End of the battle(corrected)

--- pov Aiz ---

'Clank!' 'Clank' 'clank'

'This woman is strong!'

By throwing off the last blow, I was able to take a few steps back. I was initially attacking the monster when she tried to attack me and in order to not allow her to attack the others, I let her, follow me here.

"I won't be able to get the seed, but I can go with you Aria." -Said the woman as she ran in my direction trying to hit me with a swing of the sword that I dodged a little and then counterattacked, but she parried with her sword.

"How do you know that name!" -I screamed while using ariel to be able to attack faster.

"Who knows." -Said the woman as she struck with me making me back up again.

"However that wind is useful, you became faster the moment you used it Aria." -Said the woman, looking at me with her expressionless face.

"Don't call me by that name!"

Activating ariel again, I charged towards the woman, but when I was about to attack, I used the wind as a foothold by moving to the open side of the woman and when I thought I was able to cut the woman, I realized one thing.

'Afterimage!'

I opened my eyes in shock and I could see the sword of the woman who was getting closer and closer. Using my reflexes, I was able to use the sword sheath as a shield, but I was unable to resist behind the power of the blow.

'BAAAM!'

The blow was so powerful, it threw me against the crystal wall that was meters away.

'Cough cough my body does not move...' - seeing her approach, I tried in every way to get up, but the body did not respond.

'Get up, GET UP!'

"I think it's time to stop it." -With those words, she threw a full power punch.

Watching the blow slowly approach, all I could feel was anger at my weakness.

'I will not be able to avenge them.'

When I thought it was the end for me, I saw two backs before my eyes, which have been present since I was little.

"What?!" -Shouted the woman, seeing her fist blocked by the body of a spear and a magical staff.

"I think you exaggerated" -Said Finn, with his usual smile.

"We will not forgive you for hurting our princess" -Riveria told her, angrily.

After parrying the punch, the duo began the counterattack.

'What is happening' - I thought confusedly.

"Aiz! Drink this please, it will help you recover "-Lefiya told me worriedly, as she made me drink a potion. When I raised my back to drink the contents, I was greeted by a fantastic scene.

The captain, even with his small size, was easily handling the opponent, dodging the woman's punches in a millimeter-accurate way, he was able to counterattack with his spear.

"Let's see if you can move like this!" - Screamed the woman angrily.

She hit the ground generating the rise of the rocks. Seeing that he couldn't stay on the ground, Finn jumped.

"You are mine!" - Shouted the woman as she was about to hit Finn.

"Are you sure?" -Said Finn smiling.

Thrusting the spear into the ground, which he used as a lever to lift himself into the air, and using the part of the spear that the woman divided, he slashed her chest.

'This is Finn Deimne,' The brave' ' - I thought in amazement.

"You little!"

The woman tried to fight back, but Finn threw her away with a punch, which made her face deform.

Rising with difficulty, the woman looked at Finn and Riveria.

"Against two levels 6 I am at a disadvantage." -With those words, the woman ran away.

"I can't let her." -

Seeing her flee, I decided to chase her, as I felt better. But as soon as I reached her, she jumped off the precipice and fell into the lake that connected to the lower floors.

"The redhead knows how to go out in style." -Said Finn, as he rubbed his hand.

"Why are you rubbing your hand?" -Asked Riveria, who had just arrived.

"When I hit that woman, I broke my hand." -Said Finn simply.

"!" -Riveria opened her eyes surprised.

While the others were arguing, I kept looking at the bottom of the lake where the woman had disappeared.

'If I were stronger!' - I clenched my fist in anger.

"Oi guys we are here" -Tione and Tiona also arrived with Mark.

--- General pov ---

When the attack of the monsters ended, the village on the 18th floor was completely razed and some of the adventurers ended up with serious injuries and more unfortunates died. Having to report the facts to the guild, the group began to make their way to the surface with the other adventurers.

"Mmm is it my impression or the air of those two is different." -Pointed out Tiona.

"Shut up Tiona, this is not the time." -Tione scolded her, sighing as she looked at Mark and Aiz.

From the time the accident ended until now they had never opened their mouths, they would have simply walked in silence.

"It must not have been easy for either of them, Aiz was defeated by that woman, and Mark despite being a level 1 had to experience all this." -Said Riveria, while giving a pat to Tiona who was discouraged.

"Was that woman really that strong??" - Tione asked puzzled.

"All of her aspects in battle were flawless, what was most surprising was her defense and regeneration. It's not something a human should own. " - Finn said seriously.

Continuing to walk, they reached the entrance to the tenth floor, but when Mark set his foot on the step that led to the upper floor, he stopped.

'How long do I have to postpone... today I run away, tomorrow I run away, the day after tomorrow I run away, how many times do I have to run away.' - Turning to look at the tenth floor, he asked the Guide.

'What are my chances of survival here?'

[... with your stats, as long as you don't take on too many large enemies you should be fine.]

'Then that's just fine.' - Mark said showing his teeth as he smiled.

He was about to turn to go to fight when he felt someone holding him by the arm.

"Where do you think you're going, Mark?" Finn asked him, squeezing his arm. Hearing his voice, the others turned too.

"You're smart, so you know very well where I'm going." - Mark told him looking into his eyes.

"You aren't ready yet." - Finn simply told him.

"Finn, do you have the courage to say these words?" -Said Mark with rising anger.

"After everything that happened on the 18th floor, do you want to tell me I'm not ready?! Tell me, when will I ever be! " -Mark yelled at him freeing himself from his grip.

"In that shit floor, anything could kill me in seconds! If I can't handle tough times when I'm ready, what do you think would happen if I was unprepared huh! You would come to save me every time?! " -Said Mark, looking at him angrily.

"Whenever you are in danger, we will be there for you." - Finn said smiling.

Seeing that he wasn't lying, Mark was surprised.

"Mark, you joined the Familia for who knows what reason, but that doesn't change the fact that you are a member of our family and as such, your health has become my responsibility. " - Finn told him seriously, but continued.

"I'm sure that even if I stopped you today, you would come here tomorrow. That's why I'll make sure someone comes with you." -Turning to the others, Finn pointed his gaze to Lefiya.

"Lefiya, make sure this boy doesn't die somewhere." - Finn told her, making the others laugh.

"Ye-yes!"

Nodding at Finn's words, Lefiya walked over to Mark, and together they began to advance to the 10th floor. As he walked away, he heard Finn's voice.

"Mark the fact that I'm level 6 doesn't mean I don't understand what it's like to be helpless." -Said Finn recalling the death of his parents and the despair of his race.

"It's okay to seek strength, but make sure it doesn't become an obsession." -Said Finn turning around without even waiting for Mark to say something.

'Those words would be fine if I hadn't already died once Finn.' -With that thought, he walked towards the fog with Lefiya.

--- Pov Finn ---

After exiting the dungeon, we immediately headed to the guild where we informed them of what had happened. In order not to cause panic, they decided to cover up everything and took the stones of the new species for analysis, while the woman's picture was released and she was now on the wanted black list, as the killer of Harshana.

Now I was in front of Loki and I was explaining the events to her.

"I understand what happened, still great job." -Loki told me smiling.

"Well we haven't been able to do much." -I told her ironically.

"At least we have something. While you were gone, Bete and I searched the sewers of the city, discovering that various monsters of the new species were present. We also met Dionysus, who is investigating. It seems that his children were killed a month ago and near their corpse, the magic stone of the new species was found. " -Said Loki.

"At the moment the information we have about Evilus is limited. They've shown that they've become active again with the presence of the new species and that level 6 woman, but I doubt they're limited to just that." -I said rubbing my forehead.

With them around, it was not possible to go on with the exploration. There were too many things to consider, like that jewel that empowered the monster, which had never been heard of. Luckily, it seemed like it was something rare as that woman was stubborn enough to want to take it even with our presence.

'Clap'

"Just stop thinking about the negative things, now tell me about Aiz, she seemed slightly distracted." -Loki said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"Simply the confrontation with that woman must have reminded her of her weakness. You know how she is. In these days we will do some explorations to do some checks, I hope with it, she will be able to distract herself "-I told her.

"She's probably thinking she's still weak 'sigh'. Right! How behaved Mark? For a level 1 it must have been difficult." -Asked Loki interested.

"I was very surprised, he has the right amount of determination and curiosity, plus he has magnificent analytical skills. But it has two main problems, trust and an obsession with strength. " -I said raising my index and middle fingers.

"We can't do anything about it, you have to spend time with other people to open up. Look at Aiz for example, when we met her she was completely out of control, now she looks like a completely different person. " -Said Loki with a nostalgic face.

"You are not wrong about that. Mark decided to stay on the 10th floor to train, but I still decided to let someone accompany him. I hope this helps him to trust others more. " -I said, but when I looked at Loki, I saw that she had a complicated face.

"You said he's fighting on the 10th floor?" -Loki asked strangely.

"Yes, but you don't need to worry, Lefiya is with him." -I explained to her, thinking she was worried about him.

"Finn, you misunderstood. The reason for my complexity is another. " - Loki explained.

"So what is it?" -I asked not understanding what she meant.

"I originally made an estimate that he would level up in at least six months, but now that he has decided to stay on the 10th floor, I think we may soon have the adventurer who has reached level 2 in less than three months" -Said Loki scratching her head.

Hearing her words, I couldn't believe my ears.