Since it's still a few hours before lunch, they decided that they should get some more kills for magic stones so they can buy a good batch of potions and go out by noon.
Aiming for more lucrative magic stones, the group descended to the 6th floor where War Shadows, the strongest monster of 5th to 7th floors starts appearing.
A War Shadow is a dark humanoid monster that has long arms with three claws that are sharp like knives.
"For a small fry, it sure has a cool name," Aika muttered as she recalled the monsters appearing on the 6th floor.
As they move, they kept encountering the frogs and slaughtering them. It's only after half an hour they were able to see a War Shadow.
Since it's only one, Aika and Koneko decided who would go first by doing rock-paper-scissors and Koneko won the match.
Since she wanted to try fighting it normally, Koneko didn't use any of her Mana for boosting physical abilities.
As Koneko approaches the War Shadow, it swiped its claws downward but Koneko deflected it to the side using her handguards.
Sparks flew and Koneko grabbed the War Shadow's arm before kicking its ankle, effectively throwing its foot into the air.
Using the arm she's grabbing, Koneko pulled downwards. The foot which she used to kick the War Shadow's ankle is still in the air and Koneko redirected its position on top of the War Shadow.
The moment the War Shadow landed on the ground is the moment Koneko's foot descended with all the strength she got.
The stomp crushed the War Shadow's neck and its body and head separated before turning into ashes.
"That's cool... Maybe I should only try unarmed combat?" Aika commented.
"You're a swordswoman, Aika-senpai. Let's keep the roles for now."
"I should ask Kisuke to teach me some close combat techniques..."
"You can also ask Yoruichi-san, Kaichou. After all, we're all required to attend her anti-personnel battle lessons."
"Now that you've mentioned it... She did say that..."
"After all, monsters are not the only threat here," Aika muttered.
The next War Shadow they encountered is dealt with by Aika. Unlike Koneko's approach of an instant kill, however, Aika chooses to dodge all of its attacks and tries to get used to it. During that time, she suffered a few lacerations due to some miscalculations. Since she can't use her Reiatsu-Ki to scan the surroundings, something like this is bound to happen.
Five minutes into dodging spree, Aika decided to kill the War Shadow by impaling its chest.
"You're too reckless..." Sona approached Aika and took out some antiseptic and bandages to patch her up, "You just had to do that when we don't have potions."
Aika went silent for a while before speaking, "I also didn't expect that I would get hurt... It seems that I'm too confident in my abilities that I failed to properly reflect on myself..."
Sona sighed and fixed her up, "Should we continue?"
"Yep~. The wounds are properly cleaned so I can still go on."
"..."
"Don't worry. I won't do anything like that again... Not until I know my limits."
While the group is resting, the walls cracked again but this time, instead of just three monsters, seven War Shadows emerged.
They were shocked at the number, but they didn't panic. Aika and Koneko immediately attacked one of the War Shadows to break the encirclement. The last thing they want is to be attacked from all sides.
Sona hurriedly followed them as she conjures two 3-meter long snakes and bonded two of the other War Shadows that are near their path of escape.
Killing one, the group successfully gained some distance from the remaining six monsters.
Not holding back anymore, Aika and Koneko strengthened their bodies and cooperated to kill them one by one. While the former would block the War Shadow's claws, the latter would go for the finishing blow.
Instead of fishing for kills, Sona chooses to support them by controlling the remaining monsters with her water snake.
After killing two War Shadows, it became a lot easier for the group to dispatch the remaining War Shadows. Their abrupt battle ended with a few cuts on both Koneko and Aika, but it was nothing serious.
"...I'm sorry for calling them small fries..." Aika apologized to no one.
"Should we continue?" Koneko asked.
"Let's go back," Sona answered and the two agreed.
However, before they could even turn around, they heard a panicked scream and sounds of hurried stomping not far away from them.
Looking at each other, they decided to check it out. They ran through the corridor for half a minute before they saw a girl being surrounded by four War Shadows.
Despite the panicked expression of the girl, she's doing her best to wave around her staff in hopes of hitting the monsters.
The group also noticed that her physical abilities are way above the three of them, but despite that, her movements are clumsy at best and it's just a matter of time before a War Shadow could hit her.
Without hesitation, Aika grabbed Sona's dagger and threw it towards the nearest monster from the girl and she successfully impaled its head but she wasn't able to kill it.
Clicking her tongue, she then threw her long sword for a second strike and finally killed it.
The girl rejoiced when she saw a flying dagger impaling the War Shadow in front of her but she also panicked when she saw a long sword following after. After all, who in their right mind would throw a weapon not meant for throwing?
After the War Shadow went down, from the peripherals of her vision, she saw a white-haired cat person engaging the monster on her right so she immediately turned left to smash the monster there.
There's still one monster left unattended so she gave some of her focus on that but before she could notice it, a spike made out of water went through the monster's head, instantly killing it.
After a few seconds, she was able to kill the War Shadow she's fighting by bashing its head.
The girl then turned to the group that helped her and bowed down, "Thank you very much! If not for you, I could have died there!"
The girl with a bob-cut hair and glasses stepped forward, "I'm happy that you're fine."
"Really! Thank you very much. Allow me to return the gratitude somehow!"
"It's fine. It's only natural to help one another in the Dungeon. So please stand up." Sona then helped her stand up, "By the way, I'm Sona Sitri of the Hestia Familia. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Line Arshe of the Loki Familia."