After Ryan and Teil delved deeper into the area in a rather random manner, they happened to enter another goblin zone.
"Damn it, why do we always have to encounter these goblins?" Ryan cursed.
Teil replied: "You complain too much, what if you replace words with actions?" That was what Teil said to Ryan as he grabbed one of the goblins and spilled its blood. At that moment, Ryan rushed forward and joined the battle as well. It was a massacre from every direction, committed by the two mutants against these goblins. But because of the noise the boys made, the commotion attracted some other monsters. Three winged beasts swooped down on them without hesitation. With high speed, Ryan managed to avoid the first strike and countered the next with an equal attack. But the collision between him and the beast tore apart several trees around them. With each clash, the wooded area vanished further, revealing layers of rock beneath.
On the other side, Teil was fighting two of the winged creatures alone. His gray feathers had hardened and turned into sharp blades, flying toward the two beasts without leaving them any room to advance. Suddenly, when one of the beasts thought it had found an opening to break through Teil's domain, a cluster of gray feathers shot out like a hail of bullets from behind, piercing through the creature's body and shredding it until it collapsed to the ground, dead.
Elsewhere, Ryan leapt into the sky to seize the beast with a speed it couldn't keep up with. His arms hardened, covered in crimson dragon scales, and his hand became strong, solid, crimson in color, resembling a dragon's claw. He charged at the beast, lunged, and ripped it apart, sending it crashing down dead. Then, at the same time, Ryan and Teil turned toward the last beast. To it, their appearance looked like that of assassins about to spill its blood. The beast chose to flee rather than fight. In a desperate attempt to escape, it tried to circle around them and fly away in the opposite direction, but the moment it looked forward, it found itself greeted by a barrage of attacks unleashed by Teil. The beast managed to dodge but still sustained heavy damage. Then it was Ryan's turn. He jumped high above the winged beast, and his dragon-like arm ignited with flames — flames of a crimson hue. His fist descended like a whip from the heavens onto the monster's head. When Ryan landed, he saw that the creature's head had vanished entirely because of that attack. After his arms returned to their human state, Ryan cracked his knuckles once more. "Well, that was way more fun than the goblins."
After the battle ended, Ryan and Teil pressed on further into the area, searching for anything connected to the organization. They were also looking for a strong opponent to challenge.
Meanwhile, Tala and Carlos were steadily moving forward at a regular pace. Tala held the map once more and said: "Our destination is closer. We are getting nearer step by step. But we need to be careful. We are about to enter a zone said to be inhabited by stone golems."
The region Carlos and Tala reached was rocky, and what stood out was the presence of rare minerals. This place was an excellent spot for mining. Carlos approached one of the rocks; without a doubt, it was adamantite ore — the hardest metal found on the human continent. Weapons of exceptional quality could be forged from it, but because of its rarity and its presence in dangerous places, very few could use adamantite to craft a weapon. Only nobles and esteemed knights within noble society possessed weapons made of adamantite. "But isn't leaving this ore here just a waste?" Carlos thought.
He drew his sword and swung it toward the raw ore, trying to cut a piece off, but it wasn't easy. The ore's hardness was so great that Carlos's sword was far too weak to damage it. Still, that didn't stop Carlos from wanting something for himself. Suddenly, a gust of wind strong enough lifted the adamantite ore high into the air. Carlos fixed his gaze on the rock hurled skyward and gripped his sword tighter. Currents of wind swirled around his blade, and he swung it at the falling stone. With three slashes, three blades of wind shot forth with each swing. The wind blades collided with the rock in midair, and a thunderous explosion echoed across the region. The ore descended in smaller chunks, split into more manageable pieces. Carlos collected three fragments and placed them into his bag.
Tala said to him: "Do you really intend to carry this with you in the bag? I understand the greed that makes you want to take such a rare ore, but isn't this too heavy for you? We're not on a mining trip, we're heading straight into the beast's lair."
Carlos reassured her: "No need to worry, I'll be fine."
Even so, Carlos looked genuinely happy. From the start, he had always relied on his weapons, considering them part of his own strength. Thus, obtaining a powerful weapon meant he had become stronger. Carlos was obsessed with every little detail of his weapons, and Tala knew this fact very well. That was why she didn't argue much with him and instead resumed walking with him as they carved their path through the rocky region.
While walking, Tala stumbled on the ground and fell. Carlos stopped, extending his hand to lift her up, but the moment their hands clasped, the rock beneath them began to tremble. Carlos instantly grabbed Tala and leapt off the rock. Soon, the true form of the rock was revealed — it was a mid-sized golem. Carlos glared at it sharply. "Finally, you've shown yourself." But his top priority now was to find a safe place for Tala before engaging the golem.
He leapt between the rocks, carrying Tala in one hand and the heavy bag on his back. Quickly, he found a safe spot, a rocky hollow. "Alright, stay here with the gear. I'll take care of this threat quickly."
That was what Carlos said to Tala before dashing toward the golem. His sword strikes rained down on it like a storm, but they were futile; its rocky body was far too hard for his blade. Yet Carlos knew the truth — the only way to defeat a stone golem was to target its core. Attacking its rocky body was pointless. The core was the only thing he needed to aim for. The real problem, however, was finding where the core was located. With the golem's erratic movements, locating it became even harder.
The golem's rocky arm swung violently toward Carlos, but he dodged and retaliated with a whirlwind of wind — it had little to no effect. Carlos drew two pairs of daggers he had kept in reserve, discarded his sword, and charged at the golem wielding the daggers. His strategy relied on speed and dealing repeated blows. Even if the damage was minimal, hitting the same spot again and again started to show results. The areas that endured repeated damage began to crack. Soon, one of the golem's arms crumbled, followed by one of its legs. The stone golem's body was finally breaking down. But the real challenge wasn't destroying its body — it was finding its core.
Though Carlos crushed one arm and one leg, the golem quickly regenerated them. The battle was wearing him down. At that point, Carlos heightened his speed and sharpened his attacks, striking all over the golem's body — still to no avail. Then suddenly, Carlos vanished from the golem's sight. In an instant, before it realized anything, Carlos was behind it, holding his daggers crossed. A whirlwind wrapped around each blade, and in one swift motion, he unleashed two blades of wind from his daggers. They shot forward at high speed, slicing the golem clean in half — an upper half and a lower half. But Carlos knew this wouldn't end it. The real reason he had done this was to find out where the core was. Whichever half attempted to regenerate and reform, the core would surely be there.
End of Chapter