"Thank you, Master."
Rengar did not wait for another instruction after speaking because the lesson had already become clear enough to act on. The chamber, the golems, the regeneration, and the faint glow within each chest had all rearranged themselves inside his mind into a new structure of understanding. Before, the eight constructs had been eight durable bodies that needed to be cut apart until they stopped moving. Now they were eight shells surrounding eight power sources. Their limbs, torsos, and heads were no longer targets by themselves. They were obstacles protecting the true target.
The golems continued advancing with the same slow pressure as before, but Rengar's response changed completely. The agitation that had pushed him to cut harder vanished from his body, replaced by a colder focus that suited his new form better. Crimson lightning continued to run through his legs and shoulders, but he no longer let the energy flare excessively. Blood aura remained layered along both daggers, flowing across the blades in a dark red coating that sharpened at the edges and stretched slightly beyond the metal in thin cutting lines. When his wrists shifted, the aura moved with the blades and left brief red streaks in the air, each one controlled and compact rather than wide or wasteful.
The nearest golem swung first, raising its heavy fist and driving it downward toward the space Rengar occupied. He did not retreat far enough to reset the exchange. He moved only as much as the attack required, stepping along the inner edge of the descending arm while keeping his gaze fixed on the faint glow buried within the chest. The fist struck the floor behind him, and while the impact fractured the fused ice-stone surface, Rengar entered the opening created by the golem's lowered posture. His left dagger cut across the outer arm, not to sever it fully, but to redirect the limb's weight for a fraction of time, and his right dagger drove straight toward the center of the torso.
The charged blade struck the chest and pushed through the outer shell with far more resistance than the limbs had offered, because the golem's torso held denser layers around the core. Rengar did not force the strike with his arm alone. He drove power from his back leg through his hips and shoulder while feeding blood energy into the dagger at the point of contact. The red aura along the blade thickened, and the crimson line surrounding the edge burned through the defensive layer as the dagger sank deeper into the chest. The moment the tip reached the faint glow, the resistance changed. The core felt harder than the shell but less massive, concentrated like a knot of condensed energy rather than physical stone.
Rengar twisted the dagger.
The glow cracked.
The effect was immediate and different from every previous wound he had inflicted. The golem's body did not attempt to reassemble. It did not pull severed parts inward. The faint blue light within its limbs dimmed all at once, and the entire construct lost internal cohesion. Its arm collapsed first, followed by its torso, and the body fell apart into dead ice and stone that struck the floor without trying to move again.
Rengar felt the confirmation before the fragments settled.
The core was the kill.
His focus moved to the next glow before the first golem's remains finished spreading across the floor.
The other seven continued advancing, their movements unchanged by the loss of one construct. They did not react with fear or caution because they were not beasts, yet the battlefield changed regardless. One body had been removed permanently, and that meant there was more space to move, fewer attack angles overlapping, and less pressure surrounding him. Rengar used that difference immediately. Two golems approached from the left and center while another came from his right, attempting to compress the space through sheer size. He extended his left hand slightly and shaped blood energy through thought, forming chains that erupted from the floor beneath the right-side golem. The links wrapped around its leg and lower torso, not strong enough to hold forever, but strong enough to delay one step.
"Blood Chains."
He did not look at the restrained construct after casting the skill. The chains had done their purpose the moment they interrupted its timing. He turned toward the two remaining attackers, allowing the center golem to commit to a forward strike while the left one began to raise its arm. Instead of cutting the limbs apart as before, he used a short burst of lightning augmentation to slip between their attack lines. The center golem's fist descended, and Rengar moved along the outside of the arm, using the falling limb as cover from the left golem's approach. His right dagger slashed across the center golem's wrist, lowering the arm further and forcing the torso to lean forward, which brought the faint glow in the chest closer to him.
He stepped in.
Both daggers entered the torso this time, one carving through the outer shell to open the path while the other followed directly through the weakened line. The red aura covering the blades left twin crimson streaks that overlapped at the chest. The first blade split the protective layer. The second drove deeper and struck the core. Rengar released Lightning Shock through the dagger the instant the tip met the glow, and the current traveled into the core rather than dispersing across the shell. The inner light flickered violently before breaking apart.
The golem collapsed forward, dead before its body fully struck the ground.
Rengar used the falling torso as terrain. His foot landed briefly on the collapsing shoulder, and lightning carried him upward and sideways before the left golem's delayed strike could reach him. While passing above the arm, he slashed downward with one dagger, cutting into the shoulder joint enough to alter the swing's angle, then used the other dagger to carve across the chest as he descended. The cut did not reach the core. The golem's torso was too thick, and the angle was wrong. Instead of forcing the attack, Rengar withdrew immediately and allowed the failed line to become information. Direct chest penetration required either forward drive, exposed posture, or a weakened outer layer. A slash alone could open the shell, but the core required thrust, compression, or a second strike.
The restrained golem broke one of the blood chains and dragged its leg forward. Rengar sensed the movement behind him and turned through the same motion he used to retreat from the left golem. Frost formed beneath his foot, giving him traction as he pivoted across the smooth floor. The golem behind him raised both arms, attempting to crush him through downward force. Rengar did not try to outrun the entire attack. He stepped toward the golem, inside the line where the fists would strike the floor, and snapped his arms outward at close range.
"Thunder Clap."
The compact burst struck the golem's torso before its arms completed their descent. The force did not break the construct, but it disrupted the posture enough for the chest to tilt back. Rengar followed with both daggers, slashing an X-shaped opening across the outer shell. The blood aura cut deeper than metal could have, leaving red-lit grooves through the chest plate, and as the golem tried to recover, he drove his right dagger through the crossing point. The blade met the core and pierced it with a short, direct thrust. He twisted once and pulled back as the glow shattered.
The third golem died permanently.
The chamber grew less crowded, but the remaining five still carried enough mass to make careless movement dangerous. Rengar's body understood that the fight had shifted from survival within a ring to target execution under moving pressure. Each construct now represented a path to its chest, and each path had to be created differently depending on posture, approach, and surrounding obstacles. He could not simply repeat the same attack, because the golems' positions changed with every collapse. Dead bodies became low terrain. Broken fragments created unstable footing. Ice dust spread across the fused floor where impacts had shattered the surface. His frost control became useful here, not as direct damage, but as a way to create reliable footing over broken ground.
One golem approached over the remains of a dead construct, its heavy foot crushing loose pieces into the floor. Another moved around the right side, while two more continued straight forward in a slow line. The fifth remained slightly behind, its chest glow visible through a gap between the others. Rengar tracked all five while lowering his center of gravity. Blood aura thickened along his daggers again as he fed more energy into them, keeping the edge-lines full. The more he used the blades, the clearer the rhythm became: charge before entry, cut only where the cut served the core path, and never waste a deep slash on a limb unless it changed the chest angle.
The right-side golem reached first. It swung horizontally, and Rengar slid beneath the arc with frost supporting his foot at the lowest point of movement. While passing under the arm, he cut upward through the elbow. The limb separated, but he did not follow the falling arm. He stepped past it and used the golem's brief over-rotation to face its torso. The chest glow sat slightly off-center because the body had twisted. He released a lightning dagger from his free hand toward the glowing point, not to destroy the core, but to mark the path and disrupt the shell. The projectile struck the torso and spread current across the protective layer. Rengar arrived immediately after the lightning impact, driving his blood-charged dagger into the same spot. The combined disruption allowed the blade to sink faster, and the core cracked under the thrust.
The fourth golem collapsed.
The two central golems closed together, their bodies unintentionally protecting each other's chest area. If he entered directly, one would strike while the other blocked the angle. Rengar moved toward them anyway, then shifted at the last moment toward the broken remains on the floor. He stepped onto a fallen chunk of dead golem torso, kicked off from it, and crossed the space diagonally. As he moved, he shaped blood chains from the floor beneath the left central golem. The chains wrapped around its lower body and pulled against one leg, slowing its forward step just enough to create separation between the pair. The right central golem continued alone for a fraction of time.
That fraction was enough.
Rengar landed inside its reach and drove one dagger across the forearm to pull the guard low. The other dagger cut into the chest, but the angle was shallow. Instead of forcing a thrust through incomplete depth, he used Thunder Clap from close range, releasing the burst directly against the already-cut chest plate. The impact widened the damaged layer and pushed the golem's torso back. Rengar followed the recoil, feet sliding across a frost patch he created beneath himself, and thrust both daggers into the opened chest. One blade struck the core. The other braced against the shell and gave him leverage. He twisted the core blade and destroyed the glow.
The fifth golem fell.
The left central golem tore free from the chains and swung downward as its paired construct collapsed. Rengar withdrew one step, but the dead golem's falling body limited the space behind him. He responded by moving forward under the descending arm rather than back, cutting through the inner wrist and shoulder line while passing close enough that the construct's fist struck the dead body instead of the floor. The impact shattered the corpse into fragments, and those fragments scattered beneath Rengar's feet. He felt the footing break apart and immediately used frost to bind the loose pieces into a temporary surface, turning instability into support. From that patch, he pushed upward and drove his dagger toward the chest.
The golem's other hand intercepted, blocking the direct line. Rengar's dagger pierced through the palm but did not reach the core. The construct began closing its fingers around his arm. He released Lightning Shock through the blade, sending current through the hand and forearm to slow the grip, then pulled sideways with enough force to tear the dagger free. The hand remained between him and the chest, so he changed approach. His left dagger cut through the thumb joint, his right slashed through the wrist, and the blood aura carved cleanly through both points. The hand separated, exposing the torso again. He stepped in and drove both daggers into the chest with a short forward surge of lightning through his legs.
The sixth core broke.
Only two remained.
The chamber felt more open now, but the final two golems had approached from different sides during the last exchange, creating a wider pincer. One came from the front left, the other from the rear right. Rengar could feel the rear movement through vibration in the floor, and he did not turn fully because turning too early would give the front golem time to close. He ran forward toward the front golem as if committing to it, forcing its heavy arm to rise for an overhead strike. At the moment the arm lifted, he threw one dagger backward by its strap toward the rear golem. The blade spun with a crimson trail and struck the rear construct's chest plate, not deep enough to reach the core but enough to mark its position and slow its movement with the blood aura biting into the shell.
Rengar used the strap to pull himself slightly backward while still moving forward, altering his trajectory in a way neither golem's slow timing could match. The front golem's overhead strike came down where his body would have been. He slid along the outside of the impact, reclaimed the thrown dagger through the strap's pull, and drove both blades into the front golem's chest from the side. The first thrust struck the shell. The second found the glow. He released a focused pulse of lightning through the second blade as the blood aura pierced the core, and the internal light broke.
The seventh golem collapsed, leaving only the rear construct that still carried the shallow wound from the thrown dagger.
Rengar turned toward it without rushing. The final golem advanced over the broken field, its chest glow visible through the damaged plate. Its movements were still slow, still heavy, still tireless, but now that the others were gone, its pressure felt simple compared to the overlapping chaos from before. Rengar allowed it to approach because the last kill did not require speed alone. It required confirming the full integration of what he had learned. Blood energy coated both daggers. Crimson lightning circulated through his legs. Frost waited beneath his feet for traction and angle control. His gaze remained fixed on the glow.
The golem swung with both arms, attempting to crush the space in front of it through weight. Rengar stepped inside the opening between the arms as they descended, formed a narrow frost path beneath his feet, and let lightning drive him along that path with a controlled forward burst. His first dagger cut across the existing wound in the chest plate, widening it with a red streak. His second dagger followed immediately into the opening. The blade reached the core, and this time he did not need extra force, disruption, or correction. The tip struck true. Blood aura compressed along the blade and entered the glow. The core fractured from the inside outward.
The final golem lost cohesion and collapsed into lifeless ice and stone.
Rengar remained in motion for a few more steps after the kill, letting the excess momentum carry him out of the falling body's path before turning back toward the chamber. None of the fallen parts moved. The scattered limbs remained inert. The broken torsos did not reassemble. The cores had been destroyed, and without them the bodies were only material.
Noctis watched from near the entrance of the chamber, his posture relaxed, his expression carrying quiet approval rather than surprise. He did not praise loudly or interrupt the silence left by the end of the fight, but when Rengar looked toward him, Noctis gave a small nod.
"Good job," Noctis said. "Once you understand your enemy you can end the battles very quickly"
Rengar looked across the remains again, and the meaning of the words settled more deeply than the earlier instruction had. Before the lesson, he had destroyed the golems again and again without killing them. After understanding the core, each attack had gained purpose. The same speed, same daggers, same blood energy, and same lightning had become far more effective because he knew where they needed to go.
"I understand," Rengar said.
Noctis turned his gaze toward the deeper passage beyond the chamber. The steady pressure they had sensed since entering the dungeon remained there, unchanged by the destruction of the golems. If anything, now that the chamber had quieted, the weight ahead felt clearer.
"Now," Noctis said. "Let's move on to the next one"
Rengar followed his gaze toward the passage, both daggers still coated in faint blood aura as the red edge-light slowly dimmed but did not vanish completely.
"The titan ahead is also a construct," Noctis continued. "Larger, stronger, and not as simple as these golems. What you learned here is only the beginning."
Rengar's grip tightened around the dagger handles, not from agitation this time, but from readiness built on understanding. The eight golems had been his first real combat test with the new skills. The titan would be the next threshold.
Noctis began walking.
Rengar followed behind him, leaving the dead constructs scattered across the chamber floor as the two continued toward the deeper pressure waiting ahead.