Chương 14: The Forgotten Knight Order’s Mausoleum

[You have entered the Dungeon {Forgotten Knight Order's Mausoleum: B Rank} through an inaccessible area.] [You have triggered a Special Quest as the first to enter through an inaccessible area.] [Quest: Slay The Ancient Knight Order] [Objective: Defeat 30 Monsters within the {Forgotten Knight Order's Mausoleum} Dungeon.] [Reward: Experience, Special Items, Skill Upgrade.] [Time Limit: 24 Hours.] [Failure: Expulsion from the Dungeon and permanent ban from entering.] Alex's glowing eyes narrowed as a new notification appeared before him. Heavy footsteps from large creatures echoed through the ancient, paved corridors of the dungeon.

"So this is a forced challenge?" Alex wondered.

"Gryg, can you see this too?"

"I can! What the hell is this? Is the System punishing us for entering through a different area? There is no way we can realistically kill thirty monsters in a single day!" Gryg replied, her usual pessimism on full display.

"Well, I managed it in your dungeon," Alex said calmly.

"So it is not impossible. It depends on how tough these monsters actually are." Both of them fell silent as a giant shadow loomed from the opposite corridor. A massive gray stone hand slammed onto the floor, followed by another. What emerged was a towering walking statue. The creature resembled a giant golem crafted from marble-like stone. It took the form of a muscular knight clad in beautiful stone armor decorated with angelic wings and embedded jewels.

A large helmet covered its head, and a pair of glowing magical eyes shone from within. The golem moved on all fours like a gorilla, its hands pounding the ground as it charged toward them the moment it spotted the pair. It stood around the same height as Gryg, easily surpassing ten meters.

"Here it comes…!" Gryg braced herself for impact. She reinforced her body with Mana Aura as the giant's hands slammed down. She caught them directly and clenched her teeth.

"Heh, did you think it would be easy, you damn thing?!" She delivered a powerful kick to the statue's leg, cracking the stone and causing the golem to lose balance and fall.

"Alex!"

"On it," Alex replied. He was already moving, his sword gleaming with silver light. He climbed onto the fallen golem, located its energy source in the chest, and drove his blade through the stone with all his strength. The core shattered. BOOOM! A violent explosion of energy erupted, sending both Gryg and Alex flying backward. They crashed into the ground but quickly stood up, relatively unharmed. The golem's body slowly crumbled into pieces. Ding!

[You have slain [Stone Knight – Level 23] x1 – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 20 TP earned.] [Class: Soulweaver Necromancer (F+) has reached Level 9 – Stat points allocated. +1 free points.]"Well, that was not so hard," Gryg sighed in relief.

"How strong was that thing?"

"Level 23," Alex answered, his eyes sharpening with focus.

"Hm, this golem has no soul."

"Go figure. Golems are autonomous entities," Gryg explained.

"They are usually created through alchemy, but they can also form naturally inside dungeons or mountains. Rather than souls, they are more like…"

"Machines powered by magic?" Alex suggested.

"This core fueled its movement and seems to contain an encrypted movement and attack formula. That is very interesting." He studied the shattered core carefully.

"Maybe this could help me create my own golems someday. I need to gather more intact cores. I wonder if there is a way to extract them without breaking them." Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"The golem would likely stop functioning once the core is removed," Gryg replied.

"Extracting it should work, but these golems are wild monsters under the dungeon's control. They will fight to the death before letting you take anything from their bodies."

"Fair enough," Alex nodded. He stored the core and left the heavy stone body behind.

"The body is just ordinary hard stone and too heavy for me to carry. Do you think it has any value?"

"Not at all," Gryg said, kicking the stone head dismissively.

"Leave it. We need to hunt more monsters or we will get kicked out of here. I am not wasting this chance to grow stronger."

"Me neither," Alex agreed.

"Let's move." The party ventured deeper into the dungeon. Gryg conjured a floating scroll and used her magic to sketch a map as they advanced through the corridors. They soon realized they had emerged in a remote eastern section of the dungeon. After traveling for half an hour and encountering few monsters, it became clear this was mostly an abandoned side area with little of value. After checking several dead ends, they found a path leading toward the center of the labyrinthine dungeon.

They arrived in a wide chamber resembling an ancient tomb filled with marble graves. Dozens of knight statues stood motionless among them. Some held swords, others carried giant shields, and a few slender ones wielded large scepters embedded with magic stones.

"Huh, another empty room. This dungeon is so boring, Alex. Where are all the monsters?"

"Wait, Gryg—" Gryg had already lowered her guard and stepped forward before Alex could stop her. In that very moment, the ground rumbled. RUMBLE! All twelve statues in front of the graves activated at once. Their empty eyes glowed with magical light as dust fell from their bodies and they began to move.

"Ah, shoot."

"You lowered your guard. Are you sure you are the expert dungeon diver you claimed to be earlier?"

"I am! I mean— Ah!" Gryg stepped back quickly as a giant stone sword, gleaming with silver light, nearly cleaved her in half. Her eyes widened in shock as stone arrows suddenly fired, piercing her left arm and drawing a groan of pain from her.

"Damn it!" She conjured a shield as projectiles and attacks struck her from every direction. She felt furious that her large size always drew the full attention of monsters, causing them to largely ignore Alex.

"Hey Alex, are you doing something or what?!" she shouted angrily.

"Are you taking advantage of the fact that they all target me first because I'm big?!"

"Precisely. That in itself is a blessing in disguise," Alex replied. He shrouded himself in shadows and vanished, then reappeared above the knight wielding the giant sword. After a long leap, he combined Brutish Force and Dive Bombing with his Swordsmanship and Nether Aura, cleaving the entire golem apart. CRASH! The golem shattered and exploded. Its glistening core fell to the ground and rolled across the floor.

Alex's eyes glowed brightly as he rushed forward, caught the intact core, and stored it in his Bone Storage. He felt satisfied to have secured one this time.

"It worked. Giving myself the order to destroy it while leaving the core intact was effective."

"Hey Alex! Stop messing around!" Gryg roared furiously behind him as she channeled her magic. The golems proved almost completely immune to most magic elements. Fire, wind, thunder, and water simply bounced off their stone bodies. Physical force seemed to be the best approach, whether through raw strength or stone and ice magic that carried strong impact. However, those options also consumed more mana and required longer casting times. Gryg's barrier was on the verge of shattering, so Alex rushed to her aid.

He sprinted toward the most troublesome golem after the swordsman: a shield-bearing knight that kept smashing against her defenses. He swung his sword horizontally, severing its legs and causing it to collapse with a loud thud. He leaped over the fallen golem, split open its chest, and tore out the core before storing it as well. Giant fireballs, thunder strikes, and gusts of wind then rained down on him.

Alex quickly summoned a large stone shield from a destroyed golem's remains, using it to block and reflect the incoming attacks. His eyes gleamed with realization. This stone was far more valuable than he had initially thought.

"Wait a minute…" His eyes glowed brighter.

"Gryg, use these golem remains to create walls. They will protect you from their magic."

"Right!" Gryg touched the golem's body and, with her advanced Earth Magic, forged not just a wall but a full set of stone armor and a massive stone hammer.

"Fuck it, we are going warrior mode!" She charged forward with a barbarian roar, swinging her hammer and smashing a golem's body into smithereens. Alex internally panicked when he saw the core shatter, but he said nothing. The magical attacks had no effect on her new armor. Alex considered doing the same, but unlike Gryg's sturdy, muscle-packed, stone-like body, he was composed entirely of bones. A heavy stone armor would likely crush him and slow him down significantly. Instead, Alex chose a different approach.

He lifted a large piece of a destroyed golem along with its stone shield. Using all his power in Earth Magic to reinforce it, he wielded the shield for both defense and powerful shield bashes against the remaining golems.