The merged golem loomed like a mountain of wrath given form, its fifty-nine-foot frame crackling with green flames along its jagged shoulders. Its volcano-shaped head burned with hollow emerald fire as it tracked the tiny figures below.
Camilla charged first, a blazing comet of manic glee. The golem's maw opened with a grinding screech. Deep within its chest, green energy coalesced rapidly before it spat a massive fireball of roaring emerald flame straight at her. The projectile was enormous, easily the size of a carriage trailing destructive energy that warped the air.
Camilla laughed wildly and poured on more speed. At the last possible second she juked sharply to the left, outpacing the attack with blinding agility. The green fireball screamed past her and detonated against the far wall in a cataclysmic explosion. Emerald flames erupted outward, melting stone and sending a shockwave of heat and debris rolling across the chamber. The blast lit the ruined space in sickly green light for several heartbeats.
Without missing a beat, Camilla leaped. She sailed through the lingering flames and slammed boots-first into the golem's lower thigh. Her Infernal War Greaves sank deep, molten claws chewing through rock with a furious hiss. She immediately began her deadly hit-and-run ascent.
She climbed like a deranged spider, never staying still. A spinning kick to the hip melted a gaping crater. She vaulted higher, driving an elbow strike into its side that left bubbling slag dripping down its leg. Every impact sent orange embers swirling. The golem roared and swung a massive hand to swat her off like an insect. The strike was devastatingly fast for something so huge, but Camilla was faster. She cartwheeled across its waist, the fist whistling harmlessly past and smashing into its own thigh instead, carving out a chunk of its own stone.
"Yes! Keep swinging, you big dumb rock!" she cheered, voice bright with savage joy.
She danced higher, exploiting every opening. A heavy stomp into its ribs. A molten spinning heel kick to the spine. Each blow left glowing orange wounds that smoked and refused to close properly. The golem twisted violently, trying to dislodge her. Its other hand came down in a crushing backhand, but she dropped low at the last moment, the strike only grazing the jagged plates on her back and sending her sliding across its chest. She used the momentum to launch herself even higher.
From the rear, Bulk braced his stance. His prosthetic leg screamed under the strain as he took careful aim at the golem's lower body, knees, hips, ankles. The heavy projectile launcher thumped repeatedly. Each bolt slammed home with thunderous force. The impacts didn't melt or shatter stone as effectively as Camilla's greaves, but the raw kinetic power was immense. One bolt struck the giant's left knee dead-on, pushing its leg backward and forcing the colossus to stagger sideways. Another hit the hip, pushing its balance further off-center.
The golem lurched, momentarily destabilized.
Meanwhile, Quinn had dropped into a low crouch several meters away. He pressed his gauntleted palm flat against the fractured floor, eyes closed in concentration. He reached out with his senses, searching for any pulse of foreign mana, hidden ley lines, or the telltale thrum of a true core.
Nothing.
Frustration boiled over. With a growl, he channeled a surge of aura into his right gauntlet. The dark alloy glowed fiercely as power nodes screamed. He reared back and drove his fist into the floor with everything he had.
BOOM.
The ground exploded. A massive crater erupted outward from the point of impact. Shards of stone and clouds of dust blasted upward in a violent geyser. The entire chamber floor quaked hard enough that even the merged golem felt the tremor. Bulk's head snapped toward the noise for a split second, eyes wide, before he forced his focus back onto the giant.
Quinn rose from the crater, breathing hard, stone dust coating his armor. The strike had achieved nothing but a ruined patch of floor. No core. No hidden power source.
"Damn it…"
He sprinted toward the nearest wall, gauntlets still humming. He ran from one wall to the other, slapping his palms against the stone, eyes narrowed in fierce concentration. He tried to feel for anything, a denser concentration of energy, a resonance, anything out of place. The walls were cold and inert. Nothing.
His gaze finally lifted upward.
The ceiling was impossibly high, far beyond his reach. Even if he could sense energy from that distance, the golem would never give him the breathing room to try.
Quinn spun toward Bulk. "Bulk! Shoot the ceiling directly above the golem's head!"
Bulk didn't hesitate. "I've only got one shot left!"
"Then make it count and reload immediately after!" Quinn demanded, voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.
Bulk nodded grimly. He adjusted his stance, bracing his entire body as the launcher whined, charging the final bolt with every remaining joule of power. The weapon kicked hard as he fired.
The heavy projectile streaked upward in a screaming arc and slammed into the ceiling directly over the golem. The impact was devastating. The first layer of reinforced stone shattered instantly, exploding into a rain of jagged debris and thick dust that poured down like a waterfall. Chunks the size of boulders crashed onto the golem's shoulders and head, forcing it to flinch.
The Golem tilted its burning head upward and roared in fury, a deafening, ground-shaking bellow that rattled what remained of the floodlights.
In that moment of distraction, Camilla struck. She drove both greaves into the golem's exposed ribs with everything she had. The molten impact was brutally effective. Stone cracked loudly. The giant lurched violently to the side, pulled off balance by the combined force of Bulk's earlier shots and Camilla's precision strike. More debris from the damaged ceiling rained down, pelting its frame.
The golem staggered, one massive foot cracking the floor beneath it, but it planted itself firmly and refused to fall. Its hollow green-flame gaze snapped back to Camilla with pure malice. Its movements grew faster, more aggressive, swipes turning into frenzied attempts to crush the annoying insect crawling across its body.
Camilla only laughed louder, maneuvering around its torso like a woman possessed. She leaped from shoulder to shoulder, leaving molten footprints and deep craters in her wake, always one step ahead of the giant's crushing hands.
Quinn watched the exchange for a split second, then nodded sharply at Bulk.
"Go reload," he ordered.
Bulk didn't argue. He immediately retreated toward his ammo crate, prosthetic leg dragging slightly as he moved to safety.
Quinn turned back toward the towering golem, aura flaring brighter around his gauntlets. With a determined roar he charged forward to join Camilla in battle.
Camilla moved like living chaos across the golem's upper body. She vaulted from one jagged shoulder plate to the next, her Infernal War Greaves glowing molten orange as they carved deep, smoking trenches with every landing. The merged colossus had fully locked onto her now. Its volcanic head twisted with unnatural speed, hollow emerald eyes blazing with singular hatred for the tiny pest crawling across its torso. Massive stone hands whipped through the air in wide, crushing arcs, each swipe strong enough to pulverize boulders, yet Camilla danced just beyond their reach.
She laughed wildly between strikes, a bright, unhinged sound that echoed through the ruined chamber. A spinning heel kick sank into the golem's collarbone region, molten claws chewing through dense rock and leaving a glowing orange crater that refused to cool. She used the recoil to flip sideways, dodging a backhand that whistled past her head close enough to flutter her hair. Before the hand could retract, she drove both greaves into its thick neck plating. Stone cracked audibly. Molten slag dripped in bright rivulets down the giant's chest.
On the ground, Quinn circled the golem's massive legs like a predator. He slammed low, powerful kicks and punches into the joints, knees, ankles, hips. Each strike designed to destabilize rather than destroy. The impacts echoed like sledgehammers on bedrock, forcing the colossus to adjust its stance repeatedly. Shallow fissures spider-webbed across the stone, but the damage was superficial. Quinn's jaw tightened. He needed more.
With a roar, he channeled aura into his right gauntlet until the dark alloy flared white-hot. Power nodes screamed. He planted his feet, twisted his hips, and drove an uppercut into the golem's left knee with everything he had. The heavy strike detonated against the joint. A deep, thunderous crack split the air as the leg buckled outward. The golem staggered, its enormous weight shifting dangerously.
Quinn didn't let up. He darted to the right knee and repeated the process, gauntlet glowing, aura surging hammering it with two brutal hooks. Stone fragments exploded outward. The colossus lurched again, its balance compromised by the combined assault from above and below.
From the rear of the chamber, heavy footsteps announced Bulk's return. Three fresh ammunition canisters gleamed in his bandolier. His prosthetic leg hissed with each stride as he moved into position, keeping a safe distance from the rampaging giant. He dropped into a wide, braced stance, the heavy projectile launcher humming as it powered up.
"Ceiling again," he muttered, eyes locked on the fractured section he had blasted earlier. He squeezed the trigger.
The first bolt screamed upward and slammed home. Then the second. Third. Fourth. Fifth. Five consecutive shots hammered the same spot with relentless precision. Reinforced stone shattered layer by layer. A deep 9-foot crater formed, sending a waterfall of jagged shards and thick dust cascading down onto the golem's shoulders and head. The colossus roared in irritation, swiping at the falling debris while still trying to crush Camilla.
Bulk's eyes narrowed. A faint emerald glow pulsed from the depths of the fresh hole.
"There you are…" He loaded another bolt and fired.
The projectile struck true. The glowing tip fully emerged, an enormous emerald rune crystal, roughly three by four feet, pulsing with malevolent green light. It was embedded deep in the ceiling like a malignant heart.
"In sight!" Bulk bellowed.
He fired once more. The bolt detonated against the crystal in a wide emerald explosion. Dust and smaller fragments rained down, but as the smoke thinned, a translucent barrier shield flickered into visibility around the crystal before vanishing again.
"Quinn!" Bulk shouted, voice cutting through the chaos. "The crystal is protected by a magic barrier! My shots can't get through!"
Quinn dodged a stomping foot that cratered the floor where he had stood moments before. He slid to a stop, breathing hard, and looked up. His expression twisted in annoyance.
"Of all the times…" He wiped stone dust from his face. "That has to be the real core. Who would've thought it'd be in the damn ceiling? And shielded."
He kept moving, eyes darting between the golem's crushing feet and the glowing prize high above. "Camilla! You're the closest can you reach the crystal from up there and take it out?"
High on the golem's torso, Camilla paused mid-climb. She glanced upward, eyes sparkling with manic delight as she spotted the pulsing emerald crystal. "That's the heart? Sweet!"
She surged higher with renewed frenzy. Her movements became pure athletic poetry, dodging, vaulting, and springing between the golem's frantic attempts to swat her. The giant's hands came down like wrecking balls, smashing into its own shoulders and chest in its rage. Camilla used the head as her final launch point, planting both greaves on the volcanic crown and coiling her legs. The greaves flared white-hot as she prepared a devastating flying kick aimed straight at the crystal.
Mid-air, the golem struck.
Its massive arm whipped around with terrifying speed. The back of its stone hand connected with Camilla like a freight train. The impact was brutal. She was slapped downward in a violent arc, body tumbling uncontrollably before smashing into the chamber floor. The crash created a wide crater. Dust billowed outward as her body sank several inches into the broken stone, greaves still glowing and melting the edges of the impact zone.
For a moment, everything seemed to still.
Camilla lay there, embedded in the ground. She slowly lifted her left hand to her head, blinking. "Hey…" she groaned, voice half-dazed, half-amused. "You aren't supposed to hit girls that hard."
Quinn's head snapped toward her. "Will you stop whining and get back on your feet!" He glanced up at the distant crystal, calculating. "The way I see it, that thing's going to need more than one solid hit to break."
Camilla exhaled sharply and pushed herself up. The greaves liquefied the stone around her legs as she rose from the small pool of molten rock. She stepped clear of the crater, then paused, crouching beside the glowing slag as if considering something. She reached out and touched the edge almost playfully.
Bulk's voice rang out again. "I've only got three shots left before I need another reload!"
Quinn nodded grimly, already shifting position as the golem began advancing. "Bulk, you're drawing its attention this time. But it won't focus on you long, Camilla and I will be doing the heavy lifting up close."
"Understood," Bulk replied, already adjusting his aim.
Quinn scanned the battlefield quickly before looking down again. "Get up already! This is no time to goof around."
Camilla stood fully, flicking a small glob of magma off her fingertip with a sharp "Tch!" She rolled her shoulders. "That one got me good," she muttered, a dangerous grin returning.
"No one asked," Quinn shot back. He turned toward the advancing golem, aura flaring around his gauntlets once more. "We'll be taking the charge here. Goal is to reach the top and break that crystal. Together."
Camilla's face lit up with a bright, hopeful smile. "Together?"
Quinn paused, realizing his wording. "…No. I meant one of us has to break it. One."
Camilla's smile instantly flipped into an exaggerated frown. She touched her index fingers together, looking almost comically disappointed. "I was hoping it'd be together."
"Too bad it never gets to happen," Quinn said, already moving. "Now focus. And don't forget our goal. Bulk doesn't have enough ammo to waste, so we do the heavy lifting."
Camilla turned forward, cracking her neck. The manic energy flooded back into her stance.
Quinn and Camilla exploded forward in unison.
Bulk acted at the same moment. He fired two rapid shots into the golem's right thigh. The heavy bolts slammed home with thunderous force, rocking the giant's balance. The colossus staggered sideways, its massive foot cracking the floor as it fought to stabilize.
It retaliated instantly.
The volcano-shaped head tilted back, green energy swirling violently in its maw. Three enormous fireballs, each the size of a carriage and trailing destructive emerald flames erupted outward in rapid succession.
The first streaked toward Bulk. He threw himself into a desperate leap to the left. The fireball detonated just behind him, the shockwave catching his airborne body and hurling him further across the chamber. He skidded hard, prosthetic leg sparking against the stone, but managed to keep his launcher raised.
The other two fireballs screamed toward Quinn and Camilla.
The pair refused to slow. Camilla poured on blinding speed, juking and weaving with deranged grace. Quinn matched her pace, aura-enhanced legs driving him forward in powerful strides. They outran the roaring projectiles by mere feet. Both fireballs detonated behind them in twin cataclysms, sending waves of heat, green flame, and shattered stone rolling across the chamber floor. The blast lit the entire space in sickly emerald light, but the two fighters were already clear, charging straight toward the towering golem once more, eyes locked on the distant glowing crystal high above.