Guest: Trying bringing griffins into the story, maybe it could be like Clara's Filo.
Author: Hmmmmmmm, I'll think about it. But I don't have a plan for a pet yet.
Amit Barabi: I hope Reiya is going to join Clara's training. A ghost should benefit from assassin training due to her possible stealth stats.
Author: Reiya bout to be sneaky little ghost.
Clara walked down the cave, her feather boots muffling the noise of her footsteps. She carefully traversed the terrain, listening for any signs of the golem or any other monster for that matter. It was quite a while before Clara heard anything ahead of her.
Loud crunching and cracking erupted from somewhere up ahead, so Clara quickly crouched behind a rock and peaked out from her cover. Just up ahead the golem she saw before was walking in the direction of the cave's entrance.
Suddenly, he stopped right next to Clara's cover and turned towards the wall just above her. Clara held her breath, her heart beating faster and louder. Her body trembled slightly as the golem towered over her like a skyscraper.
Luckily for her, the golem didn't seem to notice the little girl trembling just under him and he rammed his fist into the wall above her. Clara raised her shield to block the small amount of debris coming down.
Clara watched as the golem pulled out a bunch of chunks of ore and crystals and shoved them into its mouth. The crystals in its body began to change color and glow, before it returned to an amber color. The golem looked around for a few seconds and then walked off. Clara collapsed onto the ground and sighed in relief.
Holy moly, he is way scarier up close. Even the flesh golem wasn't that big, and he was mostly disgusting. This thing is just huge!
Clara took a few deep breaths and grit her teeth.
Get a grip, Clara. You're gonna fight things bigger than this eventually, so you might as well start early. If you can't even do this now, what will you do when a bigger monster comes along? What will you do then?
Clara gripped her knife tighter and began to make her way after the golem. She saw him breaking a rock in half and picking crystals out of them. The golem had his back turned to Clara, allowing her to get pretty close. She raised her knife above her head and took a deep breath.
"Erst Throw!" Clara screamed, throwing her knife at the stony giant's back.
*Crack*
The golem turned around in surprise at the unknown visitor and raised its mace hand to flatten Clara. However, it screamed out in pain the next second. The golem tried to reach something on its back with both arms before he slammed his back. Clara's knife reappeared in her hand and she swapped its forms.
"Second Throw!"
She threw the knife at the golem's face and started to run. The golem tried to stop the knife, but it exploded right into its eyes, blinding the beast and sending parts of its stony face flying. He raised his mace hand and bashed it into the ground, sending stone flying in all directions.
One large piece slammed into Clara, throwing her to the floor. She yelled out in pain and tried to stand up, but the golem hit the floor again, knocking Clara off balance. The golem began to approach Clara and swung his mace down.
"Chain Bind, Crescent Slash!" Clara called out. Chains burst forth from the ceiling and wrapped around the golem's mace hand, and Clara followed up with a pale blue slash to his arm. The attack crashed into the stony skin of the golem and broke off a large chunk of stone, revealing glowing ore beneath. The golem thrashed around, breaking off the chains and crashing into a wall of the cave.
The wall began to crack from the sudden impact and the cracks spread up onto the ceiling, dropping rocks on top of the golem. It quickly ran to the pile of crystals and ores it left and threw some into its mouth. Before Clara's very eyes the melted hole on its back and its arm and face began to heal, as if nothing happened.
"Oh come on! I can't even heal yet! Knife Rain!" Clara exclaimed, throwing her knives at the pile of materials. The knives slammed into the rocks and shattered them, turning the pile of golem food into a bunch of crumbs scattered over the cave floor. The golem screamed out in grief and turned to Clara, its eyes full of anger.
Oh no, that was all of my skills…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Clara yelled, running down the cave. Despite its massive size, the giant behemoth was right on her tail, swinging its mace around and trying to squash her. The golem was about to reach her, when Clara swapped to her strongest pot, slowing herself down.
"Erst Lid!" she exclaimed, setting up a lid behind her to try to block the golem. The monster crashed into the barricade, stopping it in its tracks. But the lid already began to crack just from that impact alone. The monster raised its fist and smashed the skill to smithereens before resuming its pursuit.
Alright, let's hope this plan works!
Clara stopped and turned towards the monster, equipping her strongest knife, and raised her other hand.
"Chain Bind!" she yelled. Chains burst out of the ground and wrapped around the golem's foot, tripping the beast and forcing it to fall face first onto the ground. It was about to get up, but Clara pointed her knife at it.
"Knife Rain, Second Lid, Crescent Slash!"
Clara showered the head of the golem with knives and trapped its torso under her skill, keeping it from getting up. Then she threw in one last attack before jumping on its head and stabbing it as hard as she could. Cracks ran down its stony jagged skin and Clara raised her knife again to stab the monster one more time. She stabbed it again and again, the head breaking more and more each time, until a loud cracking noise erupted and the head crumbled into a pile of rocks and crystals. The monster stopped and Clara let out a sigh of relief.
She jumped down from the pile of rocks onto the ground and started to absorb the pile into her knife. She picked up one of the amber colored crystals from inside the pile and marveled at the beautiful and smooth texture of the crystal.
I wonder if I can get an accessory made of this. Like a cool necklace or a ring. It won't be a waste since accessories give stats in this world, right? Wait… where is the exp for this monster? Do rock golems not gi-
Whatever Clara was thinking was cut short. The crystal in her hand turned a bright red and began to heat up so fast that the skin on Clara's hand began to burn before she let go of the thing. The crystal dropped to the ground and launched itself into the pile of rocks, disappearing with the gray mass. The heavy body rose from the ground, the crystals on it turning into a bright red color. The cave began to noticeably heat up, and Clara was beginning to sweat under the golem's intense heat.
A new head began to form on the golem, now with one glowing red eye, and the cracks around its body disappeared.
Oh god, it has a second phase…
"Erst Throw!" Clara threw her knife at the monster's eye. The knife exploded on impact, creating a small cloud of smoke around the monster's face, but once the smoke faded, Clara saw that the attack didn't even leave a dent.
The golem glared at her and its crystals began to glow even brighter. Clara took a few steps back and then began to run for her life as the glow and heat continued to intensify.
Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot! I have to get out of here! I can't kill that thing!
Clara glanced behind her to see how close the golem was, but to her horror it wasn't the monster chasing her, but a giant wall of flame was hot on her trail. She looked ahead and found the hole in the ceiling from before so she equipped the rope knife and swung it as fast as she could, unwinding the blade of the weapon. The rope burst forth and wrapped itself one something above the edge. Clara jumped up and pulled as hard as she could, slingshotting herself out of the cave and onto the grass under her. Flames burst from the hole, just barely missing the girl.
She let out a gasp as the cold air slammed onto her sweat covered body, cooling her down from the intense heat of the cave.
Phew, alright. Lesson learned. Golems are strong as hell, and blasting their head to dust does not kill them… somehow… I guess I'll ask about it later. Well, I should get out of here for now. Maybe I should find a new area and grind there. Maybe I can find some different monsters for my knives and get new ski-
A loud cracking noise distracted Clara from her thoughts. She looked down at the pit she just climbed out of and paled yet again. The golem didn't stop chasing her, and now one of his hands was holding onto the rim of the cave's holes.
"Crescent Slash!" Clara launched her strongest attack in hopes of doing some damage. The pale blue attack burst forth and rammed into the fingers of the stony monsters. Two of the fingers were destroyed and the giant lost its grip on the rim, dropping to the bottom of the cave. Clara went to get a better look. However, a large pillar of flame erupted from the cave, almost burning the girl's face.
Clara quickly backed away from the still burning pit and watched in horror as the golem began to emerge again, its fingers repaired as if nothing happened. She launched a barrage of skills at it until her SP ran out, but other than Crescent Slash, the other skills did very little to the reinforced stony flesh of the monster. It slammed its mace onto the ground and its eye began to glow bright red. Clara didn't want to wait for it to attack again and instead began to run away as fast as her legs could carry her.
Behind her the giant finished charging his attack and released a powerful stream of flame out of its eye, disintegrating the nearby trees and missing Clara by a hair. She screamed out in fear and continued to run through the forest in hopes of losing the golem.
Her heart was pounding in her ears and her breathing was ragged. Despite running for several minutes, the golem continued its unrelenting pursuit and flaming attacks. Each one was a close dodge for Clara, and she was beginning to feel exhausted from the running. She realized that unless she found a place to hide or a way to beat it, it would not stop its pursuit.
A loud hissing noise behind her got her attention, and she looked back to see the golem shaking its leg, several slimes wrapped around it, their bodies boiling and drying out. The leg itself began to crack and the crystals lost their glow for a moment. The golem stopped chasing Clara and blasted its flame attack straight into the foot, relighting the crystals and melting the stone together. It continued its pursuit like nothing happened, but an idea popped into Clara's head. She began to look around for something and her face lit up as she noticed it in the distance.
A lake! If I can just get it to that lake, I think I can beat it!
With renewed motivation, Clara swung herself forward with her rope knife as fast as she could, getting closer and closer to the large body of water. Just before she made it, however, a large heavy boulder crashed into her body, sending her flying forward. Clara screamed out in pain as her body slammed into the ground, every nerve screaming out in pain.
She struggled to her feet, trying her best to ignore the searing pain, and limped over to the lake. The golem was hot on her trail and she had seconds at best to execute her plan. Gritting her teeth, she ran towards the water, swung her rope knife at the nearest tree, and swung as far as she could into the lake.
"Erst Lid!" The glowing lid appeared right below her feet, stopping her from falling into the water. But Clara wasn't far enough out yet, so she grappled onto the nearest tree and swung herself even further into the lake until she was almost at its center.
"Second Lid!" Clara landed on the second platform and then swung herself to the other side of the lake. As soon as she landed, she looked back and saw that the golem just made it to the shore. It jumped after her and landed on the first glowing platform. However, the platform was only big enough for one foot, and the second one plunged into the water below, crackling and hissing as the glowing hot stone hit the cool water.
The golem roared in pain and balanced on the barrier with one foot. The second one started to crumble and the stones dropped into the water below. It looked at the girl in front of it and its eye began to glow, charging up another attack. Clara smiled and snapped her fingers, unsummoning the platform under the monster.
With a loud splash, the golem crashed into the lake. The water around it began to boil and hiss as the golem tried to scramble out of the water, but its feet were already destroyed. It began to blast the water below her with its heat beam and tried to evaporate the lake, but it was no use. Any water the monster evaporated was just replaced by the lake, and the golem continued to crack, its body crumbling before Clara's very eyes. After some of the stone fell off of its torso, Clara saw a bright red core inside its chest.
The golem stopped thrashing around and covered its core up with its broken arms, but she wasn't going to let it leave alive. Clara raised her knife over her head and the weapon form lit up in the moonlight. The golem panicked and started to charge up another heat beam, but it was too late.
"Crescent Slash!" Clara yelled, sending the attack at the golem. The pale blue light erupted from the tip of her knife and launched itself at the stony monster. With a loud crack, the attack sliced right through, destroying the core inside the golem. It roared one final time, before the behemoth collapsed for the last time, the crystals on its body dropping into the water, leaving behind a tiny man-made island of rubble.
Clara waited for a few seconds with baited breath and fell to her knees. She saw the exp notification in her vision, confirming the monster's death. She leaned on the side of a tree and let out a sigh of relief. Her entire body felt heavy and sore, and the pain and with the threat gone, everything came crashing all at once. Clara let out a long sigh and her body seemingly collapsed.
She opened her eyes and saw that she was now in an open field. A village was in front of her, full of life and people walking back and forth. Clara walked through the village, looking at all the different stalls. What did she come for again? Right! Buy some food to cook for Reiya.
"Miss Clara…" Clara heard some call behind her. It was Reiya, holding a couple of sandwiches in her hand. She passed one to Clara and the girl took it.
Reiya was about to say something else, but Clara heard glass shatter near her. She looked around to see that the citizens were all panicking, running around wildly and screaming. Above the village a huge crack appeared and monsters began to pour out of it, decimating the village and killing the people. Clara tried to move, but her glance fell on a giant monster covered in fur and crystals. Its sharp teeth shone in the moonlight and its burning red eyes stared through Clara's soul.
She raised her trembling hand and launched an attack at it, but it simply slapped it away and kicked her to the ground. She heard the screams get louder and clearer as she tried and failed to get up.
"Cooking hero! Help me!"
"Help us please!"
"Clara! Help!"
The screams got louder and louder, some familiar, some not, while the corpses and blood began to cover the ground of the village. Clara closed her ears with her hands and looked at the ground, trembling, with tears running down her face. Suddenly the voices disappeared, replaced by one voice saying only two words.
"Miss Clara…"
Clara looked up to see Reiya standing over her. She was covered in blood and had a large gaping hole in her torso. One of her eyes was missing, blood pouring out of it onto the ground, and one of her arms was bent at an unnatural angle.
"Why couldn't you save us?" Reiya whispered, before a large leg slammed down onto the ghost girl, crushing her in an instant. Clara screamed and reached out for the girl, but slammed head first into the ground. Clara scrambled to her feet and looked around, realizing she was still on the shore from before. She looked into her status and saw that only two hours had passed from when she entered the golem's cave.
It was a dream. Oh, thank god. Thank… god…
Clara wrapped her arms around herself and let out a choked sob as tears continued to stream down her face and onto the ground. She sat like that for a few more minutes until the adrenaline and panic subsided. Finally, she brushed off the tears and looked back at the pile of rubble left behind by the golem.
I guess I have to pick all of that up. Ugh… I don't wanna go into the water again… but I do need the forms… Aghhhhhhhhhhh
"T-t-the wat-t-ter was-s n-not-t warmed up-p-p as m-much as-s I ex-x-xpect-ted-d!" Clara stammered through her clattering teeth as she ran out of the water and to her pile of clothes. She curled into a ball, pulled out a Branch Slitherer scarf from her mob drops to use as a towel and activated Heated Grounds under her feet. As she dried off and warmed her body, she began to scroll through the notifications.
Despite the golem being huge, she only got two weapon forms, and neither of which she could equip yet since they unlock at level 70. She opened up their statuses to take a look anyway.
Crystal Golem (Fire Type) Core Pot
abilities locked equip bonus: fire resistance (medium)
special effect: magic support (medium), warmth aura
Crystal Golem (Fire Type) Crystal Knife
abilities locked equip bonus: "Shine Knife"
special effect: enhance Heated Grounds
Huh, so this is a better version of the other core knife, but as a pot this time? Well, I don't mind. Speaking of which, I never got to test out this knife.
Butcher Golem Core Knife
abilities unlocked equip bonus: +5 magic attack
special effect: blood aura, magic support (weak)
mastery: 0
Clara equipped this knife and tried to cast a spell. One sphere of mana formed, but while she was forming the second one a rustle in the nearby bush distracted her. She looked at the bush and saw a slime quickly making its way to her. A weird crimson aura covered its body. Clara threw her knife at it and swapped to the dinomite knife to throw her knife again, but the second she did, the aura around the slime disappeared. Her first knife slashed its way through the slime, killing it instantly.
Clara swapped to the blood aura knife again and saw a few more monsters walking towards her with a similar crimson aura around them. Clara quickly took care of them with her skills and smiled.
So it attracts monsters to my location! That's gonna make this so much easier since I can have the monsters come to me instead of trying to look for them all.
"Alright! Let's go!" Clara said with excitement, walking to the forest. However, the towel scarf fell off of her body and the chilly wind quickly reminded her of her current condition.
'Right. Clothes first, then grind,' she thought, her face turning bright red.
"You're doing good, Reiya, now just keep focusing on the first one and start forming the second one," Laura said, watching as Reiya began to form a second ball of mana. Reiya groaned as she strained her body, trying to push and hold her mana in place. The orb was getting brighter and brighter until…
"Huff… huff… I DID IT!" Reiya yelled excitedly, looking at the two mana spheres floating in her hands.
"Perfect! Now keep focusing on them and try to connect them together!" Laura instructed. Reiya nodded and Laura watched a thin strand of mana form, connecting the two stars together. The spheres began to merge together and soon it formed a small green oval-shaped clump of energy in her hands. She raised her hands and pointed it forward. The beam of green light dashed forward and slammed into one of the sandbags in front of her, blasting it to pieces.
"Woah!" Reiya gasped out in awe. The sandbag deflated in front of their eyes, spilling out sand onto the ground.
"Great job, Reiya. You picked that up pretty quickly," Laura praised the girl, petting her on the head.
"Thank you, big sister Laura!" Reiya smiled brightly.
'Oh my god, she's adorable. I always wanted a little sister.' Laura thought, smiling as well. "Well, that should be good enough for today. Hm?"
Laura pulled a small tablet out of her bag and mumbled something as she looked at the screen.
"Oh sh*t," she muttered.
"What's wrong, big sister Laura?" Reiya asked, trying to peek at the screen.
"It's Clara. She still hasn't returned and Goron hasn't seen her either. However, he found someone who saw her go into the forest and yet she hasn't come out or teleported back yet. She hasn't replied to any of my messages either," Laura replied, grumbling. She gathered her things in a hurry and ran out of the room, with Reiya running behind her.
"Big sister Laura, where are you going?" she inquired.
"I'm going to track Clara down," she explained, running into her room and throwing her gym bag to the side. She pulled the top off of a chair and pulled out her battle suit.
"Can I come with you?" Reiya questioned, watching as the woman changed into her suit. It was still slightly burned, but that's because Laura hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet.
"I'll be traveling pretty quickly, so you will have to keep up."
"Ok big sister Laura! I got a good nose now, maybe I can smell Miss Clara!" Reiya said. Laura paused for a moment and looked at the girl behind her.
"I'm… what?"
"I don't know. One day I just woke up and I can smell things from far away now," Reiya mumbled. Laura could have sworn she saw a fluffy tail appear behind the girl and two furry ears on top of her head. But when she blinked, both of those disappeared.
"Huh… yeah, that could come in handy. Here." Laura picked up a tablet and handed it to Reiya.
"What is this?" she asked.
"We're gonna go to the forest. If we split up, you can press this here, and then here and…" as she said that, her tablet started ringing and vibrating. "I'll answer and talk to you. Now let's go! We got a hero to track."
With that, Laura ran out of the room with Reiya in tow.
Miss Clara, please be safe. We're coming to find you.