If you wanna read ahead of my stories, you can check out the advanced chapters on my subcribestar, at the same username - 0Jordinio0
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As if on cue, Lili was so shocked by his words she instinctively pulled out the magic stone of the war shadow she was harvesting, causing it to burst into smoke and leave behind a pitch black blade-like claw in its wake.
…A war shadow claw was worth three thousand valis alone.
She hardly paid it any attention though and stared gobsmacked at the armour clad boy, "A hundred…thousand?" she repeated, not quite believing her ears.
And that was without taking the monster drops into account.
That was far, far more than she'd ever made on a single dungeon dive as a supporter. In fact, it would usually take her multiple months just to make that amount.
He had to be lying!
…Right?
She hated how hopeful her thoughts turned. She already knew never to hope, it would just end up with her with her face in the mud as it always had!
"Yeah," Caelan nodded, "Actually, If things go well down here today like I hope, I'll pay you it daily if you become my personal supporter."
…If he wanted to hire her as his personal supporter and would pay her daily like that to keep her coming back, did that not mean he would actually pay her to ensure she would come back?
'No, don't get Lili's hopes up!' she cried inwardly.
With that kind of pay, she could be free of the Soma familia easily within a few months!
But no…it was to good to be true, right? Adventurers were liars, thieves and evil murderers. Caelan Odhar wasn't any different.
He was just new, he'd get infected by that taint soon.
If he wasn't already.
Instead of letting her dark thoughts show on her face though, Lili gave him a bright smile she'd learned to form from years of practice.
"Okay, Lili will happily sign up for benefits like that Mr. Caelan!" she chirped in agreement.
"Bitchin'!" the self proclaimed bad guy who killed Ged brutally pumped his fist happily into the air and grinned, "Cute supporter, getto!"
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It was not even a half an hour later that Lili began to regret her decision to support Caelan Odhar.
"Mr. Caelan, there's one coming out above me!" she cried out as a huge killer ant burst out of the wall above her.
Caelan, standing a few paces beyond her held two huge killer ants by the neck. They writhed in squealed in his grasp, before going silent as a meaty crunch resounded as he smashed both of their heads together, smashing their skulls in.
He tossed them aside and whirled around, shooting forward in a blur of speed and spinning to lash out into the air with a spinning kick that caught the ant above her in the neck…and cleaved right through it, the head flying off into the distance while the force of the kick tore the whole body of the beast out of the wall.
"You alright?" he asked as he landed a moment later beside her.
"Yes…but!" her eyes went to the opening of the pantry of the seventh floor that they were currently locked within.
To where a dozen more ants were doing their level best to climb over a hill of their brethren's corpses to get into the pantry and attacked them.
…By Caelan's own decision. Multiple killer ants, their bodies mangled and barely clinging to life hung from above the entrance. He had beat them down and left them there, barely alive so they could release their pheromones to attract more killers ants.
"Got it!" he turned, his helmet already slid up to reveal his face as he took in a deep breath and then releasing a roar quite similar to an Infant Dragon she'd once seen and unleashing a wave of flame from his mouth that washed over the killer ants trying to get into the pantry and roasting them alive just like the fellows they were trying to climb over.
'Mr. Caelan is crazy!' Lili thought, mind whirling. She had not at all expected something like this when she agreed to support him!
Killer ants were known as rookie killers for a reason. Just a dozen of them were enough to take down someone like Mr. Ged who wasn't a weak level one at all!
Yet even as they appeared in the dozens, Caelan tore through them like they were mere goblins.
That is to say he treated them like he treated the goblins from the first floor. Like wet paper just made to be torn apart.
If this was the kind of thing he got up to in the dungeon, then it was no wonder he'd grown so quickly, he must have been raking in excelia by the bucket load and it was no wonder he seemed to so casually say he would pay her a hundred thousand valis a day!
They'd been on this floor less than a half an hour and yet she'd already lost count how many killer ants he'd killed, but it was well over fifty! And their magic stones alone cost a thousand two hundred valis!
"Mr. Caelan, are you alright?" she found herself asking. There was no way he could keep this up for long, right?
In reply the younger boy just grinned at her and flashed her a clawed gauntlet clad thumbs up, "With mind potions, I can do this all day Lili, no need to worry!" he assured her, "I'm more worried about you, are you sure you'll be fine?"
…No in fact she was not.
But of course said other wise, "I'll be fine you're the one doing all the fighting." she replied.
In contrast her job was simple. All she had to do was remove and collect magic stones and items from the killer ant corpses, and whatever else turned up.
She didn't even need to really drag the corpses out of the way either because…
Caelan grinned at her answer, before making his way over to the huge pile of killer ant corpses piled up at the entrance of the pantry, many a goblin, needle rabbit and such mixed in….and promptly picked them up by the doubles, one in each hand and threw them back towards her.
In just moments, a huge pile of dead monsters formed next to her as he continued tossing them until the entrance was bare.
And he stood at the ready, waiting for more to come. Yes, in comparison her job was much simpler, just looting the corpses and letting him know of any other monsters that were spawning within the pantry itself.
"Let's try for seven hours!" he called back to her, "I did six yesterday, but with you here taking care of the magic stones and the like, I figure I can go longer!"
'What a monster.' Lili couldn't help but stare at his broad back in a combination of horror…and awe.
She didn't think even Zanis or Chandra, the only level two's in the Soma Familia could slaughter the killer ants as fast, systematically…and easily as Caelan Odhar did.
…Was he really only a level one?