The search and rescue team were making their way through the Dungeon at a steady pace

Asfi and Ryuu were proficient in dealing with any and all Monsters that attacked and the Takemekazuchi trio acted as a shield to the two deities

Hestia sparked up a conversation

"Why did you really decide to help Hermes?" She asked. He face betrayed no emotion

Hermes merely smiled "hmm, now that is an interesting question" Hestia's eyebrows creased. Seeing that the Goddess of the Hearth was in no mood for dancing back and forth with their words, he explained "well, to put it simply, a friend asked me to look out for him" that was rather ominous and Hestia didn't like that "also, call it a... personal interest"

He did not deign to say more, as he went silent after that. It worried Hestia even more. Granted, Hermes is always sniffing around where he shouldn't, so him knowing of an adventurer like Bell isn't surprising as he makes it his business to know. But to gain and retain Hermes attention is worrying to her. If he has an interest in Bell, who else might?

The group came upon what looked to be the start of a trail of Magic Cores

Ryuu knelt down

"I see footsteps... they look big enough to be Bell's, although there's only one set" Ryuu looked up slightly and saw red "blood... one of, no both, of Bell's party members were injured" she began to crawl forward "his prints are deeper than his weight would suggest" she rubbed her hand on the floor "he was running, carrying people at the same time" she rose back up to her feet and turned to the rest of the group that was watching her curiously "I believe that Bell made for the Eighteenth floor to seek help"

Asfi rubbed her chin "that does seem like the smart thing to do"

Hestia nodded in agreement "I can sense him deeper in"

Hermes smiled "well, looks like we're headed to the eighteenth floor!"

oOo

Bell awoke in a tent

He'd managed to remain conscious long enough to carry himself to a tent offered up by the Loki Familia, who were staying on the eighteenth floor for reasons Bell couldn't remember

He was especially achey right now after breaking the third stage of his Limit Break ability. Normally such a technique, the rapid release and usage of power from the Falna would do a whole plethora of damage to the body, however Bell's Iron Body skill negated this draw back. It didn't stop the horrible aches that resulted in the use of Limit Break though. Bell almost feared reaching the higher levels of the ability

Sitting up, Bell looked left and right to see both Welf and Lili. Still breathing

Bell released a sigh of relief. The burn on Welf's chest seemed to have done damage to his respiratory system while if Lili's wound had been a millimetre deeper, then it would've slashed a kidney and that would've been very bad. Thankfully, Riveria was kind enough to heal them

Bell made a promise in his head to buy potions from the Miach Familia henceforth. Expenses be damned

Bell rose to his feet. He was only garbed in his briefs. Looking around, he spied his bottoms, t-shirt, headband and slippers as well as his bracelets on a nearby rack. Bell chortled to himself. Bet they had quite the surprise when they took off my bracelets he thought as he imagined that werewolf take one off, only to be pulled to the ground by it. Special magic seals meant that the bracelets had no real effect on Bell's weight. The Wild Beast of course had no idea how it really worked, but it had something to do with gravity and resistance

Bell quickly dressed and made his way out of the tent, leaving Welf and Lili to rest

The white haired boy pulled back the tent flap and bumped into someone. The person, having been leaning awkwardly began to fall backwards, however Bell caught them by the hand

Looking at the person he'd grabbed, it was the less busty Amazon from the Loki Familia. A demeaning way to remember someone by, Bell was aware

"Oops, my bad" Bell smiled sheepishly as he pulled Tiona back up to her feet. She was blushing

He managed to knock me off balance with just a bump? She questioned internally

"I-Its not a problem" she responded. She was an Amazon. She prided herself on her strength and fighting skill. This here boy managed to nearly knock her over, granted she was off balance, but the point stands. Remembering herself, Tiona grinned childishly. Before she could say anything else

"So you're the Wild Beast, huh?" Tiona's sister, Tione, approached

Bell subsequently curled up on the floor with a cloud of depression over his head

"Don't say that name!" he moaned into his hands

The twins looked perplexed

It was at this point, Ais also approached

"What's wrong with him?" She asked, pointing at the blubbering Bell

"Umm... I don't... know" Tione replied, wondering if it was something she'd said

Before they could ask anymore questions however, Bell was before Ais. It was like he'd teleported

Bell gave her a head pat

"Hey Ais! Been a while, bet you've been busy! You look good, better than I've ever seen you actually!" Bell's toothy grin formed on his face as he spoke to his favourite Loki

Tione and Tiona waited for the inevitable scream of pain that accompanied the loss of a limb, courtesy of Ais, as Bell was touching her

He was awesome while he lasted Tione lamented internally

Amen Tiona seemed to finish Tione's thought with a prayer for Bell

They were both very much surprised when Bell didn't lose an arm. Even more so when they saw that Ais looked to be enjoying Bell's attention

"Thank you Bell, it's nice, albeit surprising, to see you as well" she smiled a small smile "you must come with me, to give a report to my captain"

"Your captain" Bell removed his hand for a moment and brought it up to his chin contemplatively. He clicked his fingers "oh yeah! The blonde guy!" Bell grinned

Ais merely smiled and nodded. She turned on her heel while gesturing for Bell to follow. Bell swiftly did so, leaving the stunned Amazon duo

"Did you" Tione started

"See" Tiona carried on

"That!?" They finished simultaneously

When they saw Ais interacting with Bell at the Hostess, they thought she was just being polite. They'd been trying to improve her social skills and they thought that her talking to Bell was just practise and a one off, out of opportunity. But they just saw them acting familiarly with each other and dare they say it, casually

The twins looked into each other's eyes and had a silent conversation

Tell everyone? Tiona asked

Everyone Tione concurred

With that, the pair raced off to camp

oOo

Bell had just finished reporting his reason for being here to Finn, the Loki captain. He didn't know why he had to, but he did owe it to them

"Just one last question Bell" Finn began, leaning forward seriously "do you know what the origin of that massive earthquake was yesterday? It started just before you appeared on the floor and seemed to originate from the floor above"

The others present; Riveria, Ais, Gareth and Lefiya (she was training under Riveria so she was present for most official meetings) also looked at Bell both seriously and curiously

"Oh yeah, well that" Bell rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "that was my bad" the adventurers present gawked and guffawed

"Explain" Finn eventually said, neutrally

"Well you see, while I was making a run across the seventeenth floor, the Goliath spawned. I wouldn't have had enough time to run to the floor eighteen shoot while carrying Lili and Welf, so I threw them down the passage while I faced the Goliath" Bell took a breath "I was in quite a bad mood at the time, so I used one of my attacks on the Goliath and did that!" Bell was now rubbing the back of his head sheepishly

The Loki's stared. They predicted that the quake could've been felt up on the surface and the perpetrator for it, was sat before them, explaining it much like a child would, as though what he'd done wasn't that big of a deal

"And what attack did you use?" Riveria asked calmly

"Well you remember that attack I used on floor nine against the Minotaur?" All but Finn and Gareth nodded "well, something similar to that, but much more powerful"

Lefiya, Ais and Riveria broke into a cold sweat. The attack they'd seen on floor nine was definitely powerful. Scarily so for a level one at the time. An attack that could fell a first class adventurer and here was Bell saying that he had even more artillery

"How... did you gain such power?" Lefiya asked

Bell merely grinned an pumped his fist "my Fighting Spirit of course!"

oOo

"Are you... seeing this?" Ouka uttered

The search and rescue team was stood at the threshold to floor seventeen

Except, it looked more like a cave in than an actual cavern

The crystalline walls were all shattered. The leftmost wall was cratered and normal rock could be seen. The rest of the surfaces were all cracked like spiderwebs. Stalactites from the ceiling had fallen to the floor and created a maze of blue sparkling crystal

The Goliath was nowhere to be seen

"What... could do such a thing" Chigusa asked

"I have no idea" Asfi responded

Even the deities looked perturbed

"Either way" Ryuu's eyes beneath her hood narrowed "the dungeon won't like this"

——————————————————

"Well hey there Danmachi fans, it's ya boy Zeus here to analyse the masterful use of womanising techniques demonstrated in today's Chapter!

"Today we saw the good ole' catch! People have been doing this one for years in order to catch the attention of the one they have a crush on! It sets a perfect precedent for chivalry, politeness and gentlemanly behaviour!

"Tis' the power of the Catch!"

——————————————————

Finished writing this, then I published. So tell me how it's going so far. Love it? Hate it? Don't have a clue what's going on or you're failing to get Isekai'd like Naofumi. Do tell!

I hope you enjoyed!