Chaos! Total chaos! At first, it looked like they had the situation well in hand. However, it looks like I underestimated the increased power of my golems. My spiders are far more effective than I anticipated. Three of the dwarves are already dead or immobilized on the ground. And it looks like another one of them got caught up in one of my traps. Its webbing wrapped around his body, causing him to look like an engorged bearded slug flopping around at the bottom of a pit.

I frown as I feel his throat being pierced by an overzealous spider that jumped into the pit to finish him off. Most of the other golems are now focused on Grix and Aym. They're clearly having a hard time as Tharin joins them to cover their backs.

That bear guy is really something though with the way he waves that giant hammer around as if it weighs no more than a feather. If it weren't for him sending my golems flying, I'm pretty sure Aym would have met an ugly end too by now. I mentally sigh as I order my spider golems to ease off a bit. My goal isn't to slaughter them, but it looks like my original plan needs to be modified now.

I mean, I wanted them to defeat these golems and make it look like there's nothing of worth here. Instead, it'll just look suspicious if they win now after the brutal beating they've already taken. Guess I'll just have to try and convince them the cost isn't worth the potential rewards to push on. With any luck, they'll just report I'm a heavily guarded, active ruin. That way, I'll have a little more time to recover and strengthen myself.

It's at this moment that Grix manages to send a golem flying into the air. Well, it looks like they're about to make the hard decision of retreating for now. I turn my attention to Nana and Lorithian to see that they've been putting up a pretty good show of having a hard battle. It looks like Lorithian has his sword pointed toward a group of my spiders, while Nana is helping to cover him while he prepares a spell.

"It's no use. You're just not getting enough mana to cast a spell of that size," Nana shouts at him as I notice her eyes flashing red.

I feel a bit surprised when Lorithian suddenly disappears, only to reappear beside Nana as I sense him preparing another spell. However, before he can get it off, a red flash seems to swallow everything around him. My vision flickers as I'm momentarily blinded. When it returns, it looks like my spiders are scattered around the room. The only exception is one, who's laying unmoving on the ground with a large hole in its torso.

What the hell just happened? I trace the lingering mana signature of the spell back to Aym who looks exhausted with sweat rolling down his brow. I heave a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it doesn't look like he'll firing any more of those off. Still, it was extremely impressive.

"Retreat!" Grix growls to the others as he starts to disengage from my golems.

Whew! Let's hope that'll put an end to any more invasions for a while. I make sure to order my spider golems to pressure the survivors as they retreat from the altar room. As soon as they cross into the hall, I order them to stop the pursuit. Hopefully by not pushing them any more than I already have they won't get too desperate. I sense some tension among the group as Grix glares at Nana.

"You never said they were that dangerous!" He growls as Aym joins him in scowling at Nana.

"It's not like we fought them enough to discover all their abilities," Nana shrugs as she returns their glares. "Besides, you were more interested in asking Eraina for information than in my opinion of the threat these golems pose."

Grix growls in frustration as he slams a fist against the wall. "This is a disaster! Those mercenaries were hired by the Guild to aid in your rescue! The master will have to compensate the Mercenary Guild for their losses."

"Relax. I'll ask the Lord to cover those expenses. Without them, we wouldn't have gained as much information about these ruins." Aym says with a slight smile.

"Why do you look so happy about this?"

"Don't you see?" Aym asks with an amused expression. "What are the odds that anyone has managed to take anything from this place with those golems guarding that room? They're too much for any ordinary person to get through. Even though they're too much for us, the Lord will be available to afford a more powerful group to clear the rest of these ruins. I'm sure he'll be deeply interested after hearing my report."

Grix smiles as he slaps Aym on the back. "Excellent, then we won't have to deal with that shitty Merc Guild!"

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Crap. Seems like I overdid it. Instead of scaring them off, I've only made them more interested. I wonder how long it will take them to report to the Lord, and for him to organize another group to explore me. I frown at that thought as I consider my other option. I could just open a hole under the entire group and flood them with my entire golem swarm.

However, I quickly shake that idea off. That would probably be an extreme last resort. The whole reason for this charade was to buy me time. Besides, I promised Eraina I wouldn't kill them. No matter else I may be, I definitely won't go back on my word.

I'm about to go back to studying the status screen when I suddenly feel something is wrong. I check the golems in the entrance hall to find one of them missing. What? Where did it go? I try to track it using my senses but it's like the mana around it has completely disappeared.

Suddenly, I hear a screeching coming from a pack carried by Tharin! The sturdy dwarf glows red with mana before vanishing from my vision through the mana. Luckily, my senses allow me to remain aware of his location, even if I can't see him. The secret door to my Avatar's room explodes with a deafening blast. A second later, I feel my body shaking as the aftershock shakes my Avatar!

"You..." I growl as I watch the explosion fade to reveal Tharin holding the wreckage of my missing golem.

I blink in confusion as I try to make sense of what's going on. How did he do that? My eyes widen as realization dawns on me. He somehow overloaded my golem's mana core, and used it to recreate their Overdrive ability for himself!

"You lose." Tharin grins as he looks around the area. "We're getting out of here, now."

He rushes back to the others in another flash of light.

"No!" I scream as I watch the dwarf vanish. "Come back!"

I mentally curse as I realize Tharin is planning to expose once they get back to the town they call home. It looks like he was waiting until his allies were safely near my boundaries before making his move. I thought I had everything in hand. Everything should have been within my control. If I knew this was coming, I could have used the golems to stop him from getting away! I could have done something! Anything!

Time seems to have slowed as I try to figure out a solution. Wait. Why's my mana dropping?

[Avatar's Overdrive Activated]

My Avatar's body feels like it's burning with pain as my Mana slowly burns away. I grin as I quickly act to put an end to Tharin's plans. I disappear from the pod in a flash of orange light as I send an order to my golems.

As fast as Tharin is, it's nothing compared to what my Avatar's Overdrive is capable of. Clearly, his version is far from perfect as I arrive beside him when he's only a few feet from the others. I snarl as I grab his head and drag him back to the altar room so fast that all the others see is two blurs of red and orange!

"Argh!" Tharin roars as I throw the dwarf against the far wall with all my might.

My arm spasms and freezes for a second due to the strain on it from Overdrive when my Avatar is still in such poor condition. The red light fades from Tharin's body as he slides to the ground, showing the effects of his fake Overdrive have ended. I mentally cancel my own to stop the drain of my mana, but I've already spent over half of what I had in these few seconds.

I shake my head as I focus my senses on the others. They have drawn their weapons in response to seeing two colorful blurs. Nana is staring toward the altar room with a terrified expression. I can sense Eraina and her group slowly backing away while Grix is holding up a hand to signal the others to hold their position. I turn my attention to Tharin as I take a step toward him.

"I was wondering if you would try something," I growl as I watch the dwarf climb to his feet. "Part of me truly wanted to believe you wouldn't be so stupid."

Tharin stares at me with an intense gaze. "I thought that, if I couldn't beat you, I could at least prevent you from gaining anything."

"Hmm, so you sought to expose me and remove your group as my hostages," I say in a cold tone as I approach him. "It wasn't a bad plan. I'll admit you surprised me. But you failed."

I snarl as I dash toward the dwarf who swings his hammer. My hand catches it in mid-swing and snaps it in half. Before Tharin can recover, I grab him by the throat and squeeze.

"What were you hoping to do? Try to get the others to flee and leave me to rot here alone? Perhaps you hoped your actions would stir the kingdom to kill me? You didn't really think that would work, did you?" I laugh as I lift the dwarf off the ground. "I'm disappointed in you, Tharin."

I frown as I slam the dwarf's head into the wall with enough force to crack the metal. I pull back to do it a few more times when I hear a noise. It takes a second before I realize it's Eraina screaming. It seems like Eraina is begging Grix to abandon Tharin and escape since my golems are now racing through the hall toward them.

Well, she gets a thumbs-up from me. At least it seems like she's still playing her part. I'll make sure she regrets it if she betrays our deal. However, that's out of my hands now as I feel them crossing my boundary line. My attention snaps back to the limp dwarf hanging from my hand. It looks like I'll have to put an end to him here and now.

I punch out with my free hand, piercing through his thin armor and flesh to grab his heart. "It really didn't have to be this way."

A moment later, I crush it in my palm. The dwarf's life fades as I feel my core absorbing some mana. I'm not in the mood to analyze that phenomenon right now as I let his corpse drop to the floor. I turn to gaze at the hall where Eraina's group exited with a frown on my face. I'm going to have to make some progress with my capabilities in case the worst comes to pass.

I sigh as I manipulate the ruins to dig a grave for the dwarf and bury him in it. That's when I remember the other corpses littering this room. I guess that means I'm on cleanup duty. Though, I guess it wouldn't hurt to see if they have anything valuable on them first.