The Midnight Subjugation

A second flare was launched skyward, and the half-bell rang out again.

That would bring people from the other districts.

The adventurers readied their weapons and faced the statue, with Azu standing at the front.

Alexia and the other mages fired spells at the statue, careful not to hit the front line.

But the effect was negligible.

Against a body made of metal, magic could only damage the surface, and the statue showed no sign of feeling pain.

Only spells from Alexia's longer incantations seemed to give it any pause.

The statue raised its khakkhara high.

Azu watched it, sword at the ready.

Even bigger than Etoroki.

Different weapon, but its power was on par with Etoroki's, maybe greater. That was Azu's assessment.

The khakkhara came crashing down.

With the mages' light spells illuminating the area, Azu could track its trajectory clearly.

She dodged wide just to be safe. An instant later, the khakkhara slammed into the ground.

The impact thundered across the plaza.

The brick paving shattered, the khakkhara embedding itself deep in the ground.

(The noise is going to destroy my ears.)

Azu couldn't take her hands off her weapon to cover them.

She steadied herself and raised her sword.

Behind the statue, the adventurer who'd helped Azu before was approaching with his greataxe.

The statue wrenched its khakkhara free. Fragments of brick rained down.

The adventurer seized the opening and drove his greataxe into the statue's exposed back.

Metal met metal with a piercing screech, and the axe bounced off.

"It's so hard!"

The adventurer's voice was practically a scream.

Azu couldn't see the statue's back from her position, but it seemed the greataxe had done little.

The statue gripped the khakkhara in both hands and spun toward him.

Using its own momentum, it swung the khakkhara in a wide horizontal arc.

The adventurer blocked with his greataxe but was sent flying, crashing into a food stall.

The adventurer's companion, a mage, fired a water spell to create an opening, but it had almost no effect on the statue.

However, the statue's attention had shifted away from Azu.

She parted her lips just slightly and exhaled.

Her breath hung white in the air.

She swung her sword as quietly as she could.

She didn't know the extent of a non-living statue's five senses, but she figured it was better to be cautious.

She channeled magic power into the Sealed Sword Grungaus.

(This sword should do the trick.)

Drawing on the strength Elza's blessing had granted her, she aimed for its leg.

A cut to the right knee.

The sword responded to Azu's magic, its power activating.

The sword's strike itself bounced off just like the greataxe had, but the sword's effect shaved away part of the statue.

Just as she'd expected, she could get through its defenses.

But there was no time to breathe easy.

The statue swung its right fist at her.

Azu jerked her head backward to dodge.

A few strands of hair caught the fist and drifted into the air.

The wind pressure sent her hair and clothes billowing.

As she evaded, she slashed at the statue's right hand.

The blade bounced, but the magic power she'd channeled carved another wound.

The statue stomped its right foot into the ground.

It couldn't speak, but its expression made its feelings plain. Intense killing intent and rage.

(Wasn't this supposed to be a god's statue?)

Azu harbored those doubts as she pulled back for now.

Elza happened to be right there, and her left hand brushed Azu's right shoulder in passing.

"Heh."

A faint sound that only Azu heard.

Elza headed toward the statue.

After Azu pulled back, the adventurers surrounded the statue and were attacking from all sides, but the best they could manage was superficial scratches.

The statue's body contained Damascus steel, and even steel weapons were outmatched in hardness.

Some fighters' weapons were already chipping.

And the statue was far from slow.

Its swings were big and easy to read, but the sheer power behind them was abnormal.

One burly adventurer locked weapons with the statue, but was losing the struggle.

He'd been somewhat even at first, but the moment his weapon touched the khakkhara, he rapidly started losing.

"My blessing's vanishing! What the hell?!"

The statue grabbed his arm and hurled him aside.

That alone was enough to break the arm it had grabbed.

"Dammit, that hurts."

Elza healed him with a healing miracle as she passed by.

"Thanks."

"Mm."

The man's arm mended, and he picked up his weapon again.

Elza cast blessings on the surrounding adventurers as she dragged her mace along the ground, walking steadily toward the statue.

The adventurers around it were swept aside and the magical barrage broke for a moment. In that opening, Elza and the statue stood face to face.

The statue's mouth opened. It seemed to be trying to say something.

But being a statue, no sound came out.

Elza gripped her mace in both hands.

Then she lifted her gaze slightly to look the statue in the eye.

"Angry? I've been angry for a long, long time."

The statue reared back with its khakkhara and brought it down on Elza.

She didn't dodge. She swung her mace straight up into the descending khakkhara.

A shockwave rippled through the plaza, enough to make the very air tremble.

Elza's mace was knocked away, but the statue's khakkhara was deflected at the same time.

The recoil pushed Elza back several steps.

"She canceled it out?!"

Voices of disbelief reached Azu's ears.

Azu knew Elza was deceptively strong for her build, but even she hadn't imagined this.

The mace Master had prepared for Elza had only one virtue: it was indestructible.

True to form, the impact hadn't bent or chipped it in the slightest.

Elza stepped forward again and began trading blows with the statue head-on.

Adventurers from other patrol districts started arriving at the plaza.

Guards were trickling in, too.

But there was no way ordinary fighters could step into that melee.

Only the mages firing from range, Azu, and a handful of other front-liners could press attacks while the statue's focus was on Elza.

Some archers loosed arrows as well. The arrows had no effect, but they served to distract the statue.

Elza's blessings weren't dispelled even when touching the statue.

The statue's wounds began to accumulate.

Almost all of them were from Azu's strikes.

One of Alexia's long-charged spells struck the statue's shoulder, and for the first time, slightly melted the point of impact.

Azu caught sight of Alexia pumping her fist.

The statue was terrifyingly strong, but Azu felt they could win.