"MIAAA!!!"
Sophie screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw that Mia was in danger.
She wanted to go help her, but she was standing near the pedestal while Mia was further away, so she knew that she wouldn't make it in time.
BANG
The fist connected, but Mia didn't feel the impact.
It was as if the fist didn't even hit her, so she slowly opened her eyes and saw that someone's broad back was covering her view.
"URGH… You… okay?"
Leo asked with both of his arms bleeding.
He blocked the strike, but it cost him his arms.
Leo was the first one to react to the golem rushing towards Mia, so he quickly jumped in front of her, putting his arms in front of his face.
This stopped the momentum of the punch, but it cracked his bones.
Some of the bone shards even penetrated his skin, making his arms bleed.
The golem didn't let Leo rest and immediately attacked him.
Without his arms, Leo could only fight using his legs, so he quickly pushed Mia out of the way with his shoulder and shouted.
"Live on without me!"
"It's a video game, you dumbass, you are not going to die! Also, I won't let you die!"
Before Leo could finish his TV drama scene, Finn teleported onto the golem's shoulder, using a shadow cast by the golem's head, and pierced its head with his two skills Limit break and Vital hit.
The golems had a core inside their heads, and the only way to defeat one would be to destroy the core.
If the head was cut off, it would just roll back to its body and reattach itself.
So, using the moment where the golem was focused on attacking Leo, Finn finished it off with one swift strike.
Cutting through the golem's rock body would have been hard for others, but with Finn's indestructible sword and two damage-boosting skills Vital hit and Limit break, he stabbed right through the stone.
When the other golem saw this, it changed its battle pose to a more warry one.
Golems weren't smart, but they could still learn by watching others fight and adapt.
Mia rushed to treat Leo's wounds, and even though he wanted to fight more, without both of his arms, he could only be a walking meat shield.
Since kicking a piece of rock wouldn't be very effective if one didn't have a disgustingly high strength stat.
Thud
Finn jumped down from the golem who fell after his core was destroyed and started feeding Leo a health potion that he had previously bought.
Sophie and James also wanted to check on Leo and Mia, but they had to deal with the second golem first.
James held his staff and cast a fireball skill.
Soon, a ball of fire the size of an apple materialized in front of him. He released it, and it flew towards the golem, hitting it in the face.
BOOM
It didn't do much damage, but the explosion made the golem disoriented.
Sophie used this window of opportunity to stab the golem's wrist that was holding the spear.
The wrist cracked from the impact, and the golem let go of its long stone spear.
"Shoot its ankles once I raise the spear!"
Shouting at James, Sophie tried to raise the spear that just fell, but since it was made of stone, it was too heavy for her to lift.
She was certain that the golem would soon emerge from its stunned state and attack her because she was the closest.
Sophie put the majority of her attribute points into agility, though, so trying to lift it with her low strength resulted in the spear being lifted by a pitiful amount.
Suddenly the spear got lighter, and she could finally lift it.
She looked next to her in surprise and saw that Finn had teleported to her and started to help her lift the spear after making sure Leo was fine.
"I am here to help miss."
He smiled at her, and Sophie just nodded as she continued to lift the spear.
Finn couldn't teleport near the golem's head since there was still smoke after it got hit by a fireball, and even if he could, he wouldn't since he didn't want to steal all the exp from his friends.
He was there to help them level up, and stealing the kills would be the exact opposite of what he was trying to accomplish in this dungeon, so he helped Sophie pull the spear up.
They put it at a 60-degree angle, and James understood what they were trying to do, so he shot a fireball at one of the golems' ankles.
The golem, who had just awoken from his stunned state, got hit by another fireball. It struck its ankle, making it stumble and fall.
BANG
While falling, its head collided with the spear tip, destroying its core.
With the tip of the spear entering one side of his head and exiting the other, it laid there dead.
Everyone then gathered around Leo, whose arms were quickly healing after he drank the potion.
"Haha… sorry guys. I thought that it was the correct answer, but I should have consulted with you before shouting it out…"
Leo felt guilty about everything. Not only were they attacked as a result of him, but the person he was trying to impress nearly died because of him.
If Mia died, they would have to continue the dungeon without her, and she would be left behind because she would end up having a lower level than them.
"It's okay, we were prepared in case the golems awoke, so we managed to win, but you are correct, you are not alone in this dungeon, so don't do things alone and rely on us more."
Finn nodded and helped Leo up from the ground.
Mia walked in front of Leo and looked into his eyes while slightly blushing.
"You know I was really scared and worried, but you came to save me."
She kept playing with her fingers as she kept fidgeting around, and her face was turning red from embarrassment.
"That made me really happy, and well… I… Th- Thanks..."
Her voice trailed off at the end, making the last word almost inaudible.
Mia grew up reading tales about heroes saving princesses and has always wished that there would be an occasion when a hero would come to save her.
So, seeing Leo sacrifice himself for her made her opinion of him instantly change.
Leo bent down and turned his head so that his right ear was only a few centimeters away from Mia's mouth.
"Say that again. I didn't hear the last part."
Mia blushed even more now that Leo was so close, so she grabbed his ear and took a deep breath to relieve her embarrassment.
"WHATEVER!"
After she shouted and destroyed Leo's hearing in the process, she ran to hide behind Sophie, who was still unsure if she hated Leo because of his careless mistake of waking the golems up or if she was thankful to him for saving her best friend.
"OW!"
Leo's ear started ringing, and he kept massaging it while saying how it hurt. It felt like a banshee screeched in his ear with how high-pitched Mia's voice was.
Finn was a little sad that the golems didn't drop anything, and their bodies weren't salvageable since they were made of common stone.
But he knew that there were monsters that had bodies one had no choice but to leave behind since not even the Royal Emporium would buy a huge stone statue with a shattered head.
After that, they all got up and walked towards the door that opened after the golems were killed. Finn received 300 exp from this fight and still needed 700 more to reach level 8.
"I think she hates me now…"
Leo leaned in close to Finn, who was walking beside him, and whispered in his ear.
Finn looked at Mia, who kept peeking at Leo, and whenever their eyes met, she would turn red and quickly turn her head away.
'Yeah… No. I don't think that's what being hated looks like. She looks like she's found her new idol, and I've lost my number one fan.'
Finn chuckled as he observed Mia.
In his past life, Finn had a few girlfriends, but they never lasted very long. Still, he knew what a girl who was in love looked like, but Leo didn't look like he was getting her signs, so Finn just smiled and patted his shoulder.
"Maybe you should make it up to her and invite her out to eat. I know a few good restaurants in Iliados."
"Huh? N- No, I mean, she is cute but… wait... was it that obvious?"
Leo looked at Finn, embarrassed that his crush had been found out.
"Yep. That's why you should just go for it. I believe in you."
Finn continued to encourage Leo, but Leo was scared that he would jeopardize their current relationship with Mia.
He wanted to become more than friends, but at the same time, being friends wasn't so bad.
Finn suddenly accelerated and caught up to Mia, who was walking in front of them.
He tapped her on the shoulder and decided to be his friend's wingman.
"Mia, Leo wants to talk to you about something."
He smiled and pointed at Leo, who was staring at Finn with a bewildered expression.
Finn then gave Leo a thumbs up while mouthing "You got this."
Mia was still embarrassed, but she was curious about what Leo wanted to talk about, so she stopped and waited for him.
Quickly catching up to her, Leo scratched the back of his head and started talking with a slight blush on his face.
"Umm… I wanted you to know that I am sorry for what happened and wanted to ask you if… Umm if…"
"…If?"
Mia looked at him confused while tilting her head, which only made the struggling Leo struggle even more.
'How is she so cute?!'
He felt his heartbeat speed up when he looked at her cute reaction, but he wanted to convey his feelings, so he gathered all the courage he had.
"If- If you wanted to get lunch with me when we get back to Iliados!"
She was at first taken aback, but after realizing Leo was waiting for an answer, she looked down and blushed.
While playing with her fingers, she weakly nodded.
"S… Sure."
"O- Okay! It's a date then!"
Leo loudly exclaimed, happy that he had gathered the courage to ask her out.
Meanwhile, Mia was still looking down while her face was as red as a tomato.
Sophie was happy for her friend since she also noticed how Mia had been acting after Leo had saved her from the golem.
Seeing Leo succeed, Finn looked at Sophie, but before he could even open his mouth, she quickly rejected him.
"Don't even think about it."
'I haven't even said anything yet... whatever… It would be boring if I asked her out on a date and she agreed right away.'
Finn then looked into the air and pumped his fist with a determined expression.
'I'll gradually win her over, and then she'll be mine. I might even find someone better than Sophie in the future, so nothing is lost yet!'
While he continued to cope in his mind, Loki simply shook his head, knowing that Finn was too far down the rabbit hole to fall in love with anyone else.
They soon arrived in the next hall after a few more minutes of walking, but the interior surprised them all because it looked completely different from the previous halls.