The underground chamber echoed wit hthe sound of stone and magic as Sylffie's group faced Lior and his enormous golem
"What the hell is that?" Rikka shocked
Standing before them was a golem nearly five meters tall.
Its body was made of massive stones, with thick vines wrapped tightly around each piece, holding its entire body together
Helen stepped forward and raised her staff
"Incinerate!"
A burst of flame erupted from the tip of her staff and rushed toward the golem
At the same time, Lior raised his own staff
"Magic Barrier"
A purple barrier appeared around the golem, completely blocking the flames
"Tch… that Cardinal is really troublesome" Helen muttered
Then the golem started moving
Its enormous hand swung toward them
"Watch out!"
The group scattered as the fist slammed into the ground where they had been standing only moments earlier
Sylffiie immediately took the opportunity to attack Lior while the golem was away from him
She drew an arrow and released it
The arrow flew straight toward Lior
But he calmly moved his body to the side allowing the arrow to pass him
"Lightning Spark"
A burst of lighting struck toward Sylffie
She jumped aside just in time, and the lightning struck the ground behind her
"Tch… stupid sensor" Sylffie said
Before Lior could cast another spell, Rikka suddenly dashed forward from behind the golem
His blade was already engulfed in flames
Without even turning around, Lior raised his hand
"Earth wall"
The ground suddenly rose between them, forming a thick wall
Rikka anticipated the move
He changed direction, dashed around the side of the wall, and continued toward Lior
His blade already rose up
But-
"Lightning Spark"
ZAP!
Lightning exploded right in front of him
Direct hit
"Argh…!"
His body stiffened for a moment
Another arrow immediately flew toward Lior
Again, he easily avoided the attack with ease by jumped backward
The golem moved again
Now towards Rikka
Its enormous arm came crashing down
Still paralyzed, Rikka still struggling to move his body
"Perfect Wall!"
Clang!
Gill rushed between them and raised his shield just in time
The golem's fist slammed into the shield
Gill gritted his teeth as he held his ground
He swung his hammer at the golem's arm, forcing it away from them
"You okay?" Gill asked
"Yeah" Rikka replied as the paralysis faded "I'm fine now. I'm going to beat his ass"
Rikka dashed again right at Lior
"Good… Helen!"
"I know"
"Earth Missile!"
The ground behind the golem twisted and formed into a massive drill
It shot forward and struck the golem from behind
It turned around and blocked with its hand
BAM!
The missile exploded and destroyed the golem's right arm
Rikka kept dashing forward, his blade still ignited
His flaming blade swung through the air, sending several arcs of fire toward Lior
"Earth Wall"
Another wall rose from the ground, blocking the flames
Rikka didn't stop
He leapt over the wall
While he was still in the air, Lior raised his staff
"Lighting Spark"
ZAP!
The lightning shot through the air
Rikka twisted his body in midair
Miss
The attack missed him
He landed safely on the other side of the wall and immediately dashed toward Lior
"Got you"
His blade thrust forward
But before it could reach Lior
"Wind Gale"
A powerful gust of wind exploded from Lior's staff
Rikka was blasted backward
"Argh…"
Before Lior could follow up, Sylffie dashed in from the side
She released another arrow
Another miss
She didn't stop; She lowered her bow and drew a knife from her waist as she closed the distance
She swung from the side
Lior leaned backward, narrowly avoiding the blade
Sylffie followed with another strike
But Lior immediately jumped back
Every time she attacked, he seemed to know where her strike would land before she even made it
While Rikka and Sylffie focused on Lior, Gill and Helen were focused on the golem
After the golem's right hand destroyed, Helen casted another magic
"Incinerate"
A burst of flame blasted toward the golem
The golem blocked it with its remaining hand
The vines wrapped around its body began to burn
While the golem focused on blocking the flame, Gill took advantages by dashed toward the leg and smashed it with his hammer
BAM!
His hammer struck the golem's leg with tremendous force
The golem lost balance and its enormous body crashed onto the ground
"Helen! Finish it!" Gill shouted
The ground rumbled, and created another drill
"Earth missile"
The missile blasted right at the golem
"Magic barrier"
The barrier appeared in front of the golem and blocked the attack
The Earth Missile shattered against it
Then the vines around the golem's broken arm began to move
They crawled across the ground, digging into the earth
Slowly, they pulled themselves upward and gathered more stones
A new arm began to form
The golem pushed itself back up
Lior jumped onto its shoulder
The four members immediately regrouped
Gill raised his shield
"Hey you alright?" Gill asked toward Rikka
Rikka pulled a potion from his pocket and quickly drank it
"Yeah, I'm fine, but how do we beat him?" he asked
"It's impossible to do that for now" Sylffie answered
"We must separate that bastard from his golem"
"Then destroy that golem quickly before beat his ass"
"But how do we do that?" Gill asked
Sylffie thought for a moment
"Helen, how much mana do you have left?"
"Not much"
"Even though I have two mana potions, but I won't regain a lot from it"
"By the way, how much mana does that bastard have?" Rikka asked while threw an empty potion bottle away
"I don't know, he used a lot of spells already" Helen said "Maybe 7 or 8"
"But don't forget, Elves generally have more mana that humans usually do"
"Tch… so how do we separate them now?"
"We got no Auel or Gramm here"
"Hang on, I think I know how to beat this bastard" Sylffie said
The golem started moving again
Helen drank one of her mana potions and casted a spell
"Earth missile"
Another drill from earth was created and blasted toward the golem
"Magic barrier"
It was blocked again by the barrier and shattered into pieces
At the same time, Rikka began running around the golem, looking for an opening
"Come Hawk" Sylffie summoned her familiar and it immediately flied high
The golem didn't stop and kept moving forward the group
Then on of its hand moved and smashed the group
"Perfect Wall!"
BAM!
Gill perfectly blocked the attack
But the golem didn't stop and smashed again with its other hand
At the same time the hawk rushed toward Lior from ahead made him distracted
"Incinerate!"
Helen casted another spell toward the golem
The golem stopped the attack and blocked the flame with its hand
"Lighting spark"
Lior casted his spell toward the hawk, but with agile movement the hawk easily dodged it
And with its sharp beak and claw it kept attacking Lior
Meanwhile, Helen's flames continued burning the vines around the golem's arm
The vines slowly weakened
The stone arm began to crumble
"Almost…"
The vines finally broke apart, and the golem's arm collapsed
Helen immediately stopped her flames
Looking at that Helen stopped her flame and casted another spell
"Roots"
The ground beneath the golem cracked open
Countless roots burst from the earth and wrapped themselves around the golem's legs and body
The giant creature struggled against them
"Rikka now!"
He jumped onto the roots and climbed up the golem's body
His blade ignited with flame
He slashed through the vines holding the stones together as he climbed
One step…
Another…
He continued upward until he reached Lior
Rikka thrust his flaming blade toward him
Lior had nowhere to retreat
He jumped from the golem's shoulder
The blade passed just above his head
"Now Gill!" Rikka shouted as he jumped down the golem followed Lior
Gill rushed forward and smashed the golem's leg with his hammer
BAM!
The golem lost its balance and crashed to the ground
Helen's roots continued growing over its body, keeping it firmly restrained
Rikka didn't stop; he kept attacking Lior on the ground
Slash!
Another slash!
Then another!
Lior continued avoiding every strike
Then the hawk came and attack with its sharp claw
Again, Lior detected it with his sensor magic and dodged the attack
"Lightning spark!"
ZAP!
The lightning struck the hawk directly
The familiar disappeared instantly
An arrow flied with an insane speed at him
But Lior had already know the direction of that attack
Lior tilted his body and easily dodge it
Gill didn't stand still he rushed at him and swung his hammer
Again, he dodged it with an ease
"Fireballs!"
Helen launched several fireballs toward Lior
"Magic barrier"
The barrier blocked every one of them
Lior immediately counterattacked
"Ice shards"
Sharp ices created from thin air and shot right at Helen
CLANG!
Gill stepped in front of her and blocked them with his shield
Rikka kept moving and swung his blade forward
But again, Lior dodge every attack easily
The he casted another spell
"Lightning spark"
ZAP!
"Argh…" Rikka got hit again
He stumbled backward
An arrow flied at Lior
He jumped back to avoid the attack
A gap created
They quickly regrouped
Rikka pulled out another potion and drank it
"Tch… how are we supposed to beat him? We never land a single hit at him" Rikka protested
"Yeah, we could handle his golem, but he easily read our movement with his sensor magic" Gill added
"Hey, just for your information, I don't have much mana left, and I only have one mana potion left" Helen said
"And looking at that guy, it seems he still has a lot of mana"
Sylffie clenched her teeth
Tch how do we beat him
Her eyes moved across the chamber
I've looked around this chamber…
But there is no sign of the crown
Is Veyn really sure that he got the crown here?
Then where is it?
If we could get the crown, we don't have to beat him here
While the group was trying to figure out their next move, Lior slowly raised his staff
"There is nothing you can do"
His expression remained completely calm
"What make you thing low creature like you could beat me"
He casted another spell
The group prepared for an upcoming attack
But before he could finish-
Something suddenly appeared from behind him
A blade
Covered in blood
It had pierced straight through his chest
Lior's eyes widened
"W-What?"
He slowly looked over his shoulder
Standing directly behind him was a Dark Elf
Tobari
His hand was still gripping the blade buried in Lior's chest
The Cardinal stared at him in disbelief
"D-dark… Elf!?"