His vision snapped sharp. Everything slowing down.
A forearm of stone cut across his sight. Thick. Longer than a man’s. The granite matched the wall beside him, rough and earth-colored. Chipped edges. Hard corners. Dust flaking loose as it moved.
A blocky wrist. A blunt fist locked tight.
The elbow bent.
The arm did not end at the rock face. It ended in a shoulder. That shoulder rotated free as a torso pulled itself out of the mountain wall, stone separating from stone in a clean seam.
He saw every detail in slow motion, but it still moved at full speed.
Harry had just enough time to jerk backwards, leaning away at the last instant.
The fist struck him in the center of his chest. Pain flared. Something shifted under the impact. At least one rib cracked.
He stumbled backward and to the right. His spear flew free from his hand and spun away, sailing out over the cliff.
One heel hit empty space.
For a breath he felt nothing beneath him.
He windmilled, boots scraping stone, and caught himself inches from the drop. Pebbles skittered over the edge and vanished.
He forced himself upright and glanced at his meters.
H: 95 | V: 61 | TM: 45%
Boots pounded behind him as the others rushed forward.
“Careful,” Harry called, backing away from the edge. “It hits like a truck.”
The thing stepped free of the mountain and took the center of the path.
Five and a half, maybe six feet tall. Thick through the torso. Built from interlocking chunks of granite, each piece fitted tight to the next. Shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, all hard pivots of stone grinding on stone. Wide block feet braced against the trail. At the end of each arm, hands with three thick fingers curled and uncurled with slow intent. A crude head sat low between its shoulders, heavy brow jutting over shallow eye pits.
An arrow struck its chest with a sharp crack and deflected away, spinning off into the air.
“Of course.” Jo’s voice was flat and hard.
Spears slid into place on either side of Harry, points leveled at the creature. Cedric to his right. Stan behind him on the left.
Stan leaned in slightly. “Boss, time for that fancy dagger?”
Harry plucked Stonefang from his inventory and dropped into a crouch. “Back up. Give me room.”
The creature lumbered forward, arms bent, hanging low and heavy.
Harry edged toward it, light on the balls of his feet. He kept his shoulders loose, ready to break either direction. Let it swing first. React.
At six feet it surged.
Not fast. Not quick.
Mass and momentum.
Each step sent a vibration through the trail. Stone thudding on stone.
Harry pushed his speed, just thirty percent. No vitae.
The golem lifted one arm and brought it down toward his head.
Harry went low and to his left, hugging the mountain wall. The fist smashed into the ground where he had been, cracking stone.
He dodged the arm and attacked with the blade as he moved past. Stonefang cutting in a hard horizontal sweep.
The blade bit deep.
Not clean and smooth like cutting the stone blocks. Not effortless. But it left a long gouge opened across its side, stone grinding under steel.
He came up behind it.
It started to turn.
He moved with it, staying at its back. The shift put his own back toward the sheer drop. Wind tugged at his cloak.
He did not look.
He brought the dagger down across its shoulder. Granite split. A large chunk sheared away, the arm hanging by a narrow bridge of stone.
He struck again at the same spot.
The arm tore free.
It fell in a shower of dust and loose rock, bounced once, and went over the edge, breaking apart as it dropped.
Harry watched it a fraction too long.
The remaining arm swept around toward him.
He ducked under it and darted back toward the others, boots scraping stone.
The creature kept coming. The only sound was the grinding of stone on stone and the thump of its feet.
One arm left.
Harry set his stance, blade ready to carve through it when it swung.
It did not swing.
It lowered its remaining shoulder and charged straight at him.
Harry threw himself left and hit the mountain wall hard, shoulder scraping rock.
The golem thundered past where he had been.
Instead of turning back to him it drove toward the others.
Spears were already up. Jo’s with them.
The points struck its chest and shoulder and bit shallow. Jo stumbled backward but Cedric and Stan braced and slid slowly back, boots skidding on stone, keeping it at spear length as it shoved forward.
Harry scrambled to his feet and rushed in low from behind. He drove Stonefang into the back of one knee. He shoved the blade deep and twisted. Worked it side to side.
The joint split.
The lower half of the leg sheared away and crumbled, scattering across the trail.
The golem shifted. The remaining half leg slammed down hard. It stood at a broken angle, tilted and unstable.
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“Push, push,” Cedric barked.
Jo was back with them and the three heaved on their spears.
The golem toppled backward toward Harry.
He leapt clear and came in again at once.
The creature tried to plant its remaining hand and force itself upright.
Harry stepped in close and drove the dagger where the head met the torso. There was no neck. Only a seam of fitted stone.
He boosted his strength and worked the blade back and forth, forcing it across and down.
Granite cracked.
The head broke free and rolled away, shattering as it hit the trail.
The body kept moving. It tried to rise.
Harry carved into the remaining shoulder until the last arm tore loose and fell apart.
The torso twisted on the ground. Legs kicking uselessly.
Harry went to work.
He cut away chunks of stone, reducing it piece by piece working his way down from the shoulders.
When he split the center of the chest, it stopped moving.
Embedded in the stone of the chest something pulsed with a soft red glow.
As he watched, it dimmed and faded.
Harry widened the cut and pried it free.
A smooth sphere of black obsidian. About the size of his fist. Dense and heavy in his palm.
He tapped it with the point of Stonefang.
The blade scratched the surface but did not sink in.
Silence settled. Wind hissed along the cliff face. Loose stone clicked and slid.
Harry looked up from where he knelt over the broken granite.
Jo lowered her spear. “What was that?”
Stan stepped closer, muttering through a spell. “Crag Golem. Level five.”
“I didn’t sense it at all,” Harry said. “Nothing. It was part of the mountain until it wasn’t.”
Cedric studied the torn wall where it had emerged. “Another weapon of the dungeon aimed directly at you, Sir Harold.”
Stan nudged a chunk of stone with his spear. “At least we got a bit of experience.”
Harry glanced at his messages.
:: Damage: -15 [Health]
:: Experience gained: [+35]
“Great.”
:: Class: Vampire Level 2 (2,633/4,000)
“I just need about forty more.”
Stan shrugged. “Stonefang worked well though.”
“On one,” Jo said. “What happens when more come at once?”
Cedric ran a hand over the seam, feeling the smooth break where the stone had separated. “We could have walked past others without knowing. They could be behind us.”
All of them turned and looked back down the narrow trail they had just climbed.
Wind swept up from the drop and kicked dust into the air.
Jo frowned. “I did feel a warning from this one. But I was too far back. It was already attacking Harry.”
“Let’s stay closer together,” Harry said. “Maybe one of us will get a warning.”
Jo nodded. “We know to watch for them now.”
Cedric straightened. “Do not fixate looking for these golems and miss some new trick.”
Harry weighed the obsidian sphere in his hand. He looked at the mountain wall. Then at the path winding higher into gray stone.
“You’re right,” he said. “But we have to keep going.”
System, what do you think?
:: System: Cedric is correct. Your Blood Sense and Drain have been rendered useless. Strength and determination shall carry the day. Proceed with caution.
Harry gave a small laugh. Thanks.
He dropped the sphere, pulled another venom sac from inventory and injected the poison. Heat flared through him at once. Spreading fast. He felt a sharp stab and the grinding of bones as his chest mended.
Dammit, just six more of those.
He dropped the fang next to the sphere, stood, and started up the trail, Stonefang in hand.
Jo followed a few paces behind, spear leveled.
Stan paused long enough to scoop up the obsidian sphere and tuck it into his inventory.
Cedric fell in at the rear, shield ready, turning every few feet to look back.
They moved on in a tighter line. No more twenty paces. Five at most. Eyes on the walls as often as the ground.
A short time later Jo snapped out a warning.
The wall ahead bulged.
Stone split with a grinding crack. Bits of rock and dust cascaded down as another Crag Golem tore itself free. Smaller than the first. Still thick and heavy.
Harry had started moving before the first pebbles hit the ground.
Stonefang in hand, he pushed his speed and strength, thirty percent each. No vitae.
Before it finished separating from the mountain he went low and drove the dagger into its hip joint.
Granite split under the blade.
An arm smashed down toward him. He was already pulling away, twisting the dagger free as he retreated. The leg stayed attached, but barely. The golem staggered as it turned to follow him.
Harry shifted right.
It turned with him.
Cedric came in from behind it, Underwyck’s Maul gripped in both hands.
He swung in a long, clean arc.
The hammer struck the damaged joint with a thunderous crack.
The leg shattered.
The golem collapsed onto its side.
Before it could move, Cedric stepped in and brought the maul down in a massive overhand blow, straight into the center of its chest.
Stone exploded outward. Cracks spidered in every direction.
The body went still.
They all looked at Cedric.
He met their eyes and gave a small grin. “Power Attack.”
Stan thumped the butt of his spear against the trail. “Well done, Cedric.”
Harry nudged the broken torso with his boot.
He smiled at Cedric. “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
Cedric chuckled and slid the maul back into his inventory, drawing his spear again. “Another one of your world’s sayings?”
Harry nodded. “I come from a world of fools and philosophers.”
Jo tilted her head. “Which were you, Harry?”
He shrugged. “Both. Like almost everyone else.”
“Almost?”
Harry grinned. “Not everyone was a philosopher.”
He turned to move on.
Stan coughed and when Harry looked back he pointed at the rubble. “Boss… if’n it ain’t much trouble. Can you carve me out the rock?”
“Sure,” Harry said. “Probably smart anyway. Make sure it doesn’t mend itself and get back up.”
He split the chest and pried free the obsidian sphere, wiped grit from it, and handed it over.
They continued up the path.
The trail rose, narrowed, widened again. Wind tugged at cloaks. Boots scraped stone.
The third golem came from a stacked pile of rocks perched near the cliff’s edge.
It was an obvious spot. They were already watching it.
The pile shifted. Dust slid down. Stone cracked as it pulled itself upright.
Harry drifted left along the mountain wall.
Cedric and Stan moved right with spears leveled, careful to keep their distance from the drop.
Cedric lunged with his spear, striking it on the leg, and stepped back at once.
The golem turned toward him.
Harry came in from the opposite side and drove Stonefang into the hip joint.
He knew the seam now. Knew the angle.
Before the creature could turn back to face him the leg crumbled. The golem tilted, toppled, went over the edge.
There was no scream. Only the fading clatter of stone striking ledges on the way down.
The whole exchange lasted seconds.
Stan gave a low whistle. “Yer gettin’ good at that.”
Harry checked his experience. Closer.
They kept moving.
Walk. Watch. Kill. Walk.
They learned to see the tells. A seam too clean. A pile too balanced. A shadow that did not match the light.
System, are things going too easy?
:: System: Affirmative. You should expect the dungeon to change tactics soon.
An hour later they rounded another switch back and the trail opened into a broad landing.
Thirty feet across. About the same deep.
Beyond it, a straight path led to a squat building of white marble. Blocky. Clean. A single narrow entrance cut into its face. It looked like the altar from the pyramid scaled up to the size of a house.
Standing across the landing, spread in a single line, were six Crag Golems.
Well, you were right.
:: System: Duly noted. The structure ahead likely marks the end of this level.
Good to know.
Harry moved to the right while his companions moved left. The six moved at once. Four toward Harry. Two toward the others.
***
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