Chapter 234: Man of Stone

The roar of grinding stone grew louder and closer.

Noah tightened his grip on his shadow sword, a grin unconsciously appearing on his face at the prospect of a challenge as the tremors rolled through the floor.

The moss on the walls flickered as dust drifted down like falling snow.

Cecilia’s golden eyes burned brighter in the dim light, her hand hovering near her waist as fire began to bloom along her fingers.

“Whatever’s coming,” she said calmly, “it’s not going to stop.”

Then, with a sudden thunderous crash, something massive shot through the darkness.

A boulder.

It barreled down the tunnel like a cannonball, the stone grinding so loudly against the walls that it was almost deafening.

The floor shook beneath their feet, cracks forming in the ground as the thing spun faster, closing the distance in seconds.

“Move!” Noah shouted, but Cecilia didn’t retreat.

Instead, she raised her hand.

The air in front of her shimmered, then erupted into a blazing dome of red-gold flame.

The boulder slammed into the barrier with a loud crack, sparks and almost physical fragments of light bursting outward in every direction.

The ground quaked, and Noah had to brace himself against the wall to stay upright.

For a moment, smoke and light filled the air.

Then, the fire shield flickered, and the boulder stopped moving.

Or rather, it unfolded.

Segments of rock slid apart, shifting like interconnected lego blocks.

Stone slabs turned, with joints of earthen mana grinding together as the shape began to rise.

A head formed from jagged fragments. Two arms emerged, thick as tree trunks, ending in hands made of broken slabs.

A golem.

Its eyes blazed faintly with deep blue light. It stood twice Noah’s height, each step it took sending ripples of vibration through the ground.

Noah exhaled in soft laughter. “A stone golem.”

Cecilia nodded once, the flames of her barrier fading away. “A C-rank one, judging by that core’s glow.”

The golem’s mouth split open in a grinding roar, the sound echoing through the tunnel.

Then it charged.

Its movement was deceptively fast, the floor shattering beneath its weight as it barreled forward.

Noah leapt to the side just as its massive fist came down where he’d been standing. The impact sent dust and chunks of rock flying.

Cecilia retaliated immediately. A wave of fire exploded from her hands, slamming into the creature’s chest.

The flames spread quickly, wrapping around its body, but the golem didn’t so much as flinch.

The fire rolled off its stone skin, leaving only a faint orange glow where the surface had heated.

“Too thick,” she muttered, already forming the next spell formation in her palm. “We’ll need to hit it harder.”

Noah ducked under a sweeping arm, countering with a slash from his shadow sword.

The blade struck with a muted clang, but only a shallow groove appeared across the golem’s chest.

The creature turned towards him, its head grinding as it moved.

He jumped back, grimacing. “Yeah, cutting it won’t work.”

Cecilia’s eyes darted toward him. “Then we break it apart.”

“How?”

“With force.”

The golem’s fist slammed into the ground between them, scattering shards of stone in all directions.

Noah twisted away, and Cecilia used the momentum to leap upward, landing on the creature’s arm.

Fire coalesced around her hand, forming into a long, gleaming blade of pure heat. She brought it down hard, slicing through the golem’s forearm.

The arm cracked but didn’t sever completely.

The creature bellowed, swinging its other arm to swat her away.

Noah moved.

Frigid Hunger!

He raised his hand, dark frost spreading from his palm like creeping vines.

The temperature in the tunnel dropped instantly, his breath fogging in the air. The frost slammed into the golem’s body, coating its stone joints with shimmering black ice.

Of course, if he’d cast a single Frigid Hunter, it would’ve had no effect. But he’d layered it effectively.

The golem’s movements slowed, grinding to a stutter as frost crusted over its legs.

“Good,” Cecilia called, flipping through the air before landing lightly on her feet. “Keep it up!”

Noah layered another cast. And another.

With each successive wave of Frigid Hunger, more of the creature froze. The golem tried to move, but its joints cracked and hissed as the ice spread deeper.

Cecilia’s hand flared bright again, and she whispered a word.

The fire around her condensed into a single sphere. It was white-hot, and the air around it warped. With a grunt, she hurled it.

The fireball struck the golem’s knee, detonating on impact. The blast shattered half of its lower body, sending chunks of glowing rock tumbling across the floor.

The golem collapsed with a crash, its roar echoing through the stone chamber.

Noah saw his chance.

He dismissed his sword and reached into his shadows.

Dark energy coalesced around his hand, stretching and reshaping into a massive hammer, its head shaped like a dragon’s skull, black smoke leaking from the edges.

The golem swung its remaining arm in desperation, but Noah ducked under the blow, pivoting on his heel.

With a roar, he brought the hammer down.

The strike landed square on the golem’s chest.

The sound was like thunder splitting stone. Cracks webbed outward from the impact point, spreading through its torso.

Blue mana flickered inside the cracks, then sputtered out as the light dimmed.

The creature’s glowing eyes flickered once, then went dark.

The massive body slumped forward, collapsing into a heap of rubble.

Noah exhaled, lowering the hammer as the frost around the room began to melt.

Cecilia walked over, brushing dust from her sleeve. “Well done. You froze the joints perfectly.”

He nodded once, his breath still coming hard. “And your fireball—”

“Overkill,” she said simply, though there was a faint smirk on her lips. “But effective.”

They both turned to look at the shattered remains of the golem.

Noah frowned, considering Feasting upon it, when the ground began to tremble again.

A low, rumbling vibration rolled beneath their feet, stronger than before. Dust cascaded from the ceiling.

Noah’s head snapped up. “That wasn’t the collapse from this one, was it?”

Cecilia’s expression darkened. “No.”

From deeper in the tunnel, a sound quickly reached their ears.

Thoom.

Thoom.

Thoom.

The unmistakable sound of multiple heavy footsteps, each one shaking the walls.

Then came the grinding. Stone on stone, hundreds of pounds shifting and dragging through the tunnels.

Cecilia’s fire flickered to life again, brighter this time. “More golems.”

Noah frowned, summoning his shadow weapon once again. “How many?”

“Too many,” she said grimly. “And judging by the sound of their footfalls, they’d be stronger.”

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