My new armor was swanky as fuck and I loved it already because it was almost a durable as me. It had the awesome and ridiculously useful ability to mend itself over time and was equally as tough to damage in the first place. It should be understood that I had refined the goliath parts to the brink of ascension which I STILL couldn't push it past but regardless that still put it towards the peak of level five in terms of material quality. My armor was something you'd expect a level five with a lot of money or a level six with little to have, not a level three like me.-
This was how broken my cursed technique was since I was using it to the best of my ability. For normal smiths crafting something like what I was capable of took a much higher level as they needed to effectively use raw force and external items only available at that point to do so. For me though I was all inclusive since I could directly work on a material so long as it wasn't TOO high level to great effect even going so far as being capable of material ascension that no one else was able to accomplish, not even Hephaestus herself.-
Was it any wonder then that the goddess was positively smitten with me given her unusual requirements in a romantic partner? Oh yes she knew about material ascension. Not like I could hide it from her if I actually wanted to use the ascended stuff for anything after all. She was THE forge goddess and noticed the strangeness of one of the items I made using the stuff with but a single glance. After that I couldn't really hide the matter from her since you can't lie to gods annoyingly.-
Oh I very fucking much tried to misdirect her but she wasn't new to that game given her political position and shut that shit down fast. The woman was practically a blushing mess once she learnt the actual truth of the matter and had some scary eyes when she looked at me, predatory almost. Creepy infatuation aside she had admittedly kept her word and not spread the knowledge out though I did have to give her some samples of ascended materials in exchange which made her act like a giddy child getting a shiny new toy at christmas.-
Peaceful times quickly came to an end however as the next day Hestia barged into my workshop while I was tinkering with the cursed stone converter innate technique and restrictions to have a better result thanks to me using green dragon scales for it instead of wyvern ones.-
"They are in trouble Alex!" she yelled anxiously when she barged in ruining my work up to that point and causing me to sigh and dispel the energy.
"Calm down and tell me what the issue is." I said seriously as hysterics only get in the way.
"Bell and the others were on the fourteenth floor and someone pass paraded them while trying to flee with an injured adventurer." she said worriedly.
"Did Bell or someone else tell you this?" I asked seriously.
"Cassandra did." she said and I immediately started taking off my shirt.
"Leave quickly unless you want an eyeful, I need to get my armor on." I said sternly and she rapidly fled my workshop with a red face.
I shed my casual clothes entirely and slipped my armor on while holstering my weapon at my waist next to my bag that I filled with healing and mana potions. Once I was kitted up I rushed out of my workshop and away from the manor using my flames to propel me at insane speeds across the city towards the dungeon. There were shouts and the occasional attempt to chase me but none succeeded and I shot across the dungeon square and into the dungeon in a snap. My rush was because of Hestia's answer to my question. See if she said Bell, Lili or Welf had told her what was going on I would know that the situation wasn't desperate but strained instead. However if Daphne or Cassandra were the one's who answered that meant that they were practically against a corner and fighting to survive.-
The layout of Bell's party was very simple and effective. Bell was at the front always and with him was either Lili or Welf taking turns while Daphne protected Cassandra and Cassandra focused on healing the others. This gave the party a great amount of sustainability as if Welf grew tired Lili took over the slack and vice versa. Bells build made him a long lasting fighter anyways so his role was fine and didn't need relief if he wasn't foolish.-
If all three of them were fighting however that meant they were being overrun and in serious danger hence the rush on my part. I entirely ignored any monsters or people I found along the way through the dungeon as I rapidly descended the floors. Once I reached the fourteenth floor I popped a mana potion and stopped using my flames so I could listen for the sounds of fighting. I advanced through the floor listening hard for it and failing to find it went to the fifteenth floor where I still couldn't hear the sounds of combat. -
It was only towards the end of the sixteenth floor near the seventeenth that I heard some intense combat noises and broke into a sprint towards the sound. I cornered and saw a battered and beaten party with Bell alone holding back the swarm of various monsters with his magics. "Hellfire!" I roared furiously and black flames exploded out of me in a tsunami of scorching death that crashed into the backline of the monsters. It was as if hell itself made manifest as screams of agony came from the monsters as my flames burned them away like so many dried leaves. -
I shortly after fell upon them with my weapon and like a reaper claimed a life with each swing. Against my onslaught the horde grew restless and pushed against Bell's resistance even harder not to kill him but to flee for their lives in front of a true monster. Bell was no marshmallow to be stepped on however and with a renewed vigor held the hoard back fiercely even as he passed the point of mind zero through sheer grit alone.