Aurora is not a short woman by normal standards. However, the creature standing before her completely dwarfs the owl girl to the point that Aurora feels like she is facing Goliath, not some random armor.

No, maybe it is even bigger.

Nevertheless, size in this world doesn't matter as much when stats and skills are all that determine one's strength, which... Aurora's are inferior. Befitting a high-level tanker, this husk has its stats locked in the range of 6.5, with all kinds of skills catered to defense among offensive ones.

To name a notable few, [Auto Regeneration Lv.7], [Barrier Lv.9], [Taunt Lv.7], and perhaps most incredibly, all elemental, status condition, and physical resistance skills except water and lightning resistance.

Aurora's only realistic chance is to bypass all of its defense with the Gauntlet of Severance and deal massive damage with her borrowed [Lightning Magic].

Of course, there are also two support sources she can rely on, one being Skely with the defensive cannon on the city's wall and the army of sharks and whales floating in the sky. She wants to reserve their stamina for the others, however.

With that in mind, Aurora calmly circles the armor, analyzing her opponent. The armor's hollow eyes follow her each step. It doesn't take long before Aurora decides to shoot a test bullet.

So she aims her index finger at this thing and commands her fire magic. 

SWOOSH—!!

A plasma beam is formed in a mere second and is shot at the armor. Needless to say, it doesn't even graze its shield. Following this, Aurora shoots a few more beams at different spots of the armor, but it doesn't budge.

''...''

''...''

She will run out of stamina before it does, this is for sure.

BOOM—!!

BOOM—!!

Right then, loud explosions can be heard from two directions. Some distance on the two's left, intense fire breaks out from a building, engulfing a large portion of the street outside. Far away from the two's right, massive ice crystals are constantly being formed and broken, and a large amount of mana can be felt from them. Aurora can vaguely sense a battle in the Backrooms as well.

It seems the others are battling already.

Not losing to them, Aurora finally begins channeling lightning into her sword. As the erratic and snappy energy enters the Blackstar, a faint yellow hue falls onto the surface of the blade, and a few zaps across its length can be heard.

Aurora springs herself toward the armor, slashing her sword from bottom to top. As soon as this happens, the armor quickly deploys its reinforced shield, taking the hit in with relative ease.

From then on, Aurora continues to deliver light hits like this, observing the behavior of her enemy.

''Hm?''

The thing suddenly raises its shield, and an invisible aura spreads to the surrounding area. Weirdly, it doesn't seem to affect Aurora.

'Wait, was that a taunt?'

Aurora appreciates the ring Chloe gave her even more now.

Soon enough, the armor seems to have had enough; it suddenly plunges forward, surprising Aurora and pushing her back considerably. Then, it pulls its giant fist back at an unexpectedly fast speed before shooting it at Aurora.

The owl girl quickly blinks behind the armor, letting the fist explode in the air, destroying another building. Here, she spins her body elegantly, building up momentum for her sword strike. The Blackstar rips through the air with incredible speed, aiming right at the gap between the armor's helmet and body piece.

However, the sword is promptly caught by the giant's hand, and it doesn't budge, no matter what. Not faltering, Aurora sends a powerful electric current through her sword, successfully penetrating through the thick defense of the armor and dealing a bit of damage to it. She then pulls her sword out and kicks the head as strong as she can, sounding a deafening 'BOOM—!'

Despite this, the giant's body refuses to move.

''...''

Just like that, the two exchange more and more hits with each other. Aurora makes sure to dodge every attack of the armor while keeping a steady attacking tempo, striking at multiple angles. Although her moves are all blocked by the thing, she gradually gains a piece of valuable information.

'Thirty-seven... No, considering the thickness of the scales... Thirty-nine.'

Thirty-nine centimeters. This is the distance from the giant's shield's surface to its insides. She has carefully observed its blocking manner since earlier, and it has paid off.

Aurora waits until her opponent throws a punch, and when it does, she promptly dodges it before striking it with her sword.

KENG—!!

She leans forward, pressing her hand against the shield as soon as her sword touches it.

'Gauntlet of Severance—forty centimeters.'

Aurora clocks her brain to its maximum capacity, pouring an enormous amount of mana into a deadly lightning bomb.

''!!''

It is as if the soulless husk has a consciousness. It seems baffled as a burst of electric power suddenly appears inside its chest, expanding outward with lightning speed and quickly corroding its flesh. With a final chant, Aurora finishes her spell.

''Die.''

BZT—!!

BOOM—!!

The mighty power of lightning blasts and burns the insides of the giant to a crisp, sending shock currents to its whole body. Intense light escapes its mouth and eyes, scales falling to the ground. The armor's silenced squeal seems almost comical when Aurora looks at it.

The attack manages to suck out a good forty-five percent of its health, and now, Aurora should be able to overwhelm it.

So Aurora confidently channels more MP into the Blackstar. Instead of just glowing a faint yellow, it is now bursting with a bright golden, and electric currents shoot out of the blade like a horde of fierce beasts.

Wielding it, Aurora relentlessly strikes at the giant before her, whose defense is much easier to penetrate now. Each shot she delivers is heavy, as if a boulder is attached to the sword, and they are filled with harsh lightning, ones that continuously clings to the armor and eats into its body below those scales.

Gradually, the armor's HP is plummeting.

As Aurora continues her onslaught, she braces herself.

'Two... One... There it is.'

BOOM—!!

A burst of immense energy escapes the giant's body. Its scales immediately regenerate, as with its wounds, and the numbers in its status screen keep jumping up. A burning orange aura surrounds it, radiating scorching heat to the surroundings.

When the armor's HP reaches around ten percent, it will enter a berserker mode, where it consumes its own life force to fight instead of MP. This state of the Goliath is extremely hard to deal with since its defense will pretty much be impenetrable. Even its inside is reinforced, preventing the gauntlet's ability to reach in.

However, it is significantly easier to deal with, for there is no other armor cooperating with it right now. Aurora simply needs to run around until the giant eventually perishes.

With that in mind, Aurora promptly jumps onto the top of a building nearby. The hollowed eyes immediately follow her.

'A cat and mouse game...'

With an earth-shaking explosion, the armor springs itself toward Aurora, flying in the air like a cannonball. In no time, it has come dangerously close to her. At this, Aurora quickly hops to another building, only to find the armor arriving at the spot before her.

The reality kicks in. This thing is faster than her.

But it doesn't change the fact that Aurora has the advantage here. She stops herself mid-air with [Flight] before dragging herself to the side, dodging a whole barrage of earth spikes. Then, like an aircraft flying in the enemy's territory, Aurora soars to the sky, swimming through the air while evading attacks below. On the way, she also takes a look at the two neighboring battles.

It seems Nova is still doing well; however, on Chloe's side... 

''?!''

In a moment of carelessness, Aurora is jumped by the sudden hollowed eyes floating right in front of her. The thing has somehow built an earth tower to stand eye-to-eye with her, and Aurora can see its fist pulled back.

With superhuman instinct, she blinks behind the armor as the punch shoots forward, only to be greeted with a backkick from the giant.

''Tch.''

[Teleportation].

Floating some distance from the earth tower, Aurora sees the annoying hollowed eyes following her again.

'Phew... I need to focus.'

It seems the tag game between the two has just begun.