(MC POV)
After Tsuki recovered from her disappointment with the weak skeleton she killed in one hit, we continued down the hallway illuminated by torches separated in fixed intervals along the walls.
Tsuki had followed my advice and was on constant alert with her weapon ready, her eyes scanning her surroundings constantly. I could tell she was enjoying her roleplay of being the party's tank.
She suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway without warning, squinting her eyes at the path ahead.
She pointed to a particular floor tile that was slightly sunken into the ground, "Aniue… That part of the floor looks weird…"
As expected of my cute little sister. I was supposed to introduce traps to her in this part of the dungeon but she spotted it without triggering it.
"Well spotted, it's a pressure plate trap," I explained.
I picked up a piece of stone from the ground and tossed it on the trap.
The floor tile sunk into the ground with a 'crack' and part of the ceiling above us opened up with a 'crack. The next moment, a bucket full of water splashed down at where the pressure plate was. Had Tsuki been there, she would have been soaked to the bone.
"What kind of trap was that? What would have making us wet achieve?" Tsuki asked, looking at the puddle of water with disdain.
I shook my head at her, "Don't look down on it. It may appear like a simple trap but think about what happens if either of us are wet? If you're unable to dry yourself quickly, your clothes would stick to you and make it hard to move. You'll also be cold and that would hinder your movements even further. The water would also make you more vulnerable to enemies that manipulates water or ice."
"Ohhh~ As expected of Aniue! None of those things crossed my mind!"
"Haha, I am experienced after all. It would be weird for me not to know this. Still, good work in spotting the trap."
"Ehehe~ I have to protect Aniue after all! Leave it to me!"
Yep, she's really cute.
We continued our advance down the hallway to the next event I prepared for us to face.
The next enemies we came across was a group of three skeletons similarly armed like the first one we saw. This was supposed to be an introduction to group combat for Tsuki.
She immediately got in position in front of me with her shield raised. Unlike the first skeleton where she rushed in on her own, she was more cautious this time since we were outnumbered.
"Aniue, what should we do?"
"Hmm… Are you confident of handling multiple enemies on your own?"
"Umm… I'm not sure… Maybe I can take on two, but I'm not sure if I can handle three…"
"In that case, I'll take care of the third one while you distract them."
"Unn! I'll leave my back to you, Aniue!"
With those words, my little sister dashed forward with her shield raised to meet her enemies fearlessly.
The skeletons caught sight of her and started to shamble towards their target, their bones creaking as they raised their weapons to meet her.
She tried the same tactic of bashing her shield against the skeleton but this skeleton managed to raise its own shield to block her attack, the monster taking a few steps back from her assault but remained standing on its feet.
If Tsuki was surprised by the sudden increase in strength of this skeleton compared to the first one, she did not show it.
After seeing how easily she took down the first skeleton, I decided to buff the enemies in the dungeon a little to pose more of a challenge for her. If things were too easy, it would be too boring for her. It was my mistake to assume she was on the level of a normal high school girl after all.
Tsuki managed to stand her ground despite the unexpected outcome, my little sister raising her mace to catch the second skeleton's club in midair before it hit her.
She kicked the skeleton in the side of its knee, forcing it to drop on its knee.
That gave her the opportunity to raise her shield and smash it into its face, obliterating its skull.
Tsuki spun away from her position right as the first skeleton tried to hit her from the front with its club, missing my little sister by inches.
The third skeleton moved behind her in an attempt to backstab her but since Tsuki had trusted her back to me, I simply disintegrated it with a lightning bolt I summoned from my palm.
The final skeleton made a dash towards Tsuki with its club raised, intending to hit her with an overhead strike.
Tsuki raised her shield to block it before pulling the hand that was holding the mace back, swinging it upwards to smash the skeleton under its chin without mercy. The force of the impact separated the skull off the spine and sent it soaring through the air only to crash down a short distance away.
As though that wasn't enough, she pulled back her shield and struck its edge into the skeleton's ribs, breaking the rest of its bones apart.
My little sister turned to smile at me, "Aniue! Aniue! We did it! We did it!"
I chuckled and went up to pat her head, "Yes we did, Tsuki."
"Guhihihi~ Pat me more~ Praise me more, Aniue~"
"I would like to, but remember we're in a dungeon where danger could be around any corner, you know?"
Just as I said those words, groans echoed off the walls and a group of ten zombies appeared out of the darkness, surrounding us from all sides.
This is a small event I made to let her know how dangerous this place might be and letting your guard down could spell doom.
Hmm? I'm basically making a game with a tutorial level at this point? Well, of course I am. I took inspiration from those RPG games we play at home after all.
I'm also pretty sure Tsuki got her 'fighting skills' by mirroring the anime characters she watched because I'm sure she has never been in a combat situation before this.
At least… That's what I would like to think.
To her credit, Tsuki did not panic about our predicament and instead, took up her fighting stance in front of me again.
"What should we do, Aniue?"
"Relax, Tsuki. This is why I'm here."
Ok, honestly, this is mainly an event to show off to my little sister. Because let's face it, we're just here to have fun.
I raised my hand and snapped my fingers dramatically, summoning a ring of fire around us that immediately engulfed the zombies in a sea of flames.
The fire incinerated them instantly, not even leaving ashes behind.
"Aniue… So cool! Do it again! Do it again!" Tsuki praised, turning back to face me with sparkling eyes.
Yep, she's really cute.
She's definitely having fun here so I guess all my efforts to make this place was not in vain. Hopefully the rest of the dungeon can still keep her interest and maybe I'll make an even bigger one next time.