night dungeon

This chap most of you have probably already read as it is Bell's POV from Lilcura's chapters, I'm still currently working to fix previous chapters as well as making new ones so new chapters will be slower than usual, please be patient for new chapters

~~

Returning to the broken church, I descended the stairs and spotted my goddess sitting on the couch, seemingly waiting for someone.

"I'm home," I announced, catching the absent-minded goddess off guard.

"Ah, welcome home, Bell! How was the dungeon?" Goddess Hestia said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Well, I didn't go to the dungeon today. I accidentally fell asleep in the park," I admitted with a sheepish grin.

"What? Were you tired this morning? You should have stayed home if you were tired," Hestia lectured me.

"Goddess Hestia, I wasn't tired, I swear. I fell asleep because I was reading a book," I explained and showed her the book I had brought along.

"Huh? Don't be ridiculous, Bell. A mere book shouldn't make anyone fall asleep," Hestia said, grabbing the book and setting it aside on the table.

"Goddess Hestia, please check my status," I requested, eager to see if I had acquired magic from the book.

"Huh, alright," Hestia agreed without question.

I positioned myself on the bed, removed my shirt, and Hestia straddled my back. She raised her hand above my back, and a blue hue emitted from my skin as floating words and numbers appeared.

"Hm, what?" Hestia suddenly shouted in surprise.

"What's going on?" I panicked at her startled reaction.

"Y- you can use magic," Hestia said with wide eyes, delivering the news I had hoped to hear.

"Really?" I exclaimed in excitement.

"Hold on, I'll grab a piece of paper so you can see it," Hestia said. She fetched a piece of paper from the nearby table, placed it on my back, and examined my status with enthusiasm, particularly focusing on the magic section.

===

magic:

O living flame: cast a small flame on the hand of the user, infusing the flame into a blade or body will empower it

if cast on a blade it will cover the blade in flames inflicting burn to anything that it strikes, the burn intensity and duration depend on how many minds you condensed into the flame

if cast on a body, it will strengthen the user increasing all stats besides magic for a small amount of time, the duration and strength depend on how many minds you condensed into the flame

chant:

blade: "O flame, enchant my blade to aid me in my fight, engulf my enemy with your flame, and leave nothing but ashes"

body: "O flame, grant me strength, cover my very bones with your warmth, and protect my flesh with your shielding burn"

===

Carefully reading the information on the paper, I couldn't contain my excitement. I hugged the piece of paper and cheered

"Yay, I can use magic!"

"I never thought you could pick up any magic ability, and a powerful one at that," Hestia looked at me with a warm smile.

"Must have been because of that skill," Hestia grumbled

"Yay, I can use magic!" I exclaimed again. I had a small doubt that the book did nothing, but that worry disappeared as reality sank in.

"I'm happy for you, Bell. With that magic, you can protect yourself without needing to wear heavy armor that slows you down," Hestia pointed out.

"Let's test that magic tomorrow," she added.

"Tomorrow?" My excitement waned a bit.

"Haha, don't worry. It's your magic, and it's not going anywhere," Hestia reassured me. Hestia seemed to forget about the book I had mentioned and got caught up in the happy atmosphere.

-~-

Sneaking out of the church, I felt the cold wind of the night hit my body, turning my back and facing the church

"Sorry goddess," I said and continued walking

As I walked toward the tower, empty streets were abundant as many people were sleeping only leaving the fully armored me walking alone

Reaching Babel, I descended towards the dungeon and reached the first floor almost immediately, goblins spawned as they turned to me with hostile eyes. I readied my stance with my dagger in my right hand.

Remembering the chant for my magic, I began to recite it.

"O flame, enchant my blade to aid me in my fight, engulf my enemy with your flame, and leave nothing but ashes."

As I finished the chant, a small flame engulfed my left hand, and I felt something gathering to it. I pushed the flame into the dagger, and the flame combusted as it covered the blade.

Looking at the dancing flame surrounding my blade, I admired it.

"Aghh!" a howl woke me up, and I turned my attention to the rushing goblins. One made a jump toward me, but my training kicked in, and I swiftly parried its attack, slashing its throat with my flaming dagger

The flame lingered where the slash was as it spread throughout his whole body, leaving nothing but ash in its wake

keeping the momentum I charged ahead toward the other goblins, swiftly dispatching them, looking at the flame at my dagger's blade I felt excitement but it soon died down as I watched the flame extinguished

"that was only 5 seconds" I mumbled trying to figure out how this magic works

"maybe that feeling of something gathering is my mind" I concluded

after that, I continued descending the dungeon and reached the 6th floor with ease as Xian's training and my newly acquired magic did wonders with combat, but I conserved my magic for battles I evaluated for difficult

as I continued to walk a big group of killer ants marched toward me and I readied my stance once again

"O flame, grant me strength, cover my very bones with your warmth, and protect my flesh with your shielding burn" I chanted as a small flame gathered toward my hand I waited for minds to gather into it and pushed the flame into my chest

The flame lingered in my chest as it entered my body, I felt my whole body invincible as I felt stronger in every way

I lowered my whole body and dashed towards them with immense speed towards the killer ants

slashing three of them without them being able to react, the scene felt like a one-sided slaughter as the ants would be killed as soon as they faced me

an ant struck with its mandibles at me but I simply backstepped from it and struck back killing it instantly

two more ants flanked my side but I dashed toward them as they attempted to surround me I continued the slaughter

feeling danger from behind I unconsciously slashed in that direction, turning around I soon saw a decapitated killer ant

as soon as I knew it, I was the only one standing in a mountain of killer ants

I sat down on one of them recovering my stamina as I felt the flame leaving my body, feeling two gazes I quickly turned in their direction but met with an empty field

"Hm? Must have been the wind" I muttered as I continued recovering while having my guard up in case of ambushes