Chapter 21: Chapter 21
“Let’s GO!” we entered the room all at the same time. The Guardian Golem from before stood in front of us, “Congratulations, for you four have reached the final boss, me.” His figure gigantify all of a sudden, “Now, use your squad to fight me!” We then see its health bar, 5 full bars. Damnit, that’s a lot of HP.
“Heads up, everyone!” Davida shouted as the familiar voice declared, “Battle Commence!”
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“Let me see your resolve!” – Guardian Golem used Adamantine Skin (Increase Defense)
“My turn!” Davida selected her Magic, her favourite, “Fireball!”
*Boom* – The Guardian Golem HP went down a little.
“What? Her fireball was enough to almost killed a goblin squad.” Duncan exclaimed; he added, “Then, how about this!” he used his Skill, “Cresent Slash!”
*Chink* – The Guardian Golem HP went down a tiny bit.
“Maybe slash attack wasn’t effective. Then, how about my Skill,” I shouted, “Aura Charge!” My squad readied themselves before ramming their body into the Guardian Golem.
*Bang* – The Guardian Golem flinched as its HP went down.
“Diane, buff us please!” Davida barked an order. “Okay, Defense Aura!” Diane’s squad held up their wand before a white light enveloped us. (Defense Increased)
“Let me show you what true power is!” The Guardian Golem wind up its arms before slamming them to the ground.
*BOOM*
“Arrrrgggghhhh”, all of us shouted in pain as our HP reduced a fair amount.
“Diane, heal, please.”
“Right, Mass Heal,” She said as her MP dropped down to about a half.
“No, Diane!” I speak too late, “We need to heal only when we’re about to die. We need to conserve some MP. This is going to be a long fight.” I commanded, “Attack my squad!” My squad attacked the Guardian Golem, reducing its HP even more.
“What’s done is done.” Davida barked, “We just need to keep going until this bastard HP was gone.” Her hot-blooded mode turned on as she ordered her squad to cast another Fireball.
“Have a taste of this then!” Duncan ordered his squad to attack the Guardian Golem, reducing its third health bar. Even so, it doesn’t look like we made much progress.
We continued to persevere until our HP and MP were almost out and the Guardian Golem’s third health bar nearly empty.
“We can’t keep going like this,” I said, panting hard. “We need to find another way!” Davida added. “Maybe we can’t brute-force this. Remember, it is the Test of Knowledge, not might.” Reminds Diane. “Flipping hell, I forgot!” I facepalmed, “Right, it must’ve had weaknesses somewhere. No way we’re beating this guy like this.”
“Duncan”, Davida called
“Yes, young miss?”
“You’ve got the best eyes among us; find us his weaknesses while we stall for time.”
“As you command, young miss,” Duncan said as he hit the retreat command in his HUD.
“Duncan has withdrawn from the battle”, the voice announced.
“Let’s do this, everyone!” I shouted, encouraging my party members.
“Right!”
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Duncan retreated from the fight to observed how the Guardian Golem fights. As the most experienced amongst the group, he possessed different insight than Eru, Diane or even the genius Davida. He saw the Guardian Golem fight as he began analyzing how it moved, how it attacked, and how it defended.
After a couple of exchanges between the Guardian Golem and his party, Duncan noticed something. Once every third turns, it cast the ‘Adamantine Skin’ skill. But before it managed to cast that, it had its core exposed. ‘If we can delay its turn somehow, we can easily damage it.’ Duncan concluded.
He looked very hard at the area of battle. ‘That’s….’ Duncan discovered 4 plants hanging on the wall and 3 plants hanging on the ceiling. ‘Corrosive plants’ Duncan recognise the plants hanging on the ceiling and the wall. ‘Young miss used to study those plants…. Wait, maybe…’ He hurriedly gets close to the fight once more before joining the party again.
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“What did you find, Duncan?” I asked Duncan while panting my ass off. My HP and MP was reaching a critical state. “We need to shift our attack target,” Duncan said, “Look up! There’s a corrosive plant right above the Guardian Golem.”
“Good find, Duncan”, Davida praised, “It is called Raflessia Bloom. When it’s disturbed, the plant will release corrosive gas. It will instantly melt rocks and can even melt steel if it was exposed long enough.”
“Yes, young miss, but you need to hit the plants right before the Guardian Golem use its Adamantine Skin,” Duncan warned
“Right.” Davida nodded, “Right, team, we have our plans! Let’s do this!” I shouted. We waited until the Guardian Golem used its Adamantine Skin, then defend with our lives just until the turn it needed to use it again. “Davida, it’s on you!”
“Right,” Davida prepared herself, “Squads, aim high. Mana Arrow!” Davida’s squad perfectly directed their spells into the corrosive plant above the Guardian Golem. As the Guardian Golem wants to cast its Adamantine Skin, the corrosive gas hits the Guardian Golem. It melted the Guardian Golem skin as a notification appeared in each of our HUDs, “The Guardian Golem become paralyzed.” The Guardian Golem core was exposed, as immediately after we started to attack it relentlessly. After a while, the Guardian Golem recovered, but we kept repeating our strategy.
Until eventually, we ran out of plants to destroy. “Damn it. Nearly, we’re nearly there.” I lamented, “Only a fourth left. Damnit, only a fourth left.” I slumped to the ground, nearly giving up. But Davida helped me up, “No, it’s not over yet. Until our HP reached zero, we can’t give up yet.”
I looked at Davida. I admire her courageous spirit, as the amber in her eyes wasn’t extinguished yet. “Right, what am I thinking.” I stood up, readying myself for one final push.
“Do you have what it takes to defeat me?” the Guardian Golem asked, “If so, come. Show me your power!”
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