Chương 8: The Mud Golem

The golem had kept himself busy by piling up rocks from the crumbled ruins. He looked a little like an oversized, ugly toddler playing in a sandbox when Evan and Oliver stepped back out into the courtyard. Oliver was carrying the sword they'd found. Evan had the kitchen knife. The golem noticed them and immediately abandoned his rock pile to stand back up.

"He's larger than I remember," Evan said nervously, grabbing the knife a little tighter.

"Too late for second thoughts now," Oliver said, not sounding very confident either.

"We stick to your plan. It's a good plan." Evan swallowed. His plan had sounded so smart when he'd presented it to Oliver, but now that he was facing a ten-foot golem armed with nothing but a kitchen knife, the mere idea that they could defeat this monster seemed laughable. The golem let out a low groan as it slowly started moving. Evan took a deep breath and forced his mind to focus. They had two advantages here: speed and agility, and their hopefully superior intelligence.

"Okay, let's do it. Do your thing, Oliver." Oliver quickly looked around for a suitable spot. He made a few steps to the left, where the courtyard narrowed between two buildings, then closed his eyes to concentrate. The golem slowly turned towards him, so Evan picked up one of the loose rocks on the ground and flung it at the monster.

"Hey, over here, pea brain." The rock bounced off its head harmlessly, but the taunt was effective. Evan had drawn the monster's attention, giving Oliver some breathing room to activate his skill. Evan could already see roots sprouting between the courtyard's pavement tiles, but the golem didn't notice something was going on. It only had eyes for him. Growling, it came stomping at him and balled its giant fists.

Blood was rushing in Evan's ears, and the more primitive part of his brain screamed at him to run away, but he forced the flight instinct down and remained still. The golem's heavy footsteps echoed through the courtyard. Its angry little beetle eyes were fixed on Evan. Just as the monster was close enough to lift its wrecking-ball-sized fist and swing at him, Evan activated [Teleport]. The range was limited, but it was enough to disappear and reappear behind the golem's back.

Thrown out of balance by its target vanishing mid-swing, the monster stumbled forward. With a confused grunt, it turned around, but Evan was already running as fast as his legs could carry him. The golem roared in anger and immediately charged after him. Evan sprinted across the courtyard. The golem started running, too. The ground seemed to vibrate under the impact of its heavy steps. It didn't move very fast, but the much longer legs meant it only needed to take one step for every four of Evan's.

Driven forward by rage, the monster was catching up quickly. Just a few feet away, it lunged forward, trying to grab him. Evan saw it coming from the corner of his eye. He dodged to the side and quickly pivoted, running off in another direction, leaving the golem staggering and confused again. He really was faster than the monster, but his legs already started to tire and his lungs burned. Evan knew he couldn't keep up this cat-and-mouse chase for much longer.

For a moment, he considered using [Teleport] to put some distance between himself and the rampaging monster, but he wanted to save it for the right moment. He couldn't risk [Teleport] being on cooldown, just when Oliver was ready. Breathing heavily, he looked for Oliver and spotted him just as he was retreating into the doorway of a building. That meant the trap was set. Using his [Ironroot] skill, he'd conjured a thicket of roots, blocking the narrow passage between two towers.

The roots were thicker than Evan's arms, and Oliver had managed to create a hedge-like structure almost two feet high. A strong enough tripwire, even for a golem. Evan slowed down a little, allowing the golem to catch up again. If he went over the obstacle too early, the golem might spot it. He wasn't sure the monster was actually smart enough for such foresight, but he didn't want to take any chances. The golem's roars echoed back from the ruins' half crumbled walls.

Frustrated, it picked up a rock the size of a suitcase and hurled it at Evan, missing him only by a few inches, before resuming the chase. Once he was sure the golem was on his heels again, Evan veered off his previous path and headed straight for Oliver's roots. The golem came stomping after him. Evan's heart was beating like a jackhammer. The root tripwire looked a lot more imposing up close. For a moment, Evan was afraid he wouldn't make the jump in his already exhausted state and with an injured leg.

The golem was so close now that its shadow already fell over Evan. No time for hesitation. He sped up, pushed off the ground with everything his muscles still had to give, and vaulted over the roots, landing on the other side with a thud. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The impact made his shins hurt, but he kept running, glancing over his shoulder as he picked up pace again. The golem was right behind him.

Then one of the monster's feet, the size of a baby bathtub, got caught in the roots. It stumbled, lost balance and fell forward. Its entire massive body slammed into the pavement, just inches from where Evan was. He heard something crack, but wasn't sure if it was the golem's body or the courtyard tiles. When he whirled around to prepare for phase two of the plan, he saw that the fall had made the golem's health bar go down. It was still green, but they'd already managed to make a dent.

Oliver burst out of his hiding spot, wielding his sword over his head. He swung the weapon in a wide arc, managing to slice both of the golem's heels with one slash. The petrifying effect of [Petrifying Strike] set in immediately. The golem's lower legs were encased in a layer of solid earth, immobilizing it. That was Evan's chance. He gripped the knife hilt tighter and activated [Teleport] again, teleporting himself upwards, above the fallen monster.

He landed on its back, right behind its head, and nearly slipped off again. He dug his fingers into the cracks of the dried mud on the monster's back to stop himself from sliding down. The golem yelled and growled, but thanks to the petrifying effect of Oliver's attack, it couldn't get up. It wiggled around, and bucked like a horse, trying to shake Evan off, but he didn't let go.

Knowing he only had a few seconds until the petrification faded, he rammed the knife right into the golem's unprotected neck, leaving a deep gash in the thick, mud-colored skin. A fountain of brown fluid erupted from the wound. The golem roared in pain, but the blood—Evan assumed that brown stuff was the golem's blood—kept spraying. He jumped off its back, landing heavily on the ground and ran away until he was out of reach of the flailing golem.

His HUD confirmed his hope: the monster's health bar was draining quickly. Oliver and Evan retreated, while a brown blood streamed out of the golem's wound and flooded the courtyard. The petrifying effect faded. The golem struggled, trying to heave itself back up now that its legs were free again, but it was already too weakened. From a safe distance, Evan and Oliver silently watched its health bar plummet at record pace.

[Your party kiled 1 Mud Golem] [You have earned 28 experience points] [You have looted 92 mana stones] They both broke out in cheers, clapping each other on the back, but the interface wasn't done yet.

[Quest"Defeat the Mud Golem" completed] [You received 60 experience points] [You received 50 mana stones] [You received (1) Set of Leather Bracers] [Bonus Objective"Safe Oliver Detreyo" completed] [You received Healing Potion (1)] Excited, Evan checked his stat screen and noticed his progress bar to rank 2 had grown significantly and was now nearly half-way full. There were more notifications that caught his attention.

[+1 Speed] [1+ Strength] Evan had completely missed them during the fight with the monster, too distracted not to get smashed into a pulp to notice.

"I have gained two attribute points! Strength and Speed." Oliver smiled.

"I got one, too! For Strength." Evan clapped his back.

"See, you're already turning into a proper warrior." Oliver made a wistful face and sighed heavily.

"Man, I wish I could be a proper warrior. But at least my father can't be angry about a high Strength attribute. That's useful for farm work, not just for fighting. Do you have any idea what you want to be?" The question gave Evan pause. The last time he'd been asked "What do you want to be?" was during his high school career counseling session, but in this new world, his entire life was suddenly a blank slate again. He could become whatever he wanted.

"I… I have no idea. Do I have to decide right now?" He'd flipped through all his menus multiple times now, but at no point had the interface asked him to choose some kind of class. He wasn't even sure there were classes, and if this world had classes, what options did he have? How was he supposed to make a decision if he didn't even know his options?

"No, you don't have to decide anything yet," Oliver reassured him, "But it's good to plan ahead. Most people choose what kind of job they want to do or what kind of guild they want to join and develop their attributes and skills accordingly. You could be a guardian, focused on raw fighting power, or focus on spells and magical attacks if you want to join the mage guild. You seem to have a pretty good starting stat for Spirit. Do you think you might want to be a mage?

Your dexterity looks okay too, so you could probably get into the crafter guild, too." Evan's head was swimming. He had a rough idea at best of what all those things meant, and up until now he'd just chosen whatever had sounded the coolest or the most useful for his current situation. Joining some kind of guild had certainly not figured into his considerations. He wasn't sure he would even stay in this world long enough to get that far. He needed to return home as soon as possible.

Would one of these guilds be useful for that goal? What type of magic user would know most about traveling between worlds? Mages maybe? Oliver seemed to notice his confused look.

"What did you do in your world?"

"I was a nurse," Evan answered.

"A nurse?"

"Uh… I took care of sick people?"

"Ah, so like a healer?"

"Maybe more like a healer's assistant?"

"Why would a healer need an assistant?" Evan sighed.

"Well, in my world they need them. To do… to take care of…" He tried to sum up the responsibilities of a registered nurse for Oliver, but couldn't figure out how to put recording medical history or maintaining medical equipment into words his new friend would understand. He had no idea how medicine worked in this world or what frame of reference Oliver had, so he just waved the topic away.

"Doesn't really matter. I don't think I want to be a healer. I mean, I'm not ruling anything out, but I'm not ready to decide anything yet either. Magic is cool, I want to do magic. But I also want a sword." What point was there in traveling to a cool fantasy world when he couldn't even play around with swords?

"Don't worry," Oliver said.

"At rank 1, you have plenty of time to figure things out." Evan nodded, then he took the leather bracers he got as a quest reward out of his inventory. Oliver looked surprised.

"Where did you get those?"

"From the golem quest. You didn't get it? Do party members not share quests?"

"I think usually they do. When did you get that quest?"

"It popped up when I saw you and that golem the first time."

"Ah, that explains it. We weren't in a party together back then, so that's why you got the quest and I didn't." Evan looked at the bracers in his hands. They were made from dark brown leather, simple in their design, but lightweight and flexible. The tooltip had said they provided minor protection against slashing and piercing.

"It's kind of unfair you get nothing when I got these. Your skills were much more important during the fight than mine. Do you want them?" He held out the bracers, but Oliver quickly shook his head.

"Don't be silly. You already gave me the skill gem. I'm not going to take any more gifts from you, Evan. Really. You need to stop giving all your stuff away for free." He looked at him, eyes wandering from head to toe.

"Besides, I think you need them more than I do. In fact, you need a full set of new clothes and some basic gear." Evan looked down at himself. His T-shirt and jeans were covered in his own blood and the sticky brown substance the golem had bled.

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"You can buy some gear in my home village. It's not far from here. I'm sure I can talk my father into letting you stay at the farm for a few days, so you can get your bearings and figure out what you want to do next. All of this must be pretty disorienting for you." Evan let out a long breath.

"Oliver, you have no idea…"