Taking slow, clumsy steps towards the side of the room with Alex, the statue's less detailed feet looked like they would slide across the slippery moss. Unfortunately for the duo, the incredible weight of the metal trio as well as the 6 total legs prevented it from losing balance as it clambered towards the first ledge.
G, watching the metal amalgam approach the opposite side of the room, closed some of the distance between them by dropping to some of the lower ledges.
With the back of the statue facing them, G observed the details of the 2 faces previously hidden from view. The face on their left, closer to the entrance they entered the chamber through, possessed a visage of endless rage. The eyes were slanted and barely open, the mouth warped into a snarl with gritted teeth, and the neck had prominent veins from apparent strain. On the right, the face appeared calm, with eyes closed and head tilted downward as if in silent prayer. This face was scarred already, but as part of the carving, as it was only textured differently rather than being a divot in the surface.
'I'll go for the hips first to disable it, since the legs will be harder to pierce. As for actually killing it, we don't even know if it's alive…I suppose if we poke enough holes in it, it'll go down.'
When Alex saw G approaching the back of the statue, he readied another arrow and aimed for the scared statue once again. No longer aiming for the eyes as the arrows didn't penetrate the empty orbs as well, he instead aimed for the neck in hopes that decapitating the statue would disable it.
'5 more arrows until I need to change tactics. It's too sturdy for unarmed strikes, but shoves might be possible with the slick ground.'
Letting the arrow loose, it struck the statue as it reached a ledge 3 ledges away from him. Penetrating into the neck, this time he noticed a wet substance flowing down the shaft of the arrow after it penetrated about as much as the one in its cheek.
Once again reeling the statue, the trembling of its bound hands increased in intensity, like it was becoming agitated. Watching the statue, G continued their gradual movement closer to the statue, reaching the lowest tier of the chamber aside from inside the fountain. Accelerating their steps as the statue appeared to be becoming more active, G tensed their arms in preparation.
'With 4 ledges separating me from Alex, the statue only has 2 and a bit until it reaches him. I'll aim for when it starts climbing the next set of stairs, that way we can take it off balance…'
Circling the topmost ledge towards the door opposite the one he entered through, Alex positioned themselves in a way that would force the statue to cover more ground in order to reach him. Since the ledges were about 3 feet high, which the statue seemed unable to scale due to its awkward shape, it was forced to use the stairs to move between the ledges. As long as Alex kept on guard and moved relatively swiftly, the statue would be unable to catch him before G hopefully disabled it.
Pulling out his 4th arrow and readying it, this time Alex waited until it was beginning to mount the next set of stairs, as G was quickly approaching to strike it from behind(?). With Alex only separated from the statue by 1 ledge and about 5 meters of walkway and G a ledge under the statue, the time for a pincer attack was approaching.
As the statue clambered over the stairs leading to the uppermost walkway, Alex loosed the arrow toward the scared one's left knee, hoping to destabilize it, and G lunged for the calm statue's hip joint with their spear.
Piercing the shining plating with a sickening screech, the spear's blade penetrated through the calm statue's hip joint connecting the right leg to the body. Able to see the tip of the blade past the statue, visible just next to the rusted pole holding the figures together, G quickly tried to pull back the spear so the blade wouldn't break when the statue struggled more.
The statue, knocked off balance by 2 different strikes to its legs, slid down the stairs back towards G, causing them to be unable to pull back the spear in time. However, the fall also caused the angry statue's legs, they were the main brace against crashing against the ground, to warp slightly from the incredible weight.
As the statue fell down the stairs, it focused on G, as they dealt it a much more severe wound than the arrows. Once it had regained a semblance of balance, the uninjured leg of the calm statue lashed out, trying to kick at G.
'Either get kicked by this several hundred kilogram statue, or lose my weapons…well, I guess I probably shouldn't leave Alex alone against this thing, so option 2 it is.'
Letting go of the spear and jumping sideways using the wall of the ledge for balance, the moss covered metal leg flew towards G's former position, crashing against the ground and leaving shallow cracks in the stone.
'Looks like I made the right call; that kick would've cracked something…but my spear is probably done after this. I wonder if they have any spears down here?'
As G was in the process of dodging the thrashing leg of the calm statue, Alex was watching while pulling out his 5th arrow.
'The back legs should be weakened after that slip, and G got another pretty bad. Pretty soon, this thing won't be able to move at all, and it probably already can't climb the stairs up here…'
Aiming for the same knee as before, Alex took in the condition of the statue. The angry figure had 2 warped legs, likely unable to take another impact of the same power. The calm figure had G's spear stuck in its right hip joint, inhibiting that leg's movement. As for the scared statue, it had an arrow in its right cheek, eye, neck, and left knee.
"Let's focus on immobilizing it for now! I don't know if we can kill it, but if it can't move, then we should be safe to continue!"
"Got it."
With a renewed plan, Alex loosed the arrow, hitting the left knee once again. While the arrows weren't penetrating very deeply, they still worked to inhibit the joints mobility.
As Alex shot the arrow, G approached the statue again and reached for their spear, attempting to pull it out. Trying to leverage the spear out of the constantly moving leg, G frowned at the metallic screeching coming from the wound. The thick layer of metal encompassing the spearhead caused some warping from when it was stuck inside the joint, but G was able to pull the spear back. The blade was chipped and bent, but it still looked usable for a couple more strikes.
The statue was furiously scrambling at the stairs, no longer able to climb them. After a few seconds of trying and failing to climb the stairs, the statue gave up on Alex, instead focusing on G, as they were on the same plane.
As the statue scrambled forward towards G, they noticed the piercing wound left by their spear strike wasn't metal all the way through. Instead, a bluish, waxy material mixed with some of the glowing moss was visible from the hole. Unsure of what it was, G put it out of their mind and backed up from the shambling statue.
Seeing that the statue no longer focused on Alex, he focused on only aiming his bow, and readied a 6th arrow. As the scared faced statue was still facing him, he had poor vision on the other 2. Choosing to keep firing towards the same knee he had been focusing on, Alex waited until the figure stopped moving to shoot.
As the statue continued forward towards G, it made larger, higher steps, raising its working front legs to kick at G while they backpedalled. Watching the legs until they were lowering to the ground, G lunged forward again, this time stabbing towards the other hip joint of the calm statue.
Penetrating into the joint, G could feel their spear breaking upon hitting the plating on the other side of the statue. The blade had snapped in half, leaving G holding the side with a bit less than half the blade.