“FATHER!!”
Cirri rushed towards her father, her eyes moist.
“FATHER!”
She shouted again, burying her face into Kael’s chest.
“Cirri, I am fine.”
Kael spoke in a light voice as he gently patted his daughter’s head. His back was supported by Igni’s body, who was silently checking him, making sure his father wasn’t hurt.
Vitaria and Imperia were here as well, but just like their older brother, they remained silent. Vitaria licked Kael’s arm with her small tongue while little Imperia, who was sitting on his head, constantly patted his head.
Yes, the Trial was over.
They… failed again.
After Kael lost his arm, Cirri lost her calm and shouted. That instantly broke the team connection the two had formed. Without it, Kael, whose own senses were compromised, adding to the fact that he was under agonizing pain, found reacting to the enemies’ attacks impossible.
After his arm was cut, the knight tackled him from behind, breaking his spine. He tried moving, but the snake came and bit his right leg off before the harpy released another horrifying wind blade that beheaded him.
Yes, it was agonizing, traumatizing even.
But…
Oddly enough, Kael was getting used to dying like this.
He was more worried about his daughter instead.
“I should have warned you, I wasn’t fast enou—”
Cirri wanted to cry, but,
“Cirri, it is okay. You did well, exceptionally well. Especially how you unlocked your new form, you turned an entirely hopeless situation around and made it possible for us to clear a Trial that seemed impossible before.
I couldn’t be prouder.”
“But I couldn’t help.”
Cirri muttered in a low voice.
“You couldn’t help? Cirri, you were the most helpful during the battle. I was the deadweight who couldn’t hold myself without your help. I lost the moment our connection broke, that was how dependent I was on you.”
“But…”
Cirri turned silent, looking into her father’s eyes with her moist, amber eyes.
Kael kissed her forehead and,
“You were absolutely amazing, Cirri.”
“Father…”
Cirri closed her eyes, accepting her father’s kisses as her heart finally calmed down.
“…”
Igni stared at the scene in front of him in silence.
‘You are doing it again, Father.’
He thought inwardly.
‘You are making us too used to your love…
We won’t be able to live without it if you continue.’
Of course, if Kael knew his thoughts, he would have flicked his forehead with all the strength he had.
For now, Igni was safe since Kael hadn’t yet unlocked this ability.
After he calmed Cirri, he spent time with the rest of his children. Since he had already told the King about his ability, he wasn’t exactly worried about staying inside the Sanctuary for too long.
He only left when it was time for his training.
For the next few days, his schedule was similar. In the morning, he entered the Tempest Sanctum together with Cirri, then he spent time with his children, before he took a bath and went out with Veylara to hunt.
After returning, he either had a chat with Elira and Arlan or with the King. Then, he briefly read the spell book Elira had given him, practiced spells written there, and meditated to increase his Mana Reserves at the same time.
After that, he spent time with his children again and went to sleep.
A simple, yet fully packed schedule.
The Trial of the Tempest Sanctum was much more difficult than he was expecting. Even with Cirri unlocking her pretty much unbeatable form, he wasn’t able to clear it.
His movements were still all dependent on Cirri and while their connection was good, it wasn’t good enough. Both sides had their own problems to deal with.
Kael simply wasn’t good enough for aerial battles since he didn’t exactly have the ability to fly. Most of the time, he was without a footing, his position was awkward, so his attacks could not even produce half the force they usually did.
This was also the reason that Brontis survived even after Kael’s punch connected—Kael was unable to use his full strength. Not just that, his other abilities like Roar of Domination, Ember Cloak, and Draconic Surge were useless too.
The Roar of Domination just didn’t work simply because of how strong his enemies were. Ember Cloak was useless because of the completely unsuitable environment—the fire was put out before it could even form, just like the Fire Spells—and the only thing Draconic Surge did was to increase Kael’s reflexes. The effect it had on Kael’s speed was non-negligible since his movement all depended on Cirri.
As for Cirri, well, the little Dragon had a lot to do as well. Yes, her senses allowed her to see everything happening in the battlefield, but her mind wasn’t yet developed enough to analyze everything in real time and instruct Kael properly.
Many of her instructions were incomplete. More than once, she gave wrong instructions because she panicked. She also failed to follow her own instructions multiple times, and even when she somehow took out time from all this to attack the enemies independently, because of her level, her attacks were so weak that they did almost no damage.
In the end, she was still just a 5-day-old Dragon. She obviously wasn’t prepared, but she was doing her best.
Both the Father and Daughter were.
Kael continued to improve his aerial battle. With time, he was getting more and more comfortable in the air. He adjusted his posture according to his conditions, his body got more aligned with itself, his attacks started connecting, he was able to put in much more strength than when he had started.
He was able to get rid of one of the three enemies more than once before the Trial ended.
Of course, with Kael, Cirri improved as well. Because she was able to level up with Kael as he hunted and learned new spells, her mind was growing at a rapid pace. Her attacks still weren’t very strong, but her battlefield analysis was getting better and better.
Her instructions became much clearer and because her and Kael’s connection improved with time, they only needed a few words to communicate more, saving a lot of time.
Yes, the rate at which the two were growing was absurd.