I placed my hand on the stone. It was cold, vibrating faintly. "Garth, open it."

"Aye!" With a roar, Garth slammed his shield into the ancient door.

"This is it," I announced. "The miners thought it was a dead end. They were wrong. This is the Golem's Lair. Garth, if you would."

"Aye, sir!" Garth, brimming with confidence from our recent victories, needed no further prompting. He planted his feet, raised his new, C-Rank steel shield, and charged. "FOR THE GUILD!"

KRA-BOOOOM!

The ancient stone door and its iron braces stood no chance. It exploded inward in a cloud of pulverized rock, frost, and dust.

We were immediately hit by a wave of intense, biting cold.

"Formation!" Marcus snapped, as he and Garth instantly created a shield wall at the breach.

"Wait," I said, holding up a hand. The dust was settling, and I heard... voices?

"...utterly ridiculous, Jaden! I told you the reports were unconfirmed. This is an E-Rank quarry, not a C-Rank vault!"

"And I told you, cousin, that if a C-Rank variant is here, it is the Frostheart Guild's duty to claim it before rabble like that,"—a pause—"stumble upon it."

The dust cleared, revealing a scene that made my entire team freeze.

The cavern beyond was a massive, cathedral-like geode.

The walls glittered with thousands of quartz crystals, and the floor was a sheet of smooth, deep-blue ice.

In the very center, standing inert like a monolithic statue, was a three-meter-tall Golem of granite and quartz. Its single, massive eye was dark.

Standing before it, in a tense standoff, were four figures.

My eyes snapped to the leader. Silver hair, an elegant, armored battle-dress of blue and white, and an aura of absolute zero.

"Maria?" I breathed, my voice lost in the cavern.

She was flanked by her two C-Rank Frostheart Knights, Sir Renly and Sir Val, their identical blue-plated armor and kite shields forming a disciplined, protective wall.

They looked tense, their hands on their swords.

The fourth member of their party was new, and he radiated an arrogance that made Eric William look humble.

He was tall, with sharp, aristocratic features and the same silver hair as Maria, but his eyes were a colder, more disdainful shade of blue.

He wore opulent, silver-embroidered blue robes over his light armor, and a thin, crystalline rapier hung at his hip.

He was the one who had spoken. And as he turned, his gaze swept over us—me, Marcus, Garth, Sila, and the twins, all in our mismatched, practical, and gore-stained guild gear.

His handsome face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated disgust.

"Maria, look," he sneered, his voice sharp and nasal. "Rabble. I told you we'd find them. Filthy commoner hunters, poaching in territory that is clearly above their station."

Maria Frostheart, who had been staring at the Golem, spun around. Her eyes widened, her jaw dropping in utter disbelief when she saw me.

"Michael?!" she gasped, her icy composure shattering. "What in the seven hells are you doing here?! This is a C-Rank zone!"

"Jaden, be civil," Maria snapped, her cheeks flushing slightly. "This is Michael Wilson. He is... he is Rank 1 of the Academy's first years."

Jaden's disdainful expression faltered, replaced by a flicker of shocked disbelief. He looked me up and down—my commoner's tunic, my dark, unadorned sword.

"This... is the commoner who got lucky? The one who stumbled his way to the top of the rankings?" He scoffed, turning his back on me as if I were irrelevant. "Pathetic. The Academy standards must be falling."

The insult was so blatant, my entire team bristled. Garth's hand tightened on his warhammer, and the twins' hands drifted to their daggers.

"Who's the popinjay in the dress?" Garth rumbled, loud enough for the entire cavern to hear.

Jaden spun, his face flushing purple. "How dare you, you filthy—"

"Enough!" I commanded, my voice cutting through the tension. I stepped forward, ignoring Jaden completely, my gaze fixed on Maria.

"This is a long way from the Academy, Maria. What are you doing here?"

Maria looked torn, glancing between her fuming cousin and my impassive face.

"This is official Frostheart Guild business," she finally said, her tone clipped and professional.

"My cousin, Lord Jaden Frostheart," she gested, and Jaden preened, "is vetting prospective resource territories. This quarry was flagged by our analysts for containing a 'potential C-Rank variant'—that Golem."

She pointed at the dormant stone-and-ice monster. "We are here to assess its core and claim the dungeon's resources for the Frostheart Guild."

"Claim?" I said, my voice hardening. "This dungeon is in Selorn's open territory. It's not Frostheart land. My guild is here on a sanctioned resource contract."

"A contract?" Jaden laughed, a high, mocking sound.

"A piece of paper from a local guild gives you the right to stand in our way? Don't be absurd. This Golem is C-Rank. It is, by definition, beyond your capabilities. Sir Renly, Sir Val, remove this... trash."

The two Frostheart Knights stepped forward, their hands on their swords, their expressions grim.

Marcus stepped in front of me, his own hand resting on his hilt.

His calm, C+ aura was suddenly met by their two C-Rank auras, and the temperature in the cavern, already freezing, dropped to a new low.

"I would not advise that," Marcus said, his voice quiet, yet carrying the weight of a mountain.

The knights faltered, sensing the abnormal power in my brother.

"Stop it! All of you!" Maria commanded. "Jaden, stand down! Michael is... he is an ally."

"An ally? This commoner?" Jaden sneered. "He's a poacher, Maria, and you're letting him—"

"I don't have time for this," Jaden suddenly snapped, his patience gone. He was clearly furious at being challenged, furious at my presence, and furious at Maria for not obeying him.

"If you won't clear the trash, I'll claim the prize myself!"

He turned his back on us and strode towards the dormant Golem, his crystalline rapier drawn.

"Knights, if this thing wakes, subdue it. I will claim the core."

"Jaden, no! We don't know its activation trigger!" Maria shouted, her professionalism giving way to panic.

"The trigger, cousin," Jaden said with a smug look over his shoulder, "is this."

He raised his rapier, which glowed with a faint ice-mana, and contemptuously tapped the Golem's massive, quartz-crystal eye.

For one, eternal second, nothing happened.

The cavern was silent.

Jaden's smirk widened. "See? It's just a—"

KRRR-UUUMMMBLE...

A deep, grinding roar, like a mountain waking from a thousand-year slumber, echoed from the Golem's stone chest.

The single, dark eye cracked open, and a brilliant, cold blue light flared to life, pinning Jaden in its gaze.

The C-Rank Rock Golem was now active.

"You... you fool!" Maria screamed, her voice cracking with terror.

The Golem's massive granite fist, easily the size of a carriage, swung in a devastating arc. It didn't aim for Jaden, who was too close; it aimed for the retainers who had rushed to protect him.

"Shields!" Sir Renly roared, he and Sir Val raising their C-Rank, ice-enchanted shields just in time.

BOOOOOOM!

The impact was catastrophic. The sound of shattering ice and metal shrieked through the cavern.

The two C-Rank knights were thrown like ragdolls, their shields exploding into fragments, their bodies slamming into the far crystal wall before collapsing into the snow, unmoving.

Jaden Frostheart, his face white as new-fallen snow, stood frozen in place, his rapier held uselessly, staring at the monster he had awakened.

The Golem, having dispatched the knights, now turned its full attention to him and Maria, the two remaining sources of mana.

It raised its fist for the killing blow.

Jaden's shriek of "Insolence!" was cut short by the Golem's grinding roar. Its cracked, crystalline eye, blinded by Sila's arrow, fixed on the general source of the noise. Its massive granite fist swung, not with precision, but with overwhelming, annihilating force.

"Jaden, move!" Maria screamed, shoving her cousin so hard he stumbled and fell over his own opulent robes.

I didn't wait. "Garth! It's blind! Take the hit, draw its focus!"

"Aye, sir!" Garth, his confidence now absolute, roared and charged, slamming his C-Rank tower shield into the creature's side. CLANG! The impact was like a bell toll, drawing the Golem's fury. It turned from Maria and swung its club-fist at Garth, who braced for the impact.

"Sila, keep firing at its head! Sound distraction!" I commanded. TWANG! An arrow ricocheted off the Golem's stone face, making it roar in irritation.

"Marcus, Twins! It's off balance! Cripple the legs!"

Marcus blurred, his cultivator's grace a stark contrast to the Golem's brute force.

He didn't just attack; he flowed, his blade striking the Golem's granite knee joint with a sharp SHING.

Riker and Kael followed, a whirlwind of daggers, striking the same spot, weakening the stone.

The Golem roared, stumbling, its foundation cracking. Jaden, scrambling to his feet, looked utterly humiliated.

His knights were injured, and my "filthy" commoner guild team was clinically dismantling a C-Rank monster in front of his eyes.

"Maria"

(To be continued)

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