My first fight with a Veteran golem started pretty soon after. Once I gave all my info and told them I was ready, I was led to another ring. Unlike the last one this one was much more solid in it's construction. I could tell that it was made to last, and that the fights in here could be much more brutal.

I was slightly worried that I wouldn't be allowed to fight the golems because I was G rank, but apparently since I was fighting the Veterans it was considered ok. These were all golems that had proven their design in combat more than ten times, and since we were using G ranked weapons anyway that was feasible. Hell, apparently you weren't ALLOWED to fight elite's until you hit G though they usually only brought it up if you asked.

My first opponent of the day was a strength type golem. The thing was made of some kind of lava rock and vented steam defensively. It was also much thicker and more stout than the other golem I'd fought. The attendant at the ring let me look through and find a weapon, and I went with daggers again for this. By the time I was ready to start Callie had finished her first match and shown up to watch mine. The Veteran golem was apparently the kind of thing that took time to bring out.

I approached the bleachers to find my friend sitting down, waiting alone to watch me fight. I grinned up from behind my mask. "Hey, that was fast. But then, you took on a rookie golem at H rank so there wasn't much suspense. Hope you had fun at least." I loved this place, and Callie and I had enough in common that I was pretty sure she would love it too. Who wouldn't love fighting magic robots.

She chuckled at that. "Yeah they gave me a speed type, it wasn't able to keep up and I put it down fast, but you were right, this place IS awesome. I'm definitely coming back here. The question is how are you going to handle this one." She pointed to the lumbering form of the lava rock golem entering through the opposite gate. "That thing is a total monster, I can't think of anything you can use to put a dent in it."

I stared at the slowly emerging shape. She wasn't really wrong on that. The thing was huge, and it was going to be a challenge to drop it even with poison. Luckily I had a LOT more charges to play with in this fight, and plenty of really interesting skills to work with. Once the golem got into the ring I made my way over to stand opposite the thing. Once I got there I took in the whole construct, trying to find weaknesses, and noticed pretty much none.

The speed would be a big factor, so that would help, but that natural armor would be pretty insane to deal with. I had some ideas though. Once we were in position the attendant called the match, and the stoic golem began to lurch toward me. My first move was to counter the thing with it's opposing element. I used Mistwalking, vanishing into the cloud of condensed water vapor. I circled the thing slowly, keeping low as I tried to minimize sound.

Before I used any of my abilities for direct combat I needed to figure out exactly how durable this thing was. I darted in and swung the daggers a few times, aiming for joints to try to do the most damage. I had to dip back to avoid a massive overhand swing in response and I winced. At the feedback from hitting the hard shell of the golem. I'd felt a few chips of stone, but nothing really impressive.

I could see now why this thing managed to hang for ten plus matches. It was a walking tank. I tried a few other spots, zipping in to score a few blows on shoulder blades, throat, etc. Any place I suspected it might be less armored. The second level of rogue skills had some armor piercing techniques, but I didn't have access now. First level was only Double Trouble, Mercy Kill, Flurry of Blows, and Touch of Tears. Escape, direct attack, and damage over time, the three staples of the rogue, with Flurry of Blows being a supplemental offshoot of the second.

My divination skills were pretty much worthless. I activated my overlay, but the thing just told me when it was going to attack, and I could see that myself. Gaps in the golem's technique weren't useful either, because I couldn't exploit the damn things. I activated one of the two monk skills I hadn't gotten around to using yet. Consecration of Flame. It sheathed my arms or weapons in fire.

Granted, not exactly a perfect method here, but the skill was a fairly long lasting one, unlike my rogue skills. It would give me ten minutes and lava rock had been lava at one point. I darted back in, going for the joints again, and with the heated blades I was able to bite in a bit deeper. I danced around a few lumbering retaliatory strikes easily enough as I retreated again to think things over.

I had a possible method of penetrating the golems defenses, slightly, but that wouldn't be enough. Luckily I'd used two of my abilities and I had access to twenty four charges now. I activated Touch of Tears. I'd never used this combination before, I had armor piercing effects from rogue that made it unnecessary, but I was pleased to see the glow of the flames coating the edges of my weapons turn toxic green.

I lunged back in, attacking the vulnerable spots with the poisoned flame, and I was pleased to see the green blaze begin to spread. It climbed slowly along the limbs of the golem, but much too slowly. At the attack, the golem seemed to kick into a new gear, and it's speed noticeably increased. My overlay saved my ass there allowing me to avoid the punishing blows as the massive construct smashed the floor of the arena.

My eyes widened a bit, aware that if those blows hit me I probably wouldn't be able to just shrug it off. My armor would tank some, but it would still fucking suck. I gritted my teeth. Activating so many of my DS master skills so quickly was starting to be a strain. I'd never come across a limit before, but to be fair I could only use three attacks before, so it hadn't come up. Despite the strain though, I knew I could do more. Had to do more.

I gritted my teeth and activated two more abilities. Flurry of Blows and Mercy Kill. Stacked with Consecration of Flames and Touch of Tears, I was outputting a massively increased number of attacks with way more damage output that converted that output into flaming poison. I fell on the golem like a ravenous beast, carving into the limbs of the thing as best I could during my short skill window, and I was gratified to see the green flaming glow creep further along the stone.

This fight was much harder than expected. A normal G ranker would have an impossible time getting through this armor without a fuck ton of Might. Whoever built this thing had been really leaning into defense. Which was actually lucky for me, because if the tanky bastard was any faster I'd have probably been paste by now. I jammed the daggers in every joint and weak spot I could find until my Touch of Tears and all the other stacks wore off, and I was left with only the fire.

The green had spread across about half the things body, and was still creeping, but without me adding to it that creep was slow. From that point all I had to do was keep moving. I juked left and right, slipping around the massive overhand swings that were tearing gouges in the ground as I considered the way this thing was built. It was interesting to see, I had the same Impact as it did, but it was still managing to be tanky enough to be a nightmare to fight despite the material nominally being the same rank as me.

As far as I could tell, this was a real life example of what Callie was talking about in terms of defense. An H ranker, and hell most G rankers, wouldn't have a hope of getting through this armor, despite being armed with G rank weapons, because it was thickly plated. Impact was important but it wasn't the only factor. You couldn't cut through a G rank plate of steel with a G rank shiv made of paper. Despite their similar ranks the two materials weren't the same level of hardness. It made me reconsider the value of Benny's original power, though it was a bit late now.

After about five minutes it started to slow down, another ten and the thing ground to a halt as the creeping green fire met in the middle and completely immobilized it. I watched as the toxic flames began to melt the thing into slag, slowly making it dissolve until I finally stood over a giant puddle of melted green and black muck molten muck. I dropped to my knees. My head was fuzzy and my muscles ached. I'd resonated every stat for that little combo kill and I was barely functional, but I'd done it.

Callie jumped down to come into the ring to help me up. The question of whether I won was kind of moot with the golem as molten slag. She put my arm over her shoulder and lifted me up. "Well, that was dramatic. Your skill is pretty weird but it's useful as hell. That green fire thing was crazy. I can't believe you melted the thing into soup." She shuddered slightly at the words, as if imagining the same thing happening to her. Which was fair, but that fight hadn't been as impressive as it looked.

I shook my head weakly. "Lava rock has melted before, the poison is kind of an acid and mixed with the flames it was just a good combination for that enemy. DS Mastery is versatile, which is what makes it so useful. If that hadn't worked I'd have tried something else. I'm going to do my best to make sure that I don't spam those attacks anymore though. I feel like a monkey is playing with a jackhammer in my skull." My next skill level was going to open up even more avenues if I could get it, but I was going to need a short rest before I fought another golem.

We made our way over to the attendant, who was looking at me with a grudging mix of annoyance and respect. "That was...impressive. I'll be sure to make a note in your information that you can be...hard on the materials." He glanced meaningfully at the pile of molten sludge with an eye roll. He held out a hand and I passed him my coin. He pressed it down and I saw myself jump from seven hundred thousand plus to six hundred and ten thousand four hundred and thirty.

I whistled at the big jump, those Veteran golems must be worth a solid chunk of points. I thanked the attendant and Callie and I made our way over to the bleachers of a nearby ring to take in a show as I recovered. I concentrated on the Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery skill, and I could feel it was so close to ranking up I could taste it. I'd get to beginner before the end of the day. It was hard not to smile at the thought, considering how amazing the things I could do now were, I couldn't wait. Once I got this done I'd go home and get some sleep, the tomorrow I'd start work on my first permanent enchantment.