Danmachi: the Great Devourer

Christmas Day special 2: C10: Fast Pace

Word count =1903 on 12/25/2023

With the celebration over and done with, everything gradually returned to the standard norms of Orario. Axel on the other hand had found new motivation recently to dig in deeper into the dungeon.

He had traveled until he reached the 5th floor by himself. He hasn't gained a need to get a supporter yet but he is starting to reach his limits. Not physical limits but mental ones as the faster spawning pace of monsters makes it harder for him to collect cores. Luckily he chose the martial art fighting style as the precious time to sheath and unsheath a weapon would have cut into that time even more. Very small bits of time that accumulate to a lot more.

The only thing that really slows him down is the fact that he has to take small sips of potions to make sure his hands don't break apart from the constant fights. He spends that time walking down the dungeon stairs when he can. He could almost kiss Naaza of the Miach familia for the better tasting and cheap potions he buys from her potion store. If he had to get stuck using normal potions like what he first tasted after his first day then he would have gone mad due to the bitter taste.

As for those wondering about his gauntlet set, he is still wearing them but you put on a pair of gloves and punch a wall, see how you feel after doing this hundreds of times.

He has also not really spent much time absorbing the monsters this time around as he has got money on his mind. He wants to repay his goddess and even help out his other 'goddess' Astolfo so they have to work less or be away for longer periods of time to repay their help to him. Though when he thinks of the goddess who serves as the third candidate, he never really learned her name but he would also like to repay her one day. He was preoccupied with his injuries when she was first introduced and her name was never repeated to him again so he never found out, especially since he never saw her again.

But back to the dungeon, he had just arrived at the 5th floor and the walls are now a light green color as compared to the blue tint it was before. The size of the rooms are also much larger in terms of width and height but only by one or two feet, nothing too drastic but he does remember the information he was told and that two new breeds of monsters make this floor and the next 2 floors their home. War Shadows and Killer Ants as well as Frog Shooters but from the three, his primary worry will be the war shadows and frog shooters as the killer ants only typically show up on the 7th floor while the other two show up on the 5th and 6th floor more predominantly.

He has been shown artistic renditions of how all three look like so he won't be surprised by their appearance. His main concern is to see what happens if he tries to absorb one or more of these beasties to see how much he improves as goblins or kobolds don't really give him stats anymore once he reached around 550 in all his stats.

Axel snaps himself out of his thoughts as he leans forward like he is bowing and then smoothly transitions into a handstand due to the war shadow that just tried to decapitate him. While in the handstand position, he spins to swing out a kick at the shadows body before he flips back right up and takes a fighting stance.

The 5 ft tall shadowy entity with sword like nails shakes its head from the kick Axel gave it before it screeches and rushes forward to try to cut him into slices once more.

SWISH

Axel leans his body back to dodge the claws but his crouched legs bring him forward for a gut punch that barely misses as the shadow dodges and then Axel is also forced to jump to not get his legs cut off, the Shadow tries to follow up with it's own attack after this miss but Axel lands a solid hit on it's 'wrist' which knocks it down due to the overwhelming force.

"Shadows of the Abyss, I AM the Endless, Rapture of Power and Possessor of All that Belongs to Others." Axel calls out his skill as he grabs the arms of the war shadow and sticks them into the floor while he begins to release a barrage of strikes against it's head. He also tries to break their arms but he can't really tell which their joints work so he just twisted them until it stopped attacking and fell down like a dead fish.

Axel is panting a bit as without his much higher stats, this would have likely been the end for him. He begins to absorb the War Shadow's power but he has learned to not let his guard down just as he is about to finish absorbing the shadow. He barrel rolls to the side to avoid a long tongue that rapidly shoots out at him. It kills off the war shadow and when Axel turns to look at what attacked him. He is shocked to find that a group of 4 one-eyed frogs have gathered and chosen this moment to attack him.

He would believe that the monsters are intelligent if he has not fought so many up to now. Seeing the shadow dead and no others nearby, he charges at the Frog Shooters since he has no way of beating them up from far away.

He has to keep dodging the swiping tongues that give him a few cuts on his body but none are fatal so far. He thought of trying to grab their tongues at some point but he got a good view at some point and realized that it is covered in sharp barbs which is the reason for its sharpness and destructive power. It would be no different than trying to grab a cactus if he tried to grab the tongues. He took out his knife to try redirecting some of the tongues he couldn't dodge but he finally got close to them and unleashed his annoyance at them until only one was left. He proceeded to absorb it as well while he collected the stones.

He has learned to channel his skill to only cover certain parts of his body but it still requires the full incantation regardless which he finds a bit annoying but he has heard tales of much longer incantations that take entire minutes to call out for adventurers who are pure spellcasters and gives his thanks to the short incantation.

Once he is done, he explores the floor a bit more before beginning to make his way home. He had killed 3 war shadows and another 5 frog shooters that were in groups of 3 and 2. He didn't encounter any Killer ants this time around but maybe he might next time around. Right now, he is excited to see his newest improvement as he has gone much further than he ever has before.

When he arrives back home it is late evening due to him exploring a bit more on the 5th floor. He arrives at the guild to turn in his monster cores and the few goblin drops he got on his way down. The guild members take note of the more plentiful goblin cores and then their reactions peak as they witness the war shadow and frog shooter cores. They were quite surprised by his haul as they recognized he had been spending time on the first floor for a whole month due to his first two weeks not even being in the dungeon and then 2 weeks that he spent whilst training with the Takemikazuchi. So, seeing his current relatively uninjured state after exploring the 5th is nothing short of wondrous for them as they only really deal with paperwork. Which means it gets fairly boring so they often gossip which is the reason for all the reaction from him going so deep into the dungeon now.

He had made 400 thousand Valis on this day. The heavy sack in hand, he makes his way home. He gets some attention from other adventurers who are surprised that he chose to use the lesser value Valis instead of taking just a few 100k pieces so he doesnt look so conspicuous but they recognize him as the newbie who had been on the first floor for a while as well.

Axel pays them no mind as he makes his way back home. He faces no obstructions due to the close proximity of his home from the guild. The classes had already been dismissed and so he uses his spare key to enter and meet with his goddess Raikou who has been keeping dinner warm for him.

"Oh, my baby, you're finally back, come to Momma" She speaks out with open arms. Axel nods and sets his things down and puts the bag of Valis on the floor as he doesnt want its weight to break anything. The thud sound that rings out when the bag is set down makes Raikou raise an eyebrow but she doesnt stop her actions as Axel finally gives her the hug she wants.

Over the weeks he has gotten used to being smothered in her 'globes' and no longer blushes as much as when it first happened. He also stays respectful by closing his eyes until he is released and is given a chance to explain his actions in the dungeon. She gives Axel a head pat as a sign of his good work before she warns him that other humans are also a danger to him in the dungeon. His work in saving others makes him trustworthy but there are also bad apples out there who wish to take over the work of others. That is how ideas such as Pass Parades came about. Most are not intentional as some weaker adventurers are filled with overconfidence while the other half of these events is an adventurer leading monsters to weaken another adventurer or group of adventurers to later come back and hunt them down for monster cores and valuable items if they have any. Even something as simple as a potion could be valuable to 'scum' like this.

She goes on and on about various situations and examples she has heard in the past about bad people who have blatantly hurt others. This included Evilius and how they have actively hunted down gods in Orario. Axel sternly nods as he understands the implication he accidentally made by checking out the money in smaller value currencies. His mind was simply preoccupied with being able to actively shop around wherever he wanted to without causing too much issue for anyone. He realizes that he has painted a target on himself since any adventurer who can survive on the 5th floor and reach the 9th floor are starting to reach the border of leveling up and being overall much stronger.

But with the lesson finally done, Raikou takes a look at Axel's status.