After Haruhime's tail suddenly split into two, Vahn used his [Eyes of Truth] to investigate as he was very curious about their nature. Haruhime had noticed the change in his eyes before turning around 'obediently' so Vahn could get a better look. With a somewhat wry smile on his face, Vahn observed Haruhime's lower back and noticed several things, some expected, some not so much. The connecting vertebrae for Haruhime's tail had split into a Y-shape, and Vahn noticed that, whenever Haruhime moved it, the bone seemed somewhat flexible in nature and it was a very strange sight to see. As for one of the unexpected things, Vahn could see that Haruhime's tails both had the same illusory blue color trailing them and he suspected this was the sign they would split in the future. For the moment, the coloration was very light instead of the prominent, rich, blue coloration of the previous phantom tail.
While he was observing the tails, Vahn noticed they swayed about in a strange pattern for a brief moment and, by the time he realized something had happened, Haruhime was turned around facing him while asking, "Is everything okay, Vahn~?" Because she had previously had her back to him, Vahn was surprised that Haruhime was now facing toward him while staring up with her pale-golden eyes with a hint of concern contained within. Shaking his head, Vahn used [Will of the Emperor] before explaining, "It's fine, Haruhime, but it seems like your tails have some kind of hypnotic effect that creates a gap in the awareness of others. You should have noticed it earlier when you were fighting, but the monsters would always attack your previous locations instead of where your actual body is."
Haruhime tilted her head to the side for a moment in confusion before nodding and saying, "I didn't notice it too much, but I believe you're correct, Vahn. All I was doing was following the tempo of the monsters and moving slightly faster than they were. From what I can tell, they can't move beyond their own tempo, so as long as I keep the rhythm they can't touch me...well, that is unless they stop trying to hit me and go crazy." Hearing the way Haruhime described it, Vahn was somewhat curious and asked, "Do you want to spar with me for a moment? I'm curious about how that 'tempo' you're mentioning works..."
For a brief moment, Haruhime seemed to consider Vahn's words before eventually shaking her head and saying, "Even if it's just sparring, I don't want to ever fight you, Vahn. I'm sorry, please forgive me..." As she spoke, Haruhime bowed very low in an apologetic fashion that made Vahn feel slightly unfortable so he said, "No, it's fine...when we get to the surface, I'll have you spar with Mikoto and the others though." Haruhime raised her head with a smile and said, "Of course, I'll do my best~!" Vahn wanted to remark about why she was so 'eager' to fight the other girls, but he decided against it before they both wandered deeper into the depths of the Dungeon. Since Haruhime had cleared the 14th floor with relative ease, she was now going to be facing one of the most dangerous monsters in the upper floor, even for those that have reached the early stages of Level 2, the 'notorious' Minotaurs...
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Vahn was watching Haruhime deal with her twentieth Minotaur and he couldn't help but release a short sigh because the ugly bull monsters had let him down yet again. Even when he fought them in the past, he couldn't help but feel like they were actually much weaker than rumored. Because of his training with Tsubaki, bipedal creatures were simply easier to deal with than almost any other type of monster. Though they had incredible strength, their agility wasn't impressive to the point where it was a major threat to experienced fighters. Their biggest weakness, however, was the fact that they were rather dumb and typically just flailed their arms about trying to smash things. Since Haruhime's skill allowed her to exploit the gaps in someone's thoughts, the Minotaurs just kept smashing random areas long after she had moved away. With the added benefit of a powerful sword, Haruhime had absolutely no trouble dealing with small groups of Minotaurs at all.
Now that he was no longer 'hiding', Haruhime spent the majority of the time walking at his side as if they were enjoying a date. She had a happy smile on her face and let Vahn lead her around in order to more efficiently locate monsters. They didn't talk too much, but Haruhime would often wrap her dexterous tail around his wrist while maintaining a placent smile on her face. If not for the fact that her ears were twitching about from various sounds, Vahn would have lightly reprimanded her for not paying attention. Though he was leading the way, Haruhime would release his arm long before they arrived near the monsters and spend a few seconds thinking about the best way to engage them before walking out. This showed that she wasn't simply 'playing around', but was also keeping her senses trained on her surroundings and treating the matter, at least a little, seriously.
This time around, Haruhime was facing a group of eight Minotaurs, three more than any other group she had faced. To add to the difficulty, one of the Minotaurs actually had a large greatsword covering in nicks and scratches that was also missing the tip. Vahn was wondering how she would deal with it, but before Haruhime got anywhere near the Minotaurs she simply called out in a sing-song tone, "Piercing Chill, Icicle Edge~!" However, instead of the singular ice spear, this time there were two that appeared at Haruhime's flanks that both shot toward the Minotaur wielding the sword. It tried it's best to cut them out of the air, but the second one managed to slip through and impale it in the ribs with enough force that the tip of the spear jutted out from the back of its body. As it had been on the side where its heart would have been located, the Minotaur quickly succ.u.mbed to its wound before collapsing to the ground without ever getting a chance to use its sword.
Seemingly happy about the change in her magic, Haruhime laughed in a dulcet tone before calling out, "Piercing Chill, Icicle Edge~!
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