Is It Wrong To Skitter In A Dungeon? Chapter 59: Back To The Surface (Patreon)

Chapter 59: Back to the Surface

Taylor and Ryuu’s trip to the 37th Floor had yielded quite a few interesting results… and raised more than a few questions.

Welf was practically drooling over the unknown white ore, and the rest of the Hestia Familia had been taken aback by their captain’s hypothesis about the Dungeon, the Colosseum, and the Xenos.

Though despite all these revelations, nothing really changed. The group kept hunting in the Water City and Dense Forest Ravine, gathering massive amounts of loot, and the pile grew day after day. They ate, slept, and bathed on the 28th Floor, and generally had what amounted to a very vigorous camping trip.

And then the day came that the Loki Familia was due back, and they’d begin their ascent to the surface. It was the morning, and at the moment the Hestia Familia was busy getting ready to depart.

“Make sure to leave nothing behind!” Taylor called out.

“Yes, boss!” Aisha called out as she hefted a heavy sack stuffed full of Magic Stones over her shoulder.

“Do you need me to carry anything?” Marius offered, eager to help his captain.

“If something needs carrying, I would be the obvious choice to do so,” Tammuz interjected.

The two men stared at each other, sparks flying, and Taylor resisted the urge to sigh and roll her eyes.

“If you two really want to help, grab some more bags!” she ordered, and they leapt to attention, rushing to do as she’d commanded. Of course, they then began to compete over who could carry the most supplies at once, and Taylor could feel a headache forming as she observed their antics.

“Are they still trying to one-up each other?” Oriana asked, sounding amused as she watched them try to show off.

“They are. Lili wonders when they will pull out the ruler to compare what they’re packing,” the pallum said with a snort, and the knight, samurai, and rabbit nearby flushed red at the crude implications. Aisha just laughed.

“Why are they doing this now?” Bell wondered, even though his face was still a bit red.

“Because they couldn’t exactly do so on the expedition. They’re too professional to play around in the middle of work,” Welf explained. “Although they did compare kill counts every night. Marius won, by the way.”

“How? Tammuz is a veteran Level 4!” Mikoto exclaimed.

“Yeah, but he was also hunting on the lower floors. And the Dense Forest Ravine has a much lower spawning rate than the Water City,” the Blacksmith pointed out.

“That is true. The monsters of the 29th to 36th Floor are much larger than most of the monsters on the other floors, and it appears size and strength correlates somewhat to spawn rate, at least in certain circumstances,” Ryuu agreed.

“That makes sense to Lili. One Bloodsaurus could make a dozen Orcs, if you take mass alone into account,” the Supporter mused.

“I hear a lot of talking and not a lot of working!” Taylor called out in a warning tone, and the adventurers hastily got back to clearing up the area.

‘It’s been nine days since we left Orario to begin the trip,’ Taylor thought to herself as she had her swarm pack up their campsite in preparation. ‘If we keep with Finn’s schedule, we’ll get back to the 18th Floor around evening, camp for the night, and then make it back to the surface tomorrow morning.’

In all, the whole expedition would take a total of ten day.

‘And I’ve already identified areas where we’ll need to prepare better for the next expedition,’ Taylor thought, calculations for the supplies they’d need for a month-long expedition flashing through her head. Better tents, more food that could last for a longer time, superior tools, both magical and mundane… there was just so much!

‘I should see if I’m able to introduce canning to this world,’ the parahuman mused. ‘That would make it easier to supply longer excursions.’

But that would be something to discuss later. Once the issue with Knossos was resolved at the very least. Right now though, her swarm had detected the arrival of adventurers, and while a few high-level parties had come and gone throughout the week that hadn’t belonged to either Familia on the expedition, they lacked the sheer numbers.

“Welcome back,” Taylor said, greeting Finn and the other executives as they arrived. “We’re ready to go when you are.”

“Good,” the pallum said.

Finn's uniform was dirty and torn in a couple places, but aside from that he looked fresh, as if he hadn’t spent a few days fighting down in the depths. “We’ll add our cut to the shared pile and then we’ll leave.”

“Can’t wait to have a drink,” Gareth declared with a grumble as he dropped a few sacks onto the loot pile near the Hestia Familia. “Nothing but water for over a week… a dwarf ain’t supposed to live like that!”

“I’m just looking forward to a bath,” Riveria commented, rubbing a strand of her hair and wincing at how tangled it was.

“I’m back, Bell,” Ais said, approaching the white-haired adventurer with a grin.

“Welcome back, Ais,” Bell responded, smiling up at her.

The two stared into each other’s eyes for a bit, until Finn and Taylor both coughed loudly, causing Bell to yelp and turn bright red and Ais to pout as he ran off to scout ahead.

“Everyone rested?” Finn called out to his Familia, and they all let out a few cries of affirmation. “Then move out!”

The two Familias began to move back up at a slightly more sedated pace, as they were all tired and laden down with a staggering amount of loot. Even with Debbie and Lili carrying a large amount of it, there was still a lot, enough to slow them down if they didn’t want to lose any.

“Hey, hey, Weaver!” Tione called out, jogging next to Taylor as the two Familias headed up the 27th Floor. “I was wondering where you learned martial arts!”

“I was taught by a couple of different people,” the parahuman replied.

“Was one of them an Amazon? Because I see elements of Muay Thai in your fighting style,” Tione wondered.

“No, none of them were Amazons,” Taylor said.

“Huh… pretty weird to see Muay Thai outside of Telskyura. Some of the kingdoms nearby use it too, but I generally don’t see non-Amazons bother with it,” Tione mused, before grinning. “Wanna spar some time? My martial arts are a bit rusty and I could use the chance to knock some rust off of all my skills.”

“Sure, we can arrange a chance to spar some time,” Taylor said, before an idea hit her. “Actually, would you mind helping one of my Familia members as well? My knowledge of martial arts isn’t as thorough as I’d like, and Gina deserves a better teacher than me when it comes to that.”

“Gina? Oh! Gin-Gin!” Tione said. “Right, right, she left Hermes Familia for you guys! Sure, I can do a little teaching! In exchange for a spar, of course!”

“Great… and Tione, do you mind if I ask you a question about Amazons?” Taylor wondered.

“Sure! What do you wanna know?”

“Well, I suppose my first question would be why do your, uh, fellow Amazons only give birth to other Amazons?” Taylor inquired. It was honestly one of the biggest ones she had. How did that even work? And what even was an Amazon?

“Well, I don’t know for sure, but there are two versions of the same story,” Tione said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “One version says it’s was a curse given to a bunch of human women in a village who refused to surrender to an invading army, even after their husbands were all killed. The version the Amazons themselves tell is that it was a blessing from the spirits for refusing to submit to the army.”

“Well, sometimes whether something is a curse or a blessing depends on how you view things,” Taylor hummed.

“I think so too!” Tione agreed. “Anyways, all Amazons in the world are descended from those handful of women, or so the legend goes.”

“I see… what about Amazons beyond Telskyura? I know some live in the Kaios Desert, but are there other places?”

“Oh, sure! We’re everywhere! Though only Telskyura has the largest population, with Orario having the second most! And besides the desert, some live in a town to the east, in the mountains near the Abandoned World, or what used to be the Jade Empire, and others live on an island in the western sea near the Solar Empire. Then of course there are smaller groups, little more than singular families here and there,” Tione informed her. "And, of course, there is some argument as to where exactly the Amazons originate. Some legends say it was the western island, others claim Telskyura is the birthplace of our race..."

Taylor and the younger Amazon twin spent the rest of the ascent chatting. They discussed legends and history and literature, and by the time they reached Rivira, they two had started to develop… Taylor wasn’t sure it was a friendship, but it was a pleasant companionship.

‘I need to recreate some of the stories from Earth Bet,’ Taylor thought as she set up her tent. ‘It isn’t right for those tales to fade away. The history, too, for all the bloodshed and faults, doesn’t deserve to be forgotten.’

Tolkien, Whitman, Sun Tzu… The Renaissance, World War 2, and the Space Race… there were so many people, words, and events that needed to be remembered. And while she did plan to find a way back to Earth Bet, there was no guarantee there’d be anything left of her world to bring back to Orario. As far as she knew, she was one of the last people of her home who could leave a record of what had come before and nearly been lost to Scion.

‘Wait… when did I start thinking about Orario that way?’ Taylor thought to herself with a frown.

The logical side of her mind told her it made sense not to put any attachments on a world that was likely burned to cindered. But there was another part of Taylor that was starting to realize that if given a chance, she’d return to Orario, because Earth Bet wasn’t her home anymore. Maybe it never had been.

‘This world… this city… this is where I belong now,’ Taylor realized.

Taylor was in a daze the whole evening, her mind elsewhere. Some people noticed, but none tried to bother her about it. They gave her space, somehow able to tell that she was currently going through things.

When morning came, the parties continued on to the surface after a quick – albeit greasy – breakfast of eggs and fried chicken, and made it back out of the Dungeon around noon.

The look of resignation on the Guild clerks’ faces when they saw the mountains of loot being carted over to the counters caused a flicker of pity in Taylor, but she didn’t stop dragging the sacks and dropped one in front of the clerk.

“Quite the haul you have there,” he said weakly, trying not to cry at the amount of work ahead of him.

“It was very productive,” Taylor agreed.

It took over an hour, but finally the counting and calculating was completed and everyone received their cut of the profits. As always, a portion – in this case a third – went to the Familia, while the rest was divided up amongst the rest of the participants.

Even with ten people, everyone in the Hestia Familia’s party made eighteen million valis, a staggering sum.

“That… that’s a lot of zeroes,” Mikoto whispered, swallowing heavily, her hands shaking as she looked at the Guild IOU voucher in her hands.

“Indeed, even I don’t see that much money being thrown around all that often,” Marius agreed, eyeing his own with a critical eye. “I don’t think I ever realized just how much money was involved in being an adventurer. This puts it into perspective.”

“Right? I typically only see that kinda money when people are talking about national budgets or the like!” Oriana commented.

“Lili has never had so much money,” the pallum said, her tone indicating she was in a daze.

“And this isn’t even counting the shared loot,” Aisha commented with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s right,” Taylor confirmed, before turning to Finn. “Shall we?”

“Let us do so now,” he agreed, and the shared loot was dropped off, causing one Guild Clerk to whimper.

When the calculations were done, they did not make as much as before. This time, Taylor made sure that a portion of the valis made from this sale would go to the Level 1s in the Familia who hadn’t been able to participate.

A grand total of 183 million (and change), split between twenty people, plus the portion of money put aside for the Familia accounts. That meant each person in the Hestia Familia would get a whole 8.5 million valis from the profits of the shared loot the two Familias had gathered, while the rest would end up in the shared account used by Hestia and the Familia.

By the time they were done, it was half-past two in the afternoon, and everyone was getting hungry and anxious to head back home.

“A pleasure working with you, Miss Taylor,” Finn said politely, shaking hands with the parahuman.

“Same. I look forward to working together again,” Taylor replied. Handshake completed, the two Familias broke apart and headed back to their respective bases.

“WELCOME BACK!” Hestia called out, throwing herself at Bell as her mortal children returned to Hearth Manor. She then went around to everyone else, hugging them tightly in relief.

Wiene and the rest of the Familia were waiting in the foyer as well, wide smiles on their faces as they saw them all in one piece. Dirty, tired, and covered in blood, but in one piece.

“We have returned safe and sound, just as promised,” Taylor announced, smiling fondly at the tiny goddess when she received her own embrace. Wiene then hurled over to join in, and the former Warlord found herself as the filling in a hug sandwich.

“I was so worried! And lonely! And bored!” Hestia complained.

“Did the others give you any trouble?” Taylor wondered.

“No! Of course not! They’re good girls!” the Goddess of the Hearth declared. “It’s just… it wasn’t the same without everyone here.”

“I understand,” Taylor said. She then patted Wiene’s head. “Were you good as well?”

“I was a good girl, too!” she declared proudly. “I can bake bread!”

“She’s been helping Haruhime and I in the kitchens! And speaking of which, we have a late lunch prepared for everyone!” Hestia said, and led the reunited Familia into the dining room.

Everyone sat down, chatting eagerly with each other as a nice cheese platter and finger food lunch was served, complete with freshly baked bread.

“Delicious,” Mikoto praised as she nibbled on some bread. “Did you bake it, Wiene?”

“I did!” the Xenos declared happily.

“You did an excellent job,” Marius praised. “Even in the palace I’d be hard-pressed to find bread this good.”

“Indeed,” Karen agreed, while Oriana’s head nodded up and down, her mouth full. The blue girl blushed at the praise, looking away. If her tails were out, Taylor had a feeling they’d be wagging.

“So, did anything interesting happen while we were gone?” Ryuu wondered.

“We helped Miss Eina with a problem,” Karen said.

“What happened?” Bell asked, concerned for the Familia’s advisor.

“She was being stalked,” the imperial noblewoman said, a disdainful sneer on her face.

“It was actually kinda weird, though,” Gina spoke up. “See, apparently, there were these two guys from different Familias who were trying to court her, and they ended up thinking the other person was stalking her, so they started stalking her to protect her from each other.”

“So, Miss Eina was being stalked by two people who each thought the other person was the stalker, and they were trying to protect her?” Lili asked incredulously, her expression mirrored by the others.

“It was romantic! Creepy, but romantic,” Silva declared.

“It was stupid is what it was. They couldn’t take a hint and kept bothering Miss Eina,” Leo retorted. “We had to get Ryuu’s friends from the Hostess of Fertility to, uh, convince them to stop being nuisances to her.”

“Well, I’m glad you helped her with that,” Taylor said, shaking her head and making a note to get Eina a bottle of wine. The half-elf would likely need it.

“And speaking of Eina! The restaurant is doing well! It’s become very popular with the Guild!” Hestia claimed proudly, switching topics to something more upbeat and cheerful.

“Burgers and pizza are a hit with adventurers as well! You can eat them with your hands and don’t need a plate or fork or skewer!” Iris happily added.

“We did have some trouble with the Soma Familia, though,” Emma admitted, and Taylor and Lili frowned.

“What happened?” Taylor demanded.

“Some people tried to be a nuisance in the restaurant for, like, two days. Arguing with the wait-staff and demanding refunds for ‘wrong’ orders,” Silva said. “They eventually pissed off some Guild workers who were trying to eat there, though, and got threatened with a double-check on their Familia’s taxes. That scared them off, and they haven’t been back.”

“They also tried coming around the store as well, but were driven off quickly,” Lucia added. “I think it was due to all the high-level adventurers who shop there.”

“Yeah, us elves aren’t exactly forgiving to people who get in the way of our comfort, and your silk garments are very comfy, Miss Taylor,” Primo said.

“Well, that takes care of those problems,” Taylor hummed. “But I’m surprised and concerned by the Soma Familia making a racket all of a sudden.”

“They probably thought they could bully the Familia while the heavy-hitters were in the Dungeon,” Lili said with a scowl. “Lili knows how Zanis likes to operate.”

“It’s not just them. Aeshma Familia has been making odd moves as well, recently,” Gita spoke up. “Their captain, George Doe, got to Level 3 while you were away, while the rest of the Familia has been hitting the Dungeon more often than usual. Among doing some other strange things, such as liquidating some assets, buying new real estate, and meeting up with shady folks, including the Soma Familia.”

The look of disgust on Hestia’s face at the mention of Aeshma was both hilarious but also worrying, as not even with Apollo or Ishtar had she shown such an expression.

“What does Aeshma want with Soma?” the goddess wondered. “They have completely different domains!”

“Well, it might not be Lord Soma himself Lord Aeshma is meeting with,” Gita admitted. “He only visited the Soma Familia’s compound once with his captain, and left shortly after. But he was seen in the company of Zanis at least twice since then.”

Taylor tried to search her memories for any mention of a deity by the name of Aeshma, but drew a blank. Considering there’d been hundreds of ‘pagan’ gods in Earth Bet’s history, it made sense for the less popular and well-known ones to slip by her.

“When was this?” Taylor asked.

“Um… the first meeting was shortly after you won the War Game against Apollo Familia,” Gita said after thinking it over.

“That does seem suspicious,” Bell agreed, several other heads bobbing along with his words.

“Give me a dossier on the Aeshma Familia when you have time,” Taylor instructed, and the hood-wearing chienthrope nodded.

“Is there any good news?” Lili asked, her tone hopeful, but tinged with a hint of desperation.

“We do indeed have some good news!” Hestia said cheerfully. “Haruhime got a new spell!”

“Really? Congratulations!” Bell said, happy for the renard.

“Thank you, Bell-dono,” she said, her tail wagging behind her.

“You’ve worked hard,” Taylor praised, and the tail of the fox-girl in a maid outfit nearly reached supersonic speeds.

“So, what does it do?” Aisha wondered.

“Show some decorum!” Mikoto hissed, but the Amazon just laughed.

“Um, it’s called Kokonoe, and it lets me use my first spell on nine other people at once, though that means I have to spend up to nine times the amount of Mind,” Haruhime revealed.

Taylor blinked. “Now that is going to be very useful,” she said.

“She also managed to get enough Excelia to Level Up!” Hestia added. “Though she decided to hold off until her Magic stat is higher.”

That brought out another round of congratulations for the foxy adventurer, and she blushed at the attention she was getting.

“How did you do it? What monsters did you kill to be able to Level Up?” Oriana wondered.

“I didn’t kill anything. I… it was because I managed to overcome Mind Down in order to save the rest,” Haruhime admitted. “We were on the 7th Floor, and there must have been over a hundred Killer Ants.”

“How did that happen?” Welf asked, concerned. “Was it a Parade Pass?”

“Ah, no… we, uh, we got cocky,” Iris admitted, looking down. The others all gained ashamed looks.

“We got too used to having Miss Taylor on our side,” Emma revealed, unable to look her captain in the eye when she said this. “We thought we could handle it… we couldn’t.”

“We’re able to take on Minotaurs when we gang up on one, and even Orcs aren’t that much trouble,” Karen muttered defiantly, trying to excuse the misstep.

“Elaborate,” Taylor ordered, no longer amused.

“We went down to the 7th Floor to hunt. We fought like we usually did… which was our first mistake. You weren’t there to take control of the monsters, and the way we were killing monsters spawned more Killer Ants every time we didn’t take them out fast enough. Soon, we were surrounded,” Lucia said. “We’re strong enough that none of them were that much of a danger individually, but in those numbers even we were in danger of being overrun.”

“How does that lead to Mind Down?” Mikoto asked worriedly.

“Haruhime had to keep casting the Level Up spell to keep us from being overwhelmed. There were just so many that even a couple Level 2s wasn’t enough near the end,” Leo said with a grimace.

“I ran out of Mind during the retreat, same as Primo,” Haruhime revealed. “But when I saw we were about to be overrun, I pushed myself even harder to cast the spell on myself, so I would have more Mind to draw on.”

“You were trying to buy Mind from your temporary Level 2 stats in order to keep fighting,” Bell realized in shock, everyone looking very worried by that.

“It’s… that would be extremely risky as the Mind you’d be using up would have to come from somewhere. It would steal your own lifespan in order to do so,” Ryuu said sharply, and Haruhime nodded solemnly.

“That is what happened. The Mind Down that came afterwards nearly killed me… but I was able use my spell one more time on Emma, and with her help we got back to the surface.”

“It’s a relief to hear you all managed to make it out alright,” Taylor said, slumping a little in her seat, relieved.

“It sounds like you used Concurrent Chanting,” Ryuu said thoughtfully.

“Yes, both Haruhime and I have been practicing that ability, and it paid off down there,” Primo spoke up, a haunted look in her eyes. “We both had to learn how to chant and cast magic while on the move. It wasn’t easy.”

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Bell said with a smile that had several of the girls blushing.

‘Lady Killer,’ Taylor thought with both fondness and exasperation.

“Kokonoe has another ability, too,” Haruhime added. “May I demonstrate?”

“After lunch,” Taylor said. “In fact, we should all show off what we learned these last couple of days. Hestia, can you update our Stats beforehand?”

“Yes,” the goddess agreed. “You’ve all worked hard! I bet your Stats have gone way up!”

The late lunch was finished up with nothing left over, and feeling full, the adventurers shuffled off to clean up before getting their Falna updated. Then, one by one, they got checked over by Hestia, who was very impressed by everyone’s growth. And finally, there was Taylor who made history. Again.

“Holy Moly, Taylor!” Hestia exclaimed as she looked at the numbers that had appeared on the Status sheet.

Curious, the parahuman commanded a few bugs in the room to peek at the paper in Hestia’s hands, and blinked slowly at what showed up.

Taylor Hebert “Weaver”

Level 3

POWER – B 799 - - > SS 1089

ENDURANCE – B 769 - - > SS 1095

DEXTERITY – B 775 - - > SSS 1223

AGILITY – B 783 - - > SSS 1187

MAGIC – SSS 1443 - - > X 2000

Developmental Ability

Hunter G - - > F

Chain Attack H - - > G

“I did not know Stats got that high,” Taylor said slowly as she eyed her abnormal Magic stat. “Also, I didn’t know that there was an ‘X’ ranking.”

“Me neither! But apparently, you broke the damn numbers! They won’t go any higher! Or, they do, but the Falna can’t actually show it!” Hestia exclaimed. “You broke what was already broken!”

“Par for the course for this Familia,” Taylor muttered, and got dope slapped upside the head by the tiny goddess still straddling her bare back.

“That is not a good thing!”

The captain of the Hestia Familia just chuckled, before sitting up and sending Hestia tumbling backwards with a yelp.

“Well, now that we’re all updated, it’s time to see what the others have managed to come up with during the expedition,” Taylor announced as she put her shirt on.

Hestia grumbled a little before getting up and following her out of the bedroom. The rest of the Familia was busy gathering in the backyard’s training field to demonstrate what they’d learned.

“Haruhime, you get to go first,” Taylor said, and the renard smiled before stepping forward.

“…Kokonoe!” Haruhime chanted, and her new spell manifested in the form of three glowing, golden tails. She then began to chant something else immediately afterwards. It wasn’t Uchide no Kozuchi, but the basic Windblade spell that Taylor had taught the other spellcasters of the Familia.

To Taylor and the others surprise, the three mystical tails suddenly turned a pale green when she finished chanting.

“You don’t just cast multiple spells at once… you’re able to store them!” Taylor realized as the Windblade spells didn’t immediately activate when Haruhime completed the incantation.

“That’s right,” Haruhime nodded. “I didn’t even realize it until Primo noticed that there was a delay between when my tails would cast the spell and when I actually chanted them. We discovered that I can hold back on casting spells that are kept within my tails for up to half an hour, and I can do so one at a time or all at once.”

“That’s going to be very helpful going forward,” Taylor noted. “The main issue is speed, as you have to cast Kokonoe before any other spells. And how much Mind does it cost to multiple your spells?”

“If I want to boost five people’s Levels using Kokonoe, I have to spend the same amount of Mind I normally would for casting Uchide no Kozuchi five times, but all at once,” Haruhime admitted.

“Hm. Limiting, but I imagine you’ve been training to improve your Magic stat,” Taylor guessed.

“Yes! Your meditation tips have helped! I can almost feel my magical energy within my body! I’m getting better at measuring how much Mind I have left after casting multiple Spells!” the maid said.

“Good. Keep at it, and you’ll be very powerful in the future,” Taylor praised. That made her smile and blush.

“Who’s next?” Taylor inquired.

“I’ve got a new trick,” Welf said as he stepped up. He held out his hands, and summoned a burning blade of crackling fire. However, it wasn’t normal flames, as Taylor could feel an aura coming from it.

“My new pyromancy Skill lets me manipulate flames with a degree of control I could only dream of before,” Welf began, admiring the fire he’d made with his Shard-granted Skill. “I can now conjure my Will-o-Wisp without chanting as well, and the Skill let's me shape it freely. Also…”

He dismissed the Will-o-Wisp blade before bringing out a magi-tool that was basically just a lighter. He activated it, and a tiny yellow flame appeared. However, after it did so it changed color, darkening and spitting golden sparks.

“I can now change the properties of pre-existing, mundane flames,” Welf said with a grin. “Essentially, I can turn regular fire into Will-o-Wisps, granting them anti-magic properties!”

“So cool!” Bell exclaimed.

“That is going to turn you into a mage-slaying warrior extraordinaire!” Lili agreed. The magic users in the Familia looked less enthusiastic, but they could see the use of somebody who could control fire and turn it into something that would disrupt spells.

Welf let the fires fade and slumped a little.

“Kinda takes a lot out of me, though,” he admitted. “I have to spend a bunch of Mind to make regular flames become pseudo-Will-o-Wisps, more so than just conjuring a regular Will-o-Wisp so it has limited uses. But I have some ideas!”

“I wonder if you could impart anti-magic properties to metal if you used that to forge with,” Taylor mused, and Welf nodded at her.

“Yeah, that was something I thought of too. Gonna take some experimentation, though.”

“It will be interesting to see what you come up with,” Mikoto said.

“Thank you, Welf,” Taylor said with a nod. “Now, who…”

“Ooo! Ooo! Me next!” Gina said, the tiny Amazon bouncing up and down excitedly. When Taylor nodded at her, she dashed off, returning with a log that she set up.

Gina took a deep breath before punching forward. The log was sent flying, bark and splinters shooting off of it with a knuckle imprint left behind in the wood. However, Gina had not touched the log at all with her fist. No, she had managed to attack it from a distance!

“You used magic just now,” Ryuu said, surprised.

“I did! It’s pretty much just raw magical energy and I can’t shoot it very far, but all of the training exercises I’ve done with Primo and the others have helped me control my Mind a lot better!” Gina said excitedly.

“Very impressive, keep up the good work,” Taylor praised, patting the tiny girl on the head. She giggled happily at that, although the parahuman noticed that Wiene was pouting jealously off to the side through her swarm.

“Soon I’ll be punching monsters so hard they explode!” Gina promised.

“May I go next?” Emma requested after Gina skipped back over to stand next to Primo, and the captain nodded.

The pinkette drew her swords and chanted “Rein Amur!” activating her Skill. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen except a pink glow surrounding her. But then she began to move, and she was fast! Faster than she could have been with her current stats.

“I see… you’re not taking the Stats from other people, you are reallocating your own Stat points,” Taylor realized after a moment as she started to get tired faster than normal.

“Y-yes,” Emma said with a nod, deactivating her Skill. “I moved my Dexterity and Endurance Stats and put them into Agility to make myself faster.”

“An interesting way to use it. Can you reallocate other people’s Stats?” Bell wondered.

“Yes, but only all at once. So, if you want me to boost your Power by sacrificing your Endurance, then Endurance will drop to zero but Power will go up by however many points were in Endurance originally,” Emma explained.

“That has many potential uses,” Aisha said, something that Taylor agreed with. Emma could supercharge Primo’s Magic stat for a single, devastating super Spell, or make Oriana even more durable by putting her Agility and Dexterity into Endurance.

After Emma, there were a few more tricks that were shown off, but none were as outrageous as what was already seen. Mikoto’s iai technique was incredibly fast and she could decapitate Minotaurs in a single swing now, and Lili had gotten better at shapeshifting while still wearing her armor. There was Ryuu’s Luminous Wind trick that had everyone clapping, and Marius revealed that he could make the astral copies of his weapons last long enough to be used by other people in a pinch.

“Everyone is so strong!” Hestia cheered, pleased to see her ‘children’ were now much stronger than before. The adventurers all seemed to glow with happiness at being praised by the goddess. Even Taylor offered a tiny smile before she plastered a serious expression onto her face.

“I’m pleased by how well everyone has spent the last few days working on improving themselves,” the captain of the Familia said when the presentations were over. “But our work has only just begun.”

At that, everyone straightened up and gave her their attention. The one-time warlord nodded, pleased at the quick response.

“In less than a month, we will be assaulting Knossos,” Taylor announced, folding her arms across her chest as she looked over her Familia. She saw no fear, just a bit of nervousness and a lot of determination.

“This will be done in a multi-pronged attack. Our Familia, along with the Loki, Hermes, and Dionysus Familas will be entering the labyrinth itself, while the Ganesha Familia will secure the city, making sure nothing happens to it or the civilians,” she continued. “We will enter Knossos through the door on the 18th Floor along with the Xenos in order to liberate any other captives the Ikelos Familia might have. After that, we shall eliminate all Evilus and Ikelos Familia members.”

Her expression turned sharp. “Be warned! There will be no prisoners! Evilus utilizes suicide attacks to accomplish their goals! Anyone who surrenders is to be treated as a live bomb primed to blow. I am not risking your lives for theirs.”

Everyone’s expressions darkened, but they understood why this was necessary. Evilus was monstrous. They had no qualms about attacking innocent people and using their own lives as a means to harm others. There was no doubt in their minds that Evilus would pretend to surrender, just to get close enough to blow themselves up and take somebody else down with them.

“We’ve spent time training, but now is not the time to get complacent. Stay alert, and stay safe,” Taylor ordered, and the adventurers nodded. The parahuman dismissed them a moment later, and everyone headed off. Most went to rest in their rooms, but a few, like Welf and Lucia, went to check in on their workshops.

As for Taylor herself? She had paperwork to fill out for her new monsters. But such was the life of a Familia’s captain.