Book 5: Chapter 27

First, he felt the power and the mana; then, Aaron heard the whistle of an incredibly fast bullet over his head as he shot toward the patchwork golem.

He didn’t need to see the impact to know the power of the bullet blasting toward the golem, but when Ernest’s bullet slammed straight into its head, he felt that something was off. The golem reeled backward, grabbing at its head, but less than a second later, its head sprang straight back up.

The golem glared at Aaron, and then raised a massive fist. But he wasn’t about to stand still and get hit. The huge fist passed straight through Aaron as he phased, and his own fist caught its chin, then its midsection, followed by an uppercut, and an earth-shattering haymaker.

Half the golem’s head was blown away by the strike, but it just healed and smirked as it swung back with labored strikes that struck the ground with massive, reverberating shockwaves.

Phasing and dancing around the heavy counters, Aaron picked his openings and rained blows against the powerful enemy. What he felt was strange, though. It almost felt like the golem was cushioned, and its flesh absorbed much of the power he threw at it. That said, his haymakers had little trouble blowing parts of its body away, and it roared in anger when he threw a [ Soul Shattering Strike ] at it.

“Didn’t like that one, did you?”

Enraged, the golem stomped, breaking up the ground and throwing chunks of earth, and blasting shockwaves at him.

None of the attacks landed, but they did force Aaron to dodge, which gave the golem a chance to flee.

“You’re fucking running already?”

Aaron gave chase, and as he did, he scanned the creature with his overlay, noticing joints deep beneath its thick, fleshy folds.

Those might be the best bet for hurting this big guy.

He didn’t get a chance to test his theory, though. It seemed Ernest had noticed the same, and a bullet whizzed out from the tower a split second later, blasting one of its arms right off.

Even as the golem ran, barreling toward the city, corpses were being sucked up by it, and the energy almost instantly reformed its missing arm.

Aaron slammed into its back as another bullet struck the golem head-on, and the two attacks coalesced into a massive explosion that ripped half its body apart. And still, the golem barely seemed to care.

One leg bounced across the ground for a second before its body reconstituted itself, and it threw a giant chunk of rock back at Aaron without missing a beat.

Aaron punched straight through the rock, taking chase just in time to see another bullet slam into it, but again, the countless undead bodies around healed it in an instant, while its energy seemed to grow stronger yet.

“We’re going to need more firepower!” Aaron yelled and tried to make use of his new mana anchors. First, he imbued his gauntlets, and then expanded the mana from his fists as he shot them out with [ Bombardier Fist ].

The Skill struck the golem and exploded in tremendous fashion as the magical artifacts in the gauntlets caused them to materialize around his regrowing fists.

But as powerful as the attack was, it barely slowed the golem for a second. Bits of golem rained down all around, and a new body formed around a single foot within seconds, and it continued its charge toward the walls.

But in that moment, Aaron had felt something else. Like the very essence of the golem had screamed out in agony when he struck it, similar to how it had raged when hit by his [ Soul Shattering Strike ].

Curious, he rushed straight back into combat as Ernest’s bullets pelted into it. But whatever he had achieved, it seemed to have awoken the golem to his threat, and it wasn’t interested in just tanking his strikes anymore.

When the second bombardier fist flew at it, the golem pulled a massive chunk of earth straight from the ground and hurled it at the incoming fist missile.

The two attacks exploded against each other with a magnificent roar of power that sent shards of rock slamming into the ground all around, and blasting the golem back.

Despite blocking his attack, the golem hadn’t completely avoided the damage. That said, Aaron didn’t feel that same scream of inner agony he had when he struck it the first time.

Looks like I need direct hits.

Several more bullets rang out as Ernest tried to halt the golem’s charge, but even as limbs were blown away and repaired, it didn’t slow. And when it reached the wall, it slammed a fist straight through it, destroying an entire section of wall with a single strike.

Aaron could already hear the alarms blasting over the city, and turrets in action, filling the sky with a rainbow of tracers and lasers. Unfortunately, most of the turrets seemed to bounce off the golem’s sturdy hide, and those that didn’t, barely left a scratch.

In seconds, it charged straight through another section of wall, only slowed when two lightning-fast shots from Ernest blew its legs out.

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It was already healing itself, but that moment was enough for Aaron to close the distance and grab hold of the fat bastard rampaging through the walls.

“Get back!” Aaron shouted as he grabbed hold of it and flung it away from the crumbling walls, shooting another [ Bombardier Fist ] at it while it flew through the sky, and the explosion jettisoned it like a rocket back across the battlefield.

Aaron was already there, atop it, raining down fists as it slammed into the ground. It looked wild, like the two of them were rolling across the broken ground, but Aaron was in full control, flying around it and piecing the golem up with precise strikes.

But he needed to do more damage, and he delved into what he had learned about mana anchors, trying to enhance their power mid-fight. Focusing on his mana, he used a combination of focused mana and void mana, cutting the golem’s defenses and cataclysmic amounts of mana into its unguarded body.

For a split second, the golem began to shake violently, and then it exploded into pieces.

You have gained insight into a possible upgrade path for Mana Anchors. Current discovered upgrade paths:

Streamlined Mana Anchors (15%)

Partitioned Mana Anchors (45%)

Reverse Mana Anchors (10%)

Elemental Shift (Void) (15%)

Expanded Mana Anchors (10%)

Imbuing Mana Anchors (15%)

Detached Mana Anchors (10%)

Combined Mana Anchors (10%)

Focused Mana Anchors (10%)

Diffusive Mana Anchors (5%)

Aaron shook his head, dismissing the notification as quickly as it had appeared, as reforming fists from the golem were already flying toward him.

Dodging the attacks, he followed up with more strikes, his senses going haywire as he could feel the corpses being sucked into the golem even as it fought.

But the attacks were little more than a distraction. As soon as it had thrown them, it was charging back for the walls, and Aaron’s counters barely slowed it, even as massive chunks of its body were blown away.

“Get back here, you bloody annoying bastard!”

A few bullets flew down from the tower, chopping at its legs as they regrew in seconds, and as the golem neared the walls again, Ernest’s black chain whipped out, lassoing the golem and flinging it away from the walls. But the moment it crashed into the ground and felt hard earth beneath its feet, it grabbed hold of the chain and yoinked Ernest straight from his sniper spot, sending him hurling across the battlefield.

Against Aaron’s fists, the golem exploded into pieces again, but he was more focused on trying to cause the pain he had in the previous exchange, and followed up with several [ Soul Shattering Strikes ] as he focused on that evasive damage.

As the golem was blown to pieces again, he felt it. A scream so deep and bone-chilling, yet he did not hear anything. As if it existed in another plane.

Egged on by its agony, Aaron’s brow furrowed, and his fists flew into a furious rage, blasting apart bits of golem as fast as they could reform, again and again.

He could feel it. It was starting to work. A crying pain from deep within the golem was getting louder with every strike he landed. And then he realized the golem didn’t care about the damage his fists were doing. It could heal plenty fine. No, it was internally screaming at him because he was breaking down the golem’s very soul.

My improved gauntlets! They’re working with [ Soul Shattering Strikes ].

Aaron’s lips creased into a smile as he broke down the monstrosity. Durability and strength meant little when he could shatter its very soul. But he knew he could push it further. He could delve into the lessons he had been learning. And with that thought in mind, he twisted his mana to aid in his goal, using focused anchors to direct his mana in a more controlled manner, aiming directly at the construct’s soul.

You have gained insight into a possible upgrade path for Mana Anchors. Current discovered upgrade paths:

Streamlined Mana Anchors (15%)

Partitioned Mana Anchors (45%)

Reverse Mana Anchors (10%)

Elemental Shift (Void) (15%)

Expanded Mana Anchors (10%)

Imbuing Mana Anchors (15%)

Detached Mana Anchors (10%)

Combined Mana Anchors (10%)

Focused Mana Anchors (15%)

Diffusive Mana Anchors (5%)

Aaron barely even acknowledged his improved Focused Anchors, his mind solely trained on the creature's soul as he shattered under his fists. No mercy would be shown, and the scream that followed as the soul finally broke got under even his skin.

The golem shrieked as its soul was literally obliterated before his eyes, but before the creature collapsed, Aaron sensed something. A lingering soul from one of the undead nearby was, in an instant, dragged straight into the creature, and its eyes lit up with new life and a blast of new energy.

“What the?”

He knew that this creature was strong. But to steal a new soul just like that? What evil powers had Darius sewed into this thing?

A fresh wave of spiritual energy rushed out of the golem like a torrent of power, and it leaped at Aaron like an angry silverback, slamming its fists into the ground like hammers trying to swat a fly, but he was too fast.

That said, Aaron’s mouth fell agape. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t a simple lifeform.

That was when he sensed something within it. The patchwork monstrosity was some kind of construct, just like the giant creatures Darius used. But the golem was far stronger than anything else the necromancer had thrown at them yet.

Not only that, but he knew what he was sensing within it was some kind of powerful catalyst that gave it strength and held it together. And no doubt such a thing was incredibly valuable. It seemed that Darius had invested dearly in this little attack, and that widened Aaron’s manic, toothy grin. This would be a sweet victory.

Aaron cracked his neck even as he continued to dodge the vicious attacks, as if he were always a few steps ahead of the golem.

“And to think, I was worried about not being challenged,” Aaron said as he flew back into it, landing a Superman punch straight into its chest.

But the moment he struck the golem, he felt its flesh start to come alive and enclose around his fist, as more bodies and souls were sucked into it.

“So that’s how you do it,” came broken and guttural words from the golem.

Aaron’s eyes widened, and he ripped his fist free. “What the fuck was that?”

It seemed that he hadn’t seen all of Darius’ tricks just yet. But with his usual madness, Aaron laughed.

“Alright, this fight is better than I expected.”