The Puppeteer

Niva's eyes could not believe what he just witnessed. Back in the item shop after Niva bought the Soothing Mint Candy, he opened his Slate once again when not near Lynel. He stared intently at another tab beside the growth panel in his Slate. It was written as:

[Perks]

It opens and reveals a bunch of '????' sub tabs. Except 1. [The Puppeteer]

That dawned on him. 'Perhaps this is what caused the strange pain that Krilo experienced. But how? For the longest time I have had this slate, there was no [Perks] tab anywhere. Nor when Lula showed her slate before preparation.

'Where or when does this come from?'

He always thought it was a companionship protocol. If something is wrong with your compfreund the command is the answer. An idea suddenly hovers around Niva's head.

'What if … it is just not exclusive for compfreund. But to other creatures as well. Including humans.'

He will try the latter after trying other creatures or monsters as well first. They or anyone else must not find out this ability. But Krilo that had caught the glimpse of his ability might whistleblow to them.

And stupidly enough. He forgot that other compfreund cannot communicate with humans other than its companion. The sigh relief cut briefly when he thought of another scenario, compfreund can also understand another compfreund. His older brother told him back in The Richter before Niva signed the summoning contract.

Back in the hall before the earthquake, he saw a glimpse of eyes from within the cave. He assumed that there was a monster. So he immediately planned ahead. Resulting in his intention to release the hand chain from both of them.

He must test all of this alone. Because he doubts that there will come a time where he will truly be alone. It is now or never.

The cave formation is different than that of the long entrance and hall. It seems naturally made. Except for the sigil and 'veins' that illuminate all over the ground.

He sees a shadow of a humanoid creature moving when Niva is turning to a corner. Not only that, the ground is rumbling as well when it's legs stomps the ground. It is something huge.

He holds his breath immediately. A stone golem walking away from him. It's body seems to be made of rocks. The torso is round as well as any other limbs. Overall, it looks like someone put stacks of giant pebbles on top of each other. It is giant because it is six times the size of an adult male. It dwarf the previous cockatrice in comparison

Niva grits his teeth. He cannot analyze the monster because of his inability as a support class. The narrow cave interior greatly benefits the golem. 'I have to think this through. I would die if everything goes wrong.'

"Hey golem, stop!" shouts Niva. But the golem does not respond and still proceeds to keep moving forward.

The golem disregards Niva's command but nothing happens. An utter disappointment. But he must not give up, maybe there still needs to be some certain condition for [The Puppeteer] to be activated.

He still needs to attract the golem's attention somehow. His hand grabs a pebble on the ground and throws at the golem. It then stopped moving.

The golem then turns toward Niva. The stone on top of its head had a hollow spot that formed a pair of holes. Inside the holes, a pair of red lights illuminate that form similar to its eyes. There is also a big hole where the mouth should be, but there is nothing in there except a pitch black.

A sound is released by the hole in the golems' mouth. Similar to an echo that permeates in this cave. Except it sounds deeper and more eerie.

Niva's anxiety is through the roof. There is an unwritten rule that supports class with sufficient logical thinking should now. That is for any condition, never engage with a monster, bandit, or some evildoer alone. You will die, period. And also don't drag yourself into a casual fist fight with an offensive class. You will be their dummy punching bag.

Niva somewhat despised looking at those unwritten rules.

The golem charges with its massive body. Ground is shaking violently when the golem steps its foot on the ground. Niva dodges the charge and the golem smashes the cave wall. Causing stalactite to rain down from above.

Niva immediately runs away to prevent himself being stabbed to death by the sharp stalactite. The golem is slower than he initially thought. But his purpose to taunt the enemy is not a success. He should've yelled stop but the sense of danger made his leg jump unconsciously.

The golem then roars. Something suddenly appears behind it. A strange brown circle that hovers in the air. The detail and intricate pattern that it generated surprises Niva. An essence user magic circle! A sign that a powerful magic is being casted.

The golem suddenly vanished in a blink of an eye. His existence somehow vanished from thin air. Suddenly a brown light shines brightly behind Niva. The golem now is behind him. Swinging its large stone arm.

'Teleporting magic?!'

Niva unconsciously closes his eyes. He can dodge no more. Looking at the close distance of the swing it's all over. He can only pray once again for his longevity, that the golem's attack is not as scary as he imagined it to be. Maybe its level is not that high.

'Calm yourself, Niva! Now it's the time.'

'Stop!' screams Niva from the top of his lung.

He still closes his eyes. Still expecting the golem to hit hard, like the sliding down gondola that he occasionally rides in Richter.

But his hopes never come. Instead, the only one coming to him is the residual kinetic force that blows like a violent wind.

He opens his eyes to see the golem stopped like a statue. Immediately a roar came from its hollow mouth. Its body continues to thrash the cave floor. Niva does not need an interpreter to know that the golem is actually in pain.