Chapter 90
The plan was quite simple. After watching Lyn shoot the golems, and noting how their bodies simply froze while their heads were detached, I got a crazy idea. The golems couldn’t move or act unless their heads were atop their bodies. Which meant all we needed to do was destroy the heads, to destroy the monsters.
For a group of miners with climbers, it wouldn’t be an impossible task. If the Climber’s knocked the heads off, the miners could safely destroy the heads, and destroy the golem, without any harm to themselves. Considering this was only the third floor of the Tower, and therefore one meant for Climber’s and non-Climber’s alike, it made sense in my mind. What I’d seen over the last few days had helped me feel that the Tower itself, at least early on, wasn’t meant to be a pure death trap. As long as you didn’t draw the Tower’s ire, of course.
Speaking with Quill had further helped me draw that conclusion. The Hunters faced death every time they entered the Tower, and yet, they were capable and able, with ingenuity, training, and a few tools from the Tower itself, to survive the lower floors. The resources the Tower provided on the lower floors, even without Climber aid, could be safely harvested and collected by those not wielding the Tower’s Blessing. Meaning pure strength and might weren’t needed.
Of course, we still didn’t have the tools on us to destroy the heads with ease. But I’d already come up with a plan for that as well. Not the most ideal one, and one that wouldn’t be nearly as efficient as simply hitting the fallen heads with picks and hammers, but one that would work. At least, I was pretty sure it would.
“Ready when you are,” I told Lyn as I watched our test golem approaching. After observing the creatures we’d noticed they roamed in relatively predictable patterns. Each had an area it seemed to stay within, moving to and fro occasionally, before settling back into a pile of stones. Perhaps to act as an ambush for those who weren’t aware of the monsters? It didn’t matter to me right now. Right now, it was all about killing these things, and being done with this blasted floor.
“How come she gets the easy job,” Nyle grumbled from behind me.
“Says the guy who is sitting the first one out,” I countered, “I’d gladly let you go first; you know. Since you’ve had more time to rest than me.”
“It’s your plan,” Nyle let out a slight cough, “so, you should go first.”
“Uh huh,” I looked at Lyn, and nodded to her. She pulled her arrow back, concentration taking over her face as she took aim. “Ready,” she said as the bow shook slightly in her hands as she held the bowstring taut.
“Here goes nothing,” I said. With my weapons sheathed I jogged towards the creature. When it took note of me the creature shifted my way, lifting one of its heavy legs off the ground. When I got within twenty feet of it, I heard the twang of Lyn’s bow string snapping forward. The arrow flew past me, close enough I heard the air whistling through its fletching. It impacted against the golem’s head, and as before, knocked the rounded stone off the creature’s torso. The body froze, mid movement, as the rounded sphere, perhaps a foot in diameter, crashed onto the ground a few feet before the monster.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
As before, the head began to slowly roll back towards the body, the magic of the creature working to put the stone creature back together. Except, unlike all the times before, I wasn’t going to let that happen. I skidded across the rocky ground as I ran past the frozen body, my hands grabbing the golem’s head from the ground. It was perfectly smooth, reminding me of the stones outside of the Tower. Stone that had been worked, all rough edges eroded or sanded away, polished to perfection.
I pushed my hands tightly against either side of the head as I lifted it off the ground, my fingers spread wide across the orb, while two of the fingers on my right hand, one for each, found purchase in the indented eye holes on the head. My thumb, closer to the top of the forehead, if it could be considered that, found a slight indent as well. The spot that Lyn’s arrow had impacted. With three fingers secured in those indents, and my other hand cradling the head to keep it still, I moved quickly away from the body.
The golem’s body remained frozen as I moved, though I could feel the magic trying to pull the head loose from my hands. The head, by my figures, had weighed about as heavy as a bucket full of water. With the occasional jerk from the magic, trying to wrest the head from my grasp, it reminded me of running with a bucket, the water sloshing about. It was something we’d done a lot in training. We’d be forced to run with a bucket in both hands, filled to the brim with water. If you lost any water, you had to return from where you started, and refill the buckets. By the end, your arms burned, your legs screamed, and your shoulders would weep.
I pushed the memory of that particular training aside and turned back towards my friends. I could feel the smile on my face. The first part of the plan had gone perfectly. Now, all I needed to do, was figure out how to destroy the head.
“Get ready, just in case.” I called back to Lyn, a thought crossing my mind as I saw another mound of stones about thirty feet away. Originally, my plan had involved carrying the head to the top of the gently sloping hill we’d descended, to throw it off one of the steep edges. A stone this size, thrown from such a height, would no doubt shatter on impact.
However, that seemed like a lot of work. And, well, throwing stones at stone was something we’d all done during times of boredom. With how smooth the golem head was, I had a new idea forming. One that would make this task of slaying golems even more enjoyable. And one that realistically, I was praying to the Tower would work mostly to ensure I didn’t have to keep trekking up and down that hill. Even with Nyle joining in, doing that hike ten times carrying golem heads up, was an exhausting thought. Especially when I considered the fact this was only part of our day.
We still had to head back out of the Tower, go to the Cathedral, level up, and then run back into the Tower, to the fourth floor to kill monsters for more essence, leave the Tower again, and then, do it all over again onto the fifth floor, to finally hit level 15. As it was, we’d already wasted about two hours of the twelve that the Tower was open. I didn’t want to waste any more.
Lyn nodded to me and half drew an arrow, watching with more than a little interest what I was doing. I got a little closer towards the pile of stones and took aim. Then, I pulled my arm back, holding the golem head tight against the tugging of its magic, my left hand crossing my body to help keep hold. I stepped forward then towards the pile of stones, and sent my arm forward, rolling the golem head with as much force as I could towards the pile. It rolled rapidly across the ground, bumping here and there as it spun… head over head… into the pile. It hit with impressive force, the sound of the stone cracking echoing in the crater like valley we were in. Then, the head fell apart in two pieces. Behind me, the golem’s frozen body collapsed as well. I grinned even wider, as elation filled me. I’d changed my mind. Lesser Stone Golems were fun to kill, after all.