Chapter: Rip and Tear [1/2]
Made By: Eternal_Jokr
A/N: This fanfic is open to criticism and opinions, tell us what you think in the comments section and leave your support. Thank you
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Getting to the Guild did not take long; the transition from the Avenue to the Guild headquarters was quick.
The immense white limestone structure rose like the bureaucratic heart of Orario, buzzing with the noise of adventurers of all sizes exchanging magic stones for Valis or reviewing maps.
Dante pushed open the double oak doors, his massive silhouette and dark, worn canvas cape cutting through the flow of people.
Under the fabric, the matte black leather of his new Wyvern armor crackled discreetly with each step, giving him the bearing of a veteran warrior, despite his registration card still indicating Level 1.
He ignored the curious glances and walked straight to one of the service counters at the back, where the receptionist responsible for his registration was organizing a pile of reports.
Rose Fannett let out an exhausted sigh. Her red wolf ears, pinned to the top of her vast scarlet hair, gave a slight involuntary twitch, catching Dante's heavy, firm steps long before he reached the counter.
She raised her golden, expressionless eyes, crossing her arms over her black-and-white Guild uniform.
"Dante..." Rose straightened her posture, one of her ears tilting forward with curiosity as she scanned her sharp gaze across his chests.
She noticed the discreet gleam and robust texture of the Young Wyvern leather underneath the cape. "Well, look at that... you've been spending yesterday's Valis. High-density armor? Excellent choice for someone who was walking around with just bandages."
"I came to update my descent route" Dante said, his hoarse, blunt voice going straight to the point. "I'm going past the 4th floor today."
Rose's red tail, hidden behind the counter, gave a sharp whip of irritation at the rookie's audacity.
She leaned forward, fixing those golden predator eyes directly into his, lowering her tone to a low, gruff, but genuinely concerned growl.
"Past the 4th floor? Dante, you registered three days ago! I know your performance yesterday against the Elite Kobolds was... bizarre, to say the least, but the 5th floor is where the Dungeon truly begins to branch out"
"The monsters' scent there is sharper, the mortality rate doubles, and the physical space is more claustrophobic. You only have Two days of experience."
"The equipment is better. My body is ready" Dante replied, resting his bandaged left hand on the counter.
The slight hum of his passive vacuum made Rose's wolf instincts prickle subtly at the back of her neck, a strange sensation of "emptiness" that made her narrow her eyes.
"I just need the Guild to register that I'm not breaking any official restrictions." Dante said
Rose snorted, one of her ears drooping slightly with frustration at the young man's stubbornness. She pulled out the registration file of the Hestia Familia.
"Technically, the Guild does not forbid descending solo up to the 12th floor. But we strongly advise against what you are doing." She began to note the update on the file, the quill sliding fast across the paper. "Listen well, Dante, from the 5th floor onward, monsters ambush and their numbers increase significantly"
"And my senses have been catching a lot of strange movement, there are reports of high-level adventurers from the Freya Familia and Ishtar Familia circulating through the upper routes this week. If you get in their way..."
"I don't look for trouble with other Familias" Dante interrupted her, withdrawing his hand. "I just came to do my job."
"You better stick to that" Rose said, slamming the stamp hard on the file and handing over the card.
Her ears pricked up again and she flashed a subtle, defiant smile. "Don't make me send a rescue team to fetch this new armor from a monster's stomach. And come back in one piece. Your Goddess would be worried."
Dante took the card, tucking it under his cape, and gave a brief nod.
"She is preparing dinner. I won't be late."
Rose sighed deeply once more, seeing that verbal arguments had absolutely no effect on Dante's stone posture.
Her red ears drooped slightly to the sides in a clear sign of surrender.
"Hold on" she grumbled, crouching behind the wooden counter.
The sound of heavy drawers being opened and papers being shuffled echoed for a few seconds.
When Rose stood up, she threw a thick booklet onto the table, bound with a rustic, worn leather cover and fastened by cords.
On the cover, the chiseled crest of the Guild of Orario glowed faintly.
"If you're going to act like a lone wolf and ignore my warnings, at least use your head" Rose said, tapping her fingertips on the booklet
"This is an Official Navigation Guide and Bestiary of the Upper Floors. The Guild usually charges a fee in Valis for it, but I'll put it on the Hestia Familia's orientation expense account before you do something stupid."
Dante looked at the book. He extended his bandaged left hand and flipped through the first pages. The paper was thick, filled with detailed ink drawings and meticulous annotations in the margins.
"What's in there?" he asked, his hoarse voice echoing under his hood.
"Everything you need not to be caught by surprise" Rose explained, crossing her arms and gesturing with her chin toward the open pages. "From the 1st to the 4th floor, you already know the basics: Goblins and Kobolds"
"But from the 5th floor onward, the Dungeon plays rough, the guide details the behavior of the Frog Shooters, which use long tongues to disarm adventurers in the dim light, and the ambush tactics of the War Shadows, which emerge straight from the rocky walls using long claws."
She leaned a bit further forward, her wolf ears pricking up in a serious tone of warning.
"In addition to the physical weaknesses of each creature, the Bestiary indicates the exact location of the Magic Stones in their bodies and the average exchange value of drops like claws, hides, and teeth.If you plan to descend deeper to gather money, memorize these pages".
"Knowing exactly where to strike saves energy. And in your case, energy is the difference between returning for dinner or becoming labyrinth food."
Dante closed the booklet with a sharp snap. The weight of practical knowledge was exactly the kind of tool he appreciated.
He slid the book inside his black cape, accommodating it along with the lunchbox he had received from Syr.
"Thank you, Rose" Dante said, giving a brief and subtle nod. "This will be useful."
"Just make sure you bring the guide back without monster bloodstains" Rose shot back with a sharp smile, her red tail giving a slight wag of satisfaction for having been useful. "Now get out of my face and go hunt."
Dante turned and marched with firm steps toward the huge Tower of Babel, his purple eyes already visualizing the strategies and weak points of the 5th-floor monsters that awaited him in the abyss.
Rose stood watching his dark cape disappear into the crowd, her shoulders relaxing while her red tail wagged slowly, intrigued by that Level 1 boy who smelled of absolute danger.
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The 5th floor of the Dungeon welcomed Dante with a much denser atmosphere, its walls changing from bluish-green to a light green tone.
The stone walls plastered with luminescent moss gave way to complex branchings and high ceilings, where darkness accumulated.
The sound of dripping echoed, creating a constant background noise that tested the nerves of any ordinary adventurer.
Dante walked with measured steps, his black cape slightly thrown back, exposing the matte leather of his new Wyvern armor. 'The Official Navigation Guide and Bestiary' provided by Rose was memorized in his mind.
Suddenly, his purple eyes aimed at the high ceiling. The creature's silence was almost perfect, but the slight sound of suction on the stone gave it away.
A Dungeon Lizard, a quadrupedal reptile with a dark brown carapace and paws equipped with suction cups, was crawling upside down in the darkness of the ceiling, preparing an ambush.
The second the monster leapt, projecting its raw weight toward Dante's hood with claws extended, the young man acted.
Dante did not retreat.
He took a step forward, flexing his legs and letting the monster collide directly against his armored chest.
The Young Wyvern leather absorbed the impact with a sharp snap, distributing the force and protecting his vital organs perfectly.
Taking advantage of the proximity, Dante grabbed one of the lizard's hind paws with his bandaged left hand.
His Skill [Ápeiron Khaos] responded instantly.
The energy contained in the magic stone inside the monster began to be drained, causing the creature to bellow in pain while its structure weakened.
With his right hand, Dante drew the immense black iron blade of the Devil Slayer.
In a brutal, ascending arc, the blade cut through the air and split the lizard in half, surgically hitting the mana stone in its chest.
The reptile's body disintegrated into ashes before even touching the ground, leaving only a small claw fragment as a drop.
"Efficient" murmured Dante, wiping the blade with a quick movement before storing the drop and advancing toward the staircase that led to the next floor.
If the 5th floor was claustrophobic, the 6th floor was a true testing ground.
Barely had Dante stepped into the first open hall of bluish stones when the sound of croaking echoed through the galleries.
In front of him, a group of five Frog Shooters blocked the path.
The amphibious monsters, with their bloated bodies and bulging, popping eyes, did not wait.
Almost simultaneously, three of them opened their mouths and shot their long muscular tongues like high-speed whips, aiming at Dante's arms and weapon to disarm him.
Dante kept his guard high. Instead of dodging, he used the speed of his accumulated agility to raise the Devil Slayer like a flat shield.
"Smack, Smack, shreds"
Two of the tongues collided against the black metal, losing traction. The third tongue hit his bandaged left forearm directly.
The moment the monster's muscle wrapped around Dante's arm, his anti-magic [BLACK OUT] was conducted through the bandages.
A discharge of black, corrosive energy, the pure antithesis of the Dungeon, surged up the Frog Shooter's tongue like a fulminant poison.
The monster began to disintegrate from the inside out, letting out a stifled sound as its mana stone cracked.
With a violent tug, Dante dragged the other two Frog Shooters that still had their tongues stuck to his sword, bringing them toward him.
He spun his body with overwhelming force, decapitating both in a single circular movement.
The remaining two tried to leap backward to create distance, but Dante exploded into a sprint, splitting the amphibians in half before they could touch the ground.
The hall returned to silence for just three seconds. The smell of ashes floated in the air.
The dungeon seemed irritated with the ease with which its first defenses had been repelled.
The stone walls began to pulse irregularly, and the surrounding luminescent moss flickered, losing strength.
From the shadows cast by the hall's natural columns, the darkness itself seemed to take physical form.
Four slender, bipedal, and completely black silhouettes emerged.
They were the War Shadows. Their bodies were made of a dark matter that seemed to absorb the little light of the floor, and from their hands projected long, sharp claws curved like scythes.
Unlike the previous monsters, the War Shadows moved in perfect synchrony, sliding across the floor without making a sound.
Two of them advanced from the front, delivering cross claws that cut the air with a hissing sound, while the other two flanked Dante from behind, taking advantage of the blind spots.
Dante spun his body to the side, letting the claws of the first War Shadow scratch the canvas of his black cape, sliding harmlessly across the Wyvern leather on his shoulder.
Without losing momentum, he delivered a direct punch with his left fist into the creature's face.
The impact of his raw strength crushed the monster's shadow head, and the effect of [Ápeiron Khaos] caused the rest of the body to collapse into particles of dark dust immediately.
From behind, however, the claws of the third War Shadow came down toward the back of his neck.
Instinctively, an aura of Dante's anti-magic expanded into a zone of nullity around his skin.
Although the War Shadow's attack was purely physical, the very energy generated by the dungeon to manifest the monster faltered upon coming into contact with the periphery of Dante's body.
The blow lost its structure. The claws hit the back of the Wyvern leather armor, digging shallow grooves but failing to pierce the protection.
Dante felt the stress of combat against the creatures born from the dungeon convert into pure evolution under his skin. His muscles burned, absorbing the experience of each impact.
He spun the Devil Slayer with both hands, executing a reverse horizontal slash so violent that the shockwave displaced the air in the hall.
The black iron blade passed through, reaping the three remaining War Shadows all at once, splitting their shadowy forms in half.
The mana stones of the four monsters fell to the stone floor almost at the same time, emitting small cracks before the hall finally became clean.
Dante took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling slowly under his intact leather vest.
He stored the immense sword on his back, picked up the magic stones and drops from the ground, allowing his body to digest a portion of the runic energy to stabilize his fatigue.
The 6th floor was overcome, and his physical attributes continued to rise, creeping silently toward the limit.
The 7th floor of the Dungeon presented itself as a labyrinth of wider tunnels, whose raw stone surfaces began to gain a reddish-brown coloring.
The air there was stuffier, impregnated with an acrid and earthy odor.
Dante advanced without hesitation, the Devil Slayer firmly attached to his back and his purple eyes scanning the dim light under his hood.
He had already memorized the guidelines that Rose Fannett, with her sharp red wolf ears, had left explicit in the Guild's guide.
Ahead, the silence was broken by the sharp sound of chitinous claws clicking against the floor.
From one of the forks, a Killer Ant emerged.
The ant monster was an imposing sight: a thick red carapace, four hind legs that ensured an absurd stability, and two front arms that ended in serrated pincers ready to sever limbs.
The Killer Ant advanced in a swift charge, raising its brutal pincers toward Dante's torso. The young man planted his feet on the ground, trusting in the impact-absorbing power of his Wyvern leather vest.
"Clang!"
The monster's pincers collided against Dante's armored chest, releasing sparks.
The ant's hard carapace discharged a high attack power, but the matte leather held the damage, allowing Dante to stand perfectly straight.
With a quick movement, Dante wrapped his bandaged left hand around the monster's head. At the instant of the touch, [Ápeiron Khaos] roared, shattering the flow of mana that sustained the creature.
Feeling imminent death, the Killer Ant opened its mandibles and released a jet of invisible, sweet pheromones into the air, the distress signal to attract companions.
Dante didn't give the clamor time to spread. With his right hand, he delivered a direct and overwhelming punch right in the center of the insect's head.
The raw strength of his attributes crushed the red carapace as if it were glass, hitting the magic stone and transforming the ant into ashes instantly.
However, the signal had already been sent. From the surrounding dark galleries, the echo of dozens of paws responding to the call began to reverberate through the walls of the 7th floor.
Before the ant army collided against his position, a soft sound of flapping wings caught Dante's attention at the top of the tunnel.
Two Purple Moths hovered just above, their bicolor wings fluttering frantically.
Upon noticing the intruder, they dove slightly, shaking their bodies to scatter a dense cloud of poisonous glitter powder that began to descend like a mist over him.
The Guild's Bestiary was clear, that powder caused severe intoxication if it came into contact with the skin repeatedly.
Dante remained motionless while the purple cloud enveloped him completely.
However, the moment the poisonous particles touched the periphery of his body, the passive [Ápeiron Khaos] and his zone of nullity acted.
The powder, being a magical and biological projection generated by the Dungeon's magic, completely lost the structure of its magical formula upon coming into contact with Dante's skin, disintegrating into harmless smoke.
The stress of combat against that magical property was immediately converted into evolution under the young man's skin.
Dante felt a wave of heat course through his muscles, boosting his Strength and Endurance even closer to the legendary limit.
Giving an explosive vertical leap that defied the gravity of an ordinary Level 1, Dante raised his left hand and grabbed one of the moths by its wing, channeling the anti-magical and corrosive energy of [BLACK OUT].
The black energy surged through the insect's body, dissolving it into ashes in the blink of an eye.
Upon landing, he drew the Devil Slayer with his right hand and delivered a perfect ascending slash, splitting the second Purple Moth in half before touching the ground.
The two magic stone fell clinking onto the ground, and Dante gathered them quickly, tucking them under his black cape.
He rose slowly, wiping the black iron blade. In front of him, the corridor was now completely taken over by dozens of glowing eyes and red carapaces.
The army of Killer Ants attracted by the pheromones had arrived, completely blocking the exit of the 7th floor.
For any other adventurer, it would be a desperate situation, for Dante, it was the perfect banquet to make his attributes explode for good.
Faced with the red horde flooding the tunnel, Dante did not retreat a single centimeter.
The sound of dozens of chitinous pincers clicking and the heavy odor of pheromones filled the stuffy air of the 7th floor.
For an ordinary adventurer, that situation would mean an urgent strategic retreat, for the predator of the Hestia Familia, it was the ideal scenario to test his strength and grind the Dungeon to the bone.
He gripped the handle of the Devil Slayer with both hands, flexing his knees.
The massacre began the instant the first three Killer Ants leapt simultaneously in his direction.
Dante spun his body with overwhelming force, delivering a horizontal slash with the immense sheet of black iron.
The blade did not just cut, the weight and speed of the blow, combined with his physical attributes, generated a shockwave so brutal that the red carapaces exploded into pieces before the monsters could even turn into ashes.
A fourth ant managed to flank him, digging its serrated pincers directly into the side of his torso.
The monster's high attack power collided violently against the Young Wyvern leather vest.
The material crackled under the pressure, but the density of the reinforced leather absorbed the shock perfectly, preventing the pincers from tearing Dante's flesh.
"My turn" the hoarse voice echoed from under the hood.
Without using the sword, Dante released his left hand from the handle and delivered a direct punch into the insect's compound eye.
At the moment of impact, his passive acted like a hungry vacuum.
The magical formula of mana that maintained the creature's existence was shattered by the touch of his skin.
The monster collapsed instantly, disintegrating into dark dust while its mana stone was digested directly by Dante's hands.
Feeling the stress of combat against the Dungeon's magic accumulate, Dante's muscles began to burn with overwhelming heat.
Under the fabric of his garments, the purple hieroglyphs of the Inverted Falna pulsed furiously, converting each attack received and each essence devoured into evolution.
The invisible barrier was being forced.
Dante advanced into the center of the nest like an iron harvester.
He trampled the heads of the Killer Ants that tried to grab his legs, breaking the hard chitin with the weight of his own body.
The Devil Slayer turned into a black and gray blur, executing vertical arcs and brutal thrusts that split two or three ants at a time.
Three more insects leapt onto his back, trying to use numerical weight to bring him down.
Upon coming into contact with the periphery of his body, the zone of nullity expanded millimetrically.
The energy generated by the Dungeon to propel the monster's musculature faltered, causing their attack to lose its ideal structure.
Their claws only scratched the worn canvas of Dante's black cape before being repelled by the solidity of the leather armor.
Dante let out a low growl, spinning on his axis with brutal violence.
The reverse blow of the sword severed the creatures' hind legs, leaving them motionless on the ground before they were crushed under his heavy boots.
The reddish tunnel of the 7th floor transformed into a true corridor of death.
The jet of sweet pheromones released by the first Killer Ant was not just a local call; it was a trigger that echoed through the deepest colonies of that floor.
The sound that followed was not that of isolated claws, but a continuous and deafening vibration.
The floor and the stone walls began to shake. From the cracks in the rock, from the upper galleries, and from the four dark forks ahead, a living tide of red carapaces and glowing compound eyes began to pour out. It was not ten or twenty.
Dante retreated two steps, planting his heavy boots into the earthy ground to establish his base.
He showed no fear, his purple eyes only narrowed under the darkness of the hood, mapping the geometry of the tunnel to channel the attack funnel of the monsters.
Gripping the textured handle of the Devil Slayer with both hands, he took a deep breath.
The horde collided against him like an avalanche.
The ants leapt simultaneously.
Dante executed a brutal horizontal arc with the immense black iron sword.
The weight of the sword, combined with his physical attributes, generated a shockwave that split the first three ants in half and hurled another three against the rocky wall, where they turned into ashes.
But the empty space was instantly filled by twelve more.
One of them managed to crawl under his guard, delivering a violent pincer strike against his right thigh.
"Clang"
The attack snapped against the Young Wyvern leather protection, which absorbed the force of the impact, but the numerical pressure began to push Dante back.
Two other ants climbed the side wall and projected themselves against his back.
The moment the creatures pincers touched the canvas of his black cape, the zone of nullity of [Ápeiron Khaos] expanded.
The Dungeon's energy that propelled the monsters' musculature faltered, causing their blow to lose precision.
Their claws only scraped the reinforced leather protection.
Feeling the pressure increase, Dante let out a growl under his hood.
He released his left hand from the sword's handle, using his bandaged arm to grab the Killer Ant that was trying to bite his flank.
Upon the direct touch of his skin, the ability [BLACK OUT] channeled a discharge of black, corrosive energy.
The antithesis of magic surged up the ant's carapace like a fulminant cancer, disintegrating it from the inside out.
Hundreds of particles of gray ashes floated through the air, falling slowly like funereal snow over the dozens of mana stones and red pincers that remained on the reddish stone floor.
The battle extended for minutes that felt like hours. Dante transformed into a whirlwind of black iron and violence.
He delivered deep thrusts that pierced two carapaces at once, followed by reverse spins that severed dozens of front legs, destabilizing the horde's front line.
After obliterating what seemed to be the last line of defense with a descending vertical slash that cracked the stone floor itself, silence finally returned to the 7th floor.
Dante planted the tip of the Devil Slayer into the ground, leaning on it for a brief second while his chest rose and fell slowly. Under the skin of his back, the burning finally ceased as the new values consolidated.
The limit had been broken. The base of his power was no longer just strong, it had entered the territory of the absolute.
He extended his left hand, allowing the emptiness of his body to suck in and digest a portion of the scattered crystals to stabilize his fatigue, while gathering the most valuable drops to place under his cape. The 7th floor had been completely subjugated.
---END---
To be continued....