The battle inside the Terracotta Armory grew increasingly chaotic.
Stone fragments littered the battlefield.
Broken weapons covered the floor.
The once orderly ranks of the Terracotta Army had become a battlefield of shattered clay and scattered debris.
At the center of it all—
Akari was having the time of her life.
Purple lightning exploded around her.
Narukami Tenrai hummed with divine power as she rushed through the battlefield.
Every swing of the blade left arcs of violet electricity dancing through the air.
A Terracotta Warrior lunged at her with a spear.
Akari sidestepped.
The spear barely missed her shoulder.
Before the warrior could recover—
CRACK
Narukami sliced through its torso.
The Terracotta Warrior shattered into dozens of pieces.
Another charged.
Then another.
Then three more.
Akari met them head-on.
Her swordsmanship wasn't elegant.
Rio would have cringed watching it.
There were unnecessary movements.
Poor footwork.
Overcommitted swings.
But one thing couldn't be denied.
Akari hit hard.
Very hard.
The divine lightning infused within Narukami Tenrai obliterated anything it touched.
One strike.
One kill.
Another strike.
Another warrior exploded.
The battlefield became filled with flashes of violet light.
Yet despite her success—
her aim remained terrible.
A group of six Terracotta Warriors charged together.
Akari raised her sword.
"[Narukami First Form: Thunder Strike]!"
A concentrated beam of divine lightning erupted from the blade.
Memory immediately turned.
"AKARI DON'T—"
BOOOOOOOM
The attack flew forward.
It completely missed the six warriors.
Instead—
it hit a distant pillar.
The pillar exploded.
The collapsing debris crushed four completely different Terracotta Warriors.
Akari blinked.
"...Still counts."
Memory pointed.
"HOW!?"
Akari shrugged.
"They died."
Memory opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
Unfortunately—
Akari wasn't technically wrong.
Meanwhile—
Memory was fighting in her own unique way.
Her body flowed like water.
Literally.
Several Terracotta Warriors surrounded her.
Spears thrust from multiple directions.
The attacks passed harmlessly through her transformed body.
The warriors couldn't understand what was happening.
Neither could Memory.
She was still learning.
Still experimenting.
But one thing was becoming obvious.
Physical attacks simply couldn't hurt her while she maintained her water form.
A spear stabbed directly through her stomach.
The weapon emerged from her back.
Memory stared.
"...That's still weird."
Then she grabbed the spear.
Her arm transformed into water.
The liquid stretched several meters.
Wrapped around the Terracotta Warrior.
And hurled it into three others.
BOOOOOOOM
All four exploded into fragments.
Bubbles bounced excitedly nearby.
The little slime looked incredibly proud.
Memory grinned.
"You're amazing, Bubbles."
The slime happily jumped against her shoulder.
The battle continued.
Minutes passed.
Dozens of Terracotta Warriors fell.
Then suddenly—
A notification appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Hidden Tamer Achievement Cleared
Achievement:
Collector of Ancient Souls
Requirement:
Collect 200 Terracotta Soul Fragments
Completed
Reward Granted
New Skill Unlocked
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Memory froze.
"...Huh?"
Akari was in the middle of cutting a warrior in half.
"What happened?"
Memory stared at the screen.
Her eyes widened.
Then widened even more.
Then widened so much Akari became concerned.
"Memory?"
"AKARI!"
"What?"
"I GOT A SKILL!"
Akari immediately became interested.
"What kind?"
Memory quickly opened the description.
The system screen expanded.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Tamer Skill: Terracotta Commission]
Mana Cost: 150
Cooldown: 8 Minutes
Effect:
Summons four Terracotta Spearmen to fight alongside the user.
Stats scale based on user level and skill level.
Maximum Active Summons:
4
Duration:
10 Minutes
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Both girls stared.
Then stared again.
Then stared one more time.
Akari pointed.
"You can summon Terracotta Warriors?"
Memory pointed.
"I CAN SUMMON TERRACOTTA WARRIORS!"
The excitement was immediate.
Memory didn't hesitate.
[Tamer Skill: Terracotta Commission]
Ancient symbols appeared beneath her feet.
Golden magic circles expanded throughout the battlefield.
The surrounding Terracotta Warriors suddenly paused.
The air vibrated.
Four massive summoning circles emerged.
Then—
BOOOOOM
Four figures rose from the ground.
Akari's eyes widened.
The summoned warriors looked nothing like the enemies.
These ones were bigger.
Taller.
Stronger.
Their armor resembled ancient Japanese samurai equipment.
Blue accents decorated their armor.
And most importantly—
each one carried a giant slime emblem on their backs.
Memory nearly cried.
"THEY HAVE BUBBLES LOGOS!"
Bubbles bounced proudly.
The four summoned warriors immediately moved.
Without hesitation.
Without orders.
One intercepted a charging Terracotta Warrior.
Its spear thrust forward.
CRACK
The enemy exploded.
A second warrior swept its weapon.
Three enemies shattered.
A third protected Memory.
The fourth joined Akari's front line.
The battlefield immediately shifted.
For the first time since entering the hidden dungeon—
the girls gained breathing room.
Memory laughed.
Akari laughed.
Even Bubbles seemed happy.
Unfortunately—
someone else wasn't.
Far above them—
the giant Terracotta Warden slowly rose from its throne.
The massive guardian had watched silently until now.
Its crimson eyes burned brighter.
A deep growl echoed throughout the chamber.
The entire dungeon trembled.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Cracks spread across nearby walls.
The Terracotta Warden wasn't angry at Akari.
It wasn't angry at Narukami.
It wasn't even angry about the destroyed soldiers.
No.
Its gaze locked directly onto Memory.
More specifically—
the four summoned Terracotta Spearmen.
Memory had stolen its army.
And it hated that.
The Warden stepped forward.
BOOOOOM
The floor cracked.
Another step.
BOOOOOM
The chamber shook.
Another.
BOOOOOM
The giant finally descended from its throne platform.
The enormous polearm resting beside it was lifted with one hand.
The weapon alone was larger than a wagon.
Memory looked up.
Then up.
Then up some more.
"...Akari."
"Yeah?"
"I think I made it angry."
Akari stared at the giant.
"...I noticed."
The Terracotta Warden roared.
The sound shook the entire armory.
Every remaining Terracotta Warrior immediately retreated.
Even they feared their king.
The Warden pointed its gigantic polearm directly at Memory.
Memory pointed at herself.
"Me?"
The Warden charged.
The battlefield exploded beneath its feet.
Memory's face turned white.
"OH THAT'S DEFINITELY ME!"
The giant crossed dozens of meters in seconds.
Its massive polearm rose high into the air.
A shadow swallowed the battlefield.
Akari's eyes widened.
"MEMORY MOVE!"
The Terracotta Warden brought its weapon down.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The entire dungeon shook violently.
Stone shattered.
A crater exploded across the battlefield.
Dust consumed everything.
The shockwave alone launched dozens of broken Terracotta Warriors through the air.
For several terrifying moments—
nobody could see anything.
Then—
slowly—
the dust began to clear.
And what emerged from the center of the impact made both Akari and the Terracotta Warden pause.
Memory was still standing.
Her body had transformed completely into water.
The gigantic polearm had passed directly through her.
Like striking a lake.
The attack hadn't harmed her at all.
Memory slowly blinked.
Then looked at her watery body.
Then at the giant Warden.
Then at Akari.
A grin slowly appeared on her face.
A very dangerous grin.
Akari immediately recognized it.
It was the same expression Rio got whenever she discovered a new strategy.
And somehow—
that terrified her more than the giant boss.
The Terracotta Warden had just discovered the same horrifying truth the regular Terracotta Warriors already learned.
Physical attacks meant absolutely nothing against Memory.
And now the boss fight had truly begun.
The Terracotta Warden's crimson eyes burned with intelligence.
Unlike the ordinary Terracotta Warriors, this wasn't some mindless dungeon monster.
It was learning.
Adapting.
Analyzing.
The massive guardian stared directly at Memory.
More specifically—
it stared at the watery portions of her body.
The giant's gaze shifted between the shattered battlefield and the girl standing unharmed within the crater its polearm had created.
The conclusion came quickly.
Physical attacks didn't work.
Its glowing eyes narrowed.
Then the Terracotta Warden slammed the butt of its polearm into the ground.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The entire armory shook.
Akari immediately sensed danger.
"MEMORY!"
A massive magic circle erupted beneath the Warden.
Ancient runes illuminated the battlefield.
Sand began pouring from the cracks of the dungeon floor.
At first it looked harmless.
Then it became terrifying.
The sand rose higher.
And higher.
And higher.
Until an enormous wall of sand towered over the battlefield.
Memory's face immediately lost all color.
"...That's not good."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Boss Skill: Sand Tsunami]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The wave crashed down.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The sand struck Memory directly.
The impact launched her across the battlefield.
Her body skipped across the ground several times before rolling to a stop.
"MEMORY!"
Akari shouted.
Memory groaned.
Her health bar dropped by 10%.
A significant chunk disappeared instantly.
She stared at her status screen.
Then at her body.
Then at the boss.
Her eyes widened.
"...Wait."
A realization hit her.
The pieces suddenly connected.
The skill.
The slime.
The transformations.
Everything.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Tamer Skill: Maiden of Blue]
Passive Skill
Allows the user to inherit characteristics of a contracted water-based companion.
Effects:
• Body can transform into water.
• Immune to physical damage while transformed.
• Vulnerable to magical attacks.
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Memory blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Oh."
Akari looked over.
"What?"
Memory pointed at the screen.
"I figured out the downside."
The Warden lifted its polearm again.
Akari didn't need further explanation.
"Yeah, now would be a bad time!"
The giant boss charged.
Its massive weapon descended.
Akari moved.
Lightning erupted beneath her feet.
CRACK!
She launched herself toward the Warden.
Purple electricity exploded around Narukami Tenrai.
Divine lightning crackled wildly.
The gap between them vanished instantly.
Akari swung.
The Warden swung.
The two weapons collided.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A shockwave exploded throughout the chamber.
Nearby Terracotta Warriors were launched through the air.
Stone pillars cracked.
Dust erupted everywhere.
Akari's eyes widened.
The force behind the impact traveled directly through her arms.
Pain shot through her shoulders.
Her entire body shook.
Then she was thrown backward.
CRASH!
She smashed through a broken pillar.
Fragments scattered across the battlefield.
The Warden hadn't moved.
Not even a step.
Akari slowly pushed herself back to her feet.
Her arms trembled.
"...That hurt."
The Warden charged again.
Akari grinned.
Then charged too.
The distance vanished.
Another collision.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The floor cracked.
Lightning and ancient magic exploded outward.
The Warden's polearm was massive.
Its blade alone was nearly the size of a two-story building.
Yet Akari still met it head-on.
Sword against polearm.
Human against giant.
Lightning against stone.
The collisions continued.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Every impact generated another shockwave.
Every shockwave rattled the entire dungeon.
Akari refused to retreat.
The Warden refused to yield.
Neither side backed down.
The Terracotta Warden's strength was overwhelming.
Akari's strength was ridiculous.
The result—
a stalemate.
But only on the surface.
Because every collision carried consequences.
Akari's muscles screamed.
Her arms felt heavier.
Her breathing became rougher.
Her feet slid farther back after each clash.
Narukami granted power.
But power alone wasn't enough.
She lacked technique.
Lacked mastery.
Lacked experience.
Rio would've immediately noticed the difference.
The lightning blade amplified her attacks.
Yet Akari was relying entirely on instinct.
The Warden wasn't.
Its movements were efficient.
Calculated.
Ancient.
Every strike carried purpose.
Every movement conserved energy.
Every blow exploited Akari's weaknesses.
The longer the battle continued—
the worse things became for her.
Still—
Akari smiled.
She was enjoying herself.
For the first time since entering Evermount—
she felt challenged.
The Warden swung horizontally.
Akari ducked beneath it.
The blade passed inches above her head.
She retaliated immediately.
Narukami flashed upward.
CRACK!
Lightning exploded across the Warden's torso.
A large crack formed.
The boss staggered.
Only half a step.
But it staggered.
Akari's eyes widened.
"I damaged it!"
The Warden looked down.
Then slowly back at her.
Its red eyes burned brighter.
Akari immediately regretted celebrating.
Elsewhere on the battlefield—
Memory had her own problems.
The four Terracotta Spearmen continued fighting.
Their slime emblems proudly displayed on their backs.
One spearman blocked incoming attacks.
Another fought beside Akari.
The remaining two battled enemy warriors.
The summons were buying valuable time.
Memory stood behind them.
Breathing heavily.
Unlike Akari—
she wasn't a frontline fighter.
She had no swordsmanship.
No combat training.
No flashy divine weapon.
She only had creativity.
And Bubbles.
The slime bounced beside her.
"Okay."
Memory crouched.
"We can do this."
Bubbles happily jumped.
Memory extended both hands.
Water gathered around her fingers.
She focused.
A small sphere formed.
Then another.
Then another.
A memory surfaced.
Every time she accidentally used water.
Every time her ability activated.
Every time she transformed.
Maybe—
just maybe—
she could use that same power offensively.
A small water projectile formed.
Memory aimed.
Poorly.
Very poorly.
Then launched it.
FWOOOSH!
The water blast flew forward.
Unlike Akari—
it actually traveled in the intended direction.
The projectile struck the Warden's shoulder.
SPLASH!
The boss looked down.
The attack barely did damage.
Memory smiled.
"I hit it!"
The Warden stared.
Memory stared back.
Silence.
Then the boss slowly lifted its polearm again.
Memory's smile disappeared.
"...Oh."
Ancient runes illuminated once more.
Sand erupted from the floor.
The dungeon shook.
Akari turned immediately.
"No!"
Memory pointed.
"Why does it hate me!?"
The answer was simple.
The Warden wasn't angry about Akari.
Akari was merely challenging it.
Memory—
was stealing its army.
Its soldiers.
Its authority.
Its pride.
The Terracotta Warden had chosen its primary target.
And unfortunately for Memory—
that target was her.
The second Sand Tsunami began forming.
An even larger wave than before.
The entire battlefield darkened beneath its shadow.
Memory stared upward.
Bubbles stared upward.
The four Terracotta Spearmen stared upward.
Even Akari paused.
The incoming magical attack dwarfed the previous one.
And for the first time—
the two rookie adventurers realized something.
This wasn't just a hidden dungeon.
This wasn't just a rare boss.
This was a battle that could genuinely defeat them.
Yet despite that realization—
neither girl moved to retreat.
Akari tightened her grip on Narukami.
Memory raised her watery hands.
And together—
the two beginners prepared to face the Terracotta Warden's wrath head-on.