Chương 61: Challengers

We aimed for the quarter guardian closest to us. No one in our cohort had bothered challenging it yet—all the Dupes were still working on building up our Presence and didn't even have enough Presence to reach it. But my squad had enough Presence to get to the Quarter golem if we played our cards right. We crossed the underground city, making a direct beeline toward the plaza where it waited. If anything small challenged us along the way, we didn't use any points of Presence to defeat it.

There were a few ruin-hounds and skeletons, but nothing critically dangerous. Still, we couldn't avoid all the Steel-tier and Titanium-tier monsters forever. No one had gotten close enough to a quarter guardian for a reason. Monsters weren't passive.

"Anchor, keep your eyes out," I said.

"You're our early warning system."

"I'm a System?" he asked.

"Uh, nevermind. Just make sure to warn us if you see something."

"Do you want me to use a perception Skill or not?" I shook my head.

"Hold onto it for now, and don't waste it."

"Understood. I hate to be a downer, but I already hear something approaching." We were already in Formation One. I took a tight grip on my spear and shifted to the side, ready to intercept the approaching monster and help Brawl out.

"What is it?"

"Ruin-hound packmother," he said.

"It's a Titanium, on the low end—just like the bone dragon you fought." We rounded a corner and took a tight alleyway, keeping our course to the quarter golem as direct as possible. A shadow leapt overhead. It was only visible as a blur of black against the slightly lighter ceiling. A crunch of clay tiles followed, then a few drips of saliva pattering against the paving stones. As soon as we left the alleyway, a creature leapt down in front of us, landing on all fours and raising its haunches.

It was a ruin-hound, but twice my height, and its entire body was covered in craters and boils. Red flesh bubbled beneath its fur, and its swollen belly wiggled as it walked toward us. Apparently, all packs of ruin-hounds had a packmother, which functioned as their rudimentary leader and was their primary method of reproduction. The packmother gave birth to litters of hundreds at a time, and never needed to be fertilized. It was just a constant process of reproduction—to expand and destroy.

"You'd think a mother would be more cautious about her young," Sage muttered.

"And wouldn't go looking for fights."

"You seem like you look for fights all the time, little sister," Brawl said.

"Am I pregnant?" she exclaimed.

"Hey, you two, focus," I said.

"This thing isn't going to let us through easily." The packmother growled at us, then circled to the side. Staying in formation, we shifted to match it.

"Brawl, head to the left," I instructed.

"I'll go right and distract it, and you land a hit on its head. Use your flail to crush it." He nodded, and we broke off. I darted in, moving faster, and jabbed my spear at its head to gain its attention. It whirled toward me, shifting and raising its hackles, then pounced. This thing was a Silver, and we'd need a point of Presence or two to bring it down. At first, I was tempted to try slinging a rock at it, but I wasn't good enough, and we'd need to do the absolute best we could—no exceptions.

I could worry about getting my other Skills later. The packmother lunged toward me, jaws snapping together with the force of a hydraulic press. No amount of basic armour could protect against that. I rolled out of the way, and just in time for Brawl to slam his flail down atop the beast's head while using a resonance Skill. Its skull cracked, and the enhanced smashing force of the weapon pulverized the beast's head in an instant. It felt too easy for a Titanium-tier enemy.

But still, the packmother's corpse toppled to the side, and it fell still. Brawl glanced at me, then back at Sage and the others. He must have been thinking the same thing as me.

"Are we just that strong?" he asked.

"Or—""Watch out," Anchor said calmly.

"And get back. We haven't finished it off yet." I stepped back, holding my spear ahead of me, and watched the packmother. At first, nothing happened. Then a rasp of air bubbled out its neck. Putrid wind made the black slime inside it bubble. It was a final exhale. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! Then its belly ruptured. Hundreds of ruin-hounds the size of golden retrievers toppled out, squirming in the rush of clear liquid.

Their fur was matted, and they were mostly reddish-pink, save for tufts of black fur. But unlike most young, their eyes bolted open right away, filled with empty black voids. Snarling, they raced toward us in unison. They scrambled on the slippery bricks and fell over one another, which caused a few to fight each other, but most raced toward us. Anchor stuck a few with arrows, and Brawl made sweeping blows, knocking aside a few with each swing.

"It was counting them as part of it," Sage said.

"On their own, they're Irons, but together, they're much worse."

"We'll beat them back," I said.

"Stay behind us." I stayed at Brawl's shoulder. He swept his flail back and forth, killing the ruin-hounds when they strayed too close. Whenever one of the hounds lunged between his flail and shield, I stabbed it, keeping him clear. It was a test of endurance more than anything. We could deal with Irons with ease. When most of the ruin-hounds were dead, I shouted, "Keep moving! Just get to the quarter golem!" ~ ~ ~ It took longer than I thought to reach the quarter guardian.

Soon, we would run up against the hard time limit for our Labyrinth delve. The drillmaster and his sappers would blow horns, and we'd have to return. I estimated we had a half hour. When we reached the edge of the plaza, I had five Presence left, and the others had similar. Sage only had to heal one injury on Brawl, and otherwise, we'd cleared the way without a hitch. Most of the enemies had been Steels, and there were only a few other Titaniums that we worked together to bring down.

But the quarter guardian seemed stronger. It was the shape of a man, except its limbs were made of white marble columns, broken at the elbows, and its head barely poked up over its shoulders—and instead was set deep into its body. It had a pair of eyes made of glowing blue flame, but no mouth. The ornate capitals of the pillars became its hands, curling off their structure into fingers. As soon as it saw us, it made fists.

"There it is," I said. From the golems we'd fought before, I figured I had this one pretty well understood. They prioritized broad, heavy swings like Brawl, and they would always try to kick you if you got too close. Their arms were for offense, and their legs were for defense. I'd never seen one use a ranged attack, but I couldn't be too cautious. But something about this golem was different from all the other minor golems we'd fought along the way.

Aside from the fact that it was larger than the others, a soft blue flame crackled in a hole in its chest, the same shade as its eyes. As far as I could tell, that flame was its core.

"You guys ever seen a golem like this before?" I asked.

"I've heard of them," Sage provided.

"These golems have taken on elemental powers, and it imbues their attacks with a similar quality. They're tough."

"We don't have time to dawdle," I said.

"It knows we're here, even if it hasn't seen us. Brawl and I will distract it. Anchor, probe for weaknesses and stick close to Sage. Once you know its weak point, call out to us." They all nodded. I inhaled sharply, then rushed out into the plaza. As soon as I entered, something popped. It was an invisible barrier. I couldn't tell what, but when we passed it, the golem's head flicked toward us.

"Now it's on us," I said.

"Let's give it two targets to worry about." I ran left, swinging much wider than we had with the packmother, so the golem would have to move and turn to face me, then tapped it with my spear. Sure enough, nothing happened. It was a Titanium, after all, and I couldn't just stab through bare stone with a basic spearhead. The golem swung its arms at me in response, and I rolled to the side to avoid the blow—but it wasn't quite enough.

The massive stone pillars didn't crush me, but a wave of blue flame raced out from the impact, heating my scale-mail and searing my skin below. I shouted and rolled, darting back. Everything stung. Everything burned. But it wasn't a deadly wound, and I knew Sage was there. When I got closer to her, she'd heal me right up. I just had to focus on survival. Brawl did his job and struck it from behind, and his heavy flail had slightly more effect.

It took off a chunk of stone, creating a puff of dust and scattering pebbles across the floor. The golem's upper body swivelled toward it, and a wave of flame rolled out the center hole in its chest, splashing on the ground like it was a flamethrower. Brawl blocked the worst of it with his shield, but soon, it would burn right through the wood. I used a resonance Skill and stabbed my spear into the golem's back, this time piercing into the stone. It did nothing but make the golem mad.

Damaging the stone and poking holes in it would only work if I could do that a hundred more times. I couldn't. I had to focus on destroying its core.

"Anchor, I'll slow it down!" I shouted.

"I need you to hit the core with an arrow!" I triggered my gravity Art, creating a well of force that suppressed the beast, holding it down and slowing it. Its arms hung low to the ground, and its head bowed. Anchor lined up a shot and aimed for the center of its chest, where the blue flame crackled. After a second, he fired, triggering his resonance Skill. The arrow cracked through the air and pierced the monster's chest. Stone split where the arrowhead struck, and it pierced right through the beast's core.

The flame fluttered, and the golem shuddered, but it reformed. Then, with great effort, it swung its arms out to the sides, catching both Brawl and I and sending us tumbling back across the plaza. We fell on the opposite side of the plaza from Anchor and Sage. The golem had lumbered out of the gravity well, and it was marching straight for Brawl and Sage, arms raised. They needed a front-liner to help slow it down. If a Steel had at least fifty total attribute points, a Titanium had at least hundred.

These early stages—Iron, Steel, Titanium, and Silver didn't get exponentially higher than each other. It was only with Gold that they did. But compared to our attributes, the golem was so much higher. If it was at the peak of Titanium, then that meant it had about a hundred and fifty distributed attribute points. Groaning, I rolled over, watching helplessly with how far away I was, and how powerful the golem seemed. No. Not helpless. These early stages, it was easy to punch up higher than your tier.

Not including Presence, I had twenty-nine total points. Combine that with my squad mates, who had similar scores, the gap didn't seem that bad. That meant they needed me. And lucky for them, I had one last trick up my sleeve.