Equipment Farming (7): The Brass Spider
One, two, three…. Beyond the swirling dust, the red lights multiplied. They were cold, unblinking glows that seemed to do nothing more than signal power on or off. But the moment the eighth light appeared, I felt as if our eyes had met.
—Pshhh—
A burst of steam erupted. I’d never heard the sound before, yet its meaning was crystal clear. My instincts traced an invisible line through the empty air. I yanked my body aside and shouted.
“Incoming!”
—Clang!
A serrated gear shot forward like a bullet and slammed into the floor, carving a deep gouge. The edges looked blunt, but at that speed they didn’t need to be sharp.
“Faye, Theo! You two okay?”
“No problem!”
The other two handled the flying gears in their own ways. Faye somehow swatted hers aside with her sword, while Theo blocked his with a barrier. Once the dust settled, eight brass spiders—each easily three meters tall—stood before us, their eight eyes glowing crimson.
Eight legs, eight eyes. Their bodies were flattened ovals rather than the rounded shape of real spiders, so aside from the extra limbs and eyes they didn’t feel very spider-like. If an actual spider that size had appeared, I would’ve screamed and run on the spot.
—Pshhh—
White steam vented from the joints of the spider golems. True to their status as bosses, they moved without the usual grinding metal sounds. Their motions were smooth and agile.
“Luna! I’ll take the left side!”
As Faye dashed left, I cut right.
—Thud!
Spiked legs hammered the ground in rapid succession. With eight limbs total, the golem could keep attacking us both without pause. Four legs anchored it while the other four struck nonstop—stabbing, sweeping, and occasionally firing small gears from launchers on their joints. Get too close and you’d be cooked by the scalding steam blasting from the pipes. A real pain of a boss.
Still, the fight wasn’t that difficult.
—Pshhh—
The steam always gave it away. Every dangerous attack was preceded by a loud hiss and visible vapor, so we never got caught off guard. It was like a casual action game that telegraphed every move. We couldn’t predict exactly what was coming, but the wind-up posture told us plenty.
Right after the steam, one leg swung toward me. Too far for a stomp or sweep, so the next pattern was obvious. I sprinted sideways, dodging at an angle.
—Tatatatatat!
Gears sprayed from the leg’s launcher in a rapid burst. The golem kept the leg trained on me, tracking my movement. Slow down even a little and those gears would embed themselves like throwing stars. I ran while making sure neither the luggage nor Theo got caught in the line of fire, counting under my breath.
“One, two, three!”
—Ting!
Right on three, a clear chime rang from the leg and the barrage stopped.
“Knew it!”
Just as expected. I cheered and prepared my counterattack. The second reason these golems were easy: being constructs, their attacks lacked flexibility. They always fired until the magazine was empty. Predictable to the point of boredom.
“My turn now?”
I charged and kicked one of the four legs supporting its body.
—Crunch!
The brass surface crumpled inward with a satisfying crack, and I felt the inner gears shatter. That leg already bore several similar dents—my doing, since I’d been focusing on the same limb the whole time.
“Hyaaah!”
At the perfect moment, Faye landed a sword strike on another leg. Half of the thick limb was sheared away, and the golem’s body lurched violently. It tried to steady itself by planting its remaining legs, but for a brief instant all eight limbs were on the ground and its movement halted.
“Now!”
Before I could even finish the signal, Theo had already cast his spell. A fireball—launched as if he’d been waiting for exactly this opening—streaked forward. With all its legs occupied in recovery, the golem could neither dodge nor block.
—BOOM!!
The blast struck dead center where leg met body. A tremendous shockwave shook the circular plaza. That was no ordinary fireball; the power was far beyond normal. I didn’t know the details, but it clearly wasn’t a standard spell.
The result was obvious. One leg was completely torn off and rolled across the floor. Two more beside it twisted at grotesque angles, their tips dangling uselessly in the air.
—Pshhh…
The once-forceful steam vents now wheezed like a broken kettle, the nozzles warped and weak.
“That’s our Theo! I was wondering why you turned people into octopuses—turns out you were practicing leg-smashing!”
“As if.”
A dumbfounded reply came from behind, but it didn’t sound important so I ignored it.
Having lost 37.5 percent of its legs in an instant, the spider golem still vented steam from its remaining limbs and burned with fighting spirit. Or rather, it simply lacked the capacity for despair or surrender, so it kept going until the end. Not that it mattered—eight intact legs hadn’t been enough to beat us, so losing more only hastened the inevitable.
It didn’t take long for the golem to lose every remaining leg, leaving nothing but a twitching torso.
……
—Click, clack—
When we destroyed the last legs, the torso began firing gears wildly in every direction. The barrage was actually more threatening than before because there was no aiming involved. Still, it was nothing more than a final, desperate flail. Without proper launchers the projectiles lacked power, and every shot drained the gears that kept the body moving. We simply hid behind nearby terrain and waited for the golem to shut down on its own.
Waiting was boring, so I struck up a conversation.
“Faye, you were in great form today. You seemed even better than before we entered the dungeon.”
“Hehe. Really? I feel amazing right now!”
“Something good happen?”
“That’s… um…”
Faye glanced sideways at Theo.
“It’s a secret for now! I’ll tell you later.”
“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”
“N-no, it’s not that I don’t want to.”
Even as she spoke, her eyes kept flicking toward Theo. Something had definitely happened. What on earth had gone on in the short time I was gone? Had they…? Really? Wow. Even with hypnosis, doing it outdoors without hesitation—Theo’s tastes were bolder than I thought.
“Luna. It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Huh? What? Theo, can you read minds now? What exactly do you think I was thinking?”
“I can’t read minds. I don’t need to. Your face made it obvious you were having weird thoughts.”
“Eh? Seriously?”
“Yeah. Your expression just now was hilarious.”
My face looked weird? That was strange. I might have been thinking something a little perverted, but surely not enough to show on my face. I poked and prodded my cheeks with both hands, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I was still just an ordinary top-tier beauty from the eastern region, right?
Faye burst into giggles at my antics, while Theo sighed—though the corner of his mouth twitched upward.
A moment later.
“Looks like it can’t even shoot gears anymore. Let’s finish it off.”
Faye and I stood up and started toward the golem, but Theo headed in a different direction.
“I’ll go check on the luggage.”
“Hey, Theo. You sure you don’t need to come with us?”
“They’re tied up properly, so it should be fine. If anything, I should be worried one of those gears hit them by mistake.”
“I’m not talking about the luggage, I’m talking about this. What if we two open the reward chest without you?”
“Chest? Ah.”
Theo looked like he hadn’t considered that. Missing the moment the dungeon clear reward appeared? That would be hard to brush off. The final reward had to go to Sepia anyway, so it wasn’t really ours. Still, there was that satisfying sense of accomplishment when the chest clicked open.
“I’ll be right back, so wait on the chest.”
He hurried off to fetch the two pieces of luggage. We would’ve waited anyway, even without the rush. It wasn’t like it would take long, and we weren’t impatient enough to open it without him.
Chuckling, I approached the spider golem. The once-brilliant red lights in its eye sockets had faded to a faint flicker, barely visible unless you looked closely. Even that glow died out right in front of us. At the same time, the oppressive aura unique to a boss monster vanished from the plaza. Its once-majestic entrance was nowhere to be found in this final moment.
“Even bosses can’t keep fighting fiercely until the very end, huh…”
“Luna. Stop saying difficult things and help me move this.”
“Ah. Right.”
I tried to set a dramatic mood, but Faye wasn’t having it. Following her request, I cleared away the crumpled brass plates and shifted debris to clear a path.
“There it is!”
Once the wreckage was moved, the chest that had appeared at the plaza’s exit came into view. Pipes were wrapped around it as well. What purpose could pipes serve on a chest? Probably just for show.
We waited there for Theo. Watching him drag the two pieces of luggage like they were cargo, Faye spoke up.
“Luna, Luna.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not gonna lose.”
“……?”
Not gonna lose? What was that supposed to mean? The sudden declaration left my brain spinning for a second.
“I’m back. You didn’t open the chest yet, right?”
“Yeah! We were waiting for you!”
Faye greeted the returning Theo with bright enthusiasm.
“????”
Only a single rabbit remained, question marks floating above her head.