Omake

“Alright. Gather up. This dungeon’s only going to get deadlier the deeper in we go.” Tanya called out to the group, her flight mechanisms settling her down gently from the position she’d taken on the roof of the large cave. The entire crew was here on yet another delve, half treasure finding mission / half training trip. Behind her Iolite groaned, her arms heavy with the grenade launcher which she’d spend the last few weeks getting well acquainted with, as Sky, Sage, and Hinota rested heavily against a nearby outcropping of rock, visibly exhausted as well. Kunzite however merely lounged off to one side, neither tired nor ready to give up on this particular trip. Tanya sent him a nod of small comradery before addressing the others. “Come on people! I refuse to believe that you all are this pathetic!”

“Oh come off your high horse.” Sky called out with a frown as he clutched the ball of materia in hand, drawing out its vital power reinvigorate himself. “We’ve been doing these damned guild quests the entire week. I need a break. Hell everyone who isn’t you or the freaky little dragon could use a break. I just want wanna finish this up, then go home to some nice hot boys, and slip on something slinky that doesn’t smell like dead things.”

“And you somehow think I don’t want the same thing? We’re soldiers here. Whether we like it or not we have an obligation. We have orders to follow, and we might as well follow them to the best of our ability.” Tanya snapped, her short stature no obstacle as she made certain to get into her fellow slave’s face.

“Oh calm down both of you. We still have that treasure to track down, and Kunzie’s caught another whiff of it.” Iolite spoke up, stepping between their two most opposed members. In truth it was pretty obvious that there would be some heavy friction between the two, one an ex-soldier thrown out for inattention to his duty and the other an abandoned soldier who’d thrown it all away for the sake of country… a nice cushy job as a pleasure slave. Two very different approaches to the same goals, and they grated upon each other at almost every turn.

“Geez, you two. I’ve got the scent again. So shut it and let me concentrate… Hino, get over here and start looking where I point.” Kunzite spoke up his scaled face pressed against the ground as he advanced. Quickly Hinota nodded and scrambled over to his side, the rest of the team getting up behind them and falling quickly into formation.

It was a practiced motion by now, as the team scouts took to their jobs.

“Ahh… there’s a secret chamber door over there… I think I see something else in there… but they’re fuzzy. I think it’s a magic barrier in there.” Hinota spoke up, licking her lips as she observed the spot where they’d been led.

“I smell gold… and something else… interesting. Not really sure what it is, but it’s definitely rare stuff.” The kobold grinned, running his tongue along the steely sheath of his lips and the teeth beneath them as his partner in scouting pressed hard against a rock, causing a door to twist and shift against the rock face. “Yep, it’s definitely coming from in there… this place smells hella rich. I don’t think anyone ever actually found this spot before.”

“Alright people places now! Hino running commentary. Keep us informed.” Tanya commanded, satisfied as each of the group slid into place like clockwork despite the arguments of earlier. Even if he was a dropout slacker of a soldier Sky was a talented fighter with his materia implanted weapons and armour. He crested ahead next to the little cave terror that was Kunzite.

“There’s a lot of things in here… gold locked behind magic seals in the walls and floor, all linked up to a single alter and a chest behind it. I think… oh this has to be an optional boss…. Oh no…” Hinota spoke as she’d been ordered, only to realize something at the last moment, her voice croaking.

“What is it?” Sage asked, gripping her staff even as she peered at the spell work around her… trying her best to memorize as much of it as she could before whatever needed to happen occurred.

“The gold… it’s all starting to flow together…” Hinota grimaced as she gave the report.

“Oh great… so the treasure IS the boss.” Iolite groused, because of course it had to be.

“Get ready! POSITIONS!!!!” Tanya shouted throwing herself up towards the ceiling and as far away from the center of the coming conflict as possible. Io and Sage pulled together each readying themselves to launch ranged attacks while Kunzite advanced with a look of gleeful anticipation in his eyes.

Liquid gold erupted in a fountain from all over, coalescing together into a single statuesque form, perfectly formed in all respects save its lack of a head.

“GOLDEN!!!” It exclaimed, its rigid muscular body like a Greek statue carved in pure gold.

The battle began without another word, as an explosive charge bolt blasted the statue from the edge of the room, rocking it momentarily off balance as a sword heated to blazing intensity with materia sliced into its arm, biting deep into the statue’s body.

Unfortunately though, this would not keep it from regaining composure before launching its huge body into battle. A whip like kick of heavy malleable gold would catch Sage in the side, flinging her off over to Tanya who had to throw herself out of the way and then attempt to catch the team healer before she fell to her death.

This of course only made things more difficult.

A frantic scramble became the rule of the fight as Kunzite bounced from place to place across the walls, throwing himself into spinning slicing kicks to slam against the creature’s body and damage it. Unfortunately the thing seemed to never even care beyond the stagger of the impact, reconfiguring itself with each hit to continue on. Even the frantic assault which Kunzite was laying down did little more than slow it’s advance, as the golden statue proceeded to ignore all but the weakest of the team, going again and again for their now recovering healer despite the best efforts of the other fighters.

Only Hinota seemed to remain relatively unnoticed, her sight giving her a small advantage to exploit.

She could see where the boss’s attention was drawn, the magical tracking apparatus which it utilized emitting clear as day to her senses, giving her the ability to simply slip around and behind its every motion without being disturbed.

“Guys! Its control module is over here. You can’t beat it by wailing on it, there’s too much magic pouring out to keep it repairing itself!” The Ninja heiress turned slave cried out before rushing over to Iolite and pulling her over into its blind side before pointing to a peculiar spot in the wall. “Io, we need you to plant as many bombs there as you can. Stay next to me and throw one in whenever you can.”