After his little struggle with the gang of Silverbacks, he did a good amount of running around on the 12th floor. He was able to handle just about anything that they threw at him and nothing he encountered after his tussle with the gang of apes caused him quite as many problems as that fight did.

At least, nothing until that final encounter.

He was just considering going back, when he heard the footsteps of a large beast approaching him from further down a hallway. He readied his blade and let loose a Rippling Sword on the monster the moment it exited the hallway. That attack shattered when it met green scales, leaving only a light cut. The beast roared in anger, clearly irritated at the challenge to its dominance.

The moment he saw it, he recognized it.

“It’s a Green Dragon.”

Technically, in this world, they called these monsters “Infant Dragons”, since they were small and weak compared to their adult counterparts. At four meters in length, this thing seemed neither small nor weak, but who was he to quibble? Heat radiated off the monster as it glared at him imperiously and opened its mouth. Adama needed to hustle to get out of the way of the billowing flaming breath that scorched the air around him and the location where he used to stand. The breath attack tracked his movement, and only petered out when he managed to take cover behind a rock formation.

The moment it did, the Sage went on the offensive, Rippling Swords testing the integrity of the fiend’s hide as he leapt out from behind his cover. He stayed on the move and tried to hit the same place multiple times, but the dragon always shifted and dodged to make that impossible. It tried to use its dragon’s breath to roast him, but he had closed the distance between them, realizing that he was only going to do real damage up close. The dragon danced around, swiping out with its claws to deal with the pesky adventurer.

Adama dodged or barely turned aside these attacks and responded with a barrage of his own. He wanted to plant his sword in the fiend directly, but it wouldn’t let him have the chance, and his magic was having little success. Eventually, he was forced to block a claw attack head on. He held out for a bit before being blasted backwards, right across the room.

As he skipped like a stone on a pond across the stone floor, he internally cursed his own hubris. This thing was classified as a Level 2 monster. He wasn’t used to being so outclassed in strength. To make matters worse, even being close to the monster gave him minor burns. As he felt the heat of another dragon’s breath incoming, he decided it was best to retreat.

The dragon didn’t want to let him run, of course, but it had hit him towards the exit. It had also been prepared for him to come at it again. When he sprinted down the exit hallway, dragon’s breath licking his heals, the beast was slow to follow him. Even as he ran, though, he felt that there were more enemies spawning in his way to try to make his life difficult. Fortunately, he had both Health and Mind potions on him, and they supported his fighting retreat. The dragon roared in frustration in the distance as it made to follow him.

The monsters of the 12th, 11th, and 10th floors knocked him around as he poured on the gas to get away from that thing. He got to relax a bit on the 9th floor, but by the time he got out of the dungeon entirely, he was frazzled and beaten. His armor was in questionable shape as well. And, as if to add insult to injury, the sun had already risen. He had told Lilli to be up by the crack of dawn, and here he was late to his own party.

He shook his head at the realization, but he still took the time to exchange his stones for funds. He earned himself around 50K, which cheered him only mildly. He hadn’t killed as many monsters as he normally did, but quality had a quantity of its own. He went straight home after that.

He found, with a minor amount of chagrin, that both Lilli and Hestia were still passed out asleep. Hestia was fine, since it’s not as though she was coming into the Dungeon, but he had told Lilli to be ready bright and early. It annoyed him even more that he had no room to talk, given that he was late as well. He approached the side of the bed and gave the little prum a prod in the stomach, which made her sit bolt upright.

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“Wha? Who is it? Where am I?”

“Time to go, you little squirt. We’re already late.”

“Oh, Mr. Tim! Yes, right, sorry, Lilli will be ready in just a moment!”

As he watched her get ready, he had to hold back his own desire for rest. That night had taken more out of him than he would care to admit.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” He muttered internally, as Lilli put on her gear and bounced up and out of the room.

…

In her room, near the top of Babel, Freya listened to Ottar’s report on the young man.

Apparently, he was far more skilled than he had any right to be at such a young age, which intrigued her. How had Hestia found such a person? Was he a reincarnation? These were good questions, but they were mostly idle curiosities. She had decided to snuff the boy out, and based off Ottar’s most recent reports, she knew exactly how best to do so.

“Thank you Ottar. I do believe it is time to dispose of the boy.”

“Understood, my lady.”

He made as if to get up and leave, but she held him back:

“Wait just a moment. I don’t want you to do it yourself.”

He cocked his head in confusion, waiting for her to elaborate, which she did:

“If you do it directly, I have no doubt that you could make him disappear without a trace. But Hestia would suspect my involvement if that were to happen.”

Even if she could never prove it, of course, that would still drive a wedge through their relationship. She wanted to be able to sweep in while Hestia was grieving and console her, offering aide in those trying times. She could even offer to help that prum girl Hestia was now also attached to. Hestia could hardly refuse help under those circumstances since her support had been cut out from under her. But that only worked well if the boy died in a way that looked natural. But how to make such a thing look totally natural?

“Use the Dungeon.”

He had already been given an easy option right in his most recent report. He just needed to seize on certain opportunities. He nodded in understanding and left. When he did, she smiled in pleasure. The pleasure of a Cheshire cat hunting its prey.

“All in good time, Hestia. All in good time.”

…

The weaker monsters of the Upper floors backed away in fear at the approach of a greater predator.

Ottar made his way, without even fighting, all the way down to the 12th floor of the Dungeon. He ensured that he was spotted by no one, and he began looking surreptitiously for his quarry.

The Boaz man found his prey after an hour or so of high speed yet extremely silent searching. A slightly scarred yet proud looking Infant Dragon. It had recently been born, yet its body showed evidence of shallow and very neat cuts. When it saw him, it was intelligent enough to try to run away, but when he blocked its escape totally, it began to breathe fire at him, which only earned it a slap. It whimpered at the bullying, but Ottar grabbed it by the neck, unbothered by the heat of its skin, and pulled it close.

“I am the master here. Do as I say, and you will earn your prey.”

It couldn’t understand what he was saying, really, but it got the message from the look in his eyes. It immediately stopped trying to run or fight and he let it go. Ottar reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of meat. He tossed it at the dragon, which snapped the food out of the air and huffed contentedly.

The meat had been filled with magic stones, and he felt the Infant Dragon growing stronger as it chewed and swallowed. Its scales grew greener, and its scars began to fade. The light in its eyes grew brighter, blazing with greater vigor. Ottar nodded:

“I won’t make you too much stronger, as that would get suspicious. Digest these changes for now. I will be back.”

He would make the dragon stronger. Eventually, its presence would become known, establishing it as a target for the Guild. He just needed to get it strong enough that it would kill Adama with certainty. He would let it become known to the Guild, so it seemed natural, then unleash it upon the young adventurer when he was surrounded by witnesses. The boy would die, but some of the others would survive to tell the tale of the unfortunate situation. This dragon already had a grudge against the child, and he would ensure that that grudge grew deeper.

So long as he implemented this plan before the Guild sent out its hit squads to deal with the beast, things should work out well. The boy that vexed his goddess so would be rightly and justly removed and her desires would be fulfilled. The entire process shouldn’t take much longer than two or three weeks.

He had decided from a young age that his whole purpose would be to fulfill the desires of the woman who enamored him so. Some would denigrate him, but he was his own man. He would do things for her that she didn’t even ask of him and even oppose her if he thought it was in her best interests. This particular jaunt would probably be just fine, though. He had no complex feelings about it one way or the other. He had no malice towards Adama at all. The boy just happened to be in the way. But Ottar would remove that obstacle.

One way or the other.