Chapter 34 - Afraid Of Chipping A Sword
Kyros continued to teach and, at times, would show the group how to do it as they would pretend to be golems and lizards while Kyros taught them the tricks. As the group journeyed deeper, the Signal Compass that was currently set to detect how far Aron was, had turned into orange color and then soon became yellow. This meant that Aron was far from where they were.
They soon passed the part where there was water. The group restocked their water supply and drank a lot. They had been drinking at a set ratio, but now, they could drink to their heart's content.
"We should try leaving a lizard body later. We can try cooking it..." Kyros suggested. Among the many things that Calaminus talked about was cooking. They spent more than three months talking about meals and explaining cooking theories down to the chemical level.
"Cook it?"
"Yes. My family used to cook lizard before..." Kyros brushed off as they kept moving forward.
The knights were curious just what kind of freaks his family was and how they even managed to die.
"Lord Kyros... What if your brothers and sisters?"
"I'm an only child. And my family invested a lot in me." Kyros explained.
The knights stopped asking questions.
They had reached deeper into the cave and even got to the parts where Kyros hadn't explored yet.
Kyros used his shadow familiar to scout ahead.
It wasn't long before he found a small group of Lizards fighting against Golems.
Through the shadow familiar, Kyros could see the battle.
The two creatures fought almost equally. The strong and fast swipes and strikes of the lizards met the slow but sturdy strikes of the Golems.
One of the Golems had a sturdier form, and Kyro realized that, unlike the clay golems, this one was made of harder rocks.
Kyros could see that the lizards were losing because of this stronger golem.
"Knights. Stay here. There seems to be a battle up ahead. If we play our cards right, we could get both Golems and Lizards." Kyros smiled.
"Take care, Lord Kyros."
"Don't worry. With the darkness with me, I don't think they can kill me." Kyros smiled as he wrapped himself in darkness.
"Prepare for an ambush! It looks like the Lizards are losing. We'll be fighting golems. One of them appears to be stronger than the rest. I lead it here. You attack the rest and leave out the stronger one. I'll tell you later which one is it. After you kill your golems, we fight the remaining one. Remember my lesson."
The knights all nodded and made their preparations.
When Kyros had disappeared into the darkness, he used Dark Cloak and moved closer to the battle.
He could see that the lizards were losing because of the Rock Golem and decided to prepare for an ambush.
He moved on the only possible escape route the Lizards could take and summoned his golems and the shadow creatures and waited.
Soon enough, the lizard did retreat.
The golems came to life and ambushed them, and working in the coordination of the shadows. The fleeing lizards were immediately killed.
Kyros brandished his Vermillion Sword and could finally attack the lizards. With his speed and superior swordsmanship, this creature that would have required people over level fifteen to kill was slain by a level 3 Kyros.
Upon swiftly killing the Lizards, Kyros immediately made way to observe the Golems.
The Golems were busy ransacking the remains of the Lizards they killed.
They would open their mouth and use a strange magic force that would suck the life of the creatures.
"Golems that are creatures of darkness... What an interesting sight. All my previous life, I only fought golems that summoners and mages created. This one is rather strong. I wonder what happened in my previous life? Why hasn't this place been discovered?" Kyros wondered.
"It could be that this place wasn't discovered. Your time travel might have created an earthquake from the strong shockwave it made... Either that or..."
"The Temple also sealed this place, and the temple was designed to unseal it if I break through it."
"Right. Your mother knew me. And while I can't recognize her, she assumed that I was with you. She must be connected with the Ancient God Fate. Consider the balance created in this cave! If only Lizards and Golems lived here, one group would have already been killed."
"I know. The ecology down there ought to be more complicated than we know. I guess we'll find out the deeper we reach into this cave. It's a good thing that the scouts they sent were killed. But I have a feeling that this means the lizards and the golems are preparing for a larger force. If they attack together, they may end up fighting each other."
"That'd be good for you and your team."
"Sounds too easy. Fate will definitely stop me. Oh well... for now. We kill these creatures. I'm curious if the Vermillion Sword can penetrate that rock golem." Kyros immediately launched his attacks.
The Soil Golems he summoned were ordered to stay behind.
Kyros dashed and aimed for the Rock Golem, and with the Dark Cloak, he managed to land a powerful strike.
BANG!
The sound was loud, and the golem howled a strange coarse roar as it swiped several punches towards Kyros.
Kyros easily evaded the attack with his Dark Cloak and revealed himself, and stabbed at a nearby Clay Golem.
The Soul Force he had erupted and gave him an increase in strength.
The head of the nearby clay golem was lopped off.
"Weak. You are all weak." Kyros laughed.
[Taunt activated.]
The notification rang and caused the golem to roar angrily. It gave chase to Kyros, who began to retreat.
Unbeknownst to the golems, the shadow ghouls and familiar began to harass three golems that we're unable to give chase to Kyros. The soil golems of Kyros then appeared and fought these golems.
While the soil golems were weaker, they were capable of damaging the golems. Together, the eight summoned beings began to attack the three.
Kyros, on the other hand, was running towards the knights.
"Get ready!" He called out to warn the group.
"Don't attack the first golem! It's made of rocks! I'll distract it, and we deal with it once the others are done!" He gave his orders.
As instructed, he zipped by, and the knights ignored the first creature that ran faster than the rest of the golems.
And then, the knights initiated their ambush.
The experience of the first fight and the training with Kyros and Aron now showed its effects as the knights were more careful and managed to fight the group in a more organized manner.
Their swords were also stronger, and every attack left a deep wound on the golems.
Kyros kept on taunting the Rock Golem to keep it from attacking the knights.
The Shadow Familiar also returned as the golems that it stopped with the shadow ghouls have been killed. It was careful not to reveal itself on the light and only attacked the back of the golems.
The ambush and crowd attacks worked as they managed to kill the golems they ambushed.
"This sword is awesome!" One knight laughed as they fought the golems. Kyros's training proved effective as they managed to easily find the blind spot of the golems.
Kyros smirked and was happy at the progress of the knights and continued fighting the rock golem while waiting for the knights to finish their enemies.
Soon, only the Rock Golem was left.
The knights encircled the Rock Golem, who was still busy punching at Kyros.
...
...
...
Kyros then noticed that the knights weren't attacking the Rock Golem.
"Guys?! What's up?! Attack!"
"But... Lord Kyros. Won't this chip our blade?" One knight asked. Wielding the new strong sword felt like having a new wife to some of them.
"Mother fragments! I can repair them! Fight you fools!" Kyros cursed.
The group moved after hearing Kyros's assurance.
The knights crowded and attacked the Rock Golem.
At first, they were having a hard time damaging the Rock Golem, which could move faster.
"Wait! Listen to my instructions! Surround it!"
The knights followed.
"Alright. When I call out your name, you attack!' Kyros ordered.
And slowly, the group got into the rhythm. They managed to make an organized attack, with one person attacking after the other. Soon, the orders of Kyros grew complicated as he began to give out specific orders. One knight would strike, and the other would make a feint.
With so many enemies hacking and stabbing in a synchronized manner thanks to Kyros's commands, the Rock Golem was slowly chipped piece by piece until finally, it received a powerful stab to its core.
Kyros switched swords and stabbed the Sword of a Thousand Grudges into the wound and wrecked the dark energy of the golem.
"Dead." Kyros smiled as he looked at the death of the golem.
The knights cheered.
Kyros smiled as he looked at the knights who were cheering. But secretly, Kyros vowed to use Pronto in training these scums in their future sessions because they placed more value on their swords than his safety.
"Alright. Let's move! The Golems were fighting some lizards, so we have quite a haul here. Let's slowly move them out of this place." Kyros gave his orders.
While they were fighting, the golems had already been moving the dead bodies and placed them closer towards where they were before being unsummoned.