Chapter 129
Behind Ais were the Hiryute sisters, Tiona and Tione.
Seeing how cheerful Ais looked, the two began whispering to each other.
"Ais looks so happy," Tiona said.
"Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile like that before," Tione replied.
Riveria froze.
’That kind of smile... has Ais ever smiled like that before?’
She searched through her memories, but could not find a similar scene.
Orario’s strongest mage suddenly felt a little sour.
It had only been a short while, yet the girl was already on the verge of being stolen away!
Humans were right after all.
Once daughters grew up, mothers could no longer keep them close!
Ais naturally did not notice the change in Riveria’s mood. Right now, she was immersed in pure joy.
Inside the "compressed package" Kiriya had given her, she had not only seen knowledge about chakra, but also the future possibilities of Sage Mode.
The moment she thought about that terrifying power, Ais could hardly wait to begin training!
"So what should we do next?" With the huge carrot called Sage Mode dangling in front of her, Ais was overflowing with motivation.
"Refine and accumulate as much chakra as you can," Kiriya said. "After that, you need to strengthen your fine control over chakra. The chakra I gave you contains the method, so make sure you practice properly. Once your chakra reserves reach a certain level, and your control is good enough, I’ll teach you a few ninjutsu."
"Ninjutsu? Like the one I saw?" Her eyes sparked.
"Ah, you mean the Rasenshuriken?" Kiriya waved his hand. "That one is still too early for you. It’s too difficult. You’ll have to start with something simpler. Don’t worry. There are plenty of ninjutsu. As long as you have the right chakra nature and you’re willing to learn, the number won’t be a problem."
"Magic with no limit on quantity..." Ais could not help imagining it. If she learned all of them, how far would her strength rise?
"That sounds so nice. I want to learn ninjutsu too." Tiona sounded terribly jealous.
"Don’t get greedy." Tione patted Tiona on the shoulder. "The fact that he’s willing to teach one person is already generous enough. Asking for more would be pushing it."
"Mm..." Tiona stopped talking, but her eyes kept rolling around. Who knew what kind of idea she was forming?
"Thank you," Ais said.
"That’s all? Just a verbal thank-you? No actual reward?" Kiriya leaned closer and deliberately spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"How about something practical? Like washing my back—"
"Ahem!" Before he could finish, Riveria, unable to endure it any longer, cut him off and gave him a warning look.
Unfortunately, that fellow did not even look at her.
"Washing... your back..." Ais’s eyes rippled slightly as she began seriously considering it.
"Hey, handsome, we can wash your back too. Can we negotiate?" Tiona leaned over, her voice so sweet it barely sounded like her.
Unsurprisingly, Tione immediately clamped down on her and dragged her away.
Even as she was being pulled off, Tiona kept shouting, "I really can do it! Handsome, think about it!"
"In any case, thank you." Ais was not affected by the sisters’ antics and continued firmly expressing her gratitude.
"Don’t thank me too soon. There are some things I need to say first." The smile on Kiriya’s face faded, and his expression turned serious.
"Once you fully master chakra and ninjutsu, we can begin Sage Mode training. This process may take a long time. Maybe months, maybe years. During that time, you’ll suffer a lot, and it’ll be difficult. You may fail over and over again. That feeling is very hard to endure."
"During the training, you must follow my instructions completely. Understood? If you can’t accept that, you can quit now."
"Quit? That’s impossible." Ais’s gaze was firm.
No matter what, she had to master Sage Mode.
"Good. That’s the spirit!" Kiriya gave her a thumbs-up. "Then for now, go back and rest. The battles ahead will be intense, so you need to stay in your best condition."
"Yes." Ais answered, then obediently returned to the group and began resting with her eyes closed.
Seeing Ais come back, Bete had originally wanted to ask something, but the moment he saw Kiriya, he lost all his desire to speak.
He simply closed his eyes and pretended to rest.
The atmosphere quieted down just like that.
...
One hour later, the group finished resting.
After briefly packing up, they set out again.
Once they entered the 19th Floor, the situation became very different from before.
The types of monsters, their numbers, and the frequency of their appearances all increased sharply compared with the earlier floors.
Swarms of fast-moving bugbears, dark clouds of gun libellula that could shoot long needles, and huge numbers of giant death wasps poured out to meet them.
Close-combat monsters like lizardmen and rolling goblins, which possessed some intelligence and could cooperate in groups, gradually made the expedition party feel a little pressure.
Bete and the Hiryute sisters were still fighting, and the other members were not idle either. Each found monsters to deal with, using them to train their ability values.
Kiriya was no exception.
He had rested for quite a while earlier, so it was time to stretch his body too.
"Roooaar!"
A massive monster, six or seven meters tall with a rouge-colored body, roared as it charged forward.
The ground shook with every step, and many goblins that failed to dodge in time were trampled into paste.
Without even using any skill, its huge size and overwhelming presence alone would be enough to make many adventurers tremble.
Unfortunately for it, it ran into Kiriya.
Kiriya’s legs suddenly pushed off the ground, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived at the monster’s chest.
His fist smashed hard into it!
With a thunderous bang, violent force exploded inside the monster’s body. The shockwave blasted a large hole straight through its back.
"Ugh..."
The monster only had time to let out one weak groan before its body scattered into the air.
"No matter how many times I see it, it’s still amazing." A supporter named Park looked at Kiriya’s relaxed back, his eyes full of envy.
"I wonder if I’ll be that strong in the future."
"Have a nice dream tonight. You can have anything you want in a dream." His companion, Orben, snapped at him irritably.
"Isn’t there enough loot here to keep you busy? Why are you still talking so much?"
With the Development Ability Luck, the probability of monsters dropping items after being killed by Kiriya had greatly increased.
Kiriya was busy fighting and too lazy to pick everything up himself, so he had specifically hired a supporter from the Loki Familia.
He promised to hand twenty percent of the earnings to the Familia in exchange for an elite supporter serving him throughout the expedition.
That supporter was Park.
"Hey, you—"
Hearing his companion mock him, Park was just about to fire back out of habit when a low, dense buzzing came from behind them.
His expression instantly changed.
When he turned around, he saw a huge swarm of death wasps drifting toward them like a yellow storm, enough to make one’s scalp prickle.
These monsters were very fast.
In the blink of an eye, they had already rushed to within three meters of the two supporters.
The nearest other supporters were still more than ten meters away.
At that exact moment, several lizardmen also emerged from the wall behind them, firmly cutting off their retreat.
’This is bad. I’m dead.’
Looking at the lizardmen’s claws gleaming coldly, Park closed his eyes in despair.
But just then, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
It was Kiriya.
He clenched both fists and struck at high speed.
Powerful air cannons blasted the lizardmen apart, and the remaining force punched several dents into the cave wall behind them.
At the same time, the death wasps had closed in to less than one meter.
"Destructive Death: Disorder."
Kiriya’s fists blurred into afterimages. In an instant, he unleashed dozens, then hundreds of punches.
The overwhelming force tore through the swarm, turning death wasp after death wasp into mashed pulp.
"Beautiful!" Orben clenched his fists tightly, completely dazzled by Kiriya’s performance.
’So savage. So overpower. So damn cool!’
Park was not much better. His knees went out from under him and he sat down hard.
"Thank you... You saved me again."
"No problem..."
Kiriya had just started to respond politely when more buzzing reached his ears.
His brows immediately furrowed.
"This never ends, does it?"
Beside him, Park and Orben’s expressions also darkened. But as experienced supporters, they quickly identified the problem.
"Kiriya-san, there should be a death wasp nest nearby. We have to destroy it, or these things will keep coming forever."
"Is that so?" Kiriya narrowed his eyes.
He immediately created a wood clone to watch over the two supporters, then charged forward at high speed.
A wooden longsword appeared in his right hand, and every death wasp he encountered was cut in half with one slash.
Before long, Kiriya saw a nest shaped like a pinecone and made from sticky mucus. Countless death wasps surrounded it in dense layers.
Sensing Kiriya, the intruder, they instantly exploded into motion, surging toward him like a tide.
Kiriya only smiled.
He stabbed the wooden sword into the ground, then quickly formed hand seals. His cheeks puffed out as he blew fiercely forward.
"Wind Release: Great Sickle Weasel Technique."
In an instant, violent wind turned into countless sharp blades that slipped through every gap. The death wasps caught inside were sliced into countless pieces before they could even react.
The remaining wind blades struck the nest, but only left several cracks across its surface. In the next instant, the mucus stitched the cracks back together, leaving it as good as new.
Even worse, a large number of death wasps emerged the very next second.
"Wind’s no good? Fine—something else, then." Calm as ever, his hands ran the seals again, and he spat a fireball a full two meters across at the nest.
Boom!
The nest exploded into pieces, and its remains were quickly swallowed by flames, turning into ash.
"And that’s that." Kiriya flashed himself a small thumbs-up, then used Flying Thunder God to blink back to Park and Orben—startling the pair all over again.
"Oh, it’s you, Kiriya-san." After confirming that it was Kiriya, Park relaxed and praised him.
"That magic of yours, the one where you go whoosh and just move wherever you like—it really is something."
"Ha. It’s nothing much." Kiriya gave a few modest words and waved it off. "Come on. Let’s go find the others."