Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Enchanted Battle

We came across a golem, a level 50 tank. Not the first time I've seen this type of creature, but I've never quite fought them, really. That's about to change.

I stared at the creature, if it may even be called one. Perhaps its more like a robot, enchantments running down its form, blue glows all over its body.

I neighed, pointing at the golem. It was the first time we've truly seen enchantments.

"You know," Flaze said, "I just remembered, but I think the trap I stepped on back at Ralph's place was probably made with enchantments."

Oh. That. I never did prod for more answers as to how the trap was made.

She pointed at the golem. "Let's take out its legs, test out your new Skills. And then we can try and examine the enchantments, see if there's anything to be learned."

Hrmmm... I paused for a second, an idea having struck my head.

If there are enchantments, then maybe someone made the thing. The golem could be owned by somebody.

I thought for a second about the implications of that, but then I shrugged.

We'll just apologize if we end up breaking something important. We didn't know.

I nodded, with a whinny. Ready, for battle.

[Hellish Fireball]!

[Hellish Fireball]!

[Hellish Fireball]!

The opening shot, the start of a war. Three sailing fireballs that detonated right at the zenith of their flight.

Explosion shook the world, blasts that carry with it the flames of hell, the fury of my Skill's second level. Not only was our enemy set alight, but so too were the surrounding walls and ceiling, my eyesight painted over by a vile yet vibrant red. Please don't burn down the entire building.

The golem shook, it stumbled back. I braced myself as I watched the creature regain its balance, taking a single step forward, and then another. It was almost like I did no damage, from how the creature was acting, even when I can clearly see that the creature was burning, its enchantments failing, growing dimmer. A few paltry chips and cracks ran along where my fireballs had previously exploded.

I gave Flaze a mildly worried glance, and she nodded. The golem's defenses are honestly quite ridiculous for its level.

Flaze's Clone stepped forward to distract, meanwhile the real Flaze dismounted from my back in order to take a stand against the monster... If it's even classified as such.

The 3 meter tall Golem arched its arm back, and then swung its hand forward. It crashed into the real Flaze's shield with the force of a tank, sending dust billowing out from the point of impact. A deep furrow ran in the floor where the punch had actually landed, cracks reaching along the tiles and the concrete below. But Flaze herself remained unharmed, only a mild dent to her shield.

That strike was a lot more powerful than what I expected from a level 50 creature, specially one classed as a tank. But it was slow, the wind up too obvious. Flaze was pushed back a tad, but she managed to easily deflect it away with her shield, not a problem to be had.

I could see that Flaze had this creature well under control, so I ran for the golem's legs, before I kicked into the creature's thigh. Hellfire erupted from the attack, and the monster shook, nearly tumbling over. But the actual damage done was only a single small tiny crack, though the fires stayed on its form for a little while, the ethereal blue glow of the enchantments seemingly weakened. Hard to say how much damage that's really doing, but it's the best I've got.

I kicked again to the same effect, many times over I attacked, Horsekick Gambit activated each time. The Golem too retaliated, a few kicks I had to hop away from. Not that it was much of a problem with my enemy's meager speed.

Problem is that attacks came my way at all, even if they never connected. It seems that this type of enemy has just a little bit more resistance, against Flaze's taunt.

Best remember that.

I ran away a little, leaving Flaze to keep on tanking the creature's hits. I then dashed towards the golem's leg, built up my momentum, and then delivered a hind leg kick.

[Horsekick Gambit]!

Flames spread outward, reaching up to the creature's torso and the floor below. The golem wobbled a little, but otherwise showed no reaction, continuing to impassively fight back against us.

Sure. Keep up the tough act until I fucking break you.

I focused on the same spot over and over, sneaking in a few exploding fireballs along with my gambit-fueled kicks. The leg fell apart after a few dozen hits, the stone of it cracked beyond repair, and the enchantments burnt away.

The golem wobbled, trying to maintain balance, but ultimately failing. The large mass of stone tumbled forward, a crash that was sure to shake the very floor.

Timber! I neighed, a toothy grin. Oh, what fun it is, to see a giant collapse.

The golem had no face, with which to make expressions. But in that moment I thought that its heart was in turmoil, uncontrolled panic, as its large stony arms flailed wildly about, striking at anything and everything within range.

I had to hop back, to not get caught up. Flaze too reacted, her clone holding her shield up against a wayward punch, meanwhile the original moved to block a careless swipe.

A moment passed, and I saw the clone of Flaze being tossed far away, her body rolling limply against the tiled floors. The original did not fair any better, her body flung to a nearby wall, crushed within the metal of her own armor.

My eyes widened, as did hers. The downed golem set its metaphorical eyes on the writhing form of Flaze, a punch coming her way to finish her life.

Shit!

My mind was sent into a panic, my legs galloped on their own as I rushed towards my friend.

[Hellish Fireball]!

The projectile shot out, it sailed along the punch's flight, before exploding into a blast that pushed the monster's arm off-course. The punch failed, it missed, and when the monster tried to grab for Flaze instead, it ended up snatching the wrong one. A knight clone that she had summoned, equally as injured but still capable of using Taunt.

I reached the true her shortly after, and I saw that Flaze had transformed back to her base form. The metals of her armor that were previously embedded deeply into her flesh had disappeared, but there were still gaping wounds left where they once were. From ruptured flesh bleeding all over, to broken bones pointing in all the wrong ways.

She did not look like she was dying, but rather that she should already be dead.

I was taken aback for a moment, and Flaze gave me a weak smile. Even that gesture caused her a jolt of pain.

What the fuck am I doing?

I shook off my baffling hesitation, and helped my friend.

[Blessed Heal]!

[Blessed Heal]!

[Blessed Heal]!

Flaze's wounds healed, and she staggered, a soft sigh escaping her lips. She gave a passing glance to the fallen golem as it crushed her clone between its hands, the pain felt by the copy making the original flinch.

Flaze shook her head, choosing not to waste any more time. She clambered up to my back, and I quickly galloped out of the immobile golem's range.

Whew.

"Damn." Flaze said, and I agreed. We both slumped into the ground, exhausted.

~~~

"An overgrown mannequin throwing a hissy fit. That's really what it is." Flaze spoke once we both felt completely rested. The golem crawled forward, trying to grab for us, but we were yet laughably out of reach.

We watched the golem from a distance, how it struggled to reach us, only for us to step away further the moment it made some progress.

And still the creature never gave up, it persevered even with a missing leg. There is something to be learned here. A lesson, an inspiration.

It just isn't such a great metaphor when the subject dies in the end.

"How do we fully incapacitate it while preserving the body?" Flaze finally asked, getting back up and doing some stretches, readying herself to get back to work.

I too stood up on all fours, looking at the struggling creature of rock. I thought about her question and shrugged. Hack it apart?

"Let's go." Flaze didn't really understand what I said, but it she seems she had the same idea regardless

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"Be careful, Jackal. Don't let your guard down." she reminded, just before we stepped back into the golem's range.

I nodded. Yeah. I know that's what happened earlier. Won't happen again.

Or well, I'll try.

"That's all I ask," she smiled. And then we began ripping the creature apart limb from limb.

The sound of cascading stone filled our ears, like an avalanche of rock that caused the death of so many travelers. We started first with the arms, the both of us working together on the same limb, one at a time. I kicked and Flaze slammed her wooden sword down.

It was truly beautiful, like an orchestra sought after only by the most cultured of connoisseurs. Us, the troubled artists. The flailing golem, our instrument.

The monster punched at our bodies, it tried to catch us in its grip and squeeze the blood out of our fleshbags. We only responded in kind, flitting about the corridors in a beautiful dance, the touch of death so ever close to all the participants, a thorny scene that we had navigate.

And navigate it we did. One arm fell, and so too did the other. We worked on the creature's remaining leg next, but it was hardly able to retaliate with that limb.

Soon, the golem was left as only a torso and a head. But miraculously so, it's neck was still turning, moving, an attempt to crawl, to somehow get to us and attack. It was still 'alive.'

How beautiful. Seriously, there's some lesson waiting to be unraveled here.

N E V E R G I V E U P

I wrote on a messy piece of rubble with my mind. Flaze punched me lightly, laughing at my joke.

"Should be safe enough," Flaze said, "let's go see if we can figure out how these enchantments work."

I really doubt we can actually do that.

That didn't mean I wasn't interested.

Flaze walked around the golem, looking at the dimming enchantments carved into stone.

She tried to figure them out, the letters and symbols written on the surface of rock, precise and methodical.

I looked at the broken off pieces of hand and feet. The enchantments once carved into them have gotten a lot dimmer, but they were still present, a blinking light of sickly blue that was hardly noticeable. It was subtle, but if I truly focused, I could still feel the mana wafting off of them.

[Enchanted Material - Ordinary]

This was not true of every piece of rubble that was once part of the golem's greater whole. Some hacked off pieces gave not a single glow, nor showcased any subtle shifts in the mana about them. The magic that once animated the creature was only left present in pieces that remained somewhat whole, the symbols depicted unbroken.

The runes were typically connected, etchings of singular lines that linked them to other symbols, like circuitry. That wasn't true for everything, but few of the runes stood unconnected to anything. At least, I had that impression from what was left of the creature, including its still living body.

"Right." Flaze stood up, dusting herself off, "Predictably, I can't decode them. Although if I try really hard, I feel like there's this buzz in my mind, a whisper that's different from Identify. It's far away, and I cannot reach it, but I feel that it is learnable, enchantments and runes.

I chewed over her words. Yeah, I think I felt it too. I neighed, and then tried again.

I stared into a rune that remained whole on the golem's torso, still retaining its subtle glow. I peered into the depiction and tried to decode what it meant. A swirling symbol like a question mark crossed with a jagged slash.

I felt it, more clearly, what Flaze was describing. Of movement, of earth. Meaning derived from Mana. An interpretation of magic, written, made physical, made real.

My head hurts, I whined, let's get this over with and find Darkvoid.

Flaze smiled, "Agreed."

She walked over to the golem's torso, tapping it a few times with her wooden sword. "Think this thing has a core somewhere?"

I thought about it, and shrugged. Maybe?

"Good enough for me."

Flaze and her clone stepped on top of the creature's torso, and then they unleashed their rage unto its form, the woman's hands blurring as she cackled, madness in her eyes, a deep well of hatred and anger.

...Yeah. Makes sense that she's pissed. She also seemed to derive much satisfaction from when we hacked the golem's limbs apart earlier.

Though I suspect that she isn't only angry about getting smushed like a piece of gum earlier.

Oh well.

The golem's torso fell apart, the stone that makes up its body ripped away. I walked over and peered into its inanimate remains, finding a whole pile of... bare rock.

"Well, that was a bust." Flaze wiped the sweat off her brow after having done some good and honest work. "Although, why would it even have a core? We only think that because of the stories we've read and watched. Stop being a weeb, Jackal!"

Whu--! You just admitted that you were the same way! I neighed right at her face, and she flinched away from smell.

I felt a bit embarrassed from that... but I'm a horse! It's only natural! And it's only what you deserve, Flaze!

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject with a look of pity directed at me.

Shut up, shut up, shut up! I haven't seen you brushing your teeth since the apocalypse started! I neighed and pointed at her mouth.

She held a hand up to her face, and smelled her own breath. Her expression remained neutral as she walked up to me next.

"Boo." she breathed, right into my nose.

I froze.

I stiffened.

I fell to the ground and flailed like a fish out of water.

I'm a horse.

Flaze chuckled, a hand over her mouth. "Quit being stupid, Jackal. What I was trying to say, is that we haven't gotten a kill notification, and the golem's head still glows a brighter blue than the rest."

I shot up, peering into her eyes with a disbelieving gaze. Holy shit. It's still alive? After all that?

Flaze nodded, and then beamed. "Yep! Maybe we'll find a core."

We went up to the head, and we all looked down at it from above. Myself, and the two bodies of Flaze. The creature had no eyes with which to meet our own gaze, but I still felt its stare heavily upon us, somewhat judgemental, maybe a hint of rage.

Quit being such a drama queen, Chuck. It's only death.

"The head's a lot more dense in enchantments," the clone of Flaze spoke, "maybe it should have been obvious that this was the 'core'."

I knew that from the beginning. I neighed, smugly.

The real Flaze elbowed me, and I pushed her back.

All together, hand in hand, we killed the golem dead.

[You have defeated a level 50 Tank!]

The lesson was to always go for the head.

Hey there! This is a chapter that necessitated so much revision, that I spent more time on it now, than when I wrote the supposed original chapter. So I would really love to hear what you thought of it. I have been pretty unsure about this chapter and the last because of how much I changed.

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