Jason doesn’t get much of a chance to say anything else as the stone moose mechanically charges at him once more.

Off behind a nearby tree Courtney drops the night sky shadow around her one hand and sighs. “I have to agree with you. The illusion I was going to use won’t be of much use so wait a moment while I prepare another. Can’t cloud a mind when there isn’t one there in the first place. Though my other might not be of much use either. Golems are known for being resistant to mystical nonsense.”

From farther away Rosha yells over that, “my arrows won’t do much good against a golem either. Unless I know where the core is I would have just as much luck trying to shoot a needle in a haystack.”

Courtney nods, “Jason, I think you might be the only one with any way to hurt it. That punch attack you do seems to have good penetration.”

Jason yells back at them, “I would love to punch it. Problem is the thing charges faster than I can dodge. If it wasn’t for the fact it doesn’t actually change directions once it starts I would be dead. The trees likely can’t stop it, let alone any attack I throw at it. Worse yet, if it is a golem it isn’t exactly going to get bored with charging me. And I thought humans were supposed to be the persistence hunters.”

He continues to dodge the moose while they try and has out a plan of action. They try it against a tree by having him duck behind one before the moose charges. Though all that proves is the moose don’t care about them. Without even slowing down the moose charges right through and wood shards explode outward hitting Jason.

-1

This continues until even Jason’s stamina stat can’t keep him dodging for much longer. Scraping the bottom of the barrel Courtney finally suggests something she had thought of a while ago but was hesitant about voicing. “Lily might be able to help?” The indignation that rolls off of Rosha for even mentioning it is palpable.

Jason however has to agree, “that might work. Lily doesn’t have quite as much agility as me, but she should be able to dodge just fine. But if we were to do that, why not just have Rosha do it?”

A silence hangs between the three of them until Rosha sighs, “I don’t have that much agility, all right? I’ve focused on strength because apparently that is what my weapon uses since more of its forms are melee. Even beyond that it just needs a lot of strength in general to pull because it also has to work as a staff. I can’t dodge the moose.”

More silence, Jason shocked at the revelation while Courtney sighs. Rosha glares at her, “you knew?”

Courtney shrugs, “did you think you’re the first one to use a combow? So few people use the original name now that even the system calls it what the players do. Don’t hold Lily back. She isn’t weak. Besides that, she’s a companion. Even if the worst happens, Jason can bring her back. It might be harder than if she was just a pet, but not by that much. Now let her go, I can hear Lily whining from here. She wants to help just as much as the rest of us.”

Rosha sighs, “fiiiiinnnneeee”, and she lets Lily go.

Lily hops to the ground and wiggles her nose. Being held is nice, but she can finally help. After beating up on so many weaklings, she can finally join in while the group fights and that excites her. Off she goes, bounding towards her best friend Jason and that annoying statue that moves.

He nods at her and says that she should distract it. Apparently he plans to attack it, but Lily feels she can do more than just distract it. Though attacking it should distract it, right? With that line of reasoning down, she pounces at the lower left portion of the moose’s back where she can see something odd. On the way she passes some of her power through her fur, which poofs it out.

As this happens Lily can hear a loud and annoying squeal back from the direction she came. Yep, not going to look back. Fur charged Lily notices she still has more power left so sends the rest of it into her paws. Moments later she latches onto the stone moose’s back, her empowered nails scouring marks into the magically reinforced stone.

Once in place Lily gives herself a shake, her extra fluffy fur sticking out straight without any sign of shaking or swaying with the movement. Instead, it gouges out the stone all around where she has anchored herself. Until this the moose had ignored her as even the claws to the back were inconsequential. Now though, it roars like an avalanche and stone spikes sprout out of its back.

Lily isn’t there to experience this though. She had hopped off after finishing her shake. Not much point sticking around as her fur has gone back to normal. Satisfied that she has distracted the moose Lily hops a distance away so she can dodge when it charges.

Now ignored by the moose, Jason takes a moment to stand still and catch his breath. He can’t help but shake his head. To each their own. He would have a problem actually damaging the rock and here was Lily leaving deep marks in it with her fur. Still, it would let him get a solid hit in, so there is that.

The moose has now taken a couple charges at Lily, which she was easily able to dodge. This puts the moose back by Jason so he readies to attack the moose as soon as it turns around. The marks left on it an excellent target for him to aim for. If anything, the already damaged stone might be easier to break through.

He stands there with the moose not even a few paces away from him. Breath out, breath in. He calms himself and everything fades into the background as he focuses on his target. It had charged him enough that Jason had seen through the golem’s movements. No matter how natural it seemed to move, it was like watching a looped gif. The same steps every time.

Then his chance comes and he darts forward. Jason’s movement technique going full on, his one step bringing him right up to the moose’s side. His arm cocked back, he plants his feet firmly on the ground and increases their traction. Ready, his whole body swings around as he uses all the torque he can. With the most amount of force he has yet to bring to bear in the game Jason’s fist lands right in the center of the mark and his blast punch activates. The power in his punch alone is enough to chip the stone and the blast of power easily breaks through whatever natural resistance it had. Through a hand-span of stone it travels until it reaches something different. Everyone can hear it as a quiet click comes from beneath Jason’s fist. Unseen by them, a sphere of crystal that was buried in the stone has developed a hairline fracture across its surface.