The room to the crane’s main panel was sealed by a heavy trapdoor. Maduka pushed it open and climbed inside. She sealed the door once more, just in time to lock out the drones.

Old and unfamiliar equipment surrounded her from all sides. Confusing panels and boards coated the walls. They bore levers, each attached to different ropes.

There were at least a hundred of them. Maduka rushed to the windows to find which one was Tanuki bound by, but her intentions were cut short.

A drone broke through the window, sending shattered glass all over the room. Maduka wasn’t left unaffected by the attack, getting her face cut by the sharp pieces. The drone immediately flew towards Maduka, who raised her hands to cover from the attack.

“Kahh!” Maduka grunted as the drone smashed into her core.

She grabbed the drone by its hands and threw it aside. It crashed into a nearby panel and broke the levers.

Meanwhile, deeper down the mine, Tanuki nearly shat his pants as the lifts around him began to fall. He picked up his tempo while screaming internally.

Maduka looked around for a weapon. She saw a crowbar, which’s true use she didn’t know, but it was pointy enough for her liking. She bashed it against the drone’s head until light escaped its eyes.

The windows shattered one by one as more drones flew into the room. They might’ve been mindless and weak, but their sheer number was enough to overtake even a much stronger opponent.

Maduka picked up a large piece of glass which she dual-wielded with the crowbar.

“Come on, bugz! Maduka’s hungry!”

Drones surrounded her from all sides. They waited for one to attack, then Maduka to turn, so they could abuse her blind spots.

But she was fast. Very fast.

Maduka broke a drone’s skull with her crowbar, then jumped out of the way from the attack of another, then stabbed it in the back with her glass, then turned around to smash whoever approached her from behind…

She fought like a ferocious animal.

Yet, even though she moved like a ballerina of war, there were too many enemies. She was quickly exhausted by the continuous offense, her movements slowed and more and more attacks hit her from all sides.

One of these was powerful enough to push her into a corner. When she looked up, drones covered the room from all angles but one.

Behind the masses, she noticed Tanuki climb up one of the crane’s wings, to which the ropes were attached to.

His legs were shaking and when he looked down, he let out an anxious screech.

Maduka was relieved by his sight.

“Nuki!”

The boy looked towards the sound and saw Maduka surrounded by a dozen drones. He wanted to rush and help her, but the wing was hard to traverse, which meant that it would take at least a minute until he could climb into the main board room.

A minute. That’s all the time those drones would need to kill Maduka.

“So, I guess the time has come…”

Tanuki reached into his pocket and grabbed a small orb. Blue light shone from within.

“Maduka! I’m going to throw you something. If you can catch it, you’ll have the power of your soul in your hand. Break the orb to release it!”

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Maduka cocked her head in confusion.

“What is ya’ talking about? Maduka don’t understand!”

“You have one chance to catch it. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee your survival!”

Maduka recoiled. What was Tanuki talking about? This was all happening so fast, she felt like her head was about to hurt.

But before that could’ve happened, Tanuki aimed and threw.

It was a precise throw that only a true natural could execute. The ball flew right towards Maduka, who quickly moved to catch it. The drones tried to snatch the ball, but Maduka was simply too fast.

She caught the ball in her hands. A powerful sensation emanated from within, but it didn’t feel bad at all. It made her remember the sheep she used to herd and the warmness of their wool when they cuddled on cold nights.

The drones were quick and tried to snatch it from her hand, but Maduka was quicker.

She broke the Uncommon Orb of Weapon Creation.

A bright blue light, unlike anything, shone through the crane and mine, so mighty and powerful that it could be seen even from the fey forest. The bots flew back from the blinding light while a tear escaped Tanuki’s eyes.

“You’ve finally become a warrior, Maduka.”

When the light finally fainted, Maduka gazed at Tanuki with a childish smile.

“That tickled.”

In her hand was a short staff. It was delicately crafted from the stem of white roses and petunias. These two flowers bloomed on different sides of the weapon, which was thick enough to comfortably fit Maduka’s hand.

Tanuki had a dead expression on his face.

“Did… Did she just gain a children’s toy?”

The drones were just as unamused. They recollected themselves and returned to attacking Maduka.

Tanuki’s heart dropped as the drones ganged up on his friend. All he could do was cry out to her while crawling even faster towards the room.

“Maduka! Watch out!”

The goblin observed her new weapon with excitement. She put the end with the white rose close to her nose and took a sniff.

“So sweet!”

Suddenly, the other end of the staff burst forth like a metal spring and smashed into one of the drones. To everyone’s surprise, that attack was powerful enough to pierce the bot on both sides.

Tanuki’s eyes widened in surprise. The petunia hardened into a rock, then returned to a plant-like state when the attack was done.

Even more surprising than that, Maduka seemed to be oblivious to the attack, as she looked up from the sweet rose with confusion.

Another drone came her way. Maduka raised her staff and swatted the drone as if it was just an annoying fly.

Once again, the staff sprung forth like a children’s toy and tore through the robot’s half.

Then, as if nothing had happened, Maduka returned to smelling her precious rose.

Tanuki climbed into the room. He wasted no time and jumped forth with Kurohyou in hand.

“Take this, you flying bastards!”

He drew shapes in the air as he threw the ink, which detonated following the same motion. The drones fell apart in clouds of mechanical gore, fueled more by Maduka who played whack-a-mole with them.

“Good job, Maduka! You’re doing great!”

“Hehe! Maduka dunno what she’s doing!”

To her, this brutal fight quickly turned into a game. The soothing smell of the white rose calmed her soul and fighting beside her best friend, whom she greatly looked up to, has been her dream for a long time.

Finally, her dream became true.

“Hehe! Hehehe! Heh––“

Suddenly, Exhibition burst through the floor and launched both of them out the window. Tanuki landed on a wing of the crane and caught Maduka’s hand just in time so she wouldn’t fall down.

Exhibition crawled after them, slithering around the wing.

“Total number of drones destroyed… twenty-six. Total number of drones wasted… zero.”

Tanuki stepped closer to the metallic snake and raised his weapon.

“Oh, yeah? You haven’t wasted a single drone?”

“They sent back information to me before their death. I’ve stayed behind and ran eight-hundred-sixty-eight different calculations to measure your power levels.”

“And? You chickened out of the fight?”

Tanuki tried to act confident, but deep down he wished for nothing more than this fight to end. The depths below made him feel nauseous and there was no telling whether they could actually defeat the snake.

He thought that the worst that could happen was Exhibition deciding to continue the fight. However, things turned out even worse than he had thought.

“My calculations indicate that your weapons possess huge downsides. One is dependent on mana, something which you’re running low on, and the other’s user bears no knowledge of her weapon’s true use.”

The scales on her body shifted and new plates of armor appeared. It was greyer and thicker than the one she wore before.

“Anti-magic armor. The Creators’ equipped me in case the intruders would use sorceries. I’ve gone the extra mile and infused it with the broken parts of this crane. All that in less than five minutes.”

Tanuki wasn’t only running low on mana, but confidence too. He made a hasty attack against Exhibition, but the detonation of his ink left no marks on the robot.

“N-No way…”

“I’ve grown tired of you squirming around like nasty worms. How about you lay your weapons down and surrender? Whichever one of you does first will be spared from a painful death! The other, however, won’t be so lucky…”