“Ma’am! You’re still alive!”

“Yeah. Somehow or another,” said Kragiel. “What I’m more concerned with is what in the ancestors’ bollocks are you idiots doing here!”

The one that had called out to the stoneborn commander was one of her subordinates. He was an older-looking gentleman named Herman, who had ruby-like hair, beard, eyes and skull-buds. A magic user of some kind judging from the staff in his hand and the short metal wand on his belt. The group had run into Kragiel shortly after her ‘tactical retreat’ following the encounter with the Nemesis and her new weapons. Their meeting was a surprising coincidence, to say the least.

“You were told to go back to base as soon as possible!”

“Really?” said her subordinate while scratching his scalp and looking to his companions. “Did the Fang give us an order like that?”

“I’m not too sure to be honest,” answered one of the others next to him. “I was a wee bit blacked out at the time.”

“I seem to remember something about ‘finishing our mission,’ right?” chimed in a second.

“And I’m pretty sure our mission statement was to return with minimal casualties,” added a third.

“There’s no way we could do that without our Fang and our Dowser, though,” groaned the next.

“So we decided that, for the sake of the mission, we’d come to pick you up,” declared the last one.

Kragiel let out a tired sigh. She really should’ve expected this sort of insubordination, to be honest. Her brother may have been the only one who spoke out against her ‘self-sacrifice,’ but every last one of her unit felt the same way. She knew that, but didn’t think they’d be stupid enough to disregard a direct order. Even if clandestine operations and skirting protocol seemed to go hand-in-hand regardless of time and place, this was the first time they’d ever blatantly defied her orders.

“How did you even find this place?” she asked after a while.

The stoneborn were currently gathered in a camp she and her brother had erected in a small alcove, more of a hole-in-the-wall rather than a cave. It was a slightly more defendable position than the three-meter wide circular tunnel it was connected to. It also provided shelter from the foul-smelling draft that wafted it from further down the passage in question. The position was completely removed not only from the ruins of Cavewater, but also from the path that led to the Nemesis’s mining outpost. It wasn’t the sort of place that some half-baked Stonesinger could find.

“We, uh, followed the pebble trail,” answered Herman. “The one that Kaddie- Ahem! That the Dowser left behind for us.”

Kragiel was only partially familiar with the ‘pebble trail.’ She knew it was a trick that Stonesingers used to help each other navigate the ever-twisting passageways of the underground, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She’d never had to rely on something like that since her brother was a full-fledged Dowser with near-encyclopedic knowledge of the terrain. Granted, new tunnels appeared and old ones caved in all the time, but taking that stuff into account was also part of a Dowser’s duties.

“That nosy bugger,” she mumbled disapprovingly. “I’ll need to give him a piece of my mind when he gets back. Maybe a punch or two as well!”

“Uh, where is the Dowser, ma’am?”

“… He’s currently showing our new friend to a den of magmites. As for me, I’m, uh, keeping an eye on our stuff, as it were.”

There really wasn’t much to the siblings’ camp - just a couple of bedrolls and a pair of enchanted backpacks heavy with various supplies. Those things were highly flammable though, so Kadam left his excess gear here lest it be destroyed on their outing.

“But why would the Dowser go to look for magmites?!” asked Herman insistently.

The creatures in question were monsters with an outward appearance that could be summarized as ‘giant spiky lava turtles.’ They were incredibly docile as far as monsters went and only resorted to violence if threatened. Which, considering their tendency to spend the vast majority of their time swimming in flowing streams of magma, was an extremely rare occurrence. However, these monstrous turtles would not hesitate to retaliate should someone or something invade their personal space or attack them from afar.

A magmite’s main and arguably only method of attack was to launch the numerous drill-shaped spikes adorning their magma-like shells at whatever they perceived as a threat. Not only were they stupidly sturdy, but the sheer speed and force with which they were launched made it possible for those spikes to pierce through pretty much anything. They would then explode violently, either shredding their target to bits from the inside out or pelting them in shrapnel.

Admittedly this also meant that a magmite could no longer attack if they ran out of spikes, but it was extremely rare for anything to survive that long against them. Hence why the vast majority of the underground ecosystem’s residents were more than happy leave those things be. Even borewyrms were wary of approaching a magmite, though that was mostly due to the fact that they’d be swimming in lava without being fireproof. Even if it wasn’t for that, their gigantic bodies made it difficult to dodge the high-explosive projectiles which had the potential to pierce their scales.

It was therefore highly illogical that a lone Stonesinger would willingly go out to butt heads with a group of magmites. An accurate assumption, all things considered.

“It wasn’t Kaddie who was looking for those things,” revealed Kragiel. “It was Fizzy.”

“… Fizzy?” blurted out Herman. “Wait, you said ‘friend,’ didn’t you? Do you mean that absurd mithril golem that handed our asses to us on a silver platter?”

“Yup. Turns out she and the Nemesis really aren’t on friendly terms after all.”

“You’re absolutely sure?” asked the man immediately behind Herman.

“I saw it and heard it with my own eyes.”

“But why would that thing go after magmites if it wasn’t working for the enemy?”

Magmite hunters were hardly unheard of among the stoneborn. In fact, it was one of the most profitable occupations there was. Those craggy shells were highly sought after as crafting materials, especially the pointy bits that went boom. The main problem was that acquiring one that had all of its spikes attached was superbly difficult, even if the hunter were to survive their encounter with the magmites.

As for how Katya factored into this, stoneborn intelligence had already determined that magmite spikes were a key ingredient in her gunpowder mixture.

“I wouldn’t know, to be honest,” replied Kragiel with a shrug. “I gave up on trying to figure that looney bin days ago. Though if I had to guess, she felt frustrated for losing to the Nemesis and just wanted to take her frustrations out on something.”

“…”

A stupefied silence fell across the stoneborn. Never in their wildest dreams did they think that someone would go hunt magmites for sport. Then again, that same ‘someone’ had single handedly decimated a boreworm queen right in front of their eyes. Wrestling with magmites for shits and giggles seemed almost tame by comparison.

The unit’s reunion was then rudely interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps that were steadily growing closer. They echoed all around them, making it difficult to gauge which of the two directions they were coming from. The noises then picked up in frequency and severity, almost as if whoever or whatever was producing them had broken out into a run.

“There! At the lower end of the tunnel!”

It was then that they spotted it. A flickering ball of light coming in from the direction opposite the one Herman and his group had come from, and the one from which that foul stench wafted in from. As it got closer, it became readily apparent that it was that same mithril golem that accosted them several days ago. The glowing of her exposed power conduits as well as the arcs of electricity coming off her frame left no doubt as to who she was. And since the area around the stoneborn was lit up by lanterns, it should have been painfully obvious to the golem who her visitors were.

Yet she didn’t slow down in the slightest. Frankly speaking, the alarming speed with which she was incoming made the entire group assume a crude battle formation on instinct. It wasn’t until she was practically within spitting distance that she slammed on the brakes, gouging out two deep trenches in the rocky floor as her inhuman feet ground her to a halt. She came to a stop just in front of the Warrior of the group, her wrench mere centimeters from his head. She stared at him with eyes positively sparking with violent intent for a few moments, though it felt like an eternity to the guy in question.

“… What, so it’s just you sorry lot?” she said without even trying to hide her disappointment. “And here I thought I’d get to pummel me some new meatbags for a change.”

She then stepped back as if all of her animosity from mere seconds ago was a joke. Relief washed over the man whose skull had very nearly been turned into graffiti. He fell to his knees due to all of the tension in his body suddenly being released, whereupon he started breathing heavily. It looked rather pathetic, though he took a small bit of pride in the fact that he didn’t soil himself. That had been, without a doubt, the single most terrifying moment of that man’s life.

“Welcome back, Fizzy,” said Kragiel in a casual manner.

She really didn’t need near-future sight to know that was about to happen, as she had a good grasp of the golem’s personality by now. Well, the main one, at least. She acted chaotic and out of control, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Kragiel was convinced that somewhere beneath that ferocious facade lay a calculating mind that always kept itself focused on a singular goal. Each and every action that Fizzy took was made intentionally and purposefully for the sole sake of achieving her objectives. That mad dash just now was surely no different.

“Yeah, whatever,” said the golem dismissively. “Damn meatbags, getting my hopes up.”

Kragiel was, of course, dead wrong. In reality, Fizzy was itching to slaughter the unknown targets down to the last man, and she wasn’t riled up just because she had to abandon her bout with Katya. She didn’t mind that part at all, actually. Shamelessly running away to fight another day was common sense in the world of monsters. However, what really ground her gears was that the otherworlder had brazenly ripped off her designs and was showing off like she had come up with them herself. Granted, they weren’t originally Fizzy’s either as they were passed onto her by her father, but she had improved upon them using her unique perspective as a golem to the point where they could be called her own.

Hence why beating on some fiery turtles was nowhere near enough to quell her anger. Kragiel’s companions would have probably been beaten into a pulp if Plus didn’t kindly remind her of who they were and that she made a deal to spare their lives.

“Where’s Kaddie?” asked the female stoneborn.

“He’s coming up behind me. He’s a bit slow since I asked him to do the heavy lifting.”

Having been so focused on the sparkling golem, none of the people gathered realized that yes, their Dowser had indeed been following after Fizzy. Kadam himself was empty handed save for his staff, but the two Rockfist Guardians behind him were far from it. They were dragging along what appeared to be a total of four hollowed out lumps of magma, one in each hand. It soon became evident that what looked like rocks were actually magmite shells in near pristine condition, with a total of fifty spikes between them.

“I see your hunt went well,” commented Kragiel as she and her brother waved at each other.

“Yeah. You could say that. Turns out those magmarmites or whatever aren’t all that good against lightning.”

She raised and opened her right hand, causing arcs of electricity to jump between her fingers. Her heat-based Magitech Cannon was quite useless against monsters who literally lived in magma flows, but Static Field was more than enough to take care of them. Admittedly she had to wade through chest-high lava to get to them, but it wasn’t like she was a stranger to dealing with absurdly high temperatures. She just had to make sure her ‘dips’ didn’t take more than twenty seconds or so at a time, lest she risk having her frame stripped away and taking permanent damage. Heat Exchange proved to be exceptionally useful here, as it was capable of dispersing all excess heat on her body, regardless of its origin.

“I thought you just wanted to let off some steam,” remarked the rookie Paladin. “How come you came back with those things?”

“I was just thinking - wasn’t that shield of yours was made from those shells? The one that blocked those beams?”

“You mean this one? Rearm!”

Kragiel brought the item in question out of her personal extra-dimensional armory. The bizarre kite shield she used to fend off Katya’s laser weapons appeared on her forearm in a flash of light. It definitely looked like crimson metal outwardly, but in reality it was made from a monster’s shell.

“Yeah, that one,” confirmed the golem. “It seemed like it blocked the heat-based weapons quite well - almost a good as mine, actually. So then, wouldn’t fully body armor made from that stuff mean I wouldn’t have to dodge them.”

“I… don’t know if that would work. I mean, just look at this.”

The stoneborn dragged her finger across the shield’s surface, tracing the marks left behind by the otherworlder’s attacks.

“Those things are powerful enough to overcome even this thing’s absurd fire resistance,” she added. “They’ll definitely punch through the stuff if given enough time.”

“Maybe, but it’s better than risking my shiny metal ass directly. So can your people fashion me the extra protection I need?”

“Well, it’s not impossible. There’s certainly enough raw material for it.”

That was an understatement considering the shells in question were already big enough to let two stoneborn crawl inside one of them. In actuality, once properly processed, it was more than enough to make twenty sets of armor just from those four. Such a thing was only made possible due to the outstanding condition of each shell, as every millimeter of them looked to be usable.

“Might even get the entire squad kitted out…” said Kragiel thoughtfully.

“That might be wise,” agreed Fizzy. “Honestly, I don’t fancy my chances of going up against those prototypes or whatever alone, so I’ll take all the help I can get.”

“Hey, I never said I was going to throw them in after you.”

“Come off it. We both know you won’t let this chance slip away.”

“Yeah, I suppose you got me there. Well, I can’t speak for the others, but me and Kaddie definitely have your back.”

“Oy!” shouted her brother as he got closer. “Stop volunteering me for stuff you daft slag!”

“Uh… ma’am?” butted in Herman. “What are you all talking about?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” declared Kragiel. “You lot just get ready to travel! We’re going to swing by Cavewater to pick up the rest of you and then we’re headed back to the capital! We’re moving triple-haste, so you better not fall behind!”