But before he could say anything, a shadow palm swiped across the air, striking Simon on his chest.
"OOOOOFFFFF!!!!!"
Blood spilling out of his mouth, he flew across the hall, slamming directly onto the wall. Amidst the crumbling wall, weak gasps for air could be heard, yet diminishing every second. "SIMON! Why you asshole...!"
Furious, Duncan flew across the hall, his eyes burning in rage.
"Burning Whip!"
With a loud shout, Duncan used a combination of two tier-3 spells, Magmatic Heat and Terrasteel Vine, to create a burning vine, an inch thick, whipping it right towards the golem. Upon impact, the burning vine immediately set the golem on fire, causing the gloomy gas within it to dissipate. With a loud clatter, the Darksteel armour fell onto the ground, becoming a pile of trash.
With a sigh of relief, Duncan turned to Lewis, wiping his forehead "Phew! Now, let's go see our Dwarven friend, shall-"
Fwooom
Before Lewis's horrified eyes, a gauntlet flew straight through the air, piercing through Duncan. It was only through his sheer instincts that it only pierced his left shoulder. "Shit, it's still not dead yet–"
He turned around, only to be horrified. With a loud clanking noise, the armour pieces began to float. Black air emerged from the helmet, along with the resurgence of those red eyes. Stupefied, they could only watch in horror as the golem recreated itself. "Shit, it's that damn ability of it – Re-Fragmentization! It can recast itself back again!"
Duncan, weakened with a hole in his shoulder...
Lewis, clutching the last Gatling salvo...
"Waaagghhh!"
With a guttural cry, a bloodied Dwarf ran from the walls, wielding a dimly lit hammer. With a loud smash, Simon parried the Darksteel Knight, smacking it into a pillar, causing the collapsing pillar to trap it into a pile of rubble. "Daarves ain't so easy to kill, arsehat..."
""Simon!""
With a loud cry, Lewis and Duncan (although in huge pain) ran up to the Dwarf, hugging the shit out of him.
"*Sniff*, *sniff*, I thought you were dead..."
"Yeah, that crash was horrendous to look at... How did you survive?"
Patting his slightly bleeding belly, Simon reassured his companions he was still fine. Grinning with body teeth, he stood in front of them, clutching the hammer tightly. "Let's show this asshole who's the boss!"
With a loud roar, Simon leapt into battle, fighting (surprisingly well) against the beast. Parrying each swing perfectly, Simon tread tightly, each swing on the edge of death. The beast, despite its mastery in Nether Swordsmanship and having four arms, barely managed to keep its rhythm against Simon. Yet they knew the Beast would win in the end...
For Simon was getting weaker and weaker with each passing second
"Shit, what should we do!" Biting his lips tightly, Lewis asked Duncan. His gaze stern, Duncan tried to reassure him back. "No need to worry, I'll sure we'll fig–"
Suddenly, a small flash of light caught his eyes, the same one Simon witnessed.
Whispering with great fervour, Duncan instructed Lewis on what to do next. "Psst! Lewis, go and head up to the room on the first floor, on the corner to the right. I suspect it to not be a golem, but a...
Puppet
I believe that the controller must be upstairs, given that those brief flashes of light come from the first floor. Go and find them!" With a final heave, Duncan stood, his shoulder still bleeding. "For Titania!"
And with that, he charged into battle.
Now, with two adversaries against it, the pressure mounted exponentially. This leads it to increase its focus more on its attackers, causing it to dismiss a tall figure crouching its way upstairs.
As soon as Lewis felt he left the Beast's sight, he began dashing towards the room where the flash was last seen. Passing through the corridors, he nearly puked, but kept steadfast in his mission.
For every room was filled with the decaying corpses of the missing adventurers who came here
Reaching his destination, he wasted no time, kicking the door wide open.
There, inside a very messy room, lay stacks upon stacks of Crystallite Orbs.
Some depicted scenes from outside, traps and all...
Some showed scenes of Duncan and Simon fighting...
And some showed lines upon lines of coding, snaking its way across the screen
But what shocked him the most was the room's occupant.
Crouching near the makeshift monitors was a purple-haired, green-eyed woman, with thick glasses covering them. Atop her head were two horns, curving their way across the head. Wearing nothing but scantily clad underwear, her eight-packs shining in the light.
A Cockatrice kebab in her mouth, it dropped once she realised that someone saw her embarrassing side. But her eyes shrunk once she realised who it was...
His Gatling Crossbow falling, Lewis staggered back, unable to believe it was as well.
"W-why are you here!?"