Chapter 43 - Making It Worse

Before he continued to research the last few remaining monster species on the 25th floor, Isaac - and his Amazoness bodyguards - spent about an hour with his students on the Upper Floors. They did so because Quinn had already recovered sufficiently to tag along, so Isaac took this chance to let the cat boy learn about many things to look out for. That way, it would be a lot easier for the other students to protect him. Of course, Quinn wasn't in any condition to actually fight monsters yet. Still, this fast recovery speed was extremely impressive, especially if one compared it to Isaac's old world. Here, in a world with magic and potions, if one didn't die of an injury and could afford the treatment, it would only take a couple of days to recover to one's peak.

After he had imparted some of his research results to Quinn, Isaac left the cat boy under Jakk's protection. Kalin and Mina still wouldn't be able to shield him from everything the dungeon could potentially throw at them up here, but Jakk, who was already a reasonably strong Level 2 adventurer, was almost invincible on these floors. Unless the dungeon broke some of its perceived rules, even Monster Parties were something the bunny boy could scoff at and obliterate in a few moments, should he want to. Should something entirely unprecedented come to pass, however, Isaac had already prepared a few ways to deal with that as well.

Back on the 25th floor, it took quite some time for Isaac to come across enough specimens of the last three monster species he still had to finish researching. The cause for this was that all three of them were quite rare. Not unreasonably so, though. Because of this, by the time his research had finished, there were only a couple of hours left until he had to leave the dungeon for the day.

Two of the three monster species Isaac focused on had stats that could reach all the way up to B-775 / 2900. They were the Blue Crabs and Aqua Serpents.

The former were simply five meter tall crabs… with a few unusual gimmicks. Normally, crabs could only walk sideways, but these ones' body structure was a little different which enabled them to move forward and backward as well. This actually caught Isaac off guard for a moment when he first encountered one, but it didn't lead to any problems as he had given himself enough leeway to account for such mistakes. Another difference to usual crabs was that the Blue Crabs' right pincers were incredibly sharp and could easily tear through pretty much any material below the Level 3 threshold. If an adventurer got careless, they would be sliced apart in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, as the crabs' shells were incredibly tough and even had metallic properties to them, they also moved very slowly. So if one paid attention well enough and focused on chipping away at the gaps in their armour, the crustacean monsters fell very easily.

As for the latter, the Aqua Serpents, while they had a majestic sounding name, they weren't anything special either. Sure, they were more than ten meter long… but they were simply slightly tougher snakes with light green scales that lived within the various underwater passageways that connected the Water City's lakes, streams and other water sources. If one managed to lure one close to the shore, they were easily dispatched. Compared to the Blue Crabs, who focused on Endurance, the Aqua Serpents relied almost solely on their Agility. Still, as they didn't overwhelm Isaac in that regard, he could deal with them without a care in the world.

The last monster species on the 25th floor were the Crystal Turtles, whose highest stats could reach up to A-800 / 2950. They were ancient-looking turtles whose shell-diameter was about thirty meters. They were often mistaken for islands by adventurers, as they had lots of natural vegetation flourishing on their shells. Even the crystals that grew on them, the very origin of their name, didn't help giving them away, as those crystals grew in many places on the 25th floor - it was just a part of the scenery. Thanks to the Crystal Turtles' existence, most adventurers opted to just attack all islands they were trying to step on, just to make sure they were actually safe. Still, as long as one didn't get close to them, the turtles usually didn't bother with doing anything, as they were usually fast asleep.

When facing these behemoths, Isaac finally started to have a tough time. Not because they were especially strong, no. Simply because they were just that enormous. While Isaac was able to damage the turtles' shells without too much of a problem, that wasn't a viable strategy, as his weapon would dull quite a bit before he was able to cut his way through. To combat this, Isaac employed vastly more brutal methods. He cut off one of the turtles' limbs and started to carve his way into the turtle's shell and body from that point onward. After he had finished analyzing them, it took him about two minutes to actually kill one of the turtles. Admittedly, he couldn't research how the Crystal Turtles would react to losing their shells yet, but after yet another equipment upgrade, he could check that part off his list as well.

If there was one thing to celebrate it was that while Isaac was rampaging about inside of the turtles' shells, it was that Tiona couldn't actually see him and get too excited about the carnage that he wrought.

Before returning to his students, there was still enough time for Isaac to explore parts of the 26th floor but to his disappointment, no new monster species joined the fray there. It was exactly like the 25th floor. So with nothing else to do, Isaac found a staircase leading to the 27th floor in preparation for tomorrow and killed as many monsters on the 26th floor as time did allow. He didn't gain too much excelia from killing them anymore, but there were still a few stat points he could grind out in this time. He also didn't forget about the AP he would get from progressing his monster slaying quests.

As it had been a very unlikely occurrence to meet it on these floors to begin with, of course Isaac, Tiona and Tione didn't encounter Amphisbaena again today. The only surefire way to encounter it was to make a ruckus down at the enormous lake on the 27th floor, which was what the Loki Familia planned to do on their expedition.

Needless to say, when Isaac emerged from the dungeon this time, he was covered in huge amounts of blood but as most of it had already dried, he didn't let it bother him too much. After a quick but thorough shower and equipment cleaning session at the Guild's bathrooms in Babel, he was as fresh as new. Still, this was one of the first times he had actually used those, as he usually left the dungeon entirely unscathed and mostly clean.

In today's training session, Quinn would participate a little for the first time. Slowly but surely, he would be integrated into the group of students but Isaac couldn't rush things. Slow and steady wins the race, the cat boy had to be educated from the very basics.

Speaking about education, he also had to be taught how to read and write. After all, that would enable him to take on a lot more tasks for Isaac in the future. In the end, all of his students and subordinates were just additional arms and legs that he was raising for his own convenience. Investing a lot of time into cultivating them was to be expected, especially in the beginning stages.

But before the daily training, there were still bigger fish to fry. Or, well, Amazonesses to fry. Not literally, of course.

As Isaac had promised Riveria to do so yesterday, he had fully prepared to have an honest talk with Tiona today. But as he didn't want to potentially impact Tiona's psyche before entering the dungeon or while in it, he hadn't done so yet. After all, if something unforeseen truly happened and she wasn't at the very top of her game, that moment of distraction could have disastrous consequences. Isaac wanted to avoid this if he could. Now, as they had already left the dungeon and Tiona would have ample time to deal with any emotional impact his words might have before they would dungeon delve again tomorrow, it was the perfect time. Admittedly, yet another reason was that Isaac had to start his students' training session soon, so if he got into an awkward situation, he would have the perfect excuse to make a run for it.

"Tiona, can I talk to you alone for a bit?"

Discussing matters of the heart in public wasn't something Isaac thought appropriate, so only after the two had gone out of earshot from the rest of the group did he finally explain to the somewhat worried but nonetheless excited Amazoness why he pulled her aside.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

An apologetic smile flashed across Isaac's face, before he resolved himself and started explaining. Crushing someone's hopes was never fun, but it often had to be done if one wanted to nip a problem in the bud.

"Tiona, I could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure you feel some kind of romantic attraction towards me. But I'm sorry, I just don't feel the same way about you. I don't want to give you false hope, lead you on or anything of the sort, so that's why I'm telling you."

The further Isaac progressed along his explanation, the more downcast the usually lively Amazoness became, which caused him to show a somewhat pained expression. He didn't like to see people who thought of him as a friend in distress or plagued by sadness. It was even worse in Tiona's case, where he had never actually seen her in too bad of a mood. So although he knew that it wouldn't be of much help, he tried to make Tiona feel just a tiny bit better, no matter how slightly.

"It's not like I dislike you. I value you as a person and you're fun to be around. But I just… don't see you in the way you might hope I do."

After these words left his mouth, he decided to give the dejected beauty some time to digest what he just told her. It would have been unbecoming of him to ask her to hurry with sorting out her emotions, so he waited in silence.

At first, Tiona seemed to be close to tearing up, but just a couple of seconds later, her expression shifted into a thoughtful one. By the time she raised her head and looked deep into Isaac's eyes, her all too familiar bright and cheerful smile had already returned.

"Thanks for being honest with me!"

While he mentally heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing these words, a slight smile played across Isaac's lips. It seemed like she had taken it well and accepted what he had told her. With this, he shouldn't have to worry about being s.e.x.u.a.lly assaulted in the dungeon any longer.

Before Isaac's mental celebrations could start for real, though, Tiona's words continued.

"But I won't give up that easily. Just because you aren't into me now, that doesn't mean your feelings can't change. I'll try my best… and one day, I'll make you fall for me. Just you wait."

As if trying to show Isaac what he was currently missing out on, Tiona seductively licked her lips. Then, before he could even react to or come to terms with the situation, she winked playfully and skipped off into the distance, all the while giggling mischievously.

Isaac's previous smile had seemingly frozen on his lips, but it was turning progressively more awkward and forced by the second.

'So talking to her didn't change anything…'

[ Tiona Hiryute has fallen in love with you.

Quest 'Gain two people's love.' completed. 200 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

'Nevermind, it changed things for the worst!'

For the life of him, Isaac couldn't conclusively figure out why things had developed the way they did. Did Tiona just appreciate his honesty that much? Or did she finally make up her mind about what she felt for him, which made her truly fall in love? There were too many possibilities. Isaac simply knew too little about the dark-skinned beauty to accurately assess what had triggered this major change in her emotional state. One thing was for sure, however: He was in trouble.

How was he going to explain this whole situation to Ais? Sure, she had already been aware of Tiona being somewhat interested in him… but now it was pretty much official. She had 'declared war'. What could he possibly do besides continually reject her? What if he got into compromising situations with her simply because she was far stronger than him and he couldn't properly defend himself at this moment?

Yes, Isaac, to some extent, was panicking. He had the option of disappearing for a while and getting strong enough to deal with Tiona physically. He could also kill her. But while both of these would indeed remove this one problem entirely, it would create many, many new ones. Also, he didn't like killing his friends. No-one in their right mind would. Only if they slighted him in a manner that was truly unforgivable would he ever truly consider committing such a heinous act.

Sometime later, once he had dealt with today's agenda, he really had to have a long talk with Ais about all of this. Delaying the inevitable would just make it worse, after all. Maybe she had an idea about what he could do, besides just leaving this world behind as soon as possible. After all, Ais knew the Amazoness sisters quite well, so she was sure to have some unique insight of her own.

With a somewhat pale face, still mentally tormented by the very unwelcome annoyances that could possibly come his way, Isaac returned to the rest of the group and led them way towards the training courtyard.

Of course, when Mina asked him whether he was okay with a concerned look on her face, he just told her that there was no need to worry and gave her a well-earned head pat. Truly, there wasn't a need to worry. He had many methods to deal with what could be coming. The bigger problem was that he didn't want to deal with anything like that in the first place.

-----

All alone, Isaac left the grounds of the Twilight Manor at about 6:50 p.m.. He didn't even bother to keep himself hidden in any way and just strolled towards the inn Mina had been staying at before, the Bard's Respite, to meet with Hermes.

It had taken a while to convince Ais to let him go alone, as she had initially wanted to accompany him to keep him safe. But because having anyone tag along with him would be counterintuitive to Isaac's plans, he couldn't allow for this to happen. Only after he had promised her that he would immediately teleport away once there was any sign of danger he couldn't deal with, she relented. Of course, before this, the two had already agreed to meet up later tonight to discuss the Tiona-situation. While they could communicate via the system, a face-to-face conversation was always preferable, especially for such topics.

Ever since the Hermes Familia had started to spy on Isaac's students for Ouranos, Isaac had been planning to have a chat with the playful god to clear up a few things. Also, he had no other way to make sure of what to think about the seemingly whimsical god. Was he a potential ally, someone inconsequential or a small obstacle in his way? That was what he had to start figuring out.

Five minutes of deliberate dawdling later, Isaac arrived at the inn. Of course, he had noticed that many people had started to pay attention to him or even track him ever since he left the Twilight Manor. Although it was in a somewhat remote location, more and more forces seemed to have positioned some of their members in the vicinity to keep an eye on things. A few of the ones observing him were definitely part of the Hermes Familia, while some others were the usual: Ones out to harm him. Their hostility was almost palpable, so there was no doubt about that. But still, there was yet another huge group that was entirely unfamiliar to him. Isaac had no idea who they were or why they were observing him. He was sure that they were from multiple different factions, though, as they didn't cooperate well together.

One of the main reasons Isaac wasn't worried about the potential troublemaking bunch was that once they realized that he was here to talk to Hermes, a god, most of them would simply hold themselves back from annoying him for the moment. As for the others, the Hermes Familia surely wouldn't let them interfere with their god's meeting easily. So most likely, they would get a well-deserved beating.

At one of the tables in the very back of the inn, partially hidden from prying eyes, Isaac found two familiar faces. Hermes and Asfi. Well, they weren't truly familiar to him. But while he had never met them in this world, they did fit the descriptions he knew to a T.

Because she was taking her role as the Captain of the familia very seriously, the bespectacled Asfi didn't dare to relax and took note of every single thing happening in the entire inn with impeccable focus. At the same time, she made sure to kick Hermes' shin whenever he tried to flirt with one of the waitresses. Whether she did so because of jealousy or because she thought that her god's behaviour was bad for their familia's image, that was unknown. To be fair, though, the Hermes Familia's reputation was already about as shady as it could get without becoming directly associated with entirely unlawful organizations.

Hermes, on the other hand, was lounging in his chair and sipping on his tea with a carefree smile on his face. Still, had he truly been carefree, he wouldn't have been drinking tea - rather, he would have chosen an alcoholic beverage. But seeing how the one he was about to meet was pointed out to him by Ouranos himself, he thought it smart to not be too unprepared. Even for a god, liquor could still have a momentary effect on their judgement, especially so in their current, mortal-like forms.

The moment Hermes and Isaac noticed each other, it was as if some television drama was reenacted. Both of them sported happy smiles that grew brighter the closer Isaac got to Hermes' table. It seemed like they were two old friends who just met each other again after a long period of separation. Even Asfi, who was quite used to Hermes' antics, was caught off guard by the two's particular behaviour. Wasn't this overexaggerated?

"It's nice to finally meet you, Hermes!"

With words like these, Isaac sat down opposite of Hermes and Asfi, ordered some tea for himself and took a sip. He didn't seem to be bothered by Asfi's wary gaze and just gave her a polite nod, before focusing on the man with the hat again.

After they had stared at each other with that same smile for a few moments, Hermes was the first to break the silence.

"You're quite the interesting lad. From what I can tell, you're growing extremely fast. Scarily so."

In response, Isaac's smile turned a lot more polite, while he shook his head, as if to say he wasn't worthy of such praise. In reality, though, he just felt like he wasn't growing fast at all. Huge parts of his days, after all, weren't spent increasing his strength. If he solely focused on growing stronger, most gods would probably faint should they hear of his exploits.

"Someone like you… has the potential to become a hero."

Even though Hermes seemed to have grown more excited the moment he mentioned this, Isaac released a heavy sigh, before his whole demeanor changed. His polite smile changed into a blatantly calm and calculative one. To the spectating Asfi, it felt like she was staring at the scheming Loki, rather than a young mortal man.

Before he replied, Isaac gazed directly into Hermes' unfathomably deep eyes, but to the wanderer gods' surprise, he didn't get lost in them at all. Rather, Isaac didn't even bother to hide that he was studying Hermes and observing him for any minute changes.

Of course, all of this was exactly what Isaac had been doing all this time. He just forewent any and all measures of pretence. The cause for this was that Hermes had already, pretty much right after their little game had started, revealed one of his main goals: To create a hero. And Isaac heavily disliked that very concept. So instead of lying to him, Isaac chose to lay out some of his cards as well. Only after both of them had a grasp on what the other one wanted to achieve could they find a middle ground, after all.

"I won't become a hero."

The moment she heard these emotionless words, Asfi's expression changed for the worse. It felt like she was about to give Isaac a stern lecture at any moment. Meanwhile, Hermes, for the first time, let his mask slip a bit and momentarily revealed a bit of confusion, which only increased in intensity when he took in Isaac's following sentence.

"While I won't become a hero, I'll take care of the 'villains' regardless."