Chapter 10.5: Bitter Taste

The journey through the dungeon continued and soon the party was coming to their own and working relatively well, not that mattered too much, since I was more so evaluating them individually and progress could be seen there as well, but unfortunately unlike me, who can just keep going without having to rest, they are all victims to fatigue except Paige, who was actually still energetic in her observations of me, something I attribute to her higher level and stats, which would make her much harder to tire.

"Is this what dungeon crawling is?... This is disgusting and tiring... God, I want some sleep!" Umirica complained out loud in an attempt to make herself heard, but it wouldn't be that easy, as Derick already feared me more than her, so it wouldn't lead anywhere to just whine.

"Can you do me a favor and shut up?! Having to be around you is enough punishment, don't tell me I'll have to listen to you as well." Aimine who mostly didn't seem to like Umirica was the one to respond.

"Tsk! Bitch shouldn't you be getting ran on by a train or some disgusting shit?! Don't even get me started with being around, I don't know even know who's been in there, and what kind of diseases you must be carrying by now. Being around is actually nauseating, can't imagine what would happen if I caught some of your slutness... Terrifying..." Umirica retorted.

"Oh please, just say you're jealous because even your boyfriend won't touch you. Don't worry, some of us are just meant to die virgins, you don't have to project that rage onto me just because you're not good enough. I'm sure some desperate guy will eventually take you. Then again even then it might not be e-..." Aimine didn't back down in the slightest.

"Enough! You need to be taught a lesson in decency, whore!" Umirica got up and grabbed her sword pointing it at Aimine.

"Oh, and you're gonna do it? Don't make me laugh, put your overgrown stick down before you hurt yourself." Aimine despite sounding calm was also standing with her gantlets, ready for a fight looking at Umirica as intensely as she was looking at her.

Wanting to try and stop them before they escalated, Derick tried to intervene, but I stopped him. "Let them go at it, or they'll never truly shut up about it." then I looked at Paige and commanded. "If it like looks like they will kill each other, shot your arrows to stop them."

Immediately Paige began to nod her head energetically with a blush on her face. Honestly interacting with her was way too easy as she seemed to be happy just because I talked to her at all.

"Don't worry, you'll soon be begging for mercy." Umirica declared before charging at her.

"Just don't cry too hard when you eat those words." Aimine remarked before following along and taking her battle stance.

Since none of them, had attack abilities it was found to be a purely physical fight.

As soon as she got close enough, Umirica performed a diagonal slash from the top left to the bottom right, which was evaded by Umirica in a quick motion, but the attack didn't end there. As Umirica used her mana on her right arm, which was holding her sword, as it swelled becoming very muscular and increasing its strength and speed too, in order to force another attack much faster and stronger than the last one.

Noticing this, Aimine got coated in mana, but not only her arm, but her entire body all due to her abnormally large mana pool for her level. Umirica's second strike came as a horizontal slash from the right to the left, going through the air with such force that it created a pressurized airwave as a secondary effect.

Even then...

*Bam!*

Not only did Aimine avoid the strike by a hair strand, by weaving in a boxer-like manner, but she also used that opening that Umirica made, by using so much strength and punched her on the right cheek with her left fist coated in mana.

*Boom* *Crack*

The resulting impact was not small as Umirica was sent flying straight at the wall, cracking it upon contact.

If it was a normal person, this punch could have killed them by blowing up their head with sheer power, but Umirica was not a normal person with her ability boosting her.

As blood dripped from her mouth and right nasal, her right cheek, swelled up, Umirica got up and looked at Aimine, for the first time seeing to not bore anger towards her, no, what eyes carried right now, was hate, the kind of hate that makes you want to prove a point.

Unexpectedly, Umirica said nothing and just released much more mana than before coating her whole body, as her ability too gave her a larger pool than what someone at their level would normally have, and she was bent on using it. The mana compressed onto her body and in a much better show of control than what she did in her last attack, Umirica moved toward Aimine who this time couldn't afford to just wait and with her mana still coating her body, also charged.

Both clashed creating a wave as they did, Umirica's sword on both of Aimine's gantlets, and unlike before, Umirica actually used her body efficiently and took advantage of her clearly higher stats, she focused mana in her leg and kick stomped Aimine on her stomach area.

*Bam!*

Blood flew off Aimine's mouth...

*Boom* *Crack*

She was now the one sent flying and crashed onto the wall, leaving a crater of her own there.

*Cough* *Cough*

Unable to get up, Aimine coughed up blood, but rather than the metallic taste of blood, it seemed like the one hurting her the most, was the bitter taste of defeat, as by all accounts if it weren't for the clear difference in stats, she could have very well won, and it seems that even Umirica realized, as she used that to win.

"Go, and heal Aimine as much as you can." I ordered Derick, and he then ran to her.

"If it wasn't for the difference in power, Umirica's lack of actual battle understanding would have made it impossible for her to win." Paige commenced.

"Actually... I disagree. Yes, Umirica seems to lack battle experience, but I believe that this battle just exposed that she has a great aptitude for it, she just never tried because, with her ability, she never had to. If this battle was evenly matched, I think it would have been a much more interesting fight." I expressed my opinion on the matter.

"Is that so..." Paige began to consider my words.

(Well, I guess I should put them up against one of the bosses to finish this test.) I concluded.