Well, this is going to be annoying if I need to pry off each piece one at a time. That thought pulled up short as he noticed the flaked off stone sliding along the floor back toward the golem. Well, shit.

Brett darted in and stomped on the crystal, shattering it. The shards sprayed in all directions but stopped moving. In his attempt to figure out the puzzle, he inadvertently got too close to his enemy, and an arm crashed into him. It wasn't moving very fast, but he felt the force behind it. The rock fist to the shoulder knocked him over easily. Trying to roll with the fall, Brett surprised himself again with his flexibility. Rolling to his feet in a smooth motion, it felt like he was a teenager again. There had been too many aching joints and backs of late for his liking.

This time when he got close, he simply kicked the golem in the shin. His boots were much heavier than his dagger, and the crystal itself was brittle. One of the large chunks making up the leg cracked, and several others fell off. On one leg, the golem wasn't able to do much as he moved along, crushing the ones that were on the ground before they rejoined their host.

Once he was done, Brett looked back at the golem. Crystals were shifting and reorganizing themselves across its surface, and it was almost done forming a second leg from its remaining mass. He walked over and kicked its other leg. Ducking under the swing sent his way, he delivered a second kick. This time it sent the whole pile of rock tumbling to the ground. It hadn't shattered like he had hoped, but with a few more kicks and stomps, he destroyed it quickly.

Walking away from the fight, Brett was full of confidence. That was pretty easy. Far easier than the goblins or the kobolds, if he was being honest. If he had a hammer or mace, this would have been even quicker. Going in, he was concerned that the golems wouldn't wield any weapons for him to scavenge. But that didn't seem to be an issue.

The next several rooms weren't any more challenging. Brett kicked and stomped the golems apart, not even bothering with the daggers. In the fifth room, though, the golem that formed was very different. Instead of being a stocky thing with clubs for arms, it had razor-sharp crystals tipping each appendage. When it started to move, Brett dropped into a combat stance, taking this seriously for the first time. 

He didn't even have a chance to close the distance before the golem was on him. The first slash he ducked under, but another followed from the other side, forcing him to fall back into a roll. Is this what it's like facing me with two blades?

Not able to stand all the way up, Brett swept out with a low kick from his crouched position. Luckily the legs weren't as sharp as the arms, but he had still misjudged the distance. His shin slammed into the crystal. Hearing a crack and feeling the pain bloom in his leg, he feared that he had just broken his leg like an overconfident idiot and was about to die. 

When the golem crashed down away from him, he realized he was okay and got to his feet as quickly as he could. Limping over, he tried to destroy the repairing golem. He got in one kick before a blade shard sliced against his calf again, sending him stumbling back. Fuck, that stings!

Brett flexed his foot. It's just a surface wound. He told himself that it was alright as he moved in. The golem was too fast, though, and the pile shifted back even as it finished reforming. Brett drew the dagger from his belt again. Maybe it would be useful this time. 

When the golem changed him again, he was ready. He was able to duck under the first swipe like last time, but the follow-up didn't surprise him. Catching it on the blade of the dagger, he stopped the razor edge of the crystal from reaching him. With his free hand, he reached out and grabbed a crystal in the golem's chest and pulled it loose. The one downside to the double short swords. I can't grab stuff.

Brett disengaged, taking his fist-size chunk of crystal with him. He felt a gentle tugging as it tried to return to the host, but he slammed it against the ground, shattering it. The golem was slightly smaller, but only just. This could take a while.

Darting in and out, Brett managed to just stay ahead of the golem, only sustaining a few light cuts that were barely more than scratches. As they moved, he got lost and let his instincts take over. He felt how the automaton responded to his movements before they really finished. As if it was reading him slightly. To test his theory, he consciously threw in a few feints to test it out.  

The golem reacted any time he swung his fists, even if it wasn't even going to connect. Brett had another idea. He kicked low at the golem's legs again. The golem moved backward slightly and bent over to try and cut at his exposed leg. But Bret wasn't aiming for its leg. 

His dagger punched into its exposed chest as it overextended. The golem started to get cracks running through it but didn't collapse immediately. It lunged forward, headbutting Brett's chest and sending him splaying backward. The impact was too much for it, and it crumbled slightly, but immediately the pieces started putting themselves back together. Scrambling to his feet, Brett ran at the golem, kicking it like he was punting a football.

The toe of his boot arched upwards and kicked the golem, catching it after it was reformed fully, but only halfway to its feet. The toe of his boot passed right through the head, sending chunks everywhere. The head was apparently a weakness, which was somewhat of a surprise. He figured that it wouldn't be any different than the other limbs for what was just a pile of rocks animated by magic. 

When the pieces started to move together again, Brett started crushing them underfoot. Apparently, the head was needed to hold it together, but destroying it was not enough to end the construct. Sweating, Brett stopped to breathe once the pieces finally stopped trying to reform. He caught himself right before blinking when he realized that he had a notification waiting.