Chapter 686 Back to the Surface
Kisuke, Yoruichi and Kuroka directly teleported to an uninhabited forest south of Pandemonium where they had placed a teleportation circle.
"It's really annoying that we can't just directly teleport back and forth to the Dungeon, nyaa." Kuroka stretched out her arms and took in a deep breath of fresh air.
"It's technically another space within the Dungeon so we can't really complain. If we do something to circumvent this mild inconvenience, we don't know how the Dungeon would react, but I presume it won't do anything good. In any case, we just have to set up a teleportation circle and let it mature so that the Dungeon won't treat it as a foreign entity that needs to be destroyed."
Meanwhile, Yoruichi took out Surtr's normal horn and started wrapping it with a cloth treated with temporary heat resistance. Since it was bigger than her, she used Magic to speed up her work.
After she was done, she followed Kisuke and Kuroka who were a few meters away from the teleportation circle, with the latter preparing another teleportation circle to transport them to the vicinity of Pandemonium's northern gate.
Since they knew that the news about them slaying the Surtr and successfully cutting off its horns was probably already leaked, they chose to bypass the coast entirely, where most people should be waiting, saving them the trouble of others trying to convince them to sell their loot to them for a better price.
And they were correct with that assumption, as every major Familia, except for the Astarte Familia, were already waiting around the coast for their return, including the Poseidon Familia who has the only remaining commission regarding the item since a few hours ago.
Their goal is to stop others from buying the horn off or outbid others if necessary.
"What's going on? Why are there so many people from prominent factions here? Look... Even the elusive Captain of the Poseidon Familia and his wife, the Captain of Amphitrite Familia, are here."
"It's really strange... Although we can rest easy as most of them didn't appear here with an intent to fight by how minimal their equipment is. I also tried asking my acquaintances from those major Familias but they also don't know why they're here. They're just instructed to come with their executives as backups in case something happens."
"There's something even more strange.", the other two looked at the third guy before he continued, "With such people here, we can safely assume that their goal is so important that it warranted their presence, however, the Captain and Vice-Captains of the Aruna Familia aren't present and the entirety of the Astarte Familia didn't show up."
Similar discussions could be heard everywhere, including those discussions from the low-ranking members of the major Familias, while the executives are just keeping a watch on the sea and keeping quiet.
A few minutes later, a woman approached the golden-haired Elf Captain of the Amphitrite Familia and handed her some documents.
After receiving it, Lelalia immediately started reviewing the information in it.
"How is it? Is there an explanation for this weird situation?", asked the middle-aged Human man beside her, a tall and muscular man with short upright auburn hair and a matching beard. He was Arch Rivers, the Captain of the Poseidon Familia and the one known as the strongest Mercenary, the only Level 8.
When he asked about the weird situation, it was about the nonsensical timeframe of the Surtr being subjugated. It should have been around now that it just spawned, yet there was already a piece of news that it was defeated with the horn being successfully acquired on top of that. However, they couldn't just brush off the possibility of this being a nonsensical ruse because their informant was a trusted one and the information came from the Astarte Familia who went on an expedition this time.
Lelalia, however, could only sigh, "There is indeed more information, but it only became more confusing. Not long after the news disseminated, Fenia and Dulran Stillshadow were spotted, with the former bringing the rest of the Astarte Familia back from the Dungeon, and the latter guarding Lady Astarte as she made her way to Pandemonium. They should have been with the Expedition Team who are currently on the deeper floors, but even with them appearing now, we still have no explanation. On the other hand, we still don't have any news regarding the rest of the executives of the Astarte Familia. I'll leave first and ask Belda and Araedon to follow Fenia's trail."
"Understood.", Arch nodded, "Also ask Zaire to bring Poseidon-sama and Amphitrite-sama to Pandemonium."
"So you're expecting something big is about to happen, huh. Got it."
A few hours later, everyone was still patiently waiting and the number of people had increased along the coast, including some Deities that were gathering information using their ability to detect lies. Although most of them still didn't know what was going on, with the presence of these big figures, they couldn't just let something this amusing go.
Numerous Deities also approached the people of the Poseidon and Amphitrite Familia but they, including Arch and Lelalia, gave indiscrete replies while the rest didn't even know why they were there.
Soon, an Elf sporting golden hair similar to Lelalia approached the couple and was about to talk, but stopped as soon as he spotted the numerous Deities hanging around, waiting for any information they could get.
Arch and Lelalia looked at him and saw him giving a signal that the information he has is something that would be known sooner or later so Arch gave him a nod and said, " Araedon, please go on."
Araedon, Lelalia's little brother and the Vice-Captain of the Amphitrite Familia started his report, "It's not just Fenia and her comrades, but also people from the Hadur, Patecatl and Lugh Familias are with them and started building a camp in the corner of the 9th floor with some strange platform in the middle of it. And by the looks of it, they are planning to expand it into a permanent camp."
Arch looked at the spot where the Lugh Familia was waiting. They'd already noticed that Pandemonium's and the Alliance's strongest Familia had suddenly pulled out, but they didn't know what they were after so they could only watch, 'Not even a whisper from them? It seems like this is indeed something big.'
Meanwhile, Lelalia asked Araedon, "Strange platform?"
"I can only describe it as strange... The first thing about it is the fact that it's heavily guarded. The second thing is...", Araedon first looked at Lelalia's eyes before continuing, "People are constantly disappearing and reappearing when they step on the platform, including Carys Cattell, who is now commanding the camp."
Lelalia frowned, "Appearing and disappearing?"
"We're still not sure what we saw there. People of the Hadur Familia stepped on the platform and disappeared after some sort of Magic activated and a few minutes later, the platform activated again and this time, people from the Astarte Familia appeared. Most notably, they were members of the current Expedition Team."
"..."
"It seems that they are not hostile to anyone who approaches, so Belda came forward to them to get some information. Before returning to the surface, I only know that they're not revealing any information regarding the platform and heavily guarding it, but it also seems that they are not keeping it secret from prying eyes."
Arch and Lelalia then recalled the strange timeframe of their movement and made some guesses. But without any evidence, they couldn't confirm their ridiculous conclusion.
A few seconds later, another member of the Poseidon Familia appeared and reported, "Yoruichi Shihouin and her party has been spotted in the Mercenary Guild!"
Arch and Lelalia's eyes widened in surprise as they were precisely waiting for that party, 'Where did they go through for us to miss them?'
But Arch couldn't dwell on this long as the information from them already started disseminating so he immediately instructed, "Lia, go with Araedon and ascertain what's going on the 9th floor."
"How about you?", asked Lelalia.
"I'll go to the Mercenary Guild first before joining up with Poseidon-sama and Amphitrite-sama." As soon as he finished speaking, Arch faced south and jumped forward, leaving a large crack and cloud of dust.
After that, Lelalia immediately instructed everyone to go to the Dungeon.
It didn't take too long for Arch to arrive in Pandemonium and make his way straight to the Mercenary Guild. Due to his fame of being the 'strongest man', he had many fans and many wanted to approach him. But due to his incredibly valiant aura, no one could actually do so.
The moment he arrived, he immediately went towards the only person who could have issued the quest to them, Varka.
"Where are they?", asked Arch.
The already desolate counter became even more desolate as Varka also started emitting a similar valiant but wilder aura. "They already left and your item is here.", he replied while pointing towards his back where a large item covered in cloth was being inspected by Camilla with unbelieving eyes.
Arch eyed the covered horn for a moment before looking back at Varka, "I want to thank them personally."
But Varka just shrugged his shoulders and said, "They left a message to anyone who wanted to look for them. They said that their job is done and they already turned in the commission so there's no reason to look for them."
Another stretch of silence between them lasted for a few seconds before Arch sighed in resignation, "Is that so? If that's what they want then I won't intrude on their private time. Since they did such a favor for us, I guess I'll also ask the kids of my Familia to shoo away the unwanted pests that wanted to touch them from afar."
"Hmmm... I guess that's the best thing you can do.", Varka then grabbed the horn with one hand and threw it towards Arch. Arch wasn't surprised by this and easily caught the giant's horn with his one hand, feeling the heat emitting from it.
Since there was nothing else, Arch decided to leave but just as he turned around, he heard Varka's voice, "Apparently, it was Yoruichi Shihouin and Kuroka Toujou who dealt with the Surtr and the guy with them didn't do anything as he can't fight."
Arch turned his head and said, "I see... So Yoruichi Shihouin and Kuroka Toujou are at least as strong as me."
"That's right. Since it's only you who could take on the Surtr alone until now, that may indeed be the case."
"What do you want to say?"
"Since you're a friend, I'll warn you. Yoruichi Shihouin and Kuroka Toujou are indeed strong, but it should be the last guy, Kisuke Urahara, that you should be wary of."
Arch didn't say anything and left the Mercenary Guild but in his mind, he was branding Kisuke's name, 'Kisuke Urahara, huh.'
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