Chương 59: The 6th Layer Of Hell

We all advanced into the fortress. The guards bowed deeply towards my mother, not even daring to question her. We reached the spiral staircase down into the dungeon. My mother took the lead, and I followed her, with Healer Melon bringing up the rear of our group. Coming up the stairs were three faces I never expected to see again. Alf, Rand, and Kar, the three young adventurers who had hitched a ride on my pass to the dungeon all those months ago.

My mother was wearing glowing gold and platinum heavy armor, with her sword at her waist. She looked like a hero out of myth. The three new adventurers had some scars, were filthy, smelled, and looked utterly exhausted. The fact that they survived their first descent was impressive. Unfortunately for them, my mother wasn't one to forget. If she killed them, no one would say anything about it. I held my breath, waiting to see what she would do, not daring to speak from behind her.

"You should be careful about whom you speak about or badmouth," my mother said, and I felt a burst of Mana coming from her. Each of the three adventurers lost control of their bladders and wet themselves. I winced at that." Clean. Clean. Clean. Remember that Elena is the best." She then continued past them. I hurried after her, not daring to look at them and hoping they didn't recognize me. She made them piss themselves and then used magic to clean them. I didn't understand my mother.

I thought she wouldn't do anything or would scare them. When we reached the bottom of the staircase, she turned to look at me.

"I am not heartless or mindlessly cruel, and Legend Extravagant Warren is a pig in human form. Now they will forever remember when they met me instead of him." She then turned around and marched towards one tunnel. I followed along after her, not daring to say anything, but my mind was racing. My mother had a soft side, or was she using this to teach me something? Our timing to enter the depths was too precise for this to be an accident. She had wanted me to witness this interaction.

Perhaps a reminder not to crush people for the smallest of insults. My mother had a reputation, and not a great one. I looked at Healer Melon, but he just shrugged slightly. He clearly did not know about what had just happened either. There were no monsters as we made our way through the caverns in the dungeon, but my mother must have killed them at range. It wouldn't surprise me. At first, I thought it was the other group, but after the fifth chamber with no monsters, there was something else going on.

We reached the passage down to the next layer and found no Champion monster. We kept descending, layer after layer, and my fear grew. The Mana in the air became denser, and it became much harder to use my sensory skills. Eventually, we reached the 6 th layer of the dungeon and came to a stop. I wanted to ask my mother why there were no monsters, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. Even the dungeon feared her.

There would have been no monsters for me to fight if she had taken me to the starting layers herself. It was shocking to think that even something as formidable as the dungeon could show fear, or perhaps it was wisdom, knowing such weak monsters would only annoy her.

"We will begin here."

"There are larger groups around level 30," I said nervously, and she nodded.

"Exactly. Each fight will push you to your limit. It is a good thing we can do this with regular monsters instead of just Champions, which can get annoying." I just looked at her in shock.

"This…mother. The difficulty…"

"It is much higher than monsters on the 3 rd layer. But you have better skills, better equipment. I am here as well, and there is a dedicated Healer. I plan to push you to the limit and beyond, my son. People would pay thousands of platinum for such an opportunity." Healer Melon nodded next to her. I steadied my breathing and drew my sword.

"Fine," I said and turned towards one tunnel. Again, I knew she was right, but I wanted to go at my own pace. When she was down in the dungeon alone after her family had died, she set the pace she felt comfortable with. She might not have had a parent and a Healer looking over her, but I would bet everything I had she didn't rush down layers either.

"That one." My mother pointed at one with tree roots. I really didn't want that one, but I was in no position to argue. I advanced into the tunnel, checking for traps. My mother remained several steps behind me with Healer Melon glued to her side. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Mana was coming off a tree root, and I examined it. That's when giant bugs crawled out and attacked from the roots.

I easily cut them with my Beginner's Blade, avoiding the roots. Monsters now occupied the tunnels. The dungeon's difficulty increased with depth. My mother didn't say or do anything, content to observe. I considered not saying anything, but it would have been rude.

"That root is probably trapped." I pointed at it, and she gave me a slight nod. We made our way around and continued through the tunnel, reaching an enormous cavern with vines and roots. There were over a hundred bug monsters the size of my head. Like cockroaches, not the face-huggers I had faced in my previous descent. I looked at my mother, and she just stared at me.

"Fight them?"

"Yes, do your absolute best," she ordered. There was only one option, to rush in and start killing as quickly as possible. There was no time for intricate plans or for trying to set up a stable position. I needed to kill soon so that I wouldn't get overwhelmed. The fight was a blur of bug guts, green fluid splattering over me, and my mother just staring at me from the side. My blade cut through the monsters with ease. If I had a regular blade, this would not have been possible.

I was amazed that I had won by the time I was done. My mother walked over with Healer Melon, uncaring of the bug guts in her path.

"A weapon makes an enormous difference. Your Sword Skills are quite high in Tier 1, which corresponds to red core monsters like these. You couldn't easily cut through monsters before, which was why you struggled." I nodded slowly at this.

"Now, clean yourself, and then we will continue."

"What?" I asked in surprise. She would not use her Clean spell?

"You need to increase the level of the skill. Eventually, it is necessary to feed into the Clean spell in Tier 3. Why do you think you have that skill?"

"Cleaning is an everyday activity?" I replied, found a pool of water, and got out a cloth rag to clean off my equipment.

"A reasonable assumption, but incorrect. Also, this will give me time to critique you. You are right-handed, which means you could have circled to the right. You went straight forward, blitzing through the monsters. Your shield work was sub-par. If you use a shield, then work on your deflection angles. In time, you will get the Tier 1 skill Deflection."

"Is that another skill you want me to get?"

"I dislike it. It is almost always better to Dodge than Deflect, but since you have a shield, you will learn it. Perhaps there is an interesting spell in tier 3 that can take advantage of such a defensive skill. But dodging is preferable, and use your offhand to throw weapons. Throw is a much more useful skill. We will work on both, do not worry. Clean faster, you are going too slow." I was tired after the long fight, but said nothing as I quickly cleaned my equipment.

Training under my mother was going to be non-stop. Every single moment was going to be a moment of training and pushing myself. As she lectured about all the improvements I should have made throughout the fight, I realized this was my life for the following year. While others might have paid a lot for this kind of attention, it felt oppressive and grating. I noticed that Healer Melon was collecting the cores from the monsters while my mother lectured me. He obviously had experience in doing that task.

My mother saw me looking in his direction as I finished cleaning up.

"Monster Processing is a skill that will quickly go up in level the deeper you go in the dungeon. If you complete a fight without getting messy, you can get the monster cores instead of cleaning yourself up. Clean." Then, she used her magic, and the little bits I had missed were all taken care of.

"Do better in your cleaning next time. You missed some crevices in your armor, especially around the joints," she said, and then looked around for a moment.

"That tunnel." I immediately headed in that direction, and the process repeated all over again, this time with lizard creatures in a desert-themed caravan." Greater Cure. Greater Respite." Healer Melon acted at the end of the fight, filling up my reserves once more. I then got to cleaning while my mother lectured me.

"Don't twirl. You feel that instinct from your Dance skill, but think in more straight lines, especially for fights like this. In time, you will think in curves, but no twirling. Good job moving forward, do that more quickly. A fighter in action is worth ten just standing around doing nothing. When deflecting with your weapon, angle your blade slightly more to account for pushback. Try to avoid deflections, dodge instead," she said, and kept going. Her training was relentless, just like her personality.

I don't know why I had been expecting anything different. The other trainers I had would have shown me the movements I needed to correct. My mother just critiqued everything all at once without mercy or regard. There were occasional compliments, but only to highlight my failures in other areas. My skill level gain at the end of this had better be immense. Every second of this felt incredibly frustrating. I knew my mother loved me, but it was unbearably stifling.

I knew I could yell and have a fight with her as well, and she would just let me do my own thing. It was frustrating that the age of adulthood varied widely. Most nations put it at 16, twice the age at which humans unlocked their status. I was self-aware enough to know that I would regret missing out on this kind of training later, but I couldn't think that at the moment. Everything was something for her to critique. My feet's angle. How fast I clean. The rotation of my wrist.

Using my shield in my left hand to assist me. My breathing, which was one of my better skills, was even criticized. She pointed out that I needed to adjust the tempo to suit my fighting style better. Even the direction I was looking or paying attention to, she critiqued as well. I did not know how she knew such things when I was wearing a helmet, but she did. It should not have surprised me anymore. My mother wasn't human, but a force of nature.

Just like the dungeon or the System, she just did her own thing without regard for anyone else.

"Now I will quiz you to see if you have been paying attention."

"What?!"

"You seem to lose focus during my lectures. This is important information. How should you adjust your feet?"

"Slightly wider for more stability when swinging. Twist my body to bring them closer together when advancing. Angle my feet outwards more for stability, or in the direction I plan to move for speed."

"Good, you are paying attention. Hurry, I want to clear at least 20 chambers a day, at a minimum," she said. I wanted to scream at that. My body might be capable of that with Healer Melon supporting me, but my mind felt like it was about to give out from exhaustion and the constant lecturing.