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."
Line has brown eyes and long black hair that she had braided in a tail. She's wearing a brown and white top, a brown skirt, dark leggings with a white band and light brown borders, a white headband, glasses, pale arm cover with light brown borders, white gloves, and a white belt with pouches. She also has a wooden staff that amplifies her magic and it's durable enough to bash through a War Shadow's head.
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Line Arshe of the Loki Familia."
"I'm Aika Kiryuu from the same Familia. Nice to meet you~."
"Shirone Toujou... Pleasure to meet you."
Line immediately noticed the two girl's bandages and asked, "Do you mind if I heal you? I may not look like it, but I'm a healer."
"Oh? Is that fine?" Aika asked back. She then recalled Koneko's muttering earlier about having a healer in their party, 'This is some amazing coincidence.'
Sona and Koneko are also thinking of the same thing and the three of them glanced at each other and reached a conclusion, 'Let's see how this goes...' They also remembered Kisuke's words about establishing connections to the inhabitants of this world and his willingness to accept trouble. Although he did say that he's fine with them causing trouble, they won't blindly create problems. Since they in need of a healer, they would have to decide if this Line Arshe could fit the bill.
Line then scratched her head in embarrassment, "Although I did say that I'm a healer, I'm mostly a supporter for the main party of the Loki Familia. My healing magic is only marginally better than those cheap ones sold in the store. I'm just a Level 2 after all..."
"It's fine~. We're grateful, regardless. Please." Sona smiled at her. As she closely looks at Line, the more she closely resembles one of the Rias Gremory's Bishops, Asia Argento.
Of course, that aura and demeanor didn't escape Aika and Koneko who's close to Asia. The only difference is that Line gives a more mature feeling contrary to Asia's innocent and naive demeanor. However, that's just the initial impression they're getting and won't decide with just that.
Line nodded and started chanting, "[Oh light, healing light, bring me peace this very hour, Heal!]" Along with her chant, a white magic circle appeared below Line and it expanded until it reached Aika and Koneko. The light intensified and both Aika and Koneko can feel a slight burning feeling from their cuts before it disappeared entirely, along with the magic circle.
Aika and Koneko unwrapped their bandages and checked their wounds, which is their anymore, "So this is healing magic..." Aika muttered.
"This feels slightly different from Asia-senpai's Twilight Healing." Koneko also commented.
Line didn't mind Koneko's words. Although a healer is pretty rare, top Familias always have a couple of them.
"Thank you for healing them." Sona initiated the conversation with Line again.
"No. I didn't do much. I still want to thank you in a different way." Line replied earnestly, "So if you want something, please don't hold back and I'll listen."
"Hmm... I do have something in mind..." Sona tapped her chin a few times with her finger and said, "But if you don't mind, I would first like to know what are you doing here alone and in danger. Especially when you said you're from the Loki Familia. Of course, I won't mind if you don't answer. I'm just a bit curious."
"Well... It's not really an interesting story and I also don't mind telling you about it..." Line then started narrated.
Line joined the Loki Familia when she's just 14 years old, two years ago, when she's just a newly promoted Adventurer. The Loki Familia accepted her due to her rare healing ability, but beyond that, she's below average. Even now, her only role is to support the main party and carry their luggage.
For Line, it's not actually a bad thing as it's a pretty lucrative job, especially when the main party goes into expeditions and brings her as far as the 50th floor. The way she's treated is not bad too. In fact, it's pretty good compared to the other supporters that she saw in Orario.
However, she has a dream. It's to become a successful Adventurer that could actually make her own story and not just stand at the sidelines. But it's been two years since her leveling up to two, and since then, there's not much improvement in her basic attributes and her healing magic is only mediocre at best. And all of those who came with her to join the Loki Familia is already Level 3s and only a few Level 2s who's already on the verge of leveling up.
By this time, however, all of her hopes of being in a great adventure and contributing to her allies almost vanished. But even then, she still completely let it go.
Line thought of two ways to improve herself and the first one is to study and try to improve her healing ability. She spent her time studying and consulting doctors about a person's body and gained significant knowledge and understanding about the topic to the point that those who teaches and advise her to applaud her genius ability.
But all of that was for naught as she wasn't able to improve her healing magic at all since she didn't know how she should integrate the knowledge and wisdom she earned to her magic itself. It was already too late when she noticed this fact. If not for having innate interest at the topic itself, she would have dubbed it a useless effort.
Not giving up, she went towards the second solution. To have a secondary role. She's thinking that if she works hard in the Dungeon fighting, she could gain fighting experience and level up while at it. But she also underestimated this part. Although she was able to breeze through the upper floors, when faced by War Shadows who can dodge her attacks and surround her, she's helpless if not for the group's help.
She finally realized that she doesn't have any talent in fighting. Giving up all hope, she now only intends to support her comrades from the backlines with her not so effective healing and marginally stronger body as a supporter.
With tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Line immediately apologized and wiped it, "I'm sorry for telling you such a depressing story."
Sona sighed in response, "It's really a depressing story, but not an uncommon one either..."
Line could only smile wryly at her words, "You're right... It's not uncommon and there are other people there you has it harder..."
"So you're giving up?" For some reason, Sona couldn't just leave her like this, 'It's probably because she reminds me of my servants... My family...' Unlike Rias who has unique servants, Sona's servants are mainly composed of those who want to go against their fate.
Line thought for a moment and looked up, "How strange... Even though I'm about to lose my life earlier and the most logical thing to do is to stop... Even though I already told myself that I should give up and spare myself some useless effort..."
"Didn't you want to go on a great adventure?" Sona asked.
Line's eyes opened wide, 'How could I forget?... How could I as for a great adventure when I'm already giving up at the starting line?...'
However, despite realizing that, Line is still unsure, 'Which way should I go now?' She knew that sooner or later, she would lose her life at the futile attempt of searching her path sooner or later. But even then, she can't give up. At least, she wanted her dream to keep on burning.
"How about I show you the way?" Sona suddenly said which roused Line in her deep thoughts. Sona's expression is a Devil who's tempting a mortal to wish for something in exchange for his or her soul.