The sight of the giant golden snake made all of us pale. This technique was one of the ones mentioned by Satala, but it was on a totally different scale. According to her briefing, it took time to transmute things into gold, and the materials used mattered. Coating the walls and floors must have taken him ages, and a not insignificant amount of soul power. By condensing the gold he made it stronger, and was able to effectively make a low level enchanted weapon.

"Huh." Said Benny as he looked up at the serpent through the transparent turtle shell. "Guys. I think this might be a trap."

We all turned to glare at him, and Celine pinched her nose. "Yes, love. We knew that when we came in here. Also, in case the walls made of gold didn't give it away, the whole building coming alive and trying to kill us made that quite clear."

He shrugged. "That's fair. I wasn't really paying attention, honestly. You guys talk a lot, and I sort of drift in and out. I was working on ideas for new inventions." He squinted up at the snake. "I wonder what I could make out of that thing. Actually, I'm going to use that. Dibs."

"You can't call DIBS on the giant golden snake weapon." I protested. "If anyone gets dibs it's Nat, we're contractually obligated to give her first pick."

"Can you two PLEASE focus." Snapped Callie. "We're about to be eaten by a giant construct monster."

"I don't think it's going to eat us." I said uneasily. "Look at its mouth." The snake's jaws had begun to fall open, and I saw a terrifying glow from within. That explained why he'd superheated the walls before making it. Shit. "Brace for impact!" I shouted, grabbing the team member who was making the shell and channeling Mountain Stance.

The snake reared back and struck, not biting, but throwing its whole body forward like a whip as it vomited forth a TORRENT of glowing golden metal.

"Oh shit!" Yelped Benny. "It can breathe molten gold? I didn't know it could do that. Did anyone ELSE know it could do that?" His voice was high and panicked, which I understood as I grimaced under the force of the blow to the turtle shell. Of course, if I was shaken, that was nothing compared to Adrian, the thin, long haired man making the shell.

As the golden deluge hit the shield, he vomited blood, doubling over, and the shell began to crack. I could see the burning metal starting to seep through the cracks, and hear the hissing as I realized the snake had somehow made the gold fucking poisonous. Or venomous? It wasn't a real snake so I wasn't sure. Regardless it was eating through the shell and Adrian was failing fast.

"Drop it!" Barked Abel, and I nodded to the other man, still doubled over. Adrian dropped the shield and Abel lashed out with a hand, making a waving motion and creating an arc of lubricated space the diverted the gold.

Then he lashed out with a phantom hand and slapped the snake away. I looked around, seeing that Bethy and Gabriel had split up to hammer attacks into Pallax while Yvette held his attention. Sadly, the binding plan was on hold because the golden haired priest was VERY mobile, even while operating his fucking giant snake.

"Does that thing look smaller to you?" I called hopefully to the others still in our group? A chunk of them had split off to help try to pin down Pallax with invocations, but we still had ten with us, counting Adrian who admittedly wasn't in great shape.

Jessie appeared next to him, laying on hands and pumping in life energy while Benny laid one on his shoulder to channel spiritual calming. "Probably." Said our healer distractedly. "That gold had to come from somewhere, and condensing it only gets you so far." She grimaced as she stood up. "That's all I can do. Most of the damage wasn't physical. Benny will be more help for the soul stuff."

Abel stepped up next to her. "That works. Mel is off trying to help the Vampire and the choir boy. I need a partner for this next part. I had an idea if you'll trust me. I need you to get Randall within touching distance."

"Sure." She shrugged. Her bear companion was close by, acting as a shield against the snake that was still recovering, either from Abel's attack or from vomiting up half its mass. I was concerned the gold might have either been part of or be damaging the temple, but at a glance it was clear some of the enchantments were defensive. They did NOT want this thing broken.

Randall shuffled back, and Abel put a hand on Jessie's shoulder, and one on Randall's flank. He grinned like a lunatic as he screamed. "BEAR WITNESS!"

With a massive heave of power, he leveraged Ragam, pulling the other two into the invocation and leveraging his powerful soul to handle it. IN the air above them a MASSIVE image of a fucking BEAR made of green energy appeared above him, glaring right at the snake as it roared in defiance, sweeping its paws up and around to create a series of afterimages just like the six arm attack stance Abel used in combat.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The snake froze, staring in bewilderment at the huge green animal before Abel's bear construct started raining down a torrent of slaps on the golden monster. The impact of each blow was only enough to make slight dents like before, but the rain of smacks was knocking the snake around like a sock in a windstorm.

We all just stood there and stared at the giant green energy bear. "Well." I said faintly. "That's something you don't see every day." The bear was absolutely ruining the snake's day. Randall's massive Might, Jessie's life force to keep up the output and Ragam to tie it all in a bow. The combination of all those factors made the damned construct an absolute MACHINE of destruction.

"They've got this!" Shouted Callie in my ear, trying to be heard over the noise. "We need to help the others with Pallax!"

She was right, tapping the others (minus one or two people to watch their backs while they fought) we bolted over to where the battle with the priest was still going strong. Gabriel's charger was dashing in circles trying to circle around the blonde man, and Yvette was hurling herself in front of attacks to try to prevent him from smashing the others. Bethy had her cats out and was flashing back and forth trying to exploit weaknesses, using them to attack when she had him distracted and vice versa, though to minimal success.

Pallax, for his part, looked mostly serene as he shuttled across the stone, hurling wobbling orbs and whips of molten gold to try to control the battlefield. I lashed out with a hand, triggering Pit of Despair, and he cursed as the ground dissolved into dust under him, catching himself with a golden claw.

I made sure the ground reformed once he was free. I was surprised that even worked, but I didn't want to damage any important enchantment portions. The distraction forced him to sit still though, and Gabriel's lance smashed into his exposed shoulder with a bellow of "RUBRUM GLORIA!"

The priest soaked the damage, being thrown backwards, and landed gracefully, glaring at the crusader. He'd finally gotten upset at the situation, but it was too late. There was a blaze of dark energy, and the ground beneath him opened up as a pair of flaming green skeletal hands reached up and snagged a wrist each. I saw Nasha sway, Markoth propping her up as a bunch of the others funneled stats into the invocation.

"Bethy!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs. "Tee me up! On his back!" She seemed confused for a second, then looked down at her stake and realized my plan. She slashed her wrist, bleeding on the weapon as she dove at his back, slamming the stake into it and grimacing as it stopped at only a few inches in. But I didn't mind that at all. I'd expected it in fact.

Double Trouble. Afterburner. Marked for Death. Mercy Kill. Triple strength density shifted attack. Touch of Tears. Consecration of Flame. A full power swing from my staff, and all the death energy stored in the thing. I put every ounce of power in my body into the strike as I swung my E-ranked weapon in one of the forms Willow had shown me to maximize sudden power.

The staff came down with a terrifying force...right on top of the exposed end of the stake that Bethy had yanked her hand away from and left stuck in Pallax's back. The raw force of my blow hit the end of the stake like a hammer driving a nail into a plank of wood. The massive stacked attack drove it right through his back and into his heart, the death energy being carried through it by the power of all my subskills.

Unfortunately for Pallax, the stake wasn't made to be smashed in with an E-rank bludgeon, and once the staff completed its arc it fucking EXPLODED in a shower of flaming green poisony death right inside his back. He threw back his head and howled, but he wasn't down for the count. I snagged my own stake from my belt and yelled. "Gabe!" As I hurled it end over end to the crusader.

He reached up and snatched it from the air, tying it to the end of his lance in a way I suspected wouldn't have worked for any non Ascendant. Pallax roared, yanking back and forth and the skeletal hands started to crack as Nasha screamed in agony. Markoth roared. "HURRY THE HELLS UP!"

Gabriel mounted his charger, and I could feel the air shift as his Path infused his lance, his steed, and his whole being. His eyes blazed with divine light as he blurred forward, an avalanche of unstoppable force and fury as he repeated his battle cry of "RUBRUM GLORIA!" At the top of his lungs. Path, ability, weapon, and faith merged into a gleaming comet of shining glorious death as the lance hit Pallax head on and SPEARED the stake right into him, hammering it into his heart.

The priest threw back his head and roared in pain and despair as a torrent of white light poured out of his body, the merged attack funneled through the stake exploding inside him as blazing faith powered Adamant strength shone from eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

Nasha released her hold with a wail and fell to the groun, Markoth catching her as Benny blurred over to help with his spiritual calming. Almost in slow motion, Pallax's body toppled to the floor, eyes charred out, limply sprawled on the dark stone as his massive snake construct lost its animating force and slammed into the ground with a crash. I triggered a pair of my heal bursts on myself, and walked over to use one more on Nasha, hoping to help with the last of my Afterburner buff.

"Everyone alright?" I croaked as the weakness tore through me, mixing with the vital energy to create an extremely nauseating cocktail of sensations.

Almost two dozen voices called their affirmative, and I slumped to the ground, exhausted and panting. We'd made it. Our last mission before the biggest fight of our lives and no one died in the attempt. Sadly we still had to do the real work though. I groaned and got to my feet. "Alright. Places everybody. We need to get that bastard in the coffin and adjust the ritual before all the life in his body fades." After that though, I was gonna take a fucking nap. This had been rough.