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1128 Words
A few minutes later, Camilla slipped back in and smiled at Matt slightly.
“Sorry, being in cramped quarters brings back memories.”
Before Matt could answer, Malcolm asked, “Oh? I wouldn’t think someone as pretty as you would have many hardships.”
Camilla’s face froze for a moment, but the explosion Matt expected never came.
“Being pretty can sometimes be a curse. But I appreciate the sentiment.”
Malcolm looked awkward and mumbled out a quiet apology, but the mood was ruined, so they prepared to head back into the halls.
10
As they turned to leave, Matt returned to the racks and shoved two of the collector drones in his bag. They could, in theory, be reprogrammed to work with his AI. It was at least something for his AI to work on while they continued to explore the rest of the ruin.
Returning to the dark was less than ideal, but at least they had found an exit on this floor. If they needed to, Matt could send Liz out of the hole, and then climb up himself. With the swapping function of their rings, it would be an easy way to escape, but neither wanted to reveal that trump card.
They stopped checking for traps on this floor, as it seemed that it was only guarded by the wandering golems. The discovery lent credibility to the theory that the previous floors were some sort of labyrinth, intended to keep intruders away from these crafting rooms.
While the five of them continued to explore, they encountered more and more of the guard golem pairs. After yet another pair was dispatched, Malcolm asked if they could try and move toward his item. It was a fair question, and not a terrible suggestion. Matt wasn’t sure if they were the cause of the increased patrols but staying on the floor felt like a bad idea.
Relying on Malcolm’s Talent, they found a staircase that led them up to yet another floor. It was essentially a repeat of the last, so they hurried through it. The only discrepancy was that the monsters in the ruin seemed to be ever so slowly getting stronger.
With every new encounter they had, the attacking monsters had a bit more mana in their cores according to Matt’s spiritual sense. Where exactly the mana was coming from was a mystery that they were unable to solve.
After disposing of another three guard pairs, they reached the next floor, and found what seemed like a small city. Instead of the crafting rooms that they had seen thus far, this floor had a fifteen-foot ceiling. It was held up by large pillars dispersed every few yards throughout the large open area, and buildings were peppered in between them.
“What’s going on here?”
Liz poked a door open, and found what looked like an alchemy shop, based on the signage out front. The language was a garbled mess, but the picture of a bottle and herbs was clear enough.
Carefully, they entered the shop, and just like the last two floors found that it was devoid of traps. The shelves were mostly empty, but when they went to check the back room, Matt caught a spear with his face. A guardian golem was posted at the rear of the shop, and immediately lashed out at the intruder.
“Pull back!”
Matt’s call was in anticipation of the monster charging out at them, but it stayed in the room. He could see it standing motionless at its post through the still-open door.
Despite it being stationary, the glowing eyes of the golem still tracked his movements. Peering over his shield, Matt scanned the monster from head to toe. He saw that it was standing on a slightly glowing rune.
Before he could speak, Liz articulated his thoughts, “It’s a charging rune. We need to kill it.”
Hearing and agreeing with the call out, Matt rushed forward. The golem tried to feint an attack low, but when Matt shifted his shield slightly, it jerked it weapon up, and tried to stab him in the face for a second time.
Not falling for the trick, Matt caught its mana empowered blade with his shield. The blade punched through nearly three inches but was otherwise held at bay. With a flex of his arm and shoulder, Matt forced the shield to rotate and dragged the golem to the side. It refused to let go of its weapon, and Matt was able to hurl the golem against the wall, thanks to his [Mage’s Retreat] empowered strength.
The monster was just like the other melee fighters. They were all made with human-like hands, as the added joint gave them more flexibility to attack and use their weapons. Incorporating that joint could also simplify whatever manufacturing process the golems were subject to.
With the spear still firmly wedged in his shield, Matt kept the pressure up on the golem, keeping it pinned against the wall. Meanwhile, Camilla came around to the golem’s exposed side, and smashed the golem with her mace.
The flare of blue light emanating from the golem indicated that it had enough mana to actually form barriers, which was worrying. Liz approached the monster’s flank and started to thrust at it with her own spear.
It was all going well, until Malcolm threw a bottle at the monster. He had started to throw stones and other loose debris during their fights. Usually, it did little to help or hinder them, but sometimes it caused a golem to think he was a backline fighter. That led to the monsters trying to reach him at all costs, which allowed the rest of the group to pile in on the distracted monsters.
This time, the creature dropped its spear and lunged for the man.
Matt dropped his shield, still impaled with the spear, and tried to intercept the golem with a flying tackle.
He missed.
Aster was faster than him, and tackled Malcolm.
A loud yelp came from the would-be explorer as the golem flew through the door he had just been standing in front of. It froze and crashed to a halt as it crossed the threshold of the alchemy shop’s storeroom.
Everyone paused at the frozen creature.
Malcolm’s head popped up, and he peered around the door frame.
“Who puts a spear wielder on guard duty in a supply closet?” He looked around, “Or I guess a crafting and storage room.”
Matt stuck out a hand and pulled the man, who was thanking Aster, to his feet.
He and Camilla turned to each other and exited the room, ensuring that the monster was truly dead before they returned back inside.
- Writer
