"Everyone can feel it, right?"
Farrdin was quite certain of his judgment; he simply needed confirmation from the others.
Sylvie and Canis, the two with the best mana-sensing abilities, nodded in unison. Canis pointed at the snowy white spherical magic stone in the golem's chest.
"The mana circuits all branch out from there, spreading throughout the body. We just need to destroy it or, better yet, pull it out, and this Golem will stop functioning."
The Golem made of black stone stood there, a combination of giant boulders and stone fragments connected by mana circuits. Its two arms emitted a faint purple light. It had no legs; its body was fused directly with the ground.
"What kind of magic stone is this? How can a single stone the size of an apple provide energy for such a giant creature?" Sylvie asked in wonder.
"I'm not sure. I've heard of many types of magic stone, but none have the same properties as this one."
Canis was truly surprised and overwhelmed. In his memory, for a golem of this size to operate, the magic stone would need to be several square meters, not that small. And the color should at least be reddish-purple; he had never heard of a white magic stone existing.
"There was once a legend," Farrdin explained.
"Mana has 7 colors, equivalent to 7 different densities. The highest is purple, but in reality, there are two types of mana colors hypothesized to be even higher than purple."
"Those are white and black."
"A white piece of paper is the purest state. When you paint other colors on it, it loses its purity. When too many colors are layered on top of each other, it creates black."
Riven felt Farrdin was trying to say something vague that even he didn't understand just to sound profound.
"Let's set that aside for now. The most important thing is how to get that thing down," Riven said.
Farrdin turned to look at Lan. Lan said nothing, immediately drawing her bow and aiming high at the magic stone in the center of the golem's chest. Her green eyes radiated light as mana concentrated in her hands and eyes.
[Skill: Support. The arm holding the bow does not tremble, acting like a bow stand. Arm strength increases by approximately 3.25 times. Can be maintained for 5 minutes.] [Clairvoyance: Increases vision by 50% within a 400m range.]
The sound of wind whistled continuously. Unlike the wind on the surface, which was stable and predictable, the wind in the cavern was erratic and changed direction, making archery much more difficult.
Lan's gaze was fixed steadily on the magic stone. In a state of absolute focus, she seemed to lose awareness of the outside world; in her eyes, there was only the bullseye. In a fraction of a millisecond, she released her hand.
"Whiz!"
The arrow tore through the wind, flying straight toward the magic stone. Immediately, the golem's right arm swung out to block it. The arrow pierced 50 cm into the black stone layer before stopping completely and shattering.
"If it hadn't raised its hand to block, it would have hit."
No one was blind; the accuracy of that shot was unquestionable. Farrdin flashed a slight smile and said.
"Very good. Sora, Canis, you two restrain its right arm. The lady and I will restrain the left. Lady Lan, when the time comes, that is your moment to shine."
"Sora, since you and I have no long-range capability, support your partner."
Farrdin's praise was sincere, not oily like Riven's, and Lan was very confident in her skills, so she only nodded slightly. She remained there, sensing the wind direction, while the others approached the golem. Canis suddenly whispered to Riven.
"Let's call a temporary truce. If we don't cooperate, it will be hard to get the Heavenly Heart Wood. You don't want Sylvie to die with you, do you?"
Riven simply nodded in agreement, while inwardly laughing coldly as if he had heard the funniest story in the world. Failed to kill me and now dares to propose a truce? There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world; every action has consequences.
Farrdin observed. After confirming everyone was in a state of readiness, he still looked toward Riven with a bit of worry. Based on what had been shown, he didn't doubt Riven's ability but was concerned about his coordination, since Riven was only a temporary addition.
However, worry was useless. Farrdin immediately barked.
"Right now!"
The formation immediately split into two wings corresponding to the Golem's right and left arms as planned. Lan drank a stamina-enhancing potion and drew her bow toward the golem, waiting for the opportunity from her teammates.
Canis spread his arms to both sides, forming a Y-shape, and spoke.
"Divine Protection!"
A golden light enveloped everyone except Lan, as she was too far away. Riven suddenly felt his body become considerably more agile. The effect was analyzed by the RPG Dungeon and appeared before him.
[Divine Protection: Increases agility and thinking speed for designated members within a 40m range centered on the caster. The closer to the center, the more the speed increases, up to a maximum of 12%.]
As the group closed in, the golem's eyes flashed, and two beams of light shot directly toward Canis and Riven. The light was only as small as a finger at first but grew into a cone shape as it flew toward them, reaching a radius of 4m.
Both quickly dodged, having seen its intent to attack even before the beams flew out. But the speed of light was too fast. Although they had moved to avoid it before the attack even occurred, it still grazed Riven's leg. Canis, not having Riven's speed due to his class specialization, fared worse.
The red light cut through, nearly severing his right arm.
"My arm!"
Screaming in pain, Canis quickly froze his right arm with cold magic and began healing it slowly with Heal.
Riven quickly realized that this light could only deal damage to cloth and living creatures, but could not destroy the rocks and earth in its path. Riven felt he had missed a good opportunity to eliminate Canis, but at that moment, the golem turning toward them meant he only thought of self-defense and was nearly incapable of thinking of others.
But the moveset of that attack was already memorized by Riven. Don't look at Riven's 52-match losing streak and think he's a noob; most of Riven's skills were unquestionable, he only lost due to external factors. He had also beaten all the games "from software" including full DLC. If that move were used again, Canis would definitely be crying.
Seeing the golem was distracted, Farrdin shouted loudly.
"My lady!"
Sylvie's eyes emitted a divine white light. Behind her, 27 light spears appeared. At the same time, mana fluctuations radiated from Farrdin. His knuckles suddenly turned red. Strangely, at the same positions on the golem's stone knuckles, they also turned red.
[Fatal Weakness: Forcibly creates a weakness on the opponent's body, and a weakness will also exist at the same position on one's own body. Maintained for 20 seconds.]
Sylvie lowered her hand. 27 light spears lunged chaotically at the Golem's two knuckles. Although the accuracy couldn't match Lan's arrow, the destructive power was unquestionable.
[Seventy-Two Light Spears. When learned to max level, can summon 72 light spears with terrifying destructive power.]
When the spears collided with the two knuckles, they created giant explosions of light. Everyone covered their ears to avoid damage from the shockwave. Only Lan couldn't, as she had to keep her bow drawn. Blood flowed from both ears, rolling down her fair cheeks. Lan's teeth were gritted, her eyes still fixed on the direction where the smoke was gradually clearing, showing a kind of resilient beauty.
As the smoke cleared, the golem's two arms were shattered into pieces scattered on the ground. It turned its face toward the two who had just attacked it. Its eyes flashed. A beam of light cut through space toward Sylvie, while at the same time, an arrow tore through the wind, flying straight toward the golem's white core.
Sylvie was a Saint, a class even more restricted than mages and priests. Before she could react, the red light was already before her eyes. Farrdin had anticipated the possibility of a counterattack and had been on guard, but he still couldn't keep up with the speed of the light beam.
He lunged toward Sylvie in desperation.