Heated Battle

Zelentriya's so-called training was just her throwing every tier four elemental spell at Jiuru. Tier-four spells are by no means weak. This is where powerful and destructive offensive magic starts. Most spells on this tier could at least destroy a mansion, and here's Zelentriya casually throwing a barrage of different spells at Jiuru. Of course, to avoid destroying the whole place, Zelentriya put up a powerful barrier that even tier eight spells can't break.

After firing a large, vicious, swirling fireball—which was empowered with wind—Zelentriya stopped.

"Hmph. That's it for today. So-so, I guess," Zelentriya said, crossing her arms. "Your magic barrier is unstable, and you use too much mana. You'll just tire yourself out fast if you can't properly control the amount of mana you're using. We'll try a different approach tomorrow," she concluded as she turned her back and went inside the house.

"T-Thank you… very much..." Jiuru sat down to catch his breath.

His training—if you can call it that—has ended. For today.

"Here, hydrate and wipe yourself. Take a bath after you rest," Zelentriya handed him water and a towel. She may not look like it, but she cares about her party members.

"Thank you…?" Jiuru tilted his head in confusion.

"What?"

"Ah no. It's nothing. Thank you very much." Jiuru probably didn't expect her to do this. To him, she comes off as a "demon teacher". Well, she's a demon. But anyway.

"The summoner boy and light girl aren't here yet, huh."

"Brother Greo and Miss Aelee? They're probably at central plaza."

"Ho-ho. Did they use this chance to go on a date? Well, whatever. They better bring back something good for dinner." Even if they sneaked off to go somewhere without them and have fun on their own, as long as they brought Zelentriya some delicious foods, she has no complaints.

*****

Meanwhile, at the plaza, the adventurers who immediately came on the scene are fighting the golems. They managed to take down one of the three iron golems. But they suffered some casualties, and their number dwindled.

When Greo and Aelee arrived, they instantly went into action, helped the injured adventurers, and took them to a safe place. Out of eighteen adventurers who responded to the explosion right away, only five of them are left fighting the remaining iron golems. Nine were injured, and the other four are helping the civilians evacuate the place.

It's not that the adventurers are weak; the iron golems this time are more than what these adventurers could handle. You could say that their luck this day is bad.

These golems are over three meters in height. Thanks to their tough iron body, which is also reinforced with Anti-Physical and Anti-Magic barrier, most physical attacks were rendered useless against them; they are also impervious to magic attacks that are tier four or below. They are considered rank Platinum-III monster.

Thanks to the fighters and tank drawing the attention of the golems, the two mages at the back were able to conjure a powerful tier four piercing spell.

They shouted in unison, "Pierce through! Fire Laser!" A raging, hot, thin line of fire went through the golem's body and pierced its core. Its temperature can be compared to the surface of the sun. They also added an effect that removes "Anti-Magic Barrier" on this spell. Because of this, it drained their mana quickly. And since they've been fighting from the start, their mana is now at its lowest. Their attack proved to be effective; the golem stopped moving and crumbled.

Aelee could take the golems out by herself, but treating the wounded and injured comes first. Most of them only had shallow wounds, nothing too serious, but they still made them incapable of continuing battle, so Aelee was able to heal them quickly and easily. Unfortunately, two of the adventurers were gravely injured. One has his arm and leg twisted in weird angles, bones going through his skin, while the other one has broken ribs. Nothing too difficult for Aelee to heal, but she can't treat both of them at the same time, so she has to focus on each of them. By the time she was done, only one golem was left.

Before Aelee knew it, Greo was already assisting the five adventurers. Seeing this, she cast— "Tough Body!"—to six of them. This made them more stout and less likely to take any lethal damage from the golem's attacks. Their blows are heavy. Even with a shield, you'd still feel it and take damage from their fists slamming down at you.

Fortunately, these are normal iron golems. If they were infected, this would've been an ugly mess right now, Greo thought.

The terrestrialization virus is, of course, still present on this planet. But compared to five hundred years ago, it weakened over time and allowed the minority of monsters—let's say ten percent of them—to be non-infected. Still, a Summoner can't summon a normal monster through the usual summoning method. The terrestrialization virus already took root on the summoning channels, making every monster you summon an infected one. But if you have a large mana capacity and accurate mana control while you are summoning, things might just go well. Currently, Greo only has slightly above-average mana capacity, so he has to make do with his daggers and tiers one and two magic for now.

"Clearly, my daggers aren't working on this thing," grumbled Greo. All he could do for now was evade its attacks. Greo, the two fighters, and the tank are currently surrounding the golem, taking turns getting the golem's attention while trying to, hopefully, damage it.

"Greo!" Aelee called. "I'm going to cast that, could you buy me some time?"

"Got it!" he replied. "Everyone, can I count you too?"

The tank was the first to reply, "Of course!" His name is Byro.

Followed by the one with the two-handed greatsword named Kit, "No need to tell me!"

And one with a one-hand sword named Theo said, "Alright."

The tank, a well-built and large man with a shield and sword, used the skill—"Decoy!". It's a skill unique to Tank class. It allows them to direct the monster's attention towards them.

With that, the golem's attention turned from Greo to him.

The golem raised both of its arms above its head and immediately slammed them down on him, but he was able to block its fists with his shield. Normally, he would've taken a lot of damage from the impact, but this time, he didn't seem to take any. His shield creaked. He then mustered up his strength to push back the golem's fists with a "Rrraghh!!" This made the golem stagger.

Whoa, whoa! Are you serious? That lady has some insane buff, he thought.

After taking the deadliest attack from the golem, the tank stepped back. The two fighters are now up. The first one to take action was the one with a two-handed greatsword. He jumped towards the golem, swinging his flame-covered sword above his head. Taking advantage of the gravity, he struck down his sword at the golem's left shoulder. A loud clank echoed.

"Tch! You're too damn hard!" He complained. That hit should've been enough to at least take its arm off. After all, what he hit was its joint. But to his dismay, all it did was leave a small cut.

The golem, seemingly unfazed, swung its right fist in his direction. But before it hit him, the other fighter with a one-hand sword dragged him down by his foot and barely avoided the golem's right hook.

"Whoa, there. You're too impatient, Kit," he said coolly.

Kit clicked his tongue. "Don't expect me to thank you, Theo. I could've used my sword to block that."

"Right, right. Let's step back for a bit." And then, using his right hand, he breezily swung his sword in the golem's direction. With his swing, a sharp current of water—in arc shape—made its way towards the golem's right leg.

"Hm… Water Blade doesn't do anything too, huh," Theo said, looking a tad disappointed. Forget about doing damage; it didn't even dent the golem. His spell only looked like he splashed water at it.

Theo and Kit are childhood friends. Although they belong to different parties, they still do quests together from time to time. Theo is already used to Kit's attitude. Ever since they were children, Kit has always been an impatient and brash kid. This sometimes gets him into fights he doesn't even want to get into. Meanwhile, Theo is always the calm and composed guy. He analyzes the situation before taking any action. Although that's mostly useless because Kit already punched someone in the face before he's done analyzing their options.

"Stone Spear!"

"Icicle Lance!"

The two mages at the back fired off some magic to distract the golem. Kit and Theo used this chance to gain some distance away from the golem.

"Greo. I'm ready!" Shouted Aelee.

Greo, hearing Aelee, said, "Everyone! Get away from the golem as much as possible," he instructed. Before retreating, Greo cast "Earth Wall!" Four small walls surrounded the golem, preventing it from moving. Of course, the golem could easily break it. But before it could do that, Aelee's spell was already activated.

Raising her staff with one hand, she shouted, "Shine! Sun's Judgement!" A thick ray of light descended from above the clouds and quickly landed on the golem. Its heat is so intense that even adventurers from ten meters away could feel it. Fortunately, no civilians are within the vicinity. A few seconds later, the blinding light that enveloped the golem disappeared, revealing the fully melted golem and scorched, hot pavement. The battle ended.

"Uwah… That iron golem became liquid," muttered one of the mages. The rest of the adventurers were also impressed—shocked even. The golem's core was also melted and is now mixing with the liquefied iron golem.

Greo went back to Aelee. "This is my second time seeing it and I'm still amazed by it. You're really amazing Aelee. I doubt the staff helped with that spell at all."

Aelee smiled at Greo's compliments; her face flushed red. "Y-Yes. This staff is purely for healing. It doesn't have any functions for buffing or offensive magic." Luckily, Greo doesn't notice this at all, as his eyes are still fixed on the golem's remains.

"That's some awesome magic you got there, miss," one of the mages complimented. This is Wensel, brother of the girl mage, Bretel. These were the two mages that defeated the second golem.

"Right!? I would love to learn it, but sadly, I don't have any affinity for light magic," said Bretel, looking dejected.

One of the adventurers walked towards Aelee and thanked her for healing them. The other adventurers followed suit and expressed their gratitude.

Aelee is already used to people thanking and complimenting her, so the wave of adventurers in front of her doesn't faze or bother her. She would simply say "thank you" or "you're welcome" with a smile. But when it comes to Greo's compliments, for some reason, she feels a little embarrassed. But she does not let it show on her face most of the time.

Before long, the Knight Guards arrived at the scene and approached the flock of adventurers.

You'd think that on an event of this scale, there would be security in the vicinity of the plaza. You're right, there were Knight Guards nearby—ten of them. The reason they arrived late was due to the culprits who laid waste on the plaza. Five suspicious masked figures summoned the iron golems that otherwise wouldn't be seen on the surface. They typically dwell underground, guarding the precious metal, orichalcum.

The Guard Knights are no slouch; their levels are well above fifteen. Due to the difficulty of raising one's level, their levels are considerably high.

Their bodies trained through the harshest conditions, and they boasted an overwhelming strength—one that rivals the iron golems that Greo and the others fought earlier.

Seeing that the adventurers came to deal with the golems, they asked them to hold them off as they focused on capturing the said five masked figures. The adventurers complied, and they even evacuated the civilians.

They are fast and swift in their actions. With a single line of command from their captain, "Pursue the suspects," they all divided into five groups, consisting of two Knight Guards each, and gave chase to the fleeing culprits.

The suspects were more of a threat than they assumed. They certainly had a hard time capturing them alive, but they still succeeded, nonetheless. The Knight Guards can operate on their own even without anyone giving them a command; their teamwork is the key to their strength. Thus, no matter what challenge these suspects posed, it was nothing that the Knight Guards couldn't handle. They were able to confirm that the five people they caught were the ones who summoned the iron golems.

"Hm. Wouldn't it take them more time to summon the golems?" Greo asked. "Golems of that level require more mana and a complicated magic circle. Not to mention, it looks like a precise force summoning too." Of course, Greo noticed this earlier, along with the burned magic circle on the ground. He's a summoner himself, after all.

Force summoning is different from usual summoning. Force summoning—like what its name implies—forces a monster to be summoned without their "consent." But in exchange, the amount of mana required for it is huge. Add the precision to summon a specific monster, and the cost would be too much for a single summoner. The monsters summoned from this lose control and will go on a rampage.

Marco, one of the Knight Guards, answered, "Yes, but it turned out that the magic circle was prepared in advance. It was pretty large, at least ten meters in diameter. Inside was a star shape, and each point had a magic circle for them to pour their mana into. Honestly, it surprised me that they were able to do it unnoticed," he mused.

"That means they got some help from the inside. Either from the residents or… the Knight Guards," Theo said.

"Most likely," Marco agreed. "We're still interrogating them at this time."

"Are we really gonna drag ourselves in this, Theo?" Kit asked, seemingly annoyed.

"Well, not really. I'm just merely throwing in what I think."

"That's right. You guys already helped us enough by taking out the iron golems. Honestly, we didn't think that you guys would be able to take all of them down."

"Damn right, we wouldn't. We were able to destroy one of them, but at the same time, there were only five of us left. These two mages," Kit pointed behind him, "took out another on one, but their mana isn't enough to do the same trick. As annoying as it is, our swords can't cut the damn thing either," Kit spat.

"It's exactly as Kit said," Theo confirmed. "If the two of them didn't arrive, there could've been more casualties," he eyed both Greo and Aelee.

Marco faced Greo and Aelee. "Is that so? You have my thanks. Oh. That's right," he then turned towards the other adventurers resting nearby. "Everyone! Because of your contributions on this matter. Every adventurer that helped us would receive a reward. One of our officers will go around so you do not need to move, please provide us your name. Your reward will be distributed by the Luminus town's guild by tomorrow. Don't forget to claim it."

When Marco announced those words, every adventurer shouted in joy. They didn't expect to be rewarded—well, maybe some did—when they took action. Marco's words made them feel better, especially the injured adventurers.

"Well, I just wanted to take you here to have fun, but I didn't expect we'd run into this sort of thing. My bad," Greo apologized to Aelee.

"Please, don't be. I enjoyed our time here too. And besides, I get to test this staff," Aelee said, while stroking the top of her staff as if it was a kid.

Greo smiled. "I see. Alright, should we go home?"

"Yes, let us. Zel might be hungry now too."

"…Is she some kind of pet or something… Anyway, we'll need to buy another one. The previous skewers got messed up."

After giving the Knight Guard their names, they walked back home with different kinds of skewers in their hands.