Lith and Solus moved on the ceiling, slipping from one crack to another to never create a patch of darkness large enough for the skeletons to notice.
Strider and Ryka, instead, moved below the ground without producing a single vibration. The only issue with the Titania’s means of transportation was that with only Earth Vision to sense her surroundings, she had no idea where the next safe area was.
She moved slower than Lith to make sure the undead wouldn’t notice them and give the Tiamat a head start. Once Lith reached the other side of the west corridor and reverted to his human form, Ryka took it as her cue.
She dug her way to him and emerged a few meters past his position, just to be safe.
‘How did you escape detection?’ Solus asked. ‘The arrays protecting the area were supposed to pick up the alterations in the ground.’
‘Indeed.’ The Titania nodded. ‘That’s why I used my mastery over earth magic to collect the residual energy of the skeleton’s spells and shrouded us with it. It’s a known anomaly that the undead know will linger for a bit so they didn’t pay attention to it.
‘After all, these arrays are set to detect alterations in the earth element, not movement. As long as the residual energy lasts, you could move it around the whole crossroad and the ping would remain the same.’
‘Very smart, but this is not a trick we can use again. We won’t find a leak at every turn.’ Lith said and the group resumed their advance.
They found multiple bifurcations and if not for the Eyes always pointing in the right direction, they would have gotten lost many times over.
‘I understand now why they didn’t place more skeletons and magical formations.’ Solus pondered after another hour had passed. ‘This place is a natural labyrinth. Putting guards at every turn would require raising a whole undead army.
‘To keep it active would need so much light element that the undead would live just to feed the skeletons. Using permanent arrays to cover the whole area would be even worse.
‘The mana crystals needed for supporting so many magical formations would bankrupt even an ancient noble household.’
The builders had opted for setting traps in the dead ends and checkpoints at the important junctions to not waste resources. Lesser undead had no intelligence and required constant supervision.
The second checkpoint marked the end of their safe journey.
‘Stop right there!’ Ryka raised her closed fist. ‘There’s something heavy in front of us. It moves on two legs but that’s all I can tell you from this distance.’
Life Vision saw nothing while the Eyes perceived a blur of magical energy.
‘There’s two, no three creatures.’ As they approached, the vibrations from Earth Vision gave her more details on the nature of their unknown opponent. ‘Shit! I stand corrected. Three creatures are moving and two more stand still.
‘I failed to notice them earlier because they are made of stone and I mistook them for part of the corridor.’
‘Stone?’ Strider echoed.
‘Yes. They are all identical. Probably crafted by the same person.’ The Titania nodded.
‘Shit!’ The rest of the group said in unison, knowing what was about to happen.
They were close enough for Life Vision to perceive the stumpy humanoid creatures, barely 1.5 meters (5′) tall, that were larger than an adult bear. Some kind of cloaking device made their energy signature blurry, but there was only one explanation for a bunch of stones capable of moving.
Golems were also called artificial true mages since they could activate their enchantments as spells and none of them required casting of any kind. Constructs were quick, strong, resistant to all elements, and worst of all, had no vitals.
Rock Golems were the second strongest type of construct a mage could Forgemaster. Known as “Immortals”, Rock Golems could instantly repair themselves from any damage as long as there were raw materials available in their proximity.
In an underground corridor, there were plenty of stones.
To make matters worse, the two unmoving constructs stood over recharge arrays that guaranteed they could operate 24/7. Golems had no biological needs, would never lose focus, and would never tire.
Life Vision revealed a rhythmical pulse of mana that marked the use of a Life-Sensing array from one of the recharging constructs. Every member of Lith’s group carried a cloaking ring that hid their status as Awakened, but only Darwen could completely seal the energy signature of a living being.
No matter how weak their life forces appeared to be, the recharging golem detected the intruders and sent an active golem to investigate while the others raised yellow alert.
‘Fuck me sideways! If we Blink, they’ll notice. If we retreat, they’ll follow us. What do we do?’ Lith asked.
‘Since we are fucked anyway, our priority is to take them out before they can collect too much information.’ Strider replied. ‘On my mark!’
He conjured a darkness spell around his tail to hide the sudden flash of light that accompanied the activation of his bloodline ability, Flash Steps. The group spread out to give each other space without advancing or retreating.
From what the golems knew, the intruders might as well be a group of insects scurrying for food. They followed their orders and waited to confirm the presence of a threat before bothering their master.
The moment the golem scout appeared from around the corner, Strider bolted forward. His twin blades were still in their scabbards, but he had one spell in each hand and many more at the ready.
‘Mark!’ He said as a double palm strike unleashed two tier four Forgemastery spell, Clean Slate.
It was supposed to temporarily remove the owner’s imprint on a magical item and deactivate it. Golems, however, had power cores and a quasi-will that allowed them to resist such magic.
The spells only affected the first layer of enchantments but that was more than enough. The construct stopped, its defenses shutting down as the Zouwu unleashed a flurry of slaps each carrying a Clean Slate.
Titanias had a physical might on par with Griffons and Ryka had reached the deep violet at the Garden. She focused her vines on her right fist, doubling its size and her battle gloves followed suit.
Her flexible arm infused with water, fire, and air fusion pistoned at the stunned golem, tearing its right side open. Solus attacked from the left, wielding the Fury in a double-handed grip.
Her body possessed the strength of a Divine Beast and now it was infused with all the elements. The Davross head of the Fury arched forward, the three elemental crystals carrying the power of earth, darkness, and fire to amplify the damage.
Solus dealt a single blow, but it was enough to tear the golem apart like a sand castle. The double assault exposed the crystal core of the construct and Lith cleaved it in half.
Ragnarök carried War’s anti-construct spells, short-circuiting the Rock Golem’s power core upon hit and making it incapable of self-repair. Less than a second passed from the appearance of the scout to its destruction.
Yet golems had no emotions. They had protocols.
