Romania, Lost Valley’s Fortress Dungeon

”You can’t sleep?” Cristopher asked as he looked outside of the cave, watching the entrance so no goblin comes close.

“No…” Rachel said with a shake of her head as she walked towards him, looking at the strange scenery of this valley. Filled, she knew, with hundreds of those brown goblins that plagued this dungeon. “Why don’t you go to sleep, master? I can keep watch for the remaining hours.”

“Nah, I don’t feel like sleeping right now.” Cristopher said with a shrug.

“…” Rachel nodded, both of them looking towards the horizon. “You don’t sleep much, right?” She suddenly asked, turning to look at him.

“Mm? Why do you think so?” He asked back, his eyes still focused on the tree-filled valley.

“During the final exams… You barely slept… Actually… I don’t think I saw you sleeping at all.” Rachel said.

“I took naps while you guys hunted.”

“That’s not the same as sleeping, master.” Rachel said with a pout. “You should sleep properly, otherwise, you won’t have enough energy to go through your days. Proper sleep is important too.”

“Haha.” Cristopher chuckled. “Is that so?” He turned to look at her with a smirk. “Then why are you not sleeping right now? It was the best moment to rest before we tackled the boss of this place.”

“B-Because I-I don’t want to sleep while you’re here keeping watch by yourself…” Rachel turned her head away.

“Pffft… Right.” Cristopher just chuckled, before sighing. “Nightmares?”

“W-What?”

“Nightmares. Do you have them?” Cristopher asked with a smile as he turned to look at the forest.

“…” Rachel stayed quiet for a moment. “I do…”

“Must be tough, huh.” Cristopher muttered.

“They… They’re getting better…” Rachel whispered.

“Is that so?” He turned to look at her with that smile he gives her from time to time. They were far from each other, but even then, those smiles always calmed her down. “That’s good.” He said as he softly patted her head.

Rachel’s face turned red like a tomato. She quickly looked down to hide it from him, while trying her best to protest. “I’m not a kid, master.” That is, pouting at this treatment.

“Pfft… Right. You’re not.” Cristopher said with a chuckle, as he pulled back his hand. “Anyways.” He stretched. “Want to spar? I feel like we could be using this time to hone your techniques while it’s time to call Antonio up.”

“Right.” Rachel said with a shy nod, her face still slightly red, which made Cristopher chuckle. “Don’t laugh at me, master…” She pouted.

***

Seoul, Locket of Hope.

While Rachel, Cristopher, and Antonio were conquering a dungeon in Romania, someone else was having a different kind of difficulty back in Seoul.

“So…” Hajin said with an awkward smile. “What is it that you’re doing here?”

“Training, and saying hi to the kids, as usual. Why the sudden interest?” Olivia asked with a frown. “Can’t I?”

“It’s not that you can’t…” Hajin chuckled awkwardly.

“Then I don’t see why you would be here stopping me from going to the backyard.” She said with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

“W-Well-”

“What? Is it a thing from that bastard Cristopher?” Olivia suddenly tilted her head. “Did he ask you to prank me or something? Or is he waiting back there to kill me?” She suddenly flinched. “Because I swear I didn’t speak bad behind his back!” She said, trembling slightly.

“N-No, it’s not that…” Hajin smiled kept getting more awkward the more he tried to find an excuse. “It’s just that-”

“Who’s talking behind my daddy’s back?” Just as he was about to come up with an excuse, a cute little voice came from behind him, freezing him on the spot.

“Mm?” Olivia, surprised by this voice, tilted her head to see behind Hajin. Only to freeze on the spot. “What…?” {That hair… and… daddy...?} Gears started spinning at high speed, while different thoughts and feelings went through Olivia. Mostly shock, confusion, and ‘What the fuck is going on here?’

“Who are you?” Evandel moved in front of her, looking up at her with a frown. “Why are you talking behind my daddy’s back?”

“Ah, Evandel, that’s Olivia.” Anne, who was walking with Evandel towards the kitchen, came beside her and presented the frozen girl to her. “She’s oppa’s friend. She comes often to train with all of us.”

“Daddy’s friend?” Evandel asked Anne with a tilted head, only to frown the next moment and glare at Olivia. “Friends don’t talk behind each other’s back!” She said as she pointed at Olivia. “I’m telling my dad!”

“…” Olivia just looked at the small child in front of her with her mouth open wide. Somehow, she felt a cold drop of sweat slowly descending on the back of her neck. “K-K-Kid, let’s calm down, we’re all reasonable people here. There’s no reason to go snitching to y-y-your f-father, r-right?”

“Hump!” Evandel crossed her arms, still glaring at her. “Just wait, you ugly woman!” She then turned around and went towards the kitchen.

“Woah, you made Evandel angry…” Anne looked at the retreating Evandel’s back. “That has to be an ability, Olivia-unni.” Anne said while looking at Olivia with a surprised face, before suddenly putting her hands together and closing her eyes.

“W-What are you d-doing, Anne?” Olivia asked, with even more cold sweat running down the back of her neck.

“Praying for your soul.” Anne said with a serious face, before turning and going towards her friend. Not before leaving a few words behind. “Oppa won’t like that you got his little Ev angry. Good luck, unni!”

“…” With her mouth open, and dead-looking eyes, Olivia could only watch as the small girl went to the kitchen behind her executioner.

Hajin could only sigh deeply at the scene.

“Hajin…” Olivia’s voice woke him up from his thoughts.

“...Yes?” He tentatively asked.

“Just… What happened now...?” Olivia asked, her eyes still locked on the way to the kitchen.

“You just met your demise… I guess…” Hajin said with an awkward chuckle.

“Ha…” Olivia sighed. “Not that… I mean, who was that? S-Since when d-does that asshole has a daughter? Just… what happened?”

“I’m surprised you accepted her words that fast.”

“It’s her hair. There’s no way you can’t match that hair to him. Even less when I was just talking about him.” Olivia said with a frown.

“Right…” Hajin sighed and signaled to the reception room. “Come on, I’ll try to explain as best as I can.”

With a nod, Olivia followed behind him.

“So? Since when does he have a daughter?” Olivia asked as soon as both of them were sitting on the couches. “She looked to be around 4 years old. Is that right?”

“Yeah.” Hajin said. “Look, it’s a really complicated story. And I’m not one to go on disclosing that guy’s secrets, so you’ll have to wait for him to ask about it.” {Better be him the one to decide who to tell the secret to.}

“Tch.” Olivia clicked her tongue. “So? Since when do you know about it?”

“It hasn’t been that much time, a couple of months only.” Hajin shrugged. “It’s not been easy, but well, she’s a really nice child.”

“…” Olivia just stayed silent, while frowning. “Why didn’t you guys tell me?”

“It’s not something easy to say, you know?” Hajin said with a sigh. “Not many people know about her. Those that know, was only because of bad luck, or rumors.”

“Rumors? Are there rumors about him having a daughter?” Olivia tilted her head. “I haven’t heard anything…”

“Is that so?” Hajin widened his eyes. “Then I guess she did manage to keep their mouths shut.”

“Who?”

“Yoo Yeonha.” Hajin said shortly.

“She knows too?”

“By mere coincidence. She overheard some students talking about it, and apparently told those that found out about it to keep the secret and not spread any rumors. Though I honestly don’t know how she could do that.”

“Yeah… A secret like that it’s really hard to keep…” Olivia said with a sigh, before limping on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. “I still don’t understand why you would keep the secret from me… It’s not like I would tell anyone…”

“It’s not because we don’t trust you, Olivia.” Hajin sighed. “It’s just that it’s not been easy, you know?”

“Still… It’s not like I wouldn’t understand and go on telling everyone.” She said while slightly glaring at him.

“Ha… Hey, the simple fact that Evandel is here, means that he trusts you enough. And in my case, it’s not like I have any right to go around telling his secrets.”

“Ha? What do you mean?”

“He knows you come here regularly, right?” Hajin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, yeah, but-” Olivia started to talk, but stopped the next moment.

“See?” Hajin smiled. “He knew you would find about her if he ever let her come here.”

“But then… Why not just tell me directly?” She frowned.

“Well… He’s just like that, you know?” Hajin sighed. “Also, he does trust you not to tell the secret. So, please, really keep this to yourself. Don’t tell anything to your friends, not even Emma. And this also includes Rachel, of course.”

“You’re keeping it from her too?” Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah… As I said, except for those that found out, we haven’t really told anyone. Well, maybe except for Fran and the kids here. We couldn’t just bring her without telling the truth to Fran and those working around here. Which, by the way, are all really good people.” Hajin said with a serious face.

“Ha… Fine.” Olivia finally relaxed on the couch. “But that asshole better gives me a really good explanation of why he didn’t tell me anything.” She said while grounding her teeth.

“Haha…” Hajin could only chuckle awkwardly at this. {I think the one doing an explanation would be you, Olivia…}

***

Romania, Lost Valley’s Fortress Dungeon.

“Woah…” Antonio exclaimed with his mouth wide open as he looked at the fortress in front of him.

“I must say… this is a lot more of what I expected from a fortress filled with midgets.” Cristopher said as he looked at the imposing construction in front of him with arms crossed.

Rachel nodded at his comment, gripping her rapier with strength. “I don’t think I can go past this…” She muttered.

“Well… you just don’t have the set of skills required for it.” Cristopher said before smirking. “That is if your job was to break through the place. But you don’t really need to do that, our job is to finish the boss.”

“Huh? Wait… do you mean…?” Rachel’s eyes widened. “But master… there are a lot of them in there… I don’t know-”

“Relax, nothing will go wrong. I trust your ability. And I’m here too. There’s no way I will let anything happen to any of you.” Cristopher said with a smirk. “Now, come on, I’ll keep my eyes on you from here.” He said as he nodded towards the fortress, where goblins and hobgoblins prepared to shoot their bows, while right in front of the gates of the fortress, shield-bearing goblins stood defending the entrance.

Gripping her rapier with strength, Rachel let out a deep sigh and disappeared from her spot, only to appear over the group of shield-bearers. “HA!” With a shout, her rapier covered in crimson fire, and with a firm thrust to the middle of the group of goblins and hobgoblins, flames erupted all around her burning the enemies.

Meanwhile, arrows rained down on Cristopher and Antonio, but the former simply created a barrier that stopped the arrows from approaching.

“Mm?” Cristopher tilted his head. “It seems they’re using some magic on those arrows, interesting.” He said with a smirk.

“Magic?”

“Yeah. They’re empowering their arrows with mana.” Cristopher nodded. “I guess it’s not that weird, considering we’re at the final part of the dungeon.”

“So the monsters are stronger?”

“Exactly.” Cristopher nodded once again before pointing at the walls. “You should see this kid. Sooner or later you’ll have to learn that technique.”

Antonio looked towards the wall he was pointing to. Only to see Rachel rushing towards the wall while using her water-coated sword to cut through the enemies like butter. Soon, she reached the wall, but instead of stopping, she simply stepped on it, and then stepped again, and again. With each step she gave on the wall, she ran over it.

“Whoa…” Antonio was really surprised. He never thought something like that would be possible. It was like gravity meant nothing to Rachel right now.

“Amazing, right? And she mastered that quite quickly for someone not accustomed to that kind of training.” Cristopher said with a smirk.

Rachel quickly reached the top of the wall, and instead of stopping, she accelerated, jumping higher than the wall while turning mid-air while a ball of fire formed on the tip of her rapier. Finally looking down at the brown goblins and hobgoblins that were desperately trying to aim at her with their bows and crossbows, she threw the ball of crimson fire to them, burning tens of goblins in a moment, and allowing her to safely land, the fire now burning around her not even bothering her at all, as Heli made her best to protect her.

Looking around Rachel could see that there were still a lot of enemies alive at the top of the wall, while on the ground, more goblins and hobgoblins prepared to fight her. The ones she left behind either tried to enter back to the fortress to reach her or targeted Cristopher. With her mind quickly spinning, she decided to clean most of the ranged enemies she could, and with the help of Laki, she quickly started to send water slashes to both sides, eliminating as many enemies as she could.

Just as she was about to rush to a group of goblin archers that got closer after the first batch got killed, a lightning strike got to them first. It destroyed her targets in an instant. Turning to look at the cause of it, she could see her master with his hand pointing at the place where the goblins were moments ago.

“Go ahead, don’t tire yourself so much. I can help you with the remaining ones.” He said shortly as his hand moved to another group of survivors, blasting them with another lightning strike.

“Right!” She nodded before jumping over the wall to the inner parts of the fortress, right at the other side of the door. “Thank you, master!” She shouted just before jumping.

Cristopher just shrugged as he finished with the remaining troops of goblins that were left on top of the gate’s wall and outside of the fortress.

“You’re too strong, hyung…” Antonio said as he watched with his mouth agape as lightning raged through the battlefield.

“You think so?” Cristopher tilted his head for a moment before shrugging. “I think you can reach this level with the correct training.”

Antonio nodded while still focusing on the fight.

“Come on, we have to keep an eye on Rachel.” Cristopher grabbed Antonio and quick-stepped towards the gate, infusing his leg with mana, and kicking it, breaking it open in an instant.

“Whoa!” Antonio, who didn’t expect the sudden rise in speed, got slightly scared, only to be more scared with the sudden sound of the door breaking down with a kick.

“Let’s see…” Cristopher muttered as he put Antonio down and looked inside the Fortress. It looked like a normal fortress, a small-scale castle heavily focused on defense. Thick walls, few buildings, a yard in the middle of the walls, and an imposing-looking building right in front of where the gate was. It was built entirely of stone with a black color to it. “There she is.” Cristopher said as he noted Rachel, who was at the center of the yard fighting against hordes of goblins and hobgoblins who rushed to her.

She looked like a free-spirited dancer, who killed an enemy with every small movement of her body. Her rapier covered in a cold-looking haze, closer to a mist, while her feet were set ablaze. All around her scorched marks, fire, and frozen patches could be seen. She, uninterested in the changes of her surroundings, focused on the fight with a sharp concentration.

“Is that… how an elementalist fight?” Antonio asked.

“It’s one of the ways they fight, I guess.” Cristopher said. “It depends from person to person. In Rachel’s case, she specializes in melee combat and the use of the rapier, which is why her best way to use her elementals is to mix them on her combat style.”

Antonio nodded and focused his attention on Rachel’s fight. He couldn’t help but be in awe at who was going to be his mentor.

Unstoppable, fearless, relentless. Nothing could stop her. He wanted to be like that. He wanted to get the power to protect those that he cared about.

The fight prolonged, the numbers of goblins growing lower by the second. Rachel danced and danced with her rapier, her crimson flames and her ice-cold water danced alongside her, burning, freezing, and cutting every goblin and hobgoblin that dared to get close to her. Archers tried to hit her from afar, but with a wave of her hand, a burning shield turned the arrows to ashes.

Her eyes were sharp as she attacked magnificently, her use of Quick Step to move around the battlefield was also commendable. She sometimes even used it for perfectly timed evasions or even to increase the power of her attacks, to the point that she started to use shorter steps, gracefully waving through the hordes of enemies.

{That’s talent for you.} Cristopher thought with a smirk as he looked at Rachel. But he soon started to act. After all, while she was doing really great, the numbers were just too much for her to take care of them all by herself, and she was already starting to get ragged breathing. Raising his leg slightly he hardly stomped the ground, shattering it while a lightning wave rushed through the ground and paralyzed a horde of goblins, stopping them from getting closer to Rachel, then with a wave of his arm, hundreds of fire bullets flew towards the now paralyzed goblins, killing them on the spot.

Rachel widened her eyes for a moment at the sudden help, but the next instant she once again sharpened her gaze and went back to her fight, thrusting her rapier into the chest of a hobgoblin and focusing on the thin layer of pressurized water that flowed through the sword, she extended the pressurized water to pierce through a line of monsters that were getting closer to her, swinging her sword to use the same pressurized water to cut through a wide area of goblins and hobgoblins.

“Ha… Ha…” With the area around her now clean, she took a moment to look at the place. But even after having eliminated hundreds of goblins, she could still see more and more. {There’s too many…} She thought while looking around.

“Don’t worry, remember that you’re not alone.” Cristopher, who suddenly appeared beside her with Antonio, said as he patted her head, and with a wave of his arms, hundreds of fire bullets shot towards the goblins. “You’ve been doing really well, Rachel.” He smiled at her.

“Ha… Ha… Yes!” Rachel nodded and with a swing of her rapier sent a cold pressurized water blade towards the incoming goblins, killing some on the way, and maiming tens of them. And just as she was about to use another attack, she noticed that all the goblins and hobgoblins stopped and stepped back once.

“Mm?” Cristopher suddenly looked at the top of the biggest building. “I guess that’s the boss. Seems like he couldn’t wait for us to reach his hiding spot.” He said with a smirk.

“Huh?” Both Antonio and Rachel looked up and could see a hobgoblin, bigger than any other they have seen while inside the dungeon, appearing on what seemed to be the ceiling of the fortified building. “That’s the boss?”

“Yeah. Fitting, don’t you think?” Cristopher smirked at the creature that was glaring at them from above. Beside it, a group of hobgoblins was standing, smaller than what seemed to be their king, but still bigger than the rest of the enemies they’ve been fighting.

Rachel just looked at it and frowned. She didn’t know what it was, but she somehow felt like something was different with that bigger hobgoblin. It was not just its size.

“He’s… different.” Rachel muttered.

“Well, yes? He is the boss after all.” Cristopher shrugged.

“Not that…” Rachel pouted, before sighing. “It’s the feeling it gives… It’s not like the rest of the monsters here…”

“Oh, you meant that? Yeah, it’s because the bastard is a Djinn, after all.” Cristopher said.

“What?” Rachel turned to look at him surprised.

“Yeah, it made a pact with a Devil, so it’s really a Djinn.” He said with a smirk. “Not that it matters, it’s still too weak to pose a real threat.”

“But still…” Rachel frowned at the creature. “To think that a monster could become a Djinn…”

“It just means that it was intelligent and sentient enough to make it possible.” Cristopher said as he snapped his fingers. “I’ll take care of it and its lackeys.” Cristopher said as he pointed his hand to the sky right above the fortress. “Elos’ Imperus” A giant, glowing blue-colored magic circle appeared instantly in the sky. Draconic runes formed on the borders of the circle, with lightning coursing through them, following a path to the center, concentrating on the center of the circle, forming a blue lightning sphere.

“That is!” Rachel recognized the magic circle, it was the same one he created as a distraction on the Magic Duel competition. {It really wasn’t a simple distraction…} She thought as the Natural Energy she felt all around focused on the sphere that was quickly expanding on the sky, along with Magic Power and something else she didn’t recognize.

She suddenly heard the boss shouting something, and all the enemies that had stopped started to rush towards them once again as if trying to stop the attack that terrorized their king.

Cristopher snorted and with a downward swing of his hand, the now basketball-sized ball of blue lightning exploded and hundreds of thunders rushed at high speed towards the ground. More precisely, towards the fortified building were the panicking hobgoblins were trying to escape. The fearful king covered itself in a green aura, that turned into a green transparent snake that covered the hobgoblin king as if forming a shield.

Cristopher snorted once again, moments before the rain of lightning impacted the ground, and destroyed everything on its way. While not as strong as Devourer of Golems, this was certainly a spell that could easily cause havoc on the battlefield thanks to its expanded area of attack, which he had controlled in order to not involve Rachel or Antonio.

The lackeys of the king were soon roasted to death by lightning, while the king tried its best to hold on, only for the transparent snake that worked as a shield to break in thousands of pieces after the second lightning impacted it, leaving the now unprotected king to be killed by a third lightning strike, turning it into dust.

“Well, that was easy.” Cristopher lazily said as he looked at the fortified building that was slowly crumbling to rubble after the impact of hundreds of lightning strikes charged with Draconic Energy. “I thought he would resist a little bit after turning into a Djinn. But it seems he was still weak.”

“Master…” Rachel smiled awkwardly at his lazy face, while Antonio only looked in awe at the power he just observed.

“Amazing…” Antonio muttered.

Soon, the dungeon started to break like glass, and they went back to the cave they first found the original goblin. At the center of the cave, a light suddenly appeared, and a treasure chest made itself present seconds later.

“So…” Cristopher pondered with a frown, before looking at both Rachel and Antonio. “Who is luckier from the two of you?”

“Eh?” Rachel and Antonio titled their head.