Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 40: Trial By Fire III

After using the teleporter to go back up to the surface, we flew a short distance from the dungeon entrance until I found a secluded clearing to land in. I chose to set up camp further away since there were other people in the dungeon. I used earth magic to flatten and harden the ground and pulled out my house.

“You seriously had a whole house in there?!” Liz blurted out, looking at the house dumbfounded.

“Didn’t I tell you that when we set up camp on our way to the capital?” I asked with a sly smirk.

“But if you had a house, why did we use a tent that time?” Liz asked, furrowing her brow.

“Because I thought it would be nice to share a sleeping bag in a cozy tent?” I said, cocking my head to the side.

“What if I had used my own sleeping bag?”

“I had faith in the comfort of mine,” I replied with a smirk as I playfully nudged Liz forward. “Anyway, let's go inside.”

“Alright, alright. You don’t have to push me,” Liz said, rolling her eyes playfully.

I gave Liz a quick tour of my house, which didn’t take long considering the size. She showed a great interest in my study when she saw the plethora of books that lined the walls, and when I told her that most of them were about magic, she almost refused to leave. By promising to let her have a look around later, I got her to leave so we could have dinner.

She will probably be disappointed when she realises that most of them are in a different language.

I randomly chose some food from one of the restaurants in Baruda that I had stocked up on, and after a pleasant dinner, we got ready for the night. We both sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Hope it’s better this time,” I said and looked at Liz, who seemed a bit anxious.

“I sure hope so. I would rather not get promotion sickness again.”

“I think it will be fine… probably.”

“Well, here goes nothing,” Liz said before opening her [Status] and choosing to advance her class to Cryomancer. 

She closed her eyes as I studied her expression for a bit before she opened them again, a hint of shock in her gaze.

“That’s it?” She asked, surprised.

“No pain this time?”

“I felt a bit dizzy for a moment, but that was it.”

“You barely managed to reach the level requirement, so it was to be expected.”

“It’s an experience I can live without,” she said with a deep sigh of relief.

“That means we can go back into the dungeon without issue tomorrow,” I replied, settling into the bed. “Let’s go to sleep.”

Liz followed and snuggled into my embrace as the little spoon, even though she was taller than me. By habit, I wrapped my tail around her waist before she even said anything. She took her hand and started stroking it.

“You know, if I knew that anyone would show this much interest in my tail, I might have shown it to someone before.”

“It’s super comforting to have it wrapped around me, or just to hold it,” Liz said and took the tip of my tail and pulled it up against her chest.

“Well, who am I to refuse this comfort then,” I embraced Liz even tighter and we quickly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning we went back to the dungeon after Liz spent a little time getting used to her increased stats. 

Her progress in the last week has been quite insane. Sure, I have been meddling a little bit, but the sheer amount of spells she has been casting lately is all her own effort. In terms of willpower to train, she far outshines me. It might be expected since I don’t have limited time in the same sense as she does.

“Let’s teleport back down and keep going,” I said while we walked toward the teleport room just after the entrance. “We are aiming for you to clear it today.”

“Clear it? Boss and everything?” Liz asked anxiously.

“Don’t think you are up for it?”

“I don’t know, maybe? Depends on the boss? I don’t know anything about this dungeon.”

“We will see when we get there.”

We teleported back down to the teleport room just before the tenth level of the dungeon.

“Luna, I have a question,” Liz said as we walked down the stairs.

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“Oh? And what might that be?”

“Why can’t we teleport to this room without venturing down here first?”

I looked at her with a smug grin on my face. “Are you asking me to hold another lecture?”

“Is it a long answer?” Liz asked with an expression that made me think she regretted asking.

“Not at all,” I laughed. “You should know the answer.”

Liz squinted at me. “I wouldn’t ask if I did.”

I tapped my finger just below my neck.

Liz looked puzzled before looking down at her own chest, noticing her necklace.

“You mean this?” She asked, holding it up.

“Teleport rooms use the same principle. When you come down here you essentially create a telenode for a few days.”

“Ooh, so that’s why you have to go down again if you come back to a dungeon you visited earlier?”

“Yeah, the mana you channel into the stone will run out, just like your necklace.”

“You really do know everything,” Liz grinned.

“While living in the dungeon, I started tinkering with the teleport room to pass the time,” I smirked. “The teleport stone is the base used for my research creating my [Translocation] spell and the material used when adding the [Create Telenode] spell to the necklace.”

“You even broke a teleport room for the dungeon?” Liz asked in disbelief. “I feel bad for Cory.”

I looked at her, puzzled. “Cory?”

“It’s the name I gave the dungeon. You told me you should have named it yesterday,” she giggled.

“And you told me my naming sense sucks,” I laughed.

“I think it’s cute.”

“It’s a few thousand years late, but I bet it would be happy to hear that,” I grinned.

We continued down the floors, dodging two other groups of adventurers, one with five people and one with three. Liz made good progress defeating monsters, and thanks to the other adventurers thinning out the monsters, we arrived at the stairs leading to the fifteenth floor with only one break on the way.

“Good, there is a boss on the next floor,” I said, looking down the staircase. “I feared it might have been killed with how many people I noticed on the way down.”

“Do you know what monster the boss is?” Liz asked as we descended the stairs.

I pondered for a moment before answering. “A big one?”

“That’s helpful,” she sighed.

“The path to the boss isn’t straight so I can’t see with [Farsight]. You will have to wait until we get closer.” 

“Let’s take a break then. I don’t want to go in tired,” Liz said while stretching her arms above her head.

“Good idea. there isn’t anything to attack us here so we can take our time.”

After one and a half hours, I suddenly jolted up. “Nap time is over. Time to go.”

“Is something going on?” Liz asked from where she was sitting.

“We aren’t alone here anymore. Two other adventurers are on the floor above us.”

“What should we do?”

“Kill the boss before they get here, of course,” I grinned and pulled her to her feet.

When we came closer to the boss, I used [Farsight] and saw what awaited us.

“It’s a salamander,” I said after canceling [Farsight]. “You shouldn’t have any problems with one of those.”

“A salamander? Don’t they use fire?” Liz asked with an anxious expression.

“It should be fine,” I pondered. “Salamanders actually aren’t very good at fire magic. [Ice Wall] should hold up just fine against their breath.”

“Should?” 

My choice of words did nothing to ease Liz’s anxiety.

“I meant it will,” I said confidently.

Liz looked at me with doubtful eyes.

“You will do just fine,” I smiled.

When we arrived at the entrance to the boss room, Liz looked inside and saw the salamander.

“It’s… bigger than I thought,” she remarked.

“It has a thick hide with high defense, but its underbelly is a lot weaker. [Glacial Spike] should be very effective,” I said, trying to remember the information I had on salamanders.

“Anything else?” 

“Uhm, block the breath and watch out for the tail, I think?” I replied while rubbing my temple. “I will intervene If anything unforeseen happens.”

“Guess I will have to do this then,” Liz said and tried to psyche herself up.

“You will do just fine,” I said while patting her on her back. “Who do you think trained you?”

The confident front I put up shattered as soon as Liz started walking towards the salamander.

Should I really let her do this? Should I just kill it myself? She should be stronger than the salamander, but what if something happens? Strength isn’t everything in a fight. Should I have given her the gloves I made first? No, she probably wouldn’t accept them. It will be fine. I will just be ready to erase it from existence if something happens.

I carefully watched Liz fight the salamander. Her [Ice Wall] effectively blocked the creature's breath, and the calculated use of [Biting Cold] slowed its movements, allowing her [Ice Barrier] to effortlessly withstand the reduced force of its tail. The salamander let out a pained roar every time a [Glacial Spike] pierced its underbelly.

She is doing just fine. I really admire her. If I didn’t have my absurd strength from birth, I would probably be too afraid to fight anything. The only reason I’m so confident is because I know I can’t lose. She goes up against a ten-meter-long lizard alone, while I remember being afraid of dogs in my old life.

As I observed the battle from a distance, the clash of ice against the salamander's scales echoed through the chamber, accompanied by the creature's enraged roars. My focus shifted when I noticed that the three adventurers had descended the stairs and would be arriving shortly.

It’s common courtesy not to interfere with each other's fights, right? Otherwise, I might have to ‘insist’ they go away. Wait, three? I could have sworn they were two.

Just as I was about to turn around to see who it was I heard a woman call my name.

“Luna?”

I turned around and locked eyes with the woman I met earlier at the guild.

“Hello, uhm, you never told me your name.”

“Oh, right. I’m Jasmine,” she responded with a warm smile, gesturing to her companions. “The musclehead is Duran and the silent one is Dale. What are you doing here?”

No wonder I thought they were two at first. Dale has basically no presence.

“Babysitting?” I replied, pointing toward Liz who was engaged in combat with the salamander.

“You’re letting her fight a salamander alone?” Jasmine exclaimed, her eyes widening as she observed the battle. “Shouldn’t you help her?”

“Wouldn’t be much training if I did,” I shrugged, a smirk playing on my lips. “Besides, does it look like she needs help?”

As if on cue, a loud thud echoed through the chamber as the salamander fell to the ground, a [Glacial Spike] piercing its jaw.

“I guess not. Who is she?” Jasmine asked.

“She is my partner, Liz. I’m having her do a bit of training so we came down here,” I explained, looking toward Liz with a proud smile.

I really hope I estimated the distance correctly so these three don’t get the salamander on their subjugation list.

“Good Job!” I yelled as I walked over to where Liz was lying on the floor, breathing heavily.

“Thanks,” she panted, tilting her head to see me walk over with the three adventurers in tow.

I wonder if she recognizes her training buddies.

“These three are the adventurers that were coming. I met them once in the guild.”

“I’m Liz. Sorry about the boss,” she introduced herself. 

“I’m Jasmine, that is Duran and Dale. Don't worry about the boss, it's first come, first serve in dungeons,” she said with a smile. 

“Taking on a salamander alone is crazy. You must be really strong,” Duran said in an overly chipper voice.

What’s wrong with Grumpy?

“Is everything alright with him?” I asked Jasmine.

“That’s his usual self,” she smiled. “We got rid of the curse.”

“Gahaha,” Duran laughed loudly. “Thanks for that, little missy. I haven’t felt this good in ages.”

Talk about a total personality change. Getting rid of the curse must have been like being able to breathe after having the flu for a month.

“But enough about him,” Jasmine said. “I’m more interested in Liz.”

Liz got back up on her feet and looked at Jasmine with a puzzled look.

“Have we met before?” She asked.

“I don’t think so,” Jasmine pondered. “I at least know the name of most high-rankers. What rank are you?”

Liz looked a bit uncomfortable being mistaken for a high ranker and reluctantly answered, “I’m only C rank.”

“C rank?” Both Duran and Jasmine blurted out in unison.

Liz took out her guild card and held it up in front of her.

“She really is C rank…” Duran murmured in disbelief while looking at the card.

“You took down a salamander alone as C rank? They are a relatively strong A rank, you know?” Jasmine said while looking at the corpse of the salamander.

“What, really?” Liz said in surprise before turning to me.

“Did I forget to tell you? This dungeon starts in the upper B ranks,” I said as innocently as I could while batting my eyelashes.

“What kind of a lunatic tosses a C rank into a B+ dungeon alone and calls it training?” Liz groaned.

“Me?” I said while tilting my head. “You cleared the dungeon alone. The only reason you are C rank is because you haven’t been back to the guild in a while.”

“It takes all three of us to defeat a monster as strong as a salamander and we are all A rank,” Jasmine added.

“I wonder if the guild will even believe me,” Liz mumbled.

“You have half the dungeon on your subjugation list. If you don’t get promoted, I'm burning the guild down,” I grinned. “Besides, you have witnesses.”

“That’s right. Let us know if you have any trouble,” Jasmine said. “Though I doubt we will be needed when you have an SSS rank witness with you.”

“Thank you,” Liz replied sheepishly.

“And there you have it,” I smiled. “Do you want to rest before we go back to town?”

“Yes, please. I'm exhausted.”

I turned to the three adventurers. “We will take our leave then. It was nice meeting you again.”

“Yeah, let's meet again sometime. We will go back up and find some more monsters. It would be a waste to leave while we still have room in our magic bags,” Jasmine said and waved goodbye.

I picked up the corpse of the salamander before we made our way to the end of the dungeon and used the teleporter to get back up to the surface.

“Do you want to rest here or should we go back to the capital? You can rest while I fly if you want.”

“Hmm, Let's just go back. I want a bath.”

I picked up Liz and made my way back to the capital. She must have been tired because she actually managed to fall asleep on the way. We decided to go to the guild tomorrow instead and just relax for tonight.