A closer look revealed a slight upward tilt at the corner of her lip.
Bell blinked, and it was gone.
Alfia turned on her heels and moved.
Bell followed.
Floor fifteen. Minotaurs.
One hurled a fist at her. Alfia dropped—knees folding, body sliding through the gap between its legs. Two fingers pressed against its calf as she passed.
It toppled. Face slamming into earth.
Bell's foot ca down on its skull before it could push back up.
Ahead, another swung an axe at her. She leaped onto where grip t shaft, used it as a pivot, and vaulted clean over.
Its fingers spasd open. Axe flying loose.
Into Bell's hands.
A Minotaur head parted from its shoulders.
The third swung its arms low—a sweep ant to take legs.
Alfia jumped. Onto it.
Her foot landed on its forearm. She ran—one step, two—along its arm like a corridor. Then bicep. Then shoulder.
She pushed off, her heel brushing its neck on her way out—a feather's weight. The Minotaur froze, every muscle locking tight, arms still extended low from the sweep.
Bell's foot found its forearm. Sa one step. Sa two steps along its arm. Sa push off its shoulder.
His heel caught its neck on his way out.
A crack of bone shattering echoed.
The Minotaur folded.
Floor sixteen.
Monsters. A sea of them. Hellhounds with dark fur. Almirajs with spiraled horns. Minotaurs like walking walls. Ligerfangs moving through the crowd in flashes of stripes.
The ground did not exist. Only them. As far as an eye could see.
Alfia moved.
Faster.
Her foot touched a Hellhound's skull—and it dropped, legs buckling, body angling precisely beneath her. Her next step found an Almiraj's back, and it rolled, carrying her montum forward like a stepping stone.
A Ligerfang lunged at her from ahead. She jumped, stepped onto its shoulder mid-pounce, and it folded downward—becoming a bridge over the Hellhounds below.
Bell's foot found that bridge. The Ligerfang's body held for exactly one step before collapsing behind him.
Already she was ahead. A Minotaur's bicep beca her next foothold. Alfia pushed against it as she passed—the Minotaur turned a half circle from her launch, unknowingly presenting its back to the space behind her.
Bell landed on it. Pushed off.
A Hellhound snapped its teeth where he needed to descend next. Alfia was already past it, but her trailing foot had already brushed its nose. The creature's head pulled aside—just enough for Bell's heel to graze its snout instead of entering its teeth.
She wasn't slowing down. She wasn't looking back.
But every monster in her path moved like it had been arranged.
Two Minotaurs pressed together, forming a wall. Alfia stepped between them—her feet on both of their shoulders—and they separated. One left, one right. A corridor opened for exactly one person.
Bell barreled through it.
A Hellhound tried to follow behind him.
She closed the gap, making it crash into those Minotaurs.
A breath and Alfia was already ahead, continuing.
Her toes pressed into a Ligerfang's chest on her path. It froze. Muscles locking in place. Right where its body would be level enough to act as a stepping platform.
Bell's stride found that platform.
She hopped from an Almiraj to a Minotaur's axe-hand—to the Minotaur's shoulder—off its head. Each step forced the creature to shift, tilt, adjust. Its head turned under her push.
Bell's foot landed on that sa head, already angled to carry him forward.
He ran. On fur. On horns. On muscles that shifted beneath him. Every step was a calculation he didn't make—every platform placed before he knew he needed it.
Wow.
A Minotaur's back. A Hellhound's flank. An Almiraj frozen in place just as his weight ca down.
He looked ahead at Alfia's back.
Aunt...
Floor seventeen.
Both of them slowed. Bell stepped forward to walk shoulder to shoulder with her.
Monsters still sward them from all sides, but it didn't take long to carve a path through—until the walls widened further and creatures thinned, smaller corridors expanding into an open chamber with a large, crystalline wall stretching across its far end.
The Wall of Grief.
It was empty, no Goliath spawn inside.
"Seems like Goliath has just been killed." Bell spoke, cracking his neck.
It would've been a fun warm up to deal with Goliath together.
Alfia did not stop, already moving toward the next floor.
Bell moved beside her.
"Aunt... can I get breakfast for us now? A short break in Rivira doesn't sound bad, right?"
He glanced at her, feeling his stomach grumble without pause.
Alfia looked back at him, then gave a tiny nod.
His shoulders relaxed imperceptibly. Honestly, if she had pushed any further, his wheel might've spun, directly adapting to hunger.
...
..
.
Floor eighteen.
Bell walked out of Rivira with Alfia behind him, his arms wrapped around three whole baskets of bread, from sour to sweet to every other flavour available.
Alfia watched him walk ahead with narrowed eyes, especially at those baskets, which were certainly excessive for two people.
He didn't explain himself, rely leading her onward. They passed through a shallow stream, trees that had stood in place for years, and plants blooming with flowers ranging from yellow and red to even blue.
After several minutes of a calm, mostly silent walk, Bell finally stepped into a clearing, stopping before sothing.
Alfia stepped in behind him, her shoulders going rigid for a mont as she looked forward.
A mound lay ahead, multiple weapons buried hilt-deep in the soil. Like a grave.
What made Alfia freeze was not that mound, but those weapons. She still rembered them—each one belonging to the girls she had fought her last battle against.
They were the heroes of the new generation.
And this was their... grave?
Bell bent his knees and set two baskets down toward that mound.
"I didn't know what you'd like," He said quietly, his free hand rubbing the back of his neck.
"So I brought a little of everything. I thought... you might like so company for breakfast."
With that, Bell rose to his feet and walked so distance away to the shade of a tree, his back settling down against its trunk.
He waved a hand at Alfia, gesturing for her to sit beside him.
Alfia took one last glance at those weapons and walked over, lowering herself at his side.
"Here, Aunt." He offered her the last basket, letting her choose whatever she liked.
Alfia remained still for a mont, then reached in and picked whatever her hand found first without looking.
Bell took a piece of bread for himself too and started eating. Mid-bite, he asked sothing that had been on his mind for so ti.
"Aunt... I heard you had an incurable illness when you were alive. But I've never once seen your health deteriorate till now. Why?"
Alfia was not eating, gazing at the bread in her grip instead, eyes thoughtful.
"It's still there. But this body isn't flesh. It's your mana—shaped into form. The sickness has less to hold onto."
Her eyes flickered over to her own skin, which looked indistinguishable from the real thing.
"So... it ans you won't be affected by it?" Bell asked, holding his breath.
"Only if I don't fight for extended periods." Her words made him release all his relief in a sigh.
Silence fell between them, Bell now focusing on his al with newfound energy.
"What happened to your Familia?" She asked.
A pause. Then her chin lifted toward those weapons.
"...Them."
Bell stopped eating and replied, his voice low.
"They're gone."
Alfia's expression did not change.
"Who?" she asked.
"Evilus."
"Trap?" Alfia reached a conclusion in seconds.
"Yes... A Juggernaut." He replied, his grip tight on his bread.
Silence once again. Heavy this ti.
Bell broke it.
"Aunt... want to go hunt Evilus after breakfast?"
He asked, taking another bite.
"Show the way."
Alfia didn't even look up, she just finally took a bite of the bread already in her hand.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Authors Thoughts]
Evilus... Man, I feel bad for you bros. You're about to be hunted by a family of lunatics. One already won't let you go like a mad dog, another considers butchering you all not much different than having tea for breakfast. May you all get reincarnated as roaches in your next life, since you've been hiding and acting like roaches for such a long ti.
'I, an Evilus executive, got reincarnated as a roach, and now I can't stop diving into the sewer.'
Hahaha!
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