After hearing Tomoya's advice, when they came across 4 goblins, Aria wanted to try putting it into practice.
She imitated what he did, walking slowly toward them instead of running.
"Gaki?"
"Kikiiii!"
When she was noticed by the goblins, they charged toward her with their daggers raised.
Seeing this, Aria closed and opened her eyes. Her sapphire-colored eyes were steady.
Holding the swords with her arms extended and pointed toward the walls, she murmured: 'Acceleration' and moved sideways, but halfway through, she changed direction and the sword in her left hand slashed toward the goblin in the lead.
Her movement was fast and unpredictable, and the goblin who had his arm extended lost the arm with the dagger and his head.
When she attacked with the other hand, she was already stabbing with the same sword that cut the first goblin, striking the throat of one of the goblins.
The sword in her left hand slashed from top to bottom, from neck to waist.
With one still remaining, she didn't attack, but instead jumped back, dodging the goblin's dagger, then charged forward with both swords in a scissor style and cut off the goblin's head cleanly and precisely.
When she finished, Aria was petrified.
It wasn't the first time she had managed to kill 4 goblins without injury, but it was the first time she felt she had everything under control.
She felt as if she had an epiphany and was dazed for a few seconds.
'Not bad.' Tomoya thought from a distance while lowering the magic scepter.
He was ready to act at any moment, but was relieved to see that she didn't need help.
Tomoya cut the ears off with ice blade magic.
Each time he cut the ears, he sold the goblin's corpse.
This time it didn't earn him a single gold coin.
In front of them was already the entrance to the next floor.
When they went down, there were clay jars on the sides in open spaces and several corridors. Each path led in a different direction.
Well, it was a labyrinth, what else would you expect?
Not far away, there was an Orc.
It was a large and fat creature. About 3 meters tall with a greasy body, shirtless, wearing only an old cloth on the bottom tied with a rope.
Upon noticing them, the Orc's eyes were filled with lust as he looked at Aria.
From what Tomoya understood, Orcs were lustful beings who, instead of killing women, harmed them in the worst possible way.
Without her needing to say what way that was, he understood.
"I'll give you support." Tomoya said: "Go and take care of him. Just him alone can earn you 1 gold coin."
When she heard that, Aria didn't hesitate.
But, she didn't charge in like before, she analyzed while walking with her long swords in hand.
The white-eyed Orc was drooling while looking at Aria as she advanced. He seemed unconcerned while holding a large sword.
"Buhiiiiiiiiiii!"
When she was a few meters away, the Orc attacked with the sword.
'Acceleration.' Aria murmured and dodged easily, and standing on one foot, she changed direction, advancing with both swords extended, stabbing the Orc's fat belly.
The Orc didn't die from that — Not only that, he became furious.
However, when he tried to pull the sword from the ground, he saw that it was impossible, that's because a layer of hardened earth had formed around the tip of the sword, locking it to the ground.
Pointing the magic scepter at Aria, Tomoya used the buff 'Physical Strengthening'.
With that, Aria easily pulled the swords back and dodged the Orc's free hand, cutting the hand in the process.
"Buhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
A pitiful scream echoed.
The Orc seemed in pain and furious. He gave up on the sword and charged forward with open hands intending to grab Aria.
Aria jumped back and advanced when she murmured 'Acceleration'. Her speed was so fast that she passed by the Orc, cutting off his arm in the process, appearing on the other side and stabbing with both swords into the Orc's back.
[Level Up!]
"..."
When Tomoya saw that notification, he was confused. Although he had assisted Aria, he didn't deal any real damage to the Orc.
So why?
'Is it because of the buff I gave her?' he thought.
If that's the case, then it made sense.
The corners of Aria's lips lifted as she turned to Tomoya. With her eyes in a crescent moon shape, she said: "Thank you, thanks to you, I feel like I can become even stronger!"
From start to finish, she barely got tired and didn't feel the pressure she felt the first time she had to face an Orc.
Precisely because of that, Aria felt grateful.
Of course, she understood that she was able to act so calmly because she knew Tomoya was supporting her and had given her a buff that not only increased her strength but also her speed and reaction time.
Without that, she wouldn't have been able to get the same result if she were doing everything alone.
Just like with the goblins, they needed the Orc's ears to prove they had killed it.
Creating an ice blade, he cut off the Orc's ears and sold it to the shop along with the sword.
[+3 Gold Coins]
'2 must be from the Orc, the other must be from the goblins earlier.' he concluded.
By his calculations, there was just a little left to earn one gold coin, so, what earned one gold coin must have been the Orc's weapon, and the Orc itself was worth 2 gold coins.
With that done, they continued walking.
After passing through a corridor, they saw five goblins, one of them being a Goblin Mage.
"I'll go!" Aria said.
"Wait, I'll give you a buff." Saying that, Tomoya gave her a total of 3 buffs: 'Fire Protection', 'Physical Strengthening', and 'Magic Strengthening'.
"Ohh, I feel amazing!" Aria exclaimed.
Tomoya smiled at her reaction. He said: "This time, I'll only help with the buffs."
"That's exactly what I want!" Aria advanced.
At first, she was walking, but then she began to run the moment she saw the Goblin Mage conjuring a fireball.
She still remembered how Tomoya had cut through the fireball, and when she saw the fireball approaching, she slashed it, making it explode.
"Gugyahhh!"
"Gugykiiiii?"
"Gugigi!"
The explosion of the fireball also left the goblins disoriented.
"Gugya!" the Goblin Mage shouted while creating a second fireball.
Meanwhile, Aria murmured 'acceleration' and instead of advancing as she normally did, she leaned forward and, with a strong push, charged like a tigress, cutting through all five goblins at once.
The Goblin Mage, sliced in half, had his eyes open, seeming not to know he was already dead.
Turning around, Aria sheathed her swords and ran over to Tomoya, hugging him and jumping.
"I did it, I did it!" She pressed her voluptuous body against his.
Patting her back, wanting her to calm down a bit, he said: "Yes, you were amazing."
Pulling away, she was still smiling as she said: "All thanks to you~"
Tomoya smiled and said: "With this, you've already earned 4 gold coins."
"Already?" She was surprised herself.
"Yes." Tomoya explained while moving forward to cut the goblins' ears: "With this, you've killed 13 goblins, including one Goblin Mage worth 1 gold coin, and 1 Orc who's also worth 1 gold coin. If you kill three more goblins, that will earn you one more gold coin."
He stacked all the corpses and sold them.
[+2 Gold Coins]
Storing the Goblin Mage's staff, with that he would have 3 staffs and be able to complete a Rank D mission.
The buffs around Aria had already faded, lasting only 2 minutes.
After Aria finished collecting the ears and handed him the cloth sack, they went back to exploring the second floor of the labyrinth.
'Friday, record Aria's earnings for me, will you?' Tomoya requested.
{Affirmative, Master! Currently, Aria has 4 gold coins. Objective: 1,000 coins. 995 coins remaining for Aria to reach her goal.}
'That's not quite what I asked for, but I liked it.'
{I'm glad I pleased you, Master.}
Though she said that, her robotic voice full of indifference made it sound like she was being sarcastic.