The basilisk, now moving sluggishly, continued to take damage from Zeke and the others’ attacks.

Alright! With this pace, even the Thorny-Thing might land a hit, don’t you think?

Thinking that, I threw it.

“Take that!”

Oh no, I lost my grip.

Where is it going?!

Alas, the Thorny-Thing disappeared behind a bush.

Goodbye, then!

Wait, no, that’s not right!

The Thorny-Thing fell with a thud and exploded.

And then…

“Graaaah!”

“Did it hit something?!”

Emerging from the bush was yet another basilisk.

“It was a pair!”

Zeke shouted as he continued attacking the basilisk.

The newly emerged basilisk, enraged by the Thorny-Thing’s explosion, charged directly toward me to attack.

But…

“Huh?”

Its fangs, ready to bite, and its claws, poised to tear, couldn’t reach me, as if something blocked them.

“Oh, right. The invincibility barrier is still active. In that case…”

If its attacks won’t hit, that’s my cue to try something.

“Battle mode: focus on offensive gear!”

Upon that command, I heard the faint sound of equipment detaching.

Wait a second…does that mean I’m going to end up, you know, unclothed?!

Anxious, I looked down and found that I still wore the light blue Lolita dress I had on initially.

Phew, thank goodness.

Though I’m not sure how it works, it seems the new equipment layers over my original clothes.

Relieved, I watched as new pieces of gear equipped themselves onto me.

Let’s see…what’s the new setup?

Looking down…

I transformed from a maid to a Gothic Lolita!

In my hand was a sword gleaming silver.

I thought, maybe Gothic Lolita looks stronger and cooler than a maid, and stood holding the sword, while Zeke and the others, mid-attack, stared at me, wide-eyed.

“Zeke, isn’t that the legendary sword, Laevateinn?”

“It’s unmistakably that.”

“But why does Mei have it? Isn’t it supposed to be in the possession of the giantess Simmora?”

“…When it comes to Mei, logic doesn’t apply.”

Alex and Zeke continued conversing as they attacked in sync.

“Given that giants wield it, it must be big and heavy. Can she even swing it?”

Cloud looked concernedly at my hand holding the sword.

What?

A giant’s sword!?

Why is something like that in my hand?

Who is this dimension-traveling witch who set this up?!

“Mei! If you don’t attack, the basilisk is going to wander off!”

“Oops! Switching to auto-mode!”

So, changing equipment automatically turns off auto-mode, huh? I’ll remember that.

The moment I activated auto-mode, my arm began moving on its own, wielding the sword.

It didn’t feel as heavy as I expected.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sword in my hand sliced through the basilisk.

Gyaaah! Blood! Blood everywhere!

The unexpectedly gory scene made me squeeze my eyes shut.

But even with my eyes closed, the attacks seemed to continue.

Finally, with a wet, slicing sound, it seemed the final blow was struck. I cautiously opened my eyes to find the motionless basilisk in front of me.

Ahh, I did it!

I crouched down, letting the sword rest in my hand. It’s nice that it fought for me, but the gore was intense…

“Mei, you need to remove the heart quickly.”

Right! How do I do that, though?

“I’ll handle it. Mei, please prepare for alchemy.”

“Got it!”

Honestly, it would probably be cleaner if Cloud did it, rather than me.

I removed my equipment and took out my mini alchemy pot.

Meanwhile, Zeke and the others also seemed to have defeated their basilisk. Impressive work from the mithril-ranked adventurers!

“The ingredients are the golden egg, Pegasus tail hair, and the basilisk heart. We have two hearts, so we can make enough for two people.”

“Isn’t that a bit much for two?”

I looked up at Ermine, who had come closer.

“Is that so?”

“Just a drop is effective.”

“Got it…then maybe we can store the rest for later.”

With enough for two, I assume I’ll need two bottles.

Alright, time to make it.

“Let’s brew the petrification cure!”

I averted my gaze as Cloud placed the dripping heart into the pot.

Yes. All set.

Swirl, swirl, swirl.

Swirl, swirl, swirl.

“And…it’s done~! Finished~♪”

Yes! The petrification cure is ready!

Now we can go heal the rabbit-eared old man♪