Twelve Days of Fantasy and Ash (Christmas Special Part 11)

Today's episode starts with Mary having flashbacks to her time with her original party in the Cyrene mine. She drifted into her daydream at the sound of the monster, and was shocked back into a normal state by Haruhiro calling to her. Who wouldn't be afraid of a monster like that, standing as tall as a two story building? Despite Mary's fears, they have to crawl down the the fifth floor, one of the most dangerous, to escape the trap.

I've already made my feelings on this arc pretty clear. I see it as a somewhat unnecessary arc that probably only existed in the source material to have another exciting climax before the story ends for a while. I see this extension more as a cynical choice rather than a good storytelling one. The story of Mary getting over her fear of the mine sort of fits with the overarching themes of growing up, but it may have had more impact if the original party had to experience it. Anyways, on with the episode. Now they get to fight Mary's zombified companions!

Mary confronts them head-on, hoping to reverse their curse with magic. They group up and try to hold off the reanimated corpses, which are a higher level than the current team. They also make poor matchup choices, putting Moguzo up against the enemy warrior, Ranta and Shihoru against the enemy thief, and Haruhiro facing off against a wizard with Yume. They are somewhat aware of the zombies' fighting styles, but are somewhat weaker, so they struggle to hold their ground.

Mary charges in and dispels the reanimation magic, creating a sad scene as she hugs her friends, just for them to fall into a pile of ash at her feet. The team stews on the fact they need to get stronger. Of course, they're not allowed to stew on anything, slowness in this world is death, so guess who shows up?

He carries a huge sword, too heavy for Haruhiro to parry or for Moguzo's armor to block, so they have to run away. The monster calls out to its kobold friends, so they are pursued while they flee. Moguzo is only temporarily able to slow them with one of his fear skills. They take refuge on an inaccessible piece of scaffolding, just for the monster to appear and destroy part of it. Haruhiro starts falling and Ranta saves him. The monster attacks it again and Ranta falls to the bottom. They are separated from Ranta, and decide to find another way back down to rejoin him.

While I usually dislike misdirections in writing like this, it's almost like the show makes sense with this one. It's like you're asking the show please don't let Ranta die, his party needs him. Then the show responds in a very Ranta-like tone saying like Ranta would ever die that easily, you idiot. This is the end of the episode. Tomorrow is the finale!