Chapter 149
The Haniwa were what you'd call trash mobs—weak monsters I'd fought before alongside Dent and fellow adventurers.
Running into them again was pretty much inevitable for me.
"It's been a while since I've used this."
Nell held a slingshot, testing its feel as her gaze locked onto her target.
"Hanyaa~"
Today, too, the Haniwa wandered peacefully.
Calling it pastoral would be strange, but as always, the area was deserted enough that no adventurers came around.
"Liberta, first we gather the parts, right?" "Yeah, first we collect twelve types of parts."
Part of it was that the monsters in this area weren't worth much to adventurers, but the real reason this place stayed so empty was simply because it was too much of a hassle to come all the way out here.
That environment worked perfectly for what we were about to do.
"Nell and Ingrid, take down Haniwa within Claudiah's line of sight and collect the parts in this bag." "Got it." "Understood."
"Amina, stay near Claudiah and sing Tailwind for us. Claudiah, as always, keep an eye on our surroundings." "Sure thing!" "Leave it to me. But I can join the fight against Class 4 Haniwa, right?" "Absolutely."
A hunting ground with no one else around, free for us to use—to a gamer, it was like heaven.
You could hunt at your own pace, however you liked.
The safety margin was solid, so the risk wasn't too high either.
After giving instructions, we grabbed our weapons—me with my scythe spear, Nell with her halberd, and Ingrid with her trick broom—and got started.
"Hanya!?"
The enemy was a non-aggressive monster. A preemptive strike with the scythe spear shattered the Haniwa in one hit, reducing it to black ash before it vanished.
Damage-wise, it was overkill, but the efficiency was great.
"First drop is a horn."
The Haniwa's loot consisted of 14 types of parts, magic stones, and, as a rare drop, a Haniwa Key.
Having a Haniwa Key would be useful for later training, so grabbing one or two here would be nice.
The parts dropped almost guaranteed—the real question was what else would come with them.
Even with my terrible drop luck, I could still help with this kind of task.
"Another horn."
I could do this.
"Another horn again?"
I *could* do this.
"Horn."
...Right?
"......"
Sorry, my confidence is wavering a bit.
Five horns in a row had me on the verge of despair.
Was this bad luck? Or was getting the same thing five times in a row actually *good* luck?
"Seven types down!" "Amazing, Lady Nell! I had a couple duplicates, but we're steadily getting more variety."
Nell was collecting different parts so smoothly it almost seemed scripted, while Ingrid gathered items like it was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Finally got a different part."
Meanwhile, it took me six kills to get something besides a horn.
"...Is this how it's gonna be from now on?"
If Nell was being manipulated by the game, maybe my drops were being skewed too. For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that some unseen force—the Desire Sensor—was messing with me.
"Hanya!?"
Despite my bad premonition, I quickly took down another nearby Haniwa.
"Guess I was just being paranoid."
This time, alongside the horn and the wing part from earlier, I got goggles—something new.
Yeah, just a weird streak, that's all.
"Alright, let's focus and gather more!"
With that worry gone, I threw myself into hunting Haniwa, boosted by Amina's song buff.
About an hour later...
"Wow, a lot of horns." "Uh... that's my fault."
We regrouped at Claudiah's spot, our bags full. After dumping out the loot and sorting it by type, the distribution was... uneven.
Some variance in drop rates was normal, but the sheer number of horns was baffling.
Amina's pointed comment made me avert my eyes and reflexively apologize.
It wasn't intentional.
But seeing Nell—and even Ingrid—getting balanced drops while mine were skewed made me feel oddly guilty.
"Don't worry, Liberta! I'll pick up the slack!" "Yeah, seriously, thanks."
Back in the day, it wasn't like this, I mused as I counted the sets we'd gathered.
"Thirteen attempts' worth—yeah, that's plenty."
Thirteen full sets in an hour was pretty good.
Like I said earlier, sometimes drops get skewed, and the Desire Sensor—every gamer's nemesis—rears its ugly head.
That moment when you're just *one* item short, staring down an invisible enemy—the Desire Sensor itself.
But this time, it didn't stand in our way. I knew Nell's luck was insane, but I couldn't help clasping my hands in gratitude.
"Nell, thank you." "Of course! But... what's with the pose?" "Just showing my appreciation." "Really? Feels a little off, somehow..."
Don't overthink it. In any game, if there was a character who boosted drop rates like this, players would go all-out to get them and worship them without question.
If Nell were a gacha character, she'd be a must-pull, top-tier meta unit—no doubt about it.
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, time to use these parts on the Haniwa."
As I thought that, I picked up one of the parts.
"Be careful about the order you attach the parts." "Is there a difference?" "Yeah."
The part in my hand was belt-like—too short and small to actually wear, and way too stiff.
Holding the badge-shaped object, I began explaining.
"Haniwa evolve in three stages. At the final stage, when all parts are combined, they become Class 4 monsters. But there are five possible evolution paths to that final form."
Among golems, Haniwa were pretty unique.
"The order you attach the parts determines which evolution path they take."
At the first stage (Class 2), the split is between melee or ranged types.
"This part favors melee evolution, and this one favors ranged."
I divided the fourteen parts roughly in half, using the belt-like badge as a divider.
"Then, at the next evolution, melee types branch into speed or power, and ranged types do the same."
I drew another line, quartering them.
Three speed parts, three power parts—same ratio for both melee and ranged.
"That gives us four variants. The third-stage evolution just reinforces the second stage's traits." "Liberta, that's only four. What about the fifth one?" "That'd be the all-rounder type. Balanced in melee, ranged, speed, and power—the most troublesome enemy. But we're aiming for melee-speed this time, so don't worry about it."
That covered all the evolution paths.
Now, we just had to put it into practice.
"The method is simple: fuse four parts to trigger a class-up. Each time, the first part you attach influences the evolution path. For melee-speed, we start with a melee-speed part, then melee-power, ranged-speed, and ranged-power in that order."
Haniwa evolution had priority rules—melee/ranged took precedence over speed/power.
"Anyway, I'll show you. Let's use that Haniwa over there—get ready for battle!"
Demonstrating would be faster than explaining.
Spotting a lone Haniwa shuffling around, I waited for everyone to get into position, then loaded the belt-like badge into my slingshot and took aim.
I fired, hitting the slow-moving Haniwa dead-on, and it began glowing with evolution energy.
One crucial note: when evolving them, make sure no other Haniwa are nearby.
If you miss and hit another one, the parts will fuse with *that* one instead, wasting the materials.
Do that, and you’ll be short a set for reaching the final form.
So unless you're *absolutely* confident in your aim, always isolate your target first.
With that in mind, I fired part after part into it.
"HANYAAAAAAAH!!" "It got bigger." "Yes, and it's armed now too. A helmet, shield, and sword."
The newly evolved Class 2 Haniwa let out a lively cry.
Clay Golem Ver. Soldier.
We just called them Melee Haniwa for short.
"Careful! Evolved Haniwa become aggressive and will attack! Ingrid, go for a leg sweep!" "Understood. Engaging."
I wished they'd stay non-aggressive, but no such luck.
The Melee Haniwa, now recognizing us as enemies, lumbered toward us with heavy footsteps.
"Next part—this one!"
This time, I grabbed a pair of crude iron wings—far too poorly made to actually let anything fly.
Loading it into the slingshot, I fired.
"HANYAAAH!?"
It began glowing again.
In robot anime, fusion sequences are usually uninterrupted, but—
"Openings detected."
Ingrid mercilessly swept the Haniwa's legs with her broom, knocking it flat with a crisp *smack*.
The glow continued—attacking mid-transformation was only possible in this world, where anime tropes didn’t apply.
As Ingrid retreated, I fired three more parts into the downed Haniwa.
"HANYAAAAAAAAAH!!" "It got slimmer this time." "Yes, but the face is still a Haniwa."
It didn’t grow larger, but its shape changed drastically, evolving into a Speed-type Haniwa.
It now looked like a knight with armor pieces haphazardly attached—but the face remained a stylized Haniwa mask. Its body was slimmer, shifting from a three-headed to a four-headed proportion.
Clay Golem Ver. Knight.
A soldier promoted to a knight—but again, we just called them Knight Haniwa for short.
Even as a knight, Amina and Nell weren’t impressed by its design.
Their unamused expressions said it all—this thing was *weird*.
The Knight Haniwa, angry at being tripped mid-evolution, stabbed its sword into the ground to push itself up.
"Whoops."
No way I’d let that slide.
Evolution phases meant free openings—so I ruthlessly fired the next part.
"Ingrid!" "Understood."
Once again, Ingrid stepped forward and knocked the sword out of the Haniwa’s hand, disrupting its balance.
"Hanya!?"
It faceplanted like a slapstick gag.
After two repetitions, the third followed the same script—parts fired in order while the Haniwa was down.
"HANYAAAAAAAAH!!"
The Haniwa roared as an intense glow erupted from its body.
"Ingrid, fall back." "Should I not attack?" "Liberta, it’s *wide* open right now." "It seems like the perfect chance to strike?" "Yeah, but if we kill it before it finishes evolving, we won’t get the drops we want. Just wait. Amina, start singing as soon as it’s done."
I didn’t expect them to understand a man’s romance, nor did I think they’d appreciate robot fusion sequences in this isekai world.
But still—where did this mercilessness from my female companions come from?
"Got it!"
Well, if the drop tables didn’t change, I’d rather just kill these vulnerable monsters ASAP for the EXP.
"HAAAAANYAAAAAH!!"
Under our watch, the Haniwa finally completed its final evolution.
Clay Golem Ver. Slasher.
A melee-speed Haniwa that discarded its shield in favor of a mana-forged energy sword.
Nickname:
**Jedi Haniwa.**