The next morning we continued after having an extensive breakfast.

After perhaps another hour, the cave stopped going down at a point. We continued for a few minutes.

“A large door ahead!” I stopped in my tracks.

“Finally we arrived somewhere.” Milly eyed over my shoulder.

“Is it locked?” Tilly piped up from behind.

“Dunno. We have to go and check it out. At least we have a bunch of keys we can try.” I increased the brightness of my gem.

“Here you are.” Caroline handed me the key rings.

“Stay back here in the case something blows up. No need to risks everyone’s health.” I set down my backpack and gave my halberd to Milly.

“Be careful.” She looked me in the eyes.

“I’ll do what I can.” I nodded at her with a slight smile.

The door was an ornamented marble slab without any hinges on this side. There was no visible magic. Carefully I approached the door. I looked out for fine cracks in the floor as I approached the door step by step.

Finally I stood right in front of the door. There was a visible keyhole. Carefully I touched the door. Nothing happened.

Then I tried to push, but the door didn’t budge. Pulling was not really feasible. I tried to push the door left and right.

“It’s probably locked and I didn’t trigger a trap.” I looked over my shoulders.

“Should we come closer?” Tilly looked at me tilting her head.

“Let me try to unlock the door first, but get ready to advance.” I turned my attention to the lock.

I checked out the key rings. There was only one key which seemed to fit into the hole. It was another one than at the door we entered here, but it was on the abbot’s key ring. It took the key and put it into the hole. It fitted snugly.

Preparing to jump at a moments notice I turned the key to the left. I heard a click, and then the door started to slide to the left with a low rumbling. After a full turn I could pull the key back out. Then I stepped back a few steps.

The door seemed to roll on shallow tracks in the floor. Beyond was a square room about six meters long at the sides. There was another large door on the far side and a smaller one to the left. In the center of the room stood a magical full plate armor, facing the far side door.

I waited for a few moments, but nothing happened.

“Come. I don’t trust that armor though.” I waved the rest over.

When I had my halberd and my backpack back, I stepped into the room. The others followed close up. Loraline and Alenae kept to the back, while the rest prepared for combat. They got ready to drop their backpack and readied their weapons and shields.

“Let’s try the large door at the far side. We’re looking for an exit, and the other door looks more like it connects to further rooms.” I passed the armor, it held a long sword, which was pointed at the door in both gauntlets.

Tilly and Caroline fell back at bit. This door had a mass lock bar. As I touched I heard metallic noises from behind.

“The armor! It moves!” Tilly cried.

Looking over my back I could see the armor approaching with heavy steps. It had drawn a long sword which it had readied to attack. We dropped our backpacks.

Caroline stepped forward, raising her shield. Loraline stepped back, dragging Alenae with her. Mill went forward raising her shield as well. As Tilly started to get in his left flank I moved for the right.

The armor swung at Caroline, who deflected the blow with her shield, but was thrown back half a step.

“It’s freaking strong!” She grit her teeth.

Tilly touched the head of her spear, magic starting shine from it’s tip.

Milly stepped forward, hitting the right wrist of the armor hard, trying to disarm it. The armor didn’t flinch, but it slowed the movement back into its center.

Caroline went in and hit the helmet leaving a large dent with her magical mace, she stepped back immediately.

I reached the back of the armor, readying my halberd for a wide swing with the spike at the back.

An arrow appeared in the visor of the armor, seemingly stuck somewhere. Loraline stood by the barred door. Alenae stood next to her frozen up.

The armor recovered its blade and stabbed at Milly, who dodged turning it in a shallow cut through her gambeson.

Then Tilly stabbed her spear in the knee of the armor, actually penetrating with the magic flowing from the head into the armor, which slightly tilted into her direction.

I swung my halberd, using all my body to build up speed and mass, connecting right to the helmet with a clang. It left at a dent, but sent the armor stumbling a step towards Tilly.

Caroline dashed in with a wide swing connecting to the head, which sent the armor sprawling to ground, nearly separating the helmet from the shoulders.

Milly cut through the remaining bits connecting the head to the armor with her sword. The helmet rolling over floor for a meter.

Nevertheless the now headless armor scrambled back to its feet, readying the sword again.

“Joints!” I recovered my halberd and tried to hook a vambrace, but it managed to dodge.

Milly bound its blade with hers, trying to keep the armor’s blade under control.

Tilly swung her spear to the back of the damaged knee joint to no avail.

Loraline was observing the fight, ready to shoot. Alenae was still in a daze. She had closed her eyes and was covering her face with her hands.

Caroline swung low at the undamaged knee joint. It was a bit too low, bending the lower leg a bit to the inside. The armor stumbled a bit.

Then the armor slashed at Caroline, by passing her shield, but her mail prevented the cut without an issue.

I hooked its left boot, but pulling didn’t do much. I kept the halberd locked in, in the hope it would move at some point.

Milly bashed the armor with her shield, but it didn’t seem to budge.

Caroline recovered her mace while yanking her shield into the armor’s vambraces, flinging the long sword a bit to the side.

The armor lifted it’s damaged leg an and with a flash of magic it stomped on the shaft of my halberd. The shaft splintered in thousand pieces!

“Shitty heap of trash!” I dropped the sad remains of my trusty weapon.

Milly pressed on with her shield, trying to control the arms and the long sword.

Caroline then crashed her mace again into the right knee, severing the leg piece from the armor. It started to tilt backwards as Milly pushed onward.

Tilly slammed her spear in back of the left knee again.

Then Milly and Tilly kept the blade under control while Caroline demolished the rest of the limbs of the statue, which magic started to fade away after that.

“Damn it!” I went over to the head of my halberd.

“You’re going to need a new shaft.” Milly came over to me.

“Well, without a proper piece of wood there’s nothing we could do about it.” I went over to my backpack and tied the head to the pack with few straps.

“Where do we go now?” Tilly was leaning on her spear.

“We still check the door with the bar first.” I put on my backpack.

“Aaahh!” Alenae looked around with wide eyes.

“It’s over for now.” I gave a wry smile.

“I I I couldn’t!” She looked down in despair.

“It’s hard to stay focused in such a situation. You’ll do better next time.” Loraline gave her a hug.

“I’m. Useless. Leave me behind!” She started to cry.

“We’re leaving no one behind!” I furrowed my brows.

“Give her a few minutes, Lilly.” Milly patted my shoulder.

I nodded and went over to the door, they would take about Alenae. There was no visible magic, just a sturdy bar.

“Do you think it will outside?” Tilly came to my side.

“It’s clearly build to keeps things out. When the thing is a thick as last one there is no way to know, but to open it.” I shrugged.

I looked back at Alenae, who seemed to have recovered a bit.

“It’s back to scratching enemies until they cry.” I looked at my bare hands.

“What about the sword?” She pointed at the statue’s weapon.

“Hmm. I’m not sure if it is reliable enough with the magic gone.” I went over to pick the sword up.

“It’s not properly forged steel.” Tilly examined the blade closer.

“Well. I’ve got enough of weapons breaking into bits.” I dropped the sword.

“I. I’m. I’m good to go on, Lilly.” Alenae’s lips were a straight line while she tried to look me firmly into the eyes.

“Then let’s get going.” I nodded at her with a slight smile.

“Yeah, let’s leave. There’s a conversation in the abbots room, but I can’t understand a thing.” Milly put the mirror back in her pouch.

“Help me with the bar, Tilly. Milly, Caroline. Prepare for trouble. The rest stays a few steps behind. Loraline, keep an eye on our back.” I went over to the next large stone door.

Tilly and I lifted away the bar with some effort. Then I we started to push against the door, which opened into a large, familiar looking cavern.

“Another cursed dragon lair!” Tilly exclaimed.

“There is an exit at the far side!” Milly smiled pointing across the cavern.

There was a stair leading down to the bottom of the cavern. There were the five blue crystal columns surrounding a column of white light in the center.

“Do we have the time to take care of this mess?” Tilly squinted while looking into the cavern.

“We should go for it. Who knows when we’re able to get back here.” I looked at Milly.

“The mace should make a difference.” She nodded at Caroline.

“So we basically set her up to smash those guardians into pieces?” Tilly looked at me.

“It’s the best plan for now. Loraline and Alena. You’re going to observe the the rest of the cave and call out anything that happens in the rest of the cave. I’m going to try out my stronger claws as well. I’ve already fought guardians with them, so I might get an idea about how much better they actually are. I’ve not enough mana for armor though, which sucks.” I frowned at my slave mark.

Then we went down the stairs. We set down our backpacks at the wall by the exit. Then we moved to next crystal column.

Loraline and Alenae went to the wall and started to observe the cavern.

I nodded at Caroline after Milly and Tilly got ready a few steps away.

She raised her shield, and swung her mace from the side using her whole body for leverage. With a splintering crash the center of the crystal was covered by a mesh of cracks.

As expected a crystal golem appeared just beside her. I extended my claws, fueling them with most of my mana.

The golem jabbed at Caroline, but Milly bashed his arm aside with her shield. Tilly stabbed at the knee of the golem with her spear. A few splinters fell down but the damage was minimal, as expected.

I closed in, and stabbed the golem in the right arm. The claws went all through the arm and I could actually cut my way out leaving a nice gash in the arm. They were certainly cutting much better than before.

Milly jumped back in a defensive position while Tilly pushed the golem back with the butt of her spear.

Caroline came down with a wide overhead swing, using all her weight to add to the impact, keeping her shield her shield up. The golem’s head splintered in a shower of shards, the mace stopping a few centimeters into the body. The arm I damaged fell to the ground.

“Wow! This thing is a menace!” Caroline recovered her mace.

“Four other golems, as usual.” Loraline hollered.

The golem struggled to stay on his feet.

I cut away the other arm with my claws!

“These are cutting!” I grinned.

Milly rushed in and sent the staggering golem to the ground.

Another shattering smash from Caroline destroyed it’s hips, disabling it for now.

“Give the column a once-over” I looked at Caroline.

“That way!” I pointed to the golem coming from the stairs.

Milly, Tilly, Loraline and Alenae started to run. Caroline smashed the column to bits with another three strikes. The golems closed in, using the same pattern as usual.

We followed the others at a distance.

The ran into the next golem, stopping him without causing much damage. Loraline had fallen back a bit and were observing the cavern again.

Alenae seemed to keep enough of her wits to at least stick to Loraline on her own. Good.

The second golem went down without much of an issue. The mace was devastating to them. It was specially enchanted against magical constructs.

“Remember me to hug the old pointy ear when we see him again.” I looked at Caroline’s mace with a wide smile.

We brought the rest of the golems down without a sweat.

“I am noticeably stronger than the last time I fought them as well.” Milly looked at her arms.

“Do you remember the first time?” I chuckled.

“Aw. Yes.” She shuddered.

“It’s been a while.” Tilly nodded.

“Let’s go for the next round.” I nodded at Caroline.

The second column got a wide swing to the top with a loud shatter.

“The light! It changes!” Alenae cried out.

I turned to look at center of the cavern while demolishing the column further with my claws.

Milly blocked the golem with her shield as he tried to get to me while Tilly tried to trip him with her spear.

It gave Caroline plenty of chances demolish the golem without much of a problem.

In the center the magic was whirling and changing. Then a blinding flash of light came my way setting my clothes aflame within moments. The irritating point was it felt hot, but didn’t hurt in any way.

“Leave for the next group!” I continued to hack away at the column in front of me, keeping the an close eye on the magic in the center of the cavern.

“Lilly! You’re burning!” Milly cried out looking at me wide eyes

“Just go!” The next started to manifest.

I took cover behind the column. The ray hit the ground a few meters behind where it stood.

“I’ve got this under control! Run!” I frowned at Milly.

After a few moments they were on their way.

A few seconds later a wider beam covered a wider area, but was less hot. Unfortunately my cover came down more and more.

The column was down to half size as the others started to thrash the first golem coming their way. Another ray singed at my clothes as I tried to take cover behind the column. The ground around me started to feel hot as well by now.

I slashed at the column with all I had. Another ray washed over my back. I looked at the golem approaching from the other side. I had some time left.

The next ray was much more intense and I didn’t have much to hide behind anymore. This time it hurt badly. As the crystal seemed to soften up a bit destroyed it before the next one came. The golem was closing in. The others had just been finishing up the last golem on their side.

Staying here without any cover wasn’t an option, so I dashed after the other with all I had, the golem being only a few meters behind me. There was another bright flash of light just behind me.

The others looked my way. We had to bring the whole thing down as soon as we could. I pointed at the next column. They turned and ran. I sneaked a peek at the center and the magic was stirring again. I stopped and the ray hit a bunch of rocks by the wall. I started to run again, hearing the golem almost directly behind me.

A short sprint gave me some more room again. Caroline stood by the next crystal now, Milly and Tilly covering her. A few moments later she started to smash the column. The other two kept the golem busy, while Caroline smashed the column to bits with a few wide strikes. There were no beams of light for longer time.

Then a beam homed in on the others. I could see Milly going up in flames. Caroline was demolishing the golem quickly. Loraline and Alenae started to walk to the next column while Tilly started to run in that direction.

After Milly patted out the flames she hurried to follow Tilly, who had slowed down a bit after she had a bit of distance to Loraline and Alenae. They blocked the next golem coming their way while Caroline ran their way, after looking back to me for a moment.

Then a light beam nearly hit me again, but it’s heat was definitely weaker than the last ones. I started to keep an eye on the center of the cavern again while closing in to the others. They put down their golem and went for last one of the batch.

They looked back at me as I made a full stop followed by a jump to side as another ray brushed over my head. I wondered for a moment if my hair had survived the onslaught as the golem rushed past me, slowing down. I jumped back, severing one of its arms while dodging a wide uncontrolled swing with the other one.

The others were on their way to the next column. There were two to go. I jumped forward crashing into the golem with my shoulder while stabbing its hips with my claws. It came back with a wide backhand. I pressed against him, recovering my claws and let it shove me to the side. The swing didn’t have much force at the distance.

I broke away in a run again. Looking over my shoulder after a few moments, I noticed it was slowed a bit at least. I saw the magic in the center stir again. A few moments later Caroline started to crush the next crystal. They finished of the golem at the column just like the last one. Caroline focused on the column first, covered by Milly and Tilly. Then the golem was smashed to bits.

The next ray hit Alena right in the tummy, her robe starting to smolder. She cried out in pain while Loraline cut out the smoldering parts from her robe. A few moments later I reached the others.

“Bring down the last column, Caroline!” I stopped to turn to my loyal golem again.

Caroline started to run to the last remaining column while Milly and Tilly engaged the golem that was after me. It fell quickly when I could focus on destroying its legs and the remaining arm. Then I ran after Caroline, followed by the others. Loraline and Alenae had a head start as they didn’t wait for our skirmish to finish.

Another ray started to form as Caroline took cover behind the crystal column. Then Caroline smashed the last column with blow. As the golems weakened with each column out of commission she thrashed it within a few moments. The column was heap of crystals before we arrived.

“Let’s leave, before the ceiling comes down again!” I tried to ignore the light show in the center of the cavern.

As planned we were already near exit again. We ran for our backpacks and entered the large cave that would probably lead to the outside.

After a few hundred meters we heard a crashing sound from behind and the rock began to shake a bit. We hurried and soon we could see daylight ahead.

We stopped at the exit. It was late morning.

“Lilly!” Milly shot me a disdaining glare.

“Yes? We made it!” I spread out my arms.

“Yay!” Tilly cheered.

“You’re naked! And your hair is gone, at least outside the leather cap.” Milly frowned at me.

“Oh!” I blushed as looked down my soot covered body.

I got another frown.

“It’s. It’s body paint!” I tried a smile.

Milly rolled her eyes.