(TPOR) Chapter 181: Golem (Patreon)

I apologize for the delay. I fell under the weather and the story crafting wasn't crafting. Not yet a hundred percent but I'm getting there. Doctor says I'll be good in no time as long as I take my meds as instructed... I hope I take my meds as instructed.

Zed reacted as the golem moved.

His hand flicked out and he cast [Force]. The blast of aura that had once been purple came out black. There was something ominous about it, and it struck the golem with enough force to stagger it, but only by a single step.

“That’s it?” Kid asked, flabbergasted. “One measly step?”

Zed was already feeling out the golem’s aura as it righted itself. What he felt didn’t bode well for them.

“What are you doing?” Kid asked.

Zed was inching back slowly, moving away from the other houses as the golem shook its head as if shaking away a touch of confusion.

“Well,” Zed said in a low voice. “That thing right there’s a Rukh. And I’ve never fought a golem before.”

“Then shouldn’t we be attacking when we have the upper hand?” Kid said.

Despite his argument, he inched away with Zed, keeping a wary eye on the golem.

“We should,” Zed agreed. “But might I remind you that your magic allows you nigh perfect aim on ricochets, and you do not have your Olympian armor with you.”

Kid frowned at that. It was the frown of a man forced to accept a bitter truth that belittled him.

“It doesn’t mean I cannot fight,” he said. “Every Olympian knows at least two self buff runes.”

The golem was done shaking itself from whatever had confused it. Now it turned its head from side to side. It didn’t take long for it to spot them. When it did, it beat the ground with both hands, sending quakes that threatened to throw Kid off. As for Zed, [Equilibrium] continued to show itself in subtle waves.

His feet remained planted on the ground beneath him, and as it shook and trembled, he simply moved with it like a raft on a slow moving wave, undulating terribly with the quaking.

When the beast stopped, it roared again.

Zed gave Kid a single look. He had a plan.

Kid saw it almost immediately.

“What do you have in mind?” he asked.

Zed grinned.

“The oldest tactics of mankind,” he answered.

Kid’s looked at him through narrow lids. “And what’s that?”

Zed turned. “Run.”

Then he bolted in the direction they’d come from. The last thing he saw before moving was Kid’s blatant confusion, unhidden and true.

It didn’t take long for Kid to catch up to him, the golem fast behind him.

“What the hell kind of idea is this?” Kid asked, hand held up in front of him slowly drawing in the air.

“What rune is that?” Zed asked, ignoring the question.

“Haste rune,” Kid answered. “I know haste and strength.”

They cut a sharp right where the road curved, dashing past where they’d come in through. They ignored the cut up patch Zed had made with his [Sharp] rune, hoping the golem would follow. Zed looked back and was happy to find that it did.

The last thing he wanted was to unleash the creature on the rest of the world. Not that he felt it would be bad. There were enough people at the motel to put it down in one blow.

What he wanted was to put it down himself. A rukh rank beast would garner him some good Exp.

You’re like a gamer only thinking about your Exp these days.

Kid finally completed the rune in front of him. Zed felt it was as good a time as any to come to a stop. The place they currently found themselves in had no other buildings. They were surrounded by only overgrown trees and foliage and cracked tarred road.

He came to an almost abrupt stop and Kid followed him.

When they stopped, Zed prepared himself to equip [Titan’s Axe]. Then he turned to look at Kid’s rune as the golem drew nearer and froze.

Kid’s rune wasn’t going to work.

He didn’t know exactly how he knew it, but he did. There was something wrong with the order of the rune. There was a curve that was displaced even if minutely. It crossed a line the wrong way. It was like watching someone try to divide a number by zero and expect a definite answer.

“Don’t cast it,” he said without thinking.

Kid turned to him with a frown. “Why?”

In front of them the golem was getting closer. The ground beneath them quaked with every step it took.

Zed didn’t know how exactly to explain it. How did he tell the Olympian that the rune he was confident in, the rune Zed had never seen before, had been drawn wrong? How did he get him to believe him?

With no idea how to achieve his goal, he did something different. He handed [Titan’s Axe] to Kid and made a quick rune in front of them. Kid took the weapon hesitantly. It distraction made his rune disappear and he frowned but said nothing.

The moment Zed released the weapon, it’s head fell to the ground immediately, taking Kid’s hand along with it.

“Fuck,” Kid swore silently.

The golem came around the bend and Zed was surprised. It had been gaining on them a while ago, so when had they created such a large gap?

Was it the turn?

Did the golem have a problem making turns that slowed it down?

He shook his head. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that they had successfully lured it away from the other buildings. Now he was certain that they would only be fighting a single golem. They didn’t have to worry about the chances of another building turning into a golem during their fight.

He focused on the mana in his core, kept the rune in front of him alive, and channeled his mana.

The black rune grew blacker, deeper, yet somehow brighter, as he flooded it. Earlier, a single blast had staggered the golem back by a single step. Zed was really hoping this time would be different. When he’d given a good portion of mana over to the rune, he focused his aim.

The ground continued to shake under him, but it didn’t affect him much. His view didn’t wobble and his aim didn’t shake. It seemed [Equilibrium] might have other effects other than just keeping him on his feet.

He activated the rune and a bladed arc as long as four feet from end to end shot out of the rune.

·       You have cast rune [Sharp]

·       Rune [Sharp] has applied effect [Slice] on [Golem].

·       [Slice] takes effect.

The arced blade struck the golem’s right leg and the creature staggered forward. It took three steps then planted its feet firmly on the ground to regain its balance.

To Zed’s surprise, the leg he’d cut shifted under it’s weight. Its lower portion swayed to the side slightly. He could see where the rune had cut it, doing more damage than he’d expected it to.

The golem fell forward and caught itself with a hand on the ground.

“How the hell—” Kid was saying, when he was interrupted by the creature.

The golem looked up at them and roared. It was a violent and predatory sound. A challenge to equals and a warning to lesser.

·       Rukh rank mana beast [Golem] has used skill [Unnatural roar].

·       [Unnatural roar] has applied effect [Paralysis], [Fear] and [Self-preservation]

Zed staggered from the force of the roar. It was definitely a different kind from the one it had given them in the beginning.

Beside him, Kid fell to one knee. With the weight of [Titan’s Axe] it was no real surprise.

·       Your [Will] is too high.

·       [Fear] does not take effect.

·       Your [Will] is too high.

·       [Self-preservation] does not take effect

·       Your [Strength] is too high.

·       [Paralysis] does not take effect.

·       You have gained +1 Strength.

Zed wasn’t sure how exactly he felt about the [Self-preservation] effect. What did it say about him that his will was so strong that he was not affected by an effect that made him think of staying alive? Unless the skill didn’t necessarily work that way.

Regardless, he reacted just as quickly.

The golem stared at him and he thought he saw anger in it’s empty eyes.

You’re probably just projecting, he told himself as he activated a skill in return.

His aura flared out of him with an eerie focus. He stepped forward as he thought of directing the skill.

He opened his mouth for dramatic effect but just couldn’t pull it off. So he settled for the skill simply taking effect.

A notification flashed in front of him as his aura filled the space around them.

·       You have used skill [Bloodlust].

·       [Bloodlust] has applied effect [Fear] on [Golem].

·       [Golem] will power is too low.

·       Effect [Fear] has inflicted [Terror], [Slow] and [Mind haze] on [Golem].

·       [Golem] is non-sentient.

·       [Terror] does not take effect.

·       [Golem] rank is too high.

·       [Slow] does not take effect.

·       [Golem] is non-sentient.

·       [Mind haze] does not take effect.

Through the notifications, Zed asked, “How good are you with an axe, Kid?”

“Good enough,” Kid answered. Whatever effect the golem’s roar had placed him under must’ve been lifted because he got to his feet unbothered. “Every Olympian knows how to use anything that can be a weapon.”

“Good.” Zed nodded. “Because I think we’ll need your skill with the axe to kill that thing. My skills aren’t working on it.”

“If you mean that bothersome thing you do with your aura, I won’t be surprised,” Kid said. “Aura effects don’t work on golems since most of them affect minds.”

Can’t believe I didn’t think about that, Zed thought. I was effectively trying to scare a doll.

He switched tactics immediately.

Zed aimed at the unstable leg and cast a new rune.

·       You have cast basic rune [Force]

A black wave smashed into the golem’s leg. The effect was exactly what he hoped for.

·       Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Knock back] on [Golem].

The creature gave another loud wail, this one without any skill behind it as the leg it was keeping itself up with shifted to the side. It caught itself with a hand again, refusing to fall.

Zed frowned at the sound.

What was the creature doing now? He doubted pain had anything to do with the sound. It wasn’t just non-sentient; he refused to believe it was even living. It moved and made sound, but that was not enough to call it living.

He conjured [Flame] in his mind and held it there. Behind it other runes swirled, clear in his mind. It was beginning to feel like a video game. All he had to do was switch out one rune for the other.

“Fuck,” Kid swore all of a sudden.

“Has anyone ever told you that you swear a lot?” Zed asked him, watching the golem struggle to get back to its feet.

“No,” Kid answered. “But that’s not what’s important. When you ran, I thought we were trying to run away, but you were just trying to get it away from the other buildings in case they were also golems.”

“That’s true, but I don’t see what that has to do with the price of butter.”

Kid paused, confused. “What?”

Zed shook his head. “Never mind. I was just rambling. It’s a phrase I saw in a book. But can you hurry up and kill the thing. I’m playing support here.”

Kid frowned. “That thing might be on its knees, but you are aware it’s still a Rukh mana beast, right? And this axe is heavy as hell.”

Zed was thinking about his choice of runes. He switched out [Flame] for [Force] then pulled up [Sharp] right beside it. The creature was made of concrete and iron. He doubted fire based attacks would do it much in the way of harm.

“The axe is not that heavy,” he told Kid. “Just equip it and you’ll be able use it easier. Also, the thing is on its knee. Just swing and you’ll be fine.”

“That’s what everyone always says,” Kid muttered.

He lifted [Titan’s Axe] and frowned.

“I don’t think I can equip it.”

The golem got halfway up and Zed struck it back down with [Force].

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, then reached across to take the weapon by the handle. “You just equip it the way you equip any other ranked weapon.”

Zed didn’t know how to equip any other ranked weapon. At least he didn’t have any memories of equipping any other ranked weapon. But there was a part of him that knew how they were meant to be equipped. He knew how it was done when he didn’t have any notification.

I’m guessing that one’s not my experience.

A notification flashed in front of him as he thought of equipping the weapon.

·       Would you like to equip [Titan’s Axe]?

The golem got back up to its feet and Zed acted almost without focused thought. He forgot about the notification and raised his hand. In a split moment he conjured [Force] and sent the creature staggering back again.

It was certainly sturdy. With the amount of mana he was channeling into each rune, a mage would’ve probably suffered the effects of [Mutilate] by now.

The golem opened its mouth and Zed fed it another blast of [Force].

It blasted into the monster’s open mouth, silencing its roar and knocking its head back. Zed ignored the new notification that popped up.

·       Basic rune [Force] has been applied in a confined space.

·       Effect [Knock back] is now effect [Mutilate].

·       [Golem] endurance is too high.

·       [Mutilate] does not take effect.

“How are you doing that?”

Zed turned and found Kid staring at him in confusion.

“Doing what?” he asked.

Kid pointed at the golem that was now lying on its back. “That!”

The notification to equip [Titan’s Axe] had somehow been pushed to the back of Zed’s mind. He could pull it back up with a single thought or just answer it without pulling it back up.

The golem struggled to get up. Its method was to roll on its side and push itself back up which, watching it attempt, felt pathetic.

Zed frowned. Was this really a rukh rank monster?

He’d expected more. Something that would require the combined effort of him and Kid to attain victory.

“How exactly do you kill a golem?” he asked Kid.

Kid shrugged. “The same way you kill any mana beast?”

Zed turned a questioning look on the Olympian.

Kid shrugged again. “You beat it to death.”

Zed nodded. “Oh.”

He placed [Titan’s Axe] gently on the ground. “I guess I better get to it, then.”

“Careful,” Kid warned as Zed walked up to the golem. “It might seem weak but it’s still a Rukh, anything could happen.”

Zed nodded as he conjured two runes in his mind. [Force] for the task at hand, and [Force shield] for the warning given.

As he drew closer, he couldn’t help but be disappointed. There was a psychotic part of him that had been hoping for more of a fight. A part of him that had been hoping for a life or death situation.

As his finger traced [Force] in the air, he wondered how much of that psychotic part was him and how much of it belonged to a different individual from a different memory.

·       You have cast basic rune [Force].