I shuffled up to the elf. “Are we taking a break?” I asked.
“No,” she pointed to a gap in the grove in front of us. “We’re here.”
I followed her finger and noticed a small house built within the thick of the trees, hidden well by their dense branches and leaves.
“Wizard Krof,” I mumbled as we made our way through the vegetation and walked up to his door. “Is he really going to kill us on sight?” I asked.
“Well, only one way to find out,” Freya smiled and knocked on his door.
I froze still, my ears listening to the silence, hoping to pick up the slightest noise within it.
The door thudded open and an old man stood there, his hair long, and a grumpy expression on his face. He was dressed in simple grey robes and had a small stoop in his posture.
“Come in,” he said hastily and walked inside, leaving the door open.
I looked at Freya, a little surprised this was the reaction we were getting from him. She shrugged her shoulders and followed him in. I stood out for a second longer, a little paranoid if he was actually going to attack us, and then finally decided to go inside as well.
The wood under my foot stayed firm as I stepped into the sole room of the house. A fireplace sat on the wall to the far side, two chairs positioned comfortably in front of it. The old man sat down on one while we stood in front of the door, both of us a tad bit nervous.
“Well?” he looked at us. “Are you going to take a seat or not? Ijyela said you have something important to talk about.”
“She did?” Freya blinked.
“She used the Ga’em messaging service to talk to me,” he said. “She knew the only way to get my attention was to tell me about what was going on, and I do have to say, this is the most interesting case I’ve heard in my life. And I’ve lived a long long time.”
“That’s…quite some praise,” Freya said, trying to come up with a compliment.
“Anyway,” he turned to me. “You’re the Eternal with the Death Seal? The one the Phantom Lord is coming after?”
I froze, a little stunned that this man was talking about this so normally. So far everyone had had pretty extreme reactions while talking about either the Eternals or the Phantom Lord. This man however seemed quite subdued in that respect.
“Well?” he looked at me.
I nodded.
“Well here’s what I know,” he said, reclining back on his chair. “There have been certain odd presences stirring around here in the past few months or so. At the start they were all spread around various parts of the Viridian Forest. I tried going after them to see what they were but I found nothing when I reached the spots where I’d sensed them.”
“That’s odd,” I said.
“Indeed,” he said. “But then, about two months ago, I sensed the presences all conjoin at a location within the Dargonian Empire. And for just a moment, I felt the presence of something much greater than anything else I’ve ever felt.”
“The Phantom Lord,” I whispered.
“I am still not entirely sure that is whom I sensed,” he said. “But the evidence that Ijyela has told me about does lead me to that conclusion. Ijyela herself seems quite confident that what I sensed was indeed the Phantom Lord.”
“And where exactly was the point these presences conjoined at?” Freya asked.
“The Heartfelt ruins,” he said.
She blinked. “That place is completely abandoned. Why would they meet there?”
“I am as clueless as you are.”
“What about the presences themselves? Have you sensed any of them ever since?”
“Not as often, but the few that I did sense are all still at the ruins.”
Freya looked at me. “Then that’s where we should-”
A jumble of rocks smashed into a part of the house, sending wood and metal shattering against the floor. I dived for cover, unsure of what was going on. I picked myself back up and turned around to the destruction behind me. My eyes widened as I realized I wasn’t looking at just a jumble of rocks, but a jumble of rocks shaped as a hand.
I glanced up through the gap in the roof. A large humanoid of rocks and mud stood there, rising to at least twice the height of the house. The creature was faceless but for a red disk of light that shone eerily on the middle of its face. A hazy aura of black surrounded it, as if darkness was enriching it, powering it from within.
A golem, I stepped back, panic rising within my mind. I was in trouble once again.
The Dark Alliance had found me.
***
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I looked up at the beast of rock and stone, noticing the patches of random green that were growing on it.
My body instantly moved, dashing me to the edge of the room. The golem swung again, bringing down another wall with its strike.
“Damn creature!” Krof yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. “Stop wrecking my home!”
Streams of wind and fire intertwined the wizard’s body, widening and intensifying in seconds.
Dual casting, my eyes widened.
“Scram you pile of rocks!” Krof yelled. Fire and wind shot at the golem, the elements swirling into it in one massive explosion. Smoke and darkness surrounded the creature, masking it from our sight.
“Serves you right,” the old wizard mumbled, huffing a bit.
A low rumble sounded from within the smoke screen and a rocky hand thudded out, crashing into what was left of the broken wall.
“What on earth?” Krof’s gasped, his eyes wide. “My attack did nothing.”.
What?I turned to the golem’s health bar. The thing was still completely full, as though that previous attack hadn’t even occurred. What’s going on here? I blinked.
I heard words of mystery being chanted into the air. I turned and saw Freya beside us, arms up to her shoulders, wind picking up around her now. She stopped chanting and looked up at the golem.
“Loryi,” she said.
Multiple spears of bright light instantly summoned beside her and shot at the golem, shrouding it in multiple explosions. The creature rumbled as it emerged from the smoke yet again, this time faster than before.
“It’s immune to magic,” Krof realized.
Dammit, I looked up at the monster, summoning its analyze screen.
Name
Forest Golem
Level
61
Health
1510
Mana
50
Stamina
740
“Ugh,” I muttered. The thing was really strong, and taking it down was not going to be easy. I didn’t even know that something could be completely immune to magic. That seemed like a troublesome thing to deal with.
“It’s no use,” Freya leaned closer to me. “We can only take the golem down with physical attacks, and I can’t break my seal again for a while.”
“We’ll have to do without it,” I slid my sword out, holding it in front of me. I moved forward, preparing to use the only attack I had any confidence in now.
“Bladestorm!” I yelled as I charged ahead, my speed picking up in an instant. I jumped onto the walls of the house, using them to send myself straight up to the beast. My sword lay in wait as I soared up to its face and I swung across its body as I hit my peak height.
My sword sunk into the rock and I felt a sudden jerk in my hand, a crack sounding in my ears right after. My eyes widened as the weapon in my hand broke, the blade collapsing to a million rough pieces. I froze as I began to fall, my body too stunned to react to anything.
The golem rumbled as its body shifted, its fist locking onto my position mid-air, ready to thud into my bones. Suddenly, I felt a tug on my arm, and the next thing I knew I’d been pulled back down to the floor.
Freya stood before me, her hand holding my wrist. “You idiot,” she muttered and let go.
DING!
Your weapon, ‘Sword of Haste’ has broken.
I ignored the prom
pt for the moment and looked up at the golem, watching the creature now standing up straight, ready to strike again.
“Stay here,” Freya said and jumped high into the air, her sword in arm. I saw a flurry of strikes a second later, all of them too fast for my eye to catch. The golem’s health decreased, going down by a tenth in a few seconds.
“You’re doing it Freya! It’s wor-” my words stopped as I saw the beast’s health bar flash back to full health the very next moment.
“It’s got high health recovery,” Krof mumbled from beside me.
“Can you do anything to it right now?”
“Kid, this thing is-”
The golem caught up to Freya, its hand smacking into her and sending her crunching into the floor. Smoke and wood chipped out into the air, partly hiding her struggling form.
She can’t do this by herself, I grit my teeth, angered at how helpless I was yet again.
“But you don’t have to be,” a voice chuckled in my mind.
My heartbeat stopped. I jerked my head around, looking into the darkness, searching for the voice.
“What’s the matter?” It laughed.
“Who are you?” I muttered, taking a step back.
“I’m offended,” it sulked playfully. “I’d like to think I’m quite memorable. Especially after that big battle with the Valdar.”
My eyes widened. “You,” I whispered, thoughts of the Death Seal and the Phantom Lord invading my mind.
The Golem rumbled like thunder and brought its hand down onto us, faster than before. Freya immediately jumped, her sword glowing bright white as she rose into the air. She swung into the Golem’s attacking hand, pushing it back and knocking the creature a tad off balance. The beast however, quickly regained its stance and thrust forward, smacking into Freya and throwing her down to the floor.
“FREYA!” I yelled, running up to her.
“I’m...fine,” the elf said, barely managing to walk out of the rubble, her hand still gripping the sword tight. “Need to take the Golem down,” she said.
“You can’t do this, Freya,” I held her shoulders, steadying her. “We need to run from this thing.”
“We don’t have time,” she said. “I was able to use one of my moves to reduce its defenses by half. If we don’t attack it now we won’t be able to take it down.”
“You can’t attack the golem the way you are now,” I said.
“Yes I-” she stumbled for a second, a little dazed.
“See?” I steadied her.
“Ugh,” the voice sighed. “I need to help you again huh?”
Images of the Valdar massacre filled my head. NO, I yelled.
“Relax,” it chuckled. “I’m going to let you do everything this time.”
I blinked. “What do you-”
DING!
A screen popped up.
Congratulations! You have been blessed with a new skill: Fire Arts. Set the world ablaze with the flame of your existence. Increased resistance to extreme heat. Attack Damage increased by +10% in the presence of extreme heat.
Congratulations! You have learnt a new Fire Arts Spell: Blast Burn, ‘Erkiela’. A spell of the Fire Arts, this attack causes a torrential wave of fire to surge away from you, searing everyone and everything within its grasp. Inflicts target with the burn status effect. Attack is not affected by magical resistance. Cost: 20 Mana. Duration: 5 seconds. Range: 50 feet. Cast time: 30 seconds Cooldown: 15 minutes.
Congratulations! You have learnt a new Fire Arts Spell: Flame Charge, ‘Asgionis’. A spell of the Fire Arts, this attack encompasses your body in red-hot flames and increases your Agility by +5%. Damage caused by flames will be determined by Wisdom and Mana levels. Cost: 10 Mana. Duration: 2 minutes. Range: N/A. Cast time: 5 Seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Did he just bless me with a skill? I blinked. Is that even possible?
DING!
Congratulations! You have learnt your first magical art! Your variety in skills has increased your potential as a player. Intelligence has been increased by +10. Wisdom has been increased by +10.
Damn, that’s amazing, I thought, still overwhelmed by everything that I’d obtained in less than half a minute. A part of my mind was already chugging, remembering that this golem was a Forest Golem, and that Fire Arts were strong against it.
There’s a way out here, I realized.
A loud rumble sounded from the rocky beast, trembling through the ground. Its red eye lit up, and a beam of red energyshot out of it. A dome of white light instantly expanded out from the ground, protecting me and Freya. I turned around and saw the old wizard standing a few feet behind us.
“Just because it has magical resistance doesn’t mean we can’t protect ourselves using one of the magical arts,” he grinned.
My mind instantly clicked on sight of the wizard, remembering something from quite a while ago. “Krof can you hold this shield for a few more seconds?”
“Indeed,” he nodded.
I quickly slid open my Ga’em menu and went into my Equipment inventory menu. I tapped on the small icon of a darkly shaded stick and a screen popped up.
Title
Staff of the Goblin Shaman
Grade
One Star
Bonus Spell Damage
45 - 50 ATK
Rarity
Uncommon
Durability
15/30
Quality
Good
Special Effects
+15% Damage to all fire spells
Value
800 Sol
Nice, I tapped on the ‘Equip’ option and a stream of lights collected into my hand, materializing as a staff of dark grey wood. Staffs were items that amplified the power of the spells one cast from the magical arts. The fact that my weapon had a 15% damage increase to all fire spells was even better for me.
“Eternal, how much longer do I need to hold this up?” Krof asked, his voice a bit strained.
“One second,” I breathed in, focusing my thoughts. “Asgionis,” I said.
The sound of ignition blurred my thoughts, and flames of blood-red threw themselves around me, encompassing me in a shroud of fire. A red hue glowed on my skin, a sign that my Agility boost had been activated too.
Good, I thought. I turned to Krof. “Drop the shield.”
The wizard dropped his hands to the side and the dome immediately faded way. The golem took notice and shifted towards me, it’s arms swinging down. I didn’t dive away this time and charged in instead, my feet flying over the ground. The beast’s arms came down, but I was far too close for it to actually land a hit on me.
A small grin curled onto my face as I stopped myself in front of it. I threw my staff up into the air, pointing it at the creature of rock.
“Erkiela,” I yelled, the tone vibrating through the air. I tensed for a second, panicking as nothing happened.
And then it did.
A deluge of orange and red fires exploded from around me, surging away like waves, crashing and turning, weaving an ocean of red hot flames right before my very eyes. The waves shot into the air, wrapping around the Golem and signing it ablaze. The beast growled, its arms swinging hard, trying to get away from the flames that trapped it.
I watched as rock and stone shattered, the rough structures crumbling in the face of the intense heat. The beast growled out one last time, the sound echoing through the forest, and it collapsed to the floor, dissolving into a lone pile of simple mud.
DING!
Congratulations! You have defeated Forest Golem (Level 61). 10000 XP. Reward 20000 Sol.
DING!
You have now reached level 19! You gain 4 points to distribute between your stats. You also get a 25% advancement to the skill of your choice. Use them wisely.
DING!
You have obtained new equipment: Shield of the Rock Golem. Would you like to transfer the equipment to your ‘Equipment Inventory’ until further use?
I dazedly tapped on yes and the p
rompt disappeared. I breathed easy for a second, wondering how fortunate I was that everything had set itself up for me to take the beast down. The golem was nearly four times as strong as I was. The only reason I’d been able to take it down was because of a combination of Freya lowering its defense, the staff giving me the big damage bonuses, and the voice giving me that sick Fire Arts spell.
What was that voice anyway? I changed thought immediately. And how on earth did it give me a skill like Fire Arts?
“Zoran!” an injured Freya ran to me. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah,” I stuttered, breaking myself from my thoughts as sudden as I’d gotten into them.
“Boy,” Krof walked up to me, a troubled look on his face. “Who talked to you?”
I stared at him. “How do you know about that?”
“I felt it,” he said. “A certain…presence.”
“Was it…like the one you’d felt before?” I asked. “Like the Phantom Lord?”
“Yes,” he nodded. ”I don’t know if the voice itself is the Phantom Lord, but it is most certainly related to him in some way.”
“Interesting,” I said. “The voice said it was the one I’d heard when I lost consciousness against the Valdar.”
“The one that controlled you in that battle,” Krof said, probably hearing about it from Ijyela. “It seems that both then and now this voice is only trying to help you. Yet you possess a Death Seal, a sign that the Phantom Lord is coming after you. It is the oddest thing.”
“I know,” I said quietly, feeling perplexed myself.
“On that note,” Freya said. “What the hell was that golem that just attacked us? Magical immunity? Really?”
The Eternal: Awakening - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 1) Page 17