The rest of the expedition team wasn’t so lucky. They had many spells at the ready and even more protections, but their reflexes failed them. Once the electrical shock sent them into a seizure, they lost their focus and any chance to counter-attack.
The Earth Blocking array only slowed down the Golems. They were still able to move thanks to their metal parts and electromagnetic fields, plus it did nothing to stop them from using other elements.
The Rangers darted forward with their flight spells, only to be struck by another bolt of lightning and then swatted like flies by the Golems’ arms. With so little momentum and no ground below their feet, they could exert only a fraction of their true strength.
Luckily, thanks to earth fusion, Lith managed to avoid the brunt of the damage and remain conscious, but the hit was still strong enough to crack his ribs. Bouncing on the metal corridor made things worse, though.
Suddenly, more Golems appeared, flying into the middle of the group and collecting the Professors who had fallen unconscious or were about to. No matter how good their protections were, they couldn’t endure such prolonged shock with an already debilitated body.
In the blink of an eye, Yondra, Gaakhu, and Ellkas were snatched and carried through a dimensional door that opened right on the other side of the array. Then, the two new Golems moved to stun and collect the remaining women.
‘Son of a gun!’ Lith thought while his teeth clattered due to the electric shock. ‘The first four constructs are just a living array. The real threat comes from the other two. These Golems are damn smart.’
‘It’s worse than that.’ Solus explained. ‘They have timed their attack so as to keep us from activating both an Earth and an Air Blocking array. This way, no matter which element blocking formation was cast first, they would have taken us down anyway.’
Overlapping arrays was a complex matter. If not done properly, the first array prevented the second from activating. During their ambush, Solus had taken her time to prepare her Air Blocking array and make sure that it wouldn’t mess with the camp’s protections.
The Golems near the Rangers closed in on them, their stone fists ready to turn them into pulp. Lith and Morok managed to get back in the air, but their situation hadn’t improved much.
Meanwhile, Quylla looked at the nearing enemy and noticed something strange. All the Golems seemed to be wary of her and somehow puzzled. Their orders were quite contradictory since the young woman had to be apprehended at all costs, but without harming her nor allowing her to touch them.
With earth magic sealed, the Golems could only wait until she slipped off the rocks and fell into the stream of electricity. The current was already enough to overcome most enchanted protections, any more might kill the precious specimens on the spot.
Suddenly Quylla remembered Yondra’s words and decided to take action. She shapeshifted her shoes off and jumped on the floor, giving Phloria a heart attack. The Golems followed their protocols, halting the attack before it could hurt her.
“Thanks for your kindness.” Quylla said while activating both Scanner and Chisel. The Golem tried to dodge her, but its movements based on air magic were too slow compared to her potion-enhanced reflexes.
It tried to push Quylla away but the “do not harm her” command was quite annoying. Meanwhile, the Rangers could finally plant their feet on the ground. Flying in such a confined space was as hard as it was dangerous.
They had no space to maneuver nor to kite their opponents, but it was the only way they had to avoid being electrocuted to death.
“Now what?” Morok asked. Their situation had just gone from horrible to terrible. The Earth Blocking array prevented them from using dimensional magic and being so close to each other sealed the other elements as well.
“You and Neshal take care of the two in the front, Phloria and I will hold the others back until you’re done.” Lith said while darting backward.
Now Morok was alone against two Golems, but at least he had all the space he wanted whereas his opponents stumbled because of the array. Professor Neshal was trying to think of a way to help him, but her staff was holding an insane amount of energy she had no idea how to get rid of.
Hitting the Golems with their own spell would have just recharged them, hitting the floor would have killed her companions, which left her with no choice.
“Dodge!” Neshal said while unleashing the mother of all lightning right in the middle of the constructs. It moved past the corridor and turned around the corner guided by Neshal’s will, who hoped to have blasted open a door.
Now that she had her full focus again, she started chanting a spell as her staff floated in front of her, leaving her hands free.
‘I really hope the old bat knows what she is doing.’ Morok sighed as the air in front of the Golems was turning pitch black. Some powerful darkness spell was about to be activated and he had no way to counter it.
Meanwhile, Quylla had grabbed the construct in front of her and used four Chisels to destroy as many runes as she could in one go. Conjuring so many at once was exhausting, but she couldn’t afford to take down just one rune at a time.
The punch that had almost killed her was vivid in her memory, so she decided to gamble on the Skinwalker armor to protect her in case the Golem’s priority changed and it attacked her.
Just as she had predicted, as soon as the creature was deactivated, its companion stopped treating her with kid gloves and sent a powerful electric shock to make her faint. Quylla pumped her mana into her armor, deflecting most of it while she tried to grab her next victim.
The Golem welcomed her with a fist to the face. It knew that with such a level of protection she wouldn’t die, Quylla had fallen for its trap. She took the full force of the improvised counter-strike and her body bounced with a silvery sound against the wall before collapsing like a rag doll on the floor.
Phloria stared at the scene in horror, but there was nothing she could do. Her estoc was pointless against golems and even her best spells inflicted no damage on them. She could only slow them down, but without earth magic, most of the spells in a Mage Knight’s arsenal were sealed.
Lith arrived just in time to see the Flesh Golem picking up Quylla’s body and take flight. The face of the human grafted on the construct was smiling. Now that it had its prize they were limited no more.
Its body glowed before emitting a sphere of darkness as big as the corridor, making it impossible for Lith to dodge.
‘Nice thinking. If I just go through the spell at full speed, I’ll be blind for a second, take some damage, and let the spell strike both Neshal and Morok down. Too bad that cheating is a game two can play.’
Lith breathed a burst of Origin Flames which devoured the darkness spell, allowing him to pass the black shroud unharmed. The Golem kept smiling, emitting one pulse after the other and forcing Lith to a halt.
