Lancelot was the first to enter, followed by Sigrid, then Morgan, then me. Kenji was the last one through, and just when he’d entered I had a sudden thought. I lunged back to shove my foot in the door to stop it closing, but I was too late. I went to open it again but there was no handle on this side, and it wouldn’t budge when I pushed on it. My fears were confirmed. We were locked in.

“Sorry,” Kenji said.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I’m sure there’s another exit or something inside here that’ll open it. And we’ll know for next time, right?”

Kenji nodded and smiled, but the smile was clearly forced and I could tell he still felt bad about it. I put my hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s not your fault, okay?” He nodded again, this time giving me a genuine smile.

Looking around the room I realized it was even bigger than I’d thought. It wasn’t really fair to call it a mere room. It was a cavernous grotto with rough, cave-like walls. All we could see now was a grove of tall cyprus and olive trees reaching up toward a high domed ceiling. There was still that strange illumination from nowhere, but here it reflected off of twinkling veins of crystal running all through the walls and dome of the ceiling. And there were the statues. They were everywhere.

We all kept one eye on the statues nearby, expecting them to come to life at any moment like the ones we’d fought earlier. But unlike those, in addition to being made of stone and not marble these were not statues of Gods or heroes. They depicted normal people, many wearing clothing and armor that were not Greek. If my hunch was right, depicted isn’t the right word to use either. Nobody had carved these. They really were normal people who’d been turned to stone.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

These weren’t normal people. There were no normal people there besides us Players, and I was positive we had to be the first Players in this dungeon. They were just statues. Very detailed statues. Perfect statues. Worst case, they were NPCs that were turned to stone to lend atmosphere. If that was the case, then job well done, the atmosphere was definitely set. Actually, the worst case was they are real people Stratos had kidnapped from Earth for this exact purpose, but they wouldn’t do that. Would they?

Four of us crept together as a group, moving with as much stealth as we could manage, heading straight forward and trying to keep our eyes pointed down at the ground as much as possible. It would’ve sucked to bump into the Gorgon and get turned to stone before we could even execute the plan, although if we looked down too much we were in serious risk of running into a tree. The good news was we didn’t run into the Gorgon that way. The bad news? We ran into her flunkies instead.

We heard them before we saw them. Shuffling through the trees like sentinels on patrol, two more Flesh Golems were on a collision course with us. I made some quick gestures to tell the others to hide behind some trees, but they just stared at me blankly. Guess charades wasn't their game. It wasn’t until I did I actually did it myself that they got the idea and found their own tree to hide behind. Just in time, too, because the Golems trudged into the area seconds later. They were just about to pass between the two trees that Sigrid and I were lurking behind when they stopped abruptly. I couldn’t see them, but I heard the soft rustle of swords being drawn from their scabbards.

Though they lacked eyes and ears they had other ways of knowing what was around them, and they knew we were there. I’d hoped to surprise them, but they almost turned the tables and surprised us because just as I leapt out from behind my tree ready to fight they charged at where we’d been hiding. I clashed with one of them and we both staggered back. Sigrid’s danger sense gave her more warning and she was was ready to stop the other Golem’s sneaky stab, using the shield to block the stab and shove the Golem back at the same time to give herself room to swing her own sword.

My Golem was slow to recover from our impact, and before it was able to defend itself or attack me I hit it with a combination of omni-do strikes. I felt each hit make a firm connection with the Golem’s soft body, but none of them seemed to have any effect. Soon I was busy dodging and deflecting its sword as I kept counter-attacking, pummeling it with a fist, knee, elbow, or foot any time I saw an opening. It didn’t seem phased in the least, and it managed to graze me with its sword a few times; one slash cut deep into my leg, knocking me down a few ticks on my health bar. It hurt badly enough that it hindered my movement.

I could hear Sigrid fighting with hers, and when she started cursing I got the feeling she was not having much luck either.

“What is with this thing?” she said. I risked a glance over and saw that she’d stabbed numerous holes in her Golem, and had even carved a gaping chunk out of it just above the hip. It kept going as though nothing had happened. “It won’t go down!”

I was getting nowhere while mine. All I managed to do was get my health knocked down even more; it was time to try something else. The first chance I got I stepped back and used Affinity Control to hit the Golem with a blast of Air to knock it back farther. Then I switched to Fire, held out both hands, and shot a jet of flame like a flamethrower, surrounding it with a flickering coat of searing heat. There was a crackle and a smell like burnt hamburger, but when the acrid smoke cleared the Golem was still standing and looking fine, it’s skin was just a little crispy is all.

“Well that’s a bit frustrating,” I said.

“Tell me about it,” Sigrid said.

I glanced aside just in time to see her dodge a thrust from her Golem then lop its sword arm off in one quick chop. The Golem simply bent down, picked up its fallen sword with its remaining hand, and began to attack again.

“How the hell did Kenji kill one of these so easily?” she said. Her question must have triggered the Power that, in the heat of battle, we’d both forgotten she had: to detect weaknesses. “Chop its head off,” she said.

Duh. Of course.

She swung her blade in a wide arc, slicing cleanly through its neck. The head flew to the side and the body crumpled to the ground. “Yeah, that worked,” she said.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I considered using omni-do to take the Golem down and get it into a hold that would let me tear its head off, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that. Its tensile strength was considerable, probably far greater than my physical strength even after all the grueling training sessions with Sigrid. It seemed like its only weakness was a sharp blade. My first thought was to create a blade of Ice, but then I remembered I had quite a few sharp weapons in my inventory. I opened it up and reached inside, concentrating on a katana, then pulled one out. After that, it was a simple matter of following Sigrid’s example and decapitating my Golem too. Like slicing tofu with a carbon steel santoku.

“So much for being quiet,” Morgan said.

“We were bound to get discovered sooner or later, let’s just hope—”

The melodic female voice that interrupted me was soft butter in my ears, smooth and slick and a little greasy. “Don’t you know it’s rude to come into someone’s home unannounced?” it said. “You’re supposed to ring the doorbell.”

“Looks like sooner,” Morgan said.

“Whatever you do, don’t look up,” I said. “Sigrid, where’s that voice coming from?”

“I can’t tell,” she said. “There’s danger everywhere in here!”

“Let’s pair up. Sigrid, you’re with me. Lancelot, protect Morgan.”

“Got it,” he said.

“I’m not totally weak and useless, you know,” Morgan said. “Look behind you.”

I turned to look back towards the door and saw a huge mirror, a rectangle about five feet high and ten feet across, propped on the ground against a tree. “Nice.”

“I don’t need protecting.”

“Lancelot,” I said, “make sure to assist Morgan in protecting herself. Not because she’s weak, but because she’s too useful to lose.”

Morgan frowned. “I’m not entirely sure how to take that.”

“Incoming Golems,” Sigrid said. Four more Flesh Golems were converging upon us, two on either side.

“Let me show you how it’s done,” Lancelot said, and charged towards the two closest. His blade went snicker-snack and there were two headless Golems on the ground. Sigrid was busy taking care of the other two when I saw reflected in the mirror another Golem heading toward me, still too far to reach with a sword. If only I had a way to slice its head off from a distance.

Then I had an idea. To be honest it wasn’t an original idea, it was something I’d seen in anime where characters who had air powers created blades of wind, and wondered if I could copy it.

Using Affinity Control, I channeled Air to create a thin, razor-sharp wave of compressed air, and shot it at the Golem. I was aiming for the neck, but I was using the mirror to see as well as trying to hit something that was behind me as well as attempting an effect I’d never tried before, so the aim was a bit off and it ended up cutting straight through the monster at mid-chest instead.

Good enough.

The bottom part fell lifeless to the ground, but the top part that included the head, upper chest, and the arms down to just above the elbows kept wriggling after it fell, the arm stumps jerking as though trying to claw its way along the ground.

Persistent sucker.

I figured any part of the creature still attached to the Golem Core in the head was still imbued with life. Any part severed from the head was nothing more than lifeless meat.

System: Your affinity with Air has evolved

“That was a neat trick,” said the female voice again, and in the mirror’s reflection I saw her emerge from between two bushy cypresses.

Since arriving here I’d spent most of my time in the company of some very attractive women, but not even Jane or Sigrid could compare to the Gorgon’s ageless beauty. Sure, you had to look past the writhing mass of hissing green snakes that framed that beautiful face to fully appreciate it, but she was beyond stunning. Her body was equally beguiling, draped in a flowing gown made of an almost transparent fabric, thin like gossamer, and leaving little to the imagination.

“I’d like you to please stop killing my servants, though,” the Gorgon said. “They are such a pain to create.”

We kept our backs to her, using the mirror to see her behind us. I could see the moment when she noticed the mirror.

“Tsk tsk,” she said. “Those are not allowed here. Servants, destroy that.”

“Protect the mirror,” I said as more Golems flowed out from the trees, all headed for the mirror. Sigrid and Lancelot took defensive positions on either side of it, fending off the monsters before they got close enough to smash it.

“You may as well give up,” the Gorgon said. “Just be good boys and girls and try to think of a nice pose to spend the rest of eternity in.”

“I’d prefer not,” I said, and I sent another wind cutter behind me. She’d been expecting it, though, and with a sweep of her hand she redirected it to the side and it blew past her.

“You’re too obvious,” she said.

Obvious, am I? I can use that.

“Find yourself some other garden ornaments,” I said as I sent another wind cutter, only this time I put less power into it. Once more she swept it aside.

I wished I knew what she was using to do that, but I couldn’t risk looking at her to discover her powers through All Shall Be Revealed.

“It was a neat trick the first time,” she said, “but now it’s just tiresome. And it looks like you’re getting weaker.”

I bet it does. Let’s see how you handle this.

Once again I did the same thing, only this time I did it twice. The first was an even weaker wind cutter, followed up by another one at full power. She deflected the first one easily, but the second one caught her by surprise and she had to duck under it. She succeeded, mostly. She avoided taking a direct hit, but it did manage to slice one of the snakes off her head, which seemed to really piss her off.

“Pest!” she hissed.

“Whatever you’re doing,” Sigrid shouted, “please do it quickly.” More Golems kept coming, and although she and Lancelot had dispatched a few of the monsters, Sigrid had taken her share of wounds from them in return. Lancelot was faring better; his sword swings were fast and reckless, but effective, so I figured he must've been using his berserker power. It made him vulnerable, but his toughness gift mostly compensated for that, and his regeneration power soon healed up the cuts he got. Still, there were a lot of Golems left. We just needed a little more time.

I didn’t figure I’d get any more mileage out of the wind cutter, so I decided to change tack. My flamethrower hadn’t worked on the Golem, but maybe the Gorgon would be different. I sent a jet of flame behind me, but she somehow managed to shield herself from that too.

That’s when a Golem managed to get past Lancelot and smash the mirror.

“This has been fun, but it’s over now,” the Gorgon said.

“I think you’re right,” I said. We’d kept this going long enough, so I used Affinity Control one more time. This time I used Light, sending a blinding flash behind me.

That was the signal for Kenji to finally act.