Golden Beast

As the cat-shaped sapphire pendant detached from Alice Kuonji's palm, it instantly melted into the ground as if falling into water.

High diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle...

Chanting a nursery rhyme, Arisu walked into the depths of KistyLand.

The amusement facilities of yesteryear were now all rusted and dilapidated.

Starlings circled her, flapping their wings vigorously, striving to alert their master to any anomalies in their surroundings.

The cow Jumped over the moon, The little dog laughed...

The abandoned amusement park was devoid of its former lights. Or rather, the Witch of Fairy Tales had devoured the last vestiges of twilight, transforming this territory into a feast for the night, a paradise exclusively hers.

Normally, regardless of the rank of an attacking Magus, anyone trapped in such an environment would be at an absolute disadvantage. This was an undeniable fact.

However, due to her friend's warning, Alice Kuonji was particularly cautious tonight.

She had brought all her combat-capable PLOYs and maintained a high level of vigilance from the very beginning.

To see such craft, and the dish ran away with the spoon...

"My tummy's rumbling!" "Should we eat them all?"

"Where is the guest?" "Should we eat the guest?"

Two peculiar little pigs emerged from Alice's shadow. Their appearance was somewhat comical, like toys, but their words sent a chill down one's spine.

"Let's go deeper!" "Let's go, let's go!"

The twin pigs urged their master to hurry, but Alice remained unmoved, maintaining her own pace.

"Get the dice ready! Get the dice ready!"

"Make sure not to roll a six!"

A strange premonition suddenly flashed into Alice's mind. She raised an eyebrow and, in an instant, released the Rose Hounds she carried.

At some point, the numerous starlings acting as perimeter scouts had vanished. Clearly, the enemy was not far away.

Although the hounds only resembled dogs in appearance, they performed their duties as well as any canine. For instance, these dog-shaped monsters formed from dense fog were emitting snuffling sounds.

Emerging from the darkness were numerous eyes glowing with a red light.

Or rather, they were artificial parts called eyes on some dolls.

Alice narrowed her eyes, observing the enemies emerging from the darkness. They were very similar to the dolls she had encountered before.

Despite having human bodies, they crawled on the ground like multi-legged insects. Despite having nimble fingers, they were covered in clumsy blades.

Touko was getting anxious.

Alice let out a cold snort, and the Rose Hounds beside her opened their cavernous mouths, lunging forward.

For these mist monsters, physical attacks were usually completely ineffective. But if any part of their bodies was devoured, it could never be recovered.

The crawling dolls showed no fear and charged towards Alice Kuonji. However, one of the Rose Hounds easily bit its head, turning into a pile of useless parts with a crunching sound.

Just as the Rose Hounds were disappointed by this prey, more red lights flickered in the darkness around Alice.

At least thirty dolls, similar to the previous ones, surrounded Alice Kuonji. Although their combat power could not compare to the Rose Hounds, these peculiar dolls still held an absolute advantage in numbers.

Alice Kuonji was undoubtedly a powerful Witch. However, her strength was built upon her PLOYs, and her own physical mobility could be described as extremely poor, something even her housemate Aoko had often complained about.

In other words, if even one of these dolls managed to break free from the restraint of the twins and the hounds and reach Alice, it would mean Alice Kuonji's defeat. This was because Alice's Mystic Eyes could not affect dolls, which were inorganic constructs.

But to be safe, Alice Kuonji still activated her Mystic Eyes, her left eye emitting a red glow identical to that of the dolls.

Touko's dolls charged forward.

It was described as such because Touko's dolls completely ignored the attacks of the Rose Hounds. Or rather, since they could not inflict any damage on the Rose Hounds, they simply targeted the girl standing at the center.

The dolls' combat strategy was to sacrifice some of their companions, allowing the rest to reach Alice.

This was a very intelligent strategy, indicating that a Magus was indeed manipulating them from behind. However, the killing efficiency of Alice's Rose Hounds was simply too high. Those huge mouths with sharp teeth could destroy a doll in an instant with a swirl of mist.

In that case, even thirty dolls would find it difficult to get close to the girl, let alone the fact that she still had the twins as guards.

And just when Alice thought these dolls were about to be dealt with, something unexpected happened.

Both the dolls that were still active and the wreckage that had already been shattered into pieces were now floating in mid-air.

Dense runes, known as Runic Magecraft, suddenly appeared on their bodies.

Alice made a decisive move, immediately summoning the two Rose Hounds closest to her. Thick mist formed a shield, protecting her securely in the center.

Then, the remaining dolls and doll wreckage emitted strong light and heat, using all the remaining magical power within them as energy, erupting all at once – a so-called self-destruction.

The immense explosion surrounded Alice, the doll parts transforming into deadly shrapnel, scattering with the dolls' self-detonation and raining death upon their enemies.

If Alice Kuonji had not deployed the Feast of the Night, the threat of this attack could have been considered fatal. However, in the world of Magecraft, the level of Mystery was always the best way to suppress the opponent's methods, and Alice Kuonji's PLOYs were outstanding in this regard.

The Mystery level of the dolls' self-destruction damage was far inferior to the Feast of the Night that enveloped the surrounding environment, and the Rose Hounds that could only be activated within this environment.

Therefore, this barrage of shrapnel, apart from causing Alice a slight moment of panic, inflicted no damage on her.

Just as Alice Kuonji was warily scanning her surroundings, a golden shadow silently approached her.

The shadow had pure golden, faintly glowing fur and a fluid form. In an instant, it passed through the encirclement of the Rose Hounds and reached Alice Kuonji's side.

"Wha...?!"

Alice Kuonji wasn't mentally prepared for this sudden turn of events, but she still made the best choice.

Alice immediately transformed all remaining Rose Hounds into a shield of mist, while ordering the twins to attack the Golden Beast before them.

However, the Golden Beast revealed a sinister smile, and only then did Alice see clearly that it was an incomparably huge Golden Wolf.

It possessed the most perfect appearance, a Golden Beast too beautiful to be true, neither demonic nor illusory, but a truly divine entity.

Inheriting ancient mysteries, Alice Kuonji understood the Golden Wolf's true nature immediately. It was a Primordial Lifeform that had long been extinct, a recreation of miracles across the entire Earth. As long as she remained a Magus, victory was absolutely impossible.