Chapter 33 - No Adventurer Fights Alone

Griff was panting as he leaned on his sword on top of the pile of undead flesh that had once composed the Titanic monstrosity. His hair had turned back into its old color: half white - half black. He had no idea how he took down the Titan, but that was unimportant for now.

"Holy shit! I didn't knew you could fucking fly Griff!"

Reiner ran towards Griff; his clothes had been ruined from fighting as he was covered in blood from the undead. He climbed on top of the charred pile of flesh, and grabbed Griff.

"I... didn't... know... either."

"Slow down your breath..."

Rin had floated downwards using her wind magic, standing next to Reiner.

"Where the hell is Selena?"

"Over here!"

The elven girl was stuck under a pile of charred flesh, with a not so happy face.

"So this is how you treat a girl?"

Griff cackled at her remark.

"You can't complain. I somehow burned that thing when it could regenerate... how the hell did that even happen in the first place?"

As Rin lifted the pile of flesh using her magic from Selena, she got up sighing.

"I wish I knew because my arrows had no effect, and neither did your flames at first. I don't think that this is normal."

As they were talking, a rumble was heard from what remained of its head.

"I guess we're about to find out..."

Reiner said as he raised his fists.

"Strengthening Magic: Full Body Protection."

His body glowed as his defense increased as well as the power in his fists. His muscles tensed.

The pile of flesh exploded in front of them as from the inside a humanoid sized... thing crawled out. It was covered in reddish black glowing skin, seemingly solidified on it. It... didn't seem like a typical undead.

"That thing... I think that was the core of that Titan, the one that was controlling it."

Selena remarked as she nocked an arrow, chanting quietly as her arrow ignited...

"I... think so as well. I saw something scream and the undead piled on each other till that Titan was created."

Griff said as he stood up, sheathing his sword. Reiner was still holding him up, refusing to let him go.

"You fools, look at its eyes."

Rin said in panic.

"Wind Magic: Wind Blades."

Rin materialized several blades of condensed wind, but did not shoot them. She was standing by... her eyes... seemed too focused.

Griff slowly looked at the creature in the eyes to see that they were humanoid, just like a humans, yet it was pitch red. The thing... was not an undead.

"What the hell is that!"

Shouted Griff in panic as he reached for his blade, ready to enhance it with his magic again.

"That's a golem, and a well craft one at that. The zombie that you most probably saw was a disguise this golem took on. Some golems that are crafted by mages have the ability to take over a hoard of monsters as their leader with the right mana signature. This proves it. We're fighting another mage."

As Rin finished her explanation, the golem roared and charged. Its hands were suddenly engulfed in flames as it charged towards them to punch.

Reiner, however, was not about to let that happen. Without a noise he dashed forward, and both of their punches connected!

"Strengthening Magic: Body of Steel!"

His arms had turned into stainless steel as his fist clashed with the golem, crushing its flaming fist!

The golem stumbled back and let out a metallic voice filled with rage.

"Griff, you did enough. Try relying on us for a change."

Reiner remarked as he got in a fighting stance again.

"You have been charging head first into fights the day I met you. Yeah, we didn't adventure a lot, not like you and James, but I can tell you that you have to rely on us too. There's just so much one man can do."

The golem roared as its broken arm suddenly twisted and clanked in place.

"I guess that explains where the Titan's regenerative ability disappeared to when Griff ignited most of its flesh."

Rin said, and instantaneously released her wind blades. Selena didn't stand by as she had disappeared from all of their sight, appearing on a pile of rubble behind the golem, shooting her flaming arrow at it.

The golem, without showing any sign of fatigue, jumped sky high, avoiding both of their attacks, and mid air it suddenly used wind magic to propel itself towards Selena!

At the speed it was coming, she couldn't avoid it without a scratch. She nocked another arrow, hoping to strike it in the head to at least do some damage, but a blur of black flames suddenly grabbed her, pushing her out of the golems way.

Griff rolled on the pile of flesh, using his sword by stabbing it to hold on. The golem had crashed into where Selena once stood. It rose, releasing foul breath.

Selena had been pushed backwards. She quickly shot an arrow, this time hitting the golem in the shoulder.

"Burn you bastard."

She said, snapping her fingers. The golems arm was suddenly encased in red flames.

Without showing any pain, the golem used its other hand to cut off its burning arm. It was now slowly regenerating a new arm in its place.

"Holy shit this thing is strong."

She remarked as she shot an arrow near Reiner.

"Magic Tool: Teleportation Scroll."

She appeared right next to Reiner, as the golem tried slashing where she once stood.

"We aren't getting out of this one unscathed. Rin! Pull Griff out of there! He doesn't have any stamina left for a clash."

"Who do you think I am... useless brother."

She flicked her hand as a small gust of wind pulled Griff towards them, just before he lost control and fell over the cliff made from the pile of flesh.

"I... could've handled that."

Reiner slapped him lightly on the head.

"If you had any energy left, maybe. Not now. Now, we fight."

He grinned as he turned forward to take his stance again, looking at the golem that was readying itself to charge again.

"I'm not letting you get full of yourself by bringing an undead Titan down. As your teammate, I better show you how we veterans fight."

"Hmph... we would never be outshined by a newbie, come on brother."

Reiner kneeled slightly, and dashed forward at unfathomable speeds. Griff couldn't even see him!

"What in the-"

"You never saw them fight, Griff."

Selena said, walking next to him with folded arms.

"Those two are one of the strongest teams in Alfrum, ranked 7th in fact. I'm not ashamed to say I'm weaker than both of them. Heck, I'm just here because the guild master told me to take James's place. Apparently you only fight with him, and he wanted you to step out of your shell."

As they were talking, Reiner had smashed the Golem's face in, and Rin had used her wind magic to pull him back from the golem's counter attack. They were perfectly in synch. The golem healed itself again, and roaring it dashed towards Reiner, yet Rin had put up a compressed shield of air in front of him, and Reiner used the shield as a step to jump high while the golem was confused and smash it head first with both hands into the ground.

"Well, not going to complain. I'm exhausted as hell in the first place. Also, my mana is low. I took the big guy down because it was slow anyway... and luck... but this? This is out of my league."

Selena smiled as she helped him sit, and stood up.

"You're not weak, but you're not strong either. You have a long way to go, and this is just talking about magic."

Griff sat near a pile of rubble as Selena nocked an arrow, and shot it. As the arrow flew it suddenly divided itself into twenty identical arrows. They all stabbed the golem, causing it to lose its balance and fall.

"Nice one Selena."

Reiner said as he punched the golem in the chest, flinging it back. The golem's chest had bursted, revealing a glowing gem. Reiner eyed the gem, but the golem quickly healed up its chest. Its blackish red skin was glowing a much more deeper shed of red now.

"Didn't you have a hard time with a fucking goblin king before?!"

Griff shouted as he watched, much to his annoyance.

"Oh, that?"

Reiner shouted as he didn't let his guard down.

"That was us testing you and James!"

He said as he jumper, dodging a fist.

"Stupid brother... behind you."

Rin waved her hand while floating as a tornado swept through several undead that the golem had summoned for an ambush.

"And that, is why I trust you."

"Sheesh."

She said, but it was evident she was smiling.

The golem this time had had enough. It stomped its feet... and its hands were ignited in black flames.

"As my guess. This thing can copy magic signatures, but imperfectly. If allowed time it would have been undefeatable... too bad."

Rin said as she summoned a tornado around the golem, vacuuming the oxygen around it. However, the flames had bit extinguished.

"That's odd... Griff! Doesn't your fire need oxygen?!"

Griff quickly shook his head as he was in shock seeing a creature that could copy magic.

"I have no idea!"

"Seriously... no help at all."

"Wait! You guys keep it occupied. Selena, can your arrows withstand my flames?"

"Most probably. I get where you're going. It's worth a shot."

"Great! Hand them over."

Griff grabbed the arrows and covered their tips with his hand. He pulled his hand back, igniting the arrows tips.

"You have to enchant my arrows again Griff!"

"Hehe, with pleasure."

"We got to take this golem down! Helloo!"

"Sorry Rin!"

Selena nocked an arrow, and shot it. She quickly snapped her fingers as the arrow divided into twenty individual arrows, all with black flaming tips. The golem raised its black flames to melt the arrows, yet their tips made them resilient to the fake as they pierced through the golem.

"And now! I got you!"

As the golem was distracted with the original black flames, Rin used wind magic to increase the smoke of the flames, giving Reiner enough cover to sneak up behind the golem. He curled his left hand into a fist, and punched right through the golem's chest!

"Hoooly shit that was brutal."

Selena said, grinning.

Griff was also grinning as he watched what he thought to be an undefeatable foe crumble.

Reiner had pulled the reddish, glowing gem that was at the golems center. Without a moments hesitation he crushed the gem, as the golem cried in pain for the first time. A metallic voice that was howling... yet it slowly faded. The golems body was crumbling into dust.

"And that, is how you handle a golem."

Reiner said as the golem crumbled to dust.

"How did you knew how to destroy it?"

Griff said as he walked slowly towards Reiner. He was injured and nauseous because of mana depletion.

"The gem. When it was exposed he healed faster than ever, and healed his other parts later. It was an educated guess."

"It was obvious... a red, glowing gem in the center of a golem? Please... stop trying to sound cool."

Rin remarked with a smug grin as she floated down next to them.

Reiner smiled, but his eyes turned sharp in a sudden realization.

"Whatever we just fought though... it definitely won't be the last. Something's going on in Kulva, and we have no idea about it."

"Whatever it is... we can't investigate in this state. Come on, I'll levitate us to the nearest village. My wind magic can't handle long distances, but at least we can get away from here. About one to two kilometers."

As they were being carried by the mana induced wind away from the village... no ruins, Griff was looking at the far distance.

'Yeah... I really can't call myself strong. Always luck. I've always gotten lucky. In a head on head fight like just now, I can't hold my own. Not now...'

"Hey Reiner..."

"Yeah?"

"Mind... teaching me how to fight when we get back?"

"I thought you were training with the old man?"

"He just taught me how to control my magic. He said that I needed to learn everything by myself or there was no point."

Reiner laughed at that.

"Just what the old geezer would say. Alright, I'll help you. But we'll be going on many more adventures after this. Proper adventures... not onslaughts like this."

"Heck yeah!"

After his last phrase Griff fainted as he felt the backlash of over exhorting himself...

Reiner and Selena were laughing merrily at the sight of the once determined kid, now sleeping beauty.

Rin smiled as she was directing the wind towards a village they had spotted. She didn't have almost any mana left. Reiner could handle the rest...

"You know... you might not be so bad Griff..."