106 Let’s Go To The Dungeon!
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One panther was gone, defeated by Aquarina’s outstanding performance. Her magic-infused knife was actually a good catalyst for her water magic, letting her infuse slicing water into it, making the cut very clean and strong as her magic was stronger than her physical abilities.
In fact, I also saw some great techniques in there. She was probably taught these by her father, not really her mother. Shade was an expert at moving at fast speeds, plus he could use all sorts of techniques using knives and other secret weapons, such as kunai, shuriken, and even needles. Maybe Aquarina will learn more from him than I thought… ugh, damn it. I also want to learn more from him, but my father’s training barely leaves me any free time!
“ROAR!”
Ah right, the battle!
There were four more panthers left. Three of them were burned by my attacks, but they were still alive somehow. Meanwhile, another one was sneaking up right behind me.
“GROAR!!!”
SLASH!
A powerful slashing attack reached my back as I infused Ember into my foot and jumped into the air, evading the powerful Shadow Slash that the Shadow Claws were well known for.
…..
While in midair, I swung my blade several times, unleashing more slicing attacks, this time in a cross pattern!
SLASH! SLASH!
BOOOM!!!
The cross-pattern slash was special, holding the impact of two slashes in one, with the center of where both slashes intersected held a very strong force. In fact, this ended up making it even deadlier. In any case, the cross attack hit the panther’s face and well, the entire face was sliced into four pieces, dying instantly. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air around us a bit.
“Vertical Swing! Kick!”
On the other hand, Zack suddenly unleashed two techniques to defend against the three wounded panthers attacking him. He swung his axe vertically and sliced through all three of the panthers, throwing them off while one of them ended up trying to bite his leg as it managed to be impacted less. He then infused mana into his right foot before kicking it into the panther’s chin. This “kick” he said wasn’t just for show. In actuality, this was the incantation for one of the beginner unarmed fighting techniques, Kick. Simply put, it allows one to kick someone with a lot of strength!
CLASH!
“GRYYAAOO…!”
Zack gritted his teeth in anger as he rushed forward. Then, his axe was quickly encompassed by a powerful and large amount of mana as he slashed the panther he just kicked. The slash actually pierced through the beast’s torso, slicing the entire monster in half!
SLASH!
“ROOARR…!”
BOOOM!
Soon, the massive cat fell over the floor as its innards came out of the sliced halves.
Meanwhile, the other two seemed fearful and began to doubt if it was worth it to keep fighting, but now that we killed three of their friends, they were too vengeful to think too straight, rushing forward while Zack was tired of attacking to finish him off.
“Aquarina!”
“On it!”
With Aquarina, we rushed forward with all the strength we could muster. I unleashed my flames within my blade while Aquarina left behind a trail of blue oceanic water behind her blue-colored magic knife. We reached Zack in an instant as we protected him from the two panthers.
CLASH! CLASH!
“Ah… you girls…” he muttered.
“Leave it to us!” I said in response, quickly gathering several Embers within my free hand before unleashing a large fireball right in the face of the panther.
BOOOM!!!
“GRYYYAAAOO…!”
The massive cat received the blast right on its face, making it fall over the ground motionlessly. Unexpectedly, it was knocked out!
“HYA! Quivering Water Dagger Technique: Torrential Slashes!”
Aquarina suddenly unleashed a new technique we had not seen before, swinging her little arm at an incredible speed. Each slash unleashed a strong river of oceanic water that clashed with the panther’s body several times, all of them being as sharp as spears!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“ROOOAAR…!”
CLASH!
With that, the other massive cat fell to the floor. Well, it was more than just dead, it was devastated! Surprisingly, Aquarina left its entire body covered in holes… damn.
“I-It’s done… phew…” I sighed in relief, sitting on the floor.
“That was tougher than I thought, we had never battled so many at the same time… did we enter into one of their territories?” Zack asked.
“Yeah… maybe you should mark this area as Shadow Claws territory, Sylphy… ugh…” murmured Aquarina, barely able to move after overexerting herself so much.
“You’re right…” I replied.
After saying that, I quickly wrote that down on my map as we decided to rest for a bit.
Then, I opened my pouch, which was a special dimensional inventory item my mother had gifted me recently, where I had stored some bottles with water, as well as some fruits and sandwiches.
“Want some?” I asked.
The two kids looked at me with tired yet hungry expressions as they nodded.
Aquarina grabbed an apple and a cheese sandwich, while Zack got a meat sandwich and a pear.
We enjoyed our meals while drinking some water.
“I wonder where that dungeon your mother had spoken about be…” I said all of a sudden.
“Huh? You’re planning to go to a dungeon?! Isn’t that dangerous?” Zack could not help but ask in response.
“Yeah… m-maybe we can defeat these monsters, but we end up becoming very tired… dungeons are said to be infested with monsters to the brim, Sylphy!” Aquarina said, trying to dissuade me.
“I know, I know… but I kind of want to memorize where it might be at least…” I said in response.
“Hmm… I don’t really know, then. We should look around until we find something,” said Aquarina as she quickly stood up, ready to resume the journey.
“Yeah, let’s keep looking… but if we find it, let’s not head inside, okay?” Zack said.
“Sure, I promise you!” I replied.
“You’re not really convincing us…” said Aquarina and Zack at the same time.
“Eh? Ahaha! You said it at the same time! You make a good pair,” I could not help but reply.
“Huh? Ugh… don’t say something so disgusting, Sylphy!” replied Aquarina, making a disgusted expression.
“Yeah! Don’t joke around like that…” Surprisingly, Zack agreed with her.
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