"PAK! DING!"
Just like that, the Almiraj used this tactic several more times, and Hayasaka Ai could only continue to defend. She was looking for an opportunity to kill it. Sure enough! The Almiraj's stamina was even worse than a goblin's. Just a few minutes of attacking left it exhausted, panting heavily, and its speed slowed. Its attacks became more and more sluggish.
"This is my chance!!!"
Hayasaka Ai seized the moment the Almiraj finished an attack and landed, panting. Without even needing to look, she swung her sword at the spot behind her. She already knew the rabbit's approximate landing position, so she just followed her senses and swung. "Awooo!!" Sure enough, she felt the sensation of a sharp blade cutting through flesh, and she heard the Almiraj's miserable cry. By the time Hayasaka Ai turned to look, it was already slowly dissolving into dust, leaving behind a magic stone slightly larger than a goblin's.
"Great job, Ai-chan."
Katou Megumi walked over, crouched down, and picked up the magic stone, placing it in their bag.
"Hehe! Want to give it a try, Megumi? New monster, new tactics. This Almiraj is just a little fast; in other respects, it's not much stronger than a goblin."
Hayasaka Ai giggled, suggesting it to Katou Megumi.
...
"This girl, Hayasaka Ai, is pretty strong. Especially her reaction time in close combat."
Ais, who had watched the entire scene, secretly compared her to the new rookies in her own Familia. She's much stronger than those rookies.
"As for the other one... Katou... Megumi, her strength is mediocre. And it feels like she's never studied any combat methods before."
Ais's battle-hardened eyes were extremely sharp. She quickly got a rough idea of the trio's situation; she just didn't know their specific stats. Ais knew that spying on another's battle was extremely unethical, but she had no choice. A hero saving a beauty! Ais had read so many hero novels, and this was an indispensable trope. She wanted to use this method—saving them—to rescue Hayasaka Ai's group from danger. If she did that... hehe. Ahem, Ais would never show such a lewd smile.
"I want to get stronger!"
......
On the surface, at the Loki Familia's home base in Orario.
"Miss Ais! Are you not awake yet? Let's go eat breakfast together today!" The elf Lefiya gently knocked on Ais's door. "Eh? Is Miss Ais not in her room? Could she be training in the courtyard?"
Lefiya thought for a moment. It never occurred to her that Ais would have snuck out of the Loki Familia's home, and all alone at that. A little later, Lefiya left Ais's door and went to the Familia's training ground. Even this early, quite a few people were here doing their morning training. After all, while training in the dungeon provided practical experience, it also caused injuries and weapon wear. So, new adventurers would generally train for a period before forming a team and slowly beginning to explore. The result was that personnel losses were greatly reduced, and the survival rate increased significantly. Of course, this was a plan only large Familias and some medium-sized ones could implement. Other Familias didn't have this, to say nothing of small Familias that struggled just to survive. How could they talk about training rookies? For them, it was just direct combat training in the dungeon.
"Eh! Miss Ais isn't here either?"
Lefiya felt a headache coming on. She had heard that Miss Ais was going to rest at home today. She had wanted to... eat and go shopping with her. And now she couldn't even find her... Could she have been taken by someone? The more Lefiya thought, the more she worried. "No! I have to find Miss Ais first." Lefiya ran through the Familia home, her eyes darting everywhere.
"Oof!"
"Lefiya!"
Hearing that extremely familiar voice, Lefiya's body froze on the spot. She didn't even show a sign of lifting her head; she just knelt on the ground, head bowed, as if ready to accept her punishment.
"Lefiya, we're in the Familia home. You can't keep being so rash. You're a young lady now."
However, the voice didn't scold her as it usually did. Instead, a hand reached out, slowly pulling her up from the ground.
"What has you in such a hurry?"
Looking at Lefiya's nervous and anxious expression, Riveria shook her head helplessly and asked.
"...I'm looking for... Miss Ais."
Lefiya didn't dare look up, replying to her mentor in a small voice.
"Ais? She... what happened to her?"
"I just searched the entire Familia home and couldn't find Miss Ais... so..."
"So you just ran around without watching where you were going?"
Riveria shot Lefiya a glare, pretending to be angry as she raised her voice.
"N-no... I'm sorry."
Lefiya could only apologize obediently. Besides, she was in the wrong. While running around looking for Ais, she hadn't watched where she was going, which led to this.