A Big Problem, Part I

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“A fire golem!?” Zero exclaimed. ”And it’s freakin’ huge!”

That was the understatement of the year as far as I was concerned. The thing looked like it could have all of Redrook for dinner, and leave plenty of room for dessert.

“What the hell’s it doing here?” I asked Shion the most obvious question, trying not to make any sudden moves. “I thought you had that Fia chick’s wand taken away?”

“I’m certain I did, Headteacher Fury confirmed it, but…” Shion appeared lost in thought.

“No time to think, clear the road now!” Zero warned everyone as the golem curled itself into a sphere, rolling towards us like a wrecking ball, only it was on fire and covered in spiny scales.

It flattened parked wagons left alongside the shoulder of the road, but we were just able to avoid getting squashed ourselves. An evacuation began, meanwhile, which had started with Alpha’s widespread attack against me moments before. It complicated matters though, since civilians now poured into the streets in a panic.

“Guild members, get these fine people off the streets, and out of harm’s way immediately!” Sounding very much like a Guildmaster, Milton commanded. “Gerard, I’m trusting you with the task.”

“Consider it done, sir!”

“Very good, the four of us will handle things here in the meantime. I suspect we're the only ones who can until help from the Institute arrives...”

I gave Milton an incredulous look. For a second, I thought he meant that himself, Zero, Shion, and I would hold off the gargantuan beast all by ourselves... What a comedian my boss was.

He IS joking, right?

“You just thought something impolite, didn’t you, dear boy?” Milton forced a smile in my direction. “Don’t tell me you’re losing your nerve, now of all times, are you?”

“You kidding, boss? Not a chance!” My pride won out in the end, despite the fact that I was—in essence— a non-combatant. “But… let’s say I was, hypothetically—?”

“Keep moving, everyone! Don’t let it catch you picking your noses.” Zero yelled again as the creature tried to stomp on us. But we did as he said, shifting our positions around to confuse it. “Richter scale: Six-point-zero! Earth spear!”

Zero plunged his sword downward and a whole line of jagged, spear-shaped rocks shot out of the ground, piercing the side of the fire golem.

“I’m not done yet!” Zero ran in, and swung his mighty blade at one of its legs, leaving a sizable gash for his trouble. The beast let out a roar in displeasure as it stumbled a bit before regaining its footing.

Impressive… Zero sure knows how to handle himself on the battlefield. Is this what he’s like when he gets serious?

My first impression of the guy was that he was a bit of a jokester, but his otherworlder abilities were the real deal. I could understand why Shion saw fit to add him to our ranks, to say nothing of his willingness to go along with whatever she says. However…

“GAH—“ The creature hit Zero in the abdomen with its spiny tail.

“Zero!” I shouted, watching the man crash into a wooden shack and kick up a cloud of dust in the process.

Shion, meanwhile, still seemed to be thinking up a storm and muttering to herself, despite her companion just catching a serious beating.

“Shion?” I tilted my head.

“Don’t worry, I can heal him. Just focus on staying alive, Ren-kun, I don’t think help from the Institute is coming…” Finally, she took off running to assist Zero while Milton and I were left in the fray.

That’s all I really can do, come to think of it… But what does she mean help isn’t coming?

“I won’t be outdone…” Milton, ever-unperturbed, held his staff horizontally in front of his outstretched palm, a small cyclone gathering around him. “God of storms, grant your faithful servant the power to rend this foul creature asunder, placate the fires of creation with an almighty gale. Mercurial Storm!”

Hurricane-force winds encircled the golem, stripping off parts of the molten rock encasing its body. For a moment, deep within one of its wounds I thought I saw something glimmering red like a jewel, but Milton wasn’t done with his chain of attacks.

“Magical armament, Talaria!” White spectral wings sprouted from the sides of Milton’s shoes as he slingshotted himself into a kick at blinding speed. “Mercurial Strike!”

He gave the monster a taste of its own medicine, launching it backwards like a ragdoll, reminiscent of what it had just done to Zero only moments before. It somersaulted thrice before rolling to a stop on its backside.

That’s my boss!

The devastating attack succeeded in weakening the creature for a time, but unfortunately not for long. Before our very eyes, the shards of rock and magma that had crumbled off began to regenerate, healing even its deepest wounds almost instantly.

“No way… This thing is even tougher than it looks…”

“I don’t believe I’ve seen such a fine magical specimen, at least not in the last hundred years, this summoner must be quite skilled indeed...” Milton mused as Shion and Zero returned to our side.

“You alright, man?” I asked Zero, observing his tattered clothes, and bruised body.

“I’ve been through worse, partner, if you’d believe it. Luckily for me, Shion knows a few healing spells.” Zero chuckled a bit before his face grew stern. “The bigger problem is… that thing’s shell.”

“It’s healing faster than you guys can cut into it, I take it?” Shion noted. “What a dilemma…”

“A big pain in the ass more like.” I said. “You said help wasn’t coming, what did you mean?”

“If this golem came from the north, the Institute’s anti-threat force would have been the first to meet it in battle, along with reinforcements from the Garrison.” Shion said.

I remembered that, in the last loop, Captain Grimwick and his direct subordinates went off to fight it. I wondered if they were present this time around, or maybe… if the golem had somehow leveled up since the last loop due to Alpha’s interference

“So, what you’re saying is, they got their asses handed to them and it's up to us now?” I scoffed. “Well, that’s just great.”

”Being that it is a creature composed of mana, it will eventually run out and dematerialize on its own. However, that means we could be in for a war of attrition if this keeps up, and the city is still at risk.“ Milton said. “My own reserves of mana are in top shape, but I gather the same cannot be said of Miss Shion. Am I incorrect to assume so?”

“Unfortunately you’re right on the nose. I used nearly all the power I had to turn back the clock a short time ago.” Shion sighed. “Any more than that last healing spell and I run the risk of passing out from depletion fatigue, as embarrassing as that is.”

“Depletion fatigue?” I repeated.

“Imagine it’s like taking a nice big nap in the middle of a fight,” Zero explained. “In fact, this one time, Shion—“

“—You want me to kick you again?”

Before Shion could follow through with her threat, we heard a concerning sound. Finally wobbling to its feet, the fire golem narrowed its reptilian eyes at us, looking even angrier than before.

It didn’t roll at us this time like the prior attack pattern would dictate. Instead, perhaps due to the threat Milton presented at close-range, its mouth began to glow a bright orange as it inhaled deeply. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up though, something was off.

“Breath attack incoming, take cover!” Zero shouted. “Richter scale: seven-point-zero! Earth wall!”

We dove behind Zero’s wall of rock just as the fire golem unleashed a powerful blast of molten lava from its mouth. At first the wall was enough to hold it off, but then…

“Watch out—!”

The wall crumbled into pieces as the monster itself came rolling through it. The breath attack was a feint of sorts, and we were ill-prepared for evasive maneuvers this time around. By all accounts, we should have been flattened right then and there. However…

“I leave the rest to you, Ren-kun.”

The moment before we were sure to be crushed, the four of us suddenly warped off to the side as if by some unnatural phenomenon. Even the monster was taken aback as it whipped its head around, struggling to halt its forward momentum in the process.

What the hell just happened!?

However, the unexplainable suddenly made a lot more sense when Shion fell to the ground, completely unconscious.

“Shion!” Zero and I yelled almost in unison, rushing to her side. Milton knelt beside her, too, checking her pulse.

“She’s alive, thank heavens, but… she won’t be waking up for a while.”

“Why, what gives?” I asked, keeping half my attention on the golem as it came skidding to a halt.

“Depletion fatigue…” Milton sighed.

“Wait, she used her mana!? After she just…?” I shook my head in disbelief.

“She used her power to stop time for just a moment, to move you two to safety.” Milton said. “I could have strained to jump out of the way, myself, but she saw fit to move me as well… I owe her a debt of gratitude for that too, it would seem.”

“Shion…” I looked at the sleeping girl, our strategist who had taken it upon herself to save us, but took herself off the board too in one costly chess maneuver.

“If someone has an idea or two, now would be the time to share with the class… but no pressure or anything.” Zero got in an attack stance with his broadsword pointed at the golem, which pawed at the ground like a bull prepared to charge once more. “Sweet mercy, I shouldn’t have drank so much booze before this, I’m gonna hurl…”

“What do we do?” I muttered to myself, feeling the pressure begin to mount despite Zero’s assurance. My gaze was downcast meanwhile. “Can we do anything when it keeps regenerating itself? It’s impossible…”

I didn’t have any offensive abilities like my boss, or Zero, and I wasn’t a long-lived time traveler and master planner like Shion. She insisted up and down that I was special, but all I could do was heal myself. Shion saved me, twice now come to think of it, but was I capable of doing anything else besides just saving my own skin?

“Dear boy, when Shion spoke to me before, she spoke of many things regarding you. She insisted—and I mean insisted—you were one to keep an eye on, to the point where I eventually took an interest in you myself, believe it or not.” Milton spoke to me as if sensing my unease. “But would you like to know what it was she listed as your greatest strength?”

“What?” My ears perked up, unsure of the answer.

“Your resourcefulness and attention to detail, not any one ability. And your heart, dear boy, that’s what sets you apart.”

“Shion really said all that?”

“As surely as the stars above.” Milton nodded, smiling. “The moment you stop thinking of yourself as a mere non-combatant is the moment you become a full-fledged adventurer, and not just an honorary one. There are things only you can do.”

Things only I can do…

His words were a challenge of my resolve, and a call to action. Coming from my boss, and with Shion’s backing, I could feel them begin to light a fire underneath me that burned through my lingering self-doubts.

“Now, you saw it all, didn’t you? Zero and I were focused on casting our spells, so we might have missed something.” Milton said. “A weakness, anything that could turn the tide in this battle. Even the most mundane detail will suffice and I will take it from there…”

“A mundane detail, huh…?”

A light shone in my eyes distractingly as I was lost in contemplation for a short time. The reflection of the golem, gleaming off the surface of Zero’s sword, grabbed my attention and held it. That’s when it occurred to me, suddenly, the detail I had almost missed…

“I think… I might have something.”