Solar Ascension-Chapter 136: Begin
[Begin!]
The lava filled ground suddenly started bubbling, rising higher and higher before they soon started taking shape.
"Lava golems?" Nox asked, a bit confused.
When commander Garron said they’d be facing threats, he fully expected Eclipsed of some sorts, not creatures of fantasy. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
Besides, if he was gonna go with fantasy creatures why not go with their Eclipsed variants?
A dragon Eclipsed would’ve been cool...not because he wanted to try riding it again or anything.
Well, maybe he did, just a bit.
"Friend," Rhett pulled him out of his thoughts, "I believe now is not the time to space out."
"Right," Nox nodded, looking at the quickly approaching golemsas he channeled SE into his boots.
They lit up as time slowed to almost a stand still.
Morphos took the shape of a sword and Nox took a low pose and then,
BOOM!
Rhett’s eyes widen as he looked at Nox, one second Nox was lost in thoughts and the next, the golems were cubes of lit charcoal.
"F-fast," Rhett stuttered out as he looked at Nox trying to pat off the flames that had caught the sleeve of his combat suit.
"Damn it," Nox muttered as he finally doused the flames.
This might just be a simulation, but it sure as hell felt real and he was already feeling the movement of his SE to recover the energy he was losing due to the heat.
"Watch out!"
The moment those words reached his ears, time slowed down again and he turned around just in time to see a flame projectile uncomfortably close to his head.
It was so close that he could feel the wave of heat from it.
If he had activated his boots a second later, it would’ve been bad. He dodged away from the fire ball and dashed towards the attackers.
The source revealed itself the moment Nox closed the distance.
Three larger golems had taken shape near a wider lava stream, their bodies bulkier, and they had a bright orange core fixed in the center of their chest, barely contained by stone.
One of them raised an arm and the magma condensing into a crude spear before it launched it towards him.
Nox twisted mid-dash, the projectile screaming past his shoulder and splashing against the ground behind him.
What followed after was an explosion which shook the ground, causing Nox to stumble a bit but he quickly caught himself.
"Tch."
He planted a foot to the ground, allowing his SE to flow into both his legs and boots as he dashed forward once again.
The first golem didn’t even react before Nox passed it.
A heartbeat later, a clean line split its torso and the molten core inside quickly destabilized.
The golem collapsed inward, exploding into a shower of superheated fragments that rained uselessly against Nox, who had coated himself with SE after his combat suit caught on fire earlier.
The second swung both arms down, aiming to crush this little pest, only to have Nox slide beneath it, pivot, and drive Morphos straight through the glowing core.
The moment the blade came in contact with its core, a hiss was heard and there was a bit of resistance but Nox just ignored it and drove his blade forward.
The core cracked before it crumbled to dust, and so did the second golem.
The third managed to fire again, this time aiming at the core they were protecting since that was their goal anyway....not this stubborn pest.
But fortunately for the two and unfortunately for the golem, Rhett was already ready to move.
A bit of golden light covered his shield as he lifted it and allowed it to take the blunt of the attack.
The fireball struck his shield and dispersed outward like a wave crashing against a cliff, heat rolling past him but never reaching the core.
Nox didn’t even look back as he got faster, almost turning into nothing but a streak of golden glowing light to the outside observer to his boots and Morpho.
Thud!
The third golem’s head fell to the floor and it’s rocky and lava body followed soon after, but the duo didn’t relax, as they knew that this was far from over, after all,
[Time remaining: 00:13:45]
The next second, the ground started rumbling again and chunks of terrain rose and locked together, forming a ring around the platform, molten veins passing through it.
Smaller golems began climbing over the edges.
With those changes, the heat around them started rising too, almost as if it was a deliberate attempt to get them to waste their SE.
Which it was.
Rhett’s expression hardened. "They are escalating the pressure."
"Yeah," Nox replied, eyes narrowing as he felt it too, the drain had suddenly gotten worse and though he didn’t feel that much tired, it was only because of his SE that is being used up faster.
He rolled his neck once, steadying his breathing.
"Alright," he said, planting his sword into the ground for a moment, "then let’s change how we play this."
He then turned to Rhett and asked, "you said the first step to achieving the Golden Knight is to stop every bit of SE leak right?"
"Yes," Rhett, although confused by the sudden question, answered, "at least that is how it worked for me."
"Great," Nox said as he suddenly sat down, "can you buy me a couple of seconds?"
Rhett frowned as he watched Nox sit down and close his eyes, he knew what Nox was about to try, but he was sure it wouldn’t work.
After all, compressing your SE was a ridiculously hard task, even for the geniuses in his family.
Without the golden knight form, none could actively achieve it, at least not in a few seconds like Nox was currently requesting.
But there was a part of him that was expectant and really wanted to see if Nox could achieve it, so he said.
"Leave it to me, friend."
