True Vorpal Bunny (Danmachi SI) Ch.25 (Patreon)

Chapter 25:

Lefiya fidgeted with her own potato snack as the group ate while walking. She still wasn’t used to being among adventurers of their level. In the School District it was different since first class adventurers were teachers, but here they were comrades that counted on her to not mess up in the dungeon.

She was even less relaxed with a stranger from another Familia walking with them.

And then, she noticed where they were heading. Babel, the tower that served as the entrance to the Dungeon.

“Where are we going?” Maybe they were going to go shopping on the upper floors of the tower.

The white-haired Hume Bunny was the one to answer her question.

“18th Floor. We are going to have to hurry. We don’t want people to wait.”

“Sorry about this.” Ais said.

“Sorry about whaAAAAA!” Lefiya yelped mid sentence when Ais suddenly picked her up and then the world became a blur.

Iru led the way, followed by Ais carrying Lefiya, and the two Amazons just behind.

With the Hyrute twins, the group had to move at the speed of Level 4 adventurers, but that was still two levels of advancement beyond the elven mage.

It didn’t take long for a small squad like that to reach the first safe zone.

Lefiya stumbled to her feet when Ais put her down, feeling very dizzy after the high speed descent.

They hadn’t stopped at Rivira, the makeshift village, instead they were in the middle of the forest that made up the 18th Floor.

And they weren’t alone.

Alise Lowell, Ryuu Lyon and Kaguya Gojouno of the Astraea Familia; The Varma sisters of the Ganesha Familia; Liliruca Arde of the Soma Familia, along with less known members of their respective Familias.

“What are we doing here?” Lefiya whispered to Tiona, as if the Level 5s around couldn’t hear her.

The short-haired sister beamed at Lefiya.

“It’s Funny Bunny’s idea. We’re going to fight.”

“What?! Why should we fight against each other?!” Famous members of multiple Familias duking it out would be bad for everyone.

Her outburst did bring some chuckles from the crowd of what were clearly elite adventurers.

“Training, of course.” Tiona replied. “Plus we aren’t brawling it out. We’re all teaming up against Iru.”

“Uh?”

Lefiya looked around, hoping that someone would tell her it was a joke.

Instead, the Hume Bunny just walked a few yards away before facing the crowd and unsheathing his axe.

“That’s crazy!” It was. There were multiple Level 5s in the crowd, along with Level 4s, and except Lefiya, no one below a Level 3.

Iru took a breath. Every adventurer braced themselves.

“Collapse, Star Crown.”

And then Lefiya fell to her knees, the sky pressing down on her shoulders.

She could barely lift her head enough to look back at the source of this horrible force pressing down on her.

Wreathed in black and purple lightning, Iru stood like a compressed ball of menace, magical power exuding from his pores in the form of gravitational waves that threatened to crush those that got too close.

Ais made the first move.

“Awaken, Tempest.” The cloak of wind wrapped around Ais and her sword. She lunged forward.

Alise was a step behind with her own fire enchantment.

Ryuu and Kaguya dashed to the sides and flanked Iru.

The Sword Princess and Scarlet Harnel swung as one, their element mixing together in a fiery wave.

Iru swung his arm, the strength of the movement and the weight of the limb enhanced by Star Crown’s gravity creating a gale powerful enough to counter the combo move.

Ryuu and Kaguya drew their sword fast as lightning when they reached Iru from the sides.

He spun his labrys on his shoulders, the edge catching Ryuu’s swing while the bottom of the shaft parried Kaguya’s.

And then, it was a four on one melee, four swords from some of the most renowned swordswomen in the world all aimed at the same target.

Iru’s axe became a whirlwind that prevented his opponents’ blades from reaching him.

Two seconds later, every other adventurer in the clearing apart from Lefiya reached the fight to help against the crazy bunny.

Iru smirked and upped the power of Star Crown before bringing down his axe on the ground.

The floor exploded and poor Lefiya was sent away flying until a tree stopped her. 

A small part of her snarked that now she could watch the spectacle in a sitting position instead of face down, even though she could barely see blurs.

As the dust settled, she could see the result of Iru’s strike.

The adventurers had been pushed back by the shockwave. The ground had been torn open with trees having been overturned and rocks protruding from the ground after being unearthed by the mighty blow.

Iru now stood on the top of one of those rocks, looking down on the gathered people, those who had listened to him, those who wanted to grow stronger.

He tilted his head, avoiding the spear coming from behind him and threw Lili over his shoulder. The little minx had just tried to stab him from behind and he just smiled at her antics.

You could say a lot of things about the Freya Familia, but the baptism worked, so that was his own version.

Him against all the adventurers who had the balls to face him.

They all looked up at the Beast of Caerbannog, casually resting his axe on his shoulder while still letting out the gravitational aura that was pressing down on them.

And they knew it was just the aftereffects of his spell. Star Crown was an enchantment type spell. Much like how the winds of Ais’s Ariel got weaker as they got away from her, Iru was the source and center of Star Crown, so the further away you were from him, the weaker his hold on gravity was.

Iru then gave them a smug smirk, the one he had cultivated on purpose to piss people off, and practiced on his Familia. He was actually surprised he hadn’t developed a skill based on it from how effective it was.

“Eh.” He huffed, amused by the way they all started to grow tick marks, which only pissed them off even more.

Good. That was exactly what he wanted. He wanted them angry and willing to hurt him. Fighting high Level adventurers was the only way for him to progress right now.

His growth had stalled.

Abyssal Maw was good, but only so long as the quality of his meal kept increasing with his Level.

But, after a while, diving in the Dungeon to hunt the stronger types of monsters wasn't really doable alone due to pure logistics.

Even with his ability to consume magic stones taking care of food, there was still maintenance of his weapon and armor, and the chance of being overwhelmed due to sheer number and attrition.

He knew that there were monsters that he could go to for High Grade Excelia, the kind needed for Rank-Ups, but for pure stats grind, the best option was this.

So, for the moment, the Corrupted Spirit would have to wait.

Instead, Iru Kratz, Level 6 of the Freya Familia brandished his axe and made sure that all those adventurers wouldn’t become obsolete due to a protagonist arriving in three years.

[hr]

“I’m bored. Let’s go on a trip.” Freya suddenly said while looking down on Orario from her suite.

Ottar’s ears twitched.

Iru groaned.

Horn almost spilled the tea she was serving.

“You couldn’t have waited for us to be alone to say that.” Iru complained. “Now, Ottar and the rest are going to be all wound-up.”

“We can’t allow that.” Ottar interjected. “If something happened to you, we wouldn’t be able to forgive ourselves.”

“See?” The bunny pointed at the stoic boar.

Freya pouted.

“And the last time you left without supervision, those dumbasses almost caused a clash with the Loki Familia, almost ruining years of diplomacy on my part!” Iru yelled the last part while looking at Ottar, who had the decency to turn his head and not look the grumpy bunny in the eyes.

Iru breathed and settled his head on the back of his chair.

“Where do you want to go?”

Freya beamed.

“Kaios Desert. I want to have a pool party in an oasis.”

Iru blinked and imagined it.

“That sounds kind of cool actually.”

“Right?”

Horn was the one to groan.

“Damnit. She got him.”

“My Lady…” Ottar tried to speak.

Freya looked at the captain of her Familia.

“Do you think Iru would let anything happen to me?”

Ottar looked away from Freya to gaze upon the young man that had risen through the ranks of the Familia faster than anyone else, with the kind of talent that he could only remember from a certain silver-haired witch, but without the disadvantage of a crippling disease.

“If a single hair of hers is damaged.”

Iru waved him off.

“Don’t worry. Our goddess is a tough girl.” Ottar kept staring at him. “Fine, I swear to keep an eye on her. Want me to pinky promise?”

Freya jumped off her seat with a fist raised in victory.

“Yeah! Horn, prepare my luggage, and then yours. We’re going on a trip!” 

Freya’s body double blushed.

“I am coming too?” She didn’t exactly know what a pool party was, but from the flashes she got from her connection with the goddess, that involved water and swimsuits.

As Freya started to prepare for a voyage outside Orario, something tickled at Iru’s brain but he couldn’t remember why. It must not have been important.