Chapter 8: Iron Ore Core

The world around them had now entered the battle mode state. Harmony was standing on the top branch of the tree that she was using to keep her distance from the golem. Vault was positioned a few feet behind the Golem with his ax in his hand.

Since he was the one who did the sneak attack, he got the first turn. He could also see a few points of health were chipped away from the golem. Strangely though, there was another bar that was right over its health, almost coating it.

“Hey, are you seeing this Vault? Why does its health bar look a little weird, like there's something covering it?”

Vault charged forward and smashed his ax against the golem’s ankle. The health bar only chipped away by a small amount, but the other bar that was covering it ripped away by a chunk.

“It's as I thought. A lot of the aspects of this world are kind of like the video games from ours. I recognize this part of the system. He's got an armor bar. It's almost like another health bar, but every time we hit him it chips away only a small amount of his HP. The rest comes out of the armor bar.”

The timer began for Harmony's turn. “So he's barely going to get a scratch until we just keep chipping away at that armor thing? That is so unfair! Harmony was getting ready to throw her chakrams, but she paused for a moment.”

She noticed Vault holding up his hand, gesturing for her to stop. “This creature has a bit of a unique body, so this battle will be a bit different compared to a normal one. You should aim for the same leg that I just did. Trust me, it'll give us an advantage.”

She nodded before throwing her chakrams and aiming for the same leg that he did. The armor chipped away once again along with a very small amount of hp. The golem’s turn had now finally come.

It marched up to the tree that Harmony was standing in and punched it once. A small health bar appeared on the tree and a quarter of it was depleted. “Dude, did he just hurt the tree?!”

“I think it's trying to take advantage of the destructive environment aspect of these battles. Be careful, if it destroys that tree while you're still in it, you could take more damage.”

Eunice took control of Harmony and made her cross her arms while looking down upon the golem. “My position might be somewhat of a disadvantage, but it also provides me an advantage. Not only do I remain out of range of its attacks, my own strikes will also have a stronger effect since I am aiming downwards from a high position. Gravity is my ally at the moment.”

She swapped back out with Felicia just as a Vault started his turn. He once again aimed for the same leg. Now cracks appeared on that spot. Felicia now understood what he was trying to do. Its body was made out of rocks and just destroying one part of it, especially something as important as the legs, could limit its movements.

Meaning when it's turn came it wouldn't be able to actually go over to them and attack. She threw her chakrams once more and struck the same leg. The cracks had now grown even larger along with the armor and HP chipping away once more. Just a little more and that leg would be destroyed.

The golem’s turn came up. It lunged at the tree Harmony was standing in and bashed the trunk. She started to lose her balance, but Eunice quickly took over and made her hold on tightly to the branch.

Vault’s turn came up. He delivered the final blow to shatter the boulder that made up the golem’s leg. It collapsed on the floor with a loud thud. A large dust cloud dispersed into the air from the crash.

Its armor bar had been destroyed and most of its HP was now gone. They definitely had the upper hand. The creature sat up just as Harmony’s turn began.

She threw her chakrams “Guess this means it's our win!”

The golem fell backwards and managed to avoid the hit. Harmony clicked her tongue as her weapons returned to her. The golem’s turn came.

It grabbed its severed leg and hurled it with all its might at Harmony. She let out a scream as it smashed into her. She got knocked out of the tree and hit the ground with a hard thump.

Blood trickled down her mouth as she watched her HP bar drop down to its last point. The damage from the throw and the fall damage almost took her out in one go. She sat up with difficulty and gave her enemy an uneasy look.

Vault gripped his axe tightly. “Don't worry! That thing's not gonna get you again!”

He wasted no time with his turn. He charged and cracked down on the golem with all his might. He smashed its chest open and exposed an iron ore core. The golem was reduced to its last point of HP.

Harmony’s turn had begun. Her body was screaming at both Felicia and Eunice about how much pain it was in, but they needed to end this as soon as possible. Harmony trudged up to the golem who was lying on the floor with its chest open.

She raised up both chakrams and let out a battle cry as she brought the weapon down on the exposed weak spot. A dark fog burst out of the golem's body and the world around them returned to how it once was.

The survivors were pinged with multiple system notifications. “You have slain Gray Dungeon’s Golem! Exp awarded!”

“You have leveled up!”

Harmony had reached level 4 and Vault had reached level 7.

“Discovered Iron Ore!”

They both have that last notification a confused look. “What ore?” They both said.

They turned their attention to the golem’s remains on the floor. They examined it and saw chunks of iron ore embedded inside it.

Eunice switched out with Felicia. “An interesting find. The crafting boy can make good use of this as building materials.”

Vault tried to pull the ore out, but it didn't budge. “Not strong enough to remove this with my bare hands.”

Harmony held her hands over the ore and smiled. “Have I mentioned how much I love my skill!”