The stone monsters arrived like an earthquake, tearing through the earth like crawlers, showing no regard for the environnt.
"Form up," Warden shouted as he leapt to his feet. "Gene, stick close to Jez. She'll keep you safe."
At least, that was the plan, but Warden thought it needed a reminder, especially for the boy. Each of the stone golems was over twelve feet long, with a literal boulder-like build. Their heads only had sockets glowing with deep red light. Despite Warden leaping at the first sign of movent, he couldn't reach safety in ti. The golem's stone fist thrust at him from below.
He could only channel void energy through his leg to parry the attack.
Using the stone fist as a pivotal point, he leapt up from the creature, finally landing on the terrain. The divider was ready on his arms, its length rising as Warden forced energy into it.
In his peripheral vision, he saw Jez stop a full strike from the stone golem with her shield. The clash echoed a loud boom, causing Gene to skid on his feet. However, the towering form of the woman didn't budge an inch. She completely intercepted the attack.
Relieved that they could take care of themselves, Warden focused on his strengths. He swung the lengthened blade, cutting through the stone limbs of the creature. The obstruction was tougher than the wolves he had faced, but Warden simply needed to exert more energy.
Mounds of stone fell as Warden made his moves. However, the golems were relentless. No matter how much mass they lost, they attacked with the sa intensity.
"Attack their head," Gene shouted in a panicked tone. "Or their chest, where their core is."
Warden took his words to heart. Instead of cutting through the fist that ca at him, he leapt on top of it and ran through its head, his blade rising high to make a full swing. The golem tossed him up, but Warden had already made his move. His blade plunged into its head, severing it into two. It even reached a few feet into its body.
The socket, no longer glowing red, indicated that the huge golem had fallen, immobilised. To Warden's surprise, he didn't receive any notification of a boost, which ant it wasn't dead yet.
However, it wasn't moving, and there were still seven of them remaining. Warden couldn't dwell on his thoughts for long, as two golems rushed at him in a mad dash. He blocked one's attack and was about to intercept the other when lightning crackled out of nowhere and crashed into the socket of the creature.
The stone golem fell instantly, its head nonexistent. Warden took care of it, destroying its head, and then turned toward the young Elentalist. The lad was in a cold sweat, but he had a triumphant look on his face as he took on his second golem.
"I guess he wasn't here for nothing," Warden thought.
With the number of stone golems decreasing, they felt no pressure in dispatching them all. Even Jez'arim broke through one of them directly with her raw power.
"These stone bastards are tougher than your usual iron-rank monsters," Jez said with a grunt.
"Yet you hold your own," Warden replied, sounding impressed. "By the way, they didn't give any attribute boost, that ans—"
"They aren't dead," Gene interjected, wiping his face. "We have to destroy their cores to truly kill them."
"Then let's do it," Warden said, turning towards the boulders and splinters of stones.
"No, no, no," Gene objected. "They are more valuable intact."
"The boy is right," Professor Manala said. "Each of these cores is worth five tis more than any normal core of the sa rank. Your ti is running out; collect them quickly."
The cores were in the centre of the golem's chest, so Warden had to extract the cores one after another and leave them all in the care of the professor.
"By the way, do we get to keep these cores, or are they the school's property?" he asked.
"The academy owns everything," the professor replied. "But they will compensate you for your ti, even if you do not make it in the end."
They went deeper to hunt more monsters. Although seven seed acceptable for an individual, collectively they were too few, even if the test had a different purpose. They mostly encountered stone golems on the way. Warden played the part of scouting, which mostly involved stomping on the ground as much as he could, while the others waited in the background.
Jez'arim offered to do the scouting herself, but Warden insisted he was right for the job.
So, at the end of the two-hour run, nothing of note happened. They hunted as many creatures as they could, but could only manage to defeat twenty-seven stone golems and a few lower-ranked creatures.
"Anyway, does anyone rember the way out?" Gene asked.
The professor didn't provide any guidance, leaving everything for them to figure out. Thankfully, Warden kept track of his surroundings. Jez, too, didn't see it as a problem as they retraced their steps.
"So, it is ti for the reveal," Elder Vess said after everyone was back.
The blond guy seed exhausted from all the fights he had to endure. His clothing was stained with blood, but it seed his solo efforts bore fruit. He brought out a pouch from his waist and handed it to the elder to check. "There are twenty-five iron rank cores and seven copper ranks."
"A hefty sum, indeed," Elder Vess nodded. "Whatever others say, you don't disappoint, young Walt."
Walt? now that's a na Warden rembered.
The elder turned to their group. "What about you three?"
"We hunted twenty-seven iron rank cores together," Warden said and found the blond Walt visibly relieved.
"Together?" Elder Vess raised an eyebrow. "You didn't count how many of them each one of you hunted?"
Warden simply shrugged as if it wasn't important.
"I slew nine of them," Young Gene was quick to answer.
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