It seemed that though they’ve blocked the archways, they had also seriously underestimated the caliber of their opponents. The first set of archways was the one Quora had blocked from a distance, which was why they were the least resistant. Which explained why they broke first. That, however, didn’t outright explain the varied bunch of golems who had spilled into the main room, one atop the other, yet Alex had an explanation for that as well.

“They’ve been massing behind those shields. Look at them, the sand ones are already broken and the clay ones have cracks in them. They’ve pushed through by weight alone.”

“What do we do?” Quora asked. “I can’t make the shield stronger than they are, not quickly.”

“There’s no guarantee iron golems won’t appear or even stronger ones than those. We retreat and call it a day.”

And that has been what they had been doing for the past who knows how many minutes. They had tried to advance and fight their way through the horde of bovine golems. Alex was right when he said that they might have missed a few types of golems, to Erea’s continual embarrassment. The usual sand and clay golems were out in force, but there were mud and earth ones among them as well. And only now were the sandstone ones popping out, one every once in a while.

To be fair, only that set of archways had been unleashed, the other two sets still holding back the probable tide. And Laen’s traps worked their magic as well. The centaur varied his Spells, using different sets of three, so that on one side they saw a floor covered in golem fragments while the side floor section was still wet from the miniature tidal wave that had been unleashed.

Yet it didn’t get through them all. For every foot that they advanced, the golems were getting stronger, more durable. Their team seemed to have a fighting routine they fell into, but even that didn’t seem to match the intensity of their opponents. Quora was keeping the front safe via her mobile shimmering wall of air, while Alex was supporting her, both using his vambrace and launching Spells. Erea was on her other side, using both hands to cast and being a one elf show of destruction. Laen used his trap Spells, though not only that. The centaur seemed to be specialized in mobility reducing Spells, creating sticky floors, force barriers and other obstacles that either kept the golems back or funneled them into kill areas. He handled the sides, while Mihli continually painted sigils on them, either on their robes, on their armor or on their very faces. Their casting waxed and waned depending on whether she was around or not.

And Michael? He and Micah were handling their rear, targeting any straggling golem that managed to get around them. Which was mostly Michael, since Micah refused to leave the safety of their group in order to slash at the faux minotaurs. Probably wise.

And still they weren’t making any noticeable headway. Between them, Michael thought they had probably drunk almost ten Mana Potions already and they had only made it. as far as the urn.

“Alex!” Erea suddenly screamed, pointing. “Look!”

Michael turned to see as well and noticed the place where the elf was pointing. He noticed… sand. Probably what was left from a sand minotaur. Yet the sand was moving, though it wasn’t being affected by a Spell. It was moving, coalescing and slowly, a horned head appeared out of the massed sand.

“Damn it! He shouted. Alright, listen up. I thought this- |Ice Shards|! I though this room manifested the golems from a finite amount of material. But it’s not. It’s continually reforming them. |Fast Sparks|!”

“Which means,” Erea continued “there will be no lessening of the pressure. They’ll keep coming and repairing themselves, on top of stronger opponents appearing.”

“We have to ask for help! We’re no longer able to do this by ourselves.”

Alex nodded and opened his mouth to say something, when a tremendously loud cracking sound was heard, making them all turn their heads. In quick succession, the remaining four sets of barriers were blasted apart by what looked to be the sheer weight of the golems collapsing outside of them.

By the looks of it, the minotaurs had appeared inside the side rooms and then kept on appearing. The wave of them looked to be higher than the archways themselves before collapsing. There were crushed fragments of clay spread around and sand everywhere. Yet a number of golems were already starting to pick themselves up, hampered only by Laen’s trap spells, which either kept them pinned down or destroyed them on the spot.

Still, those traps wouldn’t last forever. They knew that. And going forwards was just starting to get harder and harder. A call needed to be made.

This is not how I’m going to die!

“Alex!” Michael shouted. “We’re stuck and those things won’t be stopped forever. What do we do?”

“Why don’t you conjure a high Level Spell again and-“

“Knock it off!” Alex snapped at Erea. “He’s right. Everyone, we’re going in the room at the back.”

“But we don’t know what’s in there!” Laen said.

“We need a safe space to hold up until help gets here. If we don’t go now, we will not get a second chance later. Now! Go!”

They switched directions and ran for the last room, whose entrance was at the back of the large room. It was the one they wanted to explore, before the appearance of the golems made them abandon their initial plan. It was also the only room not to have minotaurs appearing from it, so it was probably safe.

I hope.

They ran, with no plan or formation other than blasting apart any golem that managed to overcome Laen’s traps and advanced towards them. The wave of pursuers made them quicken their step and it was only seconds before they passed the threshold and turned back around.

“Quora!” Alex hollered. “Shield or barrier Spell, now! Laen, I want a trap perimeter right in… front… what?”

They were all staring at the first minotaur who had tried to enter the room after them. It simply touched the barrier and fell apart, grains of sand flying everywhere except inside the room.

“Hah!” Micah shouted. “Take that!”

“The barrier cloaking this room isn’t just an illusion Spell.” Mihli said. “I think it also prevents the golems from walking inside.”

“But why?” Laen asked.

“I think this might have something to do with it.” Erea said.

They turned and saw the elf inspect the stone stands and columns, upon which a series of objects lay. There were quite a few of the stands in the room, both in the center of it and along its walls, but less than half had objects on them. Yet what they saw made them widen their eyes.

“Loot.” Michael breathed.

Alex laughed, making him startle, but didn’t contradict him.

They saw wands and even something that looked like a staff, though it didn’t end in a glowing gem, but mostly looked the same, end to end. And there were rings and an amulet, as well as a silvery circlet. Bound up scrolls as well, with another stand supporting potions of different sizes. The last item was a necklace, gold chains holding an emerald gem shaped liked a tear drop.

“This is insane!” Micah said.

“I mean… yeah.” The centaur laughed. “You hear about loot like this, but we’ve never actually gotten this much.”

“Yeah.” The dwarf completed, eyes glittering. “I think every item we’ve ever retrieved all together maybe come close to the size of… this.”

“Guys, focus.” Alex said. “Erea, use a |Message| Spell. Contact the academy. Have them send for help immediately.”

“Got it.”

“We can worry about the loot later. It’s of no use to us if we don’t make it out of here in the first place.”

“Wait, what?!” Michael asked. “You mean we can’t use these?”

Alex looked at the objects again, hunger in his eyes as well, but reluctantly shook his head.

“I think Erea is right. These objects and the room are connected. I think it was used as a testing ground of sorts. But… if the room was used for training mages, then the artifacts are probably safe. Not necessarily, but probably. Yet there’s also a chance that this room was used for testing artifacts themselves. Against stronger and stronger opponents. If that’s the case, then there’s a high risk these artifacts are dangerous.”

The others pouted, but cheered back up when Mihli pointed out something.

“That still makes them valuable. It just means we can’t use them right now.”

“Which is a bigger problem than previously thought.” Erea said, coming to stand near them. “My |Message| Spell isn’t going through. Something’s blocking it.”

“The barrier?” Alex asked.

“No.” she said, shaking her head. “I’ve punched a hand through it and tried again. Still nothing. I think it’s the room itself.”

“Could it be the disappearing stairs? Like, our problem from the very start. Can’t leave the big room unless we somehow meet its win conditions?”

Erea looked very much like she wanted to pretend that she didn’t hear him, but it seemed that the situation was dire enough even for her pettiness.

“Perhaps. But if that’s the case…”

“…then this testing room was made by a much harsher mage than most.”

They talked among themselves for a little more after that, but the situation truly was dire. Yes, those things couldn’t get in, but they couldn’t get out either. They even saw them massing outside the barrier, their blurry shapes forming a wall. Alex tried to contact the academy too, failing just the same. They had no rations with them, so starvation was very much a possibility. And with each passing moment, their magical reserves slightly depleted from exhaustion.

It was on the group’s third argument on whether they should use the artifacts or not when Michael broke it.

“Look, I don’t think you’ll all get to agree on this. I mean, if we use an artifact and that someone gets knocked out, we’ll be in even deeper problems. But, holding nothing back, can we blast through what’s out there?”

“That depends, are you holding back any other awesome magical Spell?” Erea asked, archly.

Michael was too tired to get angry, though he did stare at her equally.

“I know the |Barrier| Spell. And |Flame Dart|. Not much else.”

She hesitated, but refrained from speaking again.

“Look, Michael, blasting through isn’t the issue. We probably could if we went out, no holds barred. The issue is the fact that they’re regenerating. And that they’re increasing in strength. I can probably take out a metal minotaur, but what do I do when that golem just comes back, joined by an even tougher one?”

“The regeneration, does it have something to do with the blue fire?”

“Azue.” Quora corrected. “But yes, probably. There’s magic emanating from it and I don’t think it’s a trap or an illusion.”

Michael nodded, his Skill having had told him the same thing.

“Then, why don’t we just block the fire? I mean, it’s coming from the urn, right?”

The other looked at him like he was mad, before Micah started laughing.

“Block it?!” Erea snapped. “Block the physical manifestation of a high-Level Regeneration Spell? And how exactly do you propose we do that?”

“With a |Barrier| Spell?” Michael asked. “I’m sure Quora here knows a better version of it.”

“That… that is stupid! There is no chance of that working!”

“Then we break the urn!” Michael snapped, getting tired of her tone. “We either block the fire or break its source.”

“And I bet you have just the right strategy for-“

“Enough!” Alex’s shouted. “I really don’t care for your lover’s spat right now.”

“What?!”

“Alex!”

Yet he grinned after that, carrying on like he hadn’t just heard their shocked reactions.

“Besides, Michael’s right. The academy might be coming after us, but we have no idea when or if that’ll even happen. Nor do we know if this barrier will hold on forever since… the mage who designed everything seemed to be kind of a bastard. We need to make a run for it. We go for the urn, either to break it or stopper it. If that doesn’t open a way out, we’ll go back inside this room. At the very least, we get the chance at stopping the regeneration spell.”

Michael saw that the elf was having none of it, yet the others we’re nodding. He looked at Micah and noticed that the lycan was terrified, yet when he caught his eye, his friends just grinned and shrugged.

Bravado.

“Are you with me?”

“Yeah.” Michael said.

“Like I’ve got anything better to do.” Laen quipped.

“Yes.” Quora said, while Mihli nodded.

“I really hoped to learn at least a Spell before I die. But yes.”

They turned their heads at the elf, who had her hand crossed against her chest and who was frowning silently.

“Erea?” Alex asked, sounding uncertain.

“…I am not his lover.”

“…”

“Fine. Yes, I’ll go along with his stupid, suicidal plan.”

“Good.” Alex grinned, as they all sat up. “Then let’s go. We’ve got a priceless magical artifact to tamper with.”