20 Deeper Dive in the Second Floor

Yesterday was difficult in many ways. I am absolutely sure that sleeping with these two is gonna end up killing me. The first night, Licia and I kept taking turns keeping a watch on Claire, so, I stayed attentive and couldn't really let the situation sink in completely, after all, it's kind of hard to feel something for a girl that might try to kill you before dawn, no matter how pretty they may be. This time around, there was no need for Licia and me to keep watch and I was completely fine letting them sleep on the bed while I slept on the couch, but even then, Claire insisted we all slept together, and Licia was also adamant about it for some reason. Of course, as the minority in the situation, my vote was overshadowed due to the democratic system.

Somehow though, I feel more tired than before, this situation is draining me both mentally and physically. I mean, the amount of self-control needed is insane, even more so when I'm made to sleep between the two, there's nowhere for me to turn to... I'm starting to think this is some kind of punishment by them.

Even though I say this, I admit that leaving the bed is also hard. There are two pretty girls right next to me who I've done my best not to touch all night, so when the light of the day starts illuminating the room and their faces become clearer, I can't help but admire the sight before me. This makes me feel like both a winner and a loser, after all, I won the moral and endurance battle but the manliness battle is lost. So even if I really want to be with them a bit more, I also know that I have my duties to fulfill, first comes breakfast, and then after that, we'll head to the dungeon.

This time Sam and Roy will be there and I already told them that "Licia's Sister" is going to join us. I know that Claire is quite capable, but I really want to see how good she is at acting, I'm very excited about it since she and Licia look nothing alike.

Of course, I also told Claire to not tell Sam and Roy all about her Gift, even more so since her Gift has growth properties that no one needs to know about outside of Licia and I, just keeping it to the battle skills will make It simpler for everyone.

Claire: " Hello, I'm Claire, Licia's sister, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Sam: "Nice to meet you, Claire!"

Roy: "We're glad to have you join us. Miwen told us you are really strong."

Claire: "Is that so? He told me the same about you guys."

We greet Sam and Roy in front of the Dungeon Gate and then Claire explains her Gift to them, keeping to herself some of the details.

Sam: "So what are our objectives for today?"

Miwen: "I wanted to level up, it would also be nice for Claire and Licia to level up too..."

Sam: "Oh, are you close to it?"

Miwen: "Somewhat. But I believe we should be able to go deeper on the second floor this time since Claire is with us."

Sam: "Oh, so you trust her that much eh?"

This question is kinda itchy to me. It's not that I trust her that much, at least not more than Licia, but I definitely trust her strength.

Miwen: "If she's on the team I believe we should be able to hunt any normal monster on this floor."

Roy: "Well, if we couldn't win a 5-on-1 then that would be shameful..."

Miwen: "I don't believe we'd lose against a level 7 monster, no matter the species. But if they are a Superior or Noble Monster, then that's different."

Sam: "But those are rare so no need to worry so much, I can protect you if you're scared you know?"

Licia: "I'll also protect you if it comes to it, Miwen..."

Claire: "You need fret not, no enemy may stand against you as long as I'm on your side!"

Roy: "Leave it to your big bro, if anything happens I will wipe the entire floor for you."

Wait why are they treating me like a little kid all of a sudden? I know this is only the second floor, but being cautious is never a bad thing right? Well, no matter, it does feel like they're just teasing so I'll just go along with it for now.

So, with my protection definitely decided by the party, we dive into the dungeon, with my personal objective being level 5 and hoping that Licia and Claire reach level 4. Since both the available [Events] seem quite difficult I decided that it would be best to get as strong as possible before entering one of them, since we still have 4 more days, I think it would be a good target to at least be able to defeat this floor boss.

During this dive we managed to kill many monsters, we didn't see many orcs, but since we were close to the settlements on the second floor it was to be expected that we found only goblins and hobgoblins. Even though they were low leveled, ranging around 4 to 5, the hobgoblins were a real pain to deal with. Strength-wise, they could match Licia, Claire, and Roy, only Sam and I being able to overpower them with raw strength. Of course, in 1-on-1 battles Licia and Claire managed to win against the Hobgoblins as long as there wasn't a high-level difference, Claire especially showed how much difference her technique makes in a battle.

After reaching the point where we were forced to leave last time, I noticed that both Claire and Licia managed to level up, so Sam and Roy should also have gotten their level-ups. It's possible that Sam and Roy hadn't reached level 4 since every time Claire, Licia, and I participated in a battle every single one of us would get the experience even though not everyone contributed. It also made it so that experience gained when fighting 1-on-1 was given to the three of us, making our progress much faster, so just to confirm it I decided to ask them directly.

Miwen: "So, how's your progress?"

Roy: "I got to level 4 just now."

Sam: "Me too, it was faster than I expected to be honest..."

Miwen: "I see... we still have quite some time, so, do you wanna go deeper?"

Generally speaking, the deeper you go, the harder it gets, monsters that go further away from humans tend to survive longer, being able to raise skills, kill other monsters and get stronger. It's good for acquiring experience, but it also means that caution is required. Of course, I'll make no comments about caution now since I don't want to be treated like a pet or a little kid once again.

Sam: "I think we could go deeper, but if we see something like that Hobgoblin Lord, we'll retreat ok?"

Roy: "Nah we can totally take him on now."

Licia: "I don't think so... What do you think Miwen?"

That's a hard one... taking into consideration how we are right now, I think we could do it even if it was level 7, but I know for sure we would be heavily injured. That's not taking Claire into consideration of course. I think she might just be able to defeat it now... But then again, we haven't even seen a Hobgoblin at level 7, so I'm probably being optimistic here.

Miwen: "We could win but... I don't believe it's worth the risk."

Seeing my response, Licia nods in approval, it's good to see that a veteran has judged that I would've made the right call. Although Claire and Roy don't look very happy hearing it, Sam also seems to agree with me here, so for once I'm finally on the majority.

As such we venture deeper in the dungeon, eventually finding the last challenge of the day.

Two hobgoblins of level unknown carry with them a sword each. Next to them, there are two cloaked goblins, If this is the same as the last time, we should expect the goblins to be able to use wind magic at the very least, with their levels unknown, this could be dangerous.

Claire: "The hobgoblin on the right is mine. Lici- Err... Sis, you take the one on the left, ok?"

Licia: "Sure Sis!"

Claire reminded herself to be a bit more friendly to her "sister", and Licia seems to be enjoying it a lot, and I can't say I'm not having fun watching her honest try at deception.

Miwen: "If that's the case, Roy and Sam can take the cloaked one in the right?"

Sam: "Probably, yeah."

Roy: "Fair, but if it gets tough be sure to call for help before it's too late alright?"

With our targets decided, each of us engages in battle against our opponents.

My opponent turned out to be surprising, although I'm not sure if it was in a good or a bad way. I was expecting this goblin to be a mage, but it seems like it's an assassin as it's carrying a dagger. It also looks like it is somewhat high-leveled since he jumps at me faster than any other goblin I fought today. It's still slower than a hobgoblin would be at his level though, so I'm able to dodge it even though it surprises me.

Since I want to end this quickly to help the girls I go on the offensive, charging at him at full speed. Though when I'm doing so, I notice that he smirks, and seeing the goblin aim his hand toward me, my suspicion is confirmed. It's capable of magic, and I'm quite sure I know what's coming, the same wind blade that managed to injure Roy that day.

I guess I should give this goblin some points, it managed to make a feint and even fool me for a second. I honestly believed it wasn't capable of magic until his reaction to my charge, and if not for the mistake Roy committed before, I probably would've taken this hit. Alas that was not the case, by doing a roll to the side I watch as the ground on my left side got cut by an invisible force, and so I'm sure, this goblin shot a wind blade towards my prior position.

Seeing as I'm not in a good position for a counter-attack right now, I decided to try and close the distance at least. Since my reach is longer than his, I should be able to attack him without taking any dangerous hit myself, of course, that is if he doesn't launch a wind blade against me again. But his mana shouldn't be infinite, and I think he doesn't have enough to keep launching them. At the very least, as we trade blows, it doesn't seem like he has the intention to keep shooting them. So before he can rethink his decision, I end the fight by stabbing him in the neck, before he has the time to react. I had been managing to cut him here and there thanks to my superior speed, but at the end, I decided to be a bit reckless as this battle was taking a bit too long and it didn't seem like I had to keep being cautious of his wind magic.

The corpse of the Goblin that should be in the ground disappears, and a wind mana orb is left behind, his dagger is also left behind, so I take a tip from Licia's book and just loot it.

As for Roy and Sam, they seem to be doing fine, so I should just go and help either Licia or Claire, whoever is having more difficulties with their opponent, Or at least, that was what I thought.

Licia and Claire are not fighting one-on-one against their opponents, what I'm watching right now is a true team-up. They cover for each other and when Claire manages to disarm an opponent, Licia follows with precise strikes. The two hobgoblins fighting them just keep on swinging their swords around with no plan in mind, and seeing this, Licia blocks a swing, while Claire takes the opportunity to stab the stomach of one of them. After hitting an enemy, their focus changes to the other, keeping them in check all the time, and essentially fighting 2-on-1 even though there are two opponents. Frankly, it's incredible to see, if I didn't know better I might've believed they were sisters abusing their synchrony.

Before I could snap out of it, their dance ended, and only the corpses of the hobgoblins were left behind, although it looks like it was harder for them than they made it seem, as they are both out of breath right now.

Claire: "Good work!"

Licia: "I'm glad we managed it."

Miwen: "It was truly splendid. When did you guys get so good at fighting together?"

Licia: "Well... we just knew what each one had to do and trusted each other to do it, I guess..."

Claire: "From our last expedition in the dungeon I knew from watching that this girl could keep up with me so..."

To me, it's quite amazing that they were able to cooperate so well with such little practice, but I guess that's what happens when you put two veterans to do the same job, they ended up complementing each other very well...

Although I wanted to see them fighting together more, I had leveled up, and it was getting somewhat late, So I thought it would be better for us to leave since our objectives for the day were completed.

Before going home though, we stopped at the Dungeon Office to trade the loot acquired.

Sam and Roy managed to get $15 each for their monster cores.

While Licia, Claire, and I got $45 total for the monster cores we found. Add to that the Wind mana orb from the goblin I defeated, and a grand total of $81 was acquired by us today. It's not something we can expect every time, but the dungeon loot is starting to look really good.

Even then, the biggest progress we made today was in relation to our levels, if we continue at this pace I'm sure the [Events] won't pose a threat.