The massive form of the golem charged towards Faye with its inhuman gaze locked on her, its arms thrown out wide, and each footstep causing a miniature quake. Faye did not wait for it to get much closer.

She threw out a hand and targeted the nearest Primalist. They had backed away to allow the golem the space to charge Faye, but they expected her to ignore them for the larger threat.

She was more concerned that they would not leave her to fight in peace, so she pushed mana through her hand as quickly as she could, forcing [Fire Dart] after dart in a rapid fire. The Primalists cried out as the flames flew toward them, one not fast enough to dodge screamed as the flames ignited his clothing.

With that, the Primalists retreated further.

Leaving them, Faye switched focus and started running. The golem was close, and each footstep that landed with a boom shook the ground. It tore up the hard packed dirt ground easily as it came and for the first time, Faye contemplated the fact that she sorely needed another damage type to add to her repertoire.

She could only retreat from the golem’s mad rush toward her. Its arms were spread wide, as if it wanted a hug, and the thought of what it would do to her when it caught up spurred her to move faster.

To avoid the golem, she ran at an angle away from it and the Primalists both. Unfortunately, that meant she was running straight for some of the thorny bramble walls that the Primalists had set up around their base of operations at the gate.

Hemmed in by the bramble, Faye followed its arc as she got closer. She was holding her sword out to the side as she ran, it was a little awkward, but she would rather hold the flaming brand toward the golem, it gave her a sense of security.

A small one, she thought.

The golem’s rush slowed, and then came to a halt. The golem was not too dexterous, because it took time for it to turn.

It’s a weakness, small but important.

Then, in a flash of curiosity, Faye activated [Mana Sense] as she looked at the huge monster. It practically shone brighter than anything she had seen with her new senses. The violet tinged light from the lightning energy that had called it forth from the ground tainted everything she saw with that sense when she looked at the golem. Of course, beneath that were muted colours of earth, soil, and stone. She was not sure what it meant that the golem was practically bursting at the seams with mana.

She spat out a quiet curse.

The golem had reoriented itself and was lowering its head into a lumbering run once more. It seemed that it was determined to capture Faye in a deadly bear hug.

Running any further to her left would bring Faye into close proximity of the Primalists, who had retreated closer to the gate, but were watching her stand-off with the golem, nonetheless.

She did not want to give them an excuse to attack her with her attention divided. Instead, she waited for the golem to build up some momentum before she turned and ran to the right, back to where she had started.

[Mana Sense] was still active, and it being so was the only warning she had that the bramble to her right was now crawling with lesser briars.

She was too committed to this route to avoid the swarm of briars that emerged from the bramble with waving fronds of thorny vines, so she swung her jian in wide arcs as she charged forward. Each swing cost her speed as she had to concentrate on keeping moving; though a part of her noted that it was much easier than it had any right to be.

The system tried to send her notifications, but she tuned them out. They were distractions at this point. The lesser briars never took more than a single swipe of her flaming blade to take down, or probably a single swipe of her blade, full stop.

The golem had managed to slow and turn to face Faye once more. This time, however, it had stopped closer to her, and it meant the angle it chose was much more dangerous. She could not run right as that led into the bramble, overflowing still with lesser briars, and the golem was going to sweep past her soon.

Rumbling footsteps heralded the golem’s approach, and the lesser briars still tried to swarm Faye from the bramble. Turning in a 180-degree spin, slicing her jian through the nearby briars, Faye watched the golem’s approach.

Its right arm swung back as it neared. Faye’s ribs still hurt from the first blow, there was no way she wanted to receive another blow, so when the arm went back, she leapt forward.

Pushing herself with every fibre of her being, Faye charged into the space between the golem and the bramble wall.

The passing displacement of air as the golem’s attack skimmed the top of her head almost made her pass out, but she bulled through it and spun around to attack the golem’s back.

At the centre of its back was a glowing pulse of violet mana, something easily visible with her [Mana Sense] active, but even as Faye flicked the skill off and on again, she realised that the node of energy was almost exposed in the shifting of rocks and stone that made up the golem’s body.

Faye threw a [Fire Dart] at the area of glowing mana, which from this distance was simple, and caused the golem to immediately spin around with a roar of pain.

The mana in its body had shifted, the node no longer visible as Faye looked at it, and in the few moments after she had hit it, the golem was moving much faster and violently.

She barely managed to avoid being smashed into the dirt, scrambling out of its way so desperately that she almost lost her grip on the jian. She dragged it along the ground, spinning to get it above her and in the way of the golem’s next attack…

Which did not land.

Blinking, Faye levered herself to a sitting position, staring open-mouthed at the two militia who had returned from wherever they had lost the golem’s ire. Their spears prodded the golem and caused it to spin on them.

Fortunately, its attacks had slowed down enough that it did not immediately strike the two militia members. Their shields would do nothing for them, which they had seemed to realise as they were wearing them strapped to their backs rather than on their arm.

Lesser briars were approaching the militia from behind and more were starting to approach Faye’s seated position.

Shaking herself at the good timing of the two militia, Faye swept a [Scorching Lance] out, flicking it across the ground in two casts, taking out a huge swathe of the lesser briars.

Using [Mana Sense], she tried to look for the mana node on the golem again, because she knew it had been hurt, but even with the skill active it was not possible to see it.

Deactivating the skill, Faye took up her jian and ignited the blade once more. The gaps and narrow crevices in the golem’s body were still there, crackling with violet energy even if the node she had seen before was not present.

It was the best bet she had for dealing damage, so she charged forward, aiming a thrust for a spot between the golem’s legs and its hip joint, which was just below her head height.

The thrust went in cleanly, the flames from her blade licking harmlessly off the stone body. The gravelly grumble of anger that the golem let out was enough to tell Faye that it had done more than the [Fire Dart] had earlier.

She danced back out of range.

This was a fight Faye was not suited for, and it was eroding the sense of accomplishment Faye had built over the previous few weeks of levelling and improvement. She had a feeling that if she had been a real adventurer, like Arran, Ailith, or Gavan, there would be something she knew to do for enemies she had no real recourse against.

The militia scattered as the golem wound up for a two-handed slam into the dirt. The shockwave rippled out anyway, catching them both and sending them to their knees.

Faye had managed to keep her footing, but the golem turned and lashed out at her before she could recover and move away.

The stone limb came straight for her and all she could do was throw herself backward as it struck, robbing the blow of some of its energy. Falling backward, launched once more through the air, Faye landed on top of lesser briars, whose waving vines immediately tried to wrap around her limbs.

She pulled her arms and legs free of their attentions, absently crushing them with a quick slam of her fist.

This isn’t working.

Being this close to the golem was just opening herself up to being attacked. She had to give herself space. But her fire magic was not doing enough to the golem. She would run out of mana well before the golem died.

The militia both looked ready to dash in, but she held up a hand. “Stay back!”

They replied with curt nods.

A roar louder than any the golem had let out erupted into the air, causing them all to clap hands to their ears. Through the ringing, Faye thought she heard the golem making a keening sound, as if it were in pain.

She gaped in open-mouthed shock as the golem turned toward her in its slow stepping manner. Its left arm was hanging on by a few threads of violet-tinted energy. The crackling lightning spitting and fizzing.

Faye narrowed her eyes, aimed with a hand and cast [Scorching Lance]. The beam of hot, dense fire speared the golem in its weakened shoulder joint, the flames mixing with the lightning energy chaotically, electricity arcing randomly until a few moments later it sparked out.

With a groan that sounded like a rockslide, the golem’s left arm dropped to the ground — lifeless.

“Took you long enough,” a voice called from behind.

If it was any other time, Faye would have turned on the voice. Right now, she needed to stay focused on the enraged golem.

“We will discuss your insubordination later.”

Flicking her eyes to the side, to where the voice had moved to, Faye grimaced and swallowed the bad taste in her mouth.

Rían had arrived. His sword was held ready, and his armour was covered in small nicks and marks. He had clearly been fighting. A part of Faye had wondered where he had been.

“You can hurt this thing?” she asked. “How?”

“Easily.”

She shook her head at the ridiculous answer.

The teen lifted his blade vertically beside his head, then swinging it back, down, and up again, slashed the air in front of him.

Shockingly, the golem staggered back as a savage slash appeared across its chest.

Rían was breathing hard, but he was grinning, too. Faye snorted.

Doesn’t look easy to me.

But it did get results.

Darting left, Faye knew they actually stood a chance now, Rían’s strikes were able to penetrate the golem’s stone-like body. It was simply a matter of waiting for him to open the conduits of power within its body. When the next one was exposed, Faye flicked out a bar of [Scorching Lance], disrupting the mana there and causing it to peter out.

The right-hand fist detached from the golem’s limb next.

For any other fighter, that would have ended the fight. The fist was the size of Faye’s chest, and it bounced once before settling into the dirt. One of the militias was unlucky enough to be close enough for the golem to swipe at her. Her spear was turned into kindling from the blow.

“I’ve got this,” Rían told her. “Make sure the enemy is preoccupied.”

She nodded. Turning away from the golem, Faye called for the militia to retreat, too.

The three of them moved away. She watched as the Swordfighter managed to keep the attention of the golem long enough for the militia to run. She found herself frowning. He was almost acting normal.

“What are we to do?” the militiaman asked, as they both approached. The woman was cradling her arm a little.

“Are you hurt?” Faye asked.

“Twisted my arm when the spear was knocked out of my hands,” came the reply. The woman shrugged. “I will be fine.”

“I need you to concentrate on getting to the boy the Primalists were keeping hostage. Both of you. How does that sound?”

The militia nodded; the woman’s face pained but determined.

“Let’s go.”

Faye led the militia towards the Primalists. They were gathered in a loose formation near the gate itself. At first, the space the Primalists had carved out for themselves had seemed tiny. But after the fight with the golem — which was still roaring and making awful keening sounds from behind — and this walk from one edge to the other, Faye realised it was big enough.

Big enough for her to realise that if the Primalists were pressured enough they could execute the boy before she could do anything about it.

Big enough that her nerves were able to overload on adrenaline with no outlet, so she found her limbs shaking.

Big enough that doubts and thoughts utterly unrelated to the upcoming confrontation fought for attention in her mind.

“How do you do it?” came a small voice. It derailed Faye’s spiralling thoughts and she had to take a moment to reorient herself.

“Sorry?” she asked.

“How do you focus on one thing at a time?” the militiaman asked. His voice was low, his eyes locked on the Primalists, but she could sense his fear in the tiny quaver in his voice.

“I…” She considered lying. She was leading these people, that’s what leaders did, right? They told their people half-truths to let them keep calm and carry on? Or was that just a new thing? “I’m not sure that I do.”

The man’s quiet exhalation of air was almost a chuckle.

“Does not seem like that where we’re standing, let me tell you.”

“So far, most of the things I’ve been dealing with have been trying to kill me. Fight those, one step at a time. That’s all you can do.”

But time for conversation was over. The Primalists were moving.

Correction, she thought, some of them are moving.

She could not understand everything the Primalists were saying, they were still too far away, but she saw the stances of some of them.

The Primalist with the antlers strode forward, ignoring the words thrown at them by their allies.

“Adventurer!” the Primalist shouted.

But whatever else they were about to say was drowned out as blood erupted from their mouth, and with a cough, they dropped to the floor. An axe was embedded in their back.

The other Primalist was stalking forward, his followers were wrestling with the other faction, kris’ flashed as they fought.

Looking like he wanted to say something, the Primalist with the jawbone of some predator strapped to his face opened his arms wide. Faye thrust an arm forward and launched a [Scorching Lance] directly at him.

The beam hit him in the chest, engulfing him immediately in flames.

He did not get chance to speak, the hot air robbed him of that opportunity, he made gasping motions as he tried to march forward still.

The militiaman, his spear the only other weapon they had, circled the burning pyre that was one of the Primalist leaders until he could approach from a blind angle. Then, thrusting forward, finally ended the man.

Congratulations! Your group has defeated a level 15 [Primalist Berserker].

Experience awarded.

Rían approached a little while later. He snorted in disgust as he saw the remnants of the Primalist’s disagreement with one another.

Only two of them had survived.

Faye had made them sit on their hands, guarded by the militia. That meant they had no defence when Rían’s sword slashed out, cutting their throats.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Faye shouted.

The teen rounded on Faye with a sneer. “Killing the enemy, what does it look like? Are you too stupid to realise who they were?”

Faye’s hand went to the hilt of her sword automatically, the haze of anger boiling in her veins threatening to overflow. But she caught a look in Rían’s eyes, one that hinted at satisfaction.

He’s baiting me, damn it.

“They were prisoners, you shouldn’t execute the defenceless.”

“Defenceless?”

Faye heard the incredulity in his voice. For a moment, she wanted to charge back in to reinforce her argument, but a quiet thought stopped her.

These people had access to magic. She knew from experience that all it took to cast a spell was mana and a thought.

Damn it, I’ve been stupid.

“Alright, they weren’t defenceless, but they were prisoners. They had surrendered.”

Part of her was angry, furious, with the Primalists for attacking the town. But someone had to stop it. Someone needed to be the one that took the high ground.

Otherwise, it would be murder, bloodshed, and never-ending violence.

Rían just shook his head.

“I don’t care. I’m still searching for the head of the beast. Cut it off, and the body withers and dies.”

It was Faye’s turn to shake her head. The Primalist she had sensed, earlier, was more than enough for Rían.

“Their leader is too powerful for you alone.”

“What do you know of power, girl?”

Clamping her mouth shut, she decided that she had nothing more to say to him.

Duír was still in shock. He had not said another word since Faye had taken his hand and encouraged him to join her in the walk back toward the Guild.

She did not know what to say. His eyes were troubled, haunted.

I barely deal with my own grief in a sane way, there’s no way I can help a little kid with his.

Hiding her self-recrimination, because there were plenty of people that would know what to say to a little boy who had just lost their brother in some kind of ritual…

Okay, maybe other people would struggle, too, she conceded.

Shaking her head, a little, Faye rubbed the palm of her hand into her eyes. She was tired, exhausted really, and this mental back and forth with herself was something she tended towards when she was in dire need of sleep.

But she did not have the luxury of sleeping yet. She had to get Duír back to his father.

As they walked, Faye kept her eye on the boy, but left him be for the most part.

Faye’s mind wandered back to Rían and the way that he had helped. It was clear that something about the Swordfighter class was different than she had expected, for him to be able to break through the golem’s defence like that, but she had no idea what it was.

A question for him once this was all over. Despite moving on from the Swordfighter class, there were clear parallels between it and the Spellsword class she had achieved. If there were techniques that he could perform, Faye was certain the Spellsword ones would work along similar lines.

Then, a happy thought blossomed in her conscious mind that made her smile involuntarily.

He’s no longer my training master!