Spirit Taming

Chapter 252: Training In Darkness

As Isa's flame sprite sparked up more fire around it, three more dark imps were revealed. Their instant reaction was to attack Crim who was in front. But as soon as one jumped at Crim with its claws trying to dig in to him, he opened his mouth and broke the dark imp like it was nothing but a weak chew toy.

"Next one!" Clark stabbed out with his black lightning spear, the dark imp struck was easily pierced as if it had been a soft piece of butter on an oven.

"Can't you be less intense?" Isa watched Crim snap at the third dark imp. She felt like she was just there to light the way with her flame sprite. She was literally doing nothing.

"Trust me, we will have more to deal with. Just listen carefully." Clark kept silent while Isa tried to listen. After a short while, she managed to hear some scratching and skittering of claws on the rock floors of the cave they were trying to go down. There were more dark imps hiding away that had been attracted by the noises. By the potential food they could get if they attacked from the shadows.

"Actually, can your flame sprite make a burst of fire down that passageway first?" Clark wondered exactly what the strength of the flame sprite was without being fused with Isa's body. He had not been able to see what it could do in battle without Isa's control over the fire energy that is used to grow.

"Oh, that? It's pretty easy. It won't do much but light the place up and burn a little but let's try it." Isa was slightly confused and asked her flame sprite to do what Clark wanted. It looked at her curiously before it made a move to the front of the passageway.

The fire elemental energies grew around it before a small burst of flame broke apart from it. It slowly grew and flew through the air lighting up the shadows of the passageway. Multiple dark imps became visible and screeched as the light and flames surprised them. But they were all burned slightly as they retreated from the light to hide more.

The simple burst of light had shown Isa how many enemies there were to deal with before Clark and her would be able to search the passageway for any stairs that led to the second floor. "I see now, let me handle this one. I will deal with the two passageways near here too. You handle another one." Isa waved Clark off as she let the flame sprite continue forward.

The ice maiden fused with her body while the perfect crystal golem took a position watching her back. It was the best positioning for them to fight without issue. She also didn't need Clark to worry about her.

"Good idea, we can easily clear out the other passageways faster. And I don't need the light to get through this." Clark wanted to train while at this disadvantage. As weak as the dark imps were, he understood the danger they presented. A hidden attacker in the dark.

However, Clark could use the darkness to enhance his other senses. He could also strengthen the bond between him and Devi because Devi didn't care about the dark or not. He could move without issue no matter where he was, the light or the darkness.

Crim was another case, he had the sense of smell that dragons had. It was perfect for sniffing out enemies and pursuing them. Adding on the eyesight of a dragon, the difference in the darkness of shadows would be found instantly. That was why it would be an incredible disappointment for Crim to be snuck up on.

All this was watched by Shy. She saw the strengths of her older siblings and wanted to be able to do something as well. But all she could do was send out shadow thread after shadow thread to break. All she could do was slowly trap any shadow energy she found and absorb it. But what she didn't realize was that Clark was allowing his energy to help her do so.

With their bond, Shy would be very close to Clark. He was holding her, not just because she was weak, but also because he could provide her with the stronger energy in his body. Just as she could share energy with him, he could share it with her. The connections between tamers and their beasts were not a single pathway.

Unknown to Isa, Clark stopped just far enough away to watch her fight. He was curious what she would do when it came to the multiple dark imps that she was about to face. It wasn't that he didn't believe she would be safe. It was far from that. He was more cautious about where she had improved and what she could do now that she had been in her family legacy dungeon.

After she had gained some knowledge about her family history.

The dark imps felt that they had been attacked wrongly. They had a great anger for Isa and the flame sprite that had spoiled their dark hiding places. Now they had to attack in revenge to force their prey to become their food. To end the infernal light that ruined their home.

Having this instant reaction, Isa had her flame sprite create three balls of fire that lit the area ahead of her. It was clear that the dark imps would go after her and not the flame sprite. Mostly be focused they had already seen that they would be burned if they even got close to it. Hence, she fused her body with the ice maiden to be able to attack easily.

The elemental staff reacted to Isa's will and began to gather the water elemental energies in the cave. It easily became ice energy with the influence of the ice maiden. The form of their fusion was less like a cloak of frost or ice that covers Isa but instead seemed to have changed to look more like a witch.

Clark was greatly impressed by this because it showed a clear growth in the ice maiden and Isa's bond. They shared their energies better with one another while also being influenced by a very powerful energy gathering staff.

Immediately after Isa raised her staff, a dark imp charged at her from the darkness screeching like it was on fire already. The single icicle that formed at the tip of the elemental staff spun through the air leaving a cold trail of vapor behind it. The dark imp was impaled and left to fall dead on the floor.

A ball of flames left the flame sprite and traveled ahead. The next dark imp revealed was pierced by yet another icicle that Isa had created. She was not planning on letting up. Clark could only watch as she cleaned up the passageway one imp after the other. There was no gestation in her movements and she clearly wanted to get this done with.

It was an impressive efficiency that proved that Isa had long surpassed what could ever be considered as average for her age.

"Let's go, Crim, you will clear that passage on your own. Devi, take that one. Shy, hold on tightly to my shoulder. I will be clearing this passage." Clark grinned. He could feel his excitement growing. It was a small fact he had noticed lately, when it came to a fight he was more excited than fearful.

"I might be a little battle maniac now…whatever."

The charge in to the dark passageway made him wonder why he dared to train like this, but when he heard the sound of claws hitting stone had spun the black lightning spear around in a crescent moon slash. The resulting screech and thud of a body collapsing were all Clark needed to push on.

The same things were happening in the other passageways. Crim was sharpening his claws as he slashed and bit through the dark imps that had a foolish idea of attacking him. Some tried to remain in the shadows and hide but they had nothing that they could do against his strong sense of smell.

The unluckiest ones were those in the passageways that Devi went in to. He was slowly laughing and taking over their minds with terror. The more the dark imps heard the more they became frantic. They backed themselves in to little corners just to feel a chilling bite stealing away their energy. The remaining dark imp bodies had nothing to brag about.

Just lifeless materials with barely any soul energy to say that the imps could have survived. It was gruesome but powerful.

If anyone were to enter the dark imp dungeon at this moment, they would question who was torturing the dark imps so much. Who could be capable of this evil? Yet, they would be too afraid to progress forward. To see the monsters in the dark that could outweigh the fear brought by a beast hiding in the shadows. A known beast was not as scary as an unknown monster.