9 Chapter Nine

You know, the last thing I expected was a minotaur... on the fifth floor.

"Woah! What's that thing doing here?"

Welf exclaimed, pulling his sword from his back. I just tilted my head to the side as it approached us.

"An abnormal? No, it's normal color..."

I mutter, reaching down and getting one of my Kusarigama from its sheath and connecting it to the chain, pulling some of it out of the box.

"I'm ready when you are, Ox Slayer."

I sighed, fuck gods and their stupid nicknames, and Welf picked up on calling me that as a joke.

I let the Kusarigama slide from my hand and twirled it around with the chain as I rushed forward with the boosted speed from Shadow lurk. A jerk of the hand and the chain wrapped around the Minatour's leg as I ducked past its muscular arm that swung at me.

I skidded on the ground and pulled, tripping the bull as Welf came in and swung his sword down, right on its head.

I walked up to the magic crystal it left behind and shared a look with Welf.

"What do you think happened?"

I shrugged, kicking up the magic stone and catching it in my hand.

"Maybe they just... found the stairs?"

I asked curiously.

"For ten whole floors?"

I sighed and shrugged again, but my ears picked up a faint sound of someone running, and judging from the sound of the footsteps and their frequency, they were getting closer.

I turned in the direction the footsteps were coming from and soon enough, a golden blonde-haired girl, holding a rapier and wearing armor, came into view, looking around with a blank gaze before her golden eyes met mine.

"Have you seen a minotaur pass by here?"

She spoke softly, quietly, as if she did not know what to say exactly, and I felt the urge to deadpan, harder than I passively do. If we did not see a minotaur pass by, what would we say? No? obviously not, if we did not kill those on the daily, we would start losing our shit.

"We just killed it actually."

Welf, the benevolent world that he is, did not start roasting this socially stunted girl and informed her casually.

She seemed to relax, even if a little since her sword tip lowered.

"...I see."

She muttered, looked at both of us for a moment, down at the crystal I was holding and back at us, and... turned around and walked away.

... What was that meme again? Speech 100? yeah, that's the moment right there.

Welf turned to me.

"Bell, that was the Sword princess!"

I looked at the taller of the two of us, raising an eyebrow and he got the message.

"Oh? Smitten already? Speechless?"

Looks like he got the wrong message. I sighed, rubbing my forehead in exasperation.

"Oh, the mighty Ox slayer, not refuting my accusations?"

I nailed him in the head with the minotaur magic stone.

"Aw! That was uncalled for!"

I turned and started walking to the deeper floors. detaching the Kusarigama from the chain and putting it in the sheath on my thigh.

"Come on, I'm trying to get a few Linger Fang furs today."

Welf caught up a second later, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Aren't those resistant to any piercing or slicing weapons?"

I nodded.

"I'll just punch it."

He blinked and deadpanned at me.

"I'll punch it really hard."

He sighed. Hey! I was trying here! cut me some slack! I huffed indignantly and ignored the chuckle that came from him.

___

"Go get 'em, Champ."

I tapped Welf on the shoulder. He looked at me, blinked, and looked back at the Infant dragon.

"You want me to fight that thing Alone?"

I nodded.

"You want me to die?"

I chuckled.

"Come on, you know how a level-up works, do something impressive, I think killing an infant dragon is impressive."

I hesitated and I raised an eyebrow. I know he has seen one of these before because I have too, it wasn't exactly a rare monster but it was hard to come by, that's why we only saw it once before when some other party was killing it, and now was the perfect chance.

"Any tips?"

I hummed for a moment, narrowing my eyes at the monster.

"Don't waste time casting your spell, the fire it spews is not magic, though it's a lot weaker than a normal dragon, it can still hurt. Aim for the legs, its scales are tough, so use the back of your sword to make it hurt. If its neck is lowered to the ground, do the same on the neck and paralyze it, killing it will be easier that way."

He nodded as the Infant dragon turned its attention to us and I took out my kusarigama, connecting both of them to the chains and prepared to intervene if needed.

"I'll step in if I see that you need help."

He seemed to calm down and nodded more confidently. I watched his back as he stepped forward and started circling around to get a better angle.

If everything went well, Welf would level up, and that would be beneficial for both of us.