Chapter Eighty-One - In Case of Puzzle, Break Glass

Awen was the first to gravitate over to the light device when we were done dusting ourselves off post-battle.

“Awa, this is where the gem goes,” she said, pointing to a metallic basket to one side with little fixtures on it. “And the rest of this... these are all mirrors and lenses. It’s to focus light?”

Moon Moon nodded. “We make the spinning things spin until it works,” he said as he gestured to the base of the device. Below all of the tiny mechanical arms holding bits of glass and small mirrors and even the occasional prism, were rings that circled all the way around the machine.

Awen poked one of these, and a few of the arms shifted and moved. “Oh, I see,” she said.

Moon Moon pawed over the gem and Awen set it in place. Then she started to spin each ring a little bit. I could actually follow her progress as each motion changed the angles of the mirrors and bits of glass within.

I leaned up against a wall near Amaryllis and tried to calm my breathing down even more. I had spent over a third of my stamina in that one fight. If we had to tackle another glass golem then I wanted to be well-rested for it.

“I’m not sure what to think of this dungeon,” Amaryllis said.

“Oh?” I asked.

“That golem, at level nine. It should have been just a little weaker than the one we faced out of the dungeon. It broke apart the moment it crashed to the floor. Now, I’m more than willing to believe that my magic had more of an effect this time because I poured more into it, but it was still too easy.”

I shrugged. “I guess we’ll see with the next one?” I looked down the second corridor. Much as with the first, it ended with a large device on a marble pedestal. The area around it was far darker though, and I couldn’t make out many more details.

“Perhaps. Something’s off about this place though,” Amaryllis said.

I swallowed and tried to dismiss the goosebumps crawling up my arms. I could vividly remember the strange evil roots at the bottom of the Wonderland dungeon. I wondered if they had made it all the way here too.

“Awa!”

I looked up to see Awen shifting one of the rings just a tiny bit, then the entire device clicked and a beam of light so strong it was almost visible cut across the corridor and over to the base of the next device.

“Good good!” Moon Moon said. “Usually we just spin and spin for a long time until we figure it out.”

“Are, um, we ready?” Awen asked.

I hefted my shovel. “I guess so,” I said. “Shall we?”

We all kind of paused when we arrived at the next intersection. There were two golems holding a gem each.

“That’s not the same,” Moon Moon said. “Usually there is one.”

“Well, that’s a bit of a pickle,” I said. “Insight?”

A Glass Golem Gem Guardian, level 8.

A Glass Golem Gem Guardian, level 8.

“They’re a level lower,” I said.

“That shouldn’t make too much of a difference. We’ll need to either focus on one or split our attention to two of them.”

I hummed as I thought about it. “We could try to knock them together? We have some rope.”

“Too likely to give them some momentum in the fight.”

“We could bite and chomp on both.” Moon Moon suggested.

“Sure,” I said. “Amaryllis, you and Moon Moon take the one to the left? You’re our strongest members. So take it down fast please? Awen and I will take the one to the right?”

“Awa, you trust me that much?”

I blinked. “Huh? I mean, yeah, of course.”

Amaryllis, for her part, just shifted her shoulders and wiggled her wings to unlimber herself. “Very well. Let’s make this quick.”

I eyed the golem I would be fighting with Awen’s help. With just the two of us it would be a much more even fight, and a far more dangerous one.

Like the last golem, this one had a lot of imperfections in its glassy surface. One of its arms looked partially melted, a rainbow of different colour glass all mixing together and coming to a point.

“Ready!” Amaryllis said.

“Right,” I muttered as I got ready to jump. If I could get it to crash, then Awen could smack it dead. “Go!”

I bounced forwards and shot up to the golem’s head.

It glowed to life moments before I reached it and started to lurch forwards while the gem hovering before it slipped into its chest.

I placed a foot on the golem’s head and used it to push myself over the monster, then, while at the apex of my jump, I rammed my shovel down atop its flat head.

My spade bounced off, and I had to refocus before I went splat on the wall behind the golem.

I was just recuperating from my landing when I heard Awen scream.

Turning, I saw a large glass spike racing for my head. I ducked, but was still sent flying as the spike smacked me on the helmet.

I rolled, getting back to my feet as quickly as I could. That hurt a little, but it was about as painful as when you tried to pick up an eraser under a desk and raised your head too fast. It hurt, and my eyes watered a bit, but I’d live.

I saw Awen race over to the golem and deliver a heavy two-handed blow to the joint between his base and one of its legs. The glass splintered, but held.

“Duck!” I called just in time for Awen to dip under another swing of its spiked arm.

I ran back at the golem while trying to figure out a plan. Nothing was coming to me though except the idea of hitting it as hard as I could as often as I could.

Then the golem started to glow from within.

“Awen, find cover!” I said a moment before I jumped and rolled behind the device in the centre of the intersection. Awen soon joined me.

The air grew a bit warmer as the golem fired.

Not at us, but towards our friends.

Moon Moon yelped and jumped into the air before he started to smack his flank where a hole was now burnt through his leather shorts.

“Sorry!” I called out to him.

“What do we do?” Awen asked.

I chewed on my lip. I didn’t have the oomph necessary to break its tough hide. Awen did, but her hammer...

“Oh,” I said. “I’m going to shove my shovel into it. You hammer it in as hard as you can while I distract it, okay?”

“Awaa, alright!”

I took a deep breath, rolled out from behind our cover, and bolted towards the golem.

It turned to face me, its giant spike pointed right at me.

At the last moment I wove under the spike, grabbed onto my shovel as if it was a javelin, and rammed it as hard and fast as I could into the golem’s chest.

I heard the pitter-patter of Awen’s feet as she came up behind me and my spade shook as she hammered it in.

The tool sunk into the golem with a crack, and hundreds of fractures ran out of the wound, but it was still alive.

Awen squeaked before she was batted aside by the golem’s normal arm. Its spiky arm shot out towards me to try and turn me into a Broccoli kebab.

I spun out of the way, then ducked under its next blow. “Awen! Try to hit the spade again!” I called out. I would act as a distraction while she got ready.

A quick punch to the golem’s nearest leg revealed that it was harder than my knuckles and that I wasn’t all that strong. Still, it gave me an idea.

My hands started to glow as I pushed more and more mana into them. My next punch hurt my hand just as much, but it also left the glass I had punched sparkly and clean.

“Okay, so that’s not working.”

Awen came in and with a grunt of effort smacked my spade’s handle again. It dug in a few more inches, and the golem cracked and crunched as it moved.

Then a bolt of lightning zigged and zagged around me and connected with the metal bits of my spade sticking out of the golem.

It exploded, throwing fist-sized chunks of glass everywhere.

I ducked my head down, bits of golem bouncing off hy helmet and thumping to the ground around me.

“Ah,” Amaryllis said when the tinkling finally stopped and I lowered my hands away from my face. “Perhaps that was a bit much.”

“A bit,” I agreed.

Her golem was... all over the floor with a proud Moon Moon standing in the midst of its remains.

“It looked like you could use the help?” she offered.

Congratulations! You have cracked Glass Golem Gem Guardian, level 8. Due to combating as a team your reward is reduced!

Awen and I locked eyes, and then we both giggled a little. “That was fun,” I said. “But I think I need a break before the next one.”

Amaryllis nodded before bending over to scoop up the gem from her golem. “That’s fair. Awen, catch.”

Awen fumbled the gem out of the air and ended up hugging it close to keep hold of it. I- I’ll get to work on this one,” she said.

The device had two gem holders and about twice as many rings around its base.

I started looking for the other gem among the piles of disintegrating glass when I stumbled across something on the ground. It was a sheath made of some dark leather, the cap at the end a decorative piece of glass, and a short handle stuck out of its opening.

I picked it up and pulled the sheath apart with both hands. A small knife greeted me, its blade-shaped glass that looked wicked-sharp.

“We got loot!” I called back.

“Yes yes!” Moon Moon said as he plodded over. “That’s what these drop. Knives and pretty mirrors. Very sharp.”

“Cool,” I said. “Who gets this one?”

Moon Moon shrugged. “Your kill, your toy.”

“Amaryllis’ kill, really,” I said.

The harpy eyed the knife then shook her head. “Keep it.”

“Hrm.” I said. I already had a pair of knives that were perfectly serviceable for camping and the like. This one looked more like something for fighting though. “Whelp, I guess it’ll have to be Awen’s, she only has the one dinky camp knife.”

“Awa?” Awen said.

“Here,” I said as I gave it to her. “Worst case, you can treat it as a trophy of sorts. Hang it on the mantelpiece and tell all of your kids about that time you killed golems with the great Broccoli Bunch!”

“The great Broccoli Bunch?” Amaryllis asked. “Who killed the last two golems again? Or is my memory failing me?”

“The great Broccoli Bunch, and her okay sidekick Amaryllis,” I said to Awen.

Amaryllis squawked in indignation.

“Th-thank you,” Awen said as she took the knife. “Awa... I’ll get back to work!” she said before rushing off to tinker with the device.

Amaryllis watched her go, then turned to me. “That girl is handier than I originally suspected she would be. Do try and curb your enthusiasm with her though, we don’t need a pet, we want a friend.”

“Huh?” I asked, and Amaryllis huffed and moved off to look down the next corridor.

I wondered what she meant by that.