Chapter 24

The path beyond the stairs was a single, straight corridor.

So this is how it’s structured… wouldn’t a layout like this heavily favor ranged combatants with detection abilities, meaning ranger-type classes?

Am I being too paranoid for a beginner dungeon?

No, magic attacks aside, taking a physical hit carried the risk of instant death for me, so exercising caution was definitely the right call.

Casually yet precisely, Gina moved into a position where she could block all potential lines of fire toward me and act as a human shield.

With that, I could safely say the concerns for this area were gone.

She was truly a well-crafted subordinate, making me sympathize all over again with the players who used to say she was “too good for Rasta.”

“A straight path means we don’t have to worry about getting hit from the flanks, huh?”

When exploring dungeons, the things ranged classes feared the most were attacks coming from the sides or behind.

“Yes. It should be fine. Though vigilance is always required.”

Gina replied.

“Of course. If things look dangerous, we’ll turn back early.”

“As you wish.”

We nodded to each other and started walking again.

Just to be safe, I kept glancing sideways, but as expected, there was nothing there.

In a dungeon with a slightly higher difficulty, this would be the time to keep an eye out for hidden passages and the like.

“There’s nothing here. Being a beginner dungeon, it doesn’t seem overly malicious.”

Gina observed.

Now that I thought about it, she also possessed trap-detection skills.

In the original work, it didn’t look like those skills ever got put to good use thanks to Rasta.

While we were walking, a Kobold Archer and a spear-wielding Kobold Fighter approached from ahead.

“I’ll take the Archer.”

The Kobold Fighter’s magic resistance should be the same as any other Kobold, but it was better to be safe.

“Understood.”

Gina nodded but didn’t close the distance right away.

Was she worried about leaving my defense wide open?

I was thinking we were still a bit too far for Wind Shot to reach when the Kobold Archer loosed an arrow.

Gina batted it down out of the air with her dagger.

Swatting away flying arrows with a dagger—realistically speaking, that had to be an impossible, game-breaking feat, I thought as I marveled at her godlike skill.

Seeing that, the Kobold Archer froze up, while the Kobold Fighter charged straight at us with its spear in hand.

It probably figured projectile weapons wouldn’t work on Gina, which was nothing short of lucky for us.

Once it closed the distance to about one meto (equivalent to one meter in Japanese units), Gina literally annihilated the Kobold Fighter in the blink of an eye.

She did it effortlessly while still keeping an eye on the Kobold Archer, no less.
As for the Kobold Archer, instead of trying to close in, it started backing away, which actually posed a bit of a problem for me.

…Should I prioritize the experience points, or should I prioritize moving forward?
I decided to pass up the immediate experience points right in front of us.

If we pushed ahead, we could easily recoup the equivalent of a single Kobold Archer’s worth of EXP down the line.

“Gina, finish it off.”

“As you wish.”

At my command, holding nothing back, Gina surged forward and buried her prey.