"…"

[…]

"You didn't need to write the three dots." Lyrica whispered over to s.h.i.+ro.

[I didn't. But I still did in the end.] s.h.i.+ro grinned.

"Are you sure we can take that on? My attacks will hardly work on rock." Lyrica asked as they were currently hiding behind a large boulder.

[I'll use a hammer I have in my storage. What I need you to do is to rack up contributions so you can get some EXP as well.] s.h.i.+ro wrote down.

[When the fight starts, I want you to see if you can hit it at any weak joint. If you can't, try to use the sword to lock it down.]

"Alright. But how would I do that?"

[How else? Stab it through the mouth.] s.h.i.+ro replied rolling her eyes.

"Stab it through the mouth?! That's really dangerous!" Lyrica whispered over.

[You can also stab it in the a.n.u.s. I've tried it with a bear and it worked wonders.] s.h.i.+ro suggested.

'Is this girl serious?' Lyrica thought hearing the suggestion.

"Erm, s.h.i.+ro. Stabbing a monster through the a.n.u.s isn't the most lady-like thing you can do you know?" Lyrica said.

[And? We're here to kill that monster. Not take it out on a dinner date.] s.h.i.+ro wrote down.

"…True." Lyrica replied after a short pause.

[Alright, when I draw its aggro, you attack. Got it?]

Lyrica nodded as s.h.i.+ro took out the hammer she received from the boss back in the first Dungeon.

The hammer needed 60 STR but s.h.i.+ro had just enough. 35 STR from base stats and the extra 25 from equipment. This brought her up STR to exactly 60.

[Fire Spirit Empowered Hammer (Blue) LVL20

Requirements: 60 STR

+30 Blunt Damage

+15 Momentum Boost

+15 Fire Element

-10 Attack Speed

Pa.s.sive Skill - Reduced Weight

Reduced Weight - Reduces the Weight of the weapon by 30%.]

Lyrica didn't know what kind of hammer it was but she knew it was a good weapon. However, her most important question was;

'How the h.e.l.l is she carrying that hammer?! Isn't she a mage?!'

Hammers, Axes, Greatswords and other heavy weapons had a requirement on STR.

As a mage, s.h.i.+ro's STR had to be low, yet she's carrying this weapon without problems.

Looking at the 4-meter-long serpent with grey scales, s.h.i.+ro readjusted her grip on the hammer.

She stepped hard as she dragged the hammer behind her.

Sprinting towards the serpent at full speed, s.h.i.+ro started to freeze the ground beneath her as her momentum increase further.

Hitting the peak of her speed, s.h.i.+ro elevated the Ice and made a ramp.

"It's hammer time!" s.h.i.+ro shouted with a grin even though Lyrica couldn't hear her.

To make sure she dealt the most amount of damage, she activated the skill that came with her [Fire Spirit Infused Power Gauntlet (Blue) LVL20]. The skill was [Power Boost] which gave her an 100% increase to damage and +15 STR for 20 seconds at the cost of receiving 30% more damage during the 20 seconds it was activated.

Jumping off the ramp, s.h.i.+ro twisted her body as she used her entire strength to smash the hammer against the serpent's head.

*BOOM!!!!

The collision caused a miniature shockwave to explode out as the serpent recoiled backwards.

*SSSSS!!!!

It hissed at her with a glare.

Wrapping its body up into a coil, the serpent's head shot towards s.h.i.+ro as if the head itself was spring locked.

s.h.i.+ro flicked her finger upwards creating a ramp. The ramp had a gentle curve which redirected the serpent's attack.

The ramp redirected the serpent's attack in a clockwise direction so s.h.i.+ro twisted her body anticlockwise. The hammer and the head met up as the two forces clashed once more.

'Am I even needed here?' Lyrica thought to herself as she knew s.h.i.+ro could probably kill the boss on her own.

Even though she was thinking that, her body bolted into action the moment she recognised the fact that s.h.i.+ro had the serpent's aggro.

She kept her body low as she twirled her dual ended blades.

Stabbing the blade into the ground, she vaulted herself upwards as she slashed at the back of the serpent.

The slashes only made a few shallow scratches as Lyrica landed and retreated.

However, she had accidentally retreated into the path of the tail as she shut her eyes and brought up her hands to protect herself.

*CRRRR!!!!

Lyrica heard a freezing sound as she reopened her eyes.

The tail was frozen a few meters away from hitting her. She turned towards s.h.i.+ro and saw that she was crouched as a trail of Ice extended from her palms towards the tail.

"T-Thanks." Lyrica replied stuttering slightly as her nerves were a little tense right now.

s.h.i.+ro nodded as she kicked back and hit the serpent on the side of the jaw. Following her momentum, the hammer stuck the serpent on the underside of the jaw.

'Wow!' Lyrica was amazed at how s.h.i.+ro was fighting. All of her movements seem natural as it didn't matter if she was using a foreign weapon or not. It was as if she knew the best ways to utilise each of their strengths.

s.h.i.+ro looked at Lyrica before holding up a finger and did a pus.h.i.+ng up motion.

"….Fine." Lyrica said as she made a slightly bitter face.

Making sure she had a firm hold on the dual ended blade, Lyrica ran behind the serpent as she looked for the a.n.u.s.

She started to become fl.u.s.tered after not being able to find it.

"I can't find it!" She shouted out as s.h.i.+ro looked over at her.

Blocking another strike of the serpent, s.h.i.+ro became slightly annoyed at the serpent.

*BANG!

She hit the jaw of the serpent as she sent it stumbling backwards.

Holding the hammer with one hand, s.h.i.+ro started scribbled something down before kicking the notepad towards Lyrica.

In the time she was writing, s.h.i.+ro dodge every one of the serpent's attacks without much problems.

Lyrica picked up the note as she read what s.h.i.+ro wrote down.

[The cloaca or a.n.u.s of a serpent is 3/4ths down the body. You'll have to lift up a scale and the hole should be present. There is only one hole so you can't miss.]

'How does she know where the a.n.u.s is so well?!' Lyrica thought in her mind. However, she trusted s.h.i.+ro's knowledge so she took the chance to search for the serpent's cloaca. It was made easier due to s.h.i.+ro freezing the tail as it didn't move too much.

It didn't take long for her to find the scale that lifted up and expose the a.n.u.s.

Lyrica held her breath as she tightened the grip on her blade.

'I'm sorry.' She apologised as she plunged the blade in with as much strength as she could.

*SSSSAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

The serpent screamed as Lyrica backed off. The serpent's body rampaged as it broke the Ice locking down the tail easily. The serpent locked onto Lyrica instantly as it forgot about s.h.i.+ro.

Seeing the back exposed, s.h.i.+ro dashed towards the blade.

"Open those cheeks for this miss!!" s.h.i.+ro shouted as she uppercutted the hammer into the blade.

The force caused the blade to shoot through the body of the serpent and come out the torso after piercing the heart.

The serpent writhed around in pain for a short while before collapsing.

s.h.i.+ro supported the hammer on her shoulders as she had a happy smile on her face. Being able to let loose and kill a monster or two felt therapeutic.

[Contributions -

s.h.i.+ro 80%

Lyrica 20%

Madison 0%

July 0%

Karol 0%]

Unfortunately, even with the 20% contribution of the boss, Lyrica didn't manage to level up.

s.h.i.+ro didn't want to waste this corpse so she searched for the mana stone before storing it away.

"[Collect]"

The serpent's body faded away as s.h.i.+ro checked the total loot drop for the 1st floor run.

9 Green Armour Pieces, 1 Blue Accessory, 5 Green Weapons and a bunch of miscellaneous items.

[Are you a blacksmith or Alchemist?] s.h.i.+ro wrote down.

"Eh? No I'm not." Lyrica shook her head.

[Then I can sell the miscellaneous items?]

"Go ahead. I don't need them." Lyrica replied as she sat down and rested.

Getting confirmation, s.h.i.+ro checked through all the gear that would be helpful for neither her or Lyrica and recycled them all. What she was left with was 2 green pieces beneficial for Lyrica.

On the other hand, s.h.i.+ro's harvest was a green piece and the Blue Accessory.

The pieces for Lyrica was as follows.

[Serpent's Arm Guard (Green) LVL 10

+10 STR

+5 AGI]

[Serpent's Scaled Boots (Green) LVL 10

+15 AGI]

Both of these items focused on the STR and AGI stats which was good for adventurers that use a sword.

As for the equipment s.h.i.+ro chose for herself, they were as follows.

[Serpent's Head Crown (Green) LVL 15

+15 INT

+5 STR]

This was better than her previous headgear which was:

[Fire Spirit Crown (Green) LVL 10

+10 INT]

Switching out the gear, s.h.i.+ro experienced an upgrade of +5 in INT and a +5 in STR.

In addition to this, the Blue drop from the boss was a head accessory.

[Crown Serpent's Glare (Blue) LVL 15 - Head Accessory

+15 INT

+10 Mental Resistance

Skill - Lesser Fear

Lesser Fear - Focus your gaze on a person or monster lower level than you and inflict a Lesser Fear Status. If the target's level exceeds 20, the skill will have no effect.

Cost: 200MP

Duration: 1 Second - 5 Seconds

Cool Down: 30 Seconds]

Not only did it give her +15 INT, but it also gave her the Skill Lesser Fear. The skill Lesser Fear causes the monster's body to freeze up making it very useful. This would make it much easier for her to help Lyrica rack up the contributions.

[Name: s.h.i.+ro

Race: Snow Girl (Evolution Criteria yet to be met)

Level: 21

Cla.s.s: Snow Girl★, Nanomancer

HP: 3300/3800

MP: 1500/6300

STR: 35 (+30)

VIT: 30 (+40)

INT: 70 (+70)

AGI: 65 (+5)

DEX: 26

DEF: 10 (+32)

Una.s.signed Points: 0

Balance: 18,400 USD

Equipment (Tap to Display)

Skills -

Snow Girl ★:

Tier 2 Ice magic, Pa.s.sive Regeneration, Blessed by Ice, Snow Magic, Faded Snow Movement, Cold Aura.

Nanomancer:

Dagger Creation.

Other:

Mini-map, Inspection, Disguise, Power Boost (Equipment), Fire Spirit Blessing (Equipment). Lesser Fear (Equipment).]

s.h.i.+ro walked over to Lyrica as she pa.s.sed her two pieces of equipment.

[Your bounty for the 1st floor. These two were the best for you since the stat bonus they give are beneficial for using the sword.]

"Thank you." Lyrica smiled as received the two pieces of equipment.

[Shall we challenge the floor 2 boss?] s.h.i.+ro wrote down with a smile.

"Floor 2? I don't know. I feel like it's more beneficial if I try to fight it fairly. I can gain more experience that way." Lyrica replied as s.h.i.+ro nodded.

[Then after we clear out the second floor, I'll freeze the boss and we'll use the obelisk to return back to floor 1 ok?]

"No problems." Lyrica smiled.

###

Clearing out the second floor was an easy task. Most of the monsters that were present on this floor were level 10 to 13 Rock Serpents.

To fight these Rock Serpents, s.h.i.+ro would use Lesser Fear on the monsters whilst Lyrica would stab them through the head. This proved beneficial as Lyrica's contribution was always above 75% giving her most of the EXP.

When they cleared the floor out by roughly 60%, Lyrica levelled up fulfilling their side of the bet in only a few hours.

Unfortunately, none of the drops could be used so s.h.i.+ro recycled everything.

As previously agreed on, s.h.i.+ro froze the obelisk guardian while they used the obelisk to return back to the first floor.

Walking calmly back to the three girls, s.h.i.+ro and Lyrica saw Madison's bitter face as Lyrica couldn't help but feel slightly giddy inside. The foreign feeling of proving people wrong was amazing.

[So I take it as our win?] s.h.i.+ro smiled showing Madison the note.

"…" Madison frowned in annoyance as she glared at Lyrica.

'It's all her fault! Who told her to level up, she should have just stayed as a low level loser.' She thought.

s.h.i.+ro frowned as she could feel Madison's hostility.

The temperature started to drop as s.h.i.+ro looked at her coldly.

[Make a move, go on. I dare you.] s.h.i.+ro wrote as she smiled with a menacing aura. Madison s.h.i.+vered seeing that smile and quickly ran out the Dungeon with her two friends.

s.h.i.+ro shrugged as the temperature returned back to normal.

As they exited the Dungeon, the teacher walked up to s.h.i.+ro.

"As you have won your side of the bet, Madison Wilcroft will fill up your party numbers for 3 days a week." The teacher said as he pa.s.sed her contract to her.

s.h.i.+ro nodded taking the contract.

[Thank you.] She wrote down as she left with Lyrica.

After walking for a while, s.h.i.+ro couldn't help but notice Lyrica's conflicting gaze.

[What's wrong?]

"Well… It's just that you basically put a few years of your life on the line just so that we can run Dungeons. Why are you doing this? Even if you said it was payment for helping you with reading and writing, I can't help but wonder." Lyrica said as s.h.i.+ro paused.

[It was a whim of mine. Life is full of twists and turns. If you don't actively seek them out, then life wouldn't be as interesting. Meeting new people, making new friends. All of it starts with a whim. The whim may become something more, or it may just be another day of my life. Don't dwell on it too much.] s.h.i.+ro smiled showing her the writing.

"So it's just a whim? Yet for me, it has become something more." Lyrica muttered.

[Don't sound so depressing. We just got our chance to run Dungeons for 3 days a week.] s.h.i.+ro smiled patting Lyrica's shoulders.

"You're right." Lyrica replied as they walked home.

s.h.i.+ro gave Lyrica a wave before entering her room. Undressing herself, s.h.i.+ro wore just a plain s.h.i.+rt and underwear as she grabbed the tablet and laid on the bed.

'Since I'm thinking of making a commission for Lyrica's weapon, I need to find the prices.' She thought as she searched up the web.

After scouring around for a while, s.h.i.+ro found the Blacksmith's website.

'Hm… It's not too expensive.' s.h.i.+ro thought seeing the prices.

[Average Commission for Green Grade Custom Weapons]

Must provide materials yourself.

Basic deposit: 5,000 USD

LVL 5 - 5,000 -> 10,000 USD

LVL 10 - 11,000 -> 50,000 USD

LVL 15 - 50,000 -> 75,000 USD

LVL 20 - 100,000 -> 200,000 USD

Over LVL 20 - 200,000 USD +