"How is she?"
"Fine, but she needs sleep."
I overheard Nayuta and Haruto's conversation from outside. After Sophia was kidnapped we spent almost an entire day searching for her. We were desperate and I was a bit pessimistic about the whole thing. I didn't think that she would be alive by the time we found her, but luckily I was wrong.
We walked a long distance in our search and fought two monsters similar to the one that took her. They were strong and scary but they weren't actually that hard to fight. The first time we encountered one of them was in some kind of cell hallway. Nayuta took care of it fairly easily because of how slow it was. It tried to slash downwards at her but failed then he swinged his left arm outwards at her. One slash to its right arm was enough to stagger it, and since that was the hand in which it held its weapon, a crude looking axe, it was easy for Nayuta to just decapitate it. The second time we found one hidden in a storage room similar to the one we found before. The fucker was hidden behind a wall of crates and barrels. The moment Haruto approached it it burst out of its hiding spot and swinged his axe downwards at him. He was quick enough to block it with his shield but since he didn't expect it his footing was off and he was sent rolling backwards.
I was close to it so i tried to fight it but with my injury i wasnt able to move fast and i was sent flying with just one punch I fell on some crates and broke them in the process, it hurt but it was a blessing in disguise. Along with the crate, I also broke its contents, a single green vial. It looked the same as the one Nayuta had found. The crystal of the vial pierced my skin but the moment the liquid touched me it was absorbed. The scar on my abdomen disappeared and the internal pain was also gone.
While Nyuta was fighting it, I sneaked behind and pierced the back of its head after it tried to tackle her and failed. It didn't die instantly but died nonetheless. It was from that encounter that we discovered the healing properties of that green liquid.
When we finally found Sophia she was being tortured by an older looking monster. Nayuta disposed of it pretty easily though. She also took a lot of things from that torture room, knives, bonesaws, pincers and most importantly, a set of keys. After that, I made her drink one of the green vials and once she fell asleep we walked back to the cells where we fought the first monster.
The cells seemed to be by far the safest place. The bars were thick and strong. We couldn't do anything to them and neither could those things. After several minutes of trying to find a door that would be opened with the keys we got and finally succeeding, we put Sophia in the bed and let her sleep. Of course, I made sure to close the door.
Those two were constantly checking on Sophia, meanwhile I made good use of my time. Using some paper I found, I started drawing a rough sketch of a map. This dungeon seems to be enormous, at least the same size as the part of the town we travelled before, if not bigger, and as such the amount of information contained in my map was at best, incomplete.
The map was important, but along with that I also started writing something as I recalled our previous encounters. Although there were too few to consider it precise, the two we actually fought showed a very clear pattern. They both swung their weapons downwards before swinging their left arms. The second lasted more and apart from those two moves it also tried to tackle when those failed. Since it was a much narrower space Nayuta had it harder and took longer. Thanks to that I noticed that it repeated the exact same pattern every time.
If that wasn't just coincidence and they indeed follow a pattern, dealing with them should be easy as long as you're quick enough to respond to the move. I wasn't able to do so earlier but not only i dont feel pained and weakened anymore, a bit after killing the second guy i felt my body get...stronger, no maybe lighter would be more adecuate since i dont see any kind of muscle growth.
With that in mind, I grabbed my sword and tried to go outside, but I was stopped by Nayuta who grabbed my wrist.
"Where are you going? It's dangerous to be alone"
I half expected her hand to shake after what happened to Sophia, but no. When I looked into her eyes there wasn't any fear, just lingering anger and worry.
"I just want to confirm something. If you're worried about me you can just come with me."
She hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth between Sophia and me before deciding. She walked back to grab her sword and then came to me.
"I'll take care of her, so don't worry Nayuta."
It was Haruto who gave her a reason not to stay. Unlike Sophia, Haruto is smart and almost always trusts my guesses. Nayuta just nodded at him
I opened the door and started walking with Nayuta behind me. When we were searching for Sophia we found a lot of rooms, but we just checked them superficially. We could use this time to check them as well as confirm my theory.
As we walked through the dungeons we checked every room we hadn't seen before. Most of them were small storage rooms and living quarters. We didn't find much in those, mostly just some barely edible food, some weird herbs and empty vials. The only useful thing we found was a pair of armguards. It was made of metal and leather and even though it wasn't in the best condition it was still usable. I offered it to Nayuta but she refused, saying I should use it instead. I knew that she wouldn't change her opinion so I put it on.
The armguards were a little uncomfortable to wear but they didn't restrict my movement. We kept on walking until we reached the room I was most interested in, the dining hall. The dining hall was dirty and full of dust just like the rest of the dungeon. Most of the tables were broken and the small amount of food still in here was rotten, but still it was useful since there was salt and sugar in most of the unbroken tables. We took all of it before making our way to the kitchen.
We were about to enter but Nayuta stopped me. I took a peek inside and I was quick to notice why, as inside there was another one of those monsters...im pretty sure they are the guards of this dungeon, but they must have suffered some kind of mutation since the clothes they have on clearly doesn't fit them.
"I'll take care of it."
She stood up, ready to kill it but I stopped her as I stepped forward.
"Don't, I want to check something, just watch from the side"
She seemed reluctant but eventually she agreed. I walked towards the monster who quickly noticed me and lunged towards me. Just as I expected it raised its right arm to slash me from above. I managed to sidestep it to the left just in time, right after it tried to swing its left arm at me but I ducked quickly enough. Since I was already on the floor it was easy for me to just roll to the side when it tried to tackle me, hitting the wall head on as a result. That was basically confirmation. They follow the exact same pattern.
The monster was confused for a moment after hitting his head but it recovered quickly. It immediately tried to attack with the same movements, but now it was easier to dodge. Every time i dodged one of its attacks i got more used to it and by the eighth time i was able to dodge everything he threw at me comfortably.
Since I was already used to it and there wasn't much more to gain from fighting it, I decided to end it. It attacked from above once again and as I did before, I sidestepped it but this time instead of just ducking to evade the next attack, I advanced while ducking below his arm. Once close to him it was easy to just cut his neck and let it drown in its own blood. I dont have the means necessary to kill them swiftly like Nayuta does, but i dont need to, once its bleeding i can just dodge and wait, it didnt take too long.
It wasn't particularly hard, but I was tired. Unlike Haruto who enjoys sports, I am not used to moving so much. While I was catching my breath, I heard a whistle.
"That was pretty cool!"
It was Nayuta who made the whistle with a...blush on her face?. Well that was weird but she looked genuinely impressed.
"How did you do that?"
"Oh its pretty simple, I noticed that they all attack using the exact same pattern, their movements change a little depending on the distance and position of their foe but they always repeat the same attacks. With that knowledge it's very easy to deal with them."
"Cool, I would have never thought of that."
After that we just started grabbing anything that seemed edible from the kitchen. It was mostly bread and some meat, but we did find another bottle of wine.
"Let's go back. I don't like leaving Haruto and Sophia alone."
"You're right, we don't have much to do here anyway."
With that we just turned around and started walking back. Even with a map the dungeon is confusing so we got a little lost twice but we eventually got close to the cells hallway, but as we approached we encountered another monster.
I wanted to take it, but Nayuta walked towards it with her sword in her hand.
"I'll handle it, I wanna try what you did"
She said with a little smile on her face. I couldn't refuse, not that I wanted to either way.
"Have fun."