[center][img] https://i.imgur.com/5ILCycx.png[/img][/center]
[hr]

Éliane had thought about staying above ground and remaining to help prepare for the impending Valheimian assault on the barbarian capital, but in the end she went along with the rest of the Kirins and entered the depths of the cathedral after she had finished setting up the gun and its ammunition in the best possible place to repel their airships. With how long the night had been, she shared in Esben’s energy—or more properly the lack thereof—and she didn’t speak much as they continued. 

It didn’t take long for enemies to predictably turn up. 

This time they were ugly sea creatures. Despite Izayoi’s warning, she decided to save her ammunition, drawing her gunblade but holding back from using it as a firearm. They were not constrained in a tight space but rather a gaping cavern with rivers and reservoirs, and she had the room to maneuver as she wished. Leaping forward, she joined the melee as she slashed out, ducking under a spear and net before hacking off a leg from a slimy lizardman.

She could see and feel their intelligence, but the gulf in skill between the tribal creatures and the elite paladins that the Kirins had just fought was immense. Compared to before, it was almost like child’s play to scythe through these creatures, made all the more obvious by the way Éliane kicked one aside before skewering it with the tip of her sword and immediately engaging another.

It wouldn’t be too long before they mopped this up. She’d keep the bullets for the increasingly likely chance they would have to fight a corrupted guardian further in.