True Vorpal Bunny (Danmachi SI) Ch.23 (Patreon)

Chapter 23:

“Bye!” Lyd and the Xenos waved at the adventurers once the wounded recovered with potions the reinforcement brought.

Iru, Ardee and some of the adventurers waved back.

The Hume Bunny recognized it was quite a good first contact scenario for the Xenos. Helping to prevent a massacre was going to earn them some browny points down the line.

And with the Nightmare of the 27th Floor being mostly adverted, that meant that the Corrupted Spirit had currently no one to turn into Creatures, or at least not the three that she would have transformed.

Filvis was shaken but not the only survivor, so she would most likely be alright instead of gaining her banshee reputation.Iru made sure to turn Olivas into dust with an Afterglow so that he wouldn’t get turned, and Iru did remember that Revis was also an adventurer of that event but her face had changed when she got turned into a Creature and she used a fake name afterward, but she either was alive or her body was currently being carried to the surface by the survivors of her party since they left no one behind.

With the massive Monster Parade Evilus had just created, the Dungeon needed to recharge before sending more monsters in the Water City, and anything above could easily be handled by the current group of adventurers currently ascending, even if they were carrying wounded people and corpses.

Iru was also carrying someone, but they were neither wounded or dead.

“Iruuuu! I was worried, nyah!” Anya, who had ranked up to Level 4 some time ago after going to the Deep Floor with Allen, was clinging to Iru’s back like a limpet, her taller frame making the bottom of her chin rest on top of Iru’s hair.

“I swear if you leave snot on my hair, I will throw you down the waterfall.”

“Meanie, nyah! But that means you’re alright! I’m soooo glaaaaad!” 

Iru caught Lili giving him a glance that told him to man up and comfort the cat girl.

“There, there, I’m alright. I am also grateful that you came to help. Now, can you let go?”

“No! I’m making sure that you won’t do anything reckless again, nyah!” Anya clung to him harder.

[hr]

It didn’t take them long to reach the 18th Floor after that. Just in time too apparently.

They saw a large number of adventurers gathered near a certain spot that had been dug out, revealing the hidden entrance to Knossos. The Orichalcum door slid open and the Astraea Familia and members of the Ganesha Familia came out with restrained members of Evilus in tow.

It was to be expected. The real problems in the canon invasion of Knossos were the Creatures and the Spirit-created monsters like the Violas and the Demi-Spirits complicating things far more.

With only the remnants of Evilus as protectors, the man-made Dungeon was swiftly taken care of.

Carried under Alise’s arm like a sack of potatoes was a man with white hair, a goatee and a face that said that he didn’t know the meaning of the word sleep. He was struggling like a madman in her grip and a sleeve of Kaguya’s kimono had been ripped to wrap around his mouth to keep him from screaming like a lunatic.

Barca Perdix didn’t seem to enjoy the sudden eviction from his family’s fucked up generational work.

Iru let them deal with this. He had been involved in enough crazy shenanigans for today.

[hr]

Orario got into a pretty festive vibe after the success of the operation. After years of being a threat hiding in the shadows, Evilus had been finally taken down in its entirety, and the gods behind it had been sent back to Tenkai.

And since it included the Rudra Familia, it meant that the crazy bastard who would unleash the Juggernaut on the 30th Floor had also been caught. The Astraea Familia wouldn’t get wiped out, at least not by this. The Dungeon was still a dangerous place that caught adventurers off guard.

The one thing that was troublesome was the early reveal of the Xenos. On one hand, they had made a positive impression by helping out, on the other hand, Ouranos and Fels hadn’t been ready for that and many adventurers, especially those that had lost people close to them in the Dungeon, harbored doubts.

Public relations weren’t in Iru’s wheelhouse so he would let the sky god and the undead deal with this.

No, currently the bunny-eared adventurer was munching on magic stones, especially the ones coming from the monsters Evilus had dragged from the 37th Floor. Those had been Level 4 monsters and Iru wouldn’t pass the opportunity to inflate his stats more.

He ignored the way Ardee, Ryuu, Alise and Lili watched him eat what was basically money. They had already seen him do it.

As for why he was with those girls, he had been invited by Lili to eat out after all this mess to decompress. On the way, they had met the three other girls patrolling and who had been planning to get a bite too before continuing their vigil.

Iru proposed to pay as a way to thank Ardee and Lili for coming to help out on the 27th Floor.

Ryuu had tried to protest seeing as she and the rest of the Astraea Familia were in Knossos, but Iru insisted and Alise told the elf to just accept a free meal.

So, here they were, in the Hostess of Fertility, being served by Syr who smiled at Ryuu which made the poor elf flush.

Without the trauma of losing her Familia, Ryuu was such a bisexual disaster it was funny.

“How do they taste?” Alise asked the obvious question.

Iru finished munching on a crystal before answering.

“Low level monsters taste like shit, but higher ones are just bland.” 

He washed the taste off with his drink before going for the actual food he had ordered.

“So, talking monsters?” The redhead changed the subject abruptly.

Iru looked at her. Alise was a sensible person outside of her narcissistic view of herself.

“Xenos. Sometimes the same monster is reborn in the Dungeon and remembers things from their past life, along with enhanced cognition and strength. They also have an instinctive yearning for the surface.” He gave her the basics.

“And they helped you and the others on the 27th Floor.”

“I met them before.” Only a few hours before but she didn’t need to know the details. “Most of them have no hostility towards us. The ones who do are those who have been betrayed by humans they trusted with their existence.”

“You speak highly of them.” Ryuu interjected.

“They are a young community who are living in the Dungeon where the other monsters try to kill them and they can’t go to the surface because most adventurers wouldn’t ask questions and tear them apart. They learned to rely on each other. Their way of life has to depend on trust. They are honest people with earnest wishes, no matter how they were born.”

Ardee sniffed and wiped a tear off the corner of her eye.

“And they are so friendly too.” The blue-haired adventurer added. “One let me hug her. Did you know Almiraj fur is super soft?”

Alise put two fingers under her chin and stroked it in a cliche thinking pose. Then, her eyes opened.

“Very well! If you both trust them, it’s good enough for me! If the Astraea Familia meet the Xenos in the Dungeon, we’ll treat them as allies.”

Tellingly, Ryuu didn’t object to her captain’s brash decision.

Iru smiled at the two followers of justice.

“I’ll be sure to tell them when I see them.” 

Alise gave a thumb up and then turned toward Lili.

“And you, Liliruca Arde, I wanted to meet you.”

Lili blinked. The Pallum had been content to eat and listen until now.

“What does the captain of the Astraea want with Lili? Did members of my Familia fuck up again? I’m not the captain anymore but I can straighten them up if I need to.”

Alise waved her off.

“Nah. it’s just I’m the Scarlet Harnel, and you’re Blood Red. We should totally team up for a Dungeon expedition sometimes. And no matter what Iru says, you’re totally Finn’s kid and Lyra is going to marry him, so that would make you an honorary member of our Familia.”

After Alise finished throwing up a terrifying amount of stupid, Ryuu came in with the comedic comeback, slapping her captain upside the head without a moment of hesitation. The elf followed by bowing while Alise’s head was planted on the table.

“Excuse our captain. She was dropped on her head as a child.”

“And the ground lost. My continuing existence proves it.” Alise’s muffled voice declared only to receive another dope slap.

Lili laughed.

“I wonder how much people would pay to learn that the dignified heroines of the Astraea Familia are such silly goobers?”

Alise pointed a finger at Lili.

“See, she’s already acting all sly and smug like Lyra.”

This just made Lili deny any relation to Finn before the subject changed to something more mundane when Lili’s eyes turned red.