“Ha…”
“Alright, have you breathed enough?”
Bululu gave Kurimu’s tail a light tug. The intense sensation from her sensitive tail snapped Kurimu awake instantly.
“Eek! Don’t grab my tail!”
“You wouldn’t stop sighing, and you weren’t even watching the situation.”
As she spoke, Bululu pointed behind Kurimu.
“Master Ai Yue is fighting the enemy alone.”
Kurimu looked back. The pitch-black Gear Giant, covered in a high-density energy barrier, was sliding across the floor with agility. The beam lance in its hand swung rapidly in all directions, while the laser gun in its other hand fired light orbs far more powerful than its short cannon. Each attack left various levels of destruction within the Golden Gear Room.
However, the strange thing was that even as countless gears were sliced, knocked away, or crushed, the room continued to restore itself to its original state. The method was not the mechanical filling they had seen in previous stages; it was pure energy condensing into solid matter, without even a trace of magic.
It was as if it were a technology that transcended magic, capable of skipping every step to convert energy directly into matter with terrifying efficiency.
In contrast to these eerie circumstances, the magic Ai Yue used was equally abnormal. After all, using Holy Magic as a member of the Demon Race was equivalent to an unprotected person throwing a nuclear fuel rod while it was undergoing a reaction—it was a scenario where one might kill 1,000 enemies but lose 5,000 of one’s own.
“It’s just… Mother Ai Yue doesn’t seem to have any reaction to it.”
Because she was at a distance and had already seen it once before, Kurimu was able to control herself. She could see that Ai Yue, who was utilizing Holy Magic, seemed completely unfazed.
“That’s exactly what I wanted to say. Master Ai Yue might have already cracked the greatest weakness of the Demon Race. Combined with her peak-level strength, you could say that Master Ai Yue is now invincible in this world!”
“True. Before, I thought Mother Ai Yue might be a lot weaker than I imagined, but now, I wouldn’t dare fight her.”
The aura Kurimu felt from Ai Yue was very strange. Although her biological instincts told her that Ai Yue was an incomparably powerful existence, there was an inexplicable feeling that Ai Yue wasn’t actually that strong. However, Kurimu wasn’t the type of battle maniac who would start trouble for no reason. She only fought when she was bored, so she had never chosen to pick a fight with Ai Yue.
Moreover, how could she harm Mother Ai Yue, who had given her so much happiness?
But now, she had completely dismissed even that tiny spark of a thought. Otherwise, what if Ai Yue got excited and threw a… Holy Magic spell at her?
“By the way, should we go help?”
“There’s no need. Master Ai Yue said earlier to leave it to her. She also mentioned that since you don’t like that kind of magic, it’s better for you to keep your distance for now.”
“I see…”
Although Kurimu felt a bit guilty, she couldn’t help but feel relieved that she didn’t have to get close to Holy Magic.
As they spoke, the battle between Ai Yue and the Gear Giant gradually reached its climax.
The Gear Giant seemed to have learned how to use the environment to its advantage. It used its lance to flip a massive gear off the floor and then used its firearm-arm like a fist to punch the gear toward its target.
Facing this heavy gear disk, which was several meters in diameter, Ai Yue raised the Glass Kaleidoscope and released a spell.
“HOLY RETURN.”
The moment the gear disk was about to hit Ai Yue, a force field appeared and enveloped her. The gear immediately stopped upon contact with the field, then made a sharp 180-degree turn and flew back toward the Gear Giant.
Not only that, the gear disk now possessed increased damage and was imbued with the effects of Holy Magic, making its offensive capabilities even stronger.
Unlike before, however, the Gear Giant recognized the danger of Ai Yue’s attack. It chose to evade rather than block.
“Trying to run? HOLY SPIRIT CHAIN.”
Ai Yue did not give the Gear Giant a chance to dodge. She released another spell, and translucent chains made of Magic Power connected her hand to the gear disk.
In the next instant, the gear disk acted as if it had a mind of its own, swerving to chase the Gear Giant.
Seeing this, the Gear Giant held nothing back. It aimed its beam weapon at the gear disk and fired. A light orb the size of a human head exploded the moment it hit the gear, erupting with intense energy. A red sphere of light swallowed the disk, its brightness and temperature rivaling the sun. Even Bululu and Kurimu, far on the other side of the room, could feel the heatwave.
“Deliberately increasing output to ensure a one-hit kill? Quite cautious.”
Ai Yue could tell that the Gear Giant didn’t need such a high-powered light orb just to destroy the disk. It was clearly doing so to ensure the gear, reinforced by Holy Magic, was completely pulverized. It wanted to avoid needing extra attacks and prevent the chance of the attack closing in and hitting it. Even the chains she used to connect to the gear were blown apart.
“However, who said I only released one chain?”
Ai Yue wore a mocking smile. The curl of her lips carried intense contempt—cold, beautiful, and even slightly eerie.
As her voice fell, the gear flooring beneath the Gear Giant suddenly opened. Because the giant’s lower body had a unicycle-like structure—meaning it only had one leg—it didn’t even need a large gap to fall through. Its large body then became wedged in the opening.
“You aren’t the only one who can use the environment.”
Generally, tactics involving the environment were used by Players when tackling a boss, such as kiting or setting traps. In other words, this thing had overstepped its bounds!
“HOLY SPIRIT CHAIN, RELEASE!”
As soon as she spoke, the chains—which had been made transparent to hide them while they were used to jam the rotation of the floor gears—reappeared before instantly vanishing. With that, the jammed gears were able to rotate and return to their positions.
However, those positions were now occupied by the Gear Giant. It was easy to guess what would happen when massive gears tried to reset and rotate while the Gear Giant was wedged between them.
The massive gears ground against the Gear Giant as if trying to force it out. But due to the angle, position, and the structure of the gears, the more they pushed, the tighter it became wedged, and the pressure on the Gear Giant continued to increase.
Creeeak… Bang!!
The final result was the power of the gears driving the entire room—and the entire Dungeon Instance—grinding the Final Boss into two halves while it was still alive.