Chapter 197: Day 432 – A Fatal Error

Chapter 197: Day 432 – A Fatal Error

We left at first light. Gertrude’s summoner teammate came along with four scorpions. I let Naran and Gertrude handle the blue gargoyles. They were ugly and quick, but Naran had enough experience from our recent grinding sessions to take them down easily enough.

Gertrude struggled a bit on the ones she fought, but she managed after seeing Naran handle the first one. Eventually the tower came into view.

“What...what is that?” Gertrude stuttered.

“That Gertrude, is the tower,” I calmly said as she stared at its square structure and towering height. It wasn’t a dungeon, unless level 3 zones broke the pattern. I would have thought level 3 monsters as minions and level 4 monsters as bosses and sub-bosses. But the golems were level 4, implying it was something else.

With the massive increase in size compared to previous dungeons it wasn’t a difficult assumption to make. Naran had looked at it and didn’t figure out anything new. It was just stupidly massive and just like one big middle finger from the Systemic Lands to everyone stuck here.

“We are pulling a level 4 from it?” she asked.

“Yes. Stay back,” I said. We advanced as a group. I picked the spot I had before and prepared another summoning circle. I had saved the supplies for level 3 summoning of blue gargoyles. I didn’t summon it before, since I wanted to take the time to observe things while we waited.

“Can’t...you...hurry...up?” The summoner asked while shivering heavily. I just gave her a dirty look.

“Take this time to observe the surroundings. It isn’t worthwhile rushing things with a level 4,” I replied harshly.

“It is fine, so, what is in the tower?” Gertrude asked.

“It isn’t a test then,” I said, and she stared at me. “Fine, a large silver golem. They jump high and fast and shoot pieces of themselves for defense and attack.” I didn’t like her, but no need to let her die. I guess some feelings had managed to sneak through.

I could tell Naran was raising an eyebrow in my direction, but I knew Gertrude wasn’t ready after our spar.

There was a high chance I would have to intervene. I finished the summoning. I then had Naran and the summoner go back a fair distance while I stayed with Gertrude as I sent my summon forward and up the giant tower stairs.

Ten golems came out once more. I had been hoping for nine. That way I could have ground them down and possibly peaked closer at the tower. The curiosity about the tower was massive, but it was way too much of a risk currently. One of the golems leapt off. I maneuvered my gargoyle back by using its stubby wings to glide down the steps.

The golem impacted the step. I could sense Gertrude tense up next to me. The golem leapt again and I had my summon come to a halt and mentally cut the tether. The golem crushed the summon beneath it as it turned to dust.

The golem leapt up into the air at us. Then my heart skipped a beat. Seven more golems were following the one in front, making a total of eight. My mind quickly did the math. Four people, four more summons. And we were all in range somehow.

“Run!” I shouted and started running. Gertrude was right behind me. I did my standard mini-leap run method, but I kicked off a bit higher. I was able to do a quick 360 degrees turn in the air to check behind me while running.

“Didn’t know how to run properly. She was killed. There are new attacks. A scattershot and something that cut her in half, despite her Body stat,” I quickly said.

“You left her-“ Naran tossed the summoner off his shoulder. She let out a scream that was quickly cut off. That was a good decision. She was dead weight, and we needed every little bit of strength to win this fight.

“Run back to Neo Brasilia?” Naran asked.

“Well, we can’t win against seven golems at the same time,” I said.

“Try to bypass our camp?” Naran asked and I winced at that question.

“No way we can just run past the blue gargoyles. With their force walls, even one small mistake and the golems would be on us. We have to follow the clear path back,” I said.

He was silent at that but didn’t disagree with me. “We will have to run through the night, level 2 centipedes,” he replied.

“They are bad, but we can dodge them easily enough. The real problem is if we are still being chased once we reach Neo Brasilia.

“I can take out two in a row, safely, I think. But will probably need to use Air Burst after that,” I said and did another mid-air rotation. “Tempting to try and take one of them down,” I said.

“That would be tricky,” Naran replied.

We kept running and after a couple more midair rotations I picked up on something new. “They are targeting you. So, it isn’t the Body stat they are focusing on,” I said.

“Well one can sense the energy of another person. They are probably basing their movement off that,” Naran replied.

“Yes,” I said since I knew he couldn’t see me running. I needed to focus on my breathing and get it under control. Naran’s high Body stat meant he could easily out pace me, but he didn’t. Since that would have pulled the golems right on top of me and killed me. Better to run side by side.

“What if Neo Brasilia doesn’t work?” Naran asked. That was a very good question. It was something I was thinking about right now as well.

“No idea. I think we are going to have to just see what happens,” I replied. That was a question with no good answer. All we could do was just run. I did another midair rotation, and my eyes went wide.

One golem was in the air, but then another one rammed into it from below, sending it further. The monsters were incapable of tracking but were capable of teamwork. “Dodge!” I shouted. Naran didn’t hesitate and kicked off to the left. I went right. The golem landed where we had been. I kicked forward as a metal pole zipped through the air, right behind me.

I did another midair spin, but no golems boosting other ones. But that didn’t mean anything. I they did it once, they could do it again. Naran matched his pace to mine. “We might not make it to Neo Brasilia at this rate,” he said. I couldn’t find myself disagreeing with that statement.