I stood frozen beside Tum and Tymur, watching helplessly the slowly encroaching enemy lines as our soldiers were constantly being pushed back.
I grabbed Tymur’s arm, shaking it in an attempt to get a reaction from the sweating man. — “What should we do? We are about to be overrun!” — I shouted at the silently staring man.
Tum on my other side placed a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back. — “There is nothing else to do than join the fight! My axe has been thirsting for black blood!”
I twirled around, eyes widening with terror as I stared at Tum like he was some fricking idiot. What the hell was he suggesting? There is no fucking way I am going to smack those goblins with my staff, of all things… I don’t even have proper armor!
I was pretty sure that my abilities to fight in melee combat weren’t anything mentionable either!
I started sweating from the idea alone.
I was not some secret black belt karate master nor a Shaolin monk. Anything short of that and I would be massacred in seconds.
I wrecked my brain thinking about any other solution and, not finding anything else, I finally forced myself to focus on spells that I had never used before. Either because they seemed way too terrifying or I just didn’t have the opportunity to practice them. Sometimes both…
My mental eyes hastily hovered over anything that wasn’t battle oriented or simply couldn’t be utilized in this situation…
Storm summoning… no-no… it’s a fucking cave. How would I change the weather here? What else… Earth spike forest… ah, no, based on my luck, I would kill half of our men too… B-blood magic…? What the hell is that even good for? Sounds dangerous too… Wait… uses life essence instead of mana to cast spells… Makes the user capable to freely manipulate blood? Sounds useful, but what does it mean by life essence? Do I need to sacrifice a goat or what? It’s too complicated for now… Next!
After some panicked searching, my gaze finally focused on a single spell.
Ugh… I really don’t like this, but it’s still better than having to fight goblins with a glorified stick!
I dug my heels into the ground, pulling against Tum’s hold on my wrist with all my strength. He was just about to jump into the fray, pulling me along, the crazy bastard… I got that you are picking on me for interrupting your dick comparing session, but don’t you think that this is going too far?
“Wait, wait, waiiiit~!” — I shouted at the fool. That finally managed to stop him. He glared at me over his shoulder, urging me to explain myself. — “I might have a spell that can help, but I need you to defend me while I prepare it!” — Tum turned towards me completely, anger flaring in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell us that sooner? People are dying around us can’t you see it! Stupid elf!” — He shouted in my face, but I was already too fed up with this shit and to his surprise I shouted right back at him with the same intensity.
“I KNOW! So would you please shut up for once and let me concentrate!” — I said to him, trying to control my emotions and only succeeding partially.
Tum let go of my wrist, then said with a flicker of anger. — “Do whatever you want, witch! You are not my responsibility from hereon!” — With that said, he turned around and left me without sparing another word, joining the ongoing battle.
I ground my teeth with helpless anger as I stared after him for a few seconds, then I realized that Tymur was still standing right beside me.
I turned to the man and quickly noticed the slight strain in his expression. He was definitely disappointed in me, not mentioning this so-called spell earlier… I felt a sense of fear at the possibility that he might also decide to leave me in the middle of a bloody battle, and in sight of that possibility I quickly offered an explanation.
“… I-I never successfully performed this spell before… That’s why I didn’t bring it up…” — I paused for a second, searching his gaze, and seeing the slight softening of his features and the barely perceptible nod, as a sign of accepting my explanation. Seeing this filled me with a sense of relief.
“So what spell is it?” — Was the next thing he asked. — I turned away from him, too focused on the task ahead while speaking a single word as an answer.
“Golem.”
I didn’t look at his face, so I didn’t see what expression he had made. I didn’t even know if he realized the concept of a golem at all. It was a mystery which I couldn’t spare the energy to worry about.
I single-mindedly focused on the shockingly long incantation while attempting to close out the sounds of battle around me. Grasping my staff with both of my hands that were shaking in anticipation. Casting a new spell for the first time always made me feel like that, but this time, it was a lot more nerve wrecking.
If I mess up the spell, I will lose the majority of my mana. I needed to succeed with this… or else… well, that possibility I didn’t want to think about. Piercing the tip of my staff into the ground as a focal point, creating a bridge between the earth and my mana. I began the incantation.
The ease with which I cast the earth wall spell was nowhere to be found. Golem summoning was on a completely different height of magic. Some difficulty I had anticipated, but nowhere near to this degree.
The words of the incantation felt strangely heavy on my tongue. I have never experienced something like that while casting spells before. Like every syllable was a rock waiting to be pushed out of the way for the incantation to work. Like… like I tried to speak with a mouthful of mud filling my cheeks.
My words became heavy and fragmented, but they were unmistakingly overflowing with tremendous amounts of mana.
“From mountain… to rock, from rock… to pebble… from pebble to sand… and sand to mud.” — I felt as the rock surface which I was standing on started to tingle under the soles of my boots with vigorous energy. But I didn’t allow the feeling to distract me for more than a passing second.
“The world’s foundation… Earth is… the one, that carries all life on its rigid back…” — This time, I could feel a sharply isolated tremor and as a result, an approximately five meters tall, and two meters wide earth spike burst out of the ground, effortlessly splitting the thick rock surface in front of me. I almost fell on my butt from the completely unexpected and terrifying event, which was coupled with powerful tremors that shook the entire cave with it.
Aside from the fear, confusion and excitement, I was sensing my mana being practically ripped out of me. Every magical word I had to form was becoming harder and harder to pronounce as my magic was being absorbed by the construct. Small white spots of light were dancing in my vision, like the ones visible in a really old movie footage. My thoughts have become sluggish and a general sense of confusion has started to weigh down my mind.
“The one… which we trample, … the one… that we use… and the one… that shall shake the world anew…” — In the wake of my words, the recently roused rock stalagmite began to break and mold into a statue like form. Resembling that of a human man holding onto a giant staff made of magically compressed rock.
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I was drenched in sweat, my body shaking from the sheer physical and mental effort it took me to speak the incantation this far.
And I still had a sentence to add.
I gathered the rest of my strength and pushed forward, attempting to get to the end.
“Pray…. pray that its ancient anger… may never spark… with blind fury.” — The moment I spoke the last word, I felt as if an immense pressure was lifted from my body.
As the tooth grinding pressure let up, I became lightheaded. My stomach churned and my eyes became blurry… Still, I grasped onto the shaft of my staff with sheer stubbornness, somehow managing to keep myself on my feet.
I will not collapse this time around… If I allow myself to collapse now, I won’t be able to get back on my feet again.
I stared up at the imposing sight of the giant magical construct towering far above me. It was a mesmerizing sight.
I simultaneously noticed that the battlefield had become suspiciously silent around me.
I glanced around curiously, a tired yet happy smile finding its way to my face seeing what was going on.
Everybody seemed strangely shocked, but appreciative towards my friend here. They were staring at the golem with wide eyes and open mouths. Even the goblins froze to gaze upon my summoned towering above the battlefield.
I tiredly glanced up at the golem… It was truly marvelous… It looked like a stereotypical knight from the middle ages wearing a full body plate armor. Its face couldn’t be seen through the closed helmet, though, a pity. Also, it was clearly made of rock, therefore its color was a dull dark brown which dispersed some of its glory.
As I said that, the construct’s head slowly turned in my direction.
Oh… he is looking at me now! Does he recognize me? The golem stared at me, as if it was waiting for something.
“Oh…“ — The realization eventually hit me. I probably need to give him an order. I pointed in the general direction of the goblin forces and said in a hitching voice. It was strange to talk normally again, without the strange feeling of mud filling my mouth or the panicking sense of constant drowning. — “Go… kill the goblins… and… protect the dwarfs, please…” — I told him in a somewhat uncertain tone of voice.
The golem didn’t show any sign of understanding at first. Then it surprisingly fluidly turned towards the bulk of the goblin forces grasping its staff… Wait, not quite… since said staff had morphed into a halbert while I didn’t look… How truly convenient...
Anyway, it grabbed the giant at least seven meter long weapon made of magically compressed stone held together by my magic. Then started to walk towards the front lines, shaking the earth with every step. The dwarfs that stood in its path were quickly scampering out of its way. Even if that act threatened to break battle formations. Apparently afraid that it might step on them. It didn’t matter though, since the goblins were frozen by the sight of the incoming abomination as well.
Lucky for them. The golem seemed to abide by my commands, since it carefully stepped around the confused and panicking dwarfs.
Its steps sent slight tremors through the ground as it advanced, completely unhindered by the chaos.
I was numbly staring after the golem, wondering if it would be enough to turn the tides, only to realize that I had absolutely no idea about its actual fighting potential.
Yeah… I hate using spells that I couldn’t even try out previously… what if the goblins simply overrun it without it being able to do any actual damage… Well… In that case we will probably die anyway so there is no reason to worry about potential repercussions…
I chuckled to myself at the thought, my mind too tired and muddy to comprehend the weight of those possibilities. Unknown to me, my antics have drawn quite a few judgemental glares from my surrounding, among them Tum’s and Tymur’s.
Alas, my worries seemed to be unnecessary. The next moment, the golem raised the halbert into the air with slow, measured movements. Moving it in a wide arc to take momentum safely above the head of the dwarfs.
The air seemed to freeze for a second, as both goblins, dwarfs and a single elf girl watched the events with abated breath.
The heavy atmosphere was broken by the ominously whistling sound of a giant weapon cutting through the air, so powerful that it created a slight breeze in the wide cavern.
Then a ground shakingly devastating strike slashed into the enemy lines. Ripping up the toughened earth and sending it as shrapnel even further into the encircling goblins lines.
The sounds of violently squashed goblins filled the cave for a terribly long second. Eerily similar to the sound of a meat cleaver chopping down onto a carefully prepared slab of meat and bone.
As the powerful tremor passed, it was followed by the disgusting sounds of flying bodies and body parts hitting against cave walls and lastly… The inhuman screams of death, pain and complete animalistic panic that swept over the battlefield.
My jaw fell open as I looked at the sight of a biblical colossus wreaking havoc on the battlefield and sending waves of panic in a single stroke of its devastating weapon.
Seeing the absolute destruction many folds above any of my estimations, I felt my expression becoming even paler as a sense of horror coursed through my blood like freezing ice.
Oh, my God…
I watched the terrifying events repeat once more in a similar fashion and saw that the goblins that were previously about to overrun us now were just about to run away.
I, for the first time since I came to this world, felt a sense of genuine terror and disgust towards magic. Magic, that was anything but interesting and wonderful to me, now started to feel like a burden, and a heavy responsibility.
The golem I just created was nothing short of an emotionless killing machine… one that was more than capable of turning the tides of a battle in the matter of seconds.
Another tremor shook the ground, laying waste to tens of goblins in a single stroke, and the colossus was already preparing for a followup.
The goblins at last were roused from their shocked state and began to run away in waves. Escaping blindly in the face of overwhelming power. As if death itself descended onto the battlefield, wielding its deadly scythe, harvesting souls with the indifference of a gardener cutting out useless weeds.
The thought, that… that thing, was something I summoned. Therefore, it was my responsibility… everything that it did… it was revolting… Even with the thought that it was all in self defense, that otherwise we would be the ones killed and laughed at.
The thought alone, that I could summon a golem that could lay waste to armies… What… what if I lost control over it? The idea itself filled me with even more terror, as I imagined the dwarfs being the ones sent flying, crashing against the walls like bugs flattening on the windscreen of a speeding car.
My stomach flipped over and I felt bile gathering in my throat, but I swallowed it back, forcefully.
No… I shouldn’t look aside… I did this… because I didn’t want to die here… nor did I want to allow my new companions to die. It is how this world functions… The sooner I accept it, the better.
With considerable effort put behind the simple motion, I raised my head once again and looked at the running goblins being trampled over by my golem.
I struggled with the lingering dizziness and bursts of nausea, but I held out through sheer willpower.
At last, the goblins disappeared into the dark side tunnels from where they had emerged. The golem stopped chasing them, unable to leave the large cavern thanks to its sheer size.
Instead, it slowly turned around and started to walk back in our direction.
This has caused the dwarfs to stiffen up. Some going as far as to run into the narrow tunnel behind me, following the example of the goblins.
I gulped, seeing how the golem had practically skipped through the distance of the enormous cavern in a matter of seconds.
The dwarfs respectfully made a wide path to the golem, seeing with relief that it did not intend to attack them.
Soon enough, the deadly construct was standing at my attention right in front of me.
I gulped dryly, craning my neck to look up at the towering golem. I couldn’t overlook the black blood staining parts of its body and weapon turning it into an ominous black. A slight shiver passed through my body from the sight alone as the golem seemed to stare into my soul with its cold eyes hidden behind the visor of its helmet.
“Uhm… g-good… good job!” — I said, eventually. Unsure how to interact with a magical construct that could snuff me out with the same effort of me extinguishing a candle.
I didn’t know how long the golem would stay here to begin with, it might remain active for another hour, or eternity… I had absolutely no idea about that. Still, I will have to give it an acceptable order.
“Uhm… p-please… w-w-would you w-watch over this a-area? In the c-case of in-invading b-beasts… or g-goblins?”
The golem straightened up without a word, or any sign that it understood what I said. Then it walked out of the way, standing next to a wall, unmoving like a giant statue.
A moment of silence has fallen over the enormous cavern that just recently was considered an active battlefield.