Framework of the Frontier, Sain Artwell [read me a book .TXT] 📗

into rooms with unknowable magic traps.” William blew out air as he rubbed his forehead.

“You only ever see one handed adventurers wear a golden prosthesis.” Orien licked her lips, staring intently at one of the nearby coffers of loot. “Nevermind gold. If we get away with a few of those, we could afford four limbs forged of mithril and gems.”

“Don’t exaggerate dear, prostheses are expensive,” Duhie scolded.

“Okay, of copper and wood, but my point stands. We’d be rich.” Orien snickered, patting William’s shoulder excitedly. “Glad you called us. Oh, and Ember. Grand job!”

“Now how to deal with the golems and get their stuff?” William mused.

The group retreated to a safe distance and began brainstorming. It was agreed that eight golems would be risky to fight all at once, so they would lure them out one by one. The golem forge itself was another issue entirely. Too many cores moved about its surface for Rulu to disable them before they started shooting beams at her. It was too tall to be blocked behind a wall of debris and they lacked the paint to blind the eyes with.

The plan was a work in progress when Eren snapped the party to attention. “A golem approaching.”

The construct shambled up a flight of stairs rising from the city below. An afro of black mushrooms grew on its head and patches of mold covered its stony skin.

“Ready Rulu?” William gripped his hammer.

“Always. Let us begin.”

“Wait!” Ember’s hiss was urgent with worry. “Those are Grave Caps. Deadly toxic.”

“Of course they are. Okay uhm… My head is empty. Any ideas?” William asked.

Duhie raised one of her wands. “I could wash them off with a high pressure beam of water. Yes, that should do, or what do you say, Ember?”

“That. That should work, yes.”

“Alrighty, let’s go. Rulu first, then Duhie.” William took out his hammer.

Rulu stepped out of cover, immediately gaining the attention of the golem. Scent of ozone filled the air for a split second, but Rulu’s magic stunned the core.

Duhie uncorked her bottle and lured out a stream of water with quick incantations. A whip of her wand turned the lazily floating stream into a pressure jet. It splashed off the stone, cutting off the mushrooms and mold.

After that, it was a routine gig, except this time Trotto helped to make the stone chopping part faster. And, this time, William skipped the ‘God give me’ spiel. This time, the blessing seemed to linger longer.

“Holy fuck, did you see that?” He grinned at Ember and Rulu.

Ember painted a mark on the core before slipping it in the chest. “Yes, good job Will. Come here and I will give you a kiss.”

“Haha. No, I mean, yes, but the blessing. It’s lasting longer when I simply think of it as my own power rather than God’s.”

“Core room golems incoming!” Veren sprinted down from the archway leading to the core room.

“Spread out,” Orien shouted.

Three ten foot silhouettes of rock emerged from the core room. Everyone scrambled for cover. Air behind William’s neck warmed up, though he was already behind a pillar. On instinct, he dove into the ground.

A sharp line of molten rock was drawn on the side of William and Trotto were, and in places the bright white-magenta beam sputtered through in stray sparks. One of them drew a red trail on Trotto’s shoulder plate.

The troll swallowed his grunt, ripping off the sizzling armor before it melted on his flesh. “Ori!?”

“Alive! We’re all good.” The triton adventuress’ voice came from out of sight. William saw only Trotto right by his side. Rulu and Duhie had their backs pressed to a wall on the opposite side of the street.

“New plan: Fight it out!” Orien’s voice cut above the heavy thumps of the approaching golems’ feet. “Distraction in five, four, three…”

A towering shadow of death lasers neared. Right as the golem stepped into incineration range, a cascade of rumbling rocks filled the air. The golem’s shadow paused.

“Let’s go!” William blessed his strength and jumped out of cover.

All three golems had turned to a ledge decorated by a row of statues, of which one was now missing. Its remains lie splintered around one of the constructs. William darted to the closest one, scaling its body with a running start with hammer up high. Momentum and strength joined in his swing and sank steel into stone.

“Out of the way,” Trotto shouted, and William pulled his hammer off, stumbling down. Trotto stepped over William’s head, delivering a mighty swing on the golem’s head. The cracked bit snapped off, flashes of pink rays spasmed at random as it flew out of sight.

Rulu stood on the shoulders of another one she had disabled. Only one remained. It shot at her.

A stream of liquid burst out in a pressurized beam that met the golem’s white hot ray. Duhie’s magic vaporized on contact, but not before distorting the golem’s attack into a hundred dispersed rays of scattered brightness. The flash seared a blinding emptiness on William’s retinas, turning his world into silhouettes of fuzzy whiteness and slightly lesser, but equally eye-watering whiteness.

Steam hissed. The turbulent jet of water cut abruptly. Rulu’s voice was near. “William, come to me. I have them stunned.”

William began to wade towards Rulu, squinting. “Trotto, your eyes work?”

“No, all I see is Winter’s ass.”

Frustration sparked in Rulu’s voice. “You are walking the wrong way.”

“Pspspsps, this way,” Duhie cooed.

“Auntie please,” Trotto groaned.

“Sush! At my age you take every chance to pspsps cute boys that you can get.” Duhie’s ‘pspspsps’ continued more aggressively. Little rainbow snakes wiggled at the corners of William’s vision as the white cleared. He and Trotto reached a blurry gray mass with a dot of pink and a white Rulu-shaped blob of white atop of it.

She slid off of it. “Remove its