Chapter 71: Rock Golem [Bonus 2/2]
Tham! Szzzzss!
The white-haired girl slammed her icy fist into the golemâs left leg, frost bursting out in sharp crystal patterns. A thick layer of ice spider-webbed over the rocky limb, freezing it in place mid-step. The golem lurched, its advance haltedâif only for a heartbeat.
Small cracks began spreading across the ice.
Crick.
Crack.
CRACK.
With a sound like shattering glass, the frozen layer exploded apart, shards glittering in the air before falling uselessly to the ground.
The golem immediately turned its featureless head toward the girlâjust as she lifted her other fist, icy mist spiraling as she aimed at its opposite leg.
She was a second too slow.
Without any delay, the golem raised its massive right leg. Despite its blocky build, the movement was frighteningly fast. Its stony foot crashed into her abdomen with brutal force.
The girlâs eyes widenedâcaught completely off guardâas the kick launched her like a projectile. She smashed through a nearby tree; the thin trunk snapped with a sickening crack, and she tumbled across the ground like a rag doll. Blood sprayed from her lips mid-roll, and by the time she skidded to a stop, her limbs were limp in the dirt.
"R... Ryn!" Enraâs voice trembled, barely more than a weak gasp.
"Ryn!" The blue-haired girl who had been approaching Dale froze, then screamed her sisterâs name in panic.
"No... Ryn..." The twin sister, pale and shaking, could only stare in horror at the unmoving body.
"RYN!!!" Dale roared, fueled by fury and fear. His voice cracked the air as he ignored every injury, every warning from his battered body, and charged straight toward the golem. Stony patterns began crawling over his fist.
[Rock Fist]!
Dale blurred forward, covering nearly thirty meters in a blink. His fist swung back, coated in dense, translucent stone layers, ready to smash through anything in his way.
He gathered every ounce of strength he hadâgreenish veins bulged across his forehead from strain, one blood vessel in his eye bursting and turning half his pupil crimson. He slammed his fist down toward the glowing white core embedded in the golemâs chestâits presumed weak point.
But the golem was no mindless lump of rock.
With an eerily fluid twist, it shifted its body and threw its circular, featureless head directly into the path of the incoming blowâsacrificing it intentionally.
Daleâs fist struck the stone "head" with explosive force.
BOOM!
The head shattered into countless fragments, detonating outward with a spray of debris. The golem staggered backward several meters, its frame shuddering from the impactâbut otherwise unharmed where it mattered.
It had chosen to sacrifice the part that affected its combat ability the least.
Daleâs rage only flared hotter.
His other fist hardened, translucent rock surging over it as he continued the assault without hesitation. He launched another explosive punch, aiming to crush the golem completely this time.
But the golem wasnât done adapting.
Unable to sacrifice another limb to protect its core, it chose instead to strike back. Its right fist swung up and forward in a perfect counterattack.
BAM!
Their fists collided.
The impact burst outward in a circular shockwave. Dust erupted from the ground, air pressure rippling sharply through the clearing. The golemâs rocky knuckles cracked under the forceâfractures zigzagging across its stony surface.
Dale, however, didnât falter.
His face was savage, twisted by fury and fear. His breath came in ragged snarls. His eyesâone bloodshot redâshone with barely restrained madness.
He couldnât accept it.
He wouldnât accept it.
Not when Ryn had been beaten so brutally in his presence and hovered on the thin, fraying line between life and death.
With a swift motion, he slid forwardâdarting past the incoming rocky fist that thundered toward the golemâs frame. He twisted sharply, grabbed the cracked stone arm with both hands, and, bracing his shoulders, applied brute pressure against the wrist joint.
FisszzâTlack!
The rock arm snapped with a crisp, brutal crack as Dale roared, pouring every ounce of strength into the break.
Suddenlyâ
A gleam of bluish light streaked toward the golemâs remaining arm, which was reaching out to seize Dale.
Shhing!
A shallow cut etched across the stone limb; the area dampened as the water blade dispersed, but the golem managed to block the strike, preventing it from cleaving deeper.
The shotâfired by the blue-haired girlâhad at least halted the grab.
Dale didnât waste a heartbeat.
Using the brief distraction, he let the broken rock fist drop with a thud, pivoted on his heel, and lungedâhis [Rock Fist] still coating his hand in translucent, hardened layers. His target: the white pulsing core.
Only a few meters.
Only one chance.
He roared and drove his fist forward with everything he had.
And the punch connected.
THANG!
But instead of shattering, a white energy shield materializedâshaped like a miniature turtle shellâjust large enough to cover the core. The force of Daleâs strike bled into the surrounding stone, spiderweb cracks racing outward with the core at their center.
A chill crept up Daleâs spine. Something was wrong.
His instincts screamed a moment before it happened.
The force he had unleashed slammed back into him, equal in magnitude.
He was hurled through the airâ
back to the very same spot he had dashed fromâ
and crashed spine-first into the same tree.
This time the trunk dented inward from the impact, leaves raining down like green snow.
The turtle-shell shield around the core fractured... then shattered entirelyâproving it was a single-use lifesaving ability of the golem.
But that didnât matter now.
Dale couldnât fight anymore.
He slid off the crushed trunk and collapsed to the ground, one knee and one hand pressing feebly against the dirt as violent coughs racked his body.
Blood flooded out of his mouth.
Then chunks.
Pieces of internal organs spilled onto the ground as he convulsed, his vision blurring at the edges.
"R-run away, Lyss..." He said, trying to make himself stand straight.
"Take others...I-I will hold it back."