Is It Wrong To Seek Power In The Dungeon - 2.4 (Patreon)

Mikoto expected many things when she entered the dungeon with her new comrade. She expected to be able to show off her skills to him and show how reliable and by extension everyone was and make a good impression upon him as his senpai.

She expected to get to try out her new utterly amazing katana that far surpassed the quality of her old one on the monsters.

She even expected to be bonding with her new comrade in arms as they fought the monster menace deep in the dungeon bowels, back to back.

She did not expect to be asked to hold on to a sack and retrieve the drop items and magic stones of monsters as Artair tore them apart with ease.

He was not wearing any armour at all, he did not even stop to buy any items to help like healing potions or magic potions. Instead, he created a pair of gleaming bone blades jutting out from his wrists and curved backwards like a scimitar.

The first monster that spawned, was predictably a goblin.

It barely even broke out of his stone…birthing chamber before Artair's boot clad foot smashed into its face and crunched its skill.

"What's the farthest you've floor you've been down to?" he had asked as she…reverted to the role of a supporter and plucked the magic stone from the chest of the goblin.

"Six…" Mikoto had answered, brows furrowing as he simply nodded and then they progressed on.

He crushed goblins. He tore apart Kobolds and within minutes, they had already bypassed the first and second floors and entered the third.

Dungeon lizards rushed him with scaly hide and razor sharp fangs, only to be crushed with a single blow.

They pushed on, her trailing behind him as he moved at speeds she could barely follow with her eyes and killed monsters that she would struggle with alone in the dozens.

And before she knew it, in less than an hour, little more than half really by her estimates, they made it to the sixth floor.

The sixth floor that she and her familia had only just made it to a few days ago as party, struggling and fighting all the way, watching each others backs, covering for each other and displaying the seamless teamwork and skills they had been taught by their lord war god.

It was as disheartening as it was awe inspiring.

'He is strong.' Mikoto could not help but stare at the boy, of the same age as her with shining eyes. He barely even used his amazing spirit blood power to get here beyond the blades on his wrist, it was just mere physical prowess and skill!

It was as if this was far from his first ever dungeon dive and she was watching a veteran at work.

"War Shadows huh? These will be a good test." Artair outright grinned as the walls of the first chamber on the six floor burst apart and multiple humanoid shadows with singular blazing red eyes and razor sharp shadowy claws emerged around them.

"Roar!" he shouted, clenching his fist and lightning sparked into existence around him.

A billowing aura of crackling darkness enshrouded him and he moved…

Mikoto did not see him as he moved. He went so fast he disappeared from her sight briefly and when he appeared, his fist crackling with black lightning was plunged through the chest of a War Shadow.

He ripped his arm free and it fell to the ground, dead.

And less than thirty seconds later, the remaining war shadows followed.

It hit home for Mikoto…that beyond being a supporter for the boy, she was truly only dead weight to him right now.

She would have to train much harder from now on.

For now though, as the boy observed the black lightning coursing over his body, Mikoto got to work and began retrieving the magic stones from the monster corpses.

"…Artair-dono," she spoke up as she worked, drawing his attention to her, "May I ask…how are you so strong?"

While it was true the falna was not the be all and end all and lord Takemikazuchi was capable of defeating their entire familia before Artair joined with one hand behind his back with only the base abilities of a human man due to his sheer skill and experience…Artair was just the same age as her and it did not explain how he was so fast and powerful despite only receiving the falna.

He turned to her at her question, the lightning around his form crackling out of existence and he smiled at her, despite herself, she felt her cheeks heat up a bit, he was quite the handsome boy after all and so well built with muscles that looked like they were carved from marble.

"My bloodline definitely helps on that front, but mostly, I'm this strong because I had to be," he replied, "I've been training since as long as I can remember, in some ways, before it and before I could even walk properly honestly. It was either I got strong enough, or I would be an unworthy heir for my clan and my father would have sired a sibling to take my place, or I would have died, either or. I've been fighting monsters since I was seven, all these monsters here? While weaker on the surface, I've dealt with them. I fought my first War Shadow when I was eight, hell, for my fourteenth birthday just before I set out for Orario, my father captured a Green Dragon on the surface and I had to fight it."

Her eyes widened, "A green dragon?" she gasped in shock, "Are they not level four monsters!?"

While she was hardly an expert on the dungeon, it was easy to remember that the most stand out of the floors tended to be dragon species that were far more powerful than monsters were supposed to be on their floors.

It was said a Green Dragon needed a level four to combat it alone to defeat it.

"Pretty much yeah, my old man really is a bastard sometimes," Artair shook his head in exasperation, "Luckily surface monsters are y'know a lot weaker than the ones down here, so it was only a level two monster, not much stronger than an Infant Dragon according to him."

Ah….that explained why he was so strong. His was a strength forged in a crucible of conflict against monsters just like the people of ancient times, with no falna to empower him and help him grow stronger.

He must have trained long and hard for his body to be capable of fighting such beastly opponents. He was…on the same point as a level two, without a falna at all.

Amazing.

She felt admiration build in her breast for him. To train so hard and become so strong, truly he was an amazing individual, she was glad he had joined their familia.

"Right, you ready then?" he changed the subject as she finished grabbing the magic stones, "Let's head for the seventh floor I'm thinking for now."

"Right!" Mikoto instinctively hopped to her feet and saluted him

Before long, they were on the move again, Artair making use of his powerful black lightning to make short work of the War Shadows that could not be harmed physically and only with magic and slicing through the Frog Shooters with his bone blades.

It was almost casual really.

Which was why Mikoto found herself striking up conversation once more as they made their way down into the seventh floor, further than she and her other comrades had made in a month of challenging the dungeon, accomplished by him in less than an hour.

"Artair-dono," she spoke up, "May I ask why exactly you have come to Orario to become an adventurer? By all accounts, you are doing well enough without it. Do you have some sort of goal you must accomplish?"

"Multiple," Artair nodded and gave her a beaming, proud smile, "I have a personal goal to accomplish and two assigned to me by my father as well."

"Oh?" she perked up, interest flooding her. Three goals, one he must aspire to with how strong he was already and two assigned by a father that could apparently capture a level two tier monster for him to fight against?

They must be incredible feats to aspire to indeed!

"Well my own goal is pretty straight forward," he mused, "I plan to become the strongest and one day slay the One Eyed Black Dragon."

Mikoto slowly blinked, his words not registering for a moment, before they flew wide open in shock, "The legendary black dragon from the Dungeon Oratoria?" she gaped in shock.

She had heard from Lord Takemikazuchi years ago when she read of it in a story book with Haruhime-dono, that it was a real beast and one that had lived for over a thousand years with none strong enough to defeat it!

Not even the legendary Zeus and Hera familias had managed and had fallen prey to the dragon in the end!

"That's the one, though if I want to beat that thing I'll need to reach at least level ten I think." he mused aloud, speaking of such a thing almost casually, as if it were not impossible.

She did not think there had even been a level ten in existence before! The highest she knew of was a level eight she was sure that was part of the Zeus Familia who died long ago after fighting the legendary dragon!

….Such casual confidence!

What a legendary goal to aspire to!

"Beyond that, my old man wants me to get famous and spread the name of our clan around more," he shrugged, and then grimaced, "…And look for multiple strong women to bear my children in the future to pass on my bloodline and have my clan rise to greatness again as they did in the past."

"…Eh?" Mikoto's head tilted to the side on instict and she felt her cheeks flush with heat.

B-bear him children!?

Not only was he aspiring to kill the strongest monster to ever exist, he was already planning out the future to such an extent he was thinking of children!?

T-truly Artair-dono's maturity knew no bounds!

She was not on his level at all! Not physically, nor mentally!

"What about you?" he asked, "And everyone else actually. Is there some overall goal the Takemikazuchi familia is striving for? Honestly, I'd like to know so I can pull my own weight."

Ah…right!

Mikoto was glad for the subject change, "Ahem! Well, we do not especially have any grand goals," she explained with a cough, even as a Frog Shooter burst from the wall, immediately shooting its lightning fast tongue at them. Only for Artair-dono to slice it off and rush forward, slicing through its throat with his bone wrist blades, "We…simply want to become a great familia and earn enough money to support our friends back home."

When she said it aloud, such a simple thing….seemed so very small compared to his goals.

She did not know how to feel about that.

"A simple goal, easy and straightforward, nothing wrong with that, honestly sometimes I wish my own desires were so simple." he mused, smiling at her.

Once more, she felt her cheeks heat.

Ah…such a dangerous smile!

He looked like a prince or a hero straight out of a story book with his handsome face.

He was the type that could make a fair maiden swoon for sure.

A vision of a blonde haired, green eyed girl flashed in her face and her gushing thoughts soured instantly, "….There is one more thing…" she admitted, making him raise his eyebrows, "There is a girl…a friend of ours. A long time ago, she was tricked by a nasty thug and sold into slavery. Her name is Haruhime, she's a renard with golden blonde hair. We hope to one day find and save her when we are strong enough."

"…That's horrible," he frowned himself, clicking his tongue, "A friend of my familia is a friend of mine I'd say. So, I'll keep an eye out for her, I'll ask my dad to keep a look out as well and see if he can find anything out, my clan has a lot of reach outside of Orario."

She blinked, before unbidden her lips spread into a wide smile, "That would be great, thank you Artair-dono!" she replied, gratefulness swelling within her.

Perhaps with such a strong comrade who came from such a lofty background would be able to make headway where they could not.

The flames of hope in her chest that had fizzled into tiny embers of years of failure from them to find Haruhime-dono, surged to life once more like a small campfire being fed logs to grow once more in the face of a harsh wind.