The Dungeon, 12th floor.
Aisha punched a Hard Armored until it was on the brink of death. Hard Armored was an armadillo like monster with a tough outer shell but a weak inside. It has the highest defense in the Upper Floors, which made it generally invulnerable to most Level 1 adventurer's attacks.
The Hard Armored and the Silverback were considered the strongest monsters in the upper floors. While the Silverback excelled in attack, the Hard Armored was known for its defense. For Level 1 adventurers, Hard Armored was not a dangerous monster, but they're very hard to defeat.
However, in front of Aisha, a Level 3, its notorious shell seemed as flimsy as paper. After a flurry of punches, the Hard Armored was barely breathing, on the verge of death.
"Haru, get over here. This monster is near death, come and finish it off,"
Aisha called out as she stood up, letting out a deep sigh.
Having to suppress the urge to go all out and instead having to carefully weaken a monster to near death was extremely torturous for her. It was as painful as if she had spent the whole night getting dressed up only for the first guest to turn out to be impotent.
Comparatively, she would much rather have an all out brawl with a Level 3 monster, than suffer like this.
But there was no helping it, since this was her turn to do this task.
Their party from the Ishtar Familia consisted of six members: two Level 3, three Level 2, and one Level 1.
The three Level 2 adventurers were stationed to keep watch, ensuring no one approached. One Level 3 was responsible for capturing monsters, while the other—Aisha—was tasked with bringing them to the brink of death.
Then the last member, the Level 1 girl, had the "privilege" of finishing the job.
"T-Thank you, Aisha-Onee-Chan," said a timid voice.
The voice belonged to a fox-girl named Haruhime, who had beautiful golden hair, mesmerizing emerald green eyes, golden ears and most importantly, a large fluffy tail that would make any Ranards (Foxian) jealous.
Despite being in the dungeon, she was dressed in a traditional kimono, with wooden sandals on her feet. Her clumsy movements created a charming contrast to her alluring appearance.
"Though you won't gain much experience this way, we don't have a choice," Aisha remarked. "Hurry up, or we'll run out of time!"
"Understood!" Haruhime hurriedly run over. "Umm, Aisha-Onee-Chan, what do I do?"
"Sigh, use your dagger and stab over here," Aisha pointed to a crack in the monster's shell, made by her earlier punches. Her tone was filled with helplessness.
Haruime took a small dagger from her robe, took a deep breath, and thrust the blade forward—
Wait, not yet~
Afraid of missing her mark, Haruhime pulled the knife back to aim again.
She repeated this action three times.
Aisha, feeling her blood pressure rising, shouted, "Just do it!"
"Yes!" Haruhime yelped, and in a panic, finally thrust the dagger forward, however, during this, she subconsciously closed her eyes.
Unsurprisingly, she missed her mark.
Despite the Hard Armored's shell being shattered from Aisha's punches, Haruhime managed to hit the remaining intact part.
The blade not only didn't penetrate, her hand went numb from the impact, and she nearly dropped the dagger.
At that moment, after being toyed with for so long, the Hard Armored finally died—even in death, it was unable to rest in peace, its eyes wide open.
Once again, all that effort had been for nothing.
Aisha felt the veins in her forehead pulsing. Haruhime might be able to achieve something unprecedented—killing a Level 3 adventurer from sheer anger.
"Haruhime, ugh… forget it,"
Aisha was about to snap, but looking at the trembling fox-girl. She didn't have the heart to say anything.
"You really aren't cut out for the dungeon. It's best you stay within the familia from now on," she sighed.
"Understood," Haruhime sounded dejected.
Aisha wanted to pat the fox-girl's head, but her hand hovered in the air for a long time before she finally lowered it without doing so.
"Let's head back, Haruhime. We're leaving. The Loki Familia's [Elleaf] is here on the 12th floor, and we can't take any more risk. I'm calling it a day."
The presence of a high-level adventurers from the Loki Familia had put a lot of pressure on Aisha and her group. To avoid any accident, they had been carefully avoiding them.
After all, Haruhime's existence was the Ishtar Familia's greatest secret. If the Loki Familia discovered it, there was a chance, no, the Ishtar Familia would definitely be wiped out.
Aisha certainly didn't want to be speared to death by the [Braver] Finn. Though the thoughts of being beaten up by the handsome pallum warrior seemed tempting in some ways, but she doubted her Level 3 body could handle the punishment.
"Yes," Haruhime said softly, standing up. But just as she stood up, the ground suddenly shook, causing the girl to stumble and fall to the floor.
"What the—? An earthquake? But we're in the dungeon!" Aisha's expression darkened immediately.
"This is…an [abnormal situation]. Haruhime, hurry! We need to leave right now!"
In the dungeon, an abnormal situation refers to unexpected, often perilous occurrences that challenge adventurers' usual understanding of the dungeon.
Thanks to the Guild's management and the relentless efforts of exploration-type familias, Orario had thoroughly mapped the upper, middle, and lower floors of the dungeon, cataloging their terrain and monsters, making such knowledge widely available to adventurers.
As a result, casualty rates had decreased significantly.
Yet despite all this, the dungeon remained fraught with danger. The dungeon, having its own will, could reveal its fangs when adventurers grew careless, triggering "events that normally shouldn't happen"—such as monsters appearing on the wrong floor or gaining abilities they shouldn't have. These were collectively referred to as [abnormal situations].
The tremors in the ground grew increasingly intense. Aisha quickly reached out, trying to grab Haruhime, however she was a bit too late.
Haruhime fell to the ground, the floor beneath her feet collapsed completely, and the girl's terrified expression was all Aisha saw before she plummeted into the depth below.
It was one of the worst abnormal situations to occur—a [floor collapse] coupled with a [vertical hole] that shouldn't exist on the Upper Floors.
Gritting her teeth, Aisha jumped into the hole after Haruhime.
"Damn it! This vertical hole doesn't lead to the 13th floor, it goes even deeper! What the hell is wrong with the dungeon today?!"
Aisha shouted as she caught Haruhime, pulling the fox-girl tightly into her arms. Twisting her body in mid-air, Aisha shifted to land on her back to protect Haruhime from the impact.
THUD
They slammed into the ground hard. Even with Aisha's Level 3 stats and the resilient body of an Amazon, she still coughed up blood.
"Haruhime… are you okay? God damn it, all the potions are with the supporters," Aisha grumbled.
"Aisha-Onee-Chan…" Haruhime's eyes began to tear up.
"Don't cry, Haru. I'm fine…(Crack!!!) F***!" Aisha couldn't stop herself from cursing, because she could hear the unmistakable sound of the floor beneath them cracking once more.
———-
Haruhime
https://danmachi.fandom.com/wiki/Sanjouno_Haruhime/Image_Gallery?file=Sanjouno_Haruhime_Character_Art.png
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/104012406
Aisha
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/103884071