Inside the dungeon

The group of would-be dungeon explorers had roamed the underground pathways of the ruins/dungeon for about an hour now, stopping every now and then to pick between intersections. They would often come to dead ends, but the odd thing about them was that they looked like the hallways were cut off from something more as the dead ends were made of dirt and not stone like the walls.

"Man, it's freaking dark in here," Blake dryly muttered as they walked through pretty much pitch blackness inside the bowels of the dungeon. A little while ago, there were some torches around to light up the stone walls, but now they were gone, and darkness took their place.

"Agreed," Lu said, coming from Blake's left? Or was it his right? In this darkness, it was pretty hard to tell. "Too bad that mage went off on his own, we could have used some of that light."

"Tch, yeah and he'd probably act all high and mighty to us going all 'Hmm, hmm, hmm! Oh! You see how useless I am now, you foolish brute!' or something like that right, Mari? OW!" Blake hissed in pain when his foot smacked into something hard, making him stop in his tracks. "Goddess Dammit! That hurt like! What the heck was that?" He poked at whatever he kicked with Risabeel which didn't help in finding out what it was. "Man, we could really use some light in here."

"Hey, Scaleless, if a light's your problem, then mind taking my advice?" Saffire offered her voice coming through the blue gem on Blake's chest armor.

"I'm all ears, anything to help us see down here is fine by me," Blake took the offer, seeing that they weren't getting anywhere in this place, hell they might have been going in circles for all he knew.

"Good, now hold out a free hand and thinking about a fire if what that mage said was true about our mana mixing then you should be able to use some of my fire," Saffire explained.

"Alright! Let's see if it works." Blake held out a hand while the other held Risabeel and focused a little. "Hmm...?" At first, there were only some small sparks and embers. "...Come on!" But with a bit more effort, Blake finally got a small ball of fire burning in his palm that gave off a good amount of light. "Oooh, this so cool!" Blake cheered, waving the fire around but in his excitement he accidentally caused the small flame to turn into a full-on inferno. "WHOA! OH SHIT! OH SHIT! Saffire! What do I DO?!"

"Throw it before it goes off!" Listening to Saffire, Blake tossed the fireball into the darkness and on impact with the floor it erupted in a fiery explosion that sent small flames that lit up the hallway. "Phew, that was close at least we have light now."

"Geez, be more careful with your new tricks, Blake!" Rena yelled out loud while she was sitting on Lu's head because nothing was happening.

"Hey! Give me a break! You try controlling fire for the first time!" Blake yelled back at Rena in time of the fires to go out, leaving them in darkness again. "Ok, let's try this again..." He muttered under his breath and held his hand out again, making another fireball, and this time kept it from going out of control. "Alright, now we might get some head wa-, Huh? Mari, what is it?" Looking down, Blake found Mari pulling at his shirt.

"That." Mari pointed at a small rock that Blake had kicked awhile ago, but it was moving, and there were a couple more of them around the hallway coming out of the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"Oh, those?" Blake looked on with everyone else as the rocks started to mold themselves into small humanoid shaped creatures with bulbous bodies with stumpy arms and legs, as for eyes they had glowing neon green orbs, and all of them had a capitalized 'L' marked on their heads.

"Aww, cute, they're little Golems!" Blake leaned down to the small Golem, but it scampered away from him quickly with a wobble in its step. "Hey, don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt ya, little guy." He tried beckoning the Golem back to him and stabbed Risabeel into the floor to hold out a hand while the other kept the fire going.

Elemental Monster, Golem: These animated beings are usually created through the use of magic and are loyal to the one who made them, following any order given to them without fail or thinking but it is possible of some of these mindless creations to find a will of their own someday. They can also be born naturally by large amounts of mana coming in contact with the elements.

Depending on the material used in its making a Golem can have a variety of abilities from walking impenetrable walls of earth and iron to powerful weapons of lava and lightning.

Items that can be forged out of a Golem's Ore are armor, clubs, hammers, shields which also gain additional effects based on the type of Golem it came from.

"Boo?" Came the soft voice from the Golem's non-existent mouth. "Boo?" Taking small and slow steps, it came back towards Blake while holding its hands together shyly. "Boo!" It cheered this time and held onto Blake's hand, shaking as if a young child had found their savior.

"Something doesn't feel right about this?" Blake asked himself when the Golem didn't let go of his hand when he tried pulling it back, and the shaking was getting violent now.

"Sir Blake, I believe from your bestiary that this creature is one called a Bomber Golem," Risabeel warned, as the now named Bomber Golem's hold on Blake tighten.

Explovise monster, Bomber Golem: As their name implies these types of Golem are walking bombs that accumulate considerable amounts of mana from around the area, storing and compressing it down inside its body until it explodes which depending on the size of the Golem and the amount of mana inside it could go anywhere from small firecrackers to destroying flashes.

Items forged from this monster's Ore are of course bombs.

"Nope!" Instantly Blake threw the small Bomber Golem as hard as he could just in time for it to blow itself up in a blast of green light while screaming 'BOOM!' in a high pitched voice. "Thanks for the save, Risabeel, I almost lost a hand there." He pulled Risabeel out of the floor and swung her around. "Come at us, bomber boys!" Blake slashed through about five of the Bomber Golems, but there were still dozens more of them coming out of the walls.

"Boo? Boo? Boo?" The other Bomber Golems chanted over and over again in unison as they stared at the group with arms outstretched ready to grab on to someone and explode in a split second. "BOOOOOOOM!" Four of them yelled, jumping into the air only to have four Iron Thorn Shots put between their eyes and impaled them to a wall.

"Blake! I don't think it's a good idea to stay here for long!" Lu warned, looking behind him for a way out but there was a group of Bomber Golems coming from that way as well. "Tch!"

"Yeah! Looks like it but we don't have a choice at the moment," Blake yelled back in a low groan, as he stared at the same thing Lu was facing, but in front of them, glowing green orbs looking at him before two of them jumped forward. "Oh no! You don't!" He slashed one of them in half them caught the other one with the hand holding the fireball, causing it to go out. "Shit!" Tossing the Bomber Golem away quickly for it to blow up. "Come on! Come on!" Blake tried, making another fireball so they could see again. "Huh?" But a small beam of light coming from one of the walls got his attention.

"Blake! Light!" Lu called out from the dark while he was trying to dodge some of the Bomber Golems only being able to do so thanks to their glowing eyes.

"Lu! On your left!" Rena called out from Lu's quiver helping him dodge. "Now! Swing!" She ordered, and Lu took a swing at the Bomber Golem, sending it smashing into the wall. "That's right! I'm the only one who gets to grab his butt!"

"Ugh!" Lu groaned not at his Fairy's words but the countless Bomber Golems that were spawning from the walls. "Blake! Need your help over here!"

"Sure thing! Just hold out for a sec!" Blake answered, getting some running space. "RAAHHHH!" He yelled, making a quick dash at the wall and smashed his shoulder into it with just enough force to knock it down and filled the hallway with light. "Huh?" Blake stared blankly at the other side of the broken wall finding Nathan fighting off a few Bomber Golems of his own inside a large room while a ball of mana was used as light.

"YOU!" Nathan yelled at Blake, holding his Advance Mana Control spellbook. "Get down! Mana Lustre!" He held out his free hand, forming a ball of shining mana before firing it off in multiple beams.

"Whoa!" Blake ducked down as the beams flew over him and blasted a group of Bomber Golems who were coming out of the wall above him. "Wow, you almost looked cool there for a second, useless mage!" He smirked, rushing over to Nathan's left side in time to cut down some Bomber Golems that were trying to attack him. "There, now you owe me one!"

"What!? How dare you!? By the code of favors; I owe you nothing! I was the one who saved you first! As such, you are the one who owes me! But by your actions just now you repaid it so as of now! We are EVEN!" Nathan stated in rushed but somewhat informative manner while still having the ability to take out a few more Bomber Golems with ease. "And another thing! I am not useless by any meaning of the word! You muscle bounded brute!"

"What did you just call me!? You uppity bookworm!" Blake shot back about to ready to show Risabeel the inside of Nathan's body.

"You heard me!" Nathan himself was thinking of finding out how many walls he could put Blake through with one of his bigger spells.

"Would you two shut up and stay focus!" Rena yelled at the two of them as she and Lu jumped into the room while Lu fired off a volley of arrows that were aimed at a group of Bomber Golems that fell from the ceiling and right on top of Blake and Nathan. "See!? You two would have died right there if we weren't around! Hmph!" She gave out a small lecture before going back into the safety of Lu's quiver.

"...Truce for the rest of this dungeon?" Blake asked reluctantly to Nathan, holding Risabeel up for another slash.

"So be it," Nathan muttered under his breath and readied his spellbook.

"...Could you two just help me take care of these things!" Lu yelled them as he pulled out an arrow with a large bud at the end from his quiver and aimed at a large group of Bomber Golems. "Seed Bomb Shot!" After firing the arrow, Lu pulled on his bowstring, causing the bud to burst open, releasing red seeds that exploded on contact with the Bomber Golems taking them out. "Or maybe not, heh!"

"AHAHA! That's right! Lu kicks some more ass!" Rena cheered, popping out of the quiver to peck Lu on the cheek then grinned at Blake and Nathan. "Huh?!" All she found was that they were surrounded again by more Bomber Golems who came out the floor and fell from the ceiling. "Where the hell do these things keep coming from?!"

"Mana Lustre! Demon Slash!" Both Nathan and Blake fired off their respective attacks taking out the horde of Bomber Golems in one go.

"Phew, are they done yet?" Blake asked jokingly, letting his guard down for the amount.

"BOOOOOOOOOM!" A Bomber Golem screamed, jumping out of a wall at Blake about to explode in his face when an orb of mana appeared around it. "Boo?"

"Mana Barrier," Nathan waved a hand at the Bomber Golem letting explode inside his barrier. "Hmm, hmm, hmm, Now you owe me, brute." He smirked at Blake with his hand on his hip.

"Huh? I think you mean we're even, useless mage." Blake told Nathan off, and then he looked around, seeing no Bomber Golems for the moment. "Good, looks like things have calmed down for a bit, so mage, did you find anything for me to beat you down for?" He asked in a joking tone with Risabeel over his shoulder as Mari came out of a spot she found to hide.

"Oh, b-but, of course, I-I-I have he-heh-he." Nathan laughed nervously, keeping his face deep in the pages for his spellbook and avoided Blake's eyes which were looking at him suspiciously.

"Rrrright, so where is it?" Blake asked, seeing that Nathan was lying and took the time to walk around the mage and saw not one bit of loot on him. "And I hope your answer isn't that you teleported it away."

"Uh-uh-uhm...?" Nathan mumbled over and over again while going through the pages of his book, ignoring Blake to the best of his ability.

"Blake, leave him alone we got better things to do," Saffire took Blake's attention away from Nathan.

"Fine, fine, but it doesn't look like there's much to this place at all," Blake muttered, looking around the room they were in with the only thing other than piles of smashed rocks were and tons of Bomber Golem Ore that Blake asked Mari to put into a bag she brought with her. "Hmm?" There was the door that Nathan must have used to get here and the hole Blake made to get in here. "But I'm a little surprised there weren't that many traps except for those annoying Bomber Golems."

"Yea, that is true I thought most dungeons or ruins were filled with all kinds of traps to stop anyone looking for riches, hmm? Guess you can't believe everything you read in a book." Lu said with a nod, but he still kept his guard up for anything out of place.

"Yes, indeed I was quite bewildered by this fact as well for some time," Nathan added, sticking his head out his book since Blake wasn't paying much attention to him now. "But with my level of intelligence even if there were any traps I would have spotted them all by now, Hmm, hmm, hmm!" He let out his odd laugh with his head held high and then stomped his feet hard on the floor out of pride.

*Click*

"Huh?" Looking down, Nathan noticed a small pressure plate that he had stepped on a moment ago. "..." From it came the sound of gears moving, and the whole room started to shake until... "...oh?" ...the floor fell out under them showing a seemingly bottomless drop. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"You fucking useless mage! Watch your step next time!" Blake yelled to the screaming Nathan who was flailing around in the air, in Blake's free arm was Mari who had a big smile on her face as they fell further and further even throwing her hands in the air like this was a ride. "Saffire! Transform into a Dragon and carry us! NOW!"

"Sorry, this pit is too small for me...so you're on your own, hah!" Saffire laughed nervously, worried for Blake and the others as they kept falling. "But good luck to ya!"

"OH! COME ON!" Blake screamed, seeing some light at the bottom of the pit, which meant they were in for a hard fall in a few moments if nothing was done in time! "LU! DO SOMETHING! QUICK!"

"Rena! Dandefloat Shot!" Lu pulled out an arrow with a fluffy white ball at the end and fired it down the pit when it hit the floor, giant dandelion plants sprouted out of the floor and safely caught Lu, Blake, Mari and Nathan in their seeds which started to float around them. "Phew."

"Sir Blake, are you all right?" Risabeel asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine and thanks for the save Lu," Blake answered, getting up with Mari still in his arms. "Now where the hell are w-?"

"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna DIEEEEEEE...!" Nathan cried over and again while he was in the fetal position until Blake kicked him in the butt "Huh!?!" He looked up to see that they were alright. "What?! We're alive!" He cheered, jumping into the air which got him some laughs from Blake and Mari. "*Ahem* Thank you for your assistance, Lu." He bowed his head to the Elf as thanks.

"No problem." Lu bowed back to Nathan.

"Hah! Damn, right! You should be on your knees, thanking me! Cause I made it!" Rena demanded from a top of Lu's head, which only put her slightly above Nathan.

"Whatever but where are we now?" Blake asked, looking around the new room they were in now.

It was a large rectangle room with a high ceiling, torches lining the walls, and massive stone pillars in two rows that went to either end of the room. On one end there was a set of stairs going down and on the other end was a large iron door which was chained up tightly keeping anyone from entering it unless they wanted to take the door off first.

If they got the chance to, as standing in front of the door was a giant Golem. This one was a lot bigger than the Bombers Golems from before as it was roughly twice Blake's height and was made entirely out of steel making it look like a giant suit of armor, on its chest was a large capitalized 'L.'

"..." The Golem stood perfectly still not even reacting to the group's sudden arrival in its home only gazing at them with two dimly lit orbs of white in its helmet.

"Yikes! That's freaking big." Blake gasped from the sight of this Golem. "A Steel Golem, huh?"

Metallic Monster, Steel Golem: One of the more advanced forms of Golems which are entirely made out of forged steel, allowing this type of Golem access to higher levels of defense and durability however with this usually comes with a low amount of speed.

For items forged out of this monster's Ore, please see the entry on basic Golems.

"Yes, quite the guardian...there must be something significant hidden away inside, hmm?" Nathan said, thinking to himself then opened his Advance Mana Control spellbook. "Now, what would be the best way to deal with this wretched thing."

"Meh, it shouldn't be that hard, I mean it's only one and most Golems that sized are pretty slow," Blake smirked with his back to the Golem as he let down Mari, then jabbed his chest with a thumb. "Just watch! I'll take this thing out on my own!" He turned around to face the Golem, but in front of his face was a steel fist that was bigger than his head.

"Wha-GAAAHHHH!" Blake was then sent flying across the room by the sucker punch. "AH! AGH! GOUH!" He bounced off the floor a few times like a stone skipping across a lake until he slammed into the wall on the other side of the room with enough force that he made a small crater.

"Blake!" Mari cried, running over to him while Lu and Nathan readied themselves to deal with the Steel Golem.

"Mana Lustre!" Nathan fired mana beams at the Golem, but each one of them did little to nothing other than getting the Golem to look his way. "Damn it! Mana Barrier!" He quickly put up a wall of mana that a steel fist smashed through, but thanks to the wall, Nathan had enough time to jump back between two of the pillars. "It went right through my barrier like nothing?! Then I guess I'll need to change my methods..." He thought, taking his Sparkling Stikes of Boa spellbook while putting the other one away. "So fast!" But the Golem was already in front of him with its arms up in the air.

"Snare Vine Shot!" Lu fired two arrows at the pillars and from them sprouted out large vines that wrapped around the Golem's arms stopping it from crushing Nathan. "Next up is this!" Then he pulled out a Seed Bomb Shot and aimed at the Golem.

"..." The Steel Golem turned its upper body right around to look at Lu and freed itself from the vines.

"Lu! Jump back!" Rena yelled out when the Golem came down on Lu with its arms.

"Thanks! For the heads up!" Lu jumped back while firing the arrow at the Golem blasting it with an explosion at point-blank covering it in a cloud of green smoke. "That didn't work, did it?" He asked himself as the smoke settled and saw the Golem without a scratch on it. "Yep, that's about right." Lu reached around his back for another arrow just as this walking suit of armor launched at him in a surprising burst of speed. "Shit!"

"Thunder Javelin!" From behind the both of them came a bolt of lightning that stroke the back of the Golem, stopping it in its tracks with electricity going through its body.

"Nathan?" Lu looked past the Golem to see Nathan holding his yellow spellbook in one hand with sparks of electricity coming off the other.

Nathan had a proud look on his face after his attack. "Well, it seems I have found a way of defeating you! And with it, I will reap the treasure of this dunge-!"

"Stop boasting and move!" Lu cut Nathan's speech short as the Golem charged at him.

"Hmph! You foolish piece of scrap! Thunder Javelin!" Nathan pulled back his free hand while a lightning bolt was forming in it that he held tightly before throwing it at the Golem.

"..." Which the Golem dodged by jumping over the spell and came down on Nathan with its feet aimed at him.

"Oh, dear me!" Nathan rolled out of the way as the Golem crashed down and quickly got up trying to smash Nathan with its fists. "No! No! No! NOOOOOO!" Nathan cried, but thankfully the Golem's arms were caught by one of Lu's Snare Vine Shot. "Good! Now keep it there so I can finish it!"

"Right!" Lu shot more Snare Vine Shots around the Golem, tying it up more while Nathan was gathering mana for something big. "Uh-oh!" But with every arrow he shot, the Golem broke through five of them.

"..." Then slammed one of its fist next to Nathan, knocking him away and stopped him from gathering mana then went after Lu.

"Blake! Blake!" While Nathan and Lu were either getting knocked around or chased by the Steel Golem, Mari was currently trying to wake Blake up. "Blake! Get up! Lu and that mage need your help!" She yelled up at Blake, who was smashed into a wall and threw a rock at him when her voice wasn't enough.

"OW! Mari...that doesn't help." Blake groaned in pain with blood running down the right side of his face as he pulled himself out of the wall and landed on his knees, using Risabeel as support before standing upright. "So how are things while I was out...?" When he took a look at the fight, Blake saw Lu and Nathan dodging most of the Golem's freakishly quick attacks, but it didn't look like they could keep it up for long. "Well? They look like they're having fun, but man I'm kind of surprised that I'm not dead after that punch, thank you Dragon armor and scales!"

"Damn right!" Saffire boasted with pride until the sound of the floor breaking and Nathan screaming got to her. "Uh, we should go help them before they die."

"Yea, that's true, ready, Risabeel?" Blake asked, raising Risabeel while charging her.

"Of course!" Risabeel answered confidently with her purple gem shining brightly.

"Good, Demon Slash!" Blake sent out the attack at the Golem as it was about to strike Nathan, hitting the Golem's head at full force stopping it. "Over here! Big guy!

"..." It turned to Blake with only a small nick in its head from the slash.

"Guess, I'll go down the list!" Blake pulled back with Risabeel then stabbed forward. "Demon Stab!" A purple beam was sent rocking towards the Golem, but it clashed with the beam with just a punch. "Tch! Mari! Get back!" Blake pushed Mari away as the Golem came down with a strong right that Blake blocked with Risabeel. "Fuck, this thing is heavy!" Blake rolled out of the way unable to keep the Golem's fist up any longer which worked out for him as the fist went right through the floor and got it stuck. "Time to die!" Blake yelled about to hit it with another Demon Stab.

"..." But the Golem lifted some of the floor with Blake along with it knocking him off balance.

"Whoa!" Blake tried to get his footing back before this giant tin man flipped a stone slab on top of him.

"Sir Blake, to your right!" Risabeel tried, warning Blake when the Golem moved in on him.

"..." It grabbed onto Risabeel's blade and lifted Blake off his feet.

"Let go! Metal face!" Blake yelled, kicking the Golem in its head again, again, and again, and again...until he gave up. "*huff* You're gonna *pant* smash me into the floor *huff* and toss *Pant* me into one of those pillars *huff* aren't you?" He asked the Golem in between gasps for air.

"..." The Steel Golem stared at Blake, and he swore he could see the gears in this thing's head working as it weighted the idea to itself. "...Thanks." It nodded at Blake after speaking slowly.

"Oh, Shit!" Following Blake's words, the Golem proceeded to smash him into the floor with bone breaking force before throwing him into one of the pillars breaking it in half. "Yep...That one a lot hurt...you ok, guys?" Blake groaned, trying to get back up.

"A little winded but fine, what about you, Risabeel?" Saffire answered and awaited for Risabeel to answer, but she didn't. "Hey, Demon girl, you listening!?"

"Huh? Risabeel?" Blake checked his hands, and Risabeel was gone, and so were his horns. "Where?" Looking back at the Golem, he found Risabeel still in its grasp. "Oh, that's just great."

"Sir Blake? Sir Blake?" Risabeel whimpered when she didn't feel Blake's hold on her anymore.

"I'm here, Risabeel! Don't worry! I'll get you back in a sec!" Blake yelled over at Risabeel, causing the Golem to rush at him. "Crap!"

"Thunder Javelin!" Nathan yelled out, throwing the spell at the Golem as it charged at Blake, but was dodged when the Golem flipped over it and kept running at Blake. "Damn it! How is this thing able to move so swiftly!"

"Goddess dammit! Useless mage!" Blake jumped off the broken pillar as the Golem came crashing through destroying what was left of it then stood up completely fine. "Does this thing even take damage?" Blake asked himself, looking up at the Golem after everything it got hit.

"Well, you could always do like a Dragon and light it on fire and see how long it takes to melt!" Saffire offered in a joking tone.

"Hmm? Melt? That could actually work!" Blake smirked, holding out both of his hands and made a fireball in each one. "Hey, Saffire? How hot do you think I can make it?!" He intensified the fire in his hands until each fireball was ready to pop. "Catch this! Metalhead! Dragon Fireball!" Blake tossed one of the fireballs at the Golem which it tried batting away with its hand, but the fireball exploded on impact blowing apart the Golem's left hand, leaving it with a molten pump. "Haha, how do you like that!?"

"..." In answer, the Golem rushed up to Blake and kicked him across the room, landing right next to Nathan and Lu who looked down at him.

"Are you okay, Blake?" Lu asked, helping Blake up.

"No, I just got knocked around by that thing for the third time, and it's starting to hurt a lot," Blake answered, rubbing his back then slapped his hands together with a red glow between them. "But I think we can beat this thing now!" Pulling his hands apart, Blake was making a fireball between his hands and was increasing its size. "You should know the drill by now, Lu."

"Distracted it long enough for you to get a good shot in right?" Lu readied his bow as he and Blake shared a smile among themselves. "Mind helping me, Nathan?"

"Hmph! If you two think that I will allow you to defeat this steel fiend, then you are both fools!" Nathan declared, surging with electricity from his hands and spellbook until the Golem stomped its massive feet shaking the room. "...But it may be a good idea to continue preparing that attack of yours."

"Wow! That's one long-ass way of saying 'yes,' useless mage." Blake mocked Nathan with a smile that mage shot back with a glare. "Hey, come on! Help me out here, and I'll let you get first pick at whatever's behind door number one over there." He motioned over to the door the Golem was standing guard at earlier.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm! So be it! I hope that you can keep your word, brute!" Nathan made his Sparkling Stikes of Boa spellbook float in the air while he held out his hands with lightning sparking between them. "I can stop it from moving for a bit, but first, it would be a good idea to get that Demon sword out of its hand first."

"I'll take care of that," Lu dashed forward, pulling out two arrows from his quiver.

"..." To which the Golem tried slamming its molten pump of a hand at him.

"...Just need to time it right..." Just as the Golem's arm came down, Lu jumped up on its arm, then did front flip to fire a Seed Bomber Shot at it covering the Golem in a cloud of green smoke. "There!" Out from it came the arm holding Risabeel. "Got you!" Lu fired the second arrow up at the ceiling, sprouting a vine that he used to swing around the Golem's arm and grabbed Risabeel. "Alright, Nathan, you're up! Ugh!" He yelled at the mage then had to hold his head as Demon horns came out of his temples.

"Hmph! I would not have liked to use this spell, but it does give me some good practice," Nathan smirked, putting his fingertips together to focus on the Golem and intensify his electricity making small pillars of it around him. "Be still in the rain, bind my enemy with your power, strike true with instant speed and grant me victory in this battle! Lightning Chains!" After chanting his spell, Nathan placed his hands on the ground turning the pillars of electricity into large chains that shot out towards the Golem wrapping around it.

"..." The Golem tried its best to free itself from the chains, but unlike Lu's vines, the Golem strength was unable to rip apart the elemental chains.

"*Pant* Go ahead *pant* before I destroy this *pant* little twat." Nathan gasped for air while looking behind at Blake with most of his power drained.

"Sure thing!" Blake grinned at the Golem while he was holding a massive fireball that was bigger than himself. "Now go boom like your little brothers! Great Dragon Fireball!" Naming his new attack, Blake hurled the massive fireball at the Golem.

"...No..." The Golem held out its arms to catch the fireball, but all that did was get its arms melted away by the heat before resulting in a molten explosion, throwing red-hot pieces of steel around the room ending with a gray colored Ore that rolled to Blake's feet.

"Hahaha! Boss Slain!" Blake cheered, picking the Steel Golem Ore up and held it high until... "HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! BURNING SKIN!" He yelled as smoke came off of the hand holding the Ore, juggling it between his hands until it cooled down. "Phew! Why did this thing burn me when that big ass fireball didn't!?"

"Heh, maybe you just don't have enough fire resistance even with my scale." Saffire pointed out in a matter of fact tone before turning back into her scaly human form, seeing as the last on the baddies were done. "~Mmm~ It feels so good to move on my own again." She moaned, stretching her arms a bit until she noticed Blake staring at her with a cheeky smile while her chest jiggled and bounced when she stretched. "What are you looking at!?" She growled with some fire coming out of her mouth.

"Nothing, nothing, just enjoying the show heh, duck!" Blake answered, laughing to himself then rolled out of the way when Saffire tried breathing fire on him. "That was a compliment!" He yelled, safely hiding behind Mari, who was glaring at Saffire.

"Leave my brother alone Tits McGee or else..." Mari warned, but all it took to stop Saffire was that nickname.

"Mari, be nice," Blake patted his sister's head and left her with Saffire to check on Nathan who was still panting from his last spell. "Hah! Nice work, man! I guess you're not completely useless, after all!" He slapped Nathan on the back, almost knocking him over. "Oops! That took a lot out of you, didn't it?"

"..." Nathan turned around to look at Blake like the idiot Nathan thought he was and took in a deep breath. "...Yes indeed, that was a more advanced spell which is why I needed to do a full incantation or else it might have gone out of control, hitting us instead of that Golem..." He explained then paused when he realized what he said made him seem less than great. "...Which is what would happen if an amateur were to attempt that spell unlike myself! Hmm, hmm, hmm!" He did his wired laugh while his hands were on his hips and chest pushed out.

"Yeah, let's go with that?" Blake played along with Nathan's lie, letting the mage have his glory. "But thanks anyway." He gave Nathan another slap on the back with less force than the last one getting a smile out of the mage.

"Sir Blake, congratulations on your victory over the Golem!" Risabeel came up to the two of them with a broad smile after changing back. "And to you as well, Sir Nathan, for your assistance." She said to Nathan as well giving him a small bow of her head that he returned. "But I'm sorry that I could be more useful in the battle..."

"Not to worry, my fair maiden, you have that brute over there to blame for that as he was the one who lost his grip on you," Nathan assured Risabeel that nothing was her fault, holding out his hand for her but instead of Risabeel taking it Blake grabbed his arm tightly. "Hmm?"

"What was that, useless mage?" Blake asked in a low tone with the two of them having a stare down.

"Geez! You two should get a room to deal with your feelings for each other!" Rena loudly groaned while sitting on one of Lu's shoulders then stood up to poke Lu in the cheek. "Why can't you be like Lu! Cool and calm...until someone says something about him looking like a girl." She added the last bit reluctantly.

"You're a male?" Nathan asked, giving Lu a look over with a hand under his chin. "Now that I have a better look...?"

"Let's just leave that alone for now," Lu said, backing away when Nathan got closer to him out of nervousness.

"Alright, now that everyone's accounted for, let's bust open that door!" Blake declared, pointing at the large doors and ran up to it, followed by everyone else walking behind him. "Now, how do we get in?" He asked himself, scratching his head. The door was made of steel probably about 5 or 6 inches thick and chained up with large steel chains that might have even held back the Golem. "What are the chances that it's not enchanted with some way of blowing up anyone trying to break in?"

"Very low from how well that Golem was defending it, this door is likely to have another trick to it...give me some time to check first..." Nathan answered, opening his Advance Mana Control spellbook to find some way of taking off any booby traps that might have been set on the door.

"Good idea, wouldn't want something bad to happen." Blake agreed, stepping a little closer to the door to get a better look at it, "Hmm?" But in doing that he didn't notice a small miss placed tile that was sticking out just enough that Blake tripped over it. "Whoa!" He threw out a hand to make sure he didn't fall on his face, resting his hand on the door. "Phew! That was clos- Huh?" Looking at the door, Blake noticed that it was glowing red and let out a low hum.

"Hmm?" Nathan looked up from his book and found a glowing door with Blake in front of it. "What did you do!?" Nathan yelled, feeling a surge of mana coming from the door.

"Nothing!" Blake yelled, getting in front of everyone as the door continued to hum and glow, then, to everyone's surprise, the chains unwrapped themselves falling to the floor with heavy clangs, and the two sides of the door started to slide open. "Uhm...okay?" Blake was a bit lost for words looking at his hand then at the now open door.

"How were you able to do that?!" Nathan asked, unable to understand how Blake did that, and it pained him to no end. "This person is getting far too interesting for a brute!"

"Beats me I just touched it and 'bam!' the door opened," Blake answered in the same boat as Nathan. "But hey lucky us, huh? Come on! Let's take a ~peek~" He smiled, walking into the room with everyone else.

The room was a circular study with bookshelves making up the walls, but sadly all of them were filled only with cobwebs and dust, at the center was a lonely desk with a hefty tome resting on it. Its covering was a dark gray with metal pieces at the corners.

"What! That's it! Aww, come on! This was a waste!" Blake moaned, after everything he just went through and at the end, there's nothing but an old book. "Hmm? What's with you, mage?"

"Ooooh!" Nathan had an awe stroke look in his eyes as he gazed at the book. "It cannot be...?" After taking some long strides towards the desk, he lured over the book. "...Ahahah! Do you know what this is!" He yelled out, pointing at tome like it was a chest full of gold.

"No, enlighten us," Blake answered for the others.

"This is one of the lost tomes of Le Fay's elite library of magic! I need to report this back to the Headmaster at once!" Nathan went into a happy dance spinning around with the tome then opened it to read a few pages intently. "...Interesting! It appears this book focuses on metal magic...insightful, very insightful indeed!" He kept, going through its pages getting more and more amazed before holding out a hand. "Skin Of Steel!" He yelled out, and a layer of steel grew over his hand that he made into a fist. "Hmm, hmm, hmm! It wo-aaahhh!" Nathan was going to boast about his new steel fist when suddenly he fell thanks to its weight.

"Hah, you need to work on your muscles, don't you?" Blake laughed as he walked up to the downed mage and helped him up with ease. "But still that feels like a few extra pounds there."

"Indeed...give me a moment..." Nathan allowed Blake to take the weight of his fist for a few moments as the mage was reading a bit more. "Ah! Here we are!" He closed his eyes and felt his hand return to its normal weight while keeping its steel covering. "Quite interesting! This must have been how that Golem was able to move so fast by lighten the steel used its making or after which..." He rubbed the steel on his chin a few times as he thought this fact over. "But why is such a powerful tome from Le Fay here of all place?"

"Hey! That's cool and all but mind telling us how the hell you're doing that?" Blake asked as he went from looking at Nathan other two spellbooks and the new one.

"Hmm? Why is such a thing in need of explanation, Sir Blake?" Risabeel asked soon after as she curiously gazed at Nathan's hand.

Saffire came in to answer that. "Look, Demon girl see this?" She held up a fireball in her hand, and Risabeel nodded a bit confused by the Dragon. "This is fire magic that I'm using thanks to the type of mana I have, and I can do a lot with it..." she made the fireball turn into a small flame copy to herself then pointed at Rena. "That fly over there has plant magi-"

"Hey! I am a Fairy! One with the title of Nature's Princess, might I add!" Rena yelled over at Saffire as she made vines come on from her hands.

Saffire just shrugged her off looking at Risabeel again. "Whatever, but here's the thing both of us use different types of magic and only that type of magic even if one of us tried for the rest of our lives we still wouldn't able to learn another type of magic. The same goes for humans and just about everything else in the world, do you understand me?"

"Ah! Then that would Sir Nathan is a special case?" Risabeel nodded a few times after Saffire's words.

"You mean, he's like Blake?" Mari pointed out since Blake could use dark and fire magic thanks to Risabeel and Saffire.

"That's a little different Mari. Blake gets to use those when he uses either Risabeel or Saffire..." Lu came up to correct Mari then looked at Nathan. "While our mage here can do that just on his own."

"Yea, he can?" Blake agreed with Lu even if he didn't care about magic that much he was still pretty sure that Nathan was using two types of magic which were on the opposite sides of the affinity wheel. "And you said you and I have something in common?"

"Hmm, hmm, hmm! Are you amazed? Shock? Mystified? Please try not to overthink about it, or would there be anything for me to explain!" Nathan fed off the attention he was getting from Blake's group as he summoned some lightning in his steel hand.

"Meh, not really, you're just a weirdo is all." Blake waved a hand at Nathan, followed by the others nodding in agreement to him.

"...Wha?" Nathan just seemed to stand there with sparks coming off his metal hand after hearing Blake marked him as a weirdo of all things which turned his confusion into fury. "Well, then you ill learned group of fools! You are currently looking at one who is Loved By Mana! Which if you had any idea what that meant, then you would come to the understanding that I an capable of learning any and every type of magic this world has to offer me! As long as I have the right material to learn from!" He explained while whispering the last bit.

"Oh? So you're like a super weirdo, right?" Blake asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

"..." Nathan didn't have anything to say to this...this...this...fool was the word he was going to use for now since anything else would need him to write it down before saying it out loud. "...I will not be the cause of your amusement anymore on this day, smith." He held a finger to Blake then reached into his robe to pull out a small blue stone. "Farewell, and may we not meet again." He poured some mana into the stone, and it cast a veil of light over him that then teleported him away in the next moment.

"Port-stone?" Blake asked Lu, and he nodded.

"..." then the two stared at each other for a bit with Blake letting out a long hard sigh afterward.

"...Okay, so that happened," Blake muttered dryly, taking one more look at the study then sighed again. "Looks like that's it for this place."

"Huh? You're taking this kind of well, Scaleless." Saffire said, expecting Blake to burst out into a fit of rage at Nathan's disappearing act damning the mage to the pits of the Underworld.

"Well, I got some Ore out of it, and you can't always find huge piles of gold and gems at the end of every place you go, now, can you?" Blake said with less life than usual, shrugging his shoulders in disappointment. "Plus it was just some old book, I'd probably use it as a doorstop or something, better him having it than me and I did say he got first pickings at the loot inside here...which was the only thing." With that, Blake turned his attention to a much bigger problem that befell them. "So how are we getting out of here?" He asked, walking out of the study and looked up at the hole they fell down. "Hmm?" He looked over at Saffire, who crossed her arms. "Yea, I know too small. Lu, what about your arrows?"

"That's a no go, my vines don't last long unless they're in soil and I'm not sure if I even have enough arrows to get up that high," Lu answered, grabbing at the last of his arrows if any more Golems came out now, it would be up to Blake to deal with them.

"Sir Blake, it would seem that our only way out is to proceed down those stairs." Risabeel pointed at the stairs, which were the only way out of the room now.

"Then we go down!" Blake declared as they all went down the stairs without much choice, luckily for them after a few minutes they could saw some light coming from the bottom. "Hey! Looks like we found another room...wait what?" Once they reached the bottom, they found Nash standing guard at the cart on the outside of the ruins.

"?" When Nash saw Blake, he let out a happy neigh and came over to Blake.

"...Hey, bud, good to uhm? See you?" Blake greeted Nash with a pat on the head but was still trying to understand what just happened.

"Okay...I am now very confused? How the heck did that work, we went down?!" Rena asked more to the Goddess above than the people around her and flew back to the entrance and saw that the stairs they used to get back were now the ones they used to get in. "Never mind." She muttered, flying to Lu's head laid down on him.

"Hmm? Maybe that was spacial warping magic..." Lu tried coming up with an answer, but it only came with more question. "...But who would do that to some random dungeon out in the middle of nowhere? And have the power to keep it going for so long? Could it have been that mage?"

"Beats me but I doubt it was the useless mage. He barely had enough strength to stand, after that big spell, and like I said this place was probably out here because someone put it here," Blake gave out his explanation on things then took the bag Mari had been carrying and dumped the Ores inside into a box next to the furnace of the cart. "But either way, we at least got out of there so everyone can take a rest, and we'll move later."

"But still why did that door open when I touched it? Why is striking a hammer to a stone anvil the way inside these ruins? And what was Risabeel as an Ore doing inside one of them?" Blake's head was filled with these types of questions not to mention that Loved By Mana thing Nathan went on about which got the Smith-knight's interest. "My trip to Gorz is starting to look like some weird quest...I hope things calm down by the end of it." He whispered to himself, walking into the cart.

Chapter End