Chapter 517: Golem Siege

A humanoid giant composed of ancient rock and magical metal, its upper body as massively muscular as a silverback gorilla.

Its body stood four meters tall, its surface covered in runes and cracks, weathered by countless years.

Its eyes glowed with crimson light, blazing like wildfire, brimming with destructive desire.

"Golem?!"

Harrison, the wizard, was the first to recognize the towering figure before them.

He and the halfling Kurt had been walking close together.

Even though the golem's punch had missed Kurt, it had come terrifyingly near.

Close proximity to a behemoth? Bad. Very bad!

Especially for a wizard!

The massive golem seemed enraged by its own miss, letting out a low roar as it slowly pulled its fist from the ground.

Its torch-like eyes locked onto their next target—Harrison, the wizard, his face pale, preparing for a second attack.

"No! I still have a girlfriend!"

Boom!

Just as the fist was about to come down.

A red figure slammed into it, carrying sparks and streams of flame, a demonic red tail whipping through the air.

【Flame Collision】

The tiefling girl Saixier crossed her arms to shield her face and charged forward.

She struck the golem's head directly!

The heavy punch veered off course, missing the wizard entirely.

"Run!"

Hearing Saixier's shout,

the archer Aliya reacted first, swiftly nocking and drawing an arrow to aid the tiefling girl in restraining the giant golem.

The tiger-woman Kasi roared, sprinting forward, one hand hauling the wizard Harrison, the other dragging the halfling Kurt backward.

"You two! Get ready to fight!"

Kurt, still shaken, had a scraped face; he glanced at the behemoth, terror in his eyes: "Can we even win this?"

"They're only low-tier sixth-rank golems! We've got three fifth-rank and two fourth-rank! Why can't we handle them?!"

Kasi snapped.

She turned to Luo De: "Luo Jiefu! Get farther away!"

Luo De acted as if he hadn't heard, glancing around, then smiled wryly: "We probably can't run far."

"What did you say?"

As she spoke,

a thunderous boom echoed.

The tiny Shuangzhi Mountain trembled as if the earth itself had shaken.

Kasi's face froze; she turned left.

Trees tilted, soil bulged into massive mounds.

Puff!

Three more golems burst from the ground!

All with eyes blazing like fire, staring fixedly at the group.

"How could—"

She was utterly stunned.

She had traversed Shuangzhi Mountain countless times—never once had she encountered a trace of golems.

After being pulled to safety, the wizard Harrison immediately began casting.

His composure and focus were impressive.

As he chanted and his spell components soaked in magical energy, a fireball the size of a cooking pot materialized rapidly.

"Saixier! Get out of the way!"

The tiefling girl, entangled with the nearest golem, heard the command.

After landing a punch on the golem's leg to restrain it, she leapt nimbly backward, clearing the blast radius of the fireball.

Boom!

The fireball exploded at the golem's shoulder joint.

Heat, sparks, and shattered stone erupted instantly!

But as the smoke cleared, they saw the struck golem bore only a charred, shallow dent on its shoulder—not fatal.

Harrison cursed under his breath.

"Golems, lacking souls, normally behave like fools. These golems are too enraged—something's wrong!"

The halfling Kurt suddenly shouted in shock: "There's more!"

Following his gaze, they saw earth heaving in successive mounds—three or four more golems erupted from the ground, totaling over twenty, now fully surrounding them.

Though not all were as strong as the first—sixth-rank—they were still far beyond what the group could handle.

"Now we have to run!"

Kurt wailed.

Due to his weak physical strength, Kurt was a hunter and scout—his first instinct in any ambush was to flee and regroup.

"We can't escape."

The archer Aliya spoke coldly.

She pulled a handful of arrows tipped with magical runes from her spell pouch—each pulsing with unstable, volatile magic.

Clearly explosive arrows.

Indeed, escape was impossible.

None among these adventurers were sixth-rank; facing nearly twenty golems of comparable strength, survival was no longer an option.

The tiefling Saixier had donned gauntlets with icy-cold iron spikes on the knuckles.

She slowly retreated to Luo De's side.

Then she looked at him with hope and pleading eyes.

Luo De smiled:

"Battles like this forge strength. You've been at the peak of fifth-rank for a long time—this might be your chance to break through."

"I—I—alright! I'll do my best! But them—"

"As your companion said, these golems aren't natural. I suspect someone is controlling them—so we can't reveal our identities yet."

The girl's expression turned sorrowful, resolute, as if accepting death.

She thought Luo De wouldn't fight.

Luo De chuckled silently.

Noticing a fresh bloodstain on her cheek from the battle, he gently brushed it with his thumb, using the power of his Plague Domain to aid regeneration.

The girl was already insecure and sensitive—adding another scar would only make it worse.

"Don't worry. With me here, no one dies."

As Saixier felt the warmth of his hand and heard his quiet words, her sense of safety surged.

Her will strengthened!

"I'll give it my all! Please, Mr. Luo, watch me!"

"Mm. Go. Take these. Use them well."

Luo De handed her several magic rings.

The halfling Kurt suddenly turned, staring at the two with a strange expression.

"What are you two whispering about right now?"

"Nothing!"

Saixier flustered, stepping forward to take the front line.

Kurt then turned to Luo De, offering a small round shield and an axe.

"Luo Jiefu! I'm sorry, but we can't afford to let you stand idle anymore. Stand behind me—or at least take a weapon!"

Luo De took the round shield: "Got a whip? I'm quite good with one."

"A whip? Against a golem? You think a whip'll work on a giant rock?!"

Kurt said it, but still handed him a leather whip.

After a brief preparation,

though fear still lingered on their faces, a spark of desperate determination had taken root.

After all, they were adventurers who lived on the edge of death—they wouldn't surrender hope even in the face of despair.

The tiger-woman Kasi suddenly roared to the sky.

A faint aura of spiritual light spread over them all.

"Enough chatting, friends! Let's break out now!!!"

"Ooooh!!!" *4

Crack!

"Ah!"

Inside were mixed the screams of Kurt and the crack of a whip.

(End of chapter)