Imperious, Chapter 016 - Overseer (Patreon)

Anna slipped past another golem, she could have cut loose and attacked it but she really didn’t want to burn through any more of her supplies to recover afterwards if she didn’t have to. She was inching towards the point where she could probably take on two golems back to back, but that still wasn’t enough to justify waste, especially when she had yet to find another source of cave moss, mushrooms, and roots. Not that she had used any of the roots, the golems hadn’t been able to land a blow on her since she’d implemented her strategy. Something she was rather proud of.

She had to admit, though, her heritage was the only reason she’d gotten this far. Without it she would have been turned to paste on her first encounter with the lumbering giants. She sighed and scratched her head, popping another mushroom into her mouth and chewing. She passed another illuminated room and peered inside, more piles of jewels, another golem tirelessly mining them, and nothing else besides another opening at the other end. She leaned against the tunnel wall and frowned. How long have I been looking for this place? Hell, how long have I been down here?

She’d wanted to check the timer a couple of times but she’d avoided doing it so far and she’d wanted more and more to check it only once she’d managed to escape. If she had to guess, though, she estimated she’d been looking for the second floor of the dungeon for at least a day and a half if not longer. I’ve slept four times so far and- mm? She paused as she took another look at the golem. It threw another tremendous punch at the wall that pulverized stone and left the far more durable jewels beneath exposed. Is that thing bigger than the others?

She crept a bit closer, suddenly curious.

Lumbering Mines Golem, Level 7

Now we’re getting somewhere, she thought, I wonder whats down that passage? 

She slipped inside the golem’s room, keeping her presence dialed all the way down as usual while she took one slow step after another. Just because she was probably strong enough to fight the thing directly didn’t mean she was going to do so. She had higher priorities and there were probably plenty of enemies further down to deal with. She stepped into the passage on the other side of the room and kept going, keeping her hand pressed against the wall to maintain her balance until she noticed something. She was slowly descending to the right.

Finally, she groaned and picked up the pace a little, following the sloping tunnel as it ambled down in a wide curve that came to a stop at a pair of heavy looking wooden doors. Above them, a single carved stone provided illumination similar to the room where she’d found the edible plants. She hustled over and pressed her hand against the door, glancing around to make sure she didn’t miss anything before she pulled it open. She peeked her head through the door and froze.

Beyond the door was a large circular chamber with veins of jewels shining in the walls and no obvious exits. More stones had been embedded into the ceiling to provide even more illumination though she noticed that a few of the glowing stones were flickering or dimming here and there. She glanced back over her shoulder and made a face. Were there actually lights in the ceilings on the first floor and they were just burnt out? She pursed her lips, impressed. That’s immersive, she thought and looked back inside at the sole resident of the room.

It was a golem, half again as tall as one of the ordinary ones and just as wide. Its body was entirely made out of a stone that appeared darker than the rest. It stood completely still, its massive trunk-like arms resting on the ground and its hunched over torso pointed straight at the door where she stood. She inspected it from afar, already pretty sure about what she was going to find.

Lumbering Mines Golem Overseer, Level 9

Her lip twitched, besides the Skeleton Champion and the devils, this was the highest level entity that she’d encountered so far. It was a chance to test just how far she’d come, how strong she was now. It still didn’t have eyes, but its sheer durability would be enough of a test. She felt her blood beginning to heat up in her veins. It was a chance to prove her dominance. She slipped into the room and the door shut behind her. The golem shifted and stood up a bit straighter, otherwise unmoving. 

Sensitive aren’t you? She thought, shrugging off her bag at the entrance and took a step to the right, aiming to walk around it. It shifted to look again in her direction. Her eyes narrowed and she took another step, it shifted again. Very sensitive. She thought. It’s still not moving to attack, though. She kept walking in a lazy circle around the thing, the monstrosity following her every step. Her armored fingers squeezed the handle of her mace as the reality sank in. She wasn’t going to easily get that first blow in. I’m just going to have to go for it.

She stopped and fully faced the golem, gripping her weapon and bracing herself to run. It remained utterly still, waiting for her to approach. She clicked her tongue, she knew it didn’t have a mind, not really, but it still annoyed her how cocky it seemed. Fine, I’ll come to you. She snarled and readied mana barrier. 

Anna darted forwards, racing headlong towards the golem. It only took her a few seconds to cross the distance and in that time it finally sprang into motion. It raised one of its enormous arms and brought it down with terrible speed. Anna threw up her hand and cast her barrier, blocking the limbs momentum for far less time than she would have liked. The barrier caved only a half-second after she made it to swinging range with her mace. Three booms followed. One from the limb hitting the ground, one from Anna’s mace hitting its knee with power strike, and a third from the aftershock.

The golem didn’t fall.

Shit!

She whipped her head to the right just in time to see it sweep the same limb in her direction, attempting to catch her in the side. She dropped low, letting the attack sail dangerously over her head only for its other limb’s follow up blow to come down at her from above. She rolled forward and sprang to her feet, swinging again at it’s knee and releasing another power strike. The limb buckled but still didn’t break at first, the golem turning to try to get at her now that she was behind it. A satisfying crack sounded out, following the jerking motion and the golem tipped over. Yes!

It slammed one of its arms down to stabilize itself. Fuck!

The other arm bent backwards, the joint adjusting visibly as Anna took a quick step back to avoid the swing that followed. It had the element of surprise on her, though, she’d never seen them pull off a trick like that. The only thing that saved her life was a mana barrier popping up to absorb much of the force of the blow as it connected with her body, sending her hurtling across the room and slamming into the far wall. She let out a gasp of pain as her bones creaked and her head struck the wall. Her vision spun as she landed on her feet, stumbling one step before looking up in time to see it hobbling towards her, using one of its arms as a replacement leg.

Fucking rock gorilla, she snarled, throwing herself to the right and rolling as it slammed into the wall where she’d just been, fully intent on pulverizing her. She quickly spun around and saw an arm already falling down towards her. Mana barrier. She pushed past the blow and swung her mace again in an uppercut, aiming for the joint and putting her back into the strike. Another boom, another aftershock, the limb creaked but didn’t give. She snarled and swung again while it tried to pivot against the wall.

BOOM-BOOM!

Finally the arm fell, landing on the ground to her left just as it fully righted itself and,  using the wall itself as leverage, swung its remaining good arm at her. She stepped back and halted it with a barrier before stepping around the arm and bringing her mace up and then down again in a two-hit combo, her brow furrowed in concentration. As the other limb hit the ground the golem seemed to realize that it wasn’t going to hurt her that way and took a different and more surprising tactic. It simply fell towards her, aiming to crush her with its body. She spat out a curse and threw herself to the right, tucking her head and rolling across the ground as the golem hit the floor with a resounding boom.

Anna scrambled to her feet and raced back towards the golem. This thing was far stronger than the others and she had no doubt its regeneration would outpace them. She leaped towards the monsters chest and began hacking away, slamming her mace down with power strike. Out of the corner of her eye she watched its leg nearly reform itself and she shifted to crush the redeveloping limb before it had a chance. What followed was a game of whack-a-mole as nearly fifteen power strikes practically shook the room while she both worked to prevent its regeneration and get through to its core.

Eventually, though, the inevitable came and she ripped the glowing core out of its chest. The ball of carved material dimming as the golem crumbled beneath her. 

You have slain Lumbering Mines Golem Overseer, Level 9
Bonus Experience Gained
Additional Experience Gained for slaying a dungeon monster.
9 Iron Credits Gained

Inert Golem Overseer Core (Uncommon-Grade)
The core of an overseer-type golem, this core has been rendered inert after being forcibly removed from its body. It is unusable in its current state. An engraver may be able to restore its functionality.

Slay 100 Creatures. (54/100)

Exhausted, Anna practically hugged the stone to her chest, catching her breath. Her body still hurt like hell from hitting the wall as hard as she had and her muscles screamed from burning through so much stamina so quickly. She let out a relieved sigh, I did it.

Quest Complete!

Truth of the Lumbering Mines, Part 2

Something is hidden within the Lumbering Mines, uncover its secret and gain its benefits. Go to the next level of the mines with your haul and defeat the overseer golem.

Overseer Golem Defeated (1/1)

Rewards: Access to the Next Quest Stage, Experience

And there it is, she thought, grinning.

Level up! You have reached Level 7.
+1 Int, +2 Wil, +3 Pre, +1 Ins, +1 Awa, +9 Free Points

Heck yes! The victory felt even more satisfying now. She got to her feet and was about to pull up her stats and decide where to put her points when the next notification appeared.

Hidden Quest Alert!

Truth of the Lumbering Mines, Part 3

Something is hidden within the Lumbering Mines, uncover its secret and gain its benefits. Make your choice. The Overseer has been defeated, claim your rewards and depart the dungeon or venture forth and face the true challenge of the dungeon.

Choose (0/1)

Rewards: Access to the Next Quest Stage

She stared at it. “That’s it?” She blinked and looked around in confusion, was it saying that if she hadn’t discovered the hidden quest then that would have been the end of it? She looked down at the core in her hand as a grinding sound filled the room. She looked up and spotted the wall sliding down on one side of the room before stopping with a thud, revealing a passage beyond. Another thud told her that a similar passage had opened closer to her. Anna got to her feet with a wince and held her side, Cracked rib? She thought and made her way to her bag first, stuffing a root and some moss into her mouth and chewing before throwing the bag over her shoulder and heading towards the first opening.

She peered inside and saw nothing but a small room with a discolored rock at the center that looked like a tombstone. She remembered seeing something like it before. She wracked her brain before finally calling up the memory of running from the devil-woman. She’d been resting against a similar rock when she’d found the entrance to the dungeon. Her lips turned down in a frown, This is the exit. She didn’t even bother giving it any more time, turning away as she chewed on the plants in her mouth, a warmth spreading through her abdomen as she crossed the room towards the other passage.

This passage opened into a tunnel that clearly led straight down into darkness.

There we go. I didn’t come this far not to see it to the end. She affirmed, stepping through the entrance and into the passage. The wall slammed shut behind her instantaneously, blocking her from going back and immediately submerging her in darkness. Her expression thinned, That’s what it meant by make a choice.

She dismissed the quest complete notification that immediately sprang up, more interested in the one that came after.

Hidden Quest Alert!

Truth of the Lumbering Mines, Part 4

The final challenge of the Lumbering Mines lies at the end of this path. Face it and claim that which is yours, conqueror.

Claim Victory (0/1)

Rewards: Profession Choice, Hidden Additional Reward, Access to the Dungeon’s Vault

The wording for the quest text was a bit different than the last few and she had the feeling that it was directed at her personally. That feeling was only amplified by the way the words seemed to stir the slumbering beast that was her heritage into full alertness. The heat in her veins that had gotten her through the dungeon turned into a raging inferno. Every cell in her body screamed to march down their right this second and conquer, claim, and dominate. What was down there was hers and hers alone. The onset of the feeling was so sudden it actually took the breath from her for a moment. She caught herself against the wall and breathed, trying to calm down a little.

Woah, talk about triggered. She wondered and let herself sit down in the darkness. I need to recover first.

The fire in her veins seemed to acquiesce to her reasonable approach. If she was going down there she needed to be at one hundred percent, anything less was the height of stupidity. Others might be eager to push themselves that hard, but not her. She was a survivor and she was patient. She had to be patient. After all, conquest takes time. She thought with resolve, resting her head against the wall.

Little did she know that those thoughts had caused a shift in the flames in her veins, the orange blaze darkening towards a deeper red.