True Vorpal Bunny (Danmachi SI) ch. 35 (Patreon)

Chapter 35:

Freya was reading a few pages that included information sent from her numerous followers outside of Orario. They didn’t possess her Falna, but had decided to dedicate themselves to her all the same.

The news she was currently reading came from the slaves she had freed in the Kaios Desert.

She smiled as she read that Bofman had shaped up so much that his merchant company was actively fighting against slavery and that they were promoting the pure power of muscle. 

The reconstruction of Ali’s country was going swimmingly. She even managed some form of diplomacy with Warsa by telling that their warmongering was the fault of Resheph, an evil god who had been stealing soldiers from the Warsan army to add to his Familia.

The best lies were made of partial truths after all.

The god of plague was sent back to Tenkai by one of the gods that worked closely with Shalzard, Isis.

All was well that ended well. It was a nice vacation. She met interesting people. She had a pool party and she even got Iru into a swimsuit. It was all a big win for the goddess of love.

The only thing that worried her was how Iru had asked to go somewhere alone while on the way back.

When he had come back, he was covered in patches of black powder, and he had asked Hedin to blast him with his lightning to get rid of them because it was apparently a very potent poison. The Hume Bunny was fine thanks to his Poison Resistance and Abyss Maw making him immune, but he didn’t want to spread it.

Freya could only think of one place where such a potent poison could be found near the Kaios desert: the place where Zeus Familia had faced Behemoth.

From the rumors she heard, even after more than a decade the place was still a blighted wasteland that killed any who wandered in due to how toxic Behemoth had been.

Iru hadn’t wanted an update right away, and instead had gone directly to the Dungeon once he was back.

She suspected he was grinding his way to Level 7. There was no talking to him when he was like that.

She hoped he would come back soon.

[hr]

“FUUUUUUCK!” Iru roared on the 37th Floor. 

Udeaus was already dead. He had known that the Loki Familia had led an expedition to deal with Balor in the deeper floors, but he had hoped they’d skipped the skeleton king on their way.

He had wanted to copy Ais’s feat of dealing with a Monster Rex solo to get a Level Up. Between the blood he had taken from Resheph and consuming Behemoth’s magic stone, he was sure his stats had jumped up high enough and there wasn’t much he could do as a Level 6.

He would have to wait months for the two Monster Rex of the Deep Floors to respawn.

There was the corrupted Spirit, but that was actually a raid where you needed a bunch of Level 7 to even survive. Hell, Bell only survived that mess because of his ridiculous Skill that gave him a Wolverine-like regeneration factor as long as he was the target of a Charm effect.

Irritated, Iru made his way back up.

[hr]

Bete Loga growled to himself. He had just made it to Level 5. He was a first-class adventurer and the captain of the Vidar Familia.

But that didn’t mean he liked looking after weaklings. Vidar had been on a recruitment spree in the last two years, so now they had Level 1s and 2s weaklings to look after.

And the worst part was that they had to slow down because of them. Since there were adventurers who hadn’t reached the 18th Floor on their own in their party, they were unable to take the Knossos shortcut.

Bete didn’t have the whole story, but apparently, the artificial Dungeon had been built over hundreds of years by a family of crazy bastards, and had been used by Evilus before they got taken down.

And now, it was guarded by those freaky talking monsters. Though, Bete could at least respect them more than most adventurers. The Xenos had survived their whole life in the Dungeon before getting Knossos given to them by the Guild as a diplomatic move for having helped during the 27th Floor incident.

Only people who had reached the 18th Floor could go through Knossos as a shortcut, and they had to pay a fee every time they did.

So, Bete and a bunch of weaklings had to make their way down while making sure to stay in shape because the objective of this minor expedition was to have the lower-leveled members face a Monster Rex under the supervision of their captain.

The fact that said captain was not enthusiastic at the idea hadn’t seemed to bother the god of the Familia, or the vice-captain who had managed Bete to do it.

In the end, the Werewolf had to interfere when a young Chientrope almost got flattened by the Goliath and Bete had to carry her away before kicking the Goliath’s head off.

Right now, they were in Rivira, licking their wounds while Bete paced like a caged beast.

He had screamed. He had berated and insulted them, calling them weaklings that would die worthless deaths and worse. He had seen tears from the younger ones.

Good, that way,maybe they would give up being adventurers and stay away from the battlefield. Weaklings should stay in their place: safe where they wouldn’t die.

He scratched at his face tattoo, feeling the scar beneath itch.

He needed to have a drink when he got back to the surface.

[hr]

Bete was drunk. He had chosen a random bar and had ordered way too much alcohol, even for his Level 5 physiology.

His head was pounding, and his vision was hazy. He had gotten into a shouting match with Selenia about how he had treated the newbies. She had told him to be softer with them. He had replied that soft would get them killed.And now he was in this sorry state, alone with a bottle in hand while the other customers were enjoying their time.

As far as he was concerned, today sucked.

“Hey, Mia! I’m hungry! What’s the special today?” A voice way too close for Bete’s comfort reached his ears.

He turned his head and beheld a young Hume Bunny taking a seat and speaking to the big ass owner.

Another kid who came to Orario for fame and glory, no doubt. The kid would end up in some monster’s stomach after getting too cocky.

Bete should save the Dungeon the hassle and just make the kid give up right now.

[hr]

Iru was in the middle of catching up with Mia and saw Syr approaching, a smile blooming on her face as she caught sight of him.

He had spent a little bit too much time in the Dungeon, true. He would spoil her a bit if she wanted.

“Oiii, brat.” A slurring voice came from Iru’s left side. He had tried to avoid looking at the drunkard half collapsed on the bar counter.

But now that he was looking at the foul-smelling person, he recognized Bete Loga. Iru hadn’t met the Werewolf in this life, but he was pretty distinctive. He was also completely wasted.

“Stop acting though. Small stuff like you is just going to die in the Dungeon. Fucking weakling. And then someone will have to carry your sorry corpse out.”

The patrons of the Hostess of Fertility, most of them adventurers not as drunk as Bete was and who knew who Iru was because he was a regular, all shut up and started focusing on what was clearly going to be a show.

A drunk Level 5 not recognizing a Level 6. That was the kind of comedy most people couldn’t think of.

They waited with bated breath for Iru’s reaction.

The Hume Bunny just raised an eyebrow before turning back to Mia.

“Hey, Mama Mia, get some water for the poor guy.” He said pointing at the red-faced Werewolf.

“Should have cut him off already, but he got money and he had been silent until now.” The Half-Dwarf agreed as she filled a cup of water and slid it to Bete.

The adventurer known as Fenris knocked it out of the bar with a swing of his arm.

If the bar wasn’t already silent, the sound of chattering would have shut everyone up. The regulars knew that making a mess on purpose in Mia’s establishment was a good way to get yourself punted across Orario.

“I’m talking to you, weakling!” Bete stumbled out of his seat.

A vein bulged on Mia’s forehead. Iru was still unimpressed.

And then Syr tried to calm things down, and approached with her hand raised.

“Sir adventurer, how about we all calm down?”

Bete’s glare switched to Syr and he raised his hand aggressively as he felt someone get in his space.

Next thing he knew, he was on his back, looking up at the moon. When did he get outside? His face hurt.

He saw the Hume Bunny standing over him just before Iru dumped a bucket of cold water over his face.