The Stone Armors seemed to have found their second wind now that the Ice Golem was gone. Their bodies, battered and broken by the previous onslaught, knit themselves back together in the blink of an eye.
"Nuha-ha! Your resilience is most unexpected!"
"I shall not be careless again. I will crush you with every ounce of my strength."
No sooner had they spoken than Domdan and Damros let out a thunderous roar.
"Look! They’re getting even bigger!" Shiroru yelled, pointing at the shifting forms of the Stone Armors.
They were already so massive that it was hard to track the change, but they were clearly sucking up soil from the ground, fueling their rapid giantization.
It was a simple but devastating enhancement. Greater mass meant their attacks would carry literal tons of momentum. I didn't know just how large they could become, but if we let them continue, they would soon be unstoppable.
"This is bad! At this rate, the city will be leveled!" Lowell cried out.
That was another headache. The Stone Armors were already taller than the surrounding buildings. If they kept growing, a single punch could potentially wipe out the entire town.
"Tort, think of something! I’ll buy us some time!"
With that, Lowell charged the Stone Armors with reckless abandon. He was likely hoping to deal enough damage to force them to focus on repairs rather than growth.
"Follow Master Lowell!"
"I’m going in too!"
The Petit Golems and Shiroru followed suit, charging into the fray. The Petit Golems’ contribution aside, the giantized Shiroru was a force to be reckoned with. She began grinding away at the Stone Armors’ defenses with a relentless barrage of body slams and lightning strikes.
Even so, the Stone Armors’ growth didn’t stop. Inch by inch, their forms continued to swell.
"Tort, what’s the plan?"
"Should I summon more ice?"
Halfa and Spira hurried over to me. Both looked pale, clearly suffering from the strain of mana depletion. Spira would recover naturally in time, but I quickly handed Halfa a mana recovery potion.
Now, what to do? My only strategy so far was to chip away at them slowly, but I wasn't sure if we could finish them off even with Shock Voice and the Ice Golem. The mana cost was too high; we wouldn't last in a battle of attrition.
"Ruto."
As I stood there ruminating, Ren-kun appeared before me like a shimmering hologram. Garna was right there with him.
"What’s up?" I asked.
Garna hopped onto my shoulder. "I requested his assistance. If what those creatures say is true, this is a situation the gods can no longer ignore."
"Exactly," Ren-kun added, his expression grim. "I mean, they’re invaders, so we couldn’t ignore them anyway, but the threat level just skyrocketed."
He gave a heavy nod.
The Stone Armors had claimed they could "dominate the principles of the world." If that was true, it was essentially a divine authority. For the gods, having their own laws of reality subverted was an existential threat.
"To put it bluntly, it’s just like they said," Ren-kun continued. "The source of the Silver Abominations—that god from the outer world—has managed to seize part of the power to interfere with this world."
Apparently, all the gods were currently working together to reclaim control from the Silver God. However, once that authority was snatched away, getting it back was no easy feat. For now, the best they could do was try to prevent the corruption from spreading further.
"Their influence over the earth is particularly strong," Garna explained. "That is because they managed to absorb some of Asheraska’s kin."
That made sense. The reason the Stone Armors could manipulate soil so freely was because they had hijacked the Earth God’s own power.
"But they shattered the Ice Golem too," I noted. "Why was that?"
"The earth is their strongest suit, but the authority they’ve stolen covers a wide range," Ren-kun explained with a frustrated sigh. "They’re using the power of silverization to slowly eat away at the logic of this world."
"It’s a real pain, honestly," he muttered, though his tone remained surprisingly casual. I felt like he should have been more worried, given the circumstances.
As the Silver Abominations usurped more of the world’s principles, our means of fighting back would vanish. My golems had already been rendered useless. While I had other ways to fight, a giant golem was the most effective counter for a giant enemy. Having my main offensive tool sealed away was a massive blow.
"What should I do? A golem is the only thing with enough raw power to outpace their regeneration, but..."
The enemies had struggled with the Ice Golem, even if they eventually destroyed it. It was definitely effective, but it wasn't enough to secure a win. If only I had a material they couldn't neutralize...
"Oh, I don't think that'll be very hard," Ren-kun said. "Not for you, Ruto."
He sounded so nonchalant that it caught me off guard. He didn't seem panicked because he already had a solution in mind.
"What do you mean?"
"They have the power to manipulate the substances of this world," Ren-kun said. "So, all you have to do is use materials that aren't from this world."
"...Huh?"
I blinked, not quite following his logic.
"Materials from another world? I don't have anything like that."
"What are you talking about? You’ve been pulling things like that apartment out with your Pandora Gift this whole time."
"Wait... was that building not made of local materials?"
I’d assumed that despite its strange design, it was just a normal structure.
Garna chimed in to clear up my confusion. "Setting the building aside, it is certain that you possess the power to manifest objects that exist outside the principles of this world. That seasoning you used is a perfect example. It was completely untouched by the influence of any god belonging to this realm."
The seasoning. She was talking about the Magic Seasoning I used for the Clean Green Curry. I remembered everyone making a fuss about it being a "new discovery." I hadn't really understood back then, but apparently, it was an item that functioned outside the laws of our world.
Since those items came from the Pandora Gift, it didn't quite feel like I was the one "producing" them, but the point was clear: I just had to pull something else out of the gift that didn't belong here.
Alright. If that’s the trick, let’s give it a shot!