Thankfully, Sorentina was a straight shot east of Badyron. After about ten minutes of pure galloping and Ravyn desperately groping at my waist for purchase—a sensation I couldn’t say I minded—we spotted dark clouds rising above the trees in the distance. They didn’t look like smoke; the density and color were off. My stomach twisted with a nervous energy that had evaded me when I’d set my mind to helping this town. Well, no going back now. Just keep your promise to your girls, Matt.

When we reached the edge of Sorentina, everything was chaos. Catgirls clutching [Cat Packs] and parcels while fleeing their homes. Screaming and shouting from all corners overlapped in a cacophony of disarrayed horror. The streets were too crowded to push through on horseback; Keke and I pulled just short of a disheveled wrought-iron gate that served as the entrance to the town.

“What should we do?” I shouted over the din.

“Let’s go around!” Keke cried, turning her horse to the left and kicking off into a gallop.

I followed suit, Ravyn’s cheek pressed firmly against my back and her arms clenched firmly around my stomach.

“I want off this ride!” Ravyn yelled.

“Soon!” I replied, keeping my focus on the blonde tail of the horse in front of me.

We rounded the high walls of Sorentina, dashing through the thin growth of trees until our party caught sight of the Defiled.

“Holy shit,” I muttered, my eyes traveling higher and higher until I found the damn thing’s head.

The Defiled stood at least three stories high, as tall as my last apartment building. It had thick, defined arms and legs dripping with sludge around embedded rock and a distorted face with a mouth gaping open and closed like a fish. Strings of mud dangled from its lips and limbs, dripping onto the catgirls and buildings at its feet.

Is that a fucking mud golem?

It roared and lifted one of the houses in the district—as easily as if it were a pile of Lincoln Logs—before chucking it at a nearby grouping of hills. The house shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces and crumbled to the ground. I prayed there was no one inside.

“It’s so big,” Cannoli whimpered. “How do we defeat that?”

Keke’s eyes narrowed as she watched the golem crush another house with an enormous foot. “I don’t think arrows will do much to its body, but I can at least figure out where it’s weakest. Ravyn, what about your magic?”

Ravyn jumped off the horse and summoned Ball to her shoulder. “Honestly, I don’t know. Will fire just turn him into fucking pottery?” She shook her head. “We’re already here, so we can at least try something.”

“Agreed.” I hopped down and lent a hand to Keke and Cannoli from their horse. “Let’s see what we can do.”

We ran closer to the mud golem, and the size of the thing just grew more intimidating with every step. Beady eyes beneath chunks of stone peered over Sorentina with fury. It leaned back and inhaled a deep, rasping breath. Then opened its mouth and breathed the dark cloud we’d seen from far away into the streets. It reminded me of thick, hazy pollution descending on a crowded city, and the girls’ screams intensified.

“We do not want to get hit by that!” Ravyn yelled. “It’s infused with magic!”

Great, what else can it do?

The sharp, familiar voice of the warrior we’d seen in Badyron screamed from behind a gate, “Ceres! What the hell are you doing?”

“Stay back, Aster! This battle is mine!” A tall catgirl with blonde hair in a thick braid over one shoulder stood at the golem’s feet with gloved hands clenched around a polearm. Her face was spotted with dirt and scratches leaking blood, her Combat attire blotted by smudge. Unlike our Combat Mode’s, Ceres’ looked like she’d taken her maid uniform and simply added thick layers of armor on her legs, arms, and chest.

“Don’t fight him alone!” Aster called. “Fall back!”

“No! We make a stand here and now!” Ceres licked her lips and bent her knees, pointing her polearm toward the golem’s center. “Face me, Defiled!”

Keke, Cannoli, and Ravyn all looked at me with varying degrees of wanting to assist and fear. This was my final call. Ravyn raised an eyebrow. Do our lives mean nothing to you?

“Keke, get that thing’s weaknesses down right now. Cannoli, we’ll blind it as soon as we get close enough. Ravyn, be ready for anything. All three of you stay behind me, and if shit goes south, you get the hell out and back to safety. Deal?”

“Matt—” Keke began, chewing her lip.

“[Invoke Frost]!” Ceres yelled. A cold blue glow enveloped her hands and her polearm, traveling to the halberd’s blade and coating it with ice.

“A [Magic Knight],” Ravyn murmured. “That’s...helpful.”

“Let’s go!” I charged forward with axe in hand, locking my sights on the mud golem and trusting the girls to follow suit.

“[Pinpoint Weakness]!” Keke cried. Moments later, she relayed what she’d found, “Its weakest point is the legs!”

So, we just need to get past the arms, then. We should get Ceres on the same page.

There was no room for error on this one. No Cailu to save us from the Defiled if things didn’t go as planned. My palms were slick with sweat, and my heart raced, but I trusted my girls with my life. We could do this.

“Cannoli, [Illuminate] one of Keke’s arrows!” I called over my shoulder. We had to make sure her [Blinding Light] was high enough to reach the golem’s eyes

“Okay!” Keke drew an arrow from her quiver, and Cannoli enchanted the tip.

“Keke, aim for its head!”

“Got it!” She stopped in place, drew back her bow, and aimed for the sky. We watched it fly together, and I counted silently to three. “Now!”

“[Blinding Light]!” Cannoli cast on the arrow.

The sky erupted with white light immediately to the left of the golem’s head. It screamed and reared back, covering its face with truck-sized hands. As it shook and worked to clear its vision, globs of mud hurled from its body to the vulnerable city below.

Ceres turned toward us, eyes wide. “Who are you?”

We made it to her side and paused. “We want to help. But, we need to get to its legs!”

Ceres looked between our faces, glanced at my axe and shield, then nodded. “Can you get its attention?”

“I’ll give it my best shot,” I answered truthfully. So far, [Provoke] hadn’t been effective on Defiled, but this one seemed less...coherent. I had a feeling it just might work.

Ceres nodded. “If so, then you and I can keep the arms busy.”

“Ravyn, can you use [Scorching Ring] with Ball on its legs?” I asked.

Ravyn adjusted the wide brim of her hat and sneered. “Who do you think you’re talking to? Baka.”

“Keke and Cannoli, stay out of the line of fire. I don’t want you two swimming in mud, okay?” I tried to joke, but the tension between us was palpable.

“Right. Come on, Cannoli.” Keke took her arm, then looked back at me one more time. “Be careful. Please.”

“I will, promise.” I nodded and turned back to Ceres. “Ready?” Whatever I was preparing for, I had to trust that Ceres knew what the hell she was doing.

“At your command, sir!” Ceres saluted and faced the golem.

“[Provoke]!” I shouted.

The mud golem shook its head once more. Then its attention snapped to me.

“[Magic Armor]! [Titan of Ice]!” Ceres held fast to her polearm and stepped closer, so our arms touched. The frost around her halberd trickled outward in intricate patterns like the delicate formations of snowflakes. They solidified into a brilliant half-circle of ice that touched the ground and curved over our heads, shielding both of us from the golem.

The golem cocked one arm back, and I lifted my shield, bracing for the impact. How sturdy can a shield of ice be? At least I could offer one more wall of defense before the golem found flesh.

It slugged its fist against the ice shield and howled with pain. Tiny hairline cracks formed in the shield, but it stayed firm. The golem’s thick fingers were coated in a thin layer of frost that shattered when he writhed his hand.

“Ravyn! Go!” I yelled.

“From the deepest fires beneath the earth, I call to you. Swathe my foe in a blaze unlike any other. Rend apart the very fabric of its being… ”

Another punch and the fractures continued to spread along with the frost on the golem’s arm.

“I must tell you about when this shield breaks! Everything within ten feet of me is frozen!” Ceres yelled after another crash of mud against ice.

“Everything?” I asked.

“Yes! So you need to stand back!” Ceres replied.

Fuck. “Ravyn! Hurry!”

The golem’s attention wavered to Ball’s flightpath.

“[Provoke]!” I casted again and found myself relieved to have its angry gaze back on me.

“Get back! Now!” Ceres repeated.

I didn’t want to leave her alone, but being frozen in place sounded like the worse option. I jumped back to where Ravyn stood just as the ice shield shattered into a thousand glittering shards. Just as Ceres said, a thick layer of frost covered the grass, the dirt, and the golem’s arm.

A deluge of arrows soared from behind the trees, sinking into the frozen mass of mud. The ice crackled and breaks spread throughout the surface in branching webs.

Nice shots, Keke!

After a moment of the golem’s confused silence, the arm snapped completely off and toppled to the ground.

“Look out!” I dove forward, grabbing Ceres’ arm and wrenching her to the side. I pivoted and held my shield up to protect us both. While the arm narrowly missed us, chunks of frozen mud broke free on impact and slammed against the shield, leaving tiny dents and marks in the metal. Thank you, Espada.

The golem screamed.

“[Scorching Ring]!” Ravyn shrieked.

Ball dove between the golem’s knees, and the flames enveloped its legs, searing the lower half of its body into crumbling dust. The chest, remaining arm, and head tipped sideways, then slid backward from the rest of its body.

“[Fire Ball]!” Ravyn charged a blaze from her fingers and focused it at the golem’s head. It rocketed into the black hole of the golem’s mouth, then exploded in a bright orange burst.

At last, the dust settled, and the golem was still. Keke and Cannoli rushed back to our party, panting when they reached us.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I thought shooting it would help!” Keke rasped.

“We’re fine. It was a perfect shot,” I assured her.

Ceres looked at me with wide eyes, then dropped to one knee. “My Lord, I owe you my life! Please, allow me to pledge my eternal service to you.”

Ravyn snickered. Keke and Cannoli exchanged looks. I searched for the right words to say.

“Let’s, uh, check up on Sorentina. Then we can talk about it.” I scratched the back of my neck.

“Yes, My Lord!” Ceres stood and bowed. “I am at your command!”

Matt has gained: 160 XP!

Matt has gained: 1 point of Valor!

Keke has gained: 160 XP!

Keke is now: Base Level 6!

Keke is now: Class Level 6!

Cannoli has gained: 160 XP!

Cannoli is now: Base Level 6!

Cannoli is now: Class Level 6!

Ravyn has gained: 112 XP!

Matt has befriended: Ceres!

Now accessing system memory. . . .

Prim, proper, perfect. Everything has its own place. Not a speck of dirt or hint of clutter.

This egregious perfectionism must be stopped.

Memory storage successful.