Ted and Suzy drench themselves in an MP potion, trying to hasten their mana recovery.

"Did it work?" Ciel asks, worriedly.

"The potion is being absorbed by our metal skeletons," Ted says.

"Our mana regeneration is increasing, but it's three times slower than a humanoid's," Suzy says.

"Huh… so you guys do have a weakness," I say.

"Just until they learn [Redirect Mana]," Ciel says.

"True."

I sit down and sigh. The armor makes it a little awkward to sit, but since it's padded, it isn't too difficult to find a comfortable position.

I raise my visor and look at the girls. The three of us are all uncomfortable and tired of having to smell these fucking rotting zombies for so long.

"I have an idea, how about this?" Yunia says and turns off her [Spirit Light].

"Hm…?" I frown at her, then it dawns on me. "Oh…! That's right! They might be attracted to the light since they healed from [Judgment]."

"So… you want us to fight in complete darkness?" Ciel asks.

"Right, for you girls, it wouldn't work so well, but it can still be useful in a pinch. Anyway, what I thought is to use light to lure them away from the room," I say.

"A light elemental," Ciel suggests, and I nod in agreement.

"I could cast [Ignorance] on all of us, that would make it easier to sneak around them," Yunia suggests.

"Please do," I say.

"Wolfy, we are not alone," Alissa says through [Bind].

"Ciel, throw a [Spirit Light] out of the door to attract the husks away from our closet, then we'll block any gaps around the door that could let light leak out. I'm going to focus on Alissa's team."

"Understood," Ciel says, and they act.

Alissa and the others are in the main hall of the mayor's public office, a wide and open modern-looking building with minimalist paintings covering the walls and floor. The furniture all around them is made of glass, and even the balustrade of the three visible floors are made of glass panels.

The view brings me a hint of nostalgia, reminding me of Earth, but the lack of illumination gives it all a ghostly feeling.

Alissa perceives three presences patrolling the corridors, one on each floor above the one they're on.

"This looks fragile," Aoi says and uses one of her claws to poke a chair made of glass. The gray cushioning looks comfortable, but the lack of details or adornments give it that "soullessness" that plagues a lot of modernist architecture.

"It's reinforced with something. It's still weaker than wood, but it's not as fragile as a cup of glass," Lina says.

"We're not here to admire the architecture," Alissa says and pulls them back into "serious mode."

"If you don't stop to admire the architecture and smell the flowers, can you honestly say that you've really been there?" I question through [Bind], trying to sound as pretentious as possible.

"Please," Alissa pleads, trying to hide her amusement, but [Bind] never lies.

They walk to the reception desk and look over the documents while I translate for them. Alissa finds a map of the area, Lina finds a memo about keycards, and Aoi finds a memo about the new security arrangements. Curiously, the dates on all the documents have faded.

The map says that the keycard creation workshop is located on the top floor. It's a restricted area that requires a red keycard to open, so I don't think that we'll be able to go there just yet.

The keycard memo is about the new mayor requiring a keycard. The chief of security is reminding the public servants that a high-security delivery of the keycard will happen at a predetermined time, and he'll be absent, personally delivering it to the mayor at his mansion.

"Hey, so this might be the mayor's mansion," Roxanne says.

They're currently standing in front of the main entrance to the mansion. Hana is keeping an eye behind them while Roxanne examines an intricate padlock that's securing a chain wrapped around the handles of the double door. There's a mysterious note nailed to the door, clearly a hint about this puzzle.

"You know what, fuck this," Hana says and pushes Roxanne to the side.

"Here we go…" Roxanne says and smiles wryly.

Hana breathes fire on the chain until it glows white-hot, then she pulls out her steel war hammer and slams it onto chains until they break.

The door opens with a wooden creak, and they wait in a combat stance. After a minute of nothing happening, they walk inside.

"What if destroying the chains triggered the alarm?" I ask.

"Oops, didn't think of that," Hana says and cringes.

"It would be a waste to put an alarm enchantment on a padlock and chain," Roxanne says.

"Y-yeah, exactly," Hana says and laughs.

Roxanne shakes her head and smiles wryly, then she says, "We'll search for the mayor's office."

The security memo that Aoi found is about the three new guards that will patrol during the night. Elite special soldiers with extreme mental conditioning. The public servants are warned that nobody will be allowed to stay in the office once it closes and that disobedience will most likely result in death.

"You don't put such extreme security practices in place if you're not protecting something very important," Alissa says.

Yunia nods and says, "That keycard creation workshop is worth it, not to mention all the valuable information that's probably stored in the building. The entire leadership of this station works over there, so almost everything relevant to espionage is concentrated in a single location." All of which I relay to the others.

"We should try to fight those patrolling soldiers first, then we'll explore the building after they've been dealt with," Alissa suggests.

"I agree," Lina says, and Aoi nods with a toothy grin.

"I'll remain on standby to pull you girls out of there," I say.

"Shad, follow Aoi for now," Alissa orders, and the silent shadow obeys.

The husks slowly make their way to Ciel's [Spirit Light], then one of them eats it and heals a little. Now, without any light that they can see, they all forget about us and resume aimlessly shambling around.

Alissa's team crosses through the main hall and slowly climbs up a set of stairs. Meanwhile, Hana and Roxanne get lost in the creepy and dark mansion.

"Aoi, you'll stay in front, Lina will stay closer to me. At first, we'll focus on observing the enemy and keeping it away from us instead of engaging it in melee combat," Alissa orders, and they both nod.

They walk through the corridors and cautiously await the floor's guard. They stand still, ready for battle, as the sound of heavy boots slowly grows in volume as it comes closer to them.

A large figure makes the turn around the corner; it's immediately illuminated by their [Spirit Light]s and stops before them. He's a beast of a man at over two-meters tall; his skin is as pale as Roxanne's; his muscles are huge and veiny; his creepy face is chubby and bald like a baby's; his right arm is fused with a metal cannon; his left one is fused with a sledgehammer; the only bit of clothing on him is his pair of heavy, dark boots; and thankfully, he doesn't have genitals.

Alissa fires a thin mana arrow designed to pierce his flesh. It hits right in the middle of his forehead and enters his skull, but the man doesn't even react, his baby face is completely expressionless. Then the arrow is pushed back out of his head. It falls to the ground, and not even a wound remains in his flesh.

Mana leaves his body, and a ball of light flies out of his cannon-arm with frightening speed. Even through Alissa's eyes, I can tell that this light is "dangerous," just like Ciel's [Judgment].

Alissa dodges and grimaces; Aoi and Lina might not be able to avoid that attack. The ball of light illuminates the corridor as it passes beside them, then it hits the end of the hallway and instantly dissipates.

The Baby Brute starts walking towards them. He looks so menacing that he causes waves of stress to crash into the girls with each of his heavy steps.

Aoi spreads her wings, nearly blocking the whole corridor, and bends the air to her will. She compresses it, then launches crude [Wind Blade]s towards the Baby.

"Since when can you do that?" I ask.

"Since always. It was just too weak to be used before," she answers.

The blades cut into his chest and open deep wounds, but not even a single drop of blood falls from them. After a mere three seconds, the wounds simply close by themselves.

"[Cursing Magic] isn't working," Lina says.

The Baby Brute picks up speed and starts jogging towards them.

Alissa fires two mana arrows at the same time, and each of them sinks into one of his eyes. The arrows are promptly pushed out, and the eyes return to normal as if nothing had happened.

Alissa clicks her tongue and says, "I'm starting to hate these stupid regeneration abilities."

"That's because you're too powerful. Otherwise, you kill everything with one shot," I respond, and she scoffs.

The Baby Brute casts a spell, and another ball of light is launched towards Alissa, who puts all her effort into dodging it.

Lina fires some [Earth Bullet]s, but she lacks the "Magic Power" to do any significant damage, besides forcing the Baby Brute to slow down to a walk.

Aoi fills the entire corridor in front of them with her fire breath, but the Brute continues walking as if nothing happened, instantly regenerating his muscles as they burn. The only change is that he's lost his boots.

Then she fires an explosive fireball at him, and flesh flies everywhere. This finally makes him stop for a short moment, but then he immediately starts jogging again. His chest regenerates at a visible rate, and in a few more seconds it'll be completely healed. He's a fucking juggernaut.

Aoi flaps her wings, creating heavy gusts of air, and Lina casts more [Earth Bullet]s at his legs. Both of them manage to slow the Baby Brute down again, giving them a few more precious seconds.

"There's no way to stop him!" Aoi yells, starting to become concerned.

The Brute aims at Aoi, then Alissa casts [Double Image], and he shoots at nothing.

"He destroyed my spell!" Alissa exclaims, stunned.

"That could be a ranged form of [Judgment], so don't let it hit you, it'll hurt a lot," Ciel says.

"I'll keep attracting his attention then," Alissa says. "Lina! Trip him!"

Lina casts [Earth Wall] just in front of his feet, creating a short step. His foot slams against it, and the step cracks, but the Brute still trips and falls forward. Its creepy, unemotional face keeps staring at Lina all the way down, even bending his neck to an impossible angle to stay locked onto her.

Aoi leaps forward and lands with a savage chop of her halberd, decapitating the Brute. Its head rolls forward without spilling any blood, then black tendrils extend from the severed flesh and grab the body.

He leaps with all four limbs and stands up straight while his head hangs loosely from him by the black tendrils, then he immediately attacks Aoi with his sledgehammer. The hammer passes through [Wind Shield] and slams against her black shield, nearly folding it in half before the force of the strike flattens Aoi against the wall, causing a brief rumble to resound through the building.

Anger flares up inside both mine and Aoi's minds.

Motherfucker!

Alissa fires an arrow at his left knee, then Aoi violently lashes out, using the claws of her forelegs to slash through the back of that same knee, forcing him to kneel. The black tendrils pull his head back into place, and the wound closes as if nothing had happened.

Lina dashes forward and sinks her axe into his knee. Aided by my [Sharp Blades], it cuts cleanly through his muscles and bone, chopping off his leg. He falls on his ass, and black tendrils immediately shoot towards the leg and grab it.

The sledgehammer swings towards Lina, and she uses [Enhanced Speed] to dodge downwards. The hammer clips the top of her shield, tilting it back, then she pushes upwards and deflects the bow. The hammer embeds itself in the wall, causing another small tremor.

Aoi bites the cannon arm, preventing him from aiming it at them again, then she drops her weapons and sinks her foreclaws into his chest. She roars in rage and tries to rip his arm off while the heat coming from her mouth burns his skin.

Alissa casts [Mesmerizing Butterflies], but only an extremely powerful spell would be able to distract someone from a dragon trying to rip their arm off. The sledgehammer blurs and bashes against Aoi's helmet, sending deep cracks into it.

Aoi gets stunned and releases the arm, then her Shad attacks the Brute. Its black, ethereal tendrils sink into its body, but nothing happens, then the cannon points up, directly at Aoi's head.

Fuck.

I summon Aoi.

The closet suddenly gets rather cramped when Aoi appears in front of me, and the Brute launches a ball of light that harmlessly dissipates as it hits the ceiling. The creepy baby head instantly snaps towards Lina, its emotionless eyes staring straight into her soul.

"Heal her," I say, and Ciel jumps forward, grabbing Aoi's heavy body, and immediately starts [Heal]ing her. "Run!" I order Alissa and Lina.

"Shad, with me!" Alissa orders, and the shadow monster silently obeys.

The little dwarf scampers away with a pale face while Alissa casts [Double Image] repeatedly, keeping the Brute busy.

Alissa turns into a fox, and Lina mounts her, then they make their escape, but the Brute follows them, his legs already fully healed.

Alissa jumps off of the balcony and lands in the main hall. The Brute follows without hesitation mere moments after her, but when Alissa crosses the exit, he stops following them and immediately makes for the stairs.

"Let's not fight that," I say.

"Agreed," Alissa says.

Aoi recovers from her stun and curls herself up. Her tail angrily sways wildly from side to side in a low cadence. It's only because she remembers Alissa's reprimand that she's not currently spewing fire with every breath.

Her helmet has cracked and bent in a little, so it's slightly uncomfortable for her. I grab her large head and rest it on my lap, then Yunia starts the repairs.

"You let your rage take over you, then you gave an opening to your opponent," Hana says to Aoi.

"I know…" Aoi grumbles a response.

"You even left your weapons behind," Alissa says.

Aoi grits her teeth and doesn't respond. Her mouth warms up my lap as fire threatens to flare out.

Alissa and Lina enter the office again. Lina stays mounted on her; this way, Alissa can remain completely silent while sneaking around. Alissa's MP is also at about half, so they'd rather avoid alerting the Brutes. [Double Image] is too expensive for her to keep using it so often.

They climb up to the first floor and recover Aoi's weapons. Her shield is bent, but Lina thinks it'll only take about an hour to bring it back into shape. Repairs with [Manipulate Metal] reduce its overall integrity, though, so it'll be slightly weaker until it can be reforged.

Then they sneak up to the third floor and wait until the Brute patrolling there walks away from the mayor's personal office. The door requires a green keycard to open it, but luckily for us, it was left open. They'll have to hide when the Brute walks close, though.

The office is large and lavish. There's a circle of sofas around a glass "technically not coffee" table; a small cart with a glass tea set; a wide metal desk near the back wall; a few document shelves behind the desk; bookshelves covering the left wall; minimalist paintings covering the right wall; and dead potted plants spread all over.

"I'll search the desk, you search the shelves," Alissa says, and Lina dismounts.

Alissa easily finds a green keycard in one of the desk's drawers.

"How fortunate," I say.

"We just need to find a use for it now," Alissa responds.

"Access denied. Repeated attempts will trigger the alarm. Please use a green keycard for access, thank you for your understanding."

"How convenient, we just did," Roxanne says and smiles wryly. She and Hana are standing before a locked door, presumably the mayor's office.

"At least something went well…" I say as I read the document in Lina's hands. Apparently, the mayor lost his yellow keycard, so engineering sent a memo to double-check everyone's identity before allowing any changes to the power grid.

"So… we came all this way for nothing?" Yunia asks and frowns.

"Maybe… but since we're here, we might as well clear out these husks," I say.

Aoi groans. "Send me back. I don't want to smell these husks anymore!" She requests.

I pat her head and say, "I'll send you back to the place where we split up. Be careful, since you'll be alone."

"I will," she responds in a serious tone.

I kiss the tip of her nose and feel a small burst of happiness escape through her [Bind], then I open a [Gate] under her, and she disappears.

Alissa finds a locked drawer in the desk. There aren't any keys in the other drawers, so she starts trying to force it open.

"Lina, help me over here," she asks.

The gloomy girl nods and grabs the sides of the drawers. Mana courses through her body, and her [Spirit of Gaia] doubles the passive stat bonuses of [Stonebody]. The metal starts to bend, then it suddenly rips away, and Lina falls on her ass.

Alissa feels a chill as the Baby Brute of their floor suddenly stops patrolling.

Lina looks inside the drawer and finds an opened letter with neither a sender nor a recipient.

"The Brute is coming towards us," Alissa says.

"I didn't make that much noise," Lina complains.

"Doesn't matter. The monsters around here have some sort of special senses or something," I say.

Alissa looks towards the window beside the document shelves.

"I wouldn't recommend that. Windows are a common place to put an alarm system," Roxanne says.

"It's too late to try to sneak past the Brute," Alissa says.

"Turn off your [Spirit Light]s and hide," I say, and Alissa nods.

Lina gathers all the papers they can, and they hide behind one of the large sofas. Alissa casts [Ignorance], just in case. Without [Spirit Light], I can now only see through their Holly and Shad.

After half a minute, the Brute appears in front of the door. His eyes scan the room before he moves towards the desk.

Everything is so quiet that the girls' breathing sounds like wheezing, and the Brute's heavy steps feel like stomps.

He stops to stare at the document shelves, then he turns around and crouches, noticing that the drawer was ripped open.

Alissa winces as she suddenly hears a high-pitched screech, hurting her ears. Lina looks at her in confusion, it seems that only Alissa can hear it.

The Brute suddenly stands up and starts quickly searching the room. Alissa and Lina brace themselves, but the Brute walks past them without reacting; he even looks in their direction, but [Ignorance] prevents him from seeing them. The other two Brutes speed up and make their way to the third floor. Then it leaves the room and starts searching the next one

"Trying to sneak past them will be rather risky now. Any ideas?" Alissa asks.

The Brutes start searching inside the other rooms, and out of the few that are unlocked, most don't have any reliable hiding spots. Now, if they try to use [Ignorance] to sneak past the Brutes, Alissa likely won't have enough MP to keep it up all the way to the stairs.

"Summoning Solid Snake," I say with a grin.

"Reference. Video games," Suzy says.

Alissa rolls her eyes and lets me control her. I make her grab the cart and park it outside, right beside the wall of the corridor. Then I return her to her hiding place and wait. She breathes calmly and easily controls her own arousal from me using [Bind] to control her.

A Brute passes by, and his eyes lock onto the cart, but he simply passes by it without doing anything else.

"Well, well, well. We found our box," I say and guide the girls towards the cart. It's pretty small and cramped, but they both fit. A long tablecloth blocks both of them from view.

Lina feels a little hot from having Alissa's face pressed against hers, then Alissa also starts feeling it from my own fetishes bleeding through to her through [Bind]. I sigh and control myself. The smell of rotten flesh is a great help with that.

The girls push the cart along and slowly make their way towards the stairs. Without the Brutes staring directly at them, [Ignorance] doesn't drain Alissa's MP as much.

They finally reach the corridor leading to the stairs and stop a few meters away from them. Then a Brute stops in front of the cart, and our blood runs cold.

He's so close that I can see him through Shad's vision. He's staring at the cups, then he lifts his sledgehammer and uses it to align one of the cups with its plate.

Suddenly, his cannon lifts the tablecloth and aims directly at the girls.

Lina fires an [Earth Bullet] at the cannon, clogging it, then Alissa grabs her and rolls out of the cart. She turns into a fox with Lina already on top and leaps to the side as the sledgehammer crushes the floor beside her.

She dashes down the stairs, and all three Brutes go to the balcony. They jump down to the main hall and wait for Alissa to come to them.

"Uh…" Alissa's brain stops for a moment as she processes what's going on. "It seems like they don't know that I can sense their exact positions."

She goes to the balcony of the first floor and waits for the Brutes to move.

"Make a [Double Image] of yourself outside the office, let's see if they fall for it," I suggest.

She first casts [Mesmerizing Butterflies] to make them look behind themselves, then she casts a long-range [Double Image] for a moment. Any mage worth their salt would instantly recognize the illusion and interrupt it effortlessly, but these are Brutes that are easily fooled by it and believe that their target has escaped.

They leave the main hall and start coming up the stairs again.

"I'm very thankful that they're dumb," Alissa says.

"If they weren't, then they would be quite overpowered," I say.

The girls snort, and Alissa leaps down to the main hall. They cross through the exit and finally escape.

I sigh and get up. "Now, let's deal with these stinky fuckers outside," I say.