Without any conscious thought or given order the seven of them gathered back-to-back in a close-knit circle. It had only been seconds since the column of fire had shot in the air, yet whatever was in those side-rooms had already started to test the rooms’ limits. Michael saw shapes passing the boundary, before retreating quickly. Even the occasional spike.

“Enemies testing the boundaries.” Erea spoke quickly and military like. “Quora’s barriers holding, no sign on the two closed archways. Recommend advancing, while Quora and Mihli close and reinforce the remaining open archways.”

“Agreed.” Alex said. “Quora, run ahead and ward the remaining four as well. Laen, support her. Place traps right outside the exists.”

“Isn’t that a little overkill?” the centaur asked.

“Better safe than sorry. Mihli, use your Spells to reinforce Quora’s wards. Once she’s done, start your work in the next set of exits. Michael and Micah, you two will act as her support.”

“But I don’t-“ Micah started.

“Know any Spells, I know. I don’t think spreading out artifacts is wise. If something comes out that you can’t punch, run. Michael, you’ll provide support fire, if needed.”

“Understood.” Michael said.

“Erea, you and me will run to the last set of archways. I can bet that by the time Quora is done, our guests will get bored of staying inside those side-rooms.”

“Technically,” Laen drawled. “aren’t we the guests?”

“Come on. Let’s go.” Alex laughed.

They all split and ran towards their assigned objectives. Once more Michael had the thought that this was eerily reminiscing of his hack and slash games. The ‘map’ certainly resembled it. Only they had more long range spellcasters than those games usually did. Yet the sense of haste in the air and the quiet sounds of huffing and steps on stone quickly broke him out of his trance.

“Dude, there’s no way I’m learning |Tripping Vine| while I’m running about. I almost had it before, but I lost it again. Can I have your wand?”

“Don’t think a wand would be of much use when you don’t know a single Spell. It’s not one of those preloaded types.”

“Damn it. I know…. a Spell. But it’s a close range one.”

And you didn’t think to mention this before?

“Which one?”

“|Spectral Claws|. But it’s really weak. I so don’t want to go head-to-head with those… whatever they are.”

“Oh, quit your yapping. You’re making me lose focus. Here, I made these for you. Figured you needed something.”

She slipped a pair of wide and thin paper bracelets on Micah’s wrists. They were inscribed with rows and rows of esoteric signs, which made Michael’s head hurt from looking at them. They glowed, but faintly. From a distance it looked like Micah wrapped a pair of handwritten notes around his wrists.

“Oh, thank you. Uhm… what are they?” he asked.

“Enhancers. I poured my own mana in them. When you use a Spell, that Spell will drain some extra mana from them, making it stronger. Even if you don’t know any Spell, when you punch someone, your punch will land with an extra point-blank charge, equal to that of an average |Bolt| Spell. Happy now?”

“Yes, thank you!”

“Great! Now shut up and watch my back!” she said, while turning to the barrier of air.

It was a novelty seeing someone of her magical specialty work. She had a pouch, from which she pulled a number of pens, brushes, rods, paints and powders. She muttered a Spell every now and then and what Michael suspected to be a Skill, but most of her work consisted in carefully constructing and inscribing glyphs in the walls next to Quora’s barrier.

She was done in less than a couple of minutes, though she was breathing hard. The sound of galloping made them turn their heads as Laen got close.

“Done setting traps on the second set. Here to work on the first one.”

“That fast?”

“I’m a centaur known for speed.” He grinned.

“Not what a girl wants to hear.” She laughed, making him roll his eyes.

Still, she ran on to her second archway, even as Laen got to work. Michael and Micah were right behind her, though thankfully they didn’t have to do any bodyguarding duty. It was as Mihli was halfway done with her second work that the centaur reached them again.

“Oh. Using the ambient mana to strengthen Quora’s shields. Clever.”

“Thank you. Now please stop talking to me.” The fox strained.

Laen smirked and began casting.

“|Sticky Floor|, |Scorching Air|, |Shock|.”

As he spoke, signs appeared on the floor, though they differed from Mihli’s. Her signs were more fluid, while the centaur’s looked more like runes. That being said, his signs quickly faded from view, while hers stayed visible.

But there was something wrong with his casting.

“How come we’re not affected by your own Spells?” Michael asked.

“Because the Spells aren’t actually working right now. They’ll wake up once we leave the area and become active the first-time something steps inside their perimeter.

“How do you do that?”

“By learning.” The centaur laughed. “No, seriously, there is a magical addition you can add to your Spell that lets them do that. Though it changes the Spell name slightly. Personally, I just have a Skill, |Delayed Spells|. It’s part of my Class.”

Michael understood the importance of private information, but Micah was never not too nosy for his own good.

“What Class is that?”

“Ah, young lycan, seeing as how we’ve just met, I believe I will hold on to this information for a time.”

“You’re not that older than-“

“And done.” Mihli announced, before chugging down a Mana Potion. “We should get to the second set.”

“True. And one more after that and we’ll get to bring home the prize.”

“Which is?”

“That’s for Alex to worry about.”

They laughed and moved on ahead. In the distance they could see Quora already working on the last set of archways. She was slowly raising a much thicker barrier of air, while Alex had a wand out and was pointing it at the opening in the wall.

They almost made it to the their freshly warded archways, when Alex called out.

“Incoming! Quora, drop the ward. Get back.”

They all stopped and stared as something finally got tired of waiting and got out.

That’s… that’s not a spike.

That was a horn he had seen earlier.

“Is that a minotaur?” Micah exclaimed.

It honestly looked like one, but it wasn’t. Michael had seen a couple of them roaming the hallways of Gnosis and none of them were made out of sand. No, these were golem-shaped minotaurs. They were just as huge, tall and muscular, standing over Alex by at least a head and a half. But they weren’t real.

As for whether they were dangerous…

“Incoming here as well.” Erea called out. “Sand golems, minotaur shaped. Alex, can I test one out?”

“What does she mean by ‘test one out’?” Michael asked.

“Attack it, see how durable it is.” Mihli distractedly answered.

Laen had already magically trapped his exits and had galloped away to the second archway of the second set.

“Go for it.” Alex yelled back, eyeing his ow golem, who had stopped advancing and was eyeing him silently.

“|Light Arrow|!”

Her Spell flew forward, impaling itself on the golem’s head and punching through to the other side. The golem then promptly collapsed.

That… was that it?

“Golems are basic, base material is not enhanced.” The elf shouted. “Don’t think they have a core, but they aren’t designed against dispersion either. Head works, heart probably works too.”

In the time it took her to say that another golem walked out of her archway and towards her, but she shot it down as well.

“Understood. Quora, can you make it so that my Spells can pass through your shield?” Alex asked.

“Only while I’m making it.” The dwarf grimaced. “It’s going to be stupidly slow to raise them now.”

“That’s alright, it’ll us give time for the others to catch up.” He smiled. “Alright everyone, carry on.”

What followed next could almost be described as grinding. Mihli waved them on ahead as their ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s were distracting her and the two actually got to work on destroying the incoming golems, while Alex went back to check on each of the blocked archways.

It was fun work. Not once did Michael have to use the |Barrier| Spell. Instead, he used the |Flame Bolt| and grinned as his Spell blasted apart the golem’s heads, collapsing them in the process. Micah was having fun as well. He had burned out almost a quarter of Mihli’s paper hand-bands by using his Spell. It truthfully wasn’t that impressive, only manifesting a set of one-inch ghostly claws on his fingers. He confessed that normally they weren’t that much better than normal claws. That being said, the extra magic made them glow and now the cuts they inflicted actually carried on cutting a few seconds after he finished his swipe, enhancing both length and depth of the cuts made.

Also, Michael stealthily used his new Spell. On the pretext that he wanted to punch a golem as well, a pretext that Micah applauded, he got up close and personal to a minotaur golem. Once the construct raised his hand for a hammer blow, Michael rested his hand over its chest and whispered.

“|Flame Dart|”

The thing’s chest blasted inwards in a shower of sand. It was quite a lot more powerful than a simple bolt. For one thing, this Spell had an actual sharpness to it. Michael felt it impale the golem. Also, it seemed there was an esoteric difference between fire and flame. His bolt was made of fire and could ignite things, true. But his dart emanated fire.

Something to keep in mind.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. They all walked over to Erea’s archway, as Quora was putting her finishing touches on her magical air shield. Mihli had funnily enough completed her work before her, while Laen had finished long enough ago, he had time to retrieve and eat half of a packed chicken leg.

Centaurs eats chicken. Good to know.

The elf herself looked bored, only occasionally launching a |Light Arrow| every now and then, collapsing what golem still though was a good idea to jump out. She hadn’t bothered in using a new Spell since the start.

Though, even as Quora exclaimed that she was finished, a last golem jumped out.

“|Light Arrow|!” Erea angrily spat out. “Useless, mindless things.”

Her arrow shot out and impaled the golem on the forehead. Yet… it didn’t collapse. Nor did the arrow fly out through the back of its head. Instead, the arrow slowly dissipated, leaving behind a minotaur with a hole in its head. It moved jerkily now, but it didn’t fall down. The answer as to why was becoming clear.

“That’s not sand.” Alex said, bewildered.

Michael tried to take a closer look, but sensing an intruder, that was the time Laen’s Spells kicked in. The golem’s feet were incased in rapidly growing ice, vines shot out of the stone and grabbed its arms, while a sharp jut of stone erupted from the floor, just before the golem, and impaled it.

Or tried to. Stone broke against stone and the minotaur was broken apart in two. The operational word being broken, not collapsed.

“Oh, come on, I just cast those!” Laen complained.

Alex raised a hand and walked forwards. He inspected the stone pieces and the minotaur’s stone head.

“This isn’t sand. This is stone. Sandstone. And…” he said, hesitating.

Yet he still picked a broken piece in his hand and inspected it. Then, grasping it tightly, shattered it.

“And this is clay. Tell me, Erea, did you even notice that the last golems you’ve been breaking apart were made of something other than sand?” he asked icily, striding towards her.

“How could I have noticed? I broke them apart the instant they jumped through. Most times, even before they passed the boundary.” She said, trying to defend herself.

“You’re an elf!” Alex bit out. “Your eyesight’s better than mine by nature. Better enough to notice when a golem is breaking apart instead of collapsing.”

He then threw the last shard of clay to the floor.

“Damn it, Erea. If you’re that bored and these assignments are too low Level for you, tell me! I’ll find you a solo mission on the upper floors, if that’s what it takes to keep your head in the game.”

The elf fumed, but said nothing. It really was her fault, though Michael still didn’t get it.

“Uhm, Alex? Why is this a problem? I’m not sure how the situation changed.”

He calmed himself down before answering.

“Sand, clay, sandstone. Maybe there were even earth or mud golems, but we didn’t notice.” He said, shooting Erea an affronted look. “The materials out of which these golems are made keep getting stronger. Which likely makes this entire room a testing ground, one designed for mages to unleash magic on stronger and stronger golems. Or test them out in other ways. Regardless, this means that the level of these minotaurs that are coming at us will keep increasing. We’re now on a time limit. Quora, how much of a beating can our shields take?”

“Hmm, with Mihli’s enhancements, I’d say-“

A loud crack was heard in the back of the room, followed closely by another.

“Until now?” the dwarf winced.