Dodge left.

Counter.

Dodge Right.

Block.

Counter.

Step back.

Block.

Counter.

The attacks were numerous from the minion domineers, but even more threatening were the lethal blows the leader of the group would issue at unfortunate times for Gus. Yet by maintaining extreme focus with his core of flames, Gus could accurately see and predict the coming moves. Concentrating on the group of attackers while maintaining his sense of balance was a challenge Gus had never experienced before properly. The art of boxing was not something that could be mastered easily by oneself. Not only were his blows lacking in a finisher when he struck the lesser golems, but even his steps would end up out of place as he was forced to improvise and adapt to the wild fighting style the golem domineers fought with. It was like fighting five rabid beasts in humanoid bodies. But nonetheless, with his superior strength and intellect, Gus was able to fend off the attackers from doing more damage than just a few scratches.

This isn’t going to last…

The leader who continued to issue clicks to its minions was just too vicious and powerful, disabling Gus’s ability to go all out on the sand golem at risk of a fatal injury. Despite being made of a weaker material than him, the lead domineer could issue more powerful attacks with its hands thanks to its sharp talons that were on the host body. Gus could only continue to block, dodge, and occasionally counter the rabid domineers who were continuously pressing him backward.

Damn bugs! Is there anything I can do to end this?

As the six of them fought in a storm of combat, Gus noticed an approaching dune from behind him. Suddenly an idea formed in his head.

Yes, that will do…

Navigating the combat toward the dune, Gus studied the attackers who were unleashing quick, wild, but targeted strikes at him.

Found you!

Finding the weakest one among them took a huge strain on his consciousness, but it was worth it for his plan. As Gus felt his body step on the sandy hill, Gus took a powerful backstep up the dune. Using the acquired high ground, Gus did not let a moment waste and unleashed a blow, allowing gravity to enhance his strike as his body dashed downwards. His target was the leader of the domineers. Choosing to crash through the weak domineer, using his weight and gravity to his advantage, Gus quickly appeared in front of the leader domineer and let out the strongest punch he could land at its neck.

Dodge this you three-eyed monster…

* < | Existence Consumed… | > *

Crushing through the neck of the host, Gus’s powerful finisher continued until it smashed in the domineer latched in the back. Despite the lead crab-alien-like creature being larger than its minions, the domineer still got pierced just the same.

Feeling a large flood of power enter his body, Gus fell to the ground with a sigh of relief. Without its leader, the remaining domineers fell into disarray and their attacks became only reckless. Most importantly, they no longer had a way of effectively destroying Gus, unable to properly damage the stone shell. Such a thing was easy for the mighty stone golem to handle and without much effort, squashed the remaining domineers.

Hearing Nova ring its message three more times, Gus finally let his guard down and sat on the floor to recuperate. The battle had not lasted more than ten minutes, but in that time, Gus had to push his mentality to new limits which left him mentally exhausted. Fortunately, the blessing of being a stone golem was strong, allowing him to overcome this harrowing battle with only a few scratches and chips on his body. His body was in tip-top condition, perfectly ready to enter into combat at a moment’s whim.

I truly was sculpted to be a killing machine…

Before entering this gray world, Gus would have been depressed by such a revelation. Yet now, he felt grateful. If he had been a human, there would have been no doubt that he would have died in that exchange. By being a golem, he had survived and could continue to live for another day.

In fact…I feel even better than before. I feel stronger from that fight both mentally and physically.

The power Nova granted him by consuming those existences was truly great. Not only could Gus continuously grow in power so long as he killed his foes, but it also replenished his inner spirit and mentality by enhancing his flames. Killing made him feel reborn. It was intoxicating, it was liberating, and it made him feel powerful. It was truly horrifying.

What am I doing…did I hit my hit during that fall? Why am I already succumbing to this feeling?

Lifting himself off the sand, Gus could shake off the feeling of greed festering within him as he braced himself to resume the journey.

Who knows what else is lying in this desert?

But with no other choice, the golem continued to follow the footprints as he trudged through the gray desert.

***

Marching with tired steps, the humans were trembling in fear and anxiety as they journeyed through the gray desert. Sweat and blood traced their skins as each human looked wrinkled from stress and paranoia. In the middle of the group moved a large gray wooden wagon, looking like it was used on the Oregon trail before coming to this forsaken world. Sitting on the front of the wagon was Ernie, who couldn’t properly move his legs so he ended up sharing the spot with the other newly wounded. Inside of the covered cart was hidden in darkness, with no human daring to climb into it and investigate.

“Carry on! Do not stop unless you wish to become feasts for those monsters!” yelled Marco, taking the role of leader once again for the humans.

The humans groaned, yet no one could argue the suited man’s words. The monsters inhabiting the desert were not only lethal but downright horrifying. Having encountered some of the lesser sand golems already, the humans had suffered losses with two of their members dying and three others being injured seriously. If it wasn’t for their P.G.R.s that they had been studying, there would have been more losses than there already were. Yet even then, they would have perished long ago if it weren’t for one other source of support. It was the mysterious gray wagon itself, which continued to float across the gray sands with ease as if it were flat ground. Just by being near the wagon, the humans felt a qualitative increase in their physical strength that not only gave them more strength but also endurance and lack of need for water and food. But despite its blessings, the wagon remained a curse for the humans as they could never separate from the entity without risking death. Not only would they most likely die from losing their boosts to their physiques, but also such desertion would get them killed by the Merchant who had assigned them to protect the wagon.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

‘Just my luck…’ Cricket thought.

The past months, no years, have been nothing but misfortune for the woman. Even before arriving at the horrifying ruins that she later found were the trial grounds, Cricket had been fighting her own battle during those days. Yet at least life made sense back then. Unlike her current situation, which had her being sent through stone floors like a ghost from which she had then been launched into the sky to fall.

‘Just what have I done for this to occur to me,’ Cricket continued to think in self-pity.

Being thrown into this sickening ashen land, she had been tasked with her fellow humans to protect a wagon until it safely reached the gray fortress. The problem, however, was that the desert was filled with horrifying remains of fallen monsters that sought to destroy anything showing signs of life. And to make it worse, Cricket had no P.G.R. of her own to defend herself with. With no power, all she could do was watch her companions challenge the monsters that continued to attack them. The stench of death emitting from the group was to the point of being sickening. Cricket knew they would not last if something did not change.

‘I wonder what happened to Gus, that peculiar golem,’ Cricket pondered, ‘Did he get sent down with us?’

Gus had always been a strange existence to her. Unlike most others, Cricket could never sense the aura of death from the Golem, even at his weakest. It was…refreshing for her to know such a being. Too many times had she been plagued with sensing death, especially lately in these terrible trials.

Shaking her head, Cricket put away such thoughts, believing the Merchant wasn’t kind enough to give them such a powerful ally.

The wagon continued to carry on, the humans not daring to stop. Things were fine for a while after that, an hour passing of no encounters. But then the humans noticed a different issue. There was simply no food or water in the desert, and the little provisions they brought with them were not enough to carry them through multiple days.

‘We must reach that fortress quickly…if not, then we will die one way or another in this godforsaken desert,” Cricket thought.

Yet as she was thinking this, a loud commotion could be heard from the group ahead. Curious, Cricket hopped off her spot on the wagon and walked towards Marco who was looking ahead with worried eyes.

“Hey…what do you see, Marco,” she asked softly.

“Cricket…it might be best for you to return back to the wagon,” Marco responded with anxious eyes.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Well…Doyle here has a P.G.R. that can warn us of threats and it seems to be going off right now. We are not sure how close the threat is…but I don’t want to see you get hurt, so I think it is wise for you to return,” Marco confessed.

“Are you going to fight again?” Cricket anxiously whispered.

“Yeah, but don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine! This pistol of mine is pretty useful, lets me fight from the back. So long as the others defend the front, nothing will happen to me,” Marco said with a smile.

“You know what you said *cough* *cough* could be considered a death flag, right?” Cricket playfully replied.

“Perhaps…but how about it? Do I smell of death now to you?” Marco responded with the same playful attitude.

“This whole caravan does…” Cricket grimly confessed.

“Ah well…guess I just got to do my best than to limit that,” Marco said as he realized her meaning.

As the two conversed, however, Doyle who had been monitoring his glowing war hammer noticed that the beaming P.G.R. was growing brighter with worried eyes. Turning around, the disheveled black-haired man looked at Marco and interrupted the leader.

“Mr. Reyes, they are soon to approach us,” Doyle said.

Nodding his head, Marco waved Cricket goodbye and signaled to the main combatants to prepare for battle. Lining up at the front, Richard with his axe and Bruno with his great shield stood mighty with other fighters like Jack, Larry, Doyle, and a few different faces.

“What the hell am I gonna do with a hand…” Larry mumbled while trembling.

“I don’t know, hit the golems with it?” Jack answered literally.

“Thanks, Jack. Didn’t realize that…” Larry sarcastically responded.

But then the pair turned quiet.

Emerging from the hills came familiar yet haunting silhouettes of the dreadful enemies of the desert. Gripping their weapons, the humans glared at the coming lesser sand golems with grim eyes.

‘Wait…’ Marco thought.

Of the five lesser sand golems coming into view, one of them had a significantly different appearance than the rest.

‘What the hell...’

With talons for hands and three eyes on its face, the golem in the middle had a more pronounced outline than its fellow brethren. But what worried Marco the most was that the creature seemed to be emitting clicks from its body, a noise he hadn’t heard before from the inhabitants of the desert. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine as something crossed his mind.

“It’s communicating! Prepare for an ambush!”

Yet he was too slow. A loud yell could be heard from behind.

Appearing from the sands below, a hand reached out and grabbed the leg of a human named Kate, instantly crushing the femur of the woman. Screeching in pain, the woman fell to the floor while writhing in pain, letting go of her javelin P.G.R. onto the ground. Shocked by the surprise attack, the humans could not properly respond to the newcomers as more hands began to appear from the desert’s ground. Slowly, a total of nine lesser sand golems appeared from the sand, culminating in an attack of fourteen sand golems compared to the total of twenty-six human defenders.

While the numbers were on their side, Cricket knew such an advantage was meaningless. Burdened with wounded fighters, the humans who were caught off guard were ripe for the picking.

“Defend the wagon! Don’t give up hope yet!” Marco yelled.

Snapping out of their trance from his words, the humans took up their weapons and engaged the golems with all their might despite knowing that they were weaker. With a stoic voice, Marco divided the group to have twelve of the humans engage the mysterious leader of the golems and its four guards while leaving the rest of the group including himself to guard the wagon.

With merely a couple of words of exchange and grim determination, the humans split to engage their foes. Cricket, however, knew that the plan was doomed was from the start.

‘They are going to die if this goes on…’

The humans did not have the endurance to engage in such a fight with the harrowing attackers. Even winning would warrant too many casualties to make their further journey possible.

‘We’re doomed.’

Observing the counterattack, Cricket could only watch as she witnessed her companions slowly fall from the lesser sand golems on the battlefield. Kate, who had her leg once trapped by a golem, lay now lifelessly with her head crushed in. Only twenty-five humans remained now amongst the caravan. The stench of death was to the point of being nauseating for Cricket, making her want to puke. Turning her head to where it smelled worst, she watched as the twelve humans charged at the mysterious leader of the golems. Each one activated their P.G.R. , some firing ranged attacks while others activated their passive buffs. Richard the ax-carrying bald-man roared while raising his weapon, increasing his speed through the mysterious power of his P.G.R. . Bruno’s great shield glowed with a silver light, its steel turning tougher with the coating. Jack’s sword turned jagged with unnaturally sharp spikes, radiating a dangerous aura. The team of humans were no longer the same helpless contestants they had once been, now equipped with fearsome weapons.

But even with the powerful show, the leader of the golems only continued to stare at its prey, not bothering to move from its spot. Even when a stray arrow from a bow P.G.R. threatened to pierce its head, the three-eyed golem only moved its head slightly to dodge before returning to its idle stance. Finally, the aberration made a move, an eerie noise emerging from its back.

“Click…clic-ck click.”

At the words of its leader, the golems began their full attack.