The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 27

Chapter 27

“Watch out! They’re coming from—” Whatever else Nedira was going to say was overshadowed by the explosion of dirt erupting from all around the group, accompanied by the cracking of tree roots as they were demolished from underground. Larek threw himself backwards from the rumble he felt under his work boots, and he landed on his back side before he rolled back to his feet.

“I thought you said it was clear!” Penelope shouted, accusing the Ranger who looked slightly embarrassed as she began unleashing her arrows into the sides of the monsters that emerged from below.

“It was! At least, it was up here!”

Larek couldn’t blame anyone for not identifying the threat from below, because it wasn’t until there were some slight tremors under their feet as they walked through the forest that anyone realized there was even any danger nearby. It was entirely possible that Vivienne had scouted the area and not drawn the ire of the monsters, given how light on her feet she was; what was more likely, however, was that they sensed Larek nearby and that was what caused them to attack.

The former Logger held his left hand out with his staff held tightly in it, as he aimed toward the monster that nearly ate his feet. Standing only 5 feet tall, the Dirt Golem was virtually indistinguishable from the nearby ground in between the thick trees of the forest they had begun navigating through earlier in the day. Dead pine needles were stuck to its exterior, and small pebbles were interspersed inside of the large clumps of dirt that the Golem was comprised of; the irregular, solidified chunks of earth were arranged and stacked on top of each other in a parody of a person, though it had no “head” to speak of. What it did have, though, was a sharp, stone-toothed mouth on its upper torso that was at least a foot and a half wide, which had nearly snatched Larek’s lower limbs up from below; his Repelling Barrier wouldn’t prevent something like that happening, given its directional location, so he was glad to have rolled out of the way.

“Hit them just below their mouths!” Verne shouted, his roommate’s knowledge of monsters overriding Larek’s temporary fear at the presence of the Golems that had sprung up all around the group. Out of them all, the young Mage student had been one of the better students when it came to monster knowledge; thankfully, Verne also wasn’t one to freeze up at the sight of danger, and was already using his projectile staff to launch an Icy Spikeat one of the Golems. As Larek watched him out of the corner of his eye, the boy deftly flipped the staff around and sent a Flaming Ball out of its end, following up his previous attack. It looks like he’s already become accustomed to using that thing.

The same couldn’t be said for Larek, who refocused his efforts on the Golem nearest him. His own staff was similar to the others in its Effects, and had chosen to utilize Flying Stone and Water Stream as his projectiles; his first attack, which was nearly point-blank range at only 5 feet away, shot a chunk of stone at the Dirt Golem just under the mouth as Verne had directed. Somehow, the Golem ended up turning just enough for its left dirt-clump arm to intersect the projectile, which blasted the earthy appendage apart, but it was otherwise fine.

Rather than strain the Fusion by using another stone, he attempted to twirl the staff in his fingers like he saw Verne do, but all he managed to accomplish was to drop the projectile-slinging weapon as he fumbled the maneuver. While he thought he might have enough time to pick it up, he left it where it fell because he felt the ground tremble slightly behind him, and he jerked himself forward in time to avoid a blow from another Dirt Golem from behind. His Repelling Barrier might have blocked and redirected it downward, but when he looked back at the attacking Golem, he realized that the punch wasn’t necessarily fast – just strong. With the fact that it might not have even triggered the protective Fusion if it had managed to land the blow, he made sure to keep moving in order to not be surrounded.

Axe in hand, he maintained his forward momentum and chopped downward at the Golem that had blocked his Stone projectile a few seconds before. The cutting edge of his tool was incredible, as it didn’t care that it was cutting through dirt or stone, as it cleaved its way through the upper torso and mouth of the monster like it was nothing, before there was a slight resistance just below its bisected orifice. As he yanked his axe out from the wound, he saw a brown glow coming from inside the lower torso that suddenly snuffed out; a second later, the entire Golem seized up and then fell apart, becoming no more than a pile of dirt on the ground.

Ah, so that’s what holding them all together. Thanks for the heads-up, Verne.

Conscious of the Golem behind him, Larek swung around after he watched his previous victim fall apart, just in time for his axe to cut entirely through another dirt punch coming for him. As it split in half, a chunk of the dirt slammed into him, the Barrier not stopping it because it wasn’t moving fast enough, but other than feeling the impact, his robe held up to few sharp rocks that been inside of the dirt. Unfortunately, the Golem kept coming for him despite its arm being cut in half, and he had to step back in order to get a full swing; he stumbled and nearly fell when his foot encountered the dirt pile that was all that was left of the previous monster, but he managed to keep his feet somehow.

Setting his stance once he regained his balance, Larek swung with a sideways chop at the Golem’s torso, his long arms giving him a reach advantage over the dirt monster. Just like he would cut into a tree trunk in an effort to fell it, the blade of his axe entered into its main body and sheared through it entirely. The cut was so clean and swift that the Golem didn’t even have time to separate into two pieces as its internal, glowing core of earth was cut apart; instead, it collapsed where it stood, creating yet another pile of dirt that Larek now had to avoid. Thankfully, he had a brief second to look around and get his bearings before he threw himself back into the fight.

He hadn’t really gotten a good look at how many of these Dirt Golems there were because they had attacked so suddenly, but now he could see that there were at least 300 of them that had either surrounded or come up under his group. Thankfully, with all the protections they possessed, the defenders were able to survive long enough to begin to fight back, and already there were dozens of dirt piles that were accumulating amongst the trees as they battled it out with the monsters attacking them.

The Martials were absolutely devastating the attacking Golems, with Bartholomew stabbing them quickly with his spear, Vivienne skewering them with her arrows as she fell back, and Penelope was bisecting them just as easily as Larek had his last victim, though with what seemed like even more ease than he had accomplished the deed. That wasn’t to say that Kimble and the other Mages were slouching in their efforts, because that was far from the truth. The Pyromancer started casting Fire Spears at the Golems with his right hand, which produced a long, thin spear of superheated flames that were able to penetrate the lower torso of the monsters in order to break their earthy core; he wasn’t quite as fast with the Spears as he was with Fireballs, but he also used his left hand – which was holding his staff – to launch Flying Stones and Water Streams that cut deeply into the Golems and were able to smash or cut limbs off his targets.

Nedira used Binding Roots to trap a half dozen Golems in place while she worked on dismantling them with other spells and her staff’s projectiles. Verne and Norde were standing back to back, taking on all comers as they released another projectile every few seconds, their speed designed to put less strain on the Fusions that provided the attacks.  It was a method that would help to prolong the staves for years to come, though if they ever got into real trouble, they had at least a few minutes of rapid-fire projectiles that would hopefully keep them alive until help could come.

Even in the few seconds he had to observe all this, he witnessed at least one Golem strike Nedira and Kimble in the back as they were attacked on all sides. The one that attacked Nedira, thankfully, activated her Repelling Barrier and its dirt-clump arm was ripped clean off its body because of the Fusion; the one that hit Kimble unfortunately made it through, and the Pyromancer was knocked off his feet, the blow strong enough to both move him and potentially crack a rib. Even as he was getting up, groaning in pain, Larek could see the Graduated Parahealing Fusion being consciously activated by Kimble as his body was healed, while at the same time the red-robed Mage used his staff and its Water Stream to cut the legs off the Golem that attacked him. That delayed the monster for a few seconds as its upper body reformed with the detached legs, but it was enough of a delay that it allowed Bartholomew to speed over and pierce its torso with his spear before defending against yet another Golem that was trying to attack him.

Speaking of the young Martial Trainee, he was already adapting to the Icy Spear on his weapon, adding yet another level of combat that Larek was astonished to see. At one point, the Fusionist watched him stab and kill a Golem, only to sense a second behind him ready to attack; a mental command shot the icy projectile into its lower torso, not quite piercing the core inside, but the attack caused it to stagger backwards. Reaching out to block an attack by a third Golem with his shield, which didn’t activate the Repelling Barrier, Bartholomew ripped the spear out of the first one he killed, twirled it around in his fingers so that the spearhead was facing backwards, and then shoved it in the hole that had been formed by the Icy Spear a few seconds before. After killing that second dirt monster, he angled himself so that the butt of the spear was aimed at the third, and after blocking yet another blow with his shield, he unleashed a second Icy Spear at the Golem. A swift yank of the weapon out from the crumbling pile of dirt left behind by the second monster was followed by yet another twirl of the spear, and a quick poke by the spearhead into the knocked-back third Golem was enough to finish it off.

In fact, looking at the Martials fight, their speed and grace at which they attacked and defended made Larek feel a bit envious. While he might be strong and have some skills utilizing his axe, he felt like a drunk mule staggering around the battlefield in comparison to the trainees.

Regardless of his “intoxicated” method of attack, he still got the job done, even if it wasn’t as pretty. He quickly threw himself back into the fight with his axe rather than stand back and use his staff from range, because he knew that he needed to kill as many of these monsters as possible for his own development. As he struck out at the nearest line of Dirt Golems heading his way, he felt his Agility stat kicking in as he moved faster than he had during the initial fight, and he was able to weave his way through the monsters coming for him, avoiding their strikes using whatever means were available. His quick speed as he ran at them actually helped their blows pass the threshold the Repelling Barrier needed in order to activate, and simply charging headlong into a few of them was enough to smash them into the ground with a strong burst of wind.

Unfortunately, the Dirt Golems were quite a bit more resilient than something like the Jumping Squirrels, as even if they were smashed into the ground by his Barrier, they were only lightly damaged. Even that light damage was rapidly fixed as dirt was rearranged around their bodies, as the only way to really “hurt” these monsters was to destroy their core.

Still, it was enough of a benefit for Larek when the Barrier activated than a detriment, even if he was forced to come back and finish them off, because it allowed him to attack the others without having to worry about being surrounded. After a minute or so, he was starting to get the hang of the Golem’s speed and attacks, which were all fairly basic and without any major variations; it didn’t take long for him to get into a rhythm, treating the Golems like tree trunks that needed to be cut through as he maneuvered his way around the seemingly endless horde.

That latter observation was proven to be a lie less than 10 minutes later as he cut through yet another Golem, leaving behind a dirt pile; he started to move toward the next one, only to realize that there was nothing moving around him. Pulling his hyper-focus of the fight up from where it had been, he looked around, only to see the others in his group standing in a group off to the side, chatting amongst themselves as the stared at the loose dirt-filled forest surrounding them.

“Done?” Penelope half-shouted the question, as he was approximately 50 feet away from the group. He slowly nodded, seeing no more Golems. “Good. You need some serious training, but you did well enough.”

“It, uh, got the job done, though… didn’t it?”

The blue-haired Martial nodded reluctantly as she walked over. “It did. This time. Thankfully for you, these Dirt Golems are pretty dumb and don’t use any speed or tactics to attack. If they had been faster or smarter, you might not have had such an easy time of it.”

“Easy?” He had to think about it for a few seconds. “Yeah, I guess it was.” After the initial ambush, he hadn’t felt all that good about his performance, but he supposed he made up for it once he really got moving. They weren’t as easy as the Squirrels to kill individually, though the furry-tailed rodents had speed and numbers on their side.

“Now what—?” he began to ask, before a familiar fog suddenly streamed out of the dirt piles near him. A few seconds later, they shot toward Larek, filling him with Corrupted Aetheric Force which his body immediately started to process. Looking at his Status, there was no way to see how much he initially absorbed, but every second he watched his available Aetheric Force increase by 2. Meanwhile, he could feel the Corrupted Force inside of his body being… cleansed? Converted? Whatever it was, it felt like a gentle itch underneath his skin that was constantly moving around his body; thankfully, it wasn’t horrible and was gradually diminishing – even in the first few seconds of the process.

“Are you alright, Larek?” Nedira abruptly asked, startling him out of exploring the sensations he was feeling. This was the first time he’d actually experienced it, given that he passed out during his initial absorption of Aetheric Force, so it made sense that he wanted to explore the process.

“Yes, I believe so. I definitely received more of that Aetheric Force, but it takes a little time to convert into something useable,” he explained. “It feels strange, but not debilitating.”

“How much did you get from the Dirt Golems? We left the rest for you to kill when it looked like you could handle it, so that you could get as much as possible.”

Larek shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. It looks like it’ll keep adding up as it is… uncorrupted?”

“Purified, maybe?” she offered as a solution.

“Sure, that sounds about right.” Looking around at the mounds of dirt, he asked, “Is there anything worth keeping from these things?” A lot of monsters had valuable parts that could be reused in the construction of armor and weapons, or so he was taught. At the Academy and the Fort, they only used basic issue weapons and armor because it was fairly inexpensive to produce; weapons and armor using monster parts was apparently only seen on members of the SIC. He wasn’t sure why that was because there were always plenty of monsters to go around, but he suspected that it was because of a lack of those able to make use of the material. A normal village or town blacksmith wouldn’t normally be able to process tough Clamp Lizardscales for use in something defensive, for example, or turning the claw from a Roc King into a deadly sword wasn’t necessarily common.

He made a mental note to look into what it actually took for someone to work with those materials in the future, but for now he was just concentrating on staying alive.

“Some of them can have small amounts of ore and precious gems,” Verne answered helpfully.

Penelope shook her head. “We don’t have time to dig through all of these, and it’s not like we need money,” she said, bouncing slightly as the bag on her back jingled with the coinage inside.

“I had forgotten about that,” Larek admitted. With everything else going on, the presence of the coins had slipped his mind; he realized that they could probably afford anything they needed once they got to Whittleton, without needing to scavenge from the monsters they killed. Unless there was something extremely valuable that it would be a waste to leave behind. “If that’s the case, let’s get moving – as long as everyone is fine?” A quick look at everyone showed that no one was hurt, at least not currently; if they had been injured, their healing Fusions would’ve taken care of it.

A chorus of agreement answered him, and Vivienne led the way once again. “Don’t forget to check underneath us, Viv,” Penelope jokingly scolded the Ranger. “We don’t want to get eaten by any other Dirt Golems, after all.”

“Yeah, yeah – whatever. I’m an awesome scout, but I can’t see through the ground, you know.”

The blue-haired Martial cocked her head and looked at Larek. “Can’t see through the ground? Fail. Larek, would you be a darling and get right on making a Fusion that could do that?” she asked, the joking tone still in her voice. As the others chuckled, likely still riding the high of a fight that wasn’t necessarily easy, but wasn’t as dangerous as it could’ve been.

Larek, on the other hand, now had something to think about to occupy his time as they continued their journey.