We woke before dawn. Lili stirred beside me in the gloom, her cloak already half around her shoulders. Bell and Lady Hestia lay curled on the couch, arms awkwardly tangled, Hestia's mouth slightly parted but not snoring. Somehow, that annoyed me more than if she had been.
"There's a bed," I whispered, pulling on my boots. "A whole bed. But no, Bells is too much of a baby to go to the bed."
Lili smirked, brushing her bangs aside. "Think they'll regret it come morning?"
"I hope they wake up sore," I muttered, slipping the hammer over my back. It clicked against the armor. I felt its weight settle as it clicked into place.
We stepped into the cool hush of early Orario, the streets still misted and the scent of bread ovens firing up for the day. I walked ahead, hands in pockets. Lili matched my stride without a word, her crossbow tucked against her hip.
"Before we head in," I said, tilting my head toward the Dungeon's looming tower, "I wanted to run an idea by you. About gear."
She looked up. "You mean my crossbow?"
"Kind of." I shifted to one side, letting a vendor cart roll past. "I've been thinking… we can do better."
She frowned faintly. "Better than a crossbow?"
I nodded. "A Light Bowgun."
Lili blinked. "A what?"
I stopped just shy of the tower steps and turned to face her fully. "Okay, so imagine this—a weapon, compact, lightweight, slightly bigger than your current bow. But instead of one bolt at a time, it feeds from a drum or internal chamber. It can fire in bursts—rapid-fire, even. And you can load it with all kinds of specialty rounds: piercing, explosive, elemental, status effects…"
She narrowed her eyes. "That doesn't exist."
"No, not yet," I admitted. "But I can build it. I know how."
"And this is something you could build? Out of… what? More frog parts?" She gestured at my armor, unimpressed, which kinda hurt.
"Exactly. Chatacabra scales for the frame, shell plating for recoil absorption, and I've got some alloy left over I could use. Light, strong. I can make the mainframe today if we get back in time."
Lili gave me a long, skeptical look. "It fires multiple shots?"
"Some models can even fire in bursts of three. With the right mods, you can boost reload speed, reduce recoil, or increase your ammo pool."
She was silent for a moment, biting her lower lip. Then, softly, "Is it loud?"
"Depends. Pierce ammo is sharper, not explosive. And I can rig it with a damper barrel—sort of like a muffler. Maybe."
That caught her interest. "I don't like drawing attention."
"I know," I said. "But imagine something that lets you support us without needing to reload after every bolt. You could hit faster, reposition smoother, and cover more angles."
"I'd still need to aim."
I shrugged. "I've seen you hit the eye of a killer ant while sprinting."
She flushed lightly. "That was luck."
"Then you're the luckiest damn Supporter I've ever met."
A ghost of a smile touched her lips, but she didn't argue. She glanced down at the crossbow, then up at the tower's rising height. "And the armor?"
I hesitated. "I was going to offer you a set. Same style as mine. But…"
Her nose wrinkled. "Matching armor? Like… matching matching?"
I laughed. "Relax. I got the message loud and clear."
"It's not that I don't appreciate it," she said quickly, fidgeting with her strap. "It's just… I'd rather not look the same."
"Well then, no armor. Just the weapon. And I'll tailor it to your style, light, clean, and fast. Something sleek. You'll look like a walking ballista had a baby."
"That's horrifying."
"And accurate."
She snorted. "Fine. I'll try it. But if it explodes in my hands—"
"I'll make sure it doesn't." I tapped my temple. "I've already got the blueprint in here."
Her gaze drifted toward the Dungeon's main archway. "We doing a full run today?"
"No, just running a test to see how the Hammer and my armor hold."
Lili fell into step beside me. "You're really going all-in on this, huh?"
"Of course." I flexed my fingers around the hammer's grip. "That jaw wasn't just a trophy. And now that my summons can cover for us, I'm not glued to shield duty anymore."
She gave me a sideways glance. "You're not worried about showing too much?"
"Aren't I already a walking question mark?"
"Yes," she said, instantly.
We passed a pair of Guild officials setting up patrols. The morning sun hadn't crested fully, but the city was waking around us. Bells clanged in the distance. A smell of breakfast soup wafted from a nearby tavern.
"Hey," Lili said suddenly. "If you make this weapon for me… does that make us partners?"
I tilted my head. "Weren't we already?"
She flushed again. "I mean—like, formally. Like… not just Supporter and Adventurer. But equals."
I stopped walking.
She looked up at me, uncertain.
I reached out and nudged the strap on her crossbow. "When that gets replaced with the new piece, yes."
She rolled her eyes but didn't hide the smile. "Deal."
The Dungeon loomed before us now. I cracked my neck, adjusted the weight of the hammer, and gave a small, satisfied exhale.
The first five floors passed like old routine. We didn't speak much, just the soft scuff of boots. Lili walked beside me, eyes scanning corners, bolt already loaded. I kept my hammer loose on my shoulder.
The air shifted as we stepped into the next chamber, wider than the last, oddly clean. My grip tightened. I took one more step, and the door behind us slammed shut with a stone groan. Lili cursed softly.
The walls vibrated, mana pulsing outward. Then they began to ripple, spawning rings flashing like angry veins. The room lit up in sickly green pulses, and the sound of claws dragging across stone multiplied. Shadows dropped from the ceiling. Four. No six. Then more.
Lili darted left, low and fast, diving behind a half-collapsed pillar. I slammed my hammer down, letting the impact jolt through my arms. The first creature had barely lunged when a shudder rolled through the floor.
A pillar of shadow exploded beside me, Sir Froggie, the gold-crowned Chatacabra, took shape in a heartbeat. His roar hit like a war drum, echoing through the chamber, drowning out the shrieks of the incoming swarm.
Behind him, a smaller blast of black mist signaled the arrival of his sibling, the second Shadow Chatacabra. Both dwarfed the oncoming enemies. And then Nyx dropped in, blade in hand, she landed between me and the first frog.
Showtime.
Sir Froggie lunged without hesitation, his bulk colliding with a cluster of reptilian dog-lizards. Three were flattened instantly, limbs cracking, as they burst into black mist. His tongue lashed sideways, snatching another mid-air and slamming it into the floor until it stopped twitching.
Nyx sprinted under his reach, spinning mid-dash to sever a goblin's legs at the knee. I charged. The hammer hummed through the air as I brought it down full-force onto a lunging killer ant. The head caved, a geyser of green-black ichor spraying my boots before it burst into black mist. I pivoted off the rebound and swung sideways into a second. Bones snapped. My arm rang with the force of it. Felt good.
Lili's first bolt cracked across the chamber, hitting the skull of a chatacabra mid-leap. She reloaded, rolled behind Sir Froggie, and fired again. More monsters spilled from the side walls. I counted three dozen, easy. They swarmed Sir Froggie's flanks, tried to drag him down with weight and numbers. He reared back, slamming his body into the wall to crush the ones climbing him.
"Nyx, cover Lili!" I barked.
She dashed until she was beside Lili, just as a goblin went for her. Sword up, Nyx cut clean through it, black blood spraying across her cheek. The smaller Shadow Chatacabra screamed, less bass than Sir Froggie but still fearsome, and leapt into the thickest cluster of goblins. The resulting splash of gore painted the far wall. He twisted mid-leap, fist lashing bodies aside like dolls.
My hammer met its chest mid-pounce. The body bent around the impact like wet paper and flew backwards, skidding lifeless across the floor. A second later, Sir Froggie barreled through the same spot, snarling and foaming, jaws dripping with drool. He slammed into the far wall, burying a wriggling monster beneath his bulk with a wet crunch.
I turned, just in time to see Nyx flip backward off Lili's shoulder, blades flashing as she intercepted a dive-bombing bat. "Twenty left!" I yelled, voice hoarse.
Gore spattered Sir Froggie's jaw, but he didn't care. Sir Froggie charged. The smaller Chatacabra followed. And I did too. One, two, three more bodies crushed beneath the hammer. I saw Lili kick an enemy off her boot and shoot it point-blank in the throat.
Nyx dropped from the ceiling and split the last goblin down the middle. Landed in a crouch. Sword dripping. The room finally fell silent. Sir Froggie panted beside me, ichor dripping from his jaw, shoulders rising and falling. He looked back at me with those glinting midnight eyes. I touched his flank once.
Lili lowered her bow, chest heaving. "That… was a lot."
I nodded. "You okay?"
She gave me a crooked smile. "I want to try that bowgun."
I laughed, heart still racing. "Yeah. I figured."
Behind us, the Dungeon door finally clicked. The magic binding it had shattered.
"Well, I'd say that's enough for a test, don't you?" I said, rolling my shoulder as I stepped over the last of the twitching corpses. Lili didn't argue. Just gave a slow nod and started scooping up the drop crystals. Nyx crouched beside her, humming to herself while my two other shadows disappeared into my storage.
Once the last shard clinked into the satchel, I pulled out my last can and handed it to her. "Dash Juice. Finish it. You've earned it." Her fingers wrapped around it quick, and she didn't hesitate. One long swig, then a soft sigh. "That stuff's not bad."
"Im glad you liked it."
She rolled her eyes. "Still not telling me how you made it, huh?"
"Nope."
We moved toward the staircase, Nyx going into my shadow. Back under the sky, the sun hung high, midday. Lili pulled her hood up and squinted toward the market streets. "You heading home?"
"Not yet," I said, shifting the hammer on my back. "Gonna hit the outer fields. I need some parts. Plants. Maybe a few bugs."
"Alone?"
"Yeah. You've got crystals to turn in and coins to count, gear to clean. This is just supply run stuff."
She didn't press, but her brow furrowed a little. "You sure you'll be fine?"
"Always," I said with a small smile. "Go get a bath. You smell like monster guts."
"You smell worse," she shot back, already walking. "Don't die."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
We split at the corner. She vanished into the crowd. I turned down the quieter lane that led toward the east gate. The city gate closed behind me with a creak and a thud, and I exhaled slowly. Stone gave way to packed dirt, boots landing lighter without cobblestones underfoot. I rolled my shoulders once, adjusting the strap of my satchel.
I took the south trail, not the main one travelers used, but the narrow offshoot worn down by time and wandering critters. Thick ferns licked my calves as I passed, and I ducked beneath low branches, brushing away clusters of spider silk without a second thought.
I moved uphill, toward a knoll where I'd seen honeycombs once before. The scent of pine and something sweet drifted through the leaves. Bees hummed faintly in the air, lazy and nonaggressive. I scanned for movement, found a half-shaded tree near the ridge, its trunk speckled with dripping gold.
Jackpot. I set the satchel down carefully and pulled out three small jars, stepping quietly to avoid spooking the hive. I scraped one honeycomb fragment loose, its surface warm and sticky, and sealed it fast.
I moved on, slipping between trees, crouching to inspect mushrooms along a fallen log. I gathered five good caps, then moved toward the gully that dipped just past the hill. God bugs liked that spot. Hot rocks, little mineral springs, and vines thick enough to shade their burrows. Sure enough, the air shifted slightly cooler down there.
I crouched by a stone, watching the insects drift lazily above a cracked patch of clay. I caught 6. I let out a breath. I straightened slowly, slipping the vial into my pack without breaking eye contact with the treeline ahead.
I heard the first step, light. Not a snap of a twig, not a stumble. Just moved to zip my satchel closed. I stood up slowly. Six of them. Out from behind the trunks, stepping into the open. Two wore hoods, one carried a short staff. One had a sword sheathed backwards.
But not one of them looked surprised to see me. I didn't speak, and what's worse, I couldn't see their face. The one in front, taller than the others, probably the leader, tilted his head. His face was covered, just his eyes visible under the hood. "You make quite the impression," he said lightly. "Not many get the Guild to vouch for them and piss off Circe's favorites in the same week."
I raised a brow. "If you want an autograph, you're going to have to wait until after I finish picking herbs."
He chuckled at that, low and dry. "Smart mouth. But no. We're here for something else."
Two of them moved to flank me. "And what's that?" I asked.
"The recipes," he said simply. "All of them. You hand them over, we let you walk back to your little Familia."
"Big assumption," I said, finally turning to meet his eyes. "That I'm the one outnumbered."
He scoffed. "There's six of us."
I smiled. "Funny," I said quietly. "You think you have me outnumbered… but little do you know—" My shadow shifted. The ground vibrated. "—In death, you will serve." Behind me, a deep growl rattled through the trees, from my shadow.