The Bet (Part 2)

Rin and Seth felt like maybe they had prepared for this dungeon appropriately... for the first 20 minutes.

They were fighting dire crabs with tough carapaces, large claws that could crush iron suits of armor, and had a surprisingly fast side movement that helped them dodge arrows and sword strikes.

They were struggling a bit as there were only the two of them in the party, but they were getting the feel for the crabs movements. However that was only when they fought one or two at a time.

After the first 20 minutes they made it to the second floor were groups of 3 to 4 crabs appeared. This is where they had to pull out every trick and strategy they had currently in their arsenal.

Seth had just dodged a claw strike from a pair of crabs as he spins sideways in midair to slash his sword against another crab making it lose a leg from where he hit it. As he lands the fourth crab comes up behind him and gets three arrows to the mouth area. However it saw them coming and used its larger fighting claw to block them. The three arrows sink into the carapace adding to the 12 other arrows that riddled that claw already. Rin clicks her tongue in annoyance at the quick reflexes and the even more annoying fluidity of the team work of the crabs.

Seth rolls away with one of his movement boosts to help him get 45 ft away quickly and avoids being surrounded again. He learned his lesson painfully when the combat started, that being surrounded by 4 crabs was not good for his health. As his ribs throbbed painfully where they managed to grip him at the beginning using 2 pairs of claws, thanks to an ambush that the crabs used, which almost crushed his ribs. He got out of it thanks to Rin with her arrows, and his own strengthening magic to help him pry them off.

Seth stared down the crabs as he got ready to use more of his mana. He already was nearing a third empty from all the decent level boosting magic he was using to avoid being taken out by these crabs. They were all low B ranked Crabs so their stats average around 700-900. But even though many of his stats were double that. The crabs teamwork and solid battle skills helped bridge that gap.

After all B ranked and higher monsters had more intelligence than any previous monster. Even C ranked bosses fell short in battle tactics and skills to these crabs. Seth also had no doubt that if these crabs teamed up and fought that mutated spider from before that the spider would lose against a team of 10-15 of these crabs. Their team work would put the 30 man battalion to shame if this news got out.

Seth snapped back to attention as the crabs all readied their charging formation and came at him. Seth used his next dose of boosting magic as his mana pool dipped close to half way empty. His magic had been used for healing and boosting magic all through this fight. The previous fights he has had to use it for other actions as well but this time he couldn't even manage to use the magic for anything but healing and boosting. Rin's mana pool was dipping to a third empty as she used more boosting magic on her arrows to help them pierce the crabs armor more easily.

As they rushed in to take on the charging crabs the most annoying part of fighting a group of 4 or more crabs reared its ugly head once again. As Seth reached their squad he had his sword charged with lightning magic to give it the effect of a lightning edge. However even as he does so he suddenly sees the magic circles appear in front of their battle claws and a wall of water erupts in front of them. Seth clicks his tongue with a grunt and his lightning edge gets fizzled out from the pure water they summoned.

Soon after he sees Rin use her dispel magic which eats away at another chunk of her mana pool. The water wall disappears and Seth uses his martial art skill of triple slash to recover from his initial wasted slash. He cuts into the crab with the 15 arrows in its battle claw and manages to shred that arm and two more of its legs. The now heavily wounded crab rears back as its three partners all gather around it to shield it from further harm. Seth grunts and activates a high mana costing attack by activating energy slash. It super charges the blade and shoots out a crescent wave of energy meant to deal as much damage to the foe using a calculation of x5 the amount of mana points you pump into it.

Seth uses at least 300 points to try and take down at least 2 more crabs. He shoots out a 1,500 point blast and the crab in front is hurt badly while the two others are now damaged with large cracks and a huge cut across their bodies as well. Seth pants harshly as he sees a glowing arrow shoots over his head and splits into many light arrows that rain down on the crabs formation. When the dust settles Seth and Rin see only 2 crabs are alive with a lot of damage down to them. Their shells are ruined and some of their inner meat is showing. Using some basic slashes and his base stats as his boost magic has ended Seth sees Rin smile widely as she feels all the exp that goes into her.

Seth smiles at this as Rin tells him, "Seth! I'm finally at level 92 after that! These crabs are worth a ton of exp! How did you do?"

Seth smiles sadly at her as he checks his notification for the exp gain.

[You have slain x4 Dire crab water warriors! Gained +40 exp points after curse deduction! Max level hit exp will be put in storage and applied once limit is expanded!]

Seth tells Rin the result, "Well... I gained 40 points."

Rin looks at him in confusion as she goes, "Wait! 40? But I gained about 4000 points! How can this... *gasp* your curse!! I'm sorry! Ugh I'm supprosed to be your wife in th efuture but I forgot that part! O'm so sorry for failing you in that regard Seth!"

Seth waves his hand side to side to calm her down as he goes ot collect the crabs magic cores and the drop items in the form of the carapace of the dire crabs for armor pieces. "It's fine Rin, we haven't gone on any adventures together until now. It makes sense you would forget that part of my curse since I only told you about it once while we were kids. I only ever told you about the weakening curse when we trained together so it makes sense that part of the curses I have would stay with you better than a curse I told you about once."

He turns to see Rin sniffling at that as she goes, "And your level limiting curse too right? You can't get stronger until I show you more ways of how much I love you right?" She begins to tear up more and the first tears start to flow, Seth hugs her tightly, and she goes wide eyed as Seth whispers in her ear, "Don't worry, thanks to your love you have shown me I already went up to level 60 for a limit compared to my 30 originally. Trust me you have helped me double my strength already. Don't worry Rin we are making headway with my curses."

Rin smiles as she wipes away the tears before she perks up, then looks at Seth suspiciously, "Wait... you said you were able to reach level 30 already? before I came to find you? Who gave you the first two love displays if you don't mind me asking?"

Seth sweat drops at seeing the dark and slightly menacing aura floating around Rin as he answers her honestly, "Well for that it was Kijo and Centorea who gave me their first displays of love. They gave me the kiss seal of their tribes to show they wanted to promise to marry me in the future. I returned it and the curse activated twice boosting my limit up to 30 from 10. So you can thank those two for my power from when we met up again."

Rin smiles and releases a sigh of relief at that news now knowing that she and the other girls gave Seth the releases of his limits. And not some random hussy. She smiled widely as she went, "Good! I will look forward to when we will have them join our family then!"

Seth smiles at her before he perks up as they both hear clattering heading towards them from down the hall. Soon they see them. Both Seth and Rin panic and scream in fear as they see a whole squadron of 10 Crabs heading for them. Seth begins to plan what they can do to retreat from the danger heading right for them before two blurs rush past the pair.

Seth looks closely and sees a beautiful Centaur lady with long raven dark purple hair tied back in a ponytail, a luscious midnight black coat on her horse half, her tail, of the same color as her head hair, flicking back and forth as she rushes past, and the powerful arms she uses as she wields a huge siege lance and a 7ft tall tower shield. She had grown beautifully from her 6 ft tall form of her teenage years to a powerful 8ft tall centaur. She is wearing a tough looking full plate armor with some armor plates protecting her sides and the legs of her horse half. However what makes Seth really look at her is that back in their childhood Centorea was barely a B cup at his age ceremony. However as she has had 6 years to grow and mature further she has exploded out to a solid DD cup.

The other blur was revealed to be Kijo the Crimson skinned oni girl. She was wielding a large and powerful oni bat called a Kanabo. It was easily 7ft tall and covered in large spikes that would pierce through most iron plate armors Seth had seen on adventurers before. The other big thing he noticed was that she was only partially covered in armor. Her armor was mostly leather based with some metal pieces, and it only covered her shoulders, her large chest, a leather combat skirt that went to her ankles, and a pair of forearm guards. The rest of her body was laid bare. She wasn't even wearing any foot wear, the oni ski so tough that she could walk on broken glass or iron pieces and be perfectly fine. Her body had also grown from the 5ft tall it was when they were kids and now stood at an impressive 8ft tall if Kijo and Centorea stood side by side they would paint an impressive picture of power and grace. However Kijo's body had filled out to be more than just height and nice looking barbarian armor. She had apparently not missed a single day of training in any of the 6 years they spent apart. Her body had the build of a powerful female body builder with muscles everywhere on her form. But while large they weren't too bulky, she had an impressive 8 pack with side packs enhancing her core strength. And her breasts that were already B cup back then had also grown to be huge DD cups. Bordering E cups.

Seth had one thought, 'Damn... They grew up to be so beautiful.'

Rin was cheering after she noticed who came to help them out. She was whooping as Kijo wound up and smashed her Kanabo into the first two crabs using her cleave skill smashing both of them into pieces. The crabs stopped their charge to face the oni woman but she smirked and ducked down to let Centorea leap up and over her to crash into th ecrabs lines with her powerful lance and shield shasming them apart further. After their initial attacks the squadron of 10 were reduced to a mere 3 left. Who were further smashed into piles of carapaces and magic cores by the twin powerhouses as they made sure none were left alive.

Seth and Rin were left gaping at the twin beauties as they cleaned up all the crabs easily. Seth was processing this while Rin was in shock at how powerful Kijo and Centorea had become in the 6 years apart.

Seth thought rapidly as he used his heroic appraisal skill to see that both girls were powerful.

Centorea

Level: 278

Race: Midnight Centaur (Tier 2)

Class: Heavy Knight (Tier 3)

Average stat: 1,400-2,100

Kijo

Level: 281

Race: Crimson Oni (Tier 2)

Class: Great Barbarian (Tier 3)

Average Stat: 1,500-2,200

Seth was in awe especially their stats were not only equal to his just on the base form, but that their equipment were all Ancient class giving them a further boost for their total stats.

They both turned to Seth and Rin with smiles on their faces as they yell out together, "Hiya Hubby!"

It echoes throughout the dungeon as Seth goes blank minded at their call and simply says, "Hubby?"