Amulius blinked as he tried to comprehend the scene in front of him. The Legion soldiers on standby were staring with their mouths wide open, while the Academy mages were muttering to themselves. The one called Nonus was furiously taking notes on a scroll.

At first, Amulius refused to let Ateia and Taog go into a dungeon, only to be overruled entirely. It was not their first dungeon conquest, not by far, and at the end of the day the pair had Contracted with Seero, and so fell under the dungeon master’s authority. Ateia and Taog themselves were adamant, and there was little Amulius could do to stop them.

As such, he had done the next best thing, and volunteered to lead the mission, citing his experience with corrupted dungeons. He was a bit surprised when Seero easily agreed. He had then attempted to keep Ateia and Taog in the rear, as supply carriers for the Legion complement. This had been rejected by the pair, and vetoed by Agedia as well, so Amulius had no choice but to take them with him to the actual fight. Still, he planned to keep them in the rear as much as possible. It would put a lot of pressure on him, Agedia, and the Dobhar, but he believed they could handle it.

That…is not what happened.

Taog dashed in and out of the shadows, his Dark mana shroud blending in and obscuring him even from Amulius’s view. Those same shadows twisted into spikes and blades of Holy-empowered Dark mana that tore through the monster hordes with ease. Taog himself carried blades coated in the same mana, stabbing and slashing at the monsters all around him. And anytime a monster managed to hit the boy, the Dark mana surged to block the attack. Taog hadn’t even gotten a scratch on his armor.

Ateia, standing just in front of Amulius, drew her bow without any arrows. Instead, arrows of pure Light and Holy mana formed in her hand as she pulled back the string. When she released the string the arrows turned into beams of light, each arrow splitting into several more, that pierced through a dozen monsters all at once. She repeated this process over and over without a single pause or mistake, apparently not needing even a moment to find her aim. Amulius would only be drawing his arrow as Ateia took down his intended target.

And strange looking and flying golems buzzed in the air around each of the pair, forming Barriers or triggering Beam spells to assist the two, as well as the Dobhar warrior, who was also tearing through the front with the younger pair.

Amulius pursed his lips. It was one thing to be told that Taog was a hero and Ateia was an Aedes. But no matter if he accepted it or not, deep down he could only see the young children he had left behind. He just couldn’t imagine such fantastical claims being true.

Now…now he watched his two little kids decimate a horde that would push a veteran knight to the limit. That even he wouldn’t try to take on alone.

Just then, a monster snuck up behind Taog while he was occupied with another. Amulius was about to shout a warning when a magic circle formed on Taog’s back and launched a Dark Beam directly into the monster’s head, without the boy ever turning to look at it. Amulius slowly closed his mouth.

Agedia smirked as she sipped from her flask.

“Surprised?”

Amulius continued staring at the slaughter before him.

“That’s an understatement.”

Agedia’s smirk grew.

“And you wanted them on support.”

Amulius sighed and shook his head.

“It’s impressive, to be sure, but they’re using a lot of mana. We’ll need to talk to them about pacing when we take a break.”

Agedia grinned.

“About that…”

She then turned to the front.

“Hey, Ateia, how are you feeling? Think you’re going to need a break soon?”

Ateia turned to face them, tilting her head as she continued to launch her magic arrows towards the front.

“Um, no? Why do you ask?”

Agedia elbowed Amulius.

“Daddy here is worried you might be getting tired, what with the fact that the three of you are handling the entire horde on your own.”

Ateia blinked, and then grinned.

“Wait a moment…ah, found it!”

Ateia’s voice then went monotone and emotionless.

“Explanation: This unit’s reserves are holding steady at the current expenditure. This unit’s cybernetic components also do not experience fatigue. This unit is now efficient enough to enact the ‘emulate Seero’ protocol.”If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Agedia nodded and turned to Amulius.

“And there you have it. Shiny girl happened to have taught them a thing or two, and there’s more to that armor than protection.”

Amulius thought to object when Agedia mentioned Seero and his mind turned back to just a short while ago. When he watched said individual Multicast strategic spells, a feat even the Archons couldn’t pull off, and then appeared no worse for wear afterwards. No, in fact, she immediately took off towards her target dungeon while Amulius was still arranging things with the Legion and the Academy Mages, continuing to cast her spells all the while.

Eventually, he smiled wryly. One would think the Hero of Elteno, of all people, might acknowledge that the world was full of surprises.

And of all the surprises he had encountered…Ateia and Taog growing powerful beyond his imagination was one he could live with. He watched Ateia standing tall, seeing in that moment the splitting image of her mother, with Holy mana forming a glowing aura around her as she drew her bow, a light illuminating the dark dungeon around her. He watched Taog leap in and out of the shadows, holding back the monstrous horde with shields and blades of Dark mana, a warrior more ferocious than his mother and a bulwark more insurmountable than his father.

His smile slowly grew as he felt his chest turn warm.

At that, Nonus perked up and walked over.

“Wait, so that armor is not just for show, and has effects beyond identification and protection?”

Agedia turned the newcomer.

“Who are you?”

Nonus saluted to her.

“Mage Nonus Callisunus, at your service. The Queen of the Dobhar changed my life, and is one of the most powerful mages in the Empire to boot. I’ve been studying her techniques, as best I could.”

Agedia thought for a moment before nodding.

“Ah, I think I remember them mentioning that. When shiny girl did a miracle cure on some helpless apprentice that got all the pointy hats into an uproar?”

Nonus grinned and nodded.

“Yep, that was me! I had hoped to pay her back someday, but she vanished before I had the chance, so I sought to understand her instead.”

Agedia nodded.

“Got it. Well, to answer the question, yes, that armor is way more than just a piece of metal. It’s got all sorts of tricks built into it, like, for example, the fact that it can move on its own, so those two’s bodies don’t have to work as hard as ours.”

Nonus’s eyes lit up.

“Fascinating! So, some kind of motion or skill-based enchantment? Or…is it like a wearable golem? But how does she prevent the user’s mana from interfering with the golem enchantment…and how would the control scheme function in that case…”

Agedia shrugged.

“Beats me, I have no idea how it works.”

She turned her attention back to the front. Ateia formed some Beam magic circles along with her bow, intensifying her barrage. Taog spread his Dark Shroud across the floor, and then a field of spikes impaled an entire group of monsters. Agedia smiled.

“All I know is that it’s absolutely terrifying.”

Lilussees heaved a sigh as she cast a barrier spell, blocking a wave of Poison spells from hitting 00B. The bear was far too insistent on taking all the blows, enjoying his upgraded armor and defensive skills a bit too much. And the bear…along with most of the Boss Lady’s monsters, had their expectations skewed due to terminating many young dungeons. They seemed to believe all dungeons were monolithic, and that the golems and Earth-attribute monsters they faced at the start represented all they would encounter.

Lilussees knew it wasn’t so clear. While dungeons started with a single affinity that would define them overall, it was not like they couldn’t gain more affinities over time. She would tell them to look at the Boss Lady’s army as an example but those fanatics would just say that she’s special. Which she was, but the fanatics took it too far.

The point was that 00B seemed to think he could just tank everything head-on. Well…theoretically he could endure a lot of poison for a very long time and Lilussees did have a Cure spell but would it kill him to pay attention to what was hitting him?

B grunted his thanks to her. If he was going to thank her, then he should pay attention in the first place!

Lilussees then sighed and lashed out with one of her arms, send a string of web deep into enemy lines where the Sacred Otterkin had dove. The web stuck to his back and then Lilussees pulled him out of the crowd, just before the monsters launched their counterattack.

Seriously, this guy had learned too much from fanatic snack, and now thought suicidal impulses were a good thing! The boss-queen and the slime had worked real hard to build an army of expendable golems, Lilussees thought at least someone should bother to use them as intended!

The suicidal otterkin smiled at her as he flew back to the golem line.

“Thank you, Eldest Sister! We make a fine team!”

Lilussees shook her hand.

“Yes yes, but, like, if you’re grateful, then stop being suicidal, or something.”

The otterkin made a sheepish smile and nodded, before running off. Probably to do something suicidal again. Lilussees sighed again.

And technically, the cowardly snack was the ‘eldest’ by their standard but, like, most of the newcomers didn’t know he existed and it was way too much work for Lilussees to correct them. Lilussees blinked as she recalled the snack. While she was glad not to see the face of the idiot who stole her sleep, she did miss having someone who would tremble in fear at her mere presence. The newest snacks held no fear of her at all, taking after the fanatic. Well, save for that Snuan girl, but she never left the Monster Hangar after gaining control of the golem-drones.

Speaking of which, Lilussees redirected a formation of golem-drones with magical webs tied between them. The movement arranged the web into a magic circle, firing a Beam spell at the enemy’s poison mage.

“I, like, so need more golems, or something. But, like, these golems take too much work. I wonder if there’s, like, an easier way to get minions to work for me, or something?”

“Feel the wrath of My Queen’s warriors!”

But a battle cry and a golden and silver otter jumping into the enemy interrupted Lilussees’s thoughts. She heaved a sigh and shot out yet another web.

She decided she was sleeping twenty-four hours for every time she had to save a fanatical idiot on this trip.

Meanwhile Seero had reached about halfway through her dungeon. Her robotic eye flickered as she received updates from the other teams.

"Acknowledgement: Unit Lilussees's observation appears to be accurate. CELIU unit may require adjustments to self-preservation protocols. Unit Lilussees, however, appears to be displaying efficient coordination to improve friendly survivability, enabling other units to take increased risks."

And so Seero's assessment of Lilussees's capabilities continued to improve.