“Honestly! Really, honestly!”

The Saint huffed, her shoulders stiff as she marched through the labyrinth with a loud, energetic swagger.

In the previous battle, Patricia had gotten ahead of herself.

Li had gently cautioned her about it.

As a result, Patricia had obediently apologized.

But that left the Saint with nowhere to vent her raised fist.

So Li had arranged a compromise—next time, the Saint would get her moment to shine.

With the Saint in front, the group advanced through the stone-walled labyrinth.

Beginner-level dungeons rarely had traps.

Even if they did, they were little more than nuisances.

A pitfall might only be deep enough to reach one’s ankles, or water might soak through shoes and leave them unpleasantly squelching.

In other words, as long as one could detect enemies, it was unlikely to become fatal.

As for Li, she was being led by the hand by a beaming Alberta.

The reason was simple—Li had her eyes closed.

She had sent her little shikigami birds flying ahead and behind them.

Since the labyrinth’s corridors were narrow, enemies would not appear from the sides.

The danger to watch for was an ambush from the rear.

In a dungeon of such low difficulty, the likelihood was small.

Even so, Li believed in thorough preparation.

One shikigami flew ahead and one guarded the rear.

Because she shared vision with them, even Li found it disorienting.

The sheer volume of information nearly made her dizzy.

So she shut her own eyes and focused solely on the birds’ vision.

“Erika, three goblins ahead.”

Li’s voice carried forward to the Saint.

“Alllriiight!”

The Saint charged off like someone roaring away on a stolen motorcycle.

“Wait! Erika!”

Alberta cried out.

“You haven’t restrained them!”

Patricia called, but the Saint had already rushed in.

She held her arm straight and took the first goblin’s head clean off.

A lariat (clothesline attack).

“Take that!”

The goblin flipped backward and dissolved into smoke.

The other two froze at the sight.

“Ha!”

The Saint drove an elbow smash straight into the face of the goblin on her left.

A full-force elbow strike.

“And this!”

She followed up with a high dropkick to the final goblin.

Once all three dissolved into smoke, the Saint formed a fox shape with her fingers and raised it above her head.

“Yuuuuus!”

The others were stunned.

They had heard that the Saint was a combat monk.

But this was something else entirely.

It was true she had fought barehanded.

Alberta and Patricia both understood that much.

But there was something different about the Saint just now.

It felt more like watching a barbarian in battle.

Only Li looked on with warm nostalgia, reminded of legendary fighters from long ago.

Sensing the atmosphere, the Saint turned back toward them.

“Ah, it seems I got a little excited. Oh-ho, oh-hoho.”

What does that even mean? Alberta and Patricia both thought, but neither voiced it.

They simply forced stiff, uncertain smiles.

For a moment, the Saint felt strangely unapproachable.

Only Li regarded her with indulgent eyes.