“Oh, yes, sure! First of all, let’s analyze the foes that we’ll have to fight,” said Estelle. “The reptila that we fought in the past is a useful point of reference. The most significant differences here are their larger bodies and lack of weapons, but...”
“...the fact that they’re bigger probably means they’re stronger than a normal reptila, right?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure. We have no idea what constitutes ‘normal’ for reptilas,” Estelle replied. “It’s possible that the one we previously fought was actually on the smaller end and these ones are normal size.”
“...Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Or maybe that other reptila had a smaller body so it could be more flexible wielding that spear.”
“Exactly. I have a feeling that these aren’t as strong, however,” said Estelle. “So if we err on the side of caution in assessing them, I believe they’re more or less as strong individually as the one that we previously fought. What do you think, Sai?”
“Yeah, that’s a fair assessment. Let’s analyze ourselves next,” I said. “I’ve got a much better spear now, and you’ve learned Light Magic, but those are about the only differences, right?”
Thanks to Advastlis-sama, I could check my level now, but leveling up in this world wasn’t as simple as getting stronger every time you defeated a bunch of foes. My teamwork with Estelle had improved a lot thanks to all the battles we’d fought together, but it wasn’t like I myself had gotten that much stronger.
But Estelle shook her head; she must’ve had a different opinion.
“Light Magic is actually a very significant difference, Sai. It allows us to endure minor injuries, for one thing. In addition, we now know the reptilas’ weakness. The fact that we’re on the tenth floor is another advantage. I’m fairly confident that we can still make it out of the dungeon even if this battle incapacitates one of us.”
“...Oh yeah, that’s a good point.”
We’d fought our previous battle with a reptila while trapped in the dungeon, so we’d absolutely had to avoid getting hurt, whereas now, Estelle could heal any minor injuries we suffered, and knowing the reptilas’ weakness plus an easy way to escape the dungeon, we could just retreat if we had to.
“Do you think it’ll actually be worth challenging these guys, though, Estelle?”
Estelle glanced at me and nodded. “Yes, I do. Even if we use up all our mana, we can rest and recover. It should be worth the effort.”
I nodded back at her, and we began to devise a plan for the highest odds of victory.
★★★★★★★★★
The moment Estelle and I entered the room, the two reptilas started moving. We started the battle by weakening them.
“Water Blast! Water Blast!”
“Cool!”
I splashed them with water while Estelle used the Cool spell. We could only afford to freely use magic until they closed the distance with us. Unlike the last time, each of us had to handle a different reptila, so after we physically clashed, we wouldn’t have much room for spellcasting.
“Freeze! Water Blast!”
The two reptila seemed irritated—they were using their hands to swipe away the water I was shooting at them—but there was no need for me to hit them directly; my objective was just to get them wet, and I succeeded. As one of them got in range...
“Freeze— Yikes!”
The reptila I’d targeted struck back with its fist. It was slower than the boss, probably because my magic was acting as a debuff, but it was still pretty scary. I barely managed to parry its fist with my spear, but I still really felt that attack.
“I can handle this!” I yelled. “The last one was way harder!”
Every time I’d clashed spears with that other reptila, I’d felt like my whole body was going to fall apart. This was nothing in comparison. For one thing, it was unarmed, while I had a spear, so each clash left its fists bleeding. Still, it kept on coming; it didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest.
“Take this! Water Blast!”
I leaped backward and splashed the reptila with water, then shot a glance at Estelle. Damn, hers is already bleeding all over the place—she got both its arms good. She’s a real swordswoman!
“There’s more to come! Freeze!”
Since Estelle seemed to be faring just fine, I aimed at the legs of the reptila I was facing, which was starting to look pretty sluggish. Its skin was tough, but it couldn’t stop my new spear, so I stabbed it hard and deep, took a quick step back, and then dodged to its left to avoid its fists.
“It isn’t weak, but I guess it isn’t exactly strong either.”
The last reptila I’d fought had almost seemed like a martial artist, what with its skill with a spear, but these guys seemed like they were relying too much on brute force. They just attacked us by swinging their arms around, so it was easy enough for us to dodge, and the more damage we dealt them, the more sluggish they got.
“Time to finish this!”
I got around behind the reptila and lunged directly at its heart. Its body shuddered in place for a moment, but it proceeded to fall to its knees and then onto its face. I made sure it was absolutely dead, then checked on Estelle.
“Well, it looks like you don’t really need my help,” I said.
“Mm. I’ll be done with this one shortly.”
She sounded confident too. The reptila that she was fighting was still a bit more nimble than mine had been, probably because it hadn’t gotten hit with as much magic, but it was covered in bleeding wounds and slowing down from the blood loss.
Less than a minute after I started watching, it lost its balance, and Estelle immediately seized the advantage. She sliced halfway through its neck with her sword, then leaped backward to avoid the torrent of blood that gushed out of its neck as it collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.
“Very impressive,” I said.
I held out one of my fists, and Estelle smiled as she exchanged a fist bump with me.
“Thank you, Sai. You performed quite well too.”
“Well, the reptila turned out to be weaker than I expected,” I said. “I guess they really were super weak to cold.”
“Mm. Our magic was enough to slow them down,” said Estelle. “I’m certain the reptila with the spear was much stronger.”
“Yeah, that thought crossed my mind too. These ones were sloppy, and their only moves were pretty simple,” I said. “I’m kind of confused that other adventurers don’t take advantage of their weakness to cold, and— Actually, come to think of it, I guess it’s not an option most people have, what with how rare mages are.”
“Indeed. The only place in this vicinity where you’d encounter a reptila is in the boss room of the fifteenth floor, and that’s only one. That said, a larger party could probably deal with reptilas easily enough simply by surrounding and overwhelming them.”
“Yeah, good point.”
The hidden room we had found was an exception. If reptilas were just wandering around the more challenging floors, anyone who could reach those floors could probably defeat them without having to rely on magic. Our strategy was only useful under very specific conditions.
“All right, let’s go check the treasure chest, then gut these guys,” I said.
Estelle seemed to care a lot more about the treasure chest than the two reptilas, and she nodded, beaming.
“Yes! I’m looking forward to this!”
Estelle hopped up on the pedestal and carefully investigated the chest.
“Hmm. I’m pretty sure it isn’t booby trapped. Do you want to open it, Sai?”
“Nah, you can go ahead and do it, Estelle.”
The look on her face made it obvious that she really wanted to open it herself. I couldn’t resist that unspoken plea coming from a beautiful girl like her. She smiled and seemed unable to contain her excitement as she placed her hands on the lid.
“Really? In that case, thank you. Here goes... Hmm? A bag?”
“Yeah, it’s just a shoulder bag,” I said. “It looks pretty plain.”
The chest was about a meter wide, but the bag was the only thing inside it, and that was pretty small—maybe about thirty centimeters wide and not very impressive looking. It didn’t look like junk, exactly, but I felt like it wasn’t a good enough reward for a treasure chest that had been guarded by two reptilas.
“This is better than something like a rusty sword, but I guess we can’t expect much from a treasure chest on the tenth floor of the dungeon,” I said.
Estelle suddenly gasped and picked up the bag. “Hold on. Give me a moment to confirm...” She opened it and stuck a hand inside. “Yes, I guessed correctly! This is actually a magic bag, Sai!”
“...Huh? Seriously?”
“Yes! Not an exceptionally good one, to all appearances, but a magic bag nonetheless.”
Estelle was still visibly excited as I took the bag from her. I put one of my hands inside just as she had. Whoa, she’s right! It looks like a normal bag, but I can put my arm in all the way up to my shoulder!