After another brief flash of light, the pair were once again in an icy cave surrounded by darkness.
They traveled along the icy cave in utter silence since Bekka was still exhausted from clearing the first floor all on her own and Exedra wanted her to get some rest.
"Grrrrr...."
Suddenly, the pair heard the sound of low guttural growls coming from all around them.
Large direwolves with icy white fur and crystal blue horns emerged from the surrounding cave.
The pack of wolves wasted no time in encircling the unknown intruders with obvious hunger in their eyes.
One of the wolves was larger than the rest and appeared to be the alpha.
He let out a terrifying howl as a signal to begin the attack and his betas wasted no time in carrying out his orders.
In the blink of an eye, ten wolves leapt through the air with their claws and fangs poised to strike.
However, neither Bekka nor Exedra showed any signs of panic.
"Gaia's retribution."
Exedra activated an earth element spell that sent spears of the earth rushing up from the ground.
The ice wolves let out yelps of pain as they were pierced by the columns of sharpened earth.
< x 10 Beta snow wolves killed.
- 1,000 SC gained.
SC was the system's currency which could be used to purchase things from the shop.
Exedra wasn't sure how long it would take him to accumulate enough currency to buy something, but if things continued at their current pace then he would be able to make his first purchase before the day ended.
When the Alpha saw how easily it's kin were killed, it became even more enraged than before.
Just as the animal prepared to attack in retaliation, when Exedra suddenly appeared in front of it in a flash.
When it's crystal blue eyes met his mismatched red and purple ones, something strange occurred.
For the first time, this beast experienced what it was like to be looked at as prey instead of a predator.
It's ears drooped, it's tail became tucked between it's legs and it lowered it's head in submission.
Because Exedra felt slightly empathetic, he gave the wolf a quick death by beheading it with a sword.
< 1 Alpha snow wolf killed.
- 200 SC gained.
< Host leveled up!
"Impressive!" Bekka cheered.
This earned a wry smile from Exedra as he looked at the dead wolves around him.
"You flatter me, my love. Truth be told, I doubt those wolves would have posed a challenge even for Mira." He said with a chuckle.
However, the system didn't take his words as a joking matter.
< Lack of proper challenge for host has been acknowledged.
'Come again?'
< Sending request to entity €#%¥$@* for an upgrade of dungeon difficulty or a suitable alternative.
'What the fuck?'
As if on cue, the entire dungeon began to shake as if they were in the midst of a terrible earthquake.
"W-what's going on?" Bekka had practically teleported to her husband's side and took his hand in hers.
"I don't know, just hold on, okay?"
After Bekka nodded in confirmation, the two were hit by a blinding white light before they lost consciousness.
-
"What the fuck has that psychotic god done now… I can't believe mother even allows this madness."
As Exedra came to, he heard the voice of an old man whom he didn't recognize.
"Ugh, my head…"
The grogginess only lasted for a mere moment before Exedra realized that he could not feel his wife's warm and furry hand in his. "Bekka!?"
The dragon sat up and looked around, only to see that he had been transported to an empty, roman style coliseum that was made entirely of ice.
All around him, snow was falling from the dark sky above and turning the ground into a snowy wonderland.
However, his wife was nowhere to be found.
"Bekka?!"
"Bekka!!"
Exedra's mind began to run at a thousand miles a minute, as he tried his best not to fall into a panic.
"SYSTEM WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?"
< System functions are currently unavailable.'
"What the fuc-"
"Can you shut up, you damn mistake? Your wife is fine, I just didn't bring her here."
Searching for the source of the voice, Exedra spun around madly until his eyes landed on a robed figure sitting at the top of the coliseum.
He wore elaborate golden robes that looked like something Duke would've picked out, and when one took a look at his face all they could see was a large snowflake.
Unconcerned with the strangeness off the man before him, Exedra immediately demanded answers. "Where is she?! What is this place?!"
"What an insufferable little mortal you are." The entity said with an exhausted sigh. "She is back at my dungeon, resting peacefully and free of danger."
"And this place.." he raised his arms out and spoke in a tone filled with pride "This is your proving ground!"
"Who are you that I should have to prove anything to you?!"
"I'd like to tell you but unfortunately an unevolved being like yourself hearing my name would turn your brain into pudding."
"Then send me back or say something fucking useful."
Suddenly, the strange man's voice became as cold as the harshest winter. "Insufferable wretch... if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were their real grandchild."
Before Exedra could ask him what he meant, the man suddenly snapped his fingers and materialized ten warriors made of ice.
Each one carried a weapon and was almost three meters tall.
"Listen up mortal, you find my dungeon to be lacking? Fine. I owe a favor to the one who brought you here anyway and this will be a fun way to repay it.
You are going to compete against fourteen waves of warriors. If you survive, then I'll give you a very good reward and return you to your sleeping mate."
As soon as he finished informing the dragon of what was about to happen, the icy warriors drew their weapons and rushed to attack.
Exedra hastily took out a weapon, a long black spear with a serrated blade.
"Do try not to die, I don't want to owe that damn psychopath any more favors, nor do I want to piss off that fucked up family of yours."
-
The first six waves of warriors were relatively easy to bring down.
But the seventh wave is where things got really complicated.
Instead of being regular warriors in armor, the snowflake man changed them into snowy werewolf warriors, and doubled their numbers.
They were bigger, faster, stronger and twice as deadly.
They attacked as a pack and swarmed Exedra with as many as four of them at a time, forcing him to go on the defensive.
If he hadn't had a special body, or significant magical talent, he would've long been overwhelmed.
The ice these solider were made of appeared to be highly resistant to heat, as even his flames could not melt them no matter how hot they became.
'And this is only the seventh wave...'
Bang!
Exedra delivered a swift kick to one of the werewolves and sent it tumbling into another a fair distance away.
Twirling his spear in his hand, he rushed towards the nearest group of werewolves.
His combat style had become more of a give and take, with each slash he dealt out, he would also receive one in return.
He just had to keep making sure that his were more lethal.
Slash!
"Damn it!"
One of the wolves finally cut Exedra so deeply his heart became exposed.
As my blood flowed out of the wound and he fought the urge to cry out in pain, he unfurled his wings and flew up into the sky for a breather.
"Oi, you fucking mistake! That's cheating!"
Before Exedra knew what was happening, the gravity on his body had increased 100-fold and he was sent plummeting into the ground.
Bang!
Exedra shakily crawled to his knees just intime to see that all of the werewolves had recovered and were coming after him with a vengeance.
'What the hell is this...?'
This wasn't how things were supposed to go.
With all of his cheats, wasn't he supposed to stand atop this world like he had always dreamed?
Was he always fated to lead such a miserable life?
Exhausted, battered, and defeated, the dragon closed his eyes as he waited for the final blow that never came.
-
Within a black space, a young man was curled up into a ball, shivering.
He was a heavyset human with tanned skin and old ratty clothes.
His thick glasses were currently smudged with tears that came from him sobbing violently on the floor.
Even though he was lost within the throes of despair, the silence surrounding him made it easy to hear the footsteps that were coming closer.
"W-Who...?"
The young man looked up to see a face that he recognized all too well.
Standing in front of him was another young man, only this one was clearly not human.
He had a thin and wiry frame, with long messy black hair and golden yellow eyes.
With two black horns on top of his head and patches of scales around his face and arms, the man was clearly a dragon despite his weak body.
"What are you doing? You're going to end up being the reason why we end up leaving the girls behind." Exedra said in annoyance.
Carter shook his head as he moved to sit cross-legged on the ground. "I'm trying, okay! T-This isn't as easy as I thought it would be and I'm still-"
"Enough!"
Exedra lost his temper and finally snapped, causing him to double over in a coughing fit as he held his chest.
"This isn't some kind of game or one of those stories from your old world! This is our life, our REAL life! If you don't take this seriously, we are going to lose everything that we were just staring to gain!"
The truth of those words hit Carter like a ton of bricks.
He hadn't been taking this seriously, or at least not as much as he should've been.
The assumption that he'd be able to coast by in this world due to his system and dragonic heritage had almost caused him to meet an untimely end.
He would've left behind all of the women in his life who he was still getting to know, yet had already come to love.
And it would've been all because he was too weak to struggle.
"You wanted to be something better than human, right? It doesn't look like you have the resolve for something like that from where I'm sitting!" Exedra scolded.
The dragon held out his hand and pulled the chubby young human to his feet.
"You can't just be selfish and live on your own anymore, this is my life too! And I don't want to die when I've only just begun to live!"
Carter took off his glasses and wiped his eyes dry. "I get it... You're right."
He placed his glasses back on his round face and looked at the other soul within him with a determination that he'd never displayed before.
"No more games."
-
When Exedra opened his eyes again, the monsters were still rushing towards him but instead of feeling panicked he felt an eerie sense of calm.
That sense of hopelessness that assailed him before had already vanished like dust in the breeze.
"Alright… let's be serious now."
< Skill : True Demonic Transformation, activated.
< All stats + 5,000