Part 1
It was only a subtle movement, nothing but a slight tremor in the stone. Yet, in comparison to their previous motionlessness, the slight trembling of those statues set all of my nerves on fire, making me jump several steps backward while drawing my dagger. Though I wasn't the only one. Dominik had already jumped in front of Dino, as a good servant would do, and Lucas was already descending in his lowered battle stance.
To the increasing trembles, the sound of stone grinding against stone added even more to the already pressuring display. When the sound reached its apex, more than ten statues had already picked up their weapons and taken their first steps after what seemed centuries away from their nooks. The pressure those statues emitted was almost palpable, as if a pack of hungry beasts was looking down on us as prey. Yet it was clear to me, although they had mana coursing through them, those things weren't alive.
[Golems I see...-] I thought, inspecting the closest statue through the use of natural mana [- Strange type though. I'm sure golems are supposed to have a core. Do those things work in the same way?]
I spun the dagger a couple of times in my hand, just to gain familiarity with the weapon and, while doing so, I noticed the sinister look in my brother's eyes. With a slight nudge of the head, I signaled him to back away, as so did Dino and Dominik. Just in time for the statues to stop in their tracks, motionless once again in front of their nooks.
"Are those supposed to be golems?-" Asked my brother, cautious not to raise his voice more than necessary, most likely not to attract the attention of our soon-to-be opponents "- Never heard of ones this big though! Is this some kind of, I don't know, "ancient-type" or something?"
"You took the words out of my mouth-" I replied surprised "- But it's not just their height, they don't have a core. At least that one in front, I don't know about the others. Anyway, they should work same as common golems"
"Golems, uh...-" Interveened Dino "- A stone golem is usually referred as a bronze-tier monster, nonetheless should we think of them as silver-tier just to be safe? With those numbers and sizes it wouldn't be too far-fetched. I'm asking you since you said you've been adventurers, but have you ever fought a golem?"
"A golem never" Rapidly replied Lucas.
"But we did come across a couple of treants. Albeit considerably weaker, they still are part of the golem family. If it had a core I'd suggest you aim for it but since it doesn't look the case, cut their limbs but don't go for the neck. They may work still even after cutting their heads off"
"So we ARE fighting them" Said Dominik nervously tapping the ground with the tip of his sword.
"Want to make a bet?" Cheerfully asked Lucas as he jumped in between our group.
"What are you talking about?" Retorted Dino, clearly shaken by the sudden request.
"You see, Raph and I always made a bet whenever we took a quest-" He began explaining as if it was the most basic of knowledge "- It makes it funnier, doesn't it? So I say, why not include you two in the bet?"
"HA! Crazy kid!-" Chuckled the bearded man "- What are the rules?"
"Dominik!-" Exploded Dino "- You can't be seriously considering this game!"
"Why not? We must fight our way through anyway, no? Having a little bit of fun and competition won't cause us any trouble. So, rules?"
"Right, right...mhh, how about we make it a team thing? Sir Dominik and Dino against Raph and I. How does that sound? As for rules, mhh, I guess the team who takes down the most golems wins?"
"Alright!-" Replied Dominik, his always serious expression now tainted with a faint smirk hidden under his growing beard "- The prize?"
"A favour-" I promptly replied as I watched Lucas put on his struggling face "- The winner gets to ask a favour of the loser. It can be claimed anytime but it has to be within limits, of course. Is that fair?"
"Whatever, let's go with that!" Replied Dino, now surprisingly full of newfound energy that shocked even Dominik in front of him.
Our discussion must have taken more time than we realized since, as soon as we finished talking, the golems had begun taking their first steps toward us. Their steps were slow and every time one of their feet hit the ground, a loud sound echoed through the long hallway. They marched at us, weapons at the ready, in a disorganized manner with a blue glint shining in their eye sockets. That glint confirmed the presence of mana in their rocky bodies.
Dominik had just begun asking when were we to strike when I passed by them at high speed. The mana channeled in my legs propelled me, closing the gap between me and the golems in a matter of seconds. The dagger in my right hand and a wind-type spell rapidly forming in my left. My target was a golem dragging a longsword longer than my entire height. With a swift forward step followed by a jump, I was looking the golem in its dead eyes as it slowly reacted to my presence by attempting to grab me with its free hand. I didn't give it time. The spell, a concentrated version of [Wind schyte], was already completely formed and sticking out of my palm like an embedded blade. I struck the arm carrying the longsword, right where the shoulder attaches to the torso. Unsurprisingly, the dagger did not make even the slightest dent, rather it bounced back hard enough to make me feel tremors all the way up to my own shoulder. That wasn't the case for the magic attack. The sword of wind cut through the rock fairly easily up until it reached about half of it, before it encountered a layer of what seemed to be harder rock. A precise burst of mana was enough to enhance the sword just enough to cut through the shoulder like a hot knife.
Seeing the grey shadow of its remaining arm looming over me, I jumped off the golem just in time for its open palm to slam on its chest right where I previously stood. From the open wound, a gush of blue viscous liquid spilled like a fountain, painting the golem's side in luminous blue shades. Without caring for its lost limb, the golem kept marching forward, its gleaming eyes fixed on me.
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"Thanks for weakening it!" Shouted Dominik as he strode past me. His longsword already charged in an upward slash by his side.
Seeing the approaching figure, the golem shifted its attention from me and swung its remaining arm like a mace, hitting the ground where Dominik was supposed to be. A slight dodge to the side was enough for the bearded guard to avoid the hit. What he didn't expect was for the golem to sweep its arm in an attempt to strike Dominik. Surprised by that, Dominik was forced to stop his pursuit, just momentarily, and use the weight of his sword to aid him in a side-flip. A clear show of mastery over athletics and sword arts. The golem had no time to stop its sweep before Dominik's sword struck one of its armored knees. Unlike my dagger, the sword went through it almost fully. Seeing as he wasn't able to cut deeper, Dominik changed the grip on his sword and spun around his place, dragging the sword out of the golem's knee only to strike it again, just on the opposite side. Blue liquid gushed out of the wound and the golem wobbled for a second before falling face-first on the ground. Now rendered powerless, the golem could do nothing but await its end under a storm of hits from Dominik and Dino who had just joined his guard.
"Impressive-" Said Lucas tauntingly as he rested his arm on my shoulder "- you got your prey stolen. Aren't you getting rusty?"
"Oh shut it!-" I replied shooing away my brother's arm and commencing a stride towards another incoming golem "- I'm just figuring out how they work!"
"One point for us! You two better get to work!" Shouted Dino with a triumphant grin on his face just as I was about to jump onto another golem's chest.
I had planned to slowly test my newfound strength for the first time consciously since the battle in the ruined city, but hearing that provocation made me scratch that idea with an excited grin plastered on my lips. I jumped back, dodging a downward strike of an axe, and rolled to the side to avoid the slam of a hammer. With my dagger rapidly sheathed, I used both hands to increase the control over my next spell's mana. I waited just a second before both the attacking golems were in my range and opened the dams preventing my mana to flow into the spell. Pillars of grey stone shaped like nails rose from the ground, breaking the fine tiles and sending gusts of wind that made the blue fire tremble. The two golems were not fast enough to escape my spell and ended up skewered by many pillars. At their feet, a small pond of blue liquid began forming and I took it as a sign that the stone I conjured was strong enough to penetrate that hard inside layer. Without waiting further, I swung my arm just like I would do with a sword and the spell forming in my palm followed. A [Wind schyte] large enough to engulf both golems flew from my hands and crashed on their chest. The golem with the axe had a free arm and tried to sacrifice it to protect itself but failed and both golems ended up with a large wound gushing blue liquid across their chests. Their eyes stopped glowing and parts of their armor crumbled like old stone, creating a tall cloud of dust over their bodies.
"It's two to one now!" I retorted, clearing the dust off myself.
"Three to one, actually!" Added Lucas as he struggled to unstuck his sword gleaming with red warmth from the back of a motionless golem.
I took a moment to catch my breath and assess the situation, something that Lucas seemed to forget since he jumped straight toward another golem. Dominik and Dino were much similar to him but slightly more careful as they faced only one golem at a time and simultaneously, which made them slower in racking up points but steadier. Dino's sword was outstandingly precise. He carefully hit only the places where Dominik's sword had left a wound, and it was a good method considering that neither of them was able to manipulate mana like us brothers. Rhythmically they struck legs, arms, and back with Dominik taking the lead and Dino following right after.
Lucas' sword, on the other hand, was a lot more chaotic in its targets yet it showed gracefulness in its movements. Sometimes he struck a wrist, others the neck, others he would simply dodge as if trying to taunt the golems into hitting him. I could only see beauty in the motions that his red-hot blade performed and the shadows it cast on the stone colossuses.
Being swept by that wave of excitement and adrenaline, I freed myself of any restraint I had mentally created and melted in that chaotic mess. I let my mind flow free and with it, my firm hold on the roads that led to my use of natural mana. I tapped into it and let the flow of information rush into my head, creating a mental map of the position of my opponents. Running mana through my legs once more, I strode forward past all three of my companions and came face to face with a wall of golems. Five of them had formed a line, out of pure coincidence rather than purpose, and were slowly marching with their glowing eyes now turned on me.
I shouted the word and the mana running through my palm converted into water that splashed through the hallway into a puddle that covered it in a thin layer. Shifting my full concentration to the following spell, I turned the puddle into a layer of solid ice taking advantage of a derivative spell making use of wind and the concept of heat. Or rather it's lack.
As expected, the golems struggled to walk forward. Two of them fell on their backs while the others wobbled but kept approaching even though considerably slower. Using fire in an enclosed space wasn't wise so I once more resorted to my predilect element. With both hands at shoulder height, I shouted "Stormforth" and a sudden burst of wind, strong enough to push me back a few steps crashed on my opponents. Being an upper advanced-tier spell, [Stormforth] didn't simply create a rush of wind mimicking the strength of a storm. It was a spell that could be compared to a wall made of countless small blades of wind the size of nails. Easy to defend against for a mage of the same caliber as the caster, but for a being unable to rely on mana it meant being shredded to death. That end awaited my victims. While being made of solid rock spared them from turning into rubble, it caused chunks of their bodies to fall and splashes of blue to paint the walls. Only one remained "alive" once the spell lost effect, and all it took was a [Wind schyte] of the lowest level across the chest to empty the golem's eyes of all light.
"Now it's eight!" I laughed as I rose over the rubble that was one of my opponents.
Curses shouted from across the hallway made me laugh even louder before the swing of a battleaxe, dangerously close to my feet, slapped me back to the fight. Focusing solely on water-type spells this time, I dodged and dodged every swing of the long battleaxe as I applied more and more pressure to the mana swirling in my palm. Once I reached the desired pressure, I dashed forward, surpassing the battleaxe's reach and touching the golem's chest. Releasing [Jet pressure], a spell categorized as practitioner-tier but said to be an anomaly due to the caster's ability to pressurize mana, caused me to roll several meters back, hitting my back and head on the rubbles.
I stood up in a daze, massaging the now-forming bump on the back of my head, just in time to gaze at the golem falling lifelessly on its back with a gaping hole the size of a ball in its chest. A new smirk, wider than the previous, crossed my lips as I announced the new score.
The battle continued relentless for what appeared as hours that dragged on slower and slower the more energy we spent. More than once I had to stop my onslaught to fall behind the line of corpses and heal one of my companions, Dominik particularly since he more than once acted as a shield for Dino. Luckily there were no severe injuries except for one on Lucas' thigh which forced me to use a great deal of mana to heal.
A frenzy of water, wind, and stone attack-type spells gushed from my palms as I tested out the limits of my newly enhanced mana circuit. Once satisfied with the attack, I focused on support. Parrying a swing with a wall of stone, freezing- though poorly- the legs of a golem, cladding in wind a sword. It helped me focus on the control aspect of the spells rather than the usual raw power that I aimed for. Even simply generating a constant current of favorable, fresh wind required a certain amount of control. Of course, it couldn't be called training if I didn't have to dodge the incoming hits. That attitude caused me, not only once, to receive words such as "crazy bastard" or "masochist".
With a red-glowing blade stuck on its back, the last golem fell and, rather triumphantly, a shout carrying the number of enemies felled- which surpassed by a dozen the other team's number- rose from my brother's throat: 61.