Chapter 213: ...Claw's Nest (14)

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The room began to shake and bits of debris fell from the ceiling.

“W-What is this?!”

“Hush, Elf.”  Stole shot a scowl at Lety.  “And focus.”

The mid-boss of a dungeon related to the Autarch.

Bosses were randomly generated in scenes like this.  But the possibilities were limited to a boss-generation table that existed behind the code.

This dungeon was unique in the fact that multiple parties could fight the mid-boss.  And the mid-bosses that were defeated prior to us would dictate what monster would pop up for us.

To put it simply, if the parties defeated a grade-5, the next boss had a high percentage of being of a lower grade; a weaker monster.  The reverse was also true.  But everything worked on a percentage basis.  As more and more parties fought the mid-boss, the sequence of boss-generation would affect the probability of the identity of the next boss.

If I knew the monsters that the parties before me fought to move up the Spire, I could predict what boss we’d fight.

As it was… we had no idea.

So the basic formation was my answer.

Kyrian and Freier were at the back, with L’teya bringing up the midline.  Stole would remain our mobile infantry, staying hidden at the second-floor and looking to support.  With her new Core, she and Kyrian could pull off some impressive damage.

As for the frontline… the most dangerous position when it comes to facing an unknown monster…

It was me.

Naturally.

Not only was I the strongest, I was the most versatile.  There’s a reason why no one wants to be a Shielder in MSS.  Their death rate is the highest.  Why?  Precisely moments like this.

If a monster of Grade-3 or above came out… it could be instant death for most shielders.  That’s what being a tank means.  You’re the first line of defense against the unknown.  And it’s the unknown that gets you killed.

The droplets of blood I poured into the chalice began to swirl, twisting in on itself and creating a tiny suction-tornado within.

And mana began to fill the air.

Mana, the catalyst of all things.

The wind picked up, howling with ferocity.  Slowly at first, rising with tempo and turning into a tempest that cut into the walls.  The bits and pieces of obsidian that fell were picked up by the wind, transforming the already cutting wind into a veritable jaw that would rend flesh.

It wasn’t just the wind.

The Mana began to stream.

Mana-stream.  The telltale sign of a powerful Mage.

There were only a few times I’ve seen that in MSS since I’ve transmigrated.  That’s because Mana-stream is a phenomenon that only happens when there’s so much mana in the air, the density of it becomes a physical manifestation that’s visible to the naked eye.

It happened a lot around Arione, a Grade-2 Mage.

But it was happening now.

Mana-stream.  So the monster wouldn’t be a bulky type, but something that uses abilities.

Combined with the fact that we were in Claw’s Nest… inside the Spire that was connected to the Autarch…

Within the [Special Field] that was related to the Autarch…

Oh no.

“Everyone, back up!”

But my warning came way too late.

The Mana-stream coalesced into a curtain of overlapping red-and-blue, striating over each other and creating a dome around us.  Every stream, every string of mana rotated at breakneck speed.

Lety slammed her body into the wall but was bounced off.

“Slaveborn! Something is wrong with the Mage!”  I heard Freier yell.

Kyrian fell backwards, eyes rolling to the back of his head.  Foam gathered at his mouth, and the slim blonde youth began to seize, his fingers locking up into claws and shoulders twitching like a fish out of water.

“Don’t touch him!”

[Mana-drunk].

A condition that occurs when a Mage is exposed to too much mana.  It happened around low-leveled Mages when they hung around high-leveled monsters too much, or were in the vicinity of high purity mana.  Elves have some tolerance to it, which is what makes Elves the best race to make a Mage.  Humans on the other hand…

“Leave him, and keep your eyes front.”  I gulped.  “He’ll be fine.  It’s us we need to worry about.”

The space in front of the chalice warbled and split apart, a man-sized portal opening up.

And a foot stepped through.

｢ Dungeon Requirements met! ｣

｢ You are the last party to attempt the [Autarch’s Trial] ｣

｢ There is no room for weaklings in the Autarch’s Horde ｣

The foot was attached to a long and shapely leg, pale as the moon herself.  The heels were wrapped around her ankles, twisting around them with leather straps and continuing up towards her thighs.  The robe she wore was split at the side, just high enough to leave most men wondering what lay behind them.

A gray-white robe that was reminiscent of the Greek Toga.

Long black hair that fell in tantalizing curls, bouncing off of her shoulders and ending in the middle of her back.

Lean upturned eyes, pure black in color.

Pointed ears, denoting her as an elf.

“What… is that…”

A body, made entirely of stone.

A walking statue of undoubtable beauty.  

In the splitting image of one of the [Six Heroes] of MSS.

“[Golem of the Grand Magus]... a grade-4 monster.”  I gulped, answering Stole’s rhetorical question.

It took a step.

A single step.

And mana exploded out in a wave.

“Jump!”

I didn’t dare turn around to see if people obeyed my command.

Because with that single wave of mana, everything around her in a thirty-foot radius turned to stone.

｢ [Golem of the Grand Magus] casts [Petrification Wave] ｣

An instant [Petrification] status… only a high-leveled cleric-type could dispel it.

“No!”

I turned back.

Freier had jumped up.  Rather, her mount creature had leapt up with Kyrian in its mouth.  But the awkward position must’ve been too much.  The creature’s foot touched the mana wave.  Almost instantly, the [Petrification] began to spread, from its paws to its forelegs and then up its mane.

“Get off of the thing! Now!”  I ordered and turned to L’teya, “Lety! Support Kyrian and Freier!”

“But I–”

“Go, now!”

And without waiting to see if L’teya obeyed…

I charged the golem.

I think an explanation is in order here.

The [Six Heroes] of MSS are optional bosses, with grading that range from S to SSS, depending on how you decide to deal with them.  They all have their own dungeons, with their own mini-bosses and strategy for defeating them.  Yet, they all have themes.  Themes that exist between some of them, and all of them.

Golems of the Six Heroes is a theme that exists across all of them.

A carbon copy of the Six Heroes, that fights in their style and can cast their moves.

Oh, and in case you’re thinking they drop a Core that allows you to use the Six Heroes’ moves…

They don’t.  They don’t drop anything.

Only EXP.  Shit EXP at that.

They do not serve to make you stronger.  They do not drop gear.  They are not part of a puzzle.

All they are, is a test.  A test to see if you are worthy.

Deadly encounters.

There’s a reason why no one bothers doing the side-quests.

And we weren’t even at a stage in the game when we should be tackling quests of this level.

I had to kill this thing instantly.

｢Lock Slaveborn casts [Ascension] on [Share the Load] ｣

｢[Share the Load] ascends to [Manacle Carnival] ｣

Spiked manacles of translucent green shot forward from my chest, clasping around the golem’s wrists, ankles, and neck.  I felt the pulse of mana as the debuffs channeled into her, and my [Arcane Masochism] reversed my own into buffs.

The Golem waved a hand dismissively in my direction.

｢ [Golem of the Grand Magus] casts [Back to Square One] ｣

And the buffs all disappeared.

Fine.  I had expected it.

I slammed my foot against the ground, accelerating at breakneck speed which felt painfully slow due to the lack of [Speed] buffs.

Distance.  The [Golem of the Grand Magus] was a glass-cannon.  A single hit of [Ascension] boosted hit could main her, just enough for someone else to land the finishing blow.

The problem was, I only had one more cast of [Ascension] left.

Not just Distance.  Distance and Timing.

I swung [Snow Scream] with all my might, the blade heading straight for her neck..  For living beings, I’d aim towards where there’s no bone.  Belly or throat.  But the Golem, it didn’t matter.

So I aimed to cut off its head on the first try.

｢ [Golem of the Grand Magus] casts [Shield] ｣

Streams of mana wrapped around the thing like a cocoon, blocking my [Aura]-clad sword in place.

The Golem’s stony gaze regarded me.

And it pointed a finger at me.

Oh shi–

A streak of fire thin enough to thread a needle flashed by my face and everything burned.

When Arione cast his fire spells, it was all destruction and heat.  Everything in the surrounding temprature would be burnt to a crisp.

The Grand Magus’ Golem did no such thing.  It concentrated all heat, fire, and hate into a single focused point and fired it off like a laser.  A beam more than a blast, flashing across the space between us in less than a fraction of a second for my hearing to catch up.

And it did nothing silly like explode.

It sheared.

The Golem moved its finger and the beam followed.

At first, my my brain registered nothing.

Then agony.

The scent of singed meat reached my nose as I fell to the floor, rolling and–

Pain.

Painpainpainpainpainpainpain–

The beam had cut off a flank of meat from my shoulder down to the elbow, leaving the section exposed but cauterized.  The meat lay on the floor, sizzling like steak.

Smoke, pain, burn, fire, agony–

I kept rolling, gasping, and trying to do anything 

“I can’t heal him! The wound’s closed!”  My mind registered Freier’s voice, the pretty elf yelling at the top of her lungs, “Someone buy me time!”

The rumbling thrum of Stole’s arbalest as she fired shots followed by the clang as those bolts bounced off of the Golem that didn’t even bother using [Shield].

“HHHHHHHYYYYAAAAAAA!”  Lety charged the monster.

The Golem casually tossed the Elf Barbarian a look.  L’teya, nearing 180 pounds of near pure muscle, had to be around six-feet tall.  As she screamed fury and promised death, her own skin took the same color as the Golem.  A skin-tight armor made of stone, that offered basic 5% elemental resistance to every element except water.

More importantly, [Petrification Immunity].

Sometimes, it’s the shittiest Cores that give you the most ridiculous synergy against the most cheat abilities.

The Golem didn’t bother using water.

It stomped.

｢ [Golem of the Grand Magus] casts [Ground Turbulence] ｣

Mana rode out in a wave, bending and flexing the ground like a piece of rubber-toy.  L’teya’s body which literally went from 180 pounds to 700 pounds meant that her [Proprioception] stat had just turned to shit.

She lost balance and fell to the ground, costing us precious seconds.

And the Golem pivoted, pointed a finger in Stole’s general direction and fired off another fire-beam.

Stole immediately dove to the side and rolled, leaving her arbalest behind.  It’d only weight her down.

A hand touched me.

“I apologize in advance.”  Freier muttered.

And taking out a dagger, she began to cut into the burn scars on my shoulder.

It hurt.

She was literally shaving off the pieces of blackened-raw-flesh scar tissue that had formed instantly from the [Fire] damage.  I screamed until my lungs went hoarse, which couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.  Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, she placed her hands on the wounds.

I nearly stabbed her.

I would have, if I didn’t have experience with someone shoving their hands into an open wound.

Freier prayed and purplish mana began to surround my wound.  At first, nothing but an unbearable itchiness which reminded me of a thousand ants, crawling and biting, ripping bits of flesh off, invaded my mind and left no room for any other coherent thought.

Then clarity once again.

“Slaveborn, look.”  Freier pointed.

Behind the Golem, was a writing in mana.

A countdown.

It read 3:39.

3:38.

3:37.

She and I looked at each other.

“What will happen when the timer reaches zero?”

“...Nothing good.”

“I thought you knew everything.”

I ignored her.

“Go check up on Kyrian... we're going to need him.”  I ordered and grabbed my sword, readying myself.

3:32.

3:31.

3:30.