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In moments, Perilous Jack’s gamble pays off.

The Rust Birds, having devoured the ventilation fan, are hungry for more. Cawing ravenously, they struggle through the ventilation shaft and break free, one by one, into the cavernous chamber. It is the Iron Claws that elicit their greatest excitement. All the tremendous strength and armor possessed by the constructs is no match for the magical rusting power of the Rust Birds’ beaks. In moments, every Iron Claw in sight is besieged by at least two of the huge birds.

Perilous Jack leaps from pipe to pipe, dodging the rain of rust-severed limbs and the flopping bodies of diving or wounded Rust Birds. Amidst all the chaos, Jack finds the pipe the Druid told him about: number 5487-9010.

Remembering the Druid’s warning about ice magic, Jack prepares a Fire Flower, tightens his grip on his sword, and enters the shaft, ready to confront the Ice Wizard.

Turn to 41.