Chapter 518: Breakthrough and Dispersion

The golems are not artificial magical creatures.

They are born from the will of the earth and the power of the elements.

They emerge from ancient caverns deep underground, naturally congealing from rock, metal, soil, and spirit.

Some mages believe these primal golems are the world's trial of life forms.

But their defect—lacking full emotion and soul—dooms them to never shine as brightly as humans or elves in any age.

Meanwhile,

the awakening of autonomous consciousness in golems is clearly incomplete, as if missing some crucial component.

Some scholars believe this absence is tied to humans—they may be a link in humanity's evolutionary chain, a failed trial.

Therefore,

golems are regarded as "unfinished humans."

Precisely because of this, most charm and mind-control spells effective against humans work even better on golems.

"Rogef! That's your idea of a good whip? Can you aim better?!"

The halfling Kurt cursed at Luo De.

On his bare arm, a bright red whip mark was clearly visible.

It wasn't much damage, but it still hurt!

Luo De scratched his head and feigned an awkward smile.

"Next time, I'll do better."

But even as he said that,

as the battle rapidly escalated into a frenzy, cries of pain erupted one after another.

"You brat! Why whip me?! I was even going to introduce you to girls!"

"Rogef!!! I'm standing this far back and you still hit me?! Are you fucking doing it on purpose?!"

"Ugh!"

"Luo De, did I do something wrong?"

Everyone present

without exception was struck by Luo De's long whip.

Though some cursed, others glared, he ignored them all, slapping the 【Painful Whipping】 buff onto each one.

Perhaps because the battle was raging,

aside from the archer Elia and the slow-to-notice Caixi'er, none noticed the boost to their physical state or magical spirit.

They assumed it was just a burst of latent potential in the face of death.

Elia's reaction was absurdly fast—she immediately looked at him in shock right after the whip struck.

Luo De didn't care.

After all, 【Painful Whipping】 wasn't his classic move as Forest Warden Luo De.

He simply moved his body fluidly, "panicking" across the battlefield, occasionally "accidentally" pulling his allies back.

This directly avoided their heads being crushed by the mountain-like fists.

Sigh.

Luo De was exasperated.

Pretending to be useless while saving people was more exhausting than just cutting straight through.

Yet despite his backup and buffs,

as time passed, the adventurers' mistakes kept increasing.

Especially the mage Harrison—forced into a surrounded position, he repeatedly interrupted his casting, suffering backlash that left him pale and his focus shattered.

A mage unable to cast and physically weak was nothing but a liability.

Even though the tiger-woman Caixi and the tiefling Caixi'er were fierce enough as frontliners,

facing twenty golems with rock-and-metal bodies, they couldn't deliver damage as precise or effective as spells.

The situation was grim.

At that moment,

【Spider Sense】 triggered.

Luo De's eyes flashed like lightning, instantly locking onto a fleeting red glow on the archer Elia's wrist.

Hm?

"Hah!"

The tiefling girl cried out sharply.

A beam of flame shot forth, piercing straight through the chest of one golem.

The massive golem stiffened; through the hole, the melted half of its core was visible.

"Well done, Caixi'er!"

Tiger-woman Caixi shouted excitedly, lunging forward to shove aside another golem.

This created a gap in the encirclement.

"This way! Break out!"

"Coming! Hey! What are you staring at?!"

Kurt, using his halfling agility, dodged a giant fist while grabbing Luo De's arm and sprinted out right behind Caixi.

"."

Honestly, the guy was surprisingly helpful.

"Caixi'er! Pull me!"

Harrison cried pitifully.

As a mage, he was positioned at the rear and moved too slowly to keep up.

Meanwhile, the archer Elia frowned, her gaze fixed on Caixi'er, and turned back to help him too.

Because of this brief delay,

the other golems surged back and surrounded them again.

In the chaos,

Caixi the tiger-woman, Kurt the halfling, and Luo De formed one group.

Caixi'er the tiefling, Elia the archer, and Harrison the mage formed the other.

The massive bodies of the golems split them apart.

Caixi panicked.

She immediately turned to break another gap, but this time, the golems were too numerous, clearly separating the two groups.

Kurt cried out again: "Another wave's coming!"

Caixi turned back.

In the dark forest, several mounds of earth had risen—and more golems crawled out of them.

"Damn it! Where the hell are all these golems coming from in Double Finger Mountain?!"

Amidst a dense storm of impacts and roars,

Caixi had to bellow:

"Break out of the encirclement individually! Regroup outside the mountain!"

"Understood!" *2

Harrison and Caixi'er shouted back through the wall of golems.

Another wave of golems charged.

This time, the two groups of adventurers were completely scattered!

Caixi the tiger-woman and Kurt the halfling no longer cared.

They just ran blindly outward.

Whether by luck or something else,

after running nearly ten minutes through the dark banyan trees of Double Finger Mountain, the heavy footsteps grew distant.

They didn't dare stop, sprinting another ten minutes.

Only then did they dare pause to catch their breath.

One collapsed flat on the ground; the other leaned against a tree, gasping heavily.

"Quickly… go back to Shi Ying Town… report."

"You've got long legs—you go—hah—hah—hah—ah puke!"

Kurt gagged, nearly vomiting, "We're done, Rogef—you're young, you go back fast!"

He suddenly froze, lifting his head to look around.

"Rogef?"

Hearing the halfling's startled cry, Caixi the tiger-woman also looked up.

But

under the moonlight, the dark Double Finger Mountain held nothing but endless, gnarled, ancient banyan trees, their branches clawing wildly.

Where was Rogef?

Luo De shattered a stealth spell ring.

They closely followed the trio ahead.

Lin Saixier dragged the screaming Harrison by the back of his tunic, sprinting wildly, her body covered in scrapes and bloodstains.

Behind her, the archer Aliya kept pace; her wooden bow was gone, one arm hung limp and useless, the other gripped tightly around a chipped long hunting knife.

As if deliberately guiding them.

The golems always appeared along their escape route down the mountain, forcing them to veer further and further off course.

Finally, their strength nearly spent,

they narrowly escaped the golems' pursuit and stumbled into a hidden cave to catch their breath.

And then, as if fate mocked them, within that cave lay a plant emitting a disorienting miasma.

Soon after, all three collapsed into unconsciousness.

(End of Chapter)