We have traversed the dungeon to its deepest depths. There are a few shortcuts, courtesy of the miner and the adventure that tells us about them, that save us a lot of time.
I don't know how much time has passed since we entered the dungeon. I don't even know if it's evening or night outside. Maybe it's already night because I'm already sleepy and tired, but that's just me. The others are fine.
All I see are minerals, gold, diamonds, and various other precious booty from this dungeon. It's not natural for them to be collected like this, so Kat says it's the imperial soldier collecting them in one place so they can take them outside later. I don't know how they're going to do that, but I'm sure they're going to get away thanks to the false Hydra's amnesic power. Leaving them out in the open without any protection must not be the first time they have done this, and the other one agreed with me.
Now all that's left is the false Hydra and the Golem's keeper in the room ahead of us. Randy gathered us around, wanting to emphasize each of our roles in the fight against the false Hydra, but
"The floor! It's moving!"
"Everybody hold on!" [Randy]
"Diana! Grab me!" [Kat]
"Yes! Fie! You too!" [Diana]
"Meow!" [Fie]
The ground below us makes us move towards the room where the Golem's keeper and the false hydra are waiting for us. Just as we enter the large room, the large multi-headed false hydra starts to attack us. One of the smaller heads wanted to eat us alive, but Fie is faster, as Fie throws a thunder and fire spell right at it, burning the false hydra's slithering tongue. As for the golem's keepr, its punch was blocked by Randy, who immediately entered his berserker state.
The False Hydra is smaller than the Golen Keeper. It has five heads, with the middle one being the largest of them all, and the other four heads looking at us menacingly. The Golen Keeper, on the other hand, is huge! Perhaps the size of a young giant! Its body is made of pure gold, and its fingers and feet are made of diamonds. In the middle, there's a monster core connected to the false hydra. I see! No wonder the golem refuses to work the deeper they go! The false Hydra controls this Golem Keeper, and the Golem Keeper in turn forces the other Golem to stop working!
"Incoming attack!"
"Diana!" [Kat]
"I know! Don't you dare make my friend forget me!" [Diana]
The largest head of the false hydra releases a glaring mirage stare, a hypnotic spell to make us all forget, while the other four heads keep trying to swallow us alive! With Kat carrying me around, I can concentrate on my job of blocking the mirage mana from affecting the others.
"Blessing... Strong one... Young one, you must perish!" [False Hydra]
There is no time to rest as I continue to block the fake Hydra's mana. It is strong! Much too strong! I'm sure that if I wasn't blessed by the fairies, I would succumb to the spell the moment the false hydra unleashed its spell. The heavy mirage mana of the false hydra, with THE THING reinforcing it, makes the already difficult battle even harder.
As one of the adventurers began to fire his arrow into the eye of the largest head, the golem and the other head blocked the attempt. He tries again, quickly firing his heavy arrow, and again the smaller heads block it. Even the Golem Keeper does the same to protect the largest head, ignoring any attack from Randy on its body.
"The eye! Blind the eye and our battle will be easier!" [Kat]
"Spot on! Easier said than done, but it's our only chance to get home alive!" [Randy]
"Then I'll help, too!" [Diana]
"No! Just concentrate on supporting all of us! The moment that damned Hydra messed with our minds is the moment we lost!" [Randy]
The relentless attack comes from all directions. The Golem Keeper, not only throwing punches, but also using any boulder and throwing it at us effortlessly. The false Hydra, agile as a snake, tries to bite us again and again. To make matters worse, the Golem Guardian is guarding every one of our attempts to hurt the false Hydra! Of course, it can afford to do so, as the dungeon can provide the necessary materials to repair the Golem Keeper!
"Tchh! You're infuarating!" [Randy]
As Randy further enhances his golden axe with wind magic, he lashes out at the false Hydra, the other head retreating, knowing that it will be killed if the golden axe connects to it, but not the Golem Keeper. The Golem Keeper uses his body as a shield to block Randy's powerful swing.
I'm not sure if this is what Randy is aiming for. The powerful swing of his heavy golden axe shatters the monster core above the Golem Keeper's body! It still clings to the body, but the connection to the false Hydra has begun to leak out and disappear. As if trying to free itself from any bonds, the Golem Keeper began to rampage around, even starting to hurt the false Hydra. Good! Very good! But...
"Just a little mishap. Nothing too difficult" [False Hydra].
As the False Hydra began to infuse more and more mirage mana into the Golem Keeper's monster core, the Golem Keeper used his own earthly mana to reject it. It caused a disturbance over the monster core, and Fie, like a cat that doesn't get food from its owner, drooled heavily.
"Fie... Don't tell me... Hehehe... Go on, Fie! It's your favorite food!" [Diana]
"MEOW!" [Fie]
"Huh?" [Kat]
"What, what is that cat trying to do?" [Randy]
It is just like back in the church when Fie absorbed the empty magic stone that was infused with my mana. I guess the monster core is almost in a similar state now, but instead, it has the mana of the false Hydra and the Golem Keeper, and they are fighting each other to see who will control the body, creating something similar to Fie's favorite food!
"As expected! Go Fie Go! Go Fie Go! Go Go Go!" [Diana]
"What's an elemental cat doing here?" [False Hydra]
The False Hydra tried its best to get the upper hand, even one of the smaller heads tried to swallow Fie all at once, but Randy didn't let that happen as he managed to cleanly decapitate one of the heads! Blood spurted out and even got on my clothes! Yuck! I quickly make a wind barrier so that the stinking blood doesn't get me! I also quickly clean us all, especially Randy, the blood contains traces of THE THING! I don't want them to get sick like Kara and Mara! It's not funny to see THE THING wreaking havoc!
When the monster's core is absorbed, the Golem Keeper's earthly mana dissipates into the air, but some of it goes into Fie. Fie grew larger and larger. Its fur began to take on a silvery mineral color. Its paws are now made of metal. Its fangs are sharper than ever! It joint is protected with a very hard stone! All and all
"Fie... Not so cute anymore... BUT AWESOME! " [Diana]
"Meow!?" [Fie]
I quickly float over to Fie and start hugging him! He's bigger now, so I can't do what I used to do when he was a kitten, but this should do as I play with his whiskers!