CHAPTER 6 – BECOMING SOMEONE DEPENDABLE

Giving the wooden door a few good tugs, it didn’t budge. I stood outside the fortifications of the dungeon Black Gate. The gates were closed, and the smaller wooden door next to the gate was locked for the night. It appeared all the guards had already left.

That meant I didn’t have to wait around for them to leave. Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to obtain C rank before leaving Ullmet. I had registered but was only D rank, and I found you needed to be C or greater to enter the dungeon.

The last time I entered, I simply could phase through the door in specter form. However, now I was corporeal and had a magic bag full of treats for Zozi I needed to bring in.

The massive wooden palisades ran around the entire entrance. Circulating mana through my body with Mana Strengthening, I sprinted at the wall. Jumping at the right moment, I cleared the 10-foot tall structure.

Landing on the other side with a thud, and then I fell into a roll. It wasn’t the most graceful landing, but I was still getting used to my new strength. Over the past few days, I had come a long way, in my opinion. However, what would have happened if I didn’t clear the wall and ran into it at full sprint.

I dusted myself off and shook my head. That wasn’t something I should be thinking about. I needed to get into the dungeon just in case someone was still around.

♦♦♦♦♦

I made my way through the dungeon Black Gate without issue. Like before, Zozi had instructed the denizens of the dungeon to stay clear of me. I made it to the lowest floor in the dungeon, the boss room. The Giant Minotaur that guarded this room sat there on his throne. It looked like he was grinning as he held his giant ax. Each breath was visible in the cold atmosphere of the boss room.

I pounded on the treasure room door. I desperately wanted it to hurry and open. The Minotaur was a bored battle junky from what I had gathered, and I was a prime candidate for a training dummy. Unlike before, he would actually be able to hit me.

The door creaked open, and I slid inside as fast I could. Zozi was on the other side, grinning from ear to ear. Her blue eyes never leaving the bag at my side.

“Zozi! I present to you the fruits of our labor!” I grandiosely gestured as I swung the bag around. “Legends will spread our deeds here this day!”

“Just give me the treats already!” Zozi shouted.

Done teasing, I undid the strap on the bag and began to pull out cake box after cake box of sweets. After I had finished unloading the boxes, I turned to Zozi.

“Uhm… Zozi,” I gestured toward her chin.

Her pale skin reddened, she quickly wiped the drool from her mouth.

“Have at it!” I said.

She franticly began running box to box, picking out the different types of sweets and munching on them. Before I knew it, she had summoned a plate stacking more and more on it as she went along. When it looked like the plate couldn’t fit anymore, she waved her hand, and the boxes vanished.

“Uhm, where did they go?” I asked.

“Oh, I put them in dimensional storage. Time stops there, so they will stay fresh. It’s kind of like the magic bag.”

Gods really were something else, but there was no way I could believe this god here was evil incarnate.

♦♦♦♦♦

After Zozi had finished a good portion of her plate, she asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“Well, it has always been my dream to travel the world with a beautiful woman going on adventures together.” I shot Zozi a smile. “Would you like to travel the world with me, Zozi?”

A smile crept across her face. “I would love to,” she said, slightly blushing. “But I can’t go to the surface. However, as proof of your friendship to me, I will make it my mission to help you out.”

She stopped in thought for a few seconds, then said. “Hmmm… you already have the looks, then we will need to get you stronger. Ladies love a strong, dependable man. I’ll have you train with Gary!”

“Gary, who’s that?”

Gary was apparently the name of the giant Minotaur in the boss room.

♦♦♦♦♦

Gary was swinging an enormous club my way. The giant club was as big as me. Attempting to dodge was no good; I was too late. Smacking me square in the chest, I flew across the boss room straight into one of the walls.

When the dust settled, I stood up, letting out a few coughs. That was why he was using the club instead of his usual large battle-ax.

Gods, that hurt!

The icy wall behind me had been cracked, but the cracks were slowly fusing back together as it repaired itself.

Gary must have been holding back; otherwise, I would have just been a smear on his club.

We had been training for what felt like an eternity, but Zozi said it had only been a few days. We trained all this time without sleep or rest. Zozi would just watch and cheer when I managed to dodge or make a counter. It was an awfully one-sided fight, though.

It went like this, I would attack, Gary would block and counter, then I would have to pick myself up and heal.

However, I can’t say the training was wasted. I did seem to be improving. Considering this was a monster that a group of the best adventurers would have trouble with, and me going one on one with it, I thought I was doing alright.

“Hey, Zozi, how long do I have to do this?”

“Hmmm, I think when you can actually start putting up a decent fight against Gary. You should be a bit dependable then,” she said as she smiled back.

♦♦♦♦♦

I wasn’t sure how long we had been training. It could have been months by this point, but I was finally getting good. When in battle, I was able to increase my senses, and time seemed to slow down. I wondered if this is how Gary fought so well.

With my senses pushed to their limit, I could also pump more mana into my body, increasing its speed, strength, and durability. By doing both simultaneously, I could put up a decent fight against him.

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Gary’s club came down, outstretched towards me. Jumping, I landed on top of it, pushing my body to adjust for the swing angle. I ran up the club and his extended arm. Delivering an enhanced kick to the side of his head, he was the one who went tumbling.

Rising up from the ground, his eyes were bloodshot, his warm breath visible with every pant. It looked like he was going to have trouble holding back at the moment. He charged at me, his horns pointed in my direction like you would see with a charging bull.

Clap…Clap… “That’s enough!” Zozi shouted.

Gary stopped mid charge obeying her command. I wasn’t sure even after all this training if I would have survived him going all out.

“Good job, you two,” she said.

Taking out a piece of fudge and sharing it with Gary and me. If you knew Zozi, you knew her sharing her treats was the highest form of praise she could give.

“I would say you are at an acceptable level of dependableness now, Ruten. We need to make you look the part.” She said as she made her way to the treasure room.

She returned with a set of equipment that wasn’t too flashy. She tossed me some light leather armor that a scout would wear, the magic bag I had used earlier, and A short sword.

“Here you go, you’ll need to change out of what’s left of those farmer’s clothes and dress as an adventurer.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“What not happy? If you were to run around in some gaudy armor and have a fancy looking sword, people would notice. I don’t think that’s the kind of attention you want to attract.”

Thinking about it, she did have a point.

“Thanks,” I said with my sincerity in my voice this time. “I’ll take good care of them.”

“Don’t go that far; this is just some throwaway equipment. Except for the bag and the sword, of course.”

I could understand the bag but the sword too?

“Wait, what’s so special about the sword?”

“I made this sword have an extra affinity for mana. I guess you could call it a magic sword,” she said while beaming a smile. “This sword will be able to handle a ton of mana being pumped through it, so when you use it, don’t be afraid of breaking it. You can go all out.”

“Thanks again!” I said, bowing my head this time.

Zozi grinned and made her best noble pose. Crossing her arms and holding her head up, trying to look dignified. I did have to admit she did look a bit noble.

Explain to me again how this cute softy of a girl was a dark god again……

“I filled that bag with quite a bit of coin, so I don’t think you will need money for a while if you live frugally. Remember when you are traveling to get me all kinds of tasty food!”

“Wait, I thought you said you said I would have to live frugally? How am I supposed to buy your sweets?”

“Well, of course, my treats come first; that is why you will have to live frugally!”

Laughing, I said, “Okay.” I could just earn some more coins if I needed to. I did have so much I was thankful for thanks to Zozi, and I would do my best to meet her expectations.

Smiling at Zozi, I said, “I guess I should be going then?”

Shaking her head, Zozi responded, “Nope, not yet; I told you it was my mission to make your dream come true. I’ll tell you when you can leave.”

♦♦♦♦♦

A few days had passed, according to Zozi. I couldn’t really keep a sense of time down here. During that time, I practiced with Mana Sense and did some more training with Gary.

I was beginning to think Zozi just didn’t want me to leave, and she was going to keep me locked up down here for eternity, but “Alright, time for you to head out!” she said suddenly.

With a look of surprise on my face, I asked. “What why now, why not yesterday?”

“Haven’t you ever been told don’t question the will of the gods…”

That was a saying, so I guess I would have to go with it. Nodding to Zozi, I set out, ascending the floors.

Everything was normal until I got to the top floor. The monsters up until now had been avoiding me. Once I reached the top floor, goblins would come and block specific paths forcing me to go through another route.

The monsters wouldn’t attack, but they wouldn’t let me pass either. They would grab at my clothes, so short of killing them, I would have to take a different path. I could kill them, but I wasn’t sure if Zozi would be upset if I did.

Making my way through the winding paths, I sensed someone that wasn’t a monster. I usually was further down in the dungeon, where most people would die before making it that far. So, this was my first time seeing another person in the dungeon. Curiously I started to make my way toward them.

I was stopped on my way by a single goblin. His beady eye’s starred up at me, holding a single lit torch. I quizzically stared at him as he motioned for me to take the torch.

After I took the torch, it scurred off down one of the paths. Up until now, I had been walking in the darkness. I didn’t have a problem seeing in the pitch black of the dungeon. This must have been Zozi’s way to make sure I didn’t stand out to the other adventurer.

“Help! Helpp me!” I could hear the screams of someone echoing through the cave-like paths.

Quickly I took off toward the other adventurer’s cries.

A giant web stretched from one side to the other, over 30 feet from one side to the other. On the web was a Giant Spider, and hanging next to it on the web was a cocoon that I could hear muffled screaming coming from.

Jumping into the air, I cut the cocoon free from the enraged spider monsters. Angry at just having its prey stolen away. From the screams inside the cocoon, I imagined they were okay. I tried cutting them free, but the web was strong.

Focusing my mana through my sword, I tried again, quickly cutting through the cocoon. Luckily the cocoon itself wasn’t nearly as sticky as the actual webbing.

For a moment after I had cut the cocoon away, our eyes meet. Her disheveled blonde hair falling down around her shoulders. Her teary green eyes looking up at me.

“Behind you!” she shouted.

For a moment, I was awestruck. I think I have a severe problem where I just lose track of my surroundings when it comes to beautiful women.

I turned around to block the spider creature's attack with my sword in one hand and bracing the flat end with my forearm. Blocking with my sword, the creature was aiming for my head. My legs nearly buckled under the pressure. This attack was meant to kill.

Using mana strengthening, I focused the mana in my sword; I countered, pushing it away, then slicing cleanly through the leg that had just tried to spear me through.

The large spider creature was easily my height. Its hairy legs shook for a moment after losing one of them. The multitude of beady eyes seemed to now be looking for an escape, not for more prey. Jumping into the air, it attached to the web on the ceiling and scurried toward an open path.

I jumped up after it swinging my sword, taking another leg. However, it did not stop; it continued towards its escape.

I could make another attack and maybe even pursue and kill it, but what about this woman. I couldn’t just leave her here, still half wrapped in the cocoon.

The spider had made its escape. I was sure it wouldn’t be coming back, but I kept my guard up with mana sense as I continued to cut away the cocoon from the woman. On her petite frame, she wore a similar outfit to mine. It was a bit nicer quality, though with fancy engravings on the leatherwork.

“Th..Thank you for saving me!” she shouted as she hugged me.

“Nn..noo problem. I’m sure anyone would have helped out.” I said as I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

She let go and separated herself from me; still teary-eyed, she went and picked up the torch I had been carrying. I must have dropped it when I went to cut the cocoon free.

“Are you here alone?” she asked.

“Yeah, I was just leaving the dungeon when I heard your cries for help.”

“I’m here alone too. Thank you again for saving me. I…I couldn’t do anything. I got stuck in that web I didn’t even have a chance, but you…”

She looked at me; her eyes were still glossy with tears and face flush from the recent fight for her life. Shaking, she asked, “Will you train me?”

With a clearly puzzled look, “Me train you. I don’t think I can.”

I was just some random guard; I wasn’t a hero or someone with even that much formal training.

She finally broke down again, now crying tears running down her face, “I’m never going to be good enough.”

I couldn’t handle this. Shouldn’t this be my moment to shine? I had successfully saved the maiden. Shouldn’t we be setting off for our happily ever after now? Why is she crying!?!? This isn’t how it goes in the stories.

“No…no… It’s not that you’re not good enough; I just don’t think I would be a good teacher. Please stop crying. I would be glad to help you train if you just stop crying, please.”

Wiping the tears away, she looked up at me. “Really, you mean it, you will train me?”

“Yes, we can train, but we got to get out of here. It’s dangerous to have such a leisurely conversation in the dungeon.”

A smile spread across her face for the first time since I meet her.

“My name is Cora.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ruten, but let’s keep our voices down.”

The rest of the trip out of the dungeon was quiet. The creatures were no longer avoiding me, but I was able to avoid them with mana sense. Cora followed along behind me, no longer crying or teary-eyed, but with a look of determination and focus.

We exited out of the giant Black Gates. The sun was high in the sky, its warmth spreading across my skin. After all the time spent in the cold boss room, the warmth was refreshing.

Noticing me, a guard that looked familiar checked the note board he carried.

Oh, crap, it's morning, and I’m not supposed to be in the dungeon.