If Pimpington’s honor means he’s going to try harder to hurt my girls, then he can shove his honor up his ass. As surreal as his declaration of respect was, I can’t let the underlying weirdness infect my mind. Not when he’s about to unleash two rings at the same time.

Just like before, the ruby ring creates an afterimage that appears from nothing and dashes towards Meri. Only this time, it’s... joined by another one that runs towards Sam. Can the ruby ring create more than one afterimage at a time, or is this the power of the amber ring? Maybe it doubles the effects of any of his other rings?

“This crap again?” Sam asks with a dopey smirk, holding up her great blade defensively. “The same trick ain’t gonna work twice in a row, right, Daddy?”

“I’m not so sure,” There’s just not enough to go off on... this isn’t sitting right with me. I guess I’m going to have to test it. “Meri- Shoot both.”

“Roger!” Like an obedient soldier, Meri trusts my advice and swaps out her current form for the long-range kite shield. At the cost of a small chunk of her stamina, Meri shoots her Kite Rail attack at the oncoming after image. Predictably, it phases right through and reveals the danger to be nonexistent.

When she shoots her second Kite Rail at the afterimage currently en route to Sam’s position, though, that’s when something odd happens. The ‘afterimage’ cuts down the missile with its sword, showing itself to be entirely tangible. A tiny hint of annoyance twists the Pimp’s face as he watches his plan go up in smoke.

The amber ring doesn’t double the effects of his other rings- it makes clones. Good to know, intel is vital. As if to make up for the secret being unraveled, this Pimp-clone increases its speed and readies a powerful thrust aimed right at Sam’s heart. She might be able to get out of the way... but at this speed, she might not. Best not to risk it.

“Zutiria,”

The petite Mage standing at the ready in the back row raises her staff. It buzzes with spectacular golden light. Zutiria opens her pursed lips, whispering, “Goldoradomorph.”

Zutiria wills the golden bricks of the floor to rise up into an angled pillar. The magical structure rushes out of the ground and smashes the Pimp-clone right in the face. It explodes all at once into a violent, topaz mist of concentrated mana from the impact.

With a sigh of relief, the Mage says, ‘Before anyone says anything, yes, I have spells to control gold. Yes, this would have been useful earlier in the dungeon, but it has a high mana cost.’ Zutiria hunches over, tired from expending such a big chunk of her reserves all at once.

“Nyaa, I was about to point that out...” Peri whines, presumably thinking she was oh so clever. Indeed, even just a small usage of the spell took out about a third of her mana. That’s not good, but given how Zutiria can’t directly attack Pimpington without risk of reflection, her options are limited.

“Guess underhanded tricks don’t work so well against someone who can see right through ‘em... who woulda thought?” Pimpington cocks his head to the side and smiles.

Right now, Meri could probably get in a hit if she’s fast enough... he might be able to react to it in time, though... hmm. I decide that pushing forward is more important, and I order Meri to perform a Shield Bash.

In no time at all, she swaps her kite shield for tower form and charges at Pimpington with the force of a battering ram. The pimp didn’t expect to be attacked from this distance, but the panic on his face is stopped short when he raises his left hand. He activates the diamond ring sitting on his middle finger, and a sparkling white light emits from the stone.

There are no mind games involved in figuring out this bling ring’s power. Upon activation, he immediately begins floating up into the air away from Meri’s attack. Activating her cleats, the Shield Maiden is able to stop her bull-rush charge before she, too, slams into the remains of the Lemira statue.

“Not bad, Sweetie,” The pimp taunts as he looks down at the adventurers from the sky. After scanning the battlefield for opportunities, his sharp eyes focus on the Mage. “Same goes fo’ yo’self, little lady.” Pimpington points the sapphire ring finger directly at Zutiria, and at the same time, the dungeon boss summons another Pimp-clone to distract Sam.

Meri is stuck re-orienting herself, and she has a quick breath to recuperate for her stamina usage. Meanwhile, Sam engages in a fast-paced sword duel with the clone.

“Zutiria, he’s about to show up behind you-” I lean into the Taskmaster screen and clench my fists. In truth, Pimpington hasn’t even manifested where the ‘blink’ teleport’s silhouette is going to go yet. This is a gamble- a prediction.

...A prediction that proves correct. Zutiria turns around, switches her weapon into its Staggerstaff mode, and- using much, much more physical strength than I’ve ever seen the little lady muster- clobbers the Pimp on his forehead with her mallet right after he blinks behind her.

“YES!” Snow practically jumps out of her seat in celebration.

“Good call!” Peri congratulates me before turning to Cherry and slapping their paws together in a high-five.

“Don’t distract him, nyaa!” Cherry reminds her right before I was going to say something to that effect.

For the first time in this battle, the pimp’s eyes lose composure. He shouts in pain as the effects of Zutiria’s mallet rock his nervous system, sending waves of electricity into his body and halting him in temporary paralysis. “AUGHH-!!” He cries, spittle rockets out of his mouth, and the disgraced knight almost drops his shining sword.

Her job done, Zutiria rushes to the opposite side of the room. The back row has swapped places, and she needs to keep safe. ‘Someone go attack the pimp, please. I hit him harder than I usually would, so it’ll last a few extra seconds... even though it hurt.’ The Mage winces as her arms begin to throb with muscle ache. 

Right as Zutiria zips past Sam, the addled but still battle-ready Princess quickly runs at the Pimp, now frozen in time. With a small grunt, she hefts her sword over her shoulder and coats the attacking side with Blunt Edge. “I GOT THIS,” She declares, smiling and leaping the rest of the way.

Sam slashes with terrifying force.

“GEH- Bitch are you fo’ real?!” Pimpington’s paralysis wears off at the moment before impact, but even for a seasoned warrior like him, it’s too late to get out of the way. Sam’s sword is just simply too big to avoid. The fencer grits his teeth and channels an even higher degree of Steel Soul to mitigate the damage, his body almost rippling like metal. As a last resort, he throws out his sword in a parrying stance despite knowing full well that a rapier isn’t capable of deflecting a great blade.

Still, as inexperienced as Sam can be, her attacks are devastating. There’s no way that the pimp can shrug a hit from her great blade off.

While his jeweled armor looks tough, it gives in under the pressure of Sam’s sword. The young Royal’s brutal swing knocks Pimpington off his feet, and he tumbles awkwardly through the sky. His crowned pimp hat falls right off as he scrambles, trying to land safe and sound like an acrobat.

“Nice job, Sam!” Meri smiles, using this chance to return to the frontline at her friend’s side. “Y-You too, Zutiria!” She adds right as she senses little daggers staring at her from behind.

‘Thank you,’ Zutiria stops begging for attention, satisfied with her praise.

“Some dungeon boss, huh?” Sam offers Meri a little fist-bump, which the Shield Maiden takes her up on. 

“Don’t get cocky, focus-” I remind Her Highness while watching the pimp continue awkwardly twisting in the air.

“Pft. Cock.” Sam giggles like an idiot.

“Get in there right where he lands, Sam!” Brushing aside her loopy amusement over dicks, I issue an order.

“Yes, Daddy!” Sam chases after Pimpington. In the end, he lands safely on his feet. Of course, he flourishes his descent with a twirl. Looking towards the danger ahead, his sharp eyes narrow, and the pimp grips his sword to ready a counter-attack.

“Such an un-refined weapon...” Pimpington spits out some blood pooling in his cheek. “It gets the job done, just makes ya look like a savage in the process, ya know what I’m sayin’?”

“All I hear is a cuck who’s jealous about my big, bitchin’ sword!” Sam darts off to the left during her dash, preparing an overhead strike- no, wait, she’s using Feint. The villainous Pimp glances at her trickery for only an instant, and the bastard doesn’t buy it.

“Aight, so ya know some tricks,” He smiles with amusement and twirls his mustache. “But I already told ya Feint ain’t shit compared to my afterimages, so why ya think it’d work on me?”

Sam realizes far too late that her attempt at deception was utterly wasted. Before she can course correct and evade, Pimpington raises his now glowing blade almost casually. He takes a single, soft step forward with his right foot. A storm of petals falls off of the rapier’s hilt, following the Fencer as he suddenly glides across the room in a straight line.

This shocking burst of speed is unprecedented and almost matches the power of his sapphire ring. Thanks to his Leaping Lunge Art, the tip of Pimpington’s sword is now on a collision course with the middle of Sam’s chest.

“ZUTIRIA! SWAP THEM, NOW!!” The oncoming danger makes me shout so hard that my glasses almost fall straight off my face.

While the Black Mage begins preparing her spell, Sam stops running and holds out her sword in front of her body to guard. I don’t have the time to tell her that’s not a good idea- he’s already upon her, and his sword pokes a perfect hole right through the solid metal.

I have no choice but to watch helplessly as his sword continues on to pierce the Princess’s breastplate. Pimpington’s vicious attack invades several inches past the thick gambeson beneath her armor, sinking right into her flesh. Blood begins trickling out from her wound. I clutch my chest, my hand trembles, and I slam the table with my opposite fist.