[At the bottom of the Dungeon]

Black bones permeated from the lower halves of Haru's limbs, wrapping around and forming armor as he used his skill {Snipe} and projected a holographic scope from out of one of his eyes to figure out what exactly he was fighting against this time.

Haru: A tree creature huh? Those three are down there too, I can't exactly use one of my bigger attacks so...Bite its head off, Cobra Skull.

A bone tendril comes out from his back, evolving into what seemed to be a very long snake-like spinal cord that ends with a fairly large human skull bearing sharp jagged teeth. It was the first time he's used this outside of his Sovereign form and of his own volition.

The skull made a hissing sound before diving towards the beast below him, the spinal cord extending to give it more slack. Its jaws opened wide as it did what it was told to do, biting into the tree-like beast from above and using the force of its mouth to crack it open like a walnut. Parts of its bark flew everywhere as it continued to chomp down.

Haru: Its regeneration is going to be a pain in the ass...How do you defeat those sorts of bosses again? I think you're supposed to-

A certain half-demon girl embraces him from the side, the metallic clang of his dyed skeleton could be heard when she crashed into him and cut him off mid-sentence.

Airi: Where have you been?! We've been trying to find you two!

Haru: On the other side of this place as it seems, mind if I swoop in and help out, Airi?

Airi: The sooner we kill this thing the better.

Haru: That's just what I wanted to hear!

He separates the snake from his back, causing it to begin its disintegration while he dives in to attack the beast head on much to Airi and Elleth's protests against it. Ones that he had tuned out just because he just wanted to slash something to bits, it was a bit of a psychotic thought but he didn't really care about that.

On-

Two Charge!

At the same time, unknowingly, Touka and Celica were also about to perform their own finisher so to speak. With Celica charging up one of her claws with so much darkness that it looked like a void had consumed her arm, Touka doing mostly the same. Her gauntlet glowing brighter than usual.

The three attacks hit at the same time, the monster's regenerative properties being overwhelmed by them. Causing its destruction as represented by a particularly brown-colored explosion. A lot of its remaining bark, fruit, and leaves being left scattered on the ground.

Celica: Well this is convenient...

Touka: Nice to have you back, but where were you two?

Haru: I told Airi this already but we were apparently on the complete otherside of this place. It was day when we went out, now it's almost instantly night from our perspective.

Touka: I see...Shall we get going then?

Haru: That's the plan.

Airi and Elleth landed on the ground, retracting their wings as the five of them were reunited. And with the tower just past this forest, they will finally be able to clear this dungeon, get the rewards, and go home. Varying looks of determination were on their faces as the five marched towards the forest, the bottom of the tower locked in their sights.

A couple of minutes spent walking later and they were now at the tower. It was made up of stone bricks, all from different eras the closer they looked at them. And in the middle of it from both front and back was a door. From where they stood, one of those doors wasn't there at all, instead both halves left on the ground. Both having been ripped off while the other seemed to have remained intact.

Inside the tower were two platforms on both sides, one for each of the doors that it had. Both of which had staircases on their respective left and right sides, leading to the main staircase that leads you to the bottom of the tower. But from their perspective, the staircase seemed to lead into a bottomless pit of darkness.

Haru: This...is gonna take a while...

Touka: Looks like we're going to be dying way before we ever reach the boss...

Haru: Yep. Let's get this over with...

The five then head in, going down the initial staircases then into the main one. Most of them seemed to walk normally down the stairs, while Haru stuck to the wall of the staircase, clearly wanting to avoid the edge as much as possible as there were no railings on the stairway.

He was stuck in his own little world, thinking about whatever to pass the time walking down lengthy flights of stairs while the girls talked amongst themselves. Though, he would occasionally glance at the black abyss that was the middle of the spiral staircase, likely to figure out how close to the bottom they were.

Touka: So...How was it?

She leaned over towards Elleth, whispering it so her sister and Celica who were in right front of them wouldn't hear what she was asking, startling the dragon girl in the process.

Elleth: E-eh? What do you mean?

Touka: You two, y'know...did...

Elleth: Ahhh I get it! Don't say any more!

Touka: Hehe, so how was it? Did he make you do anything weird?

Elleth: N-no, not really...I think...

Her gaze shifted to her chest before looking back at Touka, even though it was a brief look at them, Touka did actually notice it. Putting the pieces together easily before continuing to pester her about it much to Elleth's displeasure. Unfortunately, Haru was also able to hear most of what they were talking about. Thanks to the sensory enhancement of his skill, {Hunter}.

Elleth: H-hey why do you want to know so bad anyway? Are you some kind of pervert?

Touka: He might have influenced me now that I think about it, but still. To answer the question, all I can say is that something happened one winter night back in our world...I'm sure you can make a guess...

Four hours quickly passed since the five of them began the journey to the bottom. And they have only made it about a fourth of the way down, the person or being who designed the dungeon this way was definitely some kind of sadist, that's more than confirmed at this point. At some point as the party of five continued down, Haru stopped in his tracks on one of the stairs.

He seemed to finally snap as he began to shout towards the sky, or at least what was above him. Yelling curses and profanities targeted at the gods above as the girls grow more concerned for his mental state. At the same time, hilariously enough, Drodia managed to trip and fall flat on her face on seemingly nothing in her part of heaven, causing a bit of a nosebleed when she got back up.

Haru: Celica! Touka!

He suddenly called out to the two of them, getting their attention as his voice was still in a sort of infuriated tone. Turning back and rushing towards Celica first, grabbing her by the waist as the same happened to Touka with his other arm before jumping down with them in his clutches as he brought his wings out. How he held the two was similar to one of the ways you could carry two rolled up sleeping bags.

Haru looked up to see Elleth and Airi right above the three of them, the two having also brought out their wings. The five then spent the next couple of hours in free fall, which seemed to make the journey down much faster than if they kept walking down the stairs.

Haru: Airi, mind casting a flamethrower down? I wanna see if there's a bottom in sight at all.

Airi: Got it, just make sure to back away dear. You two Elleth.

Elleth and Haru nodded as they landed on one of the stairs closest to them, with the latter still having Touka and Celica wrapped in his arms despite having landed on stable flooring. Hellfire engulfed and swirled around the whole of Airi's right arm, an intense heat filling the area as she pointed her burning arm downward with her palm facing outward. Her other arm supported it as she released said hellfire.

It pushed her upwards with its recoil as it very quickly blasted downward, notably taking a full thirty minutes before hitting the bottom in a fairly large explosion. Her arm reverted back to normal as the flames dissipated, leaving smoke in their place while Haru immediately jumped down again with the bottom of this place being firmly engraved in his head.

He flapped his wings as hard as he could when he got close enough around an hour and a half later from his jump, slowing him down as his feet finally made contact with the somewhat singed stone brick floor. Retracting the wings as he released the two girls he had in his arms, and by the sound of it, the other two having landed as well.

In front of the group was a large door similar to the one at the top where they had entered, but this one had a reflective ruby engraving of what looked like a map of a large continent with several smaller islands surrounding it along with a much more sizable island somewhat farther from those. Airi and Touka got closer to look at it, finding the main continent labeled with each of the kingdoms' names.

Ersune seemed to have the largest area of land in the north, followed by Kretouvell and Vartos to its east and west respectively. In the south meanwhile were several much smaller kingdoms that seemed to be clumped in the same general area.

Touka: Let's see here, Karst, Feurt, Quire...and I think this says Plaste? I'm not sure if I'm even pronouncing any of these right...

Airi: Well don't look at me then, it's not like I know either. Though I wonder if these mean anything else aside from just being a map of this world...

Touka: Should we try looking for something that might indicate that?

Airi agreed with her little sister, nodding as they were beginning to look around the door just in case only to be immediately pulled back by two of Haru's bone tendrils, joining them with Celica and Elleth as he walked towards the door himself.

Haru: We have plenty of time to figure out the lore later, we've still got a boss to kill just behind these damn things. Get ready while I'm opening the door, alright?

The two tendrils he used to grab them then turned into a pair of giant arms with their fingers ending in sharp claws similar to Celica's oversized gauntlets. Which he then used to push the door open while at the same time erecting a circular wall of bones from the gap left behind by opening it, with its own little entrance so the five could actually get in.

With the door now open, the Chimera Leviathan awoke, rising from the murky water that it lived in and gave off a distinct loud hiss. It was a creature truly befitting of its name aside from its Winged Sea Serpent base body, having a King Cobra for a head with its eyes glowing orange and contrasting against its purple scales, which would transition into sickly green scales just past what would be the Sea Serpent's neck.

Though, its hood wasn't just like a normal Cobra, as it was covered in thick brown fur with a pair of serrated Mammoth tusks protruding from the flowing locks. On the end of the creature, on what was its tail was a Piranha that was combined with the Leviathan's indented tail fin which seemed to be flashing its sharp crystalline teeth, making its own noise as well at the same time, an almost dinosaur-like one to be precise. Both of which echoed throughout the chamber.

Haru: Plan's simple, you girls head in and fight while I support you from here. The wall and by extension this room is a sort-of safe zone in case you get too injured. Elleth, stay close to this place as well, you're our only healer after all.

After finishing his sentence, the girls nodded and pulled out their respective skills and weapons before rushing towards the boss monster that was a distance away from them. At the same time, Haru began to chant for his Captain's Orders form while handing Touka Käseschäler as she passed by.

Their footsteps echoed throughout the very large and open room, one that continued the stone brick architecture of the staircase. A room that was being lit up by what seemed to be either will-o'-wisps or some kind of small creature that gave off a purple light inside a cylindrical crystal, strung around the room on top of pillars as if they were street lamps.

One Charge!

Touka was first to land a hit with a powered-up slash from Käseschäler, with {Boost} enhancing the strike even further. Leaving a bleeding gash in its face and angering the creature as a shockwave-powered kick helped her back away before it could take a bite out of her in revenge for that.

Several explosions then occurred on its face, courtesy of Haru firing Armor-Piercing shells at it as Elleth and Airi flew from the side. The duo taking her place as she landed behind Haru, blasting it with a Draconian Howl and a burst of Hellfire and blood aimed at its eyes before heading in to fight it from close up.

Meanwhile Celica at the same time was fighting the beast's Piranha tail, effortlessly dodging the creature's own attempts at biting her while hurling slashes of darkness toward it with her claws and creating a platform made of darkness beneath her feet to have something to stand on. This would only take her so far as she was quickly backed up against a wall with the Piranha having dived into the water.

It then rammed through a platform and threw her into the air as the Piranha opened its mouth while it followed suit. Chomping down on nothing as she reappeared to its side with her right arm cocked back, darkness turning the entire arm into a lance. Thrusting it forward, her attack cleaves right though the fish's lower jaw as she hooked herself onto one of the chamber's walls as the sound of the others fighting could be heard in the back.

Soon after, the fish itself keeled over, Haru's jets having finished it off for her while she caught her breath before teleporting off once again. This time it was to the "Safe Zone" Haru had made. Finding that Elleth was a bit busy healing both herself and the two sisters.

Haru: Good, you're all here. Guess it's my turn now, you guys rest up well for the third act. Cause that's when we're going to finally kill that thing.

Touka: Haru, that thing's got-

Haru: A powerful acidic venom, yeah I know. If I dodge I should be fine, same with the pulse blasts those tusks can fire.

Celica: Are you sure about this? Going in on your own seems a bit reckless.

Haru: I don't wanna hear that from someone who did just that already, but if you're that worried. Then take my place and act as support.

Haru then summons out the belt, or rather the buckle of his armor, into his hands. Placing the buckle on the middle of his waist where it then spawned the straps from its sides, wrapping and clicking into place. From there the bone-shaped red crystal began to glow and play standby music. Music that was a menacing mixture of classical and electronic, Haru let this play for what seemed like a minute before pressing down on the glowing red bone.

Croaking!

Provoking!

Striking!

I'm the Bone King!

The belt announced in Decarabia's voice as the armor formed simultaneously around him, completing with the helmet's white skeleton mask-like face bursting out from a featureless version of said helmet with the eyes glowing for a brief moment. After this, a sonic boom shook the safe zone as Haru leaped towards the Leviathan with Käseschäler now in his hands.

His first action wasn't a slash with the sword, but rather he got in behind the Leviathan's main head and fired off all ten of his torpedoes, the force of the combined explosions slammed the face of the creature onto what solid ground there was in the chamber. Cracking one of its tusks while breaking the other completely off, only leaving a little bit left.

Yet the Leviathan was able to recover quite quickly, aggressively turning back and opening its mouth. venom could be seen dripping from the fangs as it dined on a barrage of Armor-Piercing shells and a Death Charge that Haru mercilessly fired until the barrels of his naval guns overheated and stalled, prompting him to get the hell out of there, retreating into the safe zone.

Haru: That should do it...And it looks like I spoke too soon. Or maybe I jinxed it? At this point both apply to be honest.

He saw the creature turn towards them, giving a subtle yet audible hiss as all the wounds it received thus far began to heal rather than what he expected, for it to die just like its tail. It was as if it was mocking their efforts before biting into itself, injecting venom that spread throughout the outside of its body, coating it in its own venom like an armor.

Haru: Oi oi what the hell do we do now!? We can attack it from afar, but judging by that thing's eyes it's gonna start moving towards us like a heat-seeking missile!

Elleth: Calm down Haru! Panicking's not going to- Wait what are you doing!?

A bone tendril wrapped around her torso like a harness, the same thing happening to the others as Haru began to book it. Running out of the room back into the stairwell, bringing them closer to his back as he leaped with a sonic boom upward with the Leviathan following suit, the venom covering its body eating through the surroundings as it slithered.

At a certain point in the jump, Haru threw the girls that were wrapped up in his tendrils up farther. The harness-like bones that were still on them launched out another tendril that hooked and anchored them onto the stairs. Haru himself meanwhile flipped upside down and launched his jets as he began to fire once again, the explosions caused by him and his jets' missiles flung the venom around, eating through more of the stairwell as the Leviathan continued to regenerate.

Haru: You got any ideas? I'll be here keeping it busy if you need more time!

Airi: Elleth's Rot Virus sounds like a good option, should we try that?

Elleth: Thought of that too, but it can't spread through air like my others and only my scales are able to handle it without rotting. Plus it gets less effective the farther it rots away if you're thinking of overwhelming its regeneration.

Airi: I see, and here I thou-

Elleth: Though I didn't say anything about using Hijack Virus, that's not to say it doesn't have its own risks as well. It's indiscriminate, so I'd still have to get in close to use it if I don't want you guys to be infected.

Haru: If that's what we're going with then I have a bit of an idea! But I need someone to take my place over here and keep the damn thing busy!

He yelled to get his voice to come out across the many explosions and gunfire he was unleashing at the time. With Airi, Touka, and Celica understanding what he meant in that last part. Activating their skills, Airi even throwing in her blood magic, this trio getting to work as Haru went to Elleth.

Elleth: So...What's your brilliant idea then?

Haru: Hold still, this might feel weird for a couple of seconds.

He says as he moves her right arm away with one hand while the other took out the buckle of his belt, his Sovereign form's armor and the belt straps which remained on his waist dissolving into nothing as he sets the buckle on Elleth's waist, straps coming out and securing on to her. The crystal glowed as the standby music played before being cut short, Haru having pressed the crystal and causing the armor to form around the dragon girl this time.

Elleth: Wait so-

Haru: Just one more thing, face your back towards me. Then we'll talk.

She does, although with some reluctance, as Haru grabs hold of something located on the upper middle of the armor's back. Yanking out a black spinal cord from it, similar to the one that Cobra Skull was mostly made up of. Following this, he attached said cord to his own chest as a harness formed along with armor on the upper right half of his body which resembled the incomplete version of his Sovereign form from back then.

Elleth: So...? An explanation then?

Haru: My plan is to get you in close and release that virus of yours without any risk of accidentally infecting the others, same as yours.

Elleth: Then the armor is so I don't get melted by its acid I presume?

Haru: Yep, and the spinal cord-like thing connecting us is your safety line. I'll reel you back like I just caught a massive cod if something goes wrong.

Elleth: That's interesting phrasing...Anything else before I drop down there?

Haru: Wearing that armor doesn't give you my powers, it'd be very stupid if that were actually the case. That's all.

With a single nod, she then jumps down towards the Leviathan. Which was still being bombarded by the trio. She latched herself onto the beast's back, the armor managing to hold as it made contact with the acidic venom coating the Leviathan. Even then, the armor she was clad in was not totally immune to the venom, with Haru having to regenerate the damaged bits of the armor.

Elleth began to release the virus, appearing as a cloud of cream-colored gas that bursted out of her body which had begun to infect the creature as evidenced by the crimson vein-like patterns that have spread throughout its body. With a simple order, the venom that covered it slid right off, melting the floor a little more as Elleth drew a sigh of relief before proceeding.

Slowly, the Leviathan slithered backward, back into the main chamber. The tether that connected her and Haru lengthened accordingly as he jumped down and followed closely. With Touka, Airi, and Celica just behind him as well, having been released from the harnesses and jumping down.

The final assault on the Chimera starts as the four of them bombarded it with attacks for the third and hopefully last time. The advantage they now had was clear, that being the fact that Elleth could halt the beast's healing while it's being controlled by her.

Airi's Hellfire and blood magic dragon constructs went in after, each dragon biting into the Leviathan's heavily damaged body. Celica followed this up with a much larger version of the lance made of darkness. But rather than being thrusted it was thrown, much like a javelin where it nearly hit Elleth as it passed through and left a gaping hole in the creature's body.

The dragon girl's complaints could be heard as Haru and Touka closed the distance. With the latter sticking her right arm into the top half of the hole Celica had left, unleashing a shockwave and rupturing the Chimera's internal organs along with causing its eyes to pop.

Death Charge!

He pulls Elleth and Touka out of the way as with a hearty battle cry-esque shout, he cleanly bisects the Leviathan's head with the charged up sword. The severed halves fell to their respective sides, the weight having been too much for the halves to handle and collapsing as a result.

Landing back onto the solid ground of the main chamber and regrouping with the other two, the party pauses for a second to take in their victory before erupting into a celebration. With Haru releasing Elleth from the Sovereign form armor, who would've collapsed to the ground herself afterward had he not been there. Even though he was just there to take the power he lent to her back.

Haru: I wonder if this thing's scales could be used for an armor or pelt...

He mutters whilst walking towards it with Käseschäler in his hands, intending to use that sword of his to skin the now dead Leviathan. But unfortunately for him, just as he was about to reach it, the skin of the Chimera decayed away into nothing, leaving the skeleton of the creature behind.

Haru: You've got to be kidding me...

Before he could be disappointed for long, his eyes spotted a key dangling inside the Leviathan's now exposed ribs. Specifically it was a shimmering silver key that looked to be scratched and worn. With a simple activation of {Fleet}'s Cruiser form, he walks on the water to go grab it. Having deactivated Captain's Orders just prior to this after killing the Leviathan.

Haru: This should be for that vault door in the back, I didn't pay much attention to it since I was busy fighting for my life. But hey, at least I can plunder whatever valuables are in there now.

He says as he plucks the key with ease from the little strand of bone that held it to the Serpent's spinal cord. Immediately after this, however, his sort-of sixth sense kicked in. Jumping back and narrowly avoiding a black collar. His eyes meet with a certain Warrior-class troublemaker as he sees that the rest of his party were wearing the same collar that he just dodged. A hidden door having closed behind said troublemaker and the party he has with him.

Kazuma: Of all people I expected to get here, I never thought it would be you. But then again, you are Mr. Grim Reaper now, so what do I know?

He wore a red Hawaiian shirt with what seemed to be prints of ice cream all over it alongside a pair of khaki pants and steel toed boots. On top of those he had a knife holster strapped to each of his thighs and had one side of his upper body covered in hefty-looking and worn out armor.

Haru: Kamijo...How and why are you even here? And what do you want?

Kazuma: I took this job first, when we got here we found ourselves clearly outmatched. So we ran and hid in a room created out of spatial magic.

Haru: Then how'd that flier get back to the guildhall? Don't tell you've got access to teleportation magic or something like that.

Kazuma: It's exactly as you say, Kanzaki. I had one of my party members teleport back to the guildhall and repost the flier for someone to pick up our slack. Now hand over the key!

Haru thinks for a second, before fishing out the key from his pocket. Opening a clenched fist to reveal that he had broken it into pieces. Turning the same hand over and letting those pieces sink into the water beneath. Of course, such an act would cause Kazuma to lash out, a magic circle glowed at the back of his hand which activated the collars. Lightning spews out of them and shocks the girls for several seconds.

Kazuma: How'd you like that, Kanzaki? They're shock collars normally used for beasts, but they seem to work really well for people as well...

Haru really couldn't take it anymore by this point and started uncontrollably laughing, so much so that tears started flowing through one of his eyes. Eventually he would calm down, clutching his stomach which started to hurt after laughing for so much and so long.

Haru: You absolute dumbass! If we were powerful enough to defeat that thing then how stupid would it be if some collars made me bend the knee! Oh wait, that thick ass skull of yours-

Kazuma: Watch your mouth, Kanzaki! I'll shock them til they faint, you'll be at fault for that you know!

He showed off the back of his hand, getting ready to activate that circle and actually go through with his threat. With Haru giving him nothing but a smug shit-eating grin in return as the four girls who'd be getting shocked began to, rightfully so, panic. Screaming and shouting at Haru not to say any more.

Haru: Fine, fine. Then how about this, we duel and if you win I'll help you break the vault door back there. But if I win, you release them. How's that? I'll even fight weaponless for your sake.

He de-summons Käseschäler and welcomes Kazuma as the latter angrily brings out his battleaxe, which was previously strapped to his back via a leather holder that he wore on his torso. Wielding the weapon in one hand with ease, a clear declaration of his answer to the duel.

Kazuma: Don't underestimate me, arrogant bastard...

His skill {Raging Warrior} activates as he leaps towards Haru, spinning his axe above his head and building up momentum before bringing it down on him. Landing a hit upon the boy's head where a metallic clang could be heard as blood dripped from his head, having only broken through the skin instead.

Haru: My, my. What's wrong? Shocked to see my head isn't cracked open like a nice cold can of soda?

Kazuma backed away, keeping a firm grip on his weapon with a terrified look on his face. At the same time, Haru kept on taunting him while also trying to predict where he could be hit next. Preparing to form armor on his stomach area since there isn't much bone to absorb the attack, same with his neck.

Haru: Keep him at a distance and bite it's head off, Cobra Skull...

From his chest emerged the serpent-like entity, ramming into Kazuma full force and following orders. Fighting and keeping him away from Haru, pushing Kazuma to his limits. Causing him to use the fire manipulation ability that his skill gave much earlier than he planned, making a futile attempt to burn the serpent chasing and trying to bite him. After a while, the messy brown-haired boy ended up with several wounds on his body, some came from the skeletal serpent and others from his recklessness.

Haru: That's enough, I'll take over again.

He muttered as the serpent stopped in its tracks, just as it was going to bite Kazuma's arm off before retracting back into Haru, who at the same time was walking onto solid ground as he deactivated {Fleet}, retracting his Cruiser form's armaments as well. There he watched as Kazuma was healed using magic that one of his party members cast upon him, closing up his wounds and revitalizing him to a degree only to find himself in combat once again.

The current Bone King took full advantage of the general sensory and reactionary buffs two of his skills passively gave access to. Dodging his opponent's axe swings with ease and returning the favors with punches from his gauntlet-covered fists.

Suddenly, blood red energy bursts from one of his hands. Which distracted him for a couple of seconds, seconds that were used by his opponent to deliver a fire-enhanced upward swing from his axe and knock him onto the spinal column of the Leviathan. Haru attempted to get up but found himself bound to the skeleton by his energy-covered hand. Though it wouldn't be long until he could actually free himself and finally stand up again.

Haru: Alright, let's continue-What the!?!?

He felt rumbling beneath him. And from the single spike left where his bound hand was, a black ink-like substance froths and begins to spread across the entirety of the skeleton repairing the major damage, like its bisected head which after being put back together had new glowing red eyes to replace the ones lost when it fought them.

In no time at all, the process was completed and the skeletal Leviathan was given new life. With it and the Piranha at the end of its tail screeching. Haru's eyes were now also glowing, albeit in purple as a haunting chill indiscriminately pulsed throughout the chamber.

Haru: Guess this explains the dragon skeleton he threw at me...After all he did get this damn skill from the original demon lord...

He said in a somewhat casual tone while scratching his head, flashing back to his fight with Decarabia. Remembering how much he struggled against said skeleton before turning his attention to Kazuma once again, whom he was still technically fighting. Finding him already collapsed to the ground much to his disappointment. Falling metal could be heard as his party was freed from the collars, possibly linked to Kazuma's anticlimactic defeat.

Haru: Watch over those guys while we head off to the vault, got it boy?

Jumping from the skeleton and walking towards his party as the beast followed his orders, he could feel a bit of an angry aura from them which was rather simply ignored as he looked at Elleth while pointing to the wound that was still on his head from earlier, the blood having dried by the looks of it. The dragon girl reluctantly heals it before she and the others follow Haru.

Crossing through a bridge made of black bones, the five of them would now be staring down the vault door. Which was a large metal door with coloring similar to oxidized copper with a keyhole placed to its right slightly raised up. Aside from the color, a prominent thing about the door was the many scratches that were on it.

Touka: So...How were you planning to get in without the key? I think I already know what you might do but still...

Haru: Stand to the side first and get ready to transport a bunch of gold or whatever.

So they did, with Celica taking initiative and placing her hand on the ground and creating a shield made out of darkness. Haru could be seen giving them a thumbs up from the translucent barrier as he got ready to enact his plan. Taking a deep breath and exhaling before placing his hand over the keyhole.

A singular bone tendril comes out of his palm and makes its way inside the door where its mechanisms were. Wriggling around like a centipede and feeling around trying to find where the back was. When it did it retracted a little, just enough so it would be approximately where the middle of the door was before exploding out several branches of bone which went around and hooked themselves around the door's internals.

Once everything was fully set up and secured, Haru, who had several bones wrapped on his own arm as well, yanked it off with a fair amount of ease and exposed what was lying just behind the door. Of course it wasn't ripped off, as some parts of the door were left behind. Mainly around the doorframe including what looked to be the hinges.

Haru: Alright, let's head in. I can smell the gold from here.

From there he set the door, or more accurately, chucked it to the side as Celica brought down the barrier she had made. Following behind him as did the others. The inside of the vault wasn't like how you would expect. Rather than having the gold and other treasure randomly and haphazardly scattered on the floor. They were instead neatly stored and organized on elaborate spruce shelves. The gold being full bars rather than coins as well.

At the back of the room were various weapons on a giant wall-mounted rack, ranging from classic swords, spears, and bows to random pieces of armor that have no armor set of their own. A common trend between these weapons was the fact that they had a nameplate just below the piece themselves, along with a short description for some reason.

Haru: So how the hell are we going to transport this home...

Touka: Do we even have the space for that back home?

Haru: I can probably talk Drodia into it, but no guarantee. Airi do you still have that teleportation crystal? The one you use to send stuff back home?

Airi: Yeah, but I'm not sure it can transport this much stuff. I'll try it out though.

She heads off to test it as Haru walks over to Touka, who was eying a gauntlet. A carmine-colored one with silver accents that was in the same sort of style as the gauntlet that her right arm currently had equipped but with a barrel-looking object mounted somewhere above the wrist area.

Haru: So you gonna pick it up or?

Touka: I'm not too sure, I'd say I'm considering it.

Celica: Well if you are, I wouldn't mind teaching you how to fight using those.

Haru: You definitely should, I read the nameplate and its description says something along the lines of "a whip shoots out of the barrel which can inject a powerful venom on those struck".

Touka: Another long-range option doesn't sound bad, I might just cave in and get it at this point because of you two...

After saying that, Haru just leaves. Heading towards Airi, who was messing around with some of the more basic looking weapons and the teleportation crystal. He somewhat hesitantly tapped her shoulder to get her attention, scarring her a little but managing to get it nonetheless.

Haru: Is it possible, or is it a no?

Airi: The items do transport perfectly fine, but the only problem is that it only transports a couple at a time. So it'll be pretty time-consuming if we do want to send them all back home.

Haru: We've been here for a while now, so it's not like taking any longer would hurt. Plus, I think those three are considering getting some new gear as well while they're here.

Airi: Not just those three, I'm kinda considering it myself too. But it's not like I'm in much rush to get new stuff. What about you though?

Haru: I'm just here for the gold and riches honestly, I'm quite satisfied actually with the weapons I already have. Should we get started with moving already?

Airi: Guessing we're starting with the gold then?

Haru: Damn right, maybe we should use it to buy up a mansion or something. We'll think it over when we get back.

He picks up a sizable stack of gold, setting it in front of the crystal as Airi proceeds to activate it. Enveloping the stack in light before beaming up into the air and disappearing. With Haru bringing in another stack almost immediately to repeat the whole process once again.

This was how the party spent their downtime rewarded to them after defeating the Chimera Leviathan. Indulging in the actual rewards of the dungeon and remaining ignorant at what was happening at around the same time as this back in the real world late at night. As a certain cult was making its biggest move yet at this point at the orders of their leader, a smirk on his face made it clear that he's been waiting to do this for a while now.