Chapter 163 The Dungeon Graveyard Pt. 9
I yelled outloud and instantly charged at them, I was to weak willed to willingly let them go off on their own. They had to force me to let them go... It was a stupid thing I know but sometimes the only way I can do this is by tricking my own self.
I decided not to use magic in this fight and instead I swung a fist towards Michael who countered with an upward swing of his sword. Our attacks met and surprisingly for a second we both stalled before his strength gave away to mine. I had the advantage everyone knew it but I could see that in the seconds from me yelling till now, the looks in their eyes changed from shocked to resolute as I felt surges of energy focusing in different areas. Grayson was focusing in his fists as he charged at me from the side hoping for a quick 1-2 combo aimed at my kidneys, Grace was charging up a support spell that would enhance her siblings speed and strength, and Harper was going to..... Hmmmm I could see the flow of mana going into Harper but I couldn't see what form it was taking? That was odd. But nevertheless I focused back on the fight and Michael had shaken off the first encounter and swung immediately after with a diagonal slash aimed at my shoulder.
I sidestepped and with a palm strike to the blade pushed it and his arm out of the way while also side stepping out of the way of Grayson's flame infused fists. I sent a kick at the over extended form of Grayson that sent him sprawling and tumbling while quickly jabbing Michaels kidney and lifting him up into the air for a split second that caused him to exhale all the air in his lungs.
Grace's spell finally activated but it was to late as her brothers were already on the ground panting and trying to catch a breath. Harper on the other hand raised her hand to me and slowly I saw as a faint reddish light formed and a circle appeared underneath me. I quickly jumped but I went bug eyed because the circle followed me up into the air and soon a pillar of pure red fire erupted from the center of that circle to surround me and try to consume me.
I landed on the ground after a few seconds of feeling the flames burning my flesh but due to the difference in strength between me and Harper, I was able to regenerate just as fast as the burns happened. The circle dissipated as soon as I landed and the flames disappeared to show a panting Harper on her knees with Grace focusing a ball of glowing water around her hand. I quickly ran over to her no longer worried about the little family fun time. I saw as inside the water ball was Harper's hand but it looked burnt to a crisp as if someone had taken it and put it inside an oven and forgotten about it. from the wrist to the fingers was black and shriveled but that was the only part that was damaged... It was odd. but I had a sinking feeling that she did that in order to use that circle and have it follow me... She paid a price to use a power she didn't have access to yet just to try and get me to let them fight and prove themselves.
"It's fine father.... I've healed Harpers hand before, it will heal back up in a few hours no problem I promise." Grace said while focusing on her sisters hand. I could tell she didn't want to look at me and neither did Harper since Harper was looking away and down at the ground as tears rolled down her cheeks from both the pain and the embarassment.
"Here let me." I said as I reached over and with a snap I conjured my own circle and using my energy I sped up her recovery to a few minutes. "Look at me girls." With a serious tone I spoke to them and reluctantly they both turned towards me with misty eyes. Harper had a defiant look on her face and Grace a look of shame at not being a better support but that wasn't what I was troubled about.
"You shouldn't take risks like that ok? A price to pay for power should be thought over very carefully and thoroughly. Do not do what your old man does ok? I make horrible decisions all the time and I have to suffer because of it ok haha, but anyways, if you really want to get stronger using magic than I can help you and teach you or when we get back home then ask your grandma. She can help teach you some magic and your grandpa can help teach you aswell. Now as for you boys that are still acting like your just catching your breath!" I turned my head and looked at the two boys who quickly got up and came over.
"You two will be coming with me outside the barrier to take down a good chunk of this army while making a route to the cave ok? You boys are using your talents too wildly and I will not have that. Michael I am not good with swords but I think that Sara Jun, my follower might be a good teacher for you to learn a few basics with the sword. As for you my wild berserker, I can teach you a few things with your fists but again I'm no master."
I was going to atleast teach a few things to them each and hope that it will be enough to get them by until I can get them to a real teacher... Atleast enough to help them survive.... Ugh, yes I know they didn't beat me so why am I doing this? Well that way next time they try to beat me, maybe they will have a better chance.
"Harper and Grace? Why don't you two go relax with your mom and aunties for a few hours while me and your brothers go train. Oh, and go see if you can find your sister, I'm sure she might want to spend some quality time with you girls." I threw the last thing before waving goodbye and walking towards the barrier while opening a space bubble and picking out a random sword that looked to be about the same size and length as Michaels sword.
I walked out of the barrier and a zombier immediately lunged at me with it's arms.
"Ok first lesson goes to Michael, so you had a good swing, but when someone is throwing a fist at you, don't aim for the fist boy! dodge around the fist and aim for the wrist!" I grunted as I dodged the lung and then swung downwards and cut off the zombies wrist.
"Or, if your aiming to immediately kill your opponent. Aim for the head." I said as with a simple swing I decapitated the zombie. Just in time for a skeleton with a sword and shield to come running up behind me.
"Ok, now for opponents like this, you need to get rid of the defense. So, aim for the arms and reduce mobility of movement." I deflected a poorly swung sword strike and then struck out at the arm bone breaking it. Then I aimed for the shield arm shoulder but was deflected with the shield... Got a bit cocky there but should have seen that coming, So I dipped and dodged around until I got to the back and attacked again and broke the shoulder.
"Now that the arms are useless, kill." Simple sword slash later and another monster down. "Now for how to handle your blade. When you hold your blade you want it just so that when you finish one swing you will be able to turn your wrist and then immediately be able to follow through into another one like this, I will show you a simple combo slash."
A couple zombies came stumbling towards me which was perfect as I held my blade just to the side and angled behind me. I had both hands wrapped around the grip and when they got in range I let out a side slash that ripped through their stomachs, then I reversed my wrists and sent the same slash but aimed towards their necks and easily slashed through them and sent them tumbling down like dominoes.
"See that Michael? I want you to do that ok? Your up while I teach Grayson." I threw the sword I was using back into the space bubble and pulled out a pair of black leather, bracers that had metal studs along the knuckle points. with padding to soften the blow so as not to damage the wielder to much.
"I saw you try and do a quick 1-2 and that was some nifty thinking but you were using your body all wrong boy. Realy power when using your fists comes from using your whole body. It starts at your feet and travels through your legs and hips, through your back and arms before eventually exploding out of your fists. Just watch."
Micheal was targetting skeletons to practice against other weapons so that left zombies for me to play with, that was fine by me and it made it easier to teach Grayson. I planted my feet and waited as a group of 5 was already walking towards us. I wasn't going to be able to show everything but I could show some atleast at the start. I focused and lowered my stance to steady myself and when they got with my reach I leaned a little and like an explosion my arm shot forward and decimated the upper half of one of the zombies while the shockwave of the blast knockbacked the others a couple of steps.
"I know you probably didn't see all of that, but you have to be steady on your feet and when you strike you rotate your hips, and don't forget to exhale for everystrike from what I remember that was something I learned that helped to prolong stamina. For now I want to show you how to strike properly but afterwards we will work on moving around and dodging properly and evening reversing or countering."
Me and Grayson stayed like that for a few zombies just practicing his strikes and then I would switch to Michael and help him refine his swings. I continued to do that for a few hours until the sun started to set and the three of us were drenched in sweat as we walked back inside the tent and grabbing something to drink.
"Great work boys, you guys make awesome progress today, Michael, that was an excellent Solar strike at the end but it drains to much of your mana to execute, if you had an external source I would say go at it but until you train your mana more don't rely on that attack ok? Grayson, You picked up that Flash step technique like it was a joke dude! I am super impressed man! You are going to be an awesome fighter very soon. Now both of you go get some rest. Tomorrow we plan on going into the cave itself and seeing whats going on, love you boys good job again."
"Love you dad, thanks!." "Thanks dad, love you too!" They said back before they took off laughing at eachother and talking about what they did today and what they could do to improve. The last couple of hours was like someone turned on the double XP and everything just started clicking in their heads and I was soon starting to run out of things to teach them so I just pulled out shit I remembered from anime and they even picked that up and learned that like it was no big deal!!!
Michael basically turned into a protag from a life or death VRMMO and Grayson just needs a Zanpakuto.... What the hell did I turn my kids into.... Ugh I am exhausted. I had to come up with reasons not only for how I came up with these skills but also for why I never used em in the first place. Like why I never dual wielded two swords before or why I never flash stepped before... Why I never materialized a mana bow and shot an arrow made of mana before....
I laid down on my bed with a huge grin on my face. Not only did I achieve in accomplishing something I only could dream of ever doing. I even taught my sons how to do it aswell. I mean comeon how man people have wished to flash step or insant transmission? I know I have when I was younger, shit even up until my fateful encounter with truck-kun I was still hoping to miraculously unlock superpowers.
I rolled over as the girls entered the bedroom and Kitsoma came over and sat on the bed while Mara and Lula stood near the entrance.
"So, we have been talking." She started to talk as I laid my head on her thighs. "So, you know that Vannessa came to 'guard' us right? While you left to talk to the kids? Well we got to talking and we all knew she had a thing for you since the moment you two saw eachother, so through the wively telepathic connection we agreed to give it a try and see if we could push the issue."
"Hold on telepathic connection? Do you guys really have that!?" I looked up at them shocked.
"Haha, no silly, but we do know eachother well enough by now that we can get a good sense of what the others are thinking. I mean we have lived and slept with eachother for a good while now. It's only natural. Anyways, back to what I was saying."
"Sorry."
"What I was saying, was that when we brought up the topic of you she got really nervous."
"Haha, yea and she started stuttering hardcore!" Mara interuppted and said.
"AHEM! We asked her if she would like to sit with you and actually get to know you and that if you said yes what would she say. She said she would actually love that.... so hurry up and bath because she's right outside and waiting." Kitsoma quickly said before pushing my head off and getting up quickly. She said it so quickly while getting up so abruptly that it all left me in shock.
"W-W-What? I-I-I-I Mean Sure? But Right now? REallY?" That was when I heard a voice from behind the entrance sigh and say in a defeated tone.
"See, I told you that he wouldn't want to speak to me. I'm probably not even womanly enough for him. I am only a warrior, I wasn't raised to act like a woman or even do womanly things like that." The voice said as it got farther away. Kitsoma and them just stared at me with a face that said get your ass up and get out there right now, and like the flames of hell were sparked to life under my ass I was up and out there before they could even blink.
"VANNESSA WAIT!" I yelled but I overestimated how far she had gotten as I left and ended up running into her and be both fell down. As we fell I was able to turn us over so that she fell on top of me so she wouldn't get hurt to bad, but that just left us in an awkward position when we opened our eyes and our eyes were inches apart. I saw now that her eyes were a Ruby red color but it had a hint of pink or violet that made me start to drown in her eyes as I fell into them. It was hard to pull away and instead I became increasingly more aware of our breath mingling together.
"Vexsus... Am I really a woman to you?" She muttered as she kept staring into my eyes. Dammit those eyes alone were enough for me to drown the world. In this moment they conveyed such weakness and frailty that otherwise this powerful woman would never dare show. Her hands were clenched on my chest as her breathing became ragged. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer.
"Vannessa, This is not the way to gain someones attention you know? Normally people would talk to eachother and get to know eachother first before things like this happen. But I understand that you might not have had Luxury growing up.... Why don't we start fresh ok? Tomorrow we can introduce ourselves like we just met and start from there ok?"
I helped her up and she smiled and nodded before she gave me a quick hug and then she left to go to her sleeping area. I shook my head smiling and went back and saw as the three conspirators were mad dogging me.
"What?"
"We expected you to take her right there and then Vexsus. We expected a new member of the harem tonight." Mara said while huffing.
"Well I'm sorry girls but this one is a bit more fragile then she lets on to be. She can whoop some ass but inside those rock hard... smoking hot, sexy body..... Ahem. She is sensitive and worried that she doesn't measure up like you woman do. She is comparing herself to you and she is falling short in her own head, so we have to take it slow and see how it goes... Life goes it's own pace so it might not be that slow but we have to take it as slow as needed.... You three just need to calm your tits. I mean I haven't even slept with Lula yet dammit!"