"Shit..." Marshmallow whispered gripping the Titan Hammer with his sweaty hands. The Goat Horse snatched the wrench from Eldrin, anxiety evident from his equine head. Eldrin didn't seem to care; instead, he pulled out a glowing vial from the vast assortment in his bag.

"Well, at least we'll die fighting!" Eldrin chuckled.

The Mechanical Cerberus stepped forward. "You dare to defile this sacred place," the first head boomed, staring at the trio with eyes that burned with a cold fire. "I will bend you to my will and break you like toys."

Beside him, the second head scrutinized them with a cunning smirk. "Interesting," it hissed, its voice sliding like oil between gears. "There might be something juicy in those pretty little bodies."

"Words, words, words!" the third head exclaimed, as it let out a roar that made the air tremble. "I want to hear the sound of your flesh, your limbs, your blood, and your bones shattering under my teeth!"

To face these monstrosities or to flee? The Mechanical Cerberus advanced, each head ready to play its part in this symphony of destruction. And in that moment, the three realized that they had to fight no matter how scared they were. They had to survive.

"Split up! Each of us will take on a head!" Marshmallow yelled. The group nodded, and all three started running in different directions.

Marshmallow faced the central head, which radiated an aura of icy authority. Every movement was calculated, cold, almost mechanical. Leveraging his supernatural perception, Marshmallow danced around the attacks, countering with powerful blows of his hammer. A well-placed hit echoed with a deep sound of beaten metal.

In his humanoid form, the Goat Horse charged at the head and seemed to evaluate every move with calculating eyes. Armed with the gigantic wrench, he wielded it with strength and precision, creating a play of dodges and counterattacks that almost resembled a deadly dance.

Eldrin faced the head that burned uncontrollably, its roars echoing like thunder. With a steady hand, he threw a vial that exploded into a cloud of colored smoke, enveloping the head in a veil of confusion. Then, with a swift gesture, he hurled a second vial that solidified into glowing chains upon contact, forcing the head to struggle against its sudden restraints.

The Mechanical Cerberus, taken aback by the audacity and coordination of its opponents, let out a roar of frustration. Its heads thrashed, trying to break free, but the trio had gained a precious advantage. Marshmallow, the Goat Horse, and Eldrin surrounded the beast, keeping up the pressure and looking to exploit every opening.

The ground itself seemed to tremble under the fury of the battle. Marshmallow, the Goat Horse, and Eldrin fought with all their might, but the Mechanical Cerberus was an unrelenting destruction machine. Every blow they landed seemed almost absorbed by its massive structure, and every strategy was repelled by its insidious defenses. They couldn't make a dent.

Despite their intense onslaught, the trio realized with growing despair that perhaps, this time, the enemy was too strong. The Mechanical Cerberus' power seemed inexhaustible, and for every attack it suffered, it responded with twice the fury. The heads, with their distinct and sinister personalities, coordinated attacks with terrifying precision, almost as if they were of a single mind.

Marshmallow, panting, pulled back for a moment, seeking eye contact with Eldrin and the Goat Horse. They were exhausted too, their tense expressions betraying the same realization: they couldn't beat it in a direct confrontation.

That's when Eldrin, with a flash of insight born from desperation, shouted, "We need to overload it! Distract it with everything we've got!"

Marshmallow got it right away. "Let's use our abilities together! Create a chaos it can't handle!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The Goat Horse slammed the wrench into the ground, transforming into a gust of wind in his equine version. Then he grabbed it with his teeth and began running around the Mechanical Cerberus at dizzying speeds, kicking up a storm of dust and debris.

Eldrin opened his bag of wonders, tossing vials that exploded into blinding lights and loud sounds, creating an orchestra of sensory distractions.

Marshmallow, drawing strength from their united spirit, leaped into the air. With a battle cry, he brought down his weapon with all his might onto the ground right in front of the Mechanical Cerberus, unleashing a shockwave of pure energy that radiated like lightning in a storm.

The Mechanical Cerberus staggered under the sensory assault, its heads writhing in confusion, its systems overloaded by the myriad of conflicting stimuli. For a moment, it seemed the imposing machine might give in, its roar of rage turning into a whimper of suffering.

The trio didn't waste a moment, ramping up their attack, weaving their abilities into a complex pattern of distraction and pain. And in the climax of that orchestrated chaos, the Mechanical Cerberus, for the first time, seemed uncertain, its movements erratic, its reactions slowed.

This was their chance, the turning point they had desperately sought. With one final concerted effort, the trio pushed the Mechanical Cerberus to the edge, until, with a last burst of light and sound, the beast let out a final roar and retreated into the shadows from which it had emerged, defeated not by strength, but by human ingenuity and determination.

The silence that followed was almost surreal, a stark contrast to the chaos of the battle just ended. Marshmallow, the Goat Horse, and Eldrin looked at each other, exhaustion and relief painted on their faces. They had won, or so it seemed.

Just as they lowered their guard, a dull noise echoed from the depths of the Forge. The ground beneath them trembled, and from the shadows emerged something vast and dark, a presence that made even the Mechanical Cerberus they had just faced seem pale.

The trio turned, ready to face this new threat, but what they saw left them breathless. The Mechanical Cerberus, which they thought they had defeated, stood before them again, its eyes glowing with renewed intensity. But it wasn't alone. Behind it, towering figures shrouded in darkness, not clearly identified, stood against the glow of the Forge's fire, each emitting an aura of power and menace.

The Mechanical Cerberus had called for reinforcements, or perhaps these were the true guardians of this sacred place, awakened by their battle. Marshmallow gripped his hammer, the Goat Horse wielded the wrench again, and Eldrin frantically rummaged in his bag for another miraculous vial.

Marshmallow's heart raced, his hands firmly grasping the Titan Hammer, yet in that moment of chilling realization, he knew brute strength would not be enough. "We can't win this fight," he said, his voice strained with tension as his gaze fixed on the growing darkness before them, where the Mechanical Cerberus and its new, formidable allies loomed threateningly.

The Goat Horse, always ready to rush into danger, this time acknowledged the wisdom in Marshmallow's words. Shaking his head, his equine eyes reflected an unusually thoughtful light. "You're right. It's time to use our heads, not just brute force," he agreed.

Eldrin nodded with the gravity that only years and experience could bestow. "I have a vial that can give us cover. A dense fog. It'll buy us time to escape!" he suggested, pulling from his assortment a vial that seemed to contain a tumult of imprisoned mists.

With a nod of agreement, Marshmallow aligned with his companions, and the decision was etched on their weary faces. "Alright, let's use it. It's not cowardice to retreat when the battle is lost. We'll live to fight another day," he declared with the resolve of someone who knows that true strength lies in choosing your battles wisely.

With a fluid motion, Eldrin threw the vial to the ground, and in an instant, the room was enveloped in a fog so dense it felt almost tangible. Seizing the sudden chaos, the trio made their escape, their footsteps echoing down the corridor as they fled from the Forge, their silhouettes dissolving into the mist like ghosts.

Behind them, the enemies, surprised and temporarily blinded by the fog, erupted in frustration. The sound of their disorderly movements, and futile attempts at pursuit, faded into the wind like the echo of a still-looming threat.

The Goat Horse, short of breath from the run, shot Marshmallow a look that oscillated between terror and excitement. "That... was the craziest thing we've ever done," he gasped, trying to find a glimmer of humor in their desperate situation.

His chest rising and falling with effort, Marshmallow replied between breaths, "And it probably won't be the last."

Eldrin, with a smile that hid fatigue and the weight of years, encouraged them with words that sounded like a challenge to fate itself. "Next time, let's be better prepared."

Quite the high stakes, huh?