Kazane and I continued exploring the second level together.
As two Seekers, everything was progressing smoothly.
After facing a single goblin at the beginning, we encountered a pair of goblins.
Kazane helped me defeat one of them. To my surprise, she not only proved to be skilled in dealing with kobolds but also dispatched goblins with ease.
Fuu-nee, with her twin knives, was incredibly strong.
On the other hand, while she defeated one of them, I received a blow from one of the goblins.
My right thigh was deeply stabbed, reducing my HP by 8 points.
I used “Earth Heal” to fully heal myself, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit frustrated at the clear power gap between Kazane and me.
Then we encountered three kobolds.
She swiftly defeated one, leaving me to face the other two kobolds on my own.
In this battle, I also took a hit from a kobold.
A blow to the abdomen that deducted 7 HP points from me. It was truly painful.
Previously, when I was struck by a kobold, I only lost 4 HP points. Could it be that the amount of damage depends on the affected area?
Although I am not certain of such a conjecture, once again, I recovered using “Earth Heal.” My HP returned to its maximum.
On the other hand, my MP decreased to “16/24.”
After lunch, at the start of the afternoon exploration, I had fully recovered to my maximum HP, but I was still quite injured.
When I mentioned that Kazane was surprisingly strict, she became anxious and replied, “I thought it would be bad to interfere once you gained experience, so I kept my support to a minimum… I’m sorry.”
Moreover, with a somewhat resentful look, she said, “… Is Rokuyari a bit abusive?” and my heart pounded with pain.
My mind was on the brink of collapse.
Internally, I prayed to myself: “Kazane is just a companion.”
The internal noise of my masculine thoughts was deafening.
Moreover, she was unconsciously too charming.
Then, in our fourth encounter since descending to the second floor, we faced an imposing monster we had never seen before.
It was much larger than a kobold or a goblin, resembling a trained and adult fighter compared to the smallness of human children.
Kazane prepared with her two daggers and said, “It’s a Hobgoblin. I’ll damage it, so please, Rokuyari, make sure to finish it off. If I bring it down by mistake, I apologize.”
Kazane, crouching, propelled her body towards the Hobgoblin with her astonishing agility.
The Hobgoblin wielded a medium-sized one-handed sword.
Swinging the sword violently, but Kazane skillfully dodged the attack and slipped through his opponent’s defenses.
“—Ha!”
With a resolute spirit, she launched a continuous attack with her dual daggers.
The Hobgoblin was sharply cut by the two strikes.
“Rokuyari!”
“Got it!”
Taking advantage of Kazane quickly stepping aside, I advanced and thrust my spear.
Despite attempts to evade, my spear pierced the Hobgoblin’s abdomen.
Causing the Hobgoblin to turn into a black mist and disappear, leaving behind…
“Oh, a Treasure Box has appeared! How fortunate!”
Kazane was thrilled.
Where the defeated Hobgoblin lay, a slightly larger than usual magic stone appeared next to a treasure.
