Ch.319Women’s Expedition to the Ruins

The destination for this request was a mountainside about 50km away from the planned site of the 8th Western City.

Inside a small cave hidden by dense trees, there was an artificially carved arch-shaped space, and in the center of that space, a magic circle leading to the ancient ruins in question was glowing.

We arrived at the mountainside as evening was approaching, so we spent the night outside the cave before entering the ruins early the next morning.

“Before we move into the ruins, I’ll do one final check.”

Four Sisters’ leader Becky began the briefing with her husky voice.

“William will take the gender-changing potion, and after confirming its effect, we’ll enter the ruins. We’ll move in a 2-3-4 formation until we reach the first fork. Seti and I will take the vanguard, Jessica, William, and Susan will be in the center. The remaining four will form the rear guard.”

“When we reach the fork, we split into parties and proceed separately, right?”

“Correct. Each party leader will wear a communication magic tool to keep in contact as needed.”

Jessica and Becky both wore chokers with butterfly ornaments around their necks.

These paired chokers were short-range communication magic tools that the Four Sisters had prepared for tackling the fork in the path where they would need to split into two teams.

Incidentally, due to insufficient personnel and gender issues, the ruins had only been explored up to the entrance of that fork.

“Multiple golem-type monsters roam inside the ruins. Despite their appearance, they move quite nimbly, so those handling close combat should be careful.”

“Got it.”

The close combat specialist she referred to was Seti.

Ancestor couldn’t pass through the cave entrance and therefore couldn’t accompany us into the ruins, and even if that weren’t the case, someone needed to guard Iris who remained with the carriage.

Becky was armed with two sawed-off double-barrel shotguns.

With Jessica’s earth attribute enchantment magic added, even golems would find it difficult to approach.

“As previously agreed, all loot found in the ruins will be collected and divided 50-50, with the party that discovers each item having first choice. That’s all.”

“Now~ it’s time for the gender transformation everyone’s been waiting for~ hehehe.”

“Someone’s excited…”

I received the potion from Susan, the Four Sisters’ mage, uncapped it, and drank it in one gulp.

After about 10 seconds, heat spread through my body and white smoke began to flow out. When the smoke cleared, my appearance had—

“You’ve become a cool big sister.”

“Wow… you’re much prettier than I expected. I guess it’s because the original was good-looking.”

It looked so natural that this could have been what my sister would look like if I had one.

My height and build didn’t seem to have changed much, and if I could just ignore the strange sensations around my chest and between my legs, I should be able to explore the ruins as usual.

…Though those two areas felt more awkward than I had anticipated.

“Ugh~ I can’t believe I’m losing in chest size to a gender-swapped man! It’s so unfair! Right, Phyllis?”

“…No comment.”

Meanwhile, Mina and Phyllis seemed slightly depressed, perhaps because my female form was more glamorous than expected.

While the other Four Sisters members snickered at the scene, only leader Becky maintained her composure and urged us to begin the operation.

“If preparations are complete, we’ll enter the ruins. Susan, give Will the extra potions in advance. If transformation effects are canceled by dispel-type traps or magic, you must take another dose as quickly as possible.”

“Ah, okay… here are the two remaining potions.”

“Ah, thank you.”

After completing our preparations, we entered the teleportation magic circle in formation—vanguard, center, and rear guard in sequence.

After a momentary flash of light and a change in surroundings, all nine of us had been transported into a large stone building.

“Confirming everyone’s arrival. As expected, no negative magical effects have activated.”

“These ruins are incredibly spacious. The quality of the luminous stones embedded in the walls seems good too.”

“Yes. They’re much brighter than those in other ruins.”

If I had to describe the interior of the ruins in one phrase, I’d call it an ancient Greek-style palace.

Circular pillars embedded with luminous stones stood at regular intervals, and the walls and floors were neatly decorated with perfectly square tiles cut as if with a knife.

And throughout the interior stood nude female statues reminiscent of Renaissance works…

‘Thud thud thud…’

“They’re coming. Stone golems.”

“Wow, all of those?”

It seemed each of those female statues was actually a golem-type monster.

They slowly turned their heads to look at us, then began charging with thunderous footsteps.

“Center and rear, commence preemptive attack!”

“Flame Lance!”

“Pierce with brilliance, Shining Ray!”

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

Jessica attacked with her highly penetrative Flame Lance,

Susan of the Four Sisters fired guided light beams from the tip of her staff,

And the remaining members except Seti and Becky attacked the approaching golems with their respective weapons.

The combined firepower would have been enough to annihilate any ordinary monster group in an instant, but—

‘Crack! Crack!’

‘Crunch!’

The female-shaped golems, made entirely of stone, had bits and pieces chipped off and broken away, but none sustained enough damage to halt their charge.

The sight of them continuing to charge unfazed even as their bodies crumbled was terrifying.

‘Whoosh!’

“!!”

A fierce spinning kick from the first female golem to reach us.

Seti lowered his stance to avoid the attack, but seemed slightly surprised by the golem’s movements, which exceeded expectations.

If Becky hadn’t warned us in advance that these creatures were more agile than they appeared, we might have been caught off guard.

“Take this!”

‘Bang bang!’

The dual sawed-off shotguns fired at point-blank range pulverized the head of the golem that had attacked Seti.

It seemed that even the hardest stone golem couldn’t withstand the power of a close-range shotgun.

Now it was my turn.

‘Bang!’

The spreading penetration round from Milky Way, which I drew with my left hand, created a large hole in a golem’s chest.

Fortunately, the golem’s core must have been located there, as the golem with the pierced chest collapsed and stopped moving.

Five golems remained in sight.

“Piercing Incinerator!”

‘Bang!’

No, four golems remained.

Recently, Phyllis had often been using Fire Ball or Shockwave Splasher for wide-area preemptive strikes, but her original specialty was exactly this—carefully analyzing the enemy’s characteristics and then decisively finishing them with a single blow.

That’s also why she had only been firing normal shots while Jessica and Susan were using attack magic.

“Good. Four more…!?”

“Th-that thing!!”

Kate and Mina, whose tension had risen as the battle turned in our favor, suddenly widened their eyes in shock.

For good reason—these stone golems, though female in appearance, stood over 2.5 meters tall.

Anyone would be startled by the sight of such massive stone giants leaping to pounce on them.

“Everyone scatter!!”

‘CRASH!!’

Though Becky was supposed to be in charge of orders during joint action, Jessica’s instruction came slightly faster this time.

Just after the seven rear members threw themselves in different directions, a tremendous sound and vibration shook the ruins.

Fortunately, no one was stepped on or crushed, but our formation couldn’t help but be disrupted, and—

‘Thud!’

“Ugh!?”

“Anna!”

Before she could regain her posture, the youngest member of the Four Sisters took a hit.

The fortunate part was that the stone golem’s kick glanced off her thigh rather than hitting a vital spot.

The difference in weight sent her flying, but she didn’t seem to have sustained serious injuries.

The golem seemed to notice this too and appeared ready to target Anna again, but—

“Diamond Dust!”

‘!?!?’

As the stone golem charged forward vigorously, a large chunk of ice suddenly appeared at its feet, causing it to trip and fall.

It twisted its body greatly and landed flat on its back, sprawled out.

Spotting this, Becky kept two approaching stone golems at bay with her shotgun while giving a winning order to the team’s mage.

“Susan! Bind it!”

“!! Constrict and twist! Metal Bind Twist!”

As staff mage Susan chanted her spell, several sharp iron bars emerged from the ground, wrapping around the fallen golem’s wrists and ankles, firmly securing it to the floor.

The stone golem lay there with its limbs bound like the protagonist of “Gulliver’s Travels.”

We weren’t about to miss such a golden opportunity.

‘Bang! Bang bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!’

Me, Jessica, Mina, Phyllis, Kate, Susan, Anna.

Even the sturdiest stone golem couldn’t withstand the barrage of magic bullets from seven people.

While this almost cruel execution was taking place, the two vanguards were finishing off another stone golem.

‘Whoosh!’

“Hup!”

‘Bang bang!!’

Becky narrowly avoided the stone golem’s punch attack and slammed both shotguns into the golem’s chest.

“Yaaaaah!”

‘Thud!!’

The moment Becky dove sideways, Seti rushed in like the wind and precisely pierced through the crack in the chest created by the shotguns.

Along with the golem’s core inside.

‘Thud’

“Two golems remaining.”

“Seti and I will each mark one. Concentrate all firepower on the upper bodies to take them down.”

“Got it. Stone Bullet, Break Enchant!”

Having safely overcome the crisis of the jumping ambush and now enhanced by Jessica’s enchantment magic,

The two stone golems that arrived late fell apart pathetically without even getting a single chance to attack.