When they entered the dungeon they found themselves on the first floor. To get back to the second floor they would have to reach the gate from yesterday, but it seemed that Aiko and Eichi didn't feel like it.

"Oh come on Hiroki, can't you just teleport us there?" asked Aiko.

"Yeah right, all these slimes are just a waste of time," Eichi added.

But Hiroki didn't want to do that, and for a good reason at that. But instead of telling them this reason and explaining his opinion, he, being just the way he is, wanted to insult and make fun of his friends once again. But it did not come to that, because Gaia suddenly spoke up.

"I know you feel annoyed by these slimes, but I still ask you not to be hasty. Do you know the saying: practice makes perfect? So let's get serious about this, no shortcuts."

Her voice sounded very tender and divine. There was something magical about it and the two brothers couldn't bring themselves to say no. It was as if they were under a charm.

'How deceitful. To incorporate magic that makes you sound more convincing into your own voice... only my wonderful wife could think of that.' Hiroki praised Gaia in his mind.

And now that that was settled, the group set out to kill some green slimes. They managed to do this very well, with none of them needing help from Hiroki in any form. Hiroki, therefore, decided that next time he would teleport them directly to the second floor if they didn't mind.

It wasn't long before they reached the big stone door from the last time. They opened it and entered.

This time they were prepared for the strange feeling and therefore they felt much better after the teleportation than the first time. After a few seconds, they were ready to go on.

After only a few meters they met their first opponent. A goblin.

Hiroki reminded them of his lesson from last time.

"I hope you remember what I said. Evasion is the key." He repeated.

At first, Hiroki wanted to demonstrate how to kill a goblin again, but he decided against it in the end. He didn't want to always coddle his friends; they will learn the most when they fail and get hurt.

"If you remember everything, then how about you go first, Aiko?" Hiroki sent Aiko ahead. He was supposed to kill the first goblin.

Aiko was very pleased to hear this. He was eager to kill a goblin. He felt confident and superior because he killed the slimes so smoothly before.

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'Better grit your teeth, Aiko,' Hiroki thought in sympathy.

Aiko approached the goblin until it caught sight of him.

“Come here you little goblin... come on" he provoked him. Though he didn't even know if the goblin could understand his language. It just felt good.

After a short inspection of his opponent, the goblin started to run toward Aiko. He lashed out and struck with his club.

But Aiko already knew that this would happen, as the goblin from yesterday did exactly the same. That's why he dodged.

But, since Aiko was so confident in himself, he wanted to dodge as late as possible, showing his friends that he was already very experienced and skilled. However, this went down the drain.

Aiko dodged way too late, and the goblin hit him on the shoulder with his club.

"Aaaargh!" Aiko cried out. But he had little time to check the wound. The goblin, seeing that he had successfully hit his prey, lashed out again. This time he went for a horizontal strike, intending to inflict critical damage on Aiko.

Aiko reacted as fast as he could and bent down. He missed the blow by a hair's breadth. He dropped to the floor and now sat with his butt on the cave’s stone floor.

Meanwhile, a little further away from the action, Hiroki and Gaia stood still and watched. Eichi, on the other hand, could not believe what had happened. He wanted to run to his brother and save him, but Gaia blocked his way with her hand, symbolizing him to stay on the spot and not move.

"What is this? Let me help my brother!" he yelled out of desperation.

Hiroki reacted calmly and said, "Let him find a solution himself. He's paying the price for his arrogance right now. And besides, it's better for him to make such a mistake here than to do it in another dungeon where we don't have that bracelet to save our lives.”

But now back to Aiko.

He was still on the floor. He couldn't move his right arm very well; something was probably broken. He was missing pieces of skin there and he was also bleeding heavily.

‘Shit, shit, shit. I have to think of something quickly,' thought Aiko.

But the goblin didn't give him much time to think. He wanted to kill him for good with a well-aimed blow to the head. But for that, he had to come a little closer.

Aiko took this opportunity and pushed the goblin with both his feet. The goblin did not expect this and therefore fell backward.

Aiko quickly got up from the ground and took his sword in his left hand. With a loud scream, he ran towards the goblin, who was just getting up again. He lashed out with his left hand and cut the neck of the goblin, killing it.

As the goblin vanished into thin air, he dropped the sword. It hit the ground with a loud metallic clang. At the same time, Aiko dropped as well. He was out of breath and had to breathe loudly and intensely.

Eichi immediately ran to him and asked him how he felt.

"It's...it's fine...I can't feel my shoulder anymore.... But it'll be fine." Aiko didn't seem as arrogant now as he had been in the beginning, he seemed like he had learned something important.

Hiroki and Gaia joined them. Hiroki looked at Aiko's bleeding wound. He had indeed broken his shoulder. But that didn't really interest Hiroki, what interested him was something completely different.

"Lesson learned?" he simply asked his friend, who was trying to endure the pain. Although it seemed like he was looking down on him, he did so with a good ulterior motive.

"Y-yes...I...I think so..." replied Aiko. It was hard for him to talk any more than that because with each breath he felt the wound pulsating on his shoulder.

But that was all Hiroki wanted to hear. He turned to Gaia and said, "You may now, my dear."

The latter nodded with a broad smile and held out her hand.

She looked at Aiko's wound and spoke.

"Heal!"

[AN: Thank you for reading the chapter. If you want to support my work, feel free to add this novel to your library and leave a comment/review. It would help me a lot ^-^]