The construct was high E Rank, and seemed to be built for physical combat. Instead of faltering, Sam smiled. It looked like he had a partner for his weapon skill, at long last.
Terra’s Will swept up, parrying the incoming blow with a shower of sparks. Sam felt immense strength behind the golem’s attack, and rather than press on blindly, he took a step back, letting the creature stumble, before striking once more, towards its unprotected side.
The monster let go of its weapon with one hand and slammed it into Terra’s Will, knocking the hammer to the side. Sam was purposefully not using his Dao energy, and as a result, all he achieved was a dent in the scales that covered its hands.
The mace came whipping around a moment later, and Sam was forced to dodge, letting it whoosh past his armored torso. He could have teleported, but as far as he could tell, this monster was unable to, meaning that to gain what he wanted from the fight, he had to do battle on its level.
Sam unleashed a flurry of blows, hammering into the monster’s armored form. Its mace caught almost all of them, but one smashed through its defense, knocking the mace aside and slamming into its head. The golem staggered, a visible dent on its temple, before lashing out with an armored foot, driving it into Sam’s knee. It buckled beneath the strike, the golem’s foot sweeping around and hooking around the back, pulling him towards its hammer.
Sam swore, and shrunk Terra’s Will, holding it out like a lucky charm between himself and the monster. Then he expanded it to its maximum size, which knocked the Draconic Crypt Guardian off its feet, and into a nearby cancerous dragon hulk.
The flesh squelched beneath it, and a spray of rotten flesh erupted out, a foul stench blasting Sam’s sensitive nostrils. He curled his lip, and strode forwards, bringing his hammer up and over his head, before slamming it down on the golem’s torso. The creature let out a screech of twisted steel as its scales cracked, but rose to its feet regardless, one hand latching onto the haft of Sam’s weapon.
Sam wrenched it back, planting one foot on the golem’s chest. With a tearing howl of metal, Sam brought his weapon back, bending the golem’s metal fingers backwards, sending the metal near its breaking point.
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The golem let go a moment later, grabbing its own weapon off the ground, before engaging Sam in combat. Sweeping arcs and pointed stabs of the weapon drove him momentarily backwards, the golem using a level of speed it had previously avoided. Red lights glowed within its eye sockets, and Sam fancied that it was enraged at the desecration of the corrupted dragon nearby. Though, it was simply a machine, as far as he could tell.
The red lightning surrounding the head of its mace spread up the hilt and across its body, coating it in a layer of electricity. Sam wasn’t quite sure what the lightning pertained to. Perhaps Abrinadus was elementally attuned to it? He wouldn’t know until he found the dragon, in any case.
The air around the golem flickered, and with a sudden snap, it turned into a stream of liquid energy, teleporting before Sam, its mace swinging in at incredible speed. Sam parried it with a noise like a ringing bell, swinging in return. The speed of the construct was far higher than before, and it swept the end of its mace up and around, sending Sam’s hammer streaking over its head. Reversing its grip, the golem blasted Sam back with the head of its mace, his armor bending beneath the force. Blood exploded from his mouth, and he impacted one of the dragons, sinking into its ruptured flesh. It was a uniquely disgusting experience, and one that made him want to kill Abrinadus even more.
“I guess if you can teleport now, so can I,” Sam said, wiping blood from his helm. “That was a mistake.”
He flashed across the space between them, his hammer raised. As the golem prepared to block, he teleported again, interrupting his original dash through the world of the Dao to reposition. Appearing above the monster’s head, Terra’s Will was driven down with enough power to smash mountains into gravel, driving the golem down. The metal of its form creaked as it compressed, and the ground beneath cracked wide open, a symphony of crackling rock echoing through the cavern, with only the dying dragons as its audience. The golem’s metal heated up as it tried to resist, sucking the electricity into itself, its false muscles growing as metal was enhanced by the scarlet energy surrounding it.
Sam felt his hammer being pushed back, and suddenly, he was flying through the air, the golem already pushing its way out of the crater. Its mace had fused with its right arm, greatly extending its ready. Liquid fire danced across its form, sparks flying to melt the stone beneath. A grin rose to Sam’s face as he watched the spectacle, despite the fact that he would be on the receiving end soon.
