[Crystal Wolf – Level 11]
[Crystal Wolf – Level 13]
[Crystal Wolf – Level 12]
Monica ducked under a snapping jaw and backhanded another set of teeth as she turned. She listened to the sound of the air moving, whistling ever so quietly, but now more noticeable thanks to Mana Sense.
It made no sense to her that a Skill called Mana Sense could somehow affect physical perception, but here she was, testing her physical limits and the secret, unspoken effect of the new Skill she had gotten.
She felt a satisfying crunch over her knuckles, but the third Crystal Wolf, the Level 13 one, managed to pounce on her leg, temporarily immobilizing her.
A lesser fighter would have panicked and died on the spot, but Monica, instead of dodging the swipes and bites of the other two beasts, simply traded hits, focusing on not getting caught in the others’ attacks. She tried dousing the one over her leg in Obsidian Flame, but it didn’t do anything to the crystalline layer protecting the creature.
This is getting overwhelming, even for me, Monica thought.
She sighed and resorted to ending the fight.
Monica was an unfairly strong fighter. Not even she could gauge the actual breadth of her fighting knowledge. Her body reacted instinctively, telling her where attacks would come, moving her muscles, twitching so fast she sometimes felt like her mind was completely blank during a fight.
However, she was low-leveled, and even with her unfairly strong Skills, these unordinary monsters would have been a problem had she not just gained a new Skill on top of Mana Sense.
She pointed one hand at the monster by her leg and one at the closest Crystal Wolf in front of her. She shot two Fireballs powered by Obsidian Flame, one snapping the neck of the monster by her leg and the other breaking the crystal and ribs of the other.
The third Crystal Wolf was surprised by one more Fireball, which broke his foreleg with a sickening crunch.
Monica, however, notices that she hasn’t leveled the Obsidian Flame and, since she’s a close-combat fighter, only starts using the Fireball as a last measure. In fact, she starts wondering how she could implement it in a close-combat fighting style.
You have slain [Crystal Wolf – Level 13]
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature five levels above you.
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature infected by Minor Corruption.
You have slain [Crystal Wolf – Level 12]
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature five levels above you.
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature infected by Minor Corruption.
You have slain [Crystal Wolf – Level 11]
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature infected by Minor Corruption.
No level up, Monica thought pensively.
She then looked down at her leg. The Fireball hadn’t damaged her in the least. She had already tested her before meeting the group of Crystal Wolves and found out that, probably by virtue of her being the Avatar of the Twin Phoenix, not even the explosion from the attack did anything to her. It barely felt like a breeze licking at her naked skin.
“Three’s my limit,” she reasoned out loud.
Monica had met a few more Crystal Wolves after getting in a series of very large corridors arranged in a series of grids around large chambers. In each chamber, she had seen a group of three Crystal Wolves. She had managed to avoid most of them since they were all asleep. However, one could also find stragglers alone in corridors, which probably explained how some had gotten out of the Dungeon.
I don’t have any idea how this Dungeon unfolds. Every room can lead to dead ends. It’s basically a maze. However, the corridors are long enough that the Crystal Wolves won’t come running from one to the other. I should be able to bring everyone here without putting them at risk. She reasoned that if worse came to worst, I could probably shoot down a dozen Crystal Wolves together. If that’s all there’s so far, I think it’s time to put them to the test. Dotty will need to grow the most—I can’t trust Ivor’s goons, nor can I fully trust Tertius. If they all fail me, Dotty will be alone to protect Ronnie and Madeline.
* * *
“So,” Monica said, clapping her hands, “before anyone takes one more step, can you repeat to me what I’ve just said?”
“We’re support fighters, and we need to help Dotty since she’s the only one who can deliver real damage to the creatures,” Lucca said, not missing a beat.
Monica inquired about their backgrounds, revealing that Lucca hailed from a military family. While Rochus was a thug’s thug, born as a lowlife who was taken under Ivor’s wing from the Duke’s city, Lucca was a rather smart man despite having served an idiot up to this point.
“Heidi,” Monica turned to the Level 9 Healer, “the rest?”
“It is expected that the melee fighters will take damage. I should be ready at all times to heal them.”
“What should you do if one of them receives a grievous wound?” Monica asked.
“Stabilize the wound but focus on the others still engaged in battle.”
“Great,” Monica smiled. She had given a very hard time to the Healer for a reason, but she didn’t want to outright abuse her and insult her just because. “Ted?”
Ted looked weakly at the mandolin in his hands and then at the spear over his shoulder.
“Dude, I haven’t figured it out yet. The Class gave me no Skills. I don’t get it.”
“Try playing something while they fight, then,” Monica sighed.
Monica had no idea why Ted's abilities weren't working as intended—or to be more precise, why Ted didn't have any abilities at all. It seemed like getting the Bard Class was just the first hurdle for the young man.
She thought it was pretty clear that it represented a somewhat more flexible, unorthodox Class compared to the others, which meant Ted would have to compose songs, most likely, in order to receive Skills. At least, that was her best guess, the same guess she had shared with the young man.
But Ted, who had tried playing something—even songs in Latin—told her that it hadn't worked, that it hadn't had the effect he was hoping for. That had stumped even Monica, who had her own suspicions but didn't want to give them away so easily to the young man. She had an idea of what would make the Class work as intended, but she thought that telling Ted would defeat the point.
She watched as Tertius, Lucca, and Rochus took to the front line. She had instructed them to do so. And what she hadn't told them was that if anything was to happen to Dotty, she would burn all three.
Dotty stood a few steps behind. Monica told her that since she didn't have any real fighting experience and she had just gained some by playing with monsters that could kill her in one go, she should just look for opportunistic strikes. Her Skill made her swing strong enough that she didn't need to worry about finesse. She wouldn't need to dance around the Crystal Wolves and risk getting mangled.
Monica instructed Dotty, also by virtue of the girl's Class, to just jump in whenever she saw an opening, and she told the girl that if she thought she couldn't make a swing, she should not take it. To be conservative, extremely opportunistic. After all, Dotty's Class was the offspring of Hunter, and hunters didn't confront their prey directly. They set up traps, stalked their prey, and took their best shot.
So, Monica repeated herself once again. "Dotty, do not take risks. You're a Hunter. If you're getting involved in person, either the prey is already dead, or you have to make sure it is with your next hit. Do not jump to prove something to me, to yourself, or to your mother. When it comes to fighting, your ego will kill you."
She paused. "Never mind—your ego will kill you in most situations if you act like an idiot. You have nothing to prove to me. You have nothing to prove to yourself and nothing to prove to these three idiots there."
The three men looked a little uncomfortable with being called idiots, but given that one had been around Cultists and the other two under Ivor, they didn't say anything.
"Just care about the results. Do not act like a fool. No matter what, Dotty. Do not act like a fool." Monica repeated the sentence twice, trying to make sure that the point got across. “You know, I can get away with it because I can just come back to life—but you can’t.”
Dotty, who knew how strong and good at fighting Monica was, nodded. The young girl still seemed like she was biting down a remark, but Monica brushed that off as the rebellious streak of a teenager.
"Alright." She went into the first corridor and entered the main chamber. Without waiting for the wolves to wake up, she threw two fireballs at the closest two wolves. She had aimed as well as she could, and both Fireballs managed to kill the Crystal Wolves on the spot.
Of course, the loud explosion woke up the third, and the creature immediately started chasing her. Monica retreated to where she had told the others to wait, just at the top of the ramp that brought them to this floor. And as they were no more than a few yards from her, she turned toward the wolf who was lunging at her in mid-air.
Rolling on her back and pushing with both her feet, she sent the Crystal Wolf sprawling toward the group.
"Now!" Monica shouted.
Tertius immediately swung his spear at the wolf's leg when it landed unsteadily on the ground. The wolf, rattled by Monica's push, couldn't react in time, and Tertius managed to sweep its legs.
Monica felt a twinge of worry when she saw Dotty hesitating. She immediately saw that the girl had lost a moment to dive in and knew that if she dove right now, she might get hurt. She had sworn to herself not to baby Dotty too much, to give her the chance to get hurt and to grow. Heidi, the Healer, would take care of the wounds and level up from there.
But even though Monica had promised that to herself, she couldn't help but ball her fist so tightly that she felt her nails dig into her skin.
Thankfully, Dotty didn't act like a fool and just slumped her shoulders, knowing she hadn't caught the optimal moment. From there on, the three men engaged with the Crystal Wolf. They could only be very defensive, however, and had to try to avoid the creature's attacks as best as they could.
Unlike Monica, they couldn't fight a creature that was several levels above theirs and hoped to win. So they contained the wolf while taking several wounds, some deeper than others.
Heidi kept the healing going, shining a cone of light over whomever she was healing at the moment. It seemed she had two Skills: one that rapidly accelerated the healing of wounds—the cone of light—and another, a brighter flash that focused on a single body part that would heal as much of the damage as Heidi expended in Mana.
That was at least Monica's impression.
In her haste to get to the Dungeon, she had made a mistake—she hadn't asked Heidi which Skills she had.
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That’s not good, Monica thought to herself. She knew what the others were capable of to a much better extent. Tertius had never leveled up his Class above Level 5 because he believed he deserved a better Class. And so, as a lowly Spearman, he could barely do anything. Not even his Skills could damage the beast.
Lucca was more methodical and calm than Tertius. He knew his limits very well and confined himself to parrying and trying to catch the wolf by surprise when it attacked others and threw it off balance.
Monica saw at least two more clear occasions that Dotty missed. One of them was perhaps too much for the young girl, but the other, when Rochus had used one of his Thug Skills to tackle the beast's side with his shoulder and throw it on the ground, was a clear killing opportunity. Monica cringed. It was almost physically painful for her to see someone miss it like that.
In the back, Ted tried playing the mandolin, which was a bit disjointed and not convincing. Nothing happened, however, as a result of his playing other than having the fighters curse when he suddenly changed the melody and distracted them from the rhythm of the fight.
Finally, after ten exhausting minutes, with the warriors now covered in sweat, Lucca managed to kick the tired wolf to the ground.
Dotty finally jumped, taking a small risk that Monica assessed as necessary, and planted the sword through the creature's neck with a primal shout as she double-handed the deadly strike. Blood spurted through the crystals as the sword that had belonged to Sandoval, empowered by Magic Rend, made its way through the wolf's defenses unimpeded, going through one side and coming out of the other.
“Twist it!” Monica shouted, seeing the Wolf still struggling.
Dotty did as told and wrenched the sword down, severing the main arteries in the beast’s neck.
Monica hadn’t noticed, but she had been holding her breath and tensing her shoulders. Only when the wolf finally stopped struggling did she relax.
She looked at the sweaty group and cupped her chin thoughtfully.
They’re tired already, she thought. Fighting for this long without pauses is not good. Either they get much better at this, or I will be forced to do everything on my own.
“Heidi, how much Mana do you have left?” Monica asked, walking up to the Healer.
“Two-thirds,” the girl responded.
“Alright,” Monica nodded. “We can continue, then. But before that. A few tips. We need to make you guys more efficient or you’ll drag me down.”
Monica went up to Dotty and gestured for Lucca to walk closer.
“Dotty, I’m going to show you how to decide when to jump in and how to wait,” the redhead said and turned toward the man. “Punch me.”
Lucca hesitated.
“Punch,” Monica ordered.
The man sighed, put his sword away, and threw a weak punch. Monica, peeved, dodged easily and punched the sternum of the man, making him cough for a good half minute, before saying.
“I won’t repeat myself again,” she said coldly. “Punch me.”
This time, Lucca started swinging at her, with Monica gently leaning back and tapping his fist away.
“Again.”
As Lucca swung again and Monica dodged, she spoke to Dotty.
“Muscles have two states. They can contract, and they can relax. Melee fighters have to also gauge the distance, speed, and trajectories of blows to master fighting. However, what you need is this.”
Monica let Lucca pull a fist back before tapping his forehead with a lightning-fast movement.
“Stop in that position,” she said to the Warrior and turned toward the girl. “You want to catch your enemy mid-contraction. If I had let him had fully pulled the punch back, he might have been able to counter. However, I attacked an instant before his motion finished. When these muscles are contracting,” Monica grabbed Lucca’s bicep, “these others must be relaxed.” She tapped the man’s tricep. “It takes several instants for a muscle to relax and let the other do their job.”
Monica walked to Dotty and put a hand on her shoulders.
“If you’re super tense when the Crystal Wolf shows an opening, you’ll lose it because your muscles won’t have time to react. Take a deep breath and try feeling your muscles all relaxed.”
The teenage girl relaxed, and Monica slowly felt her muscles become more pliable.
“Good,” the redhead said. “Now, try to stay relaxed and don’t flinch.”
“Wha—”
Monica turned Dotty and raised her fist, swinging at the girl and only stopping it half an inch from her nose while keeping her in place with her other hand. She felt Dotty’s muscles seize.
“Nope,” Monica said. “Relax.”
She had the girl repeat the process, faking punches for a good five minutes, until Dotty stopped flinching.
“Ok,” Monica nodded. “Now, try guessing when you should attack me. Use the sword, too.”
“What?” Dotty stammered.
“We need to make this real enough. You need to see blood,” Monica stated. “Stabbing doesn’t hurt as much as you think. Just try to stab me when you see my muscles tense. I’ll be moving slowly.”
Monica made a point to pull back slowly and make slow-motion swings toward Dotty.
“Look at my muscles, not in my eyes,” Monica ordered.
“Ok,” Dotty frowned and focused.
The girl focused on keeping her muscles as relaxed as possible despite feeling her heart beating in her chest like a running rabbit pounding the ground.
Monica knew, however, that the only way to make this stick would be with real violence.
Is it worth hurting her now if she’ll be able to properly fight later on? It should be, right?
She didn’t like the idea of hurting Dotty at all. However, what else could she do?
“Now, I’m going to make this real and hit you if you miss your chance,” Monica said, summoning the steel gloves from the Inventory and raising her hand menacingly. “Do not flinch. Lean back, and try to keep your muscles relaxed. At every attack you miss I will—”
*Ding*
Memory Shard Unlocked.
Beginning Memory Sequence.
* * *
Monica had been working non-stop in the past year, adventuring with one of the best teams in the entire country, slaying Dungeon after Dungeon. The reason why the US was doing so well, in fact, was not in small part because her team traveled all over to quench strong Dungeons that might get out of control. They had gotten several commendations from the military and special allowances as civilians, including clearance to fly to and from military bases to reach Dungeons in critical conditions before they spilled and caused the death of tens of thousands of low-leveled people who had not taken well to the System Integration.
However, transitioning from being a high-end Criminal Lawyer to being one of the best Healers in the country had not done any good to her family.
“Peggy, are you alright?”
Monica had brought her daughter in a Dungeon as soon as she had come home, trying to make sure she would get stronger in case anything happened while she was away. Bobby was too weak and even though Monica hired help to watch them over and protect them with all the money she was raking in—which had made her even richer than she had already been—she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had to ensure that Peggy would be able to take over in case a nearby Dungeon that hadn’t yet been tracked spilled.
Monica had kept her children in a rather low-level zone where their chances of coming across strong monsters were as close to zero as they could get. However, she had spent several nights messaging her daughter back and forth in order to make sure her children’s guardians were doing their job properly.
“I’m doing ok,” Peggy said as Monica poured over her a Stamina-refilling Skill.
Her daughter was wearing strong plate armor that was almost too good for her level. Monica had to be careful not to make Peggy too strong or she wouldn’t be able to level up her Skills—it was something humanity had found out the hard way, with China trying to focus their resources on a few people and finding out that such a strategy had impaired their growth much later, which had then costed them hundreds of thousands—or millions—of lives. Numbers weren’t confirmed since the Chinese government tried to keep it hush-hush.
"Peggy, focus on your breathing," Monica said, watching her daughter swing the training sword again. They were in a relatively safe area of a Goblin Dungeon where monsters were only about Level 30. Even with Monica Level 184, she still felt a lot of trepidation every time her daughter engaged the green monsters.
Dotty was only Level 26. Teenagers, unless they lived in rural areas, did not have the same freedom that adults had in exploring Dungeons, whether due to parents or local government. After a bunch of brash teenagers had died in the initial wave of Dungeons, things had become streamlined. Adults were free to do whatever they wanted, but minors could only go in with active supervision. And most known Dungeons were now patrolled by Adventurers or police.
Peggy, being Monica’s daughter, had a few privileges that other kids didn’t have. But that still meant that she couldn’t just go adventuring whenever she wanted. And Monica didn’t actually want her to, not without making sure that her daughter wouldn’t die senselessly. At the same time, while Monica followed Peggy in the Dungeon, she couldn’t help her too much. She would summon barriers that blocked monsters whenever too many appeared and heal Peggy’s wounds after the fight. But if Monica, being so high level, interfered during the fight, she would get too much experience. And Peggy would get none because of the great disparity in levels.
So Monica had to watch her daughter get hurt. Just now, she saw a Goblin managing to punch her daughter’s nose and make her bleed. The little green creatures packed a surprising punch in their small bodies. Monica knew it very well because Goblin Dungeons were the ones she had gained most of her early levels in. And so Peggy would fight. Peggy would get hurt. And Monica, one of the best Healers in the country, would do what she did best—patch up her daughter afterward, hating herself for not knowing how to prevent the injuries in the first place.
“Peggy, are you sure you don’t want to stop and rest?”
“I’m good, Mom. I’m good,” Peggy said, frustrated.
“Okay,” Monica replied nervously.
Another Goblin charged as they went through the cave. And Peggy’s sword swung too late. Another cut. Another wound. Another moment where Monica’s healing magic would erase the physical damage, but not the pain.
Peggy managed to kill the Goblin after a minute. She wanted her daughter to get stronger, to protect herself, to protect her younger brother. But she could only do so by watching Peggy fight and get hurt. Sure, there was no way of shielding her children from hurt and pain. Whether Monica brought Adventurers or other tutors, she knew her children had to experience pain in this world. It couldn’t be helped. It was just part of the normal development of a child.
But she also knew that out of all the ways to make Peggy stronger, she could have picked something better than having her experience so many wounds and just patching them afterward.
If only she could have taught Peggy without having to hurt her this much.
* * *
Monica looked at her own raised hand and Dotty slightly fearful expression and slowly lowered her Steel-Talons-covered digits.
“Is everything ok?” Dotty asked.
Monica had been away for several minutes, whisked away into memories of another life, but in the present it had only been one single moment.
“I—” Monica opened her mouth and didn’t know how to finish the sentence.
Monica rubbed her nose and looked at sharp steel covering her fingers, putting it away in her Inventory.
“Aren’t we doing this?” Dotty frowned, seeing that Monica now seemed reluctant.
“We are,” the redhead said. “I just thought of a better way that doesn’t include me temporarily disfiguring you to do so.”
She had already hurt a daughter in her past life because she couldn’t do otherwise, because she didn’t really have a good option to make her grow strong fast. But now that she had all this fighting knowledge, it was ridiculous for her to require injuring Dotty in order for the girl to learn not to flinch.
“How do I learn not to flinch if you don’t hit me? Isn’t that when I flinch?”
Monica shook her head and sighed.
“No.”
The redhead slowly extended her fist until it was touching Dotty’s nose, noticing that the girl’s eyes were trembling ever so slightly.
“Sudden movements, anticipating pain, and the unexpected makes you flinch. If anyone—Ted even—jumped out of a corner, you’d flinch or react poorly because your body would seize or react on instinct. These instincts can be trained. You don’t have the time to make a choice, which means you shouldn’t. If someone jumps out of a corner, jump back, put distance between you and them. If you were well-trained, you could react defensively, but that’s gambling with your life in order to counter-strike. And, in the same way, you don’t want to kill Ted on the spot because he stumbled over a corner.”
“Hey,” Ted said from behind.
“Psh,” Monica pointed at Ted and brought a finger to her lips, turning to Dotty. “Sudden movements are the easiest to train. Anticipating pain, too. The unexpected takes more experience. So, about the first two.”
Monica’s fist shot out and Dotty reflexively tensed and closed her eyes.
"See? You tensed and closed your eyes," Monica said gently. "Now, I'm going to extend my fist again, slowly, and touch your nose. I want you to stay as relaxed as possible and keep your eyes open. When I pull back, I want you to hit my forearm with your sword. Not my fist. I can block your sword easily with my bracer."
Dotty nodded, and Monica's fist extended slowly until it touched her nose again. The girl managed to keep her muscles relatively relaxed despite the contact.
"Good," Monica said. "Now, the sword."
As Monica pulled her fist back, Dotty's sword swung and hit the golden bracer.
"Again," Monica ordered.
They repeated the exercise several times until Dotty could keep her muscles relaxed even when Monica's fist was touching her nose.
"Now, same thing, but I'll pull back faster."
Monica's fist shot back, and Dotty's sword missed completely.
"That's fine," Monica said. "Your muscles were relaxed. You just need to get faster. The important part is that you didn't tense up. If you're tense, you'll always be slower than if you're relaxed."
They continued the exercise for another ten minutes, with Monica gradually increasing the speed of her movements. By the end, Dotty was managing to hit Monica's bracer more often than not.
"Good," Monica nodded. "Now for anticipating pain. The Crystal Wolves will hurt you if they catch you. That's just a fact. But tensing up won't help you avoid the pain. It'll just make you slower and more likely to get hit. So remember: stay relaxed, wait for your opening, and strike fast. Don't think about getting hurt. Think about what you would do if your arm got caught in their maw. Don’t tense your body, ok? Now, I’ll grab your arm tightly while you close your eyes and picture a Crystal Wolf doing that. When I do, grip the sword with your free hand and swing at my neck. I’ll parry with the bracer."
Monica had initially thought of spilling blood for the sake of the demonstration, but she had then decided to make it less gory.
"One more thing," Monica added. "When you see an opening, don't hesitate. If you hesitate, the opening will be gone. Trust your instincts. If your body tells you to strike, strike. If it tells you to wait, wait. But once you decide to move, commit fully."
They practiced for another fifteen minutes, with Monica gradually increasing the pressure and speed of her grip. She noticed that Dotty was getting better at staying relaxed even when anticipating the grip, and her strikes were becoming more fluid and decisive.
"Much better," Monica said finally. "Now, let's put this into practice.”