After a rough night, Auguste and Henrietta resumed their search. Lacking in sleep, Henrietta's focus was waning, not that it proved a problem for Auguste, as he did not expect much from her when it came to scouting to begin with.

As the goal of the search was to return to the previous floor, the pair moved quickly in search of anything with any similarities to an elevator and disregarded anything else. They had even returned to the dark room once more, trying to see if they can't go back up the same way, only to find the elevator to be completely unresponsive. There was also seemingly no shaft that could be accessed from that point, making this room a complete dead end.

In the end, all the pair could do was suppressing their frustrations as they pressed onwards.

"What's with this room? It's creepin' me out."

Having found a room similar to the dark room, the pair decided to investigate. Here, in this room, other than the panels built into the floor and ceiling as well as the strange pillars on the four corners, there was a distinct difference. In this room the walls on the two sides were hollowed out and within, there hung several figures, human-like figures that, while humanoid in shape, were pale and featureless, akin to incomplete dolls. These featureless dolls, placed there like butchered meat hung out to dry, gave off an eerie feeling to the pair who walked in. There were also the ones on the floor, lying about like corpses. They didn't move after being kicked around, but Auguste couldn't shake the paranoia that they might start moving and attack them.

"We've seen worse," Auguste said dismissively. "Regardless, it's not what we're looking for, so let's get going."

"I don't know, maybe we'll find something useful, like food?"

"What kind of food do you expect to find here? With how old this ruin is, anything edible would be dust by now and you wouldn't even find them either, because the Cleaners would have cleaned it all up!"

Henrietta could hear the irritation rising within Auguste's tone.

"I- I'm sorry."

"No... No, it's fine. This is fine. We'll find a way back soon enough," he said, more to himself than anyone else. "Let's just get out of here."

Auguste walked towards the door, eager to leave. However, as he turned around, he found in his way, a white, featureless doll about half a head taller than he was. Auguste reflexively took a step back.

"Oi, Gusty! This ain't good!"

"Yeah... I can see that."

The dolls had begun to move, or rather, they were already moving around by the time they realize. Auguste did not even notice it, even though by all means he should have. Most probably, the stress and fatigue that he's been experiencing had taken a toll on his awareness.

"Henri, stick close!"

It seemed that the dolls have moved to surround them. Had Auguste noticed it earlier, they might have been able to make a run for it, but as the encirclement had been completed, there was nothing more that could be done no matter how much he regretted it.

"Initiating Simulation No. 11."

A voice called out from the ceiling, saying something in what sounded like a similar dialect as the voice in the dark room. This voice sounded more monotonous and was without the practiced cheer of the voice from before.

As Auguste drew his sword and Henrietta unsung the shield on her back, the panels built into the floor and ceiling began to light up, only to begin flickering. This one too seemed to be broken. Despite that, the dolls kept closing in on them.

"Henri, make for the door," said Auguste, making what seemed to be the most sensible call at the time. "No matter what happens, just keep your shield in front of you and keep charging."

"And you?"

"I'll be right behind, keeping them off you."

"O-okay."

"On the count of three. Two. One. Go!"

With a shrill battle cry, Henrietta charged forth, heading in the direction of the exit, hoping to whatever god willing to listen that these self-operated doors did not just lock themselves.

As expected, the dolls began moving as soon as Henrietta started charging, either trying to chase after her or intercept her. Those chasing her were stopped by Auguste, who kept them at bay with swings of his hefty blade and powerful kicks from his legs. Those trying to intercept her were knocked away by her relentless charging, blown away by this iron-clad boar.

Having been on the party with her for half a year, Auguste had noticed a few traits of Henrietta, notably her strength. While it's true that she had incredibly strong arms, more so than Finn, and could easily lift objects twice her size, the most powerful parts of her were her legs, the legs that made her so good at running away, even while carrying heavy gear. Time and time again, she displayed a surprising burst of speed with those short legs that could most likely make her the fastest amongst the party in a sprinting race. A short distance race that is. Powerful as they might be, Henrietta simply lacked the stamina to keep it up, not for the lack of trying, of course. It's simply the nature of her tough, yet weighty dwarven form.

That being said, the dolls had the advantage in numbers. Auguste didn't have the time to do a headcount, but he estimated that there were more than ten of them, maybe even twenty going by his gut feeling. There was no possible way that Auguste could swing his sword fast enough to deal with every single one that came up to him and even the ones that he was able to knock down suffered no visible damage. Whatever these dolls were made of, it was a material both light and durable, what an armor smith's dream was made of no doubt.

Seeing that that was no point to it, Auguste sheathed his sword and relied on his bare hands, grappling the dolls and knocking them into one another, turning their numerical advantage into a hindrance for even just the slightest degree.

"Gusty, I made it, the door still works!"

Auguste turned the corner of his sight towards the far side of the room, whereupon he found a trail of dolls fallen to the wayside, and at the end of it was Henrietta, standing by the exit.

With the escape path open to him, Auguste made his move to retreat. However, in the instant that he shifted attention, the dolls fell upon him. Auguste hadn't realized it before, how easily he was able to move into and out of battle with the support of the others, Gladiolus and his expert timing, Morganna who was able to read the flow of combat, and Finn with his large body and strength that could easily hold a line of enemies at bay. Without any of their support, moving around in battle suddenly became a difficult task, near impossible with the sheer number of enemies present.

Auguste did what he could, striking, tossing, kicking, he did everything he could to push the dolls aside and fight his way out. Weaving left and right, Auguste slipped past their grasps, as he gradually made his way closer and closer to the exit. However, their numbers proved to be too great. In the end, he could not dodge them all. As the dolls decided to place their collective focus upon him and crowded around him, Auguste soon found the path that Henrietta had opened to be beyond his reach. And as the dolls began to close in en masse, a few eventually got a good grip on his limbs, gradually subduing him. Had it been Finn, perhaps he could have forced his way out, but Auguste lacked that kind of strength. Screaming and shouting at the top of his lung, fighting back with all his might, Auguste struggled desperately to break free. In the back of his mind, he recognized the impossible odds. He won't be able to get out of this himself. Reflexively, Auguste turned towards the exit, seeking help from Henrietta. If it's her, then perhaps she'll be able to drag him out of this horde, especially now that they're all concentrating on him.

It took but an instant for Auguste to realize why the dolls have all suddenly decided to focus on him. He realized it as his gaze cast upon the only way out of this room, where he found no one remotely nearby. The silhouette of the short and stout girl had all but vanished. Auguste had been left behind.

Even after everything, in the end, they were but business partners. When one's life was on the line, the obvious choice was of course to save oneself above all else. It was the obvious choice, the rational choice, and even a selfish choice perhaps, but if you don't protect yourself, no one will. Even if you give your life for others, in the end, that's still one more body to add to the pile. Nothing would change, and whichever one that survives walks away with a guilty conscience.

Wallowing in despair, Auguste lost his will to struggle. He was tired from everything that had happened, tired of trying to keep a hold over himself in spite of the stressful situation. In the end, he gave in and let himself go.

It took him a while to notice that the dolls had long stopped moving.

"Oi, Gusty, yer still alive in there?"

"More or less, but I'm kind of stuck. They've locked onto my arms and legs real tight."

"Just give me a second, alright. I'm coming for ya."

"Much appreciated."

Carefully, as to not hurt Auguste underneath, Henrietta moved the dolls piled up on top of him one by one till she eventually reached Auguste at the bottom, entangled within the various grips performed on him by a good number of dolls.

"Be gentle on the one holding my right arm. It's a bad grip. One wrong move and you might just dislocate my shoulder."

"Alrighty then..."

Henrietta licked her lips, trying to identify the best way to get dolls of Auguste. It took several grueling minutes, but eventually, Auguste was broken free and was none the worse for it.

"I thought I was screwed back there. How'd you get them to stop?"

"Oh yeah, I just remembered something Gladiolus said."

Henrietta pointed towards a structure akin to a pedestal at the edge of the room. Upon it, there appeared to be some kind of panel attached, the same one seen in the elevators.

"Gladiolus said to poke at a red symbol if I ever needed to get things to stop moving in this place."

"Well, I sure am glad that you remembered."

"Oi! Of course, I would remember something as important as that!"

"I'd like to believe you, Henri, I really do, but you don't make it easy."

Auguste moved himself to a wall near the exit and practically fell against it with his back before slumping down onto the ground. He was feeling fatigued, unbelievably so. All strength had seeped out of his limbs after the ordeal he had just experienced.

"You, ah... Yer feelin' okay?"

"I'm fine. Just tired."

"Oh, okay then. Yer want me to carry you?"

"I'll pass. Besides, if we run into something like that again, I wouldn't want to weigh you down."

"Yer won't weigh me down that much. Besides, yer the one dragging a dead weight like me around this whole time. So this time, it's my turn to help you out."

After a brief consideration, Auguste let out a sigh.

"Fine. Let's do it then."

It took them a moment to figure out how it was going to work. In the end, Henrietta had Auguste hang onto her back, his legs wrapped around her to so that they don't drag against the ground.

"Alrighty, let's go!"

"Wait, you hear that?"

Stopped by Auguste's words, Henrietta shifted her focus to her ears. It was faint to her senses, but she could hear a low hum coming from the hallway outside. She knew this sound. It was the sound both she and Auguste had encountered a few times prior. It was the sound that the Cleaners make.

The sound eventually became clear enough for them to be sure that the Cleaner was just outside. As far as they knew, the Cleaners were non-hostile and should not do anything if they were to simply pass it by. With that in mind, they decided to take their leave of this room. Heading to the door and letting it slide open on its own, Auguste and Henrietta found themselves face to face with a Cleaner right outside of the door. It wasn't just passing by, it was standing there with what appeared to be its vertically aligned eyes staring right at them.

"What a surprise, more visitors," it said to them in the Alva's dialect.

***

End of Chapter 76