"Your wolves sure are fast, Master Shurry." Liliruca said with a cheer in her voice.
"If you think that's cool, they can also help carry a whole lot up to the surface for me." Shurry smirked, returning to his feet, and stretched.
"Huh, it's almost like you have an army at your beck and call." Welf mentioned hopping down off his wolf, and then was attacked by his ride with licks. "Hahaha, an army full of friendly wolves." He laughed.
"Shurry, has anyone else arrived yet?" Bell asked, walking to a bowl full of fresh water to wash his face.
"Aside from myself and the gods, you're the first ones down here." Shurry answered, looking off into the distance to see a bunch of proud wolves returning with their prey. "Awesome, it seems like lunch is on its way here. Mikoto, Haruhime, you're good with cooking, right?"
"Eh, huh? I wouldn't say I'm too good." Mikoto said, with some worry in their voice.
"That's fine. You can learn something now." Shurry said. "I learned it from one of my uncles in Zeus familia, he was a chef. A really good one too…"
The wolves arrived in a prancing parade dropping off their prey, and immediately went out to hunt more. A feat only possible thanks to how the dungeon functioned. From here, Shurry formed a knife out of light, and began working on the carcasses.
"You need to be careful enough not to destroy the magic crystal, and have it remain attached in place until you're done properly harvesting the meat and innards…" He licked his lips. "Especially the innards. They're delicious!"
"Huh, really?" Mikoto asked, a little stunned. "I wouldn't have thought as much."
"Really, I think it already smells yummy like this…" Haruhime said, with a drop of drool in the corner of her mouth.
"Well, it's just, it's monster meat, so I must admit I'm a little apprehensive to eat it." Mikoto said, gulping as she followed the instructions, to butcher the stags.
"Mind if I give that a try?" Welf asked, looking over to see the mess everyone was making, there was another person looking on with interest.
"I don't mind. I can show you how to do it while the others keep going." Shurry chuckled, and then caught a glimpse of Haruhime. "It's fine if you want to help yourself to some chef snacks, Haruhime, but if you're going to do that, I'd recommend you hold out and give their hearts a try first."
"Eh?" Haruhime blushed, knowing she had just been caught red handed, literally too.
Shortly after Welf, and to everyone else's surprise, Freya, joined in on the butchering process, the next person who made it down was Ottar, immediately followed behind by Allen, and Bete, both practically at each other's throats about who was the fastest.
"Huh? I thought Sir Leon would have been the next person to arrive for sure?" Bell wondered, as he helped Liliruca set up some camping equipment.
"Well, Master Bell, maybe Master Leon got into some trouble?" Liliruca proposed, thinking it was a little odd as well.
Just as the two were thinking about it amongst themselves, Leon arrived, with a small party in tow. A party that was not part of the training. Many of them were clearly injured.
"Hey, sorry I was a little late, it took me a while to fully adjust to my level 8 status." Leon said. "So I stayed on the 12th floor for a bit to work out some of the kinks. Accidentally rescued this group, you have the ability to heal injuries, is that right?"
"I do, they can stay here and eat with us if they like. Or you may feel free to escort them out of the dungeon after they're healed. You should be fast enough to make it before dinner is served." Shurry said, as his magic healed the injured with a speed even they thought impossible.
"Huh? It doesn't hurt anymore? Thank you sir!"
"Don't mention it, any hero worth their salt will have methods in store to heal such injuries." Shurry explained. "So wanna stay for dinner? Or go up now? You're not strong enough to go with us, but we also can't leave you to your own devices on this floor. It's too deep for you."
"We wouldn't want to take from your rations after you've already saved our lives. Thanks, but we'll be fine with just an escort back to the surface."
"Hmm, alright then. Leon, since you've taken responsibility for them once, go ahead and return them to the surface."
"Be back in an hour or two."
"Alright, just, don't run anyone over on the way up or down."
"Got it, also, the monster rex spawned."
"REALLY! Hell yeah! Delicious…" Shurry's eyes beamed, and then he disappeared…
Leon left before things became problematic, escorting the party of level 1s up to the surface.
"Uhm, Sir, just who is that werewolf exactly?"
"A hero." Leon winked, then called out to some others to make sure everyone sees that he brought the party back to the surface.
"Sir Leon, what's going on? I thought you went down there with the hero?" A Ganesha familia guard asked.
"I did, I had to escort this group back to the surface. I couldn't just leave them to die, so I brought them to the 28th floor to get healed, and then back up here. Now that I've finished that, I'm heading back down, have a pleasant day."
Leon headed back down to the 28th floor, he made some decent time, but was now the "last" person to arrive on the floor. It ended up being a joke everyone would swear by while they ate freshly hunted meat.
The gods received better treatment than the adventurers, and were enjoying their more balanced meal paired with wine, or their favorite alcohol.
"Did you see it?" Baldr asked, his fellow kin.
"Do you mean those flickers in their soul?" Freya asked.
"Yes, they're shining more brilliantly. I'd be willing to guess all of them have earned some stats just from the dive so far." He continued, eating his food with a pair of silverware made entirely of light, something he thought was terribly interesting.
"Ganesha agrees! Oh, I am Ganesha."
"We know who you are." Loki said, stuffing her face.
Shurry and some others like Bete, Haruhime, Allen, and even Ana Kitty were enjoying their specialized meal plan which involved all of the tasty bits the others couldn't stomach trying.
…