Nova looked past her, seeing a small white creature up ahead. It stood motionless in the dim corridor, partially illuminated by the blue crystal light. The beast looked somewhat like an anteater, with large curved claws on its front legs and an elongated face that ended in a pointed snout.

Nova's soul sense easily measured its power—only around ten. The weakest creature this dungeon had to offer.

"It's cute..." Millie whispered again, looking quite worried.

"I don't think it will be as cute if it spots you. Do you want to attack it first?" Nova watched the creature carefully, noting how it sniffed the air. The dungeon's strange air resistance would make any ranged attack slower, giving the creature time to react.

Millie shook her head. "...No." Her feet shifted uncertainly on the stone floor, creating tiny scraping sounds that echoed in the corridor.

"Well, approach it however you want. We'll keep you safe, whatever happens." Nova stepped back slightly, giving her space to make her own decision.

After a moment of hesitation, Millie walked closer to the creature. She intentionally dragged her feet against the stone, making sounds it could hear. Her blonde hair continued to float around her face in slow motion, caught in the dungeon's altered physics.

The white monster's ears pricked up at the noise. It turned toward her with a sudden movement, then it spun around and ran in the other direction. Its claws clicked rapidly against the stone floor as it disappeared around the crossing paths up ahead.

"No, wait!" Millie tried calling, reaching out a hand as if she could stop it. Her voice echoed down the corridor, but the creature kept running.

(Hmm, you think it went calling for its friends?) Anny asked through their mental connection. She crossed her arms, peering into the darkness where the creature had vanished.

(Most likely. But it could also be a puzzle of some sorts, where we have to capture the creature.)

(Oh, yeah... Wouldn't that trap us here if we killed it?)

(I don't believe the dungeon would be that unfair. Either way, I think Millie will learn something.) He kept his eyes on the corridor ahead, listening for any returning sounds.

Millie turned back to them, looking unsure of what to do. "Should I chase it?"

"That depends. What do you think it's doing?" His voice remained calm, encouraging her to think through the situation.

Millie bit her lower lip. "...Hiding?"

"That's one option. But what is the worst thing it could be doing?" Nova prompted, watching her work through the problem.

The realization dawned on her face. "Calling for her family to help her attack me?"

"Yes, that's the worst case. And to be safe, we should always assume the worst, right?"

"Right." Millie straightened her posture, looking happy about getting the right answer.

"So what should you do?"

"...Prepare to attack?" Her small hands clenched at her sides, already gathering essence.

"Well, I'd call it defend, but a good attack is a good defense." Nova smiled slightly, approving of her instinct.

"Okay, I'll prepare." Millie planted her feet firmly on the stone floor, focusing her mind as she had been taught.

Both of Millie's arms started glowing with intricate patterns. They were far more advanced than her last demonstration, showing that she had practiced in secret. She probably didn't realize that part.

'I should ask when she had the time to practice this, but I'll let it slide for now.'

"Good. But do you think you need that much power to take those creatures down?" Nova studied the scale of her preparation. The amount of essence she was gathering could easily overwhelm such weak monsters.

"No. But I wanted to show you the new version I made." A hint of pride colored Millie's voice as the runes continued to pulse with increasing brightness.

"Ah, well, that's fine then. Show me what you've got." Nova stepped back, giving her a clear field of fire down the corridor.

The silence stretched for a moment, broken only by the soft hum of Millie's gathering power. Then, from the darkness ahead, came the unmistakable sound of many creatures approaching. A rapid clicking of claws against hard stone echoed through the dungeon, growing louder with each passing second.

Millie stood ready, aiming at the turn where the white creature had vanished from sight. The crystal formations on the dungeon walls seemed to pulse in rhythm with her breathing as she waited.

And then the flock appeared, rushing wildly around the bend. Dozens of white creatures poured into the corridor. As soon as they spotted the intruders, they started making odd barking-sounds—high-pitched and frantic—as they charged toward them.

Millie backed up slightly, wavering for just a moment. But then she leaned forward in anticipation of the recoil. The first missile blasted from her right arm in a burst of light, quickly followed by a second from her left. The corridor lit up as the projectiles launched, casting shadows against the stone walls.

The missiles were spinning rapidly, trailing spirals of energy behind them. But what made them truly impressive was the small propeller formation at the back of each, designed to push them forward through resistance. And in this place, where air resistance was multiplied by ten, that was a huge advantage.

The missiles burst through the air, not losing any of their velocity. Only the spinning was slowed as they traveled, but that had little effect on the total power.

The first missile hit the approaching flock like a monstrous arrow, piercing through any creature that was unlucky enough to stand in its way. Flesh and bone offered no resistance to the concentrated energy. Then it eventually burst apart with a thunderous crack, sending the stored energy in all directions, rending flesh into minced meat.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The second missile did just as much damage as the first, piercing five of the creatures before it also burst. The explosion sent fragments of the creatures splattering against the stone, adding to the gruesome scene.

Just like that, half the group had been eliminated.

[11 x Loot added to dungeon reward.]

'Ah, so we only get access to the loot after completing the level? Or when we leave the dungeon? Either way, that makes things less complicated.'

The remaining creatures, now both white and red with blood, didn't let up their attack. They charged over the bodies of their fallen companions like mad, fearlessly running to their deaths.

'It seems that whatever intelligence they should have possessed has been overridden by some deeper instinct to attack… We need to keep this in mind for later floors.'

Millie kept backing up while she prepared the next set of missiles. The runes on her arms glowed brighter as she gathered more essence, but panic flashed across her face as the creatures drew closer.

She moved too quickly in the strange air resistance of the dungeon, causing her to trip on her own foot and fall to the ground. Her concentration broke, sending the missiles out as nothing but bursts of loose essence that dissipated in the air.

"Aaah! Nova! Help!" Her cry echoed through the corridor, mixing with the creatures' barking.

She didn't have to ask twice. Nova was already in front of her. With a single hand, he sent a spell forward with a pushing motion. The spell emerged as a wall of razor-thin wind blades rapidly slicing through the air in all directions. The wall expanded to fill the entire corridor from floor to ceiling, leaving no room to pass.

The creatures still charged forward, blind to the danger. But as soon as they hit the wall of blades, they were no more. The wall carried with it the remains of the creatures as it moved forward, almost like a giant cleaning spell. Blood and tissue collected on the invisible blades, giving the wall a gruesome red tint as it advanced down the corridor.

'Oh, I didn't expect it to be that effective. I guess wind-spells are much stronger in this environment.'

Nova turned to look at Millie, who had gotten back on her feet with Anny's help. Her face was pale and her eyes wide as she stared at the now-empty corridor. All traces of her earlier excitement had vanished, replaced by a sobering awareness of what she had just witnessed—and what she had done.

"What did you think?" Nova asked gently, studying her expression.

"...They died so easily..." She looked down at her hands where the runes were now fading, as if seeing them in a new light.

"Yes. That is why you need to be responsible."

Millie looked at the ground in thought for a while. The silence stretched between them, broken only by the distant dripping of water somewhere in the dungeon depths. "...I can protect, but I can also kill. I need control."

"Exactly. Having the power to protect also means having the power to hurt. And that's why the only ones who should have power are the ones that will use it responsibly." Nova's voice carried the weight of experience—of nine lifetimes spent learning this lesson over and over.

Millie nodded earnestly, making her blonde hair danced around her face. She seemed to be taking in every word. "What about the spell?"

"It was great!" The magical aptitude she demonstrated far exceeded what he'd expected, especially for her age. "I'm surprised you managed to make that without training."

"But I di—" She cut herself off mid-sentence. A guilty flush spread across her cheeks. "I just thought really hard."

Nova had to suppress a smile, keeping his expression stern and his tone firm. There was no point in acting like he believed her lie, however amusing it was. "How did you train?"

"I was really careful!" Millie yelled in protest. The blue dungeon light accentuated her nervous movements. "I shot at the air in the school, like you did!"

Nova' sighed as he realized she had been practicing magic unsupervised despite his warnings. "The barrier isn't made for you to practice your spells, Millie."

(I don't think she will stop practicing, Nova. Maybe you'll have to make her a safe location for it? Rather than having this conversation again?) Anny's mental voice held a note of pragmatism.

(...Yeah. She is insatiable.) Nova conceded, recognizing the futility of trying to stop her completely.

"If you show us that you can be responsible, I'm going to make you a place where you can practice freely once we get back." His voice softened slightly, acknowledging her determination while still maintaining boundaries. "Does that sound like a deal?"

Millie's face lit up instantly. The transition from guilt to excitement played across her features like sunlight breaking through clouds. She bounced slightly on her toes, making her hair float in graceful waves around her face.

"Yes! I'll be responsible!" Her voice rang with sincerity, echoing down the dungeon corridor. The promise was earnest, even if they both knew her definition of 'responsible' likely differed from his.

"Good. Then let's keep going. Can you think of any spells that would be better suited for enemies like these?"

Millie's brow furrowed in concentration as she considered the problem. "...These ones are too powerful, wasting essence and time. If I… remove the… No, that would make them stop in this air. I could make them smaller, and forget about the propeller…"

"That sounds like a good approach, but can you fire smaller missiles faster?" Nova watched her work through the problem, impressed by her analytical thinking.

"...Not much faster. The forming and spin still takes time." Millie traced invisible runes in the air as she spoke, mentally working through each step of the spell's construction.

"What if you have the missiles start the process right after each other, making them stand in line at every part?" Nova suggested, moving his hands to illustrate the concept. His fingers traced overlapping circles in the air, demonstrating how each stage could feed into the next.

"Huh? So when the shape is done and it goes to the spin, another one should start in the shaping part?" Millie tilted her head, trying to visualize the complex magical pipeline he was describing.

"Yeah, like this."

Nova held his hand out toward the empty corridor ahead. A single small missile flew out, glowing with a cold blue light. It was quickly followed by another, and another, and another. The frequency increased after every shot until eventually they blurred together. Soon they came out so fast they couldn't be counted—like a magical machine gun unleashing a barrage of energy.

The small missiles traveled nearly thirty meters before seriously slowing down, drawing dotted lines of spinning blue points in the air that lingered long after they had passed. The light show illuminated the entire passage, casting strange moving shadows across the stone walls.

"Whooooaah!" Millie stared with wide eyes after the demonstration was done. Her eyes rapidly altered between looking at Nova's hand and the missiles in the distance. "How do you do that?!"

"A ton of practice," Nova replied with a modest smile, though he couldn't hide the hint of pride in his voice. The last of his missiles faded in the distance, leaving only lingering motes of light drifting through the air. "It is possible to automate so you don't have to control every individual step, but that requires a far more complicated design."

Millie looked down at her hands. "...Can I practise here for a bit?"

"Sure, but don't use all your essence. We're not in a hurry to complete the level, but waiting for your essence to return would take too long." Nova stepped back, giving her space to work. The air resistance of the dungeon would provide an excellent training ground for refining her technique.

"I'll be careful," Millie replied, stepping ahead of him and focusing on her arms. Small sparks of essence began to gather at her fingertips as she concentrated. Her face settled into an expression of deep focus. "...Hmm, I don't need to change much. I just need to control it differently. Right?"

"That's the first step, correct."

"What's the second one?" Millie asked without looking up, keeping her attention fixed on the patterns taking shape on her skin.

"As you get more used to it, you can split every step in multiple parts to make the queue longer. That would increase your output without requiring more time." Nova traced a pattern in the air to illustrate. "For example, if your forming step takes much longer than the others, you can split that one into three runes that each take care of part of the forming."

"...I'll do the first step for now."

"Good idea," Nova said, smiling. Even the prodigy had limitations. He stepped back, leaning against the cool stone wall to watch her practice.

'Maybe this little escapade of hers will do more good than bad after all?'

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