Chapter 201 - 200 Back To The Dungeon
Running over to Lilia, Marcus put his hands on her, casting a healing spell, and trying to get an understanding of the situation.
However, moments after Marcus had cast the spell on her Lilia looked at Marcus and for a moment, he saw something in her eyes he never thought would be directed at him by her, hostility.
Seeing how Lilia was looking at him with hate in her eyes, Marcus felt as if his metaphorical heart stopped, but as quickly as the look came, it vanished just as suddenly, and Lilia pushed her head against Marcus and began crying.
Marcus was still not sure what was going on, so he looked towards Tris who was standing in the room looking nonchalant.
"What happened, why was Lilia bleeding and why is she crying so much."
Tris responded saying, "The cubs fought back viciously as the seal was being put on and I had to step in to keep them from killing themselves and severely injuring your sister. Luckily the seal managed to go through, though they all took a bit of damage in the process. Why she is crying is probably because of the empathic link she has with those two cubs now. I have seen it happen before, young magical beasts that are ripped away from their parents fight back hard and are resentful. That is probably why she is crying and gave you that hateful look, the empathic link they now share made her feel the disdain the cubs have for you."
In a panic Marcus said, "Wait so is my sister going to hate me now, and are the emotions of these cubs going to change her personality?
Yet Tris just waved her hand back and forth, before saying, "No, she is just feeling the initial backlash of the cubs\' strongest emotions. She is the dominant one in the seal after all, so it is her emotions that will have the greater effect on the cubs in the long run. Anyway, if she hated you now, do you think she would be crying in your arms for comfort."
Marcus then looked down at his crying sister and began patting her head as she balled deeply.
It had been a long time since Marcus had seen her like this, but it helped remind him that she is still a child, even after everything she has been through.
Marcus continued to comfort Lilia for a few more minutes as she got her emotions under control and stopped crying.
She then looked up at Marcus with apologetic eyes and Marcus could tell she was feeling bad for the way she had looked at him earlier.
"Its fine Lilia, I understand you were feeling all of the hate those two little buggers have for me."
Marcus continued to comfort Lilia for a bit more before the two of them stood up and looked at the two still unconscious golden lion cubs.
At this point Tris came up right behind Lilia and said, "You should probably give them both names. It will help build your bond and make them less difficult in the future."
Lilia after jumping up startled by Tris\' sudden appearance, calmed down and thought about the names for the two cubs.
Both of them were female so she was trying to come up with good names for both of them.
"Aurelia and Zareen."
After a bit of time thinking, Lilia came up with the name Aurelia for the level fourteen cub and Zareen for the level twelve.
Of course, these names held significant meaning to Lilia as they had been the names of the grannies that had help take care of her in the logging community when she was younger, and her parents were busy.
Unfortunately, they had been killed during the raid where Lilia was abducted, but her naming her new beasts after them showed that she still cared about and remembered them.
Marcus patted Lilia on the shoulder and said, "Those are good names, and I am sure that the two of them would be happy that your knew companions who will be looking after you have inherited their names."
With their business now concluded Marcus and Lilia left Tris\' store and headed back to the inn to prepare for their next foray into the dungeon.
The two of them went through their inventories taking out any unnecessary items from their magic bags and Marcus\' item box.
Once they had narrowed things down to just the necessities, they began making their plans for the next trip.
Marcus planned to head to the elemental caves area, but he knew that it would be far too dangerous for Lilia, so he was planning on leaving her in the area that was right before it which from the information he had gotten from Jarek\'s map was a massive swamp.
"It will probably takes us five days to get to the swamp area even if we are quick, and then it will take me another day to make it to the elemental caves from there. I will then spend four days exploring the caves before coming back to find you. After that we will head back so I can have a bit of time to prepare before I head out with Jarek and his friend to fight the dungeon boss."
Having come up with a rough plan, Marcus and Lilia took the rest of the day off and Lilia waited for her new companions to wake back up.
Luckily it was not too long before they regained consciousness although the first thing now that they were not bound, was to glare at Marcus and attack him.
Unfortunately for them, Lilia quickly ordered them not to and they were unable to fight the power of the seal on them and obeyed begrudgingly.
Of course, they still gave Marcus hateful looks and were not very warm to Lilia either, but they could tell that she cared for them even if they were acting cold.
\'She will wear them down eventually, though I doubt they will ever come around to me, seeing as how they watched me kill their family and then abduct them.\'
…
The next day soon came and Marcus along with Lilia and their beast companions made their way back into the dungeon.
Using the same trick, Marcus possessed Lilia\'s body and easily slipped her into the dungeon, even if she was not technically qualified.
"Okay we will pass through area four which is a massive dessert, next we will be into an area ten that is just a cavern with a river running through it, and finally we will make it to the swamp area that is not on our map."
With their directions set Marcus and Lilia headed down the tunnel that would lead them into area four, soon coming out into a huge dessert that seemed to stretch on forever.
\'Wow it is bright, and the heat is intense, good thing we made proper preparations before coming here.\'
Marcus then pulled out a large sheet and cast his iron threads spell and held it aloft in the air.
Once that was done Marcus cast his iron sphere spell and pushed it up in the middle of the sheet creating a makeshift tent to shield their group from the harsh sun.
And for the final touch, Marcus activated his chill zone racial ability and the temperature around him began to drop rapidly.
"Lilia is that good or did you want me to make it cooler."
"No this feels fine. It is just like a normal summer day now." (A/N: the Kingdom of Borealia is way up in the north so a summer day is still at max in the high seventies Fahrenheit or the mid-twenties Celsius.)
Having made the trip through the dessert far more comfortable, Marcus\' group began walking towards the other end of the area, though going at an angle to avoid the middle where the strongest beasts and monsters resided.
Walking through the desert, the scenery consisted of mostly the same types of dessert plants, such as cacti and arid looking bushes along with the occasional patch of wild flowers.
However, it was not long until Marcus spotted a much larger cactus then the rest, and sitting on top of it was a large fruit that was emitting a pleasant fragrance.
Yet as they got closer Marcus noticed a slight depression in the ground around it and saw that under the cactus was some type of massive antlion.
\'It is only level twenty-three. Lilia and the cubs could probably take it if I give them some support.\'
Sending out his spectral arm, Marcus jammed it into the sand where the antlion was waiting for prey to fall into its trap and yanked it out.
The creature began flailing around but Marcus\' spectral arm had a firm grasp that it was powerless to unhinge.
With the antlion exposed Marcus flung it to the ground and at the same time cast Spirt Blaze on Lilia.
With his sister now powered up by his spell she leaped forward and began her assault on the large antlion.
Each one of her punches caused the creature\'s hard outer shell to cave in and a yellow greenish blood began to pour out of its wounds.
At the same time the two golden lion cubs, Aurelia and Zareen flanked around back and were tearing away at it with their claws.
Of course, they were not doing much damage but at least they were still trying to help Lilia out.
Soon with the power boost from Marcus\' spell, Lilia dealt a devastation blow that was enhanced with her tier one force magic spell, and she split open the head of the huge antlion.
"Good job Lilia your movements are getting better, and your use of spells has made great improvements."
After complimenting Lilia for her hard work and achievements, Marcus used his spectral arm to pluck the fruit from the top of the cactus and bring it down.
It was a fairly large fruit with a distinct purple color and Marcus could tell it was a natural treasure.
He handed it over to Lilia and let her eat it and once it was complexly gone, she had a refreshed look on her face.
\'Hm only three points increase in intelligence. I figured it was not a high tier natural treasure from the monster guarding it, but I suppose every bit counts.\'
Having finished their first encounter in the dessert with no problems, their group continued on, marching through the desert towards their destination.