18. Descending the Floors

Marlet could only sigh at all the strange looks she was getting from her familia, it was quiet understandable after all. To anyone it might seem as though she was defecting from Loki and running towards Freya. Some of the newer members couldn't help but frown when looking at the girl and soft whispers could be heard throughout the procession. It only stopped ons Finn and Riveria approached the girl to get an answer from her. "Something you feel like sharing?" Finn only asked with a smile on his face, both he and Riveria knew how much the familia meant to Marlet and the thought of her leaving without a very good reason didn't even cross their minds. "Ha, Ha" Marlet couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she rolled her eyes, "they mean nothing about it, I only made sure that Freya wouldn't want me to join her familia by any means necessary. So far I only proposed a trade of sorts and only got confirmation now, as you very well saw."

To say that Finn and Riveria were intrigued was an understatement, when had she met with Lady Freya? What did she offer and most importantly. Did Loki know about this? Finn adopted a serious expression thinking about all the unknowns especially after both he and the goddess had been paying special attention to the goddess of beauty and her familia. "I'm gonna have to understand exactly what it was you and Lady Freya came to an agreement too Marlet, if it affects the familia we both need to know what to prepare for" Finn was indicating to himself and the elf next to him. Marlet then proceeded to explain how the rooftop meeting took place, what she said and what she offered. Riveria drooped her shoulders and dropped her head back taking in a deep breath at the girl's antics but strangely enough Finn was looking her in her eyes while rubbing his thumb, no doubt looking for a reaction but receiving none.

"Besides, I get the feeling she looks at me more like an extravagant pet than an actual adventurer" Marlet continued with a frown, "I'm not really one of the 'mortal races' now am I?" there was a little sadness in her voice. "But you are still a mortal" Riveria wanted to comfort the girl not wanting to see her self-depreciate herself anymore. Marlet could only giggle at that "Sure, momma" and proceeded to head to the front of the expedition. "I'll write a report and have Bete deliver it when we reach the safe zone" Finn was eyeing Ottar currently not liking that the Freya familia had all but barged into their expedition leaving him no choice but to accept. With this many people they can probably push to reach Udaeus and even reach for the safe zone on the 39th floor before turning back. Both him and Riveria were reaching the peak of their level and would only need a feat to level up.

With the 5 groups of Loki familia and 2 groups of the Freya familia the new expedition was reorganised to maximise the protection of the supplies and allowing for the lower level adventurers to be at the front lines currently in order to claim as much excelia. Half the high level adventurers would act as the supporters in the top floors while the other half would act as protection that would step in if something beyond the newbies capabilities showed up, and like this they would rotate at their own discretion. The lower levelled adventurers would then be given the responsibility of protecting the convoy and see where the errors they make are. This method of dungeon trekking was devised by Loki so that when the weak became stronger they would already know their roles and the stronger would remain somewhat humble and realise the importance of supporters.

Amidst all this organised chaos was Marlet, who would be at the 2nd wagon carrying supplies with only her bow and arrows allowed to be used. The longer Loki could prevent others from knowing of her abilities the better. This was why they agreed that she would only show her archery and healing abilities but to heal others she would rather touch them than heal from a distance, thus preventing prying eyes from seeing too much.

The first 4 floors were very boring for Marlet as she had been coming here for a long time now, she had even learnt to pay attention to the subtle differences in the environment allowing her to know where and how many enemies would be around her. The war shadows and killer ants were easy pickings for the Loki familia forward party, they remained vigilant of all monsters around them but with the amount of arrows being shot over their heads, it was only a small amount of fighting that took place at the front and sides. Even with the increased spawning rate of the monsters, this was nothing new for the adventurers. This pattern continued up until the 9th floor where the Loki familia had been doing all the work making a few grumble about carrying the Freya familia.

To say that Marlet was very interested in the mist covering the entire 10th floor was an understatement. She had to actually stand up and use her wings to generate small gusts of wind that would shift the mist away from her carriage, allowing her a few more meters of visibility. This had forced her to take a more passive role within the offence and many adventurers couldn't even blame her for it. Marlet could only apologise to the adventurers when the monsters got too close to them. With the increasing number of orcs occurring a few of the familia members did receive light injuries but decided to push through and request aid when visibility returned. Marlet did however wonder what would happen when she learnt the 'Clear Skies' shout, how would it affect the mist.

As the convoy kept going deeper and deeper into the dungeon the visibility got worse for everyone and less arrows where being fired. With the silverbacks and hard armoured appearing as well the less experienced adventurers were experiencing some strain and the more experienced ones had to step in a few times to either save or educate someone. Everything was still going normally for everyone until a loud roar could be heard from the left in the mist. Those not in combat snapped their heads in that direction, including Marlet. Hearing the heavy footsteps of the reptile the older adventurers put on a solemn face for the newbies to face a baby dragon.

Hearing another roar and a black face with eyes as yellow as the sun poked out of the mist. What was very strange was that it ignored all the other adventurers and looked directly at a certain winged girl. "Shit! When did a mutated baby dragon happen!" was all Finn could get out before seeing Marlet descend from her wagon never breaking eye contact with the beast. It was a very strange sight for him as he could see that she was hyper focused but also seemingly in a trance. He quickly indicated for all the executives of their familia to ensure everyone's safety, they did as asked and when they were about to engage with the beast Marnet spoke "I need to kill that dragon." It was very strange, she hadn't requested or ordered but spoken matter of factly, as though she was born to do this.

Not waiting any longer Marlet quick equipped her armour and axe surprising the Freya familia except seemingly Ottar who kept a face of indifference. With her new spell 'Fast Healing' in her other hand she didn't wait any further and unfurled her wings getting into a striking position. Seeing what she was going to do Finn signalled for everyone to not interfere, especially Aiz because although it was a baby dragon, it was a dragon non the less.

With a booming "WULD" coming from Marlet and a loud roar again from the baby dragon Finn could only watch as the girl went for a head on collision. The dragon brought down a red claw from above Marlet attempting to swat her to the ground as though it was insulted she had wings and it did not. Marlet barrel rolled to the side and struck her axe into the beast's shoulder making it let out a roar in pain. This action however caused her to leave the handle of her axe as it got embedded into the dragon leaving her momentarily weaponless. The dragon, seeing this took the opportunity and snapped its tail at the girl as though it was a scorpion, slamming her into the ground.

The dragon looked down upon the little bird and inhaled a deep breath, looking down condescendingly with flared nostrils. Marlet was able to cast the healing spell quickly in her left hand and fixed the hole the dragon's tail left in her shoulder making her realise that it was also barbed. Marlet was able to look up at the dragon's face in time to see embers at the back of its throat before conjuring a ward into her weapon hand and cast it as a torrent of flames came down on her. To the people watching they could only see a silver lined dome be conjured above the girl before the flames reached her, the twins wanted to rush to her aid but Gareth kept them at bay.

As the flames were about to finish they heard the sound of glass shattering and a bestial cry come from the flames centre. When the dust subsided Marlet could be seen with a golden glow surrounding her but her clothes had been slightly burnt. She had jumped up again, intending to reach for her axe only to be struck again by the barbed tail of the dragon, causing her to skid on her back towards her familia members. Everyone looked at her with worry but surprisingly she got up straight away.

"Fine! You don't want to die quickly, I shall grant you painful death" Marlet muttered while cracking her neck to the side. She struck out her hand in Gareth's direction still not breaking eye contact, the dwarf seemed to understand what she wanted as he gave her his massive two handed axe. Gripping it tightly Marlet sprinted straight back at the beast before her with the axe poised to slice through one of the joints of its leg with her added momentum. The dragon seeing the annoying little girl charge at it again made it furious, it roared again and decided to meet her halfway as it sped towards her with a slight hobble because of the axe still in its shoulder. Getting within range of the girl the dragon wanted to take a bite of her but Marlet only dodged to the opposite leg of her previous attack. She could see the eye of the dragon following her every move as she was right next to its face. Not wanting to waste such a prime opportunity Marlet only took in a quick breath and looking it in its eye she shouted a loud "FUS", popping the dragon's eye and eardrum in one fell swoop.

The dragon rampaged because of the pain and thrashed around, moving in different directions for a brief moment. During this moment the dragon had backhanded Marlet and caused her to surprisingly land against the dungeon wall. The dragon felt it struck something and heard a faint thud, causing it to look at the source and see the cause for all its pain and hate. A red aura surrounded the dragon then and Marlet let out a small groan from having the wind knocked out of her.

The dragon only stood there filled with anger as it watched the girl get out of the wall she was embedded on and look back at it with a look of defiance.

And so, Marlet ended up facing her own 'One Eyed Black Dragon'