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The air grew cold and damp as the three of them walked down the massive stone stairs beneath the Tower of Babel.
They officially stepped into the first floor of the Dungeon.
The walls were made of light blue stone, and glowing moss provided a dim, eerie light.
The sounds of distant monster roars echoed down the long, winding tunnels.
Bell walked in the front. He held his cheap dagger tightly, his red eyes scanning the dark corners.
He took a deep breath, trying to be the best guide possible.
"Okay, listen closely,"
Bell whispered, looking over his shoulder.
"The monsters on the first few floors are mostly Goblins and Kobolds. They are not very smart, but they like to hide in the shadows. The most important rule is to never let them surround you."
Dee skipped happily behind him.
She was swinging her dull iron sword at the empty air, making silly swoosh sounds with her mouth.
"Understood, Captain!"
Dee giggled.
"If they try to surround us, I will just hit them with my super-secret blunt sword technique!"
Elias walked in the back, carrying his naginata easily on his shoulder.
He watched Bell with a smile.
He did not use his terrifying powers to scan the area.
He wanted to experience this exactly like a normal adventurer.
"How do we know where the monsters come from?"
Elias asked, genuinely curious.
"Do they walk down from the lower floors?"
Bell shook his head. He pointed to a blank section of the blue stone wall.
"No, the Dungeon is actually alive,"
Bell explained softly.
"It literally gives birth to the monsters. The walls will crack open, and they will just crawl right out. It can happen anywhere, at any time."
Just as Bell finished speaking, the stone wall next to them made a loud *CRACK* sound.
A large hole opened up in the rock.
A dog-like monster with gray fur and sharp claws pulled itself out of the wall.
It was a Kobold. It growled loudly, staring right at Bell's throat.
Bell did not freeze. He immediately stepped in front of Elias and Dee, raising his dagger.
"I will handle this one!"
Bell shouted bravely.
"Watch how I move, Elias-san!"
The Kobold lunged forward, swinging its sharp claws.
Bell quickly ducked underneath the attack.
He spun around and slashed his chipped dagger across the monster's chest.
The Kobold let out a painful yelp.
Before it could recover, Bell kicked its leg, making it trip, and then stabbed his dagger straight into the glowing purple stone on its chest.
*Poof!*
The monster instantly turned into gray ash, leaving only a small magic stone on the dirt floor.
"Yay! Great job, Bell-kun!"
Dee cheered loudly, clapping her pale hands together.
"You looked so cool!"
Bell picked up the magic stone, his face turning completely red from the praise.
He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at Elias, hoping he did well.
"That was very fast, Bell,"
Elias smiled, leaning on his polearm.
"You have excellent reflexes. You did not even hesitate when it jumped at you."
"Thank you!"
Bell beamed.
"I have been practicing every single day. But... I still get a little nervous sometimes."
Elias stepped closer and gently placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"It is okay to be nervous,"
Elias told him in a calm, deep voice.
"When you fight alone, you have to be perfect. One mistake could mean you do not come home. That kind of pressure makes your muscles tight and your mind panic."
Elias looked down the dark, scary tunnel, and then back at Bell's bright red eyes.
"But you are not alone anymore,"
Elias continued.
"Dee and I are right here. If you trip, I will catch you. If you miss your attack, Dee will cover your blind spot. When you fight with your family, you don't have to fight just to survive. You can fight to learn. You can make mistakes without dying."
Bell stared at the tall man. His heart beat loudly in his chest, but not from fear. It was from pure relief.
For weeks, Bell had been running through these dark caves completely alone, terrified that a single mistake would end his life.
He had carried a massive, invisible weight on his small shoulders.
Hearing Elias say those words made that heavy weight completely vanish.
Bell's eyes grew a little wet, but he quickly wiped them with his sleeve and gave a massive, determined smile.
"I understand,"
Bell nodded firmly. He gripped his dagger with brand-new confidence.
"I will not be afraid to make mistakes today. I will try my absolute best, and I will rely on both of you!"
"That is the spirit!"
Dee cheered, playfully poking Bell's cheek with her finger.
"Now, let's go find some more monsters! I want to try hitting a goblin with my blunt sword!"
Elias laughed.
He readied his naginata and followed his two cheerful family members deeper into the glowing blue caves.
Far above the dark Dungeon, inside a giant, incredibly hot blacksmith workshop, Goddess Hestia was currently on her hands and knees.
Her forehead was pressed firmly against the hard stone floor.
"Please, Hephaestus!"
Hestia cried out loudly.
"I am begging you! Please make a weapon for my Bell!"
Sitting at a large wooden desk across from her was Hephaestus.
She was a tall, beautiful goddess who wore a black eyepatch over her right eye.
She let out a very long, tired sigh.
"Hestia, we have talked about this,"
Hephaestus said sternly, rubbing her temples.
"I run a business. A weapon made by my own hands costs millions of Valis. You do not even have a real house. You live in a broken church."
"I know! I know I am poor!"
Hestia shouted, refusing to lift her head from the floor.
"But Bell is out there risking his life every single day with a cheap, chipped knife! He needs a real weapon to survive!"
Hephaestus stood up and walked around her desk. She looked down at her small friend.
"He is your only Familia member,"
Hephaestus pointed out, her voice strict but secretly caring.
"It is a harsh world, Hestia. If he cannot survive with a basic weapon, then maybe he should not be an adventurer. You cannot just ask me to solve his problems."
Hestia finally lifted her head.
Her blue eyes were not filled with tears.
Instead, they were burning with fierce, unstoppable determination.
"You do not understand,"
Hestia said softly, her voice full of deep love.
"Bell is different. He has a beautiful, pure soul. He never gives up. And he never, ever complains about having a useless, poor goddess like me."
Hestia slowly stood up. She looked right into Hephaestus's eye.
"I have to do this for him,"
Hestia promised, placing a hand firmly over her own heart.
"I will do absolutely anything to pay you back. I will clean your floors. I will work in your shop. I will wash your dishes for the next hundred years. Just please, give my child a chance to live."
Hephaestus stared at Hestia in complete shock.
She had known Hestia for a very long time in Heaven.
Hestia was always known as the lazy goddess.
She always complained, always ran away from work, and always asked other gods to take care of her.
But the girl standing in front of her right now was not a lazy child. She was a true, proud goddess fighting for her family.
Hephaestus did not know that
Hestia's family had just grown last night.
She had no idea that a terrifyingly strong man and the literal concept of Death had just joined the Hestia Familia.
She only saw a mother who was desperate to protect her hardworking boy.
A small, warm smile finally broke through Hephaestus's serious face.
"You have really changed, Hestia,"
Hephaestus whispered softly.
She crossed her arms and let out one more defeated sigh.
"Fine,"
Hephaestus agreed.
"I will forge the weapon."
Hestia gasped, her eyes shining like bright stars.
"R-Really?!"
"But!"
Hephaestus warned, pointing a strict finger right at Hestia's nose.
"You are going to pay for every single piece of metal. You will work at my shop part-time, and you will not complain even once. Is that clear?"
Hestia jumped forward and hugged the tall blacksmith goddess tightly around her waist.
"Yes! Yes! Thank you, Hephaestus!"
Hestia cheered happily, finally letting a few happy tears fall.
"I promise I will work super hard! My Bell-kun is going to be so happy!"
Hephaestus awkwardly patted Hestia's back, feeling a deep respect for her friend's new maturity.
"It is going to be a very special knife,"
Hephaestus muttered.
"He better be worth all this trouble."
Hephaestus walked over to her giant, roaring furnace.
The heat inside the workshop was incredible.
Most normal humans would pass out just standing near it.
Hephaestus grabbed a pair of heavy iron tongs and pulled out a glowing, bright red piece of special metal.
She placed it on her large steel anvil and raised her heavy hammer.
"I will start right now,"
Hephaestus told Hestia confidently.
But before the hammer could even swing down, the entire room changed.
The blazing, intense heat of the forge completely vanished.
A freezing, unnatural cold swept through the workshop.
Hephaestus stopped moving. She actually shivered.
She looked at her own arms in pure shock.
"Cold?"
Hephaestus whispered, her single eye wide with confusion.
"That is impossible. I am the Goddess of the Forge. How can I feel a chill right next to my own fire?"
Behind her, Hestia's eyes went completely wide.
Her small body started to shake uncontrollably.
She recognized this terrifying, suffocating feeling immediately. It was the exact same feeling from the church yesterday.
Hestia slowly turned her head and looked into the darkest corner of the room.
A pale girl in a simple black dress quietly stepped out of the shadows.
"Who are you?!"
Hephaestus yelled.
She was extremely protective of her workshop.
Thinking it was an enemy attack,
Hephaestus raised her free hand.
She summoned a massive, roaring ball of orange divine fire to throw at the intruder.
But as soon as the fierce flames left her hand and moved toward the pale girl, something impossible happened.
The fire did not burn her. It did not explode.
*Poof.*
The flames simply turned to gray, dead ash in the air and blew away.
The fire was completely erased from existence.
Hephaestus froze in pure terror.
"My fire..."
Hephaestus gasped, taking a step back.
"It just... died?"
Hestia quickly jumped between the tall blacksmith and the pale girl, waving her arms wildly in a panic.
"Hephaestus, wait! Stop!"
Hestia cried out.
"Please, do not attack her! Put your hammer down!"
The pale girl just giggled.
She did not look angry at all.
In fact, she looked incredibly happy.
She stepped fully into the light and gave the stunned blacksmith a cute, polite little bow.
"Hello!"
Dee smiled brightly, her dark eyes shining.
"It is very nice to meet you. My name is Dee. I am a brand new member of the Hestia Familia!"
Hephaestus looked at Hestia like she had lost her mind.
"Hestia, what is going on here?"
Hephaestus asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"Who is this girl? Why did my divine flames just die out?"
Hestia swallowed hard. She pointed a shaking finger at the cute, smiling girl.
"Because... she is literally Death,"
Hestia explained nervously.
"Not a monster, Hephaestus. The real thing."
Hephaestus stared at Dee, completely speechless.
Her divine instincts finally caught up to her, screaming that the girl standing in front of her was the end of the world.
But then, Hestia blinked. A wave of confusion washed over her face.
"Wait a minute,"
Hestia asked, crossing her arms.
"Dee, why are you here? I thought you and Elias were going into the Dungeon with Bell today!"
Dee smiled and tilted her head playfully.
"I am inside the Dungeon right now, Kami-sama!"
Dee answered with a cheerful voice.
"I am walking right behind Bell-kun. We just fought a Kobold! But I am also standing right here with you."
Hestia rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
"How can you be walking in a cave and standing in a forge at the exact same time?"
Hestia asked.
"I am the concept of Death,"
Dee explained simply, swinging her arms behind her back.
"Death happens everywhere, all the time. I can easily be in a million different places at once if I want to!"
Hephaestus slowly lowered her heavy hammer.
She was still terrified, but her curiosity as a master creator was starting to wake up.
"Then why did you send a piece of yourself to my workshop?"
Hephaestus asked carefully, watching the girl's every move.
Dee's smile grew softer.
She walked closer to the anvil and looked down at the glowing red metal waiting to be shaped.
"Because Bell-kun is my cute little brother now,"
Dee said sweetly, her voice full of genuine care.
"He works so hard, and he is trying his best to protect us. If you are going to forge a brand new weapon just for him, I want to help."
Dee reached out her pale, cold hand toward the hot steel.
"I came here,"
Dee announced proudly,
"To give his new knife my very own blessing."