Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.

Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.

The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Time*

Noise*

(Location)

Arc 1 - Chapter 8: No Answers

A few hours later*

(Orario)

-Cú Chulainn's POV-

Once today sale finishes. I bid Ais and Morrigan a farewell after giving their pay and their share of grilled fishes. I pack everything up, including the fish food Hephaestus came in the morning to give me and left the handcart at the Abandoned Church before taking this chance to finally check out this whole city out or at least some of the parts I haven't checked out yet. Sure, I visited some places, but not all of them, and who knows, maybe I would find something that would help me know the reason for me being created into the world, where the Age of Gods hasn't ended.

Yet, so far, I found nothing that gives out a hint to answers I'm seeking. In fact, I gain more questions than before, which made it worse for me and at the same time. I'm getting more curious about this world. One of them is where I wonder if all the mythologies related to the Gods and the Gods themselves are in the mortal realm. I have seen more than a dozen Gods in the few hours just wandering around the area.

I feel uncomfortable knowing the Gods are among the mortals and wonder what triggers these Gods to come down here. I know for a fact, that many heroes from before me and after me have faced many trials and won just by the skin of our teeth. 'Yet, why? Just why did they descend?' I can't even think about a theory for this single question that randomly pops into my head.

After wandering off a fruitless search for answers and only gaining more questions in return. I decide to enter the dungeon, to see if I could find my answer in there, but before I do. I must prepare myself first before going down the dungeon. Furthermore, I need to make sure no one decides it's the best idea to look all over the place for me. Sure, it is a small chance of that happening, but knowing my luck, then people will bound to start asking unwanted questions and once they find me.

I bet on my honor, that the people I know, where they consider me somewhat as a friend in their eyes. They would likely become pushy to find out where I was at the time while I was gone for who knows how long. Then again, I can't place such labels on them since they may not even care about me disappearing for who knows how long. Different worlds, different types of people.

Therefore, I just mention how I'm going to take days or maybe weeks of being gone to do personal things. And when someone tried to be a bit pushy; well, I just threaten them that they will be blacklisted from my food, which caused them to back off right away, but I can for sure say that if it wasn't for my delicious grilled fishes. They wouldn't have cared and continue to get into my personal private business. Not that I would allow them to push me around, I'll fight back and show them it wasn't a good idea to mess with a [Heroic Spirit]. Not that they know what I am anyway.

So for the rest of today, I'll do some scouting about the dungeon, even though, I have entered the dungeon before, but I didn't head down below the 10th Floor yet. Nevertheless, going unprepared is a foolish thing to do. Something I know for a fact, that most of my counterparts would do such a thing. Of course, I can't really blame them at certain times and places.

Among the things I will bring with me, one of them is to bring a few things to be engraved with [Runes]. Who knows if I may need something extra when I can't use [Gae Bolg] at the time.

The next day*

(Orario: Dungeon: Entrance)

Stretching a bit before I charge straight down the Deep Floors, where I learned yesterday, where there are the Upper Floors, where mostly rookies and those that just getting a hang of it with a decent party, to Middle Floors for veteran, then the Lower Floors where the best out of the common among the veterans would usually go to, and finally, the Deep Floors, which I'm aiming for. As the Deep Floors is where the best of the best of the elites would explore the dungeon this deep and have survived and won countless battles.

The Upper Floors are the 1st to 12th Floor. The Middle Floors are the 13th to 24th Floor. The Lower Floors are 25th to 27th Floor, and finally, the Deep Floors are 37th Floor to 59th Floor.

The 59th Floor is the lowest floor in the dungeon that any Familia has reached. Also, maybe the answer to one of my questions at the very least, if not, I'm willing to go even deeper. There must be something down the dungeon that caused the Gods to come down to the mortal realm or at least what allowed the [Age of Gods] to not fade away.

Walking down the set of stairs straight down to the dungeon as I've already planned out how to take on the dungeon, or at least test the water to check out which Floors would become harder without the help of [Gae Bolg].

To do so, I have decided to mainly use [Primal Runes] together with the [Caster-class]' wooden staff as my weapon. Speaking of [Primal Runes], I somehow gained all 24 original [Runes] instead of just 18 learning from my mentor. Which is weird as none of my counterparts was taught of the remaining ones I was missing out of the set of [Runes]. Nevertheless, this is a big boon for me. Because there are other combinations of [Runes] I could think of out of the standard of the 18 [Runes] I mainly used is huge.

In fact, one of the things I prepared for this dungeon run is carving [Tracking Runes] on a compass I bought yesterday and worked on it last night. Making so I won't get lost when going so deep into the dungeon. With this compass, I will always know my way out of here and back to the Abandoned Church, where I placed the [Anchor Rune] to tie the [Tracking Runes]. Otherwise, this compass will be completely useless other than pointing north. Maybe.

(Orario: Dungeon: 1st Floor)

With a wave of my left hand, creating a few [Runes] in midair, where it stay in midair for a couple of seconds before the [Runes] turns into fireballs and hurl itself straight at a group of Goblins. Burning the green humanoid monsters to death instantly.

"Talk about a letdown." I mumble to myself, where the moment I step into the 1st Floor. A group of five Goblins, green and plump humanoid monsters with large eyes, appear before me and charge right at me while wielding wooden clubs.

Nevertheless, I did not think I would face a monster so soon, then again, there was someone here to take care of them before I could. But, I will just toss it up as my bad luck. Maybe raising my [D-Rank Luck] to [C-Rank Luck] would give me the average people's luck. As in I won't continue to get more bad luck than normal. Ah, but I have no idea how to do such a thing. So it's just wishful thinking.

Another wave of my hand and throwing multiple seeking fireballs at four Kobolds, dog-headed monsters, and like the Goblins from before. These Kobolds are burned to death.

"Hmm. I wonder if all the information is right in this book." I mumble to myself, where I purchased a newbie guide on the monsters in the dungeon. Cost me 5,000 [Valis], a little pricey, but better than going blind. Thank you, for your sacrifice, my counterparts. I wince a little at the sudden dull pain. And just ignore it while moving forward. As I just use [Rune Magic] to throw fireballs. Since that's all I need for the time being.

An hour later*

(Orario: Dungeon: 5th Floor)

It didn't take me that long to go through the 1st to 4th Floor since I never need to attack twice yet. Where it's pretty much all the same until I reached the 5th Floor. I noticed the walls change to a light green color and the structure of the dungeon begins to change. I've already found another monster, no clue if it any stronger than the Goblins and Kobolds that boldly, recklessly, came at me without thinking and just died. They show up on the 2nd and 4th Floor, which happen to be a Dungeon Lizard, just a lizard monster.

20 minutes later*

(Orario: Dungeon: 6th Floor)

I let out a sigh, as I enter the 6th Floor, which should have taken less time than suppose to. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised at the numbers of monsters appearing increased as I continue moving deeper and deeper into the dungeon.

I tilt my head to my right, where I dodge getting my head, grabbed by a long tongue coming from a Frog Shooter, a frog monster that has one large eye, where it attacks by shooting out its long tongue. And of course, there will be a monster just waiting at the entrance for me.

'I swear, it's must be my bad luck. Because with all these ambushes. There should be more injuries or deaths among the rookies.' I killed the Frog Shooter with a fireball, then move on forward. I want to reach the bottom of this dungeon before the day is over. Therefore, I begin picking up the speed and start running instead of taking my time casually walking while killing monsters in my line of range.

On the way to the 7th Floor, I encounter a War Shadow. A dark humanoid monster that has long arms with three claws that are sharp like knives. In the guide book, the War Shadow is the strongest monster on the 6th Floor. Sadly, for the War Shadow, it only strong against rookie and was one-shot by me easily.

15 minutes later*

(Orario: Dungeon: 7th Floor)

The moment I step on this floor; I've already thrown dozens of fireballs at the monsters just waiting for me. And there were three different monsters on this 7th Floor.

Killer Ants, a red ant monster with four legs and two arms. It has a shell and has a high attack, causing it to be called a new adventurer killer. It can use pheromones to attract companions in a pinch.

Purple Moth, a moth monster that can spread out poisonous powder. The powder can cause poisoning if covered multiple times.

Needle Rabbit, a rabbit monster that has a horn on its head. No clue why it wasn't just called a Horned Rabbit instead.

The Killer Ants are a bit annoying due to the numbers on their side. The Purple Moths, easy kill with fire, and the Needle Rabbits are also easy kills. Nonetheless, this 7th Floor will take me a bit of time to go through due to the large numbers of monsters compared to the previous floors.

20 minutes later*

(Orario: Dungeon: 8th Floor)

With a wave of my hand, again, multiple fireballs seek out the monsters hidden in the shadow, waiting to ambush me, let out painful screams before dying.

I noticed on this floor has rooms along the hallways. Also, the ceiling changes the height from three to four meters from the floors above to nearly ten meters above. Moss covers the brown-colored walls and the ground below becomes a short grass plain. The strong light from the phosphorescence above is similar to the light from the sun.

As for the monsters; well, I'm looking at Goblins and Kobolds coming out of the rooms, snarling at me. Seeing how I did kill their kins just now. No matter, because I killed them as well. On to the next floor.

A few hours later*

(Orario: Dungeon: 18th Floor: Rivira)

Well, I did not expect this at all. No monsters on this floor at all. Well, most of the time since the monsters can come up from the floor below. Nevertheless, this floor seems to be the safety point in this dungeon and I overheard it from other people here.

Yes, other people. It looks like there are people living inside the dungeon, which I kind of wonder if it's better here or outside of it. But, I highly doubt it when I found out Rivira has been rebuilt over 300 times after monster attacks. Also, the Guild isn't affiliated with Rivira and items banned on the surface are common here. Curious, very curious. More questions for me to be burdened with. Joy.

Either way, I wonder if I should come here, to live for the rest of my life. Yet, I rather not due to lack of income and lack of non-monster fishes for me to cook. This part made me rethink many times whenever I got sudden thoughts of staying here before dismissing the idea.

Also, the way people look at me just made me wonder if staying here too long isn't a good idea. Even though I see some friendly faces, that still wasn't enough for me want to stick around much longer. Therefore, I look around for anything worth checking out before I head down to the next floor.

10 hours later*

(Orario: Dungeon: Entrance)

Walking up the stairs, with an annoyed look on my face, where this whole thing was a waste of my time. Sure, the monsters here were decent, but then the moment I enter the 59th Floor, I couldn't find the next floor, no matter how well I search the place, even the monsters there gave me a warm-up, but so far, no monsters have forced me to use [Gae Bolg]'s [Noble Phantasm] once.

Yet, I'm a bit happy, that beyond the 30th Floor, I have to start using the wooden staff of mine to wack the monsters to death; well, more like I got bored of using the [Rune Magic] and ran out of exploding rocks I engraved [Runes] on to make them explode on contact. Honestly, I didn't feel like making more and I wanted to hit things since this whole dungeon run really wasn't that hard, then again, I am a [Heroic Spirit] and having a massive amount of [Prana] for me to use, shouldn't be much a surprise, but I still wanted a challenge even if I'm searching for answers in this dungeon.

Not that I got one, instead all I got was monsters coming at me every few seconds and always get ambushed the moment I step into the next floor. Really wonder if this is a common thing with monsters ambushing at the entrance/exit of the floor it just me. Either way, at the very least, I can gauge my strength, even with my [Caster-class] equipped, and yet, I find myself disappointed with this dungeon.

And also, I can roughly guess that I must be the strongest in Orario, not including the Gods themselves, where others required to group up to climb down to the 59th Floor and take a long time getting there. I, on the other hand, can do it by myself and take within a day to reach from the 1st Floor to the 59th Floor.

However, this doesn't mean much since there must be something about this dungeon, for my existence. After all, I appeared inside the dungeon, not outside of it. So, even though I can easily kill all the monsters in this dungeon. I just know that there must be some kind of hidden passage, with specific requirements to unlock and head to the bottom of this dungeon.

Yet, for an hour ago, I begin to have this bad feeling and must escape the dungeon fast.

(Orario: Abandoned Church)

-Morrigan's POV-

After what took forever, I finally found Cú Chulainn's hideout. Yet, I find myself a little mad; well, annoyed more than mad. Because I know for a fact this place is where that bitch, Hestia stays with her little boy rabbit.

'Honestly, Cú Chulainn. Why do you have to come here to stay when you can just come live with me?' I let out a sigh of frustration, 'I wasn't completely sure this is Cú Chulainn's hideout until I found these [Primal Runes] and I know only a selected few that can use them.'

Frowning, that I can't see what's behind these [Runes] since I don't study much in the [Primal Runes] at all. But, that doesn't mean I'm not familiar with the presence these [Runes] giving off.

Sure, I could brutally destroy the [Runes] and find out what's behind it, but I can't for many reasons. One of them is that I required using my [Arcanum], which would break the stupid rule of not being about to use it out of specific reason and would send me back to heaven. Where I would never be allowed to return the lower world.

So, I guess I'll just have to wait for my champion/lover's return. Where I shall give him a big surprise of seeing me here.

"Hehehe." I giggle softly, "You won't be able to escape from me now." Of course, there is that small chance of Cú Chulainn having other hideouts, but I'm willing to take the chance he doesn't. He is bound to come here one way or another. Since what is hidden behind these [Runes] must be important to him. Honestly, if it was someone else other than me. They would never notice these [Runes] rather they are Gods or not.

I heard the sound of footsteps and I suppress the urge to shout at the top of my lungs and decide to wait who coming and to make sure the one coming is Cú Chulainn. I quickly hide and ready to see if it really Cú Chulainn or not.