True Vorpal Bunny (Danmachi SI) Ch.18 (Patreon)

Chapter 18:

Another day, another dive in the Dungeon. With Iru and Anya at Level 3 and Lili having raised her base abilities pretty far as a Level 2, the trio could go deeper since the last time they teamed up.

The Large Tree Labyrinth was made up of Floor 19 through 24, and as the name indicated, it was a jungle maze with numerous insect type monsters with a tendency to produce poison and powerful beasts acting as vanguards.

The terrain contained many materials that were used for medicinal uses along with the drop items of many monsters. The Guild and potion-making Familias often posted quests to gather those materials.

“Nyah! Lili!” Anya called as she pinned a Bugbear’s shoulder with her spear.

“Got it!” The Pallum jumped above her ally’s shoulder and thrusted her own spear right in the bear-like monster’s skull.

Meanwhile, Iru was dealing with two Lizardmen, each using landform weapons. Whereas the landform weapons before the 18th Floor consisted mostly of rocky weapons, like axes and clubs, The Large Tree Labyrinth equipped its monsters with metallic flowers of different shapes.

Both of the humanoid lizards were using flower-shaped shields along with sharpened petals as blades.

Iru’s new labrys slammed into one of those shields and sent one of the bipedal lizards flying off its feet.

The second one, wielding its sword with its left hand, went for a stab , and Iru twirled the shaft of his weapon to redirect the blow. He then stepped to the right, where the Lizardmen was open for Iru’s fist to pulverize its ribs.

A perfectly executed liver shot that would have sent a boxing commentator roaring slammed against the monster’s scaly hide, and much like in a ring, the beast folded in two.

Iru’s axe then decapitated the kneeling monster before its comrade came back.

The Hume Bunny was working on integrating bare-handed strikes in his fighting style more often. He eventually wanted Fist Strike as a Development Ability.

Iru then proceeded to drive his hand through the dead monster to wrench its magic stone out, only to throw it at the other Lizardman.

The Lizardman, who had been picking itself up after being thrown aside like garbage, blinked at the crystal being thrown at its feet. It then picked it up and ate it without a moment of hesitation.

With a surge of strength, it rushed at Iru.

Its slash was avoided and the bunny threw the monster over his shoulder like a pillow.

Iru continued to kill other monsters, pilfer their magic stones and throw them at the Lizardman who kept eating them, each one making it grow stronger.

Anya and Lili, who had been dealing with their own pack of monsters, started to cut the magic stones out of their kills, letting Iru to his own devices.

“He’s scary, nyah.” Anya commented. He had caught up with her already. She had enough stats to rank up, but hadn’t participated in a fight worth leveling up yet. But, she knew that Iru was stronger than her by a lot.

“Tell me about it.” Lili wouldn’t toot her own horn, but she had found that she had a talent for being an adventurer, and her growth was keeping up pace with what she knew to be first class adventurers when they were at her level. But, she realized that Iru was a level above that.

He understood the danger of the Dungeon, yet treated it like his own playground and did stupid things like feeding a Lizardman magic stones so that he could fight an enhanced species.

“So, you’re sure you’re not the Braver’s kid?” Anya changed the subject to a topic Lili did not want to revisit.

Her eyes blazed red as she turned her gaze to the Catkin.

“Those eyes really aren’t dissuading me, nyah.” Anya was unfazed.

“Urgh.” The Pallum groaned.

The worst part was that Iru had told her about her supposed past incarnation, after he had enjoyed laughing at her for far too long.

She didn’t know how he knew that, but apparently, a lot of talented adventurers of this generation were the reincarnations of old heroes. And her soul was supposed to be Fiana, and that him kicking her into fighting and rebelling against her inherent weakness as Pallum woke up the part of herself that was the knight, which was then translated onto her Falna as a Skill.

And that brought him to explain the relationship between Finn Deime, Dim, Fiana and Liliruca Arde.

So, no the Braver wasn’t her dad, but more like her spiritual brother. And just like that, Lili lost the crush every little Pallum girl of the last decade had grown up with, much to Iru’s great amusement.

Before that conversation could turn painful for the Pallum, Iru’s plan bore fruit.

The Lizardman screeched after consuming the last magic stone Iru threw at it. Its muscles bulged and spikes grew the length of its spine and tail. It foamed at the mouth and its eyes were swirling in their sockets while the changes happened.

The moment the transformation finished, not a lot seemed to have changed behind having bulked the monster a bit.

The Lizardman then opened its mouth and spat fire at Iru.

“Hot! Hot! Hot!” The Hume Bunny yelped as he danced away from the flamethrower.

He knew that Lido the Xenos Lizardman could spit fire, but he hadn’t thought that a normal  Lizardman could do it too after just consuming some magic stones.

The lizard finished its dragon impersonation and threw itself at Iru with far more speed than previously.

“That’s more like it!” Iru cheered, meeting the strike with one of his own. 

This time, he lost the strength clash and took a step back.

The Lizardman had stats rivaling a Level 4 now.

Iru smiled.

“Collapse, Star Crown.” He finally used his magic and charged back at the enhanced species.

This wasn’t the same as the beatdown he had given Phryne. No, the captain of the Ishtar Familia was an arrogant piece of shit he had beaten thanks to her underestimating him and then keeping her on the back foot before she could regain her composure.

The monsters of the Dungeon didn’t have that weakness. They hunted adventurers with their full strength right from the start.

Iru’s next blow disarmed the Lizardman from its shield. It jumped back before the follow-up could cut it in two.

It picked up a blade from one of its fallen brethren and unleashed a dual-wielding flurry of blows against Iru.

The gravity manipulator jumped and twirled his weapon around his body to meet the assault. The axe heads and the shaft of his weapon parried the wild series of attacks.

The Lizardman opened its mouth mid-combo to launch another breath attack.

Iru’s foot rose and smashed into its lower jaw, raising its head and redirecting the flamethrower upward.

The Lizardman stumbled back. Iru went for the offense.

His axe strike was blocked by a full body swing from the Lizardman, but it didn’t stop here and continued to spin and landed a tail strike.

Iru was sent flying by the strike and winced from the pain, but he managed to regain his balance and land feet first on the trunk of a tree.

Using his legs like spring and redirecting gravity, he blasted himself back from where he came from.

The Lizardman unleashed his breath for the third time.

Mid-flight, Iru started focusing Star Crown on the edge of his axe. The Lizardman had met his challenge and was actually being a good fight.

A good fight wasn’t enough for Iru’s purpose, but he would bring it down with respect.

Iru swung his axe.

Afterglow.

The concentrated gravity magic was launched forward as a blade that tore everything in its way. The flames were being dragged inside the Afterglow and snuffed out.

The Lizardman could do nothing but meet its end head on.

It wasn’t the Floor-cutting attack that he had unleashed against Alfia due to Iru not having the might of the Level 7 behind it, but it still left nothing of the Lizardman, except for a fissure running for more than 300 meters down the length of the 19th Floor, having reduced any tree and other monsters on its path to dust.

“...”

With the battle-induced adrenaline boost going down, Iru started to think. A Lizardman using twin swords and breathing fire. Was it Lido?

Did he just go through an Asterios vs Bell scenario, and Lido would remember him as his killer when reincarnating as a Xenos? Right after he talked to Fels about helping the Xenos. 

Out of all the Xenos, too! Lido was such a cool guy! And now Iru was going to stress everytime he would see a Vouivre, fearing that he would traumatize Wiene by cutting her into pieces.

“You okay, buddy?” Lili asked as she and Anya started to worry about the immobile bunny.

“Yeah, just thinking about the consequences of my actions.”

Anya shouldered her spear.

“You’re weird sometimes, nyah.”

[hr]

Iru sighed. After a good bath and a meal, he was relaxed.

Then, Horn blocked the path to his room. She glared at him.

“Good evening to you too, Horn. I am fine. Thank you for asking. Can I help you?”

She clicked her tongue at him.

“Lady Freya is waiting for you.”

“Our conversations are always so enriching.” He told her while turning around and heading for Freya’s room.

If she wanted to talk, they would talk. His attitude would depend on what she wanted to talk about.

As they walked, Iru’s thoughts turned to the gray-haired woman escorting him: the girl who gave her name to a goddess to take the goddess’s place.

Syr Flova was a girl who wanted to become Freya so much that her Falna created a miracle. A link between the girl and the goddess that allowed the two to turn into the other.

Syr changed her name to Horn and could take Freya’s appearance and even copy her Charm.

Freya could become a normal girl named Syr and enjoy life outside the gilded cage that was her Familia, though her executives eventually found out.

When Iru entered Freya’s room, he was surprised to see Syr and not Freya waiting for him.

“Hey.”

She snorted at the casual way he said that.

“Hey to you too.” she replied back.

There was a silence between the two of them. Iru would wait and let her say what she wanted to say.

Finally, she released a breath and looked into his eyes.

“When did I start thinking that the way I acted as Syr was more real than how I acted as Freya?”

“When you stopped lying to yourself, and only kept lying to others.” He answered bluntly.

If she wanted to finally face herself truly, Iru would give her the truth.

“Now, it would be better if you could be frank with other people.”

“It would destroy my Familia.”

“The Gulliver brothers won’t be happy until there is no else alive able to leer at you. You can’t make everyone happy. And some of those maniacs actually would prefer you to be happy over feeling caged and having to hide things from them.”

The Freya Familia was crazy and Iru would be the first one to say it. But, some of the crazies actually had something resembling selfless love for Freya and would let her be happy the way she wanted to be instead of how they thought she should be.

Too bad those were a minority.

“Really?”

“You’re a goddess. Act like it. If you want to have an orgy, go for it. If you want to marry some dude and live on a farm for the next century, no one is stopping you. Freya the goddess of beauty is a label others have twisted into chains around you when it should be your strength.”

“You say it so simply.”

Iru took a step forward.

“I only say things that I mean. If someone tries to stop you from being yourself, I’ll blow them away.”

Her eyes grew misty.

“You’re being corny.”

“I’m being truthful. Also, it doesn't mean I won’t slap you over the head if you start acting like a cunt.”

A fit of chuckles and sobs escaped her.

“You’re horrible.”

“I fit right in with the rest of your children then.”

Syr wiped her eyes and took a deep breath to control herself.

“It was that simple all along, uh?”

“Yup. No need for some grand fight. You just needed someone willing to tell you off.”

Syr smiled. It was the pretty smile of a pretty girl, nothing more.

“Remove your shirt. You have an update to get to.”

“Yes, yes.”

The usual song and dance went. The divine ichor hit his back as Freya distributed his Excelia.

“Hihi. Hehehe.” She started laughing on his back and she leaned forward until her head rested between his shoulder blades. “Silly rabbit.”

“Ok? What’s happening? I got something funny on my back? Some new Skill?”

“New spell.” She said as she gave him his sheet.

“Oh.” Iru could only utter as his face became red.

Iru Kratz

Hume Bunny

Freya Familia

Level 3

Abilities:

Strength: C-650

Endurance: D-544

Agility: C-612

Dexterity: D-500

Magic: C-642

Abnormal Resistance: H

Hunter: G

Spirit healing: H

Supreme Attack: I

Skills:

Abyss Maw: Grants the user a stat boost for every consumed monster. Cancel negative effects from swallowed substances.

Hell Howl: rejection of hostile divine works.

Fjadrhamr: Increase Stats while in the air. Grants the Hunter Development Ability.

Mistilteinn: adds magic drain to spell effect. Adds the Development Ability Spirit Healing. Adds the Strength ability to magic power.

Magic:

Star Crown: “Collapse.” gravity enchantment magic.

Golden Tears: “Mourn the lost love. Mourn the ending of the story. Those tears nourish the goddess’s new tale.” Self-targeted spell. Heals wounds and stamina. Cures ailments and curses.

“My little Tsun bunny. You like me~.” the girl on his back sang and giggled.

“Call me that one more time and you’ll get all Tsun no Dere.”

Seeing that she was still laughing and ignoring him, Iru bucked his hips. Syr yelped as she was flung off.

With his Level 3’s strength, Freya was lifted into the air high enough that Iru had the time to roll off the bed and watched as she dropped and bounced on the mattress.

Syr  laid there, giggling in her pillow. She turned her head to look at him.

“I want you.”

“We already discussed that. My dick doesn’t work yet.”

“i didn’t mean sex, but if it’s on the table, I'm willing to wait.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re implying it. You want me too.” She said as she got on all fours and started stalking her way to him.

“I want a lot of women. I got eyes.”

Syr pouted.

“Talking about other women when I’m right here. I’m hurt. Enemy of women.”

“I don’t want to hear that from the enemy of all genders.” Iru fired back.

As Iru and Freya started to trade barbs like teenagers, Horn, her back to the door, listened with mixed feelings.