Cain was the first one to wake up feeling a slight stinging in his marbles, noticing the girls snuggling up to him. It was a good night yesterday but it’s time to get back, with the dungeon break solved they should be able to restock on ores and finish the quest.
Cain gently pushed the girls to the side and stood up, Selena was the first one to wake up due to his movements.
“Good morning!” Cain looked at her with a wary smile, “About yesterday…” He was intending to tell her what he did yesterday.
“If it’s about doing me like that then you don’t have to worry, I also did use you after you fell asleep-nya!” Selena declared, “Not just me-nya, Alice and Sofia as well-nya!”
That explained the stinging he was feeling, turning back and dragging the two girls from their ankles. “Wake up, we need to move!” Cain woke them up.
‘Let’s just wake them up.’ Cain shock them even harder, and the two slowly jerked to life.
“Morning…” Sofia yawned, and Alice just stretched.
“Good morning.” Cain looked at them dead in the eyes, It was time to move, they have already spent two days underground, longer than their trip itself.
After a quick meal and a bit of preparation, they exited the tower.
Clap! The tower crumbled to dust after Cain released his magic, the girls looked in awe, it had disappeared in an instant.
“No matter how many times I see it, your magic is always extraordinarily amazing,” Sofia said, genuinely amazed by what she had seen.
Cain blushed a bit, this was probably the first time in his life that someone praised his magic, and it was one of his original spells!
“I did spend over fifty yea…months, to get it working!” Cain almost spilled how long he spent on that single spell, to him it was embarrassing, especially since it was a spell that most people deemed useless.
Lisworth’s tower was a spell that needed a minimum of 18 intelligence despite being a third-tier only, it as well consumed a tremendous amount of MP and even relayed on a ninth-tier spell to create the tower storing dimension. The embodiment of over the top.
“Master, Master!” Spindle came back screaming, he seemed oddly stressed as he harbored bad news.
“What is it? Did you find a monster?” Cain drew his sword, they were still underground.
“The cave, the way back, it collapsed!!” Spindle news alarmed Cain more than if a monster appeared. The girls showed clear signs of stress and fear when they heard his words.
“Stay calm, we might find a way out!” Cain said trying to comfort the girls, they needed to have a look first.
“Spindle, lead the way!”
They followed spindle to where the collapse happened, indeed it was their way back out, it was perfectly clogged up.
a massive boulder was clocking the way, unfortunately, it seemed to hold the ceiling as well which made digging a bad idea.
“Can we remove it-nya?” Selena asked, flexing her arms, ready to start working.
“No, we might cause a second collapse and that will kill us.” Cain refused the idea, they have to find another way out.
The plan was simple, look for another way out, preferably a tunnel that will go around the boulder so they can get out the same way they entered.
For food, hunting monster will be their only solution. Water wasn’t a problem as it was easy to find in those caves and Cain could make it with magic.
Keeping their hopes up, they started looking for another way out. The cave seems, all the same, Sofia felt as if they were going in circles. Cain always assured them they were making progress but deep inside he as well felt they have gotten lost.
If it was him alone, he could cope with it. survive by hunting monsters and live the harsh life until he finds a way out. It could be the same if it was just him and Selena, beside from him, she was the only one not fazed by the situation. The problem was Alice and Sofia.
Sofia was getting stressed out by the minute and Alice didn’t have enough stamina to hold out, he needs to find a way out before things get worse.
Other than finding a way out, he could try to dig back to the surface for the blockage point. The other hard way was leveling up to Level 13 and unlocking seventh-tier magic so he can teleport back out.
Both ways would take ages, and time that he doesn’t have.
Preserving their food and looking around, the day quickly ended and they started to feel tired.
Cain quickly found a suitable spot to erect his tower, just as the last time, a bath and a bedroom. After taking a quick shower they retreated to the bedroom to discuss what to do next.
With the situation being this serious, Cain suggested that he put the girls under rigorous training. The goal was to harden and give teach them what they need to know about survival.
Selena is going to train in martial arts, Cain can’t perform the moves due to his low strength but she should be able to do it, all he needed to do is teaching her.
Sofia will also train in magic, especially about how witches fight. Increasing her raw firepower.
Alice would train on controlling her powers, trying to use both holy and Cursed auras at the same time.
Cain doesn’t need training, he will focus on teaching them, as well as hunting for food.
…
On the next day, Cain started training them.
“This might seem complicated at first but listen to me well,” Cain said in a gentle and slow voice. “Okay-nya.”
“As you’re preparing to launch a punch, try feeling the Mana inside your body. It has a fuzzy feeling about it, the same feeling you get when being healed with magic.” Cain explained.
“What should I do after that-nya? Just punch?” Selena asked, throwing weak punches into the air.
“Just before your punch connects, release that Mana you’ve been feeling to deal more damage.” Selena did have powerful jaws making her deadly against medium to small creatures, but that was different against large monsters where she can’t bite a vital spot. And most monsters have built resistance and are tough to cut without magic weapons, this technique will turn Selena’s body into a magical weapon.
Selena has a decent amount of MP that she isn’t using, by doing this she fights at a much higher level and maybe even be able to stand face to face with people like Takeshi.
Cain then left Selena to her things, trying to make any progress in her training.
Alice was training under Spindle, her goal was to release the Cursed Aura outside to damage the opponent her body and the Holy Aura inside to heal herself. She was also training to keep [Cursed Decay] Active in her left hand, while [Holy Healing] is active on the other, giving her a death touch and a healing touch.
Her next step would be channeling her magic through weapons, that way she could start training as a paladin. Smiting Evil with her right hand and smiting people with her left hand. She was giving him Sylph vibes with her potential it wasn’t even funny.
Next was Sofia, she will train directly under Cain in combat. He will teach her to fight the same way the witch who enslaved him did. They strangely both specialized in fire magic.
“So let’s start with the basics, as a witch, never show your identity when fighting. Get used to fighting with a staff in hand.” Cain said she was to train while always holding her staff.
Sofia nodded as she held her staff tightly.
“Next take your shoes off, they will mess with your early training stage.” Cain waited for her to take her shoes off before finishing the explanation.
“Remember, each nail is a catalyst. Witches’ magic can be volatile so you don’t have to strain a single nail. Spread the magic through the five nails of whatever limb you’re trying to use.”
If she was casting a firebolt from her hand, she should use all five nails at the same time for better stability.
As they started sparring, Sofia launched herself with [Burning hands] toward Cain, she liked to close distance with that move.
Cain easily caught and threw her to the ground, her movements were simple and easy to predict. She tried to get back up but she was quickly restrained.
“Being a witch or a mage, a spell caster shouldn’t jump like that into combat. Instead of closing the distance, use that move to keep away from your opponent!” Cain explained.
And with that routine, another two days have passed before they could find something useful, or let’s say, bad.
As they were walking, Cain suddenly stopped a terrified look on his face.
“Cain?” Sofia asked, and Selena took her fighting stance.
“I can sense Cubus magic, one must be close!” In the same way, it meant they might find an exit, it also meant they most likely had to fight the succubus.
Cubus meant it was either a Succubus or an Incubus. Both ways it was bad news.