As the walls began to ripple, my first instinct was to create a golem. Using the air near the walls as a base, I hoped that if the laughter was what triggered the transformations, then blocking the sound might stop it.
However, I didn't know if my plan would actually work—mostly because I wasn't fast enough. The Air Golems were finished at the exact moment massive appendages sprouted from the walls on either side.
"It's an arm!"
"Same here!"
Rei and Sally reported while leaning back-to-back. Just as they said, huge 1m-class arms were growing out of the walls. One right and one left, both rendered with unsettlingly fine detail.
"What's the call? Do we pull back?"
"No, we fight. If we try to run now, it’ll only spread," I replied to Lowell’s question. Our enemies were part of the architecture. Since they couldn't chase us, it was better to hold our ground and secure a safe zone than to risk spreading the corruption by retreating blindly.
Halfa, Lowell, and Spira focused on the right arm, while Rei’s trio, Shiroru, and the Petit Golems handled the left. I stepped back a few paces to remake my Air Golems. The first ones had been smashed the moment the arms burst through the walls. I planned to manifest them again and station them further down the corridor to shield the next section of wall from the effect. Still, without mouths, I wasn't even sure if these new ones could laugh.
Fighting in the narrow corridor against such massive limbs was difficult. The lack of space meant that dodging an attack often resulted in nearly colliding with an ally. In that regard, Halfa’s group was handling themselves well, but Rei’s side was struggling.
Actually, it looked like Allen and the others were getting in the way. Rei’s group was coordinated, but the tiny constructs were getting underfoot, causing them to stumble.
"Shiroru, Petit Golems! Go neutralize that lion's head!"
"Understood!"
"You got it!"
On the next wall over, the lion's head was still intact. It was continuing its eerie laughter in an attempt to transform more of the surrounding area, so I had the Petit Golems move to shut it up. I stepped into the gap they left in the line.
"Tort, we're done on this side!"
"Almost finished over here, too!"
Lowell’s group finished their arm first. By then, we had the left arm cornered as well. Surprisingly, these wall-borne monsters weren't particularly powerful. Setting aside the initial dragon, the giant snake hadn't been much of a threat beyond its attempt to swallow things whole, and these arms were tough but lacked significant offensive power. Their method of appearance was shocking, but they were manageable as long as we kept our cool.
"Take that!"
Mil delivered the finishing blow to the battered left arm. She didn't manage to sever it, but the limb lost its strength and slumped to the floor. As it fell, a slit opened on the back of the hand.
—Gig-gig-gig.
"Ugh, are you kidding me?!"
Laughter leaked from the slit. It wasn't just the left arm, either; the right arm they had just defeated started doing it, too. We hurriedly moved to finish them off completely, but—
"Oh no, the next wall is shaking!"
Spira was the first to notice. My intervention had been too late; the corruption had already leapt to the adjacent wall. It seemed that simply blocking the corridor with an Air Golem wasn't enough. For now, the wall was only vibrating, but the intensity was increasing. It was only a matter of time before it transformed.
"Tort, look!"
Halfa called out to me again. This time, however, her report was good news.
"The stairs!"
She was pointing toward the area where the right arm had emerged. Now that we had defeated the limb, the wall itself had vanished. In the dim light of the dungeon, I could just barely make out the silhouette of a staircase in the distance.
"Floating Light."
I summoned more orbs of light and sent them drifting down the corridor. It was definitely a staircase.
I had been prepared to stay and fight, but the discovery of the stairs changed everything. If we could just descend to the next floor, we wouldn't have to deal with these annoying wall monsters anymore.
"Everyone, run for the stairs!"
Fortunately, the walls leading to the exit hadn't transformed yet. We waited for Allen and the others to regroup, then made a break for it. The walls behind us began to shift a moment later—we had made it by the skin of our teeth. Twin demon-like statues tore their way out of the marble on either side of the hall. Eyes glowing with a sinister light, they unleashed a barrage of magic.
"I've got it!"
Spira erected an Ice Wall to seal off the corridor. The statues' magic was stronger than expected, shattering parts of the ice, but the barrier held long enough for us to neutralize the threat. We dove into the stairwell without looking back.
"Phew. Those were some nasty customers."
Once we were far enough down the stairs that the enemies were out of sight, Rei let out a long breath. Everyone, myself included, nodded in agreement. They appeared without warning, their forms were unpredictable, and they could multiply their numbers. We could beat them, but they were a massive headache.
"Well, at least they were stationary. That was their only saving grace."
"And since the walls vanish when you beat them, they actually provide a bit of a shortcut."
"That's true. It's the only reason we found the stairs so quickly."
Despite the ordeal, Mil, Sally, and Halfa were already looking on the bright side. It was true that we had cleared this floor remarkably fast. In a way, the enemy’s strange walls had backfired.
As that thought crossed my mind, a sense of unease took hold.
...Wait. Are we being guided?