Throne room. Shaking. Like a party’s going on inside. Rock music bring, trying to break down the walls! But there’s no music, and the one rock there is the living statue, smashing his fists on the ground while chasing Sarasa.

  “Ho! Oh? Woah? That was a close one, big guy…” Light steps and fshy twirls. Every time a fist cracked the marble floor, Sarasa stepped to the side.

  “That’s my opening…” Sarasa kept the statue busy, so Carol dashed forward. The statue’s body was completely made of rock. Where was she supposed to attack? “There?” Her sword was aimed at the giant’s ankle, but it bounced right off. “It’s too sturdy! Why do we have to fight a damn statue? We can’t do any damage!”

  “Nyahahaha… You tell me…” After one st dodged smash, Carol’s attack and compints caught the monster’s attention. He turned to chase her next, but someone had a problem with that. “Gyaaaaaahhhh!!! Focus on me, dammit!!” Sarasa climbed to its head in an instant and desperately pounded his head with a dagger. “You’re gonna step on my precious keycard! Leave her alone! Leave her alone!”

  Her pitch got so high that even the monster couldn’t stand it. He reached for his head to grab the annoying pest, but she jumped off in time.

  “Whew… Much better now…” The statue went back to his simplistic pattern of chasing Sarasa around the room while smashing the floor. Every time she dodged, Sarasa struck his chest with a dagger. Nothing happened. He was getting scratched, but that’s about it.

  “Grrr… We need magic!” Sarasa looked at her allies, but she knew she was screwed. “Aren’t there any weak spots? Have you two seen anything? Any glowing spots or arrows saying ‘strike here’?”

  “Are you stupid?” Carol shook her head while staying behind the giant. “Is that something you’re used to seeing? Monsters saying where to attack them?” She didn’t know everything about this world, but it was just too ridiculous.

  “I was just joking, okay? It’s a bit tedious just dodging this thing.” Sarasa shrugged before screaming. “Ririna! Do something!”

  “Me?” She was on the opposite corner of the room, staying as far away from the giant as possible. “What do you want me to do against something like that?” It wasn’t her first time receiving a request like this. Sarasa would get herself into a mess and then tell Ririna to solve it somehow. “I might be able to freeze him… for a while… if you can hold him in pce first…”

  “Hold him in pce, huh?” They wouldn’t be having trouble if they could do that… “Anything else?”

  “Let me see…” Ririna looked through her pockets and pouches for something that could help. “D- do you want a shockwave? Might stun him… For a second or two…”

  “That’s it?!?” It seemed useless, but with how much they’ve been moving… Sarasa had an idea. “Turn it towards the door and get ready to melt the ice.”

  “A- alright… It will take a while to set up.” That was fine. Ririna carefully moved around the room and headed towards the entrance.

  “Why are you focusing on the entrance? Shouldn’t we take care of this statue first?” Carol nded some blows whenever an opening showed up, but it didn’t look like she was making any progress.

  “Screw the statue! We’ve gotten it away from the keycard. Now I can grab it, and we can get the fuck out of here!”

  “We’re giving up?”

  “Yeah! You got any better ideas? We’re here to retrieve the keycard. Forget about it.” Carol hesitated for a second, then nodded. She didn’t like losing, but Sarasa was right. Their job is not to destroy that statue.

  “Ready, Ririna? Let’s do this!” Sarasa gave the signal. She quickly ran around the monster and grabbed the keycard from the floor. She and Carol regrouped with Ririna, who was still assembling some kind of bell-shaped device.

  “Give me a second… It’s almost done…” It was around the size of a head, and Ririna assembled the various parts with the opening turned to the block of ice. Or what remained of it. It had started melting as requested and no longer held the doors in pce.

  “What’s that?” Carol couldn’t really understand what she was seeing. It looked like a bell, but also like a cannon. That’s the thing that’s going to emit a shockwave?

  “This is a sound weapon created by alchemists. The metal is modified to make sounds louder. You pull this thing at the head, and when you let go, it sms into the body and releases a wave in the direction of the op-”

  “Don’t care! No time!” Sarasa hurried Ririna as the statue’s steps approached them. “Use it use it use it!”

  “Alright… You might wanna cover your ears…” Ririna pulled back a piece of metal connected with a spring, then boom! A nauseating shockwave shot out of the bell, making everything wobble. The living armors closest to the bell were sent flying backwards, and others in a straight line were knocked over.

  “Ughhh… That was loud…” Out of the three of them, Sarasa was affected the worst. Something about cats having sensitive ears?

  “Let’s go, Ririna. You too!” Carol helped Ririna get a move on and snapped Sarasa out of it. After a few unsteady steps, the three girls were able to move normally and made it past the encircling forces.

  “That’s where we came from! Let’s leave this pce once and for all!” Sarasa pointed to the base of another statue, to the hidden door they used to get inside. Sarasa was running ahead of the others now, but something soon stopped her. “No way…”

  Like the statue behind them, trying to make his way through the throne room’s door, the statue on that pedestal started moving. This statue wasn’t as big as the other one, but it was still much taller than them. It depicted a soldier holding a sword and shield, and to make matters worse, there were two of them. Another statue, on the opposite wall, came to life as well.

  “This may be bad…” The living armors weren’t done either. They surrounded the girls while escorting their stone friends. “Where do we go now?”

  “Iron bars… And old ones at that. I wonder if I can cut through them.” Reaching for my waist and pressing a button produces a series of mechanical sounds that assemble a formidable bck katana.

  “Now, let’s see how this baby does.” One swing made a sharp sound of metal being sliced. It’s so effective that a few sparks light from impact, shining in the dim dungeon. The first ssh is followed by another, and with that, the bars holding me captive fall to the floor.

  “Seems good. Not that cutting down rusty iron bars is that much of an achievement.” Taking a look around, I found a hallway with cells on both sides. It was in terrible condition with all sorts of debris on the ground and wear on every single rock. The only source of light was a couple of nterns hanging from the walls, using some kind of stone to emit light.

  “How exactly am I gonna get out of here? It’d be nice to regroup with the others soon… Hm? What’s this noise I’m hearing…?” Echoing from somewhere was a faint sound of metal rustling. It was dead silent a few minutes ago… What happened?

  I moved in the direction of the sound, and it wasn’t long until I came across something. Some kind of knight wobbled in my direction while dragging a sword through the floor. “Uhmm… Who are you? Do… Do you work here?” No response… Is he even human? What does he want?

  I quickly got the answers to my questions. When the knight got close enough, it started moving faster and swung his sword at me. “Too slow…” I cut his armor into pieces and dodged his sword with a single motion. The armor crumbled into a pile of scrap the next second. “Empty? Was he some kind of monster?”

  The sound of metal rustling didn’t stop, and enemy reinforcements showed up. Three up front with two more closing in from behind. “Well, no point in holding back.” Agility Burst! I closed the gap with the ones ahead and cut each of them down. “That’s good… This sword’s so cool!”

  I was busy swooning when the two remaining ones picked up the pace. Do you think you’re being sneaky?

  *Bang bang!* With no one around, I can whip out my gun as much as I want and make some noise. The skill Charged Shot lets me use MP to power my shots, and the difference it makes is incredible. Each shot opened a hole in the monsters’ armor. They jerked from the impact, then crumbled lifelessly.

  Empowering my shots makes a big difference. The material of their armor is not weak. My sword as proven it’s perfectly capable of cutting through effortlessly, so no surprises there. But it’s good to see my shots are keeping up.

  “Still, why is it so noisy?” As I made progress through the hallway, there were more and more footsteps around me. Especially from above. “It’s more of those living armors, right? What made them so active all of a sudden?”

  More enemies showed up. Their numbers now were triple that of our st encounter. “Why are they active? What else could it be?” Something must have happened on the other side. “If that’s the case, I better get there fast.” I leaned forward, ready to jump at the wobbling monsters. “And since I can, why not build some stacks along the way?” This is gonna be fun.

  “Nyahaha… Isn’t this, like, really bad? I hate to say this again, but… Ririna, can you do something?” Sarasa and Carol fought off the approaching knights while protecting Ririna. They were completely surrounded, but the small ones weren’t going to get them. The real threat was the giant statues. Rapidly closing in.

  “For the st time, I can’t fight! What do you expect me to do here? If you wanted me to help more, you should have told me earlier!” When Sarasa enlisted her help, she didn’t mention monsters being a big concern.

  “My bad, my bad… If it’s like this, I may need to escape on my own…”

  “Don’t joke about something like that!”

  Sarasa’s sshes took down a couple more knights, buying them some time. “Fine then, I guess I can take you with me. You don’t mind if I leave you behind, Carol, right?” Her voice still sounded pyful, despite their unfavorable position.

  “Tch. If it comes down to that, take her with you. I’ll just…” Do what, exactly? Dodging the statues was possible, but while surrounded by fodder? That was unlikely.

  Carol fended off several clumsy swipes and gritted her teeth. There was still one hope for her. If they can just buy a little more time, at any moment now, they could be saved. But that would mean being a burden. Again…

  Without any other choice, she pushed deeper into the swarm. With one hand, she swung her sword, destroying enemy after enemy. The other created mist that gathered into the shape of a small boulder. She had never made something that big before.

  She got close to one of the statues, and the stone giant raised his fist. That was the pn. She maniputed the boulder around and sent it flying straight at his face. “Dammit…” Her pn failed, and she ran back to the others.

  She bought them some time. The boulder stopped the statue’s attack and caused him to stop in his tracks. But she was hoping for more. Maybe the statue would lose bance and create an opening, but no such luck.

  From the corner of her eye, she looked up at the still confused giant. Beyond him, up on the wall, was a window. Then all heads turned towards it.

  *Shatter!* The gss broke into a million pieces and fell down onto the monsters behind the back. A shining figure fell next, then *clicliclink!* Dozens of armor pieces flew into the air. The sound was like a kitchen being tossed down the stairs.

  “Nyah?! What now?” Sarasa was ready to lift Ririna when the sound stopped.

  “That’s… Sh- she’s here!” Ririna heaved a sigh of relief. Every time armor pieces flew, her smile grew bigger.

  The explosions got closer, then they stopped. Iroha jumped up from the swarm at the confused statues, looking vaguely her way. “Ha!!” She swung her sword at the statue’s shoulder and created a crack.

  “Hey! You holding up there?” The giant froze in pce and Iroha stood on his shoulder for a moment. The cracks then expanded through his whole body. When Iroha pulled her sword out, he crumbled, burying a handful of knights underneath.

  “I’m here.”