A scream echoed through the laboratory:
“WHY THIS?!?!”
The four women of Lilium were surrounded by dozens of little girls, all with murderous intent.
After Maxwell had vanished, the glass tanks all suddenly shattered, and out crawled a whole bunch of girls, each with a soulless look in their eyes that suggested they were ready to kill.
“There’s so many! Wh... What do we do...?!” shouted Nadine, whose Assassin skillset was decidedly not geared toward fighting a large number of opponents at the same time.
Maxwell’s so-called “Brides” were artificial life-forms robbed of all agency, and as such, they moved like puppets as they closed in to attack.
“What the heck are these things?! Zombies or something?!” Katherine shrieked.
Admittedly their sluggish, lifeless gait was fairly reminiscent of the undead. But unlike any ordinary zombies—
“What the?! Did they just use Thunderbolt?!” Katherine shouted, blonde hair swaying, as a low crackle rent the air. “No incantation?! You gotta be freakin’ kidding me!”
While the spell itself was fairly basic, the Brides could cast it with startling accuracy... and with only a single snap of their tiny fingers. Just like Laplace.
“Uh, guys?”
Katherine glanced around the room. Girls, girls, girls, as far as the eye could see—each of them mistreated at the hands of Maxwell.
“Are we really supposed to attack them?!”
✦ ✦ ✦
As a party, Lilium had purposely avoided causing harm to the innocent during their quests. This wasn’t a hard rule they’d agreed upon in advance; to them, it was just the right thing to do. And despite their hostile intentions, these artificial puppet girls were still innocent victims.
“Nngh... Aria...nora...!” Vis groaned from the floor.
“Vis! Are you awake?” Tanya asked as she knelt down and lifted the princess’s attendant into a sitting position.
The woman looked completely drained. No surprise there, of course, since royal attendants weren’t generally trained for combat.
Tanya lifted her into her arms. If nothing else, she wanted to rescue at least one person. But everywhere she looked, they were surrounded by electrified Brides. Katherine was shielding them for now, but her mana was just as limited as everyone else’s.
They were running out of time, and they needed to do something—fast.
“We need to get Vis on her feet again.”
“I... I’ll heal her!”
Nadine jogged over and started to cast Heal. Naturally, she was Level 3, so this was incredibly ineffective.
“...Thank you for trying...” Vis wheezed. Tears filled Nadine’s eyes.
“D-Don’t let it get you down, Nadine!”
“I... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry... If only I wasn’t Level 3...!” I promise I’ll be more of a Healer next time, she vowed to herself silently.
“The... clock tower...”
“What was that, Vis?”
In spite of her pained, ragged breathing, Vis struggled to get the message to Tanya regardless.
“I think he... he took the princess to the clock tower!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Suppose, for a moment, that one of the people here had grown up helping their family run a tavern. Suppose they were a master of cooking... and all the other skills that came with it. Would they be useful in a situation like this one?
The answer... is a resounding yes.
“What’s the key to good cooking?”
Katherine swung her staff. On command, a flurry of tiny Fox-Fireballs shot forward, striking the Brides.
One would think their petite, naked forms would be burned to a crisp as a result, and yet—
“Heat control!”
The fireballs moved carefully, striking the Brides with precision to keep them from casting... but their skin remained unburned, their bones unbroken. The Fox-Fireballs were perfectly controlled bursts, their only intended function was to knock the Brides off-balance.
Heat control, indeed.
“You’re amazing, Katherine! A true master chef!”
“This is no time for jokes, Nadine! Protect that chick in white!”
She was, of course, referring to Vis, who was struggling to stand, but clearly lacked the energy to do so. She had lost a critical amount of mana, but regardless—
“H-Hurry... Please... Save the princess...!”
“Vis!”
“You can’t stay here, Tanya!” shouted Nadine.
“Don’t worry—we can buy you some time to escape, no problem! Now take Laplace and get going to that clock tower or whatever!” Katherine chimed in.
Their expressions were firm and resolute... and Tanya could tell that they had the utmost faith in her.
“Let’s go, Laplace,” she muttered quietly.
The Great Sorceress nodded and rose to her feet. At this, Tanya gasped.
She’s... standing?
Normally Laplace would always complain about foot pain and insist on levitating, but right now, both feet were planted firmly on the ground.
“Laplace...? You’re not going to levitate?”
“C’est exact. That rat bastard took all my mana.”
Her legs shook like a newborn fawn’s... but nevertheless, she held her own.
“But I don’t need to fly. I’ll run. Hell, I’ll even walk there if I have to. Because Maxwell is going down.”