Alex felt like a horse chomping at the bit wanting to get out of the barn. The temple gleamed with a holy aura as usual despite being way too big for the popution that currently lived there. But it didn’t matter. Alex just wanted to go.

  “Are you okay Miss Alex?” A maid patted Alex.

  “I just want to go.” Alex packed up the three dolls back into the carriage, and used her clothing skill to magically transform her outfit back to something more comfortable, namely the crafting outfit with the corset.

  Fufi shook her head. “We should wait for at least an hour. I didn’t actually see any demons through the storm they made, but when they started heading out I can say there were a lot of footprints, a bunch of imps and a number of tier two demons from the looks of it.”

  This whole situation felt unacceptable to Alex. “So a big group of them comes every once and a while, attacks enough to spook everyone then leaves? They can do that without risking any casualties?”

  Fufi unhelpfully added. “They wouldn’t technically be casualties because they would just be dismissed from this pne.”

  “You know what I mean.” Alex crossed her arms at the fmingo.

  Ekta considered this, a confused look on his face. “We are a pce of peace and prayer. In the past padins were in charge of defense but none remain. If there are longer ranged defenses for this pce of worship then the proficiency to operate them was long along with them.”

  “I’d be surprised if there was nothing.” Alex looked out over the yard. “Where would the padins keep their stuff? Considering how far we are away from everything, emptying everything out for the war might not be worth the effort.”

  Ekta nodded. “I wasn’t around back then so I wouldn't know.” Then he corrected himself. “Ekta was around, but not this Ekta.”

  All the cloned priests in the yard nodded at that expnation, like it made perfect sense.

  “I’ll go look.” Alex looked at Fufi and asked. “Have you seen anything that looks like it might be a storehouse for the padins in the yard?”

  Fufi nodded her beak. “Yes, there are a couple big warehouses right up against the wall.”

  “Meru!” Merumeru sounded excited to explore.

  Alex approached the stone warehouse that loomed like a sentinel. The weathered facade framed two worn metal gates. Alex dusted off the door as much as she could. It likely hadn’t been opened in years so the entrance looked rusted shut. She pulled at one of the door handles but it didn’t budge. With the help of several others, the door creaked open, showing a cavernous interior. Dust motes swirled in the air, illuminated by shafts of light piercing through narrow windows.

  Alex adjusted her grip on her feather duster and entered the cleaning-neglected pce, Fufi strutting behind her. Merumeru toddled along behind the fmingo.

  One of the biggest shapes in the warehouse was a lump covered behind a moth eaten tarp. The trio approached it, while a few priests and maids watched from the entrance of the pce.

  Alex’s shoes clicked against the stone floor with each step. She battled the dust heroically like a champion cleaving enemies of an army, leaving a line of cleanliness in her wake. With a feathered ssh she dusted the tarp and it evaporated into mist, revealing a decrepit ballista. Its wooden frame was cracked and riddled with dry rot, its metal components tarnished.

  “What do we have here?” Alex cooed, not seeing the siege engine as junk but what it once was.

  As soon as she brushed it against the ballista, the transformation began. Rotten wood faded into polished pnks of gleaming mahogany. Metal joints and bolts shone with renewed strength. The ballista, once a forgotten relic, not stood restored and magnificent.

  “Ta-da!” Alex beamed at her handiwork, the treasure they discovered causing her to forget that more than anything she wanted to leave a few minutes before.

  “But it needs… fir.” Fufi flew up and nded on the contraption. “We need ribbons, bells, anything cute.”

  “I’ll see what we can find.” Tika gathered some of her clones and left. A few of the maids went with her.

  The priests and maids gathered items from the temple’s stores and some things in the carriage to use as decoration materials.

  They set to work , transforming the ballista into a masterpiece of whimsical charm. Merumeru etches swirling patterns by using her finger and her slime body’s acidic properties as an engraver. Fufi tied ribbons onto the firing mechanism, using her beak. Alex sewed some cloth along the front to make it look like a happy face.

  The next step was to get the ballista into position to fire it. They used a few blocks and tackles to lift it up the wall. Rolled it to the northwestern facing edge to get a shot towards where Fufi had already identified the demons’ encampment, some 30 miles away.

  “Oops, we forgot the bolts.” Alex had to go back down, clean another path through debris to find the ammo.

  The maids helped decorate the bolts after Alex cleaned them and restored them to like-new condition. They had some streamers on the end. Also a bunch of feathers. This pce had a bunch of harpy feathers for some reason.

  Lastly, Alex added her enchantment to the device. She asked for something sweet, some pepper, and something nice, creating some weird paint to coat the mechanisms with.

  Alex loaded the ballista and tried to turn the wheel to draw it back but she couldn’t. Apparently, the amount of strength someone needed to operate this thing was off the charts.

  “Here, let me help.” Some of the Ekta’s climbed up and in a group were able to pull the bolt back into firing position.

  Click, Click, Click.

  Each turn of the wheel brought the very tightly tensioned rope further back.

  “Does anyone know how far this thing is supposed to go?” Alex took hold of the back and tried to aim it. Even that caused her arms to shake. “I doubt it’d go all the way to where the demons are but hopefully it’ll be enough to fend them off when they come back.”

  “How do you aim it?” Ekta held on like Alex did. But he wasn’t quite sure how to operate it.

  “I think you line up this part here.” Alex pointed at the crosshairs. “And then fire by pulling the trigger. These notches are for longer range fire. You have to aim above and it’ll go up and arc down. Not sure exactly how far it’ll go but maybe a mile? It looks a whole lot beefier than anything I’d imagine.”

  Fufi flew up to do some spotting. She came back some time ter. “A little to the left. You can’t see the demons from here because they are in a valley. But your aim is off.”

  Ekta rotated the ballista a bit to the left.

  “A little more.” Fufi instructed.

  He did that.

  “Okay let me go check.” Fufi flew off yet again.

  Ekta held the ballista steady, sweat starting to bead on his forehead.

  “Let me help.” Another Ekta offered.

  Several of the priest clones held it, and when Fufi flew back she gave her approval.

  “Ready to fire?” Alex looked to everyone for approval.

  “None of us have combat csses.” Ekta said after a moment of thought. “I think you should pull the trigger. I wouldn’t get any advancement if this works.”

  “Um, okay. But you’ll have to hold it steady for me.” Alex shamefully added. “I’m not very strong.”

  Alex took Ekta’s pce at the trigger mechanism. The crosshares were on a distant, snow-capped mountain. She was certain that there was no way that the bolt could go that far so this was just a test to see how fast it’d fall.

  “Let's give it a whirl” Alex decred, pulling the trigger. The ballista released the bolt with a crack. It flew off with incredible speed.

  Not so fortunate was the fact that the front of the ballista also broke off from the expanded force of the enchantment and tumbled to the store floor of the rampart.

  “Oops.” Alex grumbled when it hit the ground, but her gaze shifted back to the feathery, ribboned projectile that quickly became too small for her eyes to see.

  “Where’d it go?” One of the Tika’s looked out over the walls trying to see what happened with the bolt.

  They could hear it though. The bolt made a sonic-boom, shaking the whole area when it took flight and apparently didn’t slow down like expected. Seconds ter a the bolt struck the side of the mountain as evidenced by a mushroom-cloud-like puff of ice coming from it

  Moments ter, an avanche cascaded the mountain's face. Obscuring the line of sight with white powder.

  As if that wasn’t enough. A sound like thunder came from the direction.

  “It sounds like we made the gcier cav.” Alex winced at the loud cracking of ice.

  Alex’s phone buzzed and dispyed notifications.

  [100 ice imps defeated]

  [Requirements for level 6: Defeat 200 monsters, one of which needs to be tier 2]

  [Progress 100/200 monsters, 0/1 tier 2 monsters]

  “It looks like we got 100 of them.” Alex raised her feather duster like a triumphant banner. “Not what I was expecting but we’ll take it. Alex basked in the victory, also getting halfway to level 6 felt like a win.

  melchi