Danmachi: The Focalors Familia — Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Fierce Wolf Bete

On Noah’s consciousness panel, the edge of the originally dim starlight icon now held a faint, barely perceptible glow.

His Golden Finger required Magic Stones to charge. Once the energy gauge filled completely, he could initiate his next summon. He left the remaining Magic Stones untouched for now. They needed to survive. They had a useless goddess who did nothing but eat cake to support, and they desperately needed to upgrade their weapons and equipment. All of that required a mountain of Valis.

Fortunately, the drop rate from these anomalous monsters was generous. Alongside the Magic Stones, they had gathered a large pile of viscous fluid from various Slimes and several intact Hilichurl masks. Noah figured these were rare materials. Handing them over to the Guild for appraisal should yield a substantial payout.

After organizing their spoils, Noah and Robin began the trek back to the surface.

Just as they handled the familiar path from the second floor toward the first-floor entrance, a formidable presence washed over the corridor. A group of Adventurers approached, radiating an aura so oppressive and refined that it forced every passing rookie to stop and stare. Leading the formation was an elegant High Elf. Beside her walked a golden-haired, golden-eyed young woman as exquisite as a porcelain doll. Trailing them were two rowdy Amazon sisters, an impatient silver-haired werewolf, and a highly nervous Elf girl.

Noah’s pupils constricted.

Loki Familia. Ais Wallenstein.

He recognized Orario’s absolute top-tier combatants in a single glance. He kept his head down, maintaining a steady pace. Just as the two groups brushed past each other in the wide tunnel, the silver-haired werewolf stopped dead in his tracks. Bete Loga turned his head abruptly. His sharp, predatory gaze locked onto Noah’s retreating back, and his nose twitched twice as he caught a familiar scent.

“What is it, Bete? Someone you know?” Riveria noticed his sudden halt and asked.

Bete’s brows knitted together in a tight, confused scowl. “How did he… become an Adventurer?”

In his memories, that human brat from the Far North possessed a physical anomaly. He was entirely unable to receive a divine Falna.

Tiona, standing nearby with her massive weapon resting on her shoulder, let out a dramatic gasp. “Could it be a friend of yours, Bete? You are lying, right? How could a grumpy guy like you possibly have a friend?”

Bete bared his fangs and roared at the Amazon. “Shut up, you Amazon idiot!”

Tiona refused to back down, immediately shouting back. “Who are you calling an idiot, you idiot dog!”

The two lunged at each other, turning the already crowded Dungeon passage into a chaotic wrestling match.

“No… please do not fight, Miss Tiona, Mr. Bete!” Lefiya waved her staff frantically, entirely at a loss as she tried to separate them.

Riveria let out a long, weary sigh and pressed her fingers against her temples. She knew it. Taking this chaotic bunch out on a simple scouting mission was always a headache.

Further down the corridor, Noah did not look back. Yet he could vividly feel that sharp, wolf-like stare nailed to his spine, heavy with astonishment and unresolved questions. He did not need to guess. It was Bete Loga.

He remembered him perfectly.

The memory of a heavy snowstorm five years ago surfaced in Noah’s mind. Bete hailed from a Beastman tribe in the freezing Far North, a tribe that frequently traded with the remote village where Noah grew up. After a brutal fistfight with some other Beastman children, the two of them had unexpectedly forged a solid bond. Sometime later, a rogue Dragon escaped from the Dragon Valley and reduced Bete’s tribe to ash. The surviving werewolf, carrying a suffocating blood feud, left his frozen homeland for Orario to seek absolute power.

Five years ago, when Noah was barely eleven, a sixteen-year-old Bete had returned. He was already a renowned Adventurer by then. He had hunted down the Dragon that destroyed his home, slaughtering it single-handedly to complete his vengeance. Covered in dried dragon blood, Bete had found Noah and offered him a hand.

‘What is the point of rotting in this tiny place? Come with me, Noah. Orario is where you belong.’Noah still remembered the fierce light in the werewolf’s eyes, just as he remembered his own bitter reply.’I cannot receive the Falna of the gods. If I go to Orario, I will just be dead weight. I cannot fight, and I cannot survive there.’

Now, five long years had passed.

Noah was sixteen, finally stepping onto the path of an Adventurer, but he was merely a newly registered Level 1 rookie. Meanwhile, the twenty-one-year-old Bete was a core executive of the city’s strongest faction, the Loki Familia. He was a Level 5 First-Class Adventurer, bearing the alias Fierce Wolf, his name echoing across the world.

The gap between them was an unbridgeable chasm.

Feeling the heavy gaze finally vanish as the Loki Familia moved deeper underground, Noah exhaled a quiet breath and led Robin out of the Dungeon without another pause.

The moment they stepped out from beneath the towering structure of Babel and into the warm surface sunlight, a distinct shift occurred. The suffocating sensation of being watched by the Dungeon itself quietly dissolved into the air. The effect of his unique skill, [The Abyss That Gazes Back], had officially terminated.

This meant that within the maze below, aside from the Slimes and Hilichurls already roaming the floors, no new anomalous monsters would spawn.

This sudden cessation brought immense frustration to the Loki Familia, who had descended with high expectations of a massive hunt.

“Strange… what is going on here?” Tiona swung her massive double-edged sword, Urga, and kicked a loose stone out of sheer boredom. “Did the Guild not say these new monsters were swarming everywhere? We have been searching for half the day, so why have we only found a few scattered stragglers?”

Riveria frowned, her sharp elven eyes scanning the empty corridors. “It is indeed strange. According to the reports from the rookies, the spawn rate of these unknown creatures should be exceptionally high. Right now, this floor looks exactly like the aftermath of a Monster Feast.”

Ais remained silent. She simply flicked her wrist, slicing open a Fire Slime she had just dispatched with the tip of her rapier. Staring down at the bubbling red mucus and the shattered Magic Stone, a deeply thoughtful expression flickered through her golden eyes.

The highly anticipated investigation mission ultimately ended in a frustrating anti-climax for the core executives.

Meanwhile, Noah and Robin handled the bustling streets of Orario and returned directly to the Guild headquarters.

Pushing open the heavy double doors, Noah immediately spotted Eina pacing anxiously behind the reception desk.

“Mr. Noah! Miss Robin!” Eina cried out the moment she saw them, her voice cracking with sheer relief.

The heavy stone of anxiety that had been crushing her chest finally lifted. She hurried around the counter and rushed up to them, her beautiful brows still knit together in lingering fear.

“You have finally returned. The Dungeon experienced a massive anomaly, and you two rookies had not come out, so I… I was worried to death. I was a breath away from issuing an emergency quest to other Adventurers to go down and search for you.”