Chapter 22 - Debt. (Patreon)

The Minotaur roared as the back of its knee was slashed. It fell to the ground, roaring in pain. Bella, who had already disappeared from its sight, also slashed the leg of the second Minotaur, which let out a similar roar.

In a matter of seconds, both Minotaurs had their legs cut, leaving them with little strength in them. Even standing was difficult. And after reducing the mobility of the two Minotaurs, who weren't particularly fast to begin with, killing them was an easy task for Bella.

The first Minotaur's body was cut into several pieces within seconds. The last part of its body to be severed before it died was its neck. It tried to strike Bella with all its strength, but failed.

Its arm movements were slow, and it had no magical attack abilities. The only thing it could do was roar, trying to disrupt Bella's concentration, but it failed.

Once it was dead, Bella focused on the second Minotaur, which had managed to get back on its feet.

With no weapon in its hands, the Minotaur clasped both hands together and tried to strike Bella. However, it only hit the Dungeon floor, which cracked under the impact. It also let out a loud roar, trying to restrict Bella's movements, but it didn't work.

Unlike Bella, Kael was affected by the Minotaur's ability and was paralyzed by fear.

That was precisely what the Minotaur's ability did: it made its prey feel frightened and terrified, causing them to stop moving. However, this ability only affected adventurers of level 2 or lower. Bella was unaffected.

Because of this, the Minotaur was mercilessly attacked by Bella.

She ran circles around it, deceiving its eyes.

She focused on its legs first, making the Minotaur lose all its mobility and fall to the ground. Next, she cut off its arms, rendering its hands useless.

Finally, she inflicted several wounds across its chest, back, and neck.

The Minotaur's skin was tough, but not tough enough to stop Bella.

It was like torture. The Minotaur died slowly. Once it was dead, Bella casually collected its magic stone and placed it in her bag. Then she approached Kael, who was still paralyzed.

As soon as she got close, Kael leaned on her shoulder and said, “Good job. You did that faster than I expected.”

“Like I said before, I can handle Minotaurs easily. What about you? How are you feeling? Are you badly hurt?” Bella glanced at his injured hand and then at the blood at the corner of Kael's mouth.

“My hand hurts, and my ribs are a little sore, but I can still move just fine.”

Huff~~

Bella sighed and then took something out of her bag. It was a small vial. “Here, a healing potion.”

Kael hadn't known Bella was carrying one, so he was surprised. His eyes widened. “Isn't that really expensive?” he asked, staring at her.

“I'm a Level 3 adventurer, you know? I can make a decent amount of money exploring the Dungeon.” She then clicked her tongue.

“And you two are still living in that church?”

Bella heard his question and tossed the potion to him.

Kael almost dropped it, but managed to catch it.

“It's not as simple as it sounds. I can make a lot of money, but I'm helping the Goddess pay off a debt. There's barely anything left over.”

“A debt?” Kael thought for a moment before saying, “Your knife?”

In the original story, Hestia had made a personal contract with Hephaestus to obtain that knife. 'If this version of the world is following the original story, then that debt still exists...'

However, in the original story, Bell hadn't helped Hestia pay off the debt this way.

In fact, Hestia hadn't even wanted that debt to be paid with Bell's help or that of any other members of her Familia. It was simply a personal debt. 'So what changed?' Kael was confused.

“...” Bella remained silent for a few seconds. Then she said, “That's right. You hit the nail on the head. But it's a long story, so don't think too much about it. Even so, I'm still able to save a little money while helping her pay it off. We'll be moving somewhere else in a few months.”

Bella had received that knife not long ago, back when she was still Level 2.

She had already paid off a good portion of the debt and had also managed to save a significant amount of money.

In the end, she felt grateful to Hestia, since that knife had helped her tremendously.

####

Kael set the bones in his fingers back into place and then drank the healing potion. It tasted awful. After swallowing all the liquid, the pain he had been feeling almost completely disappeared.

He tried moving his hand, and it worked perfectly. His broken fingers were back in place. Bella looked at Kael, who was acting like an idiot as he stared at his hand, and said, “Let's keep moving. We need water and food.”

“Ah, right. Sorry. It's my first time drinking a healing potion, so I was surprised.”

Bella sighed, and Kael followed close behind her.

Several minutes passed before they encountered more monsters.

[EXP 1,500]

[EXP 1,500]

[EXP 1,500]

Now that they were on the 15th Floor, every monster Kael killed granted him 1,500 EXP. As a result, his accumulated EXP was increasing rapidly, especially because of the sheer number of monsters.

Bad Bats, Hellhounds, and other monsters that preferred to move in small or even large groups.

As for Minotaurs and Ligerfangs, they didn't encounter any until they reached the 16th Floor.

However, once they arrived on the 16th Floor, things became a little different. The number of monsters seemed to have decreased. Even after several minutes, they hadn't encountered another group of monsters.

And the smell? It had become even more unpleasant.

However, Kael had grown accustomed to it.

Then, they finally encountered the first monsters they would have to face on the 16th Floor.

Bella looked visibly disturbed.

'This shouldn't be possible,' she thought.

Something strange was happening.

This expedition was nothing like any of the others she had been on so far.