Chapter Sixteen The Trial Continues
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After the battle, Arlie had went to check on Thron. She didn’t like him, but they did need him. He was injured, but it was nothing that one of the potions and a night’s rest couldn’t fix. She gave him a potion while the others collected the loot and exchanged their weapons for the better ones in the pile. She even changed her focus out for the one the boss dropped, and also exchanged swords. The new one was in far better shape, with a better edge, and the handle was in better shape making it more comfortable to grip. Before going on to the next floor they found a nice place to rest. An opportunity they took advantage of, and Arlie used her sole healing spell to treat the wounds they had gained during the fight.

The next floor went a lot like the first. Instead of fire golems, they were facing Earth golems. They were just basic Earth Golems. The most basic of earth golems were two meters tall and made of compacted dirt. They were also slow, and as a result easy to fight. The hardened dirt was highly resistant to the ranged weapons the twins have, and they weren’t worth wasting mana on. As a result, it fell to the boys to take care of them. Thron’s war hammer made short and easy work of them. Horon slung his spear during the run in favor of a second hammer that they picked up.

The mini-bosses that they encountered turned out to be stone golems. Being taller and made of stone they proved to be much tougher, and again ranged weapons were of very little use against them. The boy’s hammers proved to be great weapons for use on the minibosses, and they were again too slow to actually threaten the party. This allowed Arlie to hang back, and reserve her mana for bigger threats.

The boss of the floor was a giant metal spider that attacked with mana beams. A large crystal on its back would glow before it fired, its shape a dead giveaway for where it was aiming. It also used its two frontal legs to attack. The metal armor, made arrows ineffective against its hull, and blades just bounced off of it. This meant the twins could do little to help in the fight at least at first. Arlie’s fire spells proved to be quite effective at melting holes in its armor while her lightning spells would stun the thing for a few seconds. Its insides proved to be delicate, a few good thrusts with a blade or a couple arrows striking the strange internals could deal quite a bit of damage.

Ultimately the fight with the second boss was just a long hours-long slog as they wore it down. The boys dented and smashed it with their hammers, one of them even managing to destroy its weapon. Destroying the weapon made things far easier and they quickly slipped into a pattern. Arlie would stun the thing, and then the boys would smash away. While the twins would stab and shoot into the rents and Arlie would bombard it with fire until it started moving again. The group would then leap out of range of its legs, and Arlie would cast another lightning spell at it. Eventually, the damn thing went down, and in a flash of light, they were left a pile of weapons and armor. Like before they found another rest spot near the boss room before proceeding on to the next floor. It didn’t need to be said that they barely remembered collecting the loot before filing in and collapsing on the provided bedding. None of them had the energy to even put up a watch. Arlie was the last of the group to wake up as she had expended most of her mana in the fight with the boss.

She immediately noticed the aroma of cooking bacon. Looking towards the middle of the room she noticed that Rose was cooking breakfast for the group. Pushing the blanket off she rolled out of the bedroll and walked over to the seating to join the others who were already awake. Settling into a seat Lily was the first to notice that she was awake, and smile cutely saying, “Good morning! We thought it best to let you sleep and wake up on your own.”

Arlie returned a gentle smile of her own, and took stock of what Rose was making, “Thanks. I needed the rest.”

Arlie noticed that Rose was making a simple oatmeal and seasoning it with bacon. It appeared that she had found some bacon and oats stored in the rest spot’s pantry. It was an acceptable choice for breakfast. Rose was just about finished, and she happily accepted a bowl a moment later.

As they started to eat, they discussed the last boss. “Damn was that thing a pain. Think the next one will be easier?” asked Horon. Arlie stared at her bowl for a moment, and said, “Likely not and I don’t think we will be encountering basic golems on the next floor either.”

Rose dished out her own bowl having finished dishing the others, saying, “I concur. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge if things didn’t get tougher. That spider, and the Abyssal were tough, but the average floor minion wasn’t much of a challenge.”

Lily nodded, took a bite and swallowed before asking, “Hey, Arlie what do you think the next floors minions will be?”

“The Guardian said it would random. If we get earth, we will likely be facing stone golems as the small fry, and maybe hardened stone for those minibosses. Bronze golems might also be a possibility. With the fire golems, we would likely face armored fire golems. The chief weakness of a fire golem is its low durability so golem makers armor them. Enchanted bronze was the very first choice. So it would make sense for the next stage of golem. I could be wrong though,” replied Arlie. Horon swallowed and asked with a frown, “Why?”

Arlie hesitated a moment, and then admitted, “I only have a basic education on golems. I don’t know much about the more advanced types. My clan doesn’t really focus on golems. In fact we kind of avoid them. The Ovaloci Clan in Southern Ukova are the foremost experts in golems in the kingdom, and they make massive amounts of wealth selling military models to help patrol the great border wall. Their rival, Oparici clan in Central Ukova focused more on worker golems. Honestly, a member of those two clans would know far more than I do.”

Rose who knew a bit added, “A bit too much competition in the market already. Her clan sticks to alchemy, and potion making as their economic specialty.”

Arlie nodded, and replied, “She’s right my clan focused on alchemy and dabbles in basic enchanting. However, our main focus is ancient magic, and many of our members are famous for either Lightning, Fire, or Earth magic. A few of us were even gifted storm or nature mages.”

Lily finishing her bowl stretched, and said, “Well it feels like it is time to get going.”

Arlie nodded and finished off her bowl. Moments later they started cleaning up and went through the loot. The girls found some better clothes for themselves and still didn’t include underwear. They sighed clearly disappointed at the lack of underclothes in the loot. They made sure the boys couldn’t stare at them

At least the outfits they were getting were literally made to fit them perfectly. Otherwise, she would have been sure that her breasts would be rubbed raw by now. The twins would have had it worse. They have to move around a lot more in a fight, but she was glad that they hadn’t actually needed them. Their new outfits were somehow more erotic than the last, but they were also enchanted with some simple defensive wards. She sighed, finished changing and joined the others to challenge the next floor.


It turned out that the third floor of the dungeon was home to more earth golems. The average monster on the floor turned out to be hardened stone golem. They were actually somewhat faster than the golems on the last floor, and their bodies were significantly tougher. The boys stuck with hammers, and thankfully the last boss had dropped a rather interesting cousin to the crossbow. It was a smaller less powerful cousin to the beam ballista a weapon used on the larger armored frigates that served as capital ships in the navies. The beam ballista was a magical weapon that fired a powerful mana beam of a chosen element. They were powerful, but slow to recharge limiting their fire rate. The beam crossbows they picked up were similar, and could destroy a golem in a single hit. Assuming they punched through the stone to the core. After a shot, they needed five minutes to recharge.

A good weapon, but obviously something that you needed a backup weapon for. It was actually pretty good to have for fighting golems but it was a poor choice for fighting a horde of goblins. In that case, you were better off with a normal bow. The higher fire rate would score you more kills, at less risk to yourself. Thanks to the bows they were able to make short work of most encounters in the corridor with little effort. Arlie was able to save her mana for when they need it, and the boys just had to keep any golems off the twins. Thankfully the golems were rather consistent with core location which helped them even more.

The first mini-boss turned out to be a bronze golem. Its large metal body allowed it to move faster than its stone counterparts. It was guarding a chest, and had a few smaller stone buddies to protect it. Lily was on point and spotted the golem first. By this point, the party was well-practiced and knew exactly what to do. The twins focused on taking care of the smaller ones first, and the boys moved to protect them. In the rear, Arlie chanted a spell.

Being an earth golem she didn’t think lightning would have much effect. She chose to use a fire spell. Bolts of flame slammed into its metal body. Each one melting holes in the bronze. The golem immediately responded by charging right at her. It moved with surprising speed, forcing the party to disperse to avoid being slammed by the massive golem. As it passed by the boys slammed its legs with their hammers. The impact hit with enough force to bend the shafts of the hammers, and the golems legs buckled. The massive construct toppled over and slammed into the ground with enough force to crack the stone.

The twins then fired their crossbows at the remaining stone golems trying to close the distance. Their aim was perfect and two more crumbled into dust as their cores disintegrated. Arlie began channeling another spell, and took aim at the golem as it tried to get up. While the boys slammed away with their bent hammers. Each hit was enough to dent the metal legs of the golem. Making it harder to get moving. This gave Arlie time to chant her spell, since that last pair of stone golems were too busy trying to close on the twins, who were keeping their distance.

She unleashed another fire spell. This time instead of a few fire bolts, a torrent of flame shot from her palms and melted any metal it touched. The flames scorched the back of the large bronze golem, and inflicted a fair amount of damage. As her spell ended she switched elements and channeled a different spell.

As she readied her spell, Thron slammed hard on the weakened left leg, and the connection between it and the body finally broke. Ensuring the golem wouldn’t be moving very well. Assuming it ever got back up, but it seemed to be having trouble with its own weight.

Finishing her spell, she unleashed a bolt of pure condensed shadow magic. The strange bolt was the only spell she knew of the shadow element, and it slammed into the weakened metal of the golem. The metal simply disintegrated on impact and exposed the core of the golem. Horon took advantage of it, and jumped onto the golem. It tried to shake him off, and he nearly lost his grip. However, he managed to keep it, and then maneuvered for an angle on the core. Then in a single hit, he smashed the core. Instantly the bronze golem crumbled into dust before vanishing in a flash of light.

Horon dropped down and before Arlie even registered the loot asked, “What was that last spell you cast?”

Arlie blinked, and then recalled that she had not used it in front of him before. She didn’t normally use her only shadow spell. Mostly due to the fact that she favored lightning and fire spells. “It's called Shadow Strike, it is a beginner level shadow element spell. It’s a bit mana intensive, so I don’t normally use it,” replied Arlie. There was a lot she could say about the spell, but she wouldn’t. She would be an idiot if she did. This meant she wasn’t going to tell him that the spell she had cast had an advanced modification. She had spent months getting that modification right, but it was why her spell had such an effect.

Horon shook his head and didn’t ask any further questions about it. She wasn’t surprised, as he didn’t really have much of a head for magic. Instead, he bent down and picked up another hammer. At this point, she was starting to expect it, as the golems seemed to have a high chance of dropping hammers. “Well at least it gets the job done,” then focusing on the hammer he picked up continued, “This looks to be a good replacement for my damaged hammer. Has a good weight to it, and construction seems to be solid.”

Arlie told him he could have it and turned to investigate the chest. That the twins were already working to open.

What is in the chest?
  • Armor upgrade for the Twins Votes: 3 27.3%
  • Improved Beam Crossbow Votes: 3 27.3%
  • Tentacle Monster Votes: 6 54.5%
  • Focus upgrade for Arlie Votes: 5 45.5%
  • Normal Monster Votes: 0 0.0%
  • A curse Votes: 3 27.3%
  • A war hammer Votes: 1 9.1%
  • Other, listed in comments Votes: 4 36.4%
Total voters: 11 · This poll was closed on Nov 1, 2019 08:19 PM.
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