"Slash. Stab. Dodge."
"Impressive! You're much stronger now."
"Slash. Parry. Dodge backwards. Keep the pressure. Slash."
Breathing heavily, Shouri kept up his offensive, while ignoring his fatigued state.
"Faster too!" his opponent seemed too enthusiastic.
He feints a downward slash into a hard kick into his opponent's stomach, who widens her eyes in surprise but was able to deflect the strike aside. However, Shouri used the momentum of his leg to jump and roll midair to dodge a follow-up stab. Landing on the dirt on one knee, he readied his sword to rush back towards his opponent.
Shouri took a running stance and rushed towards his opponent, who mirrored his action, he raised his sword again for an overhead slash. The strikes of their swords created sparks in the air for a moment before he was kicked in the stomach, which sent him hard to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Sweating and panting profusely, Shouri struggled to get up as his stomach burns and blood stuck in his throat as he fought the urge to throw up.
"And definitely more durable!"
He looked up at the red-haired woman looking down on him with a smug smile. While his stats have risen immensely, he was still a level 1.
Although Alise was definitely holding back a lot, this spar was still leagues above their previous one.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself. I didn't know you had it in you to be… so sadistic."
Kaguya commented as she fanned herself below the shade of a tree, with her black hair swaying to the wind. Alise looked at her friend with wide eyes and an open mouth, either due to disbelief or being found out.
Cough "Well, she looks pissed… even with that… smile on her face." Sitting up on the dirt and nursing his stomach as blood drips from the side of his mouth. Cough
While his strength has grown tremendously in such a short time is certainly a great boon, Shouri would still need to keep his body up with his stats, mainly his body coordination as well as strategy.
Looking up to the two women that are conversing animatedly over Alise's behavior, he could not help but be grateful with the guidance they gave him. After an excruciating reunion with his savior, Alise offered to help him adjust with his newly gained stats.
While he was getting beaten repeatedly, this modus operandi of Alise revealed her extremely stressed mental state, as she was completely being overwhelmed by the darkness that covers all of Orario.
Alise has declined his request to help her familia in bringing the criminal organization to their heels. She states that while his strength growth is very impressive, it was still not enough to combat the evil and brutal demeanor of their opponent.
This rejection only fueled his desire to prove himself.
"Alise…" calling out the redhead from her slowly escalating argument with Kaguya, he ignored the pain in his body in order to take a bow. "This has been the third time your familia has saved me. The first and second time with yourself. I am forever indebted to you all."
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Alise and Kaguya smiling softly at him. He continued,
"I promise to catch up and surpass you, Alise. So, look forward to the day when I bring the light in the lives of many, just as you have on that fateful day from that warehouse."
It felt like it was only yesterday that she rescued him from the clutches of the slavers, and it was also the exact moment he became inspired to do the same. To bring justice and protect those who does not have the strength to do so by themselves.
Raising his head, he looked at his savior with resolute eyes while his lips is adorned with a genuine smile.
"Hehe… what can I say? Someone as pure and perfect as me would, of course, be so amazing like that."
While he admired her sense of justice and goodness of heart, her attitude could sometimes be too much, yet somehow still kind of endearing.
Kaguya, like much himself, felt the same as he looked at her chopping down on Alise's head, eliciting a weird 'Gwak!' noise from her.
"Just take the compliment, Alice." Said by the dark-haired woman. "Honestly, though, I am proud at how you raised this minion of yours in such a short time." She then smiled smugly at him, her sharp tongue gabbing at his wholehearted speech.
"I'm not her minion!"
"Damn right!"
He glared at Alise as she readily agreed, without delay, to her companion's comment. Regret filling at his heart, "I should've just left quietly." Although, a sense of lightness filled his chest at the same time, and a smile graced his face once more. "But this isn't so bad."
---
A few days after his departure from the Stardust Garden, the home of the Astraea familia, his life returned to what it was before the incident of the explosion. Namely, he was back at the dungeon.
While the atmosphere of the city is still gloomy and dead, the people still need to sustain themselves, especially the adventurer's who needs to venture the dungeon for magic stones and income.
Walking through the familiar terrain of the eleventh floor, all the monsters he encountered were swiftly eliminated without challenge. His growth may have been too strong for his usual hunting grounds, even with subpar equipment.
Descending into the twelfth and thirteenth floor was quickly done by his high stats and swordsmanship. He has defeated a few infant dragons and silverback even without the use of his skill and magic, supposedly making it harder for him to advance, yet still proved to be too easy.
The fourteenth floor greeted him with a pack of hellhounds, a dog monster that can fire magic flames. He countered the heat using his skill, which coats his weapon and body with an aura of frost for protection.
Dashing to the four hellhounds, he dodged the flames as he continues zigzagging and jumping towards the monsters with confident strides. Unsheathing his sword, he slashed towards the lead of the group, beheading the dog in a single strike.
The other hellhounds took the opportunity to leap at him with their maws open, aiming at different parts of his body.
"The one from the left is going for my throat, while the one from behind and the right are looking to hold me down by biting down my limbs." In just a split second, Shouri recognized their goal and acted accordingly. "Not a bad strategy, even though it only must've been their instincts."
Stabbing his sword to the left hellhound, he slammed his body to the corpse as he dug his sword down to the throat of the monster. He then slices it open as he kicked the body away to redirect his sword towards the other two.
As the remaining hellhounds crossed each other, Shouri took the chance to perform an overhead slash, cutting both monsters in half at the same time.
He took a brief look at the monsters, then decided to cut open their magic stones. After taking a short respite with a quick meal of dried fruits and water, Shouri continued his descent into the fourteenth floor.
His skill, Jas Gelida Tivra, definitely became much stronger after his growth in stats. All the monsters he encountered, even up to the fourteenth floor, became easy. He easily countered the magic of hellhounds, as his frost aura protects him from their flames.
The only challenge he encountered so far were a group of Almiraj that were considered to be level 2 monsters with their numbers. But even then, his magic also countered their speed, as the effect reduces the stats of his targets by half.
Currently in the fifteenth floor, Shouri decided against his logical nature, to continue venturing on despite more powerful monsters lurking on this area. After only walking for a few minutes later he encountered a powerful foe.
One of the strongest monsters of the middle floors, and is classified as an equal to a generic level 2 adventurer. Now face to face with this cow-headed monster, Shouri couldn't help but feel a little fear and excitement at the same time.
The minotaur howled at his direction, causing Shouri to slow down but resisted the paralyzing effect that would normally be caused to level 1 adventurers. Seeing its opening move ineffective, Shouri and the monster dashed towards each other roughly at the same time.
Shouri immediately noticed that his speed is greater than that of his opponent and with this information, he formulated a plan of attack. He activated his skill on his blade alone in order to empower his strikes, disregarding a full-body coating for protection, thus, he deployed another method to protect himself.
"Pulse and Break, hiera Gama, Heed my Call, Æfgrynde. [Inanis Potentia]!" He chanted and cast his magic while continuing his dash towards the minotaur.
Normally, a technique called concurrent chanting is involved in casting magic while fighting or moving around, however at this moment, Shouri's mind is occupied with a single focus. To test himself against this monster that his mind and body formed a perfect harmony, giving his control over his magic to advance.
Immediately after casting, the minotaur's already slow speed reduced even more and its eyes widen in surprise as it noticed that its movements became sluggish. Shouri reached his target in a split second, dodging a wild punch from the bull-headed monster and countering with a slash to its forearm.
Shouri drew the first blood and the minotaur howled in rage as it threw wild punches towards Shouri, who deftly dodged its strikes and littering the monster with slashes that quickly added up.
The fight became a game of cat and mouse as the minotaur tried its best to punch Shouri, and Shouri used his superior speed and weakened opponent to dodge its blows.
In just a minute and a half, Shouri already delivered more than a hundred wounds to his opponent, who is now bathed in its own blood. Shouri then decided to this fight once and for all.
Taking a stance with his sword, he lowered his body as he raised his sword to the level of his shoulder, aiming towards the minotaur's head. His focus empowered his skill on his sword, that slowly emitted cold air in the area.
In a burst of speed and a white flash, Shouri disappeared from the monster's view as he passed through his opponent. The minotaur halted mid-strike as its upper body separated from its waste, flooding the floor in its blood.
Shouri breathed a sigh of relief as his body relaxed a little after a good test of his skill and magic. Taking the magic stone from the monster's chest, it exploded into dark ash as a horn and skin appeared on the bloodied ground.
"A minotaur horn and skin. Good work really pays off, huh?"
---
His ascent from the dungeon went smoothly as he encountered a small amount of monster, which was swiftly eliminated. Shouri spent roughly nine hours traversing the dungeon up to the fifteenth floor which, after his fight with the minotaur, he immediately decided to go back up.
Arriving at the guild with no worse for wear, Shouri looked for his advisor. Miss Sophie is a white-haired elf with blue eyes who was initially skeptical of Shouri's desire to become an adventurer after he revealed his age, though at first, she was welcoming due to his above average height for his age.
After a demonstration of his strength, however, he was able to convince her of his decision and became his advisor.
Waiting for a few minutes, Miss Sophie emerged from the back of the guild and Shouri immediately waved at her direction. He locked eyes with her for a moment before she sighed and gestured for him to come along as she went back into the private rooms.
"She must have been busy." Shouri knew that advisors have a difficult job of working with adventurers, especially when their client failed to return from the dungeon. But sighing that deeply with the sight of him, that must be a higher level of stress on her shoulders.
Entering the private room, Shouri saw his advisor sitting down on a sofa waiting for him.
"Please sit down, Mr. Shouri. You have been missing for more than a week now, with no update of your condition whatsoever."
Sitting down opposite of the white-haired elf, she started to inquire about his disappearance. He explained all that happened to him, starting from the day of his first spar with Alice. His break from the dungeon to shop for better equipment, getting caught in the explosion of a magic stone factory, and his time on the manor of the Astraea familia. They nursed him back to health.
Miss Sophie stayed silent throughout his explanation, a silent understanding and relief replacing her former stoic attitude.
After a few moments of silence, she sighs once again, this time from relief.
"Thank goodness you're alive. Those evilus criminals are causing more and more trouble, as if the state of the city isn't dire as it already was."
"I agree. I wasn't able to notice it before when I first arrived here, but even before the attack, the city was already gloomy. They must be trying to drown the city into chaos even more."
Shouri nodded at her statement and replied with his own deduction. While he has little idea of what evilus really is after, sowing chaos in the city must only be a layer of a deeper conspiracy.
"Enough about that, how are doing now?"
Miss Sophie brought him back from his musing as he then updated her of his sudden growth in stats, as well as showing a copy of his skill and magic.
Her blue eyes widened with disbelief at his words, and her mouth dropped after he proved his claim to be true as he gave her his status sheet.
She looked at him and the paper back and forth before massaging her temple.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Instead of answering her question, he asked one of his own, seeking an ally to justify his crusade against evildoers. His purple eyes gleamed with anticipation and a proud smile adoring his face.
"Surely with this, I can help with catching those criminals from evilus, right?"