Chapter 20: Mist, Orcs, and an Unexpected Invitation

The comfort of the new house and the satisfaction of the newly achieved statuses were good, but for Hikigaya Hachiman, they were just a brief interlude. The reality of his situation – the confrontation with Bete Loga, the declared (and perhaps temporary) protection of the Hephaestus Familia, the very dangerous nature of Orario – hammered in his mind. He woke again with the first light, the habit of self-imposed discipline stronger than the desire to enjoy the new bed. Aqua was there, as always, a warm, familiar weight.

'Yesterday was... different. A necessary break, perhaps. And the lesson with Hephaestus-sama was invaluable,' he thought as he carefully disentangled himself from Aqua. 'But I can't depend on the protection or gifts of others forever. And that idiotic werewolf... he wasn't entirely wrong about me being weak compared to them.' The memory of the mockery and tension at the Hostess of Fertility ignited a cold flame in his chest. 'I need to get stronger. As fast as possible. I can't afford to relax now.'

His goal was clear. Ranks E and F were good for a Level 1, but he felt he could go further. The Dungeon was the path. And the next challenge was the tenth floor.

He equipped himself in silence, the ritual now quick and efficient. Hephaestus's dark armor settled perfectly, a protective second skin. With a mental command – "Trace On" – he projected the familiar basic short sword, feeling the slight drain on his now considerable Rank B mana reserve. The projection was almost instantaneous now, a conditioned reflex. With the sword crudely sheathed at his belt, he stepped out into the cool morning air, leaving his goddess and the house behind, and headed with firm steps towards Babel.

The descent through the Dungeon was a focused blur. Hachiman wasted no time on the upper levels. Floors 1 through 9 were traversed at a rapid pace, almost a blur of bluish and greenish walls and basic monsters that were easily ignored or eliminated without breaking stride. His mind was fixed on the entrance to the next level.

Finally, he reached the transition to the tenth floor. As expected, the change was notable. The light-green walls of the previous floors gave way to grayish stone, but the most striking feature was the lighting. The faint light emanating from the Dungeon ceiling here wasn't clear, but rather diffused, milky, resembling a dense morning mist suspended in the air. Visibility was reduced, shadows longer and more treacherous. The general structure, with wide corridors and occasional side chambers, vaguely resembled floors 8 and 9, but the luminous mist gave everything an ethereal and dangerous feel.

And the monsters confirmed the increased danger almost immediately. The first encounter was with a group of Orcs. Brutish humanoid creatures, larger and stronger than Goblins, with greenish skin and protruding tusks, armed with heavy clubs or rusty axes. They attacked with brute force, trying to crush his defenses. Hephaestus's armor withstood the blows, but Hachiman felt the force behind them – significantly greater than that of the monsters from the previous floors. He needed to use his Rank E agility and the speed of the twin blades (he had projected Kanshou and Bakuya right upon entering the floor, anticipating the need) to dodge, parry, and find openings in the Orcs' clumsy but powerful guard.

Soon after, he encountered Imps. Small, winged demons, annoying and fast, flying erratically and casting small fire or electricity spells. They were weak individually but difficult to hit and dangerous in groups, forcing Hachiman to use quick attacks and move constantly to avoid their magical projectiles.

And there were the Hard Armor Bats. Flying creatures larger than normal bats, with a chitinous carapace that deflected normal blows. Hitting them in flight required precision, and penetrating their armor required a Rank B mana-reinforced strike at the right spot, something Hachiman could now do more consistently.

'The encounter rate here is definitely higher,' Hachiman noted after a few hours of almost constant combat. There was barely time to breathe between one group of monsters and the next. The luminous mist, though not completely obstructing vision, created hiding spots and made it harder to detect ambushes. It was an environment of constant pressure.

But Hachiman didn't back down. On the contrary, he dove into the challenge with fierce determination. Every fight was a test. Every defeated monster was a step forward. He used Kanshou and Bakuya with increasing fluidity, instinct guiding his movements while his conscious mind analyzed enemy patterns. He reinforced the blades with Trace On when necessary, feeling his mana drain, but also feeling the excelia flow with each hard-won victory. His Skill, 'A Loner's Protection', was in overdrive; the constant need to defend against attacks coming from multiple directions, from stronger monsters, seemed to be maximizing his growth potential.

He fought throughout the day, losing track of time in the luminous mist and the intensity of combat. Orcs fell under his precise strikes, Imps were downed in mid-air, and the bat carapaces were broken. When exhaustion finally began to overcome the adrenaline and he realized his mana reserves were dangerously low, he began the long climb back to the surface.

Upon exiting the Dungeon, night had already fallen over Orario. He followed the routine: went to the Guild, where he exchanged an impressive amount of Orc, Imp, and Bat magic stones with an increasingly impassive Misha (though perhaps a slight eyebrow arch occurred upon seeing the quality and quantity), received his Valis, and returned home.

He repeated the same pattern the next day. Wake up, Dungeon (focus on the tenth floor), fight until exhaustion, Guild, home. It was a brutal routine, but the results were undeniable. He felt his body adapting, his reflexes quickening, his control over the twin blades and his Rank B mana improving with each hour.

On the morning of the third day of this new intense routine, something different happened. Hachiman woke up, went through the morning ritual of disentangling himself from Aqua, and was about to start equipping himself for the Dungeon when the goddess, who was rummaging through a small pile of mail that had been delivered to the new house, let out an exclamation.

"Hachiman! Look at this!" She waved a formal-looking envelope. "It's an invitation!"

Hachiman took the envelope disinterestedly. 'Probably some advertisement or notice from the Guild.' But upon opening it, he saw it was something else. An elegant invitation, bearing the symbol of a stylized elephant.

"An invitation to the Ganesha Familia party," Aqua read over his shoulder, her eyes shining. "Tonight! It says here it's because tomorrow is their festival day, Monsterphilia!"

Hachiman stared at the invitation. A party. At the Ganesha Familia headquarters. One of the largest and most influential Familias in Orario, known for their extravagant events and, of course, Monsterphilia. 'A party? Tonight? But I need to train...' his first thought was annoyance at the interruption to his focused routine. But why would they have been invited? An obscure, newly registered goddess and her sole Level 1 follower, even with high stats? That didn't make much sense. Unless... maybe all gods were invited out of courtesy? Or perhaps his recent activity, the declared protection from the Hephaestus Familia, or even the incident with the Loki Familia had attracted some kind of unexpected attention?