CH.116 Christina vs Earth Golem<h4><strong>Christina POV</strong></h4>
<span style="font-weight:400">“Madam, are you sure this is a good idea?” Aneesa asked me after we left the core room.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Perhaps it is not, but I need to do this. Brian trusts me to be a good dungeon master, and I don’t want to let him down.” I told my maid. “Goddess knows he has been through enough already.” I quietly added.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Could you repeat that? I didn’t quite hear you, Madam.” Aneesa requested.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s fine. I was just saying something to myself.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">Myment earlier was referring to Brian’s past. He … entrusted it to me that night. I’m still notpletely convinced what he told me is the real deal, but it might just be the truth. But at the same time, world travel like that should be impossible to anyone but God. And as far as I know, only the first hero was ever a world traveler. And even the Saint and the Great Sage couldn’t send him back, even with the help of the Goddess.
<span style="font-weight:400">But back to the present. I need to focus on the here and now. To make the dungeon more familiar with me, I decided to go hunting within it. I haven’t really done any monster hunting since my days in the Royal Magic Academy, but I think I can still do it.
<span style="font-weight:400">I confirmed that my maid was ready to go before stepping into the monster area. She was holding a mithril sword that the dungeon had made. And it is the reason I decided to even hunt in the first ce. I need ess to weapons like that as well. Weapons like that could affect national security after all. I need to make sure Brian understands this as well.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aneesa has been my personal maid for a long time now. She was with me even before I married into the Watchman family. She has skills in both magic and sword. A realbat maid. Even if she denies it, saying “I’m not skilled enough to be called abat maid.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I was about to enter the room, but I stopped as I heard Brian’s voice speaking to me from somewhere. This was something called ‘Announcement’ that I also used. With it, a dungeon master could say something to the adventurers within the dungeon. It is something that would generally be used in emergency situations, like when a strong monster appears in the dungeon.
<span style="font-weight:400">{Please don’t forget to summon the monsters.} Brian reminded me.
<span style="font-weight:400">I took a close look at the two cards Brian gave me. They are another mystery that he possesses. Dark Magician and St. Joan. I’ve seen Brian use both of them, but I’m surprised he gave them to me. Even if it is just temporary, they are some of the summons Brian uses the most, at least as far as I know. Perhaps he really thinks I would die without help like this. I think some lesser monsters would have worked just fine for what I need them to do. Well, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
<span style="font-weight:400">I ced one of them on the little slot on my Master’s terminal. Brian said I could hold a card on it instead of having to hold it in my hand. I know his terminal allows him to hold even more cards, but I guess I can’t have something that powerful.
<span style="font-weight:400">“St. Joan.” I called out the first monster. I decided to go with her first, as I need better frontline fighters to keep the monsters busy while I focus on casting spells. If things get out of hand or there are more monsters than expected, I’ll summon the other one as well.
<span style="font-weight:400">As I called her, an illusion-like card appeared on the ground and she rose up from it. This is how the monsters appear from the cards.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, it’s you.” She said as she saw me. “What can I do for you?” She asked. Her voice was a lot colder than when she was talking to Brian. Perhaps she only wants to serve her true Master.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry that I’m not Brian. He let me borrow you so I can go hunting in the dungeon. Would you help me with this?” I asked the summon. Aneesa next to me looked like she wanted toment on the way I was speaking to the summon, but she kept her mouth shut.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see. I suppose Master would do that.” St. Joan said. “Do you want me to do everything while you just sit back?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No. That would be too much. I want to show Brian that I have skills as well. I need you to hold the frontline with Aneesa. I’ll focus on casting magic from the back.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sure. I’ll try to leave something for you.” She said in a snarky tone.
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<span style="font-weight:400">Thest boss of the dungeon hasn’t respawned yet, after Brian took down that skeletal beast. I guess it’s nice that I don’t have to start with a higher ranked monster.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Of course Master would clear all monsters beforehand so you would be safe.” St. Joanmented as she saw the empty sub-room.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Madam would be more than capable of taking care of some C-rank monsters.” Aneesa quipped back.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, I see. Then what does she need me for?” St. Joan responded to my maid with a question. “And what about you? You know that sword is a copy of mine. You only have it thanks to my Master.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I can fight without a sword!” Aneesa yelled.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You two, stop that!” Imanded them.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I apologize, Madam.” Aneesa immediately got back in line. I hope mymand got through to St. Joan as well.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I suppose I could as long as you keep your maid in check.” St. Joan said. I wonder why she has such a big problem working with me? Or is her problem with Aneesa?
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<span style="font-weight:400">{The next room will have some monsters. Be careful.} We heard Brian’s voice remind us over the announcement system.
<span style="font-weight:400">We made our way into the room and saw it packed with around 20 imp-like monsters. These were the basic mobs of this dungeon, with skeletons. But given that they live this deep, they are stronger than your average E-rank imp.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Aneesa and St. Joan, you two take the lead. I’ll use magic to support you.” I gave the two their instructions.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes Madam.” Aneesa answered.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sure, I got it. I’ll try not to kill them all.” St. Joanmented, keeping up her snarky tone.
<span style="font-weight:400">I wish Brian could hear her so he couldmand her as well. Perhaps she would actually listen to him.
<span style="font-weight:400">As the imps came at us, Aneesa and St. Joan prepared their swords. I also began to chant my first spell.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Stones, gather and fly as my spear, Stone Spear.” I fired my first spell.
<span style="font-weight:400">Arge stone spear flew through the air and hit an imp in the stomach area. Then it pierced straight through the imp and eventually hit the wall of the dungeon. I think I put a bit too much mana into that spell. Perhaps using magic boost was a bit much against an imp.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Ha!” I heard Aneesa yell as she sliced an imp in two. She seemed slightly surprised by the sharpness of the mithril sword. Even for her, slicing an imp cleanly in two is a feat.
<span style="font-weight:400">Meanwhile, St. Joan was doing as I asked and pulling the aggro of the imps and gathering them into a nice target. She really is skilled even if she doesn’t want to work with me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“How about you use your next spell? I won’t wait forever.” She said to me. Admittedly, I was looking at her footwork and swordy. She is likely on the level of a royal guard captain.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.” I responded to her before chanting my next spell. I can use spells with quick cast, but they wouldn’t have the uracy without a staff. “Earth, crush my enemies, Earth Crush.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Arge b of the dungeon floor moved slightly before quickly flipping on top of the imps that St. Joan had gathered. I made sure to control the spell so that it wouldn’t hit her.
<span style="font-weight:400">The spell hit just about half of the imps and they were now buried under the earth. I’m not sure if they all died, but this should make them unable to move for a bit.
<span style="font-weight:400">After the dust from that the spell dissipated, St. Joan quickly cut the imps that were not caught in it. Her speed is quite something. It only took her a couple of seconds to cut up the eight imps.
<span style="font-weight:400">I then spotted some movement in the area affected by my earth crush. Apparently my spell didn’t kill all of the imps caught in it.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Stones, gather and fly as my spear, Stone Spear.” I fired a stone spear as soon as I saw an imp trying to get out from under the rubble. The spear hit it in the head and embedded itself into the imps skull. This time I controlled the power better so it didn’t fly through the imp.
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<span style="font-weight:400">“You actually have some skills.” St. Joanmented as we were moving in the corridor between therge rooms. As Brian had cleared the three other sections of the seventh room, we had to go upwards.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Of course she does. Madam is the best.” Aneesa said.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Please don’t over exaggerate my skill Aneesa. You know very well I’m far from something that could be called ‘the best’.” I told my maid. She has a habit of telling people of my greatness when I do anything worth some credit. And I’m not even the best of my sisters at magic. Mariina, my sister born after me, is an amazing earth mage. She was titled Witch at 18 when she graduated from the royal magic academy and waster promoted to Great Witch. She can use earth magic to make golems, something I can’t do.
<span style="font-weight:400">{There is arge monster in the next room. There are also some imps with it. Take care.} Brian informed us over the announcement system. A sub-boss. It should at most be C-rank so we should be fine.
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<span style="font-weight:400">“An earth golem.” I said as I looked at the monster. Just as I was thinking about my sister and her ability to create one, the dungeon showed me that it can do that as well.
<span style="font-weight:400">“A golem of that size is no problem. Let’s head in.” St. Joan said.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Of that size? That thing is quiterge for an earth golem. It’s about 4 meters tall. Howrge would it have to be for you to consider it a threat?” Aneesa asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Over double that size at least. Or one made of metal.” St. Joan responded.
<span style="font-weight:400">Metal golem? Those are super difficult to kill as they resist most magic and are very sturdy so harming them with physical attacks is difficult.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well let’s just take it down quickly. I’ll get its aggro and take care of the small riff raff. You two attack with magic.” St. Joan said and ran towards the golem. She shows no fear. Or perhaps she really doesn’t need to fear something of this level.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Madam?” Aneesa looked at me. “What will we do?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well at this point it’s better to just go with her n. Let’s cast stone guillotine together.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Will that take the golem down?” Aneesa asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well there is one way to find out.” I said to her. “But we need to stop that thing first.”
<span style="font-weight:400">The golem didn’t move quickly, but it could still dodge a spell like stone guillotine. That spell is only good on stationary targets, but it does deal massive damage if it hits.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Earth, clear away and make a hole, Pitfall.” I casted a spell to make a pitfall for the golem to step into. The hole was only around two meters deep but that wouldn’t matter.
<span style="font-weight:400">St. Joan realized my n and led the golem straight into the hole. This was one of the weaknesses of dungeon spawned golems, they are stupid and move in straight lines towards their target.
<span style="font-weight:400">Thud!
<span style="font-weight:400">Arge thud sound was what Aneesa had been waiting for. The golem would quickly get out of the hole if something didn’t keep it in the hole.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Stone, pierce my enemy, Stone Spire.” Aneesa casted a spell to keep the golem locked in ce. The spell grew multiple stone spires around the golem and even into the golem to keep it from moving. Then she came to my side and joined her hand with mine.
<span style="font-weight:400">“A nice, clean and still target. Madam, are you ready?” Aneesa asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.” I responded as I let my mana flow into her. This was the first step in using stone guillotine. The spell took a lot of mana and even more control to use, so I couldn’t do it alone, but we could do it together. It was the reason I took Aneesa with me whenever I expected to seebat of any kind.
<span style="font-weight:400">““Earth and Stone, gather into one sharp de and decimate our enemy, Stone Guillotine.”” We chanted together.
<span style="font-weight:400">Arge de made of earth and with an edge made of sharp stones formed above the stone golem, before falling down on the golem.
<span style="font-weight:400">CRASH!
<span style="font-weight:400">Arge crash sounded as the spell made contact with the golem. With the crash, arge dust cloud popped up so we couldn’t see the results. Not that I really needed to. I know what that spell will do to an earth golem from experience. I used to test out magic like this on the golems my sister makes.
<span style="font-weight:400">After the dust settled, we saw the golem that had been cut in half down to its midsection. But something strange was happening in the hole beneath it. A reddish glow emanated from it, and I could see heat distortions around it.
<span style="font-weight:400">{Be careful. That golem is gathering more power. I don’t think it’s dead yet.} Brian told us over the announcement system.
<span style="font-weight:400">The earth that had been the body of the golem melted down intova, and sunk into the hole. I got a small glimpse of the golem’s core as it did. I think this can only mean one thing. Ava golem is up next.