Danmachi: Scavenger

Without even turning to look at the voice, he shouted, "Yes!" He swung his sword to cut down an imp that came for his face, the blade cutting deep into the imp's shoulder and killing it. 

"I need help!" He pulled the sword down and quickly ducked under an Imp's swipe, almost falling on his butt due to being weekend, and then something cut down the imp.

When he strengthened up, he heard a shout. "Todoroke!" He couldn't pinpoint the source, only that it was somewhere off to his right. 

In that instant, the air crackled and a brilliant bolt of pale-blue lightning tore through one of the Imps that tried to attack him while he was recovering, instantly charring it to a crisp. The lightning then branched off in a dazzling, web-like pattern, snaring two more Imps. They let out shrill, dying squeals before plummeting to the ground, smoke curling off their charred bodies. 

Before the creature could recover, there was a razor-thin glint—so swift it almost escaped Rex's notice. He blinked, and the two imp's head was severed clean from their shoulders, silver blood spraying through the air. Only then did he see a young rabbit girl kneeling a few steps away, her katana sheathed, one hand still resting on the hilt as though she'd just executed a flawless quick-draw technique.

'Ze fuck?' 

Rex had no time to take a closer look due to the comically oversized hammer crashing down behind him, splattering two Imps out of the air and into the ground with a nauseating crunch. Glancing back, he spotted a petite figure—likely a dwarf—wielding that enormous hammer.

The two girls quickly took care of the remaining imps, leaving him to stand there. '... Ok...' He didn't think two young girls that barely looked like they were in their mid-teen were going to be the one to save him, but he would take any help he could get at this point.

As the last Imp fell to the ground, its shrill cry fading into the damp, foggy air of the dungeon, the rabbit-eared girl straightened up, flicking the blood from her katana before sliding it back into its sheath with a soft click.

She turned to Rex, her bright yellow eyes locking onto his. "Well, well, looks like we arrived just in time, ne?" she said, her playful smile widening. "You were in a bit of a pinch, weren't ya?"

"Yes, I was," Rex replied, his voice hoarse. He scanned the girl, who stood about 147 cm (4'10"), her head barely reaching his upper chest. 'I forgot there are child soldiers in this city,' he thought, glancing down at his makeshift cloak-dress, suddenly self-conscious about his appearance. "Thank you, miss."

The girl tilted her head, her rabbit ears twitching slightly. "No need to be so formal! We couldn't just leave ya to get swarmed by those nasty little things." She stepped closer, her gaze scanning his injuries. "Oof, you look like you've been through the wringer. What happened to ya?"

Rex sighed internally. 'I hate the way this child speaks.' He shoved his sword back into his bag, intending to answer, but before he could, a calm, firm voice interrupted.

"Kaede, give him some space. He's injured." A slightly taller girl stepped forward from the fog, her black fox tail swishing gently behind her. She wore a red and white shrine maiden outfit—an unusual choice for dungeon exploration—and gave Rex a polite nod, her yellow eyes softening with concern. "Are you alright? Do you need healing?"

"Yes, definitely." He nodded, already reaching into his pouch with his free hand. "I can pay you back if you provide me with a health potion." Fishing out what he believed to be a thousand valis, he held it out toward them.

Kaede gave him a once-over, unimpressed. "It doesn't look like a normal health potion will do ya much good." She crossed her arms. "You just came from floor thirteen, didn't ya? That's why you're burned. From those nasty dogs, eh?"

Before he could confirm or deny, the fox girl produced three health potions and held them out to him. "Here," she said gently, "these should help with the pain and start the healing process."

Rex wasted no time. Placing his bag on the ground, he gratefully accepted the potions. As Kaede had pointed out, basic health potions wouldn't be much help. They wouldn't mend his broken ribs or fully heal the second-degree burns on his scalp and chest, but at least they would aid his currently active magic.

"You don't have to pay us back," the fox girl, Momiji, said with a small smile.

"Wait, no, he has to pay us, Momiji!" Kaede protested, stepping forward. "Those are expensive!"

"He's really hurt," Momiji countered, turning to her partner. "It's the best we can do."

"If we keep givin' out potions like that, we'll go broke!" Kaede countered, her rabbit ears twitching in irritation. "We already gave a few out to that elf back there!"

As they argued, Rex uncorked the vials and downed them quickly, feeling the cool liquid slide down his throat. A few scratches around his body began to mend, but the deeper wounds remained. 

'I'll have to rely on my magic,' he thought, though he knew his mind was running dangerously low. 'As I am right now, I should be able to climb up like this as long as I don't get into too many fights on the lower upper floors. Especially with any Hard Armored or a Silverback—'

"Um…" A soft, hesitant voice came from behind Rex. "Are you sure you're okay?" 

Rex turned, finding himself staring down at a diminutive girl who barely reached his abdomen. At only 115 cm (3'9"), she looked even smaller compared to her two companions, and her wide blue eyes shimmered with concern. "You look really hurt…"

He turned to see a very small girl whose head barely reached his abdomen, her height being 115 cm (3'9"). Her blue eyes looked up at him, wide with worry. "You look really hurt…"

'How old are these girls!?' he thought incredulously before clearing his throat. "Yes, thanks," he replied, uncomfortable with his current state of partial nakedness in front of what looked like a trio of children. "I owe you all one."

"You owe us three, actually!" Kaede grinned. "We just saved your life and also gave ya those three potions, remember?" She winked, clearly enjoying teasing him.

"Right," Rex nodded. "But that's two favors. Why the third one?"

"For bein' cute, ne~?" Kaede chirped, striking an exaggerated pose with her head cocked to the side, one hand on her hip and the other flashing a playful peace sign near her eye. "Ain't our adorable faces enough ta soothe all that hurtin'? That totally counts as a favor, ya know."

Rex stared at her for a few seconds, then gave a resigned nod. "Fair point. I'll make it up to you somehow." He reached for his bag. "Now, if you'll excuse me—"

"You're going up, right?" Momiji cut in. "We are too. We can go together."

"Yeah! If we leave ya alone, you'll get yourself killed," Kaede added, shaking her head and wagging her finger. "And then ya wouldn't be able to pay back the favor ya owe."

Momiji, exasperated, swatted Kaede's face with her oonusa, causing the rabbit-eared girl to yelp and rub her nose while the fox forced a polite smile. "Don't mind her," Momiji said, her tone calm but firm.

"No, no, it's alright," Rex waved it off, adjusting his makeshift dress. "I don't mind, but I'd rather go alone." One wrong move, and he'd risk flashing his 'little Rex' at a bunch of early teens. "I can fight in this state. Even if an orc suddenly appeared—"

"OOOooOOOOOO!" A deafening roar tore through the fog, scattering the thick mist around them.

Rex turned his head slowly, his expression blank as he stared at the pig-headed beast glaring directly at him. 'Motherf—'

"Would ya look at that," Kaede leaned forward with a smirk, her rabbit ears twitching in amusement. "Why don't ya prove yourself and go kill it?"

Rex glanced at her, his face unreadable. 'I could, but I can't move however I like in this damn outfit.'

"Kaede," Momiji sighed as the orc began to close the distance, its heavy footsteps shaking the ground.

"Okay, okay~" Kaede relented, her smirk widening. "Coco!" With that, the smallest of the group—whom Rex now suspected was a dwarf—rushed forward, dragging an oversized warhammer that looked like it was made for someone twice her size.

The steel-gray shaft of the hammer was long and straight, measuring around 6 feet (180 cm), and it was bare except for reinforced fittings near the head and a spike at the top. The broad, flat striking face was larger than Rex's head, while the other end of the hammer resembled a wedge, clearly designed for raw power meant to break through armor, stone, and anything else.

Kaede, meanwhile, wielded a katana with a dark lavender hilt that matched her sarashi and the scabbard at her waist. She leaned forward and dashed toward the orc, one hand on the hilt of her katana and the other gripping the scabbard. She reached the orc before Coco, and the orc swung a heavy punch at her, but she flipped effortlessly over its massive arm, its fist slamming into the earth with a boom. 

Distracted by Kaede, the orc didn't notice Coco closing in. The dwarf swung her massive hammer in a wide horizontal arc, the sheer force of the swing carrying enough power to blow away the fog. The flat hammerhead slammed into the side of the orc's right knee with a resounding crack and snap that made Rex wince.

The orc roared in agony as the attack shattered its knee, bones piercing through the skin, and it collapsed to one knee, its balance completely destroyed. Kaede, now positioned behind the orc, took a stance and performed a quickdraw, and in a flash of steel, the orc's head tumbled to the ground, its body slumping lifelessly.

'Nice,' Rex thought with a nod. It wasn't hard to guess the dynamic of this team: a fighter, a tank, and a mage. 'But why does the fox use that as her weapon?' He glanced down at the shrine maiden's unoosa the fox held beside him. 'Even if she's not on the frontlines, wouldn't it be safer to have something like a dagger?'

"Easy." Kaede teased, flicking her katana to shake off the blood before sliding it into its sheath. She shot Rex a mischievous grin. "Once we get this magic stone, we'll head up together, 'kay?"

"Alright," Rex nodded, activating his magic again as a bit of his energy had regenerated. "Where's she going?" he asked, watching as Coco ran off into the fog, her hammer left standing vertically on its head beside the orc's corpse.

"To get our bag," Momiji replied, standing beside him. "She dropped it when she noticed you."

"Ah," Rex uttered, his eyes following Coco until she disappeared into the fog.

 "She was the one who spotted ya first," Kaede chimed in, sidling over to join them. "If not for her, ya'd prob'ly be a goner. Lucky dwarves can see through all that 'smokes.'"

"We heard you say 'I'm cooked,' and were about to go the other way," Momiji continued, her tone matter-of-fact. "But then Coco said you were injured, so Kaede asked if you needed help."

In the dungeon, most solo adventurers and adventurer parties tended to ignore each other, avoiding unnecessary interaction for a variety of reasons—one of which included the risk of murder. Rex knew this all too well, which made the trio's willingness to help him all the more surprising.

'Well, I guess I would have also helped if I was in their position.' he thought. 

Coco returned once Momiji had finished speaking, the support bag slung across her back. It was only slightly smaller than the one he had seen Lili carry. Kaede stepped in to help her fish out the magic stone before they began traveling together, forming a loose formation—Momiji and Kaede at the front, Rex in the middle, and Coco in the rear. 

She carried the heavy support bag on her back while gripping her oversized hammer with both hands, holding it diagonally in front of her—the hammerhead faced upward, and the bottom of the shaft nearly dragged against the ground.

'How high is her strength?' Rex wondered. It was certainly lower than his—obviously—but the way she handled the weapon suggested it was somewhere in the C or maybe even B range. 'Come to think of it, I've never used my Scavenger Inspect on someone else—'

"So," Kaede interrupted his train of thought, stepping back to walk on his left side. "Just how dangerous is the middle floor, huh?"

"We were planning on going down, but our advisor told us we aren't ready," Momiji said, now walking on his other side. "However, we want to hear about it from someone who's actually been there. Do you think three level ones could survive down there?"

"First, I haven't seen much of how you fight, so I can't say for sure," Rex replied. "Second, I wouldn't know how dangerous the middle floors are because I've never been down there. If your advisor says you're not ready, then it's best to listen."

"Wait, if you haven't been down there, then how did you get burned?" Kaede asked, her gaze flicking to the burn marks on his arms, scalp, and legs.

"I ran into an infant dragon," he answered with a shrug.

A long silence followed before Momiji spoke with a soft voice. "My condolences for your dead teammates."

"Hm?" He glanced at her, confused. "I don't have any teammates."

"And you survived an encounter with a dragon?" she asked, staring up at him.

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p.'

"So, how'd ya end up Level Two without headin' down to the lower floors?" Kaede asked, arching a brow.

"Who said you have to go down to a lower level to level up?" Rex countered, giving her a sideways glance. "I know a white-haired boy who leveled up on the eighth floor."

"What in the world did he fight on Floor Eight that gave him enough high-rank excelia ta level up?" Kaede wondered, genuine confusion on her face.

"A monster party?" Momiji guessed, tilting her head slightly, her fox ears twitching. "Maybe he defeated a large monster party?"

"Hmm…" Kaede hummed, then broke into a wide grin. "Why don't we force a monster party on Floor Eight so I can level up too, eh?"

"That's dangerous!" Momiji shouted, shaking her head furiously. "If the ants become too much, we might all die."

Look, if some white-haired kid can do it, then so can I," Kaede said confidently, patting her katana. "I'm the strongest Level One, you know."

"Being strong doesn't mean anything when it comes to collecting high-rank excelia," Momiji countered, leaning forward to look past Rex at her rabbit-eared friend. "You need a 'grand accomplishment,' and even if that was grand for the boy, it might not be for you because you're the 'strongest' level one. Who knows what he went through trying to defeat that monster party for it to count as a grand accomplishment?"

 "I'm sure I can handle it," Kaede insisted, brushing off Momiji's concern. Turning to Rex, she asked, "What about you? Whaddya do ta level up?"

"Who said I've leveled up?" Rex said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm a level one, just like everyone else here."

"And ya survived against an infant dragon?" Kaede scoffed, crossing her arms. "Just say ya don't wanna tell me what really got ya those high-rank excelia."

"No, seriously, I'm a level one," Rex said firmly. "And I soloed the infant dragon."

"Yeah, sure, and my name's Rakta Haze, a mighty Level Three from the Loki Familia," Kaede went on in a high-pitched, mocking voice, her rabbit ears twitching as she puffed out her chest. "Hear how dumb that sounds?"

"On god, I killed an infant dragon solo while being a level one," Rex deadpanned. Then he paused. "Wait, why am I even trying to convince you? I don't care if you don't believe me."

"Yeah, don't try ta make us swallow that crap," Kaede said with a shrug, then her gaze turned sharper. "So, how'd ya actually get them burns? Some other adventurer?"

"I fought a dragon."

"KIIII!" The shrill cry of an imp rang out as it flew directly toward Rex, but before it could reach him, Kaede's katana flashed, cutting it down in an instant.

"See? Even the imps ain't buyin' your story." Kaede smirked, leaving Rex no choice but to sigh.