Chapter 30: A Boss Battle

"Hello, young man. Why are you here in my humble abode?" Astraea asked with a pleasant smile.

"Ahem... Well, that's the thing Astraea-sama..." Alise was getting nervous as hell.

"Shut up Alise. Continue." Kaguya put her in a choke and Lars nodded at her in gratitude.

"You see, your captain over there violated an unspoken rule between adventurers. And that is to kill steal." Lars squinted his eyes.

It is a very controversial topic, especially to someone who's grinding his ass off.

"Oh my..." Astraea looked at Alise for confirmation and the red head nodded with a despondent expression.

"What was I supposed to do? We met him earlier and we know that he only has one arm.

The guild also told us that he's just a level 1. He was being swarmed by a pass parade you know!?" Alise tried to give her side.

"Well, that is true... But you still didn't ask him if he wanted help. And when we checked on him, he was definitely capable on dealing with it." Ryuu stated.

Alise gasped at the betrayal and Ryuu raised a brow. "What? We can't lie to Astraea-sama."

"As you have heard, after a hard time luring those monsters. Your captain just went in and started stealing my hard earned monster horde." Lars complained.

"Sorry about that, how can I repay you?" Astraea asked him.

"You know, you shouldn't really ask someone that question." Lars deadpanned at him.

"That's right Astrea-sama! What if an unscrupulous ruffian was the one being asked!" Ryuu was outraged.

"Hey..." Lars glared at her. "I'm not saying you're a ruffian, but I have to protect my goddess." She huffed.

"But if you insist, there is something I want." Lars grinned.

__Monstro__

Lars returned back to Monstro with a grin on his face and Alfia raised a brow at him.

"What's gotten you that excited?" Alfia for suspicious at him.

"Well, remember that you're training the girls?" He asked her and she nodded.

"You see, unlike talented people. We have to progress bit by bit." Lars rolled his eyes at her.

"It's not my fault that I can imitate anything that I see once." Alfia had a smug smirk on her face.

"Tch, what a show off. Anyway, I tasked the girls you took on in the past to train them." Lars explained.

"Those girls huh? I guess they were pretty decent." Alfia remembered the Astraea familia.

Though she let them win, they fought pretty well. But they did need a magic artifact from Hephaestus' greatest smith and Asfi Andromeda.

One of the only known people that has the mystery DA. And she could still kill them in one hit if she wanted to.

"But why? Wouldn't they improve leaps and bounds with me?" Alfia was a bit confused of his reasoning.

After all, better equals more improvement in her mind.

"That's the problem... You are good, too good. People accumulate experience and skills.

Normal people achieve greatness by accumulating those things. Unlike heaven defying geniuses like you." Lars deadpanned at her.

"Are you one then? Because I haven'y taught you for long. But you can already fight so well." Alfia rubbed his head.

"Aren't you my little genius then?" Alfia teased him a bit.

"Don't pat my head. And no, I'm someone who exploits the system. And what system you ask? Magic." Lars grinned at her.

"I didn't know it much back then, even now really. But I can feel it, see it. The movement of magic in your body." His golden eyes glowed.

Alfia blinked and a bead of sweat rolled off her brow.

'What a ridiculous monster... How can you call yourself normal if you could do that?' Alfia almost snorted.

"I remembered the movement of magic. Every time you moved, I copied it until I perfected it.

Practice makes perfect after all." He shrugged and Alfia couldn't wait for him to awaken his magic.

It was only a matter of time. She didn't teach him anything about it because hers was instinctual.

But if he could already sense mana like that. 'I wonder how far would he reach?' Alfia anticipated his growth.

They arrived at Monstro and Lars called for the trio.

"And wouldn't you think it's a good idea to know how top adventurers fight?" Lars said to Alfia with a twisted grin on his face.

"We're scouting the whole of Orario. We can't rely on you forever. And learning how they fight. Won't it give us a really good advantage?" He smiled sweetly.

"What a bad guy, you would definitely fit in with evilus." Alfia sighed at his antics.

"Weapons don't kill people Alfia. People, kill people. If they become a threat, we should know how to deal with them." Lars shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, continue on with what you're doing then." Alfia shooed him away.

"Lars! Thank the gods you're here! Take us away from here!" Tiona clung to him and she was exhausted as hell.

"Alfia's gonna kill us one of these days." Tione complained as well.

"She doesn't give us any rest days Lars." Airmid sighed as Alfia got a bad trait from interacting with Lars.

And that is to abuse Airmid's magic. Especially when she got her DA.

Alfia would run them to the ground until they could barely function due to mental stress.

"Yeah, about that. I actually found sparring partners besides the xenos for you guys!" Lars announced and they sighed in relief.

'The xenos aren't humans after all. They fight really differently.' Lars smiled at them.

"Really? Who are they?" Tiona got excited and she thought of big time familias. Like the Ganesha, Freya, and Loki familias.

"It's a B rank familia, the Astraea familia." Lars grinned and they didn't expect that.

"Woah, I was imagining the top familias. But they're pretty good too." Tiona nodded in satisfaction.

"I think we could polish our skills against them before we could learn more from Alfia..." Tione rubbed her chin.

It wasn't just exhausting to train under her. Their confidence and morale also decreased day by day.

After all, Alfia can just read them like a book and neutralize anything they throw at her.

'They probably don't feel like they're improving... I remember those days.' Lars had a wry smile on his face.

"Can we trust them though?" Airmid voiced out her concern.

"Well, they're a familia that has a good reputation." Lars asked around about them.

And the people all had good things to say about their familia.

"Then let's go!" Tiona wanted to breathe some surface air and battle different opponents.

"Yeah, we can use a little break." Tione sighed and it was bad enough that fighting people higher level than them can be considered a break.

"I'd like to meet with Astraea too, I heard that she's a good goddess." Airmid chimed in.

"Come on, let's get you girls acquainted with them." Lars chuckled and they went back to the surface to stay on the wheat manor for now.

__Stardust Garden__

"Hello everyone, we'll be in your care." Airmid was the leader of the girls even though she is level 2.

Because Lars said so. And Airmid also has a great head on her shoulders.

"Oh my, so young and are already level 3's. The other one is also the record holder for leveling up." Kaguya was intrigued.

"Hehe~ we work out." Tiona scratched her head, acting embarrassed by her praise.

Because she definitely didn't want them to know how they got to level 3 that fast.

"Please take care of us." Tione bowed and was all polite.

'Lars dedicated his time for us to have a break! I must show results.' Tione was prepared to do her best.

"You guys are too polite you know?" Alise chuckled at them.

"It's normal at first meetings Alise. Hi, don't be worried to tell her she's being rude okay? I'm Ryuu Lion." Ryuu introduced herself as well.

"I'm Kaguya, we'll take turns in sparring with you guys." Kaguya gave them a small bow.

"They can handle what you can give them, so take them seriously okay?" Lars patted them on the back.

"What are you going to do, Lars?" Tiona asked as he was poised to go.

"I'm going to prepare you girls for a level up." Lars smiled at them.

Tiona and Tione had wide smiles on their faces, while Airmid had a bad feeling.

"So work hard alright?" Lars waved at them and they nodded.

"I think he's going to make us do something ridiculous. I remember what I did to level up to 2." Airmid shuddered.

"How bad can it be?" Tiona chuckled and Tione laughed.

__17th Floor__

"I hate you... You just had to jinx it didn't you?" Airmid glared at Tiona and she was sweating.

"I didn't know he'll make us fight the goliath with bare bones armor and weapons!" Tiona cried out.

"Who would've? But you still jinxed it." Tione frowned at her.

"Hey! You were laughing with me a couple of days ago!" Tiona was apalled by the betrayal.

"Shut up! We'll kill it and nobody will die!" Airmid kept them in line and she prepared to chant her magic.

"You can do concurrent chanting?" Tiona was surprised.

"Well, Alfia would throw stones that could make melons explode at me while I practiced. And if I ever stopped chanting, she would smack me around." Airmid had a grave expression on her face.

"Wow... That's insane really." Tione shuddered, remembering Alfia's bone breaking training.

"Incoming!" Tiona shouted and they dogde rolled to the side.

A large boulder then hit the position they were in.

Tremors shook the floor and the goliath started with a jog.

As its heavy footsteps resounded, the monster rex's gait, slowly turned into a full blown sprint.

"Prepare for battle!" Tione looked at her kukris and she almost discarded them due to how small they were.

"You're shaking you know." Tiona patted her on the back.

"You're one to talk... You're also shaking. We have to protect Airmid as the vanguards you know." Tione chuckled.

"Heads up!" Airmid shouted and the goliath tried to stomp on them.

Tiona slashed the goliath's leg after she rolled to the side.

"Tione!" She shouted in urgency and Tione nodded with determination.

The amazon jumped towards its calf and stabbed her kukris on its muscle.

Airmid dodged all around the place, slashing at the goliath's tendon. But her sword and swings were too weak.

"Keep at it Airmid! Aim at the same spot all the time!" Tiona got the aggro of the goliath.

She had the necessary tools to damage it right now. So she slashed with her large blade and incurred its anger.

"They're doing pretty well, but they have to try harder." Lars looked at their battle.

The goliath has been categorized as a level 4. But monster rexes are different. Their unique fighting style and abilities bump up their danger.

And with an eardrum shattering roar, the goliath used one of its abilities to paralyze them with fear.

"This... Its roar is laced with magic!" Airmid who was more resistant to magic than the twins informed them.

"Tione!" Tiona saw her sister fall after the monster roared.

She was almost at the shoulders of the monster by climbing with her kukris.

The goliath then didn't forget about Tione and it was poised to crush her with its hands.

Airmid saved the day as she threw her kite shield to the side and lunged on the goliath's heel.

She stabbed her sword at its tendon with all of her weight and strength.

The goliath snarled in pain and Tiona immediately charged in as well, kicking the pommel of the sword.

Like a nail, Tiona pounded it in with all her strength and the goliath was forced to kneel down.

"I'll take care of it!" Tione recovered her footing and immediately jumped towards its back.

She sprinted like her life depended on it and arrived quickly at the location of her kukris.

"Die for our level up!" Tione took her kukris back and stabbed it in its neck.

She then hoped for the goliath to struggle and increase the size of the wound.

But the giant wasn't as stupid as she thought. And it swatted her like a mosquito.

Tiona went wide eyed and the world went into slow motion in her eyes.

"Tiona! Tiona! Minotaurs and ligerfangs are appearing!" Airmid called out to her, but the amazon wasn't reacting.

"I might need to step in." Lars squinted his eyes.

"Argh! I'll kill you, you fucker!" Tiona's eyes turned bloodshot and she used her skill, berserker.

Her other skill also activated and her brown skin adorned a pinkish hue. Steam escaped from her body and she charged in.

Swinging her double sided sword, it shattered when it hit the giant's shin.

The impact fractured its bone though and the goliath screamed in pain.

She then kicked the embedded sword on its achilles heel sideways.

With its tendon cut off in its leg, the monster rex was maimed.

"Raaa! I'll fucking kill you!" They heard Tione scream out in pure rage as well.

Tiona sobered up after hearing Tione and she saw Airmid being jumped by minotaurs and ligerfangs.

"Tch, I have to save Airmid first." She brandished her back up sword and made quick work of the monsters.

"Thanks!" Airmid panted and she also casted her magic on Tiona.

"Tione! Catch!" Tiona threw her back up sword. Her strength recovering due to Airmid.

The amazon on the goliath's head saw the flying weapon and she caught it.

"Die!" She then stabbed it to the hilt on an angle on its neck.

The sword pierced through its skull. Her berserk giving Tione a sizeable boost in strength.

Tiona and Airmid then move to intercept the giant that fell down.

"Well done." Lars suddenly stopped them and he had a smile on his face.

"We have to kill it Lars!" Tiona tried to push him to the side.

"You already did." He took out the magic stone of the monster and he tossed Tione an elixir.

"Now, for the fun part." Lars smirked and they went back to the surface.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.