The battle burned with voracious intensity.
Tremors shook the ground without pause, blood spilled freely, and youths who only hours earlier had slept in peace now fought beings born from their worst nightmares.
Giovanni felt the collision happen…
And the Golem's power overwhelms his own.
The balance was fleeting, quickly replaced by a crushing victory in favor of the far more experienced opponent.
Seeing the mountain of rock rushing to devour him, Giovanni darted out of its reach, just in time to see the bipedal creature charging straight toward him.
An immense stone floated upward, taking the shape of a sphere.
Fragments were torn away at precise points, carving it into a massive hammer.
The golem seized the colossal weapon and delivered a brutal blow with its four arms, sweeping everything in its path.
From the ground, a towering wall rose, thickening as fast as possible to block the impact.
The defensive formation cracked, absorbing part of the force, but was ultimately pierced.
Dust exploded in all directions, which would have blinded him if not for his seismic sense.
The young man slid beneath the attack, swallowed by the weapon's shadow as he felt stone scrape against his nose.
The hammer shattered, splitting into smaller pieces and reshaping into four short swords. Even made of rock, each blade looked as sharp as steel.
Compared to Giovanni's fleeting attempt to create a dagger, that display seemed worthy of any military arsenal.
The single strike gave way to a dance of slashes and thrusts. The golem held an overwhelming advantage and could unleash twice as many attacks as a normal opponent.
Driven by instinct, the boy tried to make the ground beneath the golem slip, give way; he needed to create an opening!
But the earth did not obey his command.
That sensation felt wrong to a mind accustomed to instant control.
Just as Giovanni had avoided falling into a similar trap earlier, the golem understood his intent and crushed it mercilessly.
In turn, Giovanni became the target of the same tactic, and avoiding it was a desperate effort.
Every step he took was accompanied by cracks and jagged rises. The ground wanted to devour him, and his will infused into the earth was the only thing preventing the trap from activating in time.
That fight was not just dangerous, it was infuriating!
Every technique he had spent months developing was being nullified and turned against him.
'How do I beat this?!'
The four swords struck from different angles, aiming for his legs, his neck, his torso. Apparently frustrated by how agile the human was, the creature leapt into the air and landed in a bestial stance.
The swords fused into its hands, becoming a single mass. What had once been humanoid took on an almost arachnid appearance, raising its limbs and hurling them at the prey below in a frenzied succession.
The slightest mistake would leave him skewered like a grape. The attack would fail to pierce his tunic, but if he were immobilized for even a second, escaping the golem's grip would be impossible.
Giovanni moved fluidly between the attacks, constantly retreating and buying what little time he could.
From afar, he could feel the clash between Shelly and the horde of lizards, desperate to hold that mud aberration back long enough for his only ally at the moment to join him.
'Finish those things already, Shelly…'
***
The earthen mass vibrated below, bursting into yet another cacophony of attacks.
In total, eight lizards charged at her from different directions, intent on tearing her apart.
Dormant creatures were threats that a sleeper could eliminate with relative ease. But in numbers, they became a tangible danger to an individual's life.
Even without powers, nightmare creatures still could mortally wound Shelly with their powerful jaws.
A single bite could tear a chunk out of the girl with ease.
And considering her flaw… it was very possible that such a wound would mean her death.
Because of that, she chose a strategy of striking and running, targeting the most isolated enemies whenever an opening appeared.
The weapon she wielded, a black knife called [Seeker's Instrument], had the property of making the first attack against an opponent exponentially more lethal.
After that, it became an ordinary blade, if not worse than most.
Her body accelerated, slipping past two lizards that tried to snap at her head before colliding directly with the farthest one, several meters ahead.
Her knife pierced through the lower jaw and the top of the creature's skull, extinguishing the madness and life from its eyes.
The spell whispered in her ear once more.
[You have slain a dormant Monster, Sculpitor's Topaz Lizard.]
Her enemies were already on her heels, lunging at her calves and arms. Her silhouette blurred, and her body dodged sideways in an instant.
One of the lizards that leapt to tear off her arm never had time to land.
Its body was pierced through the side of the abdomen and carried along with the blade lodged in it until it slammed into a nearby wall.
[You have slain a dormant Monster, Sculpitor's Topaz Lizard.]
After crushing yet another enemy, she briefly glanced toward where Giovanni was battling the devil.
The sight of the creature attacking without pause was hellish. The ground cracked, dust flew violently, and the boy dodged every strike without fail.
His face was desperate, even though he bore no visible injuries. The young woman could not perceive the invisible battle happening alongside the physical duel.
Several thoughts raced through her mind at once. Should she flee while Giovanni distracted the creatures? If she escaped, would she be able to cross the rest of that deadly region alive?
All that noise would not go unnoticed.
Twenty creatures seemed like a lot, but they were only a fraction of what must have lived there. Soon, dozens more would come to investigate the commotion, and at that point, fighting would be futile.
'What the hell am I thinking? Without this kid, it's impossible to navigate this hell!'
The relatively open area they were in was not common there, not even close. If she pushed forward too far, she would die uselessly in one of the narrow earthen corridors.
She needed that kid to get out of there!
Gripping the knife's handle tighter, she let out a stressed growl and charged at the lizards.
The next second, blood flew through the air.
***
The way the golem influenced the ground was entirely different, almost alien to Giovanni's mind.
While his human, limited mind relied on pure instinct and muscle memory to use his aspect with speed and efficiency, the opponent was more like a computer.
That is, while the boy's will acted as a single force, turning the environment into an extension of his body, the creature simply injected its intentions into the surroundings like a virus, preying upon and nullifying Giovanni's aspect.
The terrain below became an entity of its own, a program trying to fulfill its assigned function at any cost.
Trying to eliminate the golem's influence was simply ineffective. It spread faster than he could defend against it.
If Giovanni were not terrified by such a bizarre use of the enemy's profane aspect, he would have been truly impressed.
He was not just weaker in raw power; he was inferior in technique and refinement.
If nothing was done, Giovanni was doomed to lose.
'What do I do?'
The thought hammered in his head. He needed an answer.
The front limbs of the muddy colossus turned into long, sharp scythes, delivering horizontal blows meant to cleave him in two.
'No opening, none.'
As he dodged by a hair's breadth, the ground where his foot was about to land cracked. His will managed to prevent a pit from fully opening, sparing him certain death, but his balance faltered for a moment.
The delayed dodge finally got him hit.
Even if it was only a graze, a cut opened from one cheek to the other, crossing his nose. Fresh, warm blood ran down his face.
The stained scythe offered no respite, already preparing the next strike.
But then, a different sound made his skin prickle.
It was Shelly's pained scream echoing in the distance.
His eyes closed.
Through his seismic sense, he saw a fresh gash on his partner's right arm.
It looked painful, but disproportionate to her reaction, as she was shedding tears while gritting her teeth.
But there was something else, far stranger.
Shelly was… glowing.
The brief second he had to think about it ended, interrupted by the scythe aiming to split his skull in two.
The battle between the two earth manipulators seemed destined to continue in that fragile stalemate, but finally…
A blur crossed the battlefield and slammed into the rocky entity. The black knife drove itself with full force into the muddy body, stealing the creature's balance for a moment.
"Shel—? …No!"
Giovanni's eyes widened in terror.
The attack was completely absorbed. The devil was virtually immune to ordinary physical attacks thanks to its special body.
Shelly tried to pull the knife free and retreat, but met strong resistance.
Pinned in place for a single second, one of the pointed limbs rose and aimed precisely at the immobilized human's head.
Her face turned pale as she realized she was about to die.
The world seemed to move in slow motion.
Giovanni focused all his will on the golem's muddy body, trying to influence it and freeze its movement, even if only for a fraction of a second.
But it was impossible.
If Shelly died there, the only person capable of finishing the golem would be lost.
And Giovanni would be left to fight an opponent he could not harm.
But then, a rune deep within his soul burned with a golden hue.
An invisible force swept across the battlefield. The mud composing the golem, previously unreachable and uncontrollable to Giovanni, froze mid-attack.
Sudden silence.
That tyrannical, incomprehensible power lasted only a few brief seconds.
Long enough for Shelly to rip her weapon out of the monster and dash away as fast as she could.
The light that had shone around Shelly went out, like a candle blown out.
'I did… that?'
Giovanni stood in shock, slowly realizing that he had activated his attribute for the second time without even noticing.
"How do we kill this thing, Giovanni?!"
She shouted desperately at his side.
That was an answer he wanted to know as well!
His mind kept racing, searching for the single solution to that fight.
The body, the weapons, the head, the glow… the glow?
Throughout all of the golem's transformations, the only constant had been the yellowish light coming from its head.
Meanwhile, the mud that made up its body seemed to slough off continuously.
If the two of them could reach whatever was inside and destroy it, maybe…
"Shelly, I have an idea! Help me distract it as much as possible."
She hesitated, wanting to understand the plan, but there was no time for explanations.
"But… you know what, screw it!"
Side by side, the two exchanged one last look before charging back toward danger. The golem, already recovered, raised its limbs and scythes as well, ready to finish the job it had started.
Giovanni's idea was quite simple.
It was almost impossible to influence the Golem's body from a distance. Trying to shape or transmute it with his aspect was resisted by the creature's power.
But if Giovanni could touch it directly, he could use transmutation at its full potential.
His heart pounded wildly, driven by pure adrenaline.
Yet his mind was resolute, calm.
All he had to do was run straight into the embrace of a war machine.
Until then, Giovanni had prioritized his physical safety, avoiding risks at all costs… but now he had only one mission.
Dismantle that body faster than the golem could regenerate it.
The three combatants met, unleashing a pandemonium of violence. Blades cut through the air, stomps crushed the ground, and the earth trembled below in the final duel for control of the terrain.
Instead of dodging, Giovanni blocked each attack with his tunic.
The searing pain of the impacts made him want to scream.
The fabric neither cut nor pierced, seemingly indestructible, but his body suffered beneath it as damage accumulated rapidly.
If the golem had been an awakened creature, this would have been suicide. His bones would have shattered, his organs ruptured.
But the golem was a dormant being, just like them. Giovanni's trained body, infused with dozens of Soul Shards, was capable of enduring purely concussive damage.
And now, with Shelly dividing the monster's attention, he did not risk being grabbed and immobilized.
Every time the golem's weapons struck Giovanni's body, something changed.
Every time Giovanni's fists hit the muddy body, he transformed it.
Beneath the tunic, his skin tore, wounds piling up, but his focus was absolute.
What had been a massive body of mud began to turn into… glass.
Something the golem was incapable of manipulating.
Its form fell apart, forcing it to draw new material from the ground to reform itself.
However, Giovanni simply transmuted it into glass faster and faster.
Desperate, the creature began to ignore Shelly, trying to kill the human capable of bringing it down at all costs.
The remaining earthen weapons moved together, poised to finish the boy.
But turning its back on the girl was precisely what sealed its fate.
As its body was transmuted, the mud covering its head grew thinner, scarce, finally revealing what lay inside.
A large yellow gemstone, pulsing with corruption and light.
"Now!"
Giovanni shouted, knowing he was about to die.
Shelly became a blur, accelerating and then leaping onto the head of the unsuspecting enemy. Her knife struck the aberration's core with all the force she could muster, piercing and cracking its surface.
The mud bubbled, claws and scythes losing their shape, collapsing into an incomprehensible mass.
"DIE!"
She drove the blade even deeper, piercing it completely, her feral screams echoing as she accelerated once more.
The gem shattered in a burst of light.
[You have slain a Dormant Devil, Sculptor's Lesser Golem]
[You have received an Echo…]