y-You! I heard that!" Said Gros as he stuttered
/Chuckles.../
'Some of the Xenos laughed at Gros' embarrassment.'
/Sliter…/
'As Gros screamed and everyone laughed, a tall blue Lamia slithered to the arena and said:'
"Alright now, enough talk, let's start this."
"Heh! Finally." Gros said
"No going overboard, and I mean it okay?" Said the Lamia as she looked at Gros
"Humph, I can't make my claws any less sharp." Gros said as he looked up
'Silver looked at the Lamia and said with a smile:'
"It's okay, as long as I don't suffer any fatal damage I can heal just fine, and he has a point anyway."
"Even so, this is just a spar…"
"Whatever Laura! Boy! Take out your weapon!" Gros said as he looked at Silver
At least that way he won't be able to complain that he didn't give his all later.
Besides, I never planned to use all of my strength, it isn't worth it to use it on a kid.
I'll imprint it on his mind who's in charge!
'Silver let out a small sigh to the Gargoyle's excitement.'
'He raised his right hand and his Halberd magically flew to him, surprising several of the Xenos.'
'At least the ones who didn't come with him earlier.'
"Petty tricks." Gros said
"We'll see about that." Silver replied as he rested his Halberd on the ground
'Lyd took this opportunity to say:'
"The first one to get knocked out or be subdued loses, you may also surrender anytime."
'He looked at Silver one last time and the latter just smiled with a nod.'
"So… Start!"
/Fwoosh!/
'Gros extended his wings and immediately started to fly.'
Let's see how you deal with this...
'But Silver raised his hand and move it down…'
"?!"
My wings...
/THUD!/
'Gros suddenly felt his entire body grow heavier, and suddenly, his wings became trapped in a translucent green light, making Gros incapable of flying…'
'Within a second, he fell head first into the hard rocky ground, making a large dent on the ground.'
/Silence.../
'Gros himself couldn't believe it, feeling the very familiar stone all around his face...'
/Crack/
'He removed his head from the ground, looking pretty pissed.'
'But Silver wasn't there…'
/Slash!/
/Clang!/
'Gros quickly turned and parried Silver's blow with his claws before jumping backward to reposition…'
"..."
When did he move behind me?!
I didn't notice it at all!
But his movements are still pretty slow, I can still...
/Slip!/
'But as he touched the ground, it became extremely slippery, making him stumble backward…'
"Dammit!"
What is happening?!
'He felt a strange force on his foot, and before he knew it, the ground was in front of his face again…'
/SLAM!/
'Gros was slammed face-first into the ground, making him eat dirt again…'
"..."
/Silence/
'It was an embarrassing moment for Gros, in less than 10 seconds, he was forced to eat dirt twice by someone so much weaker than him…'
'An adventurer no less!'
/ROAR!/
/BAM!/
'Gros jumped from the ground, unleashing his full power and making the ground beneath him shatter.'
'As his wings opened, the air pressure peeled out a layer of stone from beneath him...'
"This is bad, Gros is angry now." Ray said as she looked at Lyd
"Should we…"
"..."
'But Lyd wasn't paying attention to her, instead, he was fully focused on the fight, waiting for it to unravel.'
…
"I'm done playing around!" Gros said as he flew in the air
'But his eyes were focused.'
I've heard, seen, and experienced all sorts of magic being used, be it against monsters, ot me.
But this is the first time I've seen anything like this before.
I didn't see it, it was sudden and with no indicators…
Not quite... As he said before, his body did change…
As long as I strike before his body changes, I win.
'But Gros suddenly realized…'
No! Why am I thinking of strategies to win against him?!
He's much weaker than me!
And outsider! A human no less! Younger and weaker than me!
'Gros flapped his wings and immediately dived to Silver.'
I'll end this now and bury this embarrassment!
"!"
'Silver barely had time to react to Gros, he was fast, much faster than the Green Dragon.'
/SLASH!/
'Gros aimed his claw strike at his shoulder like last time, but the feeling was completely different…'
'It felt as if he had slashed at air!'
"Wh… !"
/CLANG!/
'As he lost his focus due to confusion, Silver's body dissipated, and his Halberd appeared in its place, with its top blade aiming at Gros' chest!'
'Due to his momentum, Gros barely had the time to evade, and as a result, the blade struck against his abdomen, producing a clear sound as if metal had struck against metal.'
'Once he touched the ground it became clear, on his abdomen was now a clear white mark, and his scales were slightly dented.'
"..."
'Gros felt incredibly humiliated, not once, not twice, but thrice… That was the number of times he was beaten…'
"..."
'But while Gros laid there, silent, Silver was still very attentive to his surroundings.'
'These tactics would at most, work once or twice against him.'
'He was fighting against an intelligent being, one that would learn and adapt to his fighting style and counterattack with his own strategies.'
'And not just any intelligent being, but a veteran that has survived for many years in the Dungeon, fighting was in his blood already.'
'Simple traps were useless as they only worked on the 'simple' creatures of the Dungeon.'
'A Gargoyle was actually a very simple monster.'
'It had 3 main points and those were pretty much everything it had.'
'Sharp claws, wings, and a very hard defense due to its stone-like skin.'
'A Gargoyle is a Deep floor monster, and they are born assassins.'
'Stalking their prey from afar with their natural camouflage, waiting until the time is right, before doing a single diver and killing their prey in a single blow.'
'This doesn't mean they are weak in close-quarter combat since they have their extremely hard skin, but they are also pretty lackluster since that is all they have.'
'Gros finally moved, but this time, his gaze was calm.'
"It was my loss." Gros said calmly
"?!"
'All of the Xenos all around were surprised.'
'The no-nonsense, hot-headed, and impulsive Gros was admitting defeat?!'
'Gros eyes were sharp as he looked at Silver.'
"I underestimated you too much, and this resulted in me taking 3 strikes."
"If you were stronger or had a sharper weapon, I would be laying on the floor already."
"You have proven to me that you aren't just all talk..."
"And continuing this has no meaning, as the difference in our power is too great."
'Without waiting anymore, Gros turned around and left.'
"Phew…" Lyd said as he sighed in relief
Even in the end, you keep this act Gros...
"He seems upset though…" Ray said as she looked at Gros
"Of course he is… But he just needs some time alone and he'll be fine."
I know how you feel Gros… But this time… This time it'll be different.
'He turned to look at Silver, who was a bit confused.'
"So uh… I won."
'His expression warped and he said with a smile:'
"Who's next?"
/ROAR!/
'The Xenos cried loudly, and a tall armor jumped into the arena.'
'It wasn't just an armor, but inside it, there was a dark figure moving…'
'It was a War shadow!'
"..."
'The Xenos raised its left claw and challenged Silver for a fight!'
"It seems they are quite excited." Fels said as she watched this unfold from the side
This was the furthest we ever went in regards to our plans.
Other candidates would always back out or choose the surface instead of the Xenos...
Or become violent and backlash.
They prefer to stick with their common sense as they fear the truth.
There was once a very good candidate, but she became incapable of adventuring as she started to grow pity for the monsters of the Dungeon.
And in the end, in an effort to overcome this trauma, she went to the Dungeon to fight, but was unable to defend herself and died...
He seems genuine in his desire to help them and seems very clear about his intentions so this matter will probably not become a problem.
But it remains to be seen how far we can actually bring this interaction.
However, I'll need to report this to Ouranos and see his opinion about all of this…
'As Silver and the Xenos fought, Fels turned around and left.'
…
/A few more hours later…/
/Thud…/
'Silver crashed his head against the ground unmoving, too tired to move.'
/ROAR!/
'Next to him was a big Xenos, it was a Silverback holding a massive greatsword at least twice Silver's size.'
'The Xenos banged its fist against its chest, proclaiming its victory with a roar.'
'The fallen Silver was then carried next to the central bonfire where he was healed.'
'For the next few minutes after that, the Xenos talked with him about a lot of things and shared several stories with him.'
'Over time, the initial excitement of seeing an adventurer died out and everyone started to go back to what they usually did.'
'And once this happened Silver said to Lyd and Ray:'
"It's getting late, I'm afraid my time has come to an end."
'Lyd nodded, already expecting him to say such a thing.'
"It was fun meeting you Silver-Chi, I hope we can meet again soon."
"That'll probably happen very soon, I'll be on the 24th floor almost every day from now on, so we'll probably meet each other quite frequently."
"That's good to hear!" He said with a smile
'Following that, Silver said goodbye to the other Xenos and left the Hidden village.'
'Lyd offered to escort him, but he said it was okay.'
'And once he entered an alley relatively far away from the village, he stored his loot inside his pocket space and left the Dungeon.'
'Hence, his first contact with the Xenos ended on a positive note…'
…
/A few moments later on the surface…/
'Inside the Loki Familia's manor…'
"UUUUUUUH… Finally… Finally, it's over…" Loki said with a tired expression as her face looked deflated
"I finished updating all of my Children…"
'But her face suddenly brightened as she smiled like a devil.'
This means it's time!
Ohhhh! How much I missed it! The feeling of her smooth back...
/BAM!/
'She kicked the door open and screamed:'
"AIS! COME HERE! IT'S TIME TO UPDATE YOUR STATUS!"
'Loki started to scream, and it didn't take long for someone to kindly ask her to shut up...'
…
"?..."
'Her target, who was taking a shower suddenly shuddered.'
'But she did not hear the cries of her Goddes, and even if she could, she would ignore her completely...'
"Ais, pass me the shampoo, I forgot mine again." Tiona said on the side from another shower box
"..."
'She didn't say much, instead, she grabbed a bottle and passed it to the shower box next to hers before continuing to wash her dazzling golden hair…'
…
/Sometime later…/
"WHAT IS THIS?!" Loki screamed as she read Ais' stats…
'Something unprecedented had happened, but what could make the experienced Loki cry in surprise?'
…
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