Dragon's Sin in the World of Danmachi

Chapter 11 : Is it wrong to pick up evidence in a Dungeon?

A group of minotaurs roared in the distance, that sound sent a chill down Bell's spine, even though Bell is now a level 2, he knew that if he encountered them, he might not make it back unscathed. 

Minotaurs were widely known as level 2 killers, so a bunch of them appearing on the upper floors was just difficult to believe as they usually appear on the middle floors. Bell just started to gain confidence in himself with his new strength that he received so when his self-esteem was its highest, hearing the loud roar of a monster than even people of his level would be in trouble, he couldn't help but sweat out of fear , the result was that Bell was frozen for a few seconds then Meliodas snapped him out of it. 

(HEY! Don't just stand there! Go!) 

Bell snapped out of his frozen state, he navigated and traversed through the 9th floor with Meliodas guiding him.

But Meliodas had other thoughts, what if we slay these minotaurs as an excuse for his rapid level up? Meliodas knew that Bell was not up for the task but he knew that Bell was strong enough to take them on, especially with the new skills and magic he obtained, but he could sense his fear and hesitation and that could limit his combat capabilities and that could lead him in getting killed. 

Then they encountered a party of adventurers moving in the opposite direction, it was a party of level 1's and a level 2 as the party leader. They saw Bell running up to them and shouted 

"HEY! There are a bunch of minotaurs on the upper floors, if you value your life, get the fuck out of here kid!" The party leader says.

"Wha-" Bell said but was interrupted when Meliodas took over his body

Bell was surprised by this and asked Meliodas what he was doing

"Relax, I got this" Meliodas whispered so the adventurers couldn't hear him

Bell decided to trust him and just decided observe the situation for now. The area they were in was too dark for the party leader to recognize the change in color of his eyes.

"Yeah, I know and I'm gonna kill 'em" Meliodas said with a smile, but not with arrogance but with a 'reassurance' feeling to it.

The party leader didn't buy that though as he saw the gear that Bell was wearing and he looked like a rookie.

"Kid, I warned you, you can't handle those freaks, if you wanna commit suicide then go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you" The party leader said, though he may be harsh, he saw plenty of cocky adventurers that were arrogant and got themselves killed, especially younger adventurers, he has been an adventurer for a decade and he didn't wanna argue further with the boy knowing his efforts would be futile.

They then went on their separate ways, leading his party away from the disaster. Meliodas looked back at them, though the way the party leader worded things out was harsh, he could sense that he somewhat cared for other people. 

Then Meliodas headed closer to the location where he could intuit was the origin of the minotaur's roar. Bell was panicking and asked Meliodas what he was doing.

"This is a perfect opportunity to justify your level up, don't ya think?" Meliodas says, though his reasoning made sense, Bell didn't understand why Meliodas was so eager to head there and risk their lives, after all he was the one who said 'Don't take unnecessary risks' just yesterday. He wanted to say something and voice out that he doesn't want to die. 

But he couldn't, knowing the situation Meliodas was in, he just wants to get back home as fast as possible, and he also seen how strong and brave Meliodas was in his thousands of years of battles that he'd seen in his memories. Though Meliodas no longer had his strength and he was fighting with Bell's body with a level 2 status. He wanted to shout at Meliodas, saying things like 'TURN BACK!' 'I DON'T WANT TO DIE' but didn't.

The skill [Demon Mark] popped up in his mind. Reading the description of the skill and seeing it in action through Meliodas' memories. He knew that Meliodas knew that with it, they could win. It was basically a power up of some sort, unique to demons of high rank. The only reason Bell has that skill is because of Meliodas.

When they were practicing on the top of the walls earlier, Bell tried using that skill but couldn't activate it somehow. When Meliodas took over his body, he could use it. Bell was confused on why he couldn't do it and was sad about it. 

Meliodas speculated that the reason that Bell couldn't use [Demon Mark] is probably because he doesn't possess any some sort of darkness within him or has no affinity to the darkness element, he was too pure to use it.

Meliodas spotted three minotaurs, they were near a pantry, a place where monsters come to eat. Meliodas readied his dagger and positioned himself in a battle stance.

The minotaurs saw him and began charging straight towards him as they were about to begin the battle.

Ais was running towards the upper floors, searching for minotaurs to kill them and to not endanger other adventurers. She managed to kill a bunch of them and continued searching for more while heading to the higher levels of the dungeon.

They made a mistake and accidentally released the minotaurs to the upper floors, Ais and several others were dispatched to eliminate them and to prevent blissfully unaware adventurers from getting killed. 

As Ais slashed another minotaur, she then heard roars that were coming from the ninth floor and immediately went there. 

She then heard sounds of battle, to her it sounded like someone or a party was engaging the minotaurs and she was worried and scared for their lives that due to their mistake someone might get killed.

When she got there though, she expected adventurers to be in a pool of blood and injuries all over as they struggle to survive, she braced and steeled herself for that possibility. But to her surprise one boy was engaging multiple minotaurs, she unsheathed her blade, ready to help, but she realize that the boy was holding himself quite well. 

Neither side was at an disadvantage, the minotaurs were stronger but the boy was faster and more agile, but his attacks were too weak. He fought like a veteran warrior and she assumed that he must be a veteran with experience but when she looked at his equipment, he was definitely a rookie, his dagger was cheap and his armor was light that barely protected anything.

She wanted to step in, but a there is an unwritten rule that no adventurer is supposed to steal another's prey. So she just decided to watch, completely forgetting that she was dispatched to kill the minotaurs, behind her there was a werewolf with gray fur that was also watching the fight. At first he wanted to make fun and laugh at the foolish boy that decided to take on the minotaurs, but when he saw that he fought decently well, those thoughts disappeared immediately.