Chapter 52

Chapter 52

As they turned to leave, Matt returned to the racks and shoved two of the collector drones in his bag. They could, in theory, be reprogrammed to work with his AI. It was at least something for his AI to work on while they continued to explore the rest of the ruin.

Returning to the dark was less than ideal, but at least they had found an exit on this floor. If they needed to, Matt could send Liz out of the hole, and then climb up himself. With the swapping function of their rings, it would be an easy way to escape, but neither wanted to reveal that trump card.

They stopped checking for traps on this floor, as it seemed that it was only guarded by the wandering golems. The discovery lent credibility to the theory that the previous floors were some sort of labyrinth, intended to keep intruders away from these crafting rooms.

While the five of them continued to explore, they encountered more and more of the guard golem pairs. After yet another pair was dispatched, Malcolm asked if they could try and move towards his item. It was a fair question, and not a terrible suggestion. Matt wasnt sure if they were the cause of the increased patrols, but staying on the floor felt like a bad idea.

Relying on Malcolms Talent, they found a staircase that led them up to yet another floor. It was essentially a repeat of the last, so they hurried through it. The only discrepancy was that the monsters in the ruin seemed to be ever so slowly getting stronger.

With every new encounter they had, the attacking monsters had a bit more mana in their cores according to Matts spiritual sense. Where exactly the mana was coming from was a mystery that they were unable to solve.

After disposing of another three guard pairs, they reached the next floor, and found what seemed like a small city. Instead of the crafting rooms that they had seen thus far, this floor had a fifteen-foot ceiling. It was held up by large pillars dispersed every few yards throughout the large open area, and buildings were peppered in between them.

Whats going on here?

Liz poked a door open, and found what looked like an alchemy shop, based on the signage out front. The language was a garbled mess, but the picture of a bottle and herbs was clear enough.

Carefully, they entered the shop, and just like the last two floors found that it was devoid of traps. The shelves were mostly empty, but when they went to check the back room, Matt caught a spear with his face. A guardian golem was posted at the rear of the shop, and immediately lashed out at the intruder.

Pull back!

Matts call was in anticipation of the monster charging out at them, but it stayed in the room. He could see it standing motionless at its post through the still-open door.

Despite it being stationary, the glowing eyes of the golem still tracked his movements. Peering over his shield, Matt scanned the monster from head to toe. He saw that it was standing on a slightly glowing rune.

Before he could speak, Liz articulated his thoughts, Its a charging rune. We need to kill it.

Hearing and agreeing with the call out, Matt rushed forward. The golem tried to feint an attack low, but when Matt shifted his shield slightly, it jerked its weapon up, and tried to stab him in the face for a second time.

Not falling for the trick, Matt caught its mana empowered blade with his shield. The blade punched through nearly three inches, but was otherwise held at bay. With a flex of his arm and shoulder, Matt forced the shield to rotate and dragged the golem to the side. It refused to let go of its weapon, and Matt was able to hurl the golem against the wall, thanks to his [Mages Retreat] empowered strength.

The monster was just like the other melee fighters. They were all made with human-like hands, as the added joint gave them more flexibility to attack and use their weapons. Incorporating that joint could also simplify whatever manufacturing process the golems were subject to.

With the spear still firmly wedged in his shield, Matt kept the pressure up on the golem, keeping it pinned against the wall. Meanwhile, Camilla came around to the golems exposed side, and smashed the golem with her mace.

The flare of blue light emanating from the golem indicated that it had enough mana to actually form barriers, which was worrying. Liz approached the monsters flank and started to thrust at it with her own spear.

It was all going well, until Malcolm threw a bottle at the monster. He had started to throw stones and other loose debris during their fights. Usually, it did little to help or hinder them, but sometimes it caused a golem to think he was a backline fighter. That led to the monsters trying to reach him at all costs, which allowed the rest of the group to pile in on the distracted monsters.

This time, the creature dropped its spear and lunged for the man.

Matt dropped his shield, still impaled with the spear, and tried to intercept the golem with a flying tackle.

He missed.

Aster was faster than him, and tackled Malcolm.

A loud yelp came from the would-be explorer as the golem flew through the door he had just been standing in front of. It froze and crashed to a halt as it crossed the threshold of the alchemy shops store room.

Everyone paused at the frozen creature.

Malcolms head popped up, and he peered around the door frame.

Who puts a spear wielder on guard duty in a supply closet? He looked around, Or I guess a crafting and storage room.

Matt stuck out a hand and pulled the man, who was thanking Aster, to his feet.

He and Camilla turned to each other and exited the room, ensuring that the monster was truly dead before they returned back inside.

Find anything?

Liz shook her head at the question, but pointed to the rune circle on the floor.

I dont know runes as well as you, but check that out. It looks like someone changed the structure of this one.

Matt bent down and inspected the circle on the floor, and after studying it for a few minutes, disagreed.

No. They didnt change it. Or at least not really. They added the golem to the charging function.

He could hear her eyes roll when Liz said, Thats a change, though.

Not wanting to argue the semantics of what constituted a change regarding a profession he already loathed, he continued with his analysis. This formation looks like its more for adding mana into the potions that someone was making. A way to boost efficiency or whatnot.

Liz dropped down next to him and bumped him with her leg. Then write this down for me! I want it. These kinds of things are usually hidden, and are proprietary knowledge... Wait a minute, how do you know that thats what this does?

Pointing at the runes, Matt explained as he pointed. Thats a gathering rune for ambient mana, and those are conduits that lead to a storage rune. They can only hold a small amount of mana, but theyre good for making sure that it doesnt come in intermittent pulses. That one there is what injects the mana into the bottom of whatever the rune is paired to.

Liz cocked her head and said, Its that simple? I thought it would do more.

Matt shrugged and stood up. No clue. Thats what this one does. Maybe Im wrong with the particulars, but Ive been studying runes along with my AI for a while now. Maybe the ones in the Empire do more, and this is just some rudimentary formation only a poor person would use. I dont know too much about alchemy runes, so dont take my word here as law. Maybe theyre adding a bit of something else that I haven't thought of. That would make it a lot harder to figure out, and an even better reason to keep it secret. I just cant be sure.

Camilla and Malcolm were both searching the rest of the room during their conjecture, while Aster was preoccupied with sniffing at the bottles on a table.

Scanning the rest of the back room, the only thing that caught Matts attention was what looked like a conveyor belt in the corner of the room. Using his light, he found that the belt had friction runes spaced apart every few feet, but they climbed all the way from the floor.

Maybe they get fed half complete items from the floors below?

Unable to find anything else out, the group exited the alchemy shop, and returned to following Malcolms Talent, while making a quick detour at a weapons shop.

Matt needed a new shield, and Camilla could use one as well.

The weapons shop was much larger than the alchemy shop, and they found that a variety of weaponry had been crafted, hung on the walls, and laid out on tables.

Malcolm wandered around, and asked in wonder, What is this place?

Camilla slipped past him and hefted a small shield, while summoning her mace.

I dont know. But its good that we found this place. Matt... she turned to him. Can you show me how to use this thing at least somewhat decently in the next few hours? We could use some time to rest and regen mana anyway.

Matt shrugged, and posed his response as a sarcastic question. Maybe put the shield in between you and the incoming weapon?

At Camillas slight grin, he picked up a larger kite shield. The shield was clearly made for someone shorter than himself, but it was better than nothing.

We can take a rest here. The door shuts, and I can throw some enchantments on anything we plan to use here.

Camilla put her shield down and said, Well lets go clear this place out. I dont want to injure the shield early.

Injure? Its not alive.

Camilla ignored him, and moved to the weapons shops store room, hidden behind a long counter.

Matt considered the shield he had just picked up, and decided to put it back down.

I might as well use the old one for one final fight.

The two of them opened the back room, but found nothing to attack.

Feeling slightly silly, they returned after checking the rest of the building and the smithy area.

They found Malcolm trying on a light armor set, while Liz was getting in a few practice swings with a hammer she had grabbed. It had a point on the reverse side that would come in handy for the golems that patrolled the pseudo city and its buildings.

Pulling out their tents, they set up camp for the night. While Liz tried her hand at cooking, Matt fiddled with a spare shield. He was only enchanting it with simple runes, but he hadnt had much practice. Other than the training classes while staying with Travis and Keith, he could only rely on the few ideas that his AI had come up with while researching.

It wasnt a thing that he enjoyed, but now the lack of experience was making him hesitate, on top of his displeasure with the craft as a whole. The best enchantments were built into the items structure while it was being created. Experienced crafters took up enchanting as a side job, just to ensure that they made the best weapons possible.

But it wasnt the only way. Runes could be carved into the items spiritual structure after the crafting was done, but it meant that the runes would be weaker than the ones carved in the surface during the crafting process.

With that in mind, Matt had two choices. He could lightly trace out the runes and carve them into the gear that they chose, or he could instead use his mana to carve them directly into the items spirit.

The problem was, if he made small carvings into the items and they were damaged in combat, it would ruin the rune, and therefore the enchantment. But if he just went with the mana and spirit method, the runes would be weaker, and he would only be able to fit one rune reliably.

A proper crafter would incorporate the runic lines into the entire item and its spirit, and a good enchanter would be able to do nearly the same thing.

But he was neither of those, so he needed to make a choice. He could carve deeper to ensure that the runes didnt get destroyed in a clash, but if he went too deep or messed up, he would ruin the items.

These werent meant to replace their own weapons forever, so Matt decided to do a single rune in only the items spirit.

Seeing Camilla heed his advice, he quickly retreated after her. When he had enough distance between him and the golem, he turned and ran. [Mages Retreat] boosted his strength to the point that a few steps caught him up with everyone else.

As they were running, a whooshing sound was the only warning for a blow that landed directly into Matts armored back, sending him tumbling.

The golem was throwing its bar stock.

Unable to breathe after the blow that destroyed [Cracked Phantom Armor] and nearly his back, Matt used his AI to send a warning, causing everyone to scatter. The next throw just barely missed Malcolm.

Scrambling back to his feet, Matt was shocked that only two of his ribs were cracked. The golem was definitely not made for throwing. It was the only reason he wasnt a smear on the floor. With most of his mana dedicated to his armor skill, and the rest going to [Mages Retreat], Matt kept running.

He deliberately didnt dodge to the left or right. If someone was going to get hit, Matt would rather the golem hit him, instead of any other without an armor skill. [Cracked Phantom Armor] would absorb most of the impact and keep him alive.

They turned a corner, only to find that they were at a dead-end. Or rather, it was a hall completely filled with metal bar stock. There was a slight gap near the ceiling, but it looked too small for them to crawl through without having to shift a lot of the metal.

Liz made the call.

Stand and fight. Everything we have. We can only hope this is a utility golem, and that it doesnt get a sword or something worse when charged with mana.

Matt took his place at the front of the group and readied his shield. If they fucked this up, at least they could try and circle the monster and slip around the sides.

Before he could plan more, the monster came around the corner. It was moving so quickly that two of the legs slipped, and it took a moment for the massive golem to change direction.

The sudden halt gave Liz, Aster, and Camilla a chance to unleash their ranged skills. A pattering of [Blood Bullet]s were accompanied by three large spears of ice. Meanwhile, a small bolt of lightning jolted the creature. At the entrance of the hall, Matt cast [Hail].

This wasnt the time for holding back.

Matt thought about draining the skill for a second cast, but he didnt want to eat further into his regeneration. He needed every bit of his 40 MPS for [Cracked Phantom Armor] and [Mages Retreat].

Sidestepping, Matt dodged one leg, and slammed his hammer into the creatures leg joint. It was his best chance to limit its mobility, and he didnt know how they were going to beat the creature besides beating it to scrap.

Matt took some solace in the fact that as the creature absorbed some of the mana from their spells, it didnt grow weapons.

The large shovel and pincers it created didnt count.

Blocking a kicking leg, Matt was sent skittering back into the wall. The movement irritated his cracked ribs, but he didnt have the mana to waste on [Endurance]. Healing would come after the fight was over.

Besides, if they lost and died, he wouldnt have to worry about cracked ribs.

Focusing on being as annoying as he could be, Matt weaved in between the golems legs, striking at joints and keeping the monsters attention.

The underside was more lightly armored, and every time Matt struck up at the creature, it diverted all of its attention to him.

A stray lightning bolt arced down from the beast and into his hammer during the split second that it was in contact, but the shock was negated by his armor. Still, the experience gave him an idea.

Camilla! Come under and shock the underside!

To her credit, she didnt hesitate at all, and was quickly beneath the monster with him. Matt needed to shoulder check her to get her out of the path of a stomping leg.

Dont stop moving!

She took the shove with good grace and started moving, which made it easier for Matt to block and attack the legs.

The next [Bolt] hit the underside of the golem, and the monster glowed brighter. Still, the golem shook so badly that Matt had to tank a second leg hit to protect Camilla.

She was casting every second, and the golem started to lock up and twitch. They didnt need to discuss getting out from under the soon-to-fall heap of metal.

As it collided with the wall, it fell back and started spasming. Camilla kept the shocks coming, and Matt watched something inside the golem try and glow brighter, but it seemed to short out.

The rush of essence gave everyone a pause.

Well then... Lets leave.

Matt fully agreed with Malcolm. But first, he pried open the golem, and pulled out what seemed to be its core.

Maybe I can do something with this. I should have grabbed one from everything we killed.

The core of overlapping plates was arranged in a circle, and it was still glowing and shooting off small sparks. But the small sputters were unable to stress his armor at all.

They reached the elevator, and saw a hall that they hadn't seen before. At the end of it was clearly a door to some kind of vault.

As they slowly made their way towards it, they were careful to check for traps. But Malcolm lagged behind, pleading with them to just leave now.

The others agreed to at least check it out. Vaults usually held valuables, after all.

As they approached the door, Matt and the others readied themselves for another fight or trap. All of a sudden, Matt felt a small amount of heat building in his off hand. He looked down to see that the core of the giant golem was glowing with intense blue light. The closer they got to the vault, the more intense the light emanating from the core became, and after a few more steps, it began to violently shake. A few feet in front of the vault, it radiated such intense light and heat, the core began to stress [Cracked Phantom Armor] to the point of draining more mana.

Liz became concerned, and yelled to Matt, Drop that damn thing! Its going to blow your arm off!

Not needing to be told the obvious, with a flick of his wrist he tossed the core as far away from them as he could. Still, it was too late. The core was already too unstable, and it immediately exploded in a giant burst of mana on impact.

The hall lit up, and the darkness was filled with the light of runes that covered the floors and walls.

The intersection where they had branched off from the elevator lit up, and the mana barriers that they had seen on the floor above appeared on each tunnel entrance. They were trapped.

Malcolm pounded on the light from the hall and shouted, What happened!? I heard an explosion!

Matt cursed himself. He had done this by wanting to play with some new toy.

If he had even put the core away, this wouldnt have happened. But he wanted to use it as a light source. He hadnt even thought that the core was full of mana, let alone that it would have some reaction to whatever was hidden in the vault.

Matt inspected the hall entrance. It was locked up tight by the mana barrier.

Malcolm seemed to be panicking and asked, What do I do?

Matt thought as fast as he could.

There were no satellites yet, so the mans AI couldnt do anything. If they wanted help, they would need to either wait out the mana, or let him travel the multi-day hike on his own to get help.

It wasnt like they couldnt do both.

Go get back to the settlement. You cant break this any more than we can, and you cant defend yourself if more golems come.

Malcolm looked aghast at the idea I wont survive out there...

Liz shrugged and said, Run fast. If you wait here, youll get trapped as soon as a patrol comes through that hall. You can't even fight a small golem on your own. Take the elevator up by activating it with your mana. Just run quickly.

As the man appeared to have a mental breakdown, Camilla called out, If you dont make it and end up dead, Ill find your corpse and replace your eyeballs with rocks. You have a Talent based on finding whatever you want. Want to be safe stupid!

That actually seemed to calm the man down. As he turned to run he called out, Ill come back with help!

Once he was in the elevator shaft, they heard the soft woosh of air indicating that the platform had worked.

Liz looked at the cage they were stuck in.

This is less than ideal.

Matt wanted to pound his head against the wall.

Im so sorry this happened.

Camilla was looking at the glowing wall and shrugged at Matt.

Its just bad luck and wasted time. I doubt this will last forever. The energy was draining somewhere, right?

Liz jolted up like she had been shocked, and sent Matt a message while looking at the vault. What happens if we fill this place with mana? These barriers are only up because theyre reacting to the mana. Nothing is controlling them. If we fill it up, we could get out a lot faster. And we might even open the vault Find out what caused the reaction...

Using his AI, Matt did some quick calculations. With the amount of mana the core had released, it could take weeks for enough mana to drain for them to be able to leave. Besides, with this method, they had a shot at the rewards for getting into the vault.

Without Malcolm there, they could fight quite a lot of golems too. And that would lead to more essence.

And again, there was the vault. It had to have more than one goodie in it. Especially with how the core reacted as they approached. There was something powerful hidden in there.

Matt looked at the wall and smiled. He wouldnt have done this if Malcolm was still here, but he trusted Camilla at least this much.

His Talent wouldnt remain a secret forever.

A growing part of him was interested to see what this place was really meant for.