As it turned out, even without adding any special mechanics, just bumping the stats a bit was enough to leave people completely helpless. The Steel Giant Puppet was basically a super turtle with maxed-out physical defense, Magic defense, and attack, and on top of that its reactions were super slow. Nobody could even tell whether those explosions they'd set off inside its turtle shell had actually done any real damage, or what that damage even amounted to for it.

It looked like this tangled slugfest would go on forever, but people's stamina was ultimately limited.

When the fight hit the twenty-minute mark, Berto was a hair too slow in one dodge. The giant axe came crashing down and grazed his waist, and he went flying, slamming into the ground and unable to get up for a long while. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Even if it was only a graze, that one hit still left him unable to stand for ages; his waist was probably broken.

"Berto!"

Tami saw her teammate get swatted away and her eyes flew wide in panic. She grabbed the hammer on the ground and smashed it hard at the Steel Giant Puppet's knee joint.

"Don't be reckless!" Luluwo shouted at once, screaming in her heart, not good not good not good.

This was obviously the classic setup where a party wipes because someone loses their cool for a second. No matter how that hit landed, there was just no way Tami was going to deal any serious damage to the Steel Giant Puppet, and the thing had already locked onto him and was raising its hand!

Got to save Tami, fast!

Thinking that, Luluwo flung out her chains toward him, planning to yank him out of danger whether it worked or not.

But at that moment, something miraculous happened.

Tami's hair suddenly flared up like it had caught fire, his upper-body muscles swelled in an instant like he'd popped some kind of hype mode. A beastlike roar tore from his throat as he smashed his hammer viciously into the Steel Giant Puppet's joint.

"Empty—"

Weapon and steel collided with a strange sound.

The Steel Giant Puppet's body jolted. Under Tami's power, the joint shook and bent, and its massive body actually lost balance for a second; the arm it had raised had to drop back down just to steady itself!

"What the hell!?"

Luluwo was so startled by the sight she flinched like a spooked pigeon.

First, she was shocked that Tami's strength alone could even budge the Steel Giant Puppet.

Second, Tami in this state looked way too much like those Fran Guard guys—no, this was literally the Wolf Blood Oath effect from the Fran Guard!

"When did you sign the Fran Guard oath?" Luluwo was stunned. "Weren't you supposed to be Soul-sucking Ghost for life?"

"Sorry, Captain, I've been with the Fran Guard for a long time now..."

Tami's face flashed with guilt, but he didn't have time to chat with Luluwo, because right now the Steel Giant Puppet had one foot hanging off the edge of the path, and the cracks there were widening fast under the sudden extra weight.

Following his gaze, Luluwo also noticed this once-in-a-lifetime chance. She immediately shoved down her righteous fury at her teammate being poached by the Fran Guard and dove straight at the Steel Giant Puppet.

"Use that move again, Tami!" Luluwo flung out her chains, trying to trip the Steel Giant Puppet. But the weight difference was just too huge; her move did absolutely nothing. The chains were knocked over the cliff instead and almost slipped from her hands.

"I suck at handling Wolf Blood!" Tami shouted as he charged, "I can't even maintain it for a full minute, I'm already at my limit! That's why I never used it before!"

"You can't even stay in true man mode for three minutes, what are you doing joining Fran!?"

With a charge-til-the-end aura, Luluwo yelled her complaint and at the same time hurled every Magic Scroll on her person at the enemy. She didn't even care what attributes they were anymore—this was for all the marbles!

A mass of Magic Scrolls took effect on the Steel Giant Puppet. As the scrolls burned out, all kinds of gaudy special effects bloomed across its steel surface; among them, there was even a Recovery Scroll.

Tami, who happened to be in the scrolls' effective area, felt his body rapidly recovering along with the healing light. His true man state that could only last one minute was instantly topped up with a new burst of strength. He threw all caution aside and slammed into the Steel Giant Puppet with everything he had, determined to knock it off the cliff!

If this were a hot-blooded shonen manga, this would be the moment where the main cast is screaming at the top of their lungs as they finish off the enemy, the trumpets of victory already blaring!

With a "thud," Luluwo and Tami's faces both changed.

Because the Steel Giant Puppet had actually tanked the hit. Even though its body had been pushed off-kilter a bit by the impact, at the very last split-second it managed to regain its balance.

With a stance where just a little more tilt would have sent it plummeting, it steadied its footing and slapped a massive hand toward Tami!

"Damn it!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Luluwo noticed the chain scattered at the Steel Giant Puppet's feet. A thought flashed through her mind and she suddenly yanked the chain hard in her direction.

Was she trying again to trip the Steel Giant Puppet with the chain? Impossible. Its weight was something she absolutely couldn't budge; it was far heavier than it even looked.

But Luluwo's target wasn't the Steel Giant Puppet at all.

It was the crumbling, barely held-together section of road under its feet!

Even though adventurers could hardly do any real damage to the structures in Sain Dungeon, they could still adapt to the terrain and exploit the environment's own properties.

The bricks there had already been shattered by the Steel Giant Puppet's rampage. All it would take was the slightest external force to make them collapse completely, and she was perfectly positioned to provide that tiny bit of ecological external force!

"Fall for me!"

Luluwo's slender arms bulged with muscle as she yanked the chain toward herself with everything she had!

"Crack!"

Those bricks that were already showing signs of failure shattered on the spot!

"!"

The Steel Giant Puppet let out an indescribable sound. As the bricks under its feet crumbled to pieces, it finally lost its footing, and its massive body toppled sharply toward the cliff side.

It still tried to struggle one last time, stretching a huge hand toward the nearest target—Tami.

Who knew Tami just stuck his tongue out at it, and in the next second, the chain that had somehow wound itself around his waist tightened and yanked him away, pulling him out of the monster's grasp.

[The Steel Giant Puppet fell out of this world]

Just before it fully went over, it managed to grab the edge of the path and tried to haul itself back up, but the feeble masonry just couldn't bear its weight and shattered on the spot.

This collapse triggered a chain reaction. The entire path finally began to rumble and cave in.

Sain Ancient City, lowest level.

"How long have Luluwo and the others been up there? What are they even doing, why aren't they sending any signals back?"

Fingerley stared doubtfully at the Communication Tool in his hand. Over the last half-hour he'd tried several times to contact Luluwo, but he just couldn't reach her at all.

He'd already sent the others back to rest and stayed here alone to wait for Luluwo's trio to finish their last bit of exploration.

The ones who hadn't gone up no longer had the strength for another run. Better to take a break today and try again tomorrow.

Could Luluwo and the others have had an accident and gone outside the Communication Tool's effective range? They wouldn't just bail from the Dungeon without saying a word, right?

No, they weren't the type to leave without telling anyone, so they must've run into something that left them no time to mind the Communication Tool.

"But what could they have run into?" Fingerley scratched his head. "Ah, don't tell me they bumped into a Boss Monster?"

Just as the words left his mouth, a shadow suddenly fell from the sky and enveloped him, and the shadow was rapidly expanding.

"Huh?"

Fingerley blankly tilted his head up—and saw a massive steel puppet, a giant iron doll, rapidly expanding in his field of vision.

"Boom!"

A moment later, Fingerley, who had revived at the bonfire, was utterly dumbfounded.

"Wasn't that spot I was standing in supposed to have no Monsters?"