18.

“Santi, are you sure about this?” Tank whispered as the gathered group of freshly minted Acolyte’s watched on. Cameron, Bianca, Rayleigh, Tristan, and several other high ranking, but not maxed leveled, fighters were cautiously closing the distance with the scrap golems.

“I can get there fast enough in case anything goes wrong. They need to clear the way to the distribution center itself, then we take over and fight our way to the rift and close it.”

“You make that sound way too easy,” Hana said. She had been the last to do her evolution in the group. Daniel hadn’t evolved yet, neither had Chloe. Right now it was just himself, Tank, Chad, Adam, and Hana who had managed the feat. It was a poorly constructed roster, but what could he do?

Hana had a true [Scout] class now at least and had taken a cloaking ability similar to Daniel’s as her skill choice. With her other skills leftover from her last class she had a decent amount of survivability to what was normally a squishy class.

Chad had followed his evolutionary path with [Archer]. A direct upgrade that made him a true backline ranged fighter. Once Cameron and Chloe evolved to form their frontline, Chad’s true value would start to show up. In the meantime Santi had to keep playing as a frontliner with his busted stats.

Adam had a rather unique class, [Heaver of Weapons], that was both a mouthful and oddly specific. Adam hadn’t really told him much about the class or the rarity, but Santi could make an educated guess that it wasn’t a Basic class. He carried a rack of javelins and had made a belt with pouches that drooped to his hips that were filled with discuses. A pair of shot-puts were in a heavy fabric bag that he kept by his feet. The rack had straps so that it could be used like a backpack.

Of everyone in the burnt out convenience store, it was Adam who looked the most like he was going off to war. Maybe a Bronze Age war, but still a war. The rest of the team was huddled around in ratty clothes with their pieced together equipment. Aside from his morph weapon and Chloe’s axe, nobody really had a decent weapon. Everything was just too fragile for them now.

Chad’s bow threatened to break whenever he drew it back. Hana’s blades would bend or shatter under her strikes. Most of Adam’s weapons weren’t reusable, only the solid metal shot-puts had the resilience to be used repeatedly.

The Pillar of Civilization would change all of it. Opening up the markets to allow for trading and offer System standard gear was a huge bonus of controlling a pillar. Santi just needed to keep everyone alive until then.

“It’s not going to be easy, but as long as they’re smart and careful they should be fine.”

“Your sister just charged straight in,” Chad observed. Santi had to blink in shock as his older sister charged fearlessly straight at the golems. Her macuahuitl wasn’t built to fight metal golems, so she had been gifted a sledgehammer.

Like the rest of the family she was vertically challenged and had never been one to lift weights or strength train. Closer to runners build than bodybuilders. The System didn’t care at all about that. Bianca was able to swing the sledge around in a blur as if it was made of feathers.

The golem was a seven foot tall humanoid and composed primarily of bicycles, sink faucets, a fridge door, and the rims off of several cars. The sledge hit it in the middle of its torso and nearly bisected it. The sound of heavy steel crushing aluminum and denting chrome was deafening.

The unstable golem wobbled for a second, its two legs shaking as if ready to fall apart. It stabilized and its two arms rose slowly in the air, metal grating on metal as it towered above Bianca. Santi tensed, his legs coiled and ready to spring into action to save his older sister.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Cameron’s golden shield materialized right above Bianca’s head, just at the golem went to smash down with all of its might. The shield fractured, sounding like shattering glass, but didn’t dissipate. Bianca hadn’t even bothered to look up at her descending doom, trusting Cam completely. She reared back and let fly again, caving in the golem’s tubular chest and sending it crashing to the ground.

Bianca hopped up on top of the golem and began to rain down blow after blow. It was an impressive rhythm, with Cam’s shields appearing just in time to intercept every single stray blow. It was an effective and efficient dismantling of an equal leveled enemy.

From a team perspective it was fairly terrible. They hadn’t worked to incorporate anyone else’s skill sets in the fight. That limited the amount of experience and leveling possibilities for everyone. Made it dangerous too. Bad habits were formed in the daily routine. If they grew used to fighting like this, they wouldn't be able to work as a team against a truly dangerous foe.

“They need to spend more time working as a team,” Tank said. Santi nodded, glad that he had seen the same issues.

The noise had attracted more of the golems who were coming in a lumbering trot towards them. Tristan fired off an glowing silver arrow, drilling a quarter sized hole through the closest one as it came down the street. The golem collapsed mid step in a crashing heap, body exploding into pieces of trash.

Three more kept charging forward, coming from the depths of the small district. Rayleigh stepped forward with her heavy maul and rolled her shoulders as she squared herself off. She said something to Bianca, who replied and then hung her head, before she moved behind her. Cameron walked to the front to stand next to Rayleigh while Tristan stayed in the back and the others spread out.

Better, but still not great. Small scale tactics really needed to be worked on. Santi added it to the list of things to do along with daily sparring. At times he really thought the to-do list was growing rather than shrinking.

They let the golems close the distance rather than moving to engage them. Whatever skill Tristan used was either on a cooldown or took too many resources to use repeatedly.

Cam set another golden shield in front of a charging golem. The metal monster couldn’t stop in time, slamming into the shield and cracking it as it rebounded and fell to the ground in a heap.

Rayleigh stepped into the path of the next closest one, her maul screaming through the air as she swung a wide overhand strike. The golem lifted a tubular arm up in a weak mimicry of a shield. Rayleigh’s blow completely demolished the arm, crushing it down and into its body and sending it staggering back. She was right on the cusp of maxing out and she outleveled the golem enough that she could manhandle it.

The final golem kept coming on and Cam stood resolute. His personal shield snapped into being on his arm and he used it to block the first strike. Santi winced as the blow landed and Cam staggered back a few steps. He had done enough of his job. The monster's momentum stopped cold.

Bianca was there, her borrowed sledgehammer hitting a knee and crushing it like cheap aluminum. An arrow sprouted in the center of its chest and a pair of spear strikes from the others followed right after. Bianca finished it with a huge overhand swing that drove the head of the hammer through the center of the golem’s chest.

Off to the side Rayleigh had driven her golem into the ground and was wailing on it like it was a stress ball while the first golem that Cam had knocked down staggered to its feet. It didn’t last long as the team seemed to start finding its rhythm.

More and more of the weak golems came out of the road leading into the industrial district and they were all dismantled. Santi slowly relaxed, tense muscles unwinding as he watched them work together.

The secondary strikers weren’t very good, but they weren’t terrible. Not people he’d want on a premium strike team but they’d be a good second team in case of emergency. Cam was nearly brilliant with his ability to interpose himself wherever the fighting was thickest. His shields and movement kept the golems from every gaining traction in the fight, allowing the damage to keep dismantling them with ease.

Rayleigh was good. It was a shame she didn’t have that inner fire in her to grow stronger. She would have stood shoulder to shoulder with everyone else with ease. Bianca was raw, but she had that fire. Santi could be objective when needed to be and his sister needed work. They all did, but she had no history of competing or playing sports. She didn’t understand teamwork and didn’t trust those around her to do their jobs, aside from Cam.

The morning slowly became afternoon as more and more of the golems were broken apart. The road became cluttered with sharp scraps of metal and the vague humanoid shapes of the golems. Santi’s team sat around bored as the others lured out the outer ring of defense.

At one in the afternoon Santi head it. A heavy booming crash of metal on asphalt that rumbled through the earth. Then another. Another. ANOTHER. Each one grew progressively louder as the [Metal Golem] came charging down the street.

“Finally, it's our turn.”