Danmachi: Hero Maker

Merlin and Ais were walking through the first floor of the dungeon. Ais had her guard up the whole time while Merlin was casually walking a good distance away from Ais, always keeping her in sight.

~CRACK~CRACK~

The walls of the dungeon opened up, allowing for a group of goblins and kobolds to spill out. Ais unsheathed her sword and rushed forward, not giving the monsters the time to group up.

She dispatched them with cold efficiency, each one dying with a single swing of her sword.

'As expected, the monsters on the first few floors won't be much a threat to Ais'

Ais continued descending down the floors leaving a trail of magic stones and drop items that were useless to her. Merlin also had no use for these things, the good stuff was down much deeper in the dungeon.

But as they went deeper Merlin saw great hatred in Ais's eyes that seem to grow with every monster she slayed.

'She won't become a berserker right?'

As Merlin was thinking of how to train Ais in anger management, Ais was currently fighting a group of Orc's. Large pig headed monsters that had great strength. And a small group of imps, short humanoid monsters with long tails and short wings. 

The orcs were slow but hit like a truck and the imps were weak but fought in groups, were fast and clever.

Dodging a blow from an orc, Ais stabbed at its leg before backing away to and piercing the skull of an imp. The orc roared in pain and swung down its club onto Ais who easily rolled away from the attack. The remaining imps closed in on her from all sides while the orcs slowly surrounded her. 

Ais unsheathed her dagger and duel wield the sword and dagger. An imp used its tail to attack her but she raised her dagger and cut off the tail and swiftly landed a well placed slash across its chest. The imp fell on the ground with a squeal as its tiny wings fluttered helplessly.

The orcs lumbering forms were now closing in. She ducked under a sweeping blow of another orc's attack, rolling to its side she attack the exposed knee of the orc's leg, causing the orc to kneel down in pain on its remaining leg.

With two orcs unable to move, Ais used this to slow down the remaining orcs. She maneuvered around the kneeling orcs while dispatching the remaining imps. With the imps now dead she focused her attention on the four living orcs. 

She re-positioned her dagger in her left hand and began sprinting towards one of the kneeling orcs. One still standing orc tried to rush in but Ais threw her dagger into one of its eyes, stunning it. 

She jumped onto the kneeling orc using its body as a step for her to jump higher towards another orc. She brought her sword over her head and stabbed the orc's head. Ais stabilized herself as the orc struggled for a few seconds before its body fell over and dissipate. She landed on the ground perfectly. 

The remaining three orcs were easy for her to kill. Two of them couldn't move and the other was partially blind. Ais attacked them but did something that surprised Merlin. Ais purposely aimed for spots that would prolong their suffering.

'Alright anger management classes when we return home'

Ais took a short break using this time to check her weapons for any damage. Once she was done she continued downward. Her goal was the 18th floor Rivira. Rivira was one of the few safe zones in the dungeon where monsters don't spawn, of course monsters on the floors above or below can still enter Rivira by using the entrances so it wasn't completely safe.

Ais dispatched some rabbit monsters and hellhounds which was quite easy since physically both monsters are weak.

But Ais was stopped when she encountered a wyvern. She prepared herself for battle but its roar paralyzed her, she couldn't move. The wyvern charged head first as it was going to devour Ais. 

'MOVE!'

She gathered all of her strength and willpower and managed to dodge. The wyvern ran right past her but Ais ended up tumbling on the ground. She quickly got up and stabilized herself.

However, the wyvern swiftly turned around and attacked once more, not giving Ais the chance to catch her breath. And so she was forced to continue dodging while looking for a chance to attack.

Merlin watched the battle with great interest. She sat on a white plastic lawn chair that she seemingly got from nowhere while eating from a bag of popcorn.

'She will have to target its weak spots since her sword won't be able to pierce its scales without shattering'

And that's what Ais was currently doing. From Merlin's lessons she knew its weak spots. The problem was that she couldn't reach them. The wyvern had greater reach then her, its tail attacked her whenever she pushed for an attack at its blind spot, and if she managed to finally get passed the tail the wyvern would shield itself with its wings which were very durable. 

The fight turned into a battle of attrition, a battle that she would lose if she didn't turn the tide. She became increasingly frustrated as she danced around the monster. Trying to get a meaningful attack in. 

Yet as the battle continued, something peculiar was beginning to happen which Merlin noticed as soon as it started.

'Magic?'

Ais's body was slowly being wrapped in winds. Her spirit blood that was dormant was now awakening. 

Her speed was increasing by the second as the wind enveloped her body. Ais had notice the winds and the change in her speed but didn't have time to think about the cause.

As she was adjusting to her new speed, she almost tripped. She managed to recover but that action left her open to an attack by the tail. As the tail swiftly grew closer, the wind instinctively shielded Ais. It lessened the impact from the attack.

 The wyvern not expecting her to recover so quickly left its defense open. Ais rushed forth, her speed boosted by the wind. She raised her sword ready to pierce the monsters head. The wind gathered around her blade and with a single blow the wyvern's head was torn apart and the sword shattered.

Its body fell lifeless onto the ground, slowly disintegrating into black dust. Ais fell over, she was unconscious due to mind down, a side effect that happens when an individual over uses their magic. 

Merlin walked over to Ais. She poked her body with her staff then looked over at where the wyvern's corpse was. Its body had now completely disappeared into dust and all the remained was a magic stone and a large claw. 

Merlin picked up both items. Saving them for Ais when she wakes. 'Maybe I'll have the claw forged into a sword for her'. Merlin looked over at the now broken sword.

Merlin grabbed Ais and threw Ais over her shoulder and began walking towards the dungeon exit. There was no need to continue since Ais was passed out and her body exhausted.

'I guess I'll need to start training her in magic earlier then planned. I'll have to adjust the training schedule'

The walk back was peaceful. Any monster that appeared was swiftly destroyed with magic beam from Merlin's staff.