Lilitha walked over to one of the wrecked hounds, using the tip of her rod to flip its metallic jaw open.
"Hey, Erwin! Look at this!"
Marrowin stepped forward, his claymore resting against his shoulder. He knelt down beside the beast, reaching into the exposed chest cavity where the organic tissue met the cold steel. With a careful tug, he pulled out a small, pulsing cylindrical device that glowed with a faint, iridescent blue light. The gears on its casing were still spinning weakly.
"A Mana Engine," Marrowin announced, holding it up so everyone could see. "That's one down."
"One down, ninety nine to go," Aedes groaned from the back, leaning against his magic musket like it was a walking stick. "At this rate, my fingers are going to fall off from pulling the trigger before we even hit the halfway mark."
