Apparently Jaune's communication skills ranked pretty highly among the Twelve Zodiac Guardians. After that, he started a friendly conversation with Fiona, Penny, and Tayuya, and even though Penny took several swings at him, the atmosphere was lively.
But Wendy, the new member, was unable to force herself into the circle, so she just watched from the sidelines. She might have only been holding back so as not to ruin a reunion between comrades, but to me, it looked like she wasn't quite blending in as the only normal person with common sense in a group of people with… colorful… personalities.
Leaving the others alone to their revels, I sat down next to Wendy.
"Not going to join them?"
"Ah, Miss Naru."
Wendy had been half-forced by Kushina into coming with us. In other words, she hadn't quite come of her own free will, unlike everyone else. We'd basically dragged her out of her peaceful life, so I was a little worried about her. I didn't want this trip to be a painful experience for her.
"No, I'm fine over here… They're all such amazing people, after all. I don't think someone as low leveled as me will be any use. And as for skills, I'm basically a worse version of Miss Haruka."
Wendy was right. Although their attributes were different, Wendy and Haruka's roles overlapped. They were both back line supporters, but while Haruka could use both magic and heaven-arts, Wendy could only use heaven-arts. On top of that, Haruka had both the Water and Metal attributes, and she was INT specialized, with her INT stat being over 1000. She could even use the broken skill Xgate, so she could not only negate long-range attacks by herself, she could keep her distance from attackers very easily, so she didn't really need much protection from front-liners.
What the hell? Now that I think about it, Haruka's basically cheating. Get nerfed, dammit.
But anyway, Wendy should actually have been able to rival Haruka depending on how she was trained. While the flugels couldn't use magic, their base stats were high, so it was easy to become a tough back-liner, which was a really good role. From that perspective, Wendy had more than enough potential to rival Haruka.
"There's no need to be in such a hurry. You're the successor chosen by Kushina herself. You'll be able to match up to them in time."
"Do you really think so?"
"She's right, little lady. You should stop looking so down."
An incredibly nice, masculine voice butted into my conversation with Wendy. I didn't recognize the voice, either. Wondering just who that voice came from, I turned towards it and saw a barometz awaiting cooking. The plant was growing in a flowerpot, and a sheep's head poked out of the too-large bud to talk.
"…Can monsters talk?"
"Hey now, black-winged lady. You're saying some strange things there. Of course monsters can talk. Even orcs babble like brooks, don't they?"
…Yeah, fine. They do talk, don't they? Actually, now that I think about it, Fiona and the others are monsters, and they talk, too.
The barometz sounded like a really masculine dandy for no reason. He continued to talk. "Don't think about it too hard, little lady. No one's useless. Everybody's good at something. They all have one area where they shine. You will definitely find what makes you sparkle, even if you're not sparkling now. So stop talking yourself down. It doesn't suit your cute face."
Why the hell is food waiting to be cooked making so much sense? Why is it that he's making so much sense, but it makes me mad?
"I'm the same. I may be an impractical monster that can't even move, but by being cooked and eaten, I can bring smiles to people's faces. I shine on top of a dining table."
"M-Mr. Barometz…"
"Are you really okay with that?"
Oh no. I don't even know where to begin…
I looked at the barometz without saying anything. When Jaune finished his conversation with Fiona and the others, he came over and gripped it by the head.
"Lady Naru, I will now be going to smoke all the barometzes in preparation to join your journey. Please, wait a little while for me," Jaune said before walking back to the kitchen. Apparently he was going to be making preserved food for our journey.
The barometz said, "Lass, believe in your own potential!" as he was taken away, and eventually, we heard him no longer.
He'll surely become some delicious food and help us in the future.… He was a good guy. Yeah.
At any rate, Haruka's being awfully well-behaved today, isn't she? It's like she's preparing for something… so that she'll be able to move immediately when it comes. She seems like she's waiting for something to come… or rather, to occur.
…Or am I just being too suspicious of her?
***
A single girl walked through the wasteland. She was a beautiful girl with an attractive figure, and her looks suggested she was only in her early 20s. She wore black bondage gear that exposed a lot of skin. On top of that was a black coat with fur trimming, which she wore without using the sleeves. Her lips were coated with purple lipstick, and on her left cheek was a tattoo of a black wing on top of a deep-crimson heart. Her hair was tied up into a tail on top of her head, but it still reached all the way down to her feet anyway, and the tip looked like a scorpion's tail. Actually, it didn't just look like one. It actually was a scorpion's tail. Somehow, the soft hair hardened as it got closer to the end. And by the tip, it was completely a scorpion's tail.
Described in one word, she would be a 'maneater.' She would use her enticing body to attract men before poisoning and consuming them. And she walked around without even trying to conceal that.
Her name was Anko. She was the poison specialist of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians. And her gaze was pointed directly at the steel city built by one of her most heinous enemies, the Seven Maidens of Midgar, who had once betrayed her master.
"Oh my, I've never seen a more tasteless capital. No elegance at all. You all think so, too, right?" She spoke in a clingy, treacly voice, almost like she was drunk.
The question was directed at the several thousand—no, tens of thousands—of monsters waiting behind her. These monsters weren't weaklings borrowed from the grimmfolk, either. They were an army of scorpions that were loyal to Anko herself.
Her race was: Emperor Berserk Scorpion. And the 'Emperor' in her name wasn't just for show. She was the ruler of all scorpions, the ultimate monster among all scorpion monsters that lived in the desert. Thus, the scorpion monsters were her children, her subordinates, and her limbs.
Added to that was her own incredibly large fighting power. Her army had both quantity and quality. It was because she had both that she'd been able to fell Hrotti, which had been founded by the Adventure Queen Ember Celica.
Naru misunderstood one thing. She thought that Hrotti hadn't had much in the way of defenses. She wrongly believed that Hrotti hadn't had something protecting it like Svel's Levia, Laevateinn's barrier, or Blutgang's iron defenses.
But she was wrong. Very wrong.
Hrotti had had something protecting it. Something that had rivaled Levia. It would have been stranger for Neo the Monster Tamer to not have left something behind for her people. Before Neo had passed away, she had chosen her four best monsters and left them as the country's guardians. But they had been defeated, too. Anko had chewed through the defenses the Adventure Queen had left behind, and her scorpion army had trampled through the rest of the country.
And now she was after her next victim.
"But what a perfect target Blutgang makes! I bet the poison will circulate fast trapped in a narrow space like that. Ahh… aahh… I'm so looking forward to it… I wonder how those dwarves will look as they die painfully? I bet they'll die in despair after trying to run out of that cramped coffin, leaking blood from every orifice… Ahh, I can't stand it! I think I'm getting wet."
Anko licked her lips seductively with her wet tongue.
It's only natural for humanity to suffer, she thought. In fact, they have a responsibility to suffer as they die. If they don't, it won't be any recompense for my master.
Anko's master had met her end due to betrayal by the very humanity that she had worked so hard for.
I'll never forgive them. Never!
That was why Anko had gone berserk with rage. She'd thrown away her reason, morals, self-control, and any sense of order out of her own free will and had become a massacring fanatic.
Struggle in agony as you drown in a pool of blood. Scream for me. Despair! Scream and wail so that your voices reach my most beloved master in the afterlife!
This desire was all that motivated Anko now. To Anko, her master was everything. Her entire world consisted of being beside Naru. Now that she'd lost that, she'd also lost all her goals and all meaning in living. Her only goal now was to avenge her fallen master, to make all the people who'd stolen Naru's life away die painfully. So Anko never hesitated and never pitied her victims.
Women? Children? Babies? The elderly? Who cares? All of you can die in pain as equals.
Her desire was so strong that she willingly fell into madness in order to plunge humanity into the depths of despair.
Of course, her advance was noticed by Blutgang. She'd never had any intention to hide in the first place. It was only natural to be noticed if you were marching on a city with several tens of thousands of scorpions following you.
***
On Blutgang's highest floor, the 15th, the admiral entrusted with Blutgang's control made a grim expression as she looked through the monitor at the scenery outside.
Admiral… This was the highest rank in Blutgang's military, and the one who had it was able to issue orders to the soldiers of all fifteen floors of Blutgang, making the admiral the city's de facto leader. Of course, the royal family ranked higher in name. But all combat and travel decisions were left to the admiral. In effect, she held all the power and could be referred to as the leader.
"So she's here… that poisonous witch."
The admiral had long blond hair and was too beautiful and tall for a dwarf. She was basically human-sized. She wore a black and red military uniform, and her hat had five stars on it. She sat unmoving in her chair. The admiral's name was Realight. While it was faint, she had royal blood running in her, and she was said to be the spitting image of Jenny Pollendina from the olden days.
Realight was tense. But she wasn't nervous. Ever since the day Hrotti had been destroyed, Realight had expected this day to come. The 15th floor had already gone to stage one battle stations, and all her staff were ready and waiting.
"Emergency announcement to all floors of Blutgang! We will now be engaging in battle with Anko the Scorpion of the Twelve Zodiac Guardians!"
"Emergency announcement received!"
Obeying Realight's orders, one of her staff quickly took a mic in hand and repeated the message. The mic relayed the message to all areas of Blutgang, reaching the ears of everyone in the capital.
None of the dwarves actually knew how the system worked. Since the skills of Jenny, the dwarves's great ancestor, were far too advanced, almost all the technology used in Blutgang was like a black box.
"We'll be making the first strike! Ready the cannons!"
"Cannons ready!"
"Cannons aimed!" "FIIIIRRRRRREEEEEEE!"
With Realight's order as the trigger, all of Blutgang's cannon ports opened fire at once. Many explosive sounds overlapped as the cannons fired in quick succession, pounding the scorpion army. But Anko, the most important target, didn't seem fazed at all. She simply kept walking forward gracefully.
It didn't work? the admiral thought. No, she's manipulating her hair like a tail and striking down the cannon rounds before they hit her!
"No good! They're not affecting her!"
"I don't care. Keep firing! Reduce their numbers!"
"Admiral Realight, the golem units are ready for deployment!"
"Good. Send them out!"
The gates of Blutgang opened, and a battalion of golems charged out with the accompanying metallic noises.
Of course, the dwarves didn't hold back and sent out not only their recently made golems, but even the high-level golems that Jenny had made herself one thousand years ago. There were rideable golems that dwarves piloted like suits of armor as well, and they all advanced fearlessly.
"Chaarrggee!" the dwarf in charge of the deployed forces shouted.
The battalion of golems accelerated forward. The dwarves's steel guardians knew no emotion such as fear as they gouged out the earth in their advance and charged into the monsters.
"Strike them down!"
On the other side, Anko ordered her subordinate scorpion monsters forward, and the two sides met in the middle.
The battle looked to be evenly matched. Because both sides could not feel fear, neither side faltered or flinched. The fighters from both armies only thought of destroying their opponent and put their all into achieving just that. They stepped over their comrade's corpses or wreckages to fight, and the numbers of both the golems and the monsters continued to dwindle.
"Charge complete!"
"Aim!"
"Aimed and ready!"
"Bombardment area confirmed!"
"There are one thousand of them and only one hundred of us! All of our units are golems, and only one of them is made by the great Jenny Pollendina!"
"All right… Cannons, FIIRRRRREEEE!"
The dwarves didn't mind sacrificing some of their own forces in order to shave away a large amount of the enemy's power, as long as no living dwarves were among those sacrificed. Golems could just be made again. And while Jenny's made golems couldn't be remade, there was still no room to hesitate. They couldn't allow the chance to trade one hundred for one thousand to pass them by.
Their aim was true, and while many golems were destroyed, even more monsters were reaped as payment.
"Oh my. They involved their own army, too? How naughty."
With that move, the battle tilted slightly in Blutgang's favor. No matter how strong monsters were, they knew neither strategy nor tactics. They were just a grouping of individual fighters. If both quantity and quality were equal, then the advantage went to the one with superior strategies. In war, strategy always carried great weight.
However, Anko couldn't be underestimated, since she had the power to turn the battle around by herself. And because she knew that, Anko wasn't affected by what had just happened.
"Then maybe I should play a little, too!"
Anko's expression was dyed in madness. With her eyes wide open, she smiled so wide the edges of her mouth reached her ears, warping her good looks into something ugly and terrifying as she leapt at the golem forces.
As soon as the golems could register her hair—no, her tail-moving, they'd already been mowed down.
Anko specialized in poison, but that didn't mean her physical stats were low. This was especially true now that she had given herself to madness; the Berserk status was her normal state, which meant she was constantly buffed, and her attack power was boosted tremendously. Not even level 300 or 400 golems could withstand her attacks, much less lower-leveled ones.
"Hey, how about this?! Or this?! Or this?!"
Anko swung her tail at a speed that the eye couldn't follow, turning golem after golem into mere wreckage. Even though she was being rushed by golems trying to stop her rampage, the numbers didn't matter to her. Every attempt to slow her down ended the same way. Her fierce attack turned many high-level golems into scrap, and that loss instantly put Blutgang at a disadvantage.
With the delicate balance of the battlefield crumbled, the avalanche of advancing monsters couldn't be stopped, causing more and more golem losses. Anyone watching could instantly tell who would win the battle.
"A-Admiral Realight! We should transform Blutgang into assault mode!"
"No! Don't forget, she uses poison! If we get close, our citizens will die, even if we win! And that's the same as losing!"
"But, then what should we do?!"
"Send in the Libra Corps! They're our only hope!"
"…! Roger! Deploying the Libra Corps!"
Using Blutgang itself to attack was Blutgang's final trump card. But the dwarves couldn't use it in this fight. If they got close, they'd be poisoned, which would mean the death of their citizens.
But Blutgang didn't have only one trump card. There was one other: the Libra Corps.
Four dolls bearing that title deployed from Blutgang, taking formation in the air.
"Hm?" Anko looked up as if she felt no tension in this battle and saw the form of a nostalgic comrade. She saw Penny, the killer maid who belonged to the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians who held the seat of 'Libra.' Only, there were four Pennys, and they were looking down at the monsters from the sky.
"What? What is…? That's not Penny."
"Target Acquired… Eliminating."
When Anko looked over, she noticed that they were colored differently. While Penny's hair was orange, all four of the Pennys Anko saw had white hair. But there were no other differences to Anko's old comrade-in-arms. Furthermore, two of the Pennys had a familiar weapon equipped.
"Zuben El Genubi… Fire!"
"Damn!"
They were using Penny's primary long-range weapon, the right scale, Zuben El Genubi. Anko knew its power well.
Two beams of light stabbed into the earth, flaring with sparks and instantly killing a large number of monsters.
Anko managed to react in time and dodged. The other two Pennys took advantage of the opening that was created, approaching Anko through the smokescreen created by the first two.
"Zuben Es Chamali."
The blades on their left arms could cut straight through steel and were another weapon familiar to Anko.
Anko intercepted their attacks with her tail. But the two Pennys quickly went around to the side and attempted another slash. One of the Pennys's blades managed to scratch Anko's cheek, though it was close. However, they had definitely managed to wound her.