Steven was getting used to being charged by deadly monsters.

Which probably wasn’t healthy, but who was keeping score?

Steven didn’t need to speak. He already knew what the others would be doing. Well, most of them.

He ran straight at the monster, screaming.

The snow golem lowered its shoulder as it closed in.

Steven skidded to a stop and called.

The Lumbering Tower-Shield formed an instant before the golem struck, its massive shoulder slamming into his shield like a speeding car.

The shield trembled, and cracks actually began to spread from the middle, but it held.

Steven exploded to the right, snow spraying out as he moved.

He rounded his shield on the right as Buford and Markus closed on the left.

The golem turned to follow Steven as he ran.

With the few seconds it took the golem to shake off slamming into a green wall, he called a shield in front of his face.

Then he did a little trick he'd been practicing since their fight with the Red Hand.

He pushed on the shield with A Lot Goes A Long Way, and it launched forward.

But before the shield could go more than a foot, he activated Shield Pull.

The shield froze in place, and then it began to tremble.

The shield shrunk but continued to stay in place.

Steven ground his teeth as the golem closed in.

He needed the shield to shrink more.

It kept shaking and shrinking, but he could feel Shield Pull straining in his mind. The Augment would give up if it couldn't get the shield to budge for much longer.

A little more.

The shield shrunk as much as it was going to, reaching a size equivalent to his closed fist.

Steven reached out to the shield, which was practically bucking at this point, and got ready to drop Shield Pull while focusing on the third Augment he'd slotted.

He canceled the pull, and in the same instant, he used Compass Push.

The shield blasted forward like a professional fastball and slammed into the golem's middle.

Steven had tested the move, he knew it packed a punch, but even then, he was still taken off guard when it crunched into the golem's middle, denting the ice and snow and stopping its momentum cold.

The monster staggered back a few steps, and before it could recover, Markus and Buford were on it.

A flash of black sunk into the golem just as two white flashes struck Markus and Buford.

The old man and the hound hit it like a landslide.

Markus slammed his fist into the back of the golem's knee. Amber light flashed, and a fissure blasted through its leg.

Buford hit a heartbeat later. His leap helped along with a wave of Margie's hand.

His teeth flashed yellow and red as he bit down on the golem's shoulder.

Steven got ready to call another shield when the golem struck back.

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Its hand lashed out, and the icy chains followed.

Markus leaped to the side as the chains rushed by. They passed him, whistling through the air.

The golem clenched its fist, the carvings in its chest igniting with a steady blue light.

The chains bent in the middle as if they'd run into an invisible pole, and wrapped back around towards Markus, moving even faster than before.

The old man barely got his arms up in time as the chain slammed home, sending him flying.

Steven started charging up another shield.

The golem reached back and grabbed Buford in one massive hand. The dog snarled but couldn't do anything as the golem hurled him like a missile.

Buford's shroud stuck to the golem’s hand and stretched a dozen feet in an instant, pulling the dog up short like he was bungee jumping.

The golem staggered as all that momentum suddenly jerked it forward, and just before the shroud began to constrict and pull the dog back, Margie canceled the effect.

Buford dropped down as Steven released his shield.

The dog hit the ground and spun, charging back in as Steven's shield landed with another crunch.

The golem roared, and then things really started to get out of hand.

Two chains flew out, aiming for Steven and Buford.

Steven ran with the dog, dodging one chain as it raced by.

"Left!" Micheal shouted.

Steven snapped a shield over his left shoulder, and the chain crashed down, wrapping around the shield and almost tagging Steven as he ran.

Del came at the golem from behind and swung for its injured knee.

Her fist impacted, and the fissure widened.

She danced back as Noodle darted in from its left and tore at the same leg.

The golem swung its chains again, and Steven had to throw himself flat to avoid getting crushed.

The other chain arced down at Buford, forcing the dog to sidestep.

At the same time, the golem stomped down with its good leg.

Icy, knee-high spikes raced along the ground toward Del and Noodle.

Steven's gaze sharpened, the cold against his chest and hands vanishing as he bent his focus toward the attack.

The spikes were moving fast. Could they dodge? Noodle would. He was quick enough.

Del wasn't.

He sucked in a breath and screamed. "DEL, JUMP!"

The woman didn't hesitate, leaping nearly four feet straight up.

Steven called, slapping two shields beneath her feet just as she reached the apex of her jump.

She landed and wobbled, windmilling her arms.

Steven called a third shield in front of her, and she grabbed on.

Buford ran at the golem from one side while Noodle came from the other.

Markus ran into view. Part of his face was stained with blood, but he didn't let that slow him down.

"Give me a path, yeah?" Del asked. She stared at the golem, her eyes shining.

Steven nodded and began to call.

He dismissed the shield she was holding on to and called it in front of her.

She stepped onto it, and Steven quickly fell into a rhythm, letting his mind focus on the golem as he called on autopilot.

Markus reached the golem at the same time as Buford.

Chains flew, amber light flashed, and teeth dug into the ice.

Steven took one of the shields from Del's path, leaving him with only two to work with.

He called it in front of one of the golem's hands, trying to slow the chains.

The golem was on a backswing and hadn't even gained momentum yet, but Steven's shield still began to crack immediately.

He banished it before it could burst.

He'd barely slowed it, but that had been enough. Markus slipped around the chain and drove his fist into the golem's leg one last time.

The fissure spread through the whole leg, and it finally gave way.

Snow and ice burst as the golem went down. It wasn't dead yet, however, and it slammed its first down with a boom.

Spikes again, and everyone was running—everyone except the person who was already in the air.

Del leaped, white light gathering over her shoulders as darkness stabbed into the golem.

She curled her legs up and then slammed both booted feet into the golem's already dented middle.

Her feet landed with a crack! And the golem went stiff.

Congratulations!

You have cleared the Snow Yard!

Experience split with party!