Dotted across the cavern like stalks of grass, the Two-tailed Squirrels stood frozen. Then, one by one, radiating out in a rippling wave of animalistic twitches, whatever invisible force that had rooted them in place dissipated. First with lazy strides, then with a more fervent pace, the monsters broke out into a run, charging toward the tunnel in which Clover's group had hidden.
Their approach was staggered, giving him a few brief moments to think before they arrived. He almost wished he didn’t have time to think - then the anxiety wouldn’t have time to set in.
Somewhat hidden behind an outcropping of rock and glowing moss, Clover's eyes flickered from one to the next, counting their numbers. By his quick count, there must have been 15 of them, though he could have been off by one or two.
His heart began to pound in his chest, a powerful drum banging a rhythm of war. They had never fought so many monsters at once before.
Two facts served to calm his nerves, keeping him from falling into a full-blown panic. Individually, their Levels were far superior to those of the monsters. Even when he roughly compared the combined total of their Levels, they came out on top. And, tactically, they held the element of surprise, an advantage that was quickly ticking away with each passing second.
Soon, in not more than five seconds, the first of the monsters would stumble into the tunnel, revealing their position.
Clover flickered his attention to his soul space, touching upon the totems of all three of his Golems. They hummed with power, pushing back against him, urging him to be used.
He focused, splitting his attention in a way that would have been entirely impossible for him to do a few short days ago. Following his commands, his Golems rumbled into motion. While striding forward with long steps to meet the mutated squirrels, Bob the Elephant tilted his head and wrapped his trunk around Mr. Cat, depositing him on his back.
Up there, hidden behind the larger Golem’s curvature, Mr. Cat was almost impossible to spot, at least from the lowered perspective of the monsters. When the time was right, the stylish Golem would strike, catching the monsters off guard.
Clover took a deep breath, glancing at the giant pile of dead monsters they had amassed earlier in the day. Ready or not, it was time to fight.
Bob the Elephant burst out of the tunnel's opening, catching a mutated squirrel by surprise. It barely had time to squeak before, of its own volition, the Golem slapped the beast with its trunk, sending the smaller creature to the ground in a nasty tumble.
Fearlessly, Bob the Elephant continued forward, its hulking frame building speed as it raced to meet a tightly bunched trio of the monsters before they could realize what was happening.
The beasts instinctively tried to skid to a stop - to swerve out of the way. There wasn’t time. For a concrete statue that weighed hundreds of pounds, the Golem was fast.
Under Clover's command, like a bowling ball, the golem lowered its head and crashed into them. One got lucky, managing to narrowly evade the brunt of the Golem's mass by bending itself to the side in a way that looked neither healthy nor natural. The other two weren't as fortunate.
One was impaled by an amethyst-studded tusk, tearing a chunk of its side as it was tossed into the air like an old candy wrapper. The other pounced forward, colliding with the Golem's stone face. The monster flattened like a pancake, its bones almost creaking audibly as the concrete didn't give an inch. Then, physics took hold, and the monster bounced off the Golem, falling limply to the ground with whatever the squirrel version of a concussion was.
However, that wasn't the end of it. Clover took tight control of the Golem and pushed the limits of his ability by making the Golem stomp downward with its heavy feet as one last attack as it continued on its path, its momentum not halted in the slightest by the trio. A crack rang out - an audible breaking of bones.
Laying dazed on the ground, a Two-tailed Squirrel with its tails flattened, the bones in them broken, was revealed from underneath the Golem. He had missed. He had meant for the stomp to crush the monster's head.
A rally of incomprehensible squirrel sounds, ones that by their tone must have indicated shock or surprise, ran through the crowd of monsters.
The monsters, lacking any sort of unifying direction, fractured. About half of them bounded past the Golem - it was unclear if they were more interested in running away from the juggernaut of a Golem or charging toward the tasty humans in the tunnel. The other half of the group turned their attention to Bob the Elephant.
"Damn," Ron said, clearly impressed by what he had seen. "Keep doing what you're doing; we'll hold them back."
Ron and Claire took a protective step in front of him.
Clover nodded. “Thanks,” he said, the words coming out in a mumble as most of his attention was fixated on controlling his Golems.
In the cavern, the Two-tailed Squirrels roughly fanned out, surrounding his Golems. Though they hesitated for a handful of seconds - none of them wanted to be the first to charge toward the towering slab of animated concrete and amethyst. It was perhaps the first time he had seen a monster display anything close to approximating fear.
Finally, a beast with nothing in particular unique about it - it was visually identical to at least four of the other squirrels that surrounded the Golem - dug its feet into the ground and launched itself at Bob the Elephant.
The attack - the scratching claws of the Level 1 monster - landed cleanly on the animated sculpture. It was the best case the monster could have hoped for. His Golem hadn't even attempted to dodge, taking on the full brunt of the attack.
The mutated animal recoiled back in pain, a hairline crack running through one of its claws. In the end, its attack hadn’t even left a mark on the Golem.
Furious, it howled, calling on its brethren to attack. “It’s concrete; you’re not biting through that any time soon,” Clover whispered to himself, a smile sneaking its way onto his face.
The giant Golem's Trait, [Remnants of a Distant Memory I], had almost completely nullified the monster's attack. Even without taking the Trait into account, it was a bad matchup for the monsters. Magic concrete wasn't something their feeble claws could cut through.
Clover’s eyes darted to the side as Claire and Ron intercepted the first of the monsters. He forced himself to look away - they had the situation under control.
It was time to start his counterattack. As the squirrels swarmed his hulking Golem from all sides, Clover gave it the general order to fight back, trusting in its intelligence. Then, he took close control of Mr. Cat, micromanaging the smaller Golem's movements.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
A split second of hesitation ran across his features as he tried to decide how best to utilize [Red Carpet I]. [Appraisal] had claimed that to maximize the boost in power, he'd have to defeat his enemies stylishly. Intellectually, he understood that - it was simple. However, there was one problem - Clover wasn't a stylish person; he didn't know the first thing about being cool.
As the elephant Golem rose up onto its hind legs, preparing a brutal stomp, Mr. Cat began to slip off its back, cutting Clover’s brainstorming session short.
Stupid or not, the only stylish maneuver he could think of was a backflip. Backflips were always cool.
As if he was playing the world's most advanced video game, Clover focused upon the clay cat's totem and did his best to envision clearly the sequence of actions he wanted it to take. An energy he had never noticed before consumed his intent in a rush of magic, condensing it into a thread inside the totem in his soul. He was unable to perceive the finer details of what happened next with how stretched thin his attention was.
Under his tight control, Mr. Cat executed a backflip, leaping off the back of the other Golem. Without his prompting, the Golem twisted through the air, its limbs instinctively pawing for balance.
It landed on top of the injured Two-tailed Squirrel that had been impaled in his Golems’s initial charge. Mr. Cat clawed at its throat, tearing it out before the beast could muster up a fight.
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 1. +100 Exp.
A second later, a snapping of bones rang out as Bob the Elephant stomped down on one of the squirrels.
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 1. +100 Exp.
Larger than ever before, a surge of hot energy sparked to life inside the clay cat. Clover took advantage of it, quickly looping Mr. Cat around the edge of the battle. There, he struck out with an empowered claw, cutting deeply into the back of an already injured beast.
It roared in pain, turning to face the clay cat. However, that moment of inattention cost it dearly. Bob the Elephant snatched up the heavily bleeding monster with its trunk, then slammed it against the wall head first.
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 1. +100 Exp.
A trickle of energy - less than half as much as last time, condensed in Mr. Cat's core. Even though the Golem hadn't landed the finishing blow, it still had benefited from the stylish execution, though to a lesser degree. Clover ordered the concrete elephant to throw the corpse at the beasts, distracting them. Then, utilizing the chaos, Clover piloted his tiny Golem, maneuvering it behind the back of another one of the monsters.
From there, the battle fell into an easy pattern. While the monsters were distracted by the concrete elephant, Mr. Cat would sneak behind them, delivering a crushing yet stylish blow with the energy bestowed upon it by [Red Carpet I]. Riding one surge of energy to the next, the pair of Golems easily crushed the remaining monsters.
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 2. +125 Exp.
…
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 1. +100 Exp.
Class: [Apprentice Golemancer] has reached Level 9. +4 Magic, +3 Intelligence, +2 Dexterity, +1 Strength, +1 Perception, +1 Vitality, +3 Free Points.
Against hordes of weaker monsters, his current pair of Golems were almost a perfect counter. Their weak attacks couldn't damage Bob the Elephant in any way that truly mattered, and Mr. Cat was able to leverage [Red Carpet I] to its full extent, quickly dispatching them.
Clover turned his attention to Ron and Claire. One of the squirrels had torn Ron’s left sleeve, cutting a jagged red line into his arm, but other than that, they were unharmed. And, from the looks of it, their fight was reaching its end as well - only three of the squirrels remained.
One of the beasts let out a screech as its fur ignited, courtesy of one of Claire’s attacks. It fanned its tails, trying to awkwardly pat out the fire to no avail. As the flames continued to spread, it resorted to rolling along the stone floor mindlessly.
Of course, it never got the chance. Before it could extinguish itself, Claire chopped down at it with her stolen sword, chopping into its head. A gnarly spray of blood followed as she yanked the weapon free, causing Clover to cringe.
If it weren't for the Two-tailed Squirrels' ravenous nature, they'd have been rather cute.
Clover raised his arm, trying to line up a shot for [Unstable Mana Bolt]. In the cramped conditions of the tunnel, and from his angle, it wasn't easy - the fight ended without him having to contribute.
“Are you alright?” Clover asked.
"I'm fine," Claire said, her tone high as if she didn't all the way believe her own words. Trails of blood streamed down her sword, and tufts of burnt black hair that still smoked slightly stuck to her other hand, remnants of when she had been forced to use [Ember] at close range. She shot Clover a smile, then glanced at Ron. "Oh, shit. What happened to you?"
"One of the little bastards got lucky," Ron said as he flipped his elbow around, peering down at his injury. "I'll be alright. It's not very deep."
Clover nodded. A stray thought, probably a result of his increased Intelligence, crossed his mind. Back on the first night, a nurse had told him to be careful of infections. "I doubt a normal infection could do much to you at this point, but you should get the wound checked out when we get back to the Safe Zone. I know someone who could take care of it."
“Oh, you know someone. How mysterious. I didn’t know you had connections like that,” Claire said.
"I'm a man of many talents. I've got connections on connections." They slowly began to travel toward the center of the cavern, passing the mauled dead bodies of the monsters. Clover and the rest of the group did their best to ignore them.
A Two-tailed Squirrel - the one his elephant Golem had smashed against the wall - slowly slid down it, part of its legs impaled on a small outcropping of rock.
He nervously chuckled at the gruesome sight. "Not really. According to the System, I only have two Talents. And I think just about everyone in the Safe Zone knows who Ms. Lin is other than you." Clover paused. That had come out slightly more… he wasn't sure what the right word was; maybe condescending or insulting fit the context.
Claire laughed it off, crouching down next to the trunk of the thick tree in the center of the cavern to inspect the flattened corpse of one of the beasts. From the looks of it, it had dropped a small item. “Well, I’m sorry; not everyone can be as talented as you.”
"It'd be cool if the System had a Talent Stat," Ron said while staring ahead blankly, tapping the air with his finger. Presumably, he was distributing the Stat Points he had earned from leveling-up. Or, he had started hallucinating as a result of his wound. Either one was possible.
"Ya, it's kind of interesting to think of the Stats that didn't make the cut. Like why is there an Intelligence Stat but not a Wisdom Stat. That doesn't make any sense!" Clover said.
“True and real,” Claire mumbled, citing some sort of internet lingo that he wasn’t hip enough to know.
Clover tilted his head up, staring at the three fruits that hung from its branches. From this close, their aura was undeniable - the air rippled slightly at their edges, similar to the effect [Sculpting]’s Skill Stone had generated. He didn’t even have to activate [Mana Sense] to feel the power that rested beneath their apple-like exterior.
Clearly, they were a prize placed here by the System to reward those who went out of their way to clear all the rooms of the Monster Nest.
However, now, upon closer inspection, the fruit - a mix between an apple and a lotus flower - didn't look like it was native to the tree; something about the way they hung from its branches wasn't right.
He narrowed his eyes, tilting his head further. Hidden behind thick curtains made of leaves, green buds in varying shades of bloom were hidden. They shared no outer resemblance to the fruits. Additionally, they lacked the palpable aura the others possessed.
It was strange, but by the standards of the System, it wasn't unusually strange.
As he went to use [Appraisal] on the magical fruits above him, a section of leaves rustled violently, giving him a fraction of a second to prepare. His instincts, trained from watching countless movies and TV shows, screamed at him, telling him that something was about to leap out from the tree.