Today in the Dungeon, many adventurers witnessed something both unique and strange- A group of 20 people, a Familia by the looks of it, fighting against monsters but in a strange way. The group first isolated five monsters before sending a single member of their family to kill the five monsters, if they failed they were brought back into the circle before the rest of the monsters were killed by a big red-haired guy. Not even the long-range attackers were spared, not even the mages, they were forced to fight tooth and nail to survive- The most surprising, however, was this elven man that chanted his spells while trying to move, but he would break concentration on his spells to move away from danger, and that was tiring him.
"C'mon Ajax, I know you can do it- One mind, one body, focus on your body and magic, and let the words leave your mouth. You've cast this spell a hundred times, you don't have to focus too much on it." Darius' words motivated Ajax, who started to pant heavily as his body stats were shit as he was a Mage! But he didn't give up, because Darius promised he'd bring the ones who failed back tomorrow and do this all over again, and those who passed? They'd also be back, but the ones who failed would have to kill double the previous amount of monsters. Darius was a cruel trainer and captain, they couldn't deny that, but he was also weirdly soft. Yeah, he would tell them their mistakes and rights when fighting, telling them that first, they need to learn how to fight if someone is close to them- This also worked for the long-ranged fighters who had a fail-safe if someone got close to them, while the close-range and mid-range fighters just had to polish their skills more.
"Oh water, call upon thy name, come forth and strike my enemies with thy mighty strike! Aqua Strike!" As Ajax chanted the spell, he didn't focus at all on the incantations, he focused on the magic leaving his body and on dodging the attacks of the Kobolds- Ajax followed Darius' advice to change the normal water ball into a pressurized water needle, it took a toll on his mind, but he managed to do it, taking a step into becoming a strong mage by learning Current Chanting! Current Chanting is a high level technique involving casting magic while fighting or moving around. Its difficulty is likened to dealing with a bomb with both hands while fighting due to the chance of failing a chant or not being able to control their own magic power, and Ajax managed to learn this because he has a massive talent but was also put through a dangerous situation where he might lose his life or be heavily damaged.
Three of the five monsters were killed, but he was too tired to move around too much, so he just stayed still and chanted: "Oh water, call upon thy name-" Both Kobolds didn't wait for him to finish his chant, instead going at him quickly, which made Ajax panic and cut his chant: "-Water Strike!" He thought he would go through An Ignis Fatuus (Which occurs when the user becomes unable to control the magical power when using magic and the magic self-destructs after letting it go out of control.), but to his surprise, the spell just happened! Not stronger, but quicker.
That day, the Vice-Captain of the Soma Familia was born, Ajax The Devil.
-Scene Cut-
After making each and every single member of his Familia fight for their lives and get injured, Darius clapped both hands to get the attention of them all: "Now maggots, gather up!" He released the blue powder from his body, making their injuries heal at a visible rate: "Let's go back home, tomorrow everyone will be back here by the same time, but every single of you will hunt and kill 6 monsters, and tomorrow? Seven! Until I am satisfied with your performances none of you are allowed to rest, and if you try to run away I'll find you- you understand me, maggots!?" The group stayed silent, dread filling their guts before Darius' eyes glowed a bright crimson color as a roar exploded out of his lips: "You understand me, MAGGOTS!?"
"SIR, YES SIR!"
"GOOD!" Darius grinned widely, everyone there felt like they were seeing the devil himself, but their tense muscles relaxed when he said: "Now, you can do whatever you want until the morning- You can go drink, you can go fuck any whore you can get, and you can go training with me. The choice is yours, and of course, I won't make it any easy on you all tomorrow morning." Darius saw as the majority got up and started leaving, but before leaving they nodded towards him and whispered: "Later boss." or "Later Captain." as they ran away from the dungeon. The only three who stayed were Ajax a small Support Boy (he looked like a small boy at least), and Bunny guy (His name is Silverly)-
"Boss, I got it!" Ajax was so fucking proud of himself- He managed to do something he has been training for years: Current Chanting! That is considered one of the most important skills powerful mages can use! "Good Ajax... You two, ready for the hardest thing you'll be through!?" The small support Pallum looked nervous but nodded seriously, while Bunny Boy just sighed before nodding- Darius directly took them down the dungeon alongside him, they had to keep up and survive until they reached Floor 18, where they'd be safe. The journey was full of deadly monsters, the Support Pallum had a bunch of items he could use to distract and damage the monsters, he used a small dagger and a crossbow to attack, and Silverly used his body to kick and fight against the monsters.
Ajax kept fighting relentlessly, even his staff broke and he used it to stab a Hellhound in the open mouth, hurting himself in the process. They almost died a lot, but their damaged bodies were healed by Darius, the only thing he didn't do was help them in their fight unless they were about to die- Like how Silverly almost died from a Minotaur's ax strike or how the Pallum (His name was Agathax) had to be pulled from a giant Dungeon Worm's way before he could be swallowed whole.
By the time they got to Floor 18, they could no longer move or lift a finger, so Darius let them rest up for tomorrow while he worked on his things- He just went further down the dungeon, hitting Floor 25 before deciding to go back up and rest a little as he used his [Modified Fanalis True Form] to scout- He was massive, about 10 feet tall on all fours and 20 feet long from snout to tail, he was angular like a wolf but his whole body was crimson red and around his neck was this deep burgundy red puff of fur that made his mane, and wanna know something crazy? He can walk on two feet too! He used his magic [Mimicry] to collect a few monsters such as this blue crab who had a stronger body than the big armadillo he fought before, making his defense stronger! He also killed a bunch of Harpies who threw their feathers on him, so he threw them back and killed them!
That's how he managed to make his arms have feathers, he tried flying but only managed to glide for a few meters before he had to land- he hasn't given up on his child's dream of flying! He fought a big mushroom that spread out poisonous spores, fought this giant mammoth thing that had spears for tusks, a bunch of dragonfly monsters that would shoot him with projectiles from their abdomen, and he also killed a lot of these giant bees that had a big thrusting stinger. He beat the shit out of them with his flaming fists, he also loved how stronger he got, it was so easy to jump higher than 100 feet in a single leap that he managed to just go bonkers on an entire floor, taking his true form and rampaging to kill a lot of monsters around- The only problem was that when he got back to his human form, he was completely naked.
He didn't care about his nakedness, but the guards sure would!
Well, not like they can stop him anyway.
-Scene Cut-
"Good morning men."
"Good morning Captain! (Sir/Boss)!"
Darius just stood by Soma, who had this look of pride on his face as his Familia's captain kept talking: "Soma just informed me that a lot of you have had an increase in status, and a few can directly level up-" There was more to it, by the grin Darius gave the trio: "Ajax, Silverly, and Agathax can level up- However, they won't." Due to the silent shock of the three, they didn't say anything as Darius explained his reasoning: "They will only level up when one of their stats reaches rank S- for Ajax, his Magic has to reach S, for Silverly his Agility has to reach S, and for Agathax his Dexterity has to reach S. If I find out any of you have leveled up without having one stat at least being in the A rank, I'll beat the shit out of you until your Endurance reaches S! You got it!?"
"Sir yes sir!"
"Good- Now everyone gets one of these bottles, you'll drink this every single day!" Soma passed by each member of their Familia and gave them a small bottle with a pale blue coloration: "This is a healing potion mixed with alcohol and poison, this will serve to train each and every single one of you and build up your poison resistance as well as other things that affect both the mind and body, stronger poisons that make you confused and dizzy, and even drugs. When you level up, I want to see that Abnormal Status Resistance right there at least Rank E!" Nervously, everyone gulped their poisoned potion, the effect was slow but lingering, damaging their insides and giving them a bad case of pain through their respiratory system, which was another thing Darius planned on training them on- fighting while injured and in pain.
Ajax and two others, the only mages of the Soma Familia, were having a harder time casting their spells, which made their hard-earned kills even more meaningful- Sadly this was only the start, and every single member of the Soma Familia would be changed, Supporters and Fighters alike were being shaped into warriors of a very special kind by Darius, who had experience in that area.
He bent and broke a bunch of people, only to remake them stronger than ever.