"Was that a reference?" Alissa asks.

I nod. "Yeah. From video games."

"Why are their eyes glowing red? How cliché," Roxanne comments.

"It's certainly not a monster. Its presence felt similar to a Living Armor," Alissa says.

"And it didn't look like there was anyone inside that armor, so I think I agree with you," Hana says.

"So it looks like I'm mostly useless," Alissa comments with a wry smile.

"You can still, uh… 'distract' it with [Illusion Magic]," Ciel comments while cringing.

Alissa scratches her fox ear awkwardly. "So, I'm bait, huh…?"

"You're kind of the nimblest of us. I'm bad at turning," Hana says.

Totally not feeling hurt at being ignored, I say, "With [Telekinesis] I can dodge nearly everything."

Alissa frowns and says, "But if things go wrong, you can use [Bind] to pull me out of danger. If you get yourself into a bad spot, then there's nobody that can help you."

Now I am the one who frowns. "[Gate] still works and Ciel's [Holy Spirit] can keep itself latched onto me."

"That's still risky," Ciel warns a little worriedly.

"But… how are we even going to fight it?" Roxanne asks.

"There's no guarantee that it'll behave like a Living Armor if we 'stab' it," I say.

Lina hands me her switch-axe, currently in its hammer form. "Then we turn it into scrap metal," she says.

"That'll take a while. We need to find its weak spot," Hana says.

"Joints: knees and elbows," Lina says.

"But what if it moves like Jarn? If it does, then even if we destroyed the joints, it would still use some form of [Telekinesis] to stay upright," Roxanne ponders.

"So… no weak spots?" Hana asks and we glumly nod.

Something tells me that there's a blood symbol inside it at the neck area, but I'm sure that the girls won't appreciate another reference…

"I still have to study the Uspidor acid and the Symbol of Decay's goop," Roxanne says.

"The Symbol of Decay melted the armor off of the metal dragonoids that I summoned, so maybe we can use it," I say.

Roxanne claps her hands, making a loud noise. "Ohoho! It's time for me to shine!" She exclaims with a manic smile as her glasses gleam.

"Make sure you're protected; those things are toxic," I say and grasp her delicate hand.

She smiles proudly and fidgets in excitement. "Yes, yes. To calm your tender and worrying heart, I'll make sure that my perfect body remains pure."

My expression goes a little stiff and I release her hand. "Yes… do that…"

I pull out the Symbol of Decay donut and we quickly cut off a tentacle, then I store the rest back in my "Items" so that no more blood is wasted.

So… how do you contain something that corrodes everything? By making it float in the air.

We use Ted, Suzy, and Jarn to suspend a small amount of goop inside Roxanne's workbench while she analyses it.

Even though there's no vacuum enchantment yet, the gloves and glass window protect her against spills and fumes.

"This goop is not an acid, but it's definitely magical since there's no known physical substance that corrodes things as fast as this does," she comments.

"Can we replicate it somehow and weaponize it?" I ask.

"We can replicate it easily with [Alchemy], but weaponizing it would be much easier with [Alchemicism]," she says the last few words with a sour face. "But make no mistake, if you want 'repeatability,' and by that I mean, to be able to manufacture things with any reliability, then [Alchemy] is the answer."

"What's the difference between them?" Alissa asks.

She adjusts her glasses and acquires a stern demeanor. "[Alchemy] is simply magical chemistry. We analyze the properties of matter and how it interacts with itself and with mana. [Alchemicism] is the utilization of the abstract concepts of mana-rich matter to transmute one 'thing' into another, and that includes transfer of 'abstract concepts,' so the transmutation can get very complex. The problem with that magic school is that you never really know what you are getting until it's done. Each mage practices [Alchemicism] a bit differently, so it's unreliable."

"I see. So, for improvising something on the spot, it could be useful? And can I learn it?" I ask.

"Exactly, but I don't know enough to teach you and I'd prefer that you didn't blindly test it with your Gift."

"Agreed," Alissa says with a nod.

"We don't need a perfect weapon to use this stuff, we just need a container that will last long enough for us to spread the goop on the Living Armor," Lina says.

"Right, yeah, that's doable," Roxanne says.

She tests a variety of materials on the goop and it seems that steel really is the most resistant to it, but it's still too expensive for us to use that as a consumable.

"What if we used a weaker material for a container, then stored it in our [Item Box]es until it was time to throw it?" I ask.

"Cover the container with something sticky, then we can be sure that the goop will end up covering the Living Armor," Lina says.

"The Uspidor's tentacles are quite sticky," Alissa says.

"I collected some of the tentacles from the one we turned into giblets. I meant for us to eat them later, but I guess we can part with a few," I say with a wry smile.

"Wolfy, put a point in [Alchemy] for me so that I can learn [Transmute]," Roxanne requests.

"Can't you use [Extract Pus] to… extract whatever mana signature it is that's corrosive?" I ask.

"There are quite a few, so it's just easier to copy everything rather than test them one-by-one."

"Alright, but don't you have a magic tool for [Transmute]?"

"Actually knowing the spell helps with its efficiency."

I nod and fulfill her request. She now has five points in [Alchemy] and the spell [Transmute] appears in her "Magic" tab.

She pulls out an MP potion and the [Transmute] magic tool, then she holds the potion close to the floating glob of goop while keeping the magic tool in between them.

"Ted, you'll be responsible for holding the goop in place after I transmute it, okay?" She asks.

"Understood," Ted answers.

She activates the magic tool, and something oddly similar to a soul starts to seep out of it. It's so similar that my [Sense Soul] itches but doesn't detect anything. Then the pseudo-soul splits into two. One of them envelops the goop while the other envelops the MP potion.

Roxanne feeds a large amount of mana to the magic tool and the glowing blue liquid turns white, then disappears. In its place, more of the goop replaces it and immediately starts to corrode the glass flask of the potion.

Ted casts [Telekinesis] on the new goop and combines it with the glob.

We repeat this a few more times until we have a sizable amount of goop.

"That cost you a lot of mana and potions," I comment.

Roxanne shrugs and responds, "Better than using the corpse of the Symbol of Decay and wasting more of its ingredients. I can still use [Redirect Mana] to replenish myself, and we can easily replace the potions back in town."

We wrap ceramic pots with Uspidor tentacle skin, making them quite sticky, then we fill the pots with the goop and immediately store them in our [Item Box]es and my "Items."

"Now we just need a strategy to distract it while we throw our little gifts," Hana says.

"I'm bait," Alissa says, without hesitation.

"I'll fly around it and throw the pots at the more vulnerable spots," I say.

"I can do that, too," Hana says with a frown.

"You yourself said that you lack the turning speed to dodge it in mid-air. I can do it," I repeat.

"Well… I think he can," Lina agrees, a little apprehensively. "We can't all go wasting these pots just randomly throwing them at the Living Armor."

Alissa sighs. "Fine, let's do it like that, then," she finally accepts.

"I'm not that fragile, mom," I say and pout at Alissa.

She narrows her eyes and sends me a side-eyed glance. "We'll see about that."

Aoi holds a pot in her hand a little precariously. "I don't want to throw these things. I'll miss," she says.

Ciel looks at the pots with uncertainty, too. "Yeah. Only Hana and Lina should try to throw them, we aren't confident that we won't just waste them," she says, and Roxanne nods along.

I grab the [Holy Spirit] and it shrinks, then it crawls up my chest, slips into my helmet, and stays near the back of my neck. It feels like a warm, watery cushion that tickles me once in a while.

"We're ready, let's go," I say.

We open the stone double door and see the Living Armor standing still, in the same combat stance as before. It has no decorations, making it rather plain, except for the two glowing red balls floating right behind the slit of its sallet's visor. But it doesn't need decorations to look menacing when its size dwarfs even Hana and its sword effortlessly plows through the air as it gets ready for a strike.

It's too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it's a mass of raw steel.

Gih.

I'm sure the girls wouldn't want to hear a reference right now, so I'm grateful for your appreciation of culture.

I put ten points in [Throw], then Alissa transforms into a fox and we march forward.

Ciel, Roxanne, Aoi, and the golems wait behind the door, safe from the Living Armor; Lina stands ready at the doorway, prepared to retreat if the Living Armor targets her; Hana will circle near the edge of the platform, far away from the Living Armor; Alissa and I charge the middle, but I let Alissa reach the Armor first to grab its attention.

As soon as Alissa gets in range, the Armor strikes downwards and the platform trembles from its stupidly high raw strength. Alissa easily dodges the attack and circles around the Armor.

Its sallet silently turns in a creepy manner so that its red glowing eyes can remain staring straight at Alissa. It lifts the sword and we see a large groove left in the stone platform that was caused by the previous strike.

It swings the sword horizontally and Alissa jumps out of its way.

I get in range and cast [Discharge]. The sallet immediately turns backwards to face me and [Battlefield Perception] triggers. I jump back as its body spins with incredible speed to strike at me one-handed.

[Discharge] didn't cause any damage, so I stop using it.

Alissa runs in and tackles its leg, making it momentarily lose its balance. The sallet immediately spins around again to face her, with its body continuing the spin to strike down at the nimble fox.

She dodges sideways and another groove appears in the stone platform.

I pull out a Decay pot and throw it at the back of its sallet. The pot breaks and coats the helmet with goop. Thanks to how sticky the pot is, both it and the goops stay on the helmet and hardly any of the goop flies off.

The sallet spins back around to face me and its sword arm swings backward. With [Telekinesis], I dodge to the side and my legs shake as the lump of steel impacts the platform beside me.

Can this thing hold? Will the platform get destroyed by the Armor?

Before my mind can arrive at an answer, the flat part of the thick blade slams into my flank as the Armor tries to launch me off of the platform. I grab the rough blade and easily manage to resist being batted away.

Hana throws a pot that hits its sword shoulder and Lina throws one that hits its thigh. The Armor decides to turn to Hana and then kicks Alissa away as she comes in for a tackle. Since she's in her fox form, she doesn't feel any pain and gracefully lands on her paws a few meters away.

The [Holy Spirit] heals the small amount of pain in my flank, and I release my grip on the blade just as the Armor decides to swing the flat part down to try to flatten me against the floor.

With [Telekinesis], I float in the air and ready another pot. The sallet immediately turns to face me, and my pot hits the sword's blade as it swings at me again. As I was almost out of its reach, just a little nudge with [Telekinesis] is enough for me to dodge this slash.

"IT CAN SEE WITHOUT LOOKING AT YOU, BUT THE RED EYES SHOW WHO IT IS TARGETING!" I yell.

Alissa gets up off the floor and charges towards the Armor again, only to stop midway as she casts a spell. The helmet follows Alissa's illusion and kicks at the air, then its sword comes down for a slash, still targeting the same illusion.

Hana throws a pot at its other shoulder and Lina throws a pot at its face. The Armor immediately targets Lina and runs towards her. She retreats behind the door, which the girls start to close as soon as she's safe.

I fly towards the Armor with [Telekinesis] and strike the helmet with Lina's switch-axe. It caves halfway in, which is much more damage than I expected.

The red eyes immediately face me and its chest spins in place for a two-handed slash at me.

I dodge the attack just as Alissa comes in for another charge. The Armor ignores her and she successfully hits one of its knees, making it kneel and miss its attack. Not that it would've connected, but with this, I don't have to waste any mana to dodge it.

Then I strike downwards at the helmet again and its red eyes warp out of place, making it look funny.

As I fly away to land, Lina hits the back of the sallet again, but it's Alissa's second attack that draws the attention of the Armor. She casts [Double Image] again and the Armor's red eyes jump between the two Alissas, trying to discern who is real.

It decides to attack the one moving closer, only for its sword to hit nothing while the real Alissa runs out its reach, completely safe.

Hana and I each throw a pot. Mine hits the sword again while hers hits the back of the Armor.

Its red eyes turn back to me, but then immediately turn to Alissa, who's charging at it again.

Gify, play some metal for me.

Images of dragons fighting and mating flood my mind, - unfurling the mast, but also filling my heart with energy.

Not what I wanted, but okay, this works, too.

The Armor attacks Alissa, only for its sword to whiff again and hit nothing but an illusion. It stays still for a second, and I chuckle at imagining how confused it must be feeling—if it can feel anything at all.

I charge forward and its bent eyes face me, then it kneels again as an [Ignorance]-clad Alissa tackles the back of one of its legs.

I hit the weakened thigh and bend it backward, almost fully crippling that leg.

It swings the sword horizontally, and we duck under it. Then I jump with [Telekinesis] and use its knee to jump even higher again. With a mid-air somersault, I strike down with my hammer onto its sword shoulder, which bends so much that the arm is stuck in place.

I continue on and fly upwards as the Armor spins its entire body to try to strike at me. The telegraphing is so obvious that I easily dodge it just as I deactivate [Telekinesis] to come back down for another strike.

I crush its huge helmet into a lump of steel, leaving its red eyes buried behind its chest. It suddenly stops moving and switches the sword to its still-working arm. Then it starts swinging the sword wildly at us, so we stop to watch it for a moment.

"Can… can it see us?" Hana asks.

"It seems so," I say as Alissa dodges backward to avoid a clumsy attack.

"I don't think it can see us very well. Its attacks have lost their precision," Alissa says.

"Ooh… The helmet gave its vision 'focus,'" I say as I hit a fist against my palm in understanding. Then I grab the hammer again and smirk. "Well, now it's time to turn it into scrap!"

The parts not covered in goop barely bend from my attacks, but the ones that have been seem to bend like a tin can. Of course, I only hit the areas where the goop has already dried up, otherwise, I'd be greatly damaging Lina's expensive enchanted axe.

The Armor apparently uses its joints to move, so as we slowly bend them further out of shape, it loses more and more of its range of movement.

The power of the dragon visions fuel my attacks as I release a barrage of blows. With [Bind], I weave in Hana and Alissa to always keep the Living Armor busy while we aim at its blind spots. Relentless and merciless, the dragon does not measure its efforts to subdue its prey. My sole focus right now is to end the threat with all of our power.

The Armor strikes again at Alissa's illusion and the sword finally breaks at its base. Without wasting a single second, it drops the hilt and starts to awkwardly punch at us.

Hana pulls out her own war hammer and smirks. "Now, I can fight too!" She yells.

We hit the other shoulder that was weakened by the goop and crush it to the point that it can't move, then we slowly crush its hips so that it can't walk anymore and has to crawl around instead.

"Well… now what? How do we actually kill it?" Hana asks.

"Alissa, lure it to the edge of the platform," I say.

"Understood."

The Armor crawls towards Alissa and desperately tries to strike at her. It's becoming increasingly creepy to fight this huge monstrosity.

With everyone working together, we cast blunt attack spells to push it over the edge. Then, we just rest for a minute and watch as it crashes onto the middle of the platform with a resounding thud.

Its legs get bent beyond recognition, and now, it can only move one arm, which seems to have become a lot slower.

We watch it for another minute as it struggles to chase after us while the glow of its red eyes embedded in its chest slowly fades.

Then finally, the red light is snuffed out, and it stops moving.

"It's dead," Alissa announces and sighs in relief.

The bloodlust still courses through my veins, but a disgust starts to grow inside of me.

What did Hana say…? Control my anger, let it fuel my actions, but don't let it take control over me.

I control my breathing and start to meditate with my eyes open. The bloodlust starts to lash out and tries to take hold of me, but my own will and my disgust at bloodshed keeps the lust in check.

With a groan of frustration, - I finally push it down and the visions of dragons fade from my mind.

These visions are messing with my head. Are you sure this is safe?

Gih.

Oh, Gods…

It might not be safe, but it's damn effective.

I approach the huge lump of steel and store it all in my "Items." Since it didn't rot away after its "death," this steel is still very valuable.

"You feeling okay, Wolfy? I noticed some very intense feelings coming from you," Alissa says.

"I used Gify's dragon visions to help motivate me to fight. It was quite effective, but also a little scary."

"We call that 'power lust,'" Hana says in a knowing tone and chuckles. "You want to make others submit to your power so much that it probably makes your dick hard."

"That seems… an apt description," I say.

"I guess that's a good way to learn how to be a dragon." She shrugs.

Aoi nods and says, "Yeah. Power lust is the core of my energy."

"So I better start learning how to control it," I say.

"It's like I always say," Hana starts, then we say in unison, "Control your anger. Let it fuel your actions, but only when you need it."

We both smirk at each other, then we start laughing out loud together.

"Weepers' dream! I told you that we were going to get a second Hana!" Ciel exclaims in horror.

"I'm just learning to understand her more. I might end up being more like a wereanimal than a dragonkin," I hurriedly say, trying to appease Ciel.

She groans and shakes her head. Roxanne gulps and looks a little worried about the future of her body's integrity.

"We'll just have to work harder to contain him," Alissa says, and Lina nods.

"It's not like you girls were trying very hard to begin with," I say.

"It might even be a little too late to start trying," Hana says and chuckles.

"You haven't seen true Misty Fox ferocity," Alissa says, confident.

"You're the last person I'd bet on to be able to contain him," Ciel says.

Alissa narrows her eyes at Ciel and smirks. "You underestimate my power," she says.

Sometimes the memes just write themselves.

Ciel remains unconvinced as we approach the next door. Our shoulders drop, all the tension in our bodies releasing as we recognize what's before us: the barren wooden room that will take us to the next level.

We enter the room and close the door, then the floor glows and our awareness is cut off again.