I dodged behind some blocks as a massive white beam cut through the space, I had just been standing in. It several of the building blocks and melted right through them. I kept moving and dived into a roll as a second beam cut through the air in front of me.

The only saving grace about the large white block golems was that they took a moment to charge and couldn’t adjust their aim during the charging and firing period of their attack. That was the only good news. Their attack and defense were incredibly high.

I had hit the large block golem with two annihilation beam attacks. In the same spot too on the chest, but it had only caused minimal damage. My shield had long since been used up. I took a deep breath, and spun about, rushing for the monster.

It alternated fire with both hands, but I had the timing down now. Gathering energy, dodge! I quickly kicked off the ground as the massive white beam cut through the air next to me. Air Burst. I closed the distance and delivered a straight right punch into its damaged chest.

The punch impacted the golem, and it gave slightly, crumpling a few inches under my fist. The monster brought its other arm up while trying to back away. Danger! Air Burst. I moved to the side as a smaller white beam cut through my position into the large golem. I twisted mid-air and kicked out on a block structure, adjusting my trajectory to head at the smaller golem. A massive white beam blew away my foothold.

I kicked the smaller golem, using the impact of my foot and the golem’s destruction to leverage myself in another direction just as another massive beam cut through the air, melting most of the smaller golem. I rushed in at the larger golem once more, leaping over another massive beam attack.

Acid Shot x2. Force Shot x2. I hit it at close range on its shoulders. Both of its block arms went flying off its body. I then landed a massive kick to its chest, which gave in more and the monster went crashing backwards onto the block platform it had been standing on. I was breathing a bit heavily as I flipped in the air and landed at its feet.

That had been an incredibly hard fight. Far harder than I had experienced in a long time, since I wasn’t able to skill spam it. My combat instincts were on point. One mistake, and I would have vaporized. Danger! I quickly kicked off the ground away from the large golem. After landing on a block its chest section exploded in a glowing white sphere, melting and destroying everything around it out to around 16 feet or 5 meters.

Well, there goes the option of using it as a shield. Taking a moment to catch my breath I wasn’t low on energy, but the fight took far more than I had wanted it to. Still no mass response from the other monsters which was creeping me out. And the terrain wasn’t moving either.

Still, I would continue no matter what. Even with the stronger golems, I had their measure now. The most dangerous moment of any fight was the initial confrontation as I worked out the monsters’ abilities and responses. I kicked off the block terrain and continued forward, towards the large central structure and the source of all of this.

Another large golem. It brought up both its arms and one started gathering a lot of energy. I dodged to the side as it fired at where I would have been. Good prediction, but if I can see where you are aiming, then it was all a matter of timing. I moved to jump and the second arm aimed up, but I dived forward instead. My foot control for adjusting my trajectory was very good. The blast of energy missed me.

The annoying part about these large golems was the range they had and firing rate. I juked to the side and the third shot missed me. Moving in close I delivered a kick right into the monster’s chest block. I went up and over as a fourth beam missed me. The head of the block golem and its arms turned around, neat trick. I landed on the ground and leapt forward, giving it a massive shoulder check onto its back side which had become its new front.

I then swung out with my left fist from over head, striking downwards, crumpling its front portion a bit and using the pushback to move me out of the way of another blast from one of its arms. Acid Shot x2. Force Shot x2. I aimed at its shoulders, which blew away the arms. If it works, it works. I wasn’t going to punch these things down unfortunately. Spending only 140 energy per large golem was acceptable. I stayed back this time and it leapt for me. It was going to try and explode on me.

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I leapt up and delivered a direct kick to its chest, stopping the monster in the air as I allowed my knee to bend and kick off the golem. I went flying away as it exploded in a blaze of white light. No smoke or shockwave, just melted and destroyed terrain blocks left behind.

Landing on a terrain block, I turned and kept going for the central structure. I soon had defeating the large golems down to a science. While they were incredibly strong, they had the mentality of a low-level monster, which was weird. That was just another point of confirmation, that whatever was doing this was not the Almighty System.

Well, the System might be losing the Almighty title after this, since I had to clean up this mess. I pushed forward, energized after my recent victories and getting the energy cost per victory as low as possible. As I defeated the golems, the structure loomed in front of me was larger and larger. There were no weird black bubbles or flesh landscape as far as I could tell.

I reached the central structure, and it was closed off at the ground level. My experience with the block terrain let me know I wasn’t punching my way inside. Air Burst x3. The top was open, at least I thought so. I went towards the top of the structure. Landing at the top I made my way to the central portion and saw that there was a gap that hadn’t been closed off. I made sure this was the largest structure around and the center of the block terrain before entering. After doing two full spins, this seemed like the correct place, since there was nothing bigger, and it aligned with my memories of where the shards should be.

In the distance, the destroyed golems had not disappeared. That was important to note in my mind. The resetting feature of the Almighty System wasn’t present. It made sense, but it was good to confirm that was the case.

I leapt down into one of the block hallways. It was weird, since the blocks making up this place were different sizes and none of them were aligned. There was also no ambient light. There was just the bright white sky outside. It made for a jarring experience.

Air Burst. I moved to the side as a beam of white light tracked me from the darkness, getting a minor cut on my left side. I kicked off the ground and slammed my fist into the small white block golem that had thought to kill me. I quickly converted its chest torso to a shield and set off through the crooked hallway.

I quickly came to appreciate the Tower’s hallways, with their corner lights, and even floor. This was a nightmare of advancing. There was a fear that I could be crushed after entering, but the terrain still had not moved the entire time. I needed to keep advancing and to end this threat.

The hallways ranged from human sized to much larger, large enough to fit a large golem or a bus. There were angles, splits, and no clear pattern as I made my way through. While I could make out a bit through the darkness, it was hard, and I had to be alert for ambushes from block golems that blended into the terrain. There was no third monster or traps.

It took me a bit of time, but I worked out that I was looping around the central structure. There were main paths that spiraled around, and then connecting tunnels in every direction, including up and down. But there was a large void in my mapping related to the center of the structure. There were no doors, or other areas of interest. Just dark hallways and the occasional basic block golem.

Trying to break through the wall would take way too long, or too much energy. I was more than content to explore instead of trying to bunch my way through the surprisingly hard terrain. At least the terrain was colorful and even if it was some kind of pattern, I hadn’t been able to work out yet.

Why color code? This place clearly wasn’t function over form, since everything was block shaped. Unless block shapes were incredibly functional and not just an aesthetic choice. Time continued to pass as I walked around checking side tunnels and mentally mapping out everything to cover the places I had missed.

I would have missed the doorway, but I was being methodical in my explorations. The wall in this area was slightly off, that led towards the central unmapped area. There was some weird kind of pattern to the hallways of certain repeating colors and block sizes. But this portion of the hallway had a slightly different wall. I poked the wall and it was solid, not an illusion.

Pushing on it hard, there was no give for a moment and then it slid back and then to the side as I quickly regained my balance. A hidden doorway? Why even have a doorway? I had been thinking this place didn’t play by System rules and then this. Whatever I was dealing with, I didn’t have an understanding of, which was the big problem. It had taken years to understand the Almighty System. If this was something new, then I would have to learn everything over again.

Advancing down the hallway, there was a light at the end of the passageway. It was a bright light. Time to confront the big bad that was causing all this disruption. Maybe a second meta-point? I advanced forward as I mentally prepared myself for an incredibly hard fight. I was split between two plans. The first plan was to test the waters and then launch a massive attack once I understood what I was up against. The second plan was to alpha strike right away.

Both options had their upsides and downsides. Better to test the waters first and get a sense of what I was up against. Then once I was sure my attack would land, hit it with everything. The light grew brighter as I got closer. It was too bright and I was forced to squint. I had been in darkness so long, a bright light wasn’t good.

I paused to give my eyes time to adjust. There was no need to rush forward right away. Better to get what advantage I could before advancing.