Danmachi: the Great Devourer

christmas Special-C8: Enhanced Species.

Word count = 1878 on 12/24/2023

(Fight might not be fully correct in terms of stats since there is no official wiki info on it. So I set it as a detail that it simply is stronger than it's level, meeting the lower limits of the next set of floors which would mean a 3rd floor goblin or kobold would be equal to a 5th floor monster but unlike those monsters. It's still that original species but stronger that it could realistically survive there.)

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It has been a week that Axel has been training with the Takemikazuchi familia in martial arts. While he lacks compared to the gods family which is all level 2, including the reclusive 'servant' girl Asuka. But they still witness Axel's fast ascension speed and inform Raikou that they are willing to keep a secret for her.

Axel figured out the personalities of his new friends. Ouka was the strong silent type, Mikoto was the headstrong/Hotheaded member who cares for her friends, Chigusa was the quiet shy one who would be a suitable assassin if she got over her shyness. As for Asuka, she is just invisible. Axel at one point decided to just stare at her as she was walking down the hallway and she vanished as if she was a mirage in the first place even though he didn't blink. Overall, they all have warm personalities that complement each other to do better and support each other. During his time with them this past week, he had also gotten to know the Miach Family and their potion store. He bought a few with the few thousand valis he has accumulated each day of his dungeoneering. He only keeps 2 on him but that is because he is testing out his own progress and still has not stepped into the second floor.

His stats have all risen to the 300s which is F rank stats except his magic which has slowed down now. Overall, his stats are more than enough to bring him to the fourth floor and even start to enter the 5th floor for a change of pace but he is making good money against the goblins though he doesnt try to absorb too many of them and keep a consistent pace so he can train properly and not lose track of his strength. Otherwise his stats would have long reached B grade stats in the peak 700s. Or at least that would be the case but lately, regular goblins and kobolds from the first floor are starting to only give him 5 points to his stats, that is likely to decrease further as he gets stronger and the gap increases. Regardless, his pace is still much faster than most, already surpassing the previous record breakers like Ais Wallenstein. If he was adventuring everyday then he would have also been much stronger but by taking a training day in between, he slows down quite a bit.

Raikou on the other hand has been giving the reports to Freya regularly as requested but she only lists half of his stats to protect Alex. This would have worked if Freya was not an expert peeper unmatched with the exception of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage of Naruto.

Freya smiles fondly at seeing Raikou desperately try to accurately balance Axel's states to make him less monstrous as she doesnt know if Freya reports his stats to the guild or not but Raikou doesnt want too much pressure on her child. Freya on the other hand wants him to grow even faster. She recognizes that Axel's unique skill is the source of his accelerated stats and while she is saddened that he lacks determination to go further in the dungeon based on her reports from her children on how much he makes each day. She finds him to be very steady and not lost in wanderlust over his own power and growth which is a good quality. Regardless, she is having her children set up the proper challenge to assist Axel in his growth. A suitable opponent to allow him to fully test the limits of his strength. They are currently searching for this candidate.

In the meantime, Axel is preparing once more to travel to the dungeon, putting on his leather vest, gauntlet set (the gloves and bracers set) and just in case, the knife at his waist, he kept the knife but not the sword and the knife is for emergencies too. Axel has learned to bandage his own hands which he does before putting on the gauntlets. Raikou gives him a kiss on the cheek as she waves him off. He quickly double checks his backpack once more to make sure his potions and other short term supplies are properly packaged and won't break in case of emergencies.

He descends to the first floor. His progress with martial arts has been good and he would likely finish up in another week to full time dungeoneering. Which means he will be going to the second floor today to get a taste for it. As he walks along, people whisper about him as he has gained a bit of a reputation by being brave enough to actually bare fist fight with monsters. Many people see him around the first floor as he has also helped out some of the new people as well who struggled against the goblins for the first time. Last time he was adventuring, he even received a small bonus from the guild for helping out so many newbies the past week.

Regardless, Axel makes his way through the first floor, he beats up 5 separate goblin groups and absorbs one to give him a taste of energy for today but he stops outside the stairs to the 2nd floor as he has encountered something new. A black goblin, this one is even wielding a hammer. An enhanced species. The goblin in question is pitch black skin which makes it stand out against the blue glowing walls of the dungeon but if it actually stood in a shadow then it could easily sneak attack a person. Luckily Axel found it wandering about openly with the hammer in hand. He prepares himself as is more than confident in defeating it as his stats allow him to trek much further in the dungeon but he calms down his arrogance as he promised that he would try to not get hurt as compared to his first day in the dungeon. He made this promise to his goddess, and he will damn well keep it.

So, he sets his backpack to the side as he begins to sneak up on the goblin while chanting his skill phrase but once he gets within a few feet of the goblin, it does a back swing with the hammer that collides with the wall as Axel expertly leans back out of the strike. He could tell that it was a powerful strike that could have broken a few bones if not knocked him out. Axel is surprised that an enhanced species on the first floor could have such power, but then he realizes that such a thing doesnt make sense. There has never been an enhanced species in the first floor. So did it come up from the second or lower? Regardless, Axel raises his awareness and takes the fight seriously as he drops his knees to take a big step forward and uppercut the goblin who is preparing to swim his hammer again. Axel gets the punch in which makes the goblin dizzy for a bit and stops his swing. Axel begins to combo the goblin before it's hammer hits his knee and he moves back, out of range again and then even further so he can take a sip of slightly more flavorful potion he got from the Miach family. [1]

While he takes a sip of the potion, the goblin charges at him with the hammer raised up. Axel calmly stores the potion away as he takes up a stance. When the goblin swings the hammer down, Axel redirects it to the side with his palm while pushing the goblins head in the nearby wall with his other palm. He executes a quick one-inch punch which makes it's head bounce against the wall quickly and blood flows out of it's mouth. Axel then moves behind the goblin, bringing it's arm with it as he dislocates it quickly at the shoulder. He kicks the back of the goblins knee which makes it fall over as it roars at him. It tries to get up again while swinging it's hammer but Axel simply steps back and kicks it in the face which knocks it back down.

He moves to step on the other arm which prevents it from swinging it's hammer and with it's other arm dislocated, it can't do anything except kick but Axel begins to release a series of punches against its face and chest which quickly begins to shatter bone. He does this to weaken the goblin while also draining it's strength as his foot is the only consistent absorbent for his skill at the moment. The goblin gradually weakens and stops struggling as it's essence is absorbed by Axel who is holding it by the neck. He lifts his foot but the goblin is now too weak to even lift the hammer in hand. The goblin soon turns to dust as it drops a core that is three times bigger than a regular goblin's monster core. And that's after it was already drained by him. It was likely 5 or 6 times bigger than regular goblins beforehand which is still impressive. He stores it in his backpack that he retreats before continuing on his way to the second floor. His knee bandaged up just in case even though he already took a second sip of his potion to heal his hands from the beating he gave out.

He got quite a bit of adrenaline pumping from fighting the enhanced species which makes him more excited to go down and fight. That day, the adventurers that traveled through the 2nd floor or past it, retell tales of monsters howling in pain followed by eerie silence.

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[1]: For those that don't know, Miach is an Irish god. It's not outright expressed in Danmachi so unless you're a fan of mythology like me, you won't recognize the gods except the obvious ones. But yea they got greek, Norse, Shinto(japanese) and Irish. Granted Miach is the only Irish god.

Also as a side note, I will not be doing the potion glitch where mixing it into food or drinking diluted versions during training. Because that very concept is dumb. It shouldnt actually affect ones falna stats since only intense training like Bell v Ais or dungeoneering gives Excellia, regular hard training shouldn't have such results since Bell is actually getting knocked the F out during the training. At most it would make a person bulk up but not actually enhance their stats more than a few points. So id say the benefits of it are too negligible and anyone that uses it to get massive bonuses obviously has hax.