The solid iron shield smashed into the golden monkey’s face.
With a loud thud, the golden body tumbled on the ground, but moments later, it sprang up like a spring and took a falling stance.
The face, already tinged with red, had become even redder from being hit, and blood streamed freely from its half-crushed nose.
The golden monkey bristled its fur as if enraged and let out a screech.
Far from appearing cowed, it was deep in rage.
You considered this fortunate.
You had no intention of ending it with just this either.
You glanced sideways to check on Dorothea’s condition.
Aside from her clothes being crumpled or torn in several places, the state of her back and shoulders was serious.
The skin had been scraped off, with sand grains embedded and mixed with blood, looking painful enough to make one wince just by looking at it.
But Dorothea herself, far from showing tears from the pain, filled her blue eyes with fierce determination and shouted at you, “Smash it to pieces!”
It was a truly pleasing order.
As a knight loyal to his master, you decided to gladly obey that command.
As if to pay back for the blow it had just suffered, the golden monkey launched itself toward you.
Its long, flexible, and strong arms were like whips in themselves.
Moreover, with mana-infused claws at the end, a simple metal shield would mean little more than paper.
But that powerful attack failed to penetrate the shield and harm you.
No, it didn’t even make you take a step back.
As if unable to accept this fact, the golden monkey launched a series of attacks.
Each time the claws met the shield’s surface, sparks flared like lightning.
With each shrill metallic sound that rang out, those watching the fight in silence instinctively felt threatened and shrank back.
Yet, you did not retreat.
Skilled body techniques deflected most of the impact of the attacks, and your shield was also reinforced with mana.
After all, if one could imbue swords and claws with mana, why would shields be an exception?
At the moment when the golden monkey, excited by the iron wall-like defense, swung its arm even larger to launch an intense attack, your blue eyes flashed ominously.
A pain-filled howl rang out.
The golden monkey’s right arm, severed by your curved sword, convulsed as it rolled on the dirt.
You were inwardly surprised.
Even with the momentum of the monkey’s swing working against it, your counter had to exert quite a bit of force to cut through cleanly.
From the golden fur to the tough muscles and strong bones, nothing was ordinary.
The golden monkey spread its wings and took to the air.
Judging that it couldn’t hope to best you in combat, the golden monkey tried to target Dorothea while avoiding you.
Few knights knew how to fight against flying creatures.
In that sense, the golden monkey’s judgment was wise.
If only its opponent hadn’t been you, the “Tin Knight”.
Your shield dug into the ground like a shovel.
As you infused mana into the gravel and stones in the shield, you shouted.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ warns to get down!]
Dorothea’s action was swift.
Rather than uselessly questioning, “Why?” she immediately lowered her posture.
The golden monkey attempted a dive toward her defenseless back.
And you swung your shield upwards diagonally with all your might.
The mana-reinforced pile of gravel shot out like buckshot, striking the golden monkey directly.
The golden monkey plummeted to the ground without even managing a proper scream.
Before the golden monkey could rise again, you shot forward like an arrow and swung your curved sword.
You felt the curved sword creaking with a bizarre sound.
Although you had attacked with enough force to bisect the entire body, the actual damage was limited to a partially torn shoulder.
Moreover, the sword was firmly entangled between muscles, and you were certain that if you tried to forcibly pull it out, it would break.
The monkey turned its body, swinging its left arm in a massive arc.
It was powerful enough to make the air tremble, but to you, it was an extremely sloppy attack.
You, having avoided the attack, released your grasp of the curved sword.
Instead, you grabbed hold of the monkey’s tail.
Despite firmly grasping it with all your might, the tail remained intact.
It wouldn’t do for the handle to be weak.
You added rotational force to the monkey’s momentum, slamming it into the ground.
The golden monkey thrashed about, flailing its arms and legs. Ignoring its struggle, you swung your hand again.
Your face was hit by the flapping wings. Ignoring this as well, you swung your hand again.
A roar of what might have been pain or anger leaked out. Ignoring this, you swung your hand again.
The monkey’s body went limp.
It seemed to have lost consciousness.
So you grabbed the back of the monkey’s head with your empty hand and ground its face against the dirt as if grating radish.
A grotesque wail leaked from the monkey’s mouth, half-buried in the ground.
It was now difficult to even call it a monkey’s cry.
Of course, you didn’t particularly sympathize with it.
If it had the wit to play dead, this monkey clearly still had plenty of energy left.
You resumed the work of slamming the monkey down.
After repeating this dozens of times, you felt the monkey no longer moving, but just to be sure, you repeated it about ten more times.
You stomped on the monkey’s back.
The curved sword had bounced off somewhere in the process of slamming the monkey.
There was a risk of it escaping while you went to pick up the weapon, so instead, you raised your shield.
Just as you were about to split the monkey’s skull with the bottom edge of the shield, your instincts—or rather the Tin Knight’s—flared.
Alarm bells rang in your head.
The moment you rolled to the side, something pierced through the area where your upper body had occupied.
You felt a rare sense of bewilderment as you saw it embedded in the stone wall with a thud.
It was a large arrow... no, something closer to a spear.
Just considering its size alone, it was far too big to be shot from a bow carried by a person, seeming more like something that should be mounted on a ballista, moreover, it was crafted from a solid chunk of metal—with no trace of wood.
Another shower of arrows rained down.
The arrows, even faster than before, didn’t allow you any room to dodge.
You swung your shield to deflect the incoming arrows.
The impact was so heavy that you could feel the shield creaking even though you deflected most of the shock.
But thanks to this, you were able to determine the direction from which the arrows came.
High atop the roof of the tallest building in the area. Someone was peering over you.
Your vision, surpassing human capabilities, accurately captured the figure of the opponent.
A crinoline-style dress with the skirt fanning out like a parasol.
Elaborate embroidery adorned various parts of the clothing, and the accessories were equally ostentatious.
The hair, tied in two tails and hanging down, looked either golden or silver depending on the angle and intensity of light.
The elegant features of her face were undoubtedly enough to be called beautiful, but the sharp gaze simultaneously conveyed arrogance and fierceness that made her seem unapproachable.
She was the kind of woman whose mere presence would turn heads wherever she went, but what caught your eye even more than the woman herself was something else.
Not a metaphor or anything, but a ballista with a texture and luster that seemed literally made of gold, equipped with a giant arrow, was aiming at you.
The woman’s gaze was constantly moving between you and the monkey you had mangled.
With killing intent and anger in her blood-red eyes, the woman muttered something.
And as if responding to that, the golden ballista beside the woman fired a third arrow.
In the face of arrows increasing in power and speed, your iron shield finally began to crumple.
If all you did was defend, the situation would inevitably worsen.
However, recklessly charging at that peculiar sniper would mean leaving Dorothea vulnerable.
You were about to tell Dorothea to hide, but there was no need.
Dorothea, seeming to have guessed why you couldn’t leave this place, was already moving towards the alleyway between buildings.
Satisfied with Dorothea’s quick-witted action, you were about to charge towards the new enemy when something caught your eye.
Another golden monkey, which had appeared out of nowhere, was seen snatching up the golden monkey you had mangled.
Unlike the first specimen with bird-like wings and a developed upper body, this one that appeared now had bat-like wings and a thick lower body.
You moved to intercept it, but another incoming arrow prevented your action.
It seemed the enemy had given up on their original target—Dorothea—and focused on retrieving that monkey.
You couldn’t let them escape unscathed.
The pride of the “Tin Knight”, wanting to protect the descendant of his lord, wouldn’t allow it.
The pride of the “Gamer”, wanting to enact revenge on behalf of the witch who was fun to tease, wouldn’t allow it.
You kicked the ground while maintaining minimal defense.
The shield, swept by the ballista, was completely shattered, and even your left arm was blown off.
But in exchange, you were able to grasp the hind leg of the first monkey, which was about to take off while being held by the second monkey.
The second monkey, seemingly flustered by the unexpected additional weight, struggled.
It seemed the second monkey didn’t have enough strength to lift you, a human-sized metal lump.
Unable to shake you off or abandon the first monkey, the second monkey floundered in the air.
The standoff didn’t last long.
The enemies still had another card left: the ballista.
If this stalemate continued, it was clear that the ballista would come to pierce you.
The strike you had been waiting and waiting for.
It was impossible to judge the exact timing by sight.
Therefore, you entrusted everything solely to the Tin Knight’s intuition.
As you pulled the first monkey with all your weight, the monkey’s body overlapped exactly in front of your body.
In sequence, the ballista pierced through both you and the monkey.
With a heavy impact, your body rolled on the ground.
Your chest caved in significantly, but it didn’t hinder your movement.
It was the expected result.
You, who had directly cut, beaten, and ground the golden monkey against the ground, knew better than anyone how sturdy its body was.
The golden monkey, with its chest pierced through by the ballista, gasped with wide eyes.
It was a remarkably tenacious life, but that too lasted only a few seconds.
Finally, the golden monkey’s breath ceased.
This time, it seemed real, not an act.
You glanced far away, towards the top of the building.
The woman in fancy attire wore an expression tinged with shock, crumpling to the floor in a daze as if her strength had left her.
The ballista beside her also disappeared, but you couldn’t discern how from your position.
Before the woman could regain her senses, you quickly rolled on the ground and fled towards the alleyway.
You felt the mana reserves inside your body completely depleted.
Right after entering the shade of the alley, your body collapsed regardless of your will.
Your vision slowly faded.
But before the world went dark, the image of Dorothea and Adelaide rushing toward you was your final ray of light.