"And what in the world makes a 'Companion Creature' such a big thing?" - Noire

I asked while not bothering to hide my ire at the Irritation Lord's brazen attitude. However...

"BWA-HAHAHA! As if I would tell anymore to such a simple-headed angel!" - Irritation Lord

"W-why you-!!" - Noire

I acted as if I was furious, but I expected this to happen. Tempting people with half of the information and then withholding the rest is something this ****ing jerk would do. Besides...

I may already know the identity of this "Disaster". The memory from that time came back to me just now.

Back during the Nightmare Festival's 4th event, I encountered an old man in a library-like location where I had to locate and present treasures to the jury. I won easily and speedy. So much that I had some time to kill.

The old man (I forgot his name) must have been impressed by my eye for quality items that he wished to share some of his knowledge with me. I refused at first, but said knowledge was based on books from the library's "forbidden section", or whatever, so curiosity won that match.

And among the items I read about, there was indeed something called a "Companion Creature". Based on djinns, they were accessories that summoned a specific creature that would be bonded to its owner. They could fight alongside the owner, act as transportation, and much more. It would be like being able to have a tamed monster, without having to worry about LP or any taming-related skills. 

However, those accessories should not have been completed yet. That is what the old magician said. Many trials had been done, but every one of them failed for some unexplainable reasons. He showed me many detailed papers from those experiments, and as an excellent accessory maker myself, their theories seem sound. Now that I reflect on it, it is indeed strange that they did not work. 

Then maybe, just maybe, the being that the Irritation Lord is flaunting is the reason why other Companion Creatures cannot be created. I do not know why, but he mentioned the Disaster that Garami defeated. It was part Dungeon, so maybe...

"Did you people create a Companion Creature out of a Dungeon!?" - Noire

"BWA-HAHA-?!?!? Wh-wh-what a-a-a-a-are y-y-y-y-you-!?" - Irritation Lord

Oh? I only voiced my option out of curiosity, but it seems I was right. 

Hmm, then the Disaster Garami defeated was a monster who tried to obtain immortality by becoming a living Dungeon, but the Demon ing seems to have turned a Dungeon into a living being...to a certain degree. 

And if it is a Companion Creature, then destroying the accessory connected to it should kill the beast. The only thing that prevents this from happening is probably...the fact that it is created from a Dungeon. How do you destroy a Dungeon? Outside crushing its Core. 

*CRASH!!*

A loud noise from below caused the Irritation Lord's attention to be pointed downward. I took the chance to fire an arrow enchanted with a [Holy Sorcery] spell toward him, but it dissipated right before hitting. Grr, a demon should not have the ability to erase Holy powers! How does he do that!?

The Irritation Lord returned his gaze towards me...for 2 seconds before he was sent flying by having one of the rock monsters strike his stomach with enough force to send him flying into the roof. Then he fell to the island with the magic circle on. His helmet made a nasty sound when he hit the rocks head-first. Nice~. 

"Hey, Noire! Come down and help us!!" - Grangron

It seems the ogre was the one who did the world a great deed just now. He is holding the lightning-covered battleaxe in one hand and is about to throw one of the rock monsters with his other. I see. So that's how he did that stunt just now. 

And I can also see the reason why he wants assistance. He and Lunatic are surrounded by some especially menacing-looking stone creatures...that looks vaguely familiar. Especially the one that looks like the stone sculpture of a magician. Those blasts of magic it is shooting at the two idiots, it is the same as the one that defeated Gugalanna before. No, it HAS to be the same! 

Pushing away my heart's deepest desire of making a pincushion out of the Irritation Lord (his strange attack cancelation ability would have made that a futile effort anyway), I began giving the idiots some cover fire from the skies. Most of the rock creatures have already been defeated, but there are some troublesome strangers remaining. 

Two Arachne-like creatures were trying to gang up on Lunatic, but the crazy spider isn't struggling. It waves its two katanas towards the Arachnes, leaving behind weird trails of...some sort of energy. I do not want to know just exactly WHAT those energies are, nor what they do. I remember that the crazy spider's race is something even crazier, and that is enough for me. 

Grangron, on the other hand, seems to be struggling. He is facing the magician and some sort of horse-riding knight. While the Arachnid types were not weak per see, the magician and the knight are incredible. 

I focused on the magician, who seemed to have less mobility of the two creatures, to keep it from launching spells at Grangron.

With his back no longer targeted, Grangron swung his battleaxe toward the knight rock creature, causing large wounds in the earth. Do not come to me if the island gets destroyed and falls into the Demonic Sea. I might give you a hand if you can destroy the magic circle that is glowing dangerously bright by now...

Despite my growing anxiety regarding the magic circle, the battle dragged on. The magician is using some sort of barrier to block my arrows, and the knight seems to be the rock monster group's strongest in physical combat.

Meanwhile, the Arachnes are starting to fall apart. In addition to her insane swordsmanship, Lunatic was starting to release flames from her swords. When could she do that?! Are everyone here except the doofus ogre and me Fire users?!

"This is taking too long..., ah!" - Grangron

"What is it!?" I asked while starting to feel the strain from the constant firing of my bow. And to think I was under the impression that my stamina had grown thanks to the Extra Trial I did with Blaze...

"That masked demon, didn't he say he has some item to control these things?" - Grangron

"...Of course! Why didn't I think of it? Hold the fort, I'll go scavenger it from him." - Noire

"Okidoki," replied Grangron right before smashing his axe into the ground, causing a miniature earthquake that caused everyone on the island to lose their balance. Except for me who is still in the air. Again, I will not save you if you do something as stupid as sinking the whole island. 

While the monsters were distracted, I took the chance to ransack the Irritation Lord...first this mysterious ring. No more cancellations for you, mister. And then..., this must be it. 

I found a peculiar object in the Irritation Lord's pockets. It looks like a solidified clay ball, but it has a maze-like pattern. Seen from a distance, the pattern creates an alligator-like picture. This, and more importantly, the weird energies from the sphere. Let's destroy it.

*Clank*

Hard-!? This thing is more durable than it looks! I tried to stab it with a dagger, but it felt like I was trying to penetrate Iron's shield. Is the clay ball, this (presumed) Companion Creature accessory a former Dungeon Core? No, wait, that wouldn't explain why I cannot break it. The Cores are easily destroyable while the Dungeon itself is invincible. Then, was it turned into an Ex-tier item? I cannot destroy something like that!

*Click*

...I think I might have activated it. It is glowing weird now, at least.

*Rumble, rumble rumble...*

And then there's that...

"What is THAT?!" - Grangron

And then there's THAT!! As in the giant...something that's emerging from the rocky ceiling!! No, is it...melting out from it? 

The giant creature showed itself as if emerging out from water from the ground (technically the sky, but that is because we are underground). It looks like a giant stone alligator, similar to the creatures we have defeated up to this point, but truer to the original creature.

The difference between it and normal alligators, outside the whole "being made out of rocks"-thing, is that its limbs are strangely long. They seem more at home with an orangutan, but it allows the giant to move around easier. Especially since it has 6 of them, and that is just the limbs that have emerged from the ceiling. 

And one more point of interest is...

"*Clank*, okay, that guy's seen better days!" said Grangron while parrying an attack from the knight rock monster. And I am forced to agree.

While its size is daunting, now that I have gotten a second to calm down, the giant creature is badly wounded. Sword wounds, large crater-like marks, and damages that seem to have emerged from the inside out of the being is covering the giant's body. It may be my imagination, but is that a large bite mark...? No, it cannot be...

Wounds aside, it is safe to assume this creature is the one the Irritation Lord was faulting about. Maybe I can control it..., no good. I cannot comprehend how this clay ball is supposed to work. No choice. I did not want to do this...

"Grangron, can you destroy this thing?" - Noire

This is humiliating, but the doofus has shown promise up to this point. Let us see what else he has up his sleeves. And let's give him some cover fire. I sniped at the knight's head, forcing it away from Grangron, while also taking a shot at the magician. The former stumbled away as the arrow hit its temple with a loud "DOON", but the magician activated its barrier again, deflecting my arrow. 

I flew around the battlefield in an attempt of trying to put some distance away from me and the Irritation Lord before regrouping with Grangron. It will be more than annoying if he wakes up when we are busy trying to figure out how to break this ball. I summoned a Divine Serpent and had her trying to grapple the magician out of our hair. I'd want to just kill him and be done with it, but considering that bastard, I doubt he would go down that easily.

Guh...my head is hurting. Is my mana getting too low? I should have...only around 10% left!? This is a new feeling. I generally always spend my mana making magic arrows the day before a big battle. This constant combat is tearing me out in more ways than one.

Despite my low mana, I got around to meeting up with Grangron. He stepped away and created a big wall of lightning to keep away the magician and the knight. Lunatic? She can handle herself fine. I saw her having knocked out one of the Arachnes by the time I got here. 

"Now?" - Noire

"Sorry, I didn't hear you back then. What did you say?" - Grangron

I am going to strangle this man and hang him up to display alongside the Irritation Lord one of these days. 

"Can. You. Crush. This. Thing?" - Noire

I showed him the clay ball that was still glowing. The (assumed) Earth Disaster is making its way to the ground, on a large island a little away from the one we are on. Even a Disaster cannot cross the Demonic Seas that easily...I hope. 

"What? This little thing?" - Grangron

"It's tougher than it looks. I cannot even obtain information on it with [Celestic Observation]." - Noire

"Then, you don't know what it is?" - Grangron

"Do not belittle me. I know my accessories when I see them. To keep it simple, it is that guy's 'heart'." - Noire

I pointed at the giant earth alligator as I spoke. Grangron nodded knowingly after hearing that, and-

"In that case, let's go crushing!" - Grangron

"Wait, it's not that easy-" - Noire

"And that wall won't last forever! Gimme!" - Grangron

"Hey!" - Noire

The EXTREMELY rude ogre just grabbed the orb before I could voice my complaint and smashed it with his axe. Even if you do that-

*VRRRRRR!*

*Crash*

.....Wat?

No, wait, what just happened? Right after Grangron hit the clay ball with his axe, it started to emit some weird force wave and forced itself into the clay ball, cutting it in half in no time.

Along with the orb's destruction, the giant earth monster in the distance stopped before cracks appeared all over its body. Starting from the large slash wounds. 

"What did you do!?" - Noire

"THAT IS MY LINE!!" - Irritation Lord

Tch, he woke up. I shouldn't have been too scared about waking him up with a half-baked attack and just done the deed. 

"Why is Gaia Maze crumbling apart!? Even if you destroyed my Control Unit, there should be others that are still active!" - Irritation Lord

Is that so? I am starting to see how rule-breaking the Earth Disaster is. 

And the jury has spoken. There is no doubt about it. That giant alligator, who's still falling apart now, is completely dead. It just takes time for that large body to fully be destroyed. The Irritation Lord cannot do anything but stare into the sky with a dumbfounded look on his helmet-covered face. 

"Hey, rewards~. And did the great voice just say 'Disaster'?" - Grangron

"You're late to the party. That jerk over there has been bragging about it for a while now." - Noire

"Sorry, I get too into my battles to notice that kinda stuff. Now, what's next?" - Grangron

"Well," I said, looking at the Irritation Lord and the four rock creatures that were still standing, despite the many cracks all over their bodies now, "we have been forced to clean up much of the mess the others have left behind for us. Completing the job and having them in our debts sounds alluring to me, at least."

"Clean up? ...O-ho~, now I get it. No wonder everyone from the Demon King's side felt so lackluster." - Grangron

Yes, but that does not make the remains any less dangerous. So, please defeat this thorn in my side, would you~. My head is killing me from mana overuse now...

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