I stand still… and look up with a face of despair as the golem looks down at us. Charles and I stare at the golem for a few seconds, until blue grids begin to form all around the golem, then all of a sudden, it screams a warcry.

Your Natural Instincts has ranked up to Rank C! +3 PER

Dread instantly fills me as the shockwave from its warcry comes at us in waves. I attempt to stand my ground, but the golem's warcry alone makes me stumble in place.

“No…” I say to myself as I look up at the golem, finishing its warcry. “This… isn’t something we fight… we’re going to die!” I stare horrifyingly at the golem, then suddenly, it charges at me. It didn’t take long for it to get to me as it only took three quick steps before slamming its fist down at me.

"I can’t dodge in time!" I quickly went into a guard stance and attempted to block the attack. The stone golems fist slammed down against my short sword as the punch's force cracked the ground beneath me. I scream in pain as I feel my legs ripping.

You have successfully blocked your enemy's attack! 369 damage!

The muscle of your legs is ripping! 50 damage!

Your Natural Armor has ranked up to Rank C! +3 END

"H-How is it so fast!?"

“Fireball!” There is an explosion on the back of the golem. It lifts its fist and turns around to see who did it. Due to that, I can move around. I attempted to move, but I flopped to the ground instead of running. I look at my legs, only to return a look of shock as my legs are covered with open wounds and blood.

Charles's Perspective:

Your Fireball has directly hit your enemy! Spell resisted! 20 damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and damaged your enemy! Spell resisted! 14 damage!

The golem turns to see me, who has another fireball up. “Fireball!” The ball of fire shoots right at the face of the golem and explodes brilliantly. However…

Your Fireball has directly hit your enemy! Spell resisted! 14 damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and damaged your enemy! Spell resisted! 9 damage!

No matter how brilliantly the fireball explodes, beyond its dazzling heat, the golem stands unfazed by it. I look in shock.

"I knew it would resist my magic, but I didn’t know it would to such an extent!" The golem was about to round up a punch for me but lost its footing as it looked down to see parts of its feet chopped off.

Main Perspective:

With both hands on the handle, I swing my sword at its feet, both hands on the handle. I screamed as I did to give myself a morale boost and help ignore the pain from my legs. I slash at the golem's feet, cutting through it, then I attempt to swing the sword outwards. But... before my sword can get through the very end, the upper half of the blade chips off in the process.

I stare in shock as I'm suddenly left with a partner that went before me.

However, the golem tries to keep its balance with one foot, which it successfully did, however…

“Snap Cast!” Charles stands with a ball of fire suddenly appearing on top of his staff. He smiles, then… “FIREBALL!” As he shouts, a notification pops up.

Charles's Perspective:

Your Fireball has been empowered!

Congratulations! You have learned the skill, Magic Empower! +2 INT +2 WILL

In mid-airborne, the fireball expands rapidly. It continues to grow… until it is two times larger than before. It slams into the face of the golem, and then…

BOOM!

Your Fireball has directly hit your enemy! Spell resisted! 30 damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and damaged your enemy! Spell resisted! 26 damage!

The explosion completely engulfs half of the golem’s body, and due to it having only one foot available, it falls, slamming back-first onto the ground. I fall to my knees, breathing heavily all of a sudden. I grasp his chest and say, “Vital Status.”

Vital Status:

HP: 315/315

Mana: 21/530

Stamina: 152/295

I look in shock, "What happened to all my mana? Why did it all of a sudden go from 350 to 21?" As I thought this, I heard Aden yell.

“Charles! Are you alright!?”

I turn to Aden, but when I look at the condition of his legs, “I think you should be worried about yourself!” I yell worryingly.

“I… I’m fine!” Aden says as he's strugglingly running towards me.

"We need to heal up quickly and think of a plan to fight that golem. There is no way we can fight that thing fairly. Since it’s fallen over, it will take time for it to-"

I continue to look at Aden, brainstorming to think of a way to defeat the giant stone golem… until my face twists in horror as I stare at something behind Aden.

Aden notices and turns… to see the golem floating. The blue grids throughout the golem shined brightly as it floated up, along with the dismembered pieces.

I stand up and try to get a mana potion from my leather bag.

“Charles!” Before I knew it, Aden pushed me out of the way. As Aden did, he is then rained down upon by many small pebbles, each having enough force to make a small hole in the ground. Aden screams in pain.

Aden:

You have been shot by a projectile! 120 damage!

You have been shot by a projectile! 130 damage!

You have been shot by a projectile! 102 damage!

You have been shot by a projectile! 119 damage!

Vital Status:

HP: 42.5/932.5

Rage: 100/100

Stamina: 251/897.5

I stand back up after being pushed away and look in Aden's direction, which is filled with smoke, “Aden!”

But when I yell that, a shadow overlaps me. I slowly look up towards the source of the shadow until I feel a giant rock collide with my body. Everything turns black.

You have been bluntly hit! 312 damage!

You have landed hard on the ground! 2 damage!

Vital Status:

HP: 1/315

Mana: 25/530

Stamina: 130/295

Main Perspective:

Charles laid, his body still as if he's already dead. I slowly look up and see the stone golem… slowly hovering towards Charles.

“Charles…” I struggle to say his name. I slowly lift my hand and try to reach for Charles. Tears begin to go down my cheeks. “Don’t… leave me.”

I don’t want to be alone again.

No, I still… have that skill.

“Please, if you are listening to me,” I begin to choke on my tears as I see the golem lifting its fist, preparing to finish off its target, “I don’t want to be alone again. I don’t want to be weak anymore… I,” I slowly begin to let go of my body, losing consciousness, “Don’t want to lose another family…” My eyes slowly close as I say, “Morph… Overtake.”

My vision turns red.

Morph Overtake Activated! Restoring all Statuses!

Vital Status:

HP: 932.5/932.5

Rage: 100/100

Stamina: 897.5/897.5

“I see you’ve used the skill, Child.” I stand in the same usual cave and face the same red-scaled dragon that looks down upon me.

I look up in confusion.

“Is this what happens when I use the skill?” The dragon continues to stare at me for a few moments until slowly closing its eyes.

“Correct.” The dragon answers. "Upon using the skill, your consciousness is switched with another. Allowing the other full control of your body while you stand in its domain."

“Aren’t you… the one who’s supposed to control my body? Well, for as long as the skill at least?”

“I used to.”

Aden paused for a moment. “You… what?”

“There are two other beings within your body, two equal to me. The reason why you're here is that I've dragged your consciousness here. So that you don't get caught in their fight."

“Two…? There are others inside me?” The cave all of a sudden begins to shake. “A-An earthquake!?” I yell this as I look down at my feet.

As if the dragon's expectations were met, it blurts out, “Hmm… it seems the unpleasant one won.”

“Un...pleasant?”

Unseen Things:

Aden slowly stands up and faces the stone golem as blood drips all over his body. He lifts his half-broken sword with one hand into the air, and, “Blood Moon Arts: Moon Splitter.” He swings down, and a colossal crescent slash of red energy flies right at the golem. It crashes into the golem and explodes.

Your Moon Splitter has directly hit your enemy! 341 damage!

Your Moon Splitter has exploded and damaged your enemy! 152 damage!

The golem slowly turns around to see Aden, emotionlessly staring at the golem. They both stay where they are until Aden begins to walk towards it slowly. The moment he does, a giant rock immediately flies in front of the giant golem. The stone glows brilliant blue, then splits into many small pieces, and when they do, they all shoot at Aden's body at bullet shot speeds. But when they are about to touch him, Aden suddenly vanishes, and before the golem notices, he is right behind it, with his blade already swung down.

“Blood Moon Arts…”

Then all of a sudden, the golem is slashed at.

“Bloody Flash.”

You have directly hit your enemy! 541 damage!

Your Blood Moon Arts has ranked up to Rank 9! +3 STR +3 DEX +3 AGL

The last area Aden was, explodes, as if the very surface itself couldn't handle the force of his movement. The giant immediately turns to swing at Aden, but before touching him, he vanishes again, and it is hit by a slash again. Then the slash turns into multiple. Before the golem knew, it was rapidly being slashed at by all sides.

You have directly hit your enemy! 341 damage!

You have directly hit your enemy! 242 damage!

You have directly hit your enemy! 531 damage!

You have directly hit your enemy! 454 damage!

You have directly hit your enemy! 341 damage!

You have directly hit your enemy! 513 damage!

After the sixth slash, Aden stands on the ground behind the golem again. “Blood Moon Arts: 6 Streaming Bloodlines.”

A second later, there are multiple explosions up in the air. The sound barrier is broken as the shock waves slam against Aden and the Golem.

The golem turns around and sends sharp, miniature rocks flying at Aden. “Blood Moon Arts…” Aden spread his arms a little, then started gently spinning as if dancing. “Flowing Stream.”

The sharp pebbles all went flying at him, but as they did, every one of them missed as Aden spun around, doing a one and a two with both his feet. The flying stone bullets continue to miss, all of them almost touching him but failing to make contact. Aden continues to spin until vanishing again. However, the golem immediately notices as Aden jumps above it, with his stance in a thrusting position. “Blood Moon Arts…”

From this range, there was no way Aden could reach it. The golem abuses this advantage and tries to get a hit on him. He is also in the air, so Aden cannot possibly do anythi- “Rapid Carnage.”

The golem is then rained down upon by thrust after thrust. Aden is thrusting thin air but still manages to hit the golem somehow.

You have thrust your blade at your enemy! 356 damage!

You have thrust your blade at your enemy! 245 damage!

You have thrust your blade at your enemy! 432 damage!

You have thrust your blade at your enemy! 565 damage!

You have thrust your blade at your enemy! 462 damage!

You have thrust your blade at your enemy! 601 damage!

Your Blood Moon Arts has ranked up to Rank 8! +3 STR +3 DEX +3 AGL

Aden continues to thrust his blade at the golem but stops as the golem entirely glowed bright blue. He lands on the ground with both my feet and jumps back at a great distance.

“How annoying,” Aden says to themself as they land again and watch the golem glow. “This is a rather persistent golem.” Aden attempts to stand straight, but he falls to his knees instead. “Oh, looks like this body can’t keep up anymore. Poor Aden... must be hurting all over. I should perhaps slow down.”

The unknown entity controlling Aden's body stands back up and takes a deep breath. Then they start slowly releasing it all out. “Don’t worry.” The unknown being says to itself as if talking directly to Aden. “I’ll protect your family.” They make a sinister grin, “Just like how I destroyed everything for you.” Aden's lifeless eyes then start to glow red from the pupils.

Then there is a massive shockwave. The entity takes it on and stays in place, unfazed by it. They continue to stare at their target as it begins to shrink. It continues to shrink and shrink… until it is the same size as one of the stone men from before. The golem continues to shine bright blue until finally toning itself down. The golem, like said before, looks like an ordinary stone soldier but instead has blue grids coursing around it. It stared back at Aden.

“Oh? Enhancement skill? Interesting.” The entity responds. “How about we test your new body?” The entity gets into stance, interested in this new development. The golem stands still for another two seconds until finally responding by taking its first step… all of a sudden being in front of Aden, with its right fist raised. Aden tilts his head towards his right, making the golem’s punch miss by a hair. Aden quickly spins as the golem is still in its punching motion and slashes at it. The golem jumps back, just in time to evade Aden's slash.

However… the moment that it did, the battle ended anticlimactically.

The golem is immediately cut in half before reaching the ground… with Aden behind it.

“How disappointing.” The entity says with a sigh. “I thought it would become a challenge once it transformed. But all that form did was make it easier to finish things.” As the being within Aden finishes its sentence, they slowly begin to fall over. “I guess this is this body's limit… Oh… well...” Then Aden's body falls face-first on the ground.

It is a moment later that the dungeon begins to slowly fall apart.

Aden:

Level up! Your Draconic Warrior class is now level 7! +10 All Attributes

Your Blood Moon Arts has ranked up to Rank 7! +3 STR +3 DEX +3 AGL

Congratulations! You have gained the title: Golem Slayer

Charles:

Level up! Your Mage class is now level 17! +2 INT +2 WILL +1 PER

Level up! Your Mage class is now level 18! +2 INT +2 WILL +1 PER

Level up! Your Mage class is now level 19! +2 INT +2 WILL +1 PER

Congratulations! You have gained the title: Golem Slayer

Golem Slayer

Description: A title given to those who have slain a golem.

+2 All Attributes

Back within Aden's mind, in the same usual cave, the dragon stares down at Aden's motionless body, which blankly stares up into the sky, unconsciously.

“You’ve overdone it with his body, Blood Moon.”

“So? What is it to you, unknown Dragon Lord?” In a blink of an eye, the terrain completely changes. Instead of the dark cave, it is an ocean-like space. The floor is water and looks bottomless, but when stepped on, it feels shallow. There is nothing special to it besides the blue sky and orange horizon. But all of that changed when a black being took its first step into this realm. Everything ocean blue is replaced with blood red, along with the sky, which is now completely red. The being itself is a pure black individual whose body looked humanoid but with no characteristics whatsoever. The being is faceless, but not entirely as it has a mouth.

It smiles widely as it looks up at the dragon, “I’ve done as promised. I have protected his family.”

“I’ll agree with you on that, however….” Dragon Lord looks at Blood Moon threateningly, “If you had gone any further with Aden’s body, he would have perished.”

Blood Moon’s smile widens to this, “So? What of it?”

The moment he says that the realm immediately begins to shake, as far in the distance, lava begins to spew out from the bloody waters. It didn’t take long before the lava shot out from all over. The scales from the red dragon start to steam as the temperature from within him rises. As the dragon opens its mouth, flames already begin to flow out of it.

“You do realize if Aden dies, we die.”

“You mean you.” Blood Moon cackles. “I can transfer to another Moon Art user. So can Pure Moon.”

“Then…” The temperature of the dragon’s body is already high enough to evaporate the water. “How about I turn you to ash before you can do such a thing?”

“I’m joking.” Blood Moon continues to cackle. Its hands raised. “You take jokes too seriously.” Upon Blood Moon's saying that the realm finally begins to calm. The Dragon Lord stares at Blood Moon.

“The way you speak makes it hard to take it as a joke.”

“Don’t blame me. I was born this way.” They stare at each other silently for the next few moments until Dragon Lord turns around and begins walking away.

“You take care of Aden’s consciousness then.”

“No! Wai-” But before Blood Moon can finish their sentence, Dragon Lord vanishes. Blood Moon curses under their mouth and turns to Aden's unconscious body floating on the bloody water. “I don’t know how to care for people… Oh well.”

Main Perspective:

“Oh? Already awake?” I look up at the same ceiling, the ceiling of when I first awake with this new body of mine. Beside me sits Lilith, who smiles as she sees me wake up. I didn’t answer her question, nor did I feel like answering. “You’ve used the skill, haven't you?”

But that question, “Yes, I did.”

“You’re lucky. Usually, beings within people like you go berserk, but yours seems to be more sincere. He even considers me an ally of all people.”

“That is one of three beings,” I answer.

I think, "If I ever get the chance, I’ll ask the dragon why I have two others within me."

“Oh, three? Interesting.”

“Anyways, you’ve been following us?”

“Yes, from beginning to end.” I raise an eyebrow at that answer.

“How were you able to follow without us noticing?”

“The stealth skill.” She gives me a bright smile as she answers me.

I sigh at her answer. I try to sit up, “Ow!”

My back hurts!

“Careful, your body is still trying to recover from the speeds it went through.”

“Speeds? Never mind that, how’s Charles? Is he alright?”

“In the same condition.”

“I… I’m glad he’s fine.” I look down as I say that. I sat silently for a few moments until asking Lilith, “Lilith… am I weak?”

“Yes, you’re weak.”

Ow, that hurts.

“How… Can I get strong, fast?”

“How to get strong, fast, you say? How strong exactly?” I look down at my hands until I look back at Lilith.

“To where no one can ever beat me.”