Healing magic wasn't as easy as it looked. It wasn't just pointing and casting like Ali’s spells, it was more active than that. Healing involved actively targeting each part of the body and telling it to repair itself in order, then providing the energy for said repair. The body knew how to fix the injuries, the spell just told it which parts to fix and made it happen fast. In fact, most of the initial mana cost came from the part that reduced pain, it was just that the actual healing just got pricier as the injuries got worse.

And Kenn’s injuries were worse.

Hailey was panting and nearly fainted from mana expenditure by the time she was done. What made it harder was the constant flashes of images of Kenn’s wounds in her head, something that had never happened before, like a slide show of everything she was healing.

Kenn was equally tired, his body using a lot of energy, even with the extra Hailey provided, to repair itself so much in so little time.

Hailey’s core was now almost purely yellow light mana, with only a few swirls of gold and hints of white left.

Standing with shaky legs, Hailey took stock of the situation.

The golem she had blinded was still battling the other.

Her party members were still dealing with the other three, mainly avoiding their crystalline attacks Any of the attacks they did land either did nothing or were repaired in an instant. Either way, the result was the same, attacking the monsters directly was fruitless.

“How do we actually kill these things?” Hailey demanded to the Demon King, who was standing around looking bored as he watched the fighting. Her shyness keeping her from yelling but just barely.

“I thought you’d never ask.” The demon replied ignoring her tone “For golems, It’s all about destroying the heart”

“Sandra’s already stabbed these things in the chest like twelve times” Kenn interjected

“Not a literal heart, dummy. The golem heart. Its core. A big glowing orb thing. It's probably one powering them all and likely not in any of the golems based on their resilience.”

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“Then WHERE is it!?”

The demon shrugged “Look around the room I guess. It’s definitely in here, Dungeons have to make their rooms beatable.”

With a groan, Hailey turned and began searching. Kenn called back to the others telling them what to look for.

The party dispersed searching the corners of the room and moving throughout the entire area and upturning the place in search of their newly discovered target.

The golems continued to harry them but as slow as they were, weren't much of a problem with constant movement.

Hailey stumbled as she was overcome by a sudden surge of fatigue. She felt the last vestiges of sight mana fade from her core. Her body seemed so much heavier and her injuries so much worse, her core throbbed like a migraine. The spell sigil she was holding broke apart in her mental grip and the spell snapped the effect immediately fading.

The golem she had blinded sat up from its fight with its counterpart almost confusedly

Its head turned as if trying to figure out where it was before its eyeless gaze landed on Hailey.

The monster seemed to shudder, before loping toward her with more speed than any of the creatures had shown before It’s long legs sprinting at her like some sort of deranged Usain Bolt.

Kenn’s eyes widened “Hailey!!!” The warrior tried To run over to the elf, but he was too slow, exhausted by the fighting and healing, and the golem passed him in an instant.

Hailey broke out in a cold sweat. Running was obviously out.

The golem stumbled as a collection of needles from Giel’s gun stuck it in the back.

It was followed by a bolt of lighting, Ali’s doing.

The distraction gave Hailey time to backpedal. Straight into the wall near where she had been searching. Apparently, she had attended a semester at the Prometheus school of running away from things without realizing it.

As the golem loomed over her, she reached across her waist, meaning to go for her bag o holding, hoping her spellbook would have something but in her haste she overshot it. Her hand knocking against the wall and making a hollow sound.

Hailey flinched as the impact jostled the fracture in her arm.

Wait… hollow?

Hailey glanced at the spot where her hand had smacked the wall, sure enough, there was a small crack there just from the force of her accidental punch.

Sucking in a breath of desperate hope, Hailey punched the wall again. This time with full force. The crystal broke under even her strength. Revealing a compartment. Hailey reached in pulling out an orb About the size of a basketball.

The heart.

It was a beautiful little thing. A ball of glowing glass almost radiating power The swirling pool of light locked within reminding Hailey of her own core. It was a shame she had to destroy it.

Hailey looked at the golem, only feet away from being able to crush her, and threw the core to the ground where it shattered. Scattering into pieces across the floor.

The Golem had its hand up about to bring it down to crush her, it stopped and began to spasm. A groaning sound echoed from somewhere inside the construct. And the whole thing drooped at once before falling apart before Hailey’s eyes like an action figure pulled apart. The rest followed suit and soon the adventurers were faced with nothing but piles of crystal hunks.

“And that, kids, is always why you put your golem hearts in your golems” the Demon King noted “Sure it lets them be destroyed by physical damage, but it's much easier for a construct to defend something that’s inside its durable body rather than a fragile outside power source.”