A chill far deeper than the mountain cold ran through Glade as the statue slowly stood, its towering frame easily cresting 7 feet in height.

“Ye’re doin it all wrong!” Bragden growled, his voice barely reaching Glade’s ears. “Yer supposed to push me through the blasted door!”

“Bah! You’ve got slag fer brains if’n ye think you can fit yer fat self through that!” Krazzik growled back, trying to dislodge his second in command.

As the oblivious dwarves argued, the towering monstrosity casually bent down to pick up a piece of rubble twice the size of his head, its single blue eye trained on Kedryn.

“CORPORAL!” Glade roared, the Kid looking up from where he was helping Bragden. “GET DOWN!”

It was a testament to Kedryn’s training that he immediately dropped to the ground moments before the stone giant’s missile slammed into the partially opened door.

A loud crash reverberated throughout the run-down hall as Glade charged the dias, his hands already guiding themselves through an abbreviated equipment check.

He had no plan in mind as he ran recklessly toward the moving statue. His pathetic spear was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine against the monstrosity before him. If the weapon had barely stood up to the low level Gnoll slavers, there was no way it would survive a fight against 7 feet of solid rock. Even if his weapons from Earth had survived, they too would have been pointless in this match up.

He needed a better weapon. More specifically, he needed a weapon that could break stone.

The barest hint of a strategy took form.

Glade sent a silent apology to Riya and her elders as he allocated all but 5 of his remaining attribute points. Now was not the time to hold back.

In moments he allocated 3 points to strength, 3 points to dexterity, 2 points to stamina, and 3 points to willpower, leaving 5 remaining points in case of an emergency. This brought his total will points to five.

He was going to need every one of them.

Incredible power surged through Glade as his body simultaneously strengthened and felt more under his control as he rushed toward the monster.

“It’s a slagging Golem!” Bragden cried through the narrow opening.

“Let me see, ye pixie brained buffoon!” Krazzik yelled.

The monster, a Golem according to Bragden, casually picked up another stone, its attention still on Kedryn. Either the Golem was deliberately ignoring Glade, or it was unable to hear his advance. He could use either to his advantage.

“MOVE!” Glade yelled at the top of his lungs, tossing his useless spear aside while scooping up a decent sized chunk of stone with far more ease than it should have been.

Kedryn had spent hours theorizing what Glade could do with his will points, one of which was enhancing one of his attributes. The entire concept sounded ridiculous, but if he could use the points to learn not one language but two, he wasn’t going to question.

You have expended 1 will point to temporarily enhance your strength. Strength now enhanced by + 5 for the next 9 seconds.

Strength, the likes of which Glade had never felt before, surged through his muscles like an infusion of liquid steel. Not only did the weight of the large rock he had plucked from the ground become instantly negligible, but his speed drastically increased as his feet powered him forward.

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The sensation was beyond exhilarating. He could easily get used to this.

Glade’s warning reached Kedryn and the others in time. One moment the Kid was lying in a prone position, the next he had launched himself forward in a dizzying display of speed and grace. Even the dwarves had pulled back from the door before the Golem’s rock crashed into the partially opened doorway where the Corporal’s head had been moments before, collapsing the door into a pile of dust and rock.

After seeing Kedryn’s display of raw agility, on top of feeling his overall physical enhancements, Glade promised he would never again doubt the power of attribute points.

Glade closed the distance in a blink, sprinting up the small dais and into a muscle charged leap, the rock poised to smash the monster’s head in.

Reacting faster than should have been possible, the Golem turned toward the airborne assault, raising its arm in time to take the full brunt of Glade’s surprise attack.

You have expended 3 will points to increase the force of your attack from 5-12 points of bludgeoning damage to 35-45 points of bludgeoning damage.

Glade barely acknowledged the prompt, confirming his gamble of expending three of his precious will points to enhance his attack.

An unseen force propelled his arms downward, striking the Golem’s upraised arm hard enough to force the construct to stumble back.

Critical hit! Your attack, combined with the temporary increase in strength and use of will points, has quadrupled the force used in attacking a focused point on your target. Total damage dealt: 71 hp.

A loud crack rebounded throughout the ruins as stone shattered against stone, the rock in Glade's hand crumbling within his grasp as the Golem’s arm shattered under the force of his empowered blow.

Glade immediately tucked into a roll, narrowly avoiding the Golem’s remaining hand.

He had no idea if 71 points of damage was good or not, but the attack had done its purpose. Not only had he crippled the Golem, but he now had its full attention.

If he didn’t have the right weapon to handle the threat, he needed to bring the weapon to him. And Bragden’s pickaxe was exactly the weapon he needed on the field.

Now that the door was fully open, all Glade had to do was buy the dwarves time to join the fight. Which meant distracting the Golem for as long as humanly possible.

You have expended 1 will point to temporarily enhance your Dexterity by + 5 for the next 9 seconds.

Precious seconds flew by as Glade played a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Time and time again, Glade narrowly dodged away from the Golems one armed attempts to grab, punch, or swat him from the dais.

“Hurry!” Glade called, already feeling the effects of his increased speed and flexibility fade.

“We’re comin!” Krazzik roared, “The slagging wall done trapped us!”

“Hurry faster!” Glade cried, just as his enhanced dexterity elapsed. Dodging the Golem’s attacks became infinitely more challenging after that.

To say he was running on fumes was a serious understatement. He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in over a week and couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten a meal. But regardless of his dwindling stamina, Glade danced.

Twisting first one way and then the other, ducking under ponderous swings, only to back up a step before dashing past an overextended grasping hand. Always keeping one step ahead, the margins of escape getting smaller with each passing moment, right up to the point where he made a mistake.

Twisting away from a grasping hand, Glade’s foot slipped on a patch of unseen ice. He recovered as quickly as he could, moving with the slide to throw himself out of the way. It was to late.

Cold stone fingers locked onto his forearm and squeezed.

The shock of intense pain flooded Glade’s senses as the Golem’s inhuman grip pulverized bones. Then the monster tossed him aside.

The throw was almost gentle as these things went, like a child discarding a toy.

Glade snorted at the terrible analogy running through his mind as the throne rushed up to meet him. All he felt was a brief flash of pain before the sweet embrace of unconsciousness wrapped around him.