They traveled silently under the effects of Kali Kik's Peaceful Enjoyment spell, slowly approaching what Six believed to be the main audience chamber of the palace. At the end of the corridor was a massive set of swinging doors that evoked the feeling of noble dominance, of oppressive gravitas. The doors were open just a crack and from that crack emanated the sounds of ritual casting that broke the heavy silence that suffocated the air.
They saw two figures ahead. One was Aclo and the other laid at the tsunken aelf’s feet, a dead guard. He had cleared the watch just as planned.
They stacked up near the door and quietly organized themselves into formation, the only sounds being the consistent murmuring of a mage diligently performing their verbal components.
Six considered what they were about to do. Meddle in the business of another people, attack and intercept a group who has no connection to his. He was essentially committing violent espionage.
Why did he do so? The quest? The quest promised him a reward for his efforts but Six knew the contrarian in him disdained carrots like that.
The pressure and desires of these soldiers? No, he did not care for them. He trusted their understanding of the geopolitical situation but he and Mountain’s End didn't slot into that equation at all. The world barely knew they existed.
Why did he risk the secret of his land?
Six released a silent breath, disappointment rising within himself. This was old and rote. He was human, like any other, and he lied to himself to protect his ego, his image of himself. His subjective morals judged him lacking and he knew why.
He did this for power.
He reached down and skrittched his raccoon. She looked back up at him with the unconditional love of a non-judgmental pet.
His meaningless honor was an idea suitable to an individual. He was no longer an individual, he was the captain of a ship.
He would do what needed to be done, for the good of his tribe, to the best of his ability.
Six stood in the front, his armor fully charged from mundane cores.
Keegan and Narhurin stood behind the Golemchanter, longsword, shield, and glaive at the ready.
Indigo and Kali prepared to heal while Bark and Irduth prepared to damage.
Six pulled his mind back, retreating to the depths. He was a biological machine, a series of chemical reactions. He did not need his mind.
He just needed to exist in this moment.
Six gave a silent countdown to his soldiers, dropping his digits.
Three.
Two.
One.
He exploded forward and pushed the doors with all his might, unprepared for the ease at which they moved.
They slammed open to reveal a well lit audience chamber. Rubble and rotten dessicated wood strewn about.
The center of the stone floor rippled like water as a ruby crystal the size of a fridge rose from the liquid ground.
A well dressed tsunken aelf moved around the rippling floor, performing a series of movements and rhythmically chanting. His skin was not that of a regular tsunken aelf, no, there was a golden sheen to the subsurface of it only visible from certain angles.
Closer, three mages stood watching the ritual. Their robes adorned with intricate filigree and Six could feel the arcane fluctuations of enchanted items on their persons.
Four martials stood closer, covered in plate and leather, holding sword and shivs.
Beyond stood the abomination, and it was a true behemoth. Standing at near twenty-five feet high the amalgam of biological pieces was less blood golem and more flesh golem. It was roughly humanoid and stood dormant but lurched into action as the evolved mage locked eyes with Six.
All except for the evolved mage, who continued his casting, turned at their entrance.
Six howled a bloodcurdling war bellow and charged forth into the room. Laying down his buff stack as he sprinted.
Zephyr’s Embrace
Stone Skin
Vital Surge
Strength of the Oak
Force Shell
His saw screamed in fury as the Golemchanter swung it in fending arcs. The officers surging in behind him.
Six didn’t stop, backhanding and redirecting the incoming spells, mana darts and frost shards, into the martial guards that moved to protect their wards.
However, these guards were not so simple as the previous and cut the spells in twain with their blades or caught them on armor or shield.
Narhurin engaged them, his powerful glaive swings taking the attention of the martials as Keegan and Six passed them by.
The evolved mage's eyebrows rose in surprise as the two men beared down upon him and his surprise rose further when Six passed him by.
Keegan engaged the mage while Six launched himself at the mages protector, the lumbering abomination.
Six could hear the battle behind him but all his intent was laid upon the flesh golem before him
He analyzed it.
Blood Golem
Level 7
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Despite its low level it towered above his six foot frame, looming four times his size. Humanoid in shape only, its face held no emotion. Its flesh was a mixture of reds, purples, blacks, and greys, tacky skin that looked thick and rubbery. Its rough hands were tipped in nails of tusks and antlers while its feet were stumps of flesh bloated with black pooling blood.
It smelled horrific and made no roar as it brought a massive fist down upon Six.
Deflect
Six activated the maneuver and his arms brought his saw up on an angle and barely managed to slide the blow off to his right, the various nails scraping furrows in the floor. Flecks of stone shrapnel pinged off Six’s armor and one lacerated the bridge of his nose.
His stamina was cut in a third and he winced. He needed that for his more extreme movements as evidenced by his subsequent dodge roll.
He lashed out with full revs and blasted his saw through the bloated ankle of the thing, expecting a spray of red but encountering an oozing dark red sludge. Six juked to the side as it tried to stomp him.
Until he saw the fresh black wound beginning to close.
“Fuck.”
From afar came a volley of lunar crescents, plunging into a chest of the thing. It showed no signs of being hurt but between being an unfeeling blood golem and blood golems being constitution based Six was sure it had a lot more health to go. His heart warmed to know his raccoon was courageous enough to attack a monster like this golem.
Inspired, Six turned to magic, throwing Stone Spikes up. The magical spears erupted into the feet of the thing but a slow squelching step flowed up and around the spike, demonstrating the damage was superficial.
An Ember Spark to its abdomen sizzled the flesh and curled it up but the small burnt spot was ineffective.
He growled, it was proving troublesome for a level 7.
Six dodged again as a crushing fist descended slamming into the floor and shaking the room. The flesh golem was powerful and tanky, but slow and stupid and Six used that to his advantage. Sliding forward and slapping an empty palm on the golem’s arm he tried his next card.
“Deconstruct Enchantment!”
He held his breath and deflated in brief despair as his perk failed. The flesh rippling and almost breaking before a golden sheen flashed over the giant abomination.
The will of the evolved mage was on display as whatever evolution he had, infused his golem with a golden sheen. The dormant analytical part of Six’s mind whispered to the roaring beast within him, talking of the inconsistencies in magical representations, this should be life magic, but it wasn’t.
Six didn’t care, he’d kill it twice if he’d have to.
Six baited another haymaker of a swing, dodge rolling behind the behemoth and coming to his feet. Mid roll he stored his chainsaw and retrieved a sword he made a while ago.
- Bloodsteel Greatsword of Fire Strike -
He activated Double Strike and his ring of Triple strike, unloading five brutal horizontal slashes at the ankle of the thing, the last three swings he activated the sword and squinted his eyes shut as fiery explosions cauterized the wounds. Burning flecks of flesh spattered his face.
He cut that fucking leg off and watched as the clumsy golem titled before falling on its side and ending on its back.
Six took that opportunity to launch himself onto its belly, switching back to his saw, and driving a plunge-cut into its abdomen creating a huge gaper wound that led into the black mass of disparate flesh that composed it.
A giant arm flailed and Six couldn’t dodge, saw buried as it was, so he took the trade. The trunk of an arm slamming against his shoulder and rattling his helm.
He stood firm and gripped his saw harder. Bellowing his triumph at holding on, between his Stone Skin and Force Shell Six barely took any damage at all.
Now for the hard part.
Six took a deep breath and dived into the open belly of the giant.
***
Keegan followed close behind Six. The young lord had volunteered to target the evolved mage but Keegan felt he himself would be more effective against a typical humanoid compared to the giant golem.
Six did seem to be an expert on golems.
Keegan moved towards the evolved mage who was fortuitously engaged in ritual casting.
He could see it in the mage’s eyes, a certain confident dismissal that strong people had to those they perceived as weaker. That was the foolishness of his ancestors.
He was K’gan and they had broken under the weight of their ego.
Now, only the simple truth of muscle remained.
He performed a testing strike and was surprised to see the skin of the tsunken aelf resist his blade like any steel.
So he swung with all his might, slamming his blade into the man and cutting through clothes and trinkets. Yet he still failed to draw blood.
But his strike had managed to stumble the mage, it broke his rhythm and Keegan could see the grimace of a miscast cross the soft features of the aelf. So he pressed a furious combo that ended with his shield smashed across the mage's face.
With the ritual interrupted the glowing red gem began to sink back into the ground that it came from. Keegan expected it to go easily but even a K’gan like him could tell that something was wrong with the giant crystal.
Its oscillations and throbs of power began to destabilize. That was bad.
That was not for him to consider, the mage was already uttering some retribution.
Keegan did not let him finish, throwing his sword at the man and following it up with shoving his hand in the man’s mouth and grappling him down. The mage may have evolved but he had neglected his strength and dexterity, Keegan was stronger, and faster despite being unevolved.
This mouth hook technique had seemed particularly effective against Irduth and Keegan noted it for occasions like this, punching wizards. His grapple, while interfering, really did nothing to damage the mage, just enough to prevent him from spell casting. That was enough, as removing him from acting was Keegan’s most base goal.
Keegan felt himself being lifted and was surprised for a moment until he realized they were both rising into the air.
The mage was levitating them up towards the top of the audience chamber, it would be a big fall but Keegan would survive.
Then he felt a weak strike upon his side and instantly felt cold.
The mage gripped a small hammer in his free hand and struck him again, the cold spread, biting pain telling him this couldn’t continue.
Keegan tried to headbutt the mage but all he accomplished was injuring himself and the smiling face of the mage confirmed as such and the hammer stole more and more warmth from the K’gan. It burned despite being cold.
So, Keegan shoved his hand deeper into the mage’s mouth, making a fist.
The mage looked on in confusion and disgust at Keegan’s odd move, shaking his head in an effort to dislodge the fist.
Then Keegan activated his maneuver.
“Unleashed Muscle!”
Keegan grew, ballooning to almost twice his original size and his hand also expanded, within the mouth of the mage.
The sheer internal pressure was too much to bear. The mages mandible pulling and cracking and finally the jaw completely ripped away in jagged tears of flesh.
The mage howled something like a raspy vowel sound as blood flowed in torrents from his destroyed mouth. The mage fought but the blood loss was too much and Keegan could see the tsunken aelf begin to lose consciousness. The levitation slowed and the man’s eyes fluttered closed as they began to fall towards the stone.
Keegan swiftly altered his hold on the body of the mage, positioning it below himself and riding the man down like a kite.
***
The caster watched as Narhurin threw himself between them and the martials and mages that sought to defend the ritual.
One blade wielding martial went to chase Six and Keegan but a whistling Cease Strike from Narhurin stopped the warrior from moving. The three martials retaliated against the half aelf but his black dragon plate weathered their puny attacks easily.
And returned them through its magic.
Everytime Narhurin was struck his armor re-payed the damage back two fold. The folds of shadows that existed amongst the hostile martials fought for Narhurin without input. They sought to protect their host and feed upon his enemies.
The little damage he did take was quickly healed by Kali Kik.
Bark and Irduth slung spells relentlessly, empowered by Indigo’s potions and spells they barely managed to bring the three mages to an impasse.
Then Aclo appeared behind them, daggers flashing and ending lives before misting away before retaliation could be met.
They sighed in relief as the mercilessly concentrated their arcane firepower on the remaining mage.
A giant Keegan began to descend from above and landed on the evolved mage, smashing its underneath his boots into paste with a blast of blood and flesh.
He stood and immediately bore down upon the martials, flanking and dismantling them with his comrade.
As the last of the martial guards fell only the approaching wild blood golem remained.
***
Six pulled himself deeper into the center of the thing. He held his breath and squeezed his eyes closed but it took all his mindfulness to not eject his breath and stomach.
He needed to get deeper and his saw made a path. Already his lungs burnt, he needed to make this quick because his endurance was that of a normal man.
Then he found it, the core. He could feel it in the cold wet darkness that was the inside of this monstrosity.
His saw was too unwieldy to target it directly, so he tried to tear it from the inside with his gauntleted hands but he had no leverage.
Fuck this.
Six gathered his mana, all of it. Then once his mana was emptied he used his blood to generate even more mana. He filled himself with power, till he vibrated with intensity. He drained his life to the edge of safety.
Then he tuned that power to the resonance of fire.
Fire Wave!
He released a blast of power and felt the backlash as the forces ejected him from the center of the thing and destroyed it in the process, giblets and flaps of skin flying across the room.
Six tumbled and landed awkwardly, bouncing and sliding a bit as the giant halves of the abomination hit the ground with an echoing thud.
All that was heard was Six’s rasping breath. He struggled to his feet and smiled at the officers in triumph.
They had done it.
But a high pitched whine alerted him to the catastrophe behind him.
The giant shimmering crystal was no longer flowing with the earth, it instead vibrated violently. The oscillations growing into an arcane scream. It was going critical.
Six tried to toss out a “Stone W-”
But the glowing red gem exploded.