Over the course of the next couple of hours, the remaining groups arrived at the boss room on the 37th floor. And everyone who needed to be tested, was. Despite his better judgement, Shurry did eventually allow Ais to fight a Delphine on her own. The result, A whole lot of collateral damage, and anger issues for the rest of the trip down to the 39th floor.
This time, Mama Mia, and the staff from the Hostess of Fertility took care of the meals. Which was one of the reasons why Mia agreed to come down here in the first place. The other reason was the hefty sum of cash Shurry promised to pay her.
Some rested, while others prepared themselves for the fights ahead. From here on out, the number of people who knew what was going on down on the floors below them, were getting smaller and smaller. Though, among the ones who were completely relaxed, was Bell, this caused many to grow confused. Well, those who hadn't heard what happened to him, seeing their chance, Ais, Tiona, and Tione came over to ask him about it. Lefiya semi-sheepishly looking on from the side, rapidly growing jealous.
"Bell, you seem calm?" Ais spoke, her voice felt like music to Bell's ears, though, it had a different tune to it this time. He had grown to understand that he didn't actually love Ais before, it had merely been a facade obscuring the facts of the situation.
"Hmm, I am. Are you not, miss Ais?" Bell asked, with a cute smile on his lips, inadvertently unlocking some of Ais' locked emotions.
"I'm worried… about what we'll find down there." She said sitting down.
"Awe don't be such a downer Ais, I'm sure everything will work out." Tiona said with cheer. "We have mister Argonaut with us. He'll beat whatever it is up, just like the minotaur!"
"Oh be real Tiona, it's because the captain is here with us. He'll come up with the best plan." Tione crossed her arms. "Now, back to why you're so relaxed, Bell."
"Hmm? Oh, that's an easy answer, but I wonder if I can share it." He said, and then looked to find Shurry nodding. "Well, alright, it's because I've been past the 70th floor before. So these floors really don't scare me at all. Barely a warm up. It's also why I wasn't allowed to fight the Delphine monster."
"Huh? You mean you can beat that thing yourself?" Tiona asked in a tiny shriek.
"I don't believe it! It took Miss Ais a whole lot of effort to take it out on her own. I don't believe it!" Lefiya pouted, adamantly flailing her arms in defiance.
"Hmm? Why's that? I can beat it without any added skill uses. I can even one shot it with just using my afterglow." Bell said with a chuckle, at the cute expression on Lefiya's face. "You'll learn why I can do things like that soon…"
"How did you grow so strong?" Ais asked, this time practically demanding an answer.
"You mean how I'm level 7 now? Or do you mean something else?"
"Something else, is it training with Shurry that caused you to grow like this?" Ais asked.
""LEVEL 7!!!""
"Pfft, yep, I'm level 7, and I have Shurry to thank for most of that. Though it wasn't just him I trained with. It was a whole bunch of other people in that timeline. I wonder how they're all doing now. Well, aside from having a number of cute kids."
"Oh? How cute are they?" A dark elf came over quickly to ask. "Oh, my name's Nernatti by the way. Nice to meet you."
"Your kids are cute too, Shurry showed me some of them." Bell giggled.
While Bell dealt with what would be a ton of questions, Shurry left the gods to their own devices, still protected by some stupidly powerful wolves, he and Bete were off away from the group for a private chat.
"So, what did you want to ask me, Bete?"
"..."
"You can ask, I won't refuse your questions."
"What happened to me in your timeline?"
"You were able to marry the girlfriend you found in Orario while a member of the Vidar familia. You had almost as many puppies as I did, thanks to your mate wanting to prioritize it. You avenged your clan, while I watched over your familia."
"T-thank you…"
"No need for thanks. I am the Alpha, looking after my pack is my responsibility."
Bete put an elbow to his face and then nodded before wiping his eyes.
"How do I get stronger?"
"Survive my training, and you'll be certain to grow much stronger. I'll be straight with you, I'm not certain this will be enough to lift your group's power to the level required. But it should be enough to cause some havoc, and strengthen the barrier. To give you some more time."
"Are you sure you can't fight with us?"
"If I did it, I'd have finished the fight by now. I'm much stronger than I was when I fought it before."
"Is it really possible to earn enough stats in this expedition?"
"Yeah, I got Bell from level 6 to earn enough to level 7 with quite a bit of ease."
"There's something you should know about floors 59 and below."
"Oh, I took care of that already."
"Really? That fast?"
"Yep, that's where I got Terra from."
"Alright… How do I become the Alpha?"
"Hmm, that's not something you can just become, Bete. It's not a level of power or anything like that. The way I see it, it's a race. Only those with a portion of Fenrir's souls can truly be called Alpha Werewolf. And I'm the full thing, so I have a huge advantage."
"So it's impossible then?"
"Not really. The falna is quite a bit more impressive than you think. It responds to the individual. So if you truly desire to grow strong enough, to have a place at the top, it will aid you in pulling it off."
"I need to want it?"
"Want it like your body wants each every next breath you take."
"Want? No, I need it. So I will acquire it. I may not have a part of Fenrir's soul on my own, but I will push forward to get strong enough that I won't need it."
"There ya go. Get strong enough and I might just give you the honorary title before I leave." Shurry said with a smirk.