Chương 62: Reversal

I could enhance gravity all I wanted on the golem, but it wouldn't be enough to stop it. It was just too strong. I needed to snuff the flame at its core, and fire couldn't burn without air. If I could collapse enough of the golem, turn it to dust, I could snuff out the core. Which meant I needed to impact it from above. But the problem was still the strength of the fire. There probably wasn't enough dust to snuff a fire that strong. As it stood, I could throw something into the gravity field.

I could do something like I did to the bone dragon and launch myself into it. But I had three Presence left. Enough to create a gravitational enhancement and enough to stab it twice, but that meant almost nothing against a golem. Maybe I could put a hole in it, and it would start weakening the stone, but if I actually wanted to crack it, I'd need help. And cracking it had no guarantee of there being enough debris to snuff the flame. It wouldn't work at all. I scrapped that plan.

As I watched, the golem trundled toward Sage and Anchor. They prepared to retreat, and they kept walking back to the edge of the plaza. But I'd need them if I wanted to defeat the golem. I'd need the whole squad. If I wanted to destroy the flame, I needed to take its fuel. Air was denser closer to the ground, because of gravity, and if I reversed it, in theory I could make the air less dense, weakening the flame. But if I reversed gravity, I'd just tug the golem upward.

Something told me it could survive a fall from a high distance. (Worse, I couldn't even change the direction of gravity yet.) I chewed my lip, my enhanced Focus letting my mind run faster and think through the problem quicker than other people would have been able to. My gravity wells had a limited range of effect before they wore off. But that meant I wasn't enhancing the gravity that this planet had to work with. I was literally creating another gravity well out of nothing in a certain area.

These wells didn't have the same range as this world's gravity. And if I enhanced my ability, I could change the direction of that enhanced well whichever way I wanted. I could also put the source of it wherever I wanted. The source could be high up in the air. I could reverse gravity just far enough above the golem's head that it didn't suck the golem up, but it still created a concentration gradient of air density in the reversed field.

The air would be significantly less dense directly above the golem's head and create a vacuum. For a brief moment, the golem's core flame would be much, much weaker. And if we worked together to collapse the golem at exactly that point, we could snuff out the flame. The biggest problem was enhancing my Art so I could change the direction of gravity. I reached into my kit bag and drew out the reading slate, a handful of stones, and my sling. I was close to upgrading [Slinging] to Apprentice-tier, I knew it.

Fitting a pebble into the back of the sling, I spun it around until it was a blur, then released the pebble. It raced into the back of the golem's head with a loud crack, and the beast swivelled toward me.

"Over here, you big oaf!" I shouted. I glanced down at my reading slate. No Skill upgrade yet. So I launched another stone. It clunked off the golem's shoulder, creating a puff of stone. The beast marched toward me, crossing the plaza with broad strides. Still no upgrade.

"Come on…" I muttered.

"Come on, I know you can do it." I launched another pebble. The golem was three lumbering steps away from me. This time, I triggered [Slinging] as a resonance Skill, and the pebble blasted through the golem's chest, creating a penny-sized hole. Enough to weaken the stone, but ineffective at collapsing it. The golem raised its arms, preparing to slam them down onto my head.

"Brother!" Brawl yelled. He tackled me out of the way, sending us both tumbling across the ground. The golem's arms slammed into the stone, creating another burst of flame and singing our clothes. Stolen story; please report. I glanced down at my reading slate. Now, at the very bottom of my Skills list, it read, [Slinging (Apprentice)]. Just in time.

"I got it!" I shouted, then realized the Brawl didn't know my plan. There was no time to explain.

"Distract the golem! I need thirty seconds!" Brawl nodded, then spun his flail around and struck the golem in the leg. He raced away from me, and the stone beast lumbered on after him. I just had to trust that he could keep the golem busy for long enough to merge my skills. Shutting my eyes, I pulled my mind into my Nodespace and envisioned all the skills. First, I set aside [Spearmanship] and [Archery], then pulled up [Art: Basic Gravity Manipulation] and [Slinging]. They would be my bases for the skill merge.

Without hesitation, I pushed them together, then drew on [Personal Motion Redirection]. I mashed it in next. Lastly, the two fodder skills. I needed to add [Labyrinth Delver] for the last Apprentice-tier Skill, and then it was a choice between [Commanding Presence] and [General Leatherworking]. Ultimately, I could do more with [Commanding Presence], and there was a chance it became something more useful later on. Instead, I used [General Leatherworking] as the final fodder skill and mashed them into the fold.

I didn't spare any time to assess the skill in my head. When I emerged from my Nodespace, I checked the skills on the reading slate: Skills: Spearmanship (Apprentice), Archery (Novice), Art: Directional Gravity Manipulation (Journeyman), Commanding Presence (Novice) There it was. [Directional Gravity Manipulation]. I gave my spear a whirl, then shouted, "I'm going to hit the golem first! I need Anchor to hit second, and fire a shot perfectly perpendicular to the hole I create!

Then I need you to crush its body, Brawl! All on my signal!"

"I am on it, brother!" Brawl said.

"Ready!" Anchor said. I only had two Presence left now, so I couldn't spare anything to keep the golem in place with a basic gravity field. Instead, I jumped between the golem and Brawl, taking the pressure off the bulky Dupe. The golem raised its arms up, preparing to slam them down on me, but I triggered my gravity Art, targeting a point high up in the air with my Focus. Now, instead of just imagining a circle, I could practically envision a pale circle in the air with my eyes. And not just a circle…

but a tube, where the gravitational field would fall and be enhanced—and where it would end. I just knew the field was going to be powerful. Nearly twice as powerful as before. Before the golem could kill us, I reversed the gravity above its head—but only in a select area before its range wore off. The pressure gradient changed, and it created a vacuum above us. The air rushed out of my lungs, and it felt like I was drowning, but I'd practically trained for this in the pond. The flame in the golem's chest guttered.

I wouldn't have long before my upside down field reversed, and I scrambled up the golem's arm. Brawl scaled the beast's other limb, but waited for my signal. Once I was above the golem's head, it tried to swat me off with its arms, but I ducked under a whirling limb and drove my spear down, right into the stone, using my last point of Presence to trigger a Resonance skill. The spear pierced through the stone and plunged a few feet into the golem's body. The golem shook, trying to throw me off.

I ripped my spear out and obliged, falling hard to the side.

"Anchor, now!" He fired an arrow, piercing perpendicular to the hole I'd created. We needed to weaken the stone as much as we could. Dividing it up into different sections would help—and we'd just drawn a massive X in its body. Finally, I yelled, "Brawl! Smash its head, now!" It was hard to yell without air in my lungs, and I wasn't sure if he heard or if he just saw my lips moving and took the signal. Either way, he triggered his resonance Skill, slamming his flail into the top of the golem's head.

Stone cracked, and dust puffed out the sides of the golem. Chunks of it crumbled into sand, and the entire beast collapsed. There was just enough debris to snuff the core flame for good, and the golem fell completely still. The light in its eyes went out. Panting, I dropped onto my back. Being completely out of Presence exhausted me, but I'd live. Still, Sage rushed over, holding her hands out.

"Levi, your ankle!" I had landed on it funny. I looked down, and suddenly, a twinge of pain raced through it. I had rolled it pretty badly, hadn't I? Badly enough that it was twisted out of position. It didn't matter. Sage used her art, and the ankle snapped back in place—as well as my burns, which faded out of existence almost immediately. She then moved onto Brawl, who had taken a chunk of stone to the head. As she healed him, I stood up and looked around, trying to assess my surroundings.

There were no other monsters encroaching on us for now, but we couldn't wait forever. Soon, something would come and try to eat us.

"Once we're all good to go, we need to leave here. We need to get out, and—" Before we could finish, someone began clapping. I whirled around, searching for the source of the noise. At first, I thought it might have been Anchor, because he'd done that to me before, but he was busy collecting his arrows. I looked to the roof of a nearby building, where a man in full armour stood, carrying a yellow shield in one hand and a great warbrand in the other.

"Lord Ceonwin…" I muttered. Sage groaned.

"An impressive showing, to be sure." He jumped down from the roof of the building and walked toward us.

"But immensely foolish to go after a quarter guardian so soon." He looked directly at Sage.

"My daughter, are you unharmed? You didn't strain your Presence, did you? Are you alright?"