Thirteen observed three golems as they emerged from the ground inside the glowing magic circle. It was not the first time she had seen this kind of creature and immediately recognized the rune carved into its face. A poor job, she noted, thinking that only a fool would place the heart of a golem in such a vulnerable area. The bodies of the golems seemed to be made from clay and came in human shape, a weak shape for combat and thus mostly used for utility golems. However, Thirteen could not shake the feeling that she was wrong about this.
She was proven correct as once the golems had fully emerged, they started a slow, yet threatening approach and she was almost certain that they would lash out at her once they got in close.
To dispel any kind of doubt behind her conclusion, she felt six sources of mana ahead of her, and while she could not read the spell, it materialized in six thin pillars of rock rising from the ground in a half-circle around her. Once each was about eight feet out of the ground, the rock pillars started to crack and brittle until, on each, a single weapon remained, lodged into a small base to hold them.
They were simple weapons. A sword and a spear to her left. A dagger and a warhammer to her right. A battle axe and a quarterstaff before her.
She did not need to think long to understand that she was being given a choice to choose a weapon and that a fight was about to break out soon enough. The golems were about a hundred steps away from her, but they showed no signs of stopping.
She was not really a spirit for weapons like the ones offered, but I guess I have to make do with these. Since warhammer and battle axe were heavy, they would only make her slow, which was dangerous when fighting multiple enemies. Quarterstaff and spear were both weapons she judged too long. The dagger had too little reach.
“Sword it is,” she said, walking over to and grabbing the sword’s handle, breaking the blade out of the rock that was holding it. It was about as deadly looking as a weapon as one could create from raw rock, but she could feel magic contained within it and despite what it was made from, when she ran her index finger across the edge, it cut her skin with ease. Though she supposed her spirit body was not really a good base to judge this on, it was good enough.
The sword’s blade was broad and straight, double-edged and thinning toward the tip. It had a simple, straight handle with a broadened pommel and no guard. She gave it a couple of test swings, its weight not interfering with her movements too much. It will have to do.
Her attention was drawn to the other weapons as they crumbled and shattered. Apparently, her choice had been final. Quickly accepting of the fact, she redirected her attention to the golems. About fifty steps. Time to warm up a little.
Making a few more practice swings, she waited until the golems reached her. It had been a very long time since she had last fought with a sword, but she was still a spirit, still herself, still a former king.
To her golems of this shape and level were nothing special. Judging by the rune on its face, a minor spirit had been used to implant life into it, and minor spirits were mindless for the most part and simply existed as a manifestation from nature rather than an individual. Unfortunately, that made her charm pretty much useless against them. But once she was thinking about her skills, an idea flashed across her mind and she grinned.
Fighting had never been something she enjoyed, however, she knew someone whose sole purpose in life seemed to be to bring destruction. It was why he had chosen the name to begin with. Snapping her fingers, Nihil’s circle appeared and the shire rose from the ground not much unlike the golems had only moments before. Nihil roared, announcing his arrival, and as much as Thirteen wanted to pet him then, she yelled, “Nihil!” and pointed her sword toward the three golems. Nihil turned to face them, snorting once. “Annihilate!” Thirteen ordered.
At the moment, Nihil had been reduced to a normal horse, but even then, he was massive and possessed the spirit of ten warhorses. And just like he had been ordered to do, he charged forward without hesitation, his hooves clacking across the chamber floor.
The golems had likely been tasked with attacking Thirteen, so they paid no mind to Nihil even as he tackled right into the first golem, crushing it under his hooves as he galloped over it.The other two continued, entirely ignoring their dead comrade, but Nihil kicked with his hind legs, shattering the head of the second one, then followed up by biting into the third’s shoulder and jerking his head toward Thirteen, throwing the damaged golem to land right at her feet.
Thirteen whistled at the violent display, amazed that Nihil was still terrifying in this form. Although she found it quite cute to see him trample the golems to pieces, even after they died.
The third golem, despite the throw and rough landing, was still alive, so Thirteen stabbed it through the head before it could stand up and make a fuss. To her surprise, that action triggered a reaction she had not expected. A box of text appeared in her vision.
You have defeated [Lower-Grade Clay Golem]. Lower-grade Spirit will be integrated into the Thirteenth Spirit [Thirteen].
Congratulations! Your existence has reached a new level. You are now Level 2.
You have received one Stat Point to assign to your stats.
“Huh,” she muttered. It had been so long since she last killed a spirit that she almost forgot. The feeling of absorbing the mana of a spirit and making it her own. After having reached the pinnacle in her homeworld, she had stopped killing her own and if conflict arose, she had had enough legions to carry out her will.
A rush of heat filled her, a tingling under her skin as she could feel herself expand. Not physically, but on a spiritual level. I forgot how good growing feels, she thought, taking a deep, elated breath.
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Your Mana increased from 1,000 to 2,000.
Mana: 1,996/2,000
To think that a mortal managed to create a system that can monitor this process. No, this is not something a mere mortal could accomplish. But who could? And why would they?
It was a mystery Thirteen started to take some interest in, but she also realized that she would not be getting any answers right now and decided to focus on what’s in front of her. And that was the level up. That, too, was something she was not familiar with. It was a label for growing stronger, but Stat points were new to her and the system appeared to give her a choice in which direction she would like her growth to go.
A Stat point, huh, she thought. Despite her unfamiliarity with the concept, she had a vague understanding of how this was supposed to work. And it made her somewhat excited, almost more so than the initial level up.
Strength: 2
Agility: 4
Vitality: N/A
Intelligence: 10
Perception: 10
Willpower: 10
Strength, she chose, and the system responded.
Strength: 2 → 3
Huh, it worked. I’m getting quite good at this.
Because she had already been powerful once and was well aware of her own weaknesses back then, she decided to improve on what she had lacked back then. Her lack of individual strength was what had caused her to dislike fighting somewhat, and it had made her rise to power unnecessarily difficult. If she could, she would not let herself repeat the past once again.
When she was finished with her status and made it go away, Nihil was standing before her, and approached to nuzzle against her cheek. Chuckling, Thirteen caressed his muzzle.
“You are incredible, Nihil.”
Nihil snorted with satisfaction and pride, whipping his tail a few times. It then came to Thirteen that she had only gotten a notification for one of the golems. Right, Nihil’s kills go to him, not me. While Nihil appeared like a normal shire horse, he was also a spirit. Different from her and the other seventy-one, but a spirit nonetheless.
Thirteen would like him to become strong once again, but she also recognized that her own growth had to take priority right now as Nihil was only a temporary asset. “Thank you for helping me out, Nihil,” she said, taking a few moments to simply pet him when she saw the very same spot as before illuminate with a magic circle.
“I am going to try to do this on my own for a while, but I will call you when I need you,” she told Nihil and after he neighed her goodbye, she canceled his summon and watched him disappear.
His absence immediately soured her mood and it did not get any better when she saw that this time four golems had been summoned. They were the same kind as the first three and moved in the same slow and stunted manner.
Raising her sword again, she got into something akin to a stance and waited. There was no sense in rushing this, especially if there was to come another wave of golems after this one–something that she had to anticipate as of now.
Once the first golem reached her, it lashed out with a clumsy swing of its arm. It made no fist nor did it have claws and it was not very fast either. With little effort, Thirteen made a step to the right and avoided it, then slashed from above with her sword, separating arm from shoulder.
As expected, the golem showed no signs of pain or recognition of the wound and simply turned to hit with the other arm, but before it could do so, Thirteen thrust the blade at the golem’s head. The rounded tip poked into the side of its head but failed to penetrate in a meaningful way. Clicking her tongue at her own lack of strength as well as her weapon, she readjusted the blade and slid it across the golem’s face, slashing through the life-giving rune in its face and killing it.
You have defeated [Lower-Grade Clay Golem]. Lower-grade Spirit will be integrated into the Thirteenth Spirit [Thirteen].
The golem dropped to the ground, like a puppet whose strings were cut, and shattered upon impact. Taking a few quick steps back, Thirteen took note of the other three golems, one approached her one each side, left and right, while the fourth was further back and would eventually attack her from the front.
Thirteen let the second and third golem get in close, but moved a little closer to the right one. The golem responded and attacked in a similarly clumsy manner as the other one, and like before, Thirteen had no problems to dodge, but this time, she ducked beneath the attack as golem swung horizontally at her, and as she crouched, she cut through the golem’s legs, making it fall.
Feeling the approach from behind, she rolled out of the way, avoiding the strike of the third golem. Quickly getting back to her feet, she kicked away the hand of the legless golem, frowning as she looked at her own flesh reddening, the kick seemingly having damaged herself more than the golem.
Dodging two swings from the third golem, Thirteen slashed at it cutting off its right hand. The legless golem started crawling toward her, forcing her to divide her attention. She would have to hurry or the fourth golem would also join in on this.
Realizing that, Thirteen disregarded defense and switched to offense, dashing forward, twisting her body to avoid a punch from the third golem, then slashing through the rune, killing it.
You have defeated [Lower-Grade Clay Golem]. Lower-grade Spirit will be integrated into the Thirteenth Spirit [Thirteen].
As the golem crumbled, Thirteen could feel something wrap around her ankle. The legless golem squeezed her pseudo-flesh hard, but ceased any movement when Thirteen ended its miserable existence with a quick cut.
You have defeated [Lower-Grade Clay Golem]. Lower-grade Spirit will be integrated into the Thirteenth Spirit [Thirteen].
Congratulations! Your existence has reached a new level. You are now Level 2.
You have received one Stat Point to assign to your stats.
Your Mana increased from 2,000 to 3,000.
Strength: 3 → 4
She did not need to think about where to put the stat point and raised her strength immediately before closing her status. She could feel the sword in her hand grow lighter, even if only by a little.
Let’s put that to test, she thought and then broke out in a dash. She had been fighting defensively up until now, but the golems were clearly not a threat by themselves.
She closed the distance to it, and even before it could try to attack her, slashed across its face, destroying the run and making the golem crumble onto the floor.
You have defeated [Lower-Grade Clay Golem]. Lower-grade Spirit will be integrated into the Thirteenth Spirit [Thirteen].
As she observed the rigid corpse laying on the ground before her–if it could even be called that–Thirteen came upon a realization.
After her summoner had starved her, robbed her, he was now feeding her to regain what he had taken. At first, she had thought her weakening was to control her, maybe it was, but her summoner clearly did not want her to remain weak. Thirteen looked over to the spot where the magic circle once again started to glow.
If her summoner wanted her strong, then she would get strong. Stronger than he would ever have wished for.
Just you wait, mortal. I’m going to make you regret summoning me!
She grinned and, with sword in hand, rushed at the five golems that had appeared in the chamber.