"…!"
Anko showed a faint, miniscule amount of surprise and internally praised her enemy.
Ever since that battle one thousand years ago, the average level of the world had declined an unnatural amount. So in this day and age, powerful fighters that could actually damage Anko were the rarest of the rare. Not even powerful monsters nor the grimmfolk were worthy opponents for her. The only ones who would be able to wound Anko that she could think of were the other Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, the Rose Princess, and the Grimm King and his offspring.
But somehow, some defective copy-Pennys had managed to scratch her cheek. It was truly a surprise to Anko. She finally felt threatened by an enemy, something she hadn't felt for a long time. And the enemy was on this battlefield, of all places.
"Enemy has suffered light wounds. No change in fighting power. Continuing attack."
Having said that, both Pennys jumped to either side of Anko. Right afterward, a beam of light pierced through the center.
Anko once again dodged the beam. A second beam followed up the first attack, causing some of her composure to crumble away. But she was still one of the Twelve Zodiac Guardians. Anko used her tail to deflect the beam, recovering her air of composure.
"Oh…? So you aren't just all looks. I'm a little surprised. You're pretty good to be able to hurt me." Anko wiped the blood flowing down her cheek with a finger and licked it off as she laughed.
I see. So this is Blutgang's trump card. They're probably just imitations that Jenny made of the original Penny using the know-how she'd gotten from creating Penny.
Even though they were imitations, they'd still been made by Jenny, so the weapons they used were 'real.' While they might have fallen somewhat short of the original, the weapons used just now were undoubtedly Penny's right and left scales.
It's probably safe to assume they're all at least level 700. How extravagant.
The Penny copies were a legacy from one thousand years ago, one that could repel attacks from the grimmfolk. Anko now understood how Blutgang hadn't fallen until now.
"But too bad… The original would have used Brachium by now, you know. How mysterious. How strange! Why wouldn't you use it at this perfect opportunity, I wonder?"
"…"
"Heeheehee. You don't have it, do you? You're missing her most important weapon, aren't you?"
Brachium was most of Penny's value and an incredibly terrifying weapon. It ignored resistances, attributes, and everything else as it delivered the maximum amount of damage to everyone trapped in its range. It was the best possible weapon of mass extermination. But that was only possible because the Goddess's Scale had been used as material for Penny. There was no other way to give anyone that skill. These Penny imitations were as close to the original as possible, but they were missing the all-important base material. While they were well-made, they were still just imitations… and like all imitations, they fell short of the original.
"You fools! Penny without her Brachium doesn't even match up to one of my pincers!"
The Penny copies were slightly troublesome enemies. But they weren't threatening.
Anko, not doubting her inevitable victory for even a second, stabbed at one of the mass-produced Pennys with her tail faster than the speed of sound, skewering it.
***
"This is bad! Support the Libra Corps!"
Blutgang's control room was currently wrapped in an unprecedented atmosphere of unease. They had experienced many monster attacks. They'd even seen attacks from the grimmfolk more than once. But Blutgang had lasted through all of it. Most importantly, they had always had their trump card, the Libra Corps: four mass-produced versions of Penny of Libra Constellation, one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians. While they didn't have Brachium and could only equip one of Penny's scale weapons, they were still level 700 and the highest class of golem. As long as they defended Blutgang, everyone felt a sense of security.
But now, one of the Libra Corps had been pierced through before it could react. Since the Penny imitations were golems, the wound Anko dealt wasn't fatal. In fact, the one she'd pierced through was still trying to attack, paying no heed to the hole in its body.
The fight was steadily leaning towards the poison queen.
"No. If we make a mistake, we might shoot one of the mass-produced Pennys!"
"Dammit!… Why? Why are they being dominated…? Even though they're mass-produced, they're still level 700! And there's even four of them. They should have the advantage!"
Judging based on their levels, the mass-produced Pennys weren't at a disadvantage. The dwarves had no way of knowing that Anko had shattered her limits and reached level 900, but the fight still shouldn't have been unwinnable for them.
But in reality, the mass-produced Pennys were being dominated. Anko's fierce attacks were pushing the Libra Corps back. The reason was their attribute matchup.
The Libra Corps—or rather, all golems—had their attributes determined by whatever materials were used in their construction. And most powerful golems were made of some sort of metal, which made their attribute Metal. On the other hand, Anko's attribute was Fire.
During the past invasion of Svel, the guardian deity Levia had leveraged its attribute advantage to fight evenly with Fiona, who should have been stronger. (Although given the materials used for Levia, it'd basically been able to cheat anyway and had exhibited more strength than its level suggested.) But now, the situation was the exact opposite. The superior fighter also had the attribute advantage. So the Libra Corps were gradually growing in their disadvantage.
But, it didn't stop there.
"A-Admiral Realight!"
"What!"
"T-trouble! Several high magic responses in Blutgang's First Floor Town… The grimmfolk have infiltrated Blutgang!"
"What?!"
***
"It's gotten quite noisy, hasn't it?"
I opened the door of Jaune's eatery and looked around. An incredible noise had been coming from outside for a while now, and it sounded like cannons…
Wait. It probably is cannons.
The sound of explosions never stopped.
Luckily, I knew what was happening already. A huge announcement had been broadcast through all of Blutgang, so there was no way I didn't know. Apparently Anko was attacking Blutgang, and Blutgang was retaliating in force. But that wasn't the only reason for the noise outside the restaurant.
"Yes. They really appear just everywhere, don't they?" Haruka agreed with me, directing her gaze into the distance.
At the other end, a bunch of humanoid figures with deathly white skin and red markings were flying in… Basically, a lot of grimmfolk had gotten inside.
I knew that Anko had teamed up with the grimmfolk, so this wasn't especially surprising. But the fact that they'd managed to get in so easily was not a good sign.
"They probably hid, waited for the golems to be deployed, and got in through the opening that made."
"This Moon-element magic power… It's Sakura."
Penny deduced their point of entry, and Tayuya mentioned an unfamiliar name. She seemed to be acquaintances with whomever she'd mentioned, but I'd never met that person.
"Sakura?"
"The member of the Seven Grimms of Destruction who holds the Moon element seat. She mainly excels in stealth, assassinations, and sowing confusion."
If she really was good at assassinations, then she was more troublesome than the other Seven Grimms of Destruction I'd met, in a sense.
No matter the level difference, there were other ways to defeat a target. A person could simply avoid any strong opponents while they killed off important targets and show great worth that way. It was all right to simply overpower people, like that dumbass Vernal, who just wandered around so completely overconfident in her own levels that she charged headfirst at anything. Even having overwhelmingly higher stats and levels wouldn't necessarily save you from those who hid and moved in the shadows.
So our first priority has to be dealing with Sakura, whether that be catching her, defeating her, or whatever.
"If you can single her out by her magic, does that mean you can find her, Tayuya?"
"Easily."
"Good. Then you will chase Sakura. If possible, take her in alive. However, I forbid you from involving bystanders or causing unnecessary destruction. Don't trouble Blutgang's citizens."
"Understood my king!"
Having acknowledged my order, Tayuya disappeared from the spot like mist.
That should take care of the member of the Seven Grimms of Destruction. There's no way Tayuya loses.
The real problem was who to send against the grimmfolk who'd gotten into Blutgang. I'd also need to decide who to send out against Anko.
Should I go fight her myself? I should be able to stop her. I guess I'll take Haruka with me, too? She's a double agent, after all. It should be easier for her to fight outside where there aren't grimmfolk.
And Fiona and Penny should be enough for the rest of the grimmfolk that managed to get inside.
As for Wendy… I guess she can stay with me for now. It's a good opportunity to powerlevel her using the huge army of monsters outside. And I should probably take Jaune with me, too.
"Haruka, Wendy, Jaune, you're with us. We are going to stop Anko. Fiona and Penny will stay inside and clean up the grimmfolk."
I gave the rest of them their roles and immediately leapt into action.
Haruka and the others followed right after me, while Penny and Fiona ran in the opposite direction.