They burst out of the door they had entered through not too long ago even before they started to hear thundering footsteps behind them. Coming quicker and quicker. Alex shut the door closed and used a couple of Spells to drench the rim of the door in water, before freezing it solid.

“I can do a |Trip Vine|.” Michael said. “Will it-“

“Nope, too weak. Melissa, any good Spells?”

“Well, I-“

“Never mind. Let’s run!”

They took off down the corridor. Michael knew that a larger hall was just a couple of minutes away. Less than a minute at a dead sprint, but Erea still hadn’t recovered enough. They ran, and after what must have been only seconds, heard a tremendously loud crash.

Melissa stopped, gasping, and they had to stop too.

Behind them, not far enough not to pose a danger anymore, stood the golem. In the center of the hallway. Half the door was missing and was probably the source of all the wooden fragments scattered around the floor. The other half had embedded itself in the opposite wall.

“That’s… that’s not a cleaning golem. Or a regular other.” Melissa said. “Its mission has been changed, but that must be a war golem. An early version at least.”

“Does that tell us how to beat it?” Michael asked.

“No.” she said, turning to him, and Michael saw the certainty in her eyes. “It was made to kill mages and soldiers both. I’d wager it is a threat even for Gnosis High Mages.”

Great.

“Not very smart though.” Erea opined. “It should be running at us.”

“The memory matrix might have degraded.” Melissa said.

“Meaning?” Alex asked.

“Meaning it will take its time ‘fighting’ us, now that it has us. But if we run, it runs too.”

As if hearing her, the golem started walking towards them.

“Alex, call for help.” Michael said.

“Already did. Melissa, can we just walk away?”

“No. It registers any movement as a sign of fleeing. I think.”

“You think?” Erea asked.

“It’s older than this very hallway. We didn’t exactly study it.” the girl snapped. “Yes, I think!”

As they talked, the golem had walked more than a third of the way to them.

“I really wish we could have a solution spring up from the ground. But it doesn’t look like it. So, do we run? Erea, can you make it?” Michael asked.

“I’ll manage.” The elf said.

“Doesn’t seem we have much of a choice.”

“I’m… not the most athletic type.” Melissa said and got three disbelieving looks.

“Neither am I.” Michael said. “At all. But sore muscles beat dying, right?”

The girl looked at him and nodded. She was scared. Which was a normal reaction, but… there was something more there. Michael guessed that even if the Artificers were her second faction, they still instilled their beliefs in her. And a central belief of theirs must have been that they were superior to their creations. Their makers and their masters. Michael remembered how shaken the girl had been when the golem spoke.

Kill the makers. Not something an Artificer normally hears, I take it.

“On three.” Alex suddenly said. “One, two, three!”

Once again, they bolted away. Running desperately, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the golem as they could. And to reach help as fast as they could. Senior mages were usually found in a central room. If they could reach one, they could get help. Maybe those mages would need help of their own, but it would give them a fighting chance.

Yet they had no chance. Michael heard footsteps, thundering, yes, but so much faster than before. He heard a scream and turned his head. He saw Melissa running for her life, as the golem was reaching out for her.

“|Flame Dart|!”

His Spell flew and harmed the golem not one bit. Yet it made it process the fact that it was attacked. It switched targets. It still ran, but instead of grasping at them, Michael saw it raise its arms to the side and noticed how the cubes of its arms rearranged themselves, flattening, and its palm looked disproportionately large and flat.

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“Shields, now!” Melissa screamed.

“|Spectral Shield|!” Alex screamed.

“|Barri-“

The blast of wind took his breath away, before he managed to complete his Spell. Only, it wasn’t wind. Not only wind. It was shock. Wind, air, sound. A wave of it hit them and blasted them away. They landed in heaps. Michael bounced and rolled, but didn’t feel anything break. Just bruised.

He noticed Erea was fine, crouching. Her elven constitution making her spry, even when depleted. Melissa had landed the worst, one of her legs visibly broken at the shin. Alex seemed more like Michael, but was nursing his ribs.

Once again, the golem was walking towards them. Slowly, but surely.

“Why is it doing that?” Michael bit out.

“Because it’s a stupid creation made by stupid makers.” Alex spat.

His composure is broken. Guess he’d broken more than just his ribs.

“Alex.” Erea said, in a strained voice.

“I would also like to know why it’s doing that. Can we use it?” Michael asked.

“No.” Melissa said “It’s to instill fear. It doesn’t differentiate between combat against soldiers and anyone else. I think.”

“Michael.” Erea said, speaking with the same tone.

No. I will not look at her and accept defeat. This is an Academy, not a flesh grinder. This can’t just happen.

“Please.” He said. “Focus. Is there anything we can do? Anything we can use to beat it?”

“I like your spirit, child.” A hoarse voice graveled. “You are one of mine. Though you chose differently.”

That voice belonged to no one in his current team.

Michael turned around and saw the reason why Erea had warned Alex and tried to do the same to Michael. A figure was approaching them. Tall. Muscular. Scarred. He wore leather and cloth pants, affixed bits of metal. Scaled leather boots. But his torso was bare, revealing the scars and the tribal tattoos.

The man stood at probably seven feet in height. His muscles had the look of a soldier. Big, yes, but they looked made to be used, not shown. On his back he carried a long object, more than half as tall as he was. Bound in furs.

The man looked past the prime of his life, yet he still had a mane of hair falling down his back. Two stripes of hair were braided and fell on the sides of his face. His eyes were gray. His look was somewhat bored. But a couple other details stood out to Michael. Michael who had played enough games with this race in them before. Michael who recognized the tall figure on the spot. For his skin was green and two small tusks grew past his lips, out from his lower lips, both of them partially encased in metal.

An orc. Oh, he is so badass.

Yes, the situation called for more serious thoughts. But… look at him. The deus ex machina entrance. The package on his back which was definitely a sword. The look of pure awe on Alex and Erea’s faces. Even Melissa’s, though the girl looked more terrified than awed. Yeah. The new guy was probably a high ranking Martial. And he almost surely had things covered.

“You watch me with contained amusement, child. And recognition. Have my pupils spoken of me?”

“No, sir.” Alex quickly said. “I swear we did not. Neither me, nor Erea.”

“Michael, this is the leader of our faction.” Erea told him. “The Martial leader.”

It was her look that got to him. He had never seen her this… there wasn’t a word for it. It was like she was concerned for him. Like she was telling him with her eyes to ‘take it seriously’. He nodded.

“My apologies, sir. I do not know you. My friends have not spoken of you. I was simply… reassured by your presence.”

“All truth.” He said. “Odd. It is not common for me to come to the aid of children such as you. Yet, I did. Perhaps I should-“

“Kill the makers!” the golem screeched again, interrupting the orc.

Alex closed his eyes, as if feeling sorry for the golem that was about to kill them.

“A fake child of stone given thought.” He said, before glancing at Melissa. “The follies of your predecessors, girl. Be better.”

“Yes- yes, sir.” She squeaked.

“I dislike hurting those unable to think.” He said, addressing the golem. “I shall make your death quick. Come.”

Whether it was his words or his tone or even his posture, the golem registered that as a threat. Yet, perhaps it was something simpler. Perhaps the orc itself was a threat, on a pure enough level that the golem felt it instinctively. Whatever the case, it attacked, screeching and barreling towards the orc.

Who simply kept his arms besides his body.

The golem ran, but… it had a really weird run. It was running with its hands behind its body. Michael had no idea why it did that, until he saw larger cubes on its body decomposing into smaller ones and saw these small ones trickle down his arms. Accumulating themselves into his fists. It was perhaps twenty feet away from the orc now and its fists were now comically large compared to the rest of its body.

Is it going for a double haymaker?

And the orc still didn’t move. Michael had to admit, to stand like that, no matter how powerful you were… Just provoking your adversary into taking a swing?

Major points for being ballsy.

The orc, just a second before the golem struck him, so quick that Michael thought he must have imagined it, glanced at him and smirked.

Then the golem struck. The wave of air didn’t blast him back this time, since that wasn’t the main purpose of it, but Michael and the others still felt it. Two massive, stone fists had collided with the orc’s body. Yet… he didn’t move. He hadn’t even flinched.

All of this lasted for a fraction of a second only.

Because after that, the golem’s body blasted backwards in a shower of innumerable shards. It looked as if it had just exploded. Yet Michael didn’t even see it crack. Such a lumbering guardian, gone without literally doing anything.

…just …how?!

The orc turned to him, shrugging.

“A passive Skill. Never tried it against one of its ilk before.”

He turned to the two junior Martials.

“Your strikes had cracked its body. You have done well in your attack. Yet I found you defeated. Learn patience.”

“Y- Yes, sir.” Erea said, her voice cracking.

“I have watched your efforts. They have merit. Yet a leader must be strong themselves, else they are not a leader. The difference between one who plans a war and one who wages it.”

“Yes, sir. I will strive to become stronger.” Alex said, deferentially.

He turned towards Melissa.

“You predecessors are fools. The current leaders not much better. I will have words with them.”

“Uhm, understood. I’ll… relay your message”

The orc nodded, looking satisfied, and stepped towards Michael. He looked at him and Michael stood up. He still looked up at the orc, even when standing upright, but it was better than lying down.

“With you I will have words now.” The orc said and laid a hand on his shoulder.

Michael heard a caw, a flutter of wings, and saw a flash of fire. He felt like he had just woken up. Looking around, he noticed he had actually seen fire. Real fire. He was looking at it.

A campfire was roaring, encircled by a ring of rocks. A couple of logs had been rolled over next to it, to serve as benches. The orc was standing on one, a slab of meat skewered on a long pole in his hand, the meat dangling above the fire. He caught Michael’s eye and nodded at the other log.

“Sit. We need to talk.”