A week after entering the Monster Realm, they found it.
An ancient city buried beneath time itself.
Its walls were forged from materials no one could name.
Collapsed castles sank into the earth, so massive their size couldn't be measured.
Gold lay scattered everywhere—far more than any human could ever count.
Weapons littered the streets.
Not forged by magic.
Not forged by this world.
Strange machines lay dormant, silent witnesses to a forgotten age.
Even heroes never spoke of this place.
A faint voice called to them from the heart of the city.
"Defeat the golem," she said,
"and I will reward you with a weapon greater than any other."
They accepted.
The ground split open.
A golem rose—and without a chant, without warning, fired a red beam from its hands.
The earth behind them vanished.
Shock froze them for a moment.
Something that powerful… without magic chants?
Arin shouted for Hanase to boost him and charged first, drawing its attention.
The others followed his lead.
But the golem saw through them.
It leapt past Arin
and lunged straight for Sharo.
Hanase raised a barrier.
Neblaheim struck from the side.
Arin crushed it into the ground from above.
The golem retaliated with a fireball.
Arin failed to dodge.
His hand burned black.
Hanase rushed in to heal him.
Neblaheim pressed the attack.
Sharo bound the golem.
Arin returned, blade cold with ice, body blazing with inferno.
The golem broke free.
A red beam fired—
—piercing straight through Sharo's chest
Time stopped.
Arin dragged Sharo back.
Hanase tried desperately.
Neblaheim held the golem alone.
Arin rose.
Ice.
Inferno.
Eldrin's sword.
One strike shattered the golem's arm.
Neblaheim crushed its head with stone.
Silence.
Then the voice spoke again.
Sharo's body dissolved.
And in its place—
Alive.
Aware.
Speaking.
Arin's thought he had lost another person close to him
But slowly, painfully, he understood.
Sharo had not died.
Not completely.
"Go," the voice said softly.
"I will watch you. One last warning—do not trust anyone. You may be hurt because of it."
Arin didn't understand.
But he thanked her.
And they continued forward.