Is it wrong for slimes to be in dungeons? (revised)

(Aiz POV)

I stood opposite of Shadow fox, Ms. Sophia, with a wooden sword in my hands. She had her own practice sword a little smaller, but thicker and with a curved edge. Her blank eyes showed no sign of any hesitation, or intimidation.

I sucked in a breath and focused my attention.

"Begin," I said in a quiet but firm voice. She nodded and at that I immediately rushed forward.

5 meters. That was the starting distance we agreed upon, and I closed it in an instant immediately letting loose a swing of my sword and...

Click

?!

I missed... Completely. Sophia became a blur and completely dodged my strike...

I spun to face her and before she could manage a counter attack I stabbed at her sword arm to interrupt.

She easily parried and jumped back.

"..." I paused. I couldn't help it. This wasn't something I had predicted or foreseen.

Was she...faster than me?

I waited a moment, but she showed no sign of taking the initiative.

In that case...! I rushed at her once more and stabbed at her.

Click!

!!

Once again she dodged, but this time it wasn't nearly as clean as the first.

And now I understood what she had done.

Had she out sped me?

No, that wasn't quite right. I was faster than her. That was a fact. The differences in our levels and statuses was absolute.

So how had she moved so fast she appeared as a blur?

It's simple. She hadn't. It's not that she outsped me, but rather she distracted me.

The sound of that low click drew my attention for just a moment and in that time she had managed to perfectly move out of the way. Once again she attempted to move into a blindspot, but I quickly shut her down with a forceful swing driving her back and putting distance between us.

I frowned. Even if I suppose the sound she made distracted me, the question of where that sound was coming from was still present. And even if I were to ignore that normally that wouldn't be enough.

Sounds were a constant thing on a battlefield and in the dungeon when fighting swarms of monsters.

In other words I had gotten rather used to which sounds to pay attention to and which ones I wouldn't need to worry about. Tuning out what wasn't important and keeping note of what was.

Even if this was just sparring I wasn't so easily distracted as to fall for such a cheap trick even once.

Yet... She had somehow managed it.

I peered at Ms. Sophia once more. She had a completely calm expression again, making no notion of taking the initiative despite my own inaction. She was forcing me to take the first attack. To play her game.

Alright then! I dashed forward once more and prepared my sword for a swing. And just as I was within range.

Click

But I didn't attack. And I saw what she had done this time. Her front foot tapped the ground lightly and bounded back up producing the low clicking sound.