He barely dodged a stomp by rolling across the ground. What the hell am I thinking about in a situation like this? Economics, as if that's going to do me any good if my head gets crushed. Vincent shook it off. Focus. They had to destroy this thing.
Tara fired two arrows at once. And of course, though she didn't miss, they simply bounced off its forehead, so to speak, doing nothing.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Target ‘Unidentified Golem’ is immune to piercing damage. Damage dealt: 0]
She tried with three arrows, shooting at the same spot, right between the eyes. Nothing.
"I don't think I'm gonna be much help here," Tara said, taking a step back.
She was a good shot, and she never ran out of arrows. Against flesh-and-blood opponents, she was incredibly useful. But here, since she apparently didn't have any special arrows—water arrows, fire arrows, or something, what did he know?—he wasn't sure what skills an archer could unlock, but, well, yeah, she was right. He didn't think she was going to be of much use. Though neither was he, to be honest. He took three steps back, gritting his teeth.
"Alright, let's spread out. We're too bunched up; it can attack all of us at once. This way, at least it'll have to turn its back on someone."
"Good idea," Ayame said.
The four of them put it into practice. It made things a little easier, but they still had no good way to take down the monster.
"What's the best way to kill a golem?" Tara asked, looking at Elizabeth, who was moving but hadn't done anything yet. Magical energy was gathering in her fists, as if waiting for the perfect moment to erupt.
"I don't know," she replied slowly.
Well, great. The mage was obviously their best bet against a magical construct, but she was clueless.
"There are many types of golems, and I don't know what kind this one is. No, I'm not sure."
"Well, we're pretty much screwed," Ayame said, and an instant later had to dodge a punch that the golem had thrown with surprising speed.
The force of the impact vaporized the wall behind her, except for the debris that flew out like small stone bullets. Ayame landed on the golem's enormous arm and started running up it, heading, he assumed, for the head. There was no reason to think it would have the same weak points, even if it had a humanoid form, but you had to start somewhere.
"What would you need to be sure?" Ayame didn't stop running and asked the question casually, as if this were something she did every day.
"Time," Elizabeth said, simply.
"Well, let's see if we can buy you some."
Ayame continued her run towards the golem's head. Meanwhile, Elizabeth attacked with a whip of magical energy in each hand, doing what she could. Well, everyone was doing what they could. The problem was that for Tara and him, the answer seemed to be nothing, other than standing around and watching, which was deeply unpleasant. But what did he expect? He felt as if a kind of prison, a cage, were closing in around him. He was nothing more than a blacksmith stuffed into armor that a real adventurer should be wearing. He could spend the entire day hitting that mass of rock with his sword without even scratching it. So, what good was he, other than decoration? What did he need to do?
He was aware that brute force wasn't the only thing that decided the outcome of a battle. And he had a good head on his shoulders, at least, no worse than any of them. He looked around; still nothing came to him. What the hell could he do? Not a single strategy came to mind. Normally, he was the one giving the orders, if only because Ayame and Tara were much more direct and preferred to follow and do what they could in their own way rather than think about that sort of thing. But right now, he wasn't even useful for that. His mind was blank. He didn't feel fear, he didn't feel rage. More than anything, he felt like he was going to be sick. No one likes to hit a wall. And to do it by surprise was even worse.
Ayame reached the shoulder and from there leaped to the head, spinning in the air a couple of times and landing just as elegantly. The impact knocked the enormous Golem back three or four meters.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Critical Hit! Damage dealt: 12. Target ‘Unidentified Golem’ has suffered minor structural damage.]
And that wasn't even its full, true strength. But it wasn't enough. Impressive, but it didn't get them any closer to their goal. With another leap, this time backward, of course, and four or five somersaults, Ayame landed on the ground near them. One knee bent. A lot of style, but unfortunately, it hadn't done a thing to that creature.
"Couldn't, I don't know, some blood magic work?" Vincent suggested, backing away even further and feeling very, very pathetic.
"I don't know," Ayame admitted without a second thought. "Any ideas, Elizabeth?"
"I still have no idea what type of Golem it is, unfortunately, but we could look for the power source. They all have a power source. The thing is, the type makes it easier to know where it is, where it might be."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Quest Updated! Objective: Locate and destroy the Golem’s power source.]
"Okay," Vincent said, stepping forward. "Tara and I will look for it while you two distract this thing."
"Good idea."
"But what are we looking for?"
"You'll know it when you see it. It's bright and hard to miss."
"Not very clear, but I'll take it. I understand."
At least now he had something to do. A way to contribute. That's what counted. Tara and he turned and started running, moving away. He hated it, feeling like he was leaving all the work to Ayame and Elizabeth. Feeling like he was running away with his tail between his legs, like a coward. But he had to stop with the nonsense. This was a job just as important as the one they were doing. Even more so. Because the golem would keep getting up, rebuilding itself, no matter what they did to it, if Tara or he didn't find the beast's core, its power source. And that task required his full attention. So, enough with the nonsense, with the heroic childishness. He had to do what had to be done.
But what the hell were they looking for? Something obvious. Something he would know what it was when he saw it. That stood out. However, no matter how much he looked around, he didn't see it. How was it hidden? And where? Here? In another room, maybe? It was the least of his worries right now, but to begin with, what the hell was a golem like this doing in a goblin cave? Goblins were cunning monsters. They couldn't be underestimated, but they also couldn't operate a magical construct. Well, when this was all over, they could think about that, if it was even relevant.
"Tara!" he shouted to be heard, because he couldn't see her anymore. "How's it going?"
"As well as you, I imagine!" she yelled back.
"Yeah! I don't even know what I'm looking for!"
"It might not be in this room! If it were hidden here, in some magical way, Elizabeth would have already detected it!" Tara added.
"Okay, the next room, maybe! The connection can't be that long, right?"
He vaguely remembered something like that from the textbooks.
"Right? Well, let's go then!"
Vincent turned and started running, looking for an entrance to the nearest, adjoining room. To do so, he had to go through a very, very narrow corridor. And he wasn't the only one. Of course, he wasn't referring to Tara. It wouldn't be a problem, although the corridor was so narrow he could barely extend his arms. It was more Goblins. Three emerged from the darkness on the other side, as if they had been waiting to ambush him, armed with daggers, clubs, and axes. They were loaded with weapons, so many that it was a surprise they could move without collapsing under their own weight.
But he wasn't the only one who got a good surprise. One of the Goblins lunged at him and stabbed him three times in the stomach before he could smash it against the wall and cut its throat with his shield. Anyway, nothing happened. The knife broke, bending, and the armor remained intact. He swept the legs of the second one and, as he stood up, stabbed the third one through the mouth. The sword came out the other side, piercing its skull, along with a shower of blood and other fluids. The second and last Goblin standing was able to swing its club only once. It came dangerously close to doing serious damage, but it only slashed his cheek before Vincent lopped the damn thing's head off with a single slash.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Damage taken: 7. You are now suffering from ‘Bleeding’ status effect. Health: 93/100]
Damn! That was close! He brought a hand to his cheek. Of course, when he pulled it away, his fingertips came away stained with blood, more than he had expected. But he took a deep breath. He should thank his lucky stars he was even alive. It could have ended with his head crushed against the rocks like a bug, just as he had done to the others. He crossed the rest of the corridor, coming out.
And his search turned out to be easier than he had expected. The core was here, high up on a wall. And a little further on, because the glow barely reached. But right there.
"Tara, I think I see something," he had to raise his voice to be heard, of course.
"You sure?"
"It's glowing, and I don't think it's a torch."
He left open the possibility that he was wrong, mostly to cover his ass, just in case. He was convinced he had found it.
"Good enough for me."
Vincent sheathed his sword and put the shield back on his back. Climbing, maybe it wasn't his thing, but the wall wasn't that high. He should be able to do it. He began. And the sooner he finished, the better. Ayame was still out there, fighting. Her life could depend on him. Damn, I'd feel calmer if I could see it from here.
Tara caught up with him. He could hear her stop below him, but by then, he was already at the top. He wondered why she had taken so long. She was fast, so she must have run into all sorts of trouble along the way. But it didn't matter who did it, the point was to get it done. Vincent turned the corner. There it was, without a doubt, a core, a mass of magical energy. Its ethereal glow painting the floor and walls.
"What do I do? Just stab it?" Vincent asked.
"I guess so."
"You guess?"
He could almost see Tara shrug.
"What do you want me to say, dude? I'm no expert."
Vincent nodded and drew his sword. Okay, fair enough. He would have preferred to be sure, but it made sense. He stabbed the core, pushed the sword up and down, trying to cut it in half. He made progress quickly. But then... a sound like static.
[SYSTEM WARNING: Golem Core is destabilizing. Overload imminent.]
His stomach dropped. He had a very bad feeling.
"Uh oh," he took a step back.
He barely had time to raise his shield.