Sonic's Growth Story (2)

We made camp fifty meters from the dungeon entrance, its surface rippling like a portal, and started getting ready for the raid.

The hike had already wrung us out, so we weren't planning to stay long. One or two rooms, a light clear, then out.

"Sonic?"

"Yes, Master. Did you call for me?"

"You haven't forgotten what I told you earlier, right?"

"Hehe. Were you worried about that?"

"Of course I was."

I nodded at Sonic's smile.

"Don't be. This isn't my first dungeon, and I have no intention of getting reckless. Then or now, I follow only your orders, Master."

"Good to hear."

The way she said it — confident, asking me to trust her — let me breathe a quiet sigh of relief. At least she didn't seem like she was about to do anything stupid.

The order I'd given her wasn't complicated.

Stay out of the fight until we'd fully cleared the room.

Sonic was 4-Star, sure, but she hadn't seen a single battle since being summoned. Eight days in, and she was still sitting at level 1. Walking her into a C-Rank dungeon to fight monsters in that state was suicide. She wouldn't block a single hit. She'd just die.

"Still, I am a little worried."

"About what?"

"If we follow your plan, my level will climb fast — but my skill levels will lag behind. You always used to insist on keeping level and skill level in balance."

"Wow. You actually remembered that?"

"Hehe. I remember every last memory I made with you, Master."

"Do you? That's impressive."

I ruffled her hair as she scrunched her eyes into a cute little smile.

Now that she mentions it, I'm curious. We never even met in my past life. I was just a player and she was a character in a game. What memories is she talking about?

How did Sonic see me? And what exactly were all these memories she claimed we'd shared?

I'd have to ask her later, when we had a moment to rest. There'd been plenty of time for that already — I'd just spent all of it having sex.

Kanisia. Aquaril. Oralisa. Sonic.

Four stunning women who'd spread their legs the moment I so much as reached for them. I hadn't even tried to hold back.

"Yeah, it bothers me a little too… but what can you do. We raise the level and the stats first. Skill levels can wait until we find abilities that actually suit you. Besides, you can always ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠grind those up later."

Low skill levels meant you couldn't bring out your real strength no matter how high your level climbed.

That was why, back when I'd played Fairy Masters, I'd always raised my fairies so that their levels and skill levels never drifted too far apart.

The same concern had nagged at me while I was figuring out how to grow Sonic. In the end, I didn't have a choice.

The environment I'd raised her in back then and the one I was working with now were completely different.

In my past life, Sonic had been my first fairy. Every resource I had went to her. I'd built the entire party around her and pushed the story with her at the center, so her level and skill levels had grown in lockstep.

Now? She'd been dropped into a party that was already built. A party that still had plenty of growing left to do, at that.

Funneling everything into Sonic at this stage would mean wasting the mountain of resources already invested in the others. Cut their funding to focus on her, and the whole party would end up half-baked.

This was the moment for a hard choice — pick one, and commit.

"By the way. Going the Night Fiend class route again is still the right call, yeah?"

"Yes. I've already run the best path once. There's no reason to choose a different one."

Sonic nodded at my question.

Night Fiend.

A Mythic-grade class — the highest rank in this world, considered equal to the one-of-a-kind Unique grade. It had been Sonic's class before.

Night Fiend was a class that wrung every last drop from elemental affinities and the cover of night, a power she'd developed by building everything around her Eoduksini trait. Come nightfall, she could output force that rivaled Mythic and Unique grades despite being Special-rank. Even in daylight, she still performed at a level worthy of Special.

Well. That explanation wasn't important right now. I'd come back to it later.

"Same here. No point taking a gamble when a sure path already exists. Anyway, let's go. Looks like the others are ready."

"Yes, Master."

I stepped out of the tent with Sonic. She was tied to my past life, which meant I couldn't talk about any of that in front of the rest of the party.

"My, my. You two are just dripping with sweetness."

"Dripping with what. We were just talking."

Kanisia greeted us with a wicked little look as we came out together. I shrugged it off — then, on instinct, glanced sideways at Aquaril and Oralisa.

Aquaril had taken it hard, once, over me and Sonic. I couldn't help being careful.

I'd handled it well enough that she wouldn't get the wrong idea, but people's hearts don't always listen to reason. I still worried she might get hurt again, or sink back into that gloom.

"…"

My worry was wasted. Aquaril looked completely fine. When our eyes met, she even smiled — don't worry about it.

And our Oralisa…

"Butterfly, where are you going! Come here!"

She was chasing a butterfly that happened to be drifting by. Our Oralisa wasn't thinking anything at all. Because there was nothing in there to think with.

"Everyone ready? Then let's move."

"Yeah."

"Yes, Master."

"Oralisa! Stop chasing the butterfly and get over here! We're leaving!"

"Hah?! Coming, Master!"

She'd been about to follow the thing straight down the mountain, so I called her back in a hurry. Fifty meters later, the party and I stepped into the dungeon.

The moment we stepped inside, a briefing window greeted us the way it always did, laying out the dungeon's basics.

"Ugh… this place is nasty."

"You're telling me."

Kanisia followed me in, wrinkling her nose as she took in the surroundings. True to the name Hell's Gate, the interior unfurled into a landscape ripped straight out of the underworld.

Earth stained black. Buildings on fire. A dark crimson sky that oozed dread. The stench of smoke and rotting corpses punching straight up the nose.

No wonder the max party size was ten — each room was enormous. Eyeballing it, the first chamber was almost the size of a university athletic field.

Kruk?

Krrrk?

"Combat positions."

The residents of hell, catching the scent of the living, began to emerge one by one from behind the burning buildings.

Every last one of them had dark, murky-green skin, and every last one of them was hideous in its own special way. One had eyeballs packed across its entire face. Another had four arms. A third had tentacles like horsehair worms writhing out of its eye sockets.

They were some genuinely fucked-up looking monsters.

Size, shape — all over the place. The name for them, though, was one and the same.

That was what they were called.

KRAAAAAAAAGH—!

KIIIIIIIIIK—!

The Hell Underlings spotted us, shrieked, and charged. A grand welcome party, right from the first room.

Abraham slammed his massive square shield into the ground and bellowed. Invisible mana poured off his body and sank into the monsters.

KYAAAAAAAGH—!

The ones charging in from every direction veered as one and barreled straight at him. He'd used the tank's bread-and-butter skill.

Oh?

I watched Abraham's back with genuine curiosity. The moment he used the skill, I could faintly feel the mana inside him shift. I'd never been able to sense anything like that before.

Because my mana stat went up?

Not long ago, Montblanc had handed me twenty Medium Mana Growth Stones as a reward for assassinating Kant. I'd swallowed them and jacked my mana stat way up.

Which left my status looking like this:

My mana stat, bonuses included, sat at a full 121 points — one higher than the maximum a 6-Star could even raise a stat to.

With mana that high, I could just barely feel how other people's mana moved.

For the record, jacking my mana this time meant I could no longer raise any of my stats with Growth Stones. Strip out the bonuses from the Molt skill and class level-ups, and everything sat at exactly 80 — the 4-Star cap.

The four Medium Mana Growth Stones I had left were going to the party.

"They're not that tough, so don't get tense. Hold your positions."

I kept my eyes on the Hell Underlings as they charged like rabid dogs, and called out a reminder to the others.

Our current formation: Abraham at the front, Kanisia and me on either flank, Aquaril, Oralisa, and Sonic in the rear.

I'd had Aquaril on free roam before. This time I switched her to keeper — she'd be covering Oralisa and Sonic.

"HRYAAAAAH!"

The first Hell Underling to arrive hurled itself at Abraham's shield. He roared and drove the shield forward to meet it.

Keh?!

A thunderous crash, and the thing — human-shaped, but running on all fours like a dog — went flying backward with a grotesque scream.

KIEEEEEEK—!

KYAAAAAAGH—!

That collision was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the starting gun. The rest of the fight opened up from there. Taunting Shout was still in effect, so every monster funneled itself at Abraham and Abraham alone.

"Hah!"

"Haaah!"

Kanisia and I cut them down from either side, sword and spear flashing. Abraham trusted us to handle the flanks and put ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠everything into the front.

"Hah!"

"Yap! Yap! Yap!"

Support fire came in from behind — Aquaril and Oralisa.

Keeper or not, Aquaril had a ranged option in Sword Aura (Lv. 25 / Advanced). She sent it flying at the monsters still hanging back at a distance.

Oralisa was pouring arrows downrange as fast as she could draw. Every shot was dead on — brow, throat, eye, mouth. She never missed a weak point.

"…"

Sonic stood quietly between them. Her blood was up, though. Her breathing had gone rough, and she couldn't take her hand off the hilt of her sword.

Kek? KEEEEEEEK—!

It didn't take long for Taunting Shout to wear off. The monsters that had been ignoring Kanisia and me to pile onto Abraham snapped back to their senses and split left and right. His shield looked too hard to get over, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so they'd try us instead.

"Die, you sons of bitches!"

Fwoooooosh—!

BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!

I swung into the Hell Underlings with both skills running. I kept firing them off the instant they came off cooldown, but with my mana stat this high I barely felt the drain.

Every time a monster died, the skill levels ticked up and up.

The C-Rank dungeon Hell's Gate was a damn good grinding spot.

There were a lot of Hell Underlings, but nothing that qualified as a mid-boss — no special variants. We finished the fight without taking any real injuries.

Average level on the Hell Underlings was 73, and their attribute was Darkness. We had three Light-attribute fighters in the party — me, Kanisia, and Abraham — so they never stood a chance.

"Sonic. Your turn."

"Yes, Master."

Once the fighting was over, I called her forward.

Kiek! Kieek! Kieek!

She stepped up to the Hell Underling pinned under my foot, still screaming. I'd cut off its arms and legs just in case.

"I'll kill it, then."

"Go ahead."

Sonic raised her sword high and drove it down into the Hell Underling's throat. Time to take a breather, I figured, and then— wait.

"…"

"…"

KIEEEEEK!

She'd stabbed the thing's neck with plenty of spirit. Unfortunately, her blade did not go through.

"Ah. Right."

Our party had been carving through these things so easily I'd forgotten. Sonic was level 1. Punching through the defense of a monster more than seventy levels above her was never going to happen.

"I— nngh!"

Embarrassed and furious that she couldn't kill it in a single stroke, Sonic gritted her teeth and started sawing at the monster's neck in earnest.

Hmm. Maybe I ought to find a lower-level dungeon after all.