After a cursory glance through the two empty rooms and finding nothing, Quinten crept his way towards the next closest room roughly 40 meters further down the hall. Learning from his experiences of the last two ambushes, he opted for a more stealthy approach from now on. The closer he got, the more aware of his footsteps, breathing and posture he became. By the time he reached the doorway, he found himself in a crouching position, walking heel to toe while keeping silent by breathing through his nose. With a furtive peek around the corner, Quinten discovered a new type of golem occupying the center of the room. This new addition to the golem line appeared segmented. Each segment was equipped with tread similar to a tank and two antennae. The boxy shape terminated in rounded corners capped with brass colored metal. Slowly backing up, Quinten decided to take the chance go to formulate a plan. When he made it a few meters back and sat down to go over the information, a new line of cryptic text flashed in the chat and a faint shimmer of shadow swept across his body accompanied by the feeling of a cool breeze. 'A... new skill? I was just sneaking around... Maybe a stealth skill? That would be so dope!' he decided to keep sneaking, hoping that's what it was but chose not to rely on it too much just in case it wasn't. Thinking back to the scene in the room, Quinten tried coming up with a course of action. 'The segmentation might suggest it can split apart into separate entities, maybe there's a way to prevent that? I don't want them surrounding me...' The thought of a three on one battle sounded too intense for him. 'Obviously my main weapon will have to be Scar, but how do I get the most out of it? I need to save at least a mag for that final boss so I can't use too much.' The situation this time seemed daunting with the ability for forethought, but it also gave Quinten a spark of confidence he didn't have for the last few surprise attacks. 'What were those antennae for anyways?' The appearance of those features, yet no obvious means of attack, made him suspect their function meant possible pain for him. 'I'd like to avoid pain if possible... I think I'll aim for those first. Oh, or maybe the tread? It might be too hard to hit the stick-thin appendages... Tread it is. Then they'll be slower and maybe I can cheese it by ducking out after each shot. Yep, that's it!' With his masterful plan formulated, Quinten psyched himself up and discreetly made his way back to the doorway while quietly unholstering Scar. With quick breath in, he peeked around the corner and found it in the exact spot as before. He aimed Scar at the front-most right tracked wheels. After carefully lining up his shot, he held his breath and smoothly squeezed the trigger, producing another loud bang. Bam! The front wheel of the two-wheeled track system shattered and a grinding noise sounded out as the golem sparked to life. Before it could fully boot up, Quinten quickly brought the barrel in line with the next tread in line. Two more shots rang out and one of the plates cracked while one of the wheels bent inwards. The moment the golem attempted to roll forward, the bent wheel caught on the cracked plate. The pressure built up and the stress caused the plate to buckle and several loud pings reverberated off the walls as it shattered and sent shrapnel flying. Quinten quickly ducked out to hide from the rain of metal fragments and wiped a drop of sweat off his brow. Clanking and grinding sounds emanated from beyond the threshold and he risked a quick look inside. Several fragments of torn metal littered the floor with a particularly sharp looking piece sticking out of the wall. Several small dents peppered the walls where they struck. As Quinten glanced at the segmented golem, three pairs of antennae locked onto him and a purple glow traveled from the base to the tips. A small crackle of electricity sparked between the front pair and a bolt of lightning shot out, followed closely by two more, aimed directly at his face. Quinten flinched back around the corner the moment he saw the light charging up, but when they struck the wall, the energy conducted across the surface and into his body, causing him to spasm out of control. His hands clenched and a loud bang echoed as his finger uncontrollably depressed the trigger. Luckily, the shot just missed his foot. The familiar stun debuff appeared and his health dropped 10% and he slumped down against the wall. Unable to move, all he could do was panic and listen to the grinding and scraping of the damaged golem as it slowly made its way out of the room. The seconds ticked away, punctuated by the flashing debuff, and Quinten's panic rose as the first corner of the golem edged its way past the doorway. The 15-second mark passed as the first set of antennae appeared, swiveling around on search of their target. The seconds stretched on for an eternity as the twitching appendages slowly rotated to lock onto Quinten. His fear spiked to new levels as his mind raced. The purple light started charging up again and just when they reached the tip, the 20-second mark ticked over and, miraculously, the debuff suddenly vanished while control came rushing back into his body. He'd assumed the debuff would last as long as the last one, but apparently something about this attack caused it to be shorter. 'Maybe because it was an indirect hit?' The thought seemed reasonable. Either way, he'd never been happier with a wrong assumption. Quickly rolling out of the way, the bolt of lightning struck where Quinten's head used to be. While the conductive metal floor redirected some of the blast into him again, this time the pain and health drop appeared without the dreaded stun. A wave of relief washed over him. He took advantage of the cooldowns to quickly fire off a shot at the base of the antennae. Then a second, and finally a third, before a bassy boom, accompanied by a shower of purple sparks, emanated from the front section of the golem. A small, black cloud of smoke wafted out of the holes in its casing and the antennae locked up, the lights powering back down. With a sudden pneumatic hiss, the two back sections separated from the now inanimate front portion. While the middle section could only spin around its broken wheel, the back end was completely free to make its way past the two broken segments. When it finally reached the hallways, it quickly blocked onto Quinten and started charging up its attack. Arcs of electricity passed between the two antennae, hinting at an overcharged attack. The display was reminiscent of the Jacob's Ladder Quinten had helped his brother build for his science fair in 6th grade. The memory sparked a flash of loss across his heart. The possibility of never seeing his brother or any of his family again hit him, almost causing him to dodge out of the way. If not for a small, almost reflexive burst of energy, the powered shot might have hit him. As it was, the close proximity with the charged bolt caused a small portion to split off and strike his shoulder. The health bar dropped another 8%, bringing him down to under 70%. A small spark of flame caught his attention as the fabric of his shirt caught fire. He quickly patted it out, with a small burn appearing on his palm for his efforts. "Whew! That shit was close!" Getting his mind back in the game, he couldn't help but comment on it. It was then that Quinten realized the small discharge had numbed his arm and quickly switched Scar over to his left hand. He brought it up and to aim and shoot at the body of the golem. Not used to the weight, his left arm started shaking, causing the first shot to miss. The next one clipped the left antenna, causing it to snap off. The charge that had just started up immediately fizzled out. The damaged weapon seemed to have no effect on its directive as it swiftly accelerated towards Quinten in an attempt to bash him. The waist-high tank's sudden change in tactics startled him forcing him to dive out of the way and fall into a roll. Back on his feet, Quinten suddenly heard the charging of another attack off to his left and realized his roll brought him in front of the doorway, right in range of the disabled middle section. "Shiii.." He was sent flying back against the wall as the lightning blast struck him dead on in the chest. The smell of burning flesh and singed assaulted his nose as his twitching body slid to the floor. More than a quarter of his health disappeared. In some divine miracle, the stun debuff hadn't triggered. After saying a silent prayer of thanks to whatever gods this world might have, Quinten struggled to quickly drag himself out of range of the bot. With weak arms, he lifted up Scar and shot several times at the backend bot as it charged at him again. Finally, it shuttered and halted within a meter and he let out the breath he didn't realize he held in. Now that two of the segments were down, only the repetitive clicking scrape of the final bot could be heard. From his position against the wall, Quinten leaned over for a moment to check it's position then, psyching himself up, leaned over again and shot three times before throwing himself back out if sight. The scraping didn't stop, but the shots managed to dislodge it from the broken section of the golem and was now getting closer. Panicking, Quinten leaned back over and fired several more times while the antennae charged up. Finally, after the seventh shot, it stuttered to a stop and the glow of the antennae powered down. "Ho. Ly. Fuuuck!" His body hurt more than he'd ever felt before. There was a large, blackened splotch on his chest, clearly visible through the shredded and charred t-shirt. "Why did I come down here! God damn this place suuucks!" Now that he was out of danger, he let his frustration out. Not wanting to bring other possible enemies, he kept in mind his volume. One glance at his health and he felt himself pale. It was now hovering around 8%. One more hit and he'd be dead. 'Hell, even a light breeze might do me in now. Hah! Fuck you dungeon! No Quinten corpse for you this day!' (Of course he kept this thought to himself... He wasn't about to instigate a possibly sentient murder house.) With great effort, Quinten drug himself into the room and nestled himself behind the two destroyed sections of the golem in what could be a vain hope to hide from any possible sentries. The little bit of protection calmed his mind a bit and let him think past the pain. He quickly checked the ammo left, three rounds, and decided to replace it just in case. He'd add the last three from his bag later. After that, he decided to eat the white chocolate macadamia protein bar before setting out to meditate. To his relief, the food buff did show up once he finished it off. With the quick meal out of the way, he relaxed as much as he could, closed his eyes and let his breathing fall into a rhythm. In moments, the meditation symbol flashed into existence and the wave of warm, soothing energy washed over every cell in his body. With the stress of battle finally leaving his body, and his thoughts settling down, he slipped unbidden into a light, dreamless sleep, completely ignoring all the new lines appearing in his feed. ------ Demi's nails were a wreck by the end of the battle. Quinten's struggle against the Electrant Golem had thoroughly wrecked her nerves. When he was shot in the chest, she couldn't help but let out a frightened gasp. The thought of losing him so soon frightened her. "Don't do that to me Quiiin!" Relieved tears started streaming down her face when he finally defeated the last section of the golem. Once out of danger, she sighed and released all the tension built up over the course of his battle. With a sniffle and a wipe of her eyes, she sat up and pulsed out a minute fluctuation of power. In but a moment, the entire persona of the goddess shifted. Gone were the bunched up pajamas, replaced by a simple, clean white dress with a strap over the left shoulder. The previously shredded nails now meticulously manicured with a polished shine. Her long, shimmering black hair flowed in waves down to the small of her back. A golden circlet adorned her right wrist, accentuating her porcelain skin. With a snap, a rip in space opened up before her. The image of a massive gold and onyx spire shimmered into existence. Columned temples and massive manors spread across the marbled, green and white jade landscape. Several figures could be made out floating lazily around the clouds, while throngs of the Divine, the gods and goddesses of the cosmos, walked around, going about their business. With two steps, her bare foot crossed the tenuous threshold of the portal and she stepped out into Elysium, home of the Divine.