The Path of Ascension 2: A LitRPG Adventure

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Exiting the elevator shaft, they made a note of the much wider halls. This area was more reminiscent of a loading area. Moving forward, they found massive piles of raw ore, and even larger piles of refined ingots.

Matt threw a few of each type into his spatial bag. While Tier 6 metals weren’t worth a fortune, it was basically free money just lying there. If they had a way to pull out all of this metal, they would be sitting on a fortune.

They moved along the dark forging rooms to find more of the same. Matt couldn’t help but to whistle at the sheer quantity of metal here. There had to be millions of tons of the stuff just sitting around.

As they moved along, they found an odd central dais of some sort. On it were two humanoid golems. They were thinner than the ones they had fought thus far, but they were busy hammering away at something on an ornate anvil.

Matt turned to Malcolm, whose eyes were fixed on the large, raised platform.

Of f*****g course. He wants the obviously trapped item. We’re gonna wake this entire place up or something. I absolutely regret taking this f*****g guy along with us. Why did I think this was a good idea?

Matt’s inner dialogue was interrupted by the man himself taking a step forward.

Matt clapped a hand over his shoulder and said, “Nope. f**k that. Just no. If you go take that scepter thing, we’re all royally f****d. It’s obviously a trap.”

Malcolm looked at Matt like he was the stupid one.

“No, I want the armband on the golem holding the scepter thing. The one with the tongs.”

That actually shocked Matt enough for him to let the man slip out of his grip, and he moved onto the dais. Malcolm walked up and popped an item off the non-hostile golem. It appeared to be something in between a small vambrace and a large bracelet.

Without a care, the man walked back to them.

“See. Nothing bad.”

Camilla just looked at Malcolm like she had never seen him before.

“You weren’t afraid that the golems would wake up and beat you to death?”

“No. My Talent would have warned me.”

Liz chimed in, “The Talent that doesn’t work against anything above you Tier?”

Malcolm froze and looked from the item in his hand to the golems.

“I, uhh…kinda forgot about that. I’m used to it always working.”

They turned to each other, and Matt asked, “Okay? So, what now, Malcolm? Do you want to continue to delve, or do you want an escort out?”

“The escort option, please. I’ve had enough adventure for a while, and I got what I came for.”

With that, they started to retrace their steps, but they were interrupted by a massive six-legged golem. It had a pallet of bar stock that it used to block their passage. It was huge, and Matt had no idea how they would even scratch the nearly ten feet tall golem. Its legs were as thick as his waist.

Matt rushed ahead and swung at the creature, but his hammer just bounced back against the creature’s thick limb. The giant golem took another step forward and swung one of its massive arms at him.

With a hop, he was able to dodge the attack. But seeing that Camilla’s attack was just as ineffective, he called for a retreat.

“Pull back! We can’t damage this thing at all.”

Seeing Camilla heed his advice, he quickly retreated after her. When he had enough distance between him and the golem, he turned and ran. [Mage’s Retreat] boosted his strength to the point that a few steps caught him up with everyone else.

As they were running, a whooshing sound was the only warning for a blow that landed directly into Matt’s armored back, sending him tumbling.

The golem was throwing its bar stock.

Unable to breathe after the blow that destroyed [Cracked Phantom Armor] and nearly his back, Matt used his AI to send a warning, causing everyone to scatter. The next throw just barely missed Malcolm.

Scrambling back to his feet, Matt was shocked that only two of his ribs were cracked. The golem was definitely not made for throwing. It was the only reason he wasn’t a smear on the floor. With most his mana dedicated to his armor skill, and the rest going to [Mage’s Retreat], Matt kept running.

He deliberately didn’t dodge to the left or right. If someone was going to get hit, Matt would rather the golem hit him, instead of any other without an armor skill. [Cracked Phantom Armor] would absorb most of the impact and keep him alive.

They turned a corner, only to find that they were at a dead-end. Or rather, it was a hall completely filled with metal bar stock. There was a slight gap near the ceiling, but it looked too small for them to crawl through without having to shift a lot of the metal.

Liz made the call.

“Stand and fight. Everything we have. We can only hope this is a utility golem, and that it doesn’t get a sword or something worse when charged with mana.”

Matt took his place at the front of the group and readied his shield. If they f****d this up, at least they could try and circle the monster and slip around the sides.

Before he could plan more, the monster came around the corner. It was moving so quickly that two of the legs slipped, and it took a moment for the massive golem to change direction.

The sudden halt gave Liz, Aster, and Camilla a chance to unleash their ranged skills. A pattering of [Blood Bullet] s was accompanied by three large spears of ice. Meanwhile, a small bolt of lightning jolted the creature. At the entrance of the hall, Matt cast [Hail].

This wasn’t the time for holding back.

Matt thought about draining the skill for a second cast, but he didn’t want to eat further into his regeneration. He needed every bit of his 40 MPS for [Cracked Phantom Armor] and [Mage’s Retreat].

Sidestepping, Matt dodged one leg, and slammed his hammer into the creature’s leg joint. It was his best chance to limit its mobility, and he didn’t know how they were going to beat the creature besides beating it to scrap.

Matt took some solace in the fact that as the creature absorbed some of the mana from their spells, it didn’t grow weapons.

The large shovel and pincers it created didn’t count.

Blocking a kicking leg, Matt was sent skittering back into the wall. The movement irritated his cracked ribs, but he didn’t have the mana to waste on [Endurance]. Healing would come after the fight was over.

Besides, if they lost and died, he wouldn’t have to worry about cracked ribs.

Focusing on being as annoying as he could be, Matt weaved in between the golem’s legs, striking at joints, and keeping the monster’s attention.

The underside was more lightly armored, and every time Matt struck up at the creature, it diverted all of its attention to him.

A stray lightning bolt arced down from the beast and into his hammer during the split second that it was in contact, but the shock was negated by his armor. Still, the experience gave him an idea.

“Camilla! Come under and shock the underside!”

To her credit, she didn’t hesitate at all, and was quickly beneath the monster with him. Matt needed to shoulder check her to get her out of the path of a stomping leg.

“Don’t stop moving!”