Chapter 31 Various POV’s
Being able to travel unmolested to and from Rivira was an utter game changer in terms of dungeon exploration and more easily acquiring the valuable materials that were so much more common in the water and jungle floors of the dungeon. But Jake of the newly formed Seshat Familia didn't seem to care one whit about how valuable such a service was to Orario... But as Riveria looked down at the key in her hands she knew all too well how every single rock that Jake placed down had the equivalent of a Durandal enchantment. She knew that somehow breaking into the tunnel would be a fool's errand.
"Soooo teleportation... Can we buy that from him?" Tiona asked blankly at the sight where Jake Bariss and Bell Cranel literally just said screw the tunnel they just built and teleported probably back to the surface.
"No! Teleportation is supposed to be something only within the domain of the gods and that's when they have their Arcanum." Riveria all but snarled as she felt like a child being shown countless magical and technological wonders that made absolutely no sense as they simply should not work without divinity forcing them to do so.
"He teleported... No footprints, no wind from them moving under illusions, they teleported Riveria." Ais reported blandly making the elvish princess's eyes twitch at Ais's knowingly made points to distress her.
"Fine he teleported but that is ridiculous... No, he is just ridiculous!" Riveria all but yelled having reached her breaking point for the nonsense Jake kept pulling out of nowhere. Sure, monsters that give drops to everyone that participates is one thing but the only off thing about it was how the monster he summoned would drop stuff for everyone. That bugged Riveria as it was too convenient.
But teleportation to and from the Dungeon? Wouldn't that make the countless years she and other adventurers put into the dungeon and even losing their lives to map out the dungeon and pushing onto lower floors be wasted? What if Jake could teleport from the surface all the way down to the fiftieth floor and skip the weeks of travel it would take others to make the journey?
It was demoralizing to Riveria honestly.
"Uh, Riveria I noticed the throwing knives he loaned me don't break either Hehe," Tione added making Riveria just roll her eyes as she realized the other girls were just trying to get a rise out of her.
"Yes yes, every damned rock the human touches become indestructible. Are you really so surprised his knives also don't have such an effect?" Riveria pressed making Tione pout at not getting Riveria to react.
"Anyway, we should test how long it takes to make the trip from here on Rivira back up to the surface via the tunnel and whether we even need to buy those carts from Jake as I wouldn't be surprised if those carts just happen to need some kind of fuel or something only, he sells," Riveria spoke as she still carefully tied a silken string through a hole in the large golden key and wore it as a necklace and tucked it under her dress to nestle between her bosom that way she couldn't lose or have the key stolen somehow.
"Ah, I wanted the key," Ais muttered earning a slight smile from Riveria as she led the girls away from the field in which they fought the King Slime boss and towards the tunnel they helped create.
"We need to meet up with Jake and give the tunnel a super cool name though!" Tiona said exuberantly although the tunnel was to be fair rather dull with its lightly toned stone walls, that didn't at all diminish its inherent value.
"Dungeon Shortcut 1?" Ais surprisingly volunteered but everyone grimaced at the thought.
"It was made possible due to Jake's abilities so leaving the name up to him is for the best... Now let's go." Riveria spoke trying to salvage Ais's feelings at having a terrible naming sense but Ais's remark about it only being the first such shortcut stuck to Riveria.
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Not even an hour later the Loki executives reached the top of the tunnel and standing in front of the small house was a comparatively large party of adventurers from several different Familia's but more pressing was the smugly smiling form of someone who most certainly shouldn't have been in the dungeon at all.
"Lord Hermes, what is the meaning of this, and why are you all waiting here." Riveria spoke with her staff held in front of herself as even if she doubted that the Hermes Familia and what looked to be members of the Ganesha Familia would just attack her for no reason, but the dungeon was a lawless place with no consequences for what happened within it should it be kept secret.
"Woah woah woah little Riveria I am but a humble traveling god who learned of big juicy news and Ouranos himself sent me down to investigate... Because if it wasn't for the big man himself lulling the very angry dungeon back asleep you guys would have had to deal with a monster party of Goliaths down in Rivira when Jake broke through the floor Haha!" Hermes burst into laughter seeing the expressions of the Loki Familia tighten at the thought.
"Haa... You, children, don't understand how terrible the dungeon used to be when it used to be a gaping maw with goliaths and thousands of monsters from all the floors breaking through to the surface daily. You guys only deal with a goliath that spawns once every two or three weeks... Tsk tsk." Hermes chided the Loki Familia, but his trap shut when Ais spoke.
"Why are you down here with your Familia being so weak in comparison to Freya's adventurers if the dungeon was possibly going to revolt?" Ais pointed out making Hermes's face twitch as his comparatively weak Familia was his weak point.
"Hahaha Ais don't be so mean... Anyway, the Ouranos trusts me to report on what was happening down here and I see things a bit differently from you mortals you know?" Hermes tried to excuse himself, but his easy-going appearance disappeared as Riveria locked the door to the tunnel behind her.
"Oi don't lock the door behind you Riveria! I need to see if the tunnel is safe and report to the guild about it and let them decide on the fees to use it, will be!" Hermes all but moaned childishly but Riveria only smiled a saccharine smile to the troublesome god that loved to throw himself into all the situations he could.
"Ah I apologize but the tunnel is made by Jake Barris, and he expressly gave the key to the Loki Familia thus if you want the rights to use Loki property you should negotiate with my goddess or better yet have Jake give you another key," Riveria spoke as Tione and Tiona flanked her as they stepped forward away from the door to the tunnel.
Left unsaid was how Loki was going to skin him alive if he wanted the key.
"Riveriaaaa! You have no idea how hard it is to find the brat! It's not like I can knock on lava to get his attention. He is always hiding or just disappearing!" Hermes whined but Riveria steadfastly ignored the troublesome god as she noticed that Asfi his captain and minder wasn't there and thus the god was toothless as it were. With only a couple level three's guarding him with mostly level twos filling the crowd of Ganesha and Hermes adventures there wasn't anything Hermes could force.
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Meanwhile, Ouranos had a more first-person view of the dungeon and what Jake had been doing. So did Freya in her apartment within the massive Tower of Babel as she had a magical mirror that could view that which she desired to see even within the dungeon itself.
"Heath my dear," Freya spoke up and the woman kneeling beside her seat lifted her head as Freya switched the legs that were folded over the other as she continued to watch the Loki Familia exit the dungeon.
Heath Velvet the second-best magical healer in Orario had long red hair done in two twin tails but thanks to her being moved to care for Freya directly as Freya needed Ottar watching her jealous Familia members in case of another Allen incident, Heath no longer had tired bags under her eyes due to constantly overworking herself due to having to constantly heal the Freya Familia members that push themselves almost to death in fighting one another in the pits that were the highlight of the Freya Familia home of Folkvanger.
So having a cute red-haired beauty in a nurse outfit had definitely lit up the room more than Ottar's staggering weighted presence would.
"Do you think I should take steps to push Jake and Bell ever further? Or do you think the shenanigans Jake is leading them into is good enough?" Freya asked wryly as she had little clue at the moment what Jake could and couldn't do. So let alone craft some kind of challenge that could push Bell and Jake's soul to burn ever brighter to rise to her challenge she had no idea if whatever she pushed the two into if Jake would just deny it and teleport back home.
Back home in his home surrounded by lava and an indestructible impregnable structure that not even the best thieves in the world wanting to steal his magical weapons and goods could find a single-entry point.
"My lady from the information you have graced me... No, there is little the Freya Familia can push towards them." Heath respectfully spoke before she continued. "Lady Freya, Jake is capable of fleeing any battle that will push them to the brink of death that you seek to push them too into in search of pulling out their potential. But more than what we can push them into, you should pay mind to Apollo, Ishtar, and other gods that cannot restrain their greed and attempt to force Jake under their heel." Heath reminded Freya.
Freya's closed relaxed eyes snapped open with a purple light filling them as she gazed down on Orario her divinity roiled in disgust at the thought of filth like Ishtar and Apollo squashing Jake's talent and ambitions that had already changed Orario in its entirety in but a day with the tunnel he built.
Sure, the bosses he could summon could one day bring Orario's adventures to greater heights as they more easily level up, but the tunnel was an instant game changer in how the dungeon was to be treated, and who is to say that another system of tunnels couldn't be dug all the way down to per se the late forty floor's where Udeas and his skeleton ilk haunted.
"Hmm, that is true my darling Heath." She cooed to her healer and the mortal blushed at Freya's charm-filled mind-addling gaze as her mind all but melted under Freya's affection. "Haa... Don't break on me, Heath." Freya tittered sighing as she looked away from the red-haired girl who shuddered and looked to her with total worship.
Freya mentally sighed and bemoaned how Ottar wasn't here as his will was that of a diamond and even if Freya actually directed her charm at him, he would remain as mentally fit as ever which is much more than even most gods and goddesses could claim.
"Heath. You need to clear out your mind for a couple days... Go watch over Jake personally. I don't care how personally. Go up and speak to him, follow him like a shadow or something in between it doesn't matter. But keep Ishtar's broken toys from him and if you see Phryne pop the signal Ottar and the others will come deal with her." Freya spoke and put emphasis on popping the signal as although Heath could deal with some Amazon level threes with her level four abilities, she wasn't a real fighter as a healer and thus would need to retreat in the face of Ishtar's pet abomination of a woman.
"With how Jake teleports around my lady if I to actually pay attention to him I will need him to willingly allow me to follow... So how do I get him to allow me to do so after he knows of Ottar and Allen's fight?" Heath respectfully asked as she stared at Freya's bare leg with a thirst that disappointed Freya as she hoped the girl would have a stronger will but only watching over her for a couple days had driven her to a tipping point.
"As I said previously... Do what you will. Jake's kaleidoscope of a soul is just as interesting as Bell's pure soul but hers... Well, the husband of Freya cannot be a woman, Haha." Freya weakly laughed with some true sadness as she had her mirror swivel to Seshat's home and looked within to see Jake, Bell, Hestia, and Seshat all sharing dinner together, but it was plain to all that Bell was looking up to Jake if not other feelings coming to the fore for her savior.
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