2 Hours had passed and Alyssa was breathing heavily.
She had defeated around 10 mid D Rank Monsters while using sneak attacks. It was hard for her, but fortunately, none of the Kirons she hunted came in groups.
"Huff, huff, huff," Alyssa wiped the sweat off her face.
She sat down on one of the rocks to rest for a bit. For her, this was the least she needed to do right now while Asher was recovering his mana from whatever he used during his fight.
"You can rest now," Asher came and saw Alyssa resting on the rock.
"Okay," Alyssa replied, but the heat in the dungeon made it difficult to rest comfortably.
"I will go further into the dungeon," Asher said as Alyssa nodded.
He turned to go further in, but Alyssa's voice stopped him.
"I will join you in 2 hours, so don't go too far," There were no expressions on her face.
Nobody looking at her would think she cared about Asher when she said this, but a smirk appeared on Asher's face as his back faced her.
"Sure," Asher walked off to go deeper.
Alyssa touched the mana gathering locket as fresh mana kept swirling around her. She had not used it the entire time so she activated it now to quickly recover her mana.
Asher had recovered completely, but he could still feel the heaviness around his mana core. It was weird, but he was sure that the skill he used did not use mana at all.
Asher dashed off to the corpse of one of the Vialmir as he touched it to absorb it.
"Absorb," Asher muttered.
[ Host has absorbed +8 Mana stats ]
Asher could feel the mana around his body increased once again.
There were two more corpses, so he took them in his spatial ring like other Kirons.
Asher spread his mana sense as he dashed off further into the dungeon. He saw multiple Kirons with many small Ice Daggers around their neck region.
'She improved,' Asher thought in his mind.
Although Ice lances were the easiest thing she could make, smaller ice objects required greater complexity as encasing them with mana was more complex.
Mana manipulation was something mages needed to excel at to properly conjure higher-level spells.
Asher dashed forward, using mana to accelerate himself.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRGG," There were some Kirons left in the area that sensed Asher's presence.
"Swift Strike," Right now, for Asher, it was not hard to handle mid D Rank monsters as his mana was on the higher side.
[ Host gained 500 EXP ]
[ Host gained 500 EXP ]
[ Host gained 500 EXP ]
[ Host gained 500 EXP ]
[ Host has leveled up ]
Asher saw the dead Kirons and took their dead bodies inside his spatial ring. He could feel that his mana level has grown higher than what his current core was able to handle. The mana flow Rank A skill was the only reason he was not feeling the aftereffects of having high mana without the properly trained mana core.
Mana Flow was very different from Mana Circulation Rank A. Unlike the latter, mana flow didn't intervene with mana inside his body, but it controlled the output the core produced and mostly the external mana around him.
The major advantage Asher had because of mana flow was to suppress his own mana, making him almost undetectable unless he went into closer range of the monsters.
Right now, he was exploring the middle part of the Dungeon. Between checking many paths, Asher found that most of them were not filled with monsters. He was continuously using his mana sense to see if there were any Vialmir present nearby.
He could fight one of them and emerge victorious but two of them would be a problem for him.
Two hours had gone by, and Asher cleared some of the paths while killing monsters like Kirons and a few Hyelthers around them.
Asher went back to see Alyssa, who was meditating with her eyes closed. She had used her ice around her to lower the temperature so she could focus on gathering her mana. Usually, it would have taken much longer to fully recover mana without an external source of mana, but the mana gathering locket worked fine for her.
*Step* *Step*
Sensing Asher's footsteps, she opened her eyes and looked at the young man walking towards her. Almost Asher's whole body was covered in dried blood of the monsters.
"Should we move?" Alyssa asked as she stood up.
Asher wanted to clear this dungeon as soon as possible because if he got a bit late, then his plans would go down the drain. This dungeon environment was not a major problem for him. He could endlessly hunt monsters and absorb them until he couldn't and then properly challenge the boss, but his motives were different.
Both of them left, and as Asher guided Alyssa to the path he had scouted ahead, from his skills alone, Alyssa could not think of Asher as a novice. She thought that it might have been because of his family that he was so knowledgeable as she never personally had the chance to use Astaria Family's resources like Alan could.
As they moved further into the dungeon, they encountered various monsters like Kirons and Hyelthers. Some of them were grouped together, so Alyssa took on a bunch while Asher finished them off.
His style of fighting became more refined as he moved with Alyssa. He felt calmer with her, so he didn't have the reason to calm his madness by killing the monsters brutally.
[ Host has gained 500 EXP ]
"Status-Level," Asher said as his sword penetrated the heart of the 3-meter-tall Hyelther.
----- Fate Devourer System -------
[Name]: Asher Von Raven Greville
[Level] -19 (EXP 8,500/19,000)
"ROAAAAR-" Another Roaring Hyelther died as multiple small shards penetrated its neck and eyes.
Alyssa was still getting used to maintaining the structure of the Ice Shards. Little errors would make them unable to harm a D Rank Monster.
The pools of mana had become lesser, but the heat had significantly increased. Now, even Asher was sweating a lot.
"Let's go back for now," Asher said as both of them turned.
It would be useless to go further as both of them needed a bit of rest. They had been travelling through the dungeon for six hours.
Alyssa was quiet as both of them sat down on the corner farthest from the lava pools.
"I will generate some ice," Alyssa said as a circular ring of ice appeared on the ground around them.
"We will rest for four hours, then we need to find the boss room," Asher told her while wiping the blood off his sword.
They didn't talk much during their rest. It was a comforting silence for both of them.
Asher talked about a few strategies, and Alyssa gave her input on areas where she might not be helpful to him.
"I will try, but I might be useless in front of the boss monster," Alyssa said.
"Don't worry. I will deal with it, but just follow the plan," Asher knew that her damaging a C Rank Boss would be nearly impossible, so he came up with another plan.
"But let's deal with Vialmir first," Asher said, sensing a monster coming their way.
Asher and Alyssa stood up.
"Let's try it on the Vialmir," Alyssa suggested as she raised her hands and created several Ice Shards.
Bringing her hand downwards, one by one, the Ice Shards hit the ground and but they kept breaking because they were brittle.
Alyssa's sudden attack generated a loud sound that attracted the Vialmir.
"SCREEEEEEEEEECH," a monster's cry was heard as the Vialmir quickly came toward them.
Alyssa muttered a chant, as he focused on creating the spell.
Asher moved as soon as he heard Alyssa chanting.
He flared his mana, which attracted the Vialmir, causing it to move toward him. After a few seconds, a creepy monster with four eyes became visible as it marked Asher as its prey.
The monster ran towards Asher but it suddenly stopped in it's track as a heavy pressure stopped him from moving for a single moment.
"Shackles," Alyssa muttered as various Ice Shackles emerged from the water below the Vialmir, which had just stepped on the water.
The Vialmir looked at its leg, which was getting encased in ice. But before it could break it, Asher moved from his spot.
"Swift Strike," Asher's speed closed the distance between the two quickly.
But instead of aiming at the gap between its hard shell, Asher's sword connected with the monster's mouth, splitting its upper and bottom jaw, killing the beast instantly.
[ Host has gained 5000 EXP ]
Alyssa, who was grabbing her knees with her hands, saw Asher defeat the Vialmir and felt glad that her combination magic of two elements had worked fine.
Although Asher had explained how to do it theoretically, she had implemented it quite well.
Asher instantly touched the beast and said, "Absorb."
[ Host has gained +5 Strength ]
The last stat he gained from the Vialmir was +3 mana, which meant that the difference between the Vialmir's mana grew less than the difference between their strength.
Absorbing it, Asher immediately took the Vialmir's dead body inside his spatial ring.
He turned and saw Alyssa, who was grabbing her knees. If she managed to do something similar, there was a huge chance that Asher could defeat the Dungeon Boss without getting heavily injured.
"Let's move. I am fine," Alyssa walked toward Asher, maintaining a stoic face, but her head was hurting a bit.
Her confirmation meant they could venture toward the last path they had left unexplored among all the paths.
Walking down for six hours straight, defeating a few Kirons, they reached a huge ground. In front of them was a huge gate that was half open.
Fortunately for them, not a single Vialmir had appeared near this path, which probably led to the boss room.
The temperature had increased quite a bit. This heat was unbearable for a normal human, but both of them looked fine. Although it increased their mana consumption, it was something that could not be helped.
*Thump* *Thump*
Alyssa could feel a feeling of danger coming from the thing behind that door, but she calmed herself but her heartbeat was not calming down.
It was different from the Vialmir.
The monster behind that gate was increasing her nervousness. She was nothing but an E+ Rank Hunter.
An E+ Rank Hunter should have been dead long ago to mid D Rank monsters like Kirons, but she was standing in front of the C Rank Dungeon's boss monster.
But unlike Alyssa, Asher's eyes had turned deadly cold, as he probably sensed what exactly the boss monster was.
"VAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGHHHHHHHH," a loud roar that vibrated through the walls could be heard as the beast woke up again.
