With adrenaline burning through him, Elma sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him, boots slamming hard against the ruined floor of the marketplace as he charged the Echofiend.
The swirling dust around the battlefield became his cover. His body moved light and sharp, then—just as the gap closed to five meters—he suddenly veered off, circling the creature in a blur.
The monster didn't move. It just stood there, letting Elma run around it while Edric kept hammering it with bullets. The only sound it had made was that ear-splitting shriek earlier, when one of its tentacles had been blown apart.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Tsk—why the hell isn't it taking any damage?!" Edric growled, firing nonstop, both golden revolvers blazing.
But the silver rounds, fused with Flaxogeine, didn't even scratch its hide. Flaxogeine—an alchemical mix drawn from mineral-laced waters, tainted with Miasma. That toxic filth was worse than Divine Resonance itself. Not just humans, but animals and plants rotted to dust from it. Even most Echofiends could be killed by the stuff.
And yet—this one didn't even flinch.
The Echofiend they were facing now didn't seem affected at all. Not a single one of Edric's silver bullets could hurt it—the only thing that had worked so far was the explosive blast from Elma's daggers.
By then, Elma had already slipped behind the Echofiend. He burst out from the cloud of dust and charged in. "Oi, watch your damn back too, you idiot!" he shouted.
From above, he raised both daggers high, then slashed down in a hard vertical swing. But the attack did nothing—not a single strand of the creature's messy black hair was cut.
"Bastard!" Elma cursed, springing backward as the monster's long strands of hair whipped at him like steel lashes.
"Even its damn hair is tougher than iron!"
Still muttering, Elma caught something out of the corner of his eye—the Echofiend turned its head. For one split second, their eyes met.
Elma's body reacted before his mind did—his head snapped to the side, ducking just in time.
BRUAAAK!
The shop behind him exploded into rubble, torn apart in an instant.
"Eh—!?" Elma gasped, breath caught in his throat. He didn't even know what had just happened. From the distance, Edric's eyes went wide in disbelief.
The Echofiend had hurled a massive wooden beam straight at Elma—with one of its tentacles. But what made both of them freeze was the fact that neither had seen when the creature even picked up something that huge.
"Wh—when the hell did it grab that…!?" Edric muttered, voice low, eyes locked on the monster. He and Elma stood frozen, tense, almost losing their grip on themselves.
Slowly, Elma turned his head. His gaze landed on the shop, now flattened to the ground. Pieces of debris were still crumbling down.
"Ba… bastard… If I'd been even a second late, my head would've been gone," he whispered. A bitter smile tugged at his lips, even as his whole body trembled. "I-I'm so damn lucky… damn it!"
His hands trembled hard, but Elma forced his grip tighter around both daggers. His jaw locked, teeth chattering as he fought against the tension.
Slowly, he bent his body forward. The daggers rose, leveled with his waist—one foot forward, the other back—a perfect stance for a quick strike.
"This isn't the time to be scared—You piece of shit!! Remember your damn salary raise, THEODORE ELMA!" he screamed inside his head. His teeth clattered as he sharpened his focus back on the Echofiend, which now stared straight at him.
The creature smiled—a twisted grin, eerie and unnatural. A chill shot straight down Elma's spine. Cold sweat drenched his body, his heart slammed so hard it felt like it was about to burst from his chest.
"D-damn… your smile's uglier than some corrupt government," Elma hissed. His tongue still spat mockery, even as his face went pale with fear.
The Echofiend seemed to sense his weakness. It saw the fear hiding behind his bitter grin. Its tentacles rose high, then snapped down in unison, all of them aiming straight for Elma.
WHOOOSH!
In an instant, dozens of tentacles shot forward like steel whips.
One tip stopped right in front of Elma's eye. Time froze. His instincts screamed—his brain lit up like fire, exploding with a single command to move.
BRAK!
Elma's body darted to the left, dodging fast. Both daggers spun in his hands, clashing against the next barrage of strikes. His whole body kept moving—jumping, twisting, slipping past every deadly swing.
In that intense moment, Elma's adrenaline peaked. His eyes sharpened, reading every move, every swing, every attack pattern from the Echofiends in just seconds.
The fight looked one-sided—but also crazy impressive. Elma, usually branded as the laziest member of the Artificers Enforcers, was now matching the monster's relentless assault, strikes so fast they nearly broke the sound barrier.
From a distance, Edric froze. He stood behind the Echofiends, watching with wide eyes, stuck between awe and disbelief. Just a minute ago they almost got killed by that sneak attack, and now, Elma alone was dancing on the edge of death, fighting on par with the beast.
"Damn… I can't just stand here doing nothing!" Edric hissed. With quick hands, he dug into his belt pouch, sliding six blackish-silver bullets into each chamber of his twin revolvers. Special rounds—built to pierce deeper than regular silver. His jaw tightened. "Tsk—YOUR ENEMY'S NOT JUST HIM, BASTARD!!!"
Both guns came up at once, barrels aimed straight at the rain of tentacles striking down on Elma.
BOOM! BOOM!!
Two sharp blasts tore through the air.
The first bullet shot past, barely grazing Elma's temple, before tearing into a tentacle on his left—forcing the creature to yank its fleshy whip back. The second bullet smashed into another tentacle hanging above Elma's head, stopping the strike just a hair's breadth from his skin.
"You done spacing out, Edric!? Took you long enough!" Elma shouted, still twisting his body to dodge the others.
"Shut the hell up, Elma! Just focus on that disgusting freak!" Edric growled back.
Elma smirked, one corner of his lips curling. "Yeah, yeah~ hothead."
In a flash, he stomped down on a broken wooden plank beneath his feet. The board snapped up, blocking a tentacle whipping at him at full speed—though only for a split second before shattering to pieces.
---
--
Meanwhile, on the other side, Marilyn was running all over the place, trying to find the perfect spot to land the finishing shot on that Echofiend.
For minutes she kept circling around, but there wasn't a single place that really worked. Most of the area was already wrecked from the creature's rampage. And even if there was a spot that looked promising, the escape route if that thing countered would be way too risky.
With an annoyed look, Marilyn stopped at a crossroad in the corridor. Her breath was ragged, sweat dripping down her temple. She had no idea which way to go.
"Shit! Clothing store—gone. Flower shop—road's trashed. And now… which way am I even supposed to pick, huh!? Aaaaaagh!"
She yanked off her fedora, messing up her own hair in frustration. Right at that moment, a weird teddy bear suddenly floated in the air, spun around her once, then zipped straight ahead.
"…A teddy bear?" Marilyn muttered, eyes wide. She had no clue how the hell it was floating like that.
She stared at it, until the bear suddenly turned around. Its tiny arms moved, waving at her in a simple little gesture, like it was telling her to hurry up and follow.
"Oi, oi, oi… you gotta be kidding me." Marilyn glared at the floating bear, confused and annoyed at the same time.
She hesitated for a second, but the thing just kept waving nonstop, like it wasn't gonna take no for an answer. With a long sigh, Marilyn shoved her fedora back on and dashed after it.
"This is… way too damn absurd. But whatever, no other choice. If only I went to the market as often as Caius—" Her words cut off. Her eyes went wide, snapping toward the floating bear in front of her.
Caius. She suddenly remembered. Her brother loved stuffed animals, and bears were one of his favorites.
"No way… Caius… are you here?" she thought, heart pounding hard.
She clenched her teeth, conviction flaring. With steady steps, she pushed herself to run faster, following the teddy bear's lead. In her mind there was only one possibility—this was Caius's help