Now that Nero wasn't in such a rush to finish his training the rate a which he progressed slowed down quite a bit, but compared to other people it was still fast, having succeeded in passing the thrid and fourth levels of Rias's obstacle course leaving only the fifth one before he would have reached the level that Rias had determined that he had passed her training
Spending the morning sparring with Aurathia, venturing into the dungeon with Yumi, practicing his footwork as they descended the floors until she reached the sixth floor at which they bid each other goodbye before continuinng down to the 14th floor, the current limit that he had reached and due to him knowing that it would be dangerous to go any deeper on his own due to the fact that facing a minotaur on his own was a bad idea, as although he was confident that he would be able to beat one in a fair fight, dungeon monsters never fought fair and he could be attacked by another one while focusing on one, something he had learned was not fun due to all of the imps that he had fought
"Depending on my next trainer maybe I can give the 15th floor a go" he thought to himself as he faced a dungeon worm, using his ability to sense magic from Rias to be able to vaguely sense where it's magic stone was and his natural ability to sense danger that he had developed from Yumi's training to be able to dodge its attacks
"I've heard that worms don't like the cold" Nero smiled as the worm burst from the ground where he had been standing a second before "let's see how you like this then" activating his ice king mode and slashing with his 2 blades, wounds criss crossing the worms body
The worm screamed in pain under the assult but due to the coldness that started to invade its body through the wounds it began to move slower and slower, eventually collapsing to the ground before it could retreat back underground and exploding into black dust
Picking up the magic stone and throwing it into his storage space Nero didn't have to walk far to come across his next foe, a group of almiraj
"It really is too bad that all the monsters down here just explode into dust" Nero chuckled "or you would make for a very tasty meal down here in the dungeon with a bit of grilling, you even come with your own spit"
It was unkown if the monster could understand the joke that Nero had just made but he certainly felt like the almiraj that he faced today were attacking him more savagely than prior ones, something that worked out well in Nero's favour as the fifth level of Rias's obstacle course needed to be done in the same amount of time as the fourth, with even the course being exactly the same, the difference was that she would be firing magic at him as he ran the course and if he ever got hit it was considered a failure
"Thanks for helping with my training guys" joked Nero as he created a orb of destruction and made it float next to him as he dodged the monsters attacks
With his joke Nero swore he could see an angry anime symbol appear on their heads as they increased the fercity of their attacks even further
"Well as much as I would like to continue training with you guys it looks like my next training partners have just shown up" Nero chuckled, noticing a pack of hellhounds out of the corner of his eyes "and they're closer to my teachers abilities and so will be much better training partners, as such it's time to finish this" he declared using his tessen to decapitate and crush the almiraj
"Alright I'm ready for you guys then" Nero commented as he finished the last bunny, the hellhounds already upon him
The hellhounds fought as a pack, some going in to attack physically, biting at him with their fangs or slashing at him with their claws while others took a further back position and unleashed fireballs at Nero when they saw an oppurtunity, something he purposefully did in order to get more used to getting fireballs shot at him in the same way that Rias fired them at him
A few minutes later Nero started to feel that he was getting tired and so decided to wrap things up for the day, taking out the nearby hellhounds with his tessen before using his magic and black ice to take out the further away monsters, even getting lucky enough to get a fang as a drop
Heading back up he ended up bumping into Yumi for once on his way out
"Hey, fancy meeting you here" he joked
"Nero, heading back for the day?" Yumi asked
"Yeah I was begining to feel tired so I thought I'd return for the day" Nero answered
"Knowing your limits is the best way to stay alive" Yumi nodded
"Want to join me on the way back? I can put your backpack in my storage space to make things easier for you or you could empty it into my storage space to lighten the load for you if you want to stay longer" Nero suggested
"I will take you up on your offer" smiled Yumi, passing him the backpack "I was thinking of finishing her for today anyway and having a friend to talk to on the way back will make the journey back a bit less lonely"
Making their way out of the dungeon Nero and Yumi made small talk, talking about there day and Nero asking about Ryuu, with Yumi responding in a similar way to how Ryuu did about how she felt a connection to her due to their shared sense of justice
Arriving at the cliff Nero spread his wings as Yumi jumped up with precise movements, getting to the top even before Nero was able to
"Lower stats than me and yet still able to show me up" Nero sighed lightheartedly
"Even though you have better stats than me and have your training space, doesn't make up the difference created by my years of training" Yumi smiled
"Exactly, stats are good, but training is better" declared Aurathia who seemed to have been working out on the open ground outside the mansion "and now that you're back let's eat, proper nutrition is also a part of training"
"And let me guess, I'm cooking" Nero questioned
"Yep, so get to it, my muscles want protein and carbs to grow" Aurathia laughed as she pushed Nero towards the kitchen with a smile.