-Team Fight(1)-

“Haah!!” Chiba shouted in fury while sending a few hundred icicle blades towards a group of [Fire Snakes] slithered towards her. As those icicle blades rained down on them, the tiny fire embers that took the shape of snakes made horrible noises as they killed by it.

“Nice Chiba, take this you monster, Strength: Overdrive,” Joy shouted as he threw a punch towards a golem that was double of Joy’s height. The golem was made of molten flowing lava, save for a few spots. When it appeared, Chiba instantly recognized it as the one Kenshin killed the day she met him.

Boom!! The golem’s hardened fist broke, unable to endure Joy’s full-force attack. At that time, a stream of water fell upon the golem’s head and torso, making it as hard as a rock for a few seconds. “Ora!!” Joy shouted, giving another punch to the golem’s hardened torso, making a hole in it. As he did so, Kenshin flashed past him and grabbed hold of the glittering small jewel embedded inside, then broke it with his bare hands.

“Roar!!!” the golem roared miserably as its materialized body started to melt back to a puddle of lava on the floor. As soon as it returned back to being a puddle, a bunch of shiny things dropped from the sky, then neatly arranged on the floor. The shiny things contained a few thousand gold coins, a dagger oozing in purple light, and a few silver metals that glowed like a radioactive metal.

“Hmm! Few coins, a C ranked item, and three kg of super-silver alloy, quite a good haul.” Joy commented, looking at the gleaming drops.

“We are auctioning off the dagger and sell the silver to the highest bidder, any questions?” Kenshin asked, to which both Joy and Chiba nodded. For the past few days, they are hitting all the level 9 dungeons nearest to Mito. Their aim was not to level up but to polish what they already have. More importantly, they wanted to create a team dynamics so that they could cooperate with each other more efficiently. Out of them all, Kenshin stood at the top, then came Joy, and finally, Chiba, whose level was not even on the same greed as them.

After the last few days of restless grinding, she had managed to level up to 40 and even gained a skill called [Contamination Freezing] that could instantly freeze any water body nearest to her. In gaming terms, it was a crowd control skill, which was a must when dealing with mobs. As such, Kenshin and Joy decided to hit a lava dungeon to tey and level up her skill even further, with opposing environment suppressing her, she would gain mastery in her skill even faster.

From the moment they stepped foot in the dungeon, they were relentlessly assaulted by [Fire Snakes] and [Lava Golems], with Kenshin and Joy acting as Tankers, Chiba was having an easier time killing those things. All she had to do was to use her skills and kill them. While at it, she was also to discover new innovative ways to use her skill.

The later was an advice Joy gave her before they started this hunting spree, according to him, there were no limits to how a person can use a skill, with newer innovative ways, they can even make a single target skill into AoE skills. After all, it's not a game that runs by codes, it’s the reality where anything was possible. It was due to this valuable advice form Joy that she had gained the new ability called [Contamination Freezing].

Earlier, she could only freeze the water she had produced herself, but now, she could freeze any water body around her, even blood…how? The answer lay in the word ‘contamination’ in her skill’s name. Basically, she mixes a drop of her own created water into the water bodies around her and then concentrates on freezing that drop, the coldness would soon spread, freezing the whole water body. Using this skill, she can also control that water body like her own limbs before freezing. Although the skill consumes a sizable amount of her magic, the power and versatility of this skill were undeniable.

Seeing her, even Kenshin was surprised. Although Joy had given her the advice; for her to implement and even create new skills so soon out of it, it was purely due to her natural talent and monstrous comprehension. Kenshin hoped his sister also had this kind of comprehension so that she could have a better time than the rest.

“Everyone, take a short break. Chiba, drink a blue potion.” Kenshin ordered before sitting down on a red rock. Of course, he and Joy didn’t need to tale rest, but Chiba needed it more. Unlike them, she yet to reach level 50, let along have her first awakening. After every stage clearing, she needs to take a short break to replenish her mental energy. A few days ago, Kenshin discovered that the blue potion, which was actually Mana Potion, had a passive ability to calm one's mind, helping them in replenishing their mental energy. After that discovery, he advised Chiba to drink one after every intense fight, he wanted her to be in her 100% no matter when they fight or what they fight. It was especially true as they were raiding a level 9 dungeon.

After much persuasion from both Joy and Kenshin, Chiba had stopped getting anxious about drinking the potion provided by Kenshin. She believed in Kenshin’s words about him getting it to form a private party at a very low price. Of course, Joy had his doubts, but he didn’t ask more about Kenshin. Also, Kenshin would always take a few thousand gold coins more for buying these potions, so he never questioned about its source.

“This would make our 2nd big monster of the day, I am getting the hang of how to defeat it now…I believe I can cause more damage the next time we meet one. Also, I think my [Contamination Freezing] seems to have increased at a level, the magic load had decreased by a lot the last time I used it. Not only that, but the influence had also somewhat increased.” Chiba reported her progress, without anyone asking her to. The reason was…

“Good Job, Chiba.” Kenshin gave her a thumbs up, with Joy clapping in the background. Seeing their support, Chiba blushed but looked a bit radiant than before.

…this…

“Now, you are level 56, I believe before you reach 60, you can solo these level 80 monsters. Your innovative ways of dealing with damage are the best. You should keep-up this out of box thinking of yours.” Kenshin nodded and gave her a conclusion. In reality, Chiba didn’t need to reach level 60 before soloing these golems, her damage and magic usage was strong enough to solo one even now, but the problem lied on her low mana capability. Although she could dish out greater damages, she couldn’t support that damage for long. So here they were trying to increase her magic capacity by the good ol’ repetition method.

Basically, they were forcing her to completely drain her magic, then using a potion, they replenish it and again, forcing her to delete it. By doing this, not only the magic concentration on her body will increase, but also her magic regain speed will also have a sharp rise. This was a tried and tested method, quite popular among magic skill users who find it hard to level up but have more than enough ideas to maximize their output.

The only difference was that none of the people ever had the resources available to them in the form of unlimited magic potions. Due to Kenshin providing the main ingredient of this type if spartan training, Chiba could maximize the effect of it and gain the most out of it.

It took her only five minutes under the effect of the magic potion to return to her 100%, a clear indication that her recovery rate had also increased from before. Standing up valiantly, she took the lead as they ventured further into the dungeon, clearing many [Fire Snakes] on the way. And soon, their advance also halted as a bunch of [Lava Golems] blocked their way further.

“Guys, be ready, we have arrived near the boss room. These golems are different than rest. Their power and defense both are in a different league than the rest. Chiba, be on guard. Joy, guard Chiba, I am going to kite them here one by one.” Kenshin announced as he steadily walked towards the bunch of golems, holding his [Blakcmoon Beheader] in a lose hold.