Chapter 49- Training in a dungeon

The bleak corridor of the reverse dungeon had a strong, pungent odour reminiscent to a rotting corpse that choked the air. The deeper they got, the stronger the odour and the more oppressive the feeling became.

Lucious had already grown accustomed to the dungeon, and the only thing slowing him down was Liara as she stopped every dozen seconds to gather her strength.

"Can you keep going?" Concern was evident in Lucious's voice as he rest a hand on her back.

"I'm fine... let's keep going." Her reply came in staggered breaths but she managed to pull through and continue forward.

Soon enough, she'll grow used to the feeling. Lucious mused as he watched her make her way further down the corridor.

The duo soon arrived at a crossroad with three different paths to take. Lucious extended his aura to sense where the various paths would lead before picking the path to the left.

Growl

They had barely been walking a minute before they heard the low growl of a monster.

Slowly stepping out of the shadows was a humanoid figure with dark greenish skin. It was completely bald and had naught but a loincloth covering it.

Lucious could easily dispatch it on his own, however, he chose to simple stand by instead of drawing his sword.

"Use your frozen arrow and aim for its head or heart." Lucious calmly said as he watched it start running towards him.

"R-right..." Liara took a deep breath and held out her arm.

A cold, white glow began to focus around her hand and illuminated the area around her. At the tip of her finger, a small but sharp arrow made of pure ice took form and left a cold trail as it short forth.

The goblin slashed its clawed hand at Lucious, aiming for his chest, before being sent back as the spell hit its mark. Unfortunately, the arrow struck the goblin a centimetres off the intended target as it hit its chest.

Blood sprayed at painted the walls red and the goblin let out a pitiful wail. Its murky yellow eyes shifted from Lucious to Liara as the goblin got back to its feet. "Again."

Lucious watched as a second arrow shot forth and implanted itself in its shoulder. The goblin clutched its shoulder in anger and leaped towards Liara with as its claws glowed.

"Focus! Relax your mind and keep your aim steady." Lucious's tone became stern as he stepped aside and watched from the side-lines, offering no other assistance.

Liara, for her part was trembling as she saw the wild, enraged glare in the goblins eye. Fear gripped her heart as she took a step back.

Aside from a few humans she killed in anger, she had never harmed anyone in her life. Hearing Lucious's surprisingly strict tone reminded her of the soldier instructors she occasionally heard in the castle yard.

However, his words broke her out of her fear induced reverie as she cast another frozen arrow.

This time, her frozen arrow embedded itself inside the goblins head, piercing the brain in the process.

Liara watched as it fell to its knees, taking its last breath and collapsed. The feeling of ending another's life, even if it was a monster, was overwhelming and she couldn't help but throw up.

Lucious sighed as he saw the light fade from the goblins eyes then land on Liara's hunched over condition. He threw its body in his inventory then pat her back in a reassuring manner.

"Three arrows to fell a goblin... we have a lot of work to do." Lucious said as he helped her up.

He used his mana to summon some water for Liara to drink. Though his mana control wasn't much better than hers, he was able to manipulate the temperature to be ice cold for her.

Once Liara managed to calm herself down, she forced herself to stand up without support.

"Thank you, I'm ready to keep moving..." Her voice was a little shaky as she continued down the gloomy corridor.

Lucious followed alongside her and extended his senses once again. Unbeknownst to Liara, he had intentionally led her to the goblin earlier and was doing so again.

If she couldn't even handle the weakest race, then she wasn't ready to explore the dungeon or protect her country in the upcoming war.

After a dozen minutes of walking, Lucious and Liara saw two goblins walking towards them. Neither one had noticed the adventurers hiding within the shadows and were only alerted once a frozen arrow pierced the chest of the goblin on the left.

Unlike before, Liara was able to pierce its heart in a single spell, killing it as a result.

Seeing its comrade fall left the other goblin confused as it slapped its now dead companion. Using its momentary distraction, Liara shot another arrow right into its arm.

"GRAAA!" feeling the cold sting of the attack, the goblins head whipped up in the direction the spell came from, and there it saw a burst of cold air heading straight towards it.

It barely managed to move itself out of the way before charging straight towards Liara, who was now currently standing in front of Lucious instead of behind.

Due to the reversed positions, all the anger and hatred was focused on Liara and she couldn't help but take a small step back.

Lucious sighed and put his hand on her back and gave her a gentle push forward, denying her the chance to back out.

"Don't be afraid, you are stronger than it. It won't hesitate to kill you, so you must respond in kind." Lucious said as he saw her tensing up again.

She grit her teeth and fired two more frozen arrows, the first embedding itself in its knee while the second pierced the loincloth, causing the goblin to shriek in pain.

Lucious couldn't help but wince as he saw the arrow strike the goblin in its precious jewels and unconsciously crossed his legs.

Liara however, fired one last frozen arrow spell, killing the goblin as its heart was pierced.

"G-good job." Lucious said with a strained voice while tearing his gaze away from the pitiful sight of the body with an frozen arrow sticking in its loincloth.

As before, Lucious quickly threw their bodies in his inventory then guided Liara down the path.

The same pattern continued on for an hour and in that time, Liara had killed over a dozen goblins. By now, her mana was starting to run a little low so Lucious had found a relatively quiet spot for her to rest.

"Just focus on recovering your strength, then we will continue on. If anything comes this way, I'll deal with them." Lucious said as he took a protective stance in front of her.

He had hoped to progress further than the first floor but given Liara wasn't confident in dispatching her enemies, Lucious decided against it.

Liara closed her eyes and sat in the lotus position as absorbed and then purified the mana from her surroundings. Due to the abundance of mana within dungeons, what should have taken her an hour took a mere twenty minutes.

In that time she didn't even notice that she had slowly become increasingly less bothered by the oppressive feeling the dungeon naturally caused.

At this rate, she can probably kill another ten goblins before we need to leave. Lucious thought as his mana sense skill detected her mana refill.

He then looked towards the monster ring she wore on her left hand. Inside, Loa was peacefully sleeping, blissfully unaware of the struggles Liara was going through.

Tonight, you will feast on a couple monster cores and start being useful to the two of us. He mused while thinking of the challenges ahead as he planned for Liara's and Loa's training.

However, not even Lucious could have predicted what fate had in store for them and or the consequences his meddling would bring.