Chapter 83 - Rock golem

When Ian and Robin reached the place where the dust originated from, they found their remaining members of the crew fighting against a giant made of rock.

The giant was thrown to the ground and pined with chains from 6 directions, each chain was growing from the ground but if one would keep tracing them they would see the chains are connected to Stella. They were sprouting from her arms and penetrated the earth to restrain the rock giant. One at its midsection, one to its chest, and the rest each to an arm and leg.

Dust was still surrounding the rock giant or rather a golem.

Ian was left thinking as he watched.

'Another thing that is different from the original world? Or was it just not shown?' He thought to himself. As far as he knew there was no living race of rock golems.

He saw, that Elene was already in position in the back and using her assault rifle. Meanwhile, Bert used his sword.

The rock giant was not overly large, Ian estimated it to be about 3m or a bit more. But it was entirely made of some type of rock that made it hard for them to attack it.

Plus he saw that the golem destroyed its own arms and legs making the chains retreat back to Stella's arms.

By the looks of the annoyance on her eyes, it was apparent to Ian that there was still something more.

And just a second later the golem started reforming under Ian's gaze.

By now Elene and co saw Ian and came closer.

When they did. Ian spoke.

"How did you encounter this golem?" Ian said.

"We were just checking the broken buildings when it attacked us, but as you can see it's not very strong, and it can be destroyed easily… it's just that it will get up fixed in no time once again" Elene said.

Even Ian didn't know how that was possible but he had a guess.

He attacked the golem that was now fixed and running at them furiously.

He focused his telekinesis around it in a bubble of pure pressure and started making it smaller and smaller destroying the beast until it was just a pile of rocks at the end. But it still recovered soon after.

He contemplated for a bit and then used presence sensing. As such he knew what was wrong.

There was a Thread of energy connecting the golem to somewhere on the island. Ian flew a bit up to get a better view before he saw the thread leading straight to that broken castle he had seen earlier. Even in the surroundings, he saw many other golems similarly connected to the castle.

He got back down and spoke.

"Elene. Attack its chest with a shot." Ian said.

Elene didn't question him, as she shot her rifle.

When the shot reached the golem's chest was pierced showing the inside of its body. It was then Elene and co understood what Ian wanted to do as they saw what was in its chest.

A type of rock that was different than its other body parts. It was a glowing round rock with visible blue veins around it.

Elene didn't waste time and attacked it again with a shot. And it was with no surprise as he beast crumbled into a pile of rocks. But this time it didn't get back up.

Ian noticed how the thread connecting the golem to the castle was cut.

"I think someone was controlling the golem. Or rather the golems… anyways the connection I found is originating from a castle in the middle of the island. I think that we should head there. What do you all think?" Ian said before he asked for his crew's opinion.

Elene and co agreed, but Robin spoke.

"If… If there is a library I would like to see if any books on it are preserved." She said as she avoided looking into Ian's eyes.

Ian gave a nod. He knew why she was acting that way. She was feeling guilty about Elene. As she had kissed him.

As such, they started on the road to the castle while occasionally meeting a few rock golems. And since they knew how to kill them the journey went on peacefully.

That is… Until they reached the castle.

Standing there waiting for them was almost a small army of those golems lead by an even bigger one, quite possibly triple their height. Almost 9 m.

In total Ian counted 43 golems and their leader.

He confirmed that the big golem is in fact a human surrounded with rocks. But he felt something was wrong with this human, he just couldn't get his hands on it…

Stella chose to speak at this chance.

"Captain, why don't you let us take care of those pile of rocks on our own?" She said. She was excited to fight against them. And show off a bit to Ian.

Ian gave each one of his crew a look before he nodded his head.

"Alright," He then stepped back a bit letting them head-on. He had never seen them fight as a team before. Though he knew a bit about their abilities, he never saw their teamwork. So he considered this him getting to know more about his new family…

Bert was the first to attack. He used 'Shave' to appear in front of one of the golems and swung his sword three times, separating it into three parts. Which made the golem's core show, as he stabbed it with his sword. He then continued to the rest.

Ian had shown them the marine skills and had them train on them for a while. Among his crew, except Elene who already knew them, surprisingly the first to be able to use 'shave' was Stella. Followed by Bert. While Robin was able to use 'Paper art' and 'Tempest kick'. Giving her a new form of attack, though she still was not able to use it with her sprouted arms, as it will consume her stamina.

Next to attack was Robin. She attacked by sprouting multiple connected arms as if a rope to restrain the golems and attack them with her 'tempest kicks'. This proved efficient as she continued going through the golems.

And the leader seeing this started moving to take care of them when a shot hit his rock shoulder. It didn't damage it, but it made it take a step back.

Elene who shot it, knew that the assault rifle was not going to do any real damage so she changed back to her sniper rifle, as she used 'shave' to appear on a tree a bit away.

Stella though found out that her chains were able to penetrate the hard armor of the leader. So she did her best to try and hold him. But his strength was more than her so she changed strategy and instead of holding him, she started attacking the leader with the chains.

With Elene supporting her, they managed to keep it busy until Bert and Robin had dealt with all 43 golems.

Now it was four against it.

Bert would target its legs with his sword leaving a gash in the rock, while Robin's 'Tempest kick' would take off the leg after.

Stella's chains would attack dealing massive damage from the force they sprung with, and with her ability to control the chains as if they were snakes, she would attack multiple times, finally cutting out a limb.

Meanwhile, while they were doing this, Elene supported them with her shots with various effects. The reason they were able to attack it and dodge its comebacks is due to Elene's shots making it slower. She also shot corroding shots at its joints which made it easier for the rest to take the golem down.

Then as Elene, was the only one with observation Haki, she located the core of the golem, or rather the human body, and shot at it opening its head for the rest to attack.

Robin shot two 'tempest kicks' at the opened area, while Bert shot multiple air blades with his sword. Then, Stela combined all six chains into one larger and shot it at a fast speed at the weak spot. Her attack resembling an eastern dragon attacking furiously.

The golem's body crumbled while the human 'grey' looking body that was inside dropped to the floor and started dissolving.

But none of the people there felt sad or anything. They had all seen even worse things than that, and they were already accustomed to that. As for the golem, he was not overly strong which is why they managed to kill him that fast.

But Ian still told them the truth regarding this beast.

"That guy was already dead. You don't have to think you killed him or anything. But I do not know how he became like this…" Ian said.

He shook his head, at the once again new different thing about this world.

He turned to look at the castle.

"Well, whatever. Shall we explore it?" Ian turned to Elene and co and asked.