Chapter 16: Stoned Golem
Sarah’s two imps rushed straight towards the back of the unmoving golem. It started to turn with surprising quickness but still wasn’t fast enough to block the attackers before they could both ram their weapons into it. It made for an interesting sight, with the imps around the size of the 12 foot tall golem’s head and yet rushing forward fearlessly. Or maybe not fearlessly, she never really asked about what her summons feel. They definitely seemed to have a bit of a personality, but still followed her orders to the letter. Or the thought rather, as she could direct them pretty easily just by thinking, and it showed as the summons weapons cracked into the stone of the golem. The spear punched right into the head of the Stone Golem, while the trident struck its body, both taking sizeable chunks out of the monster.
But it wasn’t enough to end the fight there, and so with the momentum of its turn it swung out its arm which smacked into the trident imp. Thankfully it was still hovering close to the body of the golem, and so while getting knocked by the bicep did throw it back into the air, it was not able to generate enough force to damage it badly.
With a cackle it rushed back in while its companion was following Sarah’s orders by circling the golems head and striking repeatedly. The harsh crack of the spear against the stone of the golem rang out repeatedly, taking off fist sized chunks each time. The golem reached up with both hands, but the imp just shot in the air out of reach and let out its own cackle to taunt the monster. Meanwhile, the other trident imp rejoined and smashed its weapon against the ankle of the golem. The attack must have taken out some important joint as with another loud crack its foot came straight off and the golem stumbled over onto its knees.
Now unable to turn, Sarah was already starting to relax as she sent the much faster minions towards the golem’s back. Everything seemed to be going perfectly, until the golem raised its hands and started to glow green.
And then the stalactites started falling. With loud cracks they dislodged themselves from the ceiling and shoot down at the summons. It started small, with spikes the size of her hands and head shooting down at the imps and causing them to rapidly start dodging, which they seemed easily capable of doing with their high agility. However, when a stalactite the size of the imp itself that initially appeared to be missing suddenly curved in the air the spear imp found itself unable to dodge and was flung to the ground. Out of the air, the imp lost most of its mobility and the golem knew it as it directed its barrage onto the grounded foe next to it. It only took a few more spikes before Sarah felt like someone hit her in the stomach, and the system notification confirmed her fears.
Your summon has been slain.
And then the imp’s dead body exploded.
While the size of the explosion was impressive, the golem was unfortunately not instantly incinerated by the dead imp. But the blast was enough to throw its kneeling body to the ground and interrupt whatever spell it cast, stopping any more spikes from falling.
“Most demonic summons can explode on death or on command, how do you think I made that crater. Now use your other imp while its distracted.”
She quickly took Lucifer’s advice and sent her remaining imp straight at the golem, taking advantage of its position by viciously stabbing its trident into the holes that had already been made in the golem’s back. It attacked savagely, spit flying from its mouth as it let out some kind of squeal that probably constituted for a war cry. But the golem seemed to tank it all, and started to pull itself up on its knees. When its arms started to glow green again, she decided it was time to take a risk.
Explode.
And the imp did just that. Slamming its body as close as possible into the golem, it then detonated with a blast that threw it back to the ground and sent her multiple system notifications.
Your summon has been slain.
You have levelled up.
You have levelled up.
For being the first from your planet to slay a [Boss] class monster solo, you have unlocked the Perk;
[Solo Diver]
* Gain a 10% stat buff while fighting when not in a party.
The system obviously didn’t count her minions as being in a party, and it looked like she was rewarded for that. The title also made it likely there was a reward for being the first to slay a boss even in a party, which given by the lack of extra notifications must have already been claimed.
“It is unfortunate this is the reward,” Lucifer said in her head, confusing her slightly.
Why’s that? A 10% stat buff seemed crazy as even now it gave her around 3 levels worth of stats, a number that would only scale higher as it was a percentage buff.
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“The problem is it only occurs in combat, and only on you. All you can do right now is sling some bolts making you quite useless, even with a 10% stat buff. But you might have the chance for more rewards with those level ups.”
For reaching Level 20 in your class [Hellbringer], please select a skill from the list.
* [Summoning]
* [Fireball]
* [Enchanting]
* [Corpse Explosion]
* [Knife Mastery]
She decided to work through each one on the list to cross any off. An obvious no was [Summoning], given Lucifer mentioned that the [Ritualess] perk negated much need for it, and also [Fireball] as her spells did less damage compared to a mage. It was still tempting to pick it, or even [Knife Mastery], as both would give her some more options in case something bad were to happen and she had no summons to protect herself. [Corpse Explosion] was useless as it looked like she could do that already with her demonic summons, although maybe it would make the explosions deal more damage?
“It would, but again any offensive spells you choose are weakened. Lets stop wasting time and choose [Enchanting].”
Why [Enchanting]? Sarah asked, curious to hear his reasoning.
“Your [Ritual Magic] lets you force demonic mana into a weapon to ‘empower’ it, but all it is really doing is making it sharper and giving it some weak burning properties. [Enchanting] would let you refine the mana that you have inserted into the weapon into whatever property you want. It is incredibly mana intensive, but it means that with some preparation you can be wielding something stronger than that stick you currently have.”
She glanced down at the knife she had been gripping the whole fight, her knuckles turning white at one point as she worried she might not take the boss down. The knife had seen very little use beyond the first dirt golem that had ambushed her, and considering her lack of physical stats it would only become more useless. Being able to make a staff, or maybe even something to buff her physical stats, would be a welcome bit of security if she had the chance.
I pick [Enchanting], she thought.
You have gained the skill [Enchanting] Rank 1 Level 1.
The fight had also given her the two levels she needed to reach level 21, which then gave her the stat points she needed to push herself up to 100 wisdom. She threw the extra 10 free points in and took a look at the result.
Name: Sarah Rose
Race: Half-Greater Demon
Class: Hellbringer (Epic)
Level: 19 -> 21
Strength: 7
Agility: 8
Wisdom: 86 -> 100
Intelligence: 104 -> 108
Vitality: 13
Endurance: 7
Charisma: 13
Unused Stat Points: 10 -> 0
Abilities:
* [Ritual Magic] Rank 2 Level 1
* [Demonic Mana Manipulation] Rank 1 Level 9
* [Soul Sense] Rank 1 Level 2
* NEW [Enchanting] Rank 1 Level 1
* Empty -
Perks:
* [Adaptive] - +1 free stat points per level.
* [Ritualess] - You may substitute reagents for mana in your rituals.
* [Demonic] - Your mana has the demonic attribute.
* NEW [Intelligence Prodigy] - Identic Memory
* NEW [Solo Diver] – 10% buff while fighting solo.
She perfectly hit the 100 wisdom mark, and like clockwork in came the notification.
For being the first from your planet with 100 stat points in wisdom, you unlock the Perk;
[Wisdom Prodigy]
* You learn abilities far faster.
She let out a sign in relief, Sarah was worried she wouldn’t be quick enough to level up and get it compared to her peers. But then again, if someone were a common mage getting +2 int, +2 wis and only +2 free points (one from [Adaptive]) compared to her +5 free points, with a base stat around 10 they would need at least level 23 to reach 100 in one stat.
And she was level 21 with 100 in two.
Although she was certain there were plenty of others with classes that were not common. Let alone people like the General, there would be many people like Kimberly from the group that found her who had the ability to detect lies that she was sure had a more advanced class. But for now she had a lead, and she was feeling stronger than ever.
Metaphorically, that is, because her strength stat was still lagging behind. Her stats made her worry slightly, and made her want to invest more broadly in her other stats as right now she had turned herself into a glass cannon that could be taken out in a single ambush from an enemy far weaker than her if unprepared.
The thought of an ambush made her glance around, but there was nothing lurking in the shadows as far as she could see. She had cleared out most of the golems already, and they clearly weren’t pack animals as the ones that were left were content to ignore any of the noise her fight had made and hibernate in whatever corner they were hiding.
After her summons had died, she was not given back any of the mana that was reserved from summoning them which brought her down to a bit over a third of her mana pool left. With the extra points in wisdom from her levels alongside the short bit of time that had past, she now had nearly two thirds.
“Take a look at the dead golem. It may have some materials we can sacrifice to push your summons past level 24.”
What level should my summons be?
“Typically it is around your level plus 5% of your intelligence, but you will also be getting an additional couple of percentage as a greater demon if you are summoning other demons. The rarity of your summon is both determined by the rank of your ritual magic and what materials you use. This means your summons should be around level 28 at uncommon rarity, but level 25 represents a barrier that makes it difficult for those below it to cross.”
What kind of barrier?
“You will form a core, which will transform your body and the way you interact with the laws of the world. Enough questions, let us see what this puny golem has dropped.”
Lucifer’s voice sounded very eager, giving the impression the demon might be a bit of a loot goblin himself. She approached the mess of stone that formed the golem’s collapsed body and examined its charred remains. She had yet to receive any loot from a kill, or at least the golems did not seem to leave anything behind beyond their remains, but hopefully it was different this time. And judging by the shiny object that lied in the middle of its remains, it looked like the Golem had left her a present.