The golem loomed over the surrounding houses, its massive body still growing. I took a moment to assess my injuries: poison slowly numbing me, check; ice shard in my leg, check; ether stores, about half. "Well, this is going to ruin my plan of avoiding life-threatening injury," I grumbled to myself. Thankfully, my title suppressed my fear, or else I would be shitting myself.

I needed a plan, and fast. "Attack while it's still growing," I decided. The golem focused on me, and I gulped. I sent my images in as distractions and charged in behind them. The golem swung its fists at the illusions, but they dodged them easily. It roared in frustration and followed the one to my right.

"I need to get to the core. Grim, is it in the usual place?" I asked. Grim's maniacal laugh echoed in the small square. "It is, but something is different about this one," he replied.

"What do you mean different?" I asked, running to the side of the golem.

Grim hesitated for a few moments. "Well, it seems sturdier somehow."

"Well, that is just great!" I groaned.

"Right? I knew my illustrious partner would understand," Grim cackled.

I had no way of reaching the back where the core was placed. I could jump, but I wasn't sure I could jump half that height. The golem swung around and focused on me. "Shit!" I yelled.

It charged at me with a roar, and I jumped out of the way at the last moment. I cast slippery footing as I rolled and was rewarded with an enormous crash as the golem torpedoed a building headfirst. I took the chance to spring up its back. Infusing both ends of my staff with as much ether as I could cram into them, I activated the enchantment on my weapon and slammed them into the golem's back gorilla-style.

I was showered in a burst of chipped rock, but I didn't even manage to reach the core through its hard casing. I hit again and again, still no good. Sure, I was making headway, but the golem began rolling, and I had to get out of the way. Even then, I was almost crushed as it demolished another house.

"Where the hell are those two?" I growled to Grim. The spirit sounded a bit annoyed. "How would I know!? They were on the way, but I am not watching them right now, am I?"

I dodged a huge hand slamming into the ground where I had just stood and watched as the lumbering giant got to its feet. ‘’At least it will be hard not to find us now..’’ Grim laughed, and began running around the golem again.

I was about to try the slippery footing trick again when it stomped its foot, and the very ground moved like a large wave. Taken by surprise, I was sent flying through the side of a house, crashing through a small living room.

For a few moments, I just lay there. Then with a groan, I sat up, ‘’ow.. Good thing my endurance is pretty high.. So I can be thrown through a stone wall and not die, good to know.’’

As I stood, I felt a sharp pain in my ribcage, even through the suppression, and I activated my ability to suppress it completely. I sighed, ‘’I will have to be careful.. I won’t feel it even if I am dying.’’

The poison was still working through my system, and I was getting more sluggish, but I was surprised it hadn’t done more so far. Perhaps endurance helped with that kind of stuff? Something to ask Isabel; the list was getting pretty long.

Peeking out through the me-shaped hole, I watched Grim running circles around the golem. Only two of the images were still going; one had been destroyed in the wave.

As I watched, a huge ball of fire streaked from an alley, and the explosion as it impacted sent shockwaves through the nearby area. I smiled. Lyra had arrived.

Isabel stormed into the square, her huge sword in her hand. She looked around briefly, and I waved at her. She nodded and focused on the golem. Lyra’s fireball had taken a good chunk out of its chest, and it was now focused on the newcomers.

Another ball of fire streaked through the square, hitting the golem's leg, taking it off at the knee. The golem began to topple but caught itself with an arm, and the leg began slowly reconstructing itself. I snuck out of my hidey-hole, crept along the edge of the square. There were pieces of houses everywhere, but it didn’t hinder me too much.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Once I was in position, I waved to get Isabel’s attention. I mimed the golem falling and then put my hand level with the ground, smashing my fist into it. Isabel grinned fiercely and nodded.

Grim ran right up to the big bastard, and the image swung a staff at the golem's knee, which did no damage, none at all. What it did do was get some attention. With all its weight behind it, the golem stomped down onto a mysteriously slippery patch of cobblestone, ‘’oops.’’

The foot went out from under it, and it crashed to the ground, making as much sound as a high-rise building being demolished. Isabel went to work then, jumping and with a battleroar, smashing her sword into its back.

An explosion of rocks burst from the impact, and Isabel swung at the creature two more times in quick succession. It tried to rise, but I arrived, and with a full force blow from my weapons, I smashed the forearm of the creature. The arm crumbled, and it fell back down. It tried to use its other arm, but I repeated the same move, leaving me with two stumps in my hands, and the arm was still intact. That's when I noticed Lyra walking out of an alley.

Lyra was wreathed in flame, and she had a huge grin on her face. With an intricate weaving of her hands, she began working on something. I didn't know what she was doing, but it was definitely something.

Isabel noticed Lyra's actions and her eyes widened. She immediately jumped down and smashed the other arm of the creature. Then she sprinted towards me, rugby tackled me, and threw me over her shoulder before running away.

I heard Lyra's maniacal laughter, and from my vantage point on Isabel's shoulder, I saw her finish her spell. A huge spear of living flame appeared in the sky above the golem, and with a downward motion of her arms, she sent it straight down.

As it impacted the golem, the world exploded with sound, and both Isabel and I were thrown like ragdolls. We landed hard, rolled, and kept rolling until we came to a stop a good ways down an alley. All I could hear was a loud ringing in my ears. I felt hot blood streaming from them and shook my head to clear it. Grim's laughter was the only sound, and he seemed to have completely lost it. His laughter sounded like a gleeful madman.

Isabel got to her feet beside me and helped me up, and we looked around in shock. Several rows of houses had been demolished. Although it shamed me, I thought of all the people living here for the first time.

I looked around the ruins with dismay, but Isabel seemed to understand my expression. She gave me a thumbs up. I frowned at her, but with her fingers, she mimed someone running. I understood it to mean that warned people before joining the fight. I was relieved but at the same time a little annoyed that they had left me to fight on my own for so long.

I nodded my understanding, and we walked back to where the golem had been. Well, Isabel walked, and I stumbled along next to her. Lyra was there, alone, and covered in small wounds from flying debris. Her huge grin was honestly a little scary, but who was I to judge? Even I had begun to think I might be a battle maniac myself.

Lyra's robes were shredded, and she was only barely decent, but the look she gave us was jubilant. I sighed and sat down on a large chunk of golem while Isabel pulled out vials of healing potions and handed them out. I drank mine gratefully and felt the familiar burning through my body.

It didn’t take long before my hearing was back, and I listened to Lyra’s excited ramblings with a small smile on my face. ‘’Did you see that Isabel!? I was just like, whoosh, then boom! The whole just blew up into a million pieces!’’ Isabel nodded along automatically, letting Lyra work through her adrenaline.

Soon a large group of guards arrived, and Malik was walking along with them. They stared at the demolished area in shock, and if it hadn’t been for Malik being there, I'm sure we would soon have been on our way back to the prison. The big man walked over to us, ‘’big one then?’’

Isabel nodded and gestured to me, ‘’Harlequin will know the details, we arrived only towards the end.’’ Malik nodded and came to crouch in front of me. He studied my condition and nodded, ‘’not too bad?’’

I shrugged, ‘’think I am still poisoned, the wound in my leg is still messed up, and a few broken ribs.. So yeah, I am perfectly fine!’’ Malik grinned, ‘’life of an adventurer eh? Can you tell me what happened?’’

I nodded, ‘’Well, first I caught up to Sigen and a group of those mercenaries. I fought them first, did pretty well I think. I was winning, but Sigen had retreated to do some ritual I think, I noticed too late.’’ Malik nodded and gestured for me to go on. I explained what had happened in detail, and Malik did not interrupt once, only looking more and more worried.

The big man sighed as I finished my story, ‘’I sincerely hope the rest of those cores won’t be as destructive as this. A few more fights like this one, and there won’t be a city left to save. You did good lad, survive long enough, and you will become pretty scary in a few years I reckon.’’

I was still wearing my mask, so he couldn’t see my grin, but my tone expressed my amusement, ‘’seeing what Lyra just did.. I get the feeling I still have a ways to go.’’

As more guards arrived to take control of the situation, Malik had us packed into a carriage, to be brought to the temple of Inaya. Isabel was mostly fine as always, but Lyra and I, in particular, could use a bit of attention from our favorite priestess. As I watched the city pass by outside the window, I reflected on the last few hours. Malik was right, if this was only the precursor, then we would soon have a really shitty situation on our hands.