Chapter 517: Golem Siege

A humanoid colossus built of ancient rock and enchanted metal, with an overly powerful upper body like a silverback gorilla.

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

Its eyes flickered with a crimson glow, like raging flames, brimming with the desire to destroy.

"A golem?!"

Harrison, the mage, was the first to recognize the colossus before them.

He and the halfling, Kuerte, had been walking close together.

Even though the golem's swing had missed and failed to hit Kuerte, it still meant they were at extremely close range.

Facing a massive creature up close was bad—very bad!

Especially for a mage!

The enormous golem, seemingly angered by its own mistake, let out a low roar and slowly pulled its fist from the ground.

Its torch-like eyes locked on a target once more—this time, the ashen-faced mage Harrison—preparing a second strike.

"No—I still need to get a girlfriend!"

Boom!

Just as the fist was about to come down.

A crimson figure slammed into it, trailing sparks and streams of flame, a demonic red tail swaying in the air.

【Blazing Charge】

The tiefling girl, Saehir, crossed her arms in front of her face and charged forward.

And slammed straight into the golem's head!

Causing the heavy fist to veer off course and miss the mage.

"Run!"

Hearing Saehir's shout.

The archer, Eliya, was the first to react, swiftly nocking an arrow and coordinating with the tiefling girl to hold the enormous golem at bay.

The tigress aunty, Kexi, let out a roar, sprinted over, grabbed the mage Harrison with one hand and hauled the halfling Kuerte with the other, and quickly retreated.

"You two! Get ready to fight!"

Kuerte, still shaken, had scraped the skin off his face. He glanced at the massive creature, his expression panicked: "Can we actually win this?"

"The golem's only early sixth-tier! We've got three fifth-tier and two fourth-tier! Why can't we handle it?!"

The tigress aunty cursed.

As she spoke, she turned her head toward Rod: "Rogerf! Get farther away!"

Rod, as if he hadn't heard, looked around left and right and gave a bitter laugh: "I'm afraid we can't run far."

"What did you say?"

Just as the words were spoken.

A rumble was heard.

The little Two-Finger Mountain seemed to quake as if struck by an earthquake.

Kexi's face stiffened, and she turned to look left.

Trees tilted, and the earth bulged upward into a massive mound.

Fwoosh!

Another three golems burst from the ground!

All with fiery eyes, staring fixedly at the group.

"How could—"

She was instantly greatly horrified.

Two-Finger Mountain had been scouted countless times before, and never had there been any trace of golems.

After being pulled to a safe distance, the mage Harrison immediately began casting.

Showing decent training and focus.

As the incantation was spoken and the casting material in his hand was soaked with mana, a fireball the size of a clay pot rapidly took shape.

"Saehir! Dodge!"

The tiefling girl, who had been entangled with the nearest golem up ahead, heard the command.

After landing a punch on the golem's leg to hold it in place, she nimbly leapt backward, evading the blast radius of the Fireball spell.

Boom!

The fireball detonated at the golem's shoulder joint.

Waves of heat, sparks, and rubble burst apart in an instant!

But as the smoke dispersed, the group saw that the struck golem had only a small scorched pit at its shoulder—far from fatal.

Harrison cursed viciously.

"Because golems lack souls, normally their behavior is no different from an idiot's. The ones here are far too angry—something's off!"

The halfling Kuerte suddenly shouted in shock: "There's more over there too!"

Following the direction he pointed, they indeed saw mounds of earth surging up from the ground one after another. In an instant, three or four more waves of golems burst forth, totaling some ten to twenty, already steadily surrounding the group.

Although not all of them possessed the same sixth-tier strength as the first, they were by no means something they could handle.

"We should run now, right!"

Kuerte wailed.

Because of a halfling's lack of strength, he was a hunter-and-scout type adventurer; faced with this kind of ambush, his first thought was to get away first and then work out a strategy.

"There's no running."

The archer Ailia said coldly.

She drew a small handful of arrows from her spell pouch, their tips inscribed with magical runes, radiating violently unstable magical power.

One glance was enough to tell they were explosive arrows or something of the sort.

There really was no escape.

Not a single one of these adventurers had reached sixth-tier, and facing nearly twenty golems of comparable strength, this was no longer a situation they could walk away from unscathed.

The tiefling Sayhir had already put on a pair of knuckle gauntlets, their striking edges fitted with iron spikes that gleamed with a cold, harsh light.

She slowly retreated to Rod's side.

Then she looked at him with eyes full of hope and pleading.

Rod smiled and said:

"A life-and-death battle like this is the best kind of tempering. You've been stuck at the peak of fifth-tier for a long time now — perhaps this will be your chance to break through."

"I-I. Okay! I'll do my best! It's just that they—"

"As your companion said, this batch of golems is unnatural. I suspect someone is deliberately controlling them from behind, so for now I can't reveal my identity."

A sorrowful, ready-to-die expression appeared on the girl's face.

She seemed to think Rod wouldn't intervene.

Rod was dumbfounded and burst out laughing.

Noticing a fresh bloodstain on her cheek from the earlier fighting, he reached out and gently rubbed it with his thumb, while channeling the power of his Plague Domain to aid regeneration.

The girl was already insecure and sensitive; it wouldn't do for her to gain another mark on her face.

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

Sayhir felt the warmth of his palm and listened to his soft, gentle words, and a great sense of security welled up inside her.

Her fighting spirit surged!

"I'll give it everything I've got! Please, Mr. Rod, watch me closely!"

"Mm, go on. Take this — use it as you see fit."

Rod took the opportunity to hand her a few Mei Mo Fa rings.

The halfling Kurt suddenly turned his head, looking at the two of them with a strange expression.

"What are you two whispering about at a time like this?"

"Nothing!"

Sayhir panicked for a moment, then strode forward and took her place at the very front.

Meanwhile Kurt looked at Rod and handed over a small round shield and an axe.

"Rodjef! I'm sorry, but the situation no longer allows you to stand by and watch. Stand behind me if you must — at least take some weapons!"

Rod took the small round shield: "Got a whip? Actually, I'm not bad with a whip."

"A whip? Against golems? You don't actually think a whip would work on these big rocks, do you??"

Kurt said that, but he still handed over a leather whip.

After a brief period of preparation.

Though their expressions were still fearful, a thread of desperate will to survive had now been added.

After all, they were adventurers who lived by the blade — they wouldn't give up hope of living just because the scene looked hopeless.

The tigress auntie Casey suddenly roared at the sky.

A faint spiritual light spread over the group as a result.

"Chat time's over, friends! Let's break through first and worry about the rest later!!!"

"Ooh!!!" *4

Crack!

"Ah!"

Mixed in were Kurt's scream and the sound of a leather whip lashing.

(End of chapter)