...

"Oi! Arani! Get it together!" Elinalise placed Arani in a safe location and slapped him in the face. Arani's eyes were like those of dead fishes, and he wasn't breathing. Resuscitations showed no progress, so Elinalise thought he was dead. If it weren't for Clementine's suggestions, her next option would've been to punch him.

"…they say it is the best medicine for getting new recruits over the shock of killing for the first time. Albeit the degeneracy I'd say." Clementine's mutter came from Arani's side, she is watching vigilantly at the crystal with only a veil of leaves between them. "Hmm… What a troublesome predicament we've got our hands into."

Clementine leaned herself against a tree with her hands behind her head, hesitated, considered it momentary and signed: "Mendoukusai~ (so troublesome) Seriously, how do people live in this place when trees simply uproot themselves and fight back?"

"Technically speaking, what you have encountered are magical creatures." Elinalise perked up her ears and proceeded to explain: "This one, however, is completely different. You can't even regard that as a creature anymore... A magical disaster or the leftover product of a magical disaster would be the description I would have given to that thing."

"A disaster?" Clementine leered down at Elinalise, who is performing first aid on Arani's wounds as she extrapolated on the ecology of labyrinths…

…

"... In short, that mass of tangled ranch weed is like a 'guardian protector' of the 'magic' crystal?" Clementine summarized Elinalise's thesis. "What a load of…"

"You got it. I have no clue why one of this size would be above ground, but that is also perhaps why it has gone berserk and started animating the flora of the forest to protect itself." Elinalise finishes with a bitter expression. One is how immeasurable they are to a guardian protector, to her knowledge, even a renowned adventurer clan would think twice before choosing to confront one without ample preparation. From a professional standpoint, it is better to forgo the idea entirely and spend a good week or two researching its nature and countermeasures. Nonetheless when one has no information whatsoever on this mysterious and unusual golem.

The other is how she'll have to play the villain in convincing Arani to give up. Elinalise is concerned about his mental state which is evident from his momentary lapse in bodily function earlier. Looking at Arani now, it is clear to Elinalise that he's in no condition to continue exerting himself, both mentally and physically.

The best they have now is herself, and she cannot even begin to count on the other Dorudia woman whom she had yet to learn the name of. She has the build of a warrior and has little to no scratches despite gunning for the deepest and densest parts of that mass of thorny ivy. However, Elinalise has a terrible feeling about this stray woman who seemed like a cat finding amusement from the rooftop; with the eye of someone outside of the situation, the woman acts at her own pace leisurely.

Elinalise has trouble entrusting her back to someone like that… She once again falls into a silent struggle.

In the end, Elinalise faltered and gave an indecisive suggestion: "I had heard that slaying the guardian should liberate the magic crystal, but I can't begin to believe we are able to even reveal the true form of that guardian… Or know if it is even a living thing."

"Then what about the other way around? I wonder if shattering the crystal would do good to stop its rampage and cause the material it had collected to fall apart." Clementine, the allegedly mysterious woman spoke up from the shade she was resting under.

"That'll either require a Saint or stronger swordsman or a magic-user who knows a particularly powerful destruction magic."

Clementine furrowed her brows, rolled her eyes, and emerged from her reclusive retreat:

"... Look. That stiletto wedged in there is mine. I donno how it got there but it could help ya out." Clementine elaborated with a grin, "if I remembered correctly, that stiletto should have a [Corpse Bomb] magic spell store in there. Ah, it's like a one-off thing, a magic item. That is a tier three magic spell that should be enough to obliterate that thing to smithereens."

"Tier three?" Elinalise looked at Clementine obliviously, "... Why that is an incredibly sinister sounding magic."

"You don't say. Sadly, I wasn't the one who came up with it. Some hermit magic-caster in Zurrenorn with nothing better to do probably thought it was a superb idea to harness a corpse for power-thirsty destruction." Clementine spreads her arms around in a full circle to demonstrate a large explosion, "buuut I digress, I had my 'friend', Kajit, stored one in there for funsies~"

"That magic item of yours might be our only option. Can it blow up the crystal?"

"If I pin a dead thing onto it, I suppose so."

"Would the boar's carcass suffice?" Elinalise points to the remains of the mountain god that is… Everywhere by this point, practically laminating the top of trees and bushes around it with a thin layer of pig juice.

"Hmm. Not sure. I wouldn't bet on blowing up a minced meatball, not to say how did you expect me to carry all that meat scrap in there!? The bigger the better, I would imagine."

"Then I…" Arani interjects, but is immediately cut off by Clementine's strong rebuttal:

"I'm not against having a 'boy on a stick' kiddo, but I don't think your long-eared onee-chan over there is gonna be too pleased about you sacrificing yourself." Clementine belittles Arani, and then uncharacteristically furrows her brows slightly at her following speech: "... Hmph. And I doubt your actual onee-chan would think otherwise getting rescued by you… Like that."

Elinalise didn't say anything, but she nodded at Clementine's statements and observed Arani's precariously shifting expression. Like a lava lamp, Arani's expressions were of nauseating colours. A shadow falls over Arani's eyes, his vision averted to his bandaged hands. Rouge polka dots emerge from the bandages across his shaking hands. Stuck to the bodily fluid leaking from his body are the particles of the down feather of the beast he just held in his arms.

Drip, drop.

Arani's feels the rhythmic dizziness hit him like a gong. What little blood that didn't bleed out finally rushed to his head… This lovely rouge I see goes well with the darkness of tonight. Without raising his head to seek out the owner of the feathers that drapes him, Arani uttered:

"... We'll use this."

"Uwa, how cruel~ Onee-chan does not like heartless kids ya'know." Clementine belittles Arani, she even puts up an overexaggerated, disgustingly ecstatic yelp.

Meanwhile, Elinalise has a look of concern written all over her. "Are you sure Arani? Isn't she your hunting hawk?"

"I'm sure… I'll use anything to get my sister back." Arani reaffirms Elinalise and looks dead into the Matriarch's eyes. The animal quakes and steps back a step, but Arani simply needed to give her a gentle stroke down the back to have the Matriarch return to his side voluntarily.

"That's my partner alright. Matriarch." Arani lets out a regrettable smile, "Sorry girl."

Meanwhile, the Matriarch simply watches cluelessly and the conversation dissolves into a planning session over their skyward ace's final flight…

"But first, let's see if your sister is still alive," Clementine added.

…

Bloopers:

"Aw sheeeit. She's dead. Welp, can't help it."

"What!?"