It took a while since Ryan had to use Heal several times, but eventually, he recovered his mana and magic weapons. It was time for the counter-attack… Without any hesitation, Ryan made his weapons spin again, and like tornadoes, they claimed the lives of the skeletons.

Every second weapon would destroy one of them, so Ryan could recover two hundred mana points per second. Considering that he had to use around 150 mana points to use his weapons like that, things were proceeding well. However, Ryan couldn't move a lot while keeping that concentration level, so he was forced to use his shield to block the skeletons' attacks. He also used Wind Manipulation to control the shield, and thanks to it, now he was spending more mana than he recovered.

"Now what…"

For some reason, Ryan's mind was working really well that day. Soon he had an idea, and he decided to put it into practice since it looked promising. However, before anything, he had to get away from the skeletons. With all his might and by using his shield to protect his back, Ryan used Dash and some skills that could boost his speed to gain some distance over the monsters. After a while, he turned around and then saw several fireballs, ice arrows, and ordinary arrows flying toward him. Although that was the first time he tried to pull that off, Ryan succeeded in blocking the ordinary arrows with his shield, and then he obtained control over the Fireballs by using Fire Manipulation. After that, he used them to melt the ice arrows.

"All that training is finally paying off… Still, I should save the fire spells for later. Let's also stop using Wind Manipulation… a single block of the earth should be enough to stop the arrows and ice spells."

Since they were doing what they wanted, the skeletons never managed to scratch Ryan. They were brain-dead creatures, after all. Regardless, before his mana could get empty again, Ryan mixed all the fireballs to create a single one and then sent them back to the skeletons. In the blink of an eye, dozens of them exploded, and Ryan's mana was full again.

You obtained 40 coins.

You obtained 40 coins.

You obtained 40 coins.

…

Things could have become even easier if Ryan could manipulate ice, but he couldn't stop the Ice Arrows even though he had Water Manipulation and Water Transformation. Regardless, the number of skeletons was decreasing at a steady pace… Still, as usual, things wouldn't go that smoothly forever.

"Alissa needs your help."

"I don't need anyone's help."

"Now you sound just like him."

Ryan suddenly heard their voices through Telepathy and then looked at the sky and saw Alissa slowly losing altitude. She wasn't attacking anymore, even though only thirty or bosses were alive.

"What is going on there?" Ryan frowned.

"Those creatures are weird; it is almost as if… they are sacrificing themselves to measure Alissa's strength. They didn't do anything aside from using Gravity to slow her down and make her spend more energy."

"So, she is tired because her body is heavier?" Ryan asked.

"I am not heavy!" Alissa protested.

"What a time to try to be feminine…" Ryan shrugged. "Are you guys idiots? If gravity is a problem with that size, just fight on your human form. Those creatures are weak against negative effects, so my gauntlets will come in handy."

Alissa and Orgar didn't say anything. As expected, they didn't even consider solving the problem like that… that is what you gain for having muscles for brains. Not even Ryan, who always wanted to overpower his opponents with his arrows, was that dumb.

When Alissa returned to her human form, she used all her mana to decrease the effects of the enemies' gravity spells and to fly. Although she wasn't as fast as she could be, fighting like that was much easier than fighting in her draconic form, and just like Ryan mentioned, the bosses froze and sometimes even died after a single punch.

It was a pity that Ryan wouldn't obtain the loot of the bosses, but in the end, he resumed his task of eliminating the skeletons. Somehow, when the sun started to set, Ryan and Alissa were the only ones left to tell the tale about what happened. Occasionally, some skeletons would leave the dungeon, but they never lasted long enough.

Although Ryan's sweat was starting to bother him since the cold was turning into ice, he still didn't get up from the snow. He was exhausted and wanted to stay like that for a while. That was very unlikely of him, but he didn't want to pick even the battle's loot.

"We really work well together, huh," Alissa said. "How many days did you expect to clear this dungeon alone? Seven? Ten?"

Ryan didn't answer that, but he acknowledged the fact that he couldn't clear the dungeon in less than seven days. Still, thanks to Alissa's cooperation, he did that in a single day. Although he was thankful for it, saying that out loud would be too out of character for Ryan.

"I wonder…" Ryan said and then got up while he cleaned the snow on his body.

"Come on, admit it," Alissa said.

Ryan sighed. That insistence was annoying, and he wasn't very patient with insistent people, but even before Ryan could think of a harsh answer, he heard Orgar's voice.

"Don't forget our agreement."

"Did you say something, Orgar?" Alissa frowned. "You did use Telekinesis, right? Why didn't I hear anything? Did you talk with Ryan? About what?"

"It was men's talk. A lady such as yourself shouldn't concern with such trivial matters."

"Not fair!" Alissa said.

Ryan sighed again. That was a pain, but in the end, a promise was a promise. Thanks to what he learned from Orgar, he obtained a great deal of strength… it was time to do his part of the deal again.

"Just a little bit, I guess," Ryan said.

"Just a little bit?" Alissa frowned. "How shy and stingy can a single person be? Well, I guess that is still progressing for someone like you."

Ryan took a deep breath to calm his nerves. In the end, he managed to keep his composure. He forgot about it, but human society was made of people who had to compromise in all kinds of things. Although that society had been destroyed, humans still had to compromise now and then. He sacrificed a few minutes of a headache to do in a single day a job that would take him a week… so it was fine.