He certainly was.

Hello everyone, Dargon here. The reason for this chapter outside of my release schedule is because it's my birthday! Have a good day, and I hope everyone enjoys the chapter.

John fired the other Mana Javelin at it as fast as he could make it, aiming for the blue light at the center of the golem's chest. However, it did not meet John's intended target, as the golem simply plucked it out of the air once it got within reach. Grasping the javelin firmly while continuing to sprint towards John, the golem seemed to absorb the very mana the javelin was made out of, and the javelin faded into nothing after a moment.

Upon further inspection, John noticed that it had a thin layer of slightly distorted air around itself, probably what was blocking his spells from hurting it.

I have a bad feeling about this, John thought to himself, realizing in the process that he didn’t have a single skill to counter its apparent ability to nullify, or at least absorb, spells

As John steeled himself for what was likely going to be a brutal fight, he channeled the mana for a casting of Theft on the golem, as that might take the golem’s shield down, hoping that Gamer’s Luck would help him.

John then began to wait for the golem to come within range of the spell. This was a massive risk on his part, but he had to at least try.

As the golem came closer and closer, John readied a Mana Javelin in his left using Dualcast.

The thud of the golem’s legs got louder and louder, until it was upon him, right in the range of the Theft he had prepared.

Theft Partially Successful! Loot Damaged, Mana Projector Obtained! Removed from Loot Table.

John spared a glance towards the popup before releasing the Mana Javelin he held towards the golem's head. It made a solid impact with a slight cracking noise, but that only created a shallow spider web of cracks upon the upper half of the porcelain faceplate.

Bringing out the severed golem leg that John had obtained earlier, he swung it at the faceplate of the golem, hoping to do at least a bit more damage with this, but the golem simply brought its hand up to the leg being swung at it, and caught it with one hand. It appeared to put a fair bit of effort into this, but despite it being weaker than the other golems John had just faced, it easily outclassed him with even just one hand and tossed it aside.

Recognizing that John was much weaker than it due to his fairly pitiful display so far, the golem moved as if to envelop John in its arms. John attempted to roll to the side but failed to evade it in its entirety and got caught by the right shoulder.

John felt his shoulder crunch as it broke, shattering into ever smaller pieces as the golem continued to squeeze and squeeze. John screamed into the cold night air in pain, almost passing out before being stabilized by Gamer’s Body.

The golem lifted John up into the air by his very broken shoulder, shifting its grip to grab his full body as it did so, and resumed its attempt to squeeze the life out of him.

John felt his arms being pinned to his sides by the cold, hard surface of what he presumed were the golem’s hands. John kicked at the golem’s legs and attempted to free his arms, but to no avail.

John thought to himself, There has to be a way out of here... right? as the golem slowly started to bring its hands together, with John’s entire torso in the way. He hissed at the pain as his ribs first cracked, then fractured, but he screamed in agony as each almost exploded one by one

John suddenly couldn’t breathe and strained to cough but was unsuccessful. He could feel himself **** on something. When did that happen? he thought and spat out a dark red substance that he knew instantly was his own blood.

John still tried to free himself, but his movements progressively slowed as the waves of pain became nearly debilitating

John could feel every inch of his chest strain and break under the grip of the monstrosity in front of him, smiling at him like it had already won. That smug bastard, John thought.

John continued coughing up as much blood as he could and even tried casting Theft on the golem one more time but couldn’t muster the focus.

John suddenly realized, as the golem’s hand’s went deeper and deeper, crushing and pulverising everything in their path, that he suddenly had a much more difficult time thinking. It was almost as if a mental fog rested upon his brain.

If he had the mental facilities to think at the moment, he would have known that it was a clear sign of major blood loss.

With his mind slowly shutting down and his body failing him more and more every second, John thought with the miniscule and last amount of mental effort he could muster as his life flashed before his eyes, When did I close my eyes? I can’t let myself die! I… I can’t, I… I... I refuse to die.

John felt a part of his mind shift ever so slightly. Suddenly his perception expanded beyond anything he could describe. While he wasn’t seeing exactly, as he could feel that his eyes were still closed, he could somehow feel the world around himself, inhaling, exhaling, ad infinitum. More importantly, he could feel every single piece of machinery around himself, including the golem who was still crushing the literal life out of him.

With a single thought that was bordering on raw instinct, John entered the golem, breaking past its nearly absent defenses, and **** the golem to drop him and begin to bash itself apart with its bloodstained arm.

John felt himself drop to the ground and his moans of pain, but it was… dulled slightly, as if he wasn’t truly there. Panicking, he flung himself back into his body and felt the pain come back in full ****. John picked himself up, feeling his entire chest reform itself over the course of a few seconds due to Gamer’s Body and backed away from it as it bashed itself to pieces.

The golems movements slowed before stopping completely, and then it collapsed to the ground, which John suddenly realized was seemingly covered in a film of the sticky, metallic smelling substance that he knew was his blood.

+190 XP

Looking down at himself, his shirt was surprisingly intact but still coated in his blood, as were his pants, at least to a lesser extent. Well fuck, these are a lost cause.

Spotting several objects, including what looked like a book, which was probably the first kill bonus from the thing, approximately near where the boss once stood, he walked over to them wearily, trying to avoid the pool of his blood as he did.

Once he was near the items, John could see that there was indeed a book, labeled with Technomancy for Beginners, the severed arm of the golem, no longer inlaid with blue energy, and a paper bag, which John promptly opened to inspect the inside of to find what appeared to be a few hundred dollars.

Transferring the objects into his inventory to inspect later, John ran his finger over each of the green bills, Well, I think this should certainly help to compensate for almost dying.

Stowing the money in his inventory, all John could feel was pure exhaustion. It appeared that Gamer’s Body and Gamer’s Spirit could only do so much for mental and physical exhaustion.

Without wasting a second, John summoned the last amount of mental focus he had and cast Barrier Dive to finally get back home.