It hadn’t been a fatal blow, but I was shocked at how easily it had broken apart. But thanks to that attack, I now had a clear view of the core: a bloodred crystal exactly where a human heart would be.
The ice shards that had once formed the golem didn’t fall to the ground but instead hovered in place, weightless. Then, as if drawn by an invisible thread, they gathered back around the core and reassembled the creature.
“That’s where the core is, in the center of its chest!” I said.
“Got it!”
Once we knew where it was, we just had to hit it. Still, I didn’t feel relieved. The fact that my magic had broken its body so easily just made me feel anxious. Was that all the monster was guarding, and the thing Lynn was after? Something about it didn’t feel right to me.
“Leon, get me in close!” said Lynn.
“Okay.” Leon crouched low and dug his thick claws into the ice, then launched himself forward. Lynn leaned into his back, gripping her hammer with both hands and bracing herself by pressing her inner thighs tight to Leon’s sides so she wouldn’t lose balance when she struck.
“Mark, Letia! Finish it off if I miss the core!”
“Gotcha!”
“Leave it to us!”
“Haah!” Lynn’s hammer smashed into the golem’s chest with all her might. The ice exploded apart, sending shards flying as the red core flew free into the air.
“Mine!” Mark sprinted forward, bringing the halberd’s ax blade down onto the exposed core. It shattered into glittering fragments with a loud crack!
Pieces of red crystal clattered softly across the icy floor, mingling with the debris left behind by the golem’s body.
“Yesss!” Lynn and Mark bumped their forearms together, grinning triumphantly. All three of them looked practically drunk on victory.
Just then, the little yellow fairy reappeared on Lynn’s shoulder, gesturing frantically and shaking his head no.
“It’s not over after all?” I stood apart from the others and watched the tiny old man wave his arms back and forth.
I didn’t have to wonder for long what he meant, because just then the entire cavern rumbled like the earth itself was splitting apart. The ground trembled violently beneath us. The long rows of icicles hanging high overhead snapped free, but instead of falling, they floated in place and swung their points to aim straight at us. The yellow fairy vanished with a flash.
“Tch, so that’s how it is,” Letia muttered.
We’d been totally wrong.
“That monster wasn’t the golem. This whole cave is a golem!” I said. My uneasy feeling had been spot-on.
“And this is probably the real threat,” Letia said quietly.
I felt a knot in my stomach. A golem always had a core somewhere inside its body, and if you didn’t destroy that, then you couldn’t defeat it. “How are we supposed to find the core in this huge cavern?”
The first wave of icicles launched at us with a sharp whoosh! Mark swung his halberd in sweeping arcs to smash them aside while Letia dodged nimbly to the side to avoid their strikes. A protective barrier from the spirit kings’ rings formed in front of me and Lynn. They shattered every icicle before it could reach us, keeping us safe.
We all survived the first wave of attacks, but overhead, I heard another series of sharp cracks as more icicles broke loose. This time, the icicles by the entrance were floating up to block the way out too.
We were surrounded on every side. The fallen icicles were already re-forming and there was no telling where the core might be hidden. If we didn’t come up with something fast, this would turn into a war of attrition, and that was a fight we couldn’t win.
“Well, it doesn’t look like it has any intention of letting us leave. What should we do?” Mark let out a wry chuckle, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
The three of them regrouped near where the first golem had stood. I was still by myself near the exit.
And then the second wave came crashing down.
The barriers around me and Lynn erupted in a full circle, catching and shattering every icicle before it touched us, but Mark and Letia didn’t have that protection. Mark spun his halberd like a spear, deflecting the barrage of icicles while Letia used her katana’s scabbard to shatter several in midair, but one of the spears of ice plunged straight through her left shoulder. She dropped to one knee, gasping.
“Daisy!” Mark dashed to her side and yanked the icicle free.
“Nngh!” Letia clutched her shoulder, groaning with pain. The impact had probably shattered bone. I was too far away to treat her by hand, so I had to do it the new way.
I pulled a hi-potion from my satchel and uncorked it. Then I poured out the contents.
“Go! Potion Shot!” The sphere of bright liquid flew across the cavern and splashed onto Letia. In an instant, flesh and bone came together, whole once again.
“Thanks, Daisy,” Letia panted. She climbed back to her feet with Mark’s help.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me knowing everyone was safe. But relief alone wouldn’t fix our problem—we still had to get out of this.
Just then, something my magic tutor, Yulia, had taught me when I was still living at home flashed through my mind. “Practicing magic will benefit you in ways beyond just casting spells. If you learn how to control your mana with skill, I’m sure it’ll come in handy with your Alchemy as well.”
Then I remembered what Ana taught me: “Everyone here knows how water works, yes? If it’s cold, it solidifies. Heat it, and it melts. Boil it, and it turns to steam. Well, metals are no different. You think of them as always solid, but if you heat them, they also melt. If you heat them more, they vaporize. But unlike water, the temperatures must be extremely high, so you’ll need to use mana to achieve them.”