83

Keade watched as a big group of Hobgoblins came marching out of the Fortress fully equipped and ready to fight her, all of them were wearing Light Armor, wielding swords and had bows and arrows strapped on their backs as well, the fact that they were taller and more muscular than regular Goblins gave them a more fierce some image.

But Kaede felt ready and was not intimidated by the Hobgoblins nor their numbers, so she bent her knees and the launched herself straight towards the Hobgoblins who weren't expecting the intruder they came to deal with to suddenly jumped straight at them.

As big and strong as the Hobgoblins are, they're quite slow with their reactions to a sudden rush attack, the result was the monsters breaking ranks to try and dodged Kaede who smiled at them spreading out.

As she moved forward her body was suddenly engulfed in flames and her speed picked up, one of the Hobgoblins wasn't fast enough to get out of the way and Kaede crashed against him.

The Hobgoblin didn't even have a chance to scream when he was suddenly and violently blown back by Kaede's Flame Charge Attack, her connection to the element of fire had made her flames incredibly hot and that made the Hobgoblin turn to ash as his body flew through the air.

But Kaede didn't stop there, with her body still engulfed in flames she began to spin around on her toes and then swung her arms out, two Fire Spins shot out her arms and shot out to her sides.

Two groups of Hobgoblins were caught off guard by such a maneuver and were immediately hit by the Fire Spins and burned alive, Kaede felt the boost on her speed take hold after using Flame Charge and grin.

At this point the Hobgoblins finally reacted to her and rushed to attack her, they all used Buff spells to increase their stats as they ran forward towards keade who closed her eyes and got into her fighting stance as she opened her palms.

She calmed her mind and hearts, while then sharpening all of her sense and as soon as she heard the foot steps of the Hobgoblins get close, she began to smoothly move and dodge all of their sword swings.

I smiled as I watched Kaede used what Lucario had thought her, it took a while and a lot of bruises for her to learn to move like that and to trust all her other senses, but once she got the gist of it she got pretty good with the style.

Lucario was very surprised and proud that Kaede could fight like a Lucario despite being unable to use Aura or use Aura Sense, my Fighting and Steel Type Pokemon grew very excited and tought everything he knew about his fighting style to Kaede, which is why the little Oni had quite a bit of Fighting Type Moves in her skill set.

As Kaede began to easily dodged all of the sword swings coming at her from all directions, she began to counter attack as well, her open hands suddenly exploded with Fighting Type Energy and she began to hit the Hobgoblins with Force Palm as they missed her.

Everytime she dodged a sword strike Kaede would lash out with a Force Palm to the chest or head, the Fighting Type Move would make the Hobgoblins hearts explode inside their chest or the brains inside their skulls.

Soon enough Kaede began to be surrounded by dead Hobgoblin bodies that began to turn to dust as soon as they hit the ground, however the Hobgoblins got smart and seeing that swords weren't very affective against Kaede, they opted to step back and try long range attacks.

The Hobgoblins took out their bows and arrows while others began to cast elemental spells, Kaede danced around the arrows and spells though she ignored the Fire and Earth spells since those didn't do anything to her and she just let them hit her.

This was something she learned about herself while she was training with Charizard and learning Fire Type attacks, Charizard accidentally didn't pull one of his Fire Punches and ended up hitting Kaede in the stomach and engulfing her in flames.

That scared the scales off Charizard and the fur off Lucario who were with her, but then got confused when Kaede didn't stop fighting and kept going even when still engulfed in flames, though she ended up noticing soon after and promptly panicked as well.

Their panicking drew my attention and I couldn't help but sweatdrop when I came over to see what was is going on, only to see Kaede rolling on the ground and in flames while Charizard was whipping her with his tail trying to put the flames out.

After I calmed everyone down and checked on Kaede we found out that she was immune to Fire and later through a bit of experimenting to Earth as well, in fact when hit by these two elements she can heal and even restore her mana with it.

It was quite the shock and scared us a bit but it turned out to be something good, so we all decided to ignore the little drama that little scared caused and just be glad that Kaede was immune to Fire and Earth.

This fact made it easier for her to rush forward as she dodged or ignored the spells coming her way, the arrows didn't even come close to hitting her either and as she drew closer the Hobgoblins began to panic.

Most suddenly began to back pedal while ccontinuing to try and hit her, but some couldn't handle a small girl approaching them with her eyes close and dodging everything they were sending her way with ease.

These Hobgoblins grew scared and nervous until one suddenly roared and ran forward towards Kaede, as soon as he got close he suddenly glowed signaling his use of a skill and suddenly lash out with a two sword swing in the form of a X.

But Kaede easily slapped away both sword strikes with the palm of her hand and then got in close to the Hobgoblin, for the Hobgoblin time seemed to slow down as Kaede placed the tip of her fingers on his chest and suddenly flex all her muscles while closing her fist and trusting it forward.

The last thing the Hobgoblin felt before he died was how the bones of his chest loudly cracked and were pulverized, the Hobgoblin instantly died as his chest, lungs and heart were destroyed and his dead body was sent flying back.

The Hobgoblin's dead body crashed against some of the Hobgoblins behind him who were trying to shoot Kaede and were killed upon impact, Kaede had punched the Hobgoblin's body so hard that it was sent flying at high-speed turning him into a projectile, that killed the Hobgoblins that the body crashed into.

This also resulted in the Hobgoblins breaking ranks again in order to dodge the dead body of their fellow monster, Kaede took advantage of this opening and used Quick Attack to immediately reached a group of Hobgoblins.

She was really glad she bribed Mr Grumpy into teaching her this Move with cookies, it was very useful after all.

Kaede reached one of the Hobgoblins in a blur of movement, this monster was trying to run away from the group she wanted to attack and tackle it out the way, with her Oni strength this meant the Hobgoblin was hit with the force of a speeding Bullet Train.

The Hobgoblin died on impact way before he even landed on the ground, meanwhile Kaede ignored all of that, and then jumped knee first into the face of another Hobgoblin breaking both his face and neck.

She then used the Hobgoblin face as a foothold and pushed off of him, she twirled in mid air while her leg suddenly exploded in flames.

Kaede then lashed out a Blaze Kick directly into another Hobgoblin's neck kicking his head off, but then flames on her leg shot forward unleashing a Heat Wave, that hit the Hobgoblins behind the one she just beheaded and burned them alive.

Kaede then immediately began to chant, before she landed on the ground "O roar of the earth, bring forth the fangs of the mighty dragon... Ground Dasher!".

Jagged stone stalagmites shot out of the ground beneath a group of Hobgoblins and torn them to pieces, while Kaede softly landed on the ground and took a big breath.

Despite all the training she had done she still gets winded when moving like this so she was feeling a bit tired right now, she exhale and took a quick look around and saw that there were only a few Hobgoblins left.

[Holy shit! Kaede got super strong!.]

I nodded in agreement to Astraea's obvious observation *its not only that, she also got faster and smarter too, she's practically a Tank but with her agility and reflex it's almost impossible to hit her*.

[So she's a combination of a Rogue and a Monk right? speed and an impenetrable defense... what a scary battle style.]

*Its not only that, Kaede is pretty tricky as well that little sandstorm plan of her shows that, plus she's also actively paying attention to all of her surrounding, overall she's an army killer*.

[Hahaha I feel bad for the idiots who come looking for trouble! she'll tear them apart in a second!... I guess almost time for us to go back home huh Rean?.]

I nodded *yes, Kaede doesn't need me around anymore... these monsters might be in the first floor but they're easily beyond High Class rank and Kaede is thrashing them around like nothing, plus the Peace Treaty will happen soon and I want to be there just in case something happens*.

[I'm going to miss Kaede... she's fun and very funny too.]

I looked down for a second but nodded nonetheless *yeah, I'm going to miss her too, she's become a great friend but we can visit her whenever we want*.

[...Are you going to tell her about everything else? the Pokehome? and the System? we can trust her with your secrets and I'm sure that if you add her to the Party, she will be very happy too.]

*...yeah, I think I will, plus she will love the Pokéhome, the Pokémon Center and everything Pokemon related there*.

(Also! because she will have a Pokémon of her own she can actually join you, when I open the Pokémon Dungeons! both of you will benefit from it!.)

Gaea is right, Kaede is a Pokémon Trainer now and that means she can use and take advantage of everything in the Pokéhome, Wiene will also now be able to use the Pokémon Services for her.

I bet she would love to finally do her job as a Pokémon Nurse with Kaede around.

The gate to the Fortress suddenly opened again and out of it came out a very tall and muscular Goblin of sorts, he is heavy armored and has an axe and shield equipped on his hands.

Kaede frowned seeing this new monster since she hadn't noticed it before, she then realized who this monster is "I see... so you the Boss of this Fortress, the one Rean told me to watch out for..."

The massive monster did not reply or even reacted in any way, instead it suddenly roared and threw his Axe towards Kaede who was caught off guard by such an sudden and unexpected attack.

Kaede tried to jump away away but she saw that she was to late to dodge and instead braced herself for impact, but then a red and white Pokémon she hasn't seen before appeared in front of her and protected her with a barrier of green energy.

The Axe slammed against the Pokémon's barrier and was then deflected away, the Axe the suddenly flew back to the monster who growled at the new arrival.

Kaede awed at the Pokémon, to her it looked very adorable, but had this sense of power that told her that this Pokemon wasn't a normal one"... did Rean send you to help me?".

The red and white Pokémon turned her head towards Kaede and nodded with a smile, Kaede smiled back at it "I see, it seems like he's still keeping an eye on me even now... hehe that makes me very happy for some reason".

The red and white Pokémon cheerfully chirped which made Kaede giggled in amusement, suddenly she felt Rean appeared behind her causing her to turn around to face him "I see you've met Latias, she's adorable right?".

Kaede of coursed nodded and Latias immediately floated towards me to get a headpat which I happily gave to her "thank you Latias".

Latias just nodded and continued to happily smile, Kaede then turned towards the massive monster that had come out of the Fortress "what is that Rean? that monster feels completely different...".

I nodded to Kaede letting her know that her assumption was right "that's a high class monster known as a Goblin Lord, I didn't think we would find one here but I think you can still take it down, just be careful".

Kaede nodded and felt confident now that Rean was behind her and keeping an eye on her, the few Hobgoblins that were left actually ran away into the forest and were probably keeping an eye on how everything was would come to an end.

The Goblin Lord began to wildly slam his Axe against his shield while Kaede got ready, I decided to give her one piece of simple advice "don't hold back Kaede, that monster is can be very dangerous".

Kaede nodded and decided to give it her all, so she immediately let lose her Oni Power, her body was suddenly engulfed in her crimson and golden energy.

A shockwave was released from the energy engulfing Kaede, but the Goblin Lord did not react instead, he seemed to be even more excited about what was about to happen.

The energy engulfing Kaede dissipated and I smiled as I saw her in her Oni Form, her long horns growing out of her forehead, her hair glow like red fire, her red hot claws and the fangs on her mouth showed that Kaede was now going all out in her true form.

Her body was now giving off an impressive amount of heat, so hot that it was melting the ground beneath her, it made me realize that Kaede's connection to her elements was increasing.

Kaede growled and then shot forward at a very impressive speed, the Goblin Lord however was able to see her move and tried to block Kaede's attack with his shield.

That was a mistake, the moment Kaede launched a punch and struck the Goblin Lord's shield, two things happened next.

One, the Goblin Lord was sent skidding back and two his shield actually heat up and began to get hot red, the Goblin Lord growled and threw his Shield to the side and immediately dodge and jumping knee to the chest.

He then countered by swinging his Axe downward towards Kaede but she side stepped it and lashed out with an elbow to the Lord Goblin's wrist, she however expected the Monster to try to dodge her attack.

But instead the Goblin Lord lashed out with a fast jab from his free hand, forcing Kaede to cross her arms in front of her face to block the attack, she grunted from the force behind the quick jab and was sent flying back a bit.

But the little Oni rolled on mid air and landed on her feet, she quickly ducked when she saw that the Goblin Lord had followed her and the moment she landed he swung his Axe to behead her.

The Axe missed her and sailed above her, while Kaede was crouched down she attacked one of the Goblin Lord's knee with a punch, that was the decisive blow of the battle.

The moment Kaede punched the Goblin's Lord's knee she completely destroyed it, the knee not only bent backwards like a wet noodle but is let out a disgusting snapping sound, that echoed throughout the area.

Of course the Goblin Lord drop to the ground soon after on his good knee and let out an agonizing howl of pain, but the battle was over.

Kaede stood up and spinned on her toes and lashed out with a Blaze Kick that struck the Goblin Lord's neck and beheaded him, his head was sent flying away like a soccer ball from the force behind Kaede's Fire Type move.

The head actually burst in flames mid air and the metal helmet melted from the heat of Kaede's fire attack, the moment the head landed on ground the body was already turning into dust.

Kaede stood there in shock at how everything happened so fast, she even looked around surprised and stared at the head in flames as the Goblin Lord's body slumped on the ground, while still turning into dust.

Her energy was still very much hot and she was already melting the ground beneath her, so I walked up to her and gave her a headpat bringing a surprised squeak from her "good job Kaede, you beat the Goblin Lord".

Kaede looked up at me and seemed confused at first but then she snapped out of it, she suddenly sighed and shook her head "that... that was fast, I've prepared myself for a long fight but it was over before I knew it".

I smiled and nodded "fights are like that sometimes, especially if they're life or death situations, we can't always have an epic fight worthy of a movie Kaede sometime one mistake, one single moment could decide the out come of a battle".

Kaede let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and nodded, she then closed her eyes and transform back into her Human Form and stepped away from the melted ground she was standing on.

She then looked around "what now? I defeated the Boss right?".

I nodded and pointed at the Fortress "now you have to walk to the Fortress and step inside, once that's done the Fortress will become yours and you'll get all the loot inside".

Kaede smiled and seemed very excited again, she then took off running towards the Fortress while I watched on, Latias floated towards me and happily chirped "yes, she's so strong now".

I watched as Kaede went inside the Fortress, then the Fortress glowed and changed as soon as Kaede stepped inside.

It now looks like a old school Japanese Fortress with a flag that has a picture of Kaede's face on her Oni Form on it above the main building, it was a very adorable mechanic and a good way to show Kaede's first big accomplishment forever in the Dungeon.

(I thought it would be appropriate to show who had cleared the Fortress and who it belongs to, this way it will forever stand as a sort of trophy for everyone to see.)

*I like it, this will make it fun clearing all of these Fortress, I take it that for the Floor Boss to appear we have to clear all the Fortresses right?*.

(Hahaha you got it Rean! you really knew your way around Dungeons Huh?.)

I smiled at Gaea's comment and question "*I am a Gamer after all* Gaea giggled while I decided to walk towards the Fortress and see what Kaede got from clearing this Fortress.

I went inside the Fortress and went to the only building inside, once I entered I chuckled as I saw Kaede sitting on top a pile of gold and laughing at the amount of money she got.

I had kept all the Gold the monsters dropped last time we were here and kept checking the conversation rate to Yen, that way I could give Kaede the exact amount of money she got from defeating monster.

After all she doesn't have a system that would turn all the money she got into the current currency of whatever world or place she was is, but I did.

Once the was done I gave to her all the money she got and seemed to be already be planning to save quite a bunch to buy more Pokémon Plushies, especially because I told her that we would be releasing new ones soon.

Right now as I saw her sitting on top of her newly acquired pile of gold while laughing, I could already tell she was planning to buy all the Plushies she could.

I walked up to Kaede and when she saw me she immediately jumped down her pile of gold "look Rean! I got so much gold!".

I chuckled and nodded at her "that's right and it's all yours too!"

Kaede cheerfully smiled while I pointed an open hand at it "now let me exchange it to Yen, I'll give it to you when we get home okay?".

Kaede nodded and I let the system pick up the gold and add it into my in-game money in a separate spot in my inventory, she really got quite a bit of money for sure.

Now that we emptied the pile of gold and emptied the room, all that was left was a single chest in the middle of the room, Kaede turned her head towards me and gave me the most excited look yet.

I laughed a little and nodded, which prompted Kaede to take off running towards the chest and opened it right away.

Inside she found a necklace and two red arm bracers, she took them out of the box and showed them to me when I approached her.

I took a close look at both rewards and used my Akashic Dragon Eyes to see their effects and stats, the Bracers were just generic red leather Bracers with a slight boost to attack and defense while the necklace has the effect of raising resistance to Magic slightly in general.

They're were simple rewards but apt for the first floor of Gaea's Labyrinth, me and the girls usually sell stuff like this in the in-game store, because we have no need for it.

But Kaede seemed very happy and proud as she held both items in her hand so I decided to let her keep them "the Bracers are a Fist type weapon that boost both defense and attack a bit, the necklace will give you a slight resistance to Magic, not bad finds actually".

Kaede smiled and immediately put on the necklace and equipped the Bracers, she then proceeded to punch the air a few times to try them ou.

After a few seconds she nodded to herself and smiled, she then turned her head towards me and gave me a grin "these are awesome Rean!".

I nodded at her, suddenly a little light came from out ide and from one of the windows of the building, the little light then drop to the ground and revealed itself to be a very small Fairy, to me and Kaede.

I recognize her as a Xeno so I knew this was something Gaea prepared, especially because the little Fairy was wearing a merchant outfit complete with an apron and everything.

The Fairy raised her little hand in greeting and then spoke "hello! congratulations on clearing your first Fortress! this makes it your first base now and you can rest, heal and buy stuff in here! my name is Fa~ and I'll be more than happ- whoa! hey let go! let me down!".

Kaede did not let Fa finish her introduction and picked her up to inspect her closely, I think Fa felt a bit embarrassed as Kaede looked and touched everywhere, because she let out a startle 'kyaaa' which not going to lie, made me laugh quite a bit.

Kaede was over the moon though "wow! a Fairy! your wings are so transparent a shiny! and I like your white hair too! oh! you have pretty blue eyes too! Fa your beautiful~".

Poor Fa looked so embarrassed and shocked at what had just happened, I don't think she knew how to react to a very excited Kaede.

I decided to give her a hand, so I gave Kaede a headpat which made her stop ranting "Kaede let her go, she was still talking you know?".

Kaede blushed in embarrassment and nodded, soon after she let go of Fa and the little Fairy flew away a bit and sighed in relief "sorry Fa... is just the first time I've seen a Fairy and I got excited".

Fa shook her head "it's fine, you just caught me off guard a bit there... though it doesn't feel bad being called beautiful... ahem! anyways a saying~ now that you cleared this Fortress you can find me here and buy stuff from me! but only simple generic items though".

Kaede nodded and then proceeded to ask to see Fa's wares, I'm not sure what she bought from her but I did hear Fa say something about smoke and explosion but decided to ignore that.

Not sure why Kaede would buy things like that but I'm not going to judge, I did see her buy a few Panacea Bottles too though.

They're a bit pricey but they can heal any status effects, so they're very useful and even though her ribbon gives her a resistance to such effects, she wanted to make sure she was ready for anything.

Which made me feel proud of her, afterwards we decided to go home and end the day here, Kaede asked where Fa was staying and she told her that she had a home, that if she needed to buy something to just come to her Fortress and she will be summoned.

I think she's living in the Pokéhome with the rest of the Xeno but I'll check that later, Kaede then waved goodbye to Fa ,while I took us out of the Dungeon.

With Kaede clearing the Fortress we can now come into the Dungeon through it and get out from it as well, it is a very convenient mechanic and one that will make things easier.

After we arrived back to the Nakashima household Kaede immediately grabbed her Pokémon Egg and went inside to tell her parents about what she had done, I just followed her inside with a smile on my face for a Dungeon Diving day well done.

That night after Kaede rested, took a bath and got changed into her regular clothes I decided to tell her about the Pokéhome and a bit of my Gamer abilities, she practically knows about me the same as the girls now.

She of course took it all in stride and actually said that explained a lot about me and the powerful abilities I have, plus she did feel that the Labyrinth was very gamey as well.

Soon after, I added her to my party so she can have access to the Mini Map, telepathic communications and the Pokéhome, which she will be visiting sometime soon when we get a bit of free time.

She really wanted to meet the Xenos and the rest of the Pokémon she hadn't seen yet, but for now we will be busy with our training, while waiting for whatever else comes our way.

Though I did have to also tell her that I would soon have to go back to Kuoh, that she didn't need me to protect her and her family anymore, and that I'm just staying to help her with training a bit more.

This of course made her very sad and she even teared up, she looked up at me and gave me one of the saddest looks I've ever seen "we'll still be friends right Rean?"

She actually looked scared about my answer, she might be a very powerful Oni now, but she was still that same small girl I met a week and a few days ago, that same girl that didn't have any other friends besides her parents.

It reminded that Kaede must have felt very lonely growing up while being unable to trust the people around her, it made me feel a bit bad but I decided to just alleviate her worries "what are you talking about Kaede? of course we will still be friends".

Kaede looked into my eyes as if looking for a sign that I was lying or something, I just smiled at her trying to let her know I'm being honest "you have access to the Pokéhome now and you can teleport to my house from there with ease, plus you still have to meet my family, my daughters and my girlfriends! I'm sure they'll become your friends as well... you don't have to be lonely anymore and you won't ever feel like that again".

Kaede teared up again and nodded, I hugged her and just let her cry a bit.

She must have been worried about all of this for a while now, we both knew that I had to go back home at some point after all, but it seems that it came way faster than she thought and took her off guard.

But I never had any intention of just leaving and never seeing her again, Kaede and her parents have become good friends to me and I don't forget my friends.

I'm still working on the Portal so Hestia, Bell and the others can come visit us anytime they want after all, still it seems that this little Oni needed some assurance and was more than happy to give it to her.

Meanwhile back in Kuoh, Rias and her Peerage were all gathered around her office in the Occult Research Club building waiting for something or rather someone.

Soon enough a bright orange Magic circle formed on the floor besides Rias's desk, and soon after a small blonde haired girl with a 'Drills hairstyle' materialized from the Magic Circle.

Everyone in Rias's Peerage stared at the girl who looked around for a little while, soon after she turned around towards Rias and gave her a little bow in greeting.

Rias nodded to the blonde girl "Ravel, I take it your in good health?".

Ravel nodded, both her and Rias did not know how to act around each other, things were a bit awkward between them after all, especially because of what happened with Ravel's brother.

Still Ravel knew she had to be polite, she never agreed to Riser's actions and behavior, but she also thought that Rias was making too much of a big deal about it too.

Then again she can hardly blame her for fighting her wedding to her brother to the bitter end "I'm doing fine Lady Gremory, I hope your also doing good".

Rias smiled seeing that Ravel wanted to keep things civil and nodded "there's been a lot of chaos and confusion in the human world lately, but I've been good".

Ravel nodded, she knew about what Rias was talking about, it was hard not to when the entire Devil Faction was talking about the massive Dragon that appeared out of nowhere on top of the planet.

She was positive that it was Rean who had blanketed the entire planet with his body, something her mother and father agreed with, but it seems like Rias and her Peerage did not know about Rean's true power "you mean the massive Dragon that appeared out of nowhere right?".

Rias nodded "yes, even I had been questioned about what I've witnessed that day, some of the other Factions have been wanting to contact me as well but my brother has put a stop to that... besides I don't know much myself, only Ddraig and Issei seemed to know what's going on, but they're not telling anyone anything".

Rias pouted at Issei who sheepishly smiled "sorry Bouchou but it's not my story to tell, your just going to have to wait and see".

Ravel stared at the current Red Dragon Emperor, she had met him before during the weeding party but he felt different now, more wild if she had to describe what she felt from him *so the Red Dragon Emperor knows about Rean... it's good that he seems loyal to him*.

Ravel then looked around "where's Lord Hayashi? I believe he was informed that I would eventually arrived here no?".

Rias and everyone else sweatdropped at the overly polite way Ravel just addressed Rean, they knew Rean wasn't one for formalities so they didn't know how he would react about being called 'lord Hayashi' by a girl younger than him.

Rias sighed and shook her head "honestly we don't know ourselves, according to Serafall, Rean left to do something for Yasaka but she didn't informed us as to what".

Rias shrugged not really knowing what to say to Ravel, the Phenex girl frowned and hummed a bit "... I really wanted to personally meet Lord Hayashi though".

Everyone raised an eyebrow at how disappointed Ravel seemed right now, they all wondered how she knew about Rean, though Rias knew that she was here in Kuoh to act as a liaison between the Gremory, Phenex, Sitri and Rean.

Koneko sighed and stood up from the couch she sitting "come one fried chicken... I'll take you to meet senpai's sister... she'll take you to his house and you can ask about senpai there".

Ravel frowned "f-fried chicken? how dare you address me in suc- ah! wait for me" Ravel stopped her rant mid way when she saw Koneko ignore her and leave the room.

The little Phenex ran after the Nekoshou not wanting to be left behind while Rias giggled in amusement "it seems Koneko found a new friend... or victim, but who knows?".