Side: Grangron

"Hey, cellmate. Do you mind explaining the reason why you are here?" - Shen

"And why should I bother to do that?" - ???

"Hey, it's boring when there are not even trying to interrogate us." - Grangron

"...The stupid one has a point. Is this a sign of the apocalypse?" - ???

"HEY!" - Grangron

"I know what you mean, but... Just move on with the story." - Shen

"Fine. The boss of those strange beings we've seen? They are the creation of someone people call the 'Invention Lord'. Hah! What a load of bullshit. That guy may be incredible with steam-related machinery, but he is so incompetent with independent automatons that it is to laugh at!" - ???

"...? Didn't they...attack the...city?" - Sei

"I said he was incompetent, not that he couldn't make something work. And recently, it has been stealing my Machinerz tech!" - ???

"And what is this solution they used before?" - Shen

"I have no idea." - ???

"You don't know!?" - Grangron & Shen

"Hey, why should I bother staying updated on some amateur's work? All I can say is that it's at least not Machinerz technology. Those damn dwarves. When I see them again, I will-" - ???

*Rumble, rumble, rumble...*

"Huh? What was that?" - ???

"Hey, the ground is shaking!" - Grangron

"It is not just that... Look at the hallway!" - Shen

"What is THAT?!" - ???

"Crap! Lunatic! This isn't the time to sleep! Wake up! ...Lunatic?" - Shen

"The ceiling...!" - Sui

"It's falling!!!" - Grangron

---

2 days before the release of the Invidia Overlord.

"Here! See for yourself!" - Noire

I gloated with an unladylike grin as I showed the result of our who-knows-how-long scavenger hunt. A literal mountain of treasures came trilling into the final room of this curious labyrinth. Our "judge", the gigantic bull that cannot be anything but the lord over the obnoxious buxom priestesses we have been encountering all this time.

For starters, the giant bull is equal to or greater in size than even the Earth Dragons I noticed while traveling through Loitan. And Flint's forced dragon-trivia lesson taught me that they are the largest of the "standard" C-rank dragon specimens, which is saying something! Also, it looks like it is covered in golden armor. From hoof to horn. Or maybe it is supposed to be its real body.

However, whatever awe-inspiring aura it may emit at any other time is not to be seen at the moment. Not when it is looking at the ridiculous amount of gold and treasures that we have brought with us. 

"Hehehe~. Look and be amazed! This is my and Noire's collaboration!" - Blaze

We only did make simple carts using the treasures we discovered. The wheels especially are made from the circular shields we sometimes found. Blaze used her... "blaze" gave me the firepower to reforge the various spears and swords into planks before we welded them together into something that one could say resemble carts.

Crafting heavy items is Flint's work, so I will not accept any complaints about their designs. The first few attempts at making them ended badly, but we worked out the kinks in the end. ...Then we were bitten by the same bug Mira must have lived her childhood with.

We did discover the entrance to the final room yesterday morning, but seeing that our hard-worked carts were still so empty, we wished to fill them up a little more before finishing the Trial. 

...Then we made more wagons so we could take everything with us. Everything. Even the items we had to give up on when we traveled through the labyrinth before arriving at the idea of making carriages. Blaze pulled in the remaining 20-something carriages from the other room...causing the gold-plated giant to turn pale seeing our golden hoard. 

<......Y-you are free to pass. Congratulation.> - Golden bull

"Wait, that's it!?" - Blaze

"The information did say we only needed to present the gold. What else did you think would happen?" - Noire

"I don't know, some sort of battle? Look at this place! If this doesn't look like the last boss' arena, then I don't know what does!" - Blaze

Seeing as the final room is large enough to easily accommodate 10 creatures the size of the giant bull, I would not say she is wrong. Maybe the bull would decide to kill whoever does not present enough loot in front of it, for some strange reason. We are keeping everything that we have found.

Maybe it is to sort out the greedy fools who are too afraid of the thought that the golden treasures will be confiscated anyway? This Trial is limited to people of royal birth, and I know more than a few people who would do such a foolish thing as trying to hide some gold for themselves, even when faced with this beast.

It seems that we have obtained many additional rewards. When I asked Blaze, she said she was given a pair of gauntlets for having cleared something called "Destruction & Plunder: Brawl". No wonder.

...Three rewards. And is this elixir what I think it is...?

"One vote for Extra Skills!" - Blaze

"Huh!? Not the Elixir?!" - Noire

"The-what-now?" - Blaze

"No, nothing..." - Noire

Ugh... If I picked the elixir now, wouldn't that make me lower than this idiot? ...Fine! I don't know what it does, but this "mistress of heaven" does sound like it has potential. 

After we both had selected our rewards, the large door leading to the outside world solemnly opened up. As we exited, we were greeted by the gloomy mountain rock walls...!?

"...Noire, did we make a wrong turn somewhere?" - Blaze

"I don't think so..." - Noire

What we had arrived at was a ravine created from tall, "urban" buildings made out of rock and dirt, not that different from...Damavand?

*Boom!*

"Hey, they are fighting down there." - Blaze

We were lucky to exit on a hill that gave us a bird's eye view of the events at the level below us. And those events...are quite the affair. 

From what I can see, many copies of those two robots seem to be fighting alongside more of the "scrap ghosts" and the "steam engine puppets". And their enemies are...dolls? They look like cartoon-based knights with overgrown heads. For some reason, I am getting extremely irritated seeing their smug faces. Maybe I should aim an arrow in between their eyes? ...Wherever that is. Blasted helmets...

And for some reason, the dolls are riding what appears to be...crocodile monsters made out of rocks and dirt? Or are they alligators? I can't see the difference. Aren't they all reptiles in the end?

Anyway, the croc monsters come in many different shapes. One looks like an undead skeleton-croc, while another is floppy like a Slime creature. Then there's a demon-looking type, and finally, a croc with way too many and way too long legs. 

"What's going on here?" - Blaze

"I have no idea, and I don't think I want to know. Anyway, being spotted by those things is going to be only bothersome. Let us-" - Noire

*Brrrrrrr*

I was about to say "let us get away from here" but was cut short by what appeared to be an engine sound. It sounds different from the machines Flint makes...

"S-stooooop this thiiiiing!!" - ???

"I can't. The breaks don't work." - ???

It seems like someone is being chased down there in the distance. They are riding a new machine, but it looks quite different from the others. If anything, it seems closer to those "cars" that Flint studied using the otherworld magazines that he found in Damavand... Aren't those two...

"H-HEEEEELP!!" - Breaker & Scarecrow

"I knew it." - Noire

Those two "machinerz", I think they were called? They are the two goons that...whatever-baron kept by his side. I slightly got a glimpse of them when they passed me back in Tir na Nog, but I remember them well.

"Are they your friends? Should we go and help them?" - Blaze

"No to both fronts. They are enemies. And what should we help them with? They are...robots. They can handle a collision or two." - Noire

"I am genuinely doubting that last part, but it is not their wild ride I'm worried about, but the army chasing them!" - Blaze

"Oh, that army. Eh, they will be fine." - Noire

Not that I care whatever happens to those robots. But that army...isn't that...

"An army of copycats?" - Noire

"Copy-what now? I can't see from here." - Blaze

The advantage of being an archer~. Even when Blaze cannot see them yet, they are clear as daylight to me. The two grunts of the whatever-baron are being chased by what appears to be mass-produced models of the two. The copies are even riding on the same type of vehicle as the duo.

"NOW I can see them...but aren't they all allies? They look the same?" - Blaze

"Did you leave your eyes back home? There are multiple differences between them." - Noire

"For real? ...Nope. They are...more than two, but still peas in pods, all those robots down there." - Blaze

"Yes, you left your eye back home. Can't you see that the metal used for the plating of the copies is of much lower quality? Not to mention the welding is done sloppily compared to the foremost duo." - Noire

"Ehh!? ...Noire, just how good is your vision?" - Blaze

"Is that important right now? Let us get away before those robots-, hmm?" - Noire

Isn't there someone else riding on the machines in the back...AHH! Those two!? Why are they-, no, that's not important right now.

"Noire, aren't we going?" - Blaze

"What are you talking about!? We have to save those two robots and defeat that blasted army!" - Noire

"Why the sudden turnabout!?" - Blaze

---

Meanwhile, running through the higher levels of the Grievous Gorge...

"YA-HOOO!" - ???

"Mmm, a quite delicious blend. My hat off to the Loitan tea breeders." - ???

Driving on a Float Bike, a miniaturized Float Ship, was a duo of equally strange-looking characters...

"Hey, is this the time to be drinking tea?!" - ???

"Why, of course. Noon is always tea time." - ???

Machines, robots, monsters, and dolls all tried to stop them as they raced through the rocky corridors of the natural labyrinth, only to be met by heavy wheels clad in alchemic hellfire...

"I doubt that's the case right now!" - ???

"Hmm, you may have a point. You have already left the dragons behind to 'eat your dust', as they say." - ???

The duo, a strange-looking reptilian driver wearing a leather jacket and goggles, as well as a rabbit dressed in a formal outfit topped with a tophat and monocle, raced on the large bike, completely different in styles, yet united with a purpose...

"They can take care of those giant mechanical monsters we saw at the entrance! We have to hurry and find Noire's gang!" - Flint

"Yet another truth. Then as they say it nowadays, put the pedal to the metal, my dear Flint." - Rivert Flamel 

Yes, the crafter-duo from the "evil" organization Babel rushed into the Gorge...

"I am already doing it! If we are too late..." - Flint

"Yes, if we are late..." - Rivert Flamel

"WE WON'T/WILL NOT MANAGE TO SALVAGE ANY BUILDING MATERIALS!!" - Flint/Rivert Flamel

...for reasons completely unrelated to their co-workers' safety...

---