Isekaied Into An Eroge, Time To Have Fun!-Chapter 109: Dungeon (2)

With my basic dagger in my hand and a healthy dose of adrenaline humming through my blood, I was more than ready to start walking around and searching for something to fight, especially since Kha’Miero had a proper sword in her hands.

The taller, bigger Draconian had a longer, wider blade that just radiated power, especially while it was in her experienced hands; I had never seen her magic before either so I was very curious about its potency and how powerful that would make her.

What sort of element did she specialize in and how did she tie that into her martial abilities, if at all?

I was very curious, yet at the same time I was very much more focused on what I could do since she was here on my behalf, with her objective being to just keep me safe as I wet my toes in real combat for the first time ever.

The area surrounding the dais was safe, with four branching tunnels that took us into the ’real’ Dungeon; exchanging glances with Kha’Miero I gestured for her to make the choice before following her down one of those paths, stepping carefully over the various rocks and patches of moss that paved the way deeper.

As we walked side by side the Draconian glanced over at me and said "When we encounter a Spirit, don’t treat it like training. Go for the kill right away. No matter how weak or how small a monster might appear, it is still a monster and still very much capable of ending your life. Never showboat, never underestimate."

With that warning she focused back on the tunnel and kept escorting me through, giving me some time to mull it over and come to terms with what I needed to do - something I had never done before nor considered as something I might ever have to do - to make sure I didn’t make a mistake.

The giddiness I had been feeling - that concoction of adrenaline, anticipation and a small amount of fear - was tempered by cold acceptance of reality; this wasn’t a game anymore, so there was going to be pain.

If I got hit, I was going to feel it; if I got seriously wounded, that would potentially lead to my death, with no save scumming or rage quitting to ’reset’ what just happened.

It would happen, and I wouldn’t have a do over, so I needed to make sure I was locked in for what was about to happen, and that first step was coming to terms with reality and once again reminding myself that this wasn’t just a game anymore.

Actions had consequences and I was choosing to take an action that had lots of them - some very serious, some rather mundane - so I needed to be certain of what I was doing, which in turn made the anticipation wither into something less exciting.

My heart was still pounding in my chest and my head was warm as the blood flowed swiftly, enhancing my vision and hearing primarily while also sharpening the scents in the air as I seemingly stepped into a different ’mode’.

It was odd and felt sort of out of body, yet it was also oddly refreshing as everything got clearer and sharper, my senses and reactions working fluidly side by side as my instincts took over; perhaps I had somehow scared myself into this state, or maybe I was going insane, I had no idea, but I was definitely aware that this was not ’normal’.

When we emerged into a small cavern filled with dozens of these glowing crystals, towering stalagmites glittering with ore and the occasional herb that grew out of the cracked rock, Kha’Miero stopped at the precipice and prevented me from walking forwards, keeping me here and using her blade to silently point things out.

Floating around the cavern were three tiny doll like creatures surrounded in a colorful haze; two were green and one was red, meaning there were two Wind Spirits and one Fire Spirit in this cavern, which wasn’t a terrible matchup honestly.

They were scattered as well, and in the game that would mean there were three individual one on one fights to take here, but in reality...

"Pick one, draw it somewhere and try to kill it quick. If you can manage that I’ll let you take on the next alone. If not I’ll step in and prevent it from getting to you before you take on the remaining one. Got that?"

She was usually flat and serious about things over at the Academy but down here in the Dungeon she was even more stoic than before, and it was grounding to me since she continued to exude that mountainous confidence that seemed to come to her naturally.

Giving her a nod, I squeezed the hilt of my dagger and drew in a long, sharp breath, steadying myself and picking the closest Spirit to take on; as soon as I did so I tried to clear my mind and decided that the ’easiest’ way for me to approach this was like the game, mixed with reality of course.

I knew the elemental matchups, knew the weapon matchups, had the general attacks memorized and understood what its stats meant for the thing floating in front of me; it felt like the panel from the game was in front of me, offering me the choice on how I wanted to start this encounter, and that... it helped, quite a bit.

It kept things weirdly organized and simple for me as I treated my body like some character I could control while my mind just focused on picking the right things; with a Wind Spirit in front of me I went for an opening with Flame Lash, wanting to close the distance as soon as I could and get a solid amount of damage done at the same time.

Building up the mana in my palm summoned a length of sputtering fiery rope and let it drop to the floor, catching the attention of the small monster and causing it to let out an eery coo as it tilted its tiny head, staring at me for a moment.

It could only stare as I whipped my arm forwards and cracked my wrist, slinging that Flame Lash towards it with a snap that it couldn’t even think to avoid; I caught it by surprise and was able to land the first attack, which should mean it was a critical hit-

I sort of jolted myself out of my own head when that thought crossed my mind, the whiplash from what I had been thinking of a minute ago to what I was doing now confusing me even as the flames wrapped around the monster’s thin torso and yanked it forwards.

My confusion couldn’t last as I saw it tumbling through the air towards me, its sharp cry of agony as the flames burnt its body drawing me out of my head and pushing me into action, which was to swing my dagger at it next.

A simple horizontal swing of a sharp object would obviously have the result of cutting something, and the Spirit was no different; the steel sliced through the monster’s papery flesh and severed the bones, going through it completely and cutting it into two pieces.

It flopped to the floor on either side of me as a result, watery bluish silver blood splashing to the ground and against my stomach as I killed my first monster in just two simple attacks... which immediately sent me into another confused state since I had just killed something, but I was able to somehow rationalize it immediately as a monster...

I felt two very different things at the same time, disgust and relief warring inside of me for a moment before I heard another eery coo that drew me from my mind, allowing me to turn just in time to see the other Wind Spirit flying towards me.