Fighting is Still Hard - Literally, This Time

"Move!"

John was spared a prompt flattening by a shove from his left. Adelle easily **** him away with a harsh boot to his hip before planting her foot on the ground and pivoting to meet the massive, earthen fist with her blade. The collision resounded with a dull but loud tang. Shockingly, Adelle stood strong, blocking the blow in much the same way John had tried to stop her earlier. He stared in bewilderment after stumbling back to his feet. Unlike his failed attempt, and in defiance of reason, the Squire's weapon did not break, nor did her guard falter. Even accounting for magic bullshit reinforcing the blade, Adelle should have broken at least a few bones after absorbing that kind of impact, and yet no such injury seemed present.

"When you have reclaimed your wits, I would be grateful for some assistance!" Adelle groaned. With a shout, she **** the stony fist away in time to leap backwards and avoid the Golem's follow-up swing. The arm met only air, but the **** alone was enough to send a bracing gust of wind and dust John's way.

"Right," John's voice cracked. "I'd love to, but one hit from this thing would break every bone in my body!"

"Kinda the point, dude!" Erica shouted from the sidelines.

"Are you trying to kill me!?"

"Nope." Erica pointed. "He is."

"Fuck!"

John dove out of the way of another downward blow and fell face first onto the dirt. Adelle rushed in and attacked the offending appendage at the wrist with a graceful upward slash. John had no idea if it did any real damage, but it bought him the time he needed to scramble back to his feet. Some logical part inside of him noted the lack of damage indicators from her with curiosity, but it was a part well buried by panic and fright.

"Ignore her," Adelle shouted back, "she is trying to distract you!"

"Boo!"

John did his best to follow Adelle's advice as Erica continued to heckle them from a distance. The Golem was paying him no mind, marching towards Adelle with a series of sluggish but lethal swipes. Each one kicked up a wispy cloud of dust. John took the moment of relative safety to swallow his fear. There was no way Erica would actually let him die, she was just messing with him, right? She had to be, Moira would have her head on a pike if she found out that Erica got him killed on her own lawn.

Then again, what was that in Wentworth's letter about not letting 'this one' die?

It was a thought for another time. At present, John felt compelled to actually contribute to the fight at hand, even if for no other reason than his pride. He couldn't let Adelle completely show him up, nor could he stand wussing out in front of Erica. John built up a heated, if shaky, resolve and dashed back into the fight.

John closed the distance with surprising speed undetected, using the dust clouds as cover. It stung his eyes and caked on to his already sweat covered brow, but he tightened his grip on Black Claw and dragged it across the knee joint of the Golem. The metal scraped along the stone with an ear-splitting screech.

4 damage, slashing

"What the fuck? Four damage!? Are you kidding me!?" John was stunned, almost insulted by the pitiful result of his efforts, enough so that he did not notice the half-hearted swat headed his way until it was too late. His feeble attempt to raise a guard against the slab of rock was about as effective as trying to block the attack with a paper towel.

-65 hp

John's limp body soared through the air and slid to a halt just inches from the perimeter of the dirt circle, not that he was aware of it. His mind was too busy attempting to reassemble his scrambled senses while he instinctively tried to suck air into uncooperative lungs. Everything hurt. The entire front of his torso felt as if Frank had been using him as a punching bag for the last hour, and there was a shooting pain to go along with his first successful breath. Several of his ribs had to be cracked or broken, but the fact that he was not currently coughing up gouts of mucus and blood suggested that his lungs hadn't been punctured. Even so, the pain was immense. He felt as if he could not even use his muscles if he wanted to, and he elected not to try.

"John!" Adelle called out, concerned but not alarmed. "Are you still alive?"

"Yeah," he choked out, then added in a mutter, "unfortunately."

"Wunderbar." Adelle did not sound nearly as upset as John felt someone worried for his life should be. "In that case, please move away from the edge."

Really? That's it? No 'Oh thank goodness' or 'I'm so relieved!' Not even a 'Glad to hear it.' No, just 'Great, now get up so I don't lose.' Thanks a lot, Adelle, you're an awesome teammate.

John's internal complaints distracted him from his steadily decreasing agony as he shuffled his aching body a few feet closer to the center. It was yesterday's pain by the time he stood up, present but tolerable. Thankfully, he had somehow kept his grip on his weapons.

To be fair, she did stop me from becoming a pancake a second ago so, whatever, I guess...

He watched Adelle deftly dodge blow after blow of the Golem's ****, as if the exchange had been choreographed. The clear effort and focus on her face said otherwise, however, and John wasn't certain how long she would be able to maintain their one-on-one dance. He stowed a dagger and knelt to retrieve a stone from the ground. With the kind of skill only a two-month Tee-Ball League veteran could muster, he chucked it towards the Golem and struck it on one of its broad shoulders.

1 damage, crushing

"Hey stupid! I'm not dead yet!" he yelled. The unchanging grin of the construct spun in his direction, followed shortly by the rest of it. Thus was both the beginning and end of his plan. An alarming lack of further ideas swam through John's head as the Golem barreled toward him with unexpected speed. Its mighty arms swung to and fro as it charged, and John could feel the rumble of each footfall run through his body. It got nearly withing two meters before John turned and ran.

"I hate this!"

"You can't run forever, dude!" Erica shouted. "You'll ge tired eventually, but he won't."

"That's part of the whole 'I hate this' thing, thanks!" John shouted back.

"John! Get ready!" Adelle's voice came from behind. He hadn't enough time to ask 'For what?' after turning before she slid into view from the Golem's right flank. She was in one of the guards from earlier, True Cross, if John remembered correctly. Her torso twisted and she heaved her sword upwards to meet the construct's right leg as it began to swing forward for the next step, right at the base of the shin, with her left hand still gripping the blade. No longer able to support its momentum, the Golem toppled over with a crash, sending up a thick cloud of dirt.

Without giving himself the opportunity to second guess his actions, John abruptly reversed direction and rushed towards the fallen enemy. Face down in the dirt, the Golem looked like little more than a heap of rocks, but a flaw in the stone of its back drew John's attention. It reminded him of the Whomps in Mario, the ones with the cracked backs you had to pound on in order to defeat. Without any better ideas, John climbed atop it and started stabbing.

2 damage, piercing
2 damage, piercing
2 damage, piercing
2 damage, piercing
2 damage, piercing
3 damage, piercing

Chip damage was all he could accomplish, even gripping his dagger with both hands and slamming it into the crack as hard as he could. Meanwhile, Adelle was busy hacking away at the same knee he had already tried to damage, and he didn't need damage indicators to tell that she wasn't having much more success than him.

"I might as well be using a toothpick against this thing!"

"Yes," Adelle huffed between strikes, "I believe Dame Carpenter specifically chose a foe that would resist our weaponry."

"Who, me?" Erica feigned offense. "I'd never do something like that!"

John rolled his eyes and returned to the task at hand. Curiously, the one point uptick in damage from the last stab persisted. The break was widening ever so slightly, and he could see a faint orange glow from somewhere beyond it. The crystal that Erica used to make the Golem had to still be inside it, and that sort of thing just screamed 'Weak Point' to his gamer instincts.

Unfortunately, John was thrown off balance before he could capitalize on his realization. The downed automaton pushed itself off the ground with an unexpected lurch that sent him tumbling painfully to the ground. He rolled to find himself at Adelle's feet, already preparing herself for the next ****.

"Hey, I think I have an idea." He smiled. She sighed.

"Get up." Adelle offered John a hand up without taking her gaze off their enemy. John took it and hoisted himself to his feet as the Golem regained its own. "What is this idea of yours?"

"There's a crack on its back. I think I can see the power stone or whatever it is inside. Breaking that would kill this thing, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would," she replied. The Golem took a moment to size up both humans, determining who to go after first. All the while, Erica was eerily silent.

"Great. Problem is that I can't reach so high with just two knives, and even if I could, I am barely chipping pebbles off with my best hits."

"I do not have those problems." Adelle smiled anticipation and understanding.

"Think you can do enough damage to get through?" John asked, uncertain of where her confidence was coming from. Sure, she had better reach, but last he checked she was having the same damage problem he was.

The Golem began to charge.

"Can you keep its attention off me without dying?" She lowered her sword to her side in a two-handed grip and bent her knees, ready to run. Fortunately, if John could consider it such, the charging construct's trajectory swung in his direction; it had chosen him.

"Probably?" he squeaked out, throat suddenly tight. Adelle bolted on the spot, moving faster than any member of the track team John had ever seen. Even the best Olympian runners would have trouble keeping up with her. Meanwhile, John was left in her dust, staring at the incoming train of pain. He ran. He ran as fast as his twiggy legs could carry him.

"You must make 'probably' become 'certainly,' John, or we will lose!" Adelle scolded from somewhere out of sight.

"Right." John swallowed the **** dryness in his mouth. "I mean, certainly! Leave it to me!"

The fact that Adelle was counting on him to do his part emboldened John, even if she was less than encouraging about it. Unsurprisingly, he was always the last picked for teams in P.E., never an asset, never a part of the strategy. Even that was the best case scenario- when he wasn't deliberately targeted for some tailor-made humiliation. He told himself that it didn't matter, that he hated sports anyway, and while that was partly true, it didn't make it hurt any less. The thought of being the MVP just once, imagining what that would feel like, had filled John with envy and dismay. The pain dulled as he got older and grew a thicker skin, thin as it still was, but it was a feeling John wasn't sure he'd ever forget.

And so, being a part of a two-man team and an essential part of their plan was elating, even in the face of an imminent squashing. Crushing an enemy team online, having the highest DPS, or successfully tanking a raid boss were all exciting and fulfilling, but it wasn't the same thing. Online accolades weren't proud pats on the back or cheers, they weren't the celebration of a social status he could never achieve. Until now, at least. It might only be a training exercise, but it was real, tangible. He had someone's trust, and he wanted to prove he deserved it.

John's few seconds of reverie were broken by the rapidly approaching perimeter of the training circle. At the angle he was running, turning left was out of the question; the gap between the border and the Golem was far too thin. Moving to the right might work, but his lead wasn't so large that changing momentum wouldn't risk the construct's long arms reaching him with a swipe. It would have to do; it was either that or run out of bounds.

As predicted, an arm of solid stone came at him in a low, sweeping chop. It was too long for him to outrange it, and too low to duck under, but just low enough for an ordinary human to possibly jump over. John wasn't sure about his physical abilities despite leveling up, but it was the best option. Having a foot or a shin clipped in the attempt was preferable to taking a boulder to the chest. He took one last step, then pushed off the ground and leapt his own height straight into the air.

"W-wh-what the fuuu-nggh!"

-3 hp

John landed in a painful, inelegant heap on the ground. He heard a series of scraping clashes from somewhere as he collected himself off the ground and willed his body to get back to running. Luckily, changing direction from a full charge wasn't easy for the several ton monster, it was still skidding to a halt so it could about face. A glance at its back showed the fault had widened into a jagged fracture. Adelle dashed by without a word with something reflective trailing behind her shoulders. John was too rattled to get a good look at it, but it seemed to be several smaller objects rather than one large one. He put it out of mind; Adelle obviously knew what she was doing and John found the matter of his otherworldly leap to be the more pressing concern.

When the hell did I become a magical Italian plumber? This didn't happen when I jumped out the window after school. I don't have any new skills, and none of the quest rewards I Observed this morning mentioned giving me a super jump, so what gives?

It hit John that the items from Rockscale Valley were not the only rewards he received recently. He'd forgotten about it enough to never consider inspecting it, but not enough to neglect equipping it while he was showing off the convenience of his inventory. With the Golem completing its turn, John took the few seconds he had to correct his oversight.

Boots of Bounding
Equipment - Feet
-Rare-
A sturdy pair of shoes enchanted to give the user some more spring to their step, literally. The enchantment includes a mild fortification to the legs, so as to prevent damage to the wearer's joints due to regular use.
5 Armor
Triples the wearer's vertical leap.
Minor reduction of damage due to falling.
-

Well, that answers that.

John attempted a quick test bounce that came out much closer to what an ordinary jump would be than the bunny hop he had intended. It was a strange sensation to experience physics suddenly behave in a manner contrary to how it had his entire life. John's body was confused on an instinctive level, but now was not the time to experiment with his new toy. The Golem rushed past him several feet away, heading for Adelle.

"Would it be too much to hope that going out of bounds disqualified him?" John shot an impish grin at Erica.

"It would," she replied with an even wider smile.

"I figured…" John huffed. He took off after the mobile pile of rocks and chucked his bronze dagger at it in the hopes he would get its attention.

0 damage, crushing

The weapon bounced harmlessly off the Golem's hip. John didn't even hit it blade first, if the damage type was to be believed. Adelle glanced back at the noise only to see that the construct was still on her tail. Without any sort of cover to break line of sight, she dug her sword's point into the ground as she ran, carving a line along her path and kicking up a small spray of earth and sand in her wake. With a grunt, she slashed upwards with an unusual shimmer surrounding her weapon and flung dirt into the air. Far more debris than John had expected caught the breeze and formed a sizeable dust cloud into which the Squire could disappear. John took the cue and closed in to regain aggro- or try to, at least.

With its vision obscured, the Golem slowed down enough for John to catch up. He couldn't see too well either, but a twelve foot tall target was hard to miss. It swatted about aimlessly in a mixed attempt to catch a stray human and blow away the dust cloud. John hit the deck to avoid an open fingered palm swinging towards him and felt the rush of wind overhead as it passed by. He craned his neck up to keep eyes on his opponent and found it staring back at him through the freshly cleared air. It lifted one foot for a mighty, crushing stomp.

John rolled sideways out of the way as a second set of clashes struck the construct from behind. The massive slab of stone it called a foot crashed to the ground even harder than expected, enough to bounce John an inch to the air. John clenched his eyes shut and nearly shit himself as a person-sized fist slammed down millimeters from his opposite side. Had he not rolled to exactly the position he had, he would have been helpless beneath its crushing weight. He dared to open an eye to see the Golem hunched over bracing itself in a three-point kneel from the loss of balance. The mask grinned at him with wicked intent - or so it seemed, at least. A shout of terror that John could by no means explain away as a battlecry escaped his lips as he swiped Black Claw across the porcelain visage.

3 damage, slashing

The knife drew a jagged line across the mask as pieces chipped away, leaving behind an uneven scar that did nothing to make the grinning face seems any less creepy. The automaton shuddered back into motion and John clambered backwards and to his feet. His eyes strung and he coughed violently from the dust he inhaled during the rush to escape. All of the action had stirred up the ground below them once more; John could barely see through both it and his tears. Fortunately, the sun was in his favor as he was able to make out the shadow of the hand careening towards him with enough time to spring into the clean skies above. Unfortunately, the Golem's other hand snatched John out of the air with mechanical precision, ready for him this time. Fingers thicker than his legs curled around him in a suffocating embrace.

-9 hp

"A-delle…" Every exhale made it that much harder to breathe as the Golem tightened its grip. John's head felt as if it was about to pop off, let alone the excruciating and relentless pain enveloping him. Ribs cracked under the pressure and he let out a scream of precious air as he felt his left arm bend backwards beneath the **** of a single finger. "It's now… or never…"

-12 hp

He could finally see her now that the Golem held John aloft to squeeze the life out of him. His vision was blurry and fading at the edges, but what small part of his conscious mind remained found an odd focus beneath the agony of dying. Adelle shone in the distance, sword held reverently before her. She was chanting, fast but measured.

“-rins Gnade diene ich, und durch mich wird sie richten. Ich bin mein Schwert und mein Schwert ist ihrs. Lass mich die Klinge sein, die bewahrt die Schutzlosen und niederstreckt die Verdammten." Adelle thrust her sword to the sky and it burned with a brilliant, golden light that broke through the darkness overwhelming John's mind. "Urteil der Gnade!"

-16 hp

With a vigorous scream, Adelle slashed into the ground as though trying to cleave through an invisible log. The moment she did, the air behind the Golem shattered and a spectral sword of shimmering gold crashed down into its unprotected back. The area around it, and John, filled with a gilded aurora that burst from below. It filled John with a warmth and energy unlike any he had felt before, even as the grip around him slackened and he tumbled to the packed earth below.

+20 hp
-4 hp

He looked up to see colorless light begin to radiate from the stricken construct's chest. However the healing worked, it left John with enough sense to know he should turn tail and run.

He made it a good seven steps before the explosion.