Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Heat-Treated

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My legs carried me with a restrained speed onto the bridge.

The first of the statue-like, mechanical golems still had its weapon wielding arm pointed straight at me.

The harpoon like spear upon its forearm ripped out like a bullet. The sound split the air, a muted cacophony of unseen cogs whirling hummed in the background.

My eyes narrowed, losing some of the carefree excitement that had filled me at the prospect of battle only a moment ago, as my sight made contact with the glowing embers within the creature's shadowed head. "You're slow."

The spearhead, a long chain rattling behind it, came within a foot of me.

But only within a foot.

Completing the stride I'd just taken, my toes dug against the carved blocks beneath me, spinning my body out of the way of the sharp projectile.

My gaze never lost contact with what served for the automaton's eyes even as its weapon soared right past my face and windswept hair.

A canyon breeze was whistling through the valley, cooling my skin as I assessed my enemies, just as me and Gwen had agreed to open this battle by doing.

The monster whose unleashed spear I'd evaded took a step back and raised its shooting arm, seemingly trying to get leverage, as a louder clicking sound resounded from its armored depths.

"More metal than magic, I think," I sent the telepathic message to Gwen, as I righted myself, "this guy's slow though."

I heard a crack of lightning echo out from nearby.

"Not all of them," Gwen sent the message back and I felt her press a glimpse of what she was seeing into my mind's eye.

Dividing my consciousness for a split second only, I watched from the panther's perspective as she broke her run into a mighty and soaring leap, just as one of the varied golems rose up off of the ground.

The mechanical automaton was lighter looking than the others; it was bird-like in its face and hands but bipedal and humanoid in its body's design.

Powerful, light reflecting wings shone and stretched as the golem's well carved form defied gravity.

The creature wheeled its freshly animated arms in an effort to intercept the massive panther that was coming straight for it. The long, gleaming halberd it held spun along with its movements to offer some form of defense.

Gwen's massive claws crackled with mana-charged lightning and she was quick despite her size, however. A boom of thunder erupted as she twisted her body mid-air and made contact with the monster's left forearm.

Gwen's natural weapons dug into the metal of the golem's carapace, but not as deeply as one would have expected given their savage looking nature.

The golem's arm didn't react at first. Not until the electricity coursed through it, did it start to spasm.

I doubted these things felt pain, or at least I'd initially assumed they wouldn't. No, it hadn't shuddered when its metal armor was penetrated, it wasn't feeling pain... the electricity was affecting it.

The eagle-themed statue fought through the uncontrolled shuddering in its arm to fly up further.

Gwen growled in contemplation as her body became another lightning bolt.

The cat's paws were reforming back on the bridge below her within a heartbeat's span of time.

The last thing I glimpsed through her eyes was her watching the twitching in her victim's metal arm slowing as the last of her blue lightning dissipated away from its metallic skin.

Another loud clanking noise, this one from Gwen's blind spot, resounded and the cat leapt into action to avoid the unseen enemy as my eyes receded from hers.

"We can't fly," the panther's voice was definitive and annoyed. "They can."

I raised my conjured sword high above my head and brought it down against the chain attached to the sharpened spear that the first golem had fired at me.

I felt the mana-made-flame of my weapon colliding violently with the steel-grey of the metal links.

I grunted as the part of the chain I'd began to heat up with my efforts slipped backwards as the entire length of the metallic construction started to retreat.

I glanced to the heavy-set golem who'd initially fired the spear my way just as the crack of a singular tower's ballista resounded.

"Incoming!" I shouted to Gwen.

I heard the cat roar, sensing her presence some distance behind my back. "Not coming for me!"

My eyes shifted from the golem, which was now halfway through retracting its chain spear back into its forearm, and to the ballista bolt which was now, just as Gwen said, very much flying straight for my face.

And it was flying fast.

My senses sharpened as [Accelerate Adrenaline] roared to life, just as I also pumped its powers into my arm.

With an upward twist, pulling my blade across my body, the roaring blue and red fire of my weapon exploded into a solidified rage against the haft of the ballista bolt--just as I pulled myself out of the way of its glistening and deadly-sharp point.

The wood of the bolt easily cracked, with a snapping that satisfied my ears, underneath the super-heated cutting edge of my [Raging Blade].

Unfortunately for me though, another of the bird-like statues had already raised itself from a nearby enough stand.

I hadn't seen it at first, though I'd heard it.

The metallic fluttering of its sharp looking wings is what caught my attention. It must have come up and over me from behind.

The animated sculpture, this one resembling an idealized barn owl in its face, wings, and talons, spun a shining net over its head before promptly launching it at me.

Once more, I summoned a burst of [Accelerate Adrenaline], practicing my ability to toggle it on and off as needed to conserve mana and increase my [Spell Control] skill.

With my eyes now primed by mystical power and my mind able to react to my surroundings, I engaged [Mana Flicker] and became a cloud of energy.

Missing me altogether, the owl statue's net soared harmlessly through where I had been.

My mana, meanwhile, rushed forward in an shockingly fast ethereal state towards the larger golem who'd initially engaged me.

To my surprise, no matter how slow the thing was, its eyes followed my blurring form.

The golem raised its reloaded arm, spear tip visible and all. It wasn't even pointing at me, but--

My instincts, becoming more and more honed by the day, screamed at me that I was in danger.

I instantly ended my teleport as the golem launched its spear.

And, just as I did so, the spear-like weapon roared past my still-reforming chest and scraped into my still ethereal form.

Pain flared through me, not just as I became solid but even before I had.

I ignored the shock of being hit while flickering in my non-corporeal state and reactivated my teleport, but this time I was moving away from the weapon that had pierced me when I thought myself untouchable by physical objects.

The Webspinner's magic absorbing spider silks had been able to touch me, true, but I honestly hadn't expected that to be a capability of these golems.

I reformed with the blood trail of a superficial wound running down my toned abs underneath my leather armor.

Well, that'll put a hit in my armor's durability.

I activated [Accelerate Healing], but to my surprise the small wound given to me by the golem's spear didn't close.

Could magic not heal the wounds caused by these things, or--?

No, it couldn't be.

I poured more mana into the injury and, very slowly but surely, my flesh knitted itself back together and my Health bar ticked back up to its maximum.

However, the, albeit small, drain on my Mana was far more than it should've been.

"Gwen!" I alerted the panther telepathically. "If these things hit you, magic barely works to heal the wounds."

"Don't get hit then?" the cat replied. "Understood!"

"Right," I said, taking a step back to get as many of the golem's all around us into my view as possible, "if it's too big of a wound then I might not be able to heal it easily."

I counted six of the monsters on my side of the bridge. Two of the large, spear-wielding juggernauts. Three avian sculptures and one great-axe-wielding and horse-headed warrior thing that was now running through the two-dozen feet of space between me and it.

If all these things can inflict magic resistant wounds then we might have a problem.

As I was contemplating the very real danger we were in, the horse-headed sculpture slammed its hoofs into the stone and vaulted high into the air.

"How many over there?" I shot the telepathic message to Gwen as I readied my sword in a defensive stance.

The axe-using monster's muscled abs caught the glint off the sun as it rapidly soared through the air.

"Seven!" Gwen replied.

"Could be worse, I guess!" I stepped forward, at the last possible moment, and dropped my body into a down-leveled position.

With my bodyweight and knees dropping down, I then used my crouch to vault myself up onto my toes.

My blade slammed with a resounding clang against the armored middle-torso of the incoming horse-man.

The angry, orange eyes of the monster shifted down to me as two thin gusts of steam erupted from its nostrils.

"Come on, you bastard," I challenged it as my blade fought hard to cleave through its armor.

The internally clanking, but well balanced seeming beast, shifted its weight forward against me as its hooves met the ground.

"Argh!" I exerted myself and channeled more and more energy into my [Raging Blade].

The more mana that I pumped into the weapon, the brighter it's solidified shape glowed, hotter and hotter like the sun made into a blade.

Just as my weapon began to resembled hot plasma, and as the armor of the equine creature finally began to give way a bit, the zoological golem shifted and swung its axe down and into an up-swing.

I withdrew the mana from my sword and allowed it to shorten down to the length of a dagger--a trick I'd learned during the nights of practicing my magic since I'd left the previous boss's lair-- freeing my weapon from the resistance it was meeting from the golem's armor, and attempted to pirouette behind its back.

But the metallic monster was fast, lean looking, and I could hear the well-oiled gears within its body accelerating into a frenzy.

The creature's up-swing turned into a spinning attack as the agile and forceful monster grabbed the back of its great-axe with its free hand and leaned back as it directed its weight to follow my evasion.

The speed in which the axe came in at me, even though I'd had a jump start in dodging, was shocking.

No time to evade fully then, I decided in an instant; it would catch me with the edge of the weapon in the very best case even if I did.

I poured the mana back into my weapon and half-bladed it in front of me, placing a singular hand upon its super-hot surface but keeping the other on the handle, being immune to its heat, and bringing its middle length before myself to intercept the golem's great-axe.

"Holy--" I swore as my back foot flew behind myself in an effort to fight against the massive force of the of the blow, "fucking..."

This thing was almost as fast as me, not quite but almost.

My arms began to buckle.

And I just couldn't meet its strength.

Only a second had passed at most, but I was on the verge of my guard collapsing entirely.

My eyes shifted to the gleaming bronze of the automaton's weapon's axehead, which appeared to be the same type of metal as that of the spear that had pierced me even within my teleporting state.

With the golem's speed, if I tried to flicker away, I had a strong suspicion I'd be cut in two mid-teleport.

"Ugh," I grunted as my grip gave way.

Just as it did, the sound of a resounding thundercrack infused the air with the smell of burnt sky-fire.

My sword dissipated completely and my body bent back at an almost impossible angle.

Despite the name, [Acrobatics] granted control over one's body in general and [Agility] improved overall flexibility.

The greataxe soared over my growing eyes leaving a backtrail of warmed wind flushing over my barely spared nose.

My senses sped up by both magic and natural adrenaline, I watched as a bolt of lightning, reforming into the shape of a massive panther's claw, tore into the right shoulder joint of the equine golem.

Gwen's magic-charged body shot past the monster and my familiar landed with a turning and angry growl.

The golem's shoulder, now filled with the arcing electricy of the panther's power enshrouded claw, shuddered and both of its arms and weapon shot up above its head as if it had lost control.

I, meanwhile, caught myself with a hand against the bridge and then rolled to the side and my feet.

The sound of a firing ballista cracked and the flapping of metallic wings filled the air.

Breathing heavy, more from the close call than the exertion, I re-summoned my weapon into my hand.

"Okay," I panted aloud and then switched to telepathically communicating with my familiar, "I think we know their weaknesses now."

Gwen's eyes shot up to my head in alarm.

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The sound of the ballista bolt tearing through the air drew closer.

I was already on top of it though, being able to see behind me through her eyes just made things easier.

[Accelerate Adrenaline] surged power into my neck muscles and primed my reaction speed.

I tilted my head to the side and watched the horse golem stumble back in shock, its arms beginning to come back under its control, as the ballista bolt soared past my moving head and slammed into the stone before the animated sculpture's feet.

Meanwhile, Gwen's alarm receded and, over our soul link, was replaced by a feeling of... growing satisfaction with me?

The panther purred in battlelust. "I've been waiting."

---

A fluttering of wings came from above me.

"Gwen! Take it out of the sky!" I shouted telepathically as I jumped forward, shortening my [Raging Blade] into a brightly glowing dagger as I did so.

The panther roared and burst into a lightning bolt aimed straight for the net-wielding owl-like automaton, now floating freely, above where I'd previously been standing.

The horse golem twitched in shock, still somewhat disabled, as I drove my shortened weapon into a visible seam between its torso and glowing head.

It was a small seam, very small, and I struggled to fit my weapon into it, only managing to do so when I shrank it down so much that it could barely be considered a blade anymore--raging or otherwise.

Still, it just barely fit, and as it did so I smiled.

"Bye," I said, meeting the glowing eyes of the monster, and sending as much mana as I could into the weapon; I knew how much channeled mystical energy was needed to cut its armor now and, despite figuring its insides were more vulnerable, I didn't waste time in hyper-heating my blade to exactly that point.

The sounds of internal gears popping and spinning free to clang against the metal armor encasing the monster's insides rang out as I expanded my burning hot blade's length within the golem.

The monster shifted its weight and brought its weapon down towards me.

A massive cloud of now oil-tinted, greying smoke shot from the seemingly enraged automaton's nostrils.

I stepped to the side, leaving my sword flaming within the its body, finding its attack much easier to dodge than before.

The golem was still fast, but its movements were so much more janky now.

I felt just enough confidence in my now comparatively greater speed to slap my hand against the plate of the golem's forearm.

A flash of red lit up, before I slid my hand slightly up the metal and one of blue and then of red once again flashed beneath my palm before I backstepped into a mana flicker.

The creature sent out another puff of increasingly polluted smoke. It stepped towards me, dragging its weapon to its side, its body jittering and shaking.

"Like I said," one of my eyes flashed red and the other flashed an icy white, "bye."

The first thing to ignite was the first flame rune I'd planted upon the monster's forearm.

A fun fact, that I'd learned when laying hundreds of them when setting traps around the Webspinner's lair, was that I could control the direction that the rune delivered its mana-fueled and fiery explosion from; to be exact: I could make the blast expand out in all directions or just in one.

The first rune in question flared with a massive amount of light, since I knew exactly how much heat was needed to pierce the golem's armor, and a moment later a pillar of piercing flame was erupting from the other side of the golem's forearm.

Granted, it was much less damage than would've been done to a flesh and blood creature, that armor really was strong; the fact that it still had an arm, though now one with a red-hot hole in the middle of it, was quite impressive.

I did intend to resolve that issue, however.

The frostfire rune I'd planted higher than the first normal sigil exploded next, purposefully not charged with enough to pierce the metal, it sent a cloud of icy flames spreading all over the monster's already damaged forearm.

The red-hot glow left by the previous explosion was instantly cooled and a sheet of frost instead spread all around the punctured wound.

Then, I watched with a morbid curiosity, as the final fire rune exploded, this time in a less directed manner, with a pure concussive force.

The cracking was audible as the heat and frost weakened metal of the golem's weapon-wielding arm exploded into metallic chunks, right around the time my still-lodged in blade ignited also.

The battleaxe, the golem's hand still clutching it, clattered to the ground beside it.

The thing's head and neck, meanwhile, was blow upwards with such force from the explosion of my conjured sword that it was half cocked off of its body, only being connected to one side of its thick torso.

I was already stepping further away as, with steam billowing from every blown open hole on its body, the golem fell to its knees and then collapsed with a clanging.

"One more time, Gwen!" I mentally yelled to the panther, as I jumped up at the owl-looking automaton that she'd launched herself towards only a few moments ago.

My body once more entered into the form of a stream of mana.

The avian golem's left wing was struggling to keep it aloft, as it was shrouded in a familiar electricity.

The monster, however, immune to pain as it was, was already pulling its net, which was seemingly connected to a cable that shot from its hand, back up towards its body.

Gwen roared in recognition of my command and once more became a bolt of lethal energy aimed directly for the owl's other wing.

I, meanwhile, appeared directly in front of the thing, my forming sword raised as it also lifted its twitching left claw to slash at me.

Gwen, as I did so, crashed into the monster's untouched wing. Her claws became physical and her massive form dug in a hold onto the feather like metal of the avian creature.

The thing shifted downwards against the considerable weight of the panther and the loss of its remaining wing's full function as electricity poured from Gwen's claws and into its bronze form.

My [Raging Blade] meanwhile had reached its full length and a great level of mana-charged potency as I brought it, relying on the power of gravity, directly through the net-wielding hand of the avian creature.

I would've gone for the other wing or the head, but I just didn't have the angle after all the shifting of its body that Gwen's attack had caused.

Nonetheless, I couldn't help but smirk as the thing's only ranged weapon, remaining claw not withstanding, was taken from it.

Still, I remained subservient to gravity, and as I fell, I activated [Mana Flicker] to carry me safely towards the incoming ground.

Gwen, though, remained attached to thing thing's wing, ripping and bending it with an animalistic attention.

The owl golem fought and struggled, but, as it turned its body to try to slash at Gwen with its only surviving talon, the panther managed to bend its metal just so that it lost its ability to remain aloft completely.

With a loud pop, the golem fell backwards and Gwen jumped gracefully away from it.

"Not dead yet," I send the mental signal to Gwen, as the owl automaton plummeted, and a familiar chain spear rocketed towards my teleporting form.

"Damnit!" I cursed at the unexpected attack.

The upper half of my body materialized for the briefest of moments, fire spiraling up my arm and into my free hand, as I launched a blazing fireball at the incoming projectile.

My [Fireball] met the weapon and, with a shuddering explosion, knocked it aside.

The chain spear flew wildly following that, flying back to spiral towards the massive chasm below--of course it was still attached to its massive tanky master, so i doubted it'd be truly lost.

I allowed my legs to become physical and landed in a roll.

"Clarissa?" Gwen checked in on me.

I brought myself to my feet and made for the enemy golem.

"Fine," I said and then, seeing that the monster who'd tried to shoot me with its chain spear had turned its attention mostly towards retracting its knocked aside weapon back into its arm, I reactivated my [Mana Flicker]. "Having a blast."

I made it halfway across the bridge before another ballista bolt forced me to become solid once again.

My body, flickering into solidity once again, twisted as I spun my arms wide and knocked the ballista bolt aside with my weapon.

Gwen sent a mental flash of annoyance as a lion-headed golem interjected itself, wielding a massive hammer, while the panther tried to finish off the owl automaton.

Ready to meet the challenge, the panther crashed into lightning and reappeared to the side of the lion, dragging her mana infused claws through its right leg.

The monster, sporting thicker armor than either of the other two she'd attacked, however, didn't seem as affected as the others by this strike and brought its hammer down with a mighty force against Gwen's ribcage.

The cat was sent flying backwards across the bridge with a crack and a pained howl.

My eyes grew wide in rage as the panther rolled into the middle of the bridge.

A [Fireball] entered my hand before I knew it was even doing so.

I threw the orb of flame with all my might, but the lion golem reacted with the calm of a machine.

Its hammer struck down against the attack.

The concussive spell exploded nonetheless, of course, and the hammer was sent jerking, along with the monster's upper body, to the side.

My blade had already dissipated into the air and another [Fireball] had entered my freed up hand.

This one, though, with the golem still trying to recover its balance, soared directly into its faceplate.

Much as its weapon had been, the monster was sent rocking backwards as its head was bathed in flame.

But I wasn't done.

This thing had hurt Gwen.

I wanted blood... or oil... whatever it had.

A frostfire [Fireball] came next, already summoned into my other hand before the second of the explosive orbs had left my fingertips.

The hammer of the lion, however, determined and stubborn, once again shifted up and met its path.

The creature was bathed in a blizzard of raging, cold, white flame nonetheless.

The red-hot, glowing bronze of its faceplate chilled instantly and cracked in two.

I summoned a final two [Fireballs] and lobbed them with hatred.

The first the monster again tried to deflect, just as the sculpted metal of its face fell to the ground, revealing a darkness of spinning cogs and twin glowing orbs of orange before the explosion of my spell sent its hammer flying out of its grasp completely and over the bridge's edge.

The final orb of inferno entered into the exposed head of the monster. And the blast that followed removed said head.

---

Gwen was just barely forcing herself to her feet as I came to mana flicker beside her.

"Are you okay?" I asked with concern.

The panther shook her headache out and seemed to regain some of her strength as her equilibrium returned.

"Fine," she answered me with a predatory swish of her tail.

Metallic footsteps encroached upon us.

Wings of metal, likewise, beat in the air.

We were in the middle of the bridge now.

Two of the large, spear wielding golems stood on the outskirts of three horse axe-users, three more avians, and a singular elephant looking giant.

We were now completely surrounded by the remaining golems. Encircling us must've been their goal all along.

"Two and a half down," I stated as the half-crippled owl golem forced itself to its feat, "ten and half to go."

Gwen's pure-white coat raised as her anger at being hit was made manifest.

"Good odds," the panther said.

I summoned a [Greater Mana Potion], which I didn't have many of left even after looting dozens more ice and poison soul shards from the many mobs I'd killed in the woods of the Webspinner's lair.

My [Raging Blade] entered into my remaining hand as I brought the cork of the potion I'd summoned to my mouth and then spit it out, before drinking down the restorative fluids.

"Such a cliché line," I responded.

The panther growled. "Don't--"

"Ruin your movie moment?" I finished her sentence with a smile, as my eyes glowed a mix of red and white. "I know."

Multicolored fire began to whip up along the ground all around us.

"Just try to keep up with mine," I challenged the panther.

Gwen gave her best, feline-like impression of a scoff and a challenge: "Let's keep count of how many we kill then."

"Like Lord of the Rings?" I asked with a laugh as my eyes blazed with restored magic. "You know, don't think I've told you about that one yet, actually."

And then the golems charged us.

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