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  [colpse]Chapter Eighty-One - In Case of Puzzle, Break Gss

  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 meical arms holding bits of gss and small mirrors and even the occasional prism, were rings that circled all the way around the mae.

  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 Awe ihearted to spin each ring a little bit. I could actually follow her progress as each motion ged the angles of the mirrors and bits of gss 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 anss golem then I wao be well-rested for it.

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

  “Oh?” I asked.

  “That golem, at level 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 one?” I looked down the sed corridor. Much as with the first, it ended with a rge devi 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 pce 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 Wondernd 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, theire device clicked and a beam of light s it was almost visible cut across the corridor and over to the base of the 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 interse. 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 Gss Golem Gem Guardian, level 8.

  A Gss Golem Gem Guardian, level 8.

  “They’re a level lower,” I said.

  “That shouldn’t make too much of a difference. We’ll o 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 p on both.” Moon Moon suggested.

  “Sure,” I said. “Amaryllis, you and Moon Moon take the oo the left? You’re our stro members. So take it dolease? Awen and I will take the oo 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 st golem, this one had a lot of imperfes in its gssy surface. One of its arms looked partially melted, a rainbow of different css all mixing together and ing 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 h before it slipped into its chest.

  I pced a foot on the golem’s head and used it to push myself over the mohen, while at the apex of my jump, I rammed my shovel do its ft head.

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

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

  Turning, I saw a rge gss spike rag for my head. I ducked, but was still sent flying as the spike smacked me on the helmet.

  I rolled, getting bay 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 joiween his base and one of its legs. The gss 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 pn. Nothing was ing 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 devi the tre of the interse. 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 fnk 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 while I distract it, okay?”

  “Awaa, alright!”

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

  It turo face me, its giant spike pointed right at me.

  At the st moment I wove uhe 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 turo a Broccoli kebab.

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

  A quick punch to the golem’s 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 punch hurt my hand just as much, but it also left the gss I had punched sparkly and .

  “Okay, so that’s not w.”

  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 ched as it moved.

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

  It exploded, throwing fist-sized ks of gss everywhere.

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

  “Ah,” Amaryllis said wheinkling 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.

  gratutions! You have cracked Gss Golem Gem Guardian, level 8. Due to bating as a team your reward is reduced!

  Awen and I locked eyes, and theh giggled a little. “That was fun,” I said. “But I think I need a break before the 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 em among the piles of disiing gss 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 gss, and a short hauck out of its opening.

  I picked it up and pulled the sheath apart with both hands. A small knife greeted me, its bde-shaped gss 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 khen shook her head. “Keep it.”

  “Hrm.” I said. I already had a pair of khat were perfectly serviceable for camping and the like. This one looked more like something fhting 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 treat it as a trophy of sorts. Hang it on the mantelpied 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 st 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 turo me. “That girl is hahan I inally 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 corridor.

  I wondered what she meant by that.