Danmachi: The Grand Reaper

Chapter 4: Hell on Earth

It was a new day, Bell woke up and got ready for his dungeon dive. He'd been on the upper floors this whole time but he decided to go deeper as he was bored with the weak monsters he had been fighting so far. He went down early and only saw a few people eating breakfast. He grabbed something and quickly ate it. After that, he made his way to the guild to check in with Rose.

Bell: Miss Rose, I'm heading down now.

Rose: Right, be safe down there.

Bell: I will!

He left and made his way down. It was uneventful at the start. Nothing at the first 16 levels even got his interest. Some monsters were bigger than him like the minotaurs but he easily smashed them into nothing but ash and a stone. He found floor 17 and noticed the area near the entrance to floor 18 shake. The wall started to crack to reveal the monster rex of the floor. Goliath let out a roar before eyeing Bell. The newly born monster could sense the power the boy kept sealed. The sheer magnitude made the monster tremble before it made a break for it and ran. Bell just shook his head in disappointment.

Bell: Man, I thought this one could be fun but he's already scared.

He chased the monster down and kicked it behind the head. The Goliath face planted before Bell came down with a hard stomp on its head that killed it instantly. He sighed to himself before moving on to the next floor. Little did he know he was being watched from the shadows.

???: We must be off. Lord Thanatos must learn of this boy's lest he become a problem in the future.

Evilus Grunt A: Yes, Lord Olivas.

They left for now but they would cross paths with Bell soon enough. Bell continued down until he reached floor 30. He took his time to see if there was anything worth his time fighting, but that was not the case. He was gone long enough so he quickly made his way back up. A short 20 minutes and he was back at the guild doors. He reported his findings to Rose whose took a while to process what she was told.

Rose: You got down to floor 30 all by yourself?

Bell: Yes?

Rose took a peek at the items Bell planned to cash in and sure enough, there were monster drops that indeed confirmed the boy was down that deep.

Rose: *Sigh* It's ridiculous how a boy your age is down there alone but it's good your not hurt.

Bell: Nothing down there could hurt me anyways but thanks for caring.

He smiled at her before leaving to cash in his drops. 400,000 valis, a good amount considering he had no supporters with him to carry more. He made his way back to the manor  to get some rest. When he arrived, a blonde girl stopped him.

Ais: Excuse me?

Bell: Yes?

She was about to ask before an Amazon beat her to it.

Tiona: You're the guys who beat the captain right? You must be really strong!

Bell: Well, that's nice of you to say and yes, I beat him.

Ais: Do you think you can hell me train. I want to get stronger and you'd be really helpful with that.

Tiona: I'm gonna join in too. Whatever your secret is, it'll be safe with us if you're uncomfortable sharing.

Bell: Uhh, it's not much of a secret. I just did basic training that you guys do. I saw some people do it on the way to the city and it wasn't much different from what I did.

Tiona: What'd you do?

Bell: Simple strengthening exercises and sparring.

Ais: I do that too but I'm not as strong as you.

The girl frowned at this. She thought she was doing something wrong since the boy was much more powerful than her and they were apparently doing the same thing.

Bell: I guess all I can say is that I made my training hard.

Tiona: What does that mean?

Bell: I mean that if I'm not struggling, then I'm not training. You have to be drenched in dirt and sweat. That shows that you're putting in everything you have to get stronger.

Tiona: So, what do we do?

Bell thought for a moment before an idea came to him.

Bell: I got it!

Bell went to his room to get something for the two of them. He returned with two sets of what looked like armor.

Ais: Is that to protect us?

Bell: No, you wear this. It's a piece of training gear I wore when I trained. You guys should be able to at least move around in them.

The girls got to clothing themselves in it. However, the moment they tried on the gauntlets they noticed how they could barely lift it.

Tiona: Woah, this is heavy!

Next were the metal legging and finally the chest piece. Overall, it looked like a simple armor set one could buy from the rookie blacksmith's in Babel. Upon closer inspection, it would be revealed that each piece was extremely heavy. Ais and Tiona were first class adventurers and they were already struggling to move in them.

Tiona: Ngh, damn this is tough!

Ais: You were doing this as training?

Bell: Yeah but the ones I used were a lot heavier than those.

The two almost fell over at that. Fortunately they didn't as they would have a hard time getting back on their feet. Next, Bell had them run around the manor or in their case, limp.

They were currently at the sides and were already out of breath by the time they reached the gates. One quarter done and they looked about ready to tap out. After nearly half an hour, the two collapsed on the ground panting and covered in sweat. Bell had taken their armor off and helped them back on their feet.

Bell: Are you guys gonna be okay?

He was concerned for them as they swayed in place. Ais was red in the face from all the effort she put in and Tiona was steps away from passing out.

Tiona: I'll be... fine.

Ais: Everything hurts...

They made their way inside and toward a the library to get them healed by Riveria. The elf was shocked when she looked at how ragged the girls appeared. They looked like a horde of minotaurs ran over them. She healed them up and asked Bell what happened as Tiona promptly passed out on the sofa.

Bell: Well, they asked me for training and I just helped them by having them do what I did.

Riveria: And the intensity was nearly too much?

Bell: I did turn it down but I guess it was still a bit much. They were able to at least finish it today though.

Riveria: Well, I guess you will be ready for the next one tomorrow, right Ais?

Ais trembled a bit at that but was willing to continue if she could make herself stronger. Little did she know the hell she would put on herself. Today was an easy day as Bell was testing their abilities. Now that he knew, he would be able to push them near their breaking points, but not enough to actually break them. Lucifer's teachings would come to play here as the Loki executives would experience a small taste of hell.

AN: Just a small chapter to get Bell more familiar with his familia and give the others some screen time. I'm probably going to be skipping around some events as they aren't going to be as extreme for him with his power. You haven't begun to see what Bell can do but all I will say for now is that Evilus will be fun to bully for the foreseeable future.

That's all for now. I will be uploading a new chapter of The Revenant next so until then.