Ox Slayer gives a "massive" boost when facing a ox-type monster. Avenger gives Ais a "massive" boost when facing dragon-types, yet that wasn't enough for her to take out a Level 2 Black Wyvern at Level One.

I'm making an assumption, yes. But it's an entirely reasonable one. Bell has grown 2 levels since that fight. Is it not reasonable to expect Asterius to have grown 1? Especially considering he's a monster himself, and all he needs to do is eat a bunch of magic stones?

I firmly reject the notion that the Asterius fight would have more meaning for 5->6. I think it'd be more appropriate for 6->7. Bell should be AT LEAST Level 7 heading into the OEBD fight. I literally don't see any way for him to contribute meaningfully, as we know he must, at any lower level.

@Leinad91

That were 3 high level 6s and 4 high level 5s against a level 7 boss. Now they are all fresh new on their level, so I highly doubt the same thing's gonna happen against a level 8 boss. Combining with the fact that the boss monsters usually can call other monsters, which are likely level 6s on floor 61 and below, for help, the monsters' danger in that battle is significantly higher than the adventurers' growth. From how old Loki Familia plus Tsubaki were nearly beaten by a level 7 Demi Spirit and a group of caterpillar monsters, I see the odd is very against them.

You can just reread SO 4 and see for yourself. What would happen when the boss and all the other monsters is one entire level higher? What would happen when the supporters can no longer protect Riveria while she's chanting and the first tiers in fact has to protect them instead? Ais using Lil Rafaga has ended the Demi Spirit in oneshot, but could she do the same with a level 8 floor boss? Not to mention, the floors down there were mentioned by Zeus and Hera Familia to be so cold that can freeze first tier adventurers movement. I agree that the current Loki Familia can explore the Glacier territory (floor 59 to floor 61) by themselves after their top 3 leveled up, but defeating the level 8 floor boss and moving to the next zone? I don't think so unless Ais actively uses Avenger.

@ThatRabidPotato I don't really like delving into these power level arguments because I honestly think Omori will have win whoever he wants to have win as long as he thinks it is within the realm of possibility even if just barely. He is going to choose whatever he feels is more impactful, and I can already tell you aren't going to change your mind on this. And like I said, I do think Udaeus is a good second choice.

It wasn't actually stated that the Wyvern strength was considered as just level 2. The wording Omori used to describe its strength was pretty strong:

It was a dragon.
It should have been impossible for a true dragon to appear on the upper floors. And yet, here was one with wings.
A wyvern.
A monster that inhabited the middle-floor region. From its long outstretched tail to its head, it was more than five meders long. Despite being shrouded in fog, there was no mistaking that it was a species of dragon. Wyverns’ bodies were usually a pale-red color, but the tough scales covering this one were pure black. It was clearly an Irregular, a subspecies hiding far more strength than the usual.
A black dragon.

My reasoning for saying Bell probably won't be level 7 until like maybe the very final battle is because I think Bell will be 6, same as Ais, when Ais arc occurs. And I just can't see that being anything other than OEBD arc because Ais's history is directly tied to the OEBD. It took 6 volumes to make for Bell to go from 4->5. Omori said the story was about 70% done at the end of volume 16 so it just doesn't add up in my head that we have to wait for Bell to be 7 before the final arc with Ais begins.

@Leinad91 You are basing your comparison on people with Falna. For all the superhuman prowess it gives, people with Falna are absurdly stunted in growth compared to monsters/creatures. Revis was able to go from Level 6 to Level 7 equivalent in two months or less just from eating magic stones. Beyond that, those four examples you give are all flawed even from adventurer perspectives. Ottar basically spent those seven years sitting around Folkvangr and Babel being Freya's butler. Leon's spent the last 15 years teaching small children and not coming anywhere near the Dungeon. We have no idea exactly when Alfia and Zard ranked to 7 (might've been after the Leviathan and Behemoth fights), but in general we know so little about what was going on back then that we can't use them for any kind of growth scaling, and after they left Orario they literally just sat around for 8 years waiting to die until Erebus found them.

Asterius on the other hand has been maniacally training in the Far Deep since the moment he beat Bell, and sucking up magic stones like a vacuum cleaner. Since magic stones are all that's necessary for monsters to get stronger, he's growing at an incredible rate himself. I repeat, it's absurd to think that Bell will have grown two or more levels in the time between meetings and Asterius won't have grown even one. If only because Oomori would want to raise the threat level.

Also,

"in the entire series we haven't seen anyone reach that level!"

You mean, other than the Zeus and Hera captains?

@ThatRabidPotato Was it actually stated that he is sucking up magic stones like a vacuum cleaner? Bell won't ever beat him if his growth is outpacing Bell's or is equivalent to Bell's so Revis isn't a good example since she grew ridiculously fast. Leveling slows significantly the higher you go. It took 3 years for Ais to go from 5->6 from her average of 1.5 years per level. So, unless Ais is adventuring or training with Bell making LF go into overdrive, we can expect his 5->6 won't be as fast as his 4->5 which took nearly 3 months unless he does something with extremely high excelia value for him like beating Asterius.

@Longhatruong, I often forget that you are one of those users who thinks that statistics are important, that helps me understand why you see the picture so dark. There would be no point in getting into a debate about that here, so let's stick to the facts.

Your analysis makes sense but it is refuted by the case of Balor, that is, the chances that the Loki family had of defeating him for the first time were certainly much more unfavorable than the current ones to defeat a level 8, despite this they managed the feat.

Think about it, the first time that the Loki family would have to defeat him would be 7 years ago when the trio reached level 6, back then Ais was level 3 and Bete, Tiona and Tione did not even belong to the family. You will clearly see a more pronounced disadvantage than the current one.

If they couldn't beat Balor, Loki's trio would have explored up to the 49th floor only, where the monsters are just beginning to be level 5, meaning their statuses wouldn't have increased significantly until 3 years ago when the quartet reached level 5, so when they faced Balor for the first time, both the trio and the quartet would have insignificant statuses and were able to overcome the challenge of defeating the level 7, even though he could call his friends level 5 monsters.

In conclusion, by associativity you can see that the challenge of facing the level 8 boss for the first time is not more difficult than the one they faced against Balor and overcame, so I see no reason not to be able to repeat the feat.

Regarding the comparison between floor bosses and demi spirits, I don't think it can be made as arbitrary as you did because the difficulty of the latter lay in its ability to use magic more powerful than that of an elf and in its great physical and mental regeneration, but a monster can't do any of that, so this reference is not valid.

@Leinad91

Old Loki Familia could have let Freya Familia taking care of Balor before moving down floor 50. In the past, the two Familias were certainly not equal in strength. I don't believe old Loki Familia 7 years ago with only new 3 level 6s and current young executives who have not reached level 5 yet defeated Balor unless you provided more evidences proving otherwise.

About the comparison between a floor boss and a demi spirit, it has been repeatedly stated in the story that the Demi Spirit power is comparable to a floor boss. Even without having magic, though in fact every single floor boss so far has magical attack, the floor bosses has their own gimmicks that made them powerful, so I don't see why you think they are inferior to a Demi Spirit. In fact, Ottar lost to Balor, but basically solo destroyed the Demi Spirit in SO 12 with no need for Hildis Vini or beastification proved what you said otherwise.

@ThatRabidPotato, In Astrea Record we are told that Zeus and Hera Familias shared their membership records with the guild, Finn obtained them from the guild and it stated that Alfia and Zard were already level 7 before the 3 big quests, so it is confirmed, these 2 defeated Behemoth and Leviathan and Omori did not allow them to level up.

As for Ottar, you yourself defended the idea that he obviously had the means to obtain the gigantic status that he has so the idea that he has not leveled up because he is limited to being Freya's butler is your own contradiction. Besides, Ottar's goal is to always be stronger, and he works hard for that, so if he has not been able to level up to level 8 it is for other reasons very different than laziness.

What I tried to illustrate with these examples is that reaching level 8 is one of the plot barriers that Omori has imposed, not allowing characters who should have reached this level and others who strive to obtain it to achieve it, despite the fact that he has qualified them as the super invincible with titles such as: the strongest of the franchise and the strongest adventurer.

In short, what I wanted to say is that I see it very unlikely that Omori will break this argumentative limitation with Asterius, being him, the first to achieve it, although of course, everything depends on Omori.

As for the captains of Zeus and Hera, we were only told what level they had but not how they obtained it. My point here was to emphasize that conventional methods do not seem to work to get to level 8 and who knows what will be needed to get it XD (plot convenience perhaps, level 8 for when it is convenient that someone to get it...!).

Now, regarding the comparison between the speeds of leveling up by the method of ingesting magic stones, yes, it seems faster but it has also shown limitations, namely: Lyd, Gross and Ray are 20 years old and have not surpassed level 5, meaning that they have at most gone up 3 levels in these 20 years.

It would be sensible to assume that for a monster grows stronger, it needs increasingly higher quality stones and if it does not consume them, its status will freeze. Revis consumed stones up to the 50 floors, that seems to be an indicator that with that quality you can reach level 7, and you would need higher quality to surpass it, meaning more depth.

Surpassing the 59th floor is another argumentative barrier that Omori has imposed, until he lifts it, all characters will be limited to what they can achieve up to that floor...

@Longhatruong, we agree, that Loki family couldn't defeat Balor and even if they waited for the Freya family to defeat him, that would be very inefficient, not only because the latter doesn't do expeditions very often so a lot of time would be wasted waiting for them to do it but also, they wouldn't have the personnel to explore the dragon's urn because the rest of the members were too weak.

I'm assuming that the first time the Loki family was able to deal with Balor alone would be 3 years ago when the quartet reached level 5, so the first 4 years of the Loki trio as level 6s would have been years of stagnation where they would lose a lot of time waiting for the Freya family to defeat Balor and also their exploration would be very limited, so their statuses as level 6s would be mediocre at the time of that first confrontation.

Despite this, trio and quartet, all with mediocre stats, overcame the challenge of defeating level 7, so I don't see why they can't defeat level 8 if they are in almost the same circumstances.

As for the comparison between floor bosses and demi spirits, those from SO12 weren't much, they had a lot of resistance but not much more, look, no important character was seriously injured when confronting them. Much tougher was the one from floor 59, who had the Loki family on the ropes. I would say that Balor is much more powerful than those from SO12 and much weaker than the demi spirit titan.

It was you who brought up what the Loki family would suffer fighting a level 8 boss, arguing the difficulties they had against the titan alm demi spirit, but I didn't like that analogy because it was the spirit's magic that cornered them, something that a Rex monster doesn't have, although it's fine, I accept your point about the difficulties that could arise if the elite is limited to taking care of the supports and they can't fulfill their function.

That's why I suggested that the Loki family would need level 5 supports to face a level 8 and its level 6 friendly monsters, something that they could get from another family other than Freya, that is, I think you're exaggerating the need for very high levels (Freya) in the staff to face this Rex monster.

The truth is that Bell in no way shape or form as a Maxed out lvl 5 could beat Asterios even WITH a lvl boost and Ox Slayer. It's simply impossible.

Now as a max lvl 6 with lvl boost and Ox Slayer makes it possible. Another thing to note is that hopefully he gets an OP skill that will allow him to beat Asterios.