The crystalline colossus golem…that very thing that had so butchered all those prior…whose despoiled remains were scattered about…stared the adventurers down from afar…as it stood stiff and still…directly in front of them…at the very end of this crystalline chamber.

Faint snow-dusty radiance…wisped and weaved from its being like frosted steam. Like veins and nerves threaded throughout its whole being…roots of exotic radiance stretched all over its structure and figure…all connected and sourced…from its pulsating glowing heart and radiant core.

The adventurers remained frozen in dread and fear…trembling in place…utterly exposed…and at its mercy.

Yet, its own potently glowing blueish eyes…stared at one among them all…something it too…could not help…but fear. Though…it was not one to let fear interrupt its game…any more than it already had.

The foreigner stared in kind, yet remained calm and attentive…as that cold inhibiting touch took hold…analyzing what she could within the limited time she so had. This crystal colossus towered over them…at rather the distance minded…hmm…yet…compared to the absurdly large corridor entry from which it had so barged…it was not…nearly as large—large enough to be somewhat climbed…but…shorter than she had predicted.

It was bipedal and humanoid…‘armored’ in appearance, almost resembling local ‘knights’ in form…yet was composed purely of exotic crystalline compounds…similar to, but rather distinct from, those glow-spiders. In its crystalline hands, likewise, was…a large crystalline sword.

Interesting…on a technical basis, the foreigner knew what this was. It was a sort of arcane puppet…yet if so…then…who or what was pulling its strings? And from where? No…wait…she quickly noticed…its veiny roots…they were sourced from…within it? Not…

Abruptly, the colossus finally began to make its slow stomping march; its exotic roots of barely visible essence…flowed and weaved from its heart and being…threading into the crystalline spaces around. Suddenly tearing from the all walls and ground around…dozens of crystals were snatched…‘levitating’…around it as if they had been caught in its pulling orbit.

The orbiting crystals glowed and steamed in volatile snow-dusty exoticisms…mutating and changing shape…taking new form…as they synthesized into pulsating crystalline spikes and lances…dozens upon dozens…circling as it slowly marched.

The adventurers remained paralyzed in absolute dread and fear…frozen completely as their breaths turned heavy with trembling limbs and jaws…their minds unable…to think or cogitate…as impending doom approached.

Yet, without any delay, the foreigner unholstered her revolver and immediately snapped into action…lance-dashing right towards it.

She rapid fired two shots once in range…none penetrating but certainly irritating. Her object was to snap the others out of their paralysis by making a ruckus and…to distract the colossus with relentless…buzzing, buying time.

“GODS’ SACRED SHIT-FILLED BUCKET THAT’S A THING ALRIGHT!” so exclaimed the wagoneer, overwatching from above, snapping out of his own frozen stun. He immediately began to open fire over and over, loading each shot as fast as he could; yet not even these sorcery enchanted shots could pierce through its hard crystalline armor. But…it was at least… distracting.

The foreigner rapidly closed the distance; she circled and hopped in a faint trail of cyanic snow-dusty radiance, like a fly buzzing around and around annoyingly. The towering colossus, being far slower and more cumbersome than the reflexive and agile she, swatted away with its hand and sword in vain as she evasively dodged.

The sudden ear-piercing echoing thuds of discharging firearms immediately snapped the frozen adventurers back to reality.

The shield adventurer shook his head as sensibility returned, swiftly snapping his attention to the gunner; “YOU! START SHOOTING TOO! NOW!” he shouted in command.

The gunner immediately shook his head; “RIGHT!” he shouted in reply before quickly departing into action.

The shield adventurer then snapped his attention to the mage; “YOU! DON’T MAKE SHIT YET! STAY IN RESERVE, SAVE YOUR MANA!” he shouted in command.

The mage stared back…shaking her head before nodding away; “R-right! Reserve as always!” she yelled back in reply.

Finally, his eyes snapped right to the priestess…who was most paralyzed of them all; “YOU! START PRAYING WE NEED THAT BARRIER UP! NOW!” he shouted in command, shaking her shoulder with one hand.

The priestess shook her head in kind…stepping back somewhat as she snapped out of it; “U-U-UNDERSTOOD! OF COURSE!” she shouted in reply, gripping her holy Trinitarian staff.

Exhaling and inhaling, deep breath after deep breath, the priestess closed her eyes…as she cleared her mind and ‘soul’…before gently lifting her holy staff up. “Audias precem mendicam meam, o Rex Filius in Regno sancto. Audias me, servum sanctum tuum in terra, o Pater in Caelo superno imperans…” thus her soft breaths began to utter in almost song…as she called out to that god whom she so served, to whom her very essence…was so affixed.

Interim

The gunner had relocated to the horizontal remains of a crystal column…a rather girthy one at that; leaning, he crouched against it as cover.

He closed his eyes…as his mind focused…concentrating in absolute. His lips and tongue began to gesture and move in synchrony as if words and phrases were uttered…yet nothing truly spoken, before suddenly his eyes opened as they ignited into yellowy-green activation…yet not quite.

No sigil or signa revealed itself…and his natural eye color persisted, the only thing present being radiant outlines which surrounded his iris and maybe his pupil. Indeed…partial ignition, partial activation…neither completely ‘awake’ nor completely ‘asleep’; neither fully ‘attentive’ nor fully ‘aloof’…something in-between…a state of purgatory.

He was not casting spells, rather he was activating his adventurer ‘skills’. Yet, owing to his sheer experience, he did not need to fully follow the encoded activation procedures nor directly utter the associated phrases…instead he was able to use his mind and imagination to cogitate their enaction—a consequence of extensive and repetitive usage of those very skills.

With partial ignited eyes of adventure-green, he aimed his unusually advanced, elaborate, and clearly-not-locally-produced pump-action repeating rifle. His senses were sharper…his lungs more efficient…his fine motor reflexives far more attuned…his ability to deduce projectile trajectories and velocities…suddenly more precise…as time so seemingly…slowed down; indeed, he was a ranger without a bow.

He immediately began to fire-and-pump over and over, his muzzle flashing in strange fiery light-pink as his ‘magical’ rounds trailed with sparkly glimmer, aiming for whatever ‘weak’ spots he could deduce…yet…none truly existed. Not even these magic-imbued shots could pierce; though, they did do some damage…which was better than none.

By this point, the foreigner had already fired all six of her shots…now she was simply buzzing around and being as annoying as possible, having even climbed onto it…only to hop off when it attempted to swat…causing it to smack itself in its vain attempts to get her off.

Yet…with each instance of such doings…the effects lessened. The colossus was adapting to her tactics, not falling for the same tricks and bait. Truly, the nimble, agile, and reflexive foreigner was its worst match…yet…she had not the firepower…to make any good use of her inherent advantage; thus, all she could do…was buzz and annoy as it swatted away.

Clearly intelligent, clearly thinking…yet for whatever reason, it mindlessly fixated on her specifically; yet it was not taking her seriously, oddly enough…or rather…it was not taking any of this seriously.

Yet abruptly…the colossus paused in stunned place, its infatuated attention lost as its helmet-shaped head…snapped and stared. The foreigner, confused, paused in kind…at a safe distance of course…staring in the same direction…noticing from afar…that sudden emergence.

“…et adveniat imperium vestrum ut det mihi scutum sanctum lucis…” the priestess continued to pray in almost song…as her aura began to faintly flare…and even ignite into partial visibility.

Roots of faint yet potent heavenly radiance flowed and weaved into the chamber…from somewhere someplace else…like threads of Heaven responding to her calling voice …connecting…and merging with her aura…as if Trinity was allowing her to draw and wield its holy light…as if her synchronized essence was merely an extension…of its own roots.

The foreigner…could not help but stare…that ‘heavenly’ yellowy-white essence was not the priestess’s, she could tell; she knew of only a few things in existence…vaguely capable of such…apparent bizzarities. Though…despite the conspicuous similarities…in the color with a certain it with which she was most familiar, that ‘heavenly’ essence…was of the same alignment…her essence could tell.

Likewise, while certainly somewhat more ‘pure’, ‘refined’, and ‘cloudy’ than usual, it was still ‘dusty’, ‘choppy’, and full of ‘noise’…indicating that it was also the same ‘second’-rate ‘type’ as hers and most others. Thus…the source was a…local…thing of sorts, yet what? She did not know; though, ultimately…whatever this was…it was no doubt still a product of…a certain its doing, for everything in this entire place…was ultimately the product of that certain it…a presence always felt.

As the priestess continued, the glowing heavenly radiance only flared more potently as her being radiated with ‘holy energy’, her essence synchronizing with more heavenly roots that flowed into her aura, the Trinitarian cross on the tip of her holy staff glowing ever-more.

“ALRIGHT! SHE’S ALMOST DONE! GET BACK HERE NOW!” the shield adventurer shouted to both the gunner and the foreigner who was much farther out. The gunner, having emptied his firearm completely, promptly began to do so.

Yet the foreigner remained where she was…ready to delay the colossus as much as she could…yet hmm…why was the colossus…just staring blankly…and not…responding? Wait…hold…this entire time…it had not yet…used any…of its…oh shit.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Et detis lucem sanctam vestram ut praetegatis nos a malo nef—HEH!?” All so suddenly…a fury of crystal spikes came lancing in bombardment, penetrating and bursting around upon impact, flustering the priestess on the verge of completing in interrupted surprise, ruining the entire procedure.

However, the shield adventurer, having noticed beforehand, had immediately lunged in front with his exotic magical shield lifted in place. With eyes partially ignited in that same adventuring yellowy-green, faint wisp-dusty mana poured into the shield as its core glowed in kind, instantly conjuring out…an exotic barrier which extended and stretched out, waving and flaring as it absorbed impact after impact, shielding all those behind.

Yet…the gunner…still in the process of retreating…had no such luxury. Straggling spikes quickly lanced right into him; fiery crystalline bursts ripped into him, detonating his bag of magic-imbued powder and cartridges, which burned and tore him asunder.

The colossus had claimed its first prey…though perhaps more by accident.

Relentlessly pulse-lancing spike after spike…it simply recontinued its march towards them.

“SHIT GODS’ SHIT-BREAD FUCKED SACRED ASSHOLE! NOT THIS AGAIN!” the shield adventurer shouted out…the kinetic impact of each and every absorbed bursting spike being somewhat transferred to his equipt arm.

« Merda… » the foreigner blurted out; shit! She immediately lanced into action, attempting to buzz and distract as the wagoneer recontinued firing his volleys.

Nothing worked.

The colossus was now ignoring her utterly…paying no mind to that frustrating fly…its priorities having changed completely; it knew what the priestess was trying to do…seemingly.

It continued to march in the direction of the others, its almost-invisible roots of essence threading even deeper into the chamber as more crystals were ripped from the space around…synthesizing into new lancing spikes.

The wagoneer fired one last shot, ughing in frustration; “This shit ain’t working…” he blurted out…before staring at his ammunition carry-box…or rather the second, more specialized, one he had. He ughed yet again; “…hagh…don’t have a choice, now don’t I?” he mumbled out.

He begrudgingly opened it and…took out…strange red-marked paper cartridges of…enchanted special shots. He did not have many of these and they were expensive…but there was no better of a time to use them than right now. He loaded one and kept five or so squished between his left-hand’s fingers.

The bombardment of bursting spikes pulverized the shield adventurer’s energized barrier…which began changing color, glowing in ever greater and more volatile intensity…it was not going hold forever, yet still held firm.

“FINISH THE FUCKING PRAYER, NOW!” he shouted to the priestess, who was still…staggered and shocked…seeing the despoiled remains of the gunner who had only been alive…just a few moments prior.

The mage, panicking, shook her; “HEY HEY! FOCUS! WE NEED THAT BARRIER OR THAT'LL HAPPEN TO US ALL!” she shouted, for indeed…she did not want to die…none of them did.

The priestess snapped out of it, shaking her head once again; “I-I-I HAVE TO START OVER!” she shouted in reply.

“THEN DO IT! FAST FAST!” the shield adventurer shouted and implored.

Suddenly: Boom.

The colossus’s head detonated in a small…yet violently volatile sparkly boom, a few chunks of its crystalline helmet-head falling off as it staggered in response…the unliving golem groaning abhorrently…somehow.

The foreigner…paused in her buzzing…breaths panting somewhat…seeing what had just happened, eyeing the source above.

“TEHAHA! THAT WORKED ALRIGHT!” the wagoneer shouted in satisfaction, loading another explosive shot before firing it straight into one of its glowing eyes…the detonation blowing the glowing eye apart as the colossus staggered further, dropping its crystalline sword…grabbing its eye area.

The crystalline bombardment immediately halted as the colossus became fixated on defending its vital points…its heart-core in particular…from the sudden explosive volley.

The foreigner, observing, backed away…there was not much more she could do…the wagoneer had this handled…she was utterly…useless. She began to make way back to the others.

The shield adventurer…staring…deactivated his shield’s energy barrier, panting somewhat…for such had eaten quite the mana from him. He pointed to the mage; “You! Start thundering it as hard as you can! But…not too many times, your shock spells eat too much mana and we still need you!” he commanded.

The mage…suppressing her dreadful panic…hehed with a forced smirk; “One or two volleys should do…” she replied, confident…yet the fear persisted in her raspy breath; as she gripped her staff and departed.

“Now, you! Start praying!” he commanded to the priestess, who immediately nodded as she gripped her holy staff.

Pointing it up, the priestess began to breathe deeply as she closed her eyes; “Audias precem mendicam meam, o Rex Filius in Regno sancto. Audias me, servum sanctum tuum in terra, o Pater in Caelo superno imperans…” she began to say once again in almost song, though her mind was…not as clear and focused as it had been prior.

Interim

The mage approached closer to the colossus, though she did not separate too far, dispensing five or so spellcards from a special spellcard holder, taking each in hand. Once in range, she flung them up into the air and glanced; her eyes ignited into thunderous radiance as the cards dissolved into wisp-dusty exoticism.

She waved her staff in a certain procedural fashion before pointing it straight at the staggered colossus, still being struck by enchanted explosive shots and the wagoneer’s tenaciously fast reloading skills.

Very faint, yet prominent, essence of thunderous purple-yellow-core radiance flowed from her aura and nerves, accumulating and concentrating into four small…almost cloud-like…patches in the air above; the tip of her staff began to glow in kind with even greater concentration.

Fundamental properties...began to adapt and change…as the patches began to throb and pulsate in ever-greater volatility, sparking and zapping…in ever-greater violence…flaring and igniting as the patches began to twist and rotate…faster and faster…becoming less like clouds and more electrified vortexes of…very unhappy…explosively energized plasma—the tip of her staff most especially.

Intensifying, accumulating, condensing…the vortexes rotated ever-more violently before suddenly…boom.

Five magical ‘lightning’ bolts thundered in an energized lance that tore through the air faster than sound could follow, the thickest and most volatile of them thundering from the tip of her staff.

The four auxiliary thunderous bolts pierced and stabbed into the colossus, explosively tearing into it…yet the mother of them all…detonated in a thunderous energized thud…blowing small chunks of its shoulder clean off, staggering it even more.

“Now that’s a show alright! Teha!” the wagoneer remarked in a rallied shout, observing in rejoice.

The mage’s enacted spellcards, however, had not yet reached their limit. The process repeated itself as another volley came thundering, followed by another; the colossus quickly became overwhelmed by the onslaught of magical lightning and explosive shots…falling to its crystalline knees.

The foreigner stared at the scene as she made way…almost captivated in a very odd sense…albeit her ears were certainly not enjoying the experience as much as her eyes; she quickly snapped out of it.

The shield adventurer…stared somewhat blankly…having underestimated the effectiveness of that mage’s shock magic—though, shock magic, while powerful, was a so-locally-called ‘mana-eater’ of a school; this was not going to last long…but it should buy time…though…this was taking too long.

The foreigner finally returned to the other two, panting to a slight degree…as very faint and unnoticeable snow-dusty wisps of cyanic exoticism flaked and radiated from her muscles and skin…her essence’s automated protocols repairing her overworked muscles, among so many other such doings being enacted in the background to ensure her stamina remained constant.

“There you are! Finally back, Copperslinger? Aren’t you a crazy one in the head, running off like that…though…you’re fast and nimble…stupidly…I’ll give you that” he remarked…standoffish to a degree but…gave credit where it was due.

“I was simply doing what I could” the foreigner replied…yet rather inhibited in affect and voice…as she passed him by, standing behind him…and next to the priestess who…so seemingly stopped.

“I cannot do it…I cannot do it…nothing is happening” so the priestess began to lamentingly say, “…my head, it is not in the right place…I cannot clear it enough and focus…I am not saying the words…correctly” she added, her breaths and voice tensing up as her eyes looked down.

The shield adventurer looked back, sighing with a slight impatient groan; he opened his mouth to make reply.

Yet…before he could…the battered crystal colossus let out a tormented unalive noise of frustration that tore at the spine and ears, stunning and freezing everyone besides the foreigner, who became only more inhibited and focused.

The wagoneer jolted straight up, inhaling and exhaling; “Yeah…I don’t like that sound now…I know those sorta sounds…” he mumbled out.

However, the mage discharged her seventh and last volley of volatile lightning…blowing into the staggered crystal colossus ever-more…as it stumbled even more.

She tsked before smirking as her stunned shock faded, fear turning to rage; “…what? What was that…? Oh…oh…don’t tell me…something…like you…is…is scared of death now? Well…you better…be scared of death, you butchering atrocity! How do you…think they felt?!” she remarked in utter contempt, vindictively enjoying its apparent suffering.

Her breaths were heavy and panting…her mind fuzzy…blurry…disoriented…all signs of so-called ‘mana-fatigue’. Yet…“…I have more than enough…for round two…lucky you” she said, dispensing five more cards…to start this torment anew.

The crystal colossus, however, noticing the barrage had stopped…immediately took the chance. Its ignited heart-core glowed and flared as its exotic veins…pulsated ever-more vibrantly. It was one to toy with its prey…yet this…it was deriving nothing from this experience.

Its roots began to extend and stretch out from its being…imbuing and threading into the crystalline chamber around even more; more crystal growths materialized and grew all around and over…both in the chamber and its figure as it began to repair its own being…new crystalline armor…materializing from its tormented essence.

“Oh no you will not!” the mage shouted, tossing her spellcards into the air like before, glancing as they dissolved into thunderous yellow-purple radiance. Yet, the colossus’s single remaining glowing eye stared into the puny mage as she pointed her staff with ignited eyes; essence flowed from her aura and being, once again responding to her spells’ commands…

Yet…

“…Huh…?” Time slowed to a frozen crawl…her mind processing in the seconds left…as a tall crystal rod suddenly formed and protruded from the ground underneath…swiftly impaling her from the bottom up as it lanced all the way up to the domed ceiling above, the tip smashing; pierced fixed in place.

Her impaled body dangled and twitched; breaths choked in bloodied gagging groans and moans…as her life withered and fled away. Gravity slowly tugged its will at the impaled mage-now-turned-corpse…as it slowly but surely slid down through the impaling lance…destined to eventually fall back down.

“FERTILITY’S SACRED SEED-BUCKET! I KNEW THAT SOUND WAS SIGNING SOMETHING!” the wagoneer shouted aloud, firing another explosive shot as the colossus began to stand itself up…blowing small chunks of its helmet-head clean off, yet the colossus paid no mind; its head turned as its attention snapped up at him, its eye staring directly into his own.

The wagoneer…realizing…staggered as he attempted to reload in flaring panic. Its eye glowed and glowed…intensifying in energized volatility…before all so suddenly…a thin exotic ‘beam’…came lancing straight out and at him.

Faster than lightning…faster than his mind could even process…at speeds matched only by light itself.

In an instant, the exotic beam tore and scorched through the wagoneer…detonating all of the enchanted powder and explosive shots on him…the absolute explosive boom which followed ripped through the air in kind as he simply ceased to be; the entire entry-hole collapsed…crystalline debris and rubble raining down.

And thus, in such rapid and quick succession, had the colossus claimed two more prey…yet none of it…satisfying.

Its essence flared and wisped in snow-dusty fury as its exotic glowing veins and heart pulsated and throbbed; its crystalline material glowed ever-more potently…as did much of the chamber in kind. More and more crystal columns, pillars, structures, and such began grow, conjured…from the imbued roots of its tormented essence…whose veins extended ever-more.

There was no place safe in this crystalline trap…for the colossus and the chamber…were one and the same.

So easy it was for it to kill its trapped prey so swift and fast…yet there was…no… satisfaction…in simply that…no no…it preferred to take its time when it could…and let its prey struggle and squirm in vain…and to squeeze them dry…yet even then…there was often…nothing inside.

It began to slowly…march towards the remaining others…picking up its crystalline sword…as it dragged the blade against the ground, tauntingly. Crystals from all the chamber around were torn and ripped…complied and forged into a radiant legion of pulsating lances and spikes which trailed and orbited.

With that interruption…over, now the colossus was ready to start playing around once again…with its remaining prey.