Chapter 30: All That and a Bag of Rocks (Patreon)

Two massive stone fists punched up out of the ground by our feet. It created a powerful shock wave that sent us sprawling under an explosion of sand. We watched in shock as the grey stoned golem climbed up out of the floor until it rose to its full height of twelve feet. The hole it crawled out of became magically filled with sand until there was no sign that there had been one at all.

The System description hadn’t been lying. It was a wide, hulking brute with hands like wrecking balls, and a body made of sections of stone that were joined together. These stone sections made a grinding sound whenever it moved. The System, for reasons unknown except for perhaps its own amusement, had also chosen to give it a squat head with a mouth and eye holes crudely carved into it.

The beast stomped around the arena with its heavy feet until it noticed us. I got up off the floor first and circled around it with my katana raised. I was hoping to draw its attention away from Harold and Damian, who were still lying there, but the golem didn’t take the bait. It saw easier prey and went for them instead.

But just because they were still on the floor didn’t mean they were helpless. Harold pulled out his flask and flicked his wrist. Mirror water was cast out across the room, where it landed in a large puddle. Harold then poured some in front of himself to form a second puddle. I understood what he was trying to do, but part of me remained skeptical. As the golem thudded towards Harold, he rolled into the first puddle and disappeared. He then emerged out of the second puddle a moment later.

Damn, it would have been nice to know that he could teleport sooner.

Meanwhile, Damian had rolled onto his back and aimed his crossbow. The silver bolt on it was different from before. Electricity sparked around it and it was wreathed in blue lightning. There was a loud bang when he fired it, and the bolt slammed into the golem’s chest. A few pieces of stone were chipped away, but it didn’t manage to penetrate its stone body. The golem grabbed the bolt but then suddenly bellowed in pain as a surge of electricity coursed through its body. The effect stunned the creature and allowed us time to regroup.

While it was distracted, I ran to Damian and helped him to his feet.

“What was that?” I asked him.

“A special ability. I can’t use it too often though, and I don’t think it’s doing any permanent damage to the thing.”

“All of the creatures we’ve faced so far have had some obvious weakness. We just need to find the golem's.”

The effect of the electrical bolt was slowly wearing off. When it was finally done, the golem threw the bolt aside and took slow, measured strides towards us. It knew we were trapped in a room with it and felt no need to rush.

I had to act fast. Damian would struggle to outrun it, so I left him behind and charged at the beast with my sword. It swung a large, heavy fist at me, but I ducked under it and struck back with my sword. With my high dexterity, I rained down a series of blindingly fast strikes on the golem. Each one only chipping away a few shallow fragments of stone at a time.

Eventually, I was forced to stop and retreat to catch my breath. My attacks weren’t enough. I’d gone as hard as I could, but my sword couldn’t get deep enough. The golem hadn’t felt them at all. In fact so far, electricity seemed to be the only thing that hurt it.

I noticed Harold standing there with his spear in hand, not doing anything.

“This isn’t a spectator sport,” I shouted at him. “If we die, then you’ll be fighting it alone.”

That idea seemed to motivate him.

He moved forward and lunged with his spear at the creature's back. The golem wasn’t hurt by those attacks either, but the sound of metal scrapping across stone caught its attention. It turned to focus on Harold while I checked in on Damian. He staring down intently at his crossbow until another bolt charged with electricity formed.

“I only have enough energy to form one more regular bolt after this,” he said. “We need more of a plan.”

He was right. The electrical bolt might temporarily stun the golem again, but it might not be enough to put it down for good.

I watched and studied the golem as it tried to grab at Harold, who quickly backed away from it. Its rocky body was segmented into several large pieces, which allowed for flexibility. Maybe that’s it? The gaps where the rocks are joined.

“Try to go for the gaps where the stones meet,” I shouted to them.

I don’t think Harold, who was busy running for his life, heard me. But Damien did. He swapped his special electrical bolt for a regular silver one and raised his crossbow.

The stone golem had chased Harold into a corner. Harold pulled out his flask, hoping for a quick getaway, but when he turned it over, there was no water left. He’d used the last of it earlier and was now trapped. Fear took him.

“Oh god, please,” he begged, his eyes wide.

The Stone golem stopped and as it raised its mighty fist, Damian fired. The bolt shot across the room and punctured a gap behind its left knee. The golem wailed and fell to one leg. It desperately tried to grasp the bolt and pull it out, but its hands were too big and the bolt was too deep.

While it struggled in vain, Harold was smart enough to make his escape, but instead of joining us, he chose to stand next to one of his big mirror water puddles. He didn’t say anything but his demeanor suggested that he was done fighting.

I sighed. Looks like it's time to bring Hugo back into the fight.

I touched the nearest spider corpse, only to immediately sense that I’d drained that one already. The second one I’d partially drained, which just left two untouched sources of healing. I dragged a fresh spider corpse over to the ledge and brought Hugo down on it. Once he made a physical connection to the spider’s blood, he awoke confused.

“What happened?” he asked.

“You passed out,” I said. “Used too much magic with Archer.”

He yawned. “Oh yeah, kept her out for too long.”

“Can you bring her back for this fight?”

Hugo considered it and then frowned. “It’s weird. I can feel my body filling with energy, but when I try to use the magic, nothing happens.”

I was afraid of that being the case. “I think my blood healing ability can only heal you physically. It doesn’t regenerate your magic. I guess you’re still going to have to sit this fight out.”

I put him back on the ledge and checked the spider’s corpse. Drained.

Only one left now. Better save it for a serious injury.

The golem, unable to reach the bolt, punched the ground in a rage before forcing itself to its feet. It looked around, seeing Harold first, then me, before it finally locked eyes with Damian. It knew who had hurt it and it wanted revenge.

It stomped towards Damian with murderous intent. I rushed forward to intercept and stabbed upwards in a gap where its arm met its torso. The golem thundered in pain but my sword became lodged in there. I tried to pull it free and was too slow to notice its fist flying towards me. The golem’s punch took me in the side. There was an explosion of pain, and I sailed through the air before slamming into the wall next to the stone door.

I gasped and spat blood onto the sand. Everything hurt, and it felt like multiple bones were broken. I looked for the last spider corpse for healing, but it was too far away.

Hugo flapped over to me. “What do I do?” he asked, sounding concerned.

I merely pointed at the spider corpse and he understood immediately. He flew to it and tried to lift it up, but it was too heavy. When that failed, the crow tried to drag it but couldn’t.

He returned, frustrated and scared. “I can’t move it,” he said. “What now?”

I didn’t have an answer. The pain had captured most of my attention. Now my only hope was that Damian or Harold could finish off the golem and carry the spider over to me.

Hugo flew over to Harold and said, “you have to help him!”

Harold ignored the crow and stared at the golem, who was limping towards Damian. One of its arms hung uselessly by its side, with my sword still trapped within it. With its good arm, the golem threw a jab towards Damian, but the man had enough dexterity to dodge under it. Damian fired a regular bolt into a gap in the beast's torso and then rolled past the creature. The golem moaned as it tried to pull out the new bolt now stuck inside of it.

Damian stared at his crossbow and concentrated. A silver bolt loaded itself, wreathed in the same blue lightning from before. This was his last bolt. His last chance.

The golem, for once, found itself successful at removing a bolt. It held it up triumphantly and turned to Damian to goad him with it. As soon as it did, Damian fired, and the bolt went into its right eye hole.

There was no sound of pain this time. No fury. It simply died on the spot.

There was no time for celebration, however, as Damian also collapsed. Like Hugo, he’d pushed himself almost to the brink of exhaustion and had nothing left.

I turned to look up at Harold. I guess it was up to him to help heal me.

He walked towards me, and my optimism rose. Once I was healed, the two of us could handle the final gate and win this thing. We could clear the floor together and return to the town to recover. I was about to indicate to Harold how he could heal me when he kept walking past me. Confused, I watched as he went to the fourth gate and pulled the lever. The final lock on the stone door disintegrated, and the way was now clear.

“Hey what are you doing?” Hugo asked in shock.

He’s killing us, I realized. But for what purpose, I couldn’t say.

Enraged at the betrayal, I reached down to my hip and as he moved past me, I nicked his leg with my viper fang.

Harold stopped and looked down in amusement. “You never give up, do you?” he said before kicking me and going on his way to the stone door. The cut was shallow. Barely more than a paper cut but I still smiled when I got the message.

*Poison activated*

At least I’ll take you with us.

Harold went through the stone door and closed it behind him, leaving the three of us powerless and broken to face the final threat.