Amber could have sworn that she planned the trip to be as tame as possible for her current pupil, she should have also considered that bringing Bennett alongside implied expecting any sort of unlucky, unpredictable twist. At least she was grateful that Phos had shown to be quite capable of fighting on their own… still…

The Mitachurl growled as it lifted its hands, charging against Bennett. The blonde teenager was still stunned by the past explosion, leaving him with little room for any proper reaction. Phosphophyllite stretched his arms, attempting to immobilize the creature before it could reach the adventurer, but they soon found the Mitachurl was way too strong, forcing Phos to leave it before it could drag them alongside.

"Bennett! Watch out!"

The outrider prepared her bow for another shot, although it probably was too risky to attempt shooting at the creature, any wrong movement and she could hurt Benny. She could feel her hands trembling, and a cold sweat going down her scalp. Suddenly, she felt something approaching, it felt like thunder charging in their direction. Another sound was audible, the distinctive sound of metal clanking. Help seemed to arrive, at last.

"Bennett… Careful!"

Phos was still recovering from the force their body had been subjected to when they heard that foreign voice. It sounded too raspy… yet distinctively human. As he lifted his gaze, he noticed a human figure charging against the creature now identified as a Mitachurl. For an instant, all they could recognize was a gray mane flying wildly alongside a heavy-looking sword. similar to the claymore they had been carrying along. The stranger stood between Bennett and the Mitachurl, his pale features had something that Phos recognized made him different from the other humans they had met before, something that made the stranger oddly similar to the boars they had spotted all around Mondstat, but different.

"Razor!" The blonde's face lightened up in relief, though he seemed to move with more caution as the Mitachurl was still in front of both him and the gray-haired boy.

"Don't move… Bennett hurt" The newcomer said, lifting his claymore in a defensive pose. "I… protect Lupical…"

The mitachurl roared once more twitching its ears as if it was analyzing the humans in front of it. Then, lifting its arms, it charged against the boy with the gray mane, in response, he swung his claymore at the creature's fists, and a sturdy 'clank' was heard as the metal clashed against thick skin. Stunned, it stepped backward, huffing. This gave Bennett the chance to stand up, gripping his sword as he moved next to who Phos heard was named Razor. They surveyed the situation; it seemed Amber had relaxed once she saw there was no more risk of harming someone if she attempted to shoot at the creature, both Bennett and Razor were now engaged in a close-range fight against the monster, as it was strong but both boys seemed to already know how to coordinate their weapons by experience.

The gem felt as if they should do their part in the fight, even if the humans seemed to have everything under control, the uneasiness in Phos's body implored them to do something.

They stretched their golden alloy, once again grabbing the Mitachurl and pinning both of its arms against the ground, perhaps now that it wasn't running like crazy it would be easier to hold it in place. For a moment, it seemed to work, but the monster demonstrated once again it was stronger than the peppermint-colored gem. In one movement, as it blocked one of Razor's attacks, the creature sent Phos flying against a tree.

"Phos! Watch out" Amber rushed to aid them. Luckily, Phos seemed to have good reflexes, as he rolled to fall on his feet, cushioning his impact with the golden alloy, he could feel tiny cracks growing on his body, cracks that the alloy helped fill in.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"It's weird, Mitachurls usually aren't that strong…" Amber frowned as she shot an arrow, stunning the creature enough so Razor could throw another cut toward it. "Normally those two can take one out without too much effort…"

"Really? I see they're struggling a lot right now." Phos pointed out, stretching their golden alloy to cushion Bennett's fall as he was launched again by the monster.

"Geez, thanks Phos!" The young adventurer grinned at them before jumping off the alloy. "Ow… what's wrong with that thing? We keep hitting it and it looks almost unscathed", he complained, gripping his sword to charge once again at the damned Mitachurl.

"I'll have to report this to the knights once we're done", Amber sighed, imbuing her next arrow with Pyro element before shooting it at the Mitachurl.

This seemed to fuel the monster's anger, as it swung towards Amber, launching both boys towards the ground in the process.

"Eugh!"

"It's coming towards us!" Phos swung their claymore at the creature, trying to distract it as Amber prepared more arrows. "It… It's strong…" They struggled, trying to keep their feet on their place with the alloy, but the Mitachurl was sure strong enough to push them inch by inch backwards. "Quick… I can't… keep it still forever…"

"Leave it to me!"

Another voice came from behind them, and Phos recognized Noelle's big, fluffy dress. The gem noticed Amber's relief, it somehow reminded them of those times when Bortz would charge into combat during a particularly tough fight.

Noelle carried her heavy-looking claymore, lifting it and materializing a golden, transparent shield around her, her yellow vision glowed, she then charged against the monster, making it stumble with one strong swing. Phos would've been amazed by the maid's inhuman strength if they hadn't felt in increasing horror how their right leg had bigger cracks. Why? Was it because they were close to the maid when she materialized the shield? They tried to move aside, as the fight was getting more heated with another person joining in. Phos attempted dragging their cracked leg, causing more shards to fall inside the boot, at least it wouldn't be such a bother to collect their fallen shards from the grass, still, they knew another impact or violent movement was probably going to shatter them even more. No good, they thought.

Amber felt a burst of confidence, she might feel as if they were breaking one of Jean's rules; 'Don't leave all your tasks to Noelle', but at this point, it seemed the Geo user was making a difference in the fight and the chances were finally turning on their favor.

The white-haired girl swung her claymore once more, hitting the Mitachurl's legs, making it retreat a couple of steps further. She was well protected behind her shield, this gave Bennett and Razor the chance to activate their elemental skills without fearing they might hurt their teammates in the process.

"This is our chance!"

Purple lightning surrounded the gray-haired boy as he let out a growl, his claymore got charged with electro energy, as he swung it against the creature's body. Bennett soon followed him, imbuing his sword with pyro before taking a leap and charging against the mitachurl, too. What followed was a huge explosion, big enough to scare the few birds that were resting on the nearby trees. Big enough, too, to make the teens not hear the sound of crystal cracking alongside one's voice.

"Wait…!"

Once the dust dissipated, the Mitachurl's body vanished into the characteristic dark mist, its ashes brushed off by the soft wind that always ran all through Mondstat. The four of them stared at each other in silence, before both Amber and Bennett cheered in relief.

"We did it! Aw man, I almost thought we couldn't make it." The blonde adventurer gave a sheepish smile, clinging to Razor with one arm. The feral boy, on the other hand, gave short nods as he looked around, not showing as much enthusiasm as his friend.

"I'll have to report the incident to the Knights, nonetheless," Amber said, leaving out a heavy sigh as she placed her hands on her hips. She watched as Noelle lowered her guard, putting her claymore back into her pocket dimension before brushing the dust off her skirt. What a mess, the outrider thought, after all, all she had to do for the day was to teach Phos some adventuring… wait. "Phos?"

The peppermint-colored gem was seemingly nowhere to be seen in plain sight, or so the outrider thought. As soon as she took a step forward, something crushed beneath her heel. As she lowered her head, newfound horror took over her face.

"Oh… not again"

Phosphophyllite was laying on the ground, their golden alloy barely keeping its shape as it was slowly turning into a puddle beneath their body, aggressive-looking cracks covered most of their body and tiny shards of peppermint-colored crystals were scattered around. What made the whole scene the worst was that, besides all the damage their body had, the gem remained conscious, weakly moving their head as they spoke as if they were exhausted.

"Phos?!"

The four of them looked in increasing concern at their teammate now shattered. Amber assumed Jean had informed Noelle something about their guest's… peculiar condition, as the maid had reacted only by covering her mouth with her hands in silent shock; the same could not be said for either Bennett or Razor, as both boys began to panic in their own ways. While Bennett began to ramble about something regarding his bad luck tampering with the whole trip, Razor growled, seemingly uncomfortable by the situation.

"Hurt? But… not blood…" Razor mumbled, crouching beside Phos as he examined their situation. "You smell… different, not human…" His usually serious expression was replaced with one that hinted at a glimpse of confusion.

"It's my fault… I should've been more cautious, oh man." Bennett was still visibly anxious, as he rubbed his head and walked from one side to another. Yet Razor's observation made him slightly return to his senses. "Oh… that's… true, huh, are you a geo slime, Phos?" The blonde's comment managed to make Amber snort a soft chuckle.

"I am… not… a slime" Phos replied, huffing in slight annoyance, at least their teammates weren't panicking as badly as they previously were, still, they knew it was better to return to the Knights' headquarters before they lost consciousness, they didn't know if they had the materials to paste them back together, in the first place. "I can… explain it later— but first I… we… we need to return…" They tried to move their arms to at least catch some of their shards, but their alloy barely reacted to their inclusions. Their action didn't go unnoticed, though.

"Oh… right, Albedo might know how to help you." Amber chimed as she crouched next to Razor, she was used to being well prepared for any situation, and thus she was certain she had a bag where they could place all of Phos's shards to not lose them, the problem was how they'd get into the city without causing a big scene by carrying a fragmented half-conscious humanoid. Perhaps if they borrowed a cart from Springvale it could be easier… yeah, that could work. "Noelle, can you go to Springvale and ask for a cart? If they ask you, tell them it's for… an important package we just got from a treasure hoarders' camp, okay?"

"Okay! I'll be right back!" The outrider hoped the maid didn't slip any further information, be it about the abnormally strong Mitachurl or Phos's situation, it was the best to avoid panic among the people.

With one less thing to do, the brunette took out a sleeping bag from her bag, she had carried it in case the trip extended until night. She kneeled, opening the bag and shifting her gaze from Phos to the bag, and then to the boys next to her.

"Bennett, Razor, I need you to help me place Phos inside." She commanded, placing her hands beneath the gem's armpits, they definitely were heavy, but it made sense, considering their body was made of a mineral. "Phos… uhm… tell us if you feel uncomfortable, alright?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine", Phos mumbled, already feeling weary. "Just… try to collect all the shards."

They had to admit it wasn't a pleasant feeling to have to rely on others while being in such a vulnerable state, when was the last time they felt that way? They couldn't remember, but it might be because of the missing parts of their body at that moment. How could they be pasted back together here? He didn't know if humans had the materials to put them back together like Rutile did, perhaps they had their own materials. They kept their mind busy with those thoughts as their human friends collected their shards.

It truly was quite a peculiar scene: Amber and Razor carefully picked the tiniest pieces, placing them back inside the bag, while Bennett seemed to have a harder time, moving at snail pace as if he was afraid of crushing the pieces even further. Phos caught a glimpse of Razor sniffing curiously at one of the fragments, it was curious, the gray-haired boy reminded Phos of Shiro, to be more specific, he reminded them of the tiny, fluffy Shiros that invaded the School that one time, they even wondered if the teen's hair was as fluffy as those tiny Lunarian dogs.

The three of them had nearly finished picking up Phosphophyllite's pieces when Noelle returned carrying an empty cart. It was never an unsurprising sight to watch such a sweet-looking girl carrying something so heavy so effortlessly. They managed to place the bag in the cart before covering it with a tent that Bennett carried with him.

"Alright, I think it's done!" The blonde adventurer chirped. "We should return to the city now, Razor! Are you coming with us? We could eat something later at the Good Hunter with Fischl and Klee"

"Yeah… but first… I go to the library" Razor replied, scratching his neck. "Teacher will ask me about adventure… I tell her what happened"

"Hm hm, that's probable," Amber said, climbing to the driver's seat in the cart, as Noelle grabbed the extremes to begin pulling it. "Grandmaster Jean might want Miss Lisa to search about the mitachurl's incident, if we tell her as many details as we can recall, she might have an easier time." She concluded, beaming at both the boys.

"Then, If you permit me, we should hurry up," Noelle added, gesturing at both Bennett and Razor to jump into the cart. "We'll be in the city in a minute! Hold tight, please"

"Oh Archons, I hope my bad luck doesn't interfere this time," Bennett sighed, sitting at the border of the wooden platform of the cart.

"Aw, don't worry, Benny, even if something happens… we're nearby the city so there's no real danger!" Amber tried to cheer him up before tapping the bag, in the place where she supposed Phos's head was. "Phos! Hang on just a little more, this might be a bumpy ride."