Equalize

by Ryan DeBruyn

  His companions’ attacks had both proved to be just as useless against the creature as Rocky’s had. Even more so because their attacks had to come from a body part which would cause them to get burnt. At least with Rocky’s sword, he had been able to avoid that fate the first time.

  A massive bellow tore from the leader’s half-formed throat and alerted every golem nearby. As soon as it finished reforming, the fight was joined. Rocky looked around and saw golems coming at them from three sides, and he wondered briefly if they could escape. In the end, it was a slightly limping Azoth that decided, as he charged the oncoming group on the left.

  Sela huffed once but followed suit, charging to her right, and it seemed like it was left to Rocky to keep the attention of the asphalt beast. Sela and Azoth began tearing into the lesser golems, and Rocky ran at the leader, cutting off a leg and forcing it to reform. Once it did, Rocky had its full and undivided attention.

  Yippy. Here we go again!

  Screaming a desperate war-cry, Rocky swung and decapitated a lesser golem as he ran by, feeling the ground shake behind him. The asphalt creature was beginning to pick up speed, and it was everything he could do to stay in front of it. He needed to change direction but worried that he had missed his window when the creature was moving slower.

  His eyes swiveling madly, he kept trying to find a way to trap this behemoth or somehow keep it stationary for a moment. Rocky also didn’t like leaving so many lesser golems to Sela and Azoth, but if the corpse-strewn ground was any indication, they didn’t need him. He threw Blood Mend on both of his friends just in case, exhausting thirty personal Ether.

  Then eyes fixed on a tree, Rocky increased his sprint to his absolute limit and moved away, continuing to kite the superheated golem. He used a young tree to swing back around in a quick one hundred eighty degree turn; the tree lurched under his weight and momentum but managed to hold. Even with his increased Strength, he barely managed to hang on as his hands fought for purchase on the slick bark. Once he released his grip, he was moving directly towards the fight again and the hot mess of the tar golem.

  Rocky’s eyes widened as he realized how close to him the leader had been, and he reacted to its proximity by diving forward, barely avoiding a double overhead gorilla chop. Rolling, he came to his feet, stumbling slightly as the ground shook from the impact.

  Teeth bared against the shaking, Rocky found himself in front of the creature, feeling heat radiate from its tarry form. Rocky used his momentum to continue his dash and lopped through the right knee as he passed under it.

  As the golem turned into a puddle again and began reforming, Rocky knew he had a few moments respite. He used them to join the main battle in earnest, lopping off heads and appendages in a mad attempt to cull some of the multiplying numbers the enemies were displaying. It was during this desperate bout that the notification he had been hoping for popped up.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 15! You have been awarded 1 stat point and 1 skill point.

  409,492 Etherience remaining until level 16.

  Before the fight, Rocky had set it to notify him immediately of levels in a small window. He knew he had Etherience notifications also waiting but those didn’t matter. Without opening his skill window, he dumped the final skill point into Soul Strike, and suddenly, through the magic of Ether, he knew how to use his new skill.

  Smiling viciously, Rocky disengaged from the primary fight again and turned to see the asphalt golem approaching him with a lumbering run. He made a slash through the air directly at the approaching body of the black golem in a vertical direction. He simultaneously triggered Soul Strike, assigning twenty-five Ether points from his dwindling reserve.

  The attack met the golem and seemed to pass right through it, splitting it in half and once more turning it to a big molten puddle. Rocky whined momentarily as his newest attack almost proved ineffective. However, as the creature collapsed, he had briefly caught a glimpse of the things core. Now he had a conundrum; he currently had enough Ether to effectively triple his previous attack’s strength. This may finish off the golem, but it would drain all his remaining reserves and remove his ability to heal until his pool replenished.

  The golem puddle finished reforming, and many other golems continued to stream into the fight behind him. Swallowing hard, Rocky sent up a quick prayer; his decision had been made for him when he assumed the boss was somehow summoning the reinforcements. A quick glance told him his party members were safely behind him.

  “Overkill is better than being overwhelmed. I have the power!” Rocky screamed. Then he swung his sword as fast as he could and triggered a seventy-five Ether point Soul Strike. The force that left his blade wasn’t precisely stronger, but it was unquestionably broader.

  Suddenly short of breath, Rocky watched it cut a massive swathe in the earth as it approached the lumbering enemy. Two unfortunate converted houses were turned into wood chips as the skill cut through them and created a large straight ditch tracking on the leader. Just as it reached the golem, the creature seemed to ripple, and its asphalt displaced into thousands of tiny string chords.

  The Soul Strike had imbued hundreds of edges into the attack. Just when Rocky’s head began to fall and he thought this would have zero effect as well, the bowling ball sized golem core came to the surface once again. The core paused there for a moment that stretched for what felt like an eternity before an echoing crash sounded, and the heart shattered under the attack.

  The unseen force continued past the corpse of the now defeated golem, and the remaining asphalt sprayed in all directions. Rocky continued to watch the slash travel and turn a few other lesser golems into their component parts before it finally dissipated approximately one-hundred meters away.

  Gasping for air, Rocky felt himself fall to a knee as an exhaustion headache hit him with the force of an anvil. He was unable to move from this position despite his best effort. Luckily, Sela and Azoth were close by and kept a golem from coming by and ending his now very vulnerable life.

  I feel like a rag doll! Going to assume bottoming out Ether is a bad thing. You would think that would have been mentioned by my guide!

  Although Rocky was entirely distracted by his current state, the fight seemed to finish very quickly after the massive golem was put to rest. Rocky did realize in his helpless state that it wasn’t like Sela had much time to teach him yet. He made another mental note, adding this question to the growing list.

  Still recovering, Rocky was sitting in a collapsed position as his head throbbed viciously and his companions strolled about. During his forced break, Sela went around crushing all the cores of the golems, allowing the remains to sink back into Gaia.

  Sitting there in pain, Rocky managed to turn just enough to see Pembroke and strangely he thought he could see the school and library still standing. Those two buildings looked untouched inside the otherwise decimated town.

  Why wouldn’t golems have risen from those buildings or destroyed the buildings? More questions without answers, so he turned to Sela and croaked out, “I think tomorrow we should discuss some things. I have too many questions building up, and you are probably the only person with answers. Think you could choose your human form for tomorrow?”

  Sela seemed to hesitate for far too long before nodding and slinking away, looting and crushing golem hearts from the scattered remains.

  Wonder what that was?

  Staring around, Rocky continued to sit there slowly recovering, and he noticed movement in the distance creeping through the town. Upon closer inspection, it was a teenage boy sneaking through the city. The boy headed towards the library, which was directly next to a school.

  Hope rose in Rocky because the boy was carrying a carcass of a small mammal across his back. There may be a group of survivors in the school! As if in answer to his thought, a notification popped up.

  You have been offered a choice of quests.

  Abscond with the Survivors

  Or

&nbs
p; Eradicate the Golem Threat

  Seeing as they already had a quest related to killing golems and the second quest might coincide with the first Rocky mentally clicked that one first.

  Eradicate the Golem Threat

  Destroy all golems in the remainder of the town. Save the survivors

  Lesser Golems remaining: 243

  Golem Leaders Remaining: 4

  Rewards:

  Etherience

  If the survivors are all killed or this quest isn’t completed within 24 hours you will fail.

  Abscond with the Survivors

  Lead the survivors to safety with minimal fighting or danger to the group.

  Rewards:

  Etherience

  Sneak +5 Skill Levels

  If three or more survivors die, this quest will be failed. If you fail to find the survivors this quest will be failed.

  The levels to sneak didn’t even tempt Rocky for a moment. He chose the first option again and called over Azoth and Sela and pointed at the quest box. Rocky noticed that both of them had climbed to level fifteen from the cleanup of the last fight and the elimination of the golem leader.

  “First, I need to fully recover, and then let’s go to work!” Rocky said, feeling a little cocky now that he had a new powerful attack skill.

  An hour later, which was the amount of time it took for his Ether pool to refill, the group waded into battle, and Rocky kept Soul Strike in reserve for any golem leader who made their presence felt. The hour recharge of his Ether pool was not wholly accurate because he had cast Blood mend on the party for quite a while to speed up their healing also. He made a mental note to try to calculate his Ether regeneration rate when he had time.

  The first leader didn’t appear until they had already dispatched one hundred eleven lesser golems. A countdown was in the corner of Rocky’s vision, keeping him apprised of the quest’s progression. The new leader golem was made of some old, red brick building. Where its heart would have been was a large clock, and off of its back, it sported three flags. One of which was the flag of Canada, and the other two were much less evident to Rocky. One had the British flag in the corner, and the other was yellow.

  In both of the twenty-foot tall golem’s hands, it gripped light poles as if they were swords. The creature also used them as such, as it waded into battle, swinging the poles in a deadly dance. His first target was Sela, and she managed to jump just in time with the grace of a cat. The blades glowed an ominous blue as the creature swung. As soon as Sela was clear, Rocky unloaded a twenty-five Ether point Soul Strike. The golem turned towards the oncoming attack and swung both light poles, which seemed to bat the soul-force out of the air.

  Cursing inwardly, Rocky removed the arm of a nearby lesser golem who tried to utilize his momentary distraction before stabbing it through the chest on his return strike. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the golem begin charging towards him!

  Not this nonsense again!

  As the golem closed in, he saw Azoth and Sela running alongside it on both flanks, ready to jump in if Rocky could keep its attention. He felt his brain freeze in indecision because he was extremely hesitant to waste more Ether on this creature. If he upped his Ether investiture, it wouldn’t guarantee a win and it may leave him vulnerable again. That would leave the fight to Sela and Azoth, which wasn’t ideal.

  Journeyman-Samurai Heritage Golem

  Level 27

  Skilled Combatant

  Seriously, a samurai, and is that an active skill? Well, if you want to be the best you’ve got to beat the best!

  Gritting his teeth against the possibly stupid plan he came up with, Rocky pushed off the ground toward the leader. He began his countercharge, using all of his improved Agility, Strength, and Dexterity to move erratically. He hoped that this thing’s skilled combatant combined with it having a class of one of the earth’s mightiest warriors wasn’t as terribly powerful as it sounded.

  Unfortunately, it seemed that his fears were spot on.

  The samurai turned its charge into a hockey stop, and in one fluid motion, swung both swords out to each side of its body. With uncanny accuracy, both attacks caused Sela and Azoth to dodge before the ends buried into the spots they had been moments before. This maneuver did, however, leave the creature open to a strike from Rocky, who took full advantage and pushed his body to a reckless speed.

  Screaming an internal war cry, Rocky slashed with all his might at one of its legs. His blade sank into the brick but failed to fully detach the limb. It managed to cut but not even close to as deep as he had hoped for. As he flew by the leg, the golem barreled down two lesser golems unfortunate enough to be between him and his stopping distance.

  Rocky turned his speed into a rounding turn and aimed for a closing third lesser golem. The new lesser golem had time to begin swinging its foot-long metal sword at him. Changing his blow, he was forced to parry the incoming strike, and his reposte missed entirely.

  The difference between Rocky’s swordsmanship and the Samurai’s was extremely evident.

  I really need to get better with my sword! Attempting baseball swings and the acrobatic grace seen in Hollywood is definitely not a proper form.

  In moments, Rocky was surrounded by three lesser golems and was cursing the additional distraction. Suddenly, he was knocked aside and pushed to the ground as Azoth pounced on him and lowered his massive bulk on top of Rocky. A blink later, he felt a wind sailed over them both.

  What in the abyss?

  The pieces of the three golems he was facing rained down around them, and Rocky’s eyes widened as he tracked the debris and saw two metal objects exiting. The massive golem’s two swords were slowing down as they reached the end of their slash, both swords parallel to the ground, the lower a mere three feet above the surface. Azoth had just saved his life.

  As the swords stopped, a vicious, feline yowl joined the cacophony of battle, followed by the sound of claws tearing through the brick. Azoth jumped clear and charged one of the legs as the Samurai began to recover, but the bulk of Sela gripping its back slowed it.

  Sela started to claw savagely with her hind legs in a feline attempt to disembowel the golem. While it wasn’t as effective as it would be against live prey, chunks of brick and rock sprayed out from the claw marks, and a hole in its back began to form.

  The massive Samurai shook violently and managed to fling Sela clear just as Azoth swung his enormous paw at the place Rocky’s sword had managed to cut earlier. Azoth’s Strength easily overpowered the compromised brick and broke half of the limb into shards of red stone and mortar dust.

  This action forced the golem to a knee and left its back open for a strike. Rocky could see a piece of blue glass in the hole Sela had opened. Before he could second guess, he made the ten-foot charge at a dead sprint and extended his sword like a fencer. The sword cut into the glass with a muffled ping, and the samurai’s chest let out a clock dong as it fell forward on to the ground, motionless.

  With both Sela and him looting and crushing cores after the battle, it was only a few minutes before the area was clean. Shaking his head, Rocky stood there surveying the loot the Samurai had dropped.

  Training Scroll – Samurai Combat

  The codes of the samurai combined with their martial skills were legendary. This skill scroll will impart a basic training regimen to its user, which will quickly develop the owner’s swordsmanship, marksmanship, and combat statistics.

  His hands trembled, and Rocky was tempted to use the scroll now but placed it in his inventory. He couldn’t start training today. Finding this scroll did mean that every morning from now on, he would need to wake up before the group and take time to train himself.

  The drive from his previous sports career was insistent in its urging, and he felt the thrill of a competitor he thought he had forgotten. If he could use this skill to better his swordsmanship, then he was going to take every ounce of power he could from it.

  The two large cats looked at him expecta
ntly, waiting on his order to move on, and so Rocky gave it with a nod of his head. The group continued to patrol the town, destroying any golems unlucky enough to be found.

  Regardless, they all had to die for the quest anyway!

  Five hours later as the sun began to descend over the horizon and Rocky was squinting to make use of the failing light, he checked his quest tracker, then sighed with physical and mental exhaustion. At least the group had made significant progress. They only had twelve lesser golems and the two final greater golems remaining.

  In addition, the only area left to clear was directly around the school and attached library. The group wearily made their way through the rubble left of the town. As they neared, they could hear crying and sobbing, and with alarm, they picked up their pace, disregarding stealth to move as quickly as possible.

  As Rocky peered around a corner of a piece of stone, he saw two massive golems, one entirely made of marble and the other made entirely of onyx. They were standing over a group of disheveled survivors.

  Those people are in trouble! What would you do if it was your family, Rocky?

  Yin and Yang

  Journeyman-Apostle Golems

  Level 31

  These two apostles are seemingly opposite or contrary forces but may actually be complementary, interconnected, or interdependent. They may give rise to each other or hinder each other as they interrelate.

  Since the description gave Rocky absolutely no information, he dismissed the notification.

  The dark golem was gesturing at the survivors, and a voice rang out like gravel grinding on stone, “Let’s kill all of these creatures and draw out the others who are slaying our army. What you see here is all we have left, Yang!”