[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 21: Dire, Dire Death

“Sorry, Komachi,” Sam said through gritted teeth. He hadn’t even lasted a day in this new world. So much hope and potential wasted because… what? Darren thought it would be easier to manipulate the group without him?

A flicker of rage smoldered in Sam’s chest, but he didn’t stamp it out. Instead, he stoked it and directed it to strengthen him. He had to find a way to get away from this damn golem.

It was clear as glass that there was no way in hell he would defeat it on his own. And escape across the bridge was out of the question.

If I ever see Darren again, I’m going to choke the life out of him, Sam snarled as his knuckles whitened on the grip of his blade.

“Nah, you got this, easy,” Komachi said from within his armor. “And I’m backing you up.”

He wasn’t so sure about that, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Cornered on that ledge, running wasn’t an option. Jumping into those misty depths was more likely to be outright lethal than going toe-to-toe with the golem.

Besides, with the meager moments left of his life, Sam wanted to fight. Even against an impossible opponent. The likes of which he would never have faced on Earth.

The prospect of testing his newfound limits against this golem filled Sam with overpowering eagerness. Not quite bravery, but it’s younger sibling, reckless determination.

Seeing as if he died, there wasn’t going to be any First Flame anyway, Sam tried to focus on the [Flamekeeper] ability.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Sam felt a tether form between himself and the [Coal of the First Flame] nestled in his pocket.

He drew deeply on its strength, knowing that the flame was going to go out unless he could somehow fell a creature that the combined strength of his group couldn’t subdue.

Long shot or no, Sam pulled everything he could into himself. A heat haze shimmered across his skin.

You are empowered by the [Coal of the First Flame].

Current Heat Level: 74/100

You gain the primordial buff:

[Ignite Alloy of War]

Channels a portion of the primordial flame of challenge through you, enhancing the affinities of Fire and Metal while fortifying Strength and Vigor. Deepens the connection to your nascent bloodline.

+Fire Affinity Up II | +Metal Affinity Up II

+10 Strength & Vigor

Woah, what does Metal Affinity do?

Not caring whatsoever about Sam’s sudden interest in a new type of affinity, the golem lumbered up to him and slammed a fist down on him.

With more than a 50% boost to his Strength, Sam found himself thrown to the side by a coiled surge from his legs. He tucked and rolled, bringing his claymore around only for the golem to meet his half-raised blade with a swinging maul of a fist.

Sam moved the blade along with the backswing, twisting it until he could bring it up and into the golem’s swing. He stepped forward, meaning to make a practiced strike that would make his HEMA mentors proud, when something in his gut overrode his muscle memory.

Meyer’s Square didn’t really apply when fighting a behemoth of a golem made out of magical wood that had at least a few hundred pounds on Sam.

Dipping his blade rather than bringing it forward for an underhand slash, Sam lunged forward as another of the creature’s fists came around and crashed into the spot he had been just a moment before.

His [Dull Claymore] speared into what accounted for the creature’s woody thigh. Aided by his new buff, [Ignite Alloy of War], the blade’s tip managed to sink a few inches into the creature’s flesh before it met resistance.

Flames licked up the edges of the blade as Sam drew more deeply on the coal’s power, scorching the edges of the wound and sending the golem into a rage.

Current Heat Level: 57/100

Sam should have extricated himself right then and there. That was the way he was taught. Step in, strike, defend yourself on the exit, and then line up another attack.

But this wasn’t a tournament.

There was only one rule here: survive.

It didn’t matter if he pulled off every textbook strike Meyer ever invented if he ended up dying at the end. So Sam switched it up.

Choking up on the handle, Sam pulled the blade out of the golem’s wound, twisted about, and hit the smoldering wound with a pommel-strike bearing his full strength.

There was a satisfying crack of wood a moment before the creature kicked out with its other leg, launching Sam through the air. Thankfully along the edge of the ravine, rather than right over it.

One disadvantage of a greatsword was made evident as Sam landed heavily and nearly lost his grip on the massive weapon. There was simply no way to easily hold on to it while also tumbling ass-over-teakettle.

The golem was basically as large as he was, but somehow, he managed with little more than a twinge in his wrist and shoulder.

Getting off his back was the only thing on his mind as he scrambled to his feet and tried to dive to the side to put his back to the forest.

The golem, however, was not as unthinking as he had hoped and instead dropped one of its massive arms right where he was about to roll, blocking off his escape.

At the same time, Sam swore he saw something sparkle and shimmer on the golem’s body. Something he instinctively knew he should focus on, but it was gone the moment he looked.

Digging his heels into dirt on the ledge, Sam swung his claymore for the fences right where he thought that strange shimmer was.

The golem staggered from the blow, its leafy and wooden body locked up.

I should be setting my stance and keeping a defense, he chided himself, pulling back slightly.

The move put him right in line with the giant creature’s swinging limb, and Sam barely had enough time to use his claymore to divert it to the side and into the shuddering ground.

By a stroke of luck, Sam managed to keep his feet, but only just.

Fuck it,Sam thought.

He darted forward, drawing deeper on the coal to fuel his rapidly dwindling strength. Despite having 50% more Vigor and Strength, his arms were practically numb from deflecting that one blow.

There was no way on Earth or Islegard that Sam could possibly take a full-force attack. His only option was to put the creature on the defensive while he tried to maneuver toward the forest. Maybe he could lose it in there, but he didn’t truly believe that.

Not that it would matter. So long as the golem was engaged with him, there was no chance he was going to turn his back on it.

Komachi jingled her little wand, casting [Regen] on Sam as he struck hard for that shimmer he saw again. It was the first time he realized he had been bleeding.

Nothing I can do for it.

Pushing himself to his limits, Sam drew more and more power through his connection with the coal. He needed every advantage he could get, and with each bit of Heat he pulled into his body, he could feel the battle slowly shift to his favor.

It wouldn’t last. He was burning—quite literally—through what meager power the coal possessed. If he couldn’t end it quickly, he was dead.

Unburdened from his teachings, Sam swung his claymore about sloppily and awkwardly, but always managed to cut into the golem before it could retaliate.

Movements a blur, Sam kept the golem from doing anything but defending against his brutish and unconventional attacks. Time began to slow to a crawl, the world shrank to a mere three feet around Sam and the golem.

Current Heat Level: 30/100

Faster.

Sam’s arms moved as if they had a mind of their own. He unfocused his eyes and let them do their brutal work while he kept his footing secure to deliver each strike from a solid foundation.

Faster!

Current Heat Level: 25/100

Curling tongues of flame rippled up and down his arms but kept his armor and clothing intact as his speed increased, blurring the strikes of his blade biting into the golem’s bark-like skin.

Komachi yowled in surprise at them, then ducked her head back into his battered breastplate.

Wherever the flames were brightest, the golem shied away, allowing Sam to feint and force the monster just where he wanted it.

Escape forgotten in the surge of bloodlust, Sam pressed his advantage for all it was worth.

Every hewing swing scorched and lopped off bits of the golem. With each passing second, Sam whittled down its defenses until the faint sparkle was a glaring ripple of runes and sigils that directed his sword in a series of blistering cuts that ended with a spearing strike through its middle.

Pressing through with every ounce of his flame-imbued power, Sam beckoned the flames to surge through him and into his blade, blackening the golem’s gaping wound and turning the surrounding flesh to ash.

Critical Weak Point Formed!

Incarnate Bloodline awakened: [Breaker]

Sam dismissed the message with a mental swipe, but it was enough to break his concentration. The fire along his sword spluttered and drew back. He felt his connection to the coal shiver and thin as its power flared out of control without his guidance.

Current Heat Level: 18/100

Shit.

Sam fumbled at the tether, trying to bring the power back under control.

Current Heat Level: 15/100

For the first time in the last few minutes, the [Dire Hoary Wood Golem] had been given a reprieve. It realized, on an instinctual animal level, that it had just been dealt a mortal blow.

But, like Sam, it wasn’t about to go down without a fight. These were its forests that these people were trespassing, and the golem would do its duty even if it cost it its life.

While the worthy foe before him was distracted, the golem raised what was left of its scarred and burnt arms into a double-fist and slammed them down on the damned human’s head. Its life might be over, but it would make sure that this dangerous creature would never set another twig aflame in its woods again.

Sam managed to wrest control back in time to see the strike coming, but not fast enough to get out of the way.

With his primordially buffed Strength and Vigor, one final rush of power surged through his body.

Sam met the golem’s fists with his blade.

Heat crawled up the chipped and dinged edge of the blade, scorching the wood where the edge bit into it. But the golem didn’t care.

It pressed further, forcing Sam to grip his blade just to steady his shaking arm. There was no way he could resist the golem’s strength with two arms, let alone one, but the only other option was to be crushed.

If he had to die, he’d go out the same way he came into this world, screaming defiantly.

Shouting obscenities as the double-sided edge bit through his glove’s palm and drew blood, Sam was forced down to one knee as the golem continued to drive him downward even as its bark skin caught fire.

There was a terrible cracking sound, and Sam feared that his arm was breaking, but soon realized it was worse.

Much, much worse.

Tendrils of hairline fractures in the stone spread out beneath Sam’s knee where he was just barely holding off the golem’s attack.

With its other limb, the golem hammered down on Sam’s blade. The force should have made his blade cut his palm in half, but the blade had ceased to hurt him as an unsettlingly familiar black-and-silver curling flame flowed out from his palm to protect it.

Sam didn’t have long to ponder the mystery of that as one final swing of the golem’s fist shattered the cliff edge they were on, sending the pair plunging to the white misted depths of the ravine below.