I Am Punching a Rock

The golem's mobility was incredibly impressive given its large size.

It wasn't so quick as to catch me off guard or anything but it was definitely fast enough to keep me on its toes, especially when it was swinging its smaller arms around.

Since the golem's second set of arms were orbiting around its body as if suspended by some telekinetic magic, I initially tried to get rid of them using [Devouring Healing], but the attempt failed spectacularly.

It didn't hurt too much when I was struck, but I could tell that once the adrenaline in my body drained, it'd start smarting. Whatever. I've been through worse.

I dodged to the left as the golem swung at me again. I felt a shift in the mana inside the cavern and noticed a sphere of flame condensing in front of the golem's central crystal.

Shit!

I'd already put too much distance between myself and the golem to rush in and stop the spell with [Devouring Healing] now.

[Complete Analysis] told me that the golem was charging up a [Firestorm] spell right now. In terms of power, it wasn't exactly the most dangerous spell. However, it covered a large area and the cave we were inside right now just wasn't large enough for me to dodge.

This would've been an extremely stupid move for any other opponent since they'd be hit by the full force of the blast too, but golems were immune to magic.

It was pretty much the perfect tactic for the golem and I was quickly finding out that the rulebook's description of them being "somewhat intelligent" wasn't doing them justice.

The spell was already nearing completion as I parried an attack from one of its smaller, orbiting arms, causing it to retreat and hover near the golem once more.

I wouldn't be able to get close quick enough. The only option I had was to tank the spell.

Alright... It worked on fireballs, so it should work here, especially after I've gotten stronger since then.

The golem unleashed the spell, a blinding burst of fire exploding from the condensed orb hovering in front of it.

The entire cave was lit up in a beautiful yet hellish display of flame, enveloping the entirety of the small room and turning it into a furnace.

But to me, it was nothing more than a hotter than average sauna.

I couldn't say the same about my clothes, but [Demonic Enhancement]'s ability to grant me [Magic Resistance] while it was active really saved my ass.

It wasn't as if this was outside of my expectations, though. I'd looked through the bestiary before even attempting to hunt this golem down and although they were fierce opponents, the strongest spells that they could use wouldn't be able to penetrate my defense.

A black-red mist surrounded my body while the skill was active. Although this mist had previously only been a solid black, it looked like advancing the skill's level had caused it to change a little, albeit only aesthetically.

Seeing that the flames were having little effect against me, the golem stopped sustaining the spell and the flames soon flickered out.

Even so, I couldn't help but notice that a few of the idrite crystals encrusting its body had dimmed out.

So that's how it is, huh? Looks like I was right. As long as mana's stored inside an idrite crystal, it can be used to fuel spells even if the ambient mana is disrupted or nonexistent.

Even though I was pretty proud to have figured out a way of bypassing [Devouring Healing]'s main "drawback," it wasn't going to help me much in this situation.

The way I saw it right now, I could either turn this into a battle of attrition. [Complete Analysis] told me that if the golem ever completely ran out of mana being stored in its crystals, it would stop becoming animated.

However, I didn't know if this actually counted as me defeating the monster and I didn't want to gamble. The next golem was a lot deeper in the cave and I really didn't feel like spending too long down here.

There was only around two hours before sunrise, after all.

I skidded to a halt after avoiding the golem's latest attack with one of its floating arms and then parrying a quick second strike.

I'd been observing its attack patterns for a while now, letting it rain blows around and against me while only staying on the defensive.

While this might've been a drastic shift from my previous battle "tactics," I really didn't want to screw up. I mean, it wasn't as if I was afraid that I'd actually lose, but I knew that my habit of blindly rushing in was starting to get old and mostly importantly, it was starting to get dangerous.

We were going to be up against the archbishop soon, and that shit just wasn't going to fly anymore.

Besides, doing this helped me learn more about the enemy.

I managed to deduce that the golem could only use its smaller, floating arms to attack once before they had to return to an orbiting position around it.

While it was doing this, it couldn't attack with its larger arms that were attached to its body.

Additionally, the floating arms were actually rather fragile and they appeared to be animated by smaller versions of its central crystal, which was probably why [Devouring Healing] didn't work on them in the first place.

They were also the biggest problem when it came to advancing. The floating arms could attack from any angle, and I quickly realized that they could be positioned anywhere inside of the cave.

Not only that, but the golem could also direct them separately, allowing it to set up pincer attacks against me. The only saving grace there was that they didn't really hit that hard now that I had [Demonic Enhancement] activated and that the golem couldn't attack with its main body while directing the floating arms.

Well, outside of casting spells. But spells were the least of my problems since my [Magic Resistance] ability nullified or dampened most of the things that it threw at me whenever it had the chance.

Alright... Let's start with eliminating the arms first.

The muscles in my body tensed up in preparation as it directed its latest attack toward me. One of its fists flew at me from the front while the other approached from the side, attempting to force me to dodge in a certain direction.

Unfortunately for the golem, I wouldn't be dodging this time around.

The moment one of its fists entered my striking range, my fist fired out like a bullet being shot, smashing straight through the rock and shattering the idrite crystal within.

Since it was already moving toward me at an incredibly high speed, when it impacted my enhanced fist, it didn't stand a chance.

The golem's second arm now rammed into my side, but I ignored it. Thanks to my naturally high constitution stat that was now being buffed by [Demonic Enhancement], it didn't even hurt.

Instead I grabbed the arm before it could return to the golem's orbit and smashed it into pieces with two quick strikes.

In retrospect, I probably should've tried holding on to it just to see if that'd stop the golem from attacking with its actual arms since the floating arm failed to return to its orbit, but then again, I wasn't really in the mood to be experimenting.

I shook my hands as if I was loosening them up before staring up at the colossal golem. The light in its central crystal now burned a very bright and angry blue.

I settled into a stance as it charged toward me in blind rage.

Come on! I'll finish this with my next blow!