Knowing there was nothing else they could do except fight, the group shifted in an instant. The fear that had just monts ago clouded their faces lted away, replaced by stern focus and hardened resolve.
Their eyes sharpened, breathing slowed, and they each took their battle stances. This is what they always did when they were in the sa situation like this before.
When Jan said they had to fight, that ant the path of retreat was gone. The enemy had already marked them and they couldn't escape. The best use of their strength now was to face the threat head-on rather than waste energy running in vain.
The three golems stepped forward.
Each movent was heavy and deliberate, their stone limbs grinding as they moved.
But Jan narrowed his eyes, he was certain that sluggishness was only a façade. These things weren't truly slow. They were just waking up. Once they reached full power, their pace would change drastically.
He could sense it from the pulsing green light deep inside their chests. They were like restrained energy waiting to be unleashed.
Then the golems' eyes ignited. Glowing with the sa eerie green light, they stared directly at the adventurers.
And there was no mistaking it now.
They weren't mindless constructs, they were aware. Aware and focused. Their eyes held a cold silent aggression like predators who had just spotted prey.
"They had loocked their targets," Jan muttered under his breath. "They're not going to stop until we're dead."
Without a word, Jan lifted his bow, Esther's hands began to glow with Magic energy, Hund cracked his knuckles and stepped forward while gripping his sword, and Annette lowered her staff, preparing blessings and barriers.
Then like clockwork they launched their assault.
Jan loosed three arrows in rapid succession, each one crackling with a faint enchantnt. His aim was true as always, targeting the joints and glowing cores of the golems.
He wasn't expecting to destroy them but he wanted to test their defense and probe for weaknesses.
Esther chanted quickly, then flung her hand forward. A swirling wave of fire erupted from her palm crashing into the leftmost golem's chest and briefly masking it in fla. The fla was of course, strong enough to lt a rock.
The impact staggered the creature, but when the fire faded, it was still standing, burned, but unshaken. Its green light beco a little bit brighter than before.
Hund charged the center golem, drawing its attention. He ducked beneath its rising axe and delivered a brutal slash to its midsection.
He managed to crack the stone a little, and a ripple of green light pulsed through the golem's body.
At the sa ti, Annette whispered a string of incantations. A soft golden aura enveloped each of them, boosting their resilience and speed.
She followed up with a shimring barrier in front of Hund, just as the golem's axe ca crashing down.
The barrier absorbed the brunt of the blow, giving Hund ti to roll back and avoid a follow-up.
They had faced powerful enemies before but this felt different.
These weren't just monsters. They were like guardians, or maybe servants of sothing that awakened by a deeper force.
Hund dashed back just in ti as the axe swung horizontally, slicing through the air with a loud whistle and smashing into the ground where he had stood just monts before.
The impact split the ground with a violent crack, spraying debris in every direction.
But Hund didn't stop moving.
He had already circled behind the golem, gripping his sword tight. His eyes glinted with focus as he whispered an incantation under his breath, runes appeared along his blade and lighting up with a dull silver glow.
As the Magic flowed into the tal, the edge shimred like it was forged from lightning and steel.
With a powerful cry, Hund slashed at the golem's back knee joint. The sword struck true, stone cracked loudly, and a flare of green light burst from within.
The impact made the towering golem lurch and drop to one knee with a thunderous thud, its balance compromised.
Hund's grin spread across his face.
But before he could follow up, he felt a chill race down his spine.
Instinct scread at him, and he rolled to the side just as the second golem's long, jagged spear stabbed down from behind aid perfectly at where he had just been standing.
The spear slamd into the cracked ground with enough force to shake the earth again, embedding itself inches deep into solid stone.
"Too close," Hund muttered, already on his feet.
Then, an arrow whistled through the air.
It struck the elbow joint of the spear-wielding golem, embedding itself deep.
The arrow didn't shatter. Instead, it pulsed once, then burst in a brilliant flash of white light.
The explosion blew apart part of the joint, scattering dust and shards, and when the smoke cleared, a spiderweb of cracks spread along the golem's arm.
Jan lowered his bow, nocking another arrow.
"Confird. Their joints are weaker," he called. "Too dense everywhere else, aim there when you attack."
Annette raised her staff. A new spell began to weave around her as she infused their weapons with temporary enchantnts of piercing force and explosive energy.
Esther, already preparing her next spell, adjusted her aim. Her eyes locked onto the golem still wreathed in smoke from her last blast.
She extended her fingers, muttered a sharper incantation, and a concentrated bolt of fla shot like a lance toward its shoulder joint.
It struck, and this ti, the stone cracked more violently. Chunks of rock falling away, exposing raw green energy pulsing like veins of corrupted Magic.
They now had a strategy.
The golems may have been ancient and unyielding guardians but even they had to move. And to move, they needed their joints.
And now that weakness had been revealed, Jan, Esther, Hund, and Annette fought not like a group taken by surprise but like seasoned warriors sharpening their blades on the edge of death.
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