Chapter 51: Chapter 50: the heart of the dungeon

On the other side of the crystal cavern, the number of golems increased, and most of them have some amount of gems in their composition. They are also exclusively ants at this point.

We switch back to a stealthier method from here on out though. Don’t want to get caught between a rock and a different rock.

With the quest marker helpfully pointing the way, we dispatch groups at a time as complete silent takedowns take too much mana. That started being the case as golem incorporated more gems inside them.

More notably though, we also encounter smaller pure, stone golems scurrying about, carrying various things. They carry anything from rock to gems, to the occasional metal ore further into the anthill. More worryingly the quest marker points in the direction they are returning their hauls to. Luckily these smaller ones ignore us, even as we attack them.

As we progress deeper, a greater portion of the golems become these small ones.

After probably a couple hours, we see an opening to a massive cavern. At this point many of the meter tall worker ants as James called them, continuously scurry in and out of the opening. 

Peeking through the opening, I see something terrifying. At least four crystal golems with as much mana as the first one I fough, and four with no mana at all, which means they probably have an equal amount of stamina, which James confirms. Luckily they stay stationary to guard something, even when turning their head to watch us.

The thing they are guarding is also the same thing the workers deliver materials to, a gigantic immobile golem with a multitude of long arms. In the center of its mounting point on the wall, is a massive crystal that’s seemingly made of two intertwined crystals. One half is a dark blue that brimming with mana, the other a strong yellow, which James points out has nearly double the stamina he has.

As we watch, the factory golem receives materials from a worker, shapes it with mana and attaches it to the ant it was currently making. As the last leg is attached, one of the two pure crystal arms touches the core of the newly assembled worker ant. 

A huge amount of mana flows through the arm in a complex weave and enters the newly created one. As the flow stops, the small one glows a bit, before joining the rest of the workers.

Seeing what amounts to an end game boss fight, or a mid game raid, we retreat a bit away from the opening, before discussing our options.

“This is one of those boss fights that either takes multiple people, or quite a few attempts, right?” I say.

“Yes, that seems to be the case.” he answers back in a somber tone.

“How should we go about it? This is a fetch quest right? Do we need to fight them, at all?” I ask, hoping to find a solution.

Lara was the one to give the quest this time, so James offers her a prayer asking for clarification, since neither of us are willing to trust that respawning is a thing for us. It doesn’t seem to be the case for the golems, but we don’t know for sure.

Lara calmly walks around the nearest bend while answering.

“You are fetching a rainbow gem. You know the mid-late game material favored by elementalist. So, no. You don’t have to kill the golem queen. Also, Hi James and Zena, long time no see. Cool look you guys are going for, bronze warrior and rebellious magical girl. I like it.”

That is good to hear, both that she likes our clothes, and that we don’t have to commit to the fight, but the quest marker still points into the chamber with the golem queen. At least it’s relieving that we don’t have to fetch the queen’s core.

Upon pointing out the quest marker dilemma, she simply tells me to check closer. With that clarified, we ask about respawning since it might become necessary, but she just defers to Stella, like David did, and disappears in a cloud of rose petals.

With Lara seemingly having told us what she thought was enough, I scout out the quest marker a little closer. It actually points a little to the left of the queen and her guards. 

Taking out the spyglass, I see a cave opening there. I lend James the spyglass, and he also spots an alternative entrance that’s closer.

A bit farther back, there was a branch in the tunnels that went in, so we decide to backtrack to see if we can find an alternate route.

We only find a couple golems that are willing to fight us in this branch, but we know how to quickly deal with them by now.

The quest marker is quite unhelpful in our endeavors, until it isn’t. After a while of walking down the branch, it flipped around and started to point in the direction we walked. 

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Maybe it’s like GPS units in that it points the shortest route? Certainly helpful now, as we quickly find the alternate entrance.

We can’t see any other ones closer though, but we do get to see the queen produce a new golem, but with stamina this time. It’s much the same, but It’s James who gets the show this time.

Checking with the spyglass, I see farther into the opening we are heading towards. It seems to be a short tunnel before opening up to a new chamber.

How to get over there though? When we take a single step into the cavern, at least one of the guards takes a step in our direction.

Maybe flying won’t instigate them? Testing this idea reveals it to sort of be true, I can get a little closer before one of the guards reacts, forcing me to get back out again.

They do react fairly slowly though, and don’t chase us once we are out of the chamber. We could do a mad dash across through the cavern, but we don’t know if the exit we aim for is part of the cavern, or not.

It’s about fifty meters to the tunnel, and after a bit of contemplating, it’s decided that I’ll go first since I can fly to get away. He’ll rush in to support me if anything goes wrong, and we’ll flee out the closest exit, defeating the golems as we run. It’s not impossible that we can defeat the guardian golems, but it’ll be difficult. We probably have to use potions to do it.

For this particular quest, I do wish I had a stealth build.

I start by giving myself all the speed buffs I can, then I charge dimensional impulse with a fair bit more mana than usual and hover into the cavern. Once the golems react, I fire the spell that sends me flying towards the opening at immense speed. It happens too fast for me to properly perceive, which is a first since getting this body. Actually might be the first since I got my perception tattoo.

I just barely manage to fire off the thruster again to slow down before I hit the wall. Still had to rely on fall damage reduction to save my ass.

Holding my breath as I turn to check if the golems chase, and breathe out in relief as they return to their posts.

I wave to James, and start to buff him as well. He’s at the outer reaches of how far I can buff people, but I still give him speed, and I as learned was necessary just now, perception buffs.

His journey is more difficult as he has to weave and bob around the smaller golems, as the guards might pursue uf further if we attack them. He does have the equivalent to dimensional impulse for stamina users though it doesn’t work mid air, at least the version he has. 

One of the golems gets close enough to fling stuff at him, but he makes it to safety before any of the guards manage to hit him. As soon as he crosses the threshold, they just stop mid stride and return. Fairly odd to see, but I’m not going to question it.

In the smaller chamber we now prepare to enter, there is a whole lot of nothing. Just  bare walls. The quest marker points straight to the wall though, so either it’s a secret wall, or we have to dig.

James taps the wall, and sure enough, it’s solid. I guess that's why there aren’t any workers here.

How to dig through solid rock though? As I think about it, James ,who still has his hand on the wall, gets a focused look on his face. A small segment of the wall starts to glow the muted yellow I’ve come to associate with his stamina, and a moment later, he pulls out a vedge from the wall.

Well, I guess that’s an option. Just shaping it with his stamina. And here I was prepared to smash it with mana spikes.

In the bottom of the hole, I see something red, and as he removes more, it becomes clear that it is the rainbow gem. Soon enough, he holds the multicolored gem in his hand.

With it stowed away in my inventory, the quest marker changed direction.

It’s time to escape this anthill.