Chapter 307: Conqueror [#7]
"...you challenge us to a war game?"
His words were said calmly but the other members of his Familia around him saw the way his mouth grew into a grin, the toad-like woman grinned widely back as she pointed her finger toward him: "Our goddess, Ishtar, challenges Soma for his entire Familia! It's a war game!"
Let's backtrack.
It was a new day, the whole Soma Familia was dragged by Darius into the dungeon after their relaxing day. Well, besides three men, the entire family was able to rest for a whole day! But at least, those three men had a large increase in stats, with Ajax having his Magic coming to S, Silverly having his Agility and Strength becoming S, and Agathax having his Agility and Dexterity becoming S- The rest of their stats? All rose between B and A, any less, and they'd die inside the dungeon (not that Darius would let them truly die...) due to rampaging monsters strong enough to tear them to pieces. "Everyone- Today you all will be coming with me to the 25th floor, on the way I want none of you dying on me, so I took the liberty of learning something that will help us." Darius spread out his arms, and from his hands, this bright light exploded out, shaping into a red ruby. "Ah, Dia Fratel is such a beautiful magic, isn't it?" That's right! Dia Fratel was a special magic used by the best healer and prosthetic maker in the world, Airmid Teasanare, the Level 2 Doctor of the Dian Cecht Familia, responsible for saving many lives.
[(Modified) Dia Fratel (SS): You can create a crimson barrier of light surrounding a 5-meter area. Inside this barrier, you can heal damages, restore stamina, and cure status ailments, and curses.
Modified: While inside the barrier, anyone you want to can receive the complete opposite, too! Suffering from internal bleeding, losing stamina over time, getting poisoned, paralyzed, blinded, cursed, or affected by any other status ailment of choosing]
"B-boss!" Everyone was surprised by the magic he just demonstrated. It made everyone there heal even from old damage in their bodies. The crimson light faded away as Darius deactivated it. It was even stronger than Airmid's version because she was a Level 2 Healer, and Darius is Level 4 and has a higher Magic stat- He also got the ability to curse others with this magic, although he hasn't tested it yet. "Like this, you won't die easily, and I can push you further and further!" They all thought he had learned this magic so they wouldn't die because he loved them as their Boss and Captain, but he was thinking of how to further tortu- I mean, how to further train them and make them stronger. "Let's go- You guys have everything, right!? Potions? Lures? Food!?" They all nodded and answered with a little "Yes sir" to each question as they all internally knew- Darius was a mom at heart.
"Ajax, let's try your new skill out-" Normally, someone can only have 1 magic type that they can use, and chant is necessary, but Elf Magic is the most known and used around. Elf Magic is based on Spirit Magic, so it is elemental in nature and mainly offensive, although there are support spells and defensive spells. To learn Elven Magic, you need talent for magic, something not every Elf has! Ajax himself had to work for too long to learn the weakest of Elven Magics: Water Magic! But he put more effort and learned the basics of each element. Each chant is in Elvish, the language of the Elves, and he was able to use it even before he received Falna from Soma, and after he got the Falna it became part of his stats:
[Name: Ajax Everami
Species: Elf
Level: 2
Age: 80
Stats
Strength - 500 (D)
Endurance - 700 (B)
Dexterity - 800 (A)
Agility - 700 (B)
Magic - 999 (S)
Skills-
*Chant Edit
Magic-
*Elf Magic: Water, Wind, Fire, Earth
Development Skills-
*Abnormal Status Resistance (E)
Mage (D)]
He managed to get the [Mage] Development Ability somehow, Soma just updated his status and it appeared there even after years of trying to get it- He had just given up, and now? Now he was on the path to becoming a good mage. "Sure, Captain... We can try." His new skill, [Chant Edit] appeared after his recent status update, with this skill he can modify the chants of the magic he was using and change the spell itself, which is something no one has ever done in their lives- Well, maybe Riveria... She can use something called Chant Connection! Chant connection enables her to change the strength of her magic based on the chant length and mind usage. Through this, she is able to use nine magics, which is the source of her alias Nine Hell, though she can use them separately as well.
Darius said that maybe he can even create new magic spells by editing together a bunch of chants of different magic spells. He was able to change a few magic spells to make them target multiple targets, like the spell [Earth Bound] that created roots and chains to trap the target, he managed to make it trap more than five monsters at the same time!
"Let's go then."
-Scene Cut-
"Oh magic, I call upon your name and great power, strike my enemies and protect my allies, heal and bind them all- Growth!" Chanting in Elvish, Ajax watched in amazement as it indeed worked- Plants from beneath the ground grew out, surrounding an area of 30 meters all around him, the flowers released this sweet scent that filled him with energy while roots wrapped around the monsters that were in the 30 meters range around him. He just created a spell to both attack enemies and heal allies, something he only dreamt about all his life! His fellow Mages all were amazed, they were Agata and Kerr, the Half-Elf twins, and Famy, the human blond girl. Agata and Kerr were only able to cast Fire and Earth Elf Magic, while Famy was able to use her magic to support and help her allies. Such is the spell [Mind Exchange]! "Holy shit, Ajax!" Few knew what he just did, and those who knew were impressed- It's been years since someone created a new spell for Elven Magic!
"Congratulations Ajax." Darius placed his hand on his head, making Ajax sigh and smile back at his Captain- Their little moment was sadly broken by a loud booming voice, shouting out: "Get out of the way, weaklings!" Instantly, Ajax disliked whoever was shouting- only their Captain has the right to call them Weaklings, only their Captain can insult them like that! "And who you fuckers think you are-" Captain Darius just walked forward and when he looked towards one of the most infamous women in all Orario, he let out this puff of air from his nose before he started laughing, no one there has ever heard their Captain laugh so loudly before! "What the fuck is that!? I didn't- didn't know that frog women were a fucking race!" His feet kicked the ground so hard it cracked, he didn't seem to care as his face was getting as red as the hairs on his body.
"What!?" Her name was Phryne Jamil and she was a Level 3 Adventurer from the Ishtar Familia, one of the most well-known prostitutes in the entire Red Light district, and Captain of the Ishtar Familia. "Damn, you-" She raised her large great ax above her head and was about to strike him down when the Captain moved, his hands flat in a simple light slap that deflected the ax easily: "...You're weak."
"Huh!?" With that, the toad woman took a step back and got ready to strike them again, her fellow Amazoness all had grins on their faces, but suddenly she stopped: "By the right of all Captains- I hereby challenge the Soma Familia for a War Game!" There was absolute silence followed by a single whisper from Darius: "...you challenge us for a war game?" His words were said calmly but the other members of his Familia around him saw the way his mouth grew into a grin, the toad-like woman grinned widely back as she pointed her finger toward him: "Our goddess, Ishtar, challenges Soma for his entire Familia! It's a war game!"
"Good... We, the Soma Familia, accept your kind invitation." Darius did not hesitate to turn his back on her, which was an insult to her strength as it showed that he did not see her as a threat at all! "EVERYONE!" His booming voice echoed through the entirety of the 22nd floor, even being heard on the 21st and possibly 23rd: "Get ready- We're getting to floor 25 today!"
"YEAH!" They were all crazy, a crazy Familia for a Crazy God with a Crazy Captain- A bunch of Level 2 going to the 25th floor? That was a recipe for disaster and death, but why would they stop them!? Let them die! The 30 Amazoness of the Ishtar family soon left, following their Captain, some giving Darius the dirty lust look- After all, all Amazoness want is to have a strong child, and because they give birth to only other Amazoness, they go out of their tribes to seek for strong men to have babies with, and Darius is someone strong, more specifically: A big strong tall meaty man that is capable of defending himself from an attack from their Captain.
Next, everyone was dragged to the depths of the dungeon, put through hard and rough situations where they suffered great damage and pain, but were healed easily by Darius. The danger taught them valuable lessons, made them fight for their lives and break their limits one by one, becoming stronger. He even let these Poison Vermins bite into the bodies of his people, getting a poison so painful and potent that no normal healing magic would be able to heal it, but they did have antidotes for poisons that were used first- That just made the poison weaker within their bodies, not weak enough for their bodies to fight it off, but enough for them to go through the motions and fight for longer periods of time. At one point Darius decided to just heal their bodies from the damage the poison was doing, not removing the poison itself, this way their [Abnormal Status Resistance] would increase in rank way faster.
It took them three hours in their pace to go from the 19th to 24th Floors by the pace they were going at, these floors are known as the Large Tree Labryinth. The walls, ground, and ceiling are made out of wood making it seem like the inside of a giant tree. Instead of phosphorescent light, radiating moss grows across the floor and gives off blue light. These floors contain a large number of unexplored areas and a large variety of insect-type monsters. The plant diversity on these floors often provides ingredients used to make healing items which results in many resource-gathering quests being issued for this area. The 24th Floor is at least half the size of Orario and there are rare trees that produce valuable gems which are guarded by Green Dragons, the strongest monsters on the floor.
Talking about Green Dragons? Darius beat the shit out of one, on his lonesome.
It was an amazing sight to see, the Emerald Green scales of its body were ripped off by the clawed hands of their Captain as they fought together against a larger threat- Somehow, someway, Darius led them to this giant seven-meter tall and long giant tree full of holes where Deadly Hornest were pouring out of, by the bottom of the tree stood said Green Dragon protecting the largest amount of gems that anyone has ever seen! Darius wanted to use the dragon as a stepping stone to level up again. It was the hardest fight of their lives! The Crimson Crusaders had to fight defensively while the Green Thumb played the role of damage dealing alongside the Azure Archers because holy fuck. About 100 of these giant hornest flew around them at all times as well as these vines from this tree would strike at them randomly, thankfully each time one of them was captured the Boss would free them even if the green dragon would bite him or slap him with its tail, he didn't care.
So neither did they!
"Oh fiery death from the depths, come upon this barren land, break the mighty chains of mortal kind, and burn it all to the smithereens- Hellfire!" While dodging the attacks of seven different giant hornets and using the stinger of one to stab another, Ajax kept breaking down and saying the words in Elvish that were parts of different spells that he could remember the incantations to, and the results spoke for themselves as he made a new spell while fighting several monsters at once! Even the other mages, that weren't as skilled as he was in Concurrent Chanting kept saying their spells, a little slower than him, but good enough. "-Hellfire from the depths of the deepest of pits, I offer you the fuel to feed your endless, consume these monsters and bring me justice- Hellblazer Field!"
Ajax has been thinking about how he could be like Riveria- But then it clicked: Why be like Riveria when he can be like his Captain!? He kept chanting another spell just as he finished the one he just had cast, it was very well known that once the spell is cast, there is no turning back.
But why not modify the spell already in effect?
The blue flames that were consuming the single hornet suddenly exploded out, setting other monsters on fire, in fact, everything was on fire! Even his companions, but they were fine considering they could and did put themselves out, but the monsters couldn't. Silverly couldn't be left behind too, so he kicked his feet on the ground as his body became a blur reaching a level of speed that even Darius had to focus on to see the little bunny boy hopping from monster to monster, kicking them before going to another, even those mid-air. This was his skill, [Tardiness], which increased his speed a lot!
Agathax was not left behind when he brandished his crossbow before his body simply vanished from sight- He appeared right behind the Giant Hollow Tree in an instant, the monster not even feeling him as he jumped from its branches and entered one of the holes of its body to see a bright green core inside, that was this monster's crystal! He immediately stabbed it, killing the giant tree monster while the others dealt with the murder hornets outside. His skill [Hidebehind] was good for this kind of thing, after all!
Darius finished his fight too, he was using that dragon as a training dummy for his stats to grow more and more- He could see it too, and by the looks of it, he was ready to level up to Level 5 now.
[Name: Darius Adonis
Species: Pureblood Fanalis
Level: 4
Age: 33
Stats
Strength - 1999 (SSS)
Endurance - 1999 (SSS)
Dexterity - 1999 (SSS)
Agility - 1999 (SSS)
Magic - 1000 (SS)
Skills-
*Regenerative Healing Factor
*Fanalis True Form
*Berserker
Magic-
*Mimicry
Development Skills-
*Abnormal Status Resistance (S)
*Fist Fighter (S)
*Magic Resistance (S)
*Hunter (A)]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone