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[Man, I am so sad…] Alex thought, tearing up dramatically as he watched Mika annihilate a small group of skeletons with ease. Shards of ice ripped through them, shattering their brittle bones like glass, not a single lick of XP going to Alex.
She was clad in a set of light metal armor, primarily green with white accents, adorned with intricate designs of vines and flowers. Her custom-fitted chest plate bore an emblem of a rose, while small pauldrons rested snugly on her shoulders, providing protection without restricting her movement. Her greaves covered only the front of her lower legs, and beneath the metal armor, she wore a layer of scaly, lightweight leather that extended from neck to toe.
Faint green lines pulsed across both sets of armor, enhancing its durability while making it feel lighter to wear, from what her teachers told her anyway, not that she knew anything about runes… yet.
Mika would have preferred just the leather armor, it was far more comfortable. However, the elves training her had instantly shut that idea down, insisting she was still inexperienced in monster hunting. They had wanted her to wear a full set of green-scaled, heavily enchanted metal armor for maximum protection.
But Mika had refused. She wanted to feel like a real adventurer in a new world, not just someone wrapped in magical safeguards. Plus, she didn't want to take advantage of the elves' hospitality too much, she wanted to stand on her own, even if just a little.
So here she was, standing inside a newly born F-Rank dungeon that hadn't even been named yet. Far from any sort of towns or villages as they were near the outskirts that border the whispering forest, a weird name for a forest she thought.
Mika had spent a week in "training", which mostly consisted of learning magic theory, safely practicing mana manipulation within her body, and casting basic spells that most beginner mages started with.
To the surprise of her instructors, Mika picked up magic theory with remarkable speed. She grasped the fundamentals almost instantly and quickly mastered the flow of mana through her exceptionally powerful and wide mana veins. What should have taken months for an ordinary person had taken her only a week.
Of course, the elves were well aware that Heroes were naturally gifted when it came to learning. But they hadn't expected Mika to be this much of a monster at it.
Since Mika grasped everything she was taught at an astonishing pace, her mana manipulation instructor, an old elf woman named Finnea, who was around 473 years old, managed to convince the Pope and the royals (whom Mika had yet to meet) that she was ready to begin combat training, as she already somewhat mastered the basics of mana.
Mika had assumed this meant more instructors would teach her the basics of fighting on the training grounds, like how to use a sword or dagger correctly. She was very wrong.
Her new combat instructor, Erlan, was a towering, muscle-bound man with a no-nonsense attitude. On their very first day together, he didn't bother teaching her any techniques, instead, he threw her straight into a dungeon and ordered her to clear it alone.
He hadn't explained a single thing before he sent her down into the dungeon. Yet, despite offering her no guidance, he still complained that she was too slow and made too many unnecessary movements.
Mika was exhausted. She had never moved this much in her life, and the metal armor she wore only made things worse. Though its enchantments helped lighten the load, it still weighed her down significantly.
[Come on, Mommy! You can do it!!!] The only thing keeping Mika going was Emi's enthusiastic cheers echoing in her mind.
That stupid man hadn't even let her use Emi. His only explanation? "You won't always have her with you."
It didn't matter that Mika could summon and unsummon Emi anytime, anywhere, Erlan refused to let her rely on her powers.
"BEHIND YOU!"
Erlan's sharp voice cut through her thoughts. Before Mika could react, he practically teleported beside her, crushing a skeleton's skull with his bare hand as if it were nothing.
"Stay focused on what's around you, not what's in your head!" he barked.
"Any lapse in awareness will get you killed. This isn't some vacation from those old crones at the church. I don't care what kind of rainbows and sunshine nonsense you think you know about this world." He stepped back, his piercing gaze never leaving her.
"I'm not going to coddle you. Hero or not, I'm going to work you to the bone." And just like that, Erlan disappeared into the shadows, leaving Mika alone once more. She could only curse him in her mind as she prepared several [Ice Arrow] spells.
Not far ahead, another group of skeletons, clad in rusted armor and wielding broken weapons, mindlessly charged toward her.
The fighting had been exhausting, but Mika finally reached the end of the dungeon. Since it was only a single-floor dungeon, she had cleared it rather quickly. Just as she was about to catch her breath, Erlan suddenly appeared behind her, his sharp gaze drilling into her back.
"You're on your own now. I won't be helping you with this." His voice was cold and loathsome. "If you can't even defeat a simple F-Rank boss, you don't deserve the title of Hero."
Before Mika could even protest his harsh words, he vanished into the shadows once more.
She clenched her fists, frustration bubbling inside her, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she took a moment to steady her breathing. A dull ache settled in her head, a side effect of manipulating mana, but she pushed it aside,
Before her stood a massive set of wooden doors, barely held together. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands against them and pushed, but they wouldn't budge.
Gritting her teeth, she channeled mana through her body, letting its energy surge through her muscles. With more strength, she pushed again, this time, the doors groaned in protest before finally giving way.
[Be careful, Mommy. I know you can beat it, but just be careful! I don't like the mana I'm feeling inside.] Emi's voice rang through Mika's mind, filled with concern.
Tightening her grip on the twin daggers she had, Mika stepped inside as the doors immediately shut behind her, spooking her. The cavern was dimly lit, the flickering torches barely holding onto their flames. A heavy silence filled the space, making her nerves tingle with unease.
Then, from the depths of the darkness, a figure emerged.
A lone, black-robed skeleton stood at the center of the cavern, its movements slow and deliberate as it turned to face her. Its rusted color hands, feet, and skull contrasted sharply against its clean-looking black robe. And within its hollow eye sockets, twin flames of crimson fire burned fiercely, locking onto her with an unnatural intensity.
Mika barely had a moment to process the sight before the skeleton raised its hands. Two black magic circles formed in the air, swirling ominously before launching basketball-sized blobs of inky black goo straight at her.
Eyes widening, she threw herself to the side, narrowly dodging the attack. She hadn't been fast enough to conjure a [Barrier] spell in time. The goo splattered against the cavern floor, hissing violently as it bubbled and melted into the stone.
Mika swallowed hard, staring at the bubbling pool of corrosive goo. Fear crawled up her spine, but something else crawled with it… excitement.
[This fight is going to be harder than I thought.] There was no way she would get close to the boss, escpailly with its ability to hurl its weird acidic magic. Her mana reserves were running low, she had wasted too much mana on casting spells earlier, especially since the [Ice Arrow] she kept spamming against the mobs only consumed most of her mana. There were a lot of skeletons on the way to the boss room.
She quickly formed a [Barrier] spell as the robed skeleton drenched itself in black goo, immune to the acidic effects. With a relentless charge, it rushed toward her, slamming into the barrier with a force that caused it to shudder, but Mika wasn't safe yet.
The skeleton, fueled by rage, began hammering at the barrier, causing the black goo to spread over the impact points. With every strike, it slowly weakened that section of the shield. Mika's eyes widened in shock as, in less than twenty seconds, the skeleton managed to pierce through her [Barrier] spell.
But Mika wasn't just standing by watching, she was carefully shaping a [Fireball] spell, infusing it with every last drop of her remaining mana. She wanted to obliterate the skeleton in one hit. She couldn't afford to let it keep producing the black goo, which continued to flow out from under its robe, which was unscathed and still pristine.
With a swift motion, she hurled the beach ball-sized [Fireball] directly at its face just as it lunged toward her, its goo-made claws reaching out. The [Fireball] detonated on impact, temporarily blinding her and devouring her.
Given her limited experience in both magic and combat, she hadn't considered the risks of being so close to a [Fireball] when it exploded, nor did she think about using other spells she knew.
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Thanks for reading
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